SWNOVELS
Chapter 71: On Set (3)
In the executive office of HK Apparel sat a man with neatly trimmed short hair and a stocky, muscular build. His fierce look made him appear like a thug to many. He was lounging with his legs on an expensive oak wood table, smoking a cigarette.
Hong Sung-Beom, the fourth son of the conglomerate HK Group, which ranked 12th in the business world, put out his cigarette and spoke in a low voice.
"Hoop Entertainment refused 200 million won?"
Secretary General Kim Seung-Moon froze on the spot and bowed cautiously. He was originally the secretary to CEO Gu Wang-Soo but had switched allegiance to Hong Sung-Beom, who was parachuted into the executive position a few months ago.
"Yes, Mr. Hong."
"She must be too proud because of her good looks. Offer them 300 million won this time then."
Kim Seung-Moon’s face stiffened at Hong Sung-Beom's order. "U-um, Mr. Hong. That’s...”
"What is it?"
"Hoop Entertainment said they would thoroughly review the offer before contacting us. If we show haste, they might just inflate the price." contemporary romance
While Kim Seung-Moon's concern was valid, Hong Sung-Beom merely snorted. "Hey, Secretary Kim. Do you know why I pay you a high salary?"
Having lived a reckless and hedonistic life, thirty-year-old Hong Sung-Beom was not used to being rejected by others. He seemed to have no problem speaking rudely to Kim Seung-Moon who was fifteen years older than him.
"I-I’m sorry, Mr. Hong."
"You’re sorry? Then contact Hoop Entertainment right now. Use any means to bring Jung Yoo-Jin to me! If not, you're also done when Gu Wang-Soo retires. Got it?"
Hong Sung-Beom didn’t hesitate to mention Gu Wang-Soo’s name.
At that moment, Kim Seung-Moon’s phone started ringing.
[Caller: Hoop Entertainment’s Operations Director Lee Gi-Cheol]
"How dare you enter my office with your phone on?"
When Hong Sung-Beom picked up a paperweight with an irritated expression, Kim Seung-Moon frantically waved his arms and shouted.
"Please calm down, Mr. Hong. This call is from Hoop Entertainment. Hoop!"
"Really?"
Hong Sung-Beom put down the paperweight. "Turn on the speaker. Let's hear what they have to say."
"Y-yes, sir."
Kim Seung-Moon let out a sigh of relief and answered Lee Gi-Cheol's call.
-Hello, Mr. Kim. It’s been a while, haha.
"Yes, hello, Mr. Lee."
After a brief exchange of greetings, Kim Seung-Moon opened his mouth.
"If the fee for Miss Jung Yoo-Jin's ad is insufficient, we are willing to increase it. Please reconsider your decision."
Listening to the conversation, Hong Sung-Beom gestured upwards and signaled to raise the offer.
"We can go up to 300 million won. How about that?"
Lee Gi-Cheol continued speaking.
-Haha, thank you so much for your interest, but Jung Yoo-Jin doesn’t seem to be interested. How about Ju Yung-In instead? She's the lead in Blue Sky and perfectly fits the luxurious image of HK Apparel...
As Lee Gi-Cheol droned on, Hong Sung-Beom lost his temper and let out a curse.
"Hey! I said to bring Jung Yoo-Jin! Who says I need a different bitch!?”
The startled Kim Seung-Moon quickly grabbed the phone. Despite Hong Sung-Beom's position as a fourth-generation chaebol, it was out of line for him to speak so rudely to an executive of another company.
Kim Seung-Moon tried to turn off the speakerphone, but it was too late.
-W-what did you just say to me? Who are you?
"Me? I'm Hong Sung-Beom, the executive director! You bastard! Do you think I called to ask for Ju Yung-In? Send Jung Yoo-Jin immediately!"
-M-Mr. Hong Sung-Beom?
Realizing this conversation was going nowhere, Kim Seung-Moon turned off the speakerphone.
"M-Mr. Hong. I will try to talk to them again."
Hong Sung-Beom fumed in anger and sat down as he shouted. "If you come back to me and tell me about the nonsense you’ve heard from that guy on the phone, don’t bother showing your face ever again. Just leave. There are plenty of others who want your job."
Kim Seung-Moon bowed repeatedly and left the executive office. Then, he immediately called Lee Gi-Cheol, spending a long time trying to pacify him. After a lengthy call, he managed to get a promise from Lee Gi-Cheol—though it would take time, he would try to secure Jung Yoo-Jin as the model for HK Apparel's advertisement.
