“Why, what is it?”
At Gyeong Chanhyeon’s question, Lee Junseong swallowed hard.
“He’s not an ordinary person.”
Lee Junseong, who had even dug up old newspapers on the internet, could only be amazed.
[The Second André Kostolany. Chester Bacon suddenly retires. Hands over presidency.]
Looking at the young Chester in 1980, Lee Junseong frowned and read the article.
“Wow…”
He was even more unbelievable than Junseong had imagined.
A man who retired in 1980 and disappeared for over five years.
And the first thing he said when he reappeared in the world after that disappearance was about film.
[From now on, I plan to devote myself to the film world.]
Starting with words like that, there was a picture of Chester, who looked as if he had suddenly aged over those five years, giving an interview with a gloomy expression.
But seeing that afterward he rose all the way to the position of Cannes Film Festival jury president through criticism and various activities in the film world, he was definitely a remarkable man when it came to ability.
“I said, what is it?”
Gyeong Chanhyeon came up beside Lee Junseong, leaned his head in, and looked at the interview on the monitor with him.
“Chester. He wasn’t an ordinary person. Ha, no. Why didn’t I even think to look this up? Ha, but if he was the Cannes Film Festival jury president… of course I’d just assume he’d been in film for a long time.”
If it was 1980, then he was someone who had been working in the film world for at least twenty-five years.
Thinking about it, twenty-five years was not a short time either.
The guy frowning right in front of him had only had a proper foot in the film world for about five years.
“So he isn’t just a simple film critic? Ah, but that man looked insanely rich too. Thinking about that generosity when I went to Hollywood before…”
Gyeong Chanhyeon seemed to briefly recall the hotel where he had stayed while he was in America.
The hotel had been far too much to describe as merely having good facilities, and there had even been the high-end bodyguard James.
Gyeong Chanhyeon could not even begin to guess how much Chester had spent while he was staying in America.
“He’s not an ordinary man. Just what happened to him?”
What made him suddenly retire after making a huge fortune and then turn his attention toward the film world.
Even in interviews, he did not answer that question.
It described how, the moment that question came up, Chester simply shut his mouth as if it were a private matter.
When Lee Junseong explained all that to Gyeong Chanhyeon, he did not look very surprised, only shrugging once as he spoke.
“Aren’t you not an ordinary person too?”
“What?”
“What’s the difference between him and you throwing away your family’s money and going through all sorts of hell just to do film?”
“Hm…”
At Gyeong Chanhyeon’s reaction, Lee Junseong let out a laugh as if dumbfounded.
Maybe because he had no sense for money, he just did not realize how great Chester’s past really was…
But for someone with no sense for money, he really had been making an awful lot of it.
Was it some kind of feeling where he just ran toward his dream and the money rolled in on its own?
Thinking he was like the lead of some cheap youth movie, Lee Junseong let out a snort of laughter.
“When I go to America soon, I guess I should bow deeply to Chester. He set up the best possible foothold for building a production company in America.”
The director and producer of the first Korean film to open in Los Angeles.
Even if the film failed, just gaining this level of name value would already be a pretty good outcome, and that thought made Lee Junseong grin.
“Why are you smiling like a pervert again?”
“Pervert? Where is there someone as wholesome as me?”
“Wholesome, my ass. If you’re wholesome, then most people in the world are scholars.”
At Gyeong Chanhyeon’s nonsense, Lee Junseong frowned and said,
“Shut it. Hm, now let’s just pray the numbers come out well. Then things will get easier in every way.”
A few weeks later.
<Space Vagabond> Los Angeles official opening, D minus 1.
Meeting room of the distribution department at Everest Pictures.
Olivia Stone let out a scoffing laugh at the news of <Space Vagabond>’s release.
“Hah, I’m telling you, they’re idiots.”
At Olivia’s words, one of the Everest staff sitting in front of her said,
“That’s right. I really can’t understand whether they even properly looked at the competition.”
<Space Vagabond>’s competing film was <Brilliant> from Walt, one of the five major production-distribution companies.
Total production budget: 40 million dollars. But <Space Vagabond>, converted simply, was 25 million dollars.
At the incomparable difference in numbers, Olivia let out a snort and answered.
<Brilliant> would open across all of America immediately and sweep in audiences, and since the distributor was Walt, it was obvious it would crush <Space Vagabond> with enormous marketing.
“But… the evaluations for <Space Vagabond> are pretty good… and word of mouth really is spreading quite fast…”
“So what are you trying to say?”
At Olivia’s one cold sentence, the staff member shut his mouth.
“Do you think a TIC distributed film can beat Walt’s new release with something like word of mouth?”
At Olivia’s follow-up question, the staff member who had gone silent forced himself to continue.
“That’s not it, but there are also rumors they’re preparing to build a production company in Hollywood…”
“Say something that actually makes sense. Nonsense is only worth hearing when it’s at least a little believable.”
Olivia frowned as if the whole thing were ridiculous.
Did Hollywood really look that easy?
They really seemed not to understand how absurd it was for people who had not yet even properly succeeded in the global market to think about coming into Hollywood.
Even if they somehow got in, would they be able to make even one proper film? Would they even be able to get proper actors?
