Superstar From Age 0

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: AgRoseCrystal

Chapter 540

A bustling barbecue restaurant filled with people who came to have dinner.

Seo Eun-chan, the president of Cocoa Entertainment, and the team leaders of the actor and singer teams, Ahn Da Ho and Kim Sang-jin, occupied one table.

Seo Eun-chan and Kim Sang-jin burst into laughter as they read the reply from Hwang Ji-yoon that Ahn Da Ho handed over.

“Wow, this is the first time Seo-jun got rejected.”

“Yeah, really. Should we make this a memorable day?”

“Do you want to get scolded by Seo-jun?”

Ahn Da Ho smiled faintly at the conversation between Seo Eun-chan and Kim Sang-jin, who had been close friends since before Cocoa Entertainment was acquired.

Kim Sang-jin took out his phone to tell Seo-jun, and Seo Eun-chan shouted, “Ah, hyung! It’s a joke!”

“Are you that scared of Seo-jun?”

“Seo-jun is Seo-jun, but…”

Seo Eun-chan’s expression became wistful as he thought of his daughter, who had the most power in the house.

“Eun-su has been more stubborn lately, and the only person who can stop her is Seo-jun.”

Oh, a memorable day?

He could see Seo-jun, who smiled with his eyes but not his mouth, egging on his mischievous daughter Eun-su.

“What will she break this time…”

Seo Eun-chan felt like his soul had half run away as he recalled the recently smashed air purifier. Kim Sang-jin and Ahn Da Ho laughed at his appearance.

“But that’s the good time, my son is in puberty and he doesn’t even talk to me.”

“It’s fine if he’s good and studies well. He’s not causing any trouble… Oh, right, that’s not the problem.”

The topic that was about to drift to their children returned to its original place.

“I can understand the student director’s mind.”

“Yeah.”

Seo Eun-chan nodded in agreement with Kim Sang-jin’s words, and Ahn Da Ho tilted his head as he grilled the meat.

“Is that so? I thought the work would be much better if Seo-jun acted in it. It would also help the director’s career if it was a hit.”

Seo Eun-chan and Kim Sang-jin laughed at Ahn Da Ho’s words.

“The director is a college student, right? Da Ho, isn’t this the first time you work with a student who hasn’t even debuted?”

“Yes. It is.”

“Then think from the student’s perspective. First of all, the box office.”

Kim Sang-jin continued after Seo Eun-chan.

“As soon as she got your contact, she must have worried, ‘What if I can’t make a hit with Lee Seo-jun in it?’”

“I don’t care about the box office.”

Seo-jun had never chosen a work based on its box office performance, and neither had Ahn Da Ho.

“Da Ho and Seo-jun might think that way, but the director might feel differently.”

Kim Sang-jin, who always worried about the singers’ album sales, spoke with a voice full of envy at their relaxed answer.

“Lee Seo-jun is in it, and the reporters will promote it for you, and the theaters will ask you to release it, and Plus+ will give you money and beg you to sign a contract with me, but you can’t make a hit? Who would invest in that director in the future?”

Seo Eun-chan nodded.

“It’s like giving a level 1 a max-level sword and putting him in front of the demon king. It would be nice if he won by luck, but if he lost, it would be the end of the world, the end of his career.”

The three people continued their conversation as they ate meat in the noisy restaurant.

“Independent films are fine even if they fail. They have little capital, the actors are newbies, and the staff are amateurs. But everything changes when Seo-jun appears. They have a lot of capital, the actors have experience, and the staff are pros. The only one who has to manage all that is the rookie director.”

“Wow. That’s scary to imagine.”

Seo Eun-chan shook his head vigorously as he remembered the first time he sat in the president’s seat after acquiring Cocoa Entertainment.

He was a pro as a manager, but it was his first time as a president. He had many sleepless nights worrying that he would be a burden to Brown Black and his employees, who were doing well.

“That’s how much pressure she must have.”

Seo Eun-chan nodded at Kim Sang-jin’s words.

“People’s interest is also like that. Articles will pour out, comments will flood, and they will find out what kind of work the director made before.”

Ahn Da Ho nodded at Seo Eun-chan’s words.

Come to think of it, the writers and directors he had met so far were always professionals who were familiar with the worries of the box office, and the graduation performance made by the students themselves did not need to feel any pressure of the box office.

But Hwang Ji-yoon was a rookie director who had not even debuted yet.

‘A rookie…’

Unlike Seo Eun-chan and Kim Sang-jin, who had been receiving trainees and having various experiences, he had been taking care of Seo-jun only, so he seemed to lack the mind to think from the perspective of a rookie.

