Chapter 8
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: #bridge Content Consultation
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First, I let out a sigh of relief realizing it had nothing to do with yesterday or this morning.
"Huu~."
I'd been worried that such a great ability might become unusable right away.
With relief washing over me, even the ceiling lights and the smell of grilling meat from the kitchen seemed pleasant.
"Hmm hmm, yeah, yeah. Ever since he started his business, he just looks so busy."
"You think so too? Like this morning—he kept sitting there yawning. He looked so pitiful."
U Dayoung held her cup to her lips and poured out nothing but worries about her boyfriend, Kim Woohyun.
"Aww, enough already. You're fretting over your boyfriend all day long."
Hearing her go on about her boyfriend—the topic always on the tip of her tongue—already had me feeling drained.
"Anyway, we're gonna make some content just between us, right?"
"Yeah! Exactly. What do you think?"
Putting the Scenario Book aside, this was our day job anyway, so I nodded.
"Got it, let's give it a shot. But since you suggested it, you handle the concept and script, okay?"
"Aw, why me~? Let's do it together. Don't just tag along."
"What're you saying? You said we should."
While we bickered, the food arrived and filled the table.
"It's hot, so let's eat quick and head back. We can brainstorm there."
The office without AC was bound to be hot no matter how much wind blew.
A lollipop clenched between my teeth, I reviewed the finished edit one more time.
"Hmm... good enough."
I saved the edit and sent it to U Dayoung.
"Dayoung, sound editing..."
Something felt too quiet, so I stood and glanced over at her spot. She was face-down on her desk, sleeping soundly.
"......Goddamn it."
I approached to scold the sleeping U Dayoung when I spotted a scribbled-up notebook next to her desk.
"......?"
She must've been brainstorming content—doodles, but with some structured concepts.
[Honest Talk Between Guy Friend and Girl Friend]
Just a working title, but the outline was decent.
"......Sigh. This screams flop at first glance."
The structure was solid, but the content itself didn't sit right with me.
"Ung."
U Dayoung woke up and glanced up at me.
"Ah, you saw it?"
"What, this? Do it just like this?"
There was even a sketch of the studio setup below.
"This feels like a flop. Wanna try flipping the script?"
"Ung, Siu. Let's do this for real. Stuff like this is blowing up on YouTube lately."
"......Sigh."
I tsked and shook my head, so she furrowed her brow and jabbed my side with her fist.
"That's why I can't do lookbooks or anything."
"Lookbook?"
I scanned the seated U Dayoung.
She definitely wasn't as sleek and toned as a model.
Her face was slim and pretty, but her figure was quite curvy.
"Sigh."
As I furrowed my brows in thought, U Dayoung jabbed my side again with her fist.
"Damn it! I'm not fat!"
"Didn't say you were."
"Agh~, your face says otherwise. Wanna die?"
"Let's just run with this. If it flops, oh well."
Soon as we wrapped up the day's work, we got started in one of the wide, empty corners.
Click.
I flipped on the lights, brightened things up, and slipped on my work gloves.
"So, how do you wanna set it up?"
"Hmm, well..."
We moved stuff around to her specs and finished setting up with the one camera we had.
"Hold on. Just setting the camera. Gonna add some color correction."
I fiddled with the lights while eyeing the camera feed.
"Too much color bleed next to the light."
"Ah, got it."
U Dayoung shifted the light to the side as I said.
"Hmm, better. So, the script?"
"No script. We'll ad lib."
"......"
I stared at U Dayoung, standing there arms crossed, all confident.
This wasn't just messing around with a friend—we were doing this to make money. No script didn't compute for me.
"For real, no script?"
"Yep. That's our thing, right? We're friends. So, natural, like close pals hanging out..."
"Hey, even then, we need a guide. What's the point without a frame?"
I pointed out the issue, and she froze, her face turning glum.
"But Woohyun's struggling... I wanna do something to help. Even if it's not great."
She was usually meticulous about work, but with Kim Woohyun involved, she was going full emotional.
