The meeting with Wang Hee Jin took place in secret at a cafe in Chung Dam Dong.
Wang Hee Jin was only considering ‘Boyfriend from Outer Space’, and Do Wook’s involvement was not known to the public yet. They were both top stars. If it became known that the two of them, who had not crossed paths before, were meeting, of course there would be articles published asking, ‘why are they meeting up?’
If an article got published in advance, it would become a hot topic but it might invite trouble. He was careful about contacting her because of that, but Do Wook was not worried about a scandal despite meeting with a female actress. There was an 8-year difference between her age and his actual age, and Wang Hee Jin was a married woman who got married a year ago.
For actors, especially actresses, their range of roles dwindles once they get married, and there are many situations where they get almost no requests for romance or melodramas.
As such, even though Wang Hee Jin was very popular, it was rare for her to get a request for a full-on romantic comedy genre.
Furthermore, Writer Oh Young Ji said the female protagonist was modeled after her, so she didn’t decline right away and was looking into it even though the unusual topic of the alien and SF romance genre bothered her.
The female protagonist that Writer Oh Young Ji had written was definitely Wang Hee Jin, her essence. She was extremely loveable, and was full of bubbly charm, so Wang hee Jin also couldn’t help but feel her charm.
When Do Wook had expressed that he wanted to personally meet and talk with the person who was offered the female lead role, Writer Oh Young Ji had been extremely surprised yet happy.
It was Wang Hee Jin’s first project back after getting married so it was a lot of pressure, and the pressure gave her no choice but to be cautious. Do Wook stepped up to personally persuade her.
There is no writer who would not like it if the male actor proactively got involved in the casting.
And so, the two of them, Do Wook and Wang Hee Jin, were able to meet up privately to discuss the project.
When he saw Wang Hee Jin sitting in front of him, Do Wook was honestly a little surprised.
He had met a lot of female celebrities up to now, but his level of excitement was just thinking that they’re really pretty. Now that he was looking at Wang Hee Jin, he felt like he understood what being on another ‘level’ meant.
A halo was shining behind Wang Hee Jin. She barely had any makeup on her face and was wearing a white shirt with denim skinny jeans, but one couldn’t help but look in admiration. Whenever she moved, her long straight hair shook and made it feel like fresh wind was blowing from a forest.
However, this was not the time to be lost in admiration.
After exchanging greetings with Wang Hee Jin, Do Wook started talking about the drama in full swing.
There was but one reason why Do Wook stepped up to persuade Wang Hee Jin. Persuading her was an excuse.
Do Wook had a way to get rid of the reason Wang Hee Jin was hesitant about the drama and the cause of the controversy between Writer Oh Young Ji and the assistant writer at the same time.
“…I see, that part bothered you. My manager was also taken aback at first.”
“Right? The people at my company also laughed a little. I really like the role, but…”
Wang Hee Jin muttered as she sipped her coffee. Do Wook smiled in understanding.
Wang Hee Jin looked at Do Wook’s smile and raised an eyebrow. She had seen him perform before, but after meeting him in person, the vibe Do Wook exuded had more weight than she expected.
From Wang Hee Jin’s perspective, he was a much younger actor than her, but she had no doubt that if she worked on a project with Do Wook, he would accept her acting.
‘I heard he’s been to Cannes too…’
Recalling what she had heard from her manager, Wang Hee Jin took another sip of her coffee. She was also thinking that she’d look into Do Wook’s acting when she got back.
Seeing as she agreed to meet with him, Do Wook realized she was at least over 50% certain about agreeing to this project. Otherwise she would have firmly declined.
“I know. Alien…rather than outer space, a boyfriend from the universe…well, that might have been a little better.”
“Universe?”
Do Wook said, recalling when he sang ‘Call you the love’ together with LIL. Wang Hee Jin thought about Do Wook’s words very deeply.
‘Call you the love’ was a good song as it was, but it also received a lot of love for its lyrics. The lyrics were about lovers across the universe. Whether it’s the universe or outer space, honestly it both refers to outside of Earth.
‘Depending on the word, the vibe can completely change…’
It was a thought that had crossed his mind as he wrote the lyrics. It was a method he had learned from Kim Soom, who was his composition instructor but also gave him a lot of help in writing lyrics.
Kim Soon advised him to look at many synonyms side by side and use the word that fit the vibe the best.