‘I have to be careful.’

He sighed lightly as he thought of the new rookies and unknown actors who would come in.

“Next to the box office pressure, there is the problem of the work. It’s her first feature film, right?”

“Yes.”

Ahn Da Ho nodded at Kim Sung-jin’s words.

“Then she must have a strong opinion. Usually, in the creative arts, when you make your first work, you have a strong sense of your own world, or your own thoughts. She also has a strong stubbornness to stick to her thoughts.”

“Singers are like that too, there are quite a few composers who only insist on their own style. I’m good, but the world doesn’t know me, that kind of feeling?”

“That’s a bit too much, but it’s not entirely wrong.”

Kim Sang-jin laughed at Seo Eun-chan’s words.

“Usually, you jump into this job with the desire to listen to songs, sing songs, compose songs. There are some people who are not like that.”

“Yes. That’s right.”

It was no different for the actors.

There were many people who jumped into it with the desire to make such a movie, such a drama, to act.

“So at first, they have a clear idea of what they want to do. The director must be like that too. How precious would it be to make your first work that you want to show to people? Especially if it’s a scenario that she’s been thinking about for seven years, it would be like her own child.”

“And there was a plagiarism incident, so she would be more sensitive than usual.”

Kim Sang-jin opened his mouth after Seo Eun-chan.

“Think about it, people you don’t know at all interfere with your precious work. We know that Seo-jun hates it when other people interfere with the script, but a college student who hasn’t even stepped into the pro world wouldn’t know that. Even if he knew, how much could a college student director ignore the investors’ words. Even if it was just a passing remark, her heart would sink. She must have refused because she hated that.”

Sure enough.

Ahn Da Ho recalled the independent films he had seen so far.

Scenes that were incomprehensible, unpleasant, dark, and dull.

Scenes that shocked, lingered, and made the audience and society reflect.

The directors of independent films who were able to reveal their artistic or artistic values, their worldview, and capture the results they imagined on camera.

‘If it was a commercial film, those scenes would have been impossible.’

Hwang Ji-yoon must have also rejected Seo-jun’s appearance to capture what she imagined on camera.

‘…Hmm?’

Ahn Da Ho thought of something.

Seo Eun-chan sighed as he drank soju.

“It seems unlikely that she will change her mind if she rejects Seo-jun… Will it be hard this time?”

The meat on the grill was gradually decreasing. Kim Sung-jin asked Ahn Da Ho.

“Did you tell Seo-jun?”

“Not yet. I’m going to try to persuade the director a little more and then let him know.”

“It seems like we can’t persuade her at this point. Do you have any good ideas?”

“Well, I just thought of one.”

“Oh, what is it?”

Kim Sang-jin and Seo Eun-chan burst into laughter as they listened to Ahn Da Ho’s story.

“It’s a very uncertain but plausible idea.”

“If she’s a director who loves her work, she won’t be able to resist. As expected, Team Leader Ahn!”

Kim Sang-jin, who was reaching for a soju glass with a cheerful smile, suddenly stopped and turned his head to look at Seo Eun-chan.

“By the way, President Seo?”

“Huh?”

“How long are Da Ho and I going to be team leaders? We have a lot of teams below us.”

“…Ah.”

***

“Wow! So you’re Director Ahn now.”

“That… that’s right?”

Ahn Da Ho, who became a director as of yesterday, gave a dry smile at Seo-jun’s words.

The former 2nd team staff, who had scattered to their own teams, seemed to have chosen Ahn Da Ho as the next successor to Choi Tae-woo, and they called out, “Oh, Director Ahn!” The new employees and managers who had just entered Cocoa Entertainment were only gaping at the distance.

“Team Leader 1 is Director Kim.”

“Right. The PR team leader and the other team leaders are still called the same, but they all got promoted. The company has grown bigger, too.”

Seo-jun felt anew how much Cocoa Entertainment had grown.

“But what’s going on today, Da Ho hyung?”

Seo-jun, who was practicing for the role of an unknown painter in [Fire], asked Ahn Da Ho. Ahn Da Ho saw the script in Seo-jun’s hand and said.

“Well, the thing is…”

As Ahn Da Ho continued, Seo-jun’s invisible tail, which was swaying lightly in anticipation of the acting practice, slowly slowed down and then stopped.

“…So I can’t do it.”

He thought he would definitely star in it, but no.

He felt more regret than when the plagiarism incident happened. He must have liked [Fire] that much.

‘If it was a different reason, I would have tried to solve it…’

If it was a problem with his acting, he would have worked hard for months to fix it, if it was a problem with the production cost, he would have invested himself, if it was a problem with the staff, he would have even hired foreign talent.

