Chapter 136: Good News
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Seven million! The exact figure is out!
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Make a promise this time, too~
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At seven million, you can do something big, hehehe.
The viewers egged on Teacher Jinlim at his words. Since he was someone who had never done anything like this before, he just smiled in confusion.
“A promise? What should I do?”
“Hmm. How about a donation?”
“Donation? Good. What kind?”
Now that he had done it once, he knew.
Promises were fun, but it was a burden to have to prepare something like dressing up as a woman or setting up a stage.
Especially for the elderly Teacher Jinlim, it would be even more so.
“How about 700 lunchboxes?”
Something that could be prepared neatly was the best.
Taeseok did some mental calculations. Even if they were generous and said 10,000 won each, that would be 7 million won, but with four people… .
“I’m in favor!”
“I think it’s a good idea, too.”
With over 7 million, the running guarantee would be huge, so lunchboxes were nothing!
When Taeseok and Bora answered positively, Teacher Jinlim also nodded.
As they were all satisfied with the promise, the writer sitting in front of them held up a sketchbook.
[It’s already been 8 minutes! Let’s wrap it up!]
Had it already been that long? Muyoung smiled and waved.
“Everyone, I think we should wrap up now!”
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Nooo!! Muyoung, turn on the W app while you’re leaving…
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It was nice to meet you, Teacher Jinlim!
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I hope they do this often on the show. It’s comfortable and fun to communicate without a reporter.
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Other actors don’t do this much (;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`)
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That’s true. Only the young ones do it sometimes.
Muyoung and his colleagues continued to communicate by reading the comments until the very end. And one, two, three!
“Please give lots of love to Street Sunlight~”
The closing remarks were delivered smoothly, with perfect timing!
Comments continued to pour in, but the screen went dark.
Teacher Jinlim wiped away his cold sweat and chuckled.
“It’s a different world. Really.”
“Still, it was fun, right?”
“I don’t know. If Muyoung hadn’t read it, I would have been blind. By the way, did I do well? Oh dear. Did I make any mistakes?”
“You did very well, Teacher.”
Everyone was satisfied with the successful event and sat back in their seats. Areum, who had come back after wiping away her tears, looked around, not knowing what was going on.
“We just finished the streaming. Are you feeling better?”
“Huh? Oh. Yes, I… the script is…?”
“The script? We did it without one.”
Areum fidgeted with the cue cards and looked back and forth between the writer and the PD.
In fact, the live streaming was just for show, and the production team had prepared their own questions and jokes.
When it was time to air, they would just create a suitable ID and add subtitles.
“Pick up where it cut off.”
The PD waved his hand, not wanting to talk any longer.
The reporter, fanning herself to cool down, was comforted by Muyoung, who handed her his water.
“Don’t be too nervous. The rental time is almost up, so it will be over soon.”
“Th-thank you. And I’m sorry. I keep messing up the title… I really enjoyed The Plague, and it keeps popping into my head…”
The reporter kept bowing and apologizing to Muyoung and his colleagues.
Teacher Jinlim, who had been planning to say something when they returned, just sighed helplessly.
“Please don’t make any more mistakes now.”
“Yes, Teacher. I’m really sorry.”
“I’m saying this because it’s not our problem, but yours, Areum. You understand, right?”
Maybe it was because the streaming had lifted his mood. Unexpectedly, his comfort was gentle.
Areum’s eyes turned red again, and she bit her lip, trying to regain her composure.
“Shall we go?”
“Ahem. Yes!”
She kept clearing her throat, and her answer to the PD’s question was loud and clear. Her expression was also completely natural, as if she had steeled herself.
“I heard that each of you has an interesting story about being cast in
“Yes. The director came to my house with the script. He said he saw me dancing at a fan meeting and wanted to cast me right away. And next was Bora, right?”
“Yeah. That’s right. Muyoung was cast first, and he recommended me and Taeseok. It was the director’s first work, but it was so much fun, I couldn’t believe it.”
Since they were all actors, they were experts at playing it cool. It was as if there had been no NGs from the start. As if this was their very first interview.
“Yes! So—”
The interview gained momentum and kept going.
As the rental time was up, the back door of the movie theater opened, and a staff member poked his head in. The reporter, with perfect timing, delivered her closing remarks.
“Focusing on Showbiz, today’s focus was on the team of
The reporter made a signature pose, winking at the camera as if shooting a gun. After a brief silence, the PD gave the cut sign.
“Okay. That’s it.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Ah—you really worked hard. I’m sorry.”
“No, it was fun today. Thank you!”
Muyoung and his colleagues said goodbye to the production team and ended the interview. The reporter approached Muyoung and handed him a water bottle.
“Thank you for this.”
“Huh? You can finish it. You must be dehydrated from crying.”
Areum smiled at the odd remark. She wanted to say thank you again, but Muyoung turned away at his manager’s call.
“Muyoung! Just a moment.”
“Yes? What is it?”
Muyoung asked, loosening his tie in frustration. Ko Gyeongmin gave him a thumbs-up.
“The Only Building Owner casting is complete!”
“Wow. Who got it?”
Ko Gyeongmin looked at him in disbelief at the foolish question.
Why would he have given a thumbs-up just now?
“Duh. Who do you think?”
“……Whoaaa!”
Muyoung, who had been blinking blankly, suddenly screamed and sped up. Muyoung expressed his joy with his whole body. Bora grabbed his arm and barely stopped him.
