Chapter 29
Chapter 29
Give Me That
You want me to handle filming and production for the fan meeting video.
Of course I was confident.
I had the future app.
But other people didn’t know that, so they’d naturally feel uneasy watching me.
What exactly was Team Leader Jo Woonseok believing in to make such bold decisions?
“WISH is a currently trending idol group. Is it really okay for an amateur newbie like me to handle something like that?”
“It’s just a fan meeting video, so what’s the problem? If you shoot it and it feels off, we can always reshoot it.”
“And what if the quality still doesn’t turn out satisfactory in the end?”
“The original footage used for Hyejin’s adult CG by 30THC— you filmed that yourself, right?”
“That’s true, but….”
“And the storyboard sketches you handled for PD Son. Plus Hyejin’s demo video too. Director Cha, you’ve got exceptional visual sense. You’re worth trusting.”
The WISH girl group wasn’t registered into a model slot yet, so I’d need to film them directly first before using the future app to CG-process the outfits and backgrounds.
“Then I’ll give it a try.”
“Think of it as practice for becoming a PD. Relax and enjoy it. Don’t pressure yourself too much.”
“Understood.”
The moment my conversation with Team Leader Jo ended, Director Kim Kyungwook from Team 1 immediately asked excitedly,
“Director Cha, tell me in detail how that mad-movie fan video happened. Seriously.”
At this point, the title “Director Cha” already felt naturally attached to me.
I reused the same explanation I’d given Cha Seoyoon earlier.
“The CG director from the 30THC channel is a fan of Cha Seoyoon, so they chose her for the channel’s first video. The concept came from the CG director, and I handled the storyboard work.”
“You mean that one from earlier? Those drawings were seriously insane. Can I see them again?”
“Ah, of course. I can pull them out right now— ah.”
I’d left them at Cha Seoyoon’s house.
“You forgot them there? I’ll bring them over later. Just hand them to Team 3’s office, right?”
“Please do.”
“Anyway, after watching that mad-movie CF parody, our entire Team 1 completely lost it. The second I saw it, I contacted the 30THC channel myself. And that’s how the polar-bear conservation video got made.”
“I know. I handled the storyboard work for that too.”
“Good lord, that too?”
Director Kim Kyungwook’s eyes widened dramatically.
Even Team Leader Jo Woonseok’s gaze turned meaningful.
“No, Team Leader Jo. Even if we’re on different teams, how could you keep something like that secret?”
“I told you already. This is my first time hearing about this career history too. Director Cha, so your friend wasn’t just some ordinary employee working at the 30THC channel?”
Perfect.
Now PineTree Entertainment would naturally route CG outsourcing projects through me.
“Ah, then could Director Cha continue helping with Seoyoon’s Na○ki CF too?”
“I’m fine with it. As long as Team Leader approves.”
“Team Leader, please. We’re all family under the same company roof, so let’s help each other out, alright?”
“If Director Cha’s fine with it, then I’m fine too.”
Just like that, I’d quietly planted one foot inside Cha Seoyoon’s CF project within the company itself.
“But what exactly is 30THC anyway?”
“I don’t really know either.”
“Come on. That doesn’t sound believable.”
“I’m serious. Though according to my friend, when it comes to CG technology, they’re untouchable world-best level. Especially their work speed apparently can’t even be compared to other CG studios.”
Director Kim Kyungwook nodded vigorously.
“That part’s true. There’s no way the polar-bear conservation CF could’ve come out with that quality at that speed. Every CF expert I know said it must’ve already been pre-produced beforehand.”
“Absolutely not.”
“If the storyboard artist says so, then I guess it’s true.”
Throughout the drive, Director Kim Kyungwook kept asking endless questions about my imaginary CG company.
I answered diligently while carefully maintaining the right level of mystery and anticipation.
Eventually the car arrived at my tiny one-room apartment building.
“Thank you for the ride. Please drive safely.”
Cha Doyoung bowed politely while carrying his camera bag, then turned around.
The car started moving again.
Kim Kyungwook reacted dramatically.
“Wow, Team Leader. Did you see those storyboard sketches earlier? They were seriously professional art-director level.”
“That’s why PD Son fell in love instantly and practically proposed to him.”
“When you said you were pushing him as future directing talent, I honestly didn’t understand. Now I’m speechless.”
“He has visual instinct and talent, but I don’t think he fully realizes it himself yet. Apparently he only started video work as a hobby recently. He originally joined our company doing random administrative work in General Affairs.”
“My god.”
Kim Kyungwook remembered Cha Seoyoon’s reaction while reading through the mad-movie storyboard sketches earlier.
‘She absolutely loved them. She’ll probably stay up all night looking at them.’
Cha Doyoung hadn’t forgotten the sketchbook.
Cha Seoyoon probably guided things naturally so he would forget it there.
Because she wanted to spend at least one night appreciating it fully.
‘Honestly, Director Cha probably would’ve willingly handed it over if she simply asked directly. Though our Seoyoon really struggles with saying things like that to people.’
Winter Castle filming set.
My position had changed.
Other cast members and managers no longer viewed me as the road manager of some rookie supporting actress.
Nor as the manager of the drama’s female lead.
“Assistant Director.”
“The assistant director is actually Park Siwoon over there—”
“But PD-nim keeps calling you assistant director.”
I somehow ended up getting treated like an assistant director.
Most dramas begin filming with only scripts and no storyboards.
That’s why camera directing tends to rely heavily on static compositions.
But PD Son Jungu was the type who wanted to insert as much dynamic directing as possible into dramas.
That was probably why he became so fascinated with my script-to-visual sketches and asked me to participate in production.
“Assistant Director Cha Doyoung, here are some candidate locations for Scene #23’s background. Please choose one.”
The location-scouting staff member showed me several photos on a tablet.
“Hmm….”
“You don’t like any of them, right?”
“No? I never said that.”
How did they know?
“Your reaction seemed kind of lukewarm, so I assumed none of them satisfied you.”
“…Which location is the closest?”
“They’re all pretty similar distance-wise.”
“Then which one’s easiest to travel to?”
“Location #4.”
“Then let’s use that one.”
“So you really didn’t like any of them after all.”
Honestly, I wanted nothing more than to just CG the backgrounds instantly through the future app.
But we’d already committed to only applying adult CG to Hyejin’s face.
“Assistant Director Cha Doyoung, the new script’s out. PD-nim asked me to give it to you.”
“…Thank you.”
Even though there was already a real assistant director,
I somehow ended up creating a double-assistant-director system.
And the actual assistant director didn’t even seem upset about it.
“At this rate, I think Doyoung-ssi might debut as a full PD before I do. If you ever have free time later, could you help with storyboard direction when I finally debut?”
“If I’m free, I definitely will.”
“Thank you.”
I received the newest scripts alongside PD Son before anyone else.
The moment I got the script, I immediately opened the future app and clicked video generation.
Inside my head, I watched the highest-quality version of a drama that hadn’t even been filmed yet.
Then the future app borrowed my hands and sketched black-and-white storyboard illustrations.
Once the storyboard finished, I contacted writer Lee Sihyang.
Then Lee Sihyang abandoned her script work entirely and rushed straight to the set.
“You could just scan them and email them to me.”
“There’s a special joy in appreciating freshly drawn paper sketches in person.”
Lee Sihyang definitely preferred physical books over e-books.
“You could literally color these immediately and release them as a webtoon. PD Son, what do you think about releasing these storyboards as official OSMU content too?”
“We absolutely should. If the drama becomes a hit, definitely. Ah, Assistant Director, don’t worry. We’d obviously handle proper publication contracts and everything officially.”
Hearing comments like that made me curious about trying color work too.
Though naturally the future app would just click everything for me anyway.
Oh right.
Hwang Hyejin’s male counterpart had changed now too.
Because the teenage storyline ended and filming entered the adult phase.
The male lead actor was Hyunmin, a thirty-six-year-old former youth star.
Exactly double Hwang Hyejin’s age.
Which led to situations like this—
“Cut!”
Actor Hyunmin had NG’d again.
PD Son didn’t seem shaken at all and instead smiled warmly while comforting him.
“Hyunmin-ssi, this is pretty difficult, right? Completely understandable.”
“It’s hard building romantic emotions with an actress younger than my niece. I keep thinking about my niece instead.”
Hwang Hyejin’s eyes sparkled curiously.
“How old is your niece?”
“Senior year high school student. Taking the CSAT this year.”
“Oh my gosh, that must be difficult. I’m taking the CSAT next year too, and honestly I’m worried because I haven’t studied properly at all.”
Outside the camera, Hwang Hyejin worked hard trying to build chemistry with her male co-star.
But those efforts seemed to trigger even more NG mistakes from Hyunmin.
Eventually PD Son made an extreme decision.
“This won’t work. Hyejin, from now on don’t even make eye contact with Hyunmin-ssi. Don’t talk to him either. Strict distancing until the drama ends.”
“Huh?”
“You keep making Hyunmin-ssi aware of your age. Why would you mention taking the CSAT next year?”
Our Hyejin really did radiate mature beauty below the neck.
But because her face still looked so babyish,
it probably shattered immersion for thirty-six-year-old Hyunmin trying to build romantic chemistry in front of her.
Today’s filming finally wrapped up too.
“Hyejin. I’m leaving first, so head home with Byungwook hyung.”
“Huh? Doyoung oppa, aren’t you coming together?”
“I’ve got something to handle at actress Cha Seoyoon’s CF set.”
“Cha Seoyoon sunbaenim? Why are you going there?”
“What else? Work.”
“Then what kind of work?”
“What other work would there be besides filming?”
“Hmmm.”
She folded her arms and scanned me suspiciously from head to toe like an interrogator.
Exactly the expression of a stormy teenager unwilling to lend her belongings to anyone.
“Doyoung oppa, if Cha Seoyoon sunbaenim seduces you, you can’t abandon me and completely switch over to her side. Promise.”
“Yeah, alright. Promise.”
The way she held out her pinky finger looked cute, so I agreed easily.
I arrived at the CF filming set.
Naturally there was already a separate CF director, and I only handled the underwater scenes.
Because I officially represented PineTree Entertainment for communication with the 30THC channel regarding CG outsourcing.
The CF director himself was present too.
After all, overall coordination of the commercial remained under his authority.
He still couldn’t understand how underwater scenes would be filmed without entering water.
“You’re saying the wet hair, eyebrows, and clothes moving underwater will all be handled through CG? To match Na○ki’s quality demands, even thirty seconds of footage should take at least nine months minimum.”
“Director, the CG studio already guaranteed it, so please don’t worry.”
“No, forget quality— time-wise it’s literally impossible….”
The exhausting persuasion work got handled entirely by Director Kim Kyungwook instead of me.
Meanwhile I showed Cha Seoyoon the storyboard sketches while carefully explaining the emotional concept behind the acting.
Cha Seoyoon calmly flipped through dozens of storyboard pages I’d drawn.
No coloring had been added.
But the full-body poses, expressions, and even eye details were all delicately illustrated.
“If every director handled direction like this, actors would have a much easier time performing.”
That was the very first thing Cha Seoyoon said after a long silence.
“Everyone always gives vague cloud-grabbing direction instead, so actors end up suffering headaches constantly.”
“I’m glad the explanation helped clearly. Do you have any further questions?”
“I do.”
“Yes, please ask.”
I’d already shown ninety-nine percent through the storyboard itself and filled the remaining one percent through my speaking ability.
So what else was she curious about?
The way she stared directly at me strangely made me tense.
Like if I looked just slightly longer, I’d get pulled inside those eyes completely….
“The storyboard sketches you left at my house.”
“Ah, right. I was supposed to receive those through Director Kim Kyungwook—”
“Give them to me.”
“…Pardon?”
“I’ll buy them. Give them to me.”
That’s what she wanted to ask?