Busan (1)
Go Chunseok’s ability was simple enough. The proof of that was the steel marble sitting in Lee Chanhoo’s hand.
Go Chunseok’s power was strength itself.
Lee Chanhoo still had question marks all over his face as he pulled another tumbler from the desk. He made the same motions Go Chunseok had made. He tried to crush it. But the stainless-steel tumbler did not budge.
“Wow. How does this even happen?”
At that, Go Chunseok silently held out his hand with grave dignity.
“Want me to crumple it?”
Lee Chanhoo quickly hugged the tumbler to his chest.
“Stop turning my tumblers into steel marbles. If I don’t have this, I’ll have to scoop water with my hands.”
Ha Yeonji, smiling, cut in.
“Don’t you have paper cups?”
Lee Chanhoo answered her as if she were beneath notice.
“What are you talking about? Paper cups have no style.”
“You’re talking about style when you don’t even have any to begin with.”
“Come at me, then.”
“Open your eyes before you talk.”
“Take the padding out of your chest first.”
The war was about to break out. Go Chunseok watched the two of them in silence. Did they always act like that? It was Kang Jaeha who stopped the war between Lee Chanhoo and Ha Yeonji.
“In other words.”
Jaeha jabbed a finger at Go Chunseok.
“Your ability is strength itself.”
“Yes, Commander.”
“Interesting.”
Somehow, even back in the other world, Go Chunseok had been strong. Jaeha had even seen him swing a club as big as a man’s body.
The monsters’ heads just burst open.
That was why Go Chunseok had been a tank and a brute-force fighter. He was good with his body, but not the kind of man who relied on his head. That didn’t mean he was stupid, only that intelligence was not his special gift. It hadn’t mattered much to Jaeha back then, anyway.
So long as the weapon was good, that was enough. The one using it just had to be smart.
That was the sort of story Kang Jaeha knew how to tell when he was the one giving the orders.
“So the first thing you got after crossing over to the other world was strength?”
“Yes. But I think it’s gotten stronger now.”
Jaeha looked at Go Chunseok for a moment, then let out a short laugh.
“You could smash a man’s skull pretty easily, then.”
“...It wouldn’t be difficult. Do you need me to?”
“No.”
There was no need to crush anyone’s skull. Maybe something weaker than that, but still. In any case, Lee Chanhoo and Ha Yeonji were no ordinary people, but in a way Go Chunseok might have been the most dangerous of all.
Well, there’s that saying that everything is meaningless before overwhelming physicality.
No, there was something that could outmatch overwhelming physicality. Go Chunseok murmured it himself.
“But even my strength is nothing before the Commander.”
He was talking about Absolute Obedience.
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“As expected of you, Commander.”
Go Chunseok suddenly looked deeply moved. Jaeha ignored that and asked something else.
“How does the ability work? This ‘strength’ of yours, can you control it?”
“Of course. Usually, I’m normal. When I use the ability, my strength increases.”
Even without using the ability, Go Chunseok’s basic strength was certainly far greater than that of an average person.
“Any conditions?”
Lee Chanhoo and Ha Yeonji had simple conditions attached to the use of their abilities. Go Chunseok scratched his chin and answered.
“Not really. But if I use the strength, I get hit with severe muscle pain the next day.”
“Muscle pain?”
“Yes. For one day, sometimes two.”
“You can’t use the strength during that time?”
“Seems that way.”
So that was it. Go Chunseok seemed to have a penalty more than a condition. Jaeha nodded and gave him an order.
“Got it. Then come in here after the weekend.”
“Understood. I’ll bring a suit.”
“Do that. Unless I tell you otherwise, for now you’ll stay with Lee Chanhoo, and -”
Jaeha trailed off and thought for a moment.
Could be fun to open something like a security company with this guy at the head, a pair of hands and feet for MEG’s brain.
It would be a security company in name only. In practice, it would be no different from a place to gather MEG’s fighting force. After finishing the thought, Jaeha decided on Go Chunseok’s position.
“For now, you’ll go to the security team.”
After the weekend passed, Monday arrived.
Before anyone quite noticed, May had ended and June had begun. June 1. The weather was gradually growing hotter, and in the thick of the work there was a place several times hotter still.
It was the studio of Natdaljib.
At the moment, Natdaljib had finished its first test screening and was in the middle of final adjustments, preparing for the second test screening. The first screening had the feel of a last check; the second was the real one.
Once the second test screening ended, Natdaljib would immediately set foot on the road toward release.
Into that studio stepped a woman with a familiar face. It was Ha Yeonji.
“Hello-”
She had come as a reporter, and the one who greeted her was Director Hong Manseop, with his thick eyebrows. He seemed drained, as if he had poured himself wholly into his work lately.
“Ah! Yes, hello. You’re the reporter who called, right?”
Ha Yeonji flashed a smile and handed him her card.
“Yes! I’m Ha Yeonji, a reporter for Prime Patch!”
Her looks startled Director Hong Manseop a little.
Do they hire reporters based on their faces these days?
