The Haunted Monster Actor - Chapter 48



Only Krnovel

Episode 48

The next day, Hyunsoo went to the Pioreum building early in the morning for a script meeting.

“The CEO is in the conference room.”

Hyunsoo tilted his head at Gogun’s words.

This is because, up until now, script meetings have always been held in the CEO’s office.

“Not the representative office?”

“Haha, you’ll know when you go, hyung.”

Go Geon, who entered the conference room, handed the take-out coffee to Woo Ji-yoon, who looked haggard.

“Good morning, sir! Here’s the thing you asked me to do… … Huh? Did you stay up all night again today?”

Jiyoon nodded, sipping a warm Americano.

“Yeah, as I work, time becomes ambiguous.”

“No, what’s the matter with you still having no time to rest even after the end of the year? If you were going to stay up all night, you could have told me yesterday… … .”

“How come they keep advertising this blind date that they couldn’t do at the end of the year all morning?”

“ah.”

Woo Ji-yoon continued speaking with her eyes fixed on the script.

“and.”

“… … ?”

“I can’t make my actors rest just to make room for myself.”

“… … I respect you, CEO. Eight, what are women freezing to death for! From now on, I will also be reborn as a true employee of Piorum who goes on dates with work!”

“It was tea, yesterday.”

“No, if you hit me where it hurts… … .”

Hyunsoo, who was listening to Gogun and Jiyoon’s conversation, soon realized why she was here and not in the CEO’s office.

On a large desk in a conference room that can seat a dozen or so people, scripts are piled up like a mountain.

Normally, for a project of this scale, the management and planning teams would do the initial review and selection, but Woo Ji-yoon still insisted on looking into each one herself.

She had been reviewing the scripts that had been coming in since the beginning of the year, to the point where she felt like ten bodies were not enough.

“Is actor Kim here?”

“Yes, hello, sir.”

“As you can see, there is no place left for us, so we came here for a while.”

“… … Are these all scripts?”

Woo Ji-yoon nodded and answered.

“Yes, those are all scripts that were contacted to actor Kim.”

“Huh? All of them… …?”

Woo Ji-yoon continued speaking with an ambiguous smile.

“It certainly seems like the fact that it was a hot topic at the end of the year helped a lot with PR. Well, I don’t think I should be thankful to TVM for that. Manager Ko, I don’t need to say anything about TVM’s recruitment for the time being, right?”

“Yes, the actors’ schedules are full until the second quarter of this year anyway, so we won’t lose out.”

“Okay. Anyway… …Thank you for your hard work.”

“Huh? Haha, what did I do to deserve this?”

Woo Ji-yoon looked at Go Geon, who was scratching his head with an embarrassed expression, with affectionate(?) eyes.

“Why are you suddenly looking at me like that… … It’s scary, sir.”

“I say this over and over again, but what if you look easy in this world?”

“You just get kicked on the floor and stepped on. You won’t get any work from TVM until you get down on the floor, right?”

“good.”

Woo Ji-yoon nodded with satisfaction at Go Geon’s straightforward answer.

Anyway, now Kim Hyun-soo’s face and name are engraved in the public’s mind.

First, since it is not a firepower raised through a work or acting ability, the effect will only be momentary.

However, for Woo Ji-yoon, it was a golden opportunity that he could not just pass up.

“I guess I’ll have to start it when the water comes in, right?”

Jiyoon, who said that, picked up the topmost one among the scripts she had selected on the right and handed it to Hyunsoo.

[Nineties Dive – Author Choi Ui-jeong]

A look of surprise soon appeared on Hyun-soo’s face as he confirmed the author’s name.

“If it’s writer Choi Ui-jeong… …!”

“Yes, as you know, he is a writer who can be called a master of youth healing dramas.”

Author Choi Ui-jeong.

She started out as the main writer for the now legendary national entertainment show ‘One or Two Days’ and left a distinct mark on the entertainment industry, then suddenly turned to being a drama writer.

As soon as he converted, the three dramas he wrote became huge hits in succession.

A writer of devilish talent with an unprecedented career, having enjoyed great success both as an entertainment writer and a drama writer.

I even heard that he later returned to his main career in the entertainment industry and said that he would not be writing dramas for a while…

“I had no news from him for years, so I thought he had retired, but when I first received this script, I was so shocked that I screamed without realizing it.”

“The title is… Nineties Dive? What’s it about?”

“As actor Kim said, the specific genre is music. It’s a typical youth growth healing drama, which is also writer Choi Ui-jeong’s specialty. As the title suggests, the story is centered around twenty-year-old youths who were in a college band in the 90s.”

“Twenty years old… …?”

A look of concern appeared on Hyunsoo’s face as he listened to Woo Jiyoon’s words.

This is because, having just turned nine, I felt a bit burdened about playing the role of a twenty-year-old college student who is not even in his mid-to-late twenties.

Woo Ji-yoon, who noticed what Hyun-soo was worried about, continued speaking with a small laugh.

“You don’t have to worry about that part. The character that actor Kim will mainly play is not a twenty-year-old college student.”

“If you’re not a twenty-year-old college student… … ?”

“The drama tells the story of a young man in his mid-thirties who forms a band again.”

