In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 223 

Why were there two scripts?

Cha Woohyun, their senior, recommended them to a place that was launching a Thursday-Friday drama on PBS.

Woojoo split the two scripts in both hands.

One had the PBS logo and the title ‘Fox Bead’, and the other had ‘Slip’ written on it.

“The scripts are so good…”

While Jiho was ecstatically flipping through the script, Woojoo asked, “There’s only one OST, why are there two scripts?”

“It just happened that way.” Seokhwan Hyung explained, “They’re both jobs that came to you. One is an OST job that came from PBS through Cha Woohyun’s introduction, and the other is a job that came through a composer.”

“Composer?”

“Do you remember the producer named P-snoop, who worked on the B-side songs with you and Woojoo for the second album?”

“I remember.”

Woojoo remembered the red snapback and the round colored glasses that were his signature.

He had a good chemistry with him when he worked on the B-side songs for the second album.

But Woojoo wondered why his name came up, since he had no contact with him except for the producing meeting and the recording.

“He’s making an OST for a drama, and he recommended you to the production. He said you’d suit the color of the drama. And the music director there also had a connection with Cha Woohyun, and he heard good things about you guys.”

“Wait a minute, Manager.”

Junghyun blinked his eyes and moved his fingers back and forth.

“So, both here and there, Cha Woohyun recommended us? I don’t understand.”

“Simply put, ‘Fox Bead’ is where Cha Woohyun directly recommended you to the drama music director.”

They nodded their heads and looked at the script for PBS’s Thursday-Friday drama ‘Fox Bead’.

This time, it was a script for a drama called ‘Slip’ that was launching on cable GTV.

“Here, the music director heard good things about you from Cha Woohyun, and then a composer recommendation came in through the OST production company.”

“I see.”

“If you look at it, it’s no different from both coming in through Cha Woohyun.”

“Ah…”

They stared blankly at each other.

He must have been saying good things about them everywhere. Woojoo never thought of it because he always greeted them with an indifferent face.

Jiho whispered in a subtle voice, “Rihyuk, should we write a letter of gratitude to him?”

“…Shut up.”

Bijoo comforted the flushed Rihyuk and said, “But we should give him something when the work is over.”

“Yeah, we’re so grateful, right?”

There were a lot of people who were struggling without work, but thanks to one senior who liked them, they had a lot of work coming in.

The person himself said, “It’s because you have skills that I recommended you,” but they were grateful.

They decided to give him something when they met him at the broadcasting station, and then turned their eyes to the script.

“We have to choose one of these two, right?”

“That’s right.”

Woojoo was worried even before he looked at the content properly.

“Oh, there’s one more thing.”

Seokhwan Hyung added another synopsis.

“…?”

This time, it was a HBS Monday-Tuesday drama called ‘Pinwheel’.

Woojoo blinked his eyes and Seokhwan pointed to Rihyuk and said, “This is an OST request that came to Rihyuk. The guide recording is done, and they’re just looking for a singer. The OST production company asked me to tell you, ‘We were impressed by Legendary Song Discovery. Your voice color will suit it.’”

“Wow…”

As they turned around with ‘heat’, one face started to heat up in an instant.

The youngest joined the work.

“Hyung, hurry up and hug Rihyuk with the script.”

“Let’s do that.”

They were all excited and surrounded Rihyuk.

Junghyun grabbed Rihyuk’s arm, and Bijoo opened the other’s hand like a tyrannosaurus’s front paw.

He put the script on his hand and clapped his hands.

“I’m touched that Rihyuk got an OST request.”

“You guys worked hard to raise him.”

“No… you guys.”

Before he could even protest, the four of them gathered.

“Let’s take a commemorative photo with the script.”

“Ah, don’t do that.”

He gestured with his finger as if to warn them.

They laughed and tried to take a selfie, and Seokhwan Hyung said, “Hey, guys.”

Seokhwan Hyung said to Rihyuk, who looked flushed, expecting the manager to say something.

“Let me join you in the picture.”

“Oh, Manager!”

