Chapter 185: Overseas Advertisement Shoot |
The fact that Yoo-Jin was taking on a dual role as Cheongmyung and Manshin Wol-Ah was not known to anyone at the press conference except for Kim Sung-Woon, Kim Soo-Hee, Lee Ji-Yeon, and me.
Though some had inquired about the role, reporters didn't press further whenever Kim Myung-Hak indicated that it was just someone he knew.
However, Ju Yung-In persistently asked who was playing the role of Manshin Wol-Ah.
At that moment, Kim Sung-Woon responded as if he had already anticipated her question. "The actor is a senior from the theater scene who became a shaman after receiving a spiritual calling and has been residing in the mountains since."
"Ah... I see," Jung Yu-In replied.
We had agreed to cook up a story of an active shaman with acting experience whenever we were asked about the actor playing the role of Manshin Wol-Ah.
But Ju Yung-In's curiosity didn't end there and she continued to ask, "But what is their name? I should at least greet them if I see them on set."
The other actors also nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, Mr. Kim. You haven't said anything until now, but you should at least tell us their name."
At that moment, Kim Sung-Woon hesitated to answer and was left speechless.
'Come on. Hadn't he thought that far?' I thought to myself.
Kim Myung-Hak also seemed curious. "Come to think of it, I hadn't thought to ask either."
Kim Sung-Woon struggled to find a reply, "Well, the thing is..."
"What is it? Would you get in trouble if you say the name?"
As Kim Myung-Hak looked at Kim Sung-Woon suspiciously, I stepped forward and blurted out a name in desperation. "The actress' name is Mrs. Jin Yoo-Jung."
Suddenly, all eyes turned to me.
"And I will personally escort Mrs. Jin Yoo-Jung on the set," I added.
Ju Yung-In looked doubtful as she muttered to herself, "Jin Yoo-Jung…?"
'Had she figured it out?' I fretted.
Jin Yoo-Jung was the name I quickly came up with by reversing Jung Yoo-Jin's name. But I was confident that no one would be able to recognize her when they saw Yoo-Jin in special makeup.
Kim Myung-Hak asked with curious eyes. "Is that so? Is Mrs. Jin Yoo-Jung an actress managed by Hoop Entertainment?"
"No, we're not managing her. But I've agreed to look after her just for the duration of this drama," I clarified.
"Huh, really?" Kim Myung-Hak asked.
"Yes. Still, you can ask me if you need anything from her. Given her profession, she prefers not to meet people. Casting her would have been difficult if it weren't for Mrs. Kim Soo-Hee's help," I explained.
Kim Myung-Hak nodded. "That's reassuring then. Okay."
He seemed relieved as he looked around and said, "Alright! We've got this! We should aim to be number one in our time slot! The boss has high expectations."
Ju Yung-In tilted her head in wonder but fortunately didn't press further.
Not much time remained until the crank-in of In the Name of God—and the day when the mysterious actor Jin Yoo-Jung would appear was soon to arrive.
***
[In the Name of God Crank-in on July 1!]
[Lee Ji-Yeon! Retirement Declaration!?]
[Lee Ji-Yeon Proclaims: In the Name of God Will Surpass Blue Sky! "If it doesn't surpass Blue Sky's ratings, I'll retire!"]
[Ju Yung-In's Short Hair! A Radical Transformation!]
[Jung Yoo-Jin's Buzzed-About Dress! What's the secret behind the self-luminous material?]
[Jung Miso! The Viral Wiggle-Wiggle Dance!]
Kim Dong-Soo's face contorted as he read the articles about Ju Yung-In. Each time he read such articles, it became increasingly difficult to suppress his rising anger.
"Damn it! I hope it's a complete failure!" Kim Dong-Soo cursed.
But contrary to his words, his longing for Ju Yung-In remained. He considered bringing her back at any opportunity, regardless of what others might say.
Another annoying thing was that Jung Yoo-Jin's pink dress had made it into the top three on the live search rankings. They had hired a new stylist, and she unexpectedly had managed to place third on the live search rankings.
"Really? A self-luminous dress? This isn't a nightclub, it's a press conference. Talk about being out of touch with the occasion and the times..." Kim Dong-Soo scoffed.
Kim Dong-Soo disparaged Jung Yoo-Jin's popularity in a fit of spite.
At that moment, Ju Ho-Sung sitting beside him cautiously asked, "Mr. Kim, what about the issue Mr. Choi Man-Sik instructed us to handle? It seems like that’s the most urgent matter right now."
Remembering the directive from Choi Eun-Tae to find his lost son, Kim Dong-Soo frowned. "Nalsae has been searching hard day and night, but to no avail."
Ju Ho-Sung offered a suggestion. "Why not dig deeper into the people involved instead of searching blindly? We might get lucky."