“ah.”

I understand why the word ‘typical’ was used when first introducing the script.

This is because the narrative of school friends becoming adults again and achieving something is definitely a typical cliché often used in coming-of-age dramas.

“But… … there’s an interesting element here.”

“The fun factor?”

“Would you like to read it yourself?”

Hyunsoo nodded and began reading the script.

Hyun-soo starts to focus as soon as he opens the first page of the script.

While reading, close your eyes and recall the scene or recite the lines.

Immerse yourself in the events, situations, and characters in an instant.

Hyunsoo read the script slowly as if he was savoring a delicacy.

Ji-yoon and Go-geon, who had become somewhat accustomed to Hyun-soo’s attitude, quietly waited for him while reviewing other scripts.

How much time has passed like that?

Hyunsoo, who had turned the last page of the manuscript, slowly opened his eyes and opened his mouth.

“This is… … good.”

Jiyoon answered with her signature confident smile.

“I knew it.”

A rough synopsis of “Nineties Dive” is as follows:

Ji Yu-han, a guitarist in a college band, is about to perform on his ‘last’ stage at the age of 20.

He prepares a stage that will decorate a page of his youth, to which he has devoted the past year with his friends.

The stage that I had prepared hard with my friends started with everyone’s cheers, but unfortunately, the stage did not end.

The reason is unknown.

Just as the song was about to reach its climax, the lights on stage went out and when I opened my eyes again, I had become a 35-year-old young man.

The play tells the story of Ji-yu-han, who suddenly becomes a 35-year-old man, and struggles to recreate the stage he was unable to complete when he was 20 by searching for past members.

And Hyun-soo’s face, after reading the entire synopsis of the script, had suddenly become serious.

‘This time too, there are parts similar to the content of the dream.’

Four Darkness, inspired by the Shadow Killer.

And just like Torso, which was based on the 1993 ferry sinking incident that Lee Jun-hyeok was involved in, this script also had some parts in common with the dreams he was having.

‘The stage, and the lights are dark.’

The dream of becoming a ‘musician’ that exists only on the stage is connected to the stage that Jiyuhan was unable to finish when he was twenty years old.

“It’s a growth drama, but… … the mood in the middle feels dark overall. I think it’s because of the fun elements that the CEO mentioned, but it seems to be amplified a bit more.”

“That’s right. It’s a coming-of-age drama, but it’s somehow gloomy, and it’s also a music drama, but it’s also calm. The atmospheres don’t really match, but this is strangely… … .”

“It feels like it’s soothing my heart.”

“That’s it.”

Indeed, Woo Ji-yoon’s choice was not wrong.

Hyunsoo clearly feels what she feels from this script.

But the proud expression on his face was short-lived, as Woo Ji-yoon continued speaking in a cautious voice.

Now, it was time to get to the real point of why Hyunsoo was called here today.

“But… …Before we start the full-scale script meeting, there’s something I need to say to Actor Kim first.”

“Yes, go ahead, sir.”

Woo Ji-yoon, who seemed to be hesitating about something, continued speaking as if he had made up his mind.

“I chose it, but this script is actually more of an adventure.”

“What do you mean by adventure?”

“There is one big hurdle to overcome in order to participate in this work.”

“What is the mountain that must be overcome…?”

“audition.”

Hyunsoo’s eyes changed when he heard the word audition.

This is one of those things that is like an unavoidable fate for an actor.

But to Hyun-soo, who has successfully led the success of Neureum, it was a word that seemed a bit distant.

“To be honest, there are many scripts here that you can get into right away without having to go through an audition. There are even some that have lead roles. But this is the only one that meets the criteria that actor Kim mentioned. And that’s it.”

“… … ?”

“Even leaving aside the conditions that actor Kim mentioned, I think this work is the most… … .”

“You’re being greedy.”

“I told you, we have something in common?”

Anyway, what Woo Ji-yoon said was simple.

There are plenty of easy ways.

But if you want to be a little more ambitious as an actor.

“You’re telling me to try it.”

“Yes. The problem is that the challenge might be a bit unreasonable?”

“An unreasonable challenge, what is that… … ?”

In the drama, “Nineties Dive”, there are four main characters.

The other three band members, including the main character Ji Yu-han, are the four.

The problem is.

“Three of these are actors who are already part of writer Choi Ui-jeong’s team.”

“Are you saying that there is an insider? That’s right.”

“Yes, only one actor is chosen through an audition. For reference, the expected competition rate for auditions is approximately ‘150:1’.”

In short, you have to overcome the enormous competition rate of 150:1 to become the only successful candidate.

“There are about two months left until the audition. Of course, there is no guarantee that I will be cast in the work. That means… … In the worst case scenario, if I fail the audition, I will also be able to accept the scripts that have come in.”

“You’re saying that you might miss everything?”

“Yes. But still… … .”

“still.”

“… … ?”

“I will give it a try.”

Woo Ji-yoon nodded as if he knew this would happen and continued speaking.

“There is only one actor who will be chosen from this audition. Of course, we will be targeting the main character, ‘Ji Yu-han’.”

Woo Ji-yoon’s voice as she spoke those words was filled with firm trust and faith in Hyun-soo.

Continued in the next episode