Chapter 81: The Military Script of the Unenlisted High School Girl Writer
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 81: The Military Script of the Unenlisted High School Girl Writer
I think I poked Jang Ji-hye’s dormant magma pockets with a needle.
“Yu-jin, Yu-jin! Thinking about it, we’re aiming for the grand unification of the Air Force and the Navy, so having you get dishonorably discharged from the Air Force hurts their image too much! I need to refine this setting!”
“Uh, sure. I guess you’re right.”
“Yu-jin, Yu-jin! This script setting is a bit weird. The US military launches a bold offensive operation because they feel threatened by nuclear proliferation? I did some lurking on Kang Yong-su's Mildeoks, and they say this is way too old-school. Modern audiences think exercising preemptive self-defense against nuclear threats is cliché.”
“Oh, really? I’m sure you’re right.”
“Yu-jin, Yu-jin! If Tommy Cross takes the role of your wingman, it would be better to change the story like this instead…”
Ugh, it’s so hectic. My head is spinning.
Ever since I asked Curator Han Ji-woo, “What do you think about revising the intro like this?” Jang Ji-hye’s mouth has been gushing like a reservoir during monsoon season.
She seeks me out several times a day, grabbing my shoulders and hanging onto me while asking, “How’s this?” I can’t even focus on League of Legends.
Finally, Curator Han Ji-woo visited my cozy Hannam-dong home.
“Ji-hye, why don’t you participate as a screenwriter yourself?”
“Huh? Me? Why?”
“Steve absolutely loves the ideas you’ve proposed. But since this involves overhauling the main setting itself, the momentum for the revisions will disappear without you, Ji-hye.”
I was even more shocked by this radical proposal than Jang Ji-hye was.
“Curator, does this mean our Ji-hye is making her debut as a Hollywood screenwriter?”
“I suppose so. If Ji-hye says yes.”
“Ah…”
Jang Ji-hye covered her mouth with both hands, speechless. Nice, now is the time to tease her.
“So, am I currently witnessing the birth of a top-level Hollywood Unenlisted Gorgeous High School Girl Writer? Wow, I am. So. Moved.”
“Hey! Lee Yu-jin!”
Wahaha! Seeing as she added my full name and a “Hey” in front of it, I definitely got under her skin.
Jang Ji-hye aimed for my back and swung a wrist-smashing strike, but it was no use. I covered every attack with my Challenger of Challengers reflexes.
While the two of us bickered, only Curator Han Ji-woo remained serious.
“Steve is serious. He wants you to participate not just as a simple main writer, but as the primary writer.”
“Did you hear that? You’re about to get a forced debut.”
“Uh… is it really okay for someone like me to do that, Curator?”
“Someone like you? Don’t say such disappointing things. Honestly, your idea was a total Egg of Columbus. No one knew until you tried it.”
Han Ji-woo also took my side.
“Ji-hye’s idea suggested a path that goes beyond the Air Force simply participating in the movie; it achieves integration with the Navy. Steve took note of that. However, the dishonorable discharge in the intro needs some revision…”
“Ji-hye already fixed that. It’s not a dishonorable discharge anymore. I’ve refined it so that I feel skeptical about military life and try to discharge on my own despite the Air Force trying to stop me, and then the Navy intercepts me right then and there.”
“What? A prepared writer was right here all along. There’s nothing more to say.”
“Hear that, Ji-hye? The moment has finally come for you to sign with Hollywood and debut as an Unenlisted Gorgeous High School Girl Screenwriter!”
“Hey! Lee Yu-jin! Are you going to keep calling me that weird name?!”
“Now you understand how I feel every time I’m sunk by those ‘Baby Elf’ and ‘Goddess Elf’ attacks, right?”
“Those aren’t attacks, they’re just plain facts! It’s completely different!”
“To me, it was a unilateral bombardment of asymmetric strategic weapons.”
Jang Ji-hye, I’m so happy right now. I never thought the day would come when I could tease you like this.
