“What I learned this time around is that the ones who get sacrificed are always the most powerless people.”
In this incident, Blue Fit members got criticized the most, and they also suffered the most damage out of everyone. They wouldn’t be able to make a comeback in the future, and if one were to also take their bleak future into account, it would be hard to put a number to the total damage.
Seol Moon-Young’s fall from grace had tarnished the entire career he had built so far, but his interview had subconsciously evoked sympathy from the public. After hearing Chae Woo-Jin sing ‘Shining Star,’ they were able to understand his agony that resulted from dissatisfaction with Min Si-Hoo. If it weren’t for Min Si-Hoo’s greed, the album would have been released as planned. Thus, quite a number of people shared the sentiment that Seol Moon-Young was also a victim in some way or another.
Woo-Jin didn’t know what Seol Moon-Young had received from CEO Kim Seok-Hyung in exchange for becoming the scapegoat. One thing was certain was that he never would have taken the blame readily without considerable compensation. Thus, he wouldn’t have made a significant loss. And even though CEO Kim Seok-Hyung might have incurred financial losses, scandals like that had always been rampant in the entertainment industry. Regardless of what happened, he always weathered the storm and emerged victorious.
TM was still flourishing, and Kim Seok-Hyung was still the head of the agency. Even though Kim Seok-Hyung and Seol Moon-Young had made some losses, they ultimately survived by sacrificing the most powerless and insignificant people.
“Nevertheless, it isn’t like they didn’t do anything and just put up with everything like you did,” Hyun-Min said.
“I know. That’s why I don’t feel guilty. It’s just that reality hit me once again.”
“How do you beat the final boss in a game?” Hyun-Min sipped his coffee and placed his arm on the back of the bench before looking at Woo-Jin and continuing. “If my level is low, I’d form a party with several other people and fight it. However, you have to fight several monsters before you get to the boss, and it gets annoying at times. Initially, you’ll take a huge amount of damage from these monsters, even though it’s just a single hit. However, once you face them a couple of times, you’ll get the hang of it and be able to defeat them easily. Then, one by one, after killing the monsters around, you’ll be left with the final boss. Like now.”
As a noob, one would have no choice but to seek help from higher-level individuals. Still, after gradually accumulating experience points and leveling up, they would be able to defeat the final boss all by themselves one day. Hyun-Min explained that ultimately, this was all just a process Woo-Jin had to go through to defeat the final boss.
“If only reality were like a game. But TM's CEO Kim doesn’t seem like the final boss….” Woo-Jin had perhaps met several great and outstanding people in his past lives, so TM's CEO Kim Seok-Hyung didn’t seem that great in comparison now.
“In that case, think of him as a high-level monster you need to defeat to get to the final boss.”
“Are you cursing me?”
“Isn’t that why people work so hard to build their skill sets in real life, just like they do in games? On that note, when did you learn how to sing traditional Korean ballads?” Since Hyun-Min brought it up so casually, Woo-Jin didn’t understand what he meant initially, but he gradually started blushing and awkwardly shook his head.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t sing any traditional ballads.” Even though Woo-Jin denied it, Hyun-Min paid no attention and continued asking.
“In that case, I’m guessing you didn’t get to see that bastard Min Si-Hoo remove his mask before your eyes? What a pity! You could have seen him turn pale, stuttering in front of you, unable to answer the questions. What a pity!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Hyun-Min smiled brightly at Woo-Jin; the latter was still feigning ignorance.
“If I were to hide in the crowd, covering my face with a hat and a scarf, with my back facing you, wouldn’t you still be able to recognize me?”
After hearing Hyun-Min’s question, Woo-Jin earnestly imagined the hypothetical situation. No, he didn’t have to imagine; when something similar happened in the past, Woo-Jin recognized his friend’s back view at a glance and approached him. However, Woo-Jin shook his head and continued feigning ignorance.
“Hey!”
