The Crazy Mercenary Commander Goes to Work in the Entertainment Industry

Director Kwon Sung-min, who said he wanted to make ’Condensation: Euphoria’ on a low budget of 1.5 billion won. The one who reacted most strongly to his words was Lee Chan-hoo.

”A total production budget of 1.5 billion??”

Kang Jae-ha, sitting beside him with his face changed, was also flashing question marks and exclamation marks inside his head.

A total production budget of 1.5 billion won. It wasn’t ultra-low-budget, but for a feature film, a budget of 1.5 billion was low-budget, no question. No matter how hard one searched the current film industry, it was safe to say there wasn’t a single feature film being shot on 1.5 billion.

Kang Jae-ha looked at Director Kwon Sung-min quite seriously, then murmured in a low voice.

”Director-nim, I’m going to need an explanation.”

Director Kwon Sung-min nodded and let out a small breath. Pushing his glasses up was a bonus. He still didn’t give off an air of overflowing confidence, but his expression was firm enough in its own way.

”......The domestic film industry has grown to the point where production budgets of tens of billions are nothing. Of course, a big part of it is that audiences have gotten more sophisticated and won’t even glance at anything mediocre.”

Lee Chan-hoo chimed in.

”And thanks to that, production budgets just keep getting bigger and bigger, I’d guess.”

”Exactly. As time goes on, film production just keeps piling on more and more fat. This is just... my opinion, but I think this deformed structure is going to keep going. No, the scale’s going to get a whole lot bigger.”

”Probably.”

After a beat, Director Kwon Sung-min glanced at Jae-ha, in his Face A, and at Lee Chan-hoo, then spoke again.

”I’m still a rookie director who’s only made one short. People around me build me up, but I just got lucky and won the Grand Prize for shorts at BIFF, that’s all.”

Kang Jae-ha replied, expressionless.

”That’s an impressive thing, though.”

”Ah! I know, I know! I’m absolutely not putting that award down! I’m just saying I really did get lucky. When I think back to that time...... it still feels a bit like a dream.”

”Right, and?”

”So, my confidence is overflowing and all, but the moment someone says billions of won are going into ’Condensation: Euphoria’... whether it’s pressure or what, my head just completely seizes up.”

”......”

”So I thought about it for a long time, and instead of pouring in money the way the market’s scale dictates, I think shooting ’Condensation: Euphoria’ the way I shot the short, ’Condensation’, would draw out the best in me.”

Having heard the explanation, Kang Jae-ha murmured to himself.

’So, it’s a feature, but he wants to approach it with the mindset of a short.’

Kang Jae-ha judged this to be metacognition. No matter that he’d won an award on a stage as big as BIFF, no matter that the short ’Condensation’ had racked up a Triple Crown, Kwon Sung-min was a rookie director. On top of that, a feature was his first attempt. And he was young, too.

He had very little experience handling pressure or strain.

For a director responsible for the set, things like that lead to fatal mistakes. He could fall into chaos. The quality of the work would naturally drop, and the end result could be the birth of a flop.

It wasn’t that Director Kwon Sung-min didn’t want to shoulder the pressure or the strain, it was that he wanted to minimize, as much as possible, the mistakes and the real-world chaos that could come from his lack of experience.

A judgment made by looking at himself coldly.

Kwon Sung-min was someone whose talent and skill even Kang Jae-ha acknowledged, but when it came to things like experience and seasoning, there was no way to gain them other than to quietly accumulate them.

This, too, Jae-ha took as proof that Director Kwon Sung-min was still growing.

’If he were drunk on a flash of fame or full of himself, he couldn’t make a metacognitive judgment like this.’

Gauging the others’ reaction once more, Kwon Sung-min spoke up.

”R-realistically, Condensation: Euphoria can’t be shot as fast as a short, but if things go the way I’m picturing, I think we can cut the pre-production period down as much as possible.”

Kang Jae-ha summed it up roughly.

”So you’re talking about compromising on a process somewhere between a short and a feature.”

”Yes. Ah! The quality, of course, I’ll bring up to feature standards. In the shooting and editing.”

”The timeline, how much can you cut it down?”

”It’s just my estimate, but...... pre-production within three months, and the shooting and the post-production, the editing, would naturally shrink too.”

