Chapter 192
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 192
Chapter Title: A Hollywood Surprise
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Saturday.
Inside the car, on the way to the film set.
>Jukyung: Whoa. The leads for our movie are Kim Jongho and Lee Dajin!
>Juhee: I saw it too! The article just dropped!
>Jaehan: The academy just called me!
“Daho-hyung. The articles about Jongho-samchon and Dajin-nuna are out.”
“They said they were releasing the press statement today. Looks like it’s up now.”
>Jukyung: Trending! It’s trending!!
NEW. Zombie movie Escape
NEW. Kim Jongho Lee Dajin Escape
NEW. Escape Choi Daeman
……
10. Blue Dragon Film Award
[Korean-style Zombie Movie, ‘Escape’!]
[Directed by Choi Daeman!]
[Starring Lee Dajin and Kim Jongho!]
-Ah. It's a Choi Daeman film. The CG for Evil Spirit was good, so this should be decent, right?
=The CG for Evil Spirit still looks amazing, even after a few years.
=That gho… st…
-A Korean zombie movie… Ugh… I’m both excited and not excited, lol.
-I just hope the makeup isn't awkward, lol.
=There’s a rumor that a Hollywood special effects makeup team is on board…
=Is that rumor still going around? So is it true? Or not?
-Oh, Lee Dajin and Kim Jongho. Then it should be worth watching.
=22 Both of them have a good eye for projects.
=But it’s the kid from the children's play Spring and Naeuiwon, lol.
=Ooh. Right. They’re probably both close with Lee Seojun.
=I want to be friends with Seojun too.
After looking through the articles, Seojun read his friends’ messages again.
>Juhee: It’s amazing that it’s even trending!
>Juhee: Just yesterday, it was completely buried.
>Juhee: My mom asked if we were really filming this, lol.
>Jaehan: Me too, lol. The academy told me it might be better not to do it, but they just called.
>Jaehan: They told me to work hard, lol.
>Jukyung: Now it finally feels like we’re shooting a movie, haha.
>Jukyung: But Go Joowon hasn’t been announced yet, huh?
Go Joowon.
At the mention of the role he was playing, Seojun fiddled with his phone for a moment before quickly typing out a message.
>Juhee: Yup. It’s just a few days away!
>Jaehan: Acting like a zombie is hard ㅠ
>Jukyung: I’m so nervous. With Kim Jongho and Lee Dajin in it, everyone’s going to be watching!
>Jaehan: You’re right;;
>Jukyung: What is it? (Rabbit emoji with sparkling eyes)
>Juhee: What, what?
After the final message with a bear blowing red hearts, the immediate replies stopped. In the quiet chatroom, only the round bear continued to send hearts.
But that was only for a moment.
*Ding-!*
*Ding-!*
*Ding-!!!*
An Daho laughed at the noisy notifications.
“Did you tell your friends?”
“Yes. I’m getting a ton of messages.”
Seojun burst out laughing at his friends’ incredible reactions.
***
“Whaaaat!?”
“What, what is it?!”
Hearing a scream from their daughter’s room, her mom and dad rushed in. Oblivious to their entrance, Yang Juhee stared at her phone with a dazed expression.
“Filming? Escape? Go Joo-woooon?! Go Joowon?!”
The lead role of Go Joowon in *Escape*, which had been left blank, was Lee Seojun?!
*Ha, ha, ha.* Laughing, Yang Juhee began tapping furiously at her phone. Seeing their daughter laugh menacingly while her hands never stopped moving, her parents quietly closed the door.
“She said she was filming a movie… she must be under a lot of stress.”
“I know. I should make her something delicious tomorrow.”
“But seeing as Kim Jongho and Lee Dajin are in it, don’t you think the movie will be a hit?”
“I hope it does well.”
The parents, who had been on edge about their daughter’s unmentioned movie, could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
It wasn’t just Yang Juhee; the same was happening in Kim Jukyung’s and Kang Jaehan’s homes.
Once the flood of messages subsided, Seojun finally entered the group chat. He scrolled past hundreds of shocked messages to read what his friends, who had somewhat regained their senses, had written.
>Juhee: Are you crazy!?
>Jukyung: Go Joowon. You’re Go Joowon?!
>Jaehan: My god…
>Juhee: Lee Seojun. I’ll see you at school!
