Revolvers and Gatling Guns
While Moon Soo-yeon made the rounds of the set greeting everyone, Cheon Yoo-ah approached us fully dressed in her filming costume. A purple top, leather hot pants, and a cowboy hat. A pair of revolvers hung at her waist, and an enormous case rode on her back. It was Violet's visual, unmistakable in character if nothing else.
"You're a little late today, Yoo-ah sunbae," I said, offering her a light greeting despite the weary look on her face. Cheon Yoo-ah, who usually kept to her filming schedule with military precision, had arrived a bit later than usual. She'd mentioned she had negotiations to handle regarding Luna, and apparently that business had dragged on longer than expected.
"Don't even get me started. I'm completely exhausted."
"Sounds like things went well, though."
"Well, yes. It's really, truly over now."
Moon Entertainment was all but confirmed to be heading into bankruptcy and dissolution, but there was still work left to do on our end. The procedure of reclaiming everything related to Luna. When an idol group leaves their original agency without renewing and re-forms elsewhere, they sometimes lose the rights to their old songs or their group name — think of it as untangling a similar set of issues. Of course, Luna was a solo singer and not an idol, but depending on how her contract with her former agency had been drafted, problems could still arise. Turns out intangible assets don't simply vanish because a company goes under. Moon Entertainment's creditors could theoretically reclaim them and put them to commercial use. And even setting that aside, it was better for us to settle everything cleanly now so no loose threads came back to bite us later. This was territory I knew nothing about, so I just nodded along. In any case, it was already sorted, which meant there was no reason to worry about it anymore.
"So, did you manage to find the guitar too?"
"Yes. It was just sitting around in the practice room, so there was nothing particularly holding it. Honestly, what stuck with me more was that we got Moon Soo-yeon's beloved guitar back." She had cut all emotional ties with Moon Entertainment, but there were still things she cared about. That guitar had been a gift from Moon Young-woo, the former CEO, back when she first started singing — and because she'd left the company so abruptly, she'd never had the chance to go back for it. The reason she'd accompanied Cheon Yoo-ah to Moon Entertainment today was to retrieve it in the first place. With CEO Moon under police investigation and the company in utter shambles, she'd worried it might have wandered off somewhere, but it came back safe, so I figured we could breathe easy.
"And that coffee truck over there...?"
"Ah, that? Moon Soo-yeon paid for that one personally."
"She did?"
"Yes. The company offered to cover it, but she refused. Said she needed to show sincerity."
"Hmm... well, she certainly showed plenty of it." A coffee truck like that had to run at least a few hundred thousand won, and she'd footed the bill herself. I couldn't speak for other celebrities, but didn't that woman have exactly 1.7 million won to her name right now? If she'd paid for that out of her own pocket in her situation, I couldn't imagine a more convincing display of sincerity.
"...The company should probably keep an eye on her finances."
"That's what I thought. We're considering assigning Sally to Moon Soo-yeon's side."
"As her manager?"
"No, as her coordi. We'll be getting her a male manager."
"...A coordi? Sally knows how to do that too?"
"Yes. She did my styling when I first debuted, actually. Given that I tend to attract stalkers(?), it seems like the least she can do."
Sally really was remarkable. What, exactly, could that woman not do? Wait — no. If that was Cheon Yoo-ah's debut era, wasn't that nine years ago? Sally had already been with Cheon Yoo-ah back then? Which meant...
"How old is Sally, exactly?"
"Ah, that... I don't actually know?"
A genuine mystery. If she'd worked in some country's intelligence service, retired, and then spent nine years at Cheon Yoo-ah's side, she had to be at least well into her mid-thirties — and yet her face hadn't changed a day. Slavic women were supposed to age early, from what I'd heard, but Sally was apparently the exception that proved the rule. In any case, setting all that aside, having the multi-talented Sally attached to Moon Soo-yeon would be a real comfort. Our guards made for a strange organization whose standard equipment included black masks, tranquilizers (illegal), and stun guns (also illegal), but when it came to escort duty and personal protection, they were more capable than anyone. If you wanted to protect someone like Moon Soo-yeon, who attracted stalkers and sasaeng fans in droves, that level of capability was simply what the job demanded.
"Looking at it that way, her joining the company building isn't a bad thing after all." Leave it to Cheon Yoo-ah — she'd had a plan from the start.
"Oh, right. Nam Hyun-ho sunbae was talking about our company."
"Nam Hyun-ho was?"
"Yes. He said he'd like to sign with us if possible."
"...Not bad at all."
"Right?"
She seemed to view Nam Hyun-ho joining Flame positively as well. Honestly, this was the way things should be. What Korean entertainment agency on earth would refuse a star of Nam Hyun-ho's caliber walking in the door of his own accord? Whatever happened, the decision belonged to the company and Cheon Yoo-ah. As far as I was concerned, passing his wishes along was everything within my power to do.
"Let's get to filming."
While I'd been chatting with Cheon Yoo-ah, it had become time to shoot. Today's scene was the assault on Hanyang. Violet, having arrived in Hanyang by train from Busan, is greeted by Lee Myung — and while the two of them travel together, they're ambushed by a group of unidentified attackers. The scheming old factions, alarmed that the gold mine's development would strengthen the royal court's power, had launched a surprise strike to nip the problem in the bud. Violet, who had already weathered several similar ambushes on the road from Busan to Hanyang, finally detonates all that accumulated fury and turns her attackers into a pincushion.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!!
