The next day.
Early in the morning, Chester came to the hotel to see Gyeong Chanhyeon.
In front of the hotel, Lee Junseong was standing together with Gyeong Chanhyeon, who was dressed neatly.
“Chester. Haha. It’s been a while. There’s a whole truckload of things I need to thank you for.”
“No need. This much is easy. Thanks to the hint you gave me, things worked out even more easily.”
At Chester’s words, Gyeong Chanhyeon tilted his head and only blinked.
“The hint I gave you…?”
“Forget it.”
Was he pretending to forget that he had given the hint to release <Space Vagabond> first in a theater around Koreatown?
Chester laughed playfully, then asked Gyeong Chanhyeon,
“So, I hear you’re going on a late night show?”
“Ah, yes. Haha. I think I’ll be doing the pre interview tomorrow.”
A late night show.
There was no better program for throwing down a challenge in Hollywood.
Conan, who the younger generation went crazy for.
Especially since Gyeong Chanhyeon’s film <Space Vagabond> was currently causing a huge syndrome among young people, Chester could be certain it would produce a good result.
“Good. That’s good news. Conan is a good enough host. He’ll handle it well on his own. Hehe. Just go and be funny, and stay relaxed.”
“Should I tell you what this guy said yesterday? Chester, you’ll burst out laughing too.”
At Lee Junseong’s words from beside him, Chester asked curiously,
“What did he say?”
“He said shouldn’t he decide on some kind of concept. Seriously. Haha, it was so ridiculous.”
“Oh?”
His first appearance in Hollywood needed to have a strong impact.
Gyeong Chanhyeon was Asian. And not even Chinese or Japanese, but from Korea.
Unfortunately, in America, there were still idiots overflowing who did not even know where Korea was.
So if he could leave a strong impression that would plant the name Gyeong Chanhyeon into people’s heads at once?
His ticket power as a director might rise too.
If he acted clumsy like usual, he might instead look easy to dismiss.
Then they might simply treat <Space Vagabond> as a product of coincidence.
A one hit wonder film director.
Gyeong Chanhyeon was far too much of a talent to be remembered in that sort of way.
“Hm…….”
Chester looked closely at Gyeong Chanhyeon’s face once.
He had fairly sharp eyes and a firm jawline. When he had a vacant expression, he looked close to a foolish bear, but when he brought up something interesting, he seemed to become a completely different person.
Especially when he talked about his own future, his eyes had a feeling almost like a mad scientist seized by madness.
“It might actually be all right.”
“Yes?”
Lee Junseong, beside him, frowned and asked Chester,
“You’re saying it’d be all right for him to do a concept act…?”
“Look at Director Gyeong’s face. The expression he has now is weird, but if he puts on a fairly serious face, doesn’t he have quite a bit of charm?”
“Charm…?”
Lee Junseong frowned and pointed at Gyeong Chanhyeon’s face.
“You’re saying this is a charming face? Come on.”
“Isn’t it? Seems like a face Westerners would like quite a bit.”
“Hey, I’m pretty decent! It’s not a face that completely doesn’t work in the East either!”
At Gyeong Chanhyeon’s words, Lee Junseong snorted and answered.
“Decent, my ass. The moment you frown, you’re just a back alley thug, punk.”
“Come on, back alley thug is going too far.”
“I’m saying even this much weakly because of the friend premium.”
At the sound of Lee Junseong and Gyeong Chanhyeon bickering, Chester snorted as if dumbfounded.
“Hm…”
Chester fell into thought for a moment, bringing back his memories of watching late night shows.
But it did not take very long for the answer to that thought to come.
“There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Yes?”
Gyeong Chanhyeon and Lee Junseong, who had been bickering, both looked at Chester at the same time.
“Conan Brian. That man is a pervert.”
“Huh? If he’s a pervert, isn’t that even more dangerous?”
At Lee Junseong’s question, Chester let out a snort of laughter.
Rather, if it was someone with Conan’s level of wit, he would find pleasure in breaking Asian stereotypes.
Conan was famous as a pervert-like host who took pleasure in breaking stereotypes like that, and the younger generation went even crazier for that thrill.
“That’s right. I think so too.”
At Chester’s words, Gyeong Chanhyeon nodded and answered.
But Lee Junseong looked back and forth between Gyeong Chanhyeon and Chester, as if he could not understand.
“Did the two of you do telepathy without me?”
When Lee Junseong spoke in a sulky tone, Chester guffawed and answered,
“For now, meet Conan tomorrow and have a good talk. Hehe. He’ll give you an image that fits you perfectly.”
The next day.
NBC meeting room.
Conan looked at Gyeong Chanhyeon coming into the meeting room, smiled softly, and held out his hand first.
“Nice to meet you. Ha, this is an honor.”
“It’s nice to meet you too. Haha.”
As he shook hands, Conan quickly looked Gyeong Chanhyeon over to figure out what kind of person he was.
A pretty tall height. Perhaps because he worked out hard, his build looked quite firm too.
To first open up the heart of someone he was meeting for the first time, Conan offered a compliment first.
“You must work out hard? There aren’t many film directors with good bodies.”
A fresh visual completely different from the film directors he had seen until now.
He did not look old fashioned, and seemed fairly relaxed too, so Conan started to feel interested.
“I’m trying to keep doing this for a long, long time. I felt my physical limits a bit on Space Vagabond.”
“To shoot a movie like that, I guess stamina must matter quite a lot too?”