Lee Chan-hoo, who’d been roughly calculating the time, cut in.

”Then let’s see, running the numbers roughly, you’re saying it could release as early as the first half of next year?”

CEO Jeong Tae-woo was quicker with the answer.

”That’s right. At the latest, it’s doable before summer’s out.”

”Oho, that’s definitely fast.”

By this point, Kang Jae-ha had picked up on several things from Kwon Sung-min’s explanation. He laid them out just as they were.

”A low budget of around 1.5 billion. Promotion and marketing would be separate from that figure. And for casting the actors, you’re thinking of contracts centered on base appearance fees plus running guarantees?”

A running guarantee was a structure where actors received additional income in line with a work’s box-office success. In other words, it meant buying actors on deferred payment. As if Jae-ha had hit the nail on the head, Director Kwon Sung-min nodded.

”Exactly. The bit-part and minor-role actors don’t matter, but if we cut costs on the lead and supporting side, even a 1.5-billion budget is cutting it close, but it’s possible.”

Kang Jae-ha, gazing steadily at Director Kwon Sung-min, smiled inwardly.

’An interesting idea, overall.’

It was safe to say that, up to now, there had never been a case in the film industry of buying multiple actors, top-tier ones included, on running guarantees alone, on deferred payment alone.

’So he means to draw the actors in not with money, but purely with the screenplay.’

Here, Lee Chan-hoo crossed his arms and raised an issue.

”It’s interesting to listen to, but if you run casting that way, there’ll be hardly any A-list-or-above actors interested in ’Condensation: Euphoria’, won’t there?”

He wasn’t wrong. Even now, the asking prices of the so-called top-tier actors were soaring. At this, Kang Jae-ha gave a small shake of his head.

”No, there are eccentrics everywhere. The actors’ side is no exception.”

Lee Chan-hoo, who found the Commander’s polite speech awkward, cleared his throat.

”Ahem! Anyway, on a 1.5-billion budget, the sets’ll be kept to a minimum too, and the shooting locations will mostly be outdoors or actual existing places you scout out. Like with the short, ’Condensation’.”

As expected, Lee Chan-hoo was quick on the uptake, and after Director Kwon Sung-min, CEO Jeong Tae-woo continued with additional explanation. It amounted to briefing the head office, or the investment firm, on exactly how Condensation: Euphoria would be shot.

In the meantime, Kang Jae-ha was retracing the Deja Vu of Condensation: Euphoria.

A dozen or so staff and CEO Jeong Tae-woo. They had been filming something to both celebrate Condensation: Euphoria’s performance and express gratitude to the public. Along with that, a banner stuck up in the filming zone.

-Congratulations! Over 5 Million Viewers! Thank You!

An audience count past 5 million. And it wasn’t even the final tally, it was still ongoing. It meant the result would land above 5 million. Soon Kang Jae-ha cast a glance at Director Kwon Sung-min across from him.

’So Condensation: Euphoria pulls off an audience count of over 5 million on a 1.5-billion budget.’

The Deja Vu of Condensation: Euphoria hadn’t contained the information that the budget was 1.5 billion, but if anything, Kang Jae-ha was pleased. How could he not be. If a mere 1.5 billion poured in yielded an audience count of over 5 million.

’The profit’s at an insane level.’

It meant the film would post a ridiculous return.

’Maybe it’ll even hand the film industry a new production method.’

Or it might kick up one hell of a storm.

Soon Kang Jae-ha spoke to Lee Chan-hoo with his eyes. Catching the message, Lee Chan-hoo flashed a smile at Director Kwon Sung-min and CEO Jeong Tae-woo.

”All right, do it however you want. No pressure, take it easy.”

A short while later.

Their meeting over, Kang Jae-ha and Lee Chan-hoo climbed into the van. Soon Jae-ha changed back to his original face, peeling off the mask, and said to Lee Chan-hoo.

”Those eccentric actors I mentioned earlier, the ones obsessed with the screenplay or artistic merit instead of money, I’ll put together a list before long and give it to you, so pass it along to Director Kwon.”

”Got it.”

