Chapter 8
Chapter 8
You’ll Be Holding a Camera From Now On
‘He’s completely immersed.’
Jo Woonseok quietly watched Cha Doyoung while holding his breath.
Hwang Hyejin seemed to feel the same way, staying silent as she nervously observed him.
Cha Doyoung was utterly absorbed in the script.
His eyes remained fixed straight ahead while he flipped through the pages as though possessed.
What in the world was he seeing inside those tiny sheets of text?
His pupils trembled strangely, and his brows twitched faintly.
It made them feel an urge to dive directly into his mind just to see what kind of acting he was imagining alone in his own world.
It wasn’t a fake performance.
There wasn’t even any reason for him to pretend.
Cha Doyoung was clearly creating some vivid landscape in his head through nothing but text.
And he was completely immersing himself inside that world.
Finally, the last page turned.
“Doyoung, you looked really immersed while reading. The story must’ve been that good?”
“Well… imagining how actress Hwang Hyejin would perform the role made it easier to get immersed.”
Cha Doyoung’s eyes weren’t focused on them.
He still seemed to be chasing something floating in empty space.
“You imagined Hyejin’s acting while reading? And it helped you immerse yourself more?”
‘Just how strong is his visual imagination?’
Maybe he studied art or something?
That would at least partially explain his intense immersion.
“Doyoung oppa, which scene stood out to you the most?”
“Uh, Episode 1 Scene 32— no, Scene 17 was good too. Ah, and Episode 2 Scene 12 also had this really lyrical feeling that I loved.”
Jo Woonseok stared blankly for a moment before asking,
“Don’t tell me you memorized all of that after reading the script only once?”
“Of course not everyth— no, I just remember the scenes that left the biggest impression on me.”
‘Left the biggest impression?’
Something about that wording felt slightly strange.
Technically he wasn’t wrong since he’d read the script.
But rather than sounding like he had “read” it, it felt more like he had actually “watched” it.
Hwang Hyejin quickly flipped through her script to locate the scenes he mentioned.
Then she tilted her head in confusion.
“Oppa. Those three scenes don’t even have dialogue. They’re just short scene descriptions.”
Jo Woonseok also checked the scenes immediately.
‘She’s right.’
They were ordinary scenes summarized in only one line without any dialogue at all.
Yet those were supposedly the scenes that moved him most deeply.
‘He’s not the type to bluff for no reason. Is there some kind of explanation?’
Maybe his visual imagination and sensitivity were so vivid that he imagined something others simply couldn’t see.
“Wait a second. I’ll sketch it out quickly for you.”
“A sketch?”
Cha Doyoung opened a notebook and rapidly started sketching with a pen.
Jo Woonseok’s eyes widened.
‘He’s not a beginner.’
The pen strokes were extraordinary.
Like a machine, he drew images onto the blank paper with precise, clean movements.
A large, elegant hotel fifth-floor lounge.
By the window sat Hwang Hyejin’s character’s boyfriend with another woman.
Below the hotel, outside the building, Hwang Hyejin stood staring upward with bloodshot eyes and trembling hands.
A happy couple.
And a miserable Hwang Hyejin standing outside soaked in betrayal.
The rapidly drawn sketch was only a simple combination of refined lines,
yet it conveyed just how devastating Hwang Hyejin’s sense of betrayal was.
“Oh my.”
Even Hwang Hyejin gasped softly while staring at the sketch.
Jo Woonseok leaned in as well, studying the storyboard intensely.
Though it had been drawn in an incredibly short amount of time,
it overflowed with life as though he had stepped directly inside the writer’s imagination and returned.
This absolutely wasn’t amateur-level skill.
“Doyoung, did you major in art or something?”
“Not really. I just sort of do it as a hobby…”
“A hobby, huh.”
‘This is beyond professional movie storyboard level.’
More than anything, he was unbelievably fast.
His hand movements were almost impossible to follow.
‘He wasn’t just a lucky totem.’
Jo Woonseok suddenly wanted to curse the administration department.
How could they assign someone this talented to nothing but physical grunt work anyone with a healthy body could do?
‘…Though I’m not really in a position to talk.’
A bitter smile escaped him.
After all, he himself had originally planned to make Cha Doyoung run errands as the lowest-ranking manager too.
“Doyoung. Want to try handling a camera?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Ah, it’s nothing major. Just become Hyejin’s camera manager. Carry a camera around and film everything you can.”
“There’s a manager position like that?”
“There wasn’t until today. I just invented it.”
Managers were already responsible for filming artists’ vlogs and behind-the-scenes footage whenever possible.
But there had never been a manager whose sole role was carrying a camera and focusing entirely on filming.
Because that wasn’t normally a manager’s job.