Everyone laughed at the sight of him spitting fire from his mouth, as if saying ‘why are you doing this to me these days’.

***

Woojoo returned to the studio with the script he got from Seokhwan Hyung.

He spread out three synopsis on the table and pondered.

He rested his chin on his hand and sighed.

“Which one of these would make me famous~”

‘Wow, you sound like a grandpa…’ the youngest teased him as he glanced at him and continued to think.

“Huh.”

The bear, who was gulping down a protein shake, hit his foot. Then he looked at Woojoo with wide eyes.

“Hyung. I have an idea.”

“What is it?”

“What if we do all three?”

“Wow…”

Woojoo clapped and exclaimed, “Junghyun, you were listening when I explained earlier, right?”

“Yes.”

“I knew it. Let’s see. Can our genius explain it to us?”

Rihyuk nodded and explained, “Look at the first broadcast dates of the dramas. March 9th, 18th, etc. This means they overlap in airing time.”

“Yeah.”

“They’re all airing in March and April, so they’ll compete fiercely. Who will be number one in ratings. That means we can only do one of the three for the SBS Awards. The production team would be upset otherwise.”

It was the rule of the OST industry.

If you took on one drama, you couldn’t do the OST for a competing drama while it was airing.

Junghyun tilted his head.

“Is that really upsetting?”

“Imagine if we did the ads for all three competing chicken brands.”

“Oh, I get it.”

Everyone laughed at Junghyun’s gesture of OK with his finger and started to look at the synopses.

It was not only the first OST, but also the work that would go into their career, so the atmosphere was serious.

Usually, mini-series aired for about eight weeks.

Even if they sang OSTs non-stop, they could only do six times a year at most.

That was why A-list singers like Cha Woohyun and Yoon Chanhyuk carefully reviewed the requests that came in.

If you did one, you couldn’t do another.

To avoid the situation where you picked the wrong one and the competing drama exploded and the OST dominated the chart, the company executives also listened to and selected the songs that famous singers would sing.

So choosing well was important.

“How about we just do the drama that Cha Woohyun Sunbae-nim picked for us? He recommended us.”

“That’s good too, but it’s our career,” Woojoo said.

He had to review everything that came in. Even if he chose a different drama, Cha Woohyun sunbae wouldn’t get angry or anything like that.

Of course, it would be nice to choose the drama he recommended, but he couldn’t miss a better opportunity.

Besides, Woojoo told him that he had to consult with the company instead of giving him a definite answer.

But the most important thing right now was…

“What should I choose?”

Woojoo groaned for a long time while looking at the synopsis, and finally used a friend’s chance.

He contacted a singer-songwriter who was close to him and had a lot of experience with OSTs.

-A drama?

A cool voice came through.

Jang Sowon Sunbae, who was on the video call, looked at Woojoo and smiled.

-Our little cuties are going to be on the OST of a terrestrial drama? I’m so touched. Really…

-Sowon, who is that?

Woojoo heard a gentle voice. Jang Sowon, who was sitting on the sofa, turned her head and said.

-Our little black cuties. Do you want to say hello to them?

-Hey! I’m bare-faced!

She quickly turned her phone away and ran off in her tracksuit. Woojoo saw Lisa’s back as she fled.

She had no schedule and was bored, so she decided to tease her homebody cat.

“Hello, New Black kids!”

Woojoo heard Lisa’s greeting from afar.

She had a powerful voice, like a musical actress.

They asked her to say hello to the timid greeting that was shouted from the bedroom.

Meanwhile, when they talked more about the drama OST, Jang Sowon Sunbae brushed her hair back with a ‘hmm’.

-OST… Usually, you listen to the songs and choose. Did you decide to make a song, Woojoo?

“Yes.”

-Then let’s skip listening to the songs. What about the director or the writer? Drama is a game of senses, so that’s the most important.

Woojoo answered.

“Both of you are new to drama, right? One of you won a contest from PBS, and the other wrote movie scripts for GTV. I heard the director is good for both of you.”

That was what he heard from Seokhwan Hyung. He said they were ‘decent’.

