The Shrimp Caught in the Whale Fight
When you shoot a drama, the waiting time overwhelmingly dwarfs the actual filming time.
For supporting actors, it's routine to wait around all day just to film a handful of scenes.
So once a production enters filming, it's an unwritten industry rule to avoid taking on other schedules.
But for top stars whose schedules are strung together back to back, they sometimes have no choice but to juggle other commitments in parallel.
Most of the time, it's schedules that were booked before production even began.
Basically, filming schedules are assigned around the lead actors.
They have the most scenes to shoot, after all, so naturally they're the busiest on any given timeline.
But that's not always the case.
In those situations, things can be worked out flexibly depending on circumstances.
Since waiting time varies wildly depending on how scenes are arranged, rearranging the shooting order out of consideration for someone isn't impossible.
Like with Elder Yoon's situation on Yoon Seoeun, when special circumstances arise, the PD might quietly adjust the filming schedule on their own — but generally, everyone discusses it in advance and coordinates together.
That said, there's something to keep in mind here: whether you're a lead or a supporting actor, getting your set schedule renegotiated is a considerable privilege.
It's a system where whenever one person is accommodated, someone else inevitably loses out.
That's why actors tend to be quite sensitive about filming times.
Most of them took it as a personal slight if someone changed the shooting schedule and they ended up worse off — as if they were being disrespected.
And above all, no matter who you are, once you sign onto a drama, you have a duty to commit to that production.
Yet demanding that the entire filming schedule be rearranged around you — not once or twice, but across the board — is extraordinarily rare, even in an industry crawling with every manner of bizarre behavior.
How rare, you ask? So rare that even Cheon Yua wouldn't dare make such a demand of a director.
And that impossible demand was exactly what a Mun Entertainment representative was making, standing there with a perfectly straight face.
"...I'm sorry, but what, exactly?"
"Haha, Luna's schedule is determined on a yearly basis. She suddenly joined this production, yes, but surely you understand we can't just ignore her pre-planned commitments?"
"Then why did she join this production at all?"
"That's what I'd like to know. Honestly, just doing regular activities would have been far better for her than joining a drama..."
So that's roughly the situation, huh.
Luna personally wanted to join this production and joined of her own accord, while the company was less than enthusiastic about it.
Come to think of it, I remember that the Mun Entertainment rep didn't attend the closed-door meeting back at Flame, either.
I'd wondered then whether she was a one-person agency, but judging by the atmosphere, this seemed to have been her own impulsive decision.
"Is Luna perhaps making a comeback?"
"Yes, her comeback is already scheduled."
"Oh, for heaven's sake..."
It wasn't just a fan event or an ad shoot — it was a full comeback schedule, of all things.
She was planning to shoot a drama through the most demanding period a singer can face: right after a comeback.
But that's exactly what made it stranger.
If it's a comeback schedule, couldn't they just push it back?
Comeback timing is something the singer and the company decide together, after all.
Don't tell me — the company was forcing through the comeback regardless of the drama filming, or... something like that?
Two years, or this woman — it was a situation where I couldn't make heads or tails of anything.
With things as they were, the choice came down to two options.
Since filming hadn't started yet, either replace the actor, or accommodate the schedule on set.
Yang Yuri had raised such a fuss to get Luna on board, so we were put in a very awkward position, one way or another.
"..."
The two people who seemed most aggravated by this situation were easy to pick out.
Manager Min Dongsoo of Flame, who had come along to look after Cheon Yua.
And Director Bang Jin-gyu, the man in charge of this drama.
Frankly, I found it irritating too.
It wasn't so much the schedule conflict as the attitude of the Mun Entertainment people that rubbed me the wrong way.
Even though this was something that would hurt other actors, they were utterly shameless about it.
As if to say, what exactly are you all going to do about it?
Whatever kind of company doesn't care about Luna's acting career, in an industry where one handshake makes you friends, that kind of attitude is dangerously careless.
Don't tell me these people act like this all the time?
If so, Luna must be a truly extraordinary artist.
It would mean she enjoys popularity so overwhelming that her company can behave like that without any consequences.
"Hmm..."
Meanwhile, the other actors who would be quietly harmed by this showed surprisingly little reaction.
No — perhaps it's more accurate to say they were doing their best not to let it show.
Nam Hyunho just stared at them as if to say, what kind of nonsense is this, but didn't bother arguing, and Rion, the idol, was keeping his mouth shut as well.
Senior Kang Ji-woo merely clicked her tongue without saying a word.
And Luna herself, the party in question, was glowering at the Mun Entertainment rep with her brow furrowed.
There was something else rather funny here, too — Luna gave the distinct impression that she was hearing about all of this for the very first time.
This might be even more of a royal mess than I'd thought.
"...Very well. Let's work out the scheduling for now."
The first to respond was our own Manager Min Dongsoo of Flame.
Tasked with assisting Cheon Yua in place of our CEO, Manager Min Dongsoo reacted instantly to the slightest flicker in her eyes and agreed to the schedule adjustment.
Cheon Yua's face never changed expression, but she had apparently judged that a measured concession beat the risky, extreme option of swapping out the actor.
Watching him read her intent and react immediately — he'd spent years at Cheon Entertainment alongside Cheon Yua, and it showed: he'd clearly mastered the art of interpreting her will.
"Understood. Please send over the new schedule once it's ready."
Starting with Manager Min Dongsoo, the other representatives followed suit and accepted the schedule adjustment.
