Chapter 85
Chapter 85
That Rumored Manager?
“So, have you decided on your next project?”
“Ah, just put everything on hold for now.”
“What?”
He’d insisted on getting scripts, and now this, all of a sudden? Seeing Lee Tae-gyeom’s crestfallen expression, Yu Yeon-seo laughed.
“I’m going to take a break for now. About two weeks?”
“Ah…”
Lee Tae-gyeom immediately agreed. Yu Yeon-seo had seemed off ever since his sudden outburst on the set of Filicide.
“Get some good rest.”
In truth, it wouldn’t be much of a rest, as he planned to focus on memory synchronization during the hiatus, but Yu Yeon-seo sighed.
‘I hope some useful information comes up.’
Im Seung-hyeon had to lay low until their grandfather’s attention faded. All he could rely on were memories of the past.
Anyway, if Yu Yeon-seo was taking a break, Lee Tae-gyeom was automatically on vacation too.
“Are you just going to play games again while you’re off?”
“Of course not. I’m going to follow Manager Park around.”
“Really? Well, good luck with that.”
Lee Tae-gyeom, who he thought would give up quickly, had been diligently learning the ropes. Well, he was a reasonably trustworthy guy, so it would be great if he worked hard and became a slave for life.
“I’m heading out.”
“See you.”
“Rest well, Young Master.”
Yu Yeon-seo went inside, and the remaining two, Lee Tae-gyeom and Im Seung-hyeon, headed out.
“What are you going to do during the break?”
“I have to go to the company and do some office work.”
“Oh, right. You’re not with our agency.”
He’d forgotten since they were always together. Im Seung-hyeon was an elite employee of a major corporation. While Yu Yeon-seo was on hiatus, Im Seung-hyeon would be at the Juseong headquarters, handling tasks to support him.
“And…”
Im Seung-hyeon started to say something but then closed his mouth.
“Yes?”
“It’s nothing. I’ll see you next time.”
“Yep, see you.”
Lee Tae-gyeom watched Im Seung-hyeon’s back as he headed to the parking lot without a second thought, muttering to himself.
“He’s so stiff.”
I want to get closer to him.
“Hello.”
“You’re here? Have a seat.”
The day after Yu Yeon-seo began his break, Lee Tae-gyeom sat down next to Manager Park, who was organizing documents in a conference room.
“What are we doing today?”
“A meeting with a production company. This is your first meeting, right?”
“Oh, yes. Which actor is it for?”
“Yoon Jeong-woo. We’re going to coordinate for his upcoming movie.”
Yoon Jeong-woo was a film actor with 20 years of experience and one of Halo Media’s star actors. Naturally, Yu Yeon-seo was also among them.
If before he was a star because he was a “capital gangster” who also doubled as an investor, now he was an all-rounder who had capital, acting skills, and influence. In fact, thanks to Yu Yeon-seo, the number of projects coming to Halo Media had doubled.
“Still, today should be a bit easier. Because we’re investing.”
“Oh, really?”
“It was a project Yu Yeon-seo had his eye on. The kid has a devilishly good eye for these things.”
In the film industry, the ones with the most power are the investors or the companies that handle both investment and distribution. Yu Yeon-seo had plenty of money and didn’t hesitate to pour it into investments, and since Choi Yu-jin, who doted on him, ran an investment and distribution company, he could wield absolute power in the industry.
This was why CEO Han swallowed his pride and clung to Yu Yeon-seo. Since Yu Yeon-seo could exert such influence, Halo Media could also insert its own promising talents into projects.
‘Oh, what the. Yu Yeon-seo was actually kind of decent.’
That was what Lee Tae-gyeom had thought when he first heard this. With his level of influence, he could have easily replaced co-stars, but the fact that he hadn’t meant he was somewhat of a gentleman, right?
‘Wow, what am I thinking.’
He was unconsciously thinking from Yu Yeon-seo’s perspective. He shook his head vigorously to clear the stray thought.
Anyway, since Yoon Jeong-woo, the subject of today’s meeting, was also coming in with an investor, they would be able to negotiate favorable terms.
“So we have to strike a deal with the most favorable terms for our actor.”
