For someone who was supposedly a CG expert, she still looked far too young.
After all, what I had originally imagined was a potbellied middle aged man with a bushy beard who looked like he would go crazy for beer.
But seeing that she was not only a different gender but also looked so completely different, I felt as if I had been smacked hard on the back of the head.
“Is there some kind of problem?”
Seeing me spacing out for a moment, Chester asked.
“Ah, no. Hello. I am Gyeong Chanhyeon. Haha.”
I laughed awkwardly, stood up from my seat, and offered her a handshake. Perhaps because she felt very sorry for being late, she still had an apologetic expression on her face as she took my hand and gave it a weak shake.
Only then did her appearance properly come into view.
On the clothes that looked much too big for her body, there was the earth positioned between the moon and the sun on a black background, as if depicting a lunar eclipse.
“Do you only own clothes that look all space themed or something. It seems like you are always wearing that kind of thing.”
Chester asked, looking at her clothes.
“No, last time it was a solar eclipse, and this is a lunar eclipse. They are way too different for you to lump them together as just ‘space like.’”
“Space is space, what…”
“I am telling you it is not.”
Right after she snapped at Chester, she made a face like she regretted what she had just said.
I did not know her personality well, but I could at least tell right away that she was not what you would call ordinary.
“I am, I am sorry…”
“Enough, do not say anything. I have heard enough space talk from you to last a lifetime, so just sit down and try this first.”
Acting like it was no big deal, Chester popped a grilled kimchi and pork belly wrap he had prepared in advance into his mouth.
When Chester first demonstrated with his fork, Taylor, who was next to him, followed his example, placing kimchi on top of the meat and putting it in her mouth.
And when she nodded with a pleased expression, I finally felt relieved enough to eat my meal properly.
“Let us eat a bit first. We can do proper introductions later. Hehe. Making someone wait for food like this is a crime in itself.”
When Chester glanced sidelong at the soju in front of me, I accepted another glass and poured each of them a drink.
And then, after loading up again with pork belly and kimchi, they tossed the soju into their mouths, bit into the kimchi wraps, and both nodded at the same time.
“Ahh, the greasy, spicy stir fried kimchi that wipes away the bitterness of the alcohol. This is innovation.”
Taylor chewed with her small mouth for a good while as if savoring it, then answered.
“It is really delicious.”
“If you come to Korea later, I will take you to another Korean restaurant.”
“Hehe, I am fine with anywhere, as long as there is good food.”
We ordered a few more rounds like that, ate fried rice, and even finished off by cleansing our palates with cold noodles.
However, James, visible at the side, still seemed to have a long way to go, as the fat was still pouring down from their meat grill like a waterfall.
“Tsk. I was thinking of moving to another place, but seeing those guys, I guess we cannot. Hehe. Who could stop them when they are eating like that.”
After teasing him in a playful scolding tone so that James would not hear, Chester looked back and forth between me and Taylor and spoke.
“I had planned to really do things properly in the second round, but well, it is fine. Let us at least introduce each other. This is film director Gyeong Chanhyeon. Mind the pronunciation. And this is Jean Taylor. She is the CEO of MILM (Major in Light and Miracle).”
“What…?”
“CEO. Haha. Does it not seem to match her age. Well, she is still at the age where she cannot shake off the vibe of a new employee.”
At Chester’s words, Taylor waved her hands as if embarrassed and said,
“I am a CEO in name only. I work like an ant.”
Taylor gave a bitter smile with an expression that did not match the title of CEO.
Unfortunately, there was no company called MILM in my memory.
The visual effects studio ILM that had been active in the <Star Wars series>.
And Weta Digital, which Peter Jackson founded together with colleagues he met while producing <The Lord of the Rings>.
Aside from those, I did not know much about CG companies.
But in a world without George Lucas or Peter Jackson, you could not expect visual effects companies like that.
“Hmm…”
A sigh naturally escaped me at that thought. But there was something else I needed to check.
“If you are the head of the company, have you previously participated in any films?”
At my question, Chester closed his mouth, rested his chin on his hand, and let his focus drift as if looking at some far-off mountain.
“There is, but… it was not something done at MILM.”
“Sorry? What do you mean by that?”
“I took part as a CG designer.”
“Then, as for something made by MILM…?”
“There is nothing yet. But I can tell you that in terms of technical skill, we are better than anywhere. Because I am there.”
When I looked at Chester sitting next to me, he met my gaze and gave an awkward smile.
I could not understand why he would introduce as an expert the CEO of a company that did not even have any work yet.
But at the same time, I thought that someone like Chester must surely have something else in mind.
“Ha ha…”
“I know what Director Gyeong is thinking right now. And I fully understand. I think it is only natural that you would have doubts. But…”
Taylor looked at me with her fist clenched and said,
“Please just come by our company once. We will show you everything we can do for you.”
“Then, could you tell me which work you took part in as a CG designer…?”
“……”
Chester suddenly got up from his seat.
“I am going to have a cigarette. Haha… You two talk for a bit.”
Chester took out a cigarette and went outside, and Taylor let out a deep sigh and said,
“I worked on <Jurassic Park>. But… I can do much better than that. Really.”