“Don’t expect too much from me.” As soon as Woo-Jin grabbed his bag and stood up, Hyun-Min was speechless as he pointed a finger at him. He could recognize his friend at a glance, so how could Woo-Jin say such a thing?
“Where are you going? Hey, Doryeong!”
“Be quiet!”
“Didn’t you say it wasn’t you?”
“Did I say it wasn’t me?!”
In the end, Woo-Jin meekly admitted the truth, and Hyun-Min placed an arm around his shoulder before asking about that day once again. “You really didn’t see that bastard’s face?”
“No. I saw it on TV as well.”
“Be honest with me – it was gratifying, right?”
On the day of recording, he had simply been in a daze and didn’t have any thoughts in his mind. All he saw was himself being crowned The Masked King with 96 votes in his favor and went home without being aware of what had happened afterward. He finally found out what happened following his departure from the stage only after watching the episode on TV yesterday. Min Si-Hoo had only won three votes; he couldn’t say anything even after he took off his mask.
The flustered and puzzled look on his face was so obvious that it made the viewers feel embarrassed on his behalf. Standing next to him, Gam Sung-Joo kept talking to him and tried his best to lighten the mood, but to no avail. Even the interview that happened after a contestant got ousted was nonexistent. Min Si-Hoo looked very dejected, unlike his usual lively and confident self.
Woo-Hee was so happy seeing him like that – she laughed out loud in delight, rolling on the floor in the living room. Even though her mother hit her on the back for her unbridled behavior, she kept smiling brightly. Despite lecturing Woo-Hee, their mother was also smiling as brightly as her.
“I was happy.”
Rather than feeling gratified for defeating Min Si-Hoo, it made Woo-Jin happier to see his family having a great time. However, seeing them so happy over something like that also made him feel sorry towards them. He wondered if it was childish or distasteful of him to go on The King of the Masked Singers to defeat Min Si-Hoo, but he no longer had to worry about that.
***
After TM's official press conference on Monday, the staff members at the set of the commercial were cautious around Chae Woo-Jin. Most of them were worried about him having a hard time from feeling stressed over what happened the day before. The sensitive nature of actors was helpful when it came to acting, but it made it difficult for other people to work with them.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Chae Woo-Jin.”
However, Chae Woo-Jin arrived on set seemingly cheerful, as if nothing had happened. He bowed and greeted every staff member he saw and approached the director of the commercial.
“Are you feeling okay today?” The director in his mid-thirties looked at Woo-Jin and asked cautiously. He got very heated watching TM's press conference yesterday. He questioned why of all days they held the press conference a day before the shooting of the commercial and angrily thought up all kinds of ideas in his head.
“Of course. It happened a long time ago. There’s nothing to be upset about now. They’re the ones having a much harder time than me right now.” It might be hard for people bogged down by the past, but as a person who had deliberately induced this series of events, it wasn’t hard for him. However, others misinterpreted his words and sang praises of him.
“You were too kind. That's why they treated you like that.”
“Isn’t he like a saint?”
The advertising industry was the most sensitive to the trends and popularity of celebrities in the entertainment industry. Chae Woo-Jin was the best blue-chip[1] in the entertainment industry these days. It wasn’t certain whether the individual at the center of the legend that made a movie and drama, which everybody had deemed to fail, but became successful, would have the same effect in advertising. However, nobody could imitate his unique aura. Having the company logo next to his face alone was meaningful enough.
Woo-Jin had to take two videos today. He got his makeup done and changed into a different set of clothes for the first commercial. His prop was a sword. His clothes and makeup were inspired by the fashion style of a high-level executive. He would be wearing a fancy sword on his back that looked like it came out of a fantasy movie. The black suit fitted his body perfectly, and his hair was combed back neatly. He looked like an executive who had to attend a meeting. Woo-Jin also had a 120-centimeter Bastard Sword in his hand.
