Huh? That Scene? Then Probably...
Kim Iseo and Sua's video call went on.
"...This is excellent?"
That was Kim Iseo's reaction the instant she took in how Sua looked. The two of them talked with each other's faces before them, if only through a screen.
"Sua, you filmed it looking exactly like this. Is that right?"
"Yes."
"And all of this was your idea."
Sua nodded, and Kim Iseo swallowed a breath of admiration.
Excellent. Truly excellent.
It was nothing like the styling Kim Iseo had pictured. Ask her whether the result was poor, though, and the answer was absolutely not. If anything, it had leapt past her expectations, and that was what astonished her.
I like that it doesn't feel artificially dressed up. Nothing excessive, and above all, natural. Like this, the instinct to reject it ought to drop sharply.
Thinking so, Kim Iseo studied Sua's appearance once more.
The styling had only just been wiped away, so a few ends of her hair still floated, and the white hair felt coarse in texture overall. Even so, her features alone remained razor-clear.
An unfinished look, brimming with possibility... It makes you want to get your hands all over it however you please. That's what she intended.
People admire a finished work, but show them the possibility in something unfinished and they begin to dream. They can't help wanting to walk the road to completion alongside it. And in Kim Iseo's eyes, Sua's present appearance struck that nerve brilliantly. If even she, who prided herself on a keen eye, felt it, then of course it would land with everyone else.
"Sua, you worked hard. And you did well."
That, then, was the best thing Kim Iseo had to say.
In a better mood now, the CEO went on.
"Now that I think of it, I already told them you won't be auditioning for Director Kim Jungi's project. Chief Seo Jaewoo must have talked himself up something fierce. He all but clung to me, begging that you at least show your face."
Only then did Sua remember Director Kim Jungi's film, Life is All About Money. Right. There had been a movie like that.
...Wasn't it common sense to forget a Grade 6 film?
"Thank you."
Sua's reply was short.
She was grateful to Kim Iseo, whose work was crisp and clean, and a little grateful even to that Grade 6 script called Life is All About Money. Because of it, she had come to grasp the potential of her Special Privilege far more clearly, and she had even come away with piano skill and music theory.
Is my personality changing, little by little, because of the Special Privilege too...?
Lately Sua had been feeling that she had grown strangely more mature, and it was then that Kim Iseo continued.
"Well, I turned them down with the best answer I could manage. That you're a rookie, so for now you'll concentrate solely on Special Task Force 808."
"That much seems fine."
"More than fine. The part about your heart not stirring... If I had delivered it exactly as it was, they truly would have turned the place upside down."
Kim Iseo blanched, as if the mere imagining made her dizzy.
"Of course, even the softened version I passed along has them raging, I'm sure. Director Kim Jungi nurses a grudge for a very long time. We discussed Seo Yeonju's casting once before, and there was friction then as well."
"He's a tiring man in every direction."
"That's because he cares more for face than for logic. He thinks a rookie like you is obligated to stamp your face on his audition, no exceptions. In the language of young people, he's a textbook old-timer."
Sua only nodded.
A grudge? Honestly, it didn't even register as a penalty. No matter how many times she turned it over, simply enduring his resentment was a hundred times better than throwing her whole body into a Grade 6 film.
Right. Smart Sua.
"Stamping my face doesn't sit well with me. It feels like the point is the visit, not the acting. I want to give my best every single time."
Inside, Sua was quietly startled. Look at that. Look at that. She really had changed a little. Unlike before, an answer like this just came rolling out.
"I like that attitude of yours, too. And if you happened to pass, pulling out would only become harder. We'll simply have to live with things turning awkward with the Kim Jungi camp."
"Yes."
At that, Kim Iseo, who had been quietly watching for a reaction, thought to herself.
She isn't even particularly frightened at the idea of crossing a master director. Is she fearless, or does she have a plan?
Somehow, if it was the Sua she knew, Kim Iseo felt it would be the latter. For a moment she even pictured Sua founding her own company and pulling off this and that, but she let the thought go soon enough. For now, it was a distant matter.
The conclusion was singular. The water was already spilled. She would trust a Sua like this.
"Sua, do you remember what you once said to me?"
"Which words."
"That in place of cutting Director Kim Jungi's work, you would seek out projects that make your heart race, and throw yourself into them."
"I remember."
"Good. You can prove it slowly, from here on. So that someday I feel my decision to trust you completely was the right one."
It was then that a text arrived on Kim Iseo's phone.
