“Heroes..th…that Heroes….?”
Park Tae Hyung stuttered as he spoke. Kim Won had already run around the waiting room once, slapping his knee and going crazy. He was even hitting his head like the child actor from a sitcom that was nationally popular over 20 years ago.
Of course*, what Kim Won yelled wasn’t ‘no way’, but something in English.
(TL Note: I’m not sure why it would be obvious that he said something in English.)
“Oh, my gosh! That’s…, so, so amazing!”
Kim Won grabbed Do Wook’s shoulders with both hands and shook him.
Do Wook was about to feel dizzy, but it was hard to tell if he was dizzy because of Kim Won shaking him or because he had heard such unbelievable news.
When he said Do Wook was cast for ‘Heroes’, he meant that he was cast in the movie “Heroes’. The original was a comic of the same name published by General Comics.
There were, as the name implies, numerous modernized heroes in the comic ‘Heroes’.
Telling the stories of these heroes one by one, movies made by General Comics included ‘Billion Man’, ‘Hercules’, ‘Speed Spinder’, ‘Soldier America’ and ‘Shark’.
With a series of successful films, General Comics became a brand called ‘General’.
In the middle of that, the movie that brought all the heroes from the comic ‘Heroes’ together was the movie ‘Heroes’.
(TL Note: How many times am I going to have to type out ‘Heroes’ this chapter haha)
The success of the movie ‘Heroes’ was the very definition of substantial.
There had been many hero movies throughout the years, but the scale of ‘Heroes’ was on another level, everything from the cast to production costs. It was rightfully called the ‘final boss’ of American movies.
Each character already had an established fan base, and those fans came together so the effects of that synergy was perhaps inevitable.
‘Heroes’ wasn’t just popular in America. It was world-wide.
Even in Korea, over 7,000,000 people watched ‘Heroes’.
The box office hit a whopping 1.5 billion dollars. In Korean currency, it was a huge number that exceeded 1 trillion Won.
Not only for leads who appear as heroes in Heroes, but also for supporting actors, it was the stepping stone to grow into a world-class star. No, appearing in ‘Heroes’ already meant that you had become a world-class star.
That was the symbolization of ‘Heroes’.
The atmosphere in the waiting room was incredibly elevated.
“What role in Heroes is it?”
Ahn Hyung Seo asked, his eyes shining.
“Man, the role isn’t important. Even if your face is shown for 10 seconds in Heroes, that’s a huge success.”
“Hey! Sure, Heroes is impressive, but Do Wook is KK.”
Jung Yoon Ki quickly blocked Ahn Hyung Seo’s question because he thought Do Wook’s role might not be very big, and from Ahn Hyung Seo’s perspective, the movie ‘Heroes’ was impressive but Do Wook was impressive too.
You could tell from their tones that the two of them were both fellow members as well as ‘fans’ of Do Wook.
Do Wook was already overwhelmed over his casting itself, but honestly, the role was very important too.
As K-POP became popular and Hallyu actors started to appear, Hollywood sometimes cast Korean actors to target the Asian market.
However, Asian actors’ roles in Hollywood were very limited. So were Korean actors.
There were a lot of roles that didn’t have good scenes, and they had to take on the roles of villains or someone relatively weak. There were also times where they had to make a choice that was difficult to make as a Korean and take on roles as Japanese samurai.
‘If that’s the case, it’s better to not do it…even if the offer is from Heroes…’
Do Wook was still humble, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know his status.
KK and Do Wook were among the pride of the Korean people.
When talking to foreigners about Korea, Koreans tend to ask things about things that represent Korea, like, “Do you know kimchi?”.
There were a lot of people who say asking foreigners that is tacky or jokingly calling them the ‘Do you know club’, but regardless, it was clear what represents Korea.
Following ‘Do you know’, it wasn’t just kimchi but also food, culture, and famous athletes such as bulgogi, Dokdo, Park Jin Sung, Kim Ah Young. KK was now proudly joining the ranks.
It was widely spread on the internet that there were many times recently where, when a foreigner meets a Korean, they are first to ask if they know ‘KK’.
If Do Wook, a member of KK, played a ridiculous role in ‘Heroes’ just to be famous, it was something that could hurt the pride of people in the nation or of the KK fans.
Do Wook didn’t want that either. He was already doing the best he could from where he was.
Department Manager Oh Baek Ho nodded his head, as if reading the minds of Do Wook and the members.
“Uh…the role that Do Wook will be taking on in Heroes is…”
Department Manager Oh Baek Ho said.
“They said it’s one of the heroes…”
Do Wook swallowed.
‘A hero in Heroes!’
It was totally a lead role. The scale was difficult to imagine.
“Li…Like, Shark…?”
Actually, Park Tae Hyung was one of the ‘Heroes’ enthusiasts in Korea. In particular, he was a big fan of Shark, who is usually shy and ordinary, but at the drop of a hat changes and rips everything apart.
“Hmmm…honestly, I’m not familiar with Heroes. Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung said he doesn’t know which character it is either. He said that General Comics didn’t seem to have a specifically Asian hero…”
“That’s correct…”
Park Tae Hyung nodded his head slowly.
Park Tea Hyung had already read the original ‘Heroes’ comic in its entirety. There were absolutely no Asian characters in the original, and it was a decades old comic so all the heroes were either American or from outer space.
It was also the reason why ‘Heroes’ was criticized for American-style heroism.
“He said we’ll have to go talk to them to find out. It’s one of the heroes, but we have no idea which character it is…so we set up a meeting immediately. We have to decide whether we’ll do it or not so that we can plan activities and set your schedule…”
From the company’s point of view, they of course couldn’t help but feel antsy.
“Ok.”
Do Wook tried hard to control his excitement. Even if it’s a hero, there was no way to tell which hero he would be.
“Anyways, it’s true that it’s incredible news. A casting offer from Heroes…”
When Suk Ji Hoon said that, the members, who had calmed down for a bit, got excited again and bounced up and down.
“Yeah, even if you don’t appear on the show, you’ll be able to go on a talk show and milk it a 100 times.”
At Ahn Hyung Seo’s words, Do Wook relaxed his anxiety a little and laughed.
They cleaned up the waiting room, and the members were coming out of the waiting room one by one, led by Department Manager Oh Baek Ho.
Young Women, who had removed all their makeup and changed from their stage outfits to plain clothes, were passing through the waiting room hallway.
“Oh!”
Kim Won, who liked idol groups and was well informed on names of all female idols, of course was the first to notice Young Women and react.
Of course, Young Women was a little more special to Kim Won since it was the group Do Wook had invested in.
“Hello!”
“Hello, sunbaes!”
Young Women, who noticed KK, bowed deep and greeted them.
Most of the people that appeared on music broadcasts were their sunbae singers, so when they came to a broadcast station, Young Women had to give greetings dozens of times a day. Therefore, as soon as they noticed KK, the speed in which they greeted KK was almost machine-like.
KK smiled awkwardly as they watched Young Women stand in a line and greet them.
‘We heard that the debut was possible thanks to Do Wook…!’
‘The group that our Do Wook invested in and created…!’
The members were struggling, itching to say something along those lines. Do Wook, on the other hand, greeted them calmly as he would treat any other hubae singer.
Do Wook fixed his gaze on the girl on the far left who was looking at him with twinkling eyes.
The member had bowed a half beat late when greeting them.
She, whose pronunciation was unclear when giving the greeting, was the Japanese member of Young Women.
It was the member that President Jang Hye Sung, on Do Wook’s advice, recruited with difficulty.
You couldn’t really tell just by looking at them, but there was a subtle difference in the shape of the face and eyebrows.
The name of the shy Japanese girl with pink blush on her cheeks was Miru Hashimoto.
She looked shy, but on stage, she was more passionate than anyone else. Of course, her training period was relatively short and her skills were lower than those of the other members due to linguistic limitations, but she definitely had her charm.
Thanks to that, even in Korea, she was the most popular after the youngest Da Hye and the leader Yoon Ji.
‘As expected…President Jang Hye Sung sure has an eye for things.’
Do Wook thought as he looked at Miru.
Young Women was currently the hottest female idol group in the nation. They didn’t have the biggest fandom, but they were growing their power the quickest.
Even though they were rookies, there were Young Women fans among Japanese K-POP fans.
Young Women’s music fit well with Japan, but the presence of one of their own definitely had a positive effect.
The proof was that Miru’s popularity was the highest in Japan.
Since the Japanese market’s money mobilization power was enormous, it was a great opportunity for Hye Sung agency, which didn’t have much capital.
Do Wook’s insight helped Hye Sung and Young Women greatly in many ways.
“Then…”
Yoon Ji, the leader, pushed her long hair back, greeted them politely, and passed by.
Behind her, the other Young Women members followed her in a line. They didn’t give the KK members or Do Wook any more unnecessary gazes.
Honestly, they were probably curious about Do Wook and Suk Ji Hoon being Bunker21 and also wanted to greet Do Wook, whom they hadn’t seen in a while, but they didn’t let it show at all.
The youngest, Da Hye, looked back one more time regretfully, that was the extent of it.
Rather, it was the KK members who were stunned.
“Uh…are you sure you know each other?”
“Man, maybe Do Wook lied to us.”
Ahn Hyung Seo and Jung Yoon Ki, who wanted to show off Do Wook’s talents like crazy, asked.
”Haha.”
Do Wook laughed awkwardly.
He thought that Young Women, who listened to his requests very well, were cute.
Do Wook turned around, smiling happily. Department Manager Oh Baek Ho rushed the members.
***
A mansion in California, America.
It was a truly large mansion. It took a few minutes by car to go from the first door to the reception room of the mansion.
As soon as they entered the drawing room, the employees moved quickly and welcomed Do Wook and Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung.
‘This place is…’
Do Wook looked at every inch of the house in admiration. Each wall had a drawing or picture of a hero from Heroes.
This place, the mansion in California, was the mansion of Martin, the one who gave birth to ‘Heroes’.
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