Ring, ring.
“…….”
Ring, ring.
“Ugh…….”
At the phone that kept ringing, I opened my eyes and checked the time.
4 a.m.
There was only one lunatic who would call at an hour like this.
What trivial reason was he calling for this time again?
With not the slightest anticipation, I flailed an arm around and picked up my phone.
“Lee Junseong, you crazy bastard. It’s 4 a.m. here right now.”
“I’m calling to tell you something really important, you punk!”
“What now? This time, did you go to some amazing mac and cheese place or something?”
“I went there yesterday, though?”
“You lunatic… I’m hanging up.”
At my voice, Junseong shouted, sounding flustered.
“No, that’s not it. Wait, don’t hang up!”
“Get to the point first. I’m going back to sleep.”
“Do you want to go on a major American talk show as a guest?”
“Hey. I said it’s 4 a.m.! You think I’m in the mood for jokes? What, unless Oprah Winfrey herself called?”
“Not her.”
Junseong’s deliberately serious voice.
I couldn’t tell whether he wasn’t joking, or whether even this was also a joke.
“Then who is it?”
“Hmm. You might not know him. Do you know Conan?”
“What…?”
At Junseong’s words coming through the phone, sleep left me all at once.
Conan Brian.
Before I came here, he had been a pretty funny MC and comedian I had watched on YouTube.
There were especially countless stories where I had found his personality itself funny.
Like how he came to Korea because he got hooked by a box of snacks a Korean fan had sent him, or how while he was in Korea he appeared in a Korean singer’s music video with a Korean American actor.
Unfathomable. At the very least, he was not an ordinary person.
But what left the deepest impression on me was this.
The way he turned getting chased out of the show he hosted into a new opportunity for himself.
But that thing I knew had not happened yet here.
“It’s the late night show. The host there…”
“Yeah. I know who he is.”
“Huh? You do? What, you don’t really watch TV shows like that.”
“I studied English with it.”
“Hmm. Then you roughly know the kind of atmosphere it has. That’s actually better. What do you think?”
A call at 4 a.m. asking whether I wanted to go on a talk show.
I had already been planning to go to America soon anyway.
Since I’d be going there anyway, going on the talk show too and making my face known might not be a bad idea.
“Hmm.”
When I stayed silent for a moment, Junseong spoke first.
“Getting invited onto Conan’s talk show means you’ve been recognized as someone with some level of buzz, right? Let’s use that buzz to give your name some serious weight.”
As if he had read my thoughts, my brow naturally furrowed at Junseong’s words.
If it was Conan’s late night show…
Anyway, it was true that in American society there was still racism, whether quietly or openly.
But the discrimination against an unknown Asian and the discrimination against a known Asian would be a little different.
In that sense, it would be good to make use of this chance as preparation for the discrimination I would face going into Hollywood later.
Now that I had made my name known with <Space Vagabond>, if I appeared on TV and made my face known too, it would be even more effective.
“Yeah. Let’s do it.”
At my words, Junseong shouted brightly.
“Good. Let’s go for it! But…”
“What now.”
Junseong trailed off.
“You’re basically not a funny person…… hmm…… that’s a bit disappointing. Won’t you ruin the mood for no reason?”
“I’m funnier than you.”
“Come on, Mr. Gyeong Chanhyeon. Have some conscience. Go study some humor. Anyway, I’ll contact them! I’ve got something to do, so I’m hanging up!”
Click.
After hanging up, I stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment.
Letting people know me was good, but looked at another way, what gets known this time would define my image.
The public images of star directors.
Each famous film director gave off a distinct kind of atmosphere.
Quentin Tarantino was a cheerful troublemaker. Steven Spielberg was a friendly neighborhood ajusshi. James Cameron was a stubborn perfectionist.
Those sorts of images each director had would surely affect the actors they wanted to cast too.
Then depending on what image I set on this talk show…… my path going forward might change too.
