As Duke left the screening venue, he hurriedly placed a call to a film director.
“Hello? Director Spear?”
—Yes. Mr. Duke. It’s been a while.
Spear Williams.
A director famous for films regarding racial discrimination against Black people, and a rising star within the Black community.
—I hope you’ve been well?
“Of course. But… something rather unsettling happened today.”
—What?
“Ha, well…”
Duke trailed off, pretending to hesitate.
At that, Spear asked in a worried tone.
—Did something happen?
“I just came from a screening of a film by an Asian director. Hmm… but it seems like a work that could make all the efforts you and I have put in go down the drain.”
—What?
“Contempt for Black people. He’s planted a terrible image of Black people in the film.”
The villain of Detective Graser.
The fact that the serial killer eventually apprehended by Robert Penn was Black.
The most important thing in incitement is provocative information.
At the mention that Black people had been insulted, Spear’s voice filled with hostility.
—What? Is that true?
“Yes. Ha… it seems some fellow has entered Hollywood who is intent on causing chaos. We were finally becoming one, thanks to people like you, Director Spear…”
—Was it someone named Gyeong Chanhyeon? That bastard.
“Yes…”
—Phew… thank you for letting me know, Mr. Duke.
“Not at all. I was simply doing what I had to do.”
Click.
As soon as he hung up, Duke smirked and tossed his phone onto the passenger seat.
And as for Gyeong Chanhyeon’s new work, he began to move swiftly toward another plan to crush it completely.
The next day.
“W-what is that…?”
A massive crowd had gathered in front of Seonghyeon KMD Pictures.
To be precise, a crowd of Black people.
They were frantically waving photos of me with red X’s drawn across them.
[Racist Gyeong Chanhyeon, get out of Hollywood!]
[Money-grubbing Korean! Get out!]
[If you don’t want to see us in 15 years, burn Detective Graser yourself!]
[Racist from the land of dog meat!]
“Damn, that was fast. I didn’t think they’d move this quickly…”
At my words, Junseong blinked and asked.
“Did you know this would happen?”
“I knew something would happen… I just didn’t know it would be through such a filthy and childish method.”
Their logic was this: because the villain in Detective Graser was Black, they concluded that Detective Graser was a work steeped in racial discrimination against Black people.
“It hasn’t even been released yet… How could this happen?”
“Emil Duke. That piece of shit.”
The reason I was certain it was Emil Duke.
He was famous for instigating conflict from the shadows.
Though it hadn’t been revealed yet, Emil Duke had a history of doing things like this several times before.
‘Especially when you add the way he acted at the screening… there’s no one else but that bastard who would trigger this right now.’
Imagining him laughing in the background while inciting conflict between Black and Asian people made my blood boil.
This time, there wasn’t even a specific gain to be had; it was simply a plot to crush us.
Junseong frowned at my words and asked.
“Emil Duke? Why him?”
“That’s what that man is best at.”
“What? No… Mr. Duke is a very nice person. He even came to the screening personally…”
I shook my head at Junseong’s words and said.
“No. That man is only nice on the surface. Inside, he’s completely black-hearted.”
“Mr. Duke…?”
“He’s the one who set this whole stage.”
Junseong let out a deep sigh, as if he couldn’t easily believe it.
“Are you sure? Really?”
“Yes. I’ll bet everything on it. Really.”
“Why would he? I mean, shouldn’t he want something to do this kind of thing?”
“He probably just wants our production company to collapse.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re foreigners with money and talent.”
The films produced by Emil Duke would later cause controversy due to whitewashing.
Casting centered on white actors, or making white actors wear makeup to look Asian for characters that were originally Asian.
However, the world was not yet sensitive to such whitewashing.
In fact, there was a complete lack of awareness regarding the problem.
In such a situation, I felt more absurd than angry that he was doing this.
‘This is why the film industry rots.’
Duke’s influence was incomparable to the world I had come from.
The thought that if he possessed this much influence, he might hold far more power than I had imagined made me sigh deeply.
“Ha… no. Mr. Duke—no, if what you’re saying is true, that bastard Duke moved the Black community?”
“Yes. In America, Black people are the most sensitive to racial discrimination. And the easiest targets are Asians. And among them, it’ll be Koreans.”
Junseong let out another deep sigh, still unable to believe it.
Looking at the angry crowd gathered outside the window, he shook his head and spoke to me.
“So. Can you fix this? The release is just around the corner! How can we… in this atmosphere…”
“Let’s postpone the release for a bit. I need some time.”
If we released it right now, it was obvious that my film would be received not as a piece of cinema, but as a racist propaganda film.
Being framed as a racist director.
Forget about saving the film industry; I might not even be able to keep my feet on American soil.
“Will postponing the release a bit be enough…?”
“First, I’ll ask for a favor regarding the press. You can handle that, right?”
“No, what are you planning to do?”