Then, collecting himself, he introduced himself.
“Yes, I’m Hong Manseop. I’m making the animated film Natdaljib. Uh... I was surprised when you called. Suddenly getting an interview request from a reporter, and from Prime Patch, too. It’s a fairly large media outlet.”
“Oh, really??”
After being shown to a seat, Ha Yeonji continued, then let out a faint, irritated sigh.
Lee Chanhoo - the representative.
Calling Lee Chanhoo “representative” still seemed to bother her. Still, she kept smiling and pulled it off.
“I came here on Representative Lee Chanhoo’s recommendation.”
“Ah!”
Director Hong Manseop, recalling the investor Lee Chanhoo, was moved all over again. Not only had he cheerfully invested one billion won, he had even sent along a journalist he knew and taken care of the film.
“...Thank you.”
Ha Yeonji had actually come under orders from Commander Kang Jaeha, but she acted as if that had nothing to do with it.
“Don’t mention it. Well then, shall we hear a little about Natdaljib? I’ll frame the piece as a feature, and I’ve already decided on the title: ‘Korean Animated Film Natdaljib, the First in Years, Brimming With Anticipation.’ How does that sound?”
Natdaljib had been a film no one had paid any attention to until now. No reporter had ever contacted them before in their lives. But the moment a new investor appeared, the situation changed all at once.
Director Hong Manseop, his pulse quickening, began singing Natdaljib’s praises.
“If possible, why don’t you take a poster photo too? It’s still only a rough version, but.”
The article on Natdaljib went live the very next day.
《[Feature] Korean Animated Film Natdaljib Produced for the First Time in Years, Brimming With Anticipation / Photo》 - Prime Patch, Reporter Ha Yeonji.
It began with Ha Yeonji, but more articles followed. Of course, some of that came from Ha Yeonji leveraging her connections, but once other outlets saw the piece on Natdaljib, they piled on too.
At the same time, there was another place spreading publicity like wildfire.
《[Film Festival] The Busan International Film Festival, Which the World Will Be Watching, Announces a Record-Breaking Scale and Moves Within Three Weeks of Opening》
It was the Busan International Film Festival committee. With the opening just around the corner, it was the perfect time to flood the media with articles.
《The Busan International Film Festival, to Be Held on June 26, Announces a Record-Breaking Lineup / Photo》
《The Busan International Film Festival Releasing More Than 200 Officially Selected Works, Including Feature and Short Films... Looking at the Standout Titles》
Top-tier celebrities invited, works by famous figures and master directors, confirmed dates of the event, and more. It was a festival the whole world was watching, and they looked ready to keep pumping out promotion without end.
Even foreign media were covering the Busan International Film Festival.
Of course, the festival had already announced the works it would be inviting.
-I’m actually hyped for this year’s Busan International Film Festival lol they said the scale got insanely bigger
-Why is everything already sold out??
-If you wait, canceled tickets will pop up too yeah. It happened last year too
-I have to go see the red carpet
-Same lol they’re saying Hollywood actors are coming this time too
And naturally, Gyeollo was among them, openly and proudly.
Leon Entertainment had no intention of letting that stand.
《[Issue Pick] Officially Selected Short Film Gyeollo for the Busan International Film Festival... Supporting Actress Yoon Dayeon Draws Attention》
《Among the Short Film Competition’s Official Domestic and International Selections, a Director in His Twenties? The Only One, Which Is Why Gyeollo Is Drawing Interest / Photo》
Yoon Dayeon and An Jihee, and of course Gyeollo itself, were being promoted through every outlet they could reach, from the media to online communities. That was why -
-Oh, Yoon Dayeon! Haven’t heard that name in ages lol she made a short film~
The public was starting to take notice as well.
That same afternoon, in a rented studio.
Kang Jaeha, with his usual unreadable face, opened the door to the rented studio. It wasn’t a large space inside; there was only a work desk and a four-person table. Sitting in that studio was a man with a rough-looking face.
“Ah!”
The man typing on his laptop shot to his feet the moment he saw Jaeha enter. It was Oh Jongman.
“Hahaha, Manager!”
Oh Jongman welcomed Jaeha and gestured him toward the four-person table.
“I’m sorry. I should have come to Leon.”
As he sat down, Jaeha shook his head with calm indifference.
“Now that you’ve properly started as a writer, Leon isn’t really a place for conversation.”
“Thank you. But from what I hear, Manager, you’ve become really famous at Leon.”
“Makes things a little annoying.”
Jaeha took the canned coffee handed to him and scanned Oh Jongman’s condition. The moustache and beard that hadn’t been there before had grown out, and he looked quite hollow-cheeked. It made his rough appearance even harsher.
He was probably not sleeping much while writing.
Still, Oh Jongman’s naturally cheerful tone remained unchanged.
“Come to think of it, it has been a while since I saw you, Manager. Hahaha.”
It was true. Oh Jongman had signed with MEG around the end of April. They had met once in between, but even so, it had been a while.
“We’ve kept in touch, so that’s fine. You’re focused on your writing, too.”