In return, Kim Seung-Moon promised a ‘kickback’.
Hanging up the call, Kim Seung-Moon sighed in self-disgust. He was a proud graduate from Korea's top university in business administration but had now found himself in the degrading position of procuring women for his boss.
"Darn that filthy rich bastard..."
All Kim Seung-Moon could do was go to the rooftop, smoke a cigarette, and curse the world.
"I need to endure until all my daughters are married."
He had no choice but to head back to the office for his family who looked up to him at home.
***
[Director Kim Seong-Woon of Moonlight Starpour: "We will not disappoint the original fans!"]
[The adaptation of Moonlight Starpour is in the hands of the original author, Choi Sung-Eun.]
[Genius writer Choi Sung-Eun’s bold statement on expanding to screenplays: 'Novel? Screenplay? The essence of storytelling is the same. It's all about the fun.']
[MBS's CP Kim Myung-Hak declares the revival of the drama empire MBS with Moonlight Starpour!]
[Moonlight Starpour: This year's most anticipated drama!]
Moonlight Starpour was based on a solid Cameo Page original web that 1.02 million people were crazy about.
For the male lead, they cast Han Soo-Ho—a popular and good-looking actor among teenagers. Moreover, Choi Sung-Eun, the author of the , was directly writing the drama script herself to prevent any original story destruction.
However, this work had a crucial flaw. Although Choi Sung-Eun was a great author, she was a mess as a scriptwriter. There were lots of issues as she often belittled the actors for ruining her work and caused quite a stir. As a result, the viewership rating for the last episode plummeted to the 8% range.
But I thought the same issue might not occur this time. Due to changes in the broadcasting schedule, PD Kim Sung-Woon, who would become a future famous director, was set to take over from PD Park Eung-Chan.
"I understand things can change, but why does it have to be Kim Sung-Woon..."
That was when it happened.
Whirr!
On the set, Kang Soo-Hoon was holding a red megaphone and standing on a chair.
"Ah, ah. Mic test. Mic test."
Then, Kang Soo-Hoon looked around at the staff and shouted. "Did you see the articles today?"
The staff laughed at Kang Soo-Hoon’s words.
"It looks like MBS is scared of us. They wrote a ton of articles, didn’t they?"
"Even if the original work has millions of fans, things will be different when it gets made into a drama. They are too proud."
"Wasn’t PD Kim Sung-Woon only promoted from being an assistant director recently?"
"A novice writer and a novice director, huh? It'd be really embarrassing to lose to such an opponent."
Unlike me who knew the future, the production staff of Blue Sky were confident. Such a reaction was only natural with the outstanding script written by Kim Soll-Ip and the actors’ passionate performances on set. Hence, I was the only one worried about the future events.
Kang Soo-Hoon smiled brightly. "It seems you all think the same as me."
‘Nope. Not me.’
But I couldn't dampen the mood here.
Kang Soo-Hoon nodded his head repeatedly. "Great. In this spirit, we'll have a dinner party at Sky Pork Ribs after today's shoot. All cast and staff must attend."
Kang Soo-Hoon’s announcement caused a noisy uproar. The staff wondered why they were having the party on set, asking if this was the reason they set up the set at the pork rib restaurant.
"We need to save money."
Kang Soo-Hoon's joke over the loudspeaker made everyone tease him for being stingy.
And then, the shoot began.
Amid the busy actors, I spent my time frantically looking after Yoo-Jin. As usual, Lee Sa-Rang bravely improvised when acting with Yoo-Jin while Yoo-Jin responded perfectly.
‘She's doing great.’
I headed to the parking lot to take care of Yoo-Jin's costume. There, the extras were gathered in one corner of the parking lot and drinking coffee while waiting for their turn.
That was when I saw him—a man with messy hair and shabby clothes glancing around. His face looked familiar for some reason.
‘Who is that? I feel like I've seen him somewhere...oh, right! That’s Lee Beom-Jun.’
The name of the man who flashed through my mind was Lee Beom-Jun. In four years, he would cause a major hidden camera scandal involving hundreds of female celebrities in the entertainment industry. After he was caught, numerous agencies had to struggle to prevent the release of the hidden camera photos.