“I don’t know for sure yet… but I have to do something. Let’s move first. This dog-shit situation. I have to overcome it somehow. Otherwise, something terrible might happen…”
As I stepped out of the CEO’s office, I suddenly thought of the actor who appeared in Detective Graser.
If the situation in front of the Seonghyeon KMD Pictures headquarters was this bad, I figured the situation in front of that actor’s house would be just as intense. I hurriedly picked up my phone.
“Hello?”
—Yes… D-Director…
“Donald. Are you okay?”
—Mail is pouring into my house right now… and the front is packed with people…
Donald Glubb answered with a trembling voice.
An actor who had won the Golden Globe for Best Actor within the last 15 years, a Billboard number-one singer, and an entertainer who had swept both Best Director and Best Actor at the Emmys, the Oscars of television.
But right now, he was just a young man in his early twenties.
It was only natural for him to tremble in a situation he couldn’t handle at such a young age.
“For now…”
Crash!
I asked in surprise at the sound of glass shattering over the phone.
“Hello? Donald? Are you okay?”
—Ha… they’re even throwing rocks. Those damn bastards.
“Come to the KMD building for now. If you stay there…”
—My family is here. I can’t go alone.
“It’s fine if your family comes too. Come here. I can only protect you if you come here.”
At my words, Donald spoke in a sobbing voice.
—What did I do wrong? This is really not right… what on earth did I do…?
“You did nothing wrong. And the Black people causing a scene right now are a tiny minority. Not all Black people think that way. Calm down and move quickly.”
—Yes… I understand.
I returned to my lodging and turned on the news while pondering what to do.
The most important thing was public opinion.
It was also crucial to find out how the media was viewing this situation.
“Why is that man…”
On the news, a film director dressed in flamboyant clothes was giving an interview.
A director known for making good films but for infusing them with political color.
Spear Williams.
My head throbbed at the thought that Duke was likely the one who moved him as well.
—What kind of world are we living in! It makes my skin crawl that racism is still so prevalent. It is simply deplorable that a director debuting in Hollywood is a racist.
“Ha…”
The anecdote between that man and Quentin Tarantino—one of Junseong’s favorite directors—was famous.
“Tarantino is obsessed with using the racial slur starting with N. Why on earth does he use that word so much?”
But the bad boy Quentin had replied to Spear like this:
“If a white director can’t make a movie using the N-word, isn’t that actually more racist? Get on a chair and kiss my ass.”
This was a world without a director like Quentin Tarantino to keep that man in check.
That man probably didn’t even know what kind of person Duke was, and at the same time, his own films contained racial discrimination against Asians.
In other words, he was a man who could not tolerate being discriminated against as a Black person, but was lenient toward the discrimination he practiced.
I wondered what method there was to break through this terrible situation…
‘To think it was such a horrible place…’
Surely, the Black people gathered in front of Seonghyeon KMD Pictures or Donald’s house.
Could not be said to represent all Black people.
They were simply people who had been incited by someone to express their emotions violently.
That in itself should not become hatred toward Black people.
If so…
‘The person who can stop them is…’
Someone with influence within the Black community.
I needed such a person, but among the people I currently knew, there was no one.
“Dammit.”
Ding.
Just as I slammed my head onto the desk and let out a deep sigh.
My phone rang.
“Mr. Chester?”
—Yeah. Ha… are you alright? You?
Chester’s voice was filled with a kind of worry I had never heard before.
Feeling warmth in his usually boisterous voice, I almost felt a lump in my throat.
“Yes… well. Yes… I’m okay.”
—Emil Duke. You know it’s that bastard’s doing, right?
One of the few people who knew Emil Duke was trash.
Surely there were countless people who had been wronged by Emil Duke, but Hollywood had silenced one another.
That was because Emil Duke was an important figure in Hollywood, a piece of trash armed with powerful authority.
“Yes. I know. That’s why I was pondering what to do.”
—Hehe. Good. You weren’t wallowing in sadness and acting pathetic. That’s a relief. See, that’s why I like you. Hehe.
The boisterous tone returned to Chester’s voice.
—Right. Is there anything I can help with? A movie like Detective Graser being crushed by some pathetic plot. Even you must think it’s nonsense, right?
“For now, I’m planning to postpone the release a bit. Because even if we release it now, it would be meaningless.”
—Yeah. That’s best for now. Those damn bastards. There’s a limit to group lynching. This is too much, isn’t it? This is a first for Hollywood.
“It’s also a first for an Asian director to use a Black person as a villain.”
—Dammit. What a bunch of worm-like trash.
Chester spat out a few more curses, sounding displeased.
A smirk escaped me at the fierce cursing he was doing on my behalf.
—It’s childish as hell.
“Historically, incitement works better when it’s childish.”
At my words, Chester let out a deep groan.
—You’re right. Dammit.
“So, about that. I think I need some new connections.”
—What? New connections?
“Yes. Someone who can settle this situation.”
At my words, Chester asked in a bright voice.
—Who is it…? Are you asking me to introduce you to Jesus or something?
T/N: I’m tired of this racist themed arc…
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