How Far Will This Escalate?
Chae Seoyun really had a sharp eye.
To pick out a scene that matched the storyboard exactly and freeze-frame it for comparison…
"Wow, the lines are completely identical — like you literally traced it."
Director Kim Seongjin took Manager Kim Gyeonguk's admiration seriously.
"If I hadn't watched him draw it by hand, I would have thought it was tracing too. It's really that identical. Oh, wait — is the scale different?"
"The storyboard is a bit larger. Maybe it looks that way because the laptop screen is small?"
"No, more than that — how does a CG company apply this kind of quality in live production…? When did Hollywood CG technology advance this far?"
"This is insane. Wow, I genuinely have no words."
The two men muttered their amazement back and forth, but none of it really registered with me.
I was only paying attention to the back of Chae Seoyun's head.
I was dying to know what expression she was making as she watched the video. But I couldn't just walk around in front of her and peek at her face.
Chae Seoyun played the video from start to finish, replaying it several times over. I couldn't take my eyes off her back as she calmly flipped through the storyboard sketchbook while watching.
The manager and the director fell quiet too, wordlessly appreciating the footage just like Seoyun.
"Why does it glitch every so often?"
Had the screen been glitching? I hadn't noticed.
Hardware performance is not suitable for playback. Replacement recommended.
"Ah, it's not a problem with the video. The laptop's graphics performance just can't keep up with the resolution."
"I see."
Only then did Chae Seoyun turn to look at me.
Every time I saw her face, it was astonishing. How could such a small, pale face have eyes, nose, and mouth arranged in such perfect harmony? The odds of winning the lottery wouldn't even come close to how absurdly rare that probability must be.
"I'd love to see the finished product as soon as possible."
"It won't take long. 30THC uses AI-based CG tools, which is how we can pull off these absurdly fast turnaround times."
These days, if you just blame everything on AI, people buy it. What a convenient world. If the Future App had arrived about ten years earlier, finding an excuse might have been a lot harder.
Come to think of it, wasn't the Future App itself a video-production AI from a thousand years in the future?
"At this rate, the camera barely has anything to do. CG ends up doing everything."
Director Kim Seongjin said it with a sheepish look.
Was the shoot about to wrap up like this?
"I don't think we need any supplementary shooting. Even the rough CG already transcends everything I'd imagined. So — do we keep shooting?"
Originally Kim Seongjin had been in overall charge, but since the client wanted it, our 3rd Team had taken over the handling. Team Leader Jo Unseok would make the call… wait, where did he go?
"One moment."
I stepped away to a quiet spot and called Team Leader Jo Unseok of the 3rd Team.
"Why are you asking me that? Manager Cha should make the decision. What would I know?"
"Really — I can decide on my own?"
"In our 3rd Team, Manager Cha is already running the CG side — isn't that obvious?"
I'd thought Team Leader Jo Unseok would at least play the nominal overall-lead role. He'd completely left it to me and taken off.
Well, this was more convenient for me anyway.
While I was on the call, the manager, the director, and the model kept replaying the rough CG version.
"I'm still a novice when it comes to video composition, so it's hard for me to make a judgment…"
Director Kim Seongjin's expression was growing increasingly strange.
"Director, you say it came out well enough that we don't need supplementary shooting. What do you think, Ms. Chae Seoyun?"
"If I want to shoot a bit more, do we do additional takes?"
"Probably?"
"If we shoot more takes, will the CG get better?"
"The CG comes out at the same quality. But if the source footage is different, of course you'll get a video with a different feel."
"Then let's shoot just a little more. Wrapping everything in one go feels too disappointing."
When I looked at Director Kim Seongjin, he was already moving to set things up again.
I was about to move too when something tugged lightly on my elbow.
I turned — it was Chae Seoyun. She was carefully pinching the sleeve of my clothes with her fingertips.
"Is there anything you'd like from me?"
"Pardon?"
"A slightly different acting direction, or something like that? Nothing?"
Hmm…
Her current acting was basically a calm, subdued tone.
"Would something like this be possible? A hyper-extraverted middle school girl — the kind of character who just bursts out laughing when a leaf rolls by. Could you do that?"
"I can do it. But my face is mature, so I don't think the vibe would match."
I studied Chae Seoyun's face carefully. Unlike the baby-faced Hwang Hyejin, she was pure, delicate beauty overflowing with mature charm — that exact visual.
"I've had this face since middle school."
"What?"
That was news to me too.
"I can do it, but… you won't laugh, will you?"
"Why would I laugh?"
"I'm not used to girlish sensibilities. An early-teens hyper-extravert who cracks up at a rolling leaf — it doesn't suit me at all."
If she'd had that face since middle school, was Chae Seoyun trying to act out a sensibility she'd never experienced?
"Seoyun, you don't really like playing young, lively characters, do you? Are you really going to do this?"
"The executive producer wants it. So I have to. I'm an actress."
Manager Kim Gyeonguk looked at Chae Seoyun with a troubled expression, then his eyes met mine. From the way he was talking, it sounded like I'd given Seoyun an acting direction that didn't match her vibe.
"Well, just give it a try without pressure. We'll use whichever take comes out best anyway."
"See? What are you worried about?"
Chae Seoyun brushed herself off and moved into position.
I needed to grab my sketchbook… where did it go?
Ah — Seoyun was holding it in her hand over there.
"Hey, Manager Cha."
"Yes, Manager?"