But if by some chance they really did enter Hollywood, the image of those Asians floundering on a sinking ship made Olivia laugh under her breath.
“Korea? How great could a film from that barren place really be? We’re talking 250,000 dollars. The lead actor fee for Brilliant alone is more than 250,000 dollars. Huh? And a production company like that thinks it’s coming into Hollywood? Seriously. If they were bringing in just the director separately, maybe.”
“Haha… right… but there are also stories that KMD is fully backing them…”
“No matter how much money they have, it only goes so far. This is Hollywood, I’m telling you. There are mountains of things here that can’t be solved with money alone.”
Hollywood is not a place that runs simply on money.
Politics, connections, scandals, and more.
It was overflowing with every kind of filthy business.
There were endless things that would turn Hollywood upside down if they were ever exposed to the public, even though they were all kept hushed up.
In a place like this, there were only a few things that money alone could solve.
“Do you still have more to say? Try thinking for once. The film they’re releasing has to succeed first before they can even think about coming into Hollywood, right? But do you think that’s actually going to succeed?”
Olivia seemed irritated by the staff member’s clingy words and pointed at her forehead as she spoke.
“Do you really think Asians and space go together? The very subject matter of the film doesn’t suit Asians. Japanese samurai, Chinese martial arts worlds. Space is so far removed even from those Eastern stereotypes. And you think a subject like that is going to succeed in America? Do you really think that?”
A few Asians in the meeting room frowned, but Olivia continued brazenly as if reactions like that did not matter in the least.
“And it’s Korea, on top of that. It’s not even a country properly known in America. The most famous thing from there is probably kimchi. And because they made a movie there, are we supposed to get nervous?”
“But there are also reports that people are going to Koreatown now regardless of whether they’re White, Black, or Hispanic…”
“They succeeded in that narrow area, that’s all. Don’t overinterpret it. Since it’s around Koreatown, of course it’s going to be popular there. Seriously, I can’t believe I’m working with people who can’t even see something this simple…”
Olivia made a show of lamenting and swept her gaze over the staff, all frozen stiff.
A few employees who looked impressed, and a few Asians who were frowning.
Enjoying their reactions, she fired one more shot at them.
“That’s enough. Tsk. Too many pointless words. We’re ending it here today, so everyone get out and go home.”
At Olivia’s words, all the employees got up and left the meeting room. Olivia roughly finished up the remaining paperwork and was about to pack up and head home.
Then the phone rang.
Ring ring.
At the call from her husband, Olivia paused in packing her things and picked up the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hey, honey. Did you get off work?”
“I’m about to head home. Why?”
“You know tomorrow’s Alex’s birthday, right? I forgot I said I’d buy a toy on the way back. Could you buy one for me?”
“Okay. I’ll stop by the toy store and get whatever the hottest thing is these days.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
After leaving Everest Pictures, Olivia got into her car and headed straight to the toy store.
The toy store was far more crowded than she expected, so Olivia checked her calendar on her phone, wondering if today was some kind of special day.
It was not Black Friday, and it definitely was not Christmas.
Nor was there any big sale event, so she could not figure out why it would be this crowded. After getting out of the car, she carefully watched what people were carrying away.
“This is insane…”
A curse came out of her on its own.
The moment she saw what they had in their hands, Olivia’s heart started pounding hard.
[Space Vagabond]
At those words written large across the toy packaging, Olivia rubbed her eyes, thinking she must have seen wrong, and looked again.
But the result was exactly the same.
“Dad! We totally got lucky! Right? If we’d been any later, we almost wouldn’t have been able to buy it!”
At the passing child’s words, the man who looked like the child’s father smiled brightly too.
“I bought one for me too~.”
“Dad, yours is Nix Road. I’m Ryu! Ryu! Ryu is insanely cool!”
“But Dad thinks Nix Road is cooler.”
At his father’s words, the child replied almost in tears.
“He’s a bad alien!”
“He’s bad, but still cool.”
“I hate you, Dad!”
“Huh?”
A conversation between father and son. But what mattered was that their skin was white.
This store was not filled only with Asians right now.
Just as the Everest employee had reported earlier, all kinds of races were filling the toy store.
“What in the world is this…”
Olivia went into the toy store, and even inside there were still people standing in line.
The sight of people looking deeply disappointed because they could not buy <Space Vagabond> related products.
Feeling as if the world itself were deceiving her, Olivia looked around blankly, flustered.
Then she grabbed someone who looked like a store clerk and asked,
“What’s the best-selling toy here right now?”
“The Space Vagabond products are selling the best, ma’am. But right now they’re almost all sold out… I think it’s going to end with just the people who are already in line now. We’ll get more stock next week, so we’d appreciate it if you came back then.”
It had not even opened yet. So why?
Was it really word of mouth? Olivia could not even begin to grasp what in the world was happening.
T/N: André Kostolany was a legendary speculator and market thinker, celebrated for his deep understanding of investor behaviour and the psychology that drives financial markets.
“A man can choose different ways to get rid of his fortune: the fastest is the casino, the most pleasurable is with beautiful women and the most stupid is at the stock exchange.” – André Kostolany
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