“Hey! Hisashiburi!”*
(TL: “Long time no see” in Japanese.)
It was 11 pm when Do Wook got back to the dormitory after finishing the shoot. Ahn Hyung Seo, who was out in the living room, was the first to notice Do Wook. Ahn Hyung Seo genuinely felt that he hadn’t seen Do Wook in a while.
Ever since filming started, Do Wook was only at the dormitory to sleep and was busy either filming or being on standby to film.
To bring to life the character that the writer created through perseverance and hard work and make them shine, the actor’s acting skills are the most important thing. To give the character depth in the drama, they had to become one with the character.
To embody the character ‘Manager Chun Min Jun’, Do Wook was immersing himself. Unlike filming for the movie < Blue Whale >, for which filming was only a short period, this was a drama so he had to live as ‘Chun Min Jun’ for about 3 months.
In order not to break the sense of immersion while going back and forth between the filming site and the accommodation, Do Wook tried to minimize thinking and speaking like Kang Do Wook as much as possible.
The reason why it had been a while since Do Wook had seen Ahn Hyung Seo was partly the filming schedule, but also because he had limited how much time he spent with the members in the dormitory in an effort to maintain his immersion as ‘Chul Min Jun’. He would go into his room to memorize the script or catch up on much needed sleep.
“Uh, Hyung Seo, what the heck was …”
Because he limited the amount of time he laughs and talks as Kang Do Wook, whose tone had never sounded harsh even if he didn’t say many words, recently he came across harsh like ‘Manager Chun Min Jun’ on occasion.
In fact, Manager Oh Beak Ho had said to him, “You’re a full-fledged actor now,” when he saw him a few days ago.
Do Wook could see why people say idol group members catch the ‘acting bug’. When he went from being on set seeing people fully immersed into their characters to seeing the overflowingly authentic members, it felt somewhat off.
They inevitably start to talk less in real life so that they won’t break the immersion, regardless of what type of character they’re portraying.
Of course, people who aren’t good at differentiating between themselves and their character would continue speaking in that tone even after the filming is over. They get consumed by their character and keep up the pretense even when not acting.
Because of such people, the term acting bug came to be and made people furrow their brows, but not a single person in Do Wook’s circle thought that he was absorbed in such a silly pretense.
Most people’s reaction was that if he were to catch the bug, he already would have caught it when he attended Cannes, and what Oh Baek Ho meant by ‘You’re a full-fledged actor now’ was just that.
Do Wook had always had a shrewd side, but recently his eyes had been shining brighter.
(TL Note: PR and I agree that these last two sentences don’t really make sense)
Anyways, even Do Wook, who had been stiff like ‘Manager Chun Min Jun’, was happy to see him. He couldn’t help but break the immersion when he saw Ahn Hyung Seo, who greeted him in Japanese in an odd way.
Pbbbttt. Do Wook burst out laughing. Ahn Hyung Seo liked it, raised his arms in a more exaggerated manner, and waved his finger.
“Awww~! Hisashiburiiii~!*
“Hyung Seo…what in the world are you doing? Haha.”
When Do Wook asked, Ahn Hyung Seo finally put his arms down and replied,
“I’ve been studying Japanese lately.”
“Ah…what in the world have you been using to study…?”
“What, isn’t it fine as long as I can communicate?”
“You’re right.”
Do Wook responded, laughing. Even though they were on break, Ahn Hyung Seo was diligently studying Japanese in preparation for the dome tour and Japan activities happening again next year.
“Your shoot ended early today.”
“Yes. It ended quickly.”
“Is filming going well? Nobody is giving you a hard time, are they? What time do you have to leave tomorrow?”
Not having seen him in a while, there was a lot Ahn Hyung Seo was curious about and the questions poured out. Do Wook recalled the events of the day but quickly replied with a smirk.
“Yes, it’s going well and there’s no one giving me a hard time. I have to leave at 5 am.”
“Hurr. I guess you should go wash up and hurry to bed then! It must be tiring for you to have to leave early in the morning again.”
With a worried expression, Ahn Hyung Seo pushed Do Wook from behind saying to go in and rest. Do Wook’s mind felt at ease.
However, even once he was in his room Do Wook couldn’t fall asleep right away.
Do Wook messaged Reporter Choi Sung Joon if he was free for a call. He immediately received a call from him.