And he was here now—at the filming site of Blue Sky. I quickly turned my head and walked calmly to avoid getting caught looking at him. I took out clothes from the car, brought them to the waiting chair, and whispered to Yoo-Jin.
"Yoo-Jin."
"Yes?"
"Don't get changed in the dressing room today."
"Huh? Why?"
A temporary trailer was set up on one side of the filming site to serve as the actors' dressing room.
"I heard there's a hidden camera perpetrator roaming around drama sets these days."
Yoo-Jin was startled and looked around. "T-then, shouldn’t we tell the other actors about it as well?"
True to her character, Yoo-Jin was worried about others.
"It's just a rumor for now, so let's just be careful. But I'll keep an eye out for other actresses who might be targeted as well."
"Okay."
From then on, I started focusing on observing Lee Beom-Jun's movements. I had to catch him no matter what. Otherwise, Yoo-Jin could become his victim.
***
One of the extras playing the role of passerby grabbed his stomach and stood up during the meal.
"Mr. Beom-Jun, where are you going?"
"Ah, I have a stomachache, so I'm going to the bathroom."
"But there's a shoot soon. You know you won't get paid if you're late, right?"
"Don't worry too much, I'll be back soon."
The extra actors had been talking since the morning, so they were familiar with each other. But Lee Beom-Jun, who said he urgently needed the bathroom, started walking leisurely as he looked around the surroundings. Then, he sneakily changed direction and headed somewhere else.
Lee Beom-Jun took out a phone hidden in a secret pocket inside his underwear. All the extras had to surrender their phones before filming. However, Lee Beom-Jun had brought two phones and only handed in one.. Checking his surroundings, Lee Beom-Jun, aptly nicknamed 'Night Owl', quickly moved to the back of the trailer to avoid the gaze of people.
Crouching and moving along the path he had been eyeing all along, Lee Beom-Jun reached his target location. As expected, he could hear the voices of female actresses inside the trailer.
"Ah, seriously. Do we have to change clothes here?"
"Of course. You want to change in the building where the props team is still working? If you don’t like it here, get changed in the cramped car."
"But it's so annoying with the smell of paint and all!"
"Get changed or don't!"
"Hey! Are you going to use the mirror all by yourself?"
Lee Beom-Jun held his breath and quietly turned on the video function. He couldn't use the photo function because of the shutter sound.
'20 seconds. Just 20 seconds is enough.'
Waiting for the actresses to undress, Lee Beom-Jun held his breath and slowly lifted the phone to the small window of the trailer.
After filming for about 20 seconds, Lee Beom-Jun lowered his phone.
That was when it happened.
"Hey! Wasn't there someone outside just now?"
"It looked like a camera, didn’t it?"
“Aaaahhh~!”
As the actresses screamed sharply, Lee Beom-Jun began to move quickly. Following a pre-planned escape route, Lee Beom-Jun threw the phone he was holding under a nearby trailer.
'Nice.'
The phone slid neatly under the trailer. Now, he was safe even if he were to be searched and he could simply retrieve the phone later.
After sprinting 20 meters, Lee Beom-Jun changed his expression and moved slowly. At the same time, he started taking deep breaths to suppress his rough breathing. After all, panting would be suspicious behavior.
As the actresses screamed, the talent agents rushed over and started knocking on the outside of the changing room.
"Yung-In! What's wrong?"
"Jin-Hee! Why? What's happening?"
"Jung-Mi noona! Is everything okay there?"
Even the reporters on the scene also started to rush in. Due to the fuss outside, the female celebrities couldn't come out of the trailer because they knew saying something carelessly would allow the entertainment reporters to make sensational headlines about them.
Seeing this, Lee Beom-Jun's smirked subtly. He had secretly filmed over 30 clips without being caught due to his quick reflexes, knowledge of the filming site, and understanding of the actresses’ psyche.
'As always, they are all fools.'
Lee Beom-Jun scorned the celebrities and talent agents who couldn't do anything just to save face. He exhaled a little more heavily.
Then, he saw a man standing in front of him.
He started to pant, making his words tremble. "What, what's this? Who are you?"
At that moment, the suit-clad man in front of him smiled and opened his mouth. "You're having a hard time, aren't you? Mr. Hidden Camera Guy?"
A shiver ran down Lee Beom-Jun’s spine as he instinctively felt danger and turned around.
Then, true to his nickname 'Night Owl', he began to run away quickly.