‘…But there’s nothing I can do if that’s the problem.’

It seemed like the saying that too much of anything is poison applied to this situation.

“The director is against it, so there’s nothing we can do.”

Ahn Da Ho smiled brightly at Seo-jun’s dejected look.

“Seo-jun.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s go to the audition.”

Audition?

Seo-jun tilted his head.

***

September 1st.

The first day of the semester at Korea National University of Arts.

Hwang Ji-yoon, who had squeezed her lectures into Tuesdays and Wednesdays to make room for the filming of [Fire] planned for the second semester, got up lazily and was surprised to see her phone, which had barely any battery left.

“I charged it last night, didn’t I?”

She saw the missed calls and messages from her friends on the phone screen, and it seemed like something had happened in the film department.

“Did our department… go bankrupt?”

Just as she was about to press the screen, the battery ran out and the phone turned off completely. Hwang Ji-yoon sighed and connected the charger and the phone.

A moment later, the phone turned on.

-Sis! Sis! Look at this!

-Is this about Oh Seong-tae!?

-Oh my god! Oh my god!

-Ji-yoon! Our department is in chaos!

What’s going on?

Hwang Ji-yoon’s eyes widened.

-Senior. I’m sorry…

“I forgot to block him.”

Hwang Ji-yoon, who had blocked the junior’s contact with a light touch a few days ago, skimmed through the news that her department friends had sent.

[Actor Lee Seo-jun, found a plagiarized work among the scripts he was reviewing.]

[Cocoa Entertainment Director Ahn Da Ho, will be more careful in reviewing in the future.]

[The director of the plagiarized work is a Korea National University of Arts student?]

[Dramas and movies with plagiarism controversies.]

-A plagiarized work? Seo-jun had a plagiarized work among his scripts!? (Oh! Team Leader Ahn. You’re Director Ahn now!)

=22 What the hell…! (lol)

=33 I almost got into big trouble if I filmed thisㅠㅠㅠ (Director Ahn is awkward;; Team Leader Ahn fits perfectly in my mouth.)

=??Are you guys bipolar?? (I don’t know who you are, but congratulations;;;)

=That’s not the point right now.(<<Congrats! Director Ahn! Congrats!>>)

=That’s not the point eitherㅋㅋㅋ

=The most glamorous one?ㅋㅋ

=+) This is more important>>>Don’t you see ‘will be more careful in reviewing’? I heard from someone that he’s already very careful in choosing scripts, but if he’s more careful, when will his next work come out???

=ㅠㅠThis year is over.

=Seo-junㅠㅠㅠ

-He was very active in the first half of the year, so let’s wait and see… I want to say that, but if he had a plagiarized work among the ones he was choosing, then there was a possibility of him being active in the second half of the year, too? But that’s ruined???

=222 Who’s the bastard who ruined the feast?

=I heard it was a KNUA student.

=…Suddenly a college student???

=Someone said he had Lee Seo-jun in his movie.

=Here’s the eyewitness story.(link)

=?But I don’t get it. The original author said she just found out then, but how did Cocoa Entertainment know before the original author?

=22 And both the plagiarized work and the original work are college student works? How did they find it??

=There’s a rumor that all the scripts scattered in Chungmuro are in Cocoa Entertainment… I guess they have college student works tooㅎㄷㄷ

-Cocoa Entertainment’s <carefully> is too scary;;

=From now on, he will choose his works <more carefully>.

-Seo-junㅠㅠㅠCan we see you next year?

=Can’t he just choose from the ones he was choosing?ㅠㅠ

=I knowㅠㅠ

“…Wow?”

Hwang Ji-yoon’s eyes widened.

She thought he had just buried it since there was no news after that day, but it seemed like they had released the news today.

‘The eyewitness story seems to be from the film department students… Oh Seong-tae. It looks like it’s going to be hard for him to come back to school.’

Hehehe.

Hwang Ji-yoon laughed like a villain.

And Oh Seong-tae’s gang and their friends would be down for a while, too, she thought.

“This time…”

She had to turn the film department upside down.

The professors would be interested, too, since the news came out.

Hwang Ji-yoon, who hadn’t given up yet, was giggling as she looked at her phone, when a message arrived. It was Hwang Do-yoon.

Hwang Do-yoon: Seo-jun asked me to give him your number, so I did.

“…What?”

As soon as she saw Hwang Do-yoon’s message, a message came from an unknown number.

-Hello. This is Lee Seo-jun, a freshman in the acting department.

-I had no way of getting your contact information, so I asked Senior Hwang Do-yoon.

-If you don’t mind, can I call you now?