Chapter 14
Chapter 14
They’re Broadcasting With Quality Like This?
During a break in the script reading,
Team 3 Leader Jo Woonseok approached Hwang Hyejin and carefully massaged her shoulders.
Not with his hands,
but using some electric massage device he’d apparently brought from somewhere.
As if this happened often, Hwang Hyejin casually stretched her shoulders and arms while receiving the massage.
I filmed all of it too.
The video app was already automatically recording everything anyway,
but there was something deeply satisfying about observing things live through the viewfinder itself.
As Hwang Hyejin stood up, she crossed both arms into an X shape toward me.
Meaning she was heading to the restroom.
Only then did I turn the camera off.
“Good work out there. Have a drink.”
“Ah, thank you.”
A kind-looking manager handed me a canned drink.
I was thirsty too, so I accepted it without refusing and emptied it immediately.
“I wanted to introduce myself since I haven’t seen you before. I manage actor Yoon Suhyeon. Did you recently switch companies? You’re definitely a face I’ve never seen.”
“Something like that. I changed positions recently.”
“Ah, I thought so. You’ve got a really solid build. Did you maybe work in documentaries before? I don’t know everyone in that field…”
Now that I thought about it, this guy seemed to be misunderstanding something.
“I work under Team 3 Leader Jo Woonseok at PineTree.”
“…Huh? You’re a manager?”
“Well, not exactly. I’m just an employee working under Management Team 3.”
The man’s pupils shook violently.
Like he’d just experienced some enormous betrayal.
“Th-then your experience level…”
“I joined the company less than two months ago.”
“Before that, were you maybe—”
At that moment, Hwang Hyejin returned, and I immediately turned the camera back on.
“Sorry, I need to film Hyejin now. Thanks for the drink.”
“Ah… right.”
The other actor’s manager retreated in a daze.
Come to think of it, the other managers had been glancing at me all day.
Did they mistake me for studio staff?
‘Good equipment really creates misunderstandings like this.’
There were studio staff members filming behind-the-scenes footage everywhere,
but even to a beginner like me, my equipment looked vastly superior to theirs.
The script reading resumed, and the actors once again delivered passionate performances.
“Alright, I think we’ve roughly aligned everyone’s acting direction for today. I don’t foresee any issues moving straight into filming. We’ll finalize the schedule within the week and contact everyone through their agencies. Great work today, everyone.”
“Thank you for your hard work!”
“Good work today!”
Finally, the reading ended.
Even while the staff dismantled equipment around the room, I continued filming Hwang Hyejin without caring.
Simply filming the subject itself felt unbelievably enjoyable.
Tap tap.
I pulled my eye away from the viewfinder after feeling someone pat my shoulder.
PD Son Jingu was looking me up and down curiously.
I quickly bowed my head.
“Yes, PD.”
“You’re a new face. The reading already ended, so why are you still filming? Why are you working this hard?”
“Ah, I’m an employee from PineTree Entertainment.”
“Huh? You’re a manager? I thought you were one of our newly hired staff members.”
He looked slightly surprised while scanning my body again from top to bottom.
“Feels like a waste putting a physique like that into management work. You look like you could survive multiple overnight shoots without breaking a sweat.”
“…Thank you.”
“Keep up the hard work.”
PD Son then moved around greeting the other actors and managers with a smile.
Suddenly, I remembered the way he’d commanded the entire room from beginning to end.
The captain steering the enormous ship called Winter Castle.
How different would the final result he created be compared to the version I saw through the video app?
‘Honestly, I want to volunteer to handle the CG work for free.’
Since it was a drama, the CG would probably stay extremely minimal.
Even if they simply used the video app’s backgrounds, the entire production quality would rise several levels.
‘Show me Hyejin’s script-reading acting from today.’
【Executing command.】
Multiple windows floated through the air.
Hwang Hyejin passionately acting replayed from various angles and timings.
‘Edit it into something usable for promotion. Add subtitles too, maybe a few clean special effects. Keep the overall concept focused on promoting rookie actress Hwang Hyejin.’
【Executing command.】
The promotional behind-the-scenes clip created with a single click satisfied me completely.
The subtly softened retouching made Hwang Hyejin in the video look unbelievably beautiful and lovable.
At this level, male fans would absolutely lose their minds over her.
I transferred the edited footage onto my laptop,
then showed it to Team Leader Jo Woonseok inside the van.