“Oh... I see.”
“It’ll be incredibly easy when you become Yu Yeon-seo’s manager.”
But Manager Park wanted to get away from Yu Yeon-seo. Since the investor held all the power, whenever the powerful Yu Yeon-seo had a whim, it was Manager Park who had to scramble behind the scenes to clean up the mess.
Even if he was the money-man, the use of the production budget was already set, so having an image of being too willful was problematic. The industry was small, after all. Manager Park did everything he could to package Yu Yeon-seo’s image. Still, what had leaked out was just the tip of the iceberg….
“How’s Yu Yeon-seo these days?”
“These days? Nothing special, really.”
“Wow, to hear that from his manager. Normally, there’d be a story about what creative new way he’s caused a scene.”
Manager Park pretended to wipe away tears that weren’t there. He had been in charge of Yu Yeon-seo ever since he joined Halo Media. It felt like just yesterday that he was running around to new meetings every time Yu Yeon-seo caused trouble….
‘It’s not that he doesn’t cause trouble these days, but it’s gotten so much better compared to before.’
After the accident, he had suddenly bailed on the filming of White Tiger, but Director Park Ho-jin’s efficient shooting style prevented too much of the budget from being wasted, and the matter was settled with Yu Yeon-seo making an additional investment to cover the lost time. In the past, he would have thrown a fit, yelling, “I already invested, why should I pay more?”
The incident where he went AWOL from ‘Virtual Reality’ was a headache, but that ended well, so it was fine.
“Actually, there was something a little strange…”
“Really?! What is it?”
“Um... it’s not something to be too concerned about.”
Lee Tae-gyeom decided to keep Yu Yeon-seo’s recent odd behavior to himself for now. Manager Park was too busy reviewing the meeting materials to ask any further questions.
“Sang-tae.”
“Manager Kim, you’re here?”
Since Yoon Jeong-woo was no ordinary star actor, another manager from Halo Media was participating in this meeting. Lee Tae-gyeom hesitantly stood up and greeted Manager Kim.
“Hello.”
“Is this the kid?”
Manager Kim looked at Manager Park with a peculiar expression. Manager Park nodded.
“So you’re the rumored manager in charge of Yu Yeon-seo.”
“Rumored?”
Lee Tae-gyeom accepted Manager Kim’s outstretched hand for a handshake, slightly bewildered.
“You didn’t know? You’re famous.”
“Hey, Manager Kim. Stop chatting and take a look at this.”
Why am I famous? I’m just a road manager. Filled with questions, Lee Tae-gyeom followed the two managers.
“Ah, I didn’t charge my phone. Do you have a power bank by any chance?”
“I have one.”
“You do? That’s a relief.”
“But you won’t have time to look at your phone during the meeting, right? Why charge it…?”
At the rookie-like question, Manager Park and Manager Kim chuckled softly.
“To record it.”
“Record it?”
“Movie contracts in our country aren’t that detailed. Everything is contracted and revised verbally during meetings.”
In foreign countries, contracts tend to be detailed because a mistake can lead to a lawsuit, but it wasn’t like that in Korea. The industry is so small that filing a lawsuit could actually put you at a disadvantage.
The standard practice was to negotiate verbally first and then try to accommodate those terms on set as much as possible. If an unexpected situation arose during filming, another meeting would be held. That’s why a recorder was essential, and taking minutes was also a must. There was a reason managers were so busy.
“You have plenty of time, right? You can take the minutes for today’s meeting.”
“Ah, yes.”
Lee Tae-gyeom, who had answered reflexively, furrowed his brow slightly. Did I make a mistake coming along? I could have just stuck to being a roadie… He shook his head vigorously, dismissing the thought.
“But are there a lot of these?”
“Meetings like this? For one project, probably 30 or 40 times.”
“Wow... that many?”
“We have to. There’s a lot to coordinate. While the road manager protects the actor on set, the managers are essentially protecting the actor by constantly making deals with the production company. You’ll see.”
They opened the door to the meeting room.
“Hello.”
They greeted the production company staff who were already there, and the meeting began immediately.