“The purpose of this commercial is to advertise the company’s image - ‘We are number one!’ We’ll be shooting it based on the concept that our competitors are no match for us, so beat us if you can! We’re planning to shoot it using an aggressive marketing strategy and shake everything up.”
“I’ve taken a look at the scenario for the commercial. But if we don’t do it right, wouldn’t it look like a game commercial?” Woo-Jin would take the throne by defeating and eliminating robots based on the scenario. But due to the props and storyline, it was easy for people to misunderstand it as a game commercial.
“The era of using phones to make only phone calls is over. Our commercial suggests that our network speed is so fast that it's conducive for gaming.” The head of advertising from the marketing department was a man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties. He was filled with youthful passion.
“In the beginning, the supreme being looks bored, but gradually, he becomes more and more excited, as he eliminates the enemies one by one. Finally, as mentioned in the scenario, before he ascends the throne, he takes a step back and smiles arrogantly, with a condescending look on his face as though he was saying, ‘These insignificant beings!’”
The head of advertising personally posed for Woo-Jin with the desired expression; his eyes gleamed as he looked at Woo-Jin. It seemed as though he was telling Woo-Jin to mimic him, so Woo-Jin stopped moving and mimicked his facial expression. Woo-Jin was somewhat confident he could pull off the arrogant look of a supreme being. However, as soon as Woo-Jin made the facial expression, the head of advertising’s gleaming eyes started trembling violently as he froze.
“This isn’t it?” As soon as Woo-Jin felt something was off, he smiled awkwardly and scratched behind his ears.
“That…that’s scary. We can’t air such an expression.” He shook his head and proceeded to say it looked as though Woo-Jin was really going to kill someone, so it would be rejected.
“I must admit that it looked so real. It was so scary that I might have nightmares. Can you do something else? Like a charming and seductive smile!” At first, he wanted him to have the arrogant look of a supreme being, but now he wanted Woo-Jin to seduce the viewers. Woo-Jin could barely hold back his laughter upon hearing his suggestion. Even though they had a lot of images in mind, in the end, the commercial only aimed at doing one thing – attracting customers.
The viewers might feel submissive and fearful when they saw Woo-Jin’s arrogant, supreme-being look, but they wouldn’t have a good impression. That definitely wasn’t what the company wanted. So regardless of the storyline, the commercial had to unconditionally evoke positive emotions from the viewers.
Ultimately, the company was asking him to portray the image in a plausible way. The most important thing was that the commercial had to give the viewers the confidence that the company’s products and services were reliable and useful. Even if that wasn’t the case, they had to appear sincere enough to make their products and services look sufficiently attractive to elicit the desire to own them. This was the reason why commercials couldn’t be trusted.
“The CGI for the background has already been created, so please take a look at it.”
In the first shoot, Woo-Jin had to act by himself in front of the green screen. There were many fantasy elements and content in the background, so they planned to use CGI for everything apart from Woo-Jin himself and a few props. However, as the shooting of the commercial kept getting postponed, they had completed the CGI background in advance.
The dim city streets were very glamorous. A tall, futuristic-looking yet unrealistic building stood at the end of the street. Upon entering the building, robots appeared and started attacking the empty space. Before long, they broke into pieces and shattered. Thereafter, the broken robots transformed into new ones. The fragments created in that process produced a fancy mise-en-scène. And the scene ended as they slowly approached the throne at the end of a grand door.
Woo-Jin watched the video over and over again. He checked the time for each take, and he carefully reviewed the movement and direction of the robots’ attack, engraving them in his head. He calculated the movement path and actions to gauge the next move. He would be making revisions later on as he worked on synchronizing his actions with the video, but when it came to saving time and effort, it all depended on how good Woo-Jin was. More importantly, he didn’t want to look stupid in front of other people by not knowing where to look or getting the directions wrong.
1. It’s a stock market reference; it refers to an established, stable, and well-recognized corporation. ☜
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