‘Hollywood Unenlisted Gorgeous High School Girl Screenwriter—I’m going to use this joke forever.’
Anyway, once the atmosphere settled down, Han Ji-woo calmly organized the situation.
“If you participate as a writer, the base script fee will be 1 million dollars, with additional bonuses if it’s a hit. Even if a sequel is made, your name will be automatically included.”
“I… it doesn’t feel real. Is it really okay for someone like me to do this?”
“What is the Unenlisted Gorgeous High School Girl Writer so afraid of?”
“Hey! Lee Yu-jin! You really! Seriously!”
I ran away, snickering.
I left so the two of them could talk comfortably.
‘In the meantime, I should go toughen up my brother’s physical defense.’
Unfortunately, my brother wasn’t home, so I just took the Cullinan to the Hermès store at the Baekhyun Hotel.
The scale here is a bit smaller, but instead of doing the Foreigner Cosplay, I can comfortably mine incentives as my main character, Lee Yu-jin.
‘Let’s just mine 50 million won worth today. Anything more is greed. Hermès has to make a living too.’
*
[Title: The Goddess Elf appeared at Baekhyun Hermès!]
(Photo of a two-shot together, my face is covered.jpg)
└ Sir, what exactly did you put in your head that your ego is this bloated even with your face covered?
└ (OP) You think you wouldn’t be like this if you stood next to the Goddess Elf?
└ But the Goddess Elf’s proportions are seriously unreal, she’s not on a human level.
└ I’m more surprised that her visual physique was already completed when she was in elementary school.
└ The combat race Saiyans love fighting, so they stay young for a long time. Maybe Elves are like that too? The period when they’re damn pretty lasts the longest in their lives.
└ I have a feeling the Goddess Elf will still look like that 50 years from now…
└ She’s bundled up in a baggy style today, what a shame ㅠㅠ
└ Unless it’s an official acting activity, she seems to wear comfortable styles that don’t stand out as much as possible.
└ With that face, how can she not stand out?
[Title: Story of when I asked the Goddess Elf about the US military movie]
└ Wow, wow, wow, this person hit the jackpot.
└ So jealous, I should’ve waited at Baekhyun Hermès too.
└ Seriously, when she’s acting like a foreign elf, let’s not disturb her and just watch from afar. The Baby Elf must want to play too…
└ She’s going to be a Navy Elf soon.
*
After finishing my Hermès incentive mining, I returned to my cozy Hannam-dong villa complex.
After texting my brother to bring the harvest from the car up to the house, I went for a light jog in the complex.
I was alone at first, but as time passed, foreign teenagers started following me one by one, and before I knew it, it had become a crowd of dozens.
‘Look at these kids.’
My competitive spirit kicked in, so I picked up the pace, and eventually, they all dropped off.
‘Where do you think you’re going, trying to beat me?’
I was snickering to myself while watching the gasping foreign babies when someone spoke to me.
“Yu-jin. I, your fan. Photo possible?”
It was the clumsy Korean of a European baby with impressive blonde hair. Anyone shorter than me is a baby, anyway.
“Photo? O.K.”
After I took a photo with one person, everyone lined up to ask for a photo. This kind of thing is daily life now, so it’s nothing.
‘I thought kids from rich families would be haughty, but I guess babies are just babies?’
Suddenly, I miss my younger cousins.
I should reflect on myself for neglecting family gatherings lately because I’ve been busy.
‘Lee Yu-jin, you unfilial grandchild. Are you ignoring your grandfather just because you signed a deed of gift for a 400-billion-won building?’
“Yu-jin. You, timpani. Very excellent. I, moved.”
“Huh? You saw me play the timpani? Did you happen to come to our school’s regular concert?”
“Your school. I, went. Dad, Mom, together. Donation. Did.”
“What? Really?”
Good grief. As it turned out, these babies were the sons of the fans who donated 280 billion won back then.
Suddenly, I got goosebumps.
‘Uh, wait, could this be…?’