I scratched the back of my neck and nodded like I got it, and she went on.
"It's the first ep, a pilot, so we'll intro ourselves like a teaser preview."
"......Sigh."
"No more tsking. Siu~, you're way too negative. Let's stay positive~."
"......Sigh."
To draw a clear line, I said,
"If it flops, not on me, got it?"
"Aw, why~? We're in this together~. Siu~! How could you betray me like that~?"
"......"
For now, we set up a desk and chairs in front of the camera and sat down.
"Alright~!"
U Dayoung clapped with high energy and launched into greetings.
"Hi everyone~! Your girl friend U Dayoung~. Okay, your turn to greet."
"......Your guy friend Nam Siu. Sigh, total flop vibes."
"Ooh, love that reaction. Feels so chill and real. Like we're actual friends."
"......Dayoung, seriously, let's call Woohyun and show him this clip."
She was all passion, no plan. Figuring she'd nag until we saw actual reactions, I played along and filmed episode 1 plus the preview.
"Episode 1 theme: How to befriend the opposite sex, Mr. Siu."
"......Shit man. Alright, how to befriend the opposite sex. Hmm."
After filming the ad-lib episode 1 and preview, we did playback.
"......Editing can salvage this, right?"
U Dayoung gave me those pitiful eyes.
"Goddamn it....... I'll edit it, so nail the sound sync. After corrections, I'll send it over."
"Tomorrow then?"
"I'll edit and head out. Go home first."
"Heh. Fighting, Siu~."
Alone in the office, I reviewed it once more.
Ad lib made it super raw.
Way too half-assed for a full episode 1. I cut most of it down to a short clip.
"......Barely anything usable......"
Still, there were some funny bits here and there, so I built around those.
"Hmm....... Hmm......"
Edit nearly done, reviewing again—a story idea flashed through my mind.
Friends.
A story possible because we're friends.
"No Discomfort...... Structure's spot on...... Immersion should rise nicely......"
Couldn't use the Scenario Book during cooldown, but I saved one scenario on the computer.
"......"
Before I knew it, I'd written several pages—a full short story's worth.
"Short on start and end timings...... Sharper character details......"
By now, the sun had set outside, leaving only the sound of cars on the road.
Edit wrapped, first preview uploaded.
"Hmm......"
As expected, views were low, reactions lukewarm.
Edited it decently, but first upload, no promo, nobody knows us—makes sense.
"This alone's too thin. We've got our portfolio stuff."
I said to U Dayoung, moping over the views.
"Upload those too. One piece of content feels too light."
"You think......?"
"It's only been 2 days. Hitting ten thousand views wouldn't be weird."
Her glum face eased a bit at the reassurance.
"If you wanna help Woohyun, don't rush—plan it right."
"Yeah......"
I let out a soft sigh and showed her one scenario.
"Whipped up concepts for eps 2 and 3—emailing 'em. Check for reference. Sending links to similar YouTube vids too."
"Really?"
U Dayoung looked at me, eyes all touched.
"Siu~, thanks so much. Heh."
"......I owe Woohyun plenty too. You're burning this hot for him."
"Hehe."
"Gonna upload editing tips and tricks too."
I sketched future content, and she clapped like a seal.
"Wow.... You think of everything?"
"Treat me later. And we're keeping it from Woohyun till it pops off, right?"
"Yep, total surprise later."
I emailed her the zipped files and shooed her home.
[Neulsom Studio]
Getting serious about the channel helped me too, but something mattered more.
"Gotta build it up right to minimize Discomfort."
Scenarios were one thing, but minimizing U Dayoung's Discomfort was key.
This was the buildup for that.
One more day passed. That night after work.
Home, lo-fi hip-hop pumping through my Bluetooth speaker, pen rolling in hand.
"......Guy friend, girl friend—nice."
A mischievous smile played on my lips.
"Gotta max out her drive to help Kim Woohyun."
This scenario wasn't just about my lust running wild.
Scratch scratch.
Thoughts sorted, cooldown over—I started writing in the Scenario Book.