Lee Myung wails at the carnage unfolding in the middle of Hanyang. Her first priority is getting Violet somewhere safe. It was obvious the factions trying to block the gold mine expedition would stop at nothing to arrest her. They couldn't touch a woman with full diplomatic status, of course — but even just having her schedule delayed would have been a devastating blow to their plans.
"—What in the world is..."
"—No, those bastards are getting on my last nerve!"
"—Ha. Enough. First, we run."
"—Okie, move, move~"
"OK. Beautiful."
"Thank you for your hard work, everyone — thank you!"
The moment Director Bang called the cut, Cheon Yoo-ah hurried over to where the stuntmen lay sprawled, helping each of them up one by one with words of thanks. Because the way they'd crumpled so realistically under the Gatling fire had really brought the scene to life — that was her thinking, anyway. I felt the same. They were action professionals, after all. They died very convincingly(?). Thanks to them, a scene involving a crowd of people had wrapped ahead of schedule, so they'd more than earned their thanks.
"Ah, wouldn't a revolver sequence have been better here?"
"No. The right response for the character is the Gatling, I'm telling you."
"Hmm, but then there's barely any revolver action at all."
"Is there really any reason for Violet to bother showing off revolver work?"
"But revolver action is just so pretty. Cheon Yoo-ah, twin revolvers going bang-bang, bang-bang—"
"Add some kicks and aerial moves to that?"
"Exactly!"
"Save that stuff for Lee Myung. Violet is all about firepower."
"Come on — what kind of lunatic unloads a Gatling gun in the middle of a city, seriously?"
"Which is exactly why Violet's a ruin maker."
There had been some friction over this scene between the director and the writer, you see. Director Bang felt that unleashing a Gatling in an urban battle was simply too brutish — that handling a squad of assassins with twin revolvers would be far more elegant. Yang Yuri, on the other hand, argued that brute simplicity was precisely what suited the character of Violet, and the two of them were still butting heads, each convinced of their own correctness. Personally, I thought it came down to taste. Director Bang was a pure action purist, and the kind of man who didn't particularly welcome wanton Gatling spray. But Yang Yuri's position was that any steampunk world absolutely needed a character dedicated to overwhelming firepower, so a collision between them was inevitable.
"Still, the scene came out beautifully, so... let's move on to the next one."
But as long as the scene had turned out well, Director Bang couldn't very well dig in his heels. That outburst was, well... a kind of grumbling? Nothing more than Director Bang venting his disappointment at being unable to direct Cheon Yoo-ah's extraordinary action performance himself. Deep down, he probably agreed that the Gatling was the right call for this scene anyway. And so, once again, the day's filming flowed along without a hitch.
Nam Hyun-ho's move to Flame happened immediately. Both the company and the man himself wanted it clearly, so there was no reason to delay — and no reason for additional calculations to enter the picture. No organizational restructuring was needed either: Nam Hyun-ho already led his own team, and the contract was closed with that team joining Flame as a whole. The condition was that when Nam Hyun-ho left Flame someday, his team would resign with him, together.
"Our Hyun-ho hyungnim is in your care now!"
The moment he joined the company, Jo Gyu-tae — Nam Hyun-ho's manager, three years his junior — made the rounds of every department with greetings. Not that there were many departments to visit — just the schedule management team run by Team Leader Seo and the media management team run by Team Leader Hong. And the way he made a point of greeting the actors individually as well told me he was genuinely well-mannered.
"Honestly, it's been a lot to handle. Hyungnim is... not an ordinary person, to put it mildly. Our first meeting was a shock, but looking back now, it turned out to be a wonderful connection."
"I hear you. I look forward to working with you too."
"And thanks to all this, the weirdos hanging around hyungnim have mostly disappeared. People like Jo Yooshin. Or Jo Yooshin. Or, you know, Jo Yooshin. The man never listened to a word I said."
"Oh, is that so?"
He also seemed to have suffered quite a bit covering for Nam Hyun-ho, the self-proclaimed nutcase. Three years younger than Nam Hyun-ho put him at exactly my age, and if he'd been trailing that man around at that age, I could absolutely believe it. For some reason, he seemed to know where Nam Hyun-ho came from, too. How to put it — he had an ink-and-paper smell about him? My gut said he was from the Changcheon side. Though what amused me was that of all the examples of terrible people he could have cited, he'd named Jo Yooshin. And not just once — Jo Yooshin three whole times. Just how much did this guy hate Jo Yooshin? Either way, they'd shed one heavy burden thanks to us, so it was clearly a trade both sides could be satisfied with.
"Wow. You actually live at the office? You really were a lunatic."
"...I'd rather not hear that from you, sunbae."
Just as I'd predicted, Nam Hyun-ho showed no intention of actually living at the company building. Even now he was looking at me like I was a madman for sleeping at my own workplace. Having a sane, sensible actor join the company was obviously welcome news. But that the sensible actor in question was Nam Hyun-ho left me with a strange feeling. That man was without question a bigger nutcase than me. Why did he keep calling me the crazy one? Something about this was definitely off.
Be that as it may, with Nam Hyun-ho's arrival, Flame Entertainment had become a company boasting an extraordinary roster of actors: Cheon Yoo-ah, Moon Soo-yeon, Nam Hyun-ho, plus Baek Si-woo. Small in number, but an elite squad that even the major agencies couldn't easily match. Of course, from where I stood, it was a bizarre party assembled out of the Heavenly Demon (Demon), the Leader of Haomun (Evil), and the Namgung clan (Righteous). But the simple fact that no one could afford to dismiss Flame Entertainment was reason enough to look on the bright side. After all, Moon Soo-yeon joining the company had been my own doing — the harvest of seeds I'd sown myself.