Writer Oh Young Ji was so set on the ‘alien’ scenario that she had created that she seemed to have forgotten that delicate aspect. Or, it could be that she wanted to highlight the eccentric vibe that ‘alien’ gives.
“You’re right. If you say boyfriend from the universe, it’s a little…better? I think it’s better.”
Wang Hee Jin added.
“True. If you say a person with superpowers instead of an alien, people won’t picture E.T.’s face. At the least.”
“Haha. It reminded my manager of E.T. too.”
Wang Hee Jin laughed at what Do Wook said, saying, “I knew everyone would do that.” Then, Wang Hee Jin suddenly said,
“What do you think of Sweetheart from the Universe? Don’t you think sweetheart fits better than boyfriend? For you?”
“Huh? Ahhh…that’s good. Sweetheart?”
“According to Writer Oh, she thought boyfriend sounded cuter, but…I don’t think it fits you so I brought it up.”
Do Wook nodded his head to what Wang Hee Jin said.
“I think it’d be good.”
When Do Wook made it obvious that he really liked the expression and muttered several times that it was a good idea, Wang Hee Jin, who had given the suggestion, smiled brightly too and called her manager who was sitting at the next table.
“Manager Choi, what do you think of ‘Sweetheart from the Universe’? Will you let me be in that drama?”
“Huh?”
Wang Hee Jin’s manager, Manager Choi, who was watching the amicable ambiance between them from the next table and thinking to himself how good-looking the two of them were, was taken aback by the sudden question.
He held the title of Manager, but because of how much experience Wang Hee Jin had, she was able to give orders to Manager Choi.
Even if the company was against it, if Wang Hee Jin decided on it they had no choice but to let her shoot ‘Boyfriend from Outer Space’. Wang Hee Jin was probably the one who wanted it the most, but both she and the company wanted her to have a successful comeback.
In that case, it was also important to make a project whose probability of success was as high as possible. The underlying reason they didn’t decline when Do Wook’s side reached out was because they were making calculations for the future.
“Hmm…first of all, it doesn’t say outer space or whatever, so it’s better.”
“Right? Do Wook said he likes it too. I really like it as well. I’ll speak to Writer Oh about it.”
Number of lines or how a line is written, indirect advertisement scenes, outfits, etc…There were numerous actors who would call the writer and have them fix the script over minor things. Giving an opinion about the title is something an actress of Wang Hee Jin’s level could easily do.
Writer Oh Young Ji had also written the script with Wang Hee Jin in mind, so she would be willing to compromise that much to be able to cast Wang Hee Jin.
“For the man too. Don’t say alien, say a person with superpowers who came from the stars. I think it’d be good if we change it to something like that.”
Wang Hee said that honestly, even the title bothered her, and that she felt so much better after talking to Do Wook.
Since she has been an actress for a long time and had basic intuition, Wang Hee Jin knew what would make it easier to reach the audience. She was relieved that Do Wook and she were on the same wavelength.
She thought he would be prickly, but he was easy to talk to and, as the rumors said, he had an easy-going side to him.
“Manager Choi, contact the CEO.”
When Wang Hee Jin said that, Manager Choi took out his cellphone.
***
“Parcel delivery!!”
After graduating from college, Kim Young Ji, who was now 26, enrolled in a broadcast academy to achieve her dream of becoming a drama writer. The first place she ended up working at as an assistant writer after finishing the academy was Oh Young Ji’s studio.
Oh Young Ji was already starting to rise to the title of star writer with ‘Love Trapped in a Vine’. In terms of companies, it was like joining a Top 30 company, so she was full of motivation.
She worked hard. She gave it her all.
However, she learned all too quickly that the fate of an assistant writer was, at best, ‘assistant’.
Her colleague and senior, Lee Mi Hyeon, said that even Writer Oh Young Ji went through this before becoming the main writer she was today, and everyone went through it so she shouldn’t be too heartbroken, but the gap between reality and her dream made Kim Ji Young crumble.
From Writer Oh Young Ji’s perspective, it was just a normal situation so she never imagined that Kim Young Ji would be heartbroken.
She simply thought that Kim Ji Young had gotten indolent and lazy after getting a little praise, so it was understandable that she got mad. Kim Ji Young also thought that as an employee, the tasks she did not do properly were her fault.
However, she was only human and she felt more strongly about her position. The thought that she would never forgive Writer Oh Young Ji, who had even thrown her laptop, grew bigger.