“Jeez!”
“I got cast! Yes! I made it!”
“Nepflix? It’s something to celebrate, but calm down.”
Muyoung shook his head vigorously and asked Ko Gyeongmin,
“Are the other roles done, too?”
“Well, not yet. The meeting dates haven’t been set. Team Leader Kang Ok-kyung said she would contact you separately, so make sure you answer your phone.”
“Yes!”
Muyoung jumped up and stomped his feet.
It was already his fourth project thanks to the flower pollen. At this point, it seemed like the power of the flower pollen was not only the success of the project but also the very fact of being cast.
“Dinner is on me tonight!”
“Really? Should we call Junho, too?”
“Ugh. Stop taking care of him.”
“Yeah. Let’s have some quality protein for a change. I’ve lost too much muscle.”
Muyoung left the movie theater with his colleagues, bickering. He laughed, hoping that a bright and sparkling future would come soon.
Beep beep—beep beep—
8:00 a.m.
The alarm he had set the night before went off loudly. Muyoung woke up with a start and searched for his phone.
Tap tap—
With a foggy mind, he searched the portal for the number of viewers for
The movie had opened just yesterday, and today was the first count. There were piles of text messages, but he didn’t look at them! The first thing he needed to see was the objective numbers!
“Please, please…”
[
Click—
[
“Oh… my God. Jesus.”
Muyoung rubbed his puffy eyes and read the article over and over again.
280,000 on the first day of release, and fifth place for opening score on the moon. This was…
“What’s going on—!”
“Whoa! What is it! What happened!”
Slam!
At Muyoung’s commotion, the door opened and a startled Junho rushed in. He was in such a hurry that he still had toast in his hand.
“What’s going on—?”
“So… Damn it. Never mind.”
“Lim Junho! Hey! Make sure you take your colleagues to see the movie! Okay? See it twice, three times! Got it?”
Junho glared at Muyoung, who was having a fit lying in bed, and left. Muyoung finally checked the messages that had piled up. Most of them were congratulations.
[Enbin: If it’s 280,000 on the first day, what’s the expected score?]
[Romin: I heard it’s at least 5 million.]
[Enbin: What the; if that’s your first lead role, that’s cheating.]
From the Zero Term members to the
Vrrrr—vrrrr—
“Hyung!”
It was a call from Ko Gyeongmin.
Muyoung quickly answered and shouted. His manager’s voice was also hoarse because it was morning, but it was filled with joy.
- You saw the article, huh? You’re fast.
“Yes. I checked it as soon as I woke up. It’s huge, right? Right?”
- Yeah. The first-day numbers are really good. We’ll get a more accurate expected score this week, and there’s some more good news.
“What is it?”
Muyoung took the call and walked into the living room.
Then, he naturally took the toast that Junho had been eating and put it in his mouth.
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From the distributor, SJ. Since they’re handling both investment and distribution, it’s not like it matters.
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There’s no competition right now, but the opening score is so good that they’re talking about increasing the number of screens. As the number of seats increases, the audience will grow, too.
“Wow. Really?”
It was a big deal that the Baekgun Entertainment work was missing.
When they said they were aiming for the Chuseok special, everyone held back, and then when the scandal broke, they all jumped in. We just stuck to our original schedule.
“What’s the other good news?”
- I did some calculations. You got 2.5% of the net profit as a running guarantee when you signed the contract, right? The production cost of the movie is around 5 billion won… I did the math, taking out all the costs.
“So?”
- If it hits 5 million, your running guarantee will be around 200 million won. And you invested in it, too.
At the mention of the amount in the hundreds of millions, Muyoung paused. At that moment, Junho took the toast back and shoved it into his mouth, afraid that Muyoung might pounce on him.
- At 5 million, the return on investment is 300%, so you’ll get 800 million won including the principal. All in all, it looks like it will be 1 billion won.
“……Whoa.”
Muyoung’s legs gave out, and he collapsed forward.
What did you just say? 1 billion won? Not just 100 million won, but 1 billion won? Even if you had 99.99 million won ten times, it still wouldn’t be enough. 1 billion won?
- Since the opening score is good, I think we’ll hit 5 million. Congratulations, Muyoung! Let’s pop some champagne!
The angels’ music seemed to play in his ears. In his ecstatic expression, Junho snapped his fingers in front of his face to snap him out of it.
“Are you okay?”
“……Of course I’m okay.”
“You don’t look okay.”
“1 billion won is going to be deposited in my account! Of course! I’m okay! Hahahaha!”
Muyoung laughed heartily, his chest puffed out as if he owned the world. But Ko Gyeongmin wasn’t finished yet.
- And next month is the end of the year, so there are a bunch of awards ceremonies coming up, right? The invitations came. First, the SBC Acting Awards and the Blue Dragon Film Awards. And
has been invited to the Asia International Film Festival. More calls will come in.
“Asia International Film Festival?”
It was a pretty prestigious film festival. It was held in a different place every time, and it was fair, judging only by the films themselves.
It hadn’t been around for long, but since it mainly selected popular works, its reputation was growing.
“Got it. I’ll get ready. Yes, yes. Let’s talk when we meet! Hyung, I love you!”
After being overly affectionate, Muyoung ended the call. He went on SNS to share the news with his fans, as well as the congratulatory messages.
“Huh? What’s this?”
But… why was there so much Chinese?