A few weeks passed, and the work on Zetais’s music video was finally completed.
“I’ll be back soon with some good news.”
With those words, Jinhun returned to Korea to prepare for Zetais’s comeback.
I didn’t know how things would turn out, but I felt relieved that one major task was finished.
“So, it’s officially all done now?”
I nodded at Junseong’s question from beside me.
“It’s up to Jinhun now. It’s out of my hands.”
“Then let’s start preparing for the next project. Got anything in mind?”
“There’s plenty I want to do. For now, I’m thinking of a suspenseful thriller.”
“A thriller?”
Junseong tilted his head and asked.
“Why?”
“It’s the best genre to showcase a director’s technical skill.”
It was a genre where the level of suspense delivered to the audience varied wildly depending on the direction.
At the same time, it was the most efficient genre chosen by film directors who wanted to appeal their abilities to production companies.
“Hmm… but there are so many kinds of thrillers. Crime, legal, whatever. Which way are you going?”
“Crime is the most standard.”
At my answer, Junseong continued, looking excited.
“How about a movie with a psycho killer, like No Country for Old Men? American audiences go crazy for that stuff… I think it’d be great. If you mix your directing with that kind of genre…”
“…”
In my original world, No Country for Old Men was a masterpiece directed by the Coen brothers.
However, in this world, that movie had been helmed by a director no one had ever heard of. It was a shallow film where a psychopathic killer named Anton Chigurh simply went around murdering people.
The direction felt like a cheap slasher movie.
My face involuntarily scowled as I recalled that terrible directing, which felt like it was just trying to show off gore.
“Not something like that.”
“I actually thought No Country for Old Men was okay, though.”
“If you’re going to adapt that novel into a movie, you should have made a masterpiece, not a popcorn flick.”
“…?”
Junseong blinked a few times, then shook his head and said,
“Anyway, let me know when you finish the script. Since it’s your Hollywood debut, I’ll make sure to attach some big-name actors. So, who should I bring? Just give me a name. Huh?”
“Hmm, Robert Penn?”
At my unconscious reply, Junseong’s expression instantly froze.
“Robert Penn…?”
“Ah?”
Junseong tilted his head, looking at me as if he couldn’t understand.
“I told you never to use junkies. And drugs aren’t the only problem; the man is famous for being a total disaster. But you want that actor…?”
I thought Junseong would be the first to welcome him with open arms.
In my memory, Robert Penn was one of the first actors who came to mind when thinking of high-salaried stars—an actor who was once my idol.
However, his current state was vastly different from how he was in the 2020s.
“Ah, right…”
“Right? What do you mean ‘right’? Hey, if we use Robert Penn, the insurance premiums will be astronomical. And you and I talked about this before. We agreed not to use junkies. Huh? We said we wouldn’t even talk to the drug addicts the moment we stepped into Hollywood…”
Junseong ranted with a face turning bright red, but his words didn’t reach my ears.
“Yeah.”
“Are you even listening? Huh?”
“Yeah.”
Junseong rolled his eyes anxiously and thrust his face toward mine.
“You didn’t listen, did you?”
“Huh?”
“Ugh, this guy isn’t listening again. Anyway, definitely not Robert Penn. Absolutely not!”
“But don’t you think he might have turned over a new leaf?”
At my words, Junseong slumped into his chair and exhaled a long sigh.
He took a frustrated gulp of water and then spoke.
“You think it’s possible to quit drugs? Like a dog could ever quit eating shit. It’s on a different level than quitting cigarettes.”
There’s a saying that you never truly quit smoking, you just resist it for the rest of your life. And there’s another saying that doing drugs even once ruins your life.
The withdrawal symptoms of drugs were incomparable to those of cigarettes.
I had even heard stories of drug addicts who said they’d rather die.
“You and I have both been off cigarettes for quite a while now, but with drugs, that’s impossible in the first place. That’s why people say there are actors who go into their trailers on set to do drugs. You want to work with guys like that? Isn’t the mere thought of it terrifying?”
Usually, I also firmly believed that ‘you can’t fix people.’
However, Robert Penn was the perfect example of an exception to that rule.
But Junseong, who had no way of knowing this, stared at me with an even deeper scowl.
“I get it, man. Ease up on the face. You look like you’re about to throw a punch.”
“I’m right on the verge of it.”
“Scary guy…”
“Scary? I’m more scared of the insurance premium that would come out if we cast Robert Penn.”
“You’re the one who told me to just give you a name…”
Junseong thudded his fist against his chest and said,
“How was I supposed to know a junkie would come out of your mouth instead of an actor!?”
That night.
Gyeong Chanhyeon wrote the name ‘Robert Penn’ in his notebook and fell into deep thought.
At the same time, he recalled his own terrible past.
“Hmm…”
His name had come to mind instantly at Lee Junseong’s question.
The name Robert Penn was one that made Gyeong Chanhyeon reflect on his past.
His life had been just as wretched, which made him a particularly significant actor to Gyeong Chanhyeon.
—Good lord, are you still trying to stick your head into the movie business?
—Does anyone even hire you?
—Give it up, you idiot. You’re getting older, what are you even doing?
He had spent years wandering around film sets hearing things like that.