One good thing about a video call through wireless earbuds: you didn't have to hold the phone to your ear. Because of that, she could check a message even now, in the middle of talking with Sua.
Park Joon. Wasn't he the director of the short film Sword? There was no reason to delay, so Kim Iseo's fingers moved at once.
Kim Iseo tilted her head, just slightly.
Whether for a shoot or for a real event, a dress in the entertainment world ranked among the most expensive of costumes. It was never a request one made lightly, and so a question mark rose.
Whether Sword later truly reached the finals or failed to, a message like this could only please Kim Iseo.
Director Park Joon had been walking nothing but a downhill road, his pride scraped along the bottom. And now he sends a message like this? Just how much did that shoot delight him?
The one who had changed him this much would be Sua, and Sua now belonged to Mystic. It was only right that Kim Iseo be glad. Her mood had lifted, and she had no reason to refuse.
"CEO."
Sua's voice reached her then. Kim Iseo snatched her eyes from the screen and focused on the call.
"Ah, Sua. I'm sorry. An urgent text came in."
"It's all right. More than that, if there are any scripts related to music, could you look into them for me? The film's subject doesn't have to be music. Even a role that simply plays music would be fine."
"...Music?"
Kim Iseo cocked her head.
It was as it always was. Something she had not expected in the least had come out of Sua's mouth.
"Music, out of nowhere?"
Sua thought for a moment.
"I just have a lot of hobbies, originally."
Meanwhile, at the studio for Special Task Force 808.
With not even a week left before principal photography, every one of them was moving at a fierce clip. Writer Lee Geumsuk tapped at her laptop while taking in the air of the set, and the crew ran in every direction. Commanding them was PD Choi Heewon, pacing until the soles of his shoes threatened to wear through.
"This section here... I believe a water truck would be better. It is a crime scene, after all, so I think it will serve us far better if the whole place is soaked and the rain comes down in a steady drizzle."
"Yes. I see it the same way. A wet floor has another virtue. The police sirens reflect off the ground. That feeling is good."
"As expected, hear one thing and you understand two. In any case, we have looked over everything once. Would the director of photography gather the camera team separately? Let us go through it once more among ourselves."
"Yes!"
Nor was the fervor limited to the production team. Now and then Kim Seonil could be seen checking blocking all over the set, and the crew muttered as they passed.
"Seonil is ridiculously diligent."
"He was devoted to this project from the start, fussing over the casting one by one. Honestly, at first I wondered if it was really to that degree... Seeing him now, he's earned it. What kind of passion is that?"
And it was not only Kim Seonil. Other actors had come to the set as well, Park Dohui and Hwang Myung-pil among them, wanting to match their performances on location. For the production team it was as delightful as it was startling. A set was not ordinarily a place like this. It was a place as dreary as could be, and as cold.
"We will check the status once more in thirty minutes! I am taking a short rest from this moment! The rest of you, do not push yourselves too hard. Rest in between as you work!"
PD Choi Heewon bellowed once, then came to Writer Lee Geumsuk's side, and she stretched long, as if she meant to rest too.
"I'm all stiff. I'm going to die."
"Is the script coming along?"
"With what I can do, this is as far as it goes for now. The rest, I'll know once I see the actors perform. And once I see that, I'll have to revise again."
"You say things that will draw blood and tears from the actors."
"Oh, please. If they want to be part of my work, they should be ready for at least this much."
Lee Geumsuk and Choi Heewon chattered in their usual way for a moment, then fell silent altogether. Not from awkwardness. They simply had no strength left to talk. Both of them were utterly spent.
But then.
"Well, Miss Sua..."
"...Really? Director Kim Jungi's project?"
Lee Geumsuk's and Choi Heewon's ears shot up. Any other gossip they might have let pass, but talk of Sua pulled their interest before they knew it. Unable to beat their curiosity, the two went over.
"You were talking about Miss Sua, weren't you? I'd like to hear it too."
"Ah, well..."
Everyone only glanced about, testing the air.
"You're really going to leave it like this? I'm quite interested in Miss Sua myself."
"No, it's nothing much... Wait, is it? You know the new project Director Kim Jungi is making this time?"
"Life is All About Money? Of course."
"Word's going around that Miss Sua blew off the audition."
For a moment, the two of them could only blink.
"Not that she was rejected. That she rejected it? Director Kim Jungi's project? Where did a story like that even begin?"
