Chapter 272: I’ll Do It (1)
Kang Ra-Eun had not done anything related to the entertainment industry during her break, so she had a weird feeling as she stood in the building lobby with the huge GNF logo on it.
‘Why does it feel so weird to be here?’
Ra-Eun had been at her agency more frequently than her own home back when she was still appearing on TV shows, but it couldn’t feel any more unfamiliar from having come here after so long.
Shin Yu-Bin, who had been waiting for Ra-Eun at the lobby, waved at her.
“Over here, Ra-Eun.”
It had also been a while since Ra-Eun had met Yu-Bin.
“Have you lost weight, Miss Manager? You look more slender than before.”
“My, really?” Yu-Bin said as she looked down at herself in a good mood.
“Have you been exercising?” Ra-Eun asked.
“No, not at all. But I just kept losing weight for some reason.”
It had likely been because she had returned to a consistent daily schedule after going through the massively inconsistent lifestyle of a manager.
Yu-Bin said as she called the elevator, “Let’s go up. Chief Jung has been waiting anxiously for you ever since he clocked in.”
Ra-Eun could hear how hyped up he had been through their previous phone call, so she could imagine how much more hyped he would be now.
‘This is gonna be an exhausting meeting.’
Ra-Eun was worried already.
***
Like Ra-Eun had expected, Chief Jung welcomed her in an extremely high-toned voice.
“Here’s the script that you wanted to see. We have plenty of time, so read through it as much as you want.”
Ra-Eun tilted her head in confusion as she saw the title that was on the script of Director Yoon Tae-Yoon’s next production.
[Just Like a Melodrama Protagonist]
‘Had Director Yoon produced a film like this?’
Director Yoon tackled concepts that were far more unique compared to other film directors, so it was unexpected that he had chosen to go with such an orthodox genre like romance. However, that didn’t mean the plot was generic; it was dyed in Director Yoon’s unique colors.
‘Not only is it unique, it also has qualities that’ll make it commercially popular.’
Ra-Eun could tell why Vice President Park Hee-Woo had gone so far to cast her.
‘I think this’ll do pretty well once it releases.’
Ra-Eun thought that it could surpass ten million in total attendance, which was rare for a romance film. That was how much she had taken a liking to the plot despite having the mind of a man.
‘Meaning, it’ll be a hit even for male audiences.’
However, there was a bit of a problem.
‘There wasn’t a film like this in my past life.’
If it had been released in her past life, Ra-Eun would know how it would do as well as what the problems had been if it had been a flop. However, this film was completely new. Ra-Eun might have hesitated if it were just a normal film, but...
‘I’ve already agreed to star in it.’
She had already made an agreement with Hee-Woo. However the film would do, she was planning on starring in it no matter what.
Ra-Eun closed the script and said while nodding, “It’s good.”
“Right? Time was flying by while I was reading the script too. That’s Director Yoon for you. I can’t believe he could make something like a melodrama so entertaining. Right?”
“Yes, I agree.”
Director Yoon Tae-Yoon would one day become a globally famous director; hence, Ra-Eun would expect nothing less.
“I’d heard that there was going to be a love triangle. From what I’ve seen, I guess it’s going to be one woman and two men,” Ra-Eun remarked.
“Yup, that’s right. The female lead is obviously you.”
The problem was with the male leads.
“They still haven’t started casting, right?”
“Yeah. Director Yoon seems to have some people in mind.”
“Really? Who?”
“I also tried asking because I was curious, but he said that he would tell me once they’re finalized,” Chief Jung replied while resting his chin on his hand and continued, “From what I’ve heard from the writers, they’re gonna be casting actors that you’re relatively close to.”
“Is it because of chemistry?”
“There’s that too, but you would have to seem like a couple on camera, wouldn’t you? It’s only a performance, but Director Yoon seems to believe that he’ll get a better product with people who have some level of chemistry with you rather than complete strangers. You know how meticulous he is.”
To raise a film’s quality, one needed to take everything into account rather than factors related to the film’s production. It was very much like the highly meticulous Director Yoon. Ra-Eun also more or less agreed. And more importantly, her kiss scene was on the line in this film.
‘It’d be better than kissing a complete stranger.’
She had made the pledge, so she had no choice but to do it. Although it had not been a kiss scene, she had given Seo Yi-Jun CPR once, so she decided to think of it positively.
