The Tofu That Brought Tears
Kim Dae-young, the self-proclaimed director in charge of the Samryong Food Ingredients CF starring model Kim Doyun, stood watching with his mouth clamped shut, as though determined to see exactly how the final product would turn out.
‘Wow. Now that’s the mentality of a true master director.’
Baek Hyeon-jin, completely unconcerned with any of that, simply looked at me.
“How does it look indeed?!”
The direction Baek Hyeon-jin had come up with on the spot.
Warm tofu placed on a table prepared by mother, set atop a rustic wooden bench in a countryside yard. For something improvised, the concept itself wasn’t bad at all.
Only…
‘It’s rather ordinary.’
The content and execution felt like something I’d seen before. Modest could be good, of course, but it almost seemed disappointing to think this had come from the mind of genius director Baek Hyeon-jin.
“Isn’t it plainer than we expected?”
Samryong uncle seemed to share the same thought; his voice carried a note of doubt.
“Look at that. All talk, no substance. That’s exactly why people who don’t follow current trends are hopeless. And look at the lighting. What even is that?”
Kim Dae-young was whispering to his staff while observing. The moment Han So-yeon saw it, she shouted.
“What are you still doing here? Go on, get lost.”
Kim Dae-young frowned at her words and clamped his mouth shut once more.
Han So-yeon poked uncle in the side and said, “Uncle. Modest is good. He’s the person Doyun brought. Trust him.”
‘Nice save, sis.’
I smiled.
Anyone who didn’t know Baek Hyeon-jin might have been suspicious. The lighting he had designed certainly lacked the bright, commercial-friendly feel typically used in ads.
But I had seen his filmography.
‘After that, doubting a director like Baek Hyeon-jin becomes impossible.’
I nodded at Baek Hyeon-jin.
“Good. Let’s go with that.”
“Understood indeed!”
Baek Hyeon-jin shouted as he skillfully operated the camera.
“Actor! We’re rolling indeed!”
Visualizing Director Baek Hyeon-jin’s Direction
“This place…”
Ah, I see.
An old wooden bench in the yard after a long, exhausting day of work. The glow of sunset bathes everything in warm light.
‘So this is it.’
The light evoked an almost overwhelming sense of nostalgia for something that had never existed. I had worried the story itself felt somewhat ordinary, but this nostalgic emotion paired perfectly with the rustic tofu.
Had Baek Hyeon-jin instinctively caught that?
‘But with the lighting this low, the tofu’s presence…’
The moment I sat on the bench, it hit me.
‘…!’
The shadowed area and the red sunset were literally splitting the tofu in two.
‘This was the point!’
I understood now. It wasn’t simply lighting meant to paint his desired mise-en-scène. Even without a bright top light from above, the composition naturally drew every eye straight to the tofu.
Lighting that fully considered the commercial nature of the project.
‘How on earth…’
I glanced sideways at Baek Hyeon-jin.
Had he really designed something this precise in that brief moment, without calculation or elaborate planning?
Now that I saw it, the direction did feel familiar. It was from one of his films, Your Christmas.
The story and content were different, yet the philosophy contained in this light was the same.
It had been one of my favorite movies. I never imagined I would be present at its beginning.
‘I’m deeply moved.’
It was excellent. Baek Hyeon-jin had given me such a wonderful directorial vision.
The direction he had given me was to look at the tofu with hungry eyes, as if my stomach was unbearably empty, then smack my lips, and finally eat it deliciously. That alone would have been enough to bring the atmosphere to life.
‘But that…’
Any actor in my place could have done the same. That would make me nothing more than Baek Hyeon-jin’s puppet.
‘Sorry, but I have no intention of simply submitting to your direction.’
I would take it one step further. I wouldn’t disobey his direction; I would produce the absolute best possible result from within it.
‘What Director Baek Hyeon-jin relentlessly demanded from actors in Your Christmas.’
The current Baek Hyeon-jin might not realize it himself, but I knew.
What he truly wanted was the “melodrama” of Korean cinema.
PERSONA - SANG-CHEOL
I timed the use of my newly acquired ability with perfect precision.
From this moment on, it was a tug-of-war between me and Baek Hyeon-jin.
Baek Hyeon-jin stared at the camera with eyes full of anticipation.
‘It’s the actor’s first CF indeed…!’
The lighting he had thought up on the spot looked perfect even to him. This lyrical atmosphere would highlight the tofu beautifully.
‘It will match perfectly with the feeling the actor showed in Flowers Fall indeed.’
It had been his flawless calculation. At this rate, a truly excellent commercial would be born…!
That was what he had been thinking when it happened.
‘Why hasn’t he grasped the emotion yet indeed?’
It should have been simple acting. All he needed to do was pick up the tofu within the perfect sunset he had created.
Yet why was the actor simply staring at the tofu in silence?
That was the moment.
“…!”
The atmosphere inside the camera changed in an instant.
‘Is this… even possible indeed…?’
It was different from Flowers Fall. Had he looked away for dozens of minutes without realizing?
‘No indeed…! I was staring at the actor the entire time indeed!’
