Chapter 25: SNS
Oh Seok tilted his head and checked the title. It was a script that the kid had picked up and read through quickly. He was curious, but also a little worried.
“The Plague? Is it a historical drama?”
“No, it’s a modern play.”
“That’s a relief. If you’d said it was a historical drama from the start, I would’ve tried to stop you. Who’s the writer?”
“Hmm. I don’t know.”
The cover only had the letters ‘Aok (雅?)’ written on it. Clear eagle? It didn’t seem like a real name. The manager also shrugged his shoulders and added,
“We received it through someone else, so we don’t know much about it.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“When was it? About a month ago. There were envelopes left in front of several film companies’ doors. No contact information, just a name. Even if the work is good, there’s no contact information or anything, so it’s just floating in the air.”
“Oh. So this is…….”
“It seems like Monet is testing the waters first. They’ve dropped the others, but they’re still holding onto this one. They’re looking for the writer, so there should be news soon. Whether it’ll be canceled or continue.”
The discarded script had made its way here and there until it reached Big Win. Muyoung fluttered the script, shaking off the pollen. ……No matter how you look at it, it doesn’t seem like it’ll be canceled?
“When you say Monet, isn’t that the company that made
“You know
“I really like that movie.”
It was a work that depicted the dreamy journey of an autistic patient who wanted to go to the moon. They showed it at school, and wow, the world.
“It really felt like I’d been hit on the head. It was my first time seeing a sad ending, but the movie was still fun. It’s a shame the director hasn’t been active since.”
“It’s a place where the strong individuality is both an advantage and a disadvantage because there’s no commercial strategy involved.”
In the film industry, they were a breath of fresh air, but in the market, they were barely surviving. They had a policy of hiring new directors.
“They even moved their office to Chungmuro, where all the film companies had pulled out.”
In the 70s and 80s, Chungmuro’s streets were filled with offices, but not anymore! It’s not like the old days when people would walk around with paper, so there’s no need to crowd together.
“The landlord said it’s been a while since a film company was here, so he gave them a cheap rent.”
“Where did you hear that rumor?”
“If you have ears, you can hear everything. Ahem.”
At Na Geumdong’s joke, Muyoung just laughed and organized the scripts. Five volumes neatly stacked.
“Anyway, there’s still plenty of time, right? Until the casting discussion.”
“That’s right. Even if we find the owner, it’s still uncertain whether the investment will follow.”
“Then can I take it and read it slowly? Of course, the others too.”
Since they were chosen by the manager, I wanted to check what they were like. He nodded, as if it were obvious.
“Only the president uses this cabinet. The other actors are all working on their own projects.”
“Oh, right. There are two more of you?”
“One is Taeseok. He should be coming up soon.”
As he checked his watch and muttered, the door opened as if on cue. An actor is an actor. The timing of his entrance was perfectly measured.
Squeak!
‘Whoa. He’s huge.’
Muyoung flinched involuntarily. He wasn’t exactly short himself, but next to that guy, he’d look like a kid.
“I’m here.”
“Why did it take you so long to park? Taeseok! Come here. This is our new member, Ha Muyoung.”
At Na Geumdong’s gesture, he strode over.
“Wow.”
The place, which already looked like a loan shark’s hideout, seemed to turn into a gangster’s office with Taeseok’s arrival. His sturdy build and bronzed skin were impressive.
“Hello. I’m Ha Muyoung.”
Muyoung smiled brightly and greeted him.
Taeseok looked down at him briefly.
“Nice to meet you. Let’s get along well from now on!”
“……?”
The awkward mix of dialect and standard language, coupled with an unexpectedly frail voice. Na Geumdong poked him in the side.
“He’s from Busan, so his dialect is strong, but he’s been correcting it since he got a new role.”
“Oh, I see.”
“And as you can see, he’s an action specialist actor. He’s currently playing the lead bodyguard in the SBC drama ‘Joseon Hanryang’. It’s 100% pre-produced, so it’ll probably air in the fall.”
Since he tended to mess up his lines, he mostly had to rely on his body at the scene. When would he be able to deliver his lines well? He practiced every day, but it didn’t seem to be improving.
“He’s a very persistent guy. How old is he? Thirty?”
At the boss’s words, Taeseok just nodded. His large build, unique appearance, and contrasting voice. It was a really poor condition for becoming an actor.
“When he was in high school, oh! So, around your age, Muyoung, he started.”
A person who had endured those conditions for ten years. Muyoung took his hand and smiled warmly.
“I’ll call you brother. Nice to meet you.”
“Me too!”
“Since our family has arrived, shall we have a welcome party? Are you hungry? How about some meat today?”
Meat! Muyoung and Oh Seok exchanged glances and grinned. It’s an opportunity you can’t miss, right? Yeah!
“Sounds good!”
Muyoung, carrying a bag full of scripts, shouted. Na Geumdong, who was about to walk ahead, turned around with an ‘oops’.
“The down payment will be deposited this week.”
Two million won!
Most of it would have to go towards paying off debts, but it was the first time he’d ever held a three-digit sum of money. Muyoung nodded proudly, very quickly.