That was something professionals handled.
“Is there a specific camera model you want? If you name one, I can probably get it for you.”
“Uh… what kind of camera is good?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
“Because I literally know nothing about cameras.”
“You said you were interested in video production.”
“Yeah, I’m interested. I only started getting into it less than a month ago.”
“...Wait. Don’t tell me you’ve never actually handled a camera before?”
“I just thought video editing looked cool, so I figured I’d study it little by little someday…”
“…”
“…”
Not only Jo Woonseok and Hwang Hyejin,
even the road manager’s breathing seemed to fall silent.
“Huu.”
Jo Woonseok let out a light sigh.
“Then I’ll get you a decent beginner model, so study from now on. If there’s anything you don’t understand, ask me. Actually no, I’ll introduce you to someone you can ask instead.”
“But is this really okay? It doesn’t seem like normal manager work…”
“I just suddenly became curious.”
Jo Woonseok smiled.
“How far you can go, Doyoung.”
【I can use Cha Doyoung’s hands to output sketches onto paper.】
【Would you like to proceed?】
Since the video app informed me like that, I gladly handed control over.
The moment I grabbed the notebook and pen, I felt temporary control over my hands shift away.
It was an incredibly strange sensation.
I could clearly feel my fingers rapidly scratching pen strokes across the paper.
But the moment the sketch finished, all those sensations vanished completely.
This felt a little embarrassing.
After all, I didn’t draw it myself.
The video app simply used my body as a tool to draw it.
Claiming stolen talent as my own felt unacceptable to me as a person with a proper conscience—
【This is how everyone does it in the 30th century.】
Well, if I installed an app from a thousand years in the future, it probably made sense to follow future customs too.
Even to someone like me who knew nothing about art, the sketch looked incredible.
The work time had been short,
and it looked roughly drawn,
yet the intended image was sharp and unmistakable.
Of course, it was still different from the drama video the app showed me.
This was only a simple image sketch after all.
But for conveying the image I wanted the two of them to understand, it seemed more than sufficient.
“Carry the camera around and make sure you capture every little thing Hyejin does beautifully. And if any weird guys approach her, film all of that too.”
“Team Leader oppa, I don’t have things like that happening.”
“Please continue letting me believe that, Hyejin.”
Did I basically get promoted in one day?
From errand manager to camera manager.
Though now that I’d be getting a camera, I guess I’d need to study how to use one too.
I was already busy lately learning about video production, and now even more studying got added.
【I collect the video data anyway.】
【You only need to pretend to film while holding the camera.】
Then maybe I didn’t actually need to study camera operation separately?
As expected of my thousand-years-in-the-future brain-click video app.
I knew I could trust you.
Still, it was disappointing.
While watching the dramatized version of the script, I’d briefly mistaken it for something else.
For a moment, I’d convinced myself I was watching a drama from the future before it aired.
But that wasn’t true.
What I saw was something the video app painstakingly created frame by frame based solely on the script.
Naturally, it would be completely different from whatever the real PD eventually produced after filming began.
The backgrounds, props, CG, color grading, extras— all of it would probably feel laughably inferior by comparison.
If you compared them as vehicles, the quality gap would probably be bigger than the difference between a limited-edition Ferrari and an ox cart.
【Considering the production budget, it would probably resemble a carriage rather than an ox cart.】
That doesn’t comfort me at all…
If they broadcasted the app-generated version exactly as it was, it’d seriously become a massive hit.
What a waste.
Too bad I couldn’t just tell them my channel could handle the CG work.
After Cha Doyoung got off the van and headed home alone,
Hwang Hyejin carefully stared at the storyboard sketches he’d left behind before turning toward Jo Woonseok.
“The drawings are so good.”
“Right? I thought so too.”
“Just from these few sketches, I can instantly feel what kind of imagery the writer imagined while writing the dialogue, and what emotions were compressed into those one-line scene descriptions.”
“That’s an incredible talent too.”
“But you said you originally brought him in as the youngest manager?”
Jo Woonseok scratched his head awkwardly.
“He’s big, hardworking, and seems packed full of good luck. I figured if I kept him close and slowly persuaded him, he’d grow into a great manager someday.”
“I think Doyoung oppa has more talent as a director or producer than as a manager.”
PineTree was an entertainment company.
Not a place that raised producers or directors, but a company that managed and owned artists.
They didn’t know it yet, but someday Cha Doyoung and PineTree would probably head in completely different directions.
“Well, when that time comes, maybe we’ll just put him in charge of the company WeTube channel or something.”
It was meant as a harmless joke.
Hwang Hyejin stared quietly at the sketches adapted from the script scenes before lifting her head again.
“Team Leader oppa, I have a favor to ask.”