The actor management team told Woojoo it was a combination of promising rookie writers and decent directors.

-Then there’s only one answer.

Jang Sowon Sunbae said.

-If the production company sent you a synopsis or a script, take a look at those first. Sometimes they fit better than anything else. Maybe… Unnie! What are you doing? Why are you cooking? I told you we’re going out today.

-No, why do you always want to go out? It’s a holiday.

-Hold on, guys. How about the barbecue place in front of us then…

The call ended with the sound of their voices fading away. It was a hasty goodbye, but luckily Woojoo had heard everything he needed to hear.

He smiled as he looked at the screen that went dark.

“Those two seem to get along well.”

“That’s right.”

“I wish we were like that too. Maybe for another 30 years in this dorm…”

As Bijoo muttered a scary sound, everyone hurriedly opened their scripts.

“Script. Script.”

“Wow, the script is so fun.”

“Let’s see~ What should we start with~”

Woojoo followed the advice of his senior singer and read through the scripts one by one.

The first one was ‘Fox Bead’, a drama that Cha Woohyun personally recommended to him.

It was written by a writer who had worked as an assistant to a star writer and had recently debuted through a contest.

The title was self-explanatory. It was based on a legend of a nine-tailed fox.

『 The protagonist, who had lived her whole life in a fox tribe, runs away and lives in hiding. She reunites with her high school friend and falls in love with someone. But a hunter from her tribe, who has a crush on her, chases after them. 』

The setting was modern.

The background was a world where the beings of folk tales hide their identities and mingle with modern South Korea.

The protagonist was a member of the fox tribe.

She was a high school student who heard from her tribe one day that she had to undergo a rite of passage.

‘Take the life of your target.’

The target was her best friend at school.

She struggled between her tribe and her friend, and agonized over and over again until the day of the rite.

The day of the rite.

She called her friend to a dark place, saying she had something to say, and revealed her true self and threatened her friend. But she eventually chose friendship and gave up her adulthood ceremony at the sight of her monstrous self reflected in the other’s eyes.

Just then.

‘It’s a headache.’

The elder of the tribe who was watching the adulthood ceremony appear and take the life of her best friend.

He tried to kill the protagonist who failed according to the law, but the protagonist who showed her wits barely succeeded in escaping.

Meanwhile.

‘……!’

The male lead, who was returning home late at night, witnessed the female lead, who was a gumiho, or in her transformed state, standing in front of a girl from the same class.

Scared out of his wits, he ran away hastily, but gathered his courage and went back, only to find a cold sword.

That was the start of his trauma.

‘…….’

The male lead, who was tormented by shock and guilt, joined a group that hunted down the beings of folk mythology as time passed.

The female lead became a fugitive, changing her name and living a hard life.

The son of the elder who killed her best friend, the secondary male lead, received an order to execute the traitor, and chased after the female lead, who was his childhood friend and crush since he was young, and their relationship became complicated.

“It’s interesting…….”

“What, there’s no more content.”

It was definitely interesting. Woojoo skimmed through the synopsis, but it was amazing how the relationships were intertwined.

“This is the drama that Cha Woohyun Sunbae-nim chose. Should we do this?”

“Let’s see the other ones.”

They all gathered and read the second script.

This one was GTV’s Slip.

It was a new work prepared by GTV, which broke through the 10% viewership rating for the first time on cable with a well-made drama recently.

The title, Slip, seemed to be derived from ‘time slip’, meaning time travel.

It was a genre piece by a movie scenario writer, about a detective who chased after a mysterious and bizarre case.

『 A mountain in Seoul. A mysterious corpse is found. The murder weapon found was a stone tool from the Paleolithic era. 』

“Paleolithic?”

“Rihyuk-ah, calm down.”

『 The protagonist, Park Chuljin, gets deeper into the maze as he investigates. What on earth is going on? 』

The synopsis was intriguing, so Woojoo opened the script right away.

The protagonist, Park Chuljin, who worked at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, was demoted to a lower position due to corruption allegations.

He was a protagonist with a gray identity, who was doubtful whether he really committed corruption or not.

