My First Commercial Is Tofu... Seriously?
I smiled at the flood of heated mockery pouring in from the people in the Actor Gallery.
I closed the gallery.
The tofu CF shoot had come together so suddenly, but honestly, I was glad. The warm yet rugged image of Samryong paired perfectly with the persona ability I’d just gained from Sang-cheol.
‘I never expected a chance to use my new ability this quickly.’
Besides, this was my very first commercial. In the past twenty years, I’d never once filmed a CF, let alone received a single sponsorship.
From today on, the only tofu that would ever appear on my dinner table was Samryong! Juicy! Tofu! Everything else was getting tossed.
Samryong! Samryong! Samryong! Tofu! Tofu! Tofu!
My first commercial, and it was a tofu ad with absolutely nothing to complain about!
Han So-yeon and the section chief who had tagged along with her were both enthusiastically backing me up from the side.
“I never imagined our Doyun would be the one to take on Samryong’s very first commercial.”
“What? Our Doyun?! It’s Actor Kim Doyun, mister!”
Han So-yeon and the chief kept bantering back and forth. The chief smiled and nodded before continuing.
“Who would’ve thought Samryong would end up with an exclusive actor? I never expected the business to expand like this, ma’am.”
“W-wait, you already knew about that?”
“Of course. Every single employee at our mart knows by now, Doyun.”
It was surprising. Honestly, I had wondered if the Samryong staff might push back against the idea.
Han So-yeon seemed to read my expression and answered.
“There isn’t a single employee at Samryong who doesn’t follow my lead.”
“Anyone who doesn’t follow…”
At my words, Han So-yeon shook her head with an aggrieved look.
“W-what are you even saying? I may not look it, but I’m a good boss, okay?!”
The chief smiled at her protest.
“Our boss may look delicate on the outside, but there isn’t a soul at Samryong who would dare disobey her, Doyun.”
“Is that so?”
So this was the power of an owner-operated, unlisted company run by a single person!
“Even though our current president looks so fragile…”
“Mister, why are you saying such embarrassing things?”
Despite Han So-yeon’s laughter, the chief nodded with a serious expression.
“Fifteen years ago, when Samryong was on the brink of bankruptcy, she took over. If it weren’t for the president’s decisive actions, every single Samryong employee would have been out on the street.”
The chief paused for a moment, then smiled.
“That’s why there’s no one at Samryong who can go against the president. That’s how it is!”
“I see.”
As I sat there in admiration, the chief looked at me and patted my shoulder.
“Which is why you, along with Samryong Tofu, are now the pride of our Samryong!”
…I was being treated on the same level as Samryong Tofu. What an incredible honor!
“I’ll devote my bones to Samryong!”
At my answer, the chief nodded repeatedly, looking thoroughly satisfied.
“Now we have an exclusive actor at Samryong, and such a dependable one at that! The former president would be overjoyed if he could see this.”
The chief wiped away a tear.
Watching the scene, Han So-yeon shook her head.
“Sorry, Doyun. I shouldn’t have dragged you into this.”
“Not at all. This has been really helpful.”
I had been worried that my involvement might cause trouble for her at the company, but there was no sign of any such problem. That was a relief.
The atmosphere was warm and friendly, and my condition today was excellent.
‘There’s just one issue, though.’
I glanced over at the director, who was still busy preparing for the shoot.
“Yeah, keep the key light exactly like that. Kill only half the fill. Perfect!”
He sounded professional enough.
But even though this was a commercial, the lighting was excessively dark. It wasn’t quite at the level of a professional advertising agency, but for what was supposed to be high-end equipment, there were still patchy, blotchy spots in the illumination.
‘He’s missing that?’
On top of that, he was killing the fill when there was no diffusion at all. Even a non-expert like me could tell this directing made no sense.
I looked toward the camera. The tripod was subtly off-level, and the frame on the monitor was slightly cropped as a result.
The director glanced at the monitor and nodded.
“Looks good.”
The heavily pierced staff member standing beside him smiled as if he understood perfectly.
“The current composition is intentional, right? It breaks the sense of stability.”
“Exactly. It’s a trend from overseas that you’d never see in those cookie-cutter domestic commercials.”
Behind them, two more staff members were bustling around.
Every single one of them wore belts with dangling chains and excessive piercings. Metal glinted every time they passed under the lights.
“Where should we put the neon?”
“Thin layer on the back. Cold colors will create better contrast. Let’s really bring out today’s concept of light reconstruction.”
The staff member nodded seriously at the director’s words.
“You’re right. Warm tones would make it look too much like actual food.”
…Wasn’t that the whole point? This was a food commercial.
‘Is this really okay?’
Han So-yeon must have noticed my worried expression because she came over and spoke.
“Don’t worry, Doyun. This big sis personally vetted them.”
Her words made me reflect on myself for a moment.
‘Right. I shouldn’t judge people by appearances.’
No matter how much experience I had helping out on sets, I was by no means an expert like them.
Besides, had I ever even been on a proper CF set before? My standards must have gotten too high after working with Director Lee Tae-ryun!
With that thought, I was about to change into the clothes I had prepared in advance when—
“Now that I think about it, where did you find the introduction from, sis?”
“DirectiCom! It’s a site where directors gather! I found them while urgently looking for someone.”
I pressed a hand to my forehead. Ah, right. She was a complete outsider to this industry.
DirectiCom. A site whose motto was “breaking the existing mold of directing.” In reality, it was definitely a place where aspiring directors gathered to bash established ones.
I felt a twinge of unease but shook my head. These people worked as a team.
‘It must just be my misunderstanding.’
When the call went out for a subcontractor to handle a CF shoot, Kim Dae-young had snatched it up in a single step.
He was a genius director in his twenties who deserved respect for establishing an innovative independent advertising production company that completely rejected the existing advertising agency system, which thoroughly ignored the advertising philosophies of modern directors.
At least, that was how Kim Dae-young saw himself.
It had been a while since he received a commercial offer. Normally, he could have produced something far superior to the cookie-cutter garbage those agencies churned out even if he shot it half-heartedly.
Kim Dae-young glanced at Han So-yeon.
‘There’s a pretty noona here too.’
He had decided to show her his true artistic vision and real skill—things that ordinary commercials could never capture.
With that thought, Kim Dae-young approached the first cast member for today’s shoot.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Director Kim Dae-young.”
“Yes, nice to meet you too.”
Kim Doyun gave a light bow.
‘A bow?’
At the sight, Kim Dae-young slightly furrowed his brows.
He had heard the casting profile, but the guy was at best a supporting actor. To show such an attitude toward a director?
‘I’ll have to endure it.’
He would properly showcase his mise-en-scène. With that resolve, Kim Dae-young began his cutting-edge directing.
“Um, Doyun? The keyword for this commercial is light. Light. Would you understand if I said it’s a punk vibe that shatters the old-fashioned frame of tofu? Could you give the camera a deadly glare from under those neon lights over there?”
At Kim Dae-young’s directing, Kim Doyun stared at him for a moment as if his soul had left his body.
“Punk vibe?”
“Yes, a punk vibe.”
Kim Doyun asked again, seemingly unable to understand.
“Could you explain it a bit more simply? It’s a food commercial—wouldn’t hitting it with blue lights look strange?”
It was an entirely reasonable question, but Kim Dae-young let out a sigh.
‘An actor who can’t even understand this much.’
These ignorant fools who knew nothing of art. It seemed he had no choice but to step in himself.
“So, the reconstruction of light… Never mind. Just stay still, Mr. Kim Doyun. I’ll handle everything.”
With that, Kim Dae-young looked at the composition from a foreign photoshoot saved on his phone.
‘It’s beautiful.’
It was a foreign photoshoot he had discovered a few days ago. He had never seen anything more beautiful than this composition.
Thinking so, Kim Dae-young placed his hands on Kim Doyun’s body and gave instructions.
“Raise your arm a little more. Lower the tofu.”
“Just a moment. The tofu is the star here. At this rate, the tofu won’t stand out at all. Shouldn’t it be positioned in the lower center of the frame…?”
For a split second, Kim Dae-young flinched, then frowned and shouted.
“If you don’t understand, just do exactly as I say, Mr. Kim Doyun.”
Han So-yeon, who had been watching, frowned and asked the chief.
“Is CF filming usually like this?”
“How would I know, ma’am?”
The section chief shook his head with an expression of disbelief.
“But if they shoot it like that… will our tofu even sell…?”
Appearance Fee: 8pt
The points seemed to be mocking me. Even worse was the reaction in the Actor Gallery.
Even Lady Runna had been rendered speechless.
Of course, the same went for me. After seeing the result on the monitor, I could only slap my forehead.
It was sophisticated, sure. But it was miles away from tofu. At this point, it might as well have been his personal photobook.
Above all, the sophistication was nothing more than a copy of foreign photo compositions. The actual detailed skill level was nowhere near professional.
‘Thanks to the directing, I never even got a chance to use my ability.’
More than anything, when I looked at that guy’s directing through the Director’s Vision, I could tell at a glance that it was garbage.
‘The water’s already spilled. I’ll just have to do the best I can with what’s left.’
With that thought, I walked over to the director, who was sitting arrogantly with a satisfied expression, and asked.
“Director. In my opinion, the result doesn’t quite match the concept…”
Before I could even finish, the director frowned.
“Excuse me, you’ve been doing this since earlier. Don’t you know that directing is the director’s domain?”
This bastard. He was like an eight-ton truck with broken social skills.
How was someone like this even getting freelance commercial work? Fine, let’s see how you like getting hit.