Yu-Bin expressed as she thought of male actors that Ra-Eun was close to, “The most likely ones would be Han-Seok and Je-Woon, right? I guess there’s Mr. Min Se-Min too.”
“Don’t forget about Tae-Chan. I saw him in a production as a minor role because he’d said he wanted to become an actor like Je-Woon. He was better than I’d expected,” Chief Jung added.
“There are a lot of candidates. That just goes to show how popular Ra-Eun is, huh?”
Yu-Bin shot Ra-Eun a smile, but Ra-Eun herself did not seem to care all that much.
“Director Yoon will be here tomorrow, so why don’t you ask him yourself if you’re that curious?” Chief Jung said.
Ra-Eun nodded. The curiosity only grew regarding which actor would have the honor of earning a kiss scene with Ra-Eun.
***
Director Yoon bowed at a ninety-degree angle to thank Ra-Eun as soon as he saw her.
“I was fretting over what I would do if you refused the offer. Thank you so very much!”
Director Yoon was expressing his gratitude to an excessive degree because Kang Seo-Mi, the female lead character of Just Like a Melodrama Protagonist, had been inspired by Ra-Eun. He had told his acquaintances about the fact while he was working on the story.
Director Yoon obviously strongly wished for Ra-Eun to star as the female lead, but despite having gotten relatively famous, he was still not famous enough to cast a top star like Ra-Eun as he wanted. Fame-wise, Ra-Eun was far above him.
“This is the edited script. This and the one that I’d given you are both early drafts, so there will be a lot of edits for the time being. If you have any opinions about how you would like a scene to go as you read through it, please feel free to let me or my writers know.”
Only the director had the right to edit the script, but Director Yoon had relinquished a portion of his editing rights to Ra-Eun despite her not having asked for it. Rumors that Spokesperson had become a massive hit after Ra-Eun had made large edits to it had spread throughout the industry.
Ra-Eun had come to be known to have a discerning eye not only for people, but for stories as well. Hence, Director Yoon had given her some editing rights while hoping she would catch anything that he and his writers had missed. Ra-Eun nodded and agreed.
‘I won’t have anything to point out, though.’
This was not a film that had been released in her past life, so she had nothing in particular to say about it. However, there was one thing that she wanted to ask.
“The character Kang Seo-Mi ends up with Min Woo-Chan in the end, right?”
“Yes, for the time being.”
“Then what about Nam Yun-Seok?”
Woo-Chan and Yun-Seok would fight for the heart of Ra-Eun’s character Seo-Mi. The three of them would become close in high school from being in the same club. Woo-Chan would discover the fact that Yun-Seok had feelings for Seo-Mi. He said he would cheer Yun-Seok on, but soon suffer over time from having to hide his own feelings for Seo-Mi, and would ultimately confess to her.
Since the script already mentioned who Seo-Mi ended up with, Ra-Eun was curious about what would happen to Yun-Seok.
“I’m still not sure about that. We’ve been having mixed opinions about his ending, but since this film will be having a happy ending, we’re thinking about a way for the three of them to end up happy in their own right,” Director Yoon answered.
The fact that they would ‘end up happy in their own right’ bothered Ra-Eun.
“From what I’ve read in the script, there are two kiss scenes...”
First would be with Woo-Chan, and the second with Yun-Seok.
Director Yoon explained, “You can do the actual kiss scene with the actor playing Min Woo-Chan. You don’t have to kiss two people.”
“Then what about Nam Yun-Seok?”
“We’ll be using a stand-in. We were going to be shooting a close-up while cutting everything from the mouth up, so you don’t have to do the kiss scene yourself.”
Director Yoon knew very well that Ra-Eun did not like skinship, so he let her know of the stand-in in advance.
“Mmm... I see,” Ra-Eun said as she nodded in succession. “Then I guess the actor that will be playing Min Woo-Chan is the most important for me.”
After all, she would be kissing him. Not just that, since he would be the true male lead, she was naturally focused on him since she would be working with that actor the most.
“Haha, of course you would be. I do have an actor in mind for the role, but he’s so busy that I’m not sure if he’ll be able to star in our film. I did schedule a meeting with him next week, but...”
Director Yoon did not seem confident. Taking this opportunity, Ra-Eun quickly asked him the question.
“Who is it? Is it someone I know?”
Director Yoon unwittingly announced the actor that he had in mind for the role.
“It’s Je-Woon.”
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