“Hmm.”
Because it was a place to let people know me in preparation for the future, thoughts about what kind of image would be best started tearing through my head.
As a director in Korea, I had several images.
‘A director you can trust and watch,’ ‘a director who revives actors’ careers,’ ‘a kind director,’ ‘a director who overturned the film industry.’
Most of them had been decorated only with good words.
‘Do I need to go in with a concept…?’
Like how Junseong had set up a concept for Junsik hyung when he first went on a talk show.
I briefly wondered whether I needed to make my own concept that way too.
But I was sleepier than before, so before I could think for long, I quickly drifted back to sleep.
A few days later.
I packed my things and left for America as well.
It would not be long before Seonghyeon KMD Pictures was established, and while I was at it, I also had to do the pre-interview for the talk show I had agreed to appear on.
My second time at LA airport was not as exciting as the first time, but there was still some excitement left.
But the thought that if I started coming and going here like it was nothing, even that feeling would dull, made me feel a little regret too.
“Hey! Gyeong Chanhyeon!”
A shout I heard the moment I came into the arrivals hall after finishing immigration procedures.
I turned at the familiar voice, and as expected, Junseong was there.
“Did you come alone?”
“Of course, punk. I’m totally American now, you know? I do just fine on my own too!”
Junseong laughed loudly, showing even his gums, looking absurdly proud of himself.
“Well, well? Say that after you get the red pepper flakes out of your teeth.”
“Huh?”
Junseong pulled out his phone and checked his teeth in selfie mode.
“There’s nothing there.”
“Just kidding~.”
“You crazy bastard? I had cereal, eggs, and bacon this morning, you know?”
“Then I guess I’ll eat the kimchi my mom packed from Korea by myself. And the marinated bulgogi she made for you to eat too…”
At my words, I could see Junseong’s Adam’s apple jump.
“W-wait a second. Wow, your mom’s bulgogi is…”
“What kind of American eats bulgogi? Just go eat ribs or something.”
“Hy-hyungnim… please let me off just this once…”
Junseong’s whole American concept collapsed instantly in front of bulgogi, and he picked up my suitcase. Then when we got into the car, familiar idol music was playing.
“That’s Jetaise music?”
“Oh, how did you know?”
Junseong flinched and stared at me.
“Are you stupid? One of this group’s songs is the ending credits song for Space Vagabond. Do you know how much I listened to it while editing?”
“Ah, right.”
“You have to listen to music released by GO.”
“Oh… so you’re finally not listening to sweaty music all the time?”
“That’s still my main thing.”
“Ugh.”
Junseong recoiled and shook his head. Then he started humming along to Jetaise’s music as he drove.
“They really picked a good song. At this point, maybe like you said, they really could aim for the world stage? Their reaction in Asia is definitely good, though.”
“I hope so.”
I couldn’t be sure. It was a future I knew absolutely nothing about.
But the individual members of the six member boy idol group Jetaise were all filled with faces I had seen a lot somewhere before.
The one who especially stood out was the leader, An Siho.
A kid who had originally aimed to become an actor, but chose the path of being an idol first in order to succeed earlier.
I remembered that he acted quite a bit too and worked with famous directors, but even so, never let go of being an idol either.
“What is it, why are you suddenly not confident this time?”
“Huh?”
“You’re way too different from normal.”
“I’d need to know something about that side of things…”
Junseong said with a pleased smile,
“Let’s trust Jinhun and Jetaise.”
“Yeah. Jinhun can pull it off.”
A little later.
Since we were meeting after a long time, we kept talking nonsense, and before we knew it, we had arrived at the hotel.
The hotel looked far better than the one Chester had paid for before.
From the exterior walls decorated with geometric sculpture-like shapes to the enormous fountain.
It was the kind of visual that made your mouth fall open on its own.
“You’ve been staying here this whole time…?”