As she curled up in her room after leaving the studio and returning to her hometown, she got even more upset about the whole situation.
Even thinking back on situations like when writing the script wasn’t going well and Lee Mi Hyeon and Kim Ji Young were walking on eggshells around Writer Oh Young Ji, who had not eaten in three days, and pleaded with her to please at least have some porridge or soup, made her mad.
At that moment, a package arrived for Kim Ji Young.
“I didn’t order any packages…”
She muttered as she opened the door and the package delivery person verified the name.
“You’re Ms Kim Ji Young, correct?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
Kim Ji Young had a puzzled expression even as she accepted the heavy box. Then, belatedly, she thought it might be Writer Oh Young Ji sending her a laptop.
“She said that she would send me money for it.”
When Kim Ji Young had sent a practically empty file that was barely 2 lines of ideas, Writer Oh Young had gotten furious, had yelled that there was no point in her having a laptop if it was going to have nothing on it, and had thrown the laptop out the window.
Writer Oh Young Ji, whose anger had calmed down a bit when she saw Kim Ji Young speechless from shock, had said she’d send her money and to buy a new laptop with it.
Ding ding, just then, she got a notification on her cellphone saying that 1 million Won* was deposited into her account and showing Writer Oh Young Ji’s name as the sender. Along with it, there was a message from Writer Oh Young Ji apologizing for that day and saying to grab a meal together later.
(TL Note: $718.08)
If you got past the fact that she was sensitive, Writer Oh Young Ji wasn’t a purely heinous writer. It was just that Kim Ji Young couldn’t accept the apprenticeship relationship between a main and assistant writer that had been passed down since long ago.
“Then what’s this…?”
Kim Ji Young quickly went inside her house and opened the box. Inside was a top-of-the-line laptop. Taken aback, Kim Ji Young checked the sender’s name.
Kang Do Wook.
Kim Ji Young recalled Do Wook looking at her broken laptop in disbelief. At that time, she didn’t have the bandwidth to even say hello properly. She suddenly became embarrassed. Inside the box that the laptop came in, there was also a card with a short message.
[Writer Kim Ji Young, I look forward to being able to act in some amazing work from you one day.]
“Writer Kim Ji Young…”
Had anyone called her ‘writer’ before? Kim Ji Young could feel her eyes tearing up.
***
[Site of the
[Kang Do Wook who came to Earth due to an asteroid crash? The gaze of a person with superpowers!]
[What kind of project is Wang Hee Jin, Kang Do Wook’s next project, < Sweetheart from the Universe > ?]
[Writer Oh Young Ji, “Written with Wang Hee Jin in mind. Kang Do Wook is like a gift from the heavens”]
[< Sweetheart from the Universe >, Can it indeed surpass < Love Trapped in a Vine >’s popularity?]
[Half concerned, half looking forward to it! Korea’s first SF* romance drama…]
(TL Note: Sci Fi)
.
.
.
Fan Marketing Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung monitored the articles related to the < Sweetheart from the Universe > press conference that Do Wook was a part of this afternoon.
Wang Hee Jin and Kang Do Wook meeting up, as well as the fact that it was Writer Oh Young Ji’s new project, was getting a lot of attention. Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung thought that the best case scenario was that the drama did well, but even if the ratings fell a little short, Do Wook had nothing to lose.
The writer was Oh Young Ji, and the female protagonist was Wang Hee Jin, who had been a top star longer than Do Wook. As long as Do Wook’s acting wasn’t bad, the drama’s failure couldn’t be blamed on Do Wook.
‘Still, hopefully it does well…when was the first broadcast again…?’
Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung, who finished monitoring the related articles and was happily looking over the calendar, clicked on the articles related to KPOP. None of the HIT Entertainment singers were active, but he checked regularly.
[M2M got first place again! A sprint beyond imagination!]
[M2M Chae Eun Ho, “We got first place!” Smiling brightly (photo)]
It seemed M2M had placed first again in today’s music broadcast. They were rising with a scary vigor. Team leader Lee Dae Hyung could once again feel how capable Director Seo Joong Won was.
And at that moment, his email notification went off. At the same time, he got dozens of texts on his cell phone. Nam Hyo Jin, who was sitting on her seat, jumped up.
“Sir! S…Sir!”
—
Next chapter: KK gets some big news!