A few days later.
Conan was a far stranger person than I had expected.
He said we should do a skit to put into the talk show intro video…… and the content was bizarre.
‘A new hero is supposed to come with a flashy entrance!’
Along with words like that, he told me to give my own opinion too, so I did.
I gave an opinion I thought was absurd, but it seemed Conan liked it more than I expected.
“Director Gyeong! You’re already here! Good!”
Conan was visible in the distance.
His appearance was more terrible than I had expected.
“How is it, Director Gyeong?”
“Uh… you look like a person obsessed with Asia.”
A circlet from a ninja anime, a samurai sword, and even Bruce Lee’s tracksuit.
Seeing him covered head to toe in Orientalism according to the opinion I had given, a laugh of disbelief came out.
“Hehe. Hayaah!”
I had no idea what he was so excited about, but he made a strange laugh, held up the toy samurai sword, and swung it with a weird battle cry.
“At this level, it should be enough to screw with the guys obsessed with Orientalism and Wapaneseism, right? I’ll play the idiot. You play the normal person. Hehe.”
After saying that, he proudly showed me the words stuck to his back.
[Idiot]
“You read the whole script, right? We reflected your opinion, Director Gyeong.”
“Yes. Haha…”
Conan was not afraid of ruining himself.
And he seemed crazy about giving people laughter that was different, not the obvious kind.
“Hayah!”
Maybe he was excited at the thought of being sarcastic.
His twitchy movements looked especially cheerful.
“Now, now, let’s get ready. Director Gyeong. It just needs to be fun. Let’s just make it fun while being sarcastic. Hehe.”
“Ah, yes.”
[JUST FOR FUN.]
As if it was the broadcast production motto of Conan and his team, they looked like they were not in their right minds.
Well, it was an American broadcast atmosphere where if they thought someone deserved to be mocked, they would not spare even the president…….
But from my point of view, it was by no means a bad skit.
No, it was better.
Because rather than something vague that would get buried, even if it was shocking, a broadcast that stood out would help more in making me known.
“Now, we’re going in. Please just do it naturally!”
Once the skit began, Conan approached me as if he had been waiting.
“Hey, hey!”
Maybe Conan had seen it somewhere, because he spoke in a voice that sounded like something you would only hear in Japanese anime.
“Who are you? Why are you on my set?”
“Gyeong Chanhyeon.”
“Asian?”
“Yeah.”
Conan acted like he tilted his head once, then asked again.
“Then why are you not worshipping me?”
“What?”
“Look at me. I am Asia itself! Hiyaat!”
Watching Conan let out a shout while doing a strange dance with a toy samurai sword, I barely held back my laughter.
“I look more Asian than you. You fake bastard!”
“What country are you even trying to represent?”
“Asia is all Asia. Do you distinguish that?”
“Then are all White people from the same country?”
Conan frowned and said,
“No! European White culture and American White culture are so different! You ignorant bastard.”
“Wait a second.”
I stepped off behind the stage for a moment, then hurriedly put on the costume that had been prepared.
A Northern European Viking helmet, a British bagpipe, American cowboy boots, and in one hand, a French baguette.
Maybe Conan found my appearance funny, because I could see the corners of his mouth twitching.
“Damn it! What are you doing right now?”
“An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.”
As I said that and took a bite of the baguette, Conan frowned.
“If you’re wearing cowboy boots, you should be eating a hamburger! Why the hell are you eating a baguette!”
“Ah, this isn’t it?”
“Aaaagh! An Asian bastard dares to mock us! This damn Asian! Aaaagh! No! Don’t insult our great America! Take off those cowboy boots right now!”
Crunch.
Watching the crispy baguette get bitten into, Conan’s expression grew more and more serious.
“Eat a hamburger! Please! Throw away that baguette!”
“Wow, this is really good. It’s just a little disappointing that there’s no garlic.”
“Aaaagh! Aaaagh! No! Please! Our proud American cowboy is being trampled by an Easterner!”
Conan collapsed in front of me and spoke as if begging.
“Please! Stop!”
“If I stop, what will you do for me?”
“My talk show! I’ll let you come on it. I’m a pretty big deal!”
“What?”
“Late Night Show! You know it? They pay pretty well for appearances there! It’s a place that throws money even at a guy like me!”
Following the script, I grabbed Conan by the chin and carefully examined his face.
After barely holding back my laughter at his unusually exaggerated expression, I nodded.
“I’ll specially go on it.”
Finally, Conan collapsed to the floor and showed the insult stuck to his back.
Then he removed that insult, stood up, and shouted,
“Late Night Show! This week’s guest is! The director of the talk of the town, <Space Vagabond>! Director Gyeong Chanhyeon from Korea! Everyone, please give him a big round of applause!”
It was the first comedy skit I had ever done in my life.
While I was bewildered by the atmosphere, which was completely different from a film set, not knowing whether it had gone well, Conan smiled brightly and gave me a thumbs up.
“Whew, you act well. Kheu, good, good.”
“But is it okay for this to air like this? Isn’t this incredibly sensitive?”
“Are you scared?”
Conan asked as if surprised.
“No. I don’t have anything to lose with this broadcast, but… Conan, you have a lot to lose. I was wondering if the broadcast itself might become dangerous…”
“If you think like that, you can’t do anything. If you’re going to do something in America, you have to do it properly. If they’re fans who would leave after seeing this, they probably would have left already. Hehe. Want to monitor it once?”