Reporter Choi Sung Joon was in charge of KK at News Patch. His junior was in charge of information gathering, but he set the big picture for the articles and found the scoops.
It had been that way ever since Manager Oh Baek Ho had revealed everything to Fan Marketing Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung. Do Wook’s goal was to help Reporter Choi Sung Joon firmly establish himself at News Patch by giving him KK exclusive news stories.
In reality, Reporter Choi Sung Joon was recently getting quite a bit of recognition at News Patch. Thanks to that, it seemed like the pressure from Director Seo Joong Won over getting the source of who leaked about Seo kang Jun, which they had been worried about, had blown over for now.
“Ah, sir. You’re not asleep yet?”
-There’s no such thing as night or day for reporters. Also, it’s a message from you, even if I were sleeping I’d wake up. So what’s up?
Reporter Choi Sung Joon had become Do Wook’s strongest ally.
Do Wook got straight to the point and asked,
“Reporter Choi, do you know Ju Min Ah by any chance?”
-Ju Min Ah?
“Yes. She’s an Ara Entertainment celebrity, but…”
-Ah! The actress that’s with you in your new drama, right? She’s part of a girl group.
“Yes, that’s right. Have you heard anything about her? Any connections between her and Director Seo Joong Won.”
-Director Seo?
Reporter Choi Sung Joon’s voice immediately became quiet as he asked back. The monster who had raised Seo Kang Jun. Just hearing the name ‘Seo Joong Won’ still made it feel like his teeth were being drilled.
Reporter Choi Sung Joon, who was quiet for a moment as he thought things over, carefully started to speak.
-I’m not sure. If there’s any connection between them…Actually, there is something I had heard while digging into the college admission scandal.
“What kind of…Please continue.”
-I was planning on telling you once I dig a little more and am certain. There’s a rumor that Seo Joong Won was arranging a sponsor* for her.
(*TL/PR: In this case, someone who will help them get fame for (often sexual) favors.)
Do Wook’s eyes, which were about to close out of fatigue, opened wide.
The main singer Director Seo Joong Won was in charge of was M2M. Despite that, it seemed like he was often in contact with Ju Min Ah when she wasn’t a major earner so he felt something was strange, but this was not what he expected to hear.
“A sponsor?”
-Even everything that Seo Joong Won now has…He currently has a substantial number of shares in Ara, where do you think that money and power all came from?
Of course it was an undeniable fact that Seo Joong Won was a capable man, but what Reporter Choi Sung Joon was saying made sense too. No matter how skilled he was, the way Korean companies are structured he wouldn’t be able to aim for the President position. If he were acting as a pimp between celebrities and sponsors, it would explain the wide-reaching connections Seo Joong Won had.
If this was true, it would be an incredibly useful card Do Wook could use to bring Director Seo Joong Won down.
However, this was not something he could haphazardly jump to conclusions about.
‘I have to be wary. There’s nothing that’s certain. If I act on it prematurely, I might mess it up,’
Do Wook thought as he said,
“Evidence…”
-Not yet. It’s just hearsay I came across while digging. But considering the places that Seo Joong Won and the people from Ju Won College met up at…I pretty much get the picture.
“I see. Thank you for doing so much.”
-Don’t mention it. Those bastards need to be rounded up and thrown in the slammer…Whew, I’m sorry. I got riled up…Honestly, even if I were to gather evidence, it won’t be possible to uproot them completely. Since there’s probably a lot of people involved.
Even Do Wook knew that Seo Joong Won was not the only evil in society. There are people who are more evil and people who are less evil but still evil, they’re a dime a dozen.
That was why. That was more reason why he wanted to punish Seo Joong Won, the ‘evil’ he knew the best.
“No, I understand how you feel.”
-Haha. I’ll have to look into Ju Min Ah too. See if there’s any connections…
“Yes. I’ll entrust it to you.”
-I’m the one that’s always in your debt. If your new drama does well too, how many hits is that under your belt?
Reporter Choi Sung Joon said, easing the tense atmosphere.
“Not you too,”
Do Wook said lightly. Reporter Choi Sung Joon continued and said he was looking forward to the drama.
They ended the call and Do Wook was finally able to fall asleep.
***
[Sweetheart from the Universe, First Broadcast! It smells like a masterpiece!]