“Director. It’s a food commercial, but if you hold the tofu while acting all cool, people will think it’s soap. Who would want to put that in their mouth?”
At my words, the director narrowed his eyes for a moment, then nodded.
‘Did he understand?’
The thought had barely crossed my mind when the director drew a line in the air with the pen in his hand.
“Right now, we are not in the stage of simply stimulating the customer’s basic purchasing desire. We are in the process of constructing the textural identity of the tofu object.”
The set fell silent for a moment.
“…So, does that make our tofu look more delicious?”
At Han So-yeon’s question, the director nodded.
“The current overseas trend is not direct purchase inducement, but indirect experiential sensory stimulation. It’s not about making people want to eat it, but first designing a psychological distance of ‘is it okay to eat this?’”
A parade of incomprehensible words. Han So-yeon’s face grew icy cold.
“Stop using difficult words. Director. If you shoot it like soap, will our tofu actually sell?”
It looked like Han So-yeon’s temper was finally starting to flare.
“That is, well, it’s an area ordinary people wouldn’t understand. Making the tofu look like soap is an intentional misdirection. We deceive the consumer’s eyes once, then later retrieve it as food to deliver catharsis.”
“When exactly are you retrieving it?”
At my question, the director nodded.
“That part will be handled with CG.”
“Can you handle CG?”
“For that, we’ll slowly look for a specialist again…”
There was no need to listen any further. I knew this type.
In about ten years, people would call this sort of thing:
‘Art disease, hipster, style-over-substance addict.’
So what now?
Normally the client should hold the upper hand, but Samryong wasn’t a regular source of income, and the other party didn’t seem to care about that.
Freelance independent production companies often received partial advance payments. It was only natural that some would cut corners and run.
‘This is my fault for not warning sis in advance even though I knew about this.’
I sighed. I had to clean this up now.
Realizing her mistake, Han So-yeon was clutching her head in pain. I asked her,
“Sis. How much of an advance did you pay?”
“Fifty percent…”
Han So-yeon glanced around nervously before suddenly exploding.
“I’ve only ever handled food distribution! I didn’t know these bastards were con artists! We don’t need the advance—scrap the whole thing right now!”
When she burst out in anger, the director’s face twisted for a moment. But he soon smiled and scoffed.
“Fine. I can’t work with a client who doesn’t understand art anyway. Let’s pretend today’s work never happened.”
I stepped in front of the director as he tried to pack up the camera tripod.
“Who said you could just leave?”
“Trash… I mean, you can delete all the footage you shot today.”
At my words, the director’s expression began to distort.
“What the hell are you—”
I sharply blocked his hand and said,
“You’ll have to leave the equipment behind.”
“What? What kind of nonsense is this?! This is why uneducated—”
I pulled out the copy of the contract sis had shown me and tapped it.
“Looking at the contract, the advance payment clearly includes ‘one-day studio and equipment rental fee.’ As of this moment, you’re fired, but until midnight tonight, this equipment is rented by our Samryong.”
“This is ridiculous…”
I smiled at the director whose face had crumpled.
“If you’re upset, spit out the rental fee and take it with you.”
The experience I had gained over twenty years rolling around in this industry was finally shining through!
The director’s face flushed red.
“Hah! Do whatever you want. Do you even have anyone who knows how to handle this equipment right now? It’ll take you a lifetime to find a director as good as me!”
I was speechless. What kind of baseless confidence was this? If I grabbed any random person walking by, they would still shoot tofu looking more like tofu than this guy.
‘Still, since I’m going to show it anyway, I should show the difference properly.’
I could tolerate being looked down on, but I couldn’t tolerate anyone looking down on our Samryong! Juicy! Tofu!
I looked at Han So-yeon and asked,
“Sis. It’s okay if I call in one person I know well, right? He’s cheap and he’s the best talent in Korea.”
“Uh… yeah, sure.”
I spoke to the director, who was sitting with a crumpled face.
“Director, you were talking about the art of light earlier, right?”
“It’s the reconstruction of light!”
Ignoring the fuming director, I took out my flip phone and pressed a number from my contacts.
Before the ringtone could even sound twice, an energetic voice answered.
“Yes, Actor-nim!! It’s me! W-what’s the matter?!”
“Sorry for calling on your day off. Could you come to the studio right now? I need a real director who knows how to handle lighting.”
There was a brief silence. Then a voice so loud it nearly tore the speaker came through.
“Possible, imda!!! If Actor-nim calls, I would go even if it was the end of hell, imda!”
I smiled as I looked at the disconnected flip phone screen.
Baek Hyeon-jin.
To think I would be calling on the greatest talent in Korea like this.
I grinned at the third-rate fake director standing there with a crumpled face.
“Director, don’t go anywhere. Please stay seated right there until today is over. You’ll need to take the equipment with you when you leave, after all.”
Sit there and watch. Watch and learn from the skills of Baek Hyeon-jin, the future master of light.