Miscast, or a Stroke of Genius? (2)
Seo Ji-joon. Seo Ji-joon might end up as the lead…….
"But Team 2's leader is against it right now, so there's still no telling how it'll go."
He was the last person I had expected, and my thoughts snarled all over again.
"Oh, right—the script. You should read it too."
"Ah."
Kim Hyunjo pulled a thick envelope from his desk drawer. I swallowed hard and took it. Inside were two scripts printed on A4: Cat Guardian Spirit, Episode 1, and Episode 2.
After every twist and turn, the script that would give birth to a smash-hit drama was in my hands.
I carried it straight into a conference room and shut myself in.
Once I had read both—about fifty pages apiece—I let out the breath I had been holding.
It's good.
Not a single scene dragged. Leads, supporting roles, even the bit parts—every character breathed. It stayed inside the frame of a fantasy romantic comedy, and within that frame it folded a layered, solid structure together with dialogue that felt real.
I had only read the text, and yet it felt as if two episodes were already playing in front of my eyes.
The praise that the script did all the work was no exaggeration. It was genuinely fun.
……All right. Time to turn it over again.
If I took the change of lead as a given, Seo Ji-joon was by no means a bad card.
As far as I knew, the actors who had been in the running for the male lead of Cat Guardian Spirit were Im Joowon, Kim Yeon-sung, and Park Hye-min—and ranked by tier, Seo Ji-joon sat at the top.
The problem was that hiring a successful actor did not automatically mean success. If it did, every drama built around a top star would be a hit, one after another.
The days when a top star's name alone worked like a charm were over. What mattered now was whether they could carry the part—how fully they could bring a charming character to life.
Acting skill was the baseline. Put an actor who could inhabit a character completely together with an excellent script, and the synergy was built to explode.
The male lead of Cat Guardian Spirit wore the mask of a meticulous perfectionist. Under it, though, was someone delicate and timid. In a way he seemed a little slow, and that was precisely what made him charming.
But the Seo Ji-joon I knew had shown one consistent image up to now.
Cold, prickly elite.
Could an actor like that really pull off a character like this?
A role where he had to come apart like that?
……Damn it. This is going to split my head open.
I worried over it alone, then went up to the PR office on the fifth floor—takeout coffee in both hands, of course.
"Team Leader. Have some coffee."
"Hm?"
Familiar faces poked out between the partitions. Team Leader Park rose with a short laugh.
"Starting to get used to the sight of you like this, are we?"
"Seriously. You bring coffee every time you come up, so we're not complaining."
"So what's it about today?"
I took a sip of my own and asked.
"Dramas like Hwarang of Silla, The Beast, The Man from the Fourth Dimension, A Couple's Duty."
"Right. All huge hits."
"Would they still have been huge if the leads had been swapped?"
Team Leader Park, brow furrowed in thought, finally spoke.
"Well, you could go on forever, but… in a word, it's luck."
"Luck……."
"They might not have done as well. Or they might have been even bigger. Why do you think they call casting a gamble?"
"But the shows Sunwoo mentioned—even if the lead changed, they'd have been at least a modest hit, right?"
A woman on the team cut in, rubbing her chin in earnest.
"I mean, those had good scripts to begin with. The direction was good, too."
"True. Say what you will, dramas still live or die on the script. As long as the replacement isn't terrible, or the chemistry with the rest of the cast isn't completely dead, you're fine."
One of the men chimed in as well.
I felt the same about that much. I was about to say so when Team Leader Park jumped in.
"You've been thinking awfully hard about Cat Guardian Spirit, haven't you. We read the script yesterday too, and it was fun. The most fun thing I've seen in a while."
"Right? The synopsis was really nothing, but I lost track of time with the script."
"First day you show up asking about the next K-star, and now if this drama lands too, there's really something to you, Sunwoo. We'll have to wait and see."
Team Leader Park smiled, meaningful, and needled me.
"But you asked whether the show would still be all right if the lead changed. Is it because Ji-joon might be going in as the male lead? You're worried the thing falls apart if he joins?"
"Is that actually it? Then who were you thinking of for the male lead, Sunwoo? Kim Yeon-sung? Im Joowon?"
"Come on, Ji-joon's better than those guys. If they land him, the production side would be thanking every god they know."
I wet my lips and said,
"I know Seo Ji-joon is a very good actor. But the male lead comes apart in a lot of places along the way. And Seo Ji-joon's image is……."
"Ah. You still haven't seen Ji-joon in person, have you?"
Team Leader Park laughed out loud. The other two shook their heads as well.
"Ji-joon didn't say he wanted this drama for nothing."
"What?"
"Speaking as someone who knows Seo Ji-joon—if this casting goes through, it will be a stroke of genius for the show. Mark my words."
……A stroke of genius?
Management Division, Team 2.
A heavy air hung in the office where the two of them sat facing each other.
"Ji-joon. You've never been like this. Why are you suddenly digging in?"
The Team 2 leader scratched hard at his unkempt hair.
"We already settled that you'd shoot a film this year. All that's left is picking the screenplay. Do one with some artistic weight and after that you'll have 'film actor' in front of your name, and your price goes way up……."
"Team Leader."
Seo Ji-joon spoke in a calm, certain voice.