“Haha, I’m pretty much holed up here, so I’ve lost track of time.”
“How is the agency? You said it was MEG?”
When Jaeha asked about MEG as if he didn’t know, Oh Jongman gave a thumbs-up.
“What can I even say? It’s amazing. They gave me a studio like this, too. Their representative calls once a week, or even comes by in person to buy me meals. Ah! Recently, a very, very huge man came along too.”
“Is that so? Well, that’s how an agency should be.”
“It’s all thanks to you, Manager! If it weren’t for you, I never would have met MEG.”
As if letting out everything he had been holding in, Oh Jongman spoke nonstop. Well, writing was a lonely profession. Still, Jaeha thought it was fine if he had a good wife, and changed the subject.
“You said you finished the script for the one-act contest prep.”
“Ah! Yes! Just a moment.”
Apparently he had printed it out in advance, because Oh Jongman handed Jaeha a thick stack of paper from the desk.
“It’s not one hundred percent done, but it’s about eighty percent finished.”
The stack was thick. Jaeha asked at once, “How many episodes is this?”
“Three.”
So he had written three episodes’ worth of script in about a month.
Fast.
Maybe he was quick with his hands as well as talented at writing. At that point, Oh Jongman cautiously opened his mouth.
“Honestly, now that I’m with an agency, I wasn’t sure if it was right to show you the script, Manager. I’m sorry if that’s presumptuous.”
“It’s not hard. I said I’d look at it. If possible, I’ll give you some advice until your debut as a writer. If that’s all right with you.”
“I’d be more than grateful!”
“Long term, it’ll be a win-win, Mr. Oh Jongman. No, your work might help me too.”
“Haha, calling me a writer already is embarrassing.”
Jaeha turned the first page of the script he had received. Then the next. And the next. He increased the pace of his reading, and Oh Jongman, watching him, swallowed hard.
Before long, Jaeha laughed.
It’s already good. Now that he’s writing with the proper mindset, it’s far better than the last one. Both in entertainment value and quality.
Sure enough, Jaeha could feel Oh Jongman’s literary talent and his command of the page all over again. The man was clearly no ordinary talent. Even while reading the one-act script with detached calm...
“......”
Jaeha recalled the Déjà vu he had seen recently from Manager Kim Daeyong, the one that included Netflix.
“A Netflix one-act drama project? This looks like it’s going to be huge.”
“Ah, that thing? It’s been all over YouTube lately too. It’s going viral on SNS as well.”
“People must be watching it like crazy. It’s shooting up the rankings right away. It’s not easy for a one-act to get this much attention. Guess if you slap enough money on it, anything can take off.”
“Well, the fact that it’s on Netflix matters a lot too. Netflix has been dumping huge money into original series lately.”
At the same time, he threw a question at Oh Jongman.
“Writer. Have you decided where you’re submitting the one-act contest entry?”
“Ah - I’ve got the information, but I think it’d be best to go with one of the three major terrestrial broadcasters. The cable and general-programming channels are a little too small. Ah! I’m not trying to be flashy or anything. It’s just my first attempt, right? So I thought maybe I should throw it into the big pond first -”
Watching Oh Jongman smile awkwardly, Jaeha recommended a different place.
“How about Netflix?”
“...Netflix?? Ah - OTT, you mean. But has Netflix put out a call for submissions? I don’t think I saw one.”
Jaeha closed the script he had been reading and smiled faintly.
“It will soon.”
At this time.
A medium-sized meeting room. Several posters of different works covered the walls, and the room itself was enclosed by glass. About eight people sat in that meeting room. On the materials they were looking at was a familiar logo.
-Netflix Korea.
This was the office of Netflix Korea. Netflix had launched its service in Korea in 2015 and was now in its fifth year. It had already taken first place among OTT platforms and was causing major disruption in the content market with its deep pockets and freedom of operation.
Before long, a bald man seated at the head of the table spoke. He was the executive director, effectively the top figure at Netflix Korea.
“We decided to align the one-act drama project with the broadcasters’ one-act contest season, so the announcement will go out tonight as planned.”
The bald executive director calmly recited the decisions he had made, as if reviewing them for his staff.
“We’ll have one production PD, and six one-act episodes. Headquarters has already approved it, so it’s fine to make the scale a bit bigger.”
“Then maybe we should set the prize money for the winning works a little higher?”
“Let’s do that. That way we’ll attract more submissions.”
Nodding, the bald executive director went on.
“Six works confirmed. The One-Act Drama Project will be released one new work per week.”
From the way they spoke, it was clear that the One-Act Drama Project was an original series being invested in by Netflix Korea itself. Then the bald executive director met the eyes of a staff member beside him.
“If there’s any writer worth keeping an eye on in this One-Act Drama Project, let’s move early.”
He gave the order simply.
“If their writing is good, we can even hand them a feature-length original series later.”
The One-Act Drama Project overseen by Netflix Korea was officially announced on.
《Netflix Korea Launches Its First-Ever One-Act Drama Project Since Entering the Korean Market!》
That afternoon.