Park Joongjin took off his coat after getting in the passenger seat. Head manager Moon started the car, and when he saw the flower-patterned shirt that Joongjin was wearing, he clicked his tongue.
“That’s one peculiar taste you’re stubborn about. Do you wear flower-patterned shirts in winter too?”
“It’s become sort of a habit. I find it surprising too. When I open the closet at home, I find a bunch of Hawaiian-style shirts.”
“It’s good that you’re living young, but you should really wear a neat suit when you’re at a press conference or something. You have the face of a neat middle-aged man, but you always wear a flower-patterned shirt. That’s why people label you as a weirdo.”
“As for you, head manager Moon, you are as naggy as ever.”
“Who other than me will give you any nagging? Everyone’s helpless against you since you might leave on the spot all of a sudden.”
There was probably no one who had a weird job history like Park Joongjin. He worked in finances, then ran his own restaurant, and now he was a film director. He also lived like a nomad in between his films. He would go overseas and use up all the money he earned before coming back and using his godly skills to shoot a film to earn money again. If it happened just once, everyone would think of it as a coincidence, but he had gotten over 5 million sales six times in a row. He was smart and had good senses enough to become a finance man and had good business skills to run a restaurant chain, but he wasn’t so obsessed over money, so it didn’t seem like he had a lot of money saved up. Not that he had any time to, since he must have been using it all up whenever he earned any.
“Are you going to go traveling again with your house as security? Also, you cut your connection with the president of that construction company, right?”
“I’m planning to settle down in Korea now. The grudges I harbored for a long time have been resolved somewhat, and as for that hyung-nim, I do contact him from time to time. He’s reliable whenever I have a hard time, and also, I rather like him. I like him because his attitude towards people is consistent.”
“Sometimes, it makes me scared when I see the people you hang out with. I’m worried that you might go to jail someday. There are many good people in the world, so why do you hang out with such dangerous people?”
“How tasteless and dry would the world be if everyone is like you, head manager Moon? It only has flavor because there are various people. I didn’t live a long life, but according to my experiences, people are just people. Give them a knife, and they’ll become a murderer, or give them a law book, and they’ll become a lawyer, that’s all. In the perspective of the world, even the dangerous-looking people turn out to be rather decent if you get to know them.”
“I’m on the more ordinary side, so I don’t even want to talk to people from that side of the world.”
“That’s definitely a safe way to live.”
Many people saw director Park as a rather peculiar content creator since he would often laugh like a fool, but actually, there was no one more dangerous than him. Even head manager Moon, who had known him for a long time, had frowned multiple times because of director Park’s insensitivity and cruelty. The people he hung out with were those of bad quality to the point that they sometimes made the news because of a bad incident. It made him doubt the humanity of director Park sometime. Though now, he didn’t mind it as much.
Director Park’s perspective on people was different from most people’s. Sometimes, he was incredibly insensitive to human relationships in that it seemed like he was treating them as an entirely different species, just like how humans would not concern themselves with how the relationships are between ants while looking at them crawling on the ground. Sometimes, he looked transcendental, while sometimes, he looked resigned, so head manager Moon decided to think simply — by just thinking that that’s just how this man was.
“Anyways, are you really okay with that fellow as the lead actor? There must be loads of actors who want to work with you, but you chose a guy like him.”
“How was he in your eyes, head manager Moon?”
“What’s there to look at? Honestly, I don’t really know. He doesn’t have a bad impression, but he seems rather faint compared to the popular ones these days.”
“Actors don’t really live off their looks.”
Head manager Moon replied to that with a smile,
“That’s true. I mean, there are loads of actors whose skills don’t live up to their appearances. What I’m saying is that there are many who have both. Not only that, he’s twenty-five, so he’s quite young if you’re expecting seasoned acting, and even if he’s an acting genius, his face doesn’t match up to the ones with real-life experience, does it? There’s a reason why all the actors who rule cinemas are in their 30s and 40s. The audience knows just how scary of a weapon experience is.”
“That’s precisely it,” Joongjin said.