I didn’t just accidentally water the seeds of future Confession Barrage Attacks, did I?
‘Ah. They’re fans who even donated, so I can’t exactly drag them somewhere dark and beat them up. What do I do?’
For the sake of my image, I finished up the situation as nicely as possible with a smile and hurried back inside.
‘I won’t even be able to jog in the villa complex anymore. My cozy Hannam-dong villa complex has suddenly become a garden for confession-hopefuls…’
Anyway, when I got home, Curator Han Ji-woo had left, and only Jang Ji-hye was there.
She had a very serious expression on her face.
“So, Hollywood Unenlisted Gorgeous High School Girl Writer, are you finally making your debut?”
“I was in very, very serious thought about whether to make the ace pilot a black-haired Goddess Elf or a silver-haired Baby Elf.”
Ugh, I dealt the first blow, but I took more counter damage.
Seeing her completely unfazed expression made me feel so wronged. Why am I the only one who always takes damage?
“Yu-jin, Yu-jin, which one would be better? Black-haired Goddess Elf? Silver-haired Baby Elf? As expected, a silver-haired Goddess Elf would be best, right? The Navy and Air Force will go crazy, won’t they?”
“I—I give up. Please, spare me…”
*
[ACE DOWN TO SEA]
[Revision by Jang Ji-hye]
Steve picked up the brand-new script, fresh out of the oven.
It was a version where Jang Ji-hye maintained the flow of the basic script while adding a separate narrative for the Air Force.
However, that change in setting completely transformed the color of the entire story. It had become a different work.
Steve, who read it all the way through on the spot, carefully set the script down.
“It’s good. It couldn’t be better.”
Han Ji-woo, sitting opposite him, asked with a smile.
“The writer asked for one piece of a masterpiece that is absolutely necessary for a box office hit.”
“A writer who already thinks about the box office at that age… she’s truly a natural.”
Box office—a truly beautiful word for a producer.
Whether it’s an actor, a writer, or a staff member, a person who prioritizes the box office is beautiful in their own right.
“The writer wants Tommy Cross to be Yu-jin’s wingman and the symbol of the Air Force.”
“There was no need to say that. In fact, he’s already been internally cast.”
“Additionally, the writer already assumed that you, Steve, would have cast Tommy Cross. These aren’t words I just made up on the fly.”
Steve let out a quiet, stifled chuckle.
“From the moment I heard the writer’s suggestion to add the Air Force narrative, I was also already thinking of Tommy Cross. I couldn’t think of anyone else who could be Actor Yu-jin’s wingman.”
“Anyway, it’s worked out well for everyone.”
“I especially love how this version of the script ultimately weaves into a narrative that seeks the integration of the Air Force and the Navy.”
“In the first place, the writer came up with the idea because she didn’t understand why the Air Force and the Navy were fighting so fiercely over a movie when they’re on the same side.”
“Because she was looking at it from outside the movie, she was able to discover something we were missing.”
Steve showed a satisfied smile.
“The Navy and the Air Force will both be very satisfied with this script. Also, we’ll be able to include more spectacular sights in the work while saving on production costs.”
“You must already be profiting enough from the marketing costs.”
Blockbuster movies usually spend 60–100% or more of their production costs on marketing.
However, since Lee Yu-jin was starring, they could expect massive savings in marketing costs.
Even though they hadn’t even started yet, the whole world already knew about it and was voluntarily promoting it.
‘If things go well, we might be able to keep marketing expenses below 30% of the production cost. Maybe even less than that…’
“Curator, this might just be a foolish delusion, but…”
“The writer said she also put her heart into the script, hoping that this movie would prevent the F-22 Cold from being scrapped and bring it back to life.”
“…Did the writer already predict that I was going to say this?”
“I only know two writers now, but watching them, it seems like writers have some kind of divine power.”
Steve checked the settings once more.
It wasn’t just empty talk; if the movie became a hit, public opinion might form to save the F-22 Cold.
“The Air Force is going to absolutely love this script.”