"There's a Chief Seo Jaewoo under Director Kim Jungi, and it sounds like he got absolutely torn apart. They say it started when he got dead drunk at a gathering and started venting. He did say it was a secret, but this industry doesn't really have those, does it? So the story keeps making the rounds."
A drunk leaking information was hardly a surprise. The industry was cruel from the outset, and force-feeding someone alcohol just to extract information was an everyday affair. What startled Writer Lee Geumsuk and PD Choi Heewon was something else entirely: that Sua had refused Director Kim Jungi's project. The two of them looked at each other.
"Director Kim Jungi's project this time... Didn't they say they're bringing the rating down to fifteen? It seemed decent enough to take. Why didn't she?"
"...That's what I thought. The schedule is even the second half of this year. It shouldn't have strained Miss Sua's calendar."
Lee Geumsuk and Choi Heewon turned, wanting the reason.
Park Dohui only shrugged.
"She said she'd focus on the project she's doing now. That's how she turned it down."
She indicated the other actors gathered nearby with her chin.
"That's why so many actors came today. A lead who can actually act is giving up a master's project to focus on this one alone, so we ought to work hard too."
Of course this was a misunderstanding quite far from Sua's intent, but it was reason enough to move Lee Geumsuk and Choi Heewon.
The two of them thought it at the same time.
...She'd throw away an opportunity that good? For our project?
After stepping back from the actors, who went on with their talk, Writer Lee Geumsuk and PD Choi Heewon faced each other and murmured.
"It's moving. For Miss Sua to care about our project that much..."
"But Miss Sua's character isn't someone who moves on sentiment alone, is it? Just think back to the contract negotiation. It means something didn't fit her own calculations..."
PD Choi Heewon spoke as if something had struck him.
"Could she have caught a scent of something?"
"A scent?"
"Yes. Special Task Force 808 and Sword succeed, while Director Kim Jungi's new film runs into some misfortune..."
"...Oh, come on. Surely not. She isn't a fortune-teller."
"True. I want to take it back the moment I've said it."
They shook their heads together.
If it truly came to pass, it would be nothing short of chilling. And yet, why was it that if it was Lee Sua, it felt as though she really might?
It was then.
"PD! PD Choi Heewon!"
The film's sound director came running toward him, and he looked quite different from usual. Ordinarily he simply ran up. Now he was sprinting with a phone thrust out before him, as if he were coming for the sole purpose of handing it over.
"What is the matter?"
The sound director answered without so much as wiping his sweat.
"Um, PD, it's..."
"Speak calmly. What on earth has happened?"
"Well, I think you need to take this first."
Choi Heewon had never seen the sound director this frantic. Feeling somewhat dazed, he took the phone.
"Hello. PD Choi Heewon?"
"Yes. Who is this?"
"It's me. Director Go Taemin."
"Yes. Director Go Taemin. A moment. Go Taemin? Director Go Taemin...?"
The eyes of PD Choi Heewon, steady as stone, flew wide.
"I was talking with the sound director about various things, and this seemed a matter I should discuss with you, PD Choi, so I asked him to put you on. You must be in the thick of it. Was I imposing?"
"H-how could you be? Please, speak freely."
PD Choi Heewon set courtesy first. It was only natural. Director Go Taemin was a master of formidable standing, and as far as Choi Heewon knew, the one who led the directors' circle that included Kim Jungi, Park Joon, and the rest was Go Taemin himself.
"I hear principal photography begins in five days?"
"Yes. That's right. From here, we charge ahead with everything we have. I heard you were developing a film related to music, Director Go."
"Yes. So I've been calling sound directors and hearing all manner of things, and the fellow in charge of this project's score is burning with a particular passion. It made me curious about the mood on set. I wondered what it could possibly be like, for him to work this hard."
"When you say you are curious about the mood on set..."
"Yes. I would like to come and see it once."
"Ah, if that is all, it is no difficulty whatsoever. Please come."
PD Choi Heewon agreed at once. Directors and actors of high standing visiting other sets was all too common, and if Go Taemin came, it would rather be something to be grateful for.
But then.
"And Park Dohui is there, yes?"
"Dohui? Yes. She is."
It was then that Director Go Taemin brought out something wholly unexpected.
"Dohui actually auditioned for my project, but her acting was a little uncertain, so I held her. Then I heard that in the Special Task Force 808 rehearsal shoot, she was apparently extraordinary."
"Huh? That scene, then probably with Miss Sua..."
"I hear she gave the performance of a lifetime. I intend to see it for myself."