“If we go with your request, the production cost will be a bit higher…”
“You know we’re an investor, right? Surely you can concede this much.”
“You said before that you really wanted to film this scene. How’s the actor’s condition?”
“Let’s use a stunt double for this part, shall we? Our actor has been complaining about joint pain lately.”
Manager Park and Manager Kim stated their demands, and the production company employee proposed compromises to keep the budget as low as possible.
“Ah, not that hotel. Our actor said the breakfast isn’t good.”
“Then how about this place? We can probably manage this one.”
“That one’s fine. Two standard rooms or a suite or better, you know the drill.”
They were even meticulously negotiating the hotel where the actor would stay during filming. Lee Tae-gyeom sat there blankly, watching their war.
“Shall we take a short break?”
“Let’s.”
After the suffocating negotiations, they paused the recorder for a moment. The two managers were relentless. They were steering the deal toward the most favorable conditions for their actor.
‘Wow, and Yu Yeon-seo worked a guy like this as a roadie?’
It was only possible because it was Yu Yeon-seo. Lee Tae-gyeom swallowed hard. The production company employee looked at Lee Tae-gyeom, who was listening silently.
“By the way, who’s the person in the back?”
“Me? Ah, I’m…”
He wasn’t a manager, just a roadie… While Lee Tae-gyeom was hesitating, unsure of what to say, Manager Park answered for him.
“He’s in charge of Yu Yeon-seo.”
“Really?”
“We have to prepare in advance. He’s the only one left who can handle that kid.”
Lee Tae-gyeom flinched at the production employee’s surprised reaction. What, did something happen without me knowing… Was it posted online somewhere?
“Wow, the rumored manager? It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Huh?”
“Yu Yeon-seo has been fine ever since he brought back his former manager, hasn’t he? Isn’t this him?”
“Uh... it’s true I used to work for him and came back, but.”
Lee Tae-gyeom scratched his cheek, looking bewildered. Manager Park also chimed in. Judging by how casually they spoke, it seemed he was already friendly with the production company employee.
“Looks like this kid’s gotten famous, huh?”
“That actor has changed beyond recognition, hasn’t he?”
“He has. I’m surprised myself sometimes.”
“The manager is famous too. People wonder what kind of skill you used to tame that crazy... ah, sorry, that troublemaker.”
So he’s a madman here too, huh. Lee Tae-gyeom laughed awkwardly.
In searching for the reason behind the change in Yu Yeon-seo’s personality, people noted that his old manager, who by all accounts should never have returned, was back. And the person who should have been quickly replaced by another manager was still with him… This led to a theory that perhaps the manager was controlling him well. And as this theory spread by word of mouth, it became exaggerated.
“I haven’t done anything… He’s gotten better lately.”
As they say, you stick up for your own. Lee Tae-gyeom defended Yu Yeon-seo.
“By the way, does actor Yu Yeon-seo have any intention of lowering his guarantee?”
“Him? Not a chance. But why bring up his fee?”
Manager Park frowned. From the agency’s perspective, a high appearance fee was a good thing. And an actor of Yu Yeon-seo’s caliber deserved it.
“Well, even if he’s also investing, we still have to pay him within the set production budget… And if one actor’s fee is abnormally high, it creates a lot of difficulties for us. Even if he invests more to cover it, we have to renegotiate everything, which is a bit of a hassle…”
“If he lowered his fee, he’d get a lot more offers, wouldn’t he?”
“A lot more. We prefer cheaper actors. For promising projects, even actors of Jin Su-ho’s level are willing to lower their fees… But Yu Yeon-seo, he never lowers his, so doesn’t he miss out on a lot of good projects?”
He already gets a lot of offers, but even more? Lee Tae-gyeom fell into thought. It was true that he’d been rejecting a lot of projects lately.
Manager Park had a similar thought. There had been cases where Yu Yeon-seo had shown interest in a project, but because it already had investors and was based on a good IP, they preferred a lower-paid actor, and the casting fell through.
“Should I try asking him?”
“You?”
“Yes.”
Lee Tae-gyeom felt a surge of baseless confidence. The old Yu Yeon-seo would have been impossible, but the current one was someone who could be persuaded, right?