We're Rolling (1)

CEO Baek Han-sung said it readily.

The thought flickered through me that I should have spoken to Kim Hyunjo or the Team 3 leader first, but I was already ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠too far in to step back. I hadn't expected the CEO to call me directly.

Fine. Act first, report later. When I sat down with Kim Hyunjo tomorrow and told him, I would get that look—the one I had already met several times.

The look you give a madman.

I let the tension out of my shoulders, soothed my throat with a cup of my mother's ginger-honey tea, and spoke.

"It's about what you mentioned last time. You said that if the drama Cat Guardian Spirit succeeded, I should bring it up then..."

A low laugh.

Was it the weight of the title he carried? Even his laughter refused to sound at ease.

As carefully as I could, I laid out the story of Son Chae-young, Mr. Shim Kyung-taek, and Lee Songha. The Team 3 leader seemed to have already swept through once; CEO Baek appeared to know the shape of what had happened well enough.

While I built the frame of my last line with care, he gave only the briefest signs that he was listening.

At last, when I had set down everything I had to set down, I said it.

"Not a tidy apology that only sounds right. I'd like there to be a price equal to what was done."

"Sorry?"

"Well—it's a good drama. I truly believe it will."

Good. That had come out naturally.

I clenched my fist.

Shim Kyung-taek's high-handed face rose in front of me, and beside it Son Chae-young's sneer. I had looked, twice in a single day, at things that barely passed for human, and it had nearly promised me a night of sour dreams—but only now did my mind and body finally settle.

Then, all at once, I remembered why CEO Baek had called me in the first place.

"The thing you said you wanted to ask..."

What could this man possibly have to ask me?

I was still rifling through the possibilities when the unhurried voice came through.

"Sorry?"

Beijing, China.

A lavish suite parlor, washed in red. CEO Baek Han-sung, leaned back into a wide sofa, offered a few more words and then hung up. He tossed the phone onto the cushion beside him and tipped his head back.

"Sir, shall we head down in twenty minutes?"

The Division Head came out into the parlor and sprawled on the sofa. A schedule with no room to breathe had left the fatigue plain on his face. They had kept the same hours, and still he looked twice as worn as CEO Baek.

"What was that call, going on so long? Did the Team 3 leader ring again?"

Baek Han-sung, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, lost in thought, drew up only the corner of his mouth.

"No. Jung Sunwoo."

"Who? Jung Sunwoo... Jung Sun—Team 3's Fortune-Kicker?"

At the Division Head's bewilderment, Baek Han-sung's smile deepened.

"There was something I wanted to ask."

"What would you have to ask him... Oh. The Chae-young and Songha business?"

"That too. And I told him to take a reading on how Cat Guardian Spirit might land in China."

As if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, the Division Head let out a sound like air leaving a balloon.

"...He's not a shaman. At this rate we'll owe him a reading fee."

Seated on the sofa, he looked over the thick stack of documents he had brought and asked, "So what did he say?"

Baek Han-sung let the silence sit a moment. The tip of a long, pale finger tapped the sofa out of habit.

"Says he thinks it'll do well."

"Aigoo, I certainly hope so. That kid is uncanny now and then, I'll grant him that, but his gut is a firm maybe, from what I hear. When Do-won asked him to be his manager and he turned it down, he apparently said later that his feeling about it had been bad."

"...Did he?"

The finger stopped in midair.

Baek Han-sung straightened out of his easy sprawl. He swept back his tousled hair and narrowed his eyes. A different light moved in them, the look of a man who had found something worth his interest.

"Sung Do-won said his feeling was bad?"

"A joke, I'm sure."

"It really is strange..."

To the quietly murmuring CEO, the Division Head said, "Ah, there's one more. This came from the PR side. They said he tossed this off like a joke as well."

"Hm?"

"The Mermaid Who Came Ashore—he said he had a bad feeling about that one too."

This time even Baek Han-sung tipped his head.

"That one I didn't expect."

"Which is why I say his gut is a firm maybe. Could just be a verbal habit."

The Division Head changed the subject. "But the Fortune-Kicker—he didn't have much to say about the Son Chae-young problem, did he?"

"Ah. We agreed to pick that up again in January."

"January? Why..."

"That's when the two dramas start airing at the same time."

Interest and the splinters of some subtler feeling were mixed into Baek Han-sung's voice.

"What does that have to do with..."

Looking at the CEO, who seemed sunk in thought, the Division Head let the rest of the sentence trail away.

About ten minutes later, Baek Han-sung stretched. The muscle under his thin shirt came alive. Fatigue shaken off in a breath, he held out a hand.

"The portfolios?"

"Ah, I did get everything ready the way you asked, but..."

From the stack in his hands, the Division Head drew out a few portfolios.