He had only blinked once. Yet the Kim Doyun before his eyes now carried an entirely different aura, as if he had become another person.
‘This is… this is…! It’s Sang-cheol indeed!’
Baek Hyeon-jin kept marveling. How could he recreate that overwhelming emotion from Flowers Fall inside this humble studio? It was nothing short of a miracle.
‘But…’
Baek Hyeon-jin couldn’t understand.
Wasn’t the scene supposed to show a man who had finished hard labor, looking at tofu with a rugged, hungry appetite? What was he trying to do by bringing out Sang-cheol’s emotions here? He couldn’t read the actor’s thoughts at all!
The moment he thought that—
‘What indeed…?’
The way the actor gazed at the tofu wasn’t the look of someone simply hungry for food.
‘Why? Why does it pull at the heart like this…!’
Kim Doyun carefully lifted his chopsticks. The faintly trembling tips gently split the edge of the pure white tofu.
Since it was a juicy variety, warm broth immediately seeped from the cut.
That was the moment.
‘No way…!’
The instant juice flowed from the tofu, Kim Doyun’s eyes grew moist, as though a single tear was threatening to fall.
It was completely different from the exaggerated reactions in typical tofu commercials—eyes wide, shouting “Delicious!” over and over.
‘I was the fool indeed…’
Kim Doyun held back the tears that threatened to pour out and slowly chewed the tofu.
As if savoring it, as if recalling each memory that rose with its savory flavor.
Only then did Baek Hyeon-jin realize what the actor was trying to say.
No, what the true reason behind this lighting design had been.
‘If he understands me better than I understand myself, what am I supposed to do indeed…’
The actor who looked at the same light he did had shown him what he truly wanted to direct.
‘This is just like that indeed.’
It was like a dinner table prepared by his late mother with her rough hands, something he had forgotten for many long years. The warm tofu that always sat in the center.
His acting seemed to scold him for thinking only of the visual side because it was a commercial, telling him this too was film.
In that brief time, he had not only understood the direction but dismantled it, analyzed it, savored it, appreciated it, then reconstructed and infused it with narrative.
All while staying inside the given direction…!
There was no way the future genius director Baek Hyeon-jin would miss it.
‘Magnificent indeed…’
While Baek Hyeon-jin watched with his mouth open in awe, the actor’s Adam’s apple moved slightly as the tofu slid down his throat. Right after, Kim Doyun gave a small, lonely smile.
“Today too… it really is good.”
The hoarse voice that scraped up from his throat was a divine ad-lib!
“Ahh…”
Baek Hyeon-jin felt as if he might faint.
The entire studio fell into an incredibly long silence.
Did I make a mistake? Should I have faithfully followed the great director Baek Hyeon-jin’s words? If they give me another chance, I’ll act like a perfect puppet next time!!
I was reflecting on my performance when—
“Cut! Cut! Cuuut indeed!!!!”
Baek Hyeon-jin’s cut sign broke the silence. Behind the camera, he couldn’t tear his eyes from the monitor, his whole body trembling.
“I-it’s insane indeed…”
What was it? Had he gone mad with anger? I was scared!
“This, this… actor……”
Tears welled up in Baek Hyeon-jin’s eyes. Ah, it seemed he was moved.
My acting had reached him. Holding back the smile that wanted to creep across my lips, I asked as if I had no idea.
“How was it? Did I go too far, Director Baek Hyeon-jin?”
Baek Hyeon-jin clutched the camera as if he might fall to his knees and shouted.
“No indeed! It was perfect indeed! I have completely lost indeed!”
I approached Baek Hyeon-jin and smiled.
“To be honest, I was surprised.”
“About what indeed…?”
“I knew you were amazing, but I didn’t expect it to be this brilliant. The lighting didn’t even look like lighting. You intended the sunset, right?”
Baek Hyeon-jin nodded repeatedly, looking stunned.
“Y-yes indeed…! As expected of the actor indeed!”
“Thank you so much for today.”
I expressed my gratitude with a smile, then walked over to Kim Dae-young, who stood in the back of the studio with his arms crossed, acting arrogant.
“To make an expression like that just for an act of eating tofu…?”
Kim Dae-young was muttering to himself, completely out of it.
“How was it?”
“W-what?”
Kim Dae-young, who had been staring at the monitor, looked at me in surprise.
“What did you think of the combination between the director you dismissed and a third-rate actor?”
“Ugh…”
Kim Dae-young gritted his teeth and abruptly turned his head. Then he shouted at his staff.
“Let’s pack up.”
Watching him, I wore a satisfied smile.
He had finally come down from the peak of his arrogance.
Leaving the studio cleanup to Kim Dae-young’s group, I returned to Samryong Food Ingredients with a broad smile.
Samryong uncle was still sobbing.
“If the previous president could see today’s commercial…! Tonight it has to be tofu! Samryong Tofu and… makgeolli too…!”
He had been like this ever since we left the studio.
“Haha…”
“Leave him be. That uncle’s tear ducts have always been wide open.”
Han So-yeon shook her head and approached me and Baek Hyeon-jin.
“Thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, Doyun, I don’t even want to imagine how today’s shoot would have gone…”
“We’re in the same boat. Helping is only natural, sis.”