But Kim Dong-Soo shook his head and said, "The midwife is under the president’s influence and everyone else who knows about this is pretty much the president's henchmen. If you dare even whisper that in their vicinity, we might end up in the waters off Incheon."
"That makes it difficult to gather more information then..." Ju Ho-Sung sighed.
"Exactly."
Ju Ho-Sung spoke again while rubbing his temples as if his head hurt. "It was Gyeonggi-do Gwangju, right? The place where that woman gave birth?"
"Yes. We absolutely must find him. That kid could be our key to success," Kim Dong-Soo replied.
At that moment, Kim Dong-Soo looked at Ju Ho-Sung who was lost in his thoughts, and asked, "You haven’t gotten any wrong ideas by chance, have you?"
Ju Ho-Sung was startled and quickly waved his hands. "Of course not. I just had this one thought."
"What is it?"
"If that woman had no money, might she not have left the child at an orphanage or a childcare facility?"
Kim Dong-Soo’s eyes lit up instantly. "That... makes sense."
"Though not 100% sure, why don't we give it a try and start there? We've got nothing to lose anyway."
Kim Dong-Soo’s face brightened. "Team Lead Ju. You've got quite the brain, huh?"
"Thank you."
"But what if..."
"What is it, sir?"
"What if the child's mother had not left the baby at the orphanage right away but a few years later?"
Ju Ho-Sung swallowed hard because he hadn't thought that far. But he quickly composed himself and responded.
"Well, regardless of whether the child was left as a newborn or at age ten, we just need to look for all children of the same age group. You said he’s now twenty-seven, right?"
Kim Dong-Soo's face brightened again. "Correct. That’s a good idea."
At that moment, the expressions between the two brightened.
"Team Lead Ju, do you know how many orphanages there are in Gwangju, Gyeonggi-do?" Kim Dong-Soo asked.
"What does it matter? It'll be Nalsae running around for information anyway," Ju Ho-sung remarked.
Kim Dong-Soo chuckled. "Ha ha ha. Right. We don’t need to worry about that."
Kim Dong-Soo immediately picked up the phone to instruct Nalsae to start the search centered around orphanages in Gyeonggi-do.
Just like that, Choi Man-Sik and Kim Dong-Soo's dark hands were getting closer and closer to Choi Eun-Tae's lost son.
***
Team Jung's meeting was held in the conference room located on the fourth floor.
First, discussions about Lee Tae-Poong's shooting situation and preparations for Haru's drama audition were held.
Then as we talked about Cherry Blossom's hiatus, we moved on to discuss tomorrow's photoshoot for Yoo-Jin’s Cocari Sweat advertisement.
Lee Yung-Jin and Lee Mi-Ri had been appointed to join me for the overseas shoot. However, Lee Mi-Ri was examining the advertisement storyboard with a troubled expression.
"Mdm. Lee? What's wrong?" I asked.
"Mr. Jung, the color of the outfit in the concept file seems to be one shade less saturated than Cocari Sweat's signature color. Since it's impossible to find replacements in the Philippines, I'll contact the company in advance to prepare about three rash guards," Lee Mi-Ri replied.
"The outfits are under an exclusive contract with LM Apparel, so you should get them from there. It's okay to get more than three," I instructed.
Lee Mi-Ri nodded. "Understood. I'll do that then."
Lee Mi-Ri had noticed the difference between the printed color and Cocari Sweat's color in just one glance and even had a backup plan ready.
And that wasn't all.
"Also, Mr. Jung. We need to recalibrate the monitors and printers. There's quite a difference between the colors we see on the monitor and what gets printed."
Calibration, in Korean, meant adjustment. In other words, it meant adjusting the color settings on the monitors and printers to ensure accurate color display. It seemed like a menial request, but her work was crucial.
For instance, there were numerous instances where someone thought they were wearing red for a broadcast or a commercial, only to find out later that the director had wanted pink. In such cases, it was the talent agents who suffered the most. They had to find new outfits and also deal with irritated directors.
Thanks to Lee Mi-Ri, such mistakes could be prevented. But other talent agents unaware of our conversation just looked on blankly.
As silence fell, Lee Mi-Ri, who had been suggesting ideas, shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sorry. I might have spoken out of turn."
But I raised my hand to stop her. "Mdm. Lee."
"Yes?"
"I brought you in as team lead for this reason. Please feel free to share your ideas like you just did. In Team Jung, we never dismiss opinions without consideration. This applies to everyone else, too."
"Yes, Mr. Jung."
When Lee Mi-Ri made a pleased expression, I added another point.
"And since we all know the kind of issues that can arise on set because of calibration, please adjust all the PCs and printers used by Team Jung. If that doesn’t suffice, go ahead and purchase new ones."
"Oh, but there’s no need to go that far," Lee Mi-Ri interjected.
I explained, "You know how many directors can't differentiate colors. They can't even tell the difference between Happy Pink and Millennial Pink, which is common in this industry."