"None of them quite have the image to replace Do-won. The advertisers want something upscale and refined. Ji-joon is the closest to their taste, but then his name recognition in the Chinese-speaking market is far too weak."

Baek Han-sung took the portfolios and turned the pages without a word. The Division Head scratched at his patchily thinning hair and asked, his voice dropping another degree even though it was only the two of them.

"But why are you trying to put someone else in instead of Do-won? The advertisers have already seen real returns on using him and on the star marketing. They won't let go of him easily."

Baek Han-sung picked up Sung Do-won's portfolio and looked at it steadily. In the profile photo, Sung Do-won lay on the sand in a white dress shirt, barefoot, smiling. The fresh, elegant smile that had made him a Hallyu star.

Baek Han-sung closed the portfolio and tossed it down beside the sofa.

Watching that, the Division Head discreetly licked his lips and said, "What about Chae-young? I heard the advertisers floated keeping Do-won and swapping Chae-young in as the new face, but The Mermaid Who Came Ashore is running so hot in China that the idea seems to have quietly disappeared."

"Is that so?"

"In Korea, Cat Guardian Spirit is causing a frenzy, but here the Mermaid is getting a solid response. Well, they sold the rights to a drama that hasn't even aired for two billion won."

Baek Han-sung rubbed his jaw a few times, then set Seo Ji-joon's portfolio on the table. He pushed Son Chae-young's, which had been beside it, off to the side, and in its place dropped a paltry, thin little portfolio.

Lee Songha.

"How's this picture?"

"Uh, well... the picture's good. The picture is good, but the advertisers won't go for it."

The Division Head answered reluctantly and scratched the hair behind his ear.

"Ji-joon already has no profile here, and Songha is a complete unknown. Unless this drama somehow becomes a massive hit in China, the way the Fortune-Kicker says—and that would take heaven's help. You really think luck is going to line up like that?"

"We'll see. The Chinese rights for Cat Guardian Spirit still aren't signed, are they?"

"Pan Production seems to be working at it, but the coordination isn't going well. The company itself hasn't been around long, so they're still scrambling, and more than anything they don't have a Hallyu star to put forward. Those guys in Blackout finished their concert and they're just loafing around. I should have had a word with them."

The Division Head smacked his lips and muttered.

Baek Han-sung checked his watch and knotted his tie at an unhurried pace.

A moment later he spoke.

"Get me the contact for Pan Production's CEO."

"Sorry?"

"And set meetings with a few of the major online video platforms here."

Guessing that their return home had just been pushed back, the Division Head let out a silent sigh. His round shoulders sagged. Unlike him, Baek Han-sung looked over the three portfolios laid out on the table and lifted the corner of his mouth.

"...I'm curious about this, too."

"About what?"

"How right Jung Sunwoo's gut turns out to be."

It felt like driving a sports car down the autobahn.

The days tore past just like that. I had never been on the autobahn, and I had never properly driven a sports car, but the feeling was roughly that. It had to be absurdly fast.

In the blink of an eye another recording of Next K-Star came and went, and two more episodes aired. The ratings hit a premiere high of 3.1 percent, then 3.6 for episode two and 3.9 for episode three, breaking the show's own record every single week and climbing hard. With the four-percent range right in front of them, the production staff were grinning ear to ear every time we walked into the network.

PD Go Joon-tae was still trying all kinds of edits built around the Neptune kids, and around Lee Songha most of all, milking her buzz for everything it was worth—but he hadn't openly screwed us the way he had on the premiere. Of course I had no idea when he might cook up another screw-over, so I was watching with my eyes lit.

Either way, more face time meant the recognition was rising, and the kids kept earning good scores from the judges, so the image of a skilled girl group was being built up, layer by layer.

Broadcast really was a good thing. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moment the team's name began, little by little, to get around, regional events started coming in, and the fee rose enough that the kids' makeup costs were finally covered. If anything deserved a round of applause, it was that.

"We're almost wrapped."

Traitor came into the open hall with the cold night air still on him. A stale reek of cigarettes hit me hard.

"You were smoking?"

"Can you smell it?"

"Obviously. You didn't used to."

"I'd quit... but lately I've been craving it again."

Traitor clicked his tongue and brushed off his collar. Maybe it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was the cigarette. A face that, only a moment ago, had looked tired enough to rival Kim Hyunjo's now had a little life moving through it.

Family circumstances had kept me from ever touching a cigarette, in my school days and in the army both, but lately the temptation had been nagging. When managers from other teams or the crew stepped out mid-recording for a smoke, they came back as refreshed as if they'd had an IV.

"Songha's first drama shoot is today, right?"

"Yeah. Finally."

Cat Guardian Spirit had already done its poster shoot and the traditional pre-production rite, and filming had begun not long ago. They were blasting through the leads' autumn flashback scenes before the first snow. Today was Songha's first day, but I had heard that Seo Ji-joon and Chief Lee Bong-joon were already living in a loop between the outdoor location and the set.