>Jukyung: You have yet to taste our wrath, have you?
>Jaehan: Let me get one punch in…
>Jaehan: So that’s why you were learning archery.
>Juhee: You learn so many sports that I just thought it was another one of those!
>Jukyung: To think you were Go Joowon!
For some time after, messages from his friends, still unable to escape their shock, continued to pour in.
***
“? Director. Are you feeling sick?”
At the staff member’s question, the director of photography shook his head with a blank look. Even with the expensive camera he had so desperately wanted right in front of him, his mind was elsewhere.
It wasn't just the director of photography. The art director and the sound director also stared blankly at Director Choi Daeman and Assistant Director Park Jaemin. Their expressions were ones of utter disbelief.
It was then.
The metal door creaked open.
*Swish!*
The directors’ heads whipped around. Choi Daeman and Park Jaemin, who had been acting nonchalant, couldn’t hide their tension either, their eyes instinctively darting toward the entrance.
“Oh, sorry.”
The head of Plus+ Korea raised both hands as all eyes fell on him. CEO Lee Hansol, who had come with him, also apologized, as if understanding the deeply disappointed looks on the directors’ faces.
It was disappointing, yet nerve-wracking.
The staff members, who were moving equipment, tilted their heads at the chaotic expressions on the directors’ faces.
Choi Daeman welcomed Lee Hansol and the branch manager.
“Ah, you’re here.”
“Yes. I was curious. It’s my first time seeing those actors film.”
“I’ve seen it a few times, but… a situation like this is a first. Besides, isn’t actor Lee Seojun coming too?”
“He’s not filming today, though.”
“How was it meeting them yesterday?”
Lee Hansol’s eyes sparkled. Yesterday, Director Choi Daeman and Assistant Director Park Jaemin had met with the two actors. Seojun wasn’t there since he had to go to school, which should have made things more tense, but as they talked about ‘Lee Seojun’ and ‘Evil Spirit,’ they lost all track of time.
“It still feels like a dream.”
It was a wonderful time, even in retrospect. Moreover, a great idea had emerged from their conversation.
‘Though thanks to that, the other directors are in quite a state.’
Assistant Director Park Jaemin smiled.
Today’s shoot was an unofficial first shoot before the official start of filming.
Before the crank-in, Director Choi Daeman had gathered trustworthy and tight-lipped people under the guise of a practice shoot. He had informed the main directors in advance.
‘But… was it a mistake to tell them?’
Choi Daeman scratched his cheek, looking at the directors’ dazed faces. He figured it was better for them to be nervous now than to freeze up and be unable to work later.
Besides, he had to tell the directors who would be filming the ‘good idea’ themselves.
*Ding-*
A text arrived from Manager An Daho.
>Seojun has arrived.
>Joining the actors. We’re coming in now.
“Director Song!”
“Hah!”
At Choi Daeman’s call, the director of photography, now on high alert, responded by taking a deep breath and quickly prepared to shoot with the camera from his bucket list. Not just one, but all the cameras set up in various places were turned on.
The director of photography’s hands trembled as he handled the camera. He had never imagined he would so suddenly fulfill a dream he had only briefly entertained in his reckless twenties. He bit his lip hard, feeling like he might scream at any moment.
“Director Kim! Director Park!”
At Choi Daeman’s call, the sound and lighting directors moved themselves. Their hands were shaking too. *Aaaah.* Inside, they were just screaming at the impending situation. To think a day like this would come in their lifetime! Their hearts weren’t just pounding; they were thundering.
The art director, with nothing to do, just paced back and forth.
“Everyone, put down what you’re holding.”
“Pardon?”
“Put whatever you’re holding on the floor so you don’t drop it.”
The staff members tilted their heads at Assistant Director Park Jaemin’s words but began to put down the luggage and props they were holding one by one.
“/What’s going on?/”
“/He’s telling us to put down anything we’re holding./”
The leader, who could handle daily conversations in English, answered Jenna Tride’s question. At his words, Jenna Tride and the Mirror team also put down the papers they were holding.
The few staff members with empty hands, the special effects makeup team Mirror, Jenna Tride, and the leader of the Bone Breaking dance team, simply blinked, watching the directors prepare for the shoot with grim expressions.