[Was Wang Hee Jin this good at acting? Wang Hee Jin’s vibrant return…]
[Kang Do Wook, definitely making his mark as an actor too! Playing the role of someone who uses superpowers]
[Chun Min Jun, who froze time, also freezes the viewers’ channel!]
[Sweetheart from the Universe, Chun Min Jun please be our lover too (Photo)]
[Drama Review : < Sweetheart from the Universe > Birth of a new romance genre]
[SVS Broadcast station, Thanks to them believing in Writer Oh Young Ji!]
.
.
[Skyrocketing ratings How far will < Sweetheart from the Universe >’s popularity go?]
[From 15% up to 35%! The alien lover who captured the hearts of Korean women within 2 weeks!]
.
.
The drama reception and popularity was already exceeding expectations.
Do Wook had already known that < Sweetheart from the Universe > would do well, but this was different than even his expectations. The lead changed as well as the title, so the setting for episode 1 had changed.
Those changes had drawn in more popularity. Even the ratings were already higher than Do Wook originally knew.
‘It’s a national drama this time too, but…’
Do Wook felt surreal.
Currently, they had filmed until episode 9. It wasn’t a bad situation compared to other dramas, but it was still tight considering how quickly the broadcast caught up to filming.
Writer Oh Young Ji and the people from her workshop were pouring all their energy into writing the script, not even thinking about stepping a foot outside the workshop.
WIth the script for episode 10 in his hand, Do Wook watched the broadcast of episode 4 with the members at the dormitory.
Park Tae Hyung had gone home, so the rest of the members each found a spot and watched Do Wook’s drama together.
Jung Yoon Ki and Kim Won, who had missed episodes 2 and 3, weren’t able to follow along and kept asking questions while watching and thus were scolded by Ahn Hyung Seo.
“Wow, so crazy! What happens in the next episode? Can’t you just tell me on the down-low?”
“Do Wook…seriously, please tell us.”
After episode 4 ended, Ahn Hung Seo and Suk Ji Hoon, who had become fans of the drama, pleaded with Do Wok. Do Wook said it wouldn’t be fun watching if they knew and wouldn’t tell them.
“That’s not fair. Give me that script!”
Ahn Hyung Seo tried to steal the script Do Wook was holding. Jung Yoon Ki sighed and stopped Ahn Hyung Seo.
Suk Ji Hoon, who had already given up trying to find out what would happen in the next episode, warily asked Manager Oh Baek Ho,
“By the way, Manager Oh, it’s late, but…can we eat…spicy rice cake?”
Manager Oh Baek Ho, who was glaring out of habit, was briefly speechless.
In < Sweetheart from the Universe >, Wang Hee Jin ate spicy rice cake whenever she was sad. In episode 4, when she was rejected after confessing to Do Wook, there was a scene where she ate spicy rice cake as she cried. The comedic point was that she was sad but was eating the food so deliciously. Wang Hee Jin’s acting was so good as she ate that it made one’s mouth water.
“Haaaa…”
Manager Oh Baek Ho, who mulled it over for a bit, eventually nodded his head. Excited, Suk Ji Hoon ordered 4 orders of spicy rice cake, Korean sausage, fried food, and fish cake on his cellphone.
Do Wook got up from his seat.
“Huh? You’re not eating, Do Wook?”
“Do Wook has another shoot.”
Manager Oh Baek Ho answered Suk JI Hoon’s question instead. When he heard that, Suk Ji Hoon had an embarrassed expression that he was so blinded by spicy rice cake that he didn’t think about Do Wook. Even the members, who had been excited, looked flustered.
“Uh…Do Wook…”
“It’s ok. Go ahead and eat, don’t worry about me. I ate a lot of the food that came out as props on set.”
When Do Wook replied like it wasn’t a big deal, Suk Ji Hoon looked relieved.
“Are you leaving right now?”
Right as Jung Yoon Ki asked, Do Wook got a call from Nam Da Woo, who brought the car to pick up Do Wook. They understood even without an answer.
The members saw him off and wished him luck on the shoot as they looked at Do Wook with dejected eyes. Do Wook was already thankful to the members that they enjoyed the drama.
***
At that moment, even though it was long past time to clock out, the light in the SVS Content Business Headquarters office was shining brightly.
“Yaawn…is the contract revision complete?”
The head of the Content Business Headquarters asked the person in charge, yawning.The person in charge, who had been transferred from the legal team, nodded his head.
—
Next chapter: