“Something to thank me for…?”

Do Wook asked, stunned.

“Yes. Ah, I guess I got straight to the point before even introducing myself. My name is Yoon Sung Ah.”

Do Wook had consoled Yoon Sung Ah a little when KK had been doing the school uniform advertisement.

For Do Wook, it was a very small gesture that he did because it was hard to ignore someone who was crying after something sad happened, but for her, it left an impression.

Therefore, Yoon Sung Ah was always watching KK grow on TV with a positive mindset.

KK, who was an up-and-coming rookie during the time of the school uniform commercial, was now the top-ranked group among idols.

Even if it wasn’t for the incident with Do Wook, as Yoon Sung Ah observed them throughout the school uniform advertisement shoot, she was certain that KK would have plenty more success.

“I’m so happy I get to meet with you again.”

“Ah, yes…me too. But what brings you here?”

Do Wook asked, confused.

“Sung Ah is also one of my students, although she’s a different major than you. Anyways, she’s your senior.”

Professor Jung looked at the meeting of the two disciples with a happy smile.

Yoon Sung Ah, like Do Wook, had attended the Korea National University of the Arts.

She was a directing major, not an acting major, but she received guidance from Professor Jung in a class where acting and directing majors got into teams to make short films.

Yoon Sung Ah’s directing skills were so outstanding that Professor Jung even talked in depth about the short film submitted by Yoon Sung Ah’s team during class.

Even among the Directing Department professors, Yoon Sung Ah was a promising undergraduate student.

Do Wook was also special to Professor Jung. First of all, he was an idol, something very rare among the students who had come to the KNUA to become actors.

From the moment he started school, there was a lot of gossip of “how can an ‘idol’ be an acting major?”. There were also conflicting opinions among the faculty between ideas such as “it will undermine the prestige of the school” and “anyone with talent should be allowed to enter the school fairly.”

However, those gossips had completely disappeared.

First of all, Do Wook had considerable acting skills, enough to be selected after a difficult practical test that was administered by the most harsh professors. He was significantly better than even students who had some background in learning acting.

When Do Wook acted, his acting was clean without unnecessary habits, commonly referred to within the business as ‘kuse’ or ‘jjho’*. From an instructor’s perspective, it was comfortable because they did not have to put in the effort to get rid of bad habits.
(TL Note: I’m told these are Japanese words used to describe a bad habit that’s hard to fix, usually relating to music)

Outside of acting, Do Wook was an outstanding student.

Even when taking classes, he showed model student behavior that was difficult to find among acting students, such as sitting in proper posture with his back upright.

“I guess you’re my senior. May I call you sunbae?”

Yoon Sung Ah gave an easy-going smile when Do Wook said that.

“It’s been a long time since I graduated. And I showed you a very pathetic side of me as a first impression to deserve being called sunbae…”

Yoon Sung Ah mumbled the last few words.

“Not at all, sunbae.”

Do Wook quickly denied it so Yoon Sung Ah wouldn’t feel ashamed.

“It’s hard to be out in society, right? The undergrad years were probably nicer.”

“I agree.”

Smiling, Yoon Sung Ah agreed with Professor Jung’s perverse but understandable statement.

“I started this job to make money, but there are more tears I shed than money I made.”

“You might have been given this opportunity now because you’ve struggled like that.”

“Yes. When I’m working there, I’m happy and energized to be back in the movie industry.”

Actually, the reason Do Wook was a little surprised when he first saw Yoon Sung Ah in the professor’s office once he realized who she was, was because Yoon Sung Ah’s vibe was different from what Do Wook had seen.

Now, she looked brighter as if a weight had been lifted off of her. It was nice to see.

“What I wanted to do was independent movies, but people were strongly against it, saying you couldn’t make money with that…so I tried going into commercial advertisements. Back then.”

Do Wook nodded his head at Yoon Sung’s explanation.

Yoon Sung Ah worked as a director on a movie board and then went back to being a newbie in commercial advertisements. Although movies and advertisements were the same video work, they were in a completely different world, so she built her career starting over from the bottom.

Because she had particularly good basic intuition, she was able to demonstrate her talent.

After gaining some experience, she was able to make quite a bit of money, despite being sad. However, the thing Yoon Sung Ah was best at and wanted to do most was definitely movies.

“…so I have a screenplay I had written during my spare time here and there. I submitted it and an investor has been set.”

“Finding an investor for indie films is like finding a needle in a haystack. She was very lucky.”

Professor Jung explained further.

Do Wook nodded his head and congratulated Yoon Sung Ah.

“Congratulations. But how can I be of help…”

“It’s going to be really special for me, so I called in a favor with Professor Jung to contact you. I thought I might get tossed aside if I contacted you through the company. Ha ha.”

“Huh?”

“I heard you told Professor Jung…that you want to seriously try acting…”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then how about working with me?”

Do Wook blinked at Yoon Sung Ah’s question. Digging through the bag she had brought, Yoon Sung Ah took something out.

< Working Title: Blue Whale >

It was a screenplay.

Do Wook gulped. When he was getting into acting, he didn’t even think about doing independent films. He wanted to do dramas or commercial films to get his name known and only considered things that would become masterpieces.

‘Blue Whale…I haven’t heard of it before. It’s possible that it’s famous within the indie film world, and that I don’t know about it because I wasn’t part of that world…’

Yoon Sung Ah said as she held out the screenplay towards Do Wook,

“I know you’re busy, but could you at least look it over?”

“Ahhh…”

“I honestly don’t know much, but I’m confident that it would help you in your acting career.”

Professor Jung, who had been observing, said.

“Yeah, give it a read. You won’t get as much fame as with the dramas you’ve done, but it will be an opportunity to think deeply about acting.”

“Ok. I understand. But it’s something I need to discuss with the company too. I’ll let you know after I look into it.”

“Of course. First, just read it over. And if you tell me your opinion of it, even better.”

Do Wook nodded at what Yoon Sung Ah said. He grabbed the screenplay.

‘I wonder…’

The texture of the thick paper on his finger felt unfamiliar.

‘Seo Kang Jun’s next choice is a drama. Compared to a drama, it’d be hard to draw attention with an independent film…’

He’d risen to a certain status, but what would come after was actually harder. He had to think about things even more carefully. The weight of his choices was different now.

‘But it’s also important to forge my own path…although I’ll have to read it before I decide.’

Do Wook furrowed his brows.

***

At a KVS Broadcast Studio public recording site.

Do Wook was waiting behind the stage with a trembling heart. The rehearsal had already successfully finished, but the fact that it was a music broadcast different from ordinary music broadcasts was making Do Wook tremble.

The screenplay he received two days ago when he stopped by school had not even been opened yet.

It was because he had to prepare a new performance. Do Wook was very tired from preparing the performance all night, even while going through rehearsal, but now that it was time for the actual performance, his nerves were keeping him from feeling tired.

Do Wook, who expanded his musical scope through solo activities to include ballads, was recently cast for ‘Yoo Hee Won’s Holiday.’

Today was the day they were recording ‘Yoo Hee Won’s Holiday’.

“The audience who came to this episode are the definition of ‘blessed’.”

When the MC Yoo Hee Won’s voice rang out, the audience went, “oh ho,” cheering with anticipation.

“The next participant is a popular idol, something we don’t often have on our program.”

The expectations of the female audience members in particular rose. But on the other hand, there were audience members who were visibly disappointed when they heard the word ‘idol’.

It was because the people here came to listen to “ingenious” music.

‘Yoo Hee Won’s Holiday’ was a late-night program that aired at 11 o’clock on Saturday night. Its viewer ratings stayed constant since it was a music program that was on so late at night, but it was a very important program for those interested in music.

First off, just appearing on ‘Yoo Hee Won’s Holiday’ alone meant that your musical skills were recognized.

Unlike ordinary music broadcasts, which are composed of idols and popular songs, ‘Yoo Hee Won’s Holiday’ mainly featured performances from musically talented indie bands, singers with excellent singing skills, and foreign singers whom Koreans did not know too much about.

That being the case, performances with high artistry were inevitably created.

In addition, it was a broadcast that paid great attention to sounds that were difficult to find in Korean broadcasts. It was a stage optimized for live performances.

Therefore, many of the legendary performances from star ballad singers were born on the ‘Yoo Hee Won’s Holiday’ stage.

As a result, there were only a few idol singers who came on. First of all, there were only a few idol singers who could perform live without using AR at all.

It was true that most songs had some difficult aspects because they also had to dance to it. That being said, even if they did a cover of a ballad song, there weren’t many people who had the singing ability to match ballad singers.

Even Sa Bang Shin Hwa, who was enjoying top popularity, only appeared once, at the end of last year.

In that respect, it was a very important performance to promote Do Wook’s musical talent to the music world and be recognized again.

“Let me introduce Mr. Kang Do Wook.”

At Yoo Hee Won’s introduction, Do Wook began to climb the stairs onto the stage. Applause welcoming Do Wook as well as amazed exclamations poured out.

It was definitely a different kind of cheering from the ones fans, who had been waiting, typically gave him at music programs.

On stage was the grand piano for Do Wook’s performance.

With a trembling heart, Do Wook greeted the audience and sat in front of the grand piano.

Do Wook had prepared two songs. One was his own song ‘Please Don’t Go’.

When he put his hands on the piano and started the prelude, some people in the audience started to close their eyes. It was a very mellow prelude.

Of course, Do Wook’s piano skills were not as outstanding as pianists or piano majors, but he gained considerable skills while studying composition.

With Do Wook’s unique sensitivity added to it, it turned a little more sorrowful than the original performance.

Playing the chords, Do Wook started the song.

People couldn’t help but empathize with ‘Please Don’t’ Go’ that Do Wook was singing.

“Don’t…go…”

Singing the last lyrics in a drawn out way, the song ended with a sigh.

When the song ‘Please Don’t Go’ ended, applause poured out.

“It’s good when you listen to it normally, but it’s even better hearing it up close.”

“He’s really good live too. His voice is like honey, seriously.”

“Wow…”

There were also many people who were speechless.

Yoo Hee Won, who was quietly listening to Do Wook’s song from the back, also breathed deeply. Do Wook’s song was better than any other singer-in-their-twenties’ song she had heard recently. He was outstanding both in terms of technique and emotion.

Surrounded by applause, Do Wook gave a smile.

“Kyaaa!”

One of the female audience members let out a scream without realizing it when she saw Do Wook smile. There was a burst of laughter as loud as the scream.

The atmosphere had turned emotional. Do Wook began to play the next song that he had prepared. It was the song that made Do Wook stay up all night.

—

Next chapter: We see more of Do Wook’s solo activities and Do Wook, true to his word, reads the ‘Blue Whale’ screenplay

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