"Our Seoyun has such a mature image that she doesn't really mesh with goofy, pure characters, you know? Whatever you do, don't laugh. The kid will get hurt."
"Don't worry. Why would I laugh?"
"You have to hold it in. You have to."
The camera started rolling, and I finally understood why Manager Kim Gyeonguk had said that.
Where had that veteran actress with the excellent acting skills gone? Standing in front of the camera was a stiff Chae Seoyun, like a kid who'd been forcibly shoved onto the stage for a school arts festival because no one else would do it.
We barely managed to grind through a long take, and I had to keep pressing down the laughter that kept trying to burst out.
She probably thinks it doesn't match her image at all either, which is making her acting even more awkward.
"Cut" was called.
As if she'd never been stiff at all, Chae Seoyun approached me with a calm expression.
"Not great, right?"
"Pardon? No. It was really good."
"Liar. It's written all over your face."
"Honestly, I thought the human quality of it was incredibly refreshing. Normally you're a bit,"
"Cold?"
"Calm. Very much so."
Those eyes staring straight at me — I had no idea what she was thinking. With Hwang Hyejin, emotions showed right in her eyes.
"Give me another concept."
"Ah, yes. Then this time…"
I'd thought she'd be satisfied with the first one turning out well, but that wasn't the case at all. Contrary to appearances, Chae Seoyun was extremely ambitious. She approached the CF shoot as if it were an art film being submitted to a film festival.
So early leave was out of the question — but I enjoyed being on set too.
A few days later.
We submitted a total of three versions to Nike.
Director Jenny Kim called in surprise.
"I never expected you'd produce three final edits in such a short time. Truly impressive."
Beyond the voice of the bald interpreter I'd seen before, I could hear Jenny Kim's highly excited voice.
"But CG incurs costs per frame, doesn't it? If you make three finished versions like this, doesn't that triple the cost?"
"Aside from a bit of electricity, there weren't really any additional costs. Above all, client satisfaction comes first. That's 30THC's creed."
Now all that remained was for Nike to make a final selection of one.
Honestly, with the Future App it was a click-and-done job. But you have to give the client options so they can feel the satisfaction of having outsourced the work.
If you go to the trouble of hiring someone and they just drop a single finished product on you, from the perspective of a client who's spent a lot of money, it feels like being forced into a choice — and satisfaction drops. The reason carefully crafted proposals get rejected for no good reason is all because of that unfulfilled sense of satisfaction.
After finishing my morning errands, I headed to the office.
Walking with my camera backpack on, a certain sign suddenly caught my eye.
Hwa-il Oil Paints
It was a shop selling oil painting materials for artists. Without thinking, I stopped in front of the store and peeked inside.
Premium Cut — can it output images in oil paint, not just pencil sketches?
Of course.
Oil, watercolor, acrylic, ink wash, colored painting, mural — the medium is irrelevant.
Content produced by the Future App can be 'output' in a wide variety of formats.
I thought of a scene from the submitted CF that I particularly liked.
Chae Seoyun crouching by a lakeside, setting down her surfboard and putting on her sandals.
The CF was packed with glamorous, pretty, beautiful images from start to finish. But of all of them, that was the scene I liked best.
I was also curious what the result would look like if I 'output' it as an oil painting.
Displaying descriptions for the required materials.
A shopping list of materials I needed to buy scrolled up, and marks visible only to me attached themselves to the displayed supplies.
I stepped into the shop.
After arranging delivery of the purchased oil painting materials to the 30THC office, I headed to the company with a light heart.
The pencil sketches come out spectacularly — I wonder what the oil painting version will be like.
As an all-purpose video production app that handled everything from production to editing, output, and distribution, its features were ridiculously overpowered. Well, the fact that it could click out an entire feature-length blockbuster on the single command of "do it" already said everything.
If the CF reaction is good later, should I put it up as merch for auction? Then what about the rights relationship with Nike? Well, since I'm an internal party…
The materials probably hadn't even been packaged yet, but my mind had already flown all the way past the merch auction.
But I was certain the CF reaction would be extremely hot. No matter how I looked at it, it had come out too well. Once that was released, the beverage-can company might ask to reshoot their CF too.
"Manager Cha! Why aren't you answering your phone?"
"Pardon? Ah, I must not have felt the vibration while walking. What's going on?"
The moment I walked into the office, Team Leader Jo Unseok was making a huge fuss.
"The Nike CF! Director Jenny Kim called — they've made a decision! Version 1, the one Manager Cha said was best, got selected!"
"I figured that would be the one."
The version we'd shot first had ultimately been chosen. When you're picking an outfit to go out in, you open the wardrobe wide and deliberate for ages — but you end up wearing the first thing you pulled out.
"But it doesn't seem like something urgent enough to call about?"
"Apparently headquarters in the US went crazy over how good the final edits were. The reaction was scorching hot, they said."
Of course — 30th-century CG would blow their minds. The more you know, the more massive the greatness of future technology feels.
I was forcibly holding back the laughter that wanted to burst out, for the sake of my solemn image, when—
"So they want to make it into a movie."
"What?"
Ah, my poker face cracked.
"Headquarters wants to take this CF concept and make a film out of it. They say they'll make a formal proposal soon."
"…How far is this going to escalate?"
"Beats me? It's not something I stirred up, so I don't really know either."
I'd been confident the reaction would be scorching hot once the CF was released.
It was already boiling over before it even dropped.