“Films are really a fight of stamina and money. Those have to come first before skill can come out.”
Conan stared at Gyeong Chanhyeon’s face for a moment.
A face with fairly strong lines. Rather than the modesty particular to Asians, his eyes showed high self esteem.
“That’s interesting. Then that means the skill to match was already supporting you, right?”
“Yes. Haha. Isn’t that why you invited me, Conan? This is a TV show only stars come on.”
“Haha! Wow, someone not easy has come!”
As if he had caught a windfall, Conan lightly tapped the desk and smiled brightly.
“Have you ever watched the late night show somewhere before?”
“Um…yes. I’ve watched it every now and then.”
Conan asked Gyeong Chanhyeon as if surprised.
“Oh, does the late night show air in Korea too? Wow, I’m a star in Korea, aren’t I!?”
“Uh… it’s just that I’m personally a bit of a fan of yours, Conan. Haha, I looked you up separately on the internet.”
At Gyeong Chanhyeon’s words, Conan’s eyes widened. Then he shouted to someone standing far off to the side with a stern face.
“Hey! Jordan! Did you hear that? The director of Space Vagabond says he’s my fan! Wow! What an honor! Wow, could you say that just one more time? Recorder! Bring me a recorder!”
When Conan made a fuss with a bright smile showing even his gums, Gyeong Chanhyeon shook as if it was hard to hold back his laughter.
“Hehe. Just one more time.”
Conan pushed the recorder right in front of Gyeong Chanhyeon’s mouth.
“I, Gyeong Chanhyeon, am a fan of Conan.”
Then he brought it to his own mouth and added,
“I, Conan, am also a fan of Gyeong Chanhyeon!”
Conan added his unique cheerful gestures and breathed life into the atmosphere.
“All right, all right, then shall we start working now? Since it looks like you know the show to some extent, this will be a little easier. Haha. There were some bastards who came before who acted proud of the fact that they’d never watched the show even once.”
Tom Gilbert from just last week had been exactly like that.
Handling actors and stars who lived off how great they thought they were was fairly difficult even for veteran Conan.
Unlike them, thanks to Gyeong Chanhyeon being cooperative, Conan conducted the pre interview comfortably, wearing a bright smile.
As the interview went on, Gyeong Chanhyeon began unpacking more stories than expected.
The stories he heard from Gyeong Chanhyeon seemed like they could come out as fairly funny stories if they were adapted.
Putting his graduation work in his father’s theater, photo cards, figures.
The stories he had gone through until filming <Space Vagabond> were quite charming.
“You’re unique. Haha. Truly unique. You were so thorough that I’d believe it even if you said you moved while knowing everything.”
“Ah, no. It was an appropriate combination of coincidence and inevitability. Haha.”
“Was CG Director Taylor coincidence and Andrew Shakil inevitability?”
“Well, you could see it that way.”
Hearing these stories, Conan saw a new side of Gyeong Chanhyeon.
It was difficult to judge whether what filled his eyes was certainty, madness, or something else.
But rather, that was an even greater charm.
“Good. This episode might seriously come out as one of the best ever.”
Thinking he had grabbed a huge catch, Conan smiled on his own.
“Could I also ask about the production company? There are so many rumors going around.”
“Ah, yes. My colleague is working hard on that right now. I’m thinking of making my next work in Hollywood.”
At Gyeong Chanhyeon’s words, Conan raised his eyes wide and lightly tapped the desk.
“Then the rumor is true?”
“Yes.”
“What was the reason you made that decision?”
“To aim for a bigger market. And as you saw with Space Vagabond, what I make will work globally too.”
Conan asked again with a pleased smile.
“You’re saying you’ll personally prove in America that Space Vagabond wasnot a product of coincidence?”
“Yes.”
A short, heavy, textbook answer.
Conan looked at Gyeong Chanhyeon as if intrigued.
“With a man who has ambitions like this, I think we can pull out a completely new character on our show.”
Conan smiled with satisfaction, then wore an expression like he was wondering whether to say something in case it might be rude.
“You know the Asian stereotypes used in America, right?”
“Yes. What represents Asia is… Japanese obsessed with things like ninjas and samurai. And kung fu and karate. On the other hand, if it’s that Koreans are greedy for money and like math, that kind of thing… I know it well. I’ve watched plenty of Hollywood movies too.”
At Gyeong Chanhyeon’s answer, Conan nodded and said,
“As expected, you know it well. It’s very tiresome and obvious. But what’s even more ridiculous is that they do it without even knowing properly. The most disgusting ones are the bastards who can’t even distinguish Korean, Chinese, and Japanese cultures, lump them all together, and act knowledgeable.”
Bruce Lee’s kung fu. <The Karate Kid>.
How ignorant it was to call those simply Asian culture without considering each country.
Conan deeply agreed with Gyeong Chanhyeon’s words and nodded.
“Life gets its fun from the unpredictable. Standardized obvious characters and obvious jokes. There’s nothing that makes life more boring than that.”
As Gyeong Chanhyeon said, Asian stereotypes were dreadful in Conan’s eyes.
Why in the world were they still using stories that had worked twenty years ago?
But seeing Gyeong Chanhyeon, the best opportunity to mock these stereotypes came to mind.
“I see enormous potential in you.”
“Yes?”
Gyeong Chanhyeon opened his eyes wide and asked as if flustered.
“Shall we take a jab at those stupid Americans together?”
“…?”
Gyeong Chanhyeon stared at Conan with an expression that said, ‘What kind of nonsense is this?’
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