“Ah…”
The <Jurassic Park> of this world that I had watched.
Compared to Steven Spielberg’s <Jurassic Park>, its crude CG quality did not even come up to the toes of it, and its ability to adapt the original story had completely ruined it.
A maddening combination, a complete mess. I remembered that I had stopped watching and turned it off because I could not stand to watch it any longer.
Seeing my expression, and perhaps realizing what I was thinking, Taylor frowned and continued.
“It was not good, right. Damn trash. Are those supposed to be dinosaurs. You would be better off putting raptor costumes on chickens running around.”
“Pff…”
When I barely managed to hold back the laughter that was about to burst out, she spoke as if venting, her face bright red.
“Go ahead and laugh. That will make me feel better. It eats me up that I made that mess with my own hands. Ha… But do you know what makes me even angrier?”
“……”
“Even if I do not want to compromise, once the director compromises, I have no say at all. The company president even got angry at me and told me to just compromise because of the money. How does it make any sense to talk about compromise after making a piece of trash like that in the first place? Seriously.”
After saying this, she went on at length about what had happened while making <Jurassic Park>.
At first, she had been told that they would use stop motion, moving models of the subjects little by little and filming them frame by frame to edit them together, so it had been conveyed as if they would not be using CG, but then, because of the director’s sudden request, they made the dinosaurs in a rush and could not even make them properly.
And they had no choice but to use them, but when she protested and asked why they were using such obviously unfinished dinosaurs, the answer that came back was, “Shut up and do as you are told.”
“That was when I realized it. That director has no interest in CG. He does not even know how to properly make use of this limitless technology. Damn it.”
When Taylor shouted, cursing, James and Sanghyeon, who were next to us, stared over at us as if wondering what on earth was going on.
“I should never have set foot in the world of film in the first place.”
She chewed on her lower lip over and over, then closed her eyes for a moment and repeated taking deep breaths in and out.
“I am sorry. I think I got too emotional.”
“Oh, not at all. Haha…”
Just then, Chester came back to his seat. His expression did not look very good.
“Ugh, it is suddenly hitting me hard. Maybe it is because I drank something I am not used to.”
“Are you feeling really bad?”
At my question, Chester slightly frowned and answered.
“After having a cigarette, my head is ringing. Anyway, did you have a good talk. I feel like I have already heard it all before.”
Taylor glanced at me, hesitated, and did not say anything.
“Yes. I will visit MILM tomorrow. In the East, there is a saying, ‘Baekmuni bureo ilgyeon.’ It means, ‘It is better to see once than to hear a hundred times.’ As that saying goes, I think it would be best to see it once for myself and then make a judgment.”
At my words, Taylor smiled brightly and nodded.
“Yes. That is right. You will never, never be disappointed.”
“Ha ha…”
Before the drinking session was over, Taylor made an excuse and pretended to be going home, but holding her burning stomach, she took a taxi back to the office.
What should I show him to make Gyeong Chanhyeon open his eyes wide.
Taylor kept agonizing over it even in the taxi on the way back to the office.
“Not this… not this either…”
Fragments of <Jurassic Park>.
But because her lingering attachment to it had been too great, even though an unfinished version had ended up in the film, she and her team had completed it to some extent, thinking they would use it in their portfolio later.
“Hmm…”
If they failed to win even this contract, MILM was in a situation where it would have to close down.
That was how important the contract with Gyeong Chanhyeon was to her.
Since there was no script, she had no way of knowing what she should make, but according to Chester, he was a genius among geniuses.
She had never seen Chester praise and acknowledge a director that much.
The man she saw today felt like someone she might really be able to communicate with.
Especially that passion that flared up when he talked about film. She especially liked that passion.
Also, the perfect pre-production that he considered important.
His words that they should finish all the preparations first about where they would put CG in, and what visuals they needed, and only start work after planning it to a level where no revisions would be necessary, sounded obvious in a way, but in reality, things were not like that.
Directors who suddenly claimed they needed something and came in with different orders.
There was no shortage of directors who would suddenly request a complete overhaul by saying it suddenly had to rain in a scene, or who would, out of nowhere, even pick fights over the number of teeth.
Especially the experience of making <Jurassic Park> had been enough to completely, completely put out Taylor’s passion for CG.
“The movie bombed not because of the story. It is because the CG is trash. If you had just prepared properly, there is no way the film would have failed.”
The influence of a director who blamed everything on the CG.
The misunderstanding of thinking that CG is not something you pour effort into like props, but something that is quickly slapped together just by clicking a computer mouse.
That kind of misunderstanding was a deep wound to Taylor.
“Whew…”
Taylor briefly brought up a space background on her computer screen and stared blankly at it.
The Milky Way and the stars shining in the vast universe.
When she stared blankly at those, she felt as if her heart were being healed, so whenever her thoughts were tangled, Taylor would do that.
After Taylor selected the results she would show to Gyeong Chanhyeon, she went into the finishing work in even more detail.
The wrinkles of the dinosaurs, the color of their eyes, the movement of their legs.
When she checked them once more, she noticed that before she knew it, the sun was already high in the sky.
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