At the sight of him laughing innocently, I let out a laugh of disbelief.
“That was only the intro starting. The interview is the real thing.”
“Haha…….”
“You’ll do well, Director. I can see it clearly. Whether this person is someone who will do well or not. And Director Gyeong, I can tell just by looking that you’re someone who’ll do well.”
Conan looked at me with an interested expression and continued.
“By any chance, when you take a break from film production later, do you have any thought of becoming a regular panelist on a late night show?”
“No.”
At my short answer, Conan answered as if disappointed.
“You could at least pretend to think about it a little…… I’m hurt.”
“I have to shoot movies. Haha, if you call me when I have my next work, I’ll go on as a guest.”
At my words, Conan held out his hand first and said,
“You promised, right? Hm, I don’t know why, but I like you, Director Gyeong. Hehe.”
A little later.
Conan and Gyeong Chanhyeon headed together to the set where the audience was waiting.
“Then I’ll change clothes and see you. When I call your name, you can come out.”
“Yes!”
Dressed neatly, Conan adjusted his tie once in front of the mirror, then went out to the talk show set.
At the audience’s cheers, he showed a bright smile with even his gums showing, sat down, and opened his mouth.
“Hm. All of you have caught tremendous luck today. You’ve all seen Space Vagabond, right?”
At Conan’s question, the audience let out cheers.
It was a situation where everyone already knew who would come out.
Maybe because of that, the reaction was quite hot.
Most of the audience members were people crazy about <Space Vagabond>.
It was only natural that they were curious about what kind of person the creator of <Space Vagabond> was.
“But unfortunately, you still haven’t seen the person who made it. Let me introduce him to you. From Korea, Gyeong! Chan! Hyeon!”
The band music they had prepared rang out, and Gyeong Chanhyeon came in with a bright smile.
“Now, for most of you, this is probably a face you’re seeing for the first time. Please say hello.”
“Yes. Hello. I’m Gyeong Chanhyeon, the director of Space Vagabond, from the Republic of Korea.”
No sooner had Gyeong Chanhyeon finished speaking than the audience in front shouted.
“It was the movie of my life!”
“Me too! I watched it and had so much fun!”
“Do you happen to have figure gifts or anything? They’re so hard to get these days!”
At the last remark, Conan brought his index finger to his lips and said playfully,
“This isn’t The Oprah Winfrey Show. This is the timid and stingy Conan Show! If you want gifts, go to The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
“Ah, I did bring some just in case…….”
“What? Then give them to me! I want them too!”
At Conan’s words, the audience booed, and Conan moved his eyebrows with a sly expression.
“Come on, I’m too scared to even joke.”
“Would it be okay if I handed them out after filming ends?”
No sooner had Gyeong Chanhyeon finished speaking than cheers came from the front.
As if thanking them, he gave the audience a thumbs up, and then mainly shared the stories he had talked about with Conan during the pre-interview.
And around when those stories started running out.
“Then shall we proceed with Note in the Box now?”
It was a segment where they continued the interview with one question received from the audience.
Conan took out the small box he had placed beside him and showed the audience some playful finger movements.
“Hmm…”
Conan first read the question slip, then nodded and asked Gyeong Chanhyeon,
“What happens with your next work? I think people would really like it if you made a sequel to Space Vagabond.”
At Conan’s words, the audience waited for Gyeong Chanhyeon’s answer with pounding eyes.
“Nothing has been decided yet for my next work. But I don’t think I’ll go into a Space Vagabond sequel.”
At Gyeong Chanhyeon’s words, the audience’s expressions darkened in an instant.
“Isn’t now the perfect opportunity to make a sequel? With Space Vagabond having succeeded, there shouldn’t be a safer choice than making its sequel.”
At Conan’s question, Gyeong Chanhyeon answered with an awkward smile.
“There are so many things I want to do. I don’t want to shoot a similar genre twice in a row. Unless, from the start, I planned it that way.”
Gyeong Chanhyeon rested his chin on his hand as if thinking for a moment, then continued speaking.
“Of course, if I want to expand the world, I can expand it as much as I want. But if I make a rushed decision just for money, I’m afraid the quality of the film will fall that much.”
At Gyeong Chanhyeon’s answer, the corners of Conan’s mouth slowly lifted.
From his attitude toward film alone, he was definitely different from people who would sell even their souls if it made money.
Not blindly making a sequel just to exploit the popularity of the original, but doing what he himself wanted to do.
That confident attitude of his.
Thinking that alone was enough footage for today, Conan grinned.
“Still, it is confirmed that you’ll produce your next work in Hollywood, right?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“The genre isn’t decided, and you’re just saying you’ll hit Hollywood?”
“Yes.”
At Gyeong Chanhyeon’s answer, Conan asked with a playful smile,
“Will people see that as courage?”
“People will probably see it as reckless bravado rather than courage. I know that much, but originally, if you want to change the world quickly, you need a guy with reckless bravado. So I’m thinking of properly showing some reckless bravado myself.”
A witty and clean answer.
Conan raised his thumb under the desk, where only Gyeong Chanhyeon could see and not the audience.
Then, to give his closing comment, he adjusted his seat, looked at the camera, and pretended to look cool.
“This has been Director Gyeong Chanhyeon from the Republic of Korea. Everyone, let’s see how far this director goes with courage, no, reckless bravado. Hm… no. With sheer spirit!”
Leave a Reply