Chapter 192: TIme to Work (3)
“Umm...”
Director Seo Yong-Mun was having a hard time speaking after hearing Kang Ra-Eun’s second condition. She had said that she wouldn’t be editing much, but...
“Isn’t eighty percent... almost everything?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Director Seo’s next work, Spokesperson, was a film of the political genre, which was one of the most touchy genres of film in Korea. Political films had always existed in Korea, but not a single one of them had been a hit.
However, Spokesperson?would set a record among political films as the worst Korean political film to ever be made, flopped to the point that it would not even make enough money to break even. That was the fate waiting for this film, which was why Ra-Eun had requested for the script to be completely changed.
“This film will completely flop at this rate,” Ra-Eun declared.
Director Seo’s shoulders violently flinched.
“R-Really?”
“Yes. I may not look like it, but I have quite a good eye for productions. You already know this, don’t you, Director?”
“O-Of course!”
Every single drama and film that Ra-Eun had chosen to star in had become massive hits, earning her the nickname ‘Goddess of Hits.’ Not only did she have a good eye for productions, she had also been the first one to recognize the latent potentials of Han Ga-Ae, Lee Si-Ahn and some others. There were many such rumors in the entertainment industry that Director Seo couldn’t just ignore Ra-Eun’s opinion.
‘Not just that, if this man is like what I remember...’
Director Seo was very easily persuaded by others. In other words, he was extremely gullible, which was why Ra-Eun had been able to give her opinion to carry out an extensive edit of the script. If she played her cards right, Director Seo would take the bait.
‘He’s almost bitten it.’
All that was left for Ra-Eun to do was to reel him in, but being too hasty would only scare him away. Fishing was an art of patience; she decided to wait patiently and throw another piece of bait.
“Why don’t you give us a call after you look through the edits that I've made? If you decide to accept all of them, I’ll star in the film at the initially offered appearance fee.”
“A-Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
It was now all up to Director Seo to decide whether to accept her edits or not.
***
Chief Jung asked Ra-Eun once Director Seo and the associate director left.
“Can I ask you something, Ra-Eun?”
“Is it about the meeting we just had?”
“Yeah.”
He had wanted to ask her during the meeting, but he couldn’t in consideration for Director Seo. Chief Jung took the opportunity to let out the question that had been swirling inside his head.
“Did you dislike Director Seo’s script that much?”
“Yes, extremely.”
Not only was it obvious just from the script that the film would flop, it had actually flopped in the future as well. That was why Ra-Eun had requested for extensive edits to be made to the story, characters and their backgrounds.
The factors that had caused Director Seo’s film Spokesperson?to flop were all stored in Ra-Eun’s head. She had written down a list of points that the audience had made about what they found disappointing about Spokesperson, and was planning on sending this list to Director Seo soon. If he accepted every single edit that she suggested...
‘We could aim for a mid-sized hit... no, even a huge hit.’
Of course, a huge success was only in her hopes; she just believed that she was more than capable of preventing this film from flopping.
Chief Jung asked another question, “If you need to edit the script that much, then why don’t you just choose a different production?”
Ra-Eun returned Chief Jung’s question with one of her own, “Chief Jung. You remember what you said when you introduced this film to me, don’t you?”
“I believe I said... I’m 100% sure that you’ll like it.”
“And why did you think so?”
“Because of... the genre, I guess?”
Chief Jung was also aware that Ra-Eun had a certain level of interest in politics, which was why he had thought she would be interested in this film.
“Like you’d expected, I liked the genre,” she expressed.
Not just that, the draft that Director Seo had brought was not completely unsalvageable. As long as more detail was put into the settings, characters were given more individuality, and the quality was increased through securing more production funds, it was more than capable of becoming a success.
There were many reasons why she had chosen this production, but her self-interest was also included.
‘I’ll scare the living hell out of Kim Han-Gyo.’
Ra-Eun was planning on making a character who was extremely similar to Han-Gyo, and make that character the most villainous of all villains to ever exist in film.
‘I’ll give you a sneak peek on how you’ll be utterly ruined.’
Ra-Eun smiled menacingly.
***
In the morning after the meeting, Director Seo quickly read through all the edits that Ra-Eun had sent him by email. The assistant director asked Director Seo, who was staring at his computer screen in complete silence, about yesterday’s events.
“Is Ra-Eun usually the type to intervene in the scriptwriting process?”
There were some actors who went beyond their acting duties and tried to meddle with the contents of the production. There were rumors that Ra-Eun had a very good eye, but they did not know that she also had such a tendency. However...
“Take a look at this,” Director Seo said.
“Me?”
“No, everyone.”