The actors each sent silent signals to their managers, and it seemed that was how things were going to shake out.
Which was, honestly, a bit funny in its own way.
Communication achieved through nothing more than a flick of the eyes. Just how highly skilled were the people gathered in this room?
And in contrast, my manager, Cheol-nam hyung...
"..."
He just stood there with his mouth shut.
Which is fair enough, really. A green rookie's lackey has no authority over anything.
Still, the way things landed, I'd ended up the unintended victim here.
Ultimately, the schedule would be reorganized around Luna or Cheon Yua — and once that happened, someone like me, with more screen time than either of them, would practically have to live on set.
Not that a rookie has any business keeping score on such things.
And since it was our first shoot, I'd been planning to stick around set as long as I could anyway.
But I couldn't deny that I felt like the shrimp caught in the whale fight.
"Has Mun Entertainment lost its mind?"
"This is how they do business?"
"Do they have any idea how much the actors here are worth?"
"If they were going to pull this garbage, they should have refused from the start."
But what worried me more than that was the reputation Mun Entertainment would earn as word spread through the assembled reps.
And all of it would come crashing down on Luna.
What an astonishingly incompetent company.
"Hey, lunatic."
"...Look, could you stop calling me a lunatic?"
"Why not? You're a lunatic, so I'm calling you a lunatic."
"I'd really rather not hear that from my senior."
"Isn't it even more impressive coming from me, then? A certified lunatic vouching for you as a genuine lunatic."
"...Well, damn."
Damn it. He's not wrong.
Right now I'd walked into a bar with Nam Hyunho.
We'd just wrapped the script reading and were about to head home when Nam Hyunho called out to me.
Things were about to get busy, he said, so let's grab a quick drink first.
So, assuming this was some kind of bonding session with the other cast members, I agreed — only to find it was a gathering of exactly two people.
What's more, this bar was a private room, sealed off on all sides like a closed chamber.
The kind of place perfect for hatching a scheme, I suppose?
I imagine most spots where celebrities can relax in peace look something like this, but the dim, gloomy lighting sent old memories flooding back.
"Shouldn't you have called Yua ssaem instead?"
"Huh? Yua ssaem? You're at the same company as her and you understand her even less than I do. That woman's a homebody — she'd appreciate a quiet den like this."
"...I'm sorry, what?"
I'd tossed the remark out without thinking, since the gloomy atmosphere did seem exactly like something Cheon Yua would love — and got back an answer I never saw coming.
Cheon Yua, a homebody?
If she shared the Heavenly Demon's temperament, she should have a raging case of wanderlust by rights...
"Then again... hasn't she holed up in her place doing absolutely nothing for the past few months?"
Something about that felt off.
Months, peacefully shut in one place?
If the Heavenly Demon had ever behaved like that, my working conditions would have been dozens of times more peaceful from that day on, let me tell you.
Does even the Heavenly Demon turn into a homebody once she becomes a celebrity?
She really seems quite different from the Heavenly Demon in ways like this. I should make a note of that.
"So why did you want to see me?"
"Hey, are we really the kind of people who need an excuse to meet?"
"No, it's not that, it's just..."
"Right, exactly. The kind of friends we are..."
"The kind where even with a reason, there's no real need to meet?"
"...Ugh. You absolute lunatic."
What an insane level of inner familiarity this man has with me.
Is he secretly starved for friendship, maybe?
If he doesn't have anyone around he could call a real friend, that might explain it.
Well, whatever. That's beside the point.
Since things had turned out this way, I decided to pump this industry information broker for a few things I was curious about.
"What do you think of what happened today?"
"Hm? What? Mun Entertainment?"
"Yes."
"They've lost the plot. Juggling a comeback alongside a drama shoot? What kind of lunatic even thinks up an idea like that?"
Watching Nam Hyunho shake his head, declaring it crazier than the time I'd beaten him up, I gathered this really wasn't an ordinary situation.
"So what kind of place is Mun Entertainment?"
"Ah, them. There's nothing there but Luna, right? Luna's basically the sole breadwinner keeping that company alive."
"Is that so?"
"They did gather up some trainees for a girl group debut, apparently."
"Done right, idols do make money."
"But none of them look like much of anything. You know what kind of world it is these days, and watching what these people are doing..."
"Hmm..."
So in other words, Mun Entertainment was a company held up entirely by Luna alone.
"Come to think of it, there's been a fair bit of chatter about Mun Entertainment, hasn't there."
"Chatter?"
"Yeah. That they can't do their job."
"Today's little display made that pretty obvious, I'd say."
"It's beyond that."
Fans cursing their star's agency is practically daily life in this industry, but apparently this one was worse than most.
The overwork controversies that plague every idol group were par for the course, and on top of that, they reportedly did absolutely nothing to manage toxic fans or obsessive sasaeng stalkers.
Among even moderately informed fans, the consensus was apparently that Escaping Moon was the only answer. Hearing it myself, I could see how there seemed to be no other way out.
"God, this girl just can't escape, here or there..."
Escaping as the only answer.
What an extraordinary woman she is. Why does fate keep doing her dirty like this, honestly?
"Well, this year makes it seven years, doesn't it? If she has any sense left, she'll find a way to switch companies, won't she?"
Even to me, that sounded like common sense — so why did I suspect that wouldn't happen?
Today alone told me as much.
That was in no way the behavior of an agency rep on the eve of a contract renewal. Not by any stretch.
My head was starting to ache over something that shouldn't be any of my business.