"You're going straight to set after this recording?"

"Yeah. Call time is four in the morning."

It was a little past midnight, which meant wiping off the stage makeup, starting the makeup from scratch, changing clothes, and racing straight to the outdoor location. I was gauging the time on my wristwatch when Traitor gave a small yawn and said, "Then you won't be coming into the office tomorrow. I'll text you what comes out of the meeting."

"There was a meeting?"

"They're starting the concept meeting for the kids' next mini album."

Right. That was happening.

There were more celebrities than I could count who got a brief spike off a variety show or a drama and then, the moment the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠show ended, vanished as if they had never been there. We were laying the next step with care so Neptune would not go the same way.

The most important piece was Neptune's next mini album, due early in the year.

Right now the schedule ran on variety and drama, but at the core Neptune was a girl group. If the public could recognize even one melody when they heard it, the radius of the work—concerts, events, fansigns, all of it—would open enormously.

If this album succeeded, the road ahead would be properly paved, so every related staffer had been mobilized and was pouring their heart into it. More than one or two albums released under Neptune's name had already been buried, and this time everyone seemed to have come out grinding their teeth.

Kim Hyunjo was wandering around as an outright zombie, and the Neptune kids were burning with the determination not to get obliterated on the real-time charts this time.

At this point, I was probably the only one whose anticipation outweighed the pressure and the worry.

Because I knew.

With a very high degree of certainty, Neptune's next title track was going to take first place on a music show.

"Hey, Lee Songha! Shoot well and come back!"

At the dorm entrance, Lim Seoyoung rubbed her sleepy eyes as she said it. Lee Taehee and LJ swallowed yawns and added their own send-offs.

"Songha, go and come back. Don't let it weigh on you just because it's the first shoot."

"Are they feeding you breakfast on set? I stashed some snacks in the back seat earlier, so if you get hungry—which of course you will—eat all of it."

Lee Songha, left alone in the van, nodded through the window. The biggest reaction, of course, was to LJ's line.

I was just pulling the car out when Lim Seoyoung added one ominous sentence from outside.

"You have to do better than Son Chae-young! Son Chae—!"

"Don't pressure her, idiot!"

The rearview caught Lim Seoyoung taking a smack to the back of the head from LJ.

Kim Hyunjo and I had sanded down the story of what Son Chae-young and Mr. Shim Kyung-taek had done and told the kids. Wow. The reaction back then had been something to behold. In any case, Son Chae-young had become public enemy number one in the Neptune dorm because of it.

Lee Taehee had gotten angry in her quiet way. LJ had fed an uppercut to Lim Seoyoung's cat plush and torn its leg off. And Lim Seoyoung had printed out a humiliation photo of Son Chae-young, stuck it up where it could be seen in the living room, and held a daily appreciation hour.

There was supposed to be a company New Year's party early in the year. I couldn't even picture what would happen if these girls came face to face with Son Chae-young.

Well, just in case, I had mentioned it to Kim Hyunjo as a joke.

Something about putting a few cakes on our table.

We stopped by the salon, finished the prep for the shoot, and I drove straight for the outdoor location at the Han River. In the back seat, Lee Songha tore into the snacks LJ had prepared like combat rations while fiddling with the script.

From the look on her face, she was already half overtaken by the role of Jeong Hae-won.

Best not to disturb her.

It was the small hours, but the riverside set along the Han was bustling with close to a hundred people. I eased in slowly, rolled the window down, and looked out. Damp river wind and the noisy clamor of the set rushed in together.

A long crane, lighting rigs spilling light, cameras and thick cables, reflectors—people hauling them past in a line. The busy shoot I had only ever seen in behind-the-scenes videos was actually in front of my eyes.

Adrenaline surged. I must have been wearing the same face as the quadruplets pulling up to an amusement park.

The moment I parked among the other vans, a familiar assistant director rapped on the window.

"You're here?"

"Yes. Thank you for working so late."

"It's still early, so this is the easy part. Genuinely easy."

The assistant director jerked his chin toward the set and went on, sounding worried. "The crew who missed the table read, the extras, all of them—everyone's talking nonstop about Lee Songha. This is the Han River, so once it's light the gawkers will swarm too... The director's worried it might be too much pressure on her. Will she be all right?"

I looked back at the rear seat.

Lee Songha was gazing blankly at the cover of the script. No. I couldn't tell whether she was looking at the cover, or whether the cover simply happened to be where her eyes had landed. Beside her, a snack she hadn't finished sat abandoned.

I nodded at the assistant director.

"I think she'll be fine."

"All right, then..."

He shouted into the headset intercom hanging around his neck.

"Lee Songha has just arrived!"

He listened to the headset for a moment, then looked my way.

"Yes, Lee Songha will rehearse first..."

And he threw the last line.