Director Seo sent Ra-Eun’s edits not just to the assistant director, but to every single head staff member that they would be working with.
It was 3:30 PM. Before starting the meeting, Director Seo asked the staff members that had all gathered in one place.
“You all read through what I’d sent you, right?”
“Yes, Director.”
“What did you think?”
The staff members gave their opinions one after another.
“It was better than I’d thought.”
“There were things included that we had left out because we thought they’d be iffy to include.”
“To be honest, I was really surprised. I’m pretty sure that in terms of quality, it would be better than our first draft if we use these edits.”
Their opinions were all positive, but Director Seo had not told them one thing.
“That’s what Ra-Eun sent us.”
“Huhhh???”
“Miss Kang Ra-Eun?”
The staff members were shocked by Director Seo’s statement.
“I was sure that you had thought of them, Director...”
“Ra-Eun’s eye for productions is seriously no joke.”
Ra-Eun had shown talent exceeding that of an expert, causing an uproar in the meeting room for a while. Director Seo also decided to let everyone here know of the conditions that Ra-Eun had set during yesterday’s meeting.
“Ra-Eun said that she would star in our film without any change in her appearance fee if we use these edits.”
“A-Are you serious?”
“Miss Kang Ra-Eun, starring in our film...!”
There was no way anyone would dislike an actress, who turned everything that she starred in into a hit, taking on the lead role of their film.
“Director! What are you going to do?”
The staff members urged Director Seo. He smiled at them.
“You already know what I’m going to do.”
It was an obvious choice.
***
Ra-Eun came to a supermarket to prepare for Seo Yi-Seo’s birthday.
She asked Yi-Jun, who had come with her, while walking around, “Your sister likes Korean-style cuisine, right?”
“How did you know?” he asked.
“How could I not? We live together,” she narrowed her eyes at him as he stated the obvious. “What are you gonna make again?”
“Braised giblet stew.”
“Braised giblet stew?”
“Yes. It’s a stew with chicken legs, wings and giblets in it.”
“Oh, sounds delicious.”
Ra-Eun had not been a huge fan of chicken giblets in the past; she could eat it, but did not actively seek it out. However, her palate had changed after becoming a woman.
“I’ll make sure it’s the best one you’ve ever had.”
Ra-Eun had left the main dish to Yi-Jun, and she would handle the remaining side dishes. They could eat outside, but Ra-Eun would pull far too much attention. Delivery food was also a bit lacking in sincerity for someone’s birthday. Hence, they had decided to personally cook the dishes.
Their shopping bags had filled up to the brim before they had realized it.
“Hup...!”
Ra-Eun put in some strength to lift one of the bags.
‘It’s heavier than I’d thought.’
She regretted buying so much.
“Noona. Give me the heavy one. You can carry the lighter one.”
Yi-Jun took the heavy bag from Ra-Eun. He easily lifted it with one hand, causing the veins on the back of his hand and arm to pop out.
“Oh, you’re showing off, are you?” Ra-Eun teased.
“That wasn’t really my intention,” Yi-Jun replied while laughing in embarrassment.
After becoming an adult, Yi-Jun had gotten even taller and widened their gap in build even further compared to their high school days. They placed the bags in the trunk and Ra-Eun started the car engine as soon as she got in. She then immediately took off her glasses, mask and hat, and threw them on the back seat.
“Sigh, that’s so much better.”
She had used every single tool of disguise at her disposal to prevent people from recognizing her, which had thankfully helped in people not recognizing her during their shopping trip. However, she had been frustrated by the fact that she needed to keep quiet to the cashier. Celebrities needed to take even the tiniest precautions to avoid troublesome scandals.
Yi-Jun quickly turned his head toward the side window in surprise while he was putting on his seat belt.
“N-Noona. Your skirt...”
“Oh, when did this get rolled up?”
Ra-Eun’s short skirt had gotten rolled up from all the moving that she had done while seated. She did not usually wear skirts when going out, but she had no choice since she had come to the supermarket right after appearing on a broadcast.
“Should I just change into pants right here?” Ra-Eun mentioned.
“Please spare me, noona. Anything but that.”
“Jeez, I’m just joking.”
No matter how lacking Ra-Eun’s self-consciousness of being a woman was, she did not take off her clothes in front of men. As she was about to get out of the supermarket parking lot, she got a call from Chief Jung. The contents of the call filled the entire car since her smartphone had been connected to the car via bluetooth.
- Ra-Eun. I got a call from Director Seo.
“What did he say?”
Ra-Eun more or less knew what Director Seo’s answer was.
- He said that he’ll accept all of your conditions.
It had all gone according to her plan.
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