"The screenplays you gave me, the roles you said would suit me—honestly, I don't really understand them. You know I'm slow. If I can't understand the character, how am I supposed to act it?"
"Ji-joon, listen. That's……!"
"But Cat Guardian Spirit—I think I could do that one well. It's fun."
"No—even if it's a miniseries, why does it have to be cable? Huh? How many network shows were asking for you? You know as well as I do. Plenty of cable dramas get yanked at one percent even when the quality is good. Why waste your time? Do you have any idea how important this moment is?"
The Team 2 leader thumped his chest in frustration as he tried to talk him down. Seo Ji-joon, who had been listening in silence, narrowed his sharp, elongated eyes and said,
"I've done every project you've picked for me until now. This time I'm doing what I want to do."
"Ji-joon!"
"I'm sorry."
Seo Ji-joon bowed his head deeply.
A short while later, expressionless, he opened the office door and stepped out. He was striding along on those long legs when he let out a small sigh and pushed open the emergency-exit door. Manager Lee Bong-joon, who had been sitting on the stairs, shot to his feet.
"How'd it go? Huh? Did you go in and tell him straight?"
Seo Ji-joon shut the exit door and slid down the wall.
"Yeah, yeah. I think so. God, I thought I was going to suffocate in there!"
"Still, lucky you didn't get eaten alive by the team leader."
"That's why I said we should go in together! How do you toss your own actor into a snake's mouth by himself?"
"You're the actor, so you can go in and cut it clean. If I go in, I get cut clean. You want me fired?"
"Well, no……."
Seo Ji-joon clicked his tongue and muttered. Lee Bong-joon sighed, looking unburdened, and said,
"Anyway, I'm glad it worked out. Even if you had to be stubborn about it, I think doing this drama is the right call."
"Right? You think so too, hyung?"
"Of course. I knew the second I saw it. That script was written for you. That role, too. I thought the writer used you as the model."
"God, seriously…… How do you and I always think exactly the same?"
"Heh. That's why I'm your manager."
The two of them crouched on the cold emergency-stair landing and giggled for a long while. Then Lee Bong-joon muttered, as if something had just occurred to him.
"If it goes this way, I ought to meet Team 3's Fortune-Kicker once. We might end up shooting together."
"Fortune-what? Who's that?"
"You know our company's girl group, Neptune?"
"Uh…… I think I've heard of them."
"Their manager. Word is he's the one who brought this project in. He asked PR for the synopsis, and after he read it he requested the script so he could get one of the Neptune members into the drama."
"Oh, yeah? So if it weren't for him, I never would have seen this script?"
"Right?"
"Hmm……."
Seo Ji-joon narrowed his eyes in thought, then spoke.
"Hyung, when you meet him, I'm coming too."
Pan Production. CEO Kim Pan-seok was staring a hole through his phone, which had not so much as twitched. Producer Park Soo-kyung set down a bowl of jajangmyeon she had scraped clean and said,
"Sir, the noodles are getting cold. Eat."
"How is jajangmyeon supposed to go down my throat? At a moment this critical, while Seo Ji-joon is still deciding whether or not he'll do our drama?"
"Staring at it won't make the call come any faster."
Director Shin Tae-gyun joined them with a wide yawn.
"Upstairs is losing it, telling us to bring Seo Ji-joon's contract already. I hear they've written the casting-confirmation piece and they're just waiting on it."
"Haa…… They're bleeding me dry. Bleeding me dry."
"I know the guy can act, but will he really fit our show? You met him yesterday and talked for a bit, didn't you, sunbae?"
"The feeling hit me right then. Director Shin and Writer Hong will see it too once they meet him. That's why this has to go through……."
CEO Kim Pan-seok clutched the phone like a treasure and slumped over the table.
Park Soo-kyung, clearing the empty bowls, said,
"By the way, sir. Lee Songha, was it? When are we seeing her audition? We said we'd get back to them, so we need to decide soon."
"Ah…… that girl group? The one who's never acted?"
"Yes. The role of simultaneous interpreter Jung Hae-won."
Director Shin Tae-gyun looked up, and so did Writer Hong Joo-mi, who had had her face buried in a bowl of jjamppong. CEO Kim Pan-seok said, looking troubled,
"If we fail her at the audition, Seo Ji-joon doesn't fall through too, does he?"
"No. We didn't send her packaged with Seo Ji-joon in the first place. They said a member named Lee Songha saw the synopsis and insisted on auditioning, so they called. Her manager pushed hard for her, I think? The one who first asked us to send the synopsis—after hearing about our drama somewhere—was that manager."
"Then call that grateful manager and tell him we'll see her for an easier role than Jung Hae-won. Jung Hae-won will be too hard."
"What?"
"Jung Hae-won may be a supporting role, but the weight is high. And if the acting doesn't hold up, it's a part you absolutely cannot pull off."
Writer Hong Joo-mi nodded. So did Director Shin Tae-gyun.
CEO Kim Pan-seok spoke again.
"Cast a total beginner, and if the acting doesn't land, the actor gets torn apart and the show falls apart with them. What good is a strong script if a miscast ruins it?"
"Got it. I'll call the manager."
Park Soo-kyung picked up her phone and stood.