He was transferred to the ‘Oseong Police Station’ as a detective, and was branded as a troublemaker, and was alienated from his colleagues.

A life that was dull and boring.

Then, he got a call that a corpse was found and went to the scene.

A mountain with a police line.

A horrible scene with blood splattered inside.

‘The murder weapon was found. It’s…….’

‘What is it.’

‘A stone.’

‘A stone……?’

He thought it was a strange-shaped stone, but he heard from the police station’s auxiliary police officer, ‘Isn’t this a Paleolithic tool?’

It really looked like a Paleolithic tool.

But he heard from the expert that this stone tool seemed to have been made not long ago.

The part where the stone was chipped off was worn out recently.

‘What is this.’

It was a strange scene he had never seen before.

There were strange animal fur clothes lying around. There were fingerprints left as if to show him the scene.

The corpse was bitten.

It was like a monster had done it.

At that moment.

‘We got a report! A weirdo is bleeding and walking around…….’

In the residential area of Oseong-gu, there were reports of a ‘weirdo wearing fur clothes’ dripping blood and walking around.

He checked the video with the strange sound recorded, but there was nothing on the CCTV.

The protagonist, who was chasing after the case, was thinking more and more, ‘Did a real Paleolithic person commit a murder?’ when.

‘There’s another case in the district!’

This time, a corpse killed by an arrow from the Joseon Era was found, and the case escalated.

And then…….

“What, is this the end?”

“I feel like the people who watched Everdream.”

“I have to watch this live.”

After Slip, following Fox Bead. They looked at each other with excited faces after reading the interesting script.

“Let’s see the last one.”

They looked at the last one, HBS’s Monday-Tuesday drama ‘Pinwheel’, but soon made a ‘hmm…’ sound.

“It looks like something I’ve seen a lot.”

A romance drama about the work and love of Korean prosecutors.

There was a similar drama where the protagonist changed his job to a lawyer on TBC right now. Woojoo heard from the TNT members that the youngest, Seok Jihun, was playing the role of a law firm clerk.

Woojoo heard the ratings were low.

Of course, they had to know something about the drama scripts, but they decided to put them aside for now because they had a vague feeling about them.

“So, we have to choose the one that seems more promising…”

Woojoo asked the youngest, “Jiho, what do you think? Any opinions?”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

“Um… I feel pressured. Can’t you decide, Hyung? I like being the youngest who claps from behind.”

He made a gesture of clapping his hands in advance while saying ‘Wow!’ and Woojoo looked at him with a fond smile.

Bijoo spoke kindly.

“Jiho. You’re the best actor among us. I was sure you would do well in Everdream too.”

“Hmph…”

“Can you take a look and tell us?”

He made a face that said ‘I like the praise, but not the responsibility…’ and snorted.

“Just a moment.”

Then he fell into thought for a while.

Woojoo handed him the scripts again, but he refused them.

“I remembered most of it.”

“Really?”

“I always remember the things I like.”

“I see. That’s why you always forget our birthdays.”

“Ouch…”

He glanced at the mean Hyungs who teased him and got lost in thought.

He moved his head this way and that, looking at the scripts. He didn’t have his usual playful expression, but a serious one.

He looked like a different person.

If you look closely, their kid was really handsome, if he didn’t make those weird noises like ‘Ehehe~’.

The difference between when he closed and opened his mouth was huge.

Woojoo thought he saw a post written by Soufflé, who became a fan of Jiho’s concept photo.

‘I turned on the first episode of Reality and Jiho was rolling around in a blanket, pretending to be a log. Haha… Why am I crying?’

There were many similar testimonies.

They looked for more information because he was cool, but they found out he was a black goat wrestler or something. Or an alien who appeared on the news of another country.

Woojoo suddenly wondered if their image was okay as it was, but the younger ones relieved him.

“We gave up.”

“Yeah? Me too.”

They all laughed together.

The pale face that had been immersed in thought finally lifted his head.

“Hyungs, I made a decision.”

“Yeah? Which one was better?”

“This one.”

Jiho’s finger moved swiftly and picked out one script.