“Team Leader, I tried lightly editing some footage during breaks.”
“Oh? Doyoung’s working really hard.”
After watching the entire thing, Jo Woonseok turned toward me in admiration.
“Wow, you filmed Hyejin’s reading beautifully. And when did you even edit this?”
“I worked on it little by little during breaks.”
“You said just a few days ago you’d never even touched a camera before, and now you’re editing too? At this rate, you’ll wake up as a debut PD in another few days.”
“Team Leader oppa, let me see too! Me too!”
Hwang Hyejin watched the video touched by the app’s editing and repeatedly gasped in excitement.
“Don’t I look way too pretty here? I don’t actually look like this in real life.”
“What are you talking about? You’re prettier in person than this.”
“Come on, the video definitely made me prettier than real life. Doyoung oppa, please keep filming me like this from now on too.”
“I seriously wish Doyoung could become the drama’s cinematographer.”
I knew he was just joking,
but it still made me feel strangely happy.
After dropping Hwang Hyejin off at home,
Team Leader Jo Woonseok spoke to me before heading back to the company.
“Hyejin’s at an important stage right now, so I’m personally following and managing her for the moment. Later on, one of the senior managers will take over for me.”
“I just keep carrying the camera around, right?”
“Yeah. But if the guy replacing me starts ordering you around too much, clearly tell him I assigned you only to camera duties. Though… honestly, I doubt anyone will dare treat Doyoung carelessly.”
While walking home carrying the camera bag, I suddenly got curious and searched the model online.
Then I realized Jo Woonseok had lied.
“You said it cost about the price of a domestic sedan.”
I thought maybe around thirty or forty million won.
But this thing cost as much as a foreign luxury-brand sedan.
Its value completely eclipsed the deposit on my one-room apartment.
I shouldn’t have looked up the price.
Honestly, ignorance would’ve been far more comfortable.
The teaser for Journey of the Green Star, created from the screenplay purchased from an unknown aspiring writer, received an incredible response.
Views surpassed three million,
and the video even generated profit.
“9 million won?”
For a moment, I seriously considered quitting my job entirely.
Apparently normal channels earned roughly three won per view from advertisements.
Basically the bare minimum monetization standard.
“Calm down. It’s not like working at the company interferes with running the channel anyway.”
I spent almost no time actually producing content.
I just muttered some complaints and suggestions, and the video app handled everything automatically.
An efficient, comfortable second job.
└29 days until the full animation releases
└Holding my breath until then
└Honestly, even if the final release maintains just one-quarter of the teaser’s quality, the visuals alone would become a legendary masterpiece
There were also several business emails from companies.
Most were sponsorship offers.
Not the commission proposals I actually wanted.
[Hello, this is AniTime Cable Broadcasting.]
The email from the animation cable channel attracted my attention most.
Reading it, they expressed strong interest in airing the animation produced by our channel.
A TV broadcast deal.
It was a good offer,
but growing the WeTube channel mattered more right now, so I declined.
‘Still, 9 million won from a single teaser alone…’
At this rate, I might complete Tutorial Stage 2 much earlier than expected.
The first filming day arrived.
Even though I wasn’t the one acting,
I woke up nervous before dawn.
I quickly got ready for work, carefully packed the camera, and headed to the set.
The production staff busily prepared the location and checked movement routes everywhere.
‘This place is way messier than I expected.’
People said filming sets were chaotic in real life.
The camera frame viewers ultimately see—
step just one foot outside it, and there are tangled cables and random junk scattered everywhere,
while exhausted staff members squeeze past each other in cramped spaces trying not to collide.
Actually standing inside a real filming set before shooting began,
I realized it was even messier than I’d imagined.
‘This is where Hyejin’s first real acting performance begins.’
Why am I the nervous one?
【The final result can be predicted.】
‘Final result?’
【Refers to the final content viewers will ultimately consume.】
【Maximum predicted quality can be estimated by comprehensively analyzing the set environment, filming equipment, schedule allocation, production budget, and editing capabilities.】
‘Oh. Try it.’
【As this is only a simulation prediction, the footage will be discarded after viewing.】
The final TV broadcast version appeared before my eyes.
I compared it internally against the app-generated version I’d seen before—
and—
‘What the hell is this? They’re seriously broadcasting something with quality like this?’
【This represents the maximum projected quality.】
‘Which means the actual finished product could end up even worse than this.’