Precisely it? Head manager Moon couldn’t understand. As the director mentioned Han Maru before the scouting stage, he looked into him on his own. Han Maru was an actor affiliated with JA, the agency that had a terrible relationship with director Park. As for his filmography, it wasn’t that bad. In fact, his filmography was on the good side. The first thing that entered his eyes was that he used to be in the theater field. Currently, nine out of ten main film stars had stepped up past Daehak-ro. It was true that he was an actor walking down a well-paved path, but what he found lacking was his experience. The 3-year gap concerned him. He showed the best possible start by playing a minor actor, in a film directed by a director with a huge name, alongside a legendary actor, followed by winning a fixed role in a public TV drama, clearly on the path to stardom, but thanks to the sudden military service, the flow was cut off. From his research, he even rejected a role in the hugely popular mini-series ‘Flaming Lady’ and went to the military.
The times had changed, and there were many instances where the actors would have to step in for promotion. With more and more contact, it meant that it had become a lot easier to be talked about among the people, and that meant that it had gotten just as easy to be badmouthed by people. He would probably not be able to endure the tempering of the masses with a mentality that made him reject a huge opportunity and go to the military. It didn’t take that long for head manager Moon to predict Maru’s career.
“What do you mean, precisely? I don’t get it. If he went to the military at a time when he should be wracking his mind about how to achieve success, then that means that he doesn’t have any desire or obsession for success. From my experience, those kinds of people never became big. Instead, I’ve seen many people who desperately strive towards success becoming big.”
“Like you said, straying away in the middle can be a flaw of his. But just watch. There’s no reason for him to not do well just because he strayed off once.”
“I’m saying that most of the time, they don’t.”
“I stray off a lot too. Heck, my entire life was never on the main path.”
“That’s because you’re different from the ordinary folk, director Park. Most of the time, people can’t guarantee their success even if they dig just one well.”
Head manager Moon turned the wheel and looked at director Park from the corner of his eyes.
“Are you saying that that fellow is just like you? Like one of those geniuses? Of course, you might hate being called that, but everyone looks at you like one anyway. Honestly, I don’t think you’re ordinary either. You suddenly shoot a hugely popular movie after self-studying film production while running a restaurant business. How do you explain that? It’s better for ordinary folk like us to call it talent and say that you’re a genius. If you demote your achievements as ‘nothing much’, then people like me, who have never even attempted that ‘nothing much’ will be suffocated to death.”
“You’re getting better with your words every single day, head manager Moon.”
“It’s what I live off of, so of course I’d get good. Rather than that, what is it? What is it that you find so special about Han Maru’s talent? He must have something that made you choose him over the other popular people at his age, right?”
Director Park raised his fingers and pointed at his eyes.
“What about your eyes?”
“You said just now, didn’t you? The audience knows the importance of experience.”
“Right. That’s why I said he’s too young.”
“Have you talked to him while looking at him in the eyes today?”
“Talk to him? Yes, I did. He’s an incredibly important person who will decide the success and failure of the film, so of course I did. He seems to be a polite kid. He’s quite amicable, and I can get through to him too. But that’s got nothing to do with acting skills, does it?”
Director Park shook his head.
“Someone of your caliber must be able to feel that Mr. Maru is different the next time you meet him. You’ll see it even more clearly once we start the shoot. Mr. Maru possesses a very unique set of eyes. At first glance, he looks like a selfish kid who only looks out for his own benefit, but if you look deeper into him, you’ll see the leisure of an elderly who’s observing everything with his hands held behind his back. He’s very passionate, yet very rational. It feels like you can see right through him, then you see that he’s completely clouded. It’s like he has experienced more lives than necessary.”
“That doesn’t sound that good to me.”
Head manager Moon’s eyes twitched. That just meant that he’s just a lukewarm actor, no? Someone that belongs to neither, and has no character — that’s how it sounded.
Director Park just smiled and looked outside the window.
“You’ll see when you see him later. He’s not entirely a young fellow at heart.”
“If you say so, then I have no reason to object to him. Not to mention, it’s not like you’ll change your mind just because of me. I just plan to support you with everything I have so that you can focus on the film. I don’t need anything. I just want something on par with Spring Calendar. Don’t go shooting something weird again.”
“The result is something that will appear in due time, so don’t worry.”
“Now that makes me more worried instead. Please, make it something that the ordinary masses can understand. You can’t be too artistic.”
“This time, it’s about people, so everyone will like it.”
“About people, huh.”
Head manager Moon chuckled as he pressed the gas pedal.