Lee Mi-Ri's eyes sparkled as I provided examples to illustrate exactly what she meant.
Do Ran-Hee, who had been listening intently, gave a thumbs-up. "As expected. I'm so proud to have Mr. Jung as our team lead!"
"Ran-Hee, did you even understand what I said?" I asked.
"Like half of it? But it sounds like a good thing that you're doing, isn't it?" Do Ran-Hee replied with a grin.
'Yeah, it really is,' I remarked inwardly.
Thanks to that, the conference room burst into laughter. The team members might not have understood everything, but that didn't matter since I could teach them gradually.
The main goal was to impress Lee Mi-Ri, which I had achieved.
"Anyway, Mdm. Lee. I'm giving you full authority to handle that issue," I said.
"Okay! I’ll do my best!" Lee Mi-Ri exclaimed happily.
In my past life, it had taken me a year to get a hold of all the company's stylists, but now I was curious to see how long it would take this time.
I waved goodbye. "Alright, see you tomorrow then."
After all, tomorrow was Yoo-Jin’s first overseas shoot.
I had to suppress my fluttering heart. Even after traveling back in time, flying was always an exciting affair.
***
It was 5 a.m. on June 24th.
After parking at Terminal 2 of Incheon Airport, I turned to look at the back seat.
Next to me was Lee Yung-Jin, and in the backseat sat Lee Mi-Ri, Yoo-Jin, and Miso side by side.
Yoo-Jin and Miso were dressed in matching pastel-toned pink two-pieces with floral patterns prepared by Lee Mi-Ri.
Despite the early hour which might have made others sleepy, they were wide-eyed with excitement about the flight.
"Bodyguards will meet us as we enter the airport. Don't move around by yourselves. If fans crowd around, it could lead to an accident," I warned them.
When I brought up safety measures for dealing with crowds of fans, Yoo-Jin tilted her head inquisitively.
"Oppa. Would my fans really come at this early hour? I don’t see a single person outside," said Yoo-Jin as she pointed to the parking lot outside the window.
The parking lot was still dark with nobody in sight except for parked cars. But the situation inside the airport building would be different.
With the efforts from the previous year spilling into the early months of this one, Yoo-Jin had amassed a considerable number of devoted fans. And if they were dedicated enough to be called devoted fans, they would somehow find out about the departure time and details.
Anticipating a crowd, I had already requested cooperation from the fan club to help manage the scene.
"There will be at least a hundred people," I said.
"Ah, I'm not that popular though," Yoo-Jin replied while scratching her head.
"Want to bet? You've been quite popular lately."
"Sure. If there are more than 100 people, I'll treat you in the Philippines."
"Deal!"
'Yes, everything's more fun with a wager indeed,' I thought to myself.
I felt a bit guilty for teasing Yoo-Jin, who was clueless about the situation.
But she was brimming with confidence.
"Miso, Uncle Yoon-Ho will buy us something delicious today!" Yoo-Jin said.
"Yay!" Miso cheered.
"But even if I win, I'll still buy you tasty food, Miso," I said following Yoo-Jin's words.
"Okay, Uncle Yoon-Ho!" Miso exclaimed as she looked back and forth between Yoo-Jin and me.
I paused and thought to myself, 'Wait a minute. I guess it doesn't matter to Miso who wins.'
Miso's cheerful smile made me smile.
'It seems like Miso is getting smarter day by day,' I observed silently.
***
After picking up the suitcases with Lee Yung-Jin, I called the bodyguards as we pulled our luggage.
Although currently a small operation, TOP Security led by President Choi Yang-Han, who answered the call, was on its way to becoming the most successful celebrity security firm within a few years.
"Mr. Choi, this is Team Lead Jung," I said.
A frantic voice came through the phone.
-M-Mr. Jung, there are too many people here.
"What do you mean there are too many people?"
-Please don't come inside and just stay where you are! We are heading to the parking lot...Huh? Hey! Don’t push me! Stop!
Click.
The call ended abruptly as the sound of Choi Yang-Han's phone hitting the ground came through.
I quickly called out to the party walking ahead of me. "Wait! Stop right there."
But they had already reached the front of Terminal 2, and fans who noticed us rushed toward us.
"Oh my gosh! They're here!"
"It's Jung Yoo-Jin!"
The high ceilings of Incheon Airport Terminal 2 amplified the echoes and the ground vibrated under the feet of the surging crowd.
Buzz!
At that moment, my phone also began to vibrate in my hand.
Thinking it was Choi Yang-Han calling back, I checked the screen. But there was an unbelievable message waiting.
'What's this?'
[Everyday V2 has been released.]
[Would you like to update your planner? YES/NO? (Applicable for: Everyday V1, Everyday V10)]
Ristretto's Thoughts
Ristretto: Whattttt? This is so unexpected. I need to read the
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