They had been called in for a ‘full-scale practice’ before the crank-in. They were even told which scene they would be ‘practicing’ today and were told to prepare the special effects makeup and zombie acting.
Jenna Tride and the Mirror team, who had plenty of filming experience, were their usual selves. But the leader of the Bone Breaking team, for whom this was his first movie shoot, had come prepared with a relaxed mind, thinking, ‘So they even do practice runs since it’s the first time.’ But the situation was turning strange.
Just as an inexplicable tension filled the air, the metal door creaked open.
The branch manager, Lee Hansol, and the directors gulped. The lens of the large camera, personally operated by the director of photography, turned toward the entrance.
The filming of the ‘making-of film’—an idea from yesterday’s short meeting that would be uploaded to N-tube after *Escape*’s release—had begun.
The staff, who had been glancing around at the unexplainable tension in the studio, let out a sigh of relief at the sight of the people entering, their tension dissipating.
“Oh. Actor Kim Jongho is here.”
“Actor Lee Dajin, too.”
“Huh? What’s actor Lee Jiseok doing here?”
“Actor Park Dohun is here too?”
For all the tension, the people coming in were ordinary. It was unexpected to see lead actors Kim Jongho and Lee Dajin, followed by Lee Jiseok and Park Dohun, but it wasn’t enough to be this tense.
However, the directors’ tension did not ease. The camera lens never left the entrance for a second. The four actors, aware that the making-of film was being shot, walked in with the most meaningful expressions they could muster before stepping slightly to the side.
“Huh?”
The staff, who had been wondering why Lee Jiseok and Park Dohun were here, blinked. Was it a mirage? They rubbed their eyes and looked again, but the three figures entering the doorway remained unchanged.
Two foreigners slowly taking off their sunglasses and one boy radiating a sparkling aura.
Even in casual clothes, the star aura flowing from them made everyone stare blankly.
Their minds momentarily froze at the appearance of stars they never expected to see here. Like an old computer booting up, their brains slowly processed the images of the three people, and when they realized their identities with a jolt of lightning, they forgot to breathe.
Had they been holding anything, they would have surely dropped it from the shock.
Even Jenna Tride and the Mirror team, who were accustomed to Hollywood actors, widened their eyes at the sight of actors they never imagined they’d see in a place like this.
The leader of the Bone Breaking team, who had been excited just by Lee Jiseok's group, now looked completely dumbfounded. The branch manager and CEO Lee Hansol wore expressions of awe, while Choi Daeman and Park Jaemin, who had briefly met them yesterday, clutched their racing hearts.
The lights shone on the three actors.
Lee Jiseok and Kim Jongho stepped out of the spotlight, smiling as if they found the people’s reactions amusing. Lee Dajin and Park Dohun also let out small laughs.
The sound director licked his dry lips and wondered what background music would suit the ‘making-of film.’ Perhaps something heavy would be good. No, light music might be good too. As he considered various classical and pop songs, something came to his mind.
‘No, the *Shadowman* OST would be perfect!’
*Dung!*
“Hello!”
It was Lee Seojun, who had become a Hollywood star at a young age, starting with the *Shadowman* series.
“Nice to meet you.”
It was Evan Block, who had become a hero to people all over the world through the *Shadowman* series.
“Please take care of us!”
It was Richel Hill, who had become a global star by appearing in the *Shadowman* series.
It was the arrival of the *Shadowman* team.
As the staff stared blankly at the three Hollywood actors, Director Choi Daeman opened his mouth with an overwhelmed smile.
“This is actor Lee Seojun, who will be playing Go Joowon.”
My god.
The staff’s eyes widened. Jenna Tride and the Mirror team, who didn’t know Korean, asked the dance team leader, but he seemed to hear nothing.
“And these are actors Richel Hill and Evan Block, who will be making a cameo appearance.”
My god. My god.
At the unbelievable truth, the staff’s jaws dropped. Jenna Tride and the Mirror team, who had miraculously picked up the word ‘cameo’ despite the Korean pronunciation, were also aghast.
Was this an April Fool’s joke, a hidden camera prank?
Just as such thoughts arose at the utterly unbelievable appearance of Hollywood actors in a Korean film, Choi Daeman delivered the final word, as if placing a period at the end of a sentence.
“This is a secret until the release, so please be sure to keep it.”
My god!!
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