Anyway, it was hard to even earn a living just by participating in film work.
Even when he tried to get a chance by flattering directors and starting from the very bottom again, he had the experience of being used like a disposable item and thrown away.
Just when he was about to leave the film industry entirely out of exhaustion…
Robert Penn, who was famous as a wild drug addict, made his comeback.
It started with a minor supporting role that was far below his original status.
Starting from there, he slowly began to walk the path of an actor again.
His appearance after completely quitting alcohol and drugs was, naturally, perfect.
After all, he was an actor who, in his 20s, had played the role of an 80-year-old Charlie Chaplin.
And the following year, a movie was released that caused his market value to skyrocket more than twentyfold.
Iron Guy.
His life entered a new golden age with this film, and seeing his transformation, Gyeong Chanhyeon couldn’t let go of movies, telling himself that he could become like that too.
He was the reason Chanhyeon had struggled so hard to stay in the film industry.
If not for him, he might have let go of movies long ago.
‘Should I at least try to meet him once?’
Rather than casting him for a movie being the primary goal, it was pure curiosity.
Meeting the man who was once his idol.
That thought alone made Gyeong Chanhyeon’s heart begin to race.
The next day.
As soon as Junseong saw me coming into work, he looked at me with suspicious eyes.
“What, you got something to say?”
“Are you still thinking about Robert Penn…”
Ring, ring.
As my phone rang at the perfect time, Junseong’s suspicious gaze became even more intense.
Avoiding that gaze, I put on an awkward smile and carefully answered the phone.
“Ah, yes. Hello?”
–Director Gyeong. I found the Robert Penn you asked for.
“Aha, yes. I see. Where is he? Right now?”
James seemed to sense something suspicious in my voice and spoke quickly with his sharp intuition.
–Robert Penn is currently working at ‘Burger Emperor.’ Shall I go to Burger Emperor as well?
“No. I’ll go right now. Just text me the address. Thank you.”
Click.
“Why is your face brightening up? And why did you hang up so fast?”
“Ah, it was James.”
James was the executive assistant Mr. Chester had assigned to me when I first arrived in LA.
Since I established the production company in Hollywood, he had solved everything for me whenever I needed something, as long as I paid him. I had asked him this morning, and it took him less than two hours to find the man.
“What about James?”
“I think I might be going to a dangerous neighborhood soon. I’m going to go with James.”
“A dangerous neighborhood?”
At Junseong’s question, I replied with a smile.
“I need to get to know American culture. It’s a field trip. To capture the real America in my script, shouldn’t I do at least that much? You can’t succeed if you just scratch the surface in a script. You have to capture the details.”
“Hmm…”
Junseong studied my expression suspiciously and said,
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Your nose isn’t…”
Slam.
I cut Junseong off, opened the door, and walked out while saying,
“I’ll be back! Let’s have a beer later! It’s been a while! I’ll call you!”
I immediately got into the car outside the Seonghyeon KMD Pictures building.
After checking the location of the burger joint that had come in via text, I started the engine right away.
A short while later.
“Welcome to Burger Emperor. How can I help you?”
When I ran into the burger shop, a rather young-looking male employee greeted me in a friendly voice.
“Ah, first, one cheeseburger set. And, I’m looking for someone…”
“Wait a minute. By any chance…?”
The employee looked me up and down as if something was strange.
“Weren’t you on Conan’s Late Night Show before?”
“Ah, yes. That’s right. Haha.”
“Oh, shit. Are you the director of Space Vagabond? Holy crap. Wow. This is awesome. Wow, I’ve seen that more than three times. Wow, crazy. Man, wow shit. I never thought I’d meet the creator of Space Vagabond here today…”
The employee, who was spewing out flamboyant exclamations, followed up with a series of curious questions.
What was the fuel for the spaceship in Space Vagabond? What was Ryu’s nationality?
Just as the employee opened his mouth to ask another question after I had answered all sorts of detailed ones…
“I’m sorry, but I’m in a bit of a hurry right now…”
“Ah, sorry. Who did you say you were looking for?”
“Robert Penn.”
The employee stared at me blankly and said,
“Uh… he’s the boss?”
“What?”
“The boss’s name is Robert Penn.”
While I was blinking for a moment, the employee took a cheeseburger from behind him and handed it to me.
“Not many people eat this lately. You have similar tastes to the boss. Most people eat Whoppers at Burger Emperor these days… I was wondering who would eat a cheeseburger…”
The employee said, looking at the small cheeseburger he was handing me as if it were strange.
“Ah, by any chance.”
“Yes?”
“Could I know where the boss is right now? I’m personally a fan…”
“A fan? Penn still has fans left…? Pfft. Huh?”
The employee suddenly asked with sparkling eyes.
“Are you, by any chance, doing a movie or something with Mr. Penn…?”
“No. It’s nothing like that. It’s just that I’m really a fan personally.”
“Right? Haha. There’s no way.”
The employee nodded repeatedly and spoke to me as I was about to turn back after receiving the cheeseburger.
“The boss opens the shop every morning. He makes sure to personally make and eat one cheeseburger every morning.”
Good news.
A smile naturally spread across my lips at the news that I would meet Robert Penn in person.
T/N: Iron Guy, hah. xD
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