Kang Jae-ha was leaving the production of ’Condensation: Euphoria’ to Director Kwon Sung-min and CEO Jeong Tae-woo, that is, to the subsidiary ’FilmMEG’, but he intended to provide whatever help he could, and Lee Chan-hoo, gripping the wheel, asked the Commander.

”But are there a lot of eccentric actors like that??”

”Not a lot, but they do exist. Even among the top-tier.”

A few top-tier actors were already flickering through Jae-ha’s mind.

”Wire the 1.5 billion budget right away.”

Two days later, the 22nd.

For Netflix Korea’s ’One-Act Drama Project’, the cast, including Yoon Da-yeon and An Ji-hee, had all been confirmed, and now it was rolling along in full swing.

The ’One-Act Drama Project’ bundled six one-act dramas, one to two episodes per work, which came to roughly twelve episodes in total.

Director Baek Jeong-ha chose a format that split all twelve episodes into six apiece, opening them as Season 1 and Season 2.

This was, of course, something Netflix Korea had agreed to as well.

By that reckoning, Season 1 was set to release three one-act dramas in total, about six episodes in terms of episode count.

Among them, the first one-act to be released, as negotiated, was Oh Jong-man’s ’Murder Is a Qualification Too’.

”The part’s not that long, but it’s got a solid impact. Hoo, it’s been a while, this feeling.”

Oh Jong-man had written ’Murder Is a Qualification Too’, and the characters in it were his creations as well. So Oh Jong-man had long since mastered the lines and emotions of the roles. For him, it was nothing short of a truly unusual experience.

’So this is what it’s like to act in a work I wrote myself...... it feels easy somehow, and yet it makes me greedy too. Strange, this feeling.’

He’d appeared in quite a few works in supporting roles over the years, but this present experience was rare. Across every actor in the country, he was probably the first.

For the record, the female lead in Oh Jong-man’s ’Murder Is a Qualification Too’ was played by An Ji-hee.

Yoon Da-yeon was the female lead of ’The Noble Man and Woman’, the one-act to be released after ’Murder Is a Qualification Too’. For both An Ji-hee and Yoon Da-yeon, a female lead was either a first or something they hadn’t done in a long time.

Meanwhile, there was Director Baek Jeong-ha, half-crazed over producing the ’One-Act Drama Project’, her skin grown all the rougher for it, perhaps.

”Over here!! The floor’s creaking, go check it!!”

”Yes, Director-nim!”

She was inspecting the set still under construction. Next, a move to the outdoor locations that couldn’t be shot on set. Director Baek Jeong-ha, in the thick of location-scouting with the staff, skimmed the draft schedule that had come out.

Director Baek Jeong-ha, turning over this and that starting with the schedule, let out a low murmur. A trace of worry settled over her.

”Hmm, the music director’s the problem.”

She’d already been recommended music directors by Netflix Korea and the like, and had received plenty of music samples, but she still hadn’t decided on a music director.

Because none of them had satisfied Director Baek Jeong-ha.

More than anything, a big factor was that the ’One-Act Drama Project’ was an unusual project. Even if the main theme song of the ’One-Act Drama Project’ was shared, there were also the OSTs and the rest of the music that went into every nook and cranny of all six works.

To put it bluntly, it was not your typical drama setup.

One-acts though they were, a single music director had to produce the music for six works. That meant, much like the other key staff, that one music director had to clearly grasp the distinct color of all six works.

Director Baek Jeong-ha clicked her tongue briefly.

”Tsk, are my standards too high? Should I just settle on a music director and call it a compromise??”

Same time, the ’MEG’ conference room.

A man sat alone, not in the office of ’MEG’ but in the newly expanded conference room attached beside it. It was Cha Chung-hyeon, radiating boredom.

In front of Cha Chung-hyeon, who sat alone at the square table, a laptop, a tablet, countless sheets of paper, and more lay scattered about.

He was, right now, faithfully carrying out the order of the Commander, Kang Jae-ha.

The instruction to dig up everything on LN Entertainment, that is.

Just then, perhaps because he’d more or less wrapped things up, Cha Chung-hyeon, smiling faintly, propped his chin on his hand and murmured in a low voice.

”These LN Entertainment bastards, tax evasion, slush funds, they helped themselves to every last thing they could.”

LN Entertainment was on the verge of having its neck wrung.

*****

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