“Of course, punk. We’ve got this level of ability now, don’t we? And we’re the heads of ‘Seonghyeon KMD Pictures.’ Now we’ve got to keep up our style too. We can’t let ourselves get looked down on.”
Junseong said that with a bright smile.
“That’s true… we can’t get looked down on.”
It was similar to what I had been worrying about a few days ago.
Depending on how I took my first steps into Hollywood, my standing could change in ways I couldn’t predict.
Actors, staff, investors.
I needed to define their position and my position precisely, and the thing that would influence that most would be my first impression.
“Go look inside your room. Your mouth won’t close. Get out first.”
When Lee Junseong got out of the car, bellboys came as if they had been waiting and took Gyeong Chanhyeon’s suitcase.
“What is this? They came like they were waiting for us.”
“This is the joy of wealth. Hehe.”
Grinning from ear to ear, Junseong confidently headed for hotel check-in, and the people at the counter bowed politely the moment he walked in.
“Did you buy this hotel or something……?”
“Are you crazy? I’m a VVIP member. That’s why.”
Junseong bought people with the logic of money. But in the film world, that would not be easy.
You could crush the staff with money, sure, but top level actors would not be so easy.
What kind of image should I go with…
If I got saddled with actors who had filthy personalities… I really didn’t want to suffer through that.
It was a place overflowing with actors who had ability, but rotten personalities.
“What? Why are you suddenly making such a serious face? In this land of freedom, worries like that are a luxury too, punk. Just enjoy it first.”
At Junseong’s words, a laugh slipped out.
“Hey.”
“Hm?”
Junseong looked at me and asked.
“How should I act if I want to really play the director right? I can’t let them see me as easy. But the talk show will be my first impression.”
“Wow, I never thought I’d hear you worry about something like that.”
Junseong snorted, looking surprised.
“Expensive stars are all insanely proud, right? Some of them might even be little delinquents. This is the first image those kinds of people will see. I can’t look ‘easy’. Like you said, do I need to keep up my style a bit too?”
At my words, Junseong laughed loudly and answered.
“Wow. Gyeong Chanhyeon is finally worrying about something!”
“I’m asking this after giving it serious thought, in my own way.”
“Hey. Just go as yourself, punk. What, are you going to start acting like a little delinquent too? If it were twenty-year-old you, maybe. But not now. You’ve become completely soft.”
Twenty-year-old Gyeong Chanhyeon…
While I briefly thought about what I had been like then, Junseong went on.
“But if you think about it, now is way better. Just remembering those venom-filled eyes you had back then gives me chills, even though it was more than ten years ago. See this?”
Junseong showed me his arm and made a big fuss. Then, after thinking for a moment, he continued.
“But come to think of it, you were kind of scary then. Do you remember always walking around with your earphones in and frowning? I thought, what is this, listening to music from before we were even born, what a weird guy.”
“…”
It was a slightly embarrassing past.
Why had I been like that then, and why had I been so dissatisfied with the world?
Now that I thought about it, it was a past that only became endlessly embarrassing.
“Do you want to go back to that time? Feels like now would be a lot better.”
At Junseong’s question, I thought for a moment, then shook my head.
“No. I’d have to go through the military again.”
“Heh, I’d go back if I could. Once you’re over thirty, your body feels a little chilly. Fresh, green twenty years old. Kheu.”
“Fresh, green, my ass. All I remember is whining because I didn’t want to work part time.”
“Do not belittle another man’s romance!”
Junseong shouted and playfully tapped my arm with his fist.
“Anyway, don’t go talking weird nonsense. Just go as yourself. Getting swallowed up by some weird concept and ending up with a weird image would be an even bigger problem. I like you exactly as you are now. Got it? Sleep hard, okay? I’ll see you later.”
Once Junseong closed the door and left, I roughly took off my clothes and threw myself straight onto the bed.
The moment I buried my face in the soft bed, all the worries I had just been having disappeared in an instant.
“Khh…… this is nice.”
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