Han So-yeon looked at Baek Hyeon-jin.
“So how did you find this girl—I mean, this brilliant director?”
Baek Hyeon-jin lifted his head proudly.
“I come whenever the actor calls indeed!”
Han So-yeon looked at me, momentarily flustered.
“W-what kind of relationship is this…?”
“Actor and director.”
At my answer, Baek Hyeon-jin stepped between us and declared, “No, it is more indeed! We are bound by the fate of light indeed!”
…Us?
“Uh… yeah…”
Han So-yeon made a complicated expression as if thinking for a moment, then gave up and looked at Baek Hyeon-jin.
“More importantly, about the advertising budget. How should we handle compensation? If it’s all right, we could give you the original fifty percent…”
“No indeed! I am already satisfied just from filming the actor’s first CF indeed. It wasn’t even my equipment, so I cannot accept indeed!”
Han So-yeon shook her head as if troubled.
“Still, we can’t just let it go after receiving such help.”
At her words, Baek Hyeon-jin looked at me.
“Then please put all my contribution on the actor’s account indeed. Add it to the actor’s tab indeed.”
What?
I flinched. No matter how much Baek Hyeon-jin liked me, why would he go this far?
‘…It’s pointless to try analyzing what geniuses are thinking.’
I smiled at Han So-yeon and Baek Hyeon-jin.
“How about we do it this way instead?”
“What way?”
“What way indeed?”
I raised my index finger toward the two who had turned to look at me.
“Let’s consider this a portfolio. From now on, we’ll give priority to Baek Hyeon-jin for all Samryong Food Ingredients CF outsourcing.”
“That is…”
“Sis, you saw his skill today, so you know. And for Baek Hyeon-jin, wouldn’t it be a good part-time job to build experience and track record before his official debut?”
Han So-yeon nodded.
“Definitely. It matches Samryong perfectly.”
See, sis? You need to understand what kind of opportunity this is.
“Great! If Doyun guarantees it, I’m all in. What does our director think?”
At those words, Baek Hyeon-jin tilted his head as if thinking for a moment, then came close and whispered softly.
“Since the actor is my savior, I will do whatever the actor wants.”
“What?”
The moment I felt a strange sense of alienation from Baek Hyeon-jin’s words and looked at him, I saw an empty, hollow look in his eyes for the first time. A chill ran down my spine.
‘What the…’
While I was flustered, Baek Hyeon-jin suddenly flashed a bright smile as if nothing had happened and spoke to Han So-yeon.
“Then please take good care of me from now on indeed! Can I upload this commercial to NewTube indeed?”
“NewTube? You mean the video site? We’re fine with it. I’m terrible with that kind of thing.”
“Understood indeed!”
KBC Variety Department conference room.
Kang Min-ju, the PD called the greatest variety producer of this era, was deep in thought.
The flagship KBC variety show she led, Oji 1 Night.
It was a program that showed the raw, unfiltered experience of four fixed members and their guests spending time in remote mountain villages every week.
“Sigh… Isn’t there anyone with decent buzz, who’s also diligent and quick-witted?”
Where would someone like that be lying around! People who caught Kang Min-ju’s eye were rare.
She scanned the guest candidates her subordinate had listed up.
Kim Chan-uk, the popular idol riding high on his rising stock, and Luina Bell, the foreign idol with an endlessly positive mindset.
“These two are confirmed. The problem is the last spot.”
Kang Min-ju clutched her hair and recalled Kim Doyun, whom she had seen in Masterpiece Theater.
“That guy wasn’t bad either.”
Maybe it was the nature of the entertainment industry, where buzz quickly drew crowds. There were more than a few rude celebrities suffering from main-character syndrome.
Oji 1 Night lived by its realism, yet some refused to have their makeup ruined, others said they absolutely couldn’t do water activities.
Kang Min-ju tried to calm her boiling insides and thought of Kim Doyun again.
She had only secretly gone to watch him a couple of times while the socially inept director Lee Tae-ryun wasn’t looking, but each time he took the initiative to help the staff.
On top of that, he was a diligent rookie who paid attention to the atmosphere around him and used his sense to smooth over any incidents.
In Kang Min-ju’s eyes, Kim Doyun was truly a blessing for variety shows.
“His chemistry with our members would be incredible too.”
The one thing that bothered her was recognition.
No matter how good his wit and sense were, she couldn’t put an ordinary person in as a guest, could she?
Even though he had gained some buzz from Masterpiece Theater, getting approval from the director to slot a complete rookie into prime variety time was no easy task.
‘Just a little. If he had just a tiny bit more recognition than now, I would cast him immediately.’
Kang Min-ju let out a sigh.
“Should I just push it and ask for confirmation later?”
She slumped exhaustedly into her chair.
“…Let’s hold on.”
It was the moment she habitually opened NewTube.
“Huh?”
One of the top recommended video thumbnails on the main page caught her eye.
Today’s second most popular video. A familiar face.
The thumbnail showed a man eating tofu with a lonely expression, holding back tears.
Kang Min-ju smiled.
‘It’s settled!’