“Thank you!”
“And now that you’re part of our agency, I’ll put your profile on the website. Do you have any photos?”
Ko Gyeongmin also looked up from the table at Muyoung. While the actor chose a project, they had their own work to do.
“Photos? Graduation photos?”
“……We’ll need to take one. Do you have SNS?”
“No!”
“……Let’s go to the barbecue restaurant first.”
There’s a lot to do. Gyeongmin thought about what needed to be done in order.
‘Still, it’s been a while.’
Apart from when Taeseok and Mirae first joined the company, it had been a long time since someone’s first start had been shared with them.
“Let’s go and create an SNS account, and check what needs to be done next. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Thud!
At Ko Gyeongmin’s words, Muyoung raised both thumbs high. He wondered what needed to be done, but what did it matter? They were buying him meat.
A dystopian near future.
The sky was always gray, and the city was buried in dust. All of nature had lost its color long ago. Unemployment made people ferocious, and gunshots rang out everywhere.
A world where everything was destroyed.
But society still functioned.
One day, a report came in from the northeast 3rd district of Seoul. Gas was leaking inside the FG Pharmaceutical Company’s production plant.
It seemed like just a small disturbance, but the residents’ lives changed horribly afterwards.
Pus oozed from the eyes. Vomit came from the mouth. Blood flowed from the ears. The skin rotted, making them look like living corpses.
It was clearly a gas leak accident at the FG Pharmaceutical Company.
Everyone thought so without a doubt.
Until the government made an announcement.
[After our own investigation, the authorities have concluded that the mass phenomenon in the northeast 3rd district is not an accident but a ‘plague’. Therefore, we have no choice but to completely seal off the 3rd district.]
Muyoung lay on his dormitory bed and slowly read the synopsis attached to the script. He understood why Monet wanted to do this work.
‘Dystopian Seoul, huh.’
A modern Korean setting that was both futuristic and had a Harlem feel was rare. Probably the only one that was somewhat popular was Netblock’s ‘Hunting Time’.
‘But this work—’
It was unique.
The protagonist was a child actor. The main plot was about a child trapped in the northeast 3rd district and surviving in a miserable reality. The pure child’s perspective would amplify the tragedy.
“There’s some consistency.”
Starting with
Squeak-
“What consistency? Is that a script collection?”
Bonggun, who had just finished showering, shook his head and asked. Muyoung only poked his head out from the bunk bed and greeted him.
“You’re here?”
“Yeah. But Muyoung, your phone’s blowing up.”
“What?”
Startled by his words, Muyoung stuck his head out from under the bed like a bat. The phone charging on the desk. But the screen looked strange?
“What’s this?”
“It’s a DM coming in.”
“DM?”
“You said you didn’t use SNS, but you must’ve made one?”
“At, at the barbecue restaurant…… Oh, wait a minute.”
The battery was drained even though the charger was plugged in. The endless stream of feeds. Luckily, it was on mute, or his eardrums would’ve burst.
“Whoa. What do I do about this?”
He couldn’t even touch anything because of the constant notifications. As Muyoung stared at it in despair, Bonggun picked up the phone.
“Oh. This is rookie actor Ha Muyoung’s account from Big Win Entertainment. Username HAmoo_zero? Who came up with this? It’s kind of lame.”
“Really? They said it was trendy!”
“Four thousand and seventy followers. When did you make this?”
“Just now.”
Just now. Literally just now.
A few hours ago, before the meat had even digested. Muyoung looked at the draining battery and answered.
‘Wow.’
Four thousand people had joined in that time? Bonggun was shocked because he didn’t know that the SNS address had been added to the ‘More on MeTube’ section at Big Win and Muyoung’s request.
Zziiing. Zziiing.
Then the phone rang. It’s Junho, isn’t it!
With the battery already low, a call would be problematic. Muyoung quickly pressed the call button and shouted,
“Hang up-!”
He was afraid the notification sound would drown out the call. But there seemed to be no problem with the call. Junho casually ignored him without saying anything.
-I don’t want to.
“Why? By the way, can you hear my voice well?”
-Yeah, I can hear you. But aren’t you curious? This guy hasn’t been in touch.
Muyoung had been busy in his own way and hadn’t had time to pay attention. He counted the days on his fingers.
“It’s only been two weeks?”
-Enbin ended up wearing our clothes at the airport that day.
“Oh, really? That’s good.”
-Thanks to that, the company’s been screaming with joy. I asked for a break because I was tired, but it got even busier.
“Hehe. You’re so busy, but you’re calling me, so you must have something to say?”
Asking him to speak quickly, Junho sighed deeply and answered.
-I can’t reach Bora.
An unexpected statement. No, it would be more accurate to say it was a ridiculous statement.
“Bora never answers your calls, does she?”
-Damn it. But we’ve been exchanging messages little by little?
About one short reply for every twenty messages sent. Of course, he didn’t tell Muyoung that.
“So? She’s probably busy with her drama these days?”
-So, you try. Actually, my brother wanted to use you as a model for his SNS account. I managed to get Bora involved too.”