Chapter 196: Stop at Nothing, By Any Means (2)

TL: emptycube / ED: Isleidir

“…! Please look over here!”

The sound of camera shutters pounded against my ears.

The static was worse than normal, but I knew exactly where I was. Because the familiar short film photo wall was right in front of me, the photographers in front of the wall, and movie industry people walking around. I had just seen this same scene.

“Isn’t that Team Leader Jung Sunwoo?”

My gaze turned regardless of my will. The person who recognized me was familiar. He was the large investment/distribution agency general manager I had met in this exact spot around thirty minutes ago.

What was going on?

Was I looking at the past and not the future?

Still in a state of confusion, my body bowed courteously.

“Team Leader Jung, why are you here? Are you here to check on rookies?”

“There’s that, and I thought I could discuss our actors’ next projects with directors.”

“Ah… Really?”

So this wasn’t the past.

The same short film festival closing ceremony. At the same location. But it was a few years in the future?

“Director Joo, you know Team Leader Jung Sunwoo, right?”

“I do. This feels different. We had met in this exact place a year ago.”

The man next to the general manager spoke.

“It was the first time I received an award after entering my short film. I was so discouraged that I couldn’t even meet your gaze.”

His hair was styled, and his face had makeup on. He wore a nice suit. If I didn’t hear that he was a director, I would have thought he was a celebrity considering how much attention he spent on his appearance.

Director Joo. Who was he?

I flipped through my memories until I finally recalled who he was. He was the face I had just seen. The unknown director I had been introduced to by the production employee. The one who entered the competition. Just looking at his appearance, he looked like a completely different person.

The fact that he saw me a year ago… Does this mean this is a year from the present?

“Was there something like that? You can look at him in his eyes all you want now. You’re not the same Director Joo as before. No need to be discouraged.

The general manager encouraged the young director.

“You made a box office hit with your debut movie, a non-mainstream with a noir feel, and won rookie director and screenplay awards. You even attended Cannes. People are remarking how your next project is the most anticipated right now.”

My ears perked.

“I had spent five years working on just the scenario for this project, so my next will be a problem.”

“A project that is bound to fail will fail even if you work on it for five, even ten years. A film like this was born because you put your life on the line.”

My heart had started to race the moment this vision began, but it felt like my clogged vessels had busted open and fresh blood was flowing through my veins.

If he attended Cannes, then it meant his film was good regardless of the actors or distribution agency. I should have a proper conversation with him once this vision was over.

A project he had been working on for five years. On top of that, if the movie released within a year from the present, then at the latest, he would probably start filming within the next couple months. His scenario was likely complete by now.

My body shuddered because of how much I wanted to read it.

What kind of film would it be? Just as I wished I could at least hear what it was called.

“Director Joo! City Jungle was a lot of fun. It was too polished for your first project?”

The answer just rolled in. People from production companies came over and began chatting.

Why was I getting information so easily this time?

It made me wonder if I was daydreaming instead of seeing the future.

Just then, my vision flipped. So it wasn’t a daydream. It was my first time being relieved by getting kicked out of a vision. I blinked to adjust to my suddenly changed vision, but my vision was still filled with static.

What was this?

I was in a different place now. I heard the sound of meat sizzling and clinking glasses. Was I in a restaurant? A banquet hall? Anyways, this wasn’t the present. It was another vision of the future. While surprised, my feet were moving. It seemed I had quite a bit to drink as my body staggered.

As soon as I opened the door, I was met with a warm night breeze. It was summer. Just as I took a step out,

“Did you see Team Leader Jung’s expression when we met today? He looked like he had stepped in shit.”

“Why wouldn’t he? I bet his stomach aches whenever he sees Director Joo’s face.”

My steps halted.

Three red faces were smoking in front of the brilliantly lit sign. They were the production people I had seen in the previous vision as well as in the present. They wore the same outfit as the previous vision. So this was the afterparty of the festival.

Understanding the situation, I perked my ears because I thought they were talking about me.

“Who? Team Leader Jung Sunwoo? What about him?”

“Do you not know? Apparently, Team Leader Jung was the first person Director Joo showed City Jungle to. I heard that he even went to his home to ask for Lee Songha to be the female lead.”

“Huh, then his stomach wouldn’t just ache, it must be lurching at the sight of him. If he went with that project, Lee Songha wouldn’t have a flaw in her filmography, and Team Leader Jung Sunwoo would have continued to be well off.”

A flaw in Lee Songha’s filmography? I would have continued to be well off?

“That’s what I’m saying. He thought long and hard before coming to a decision, yet the project he chose completely flopped. And the project he rejected because it was a rookie director’s first film became a hit. There was just a lot of empty hubbub about him being Midas’s Hand.”

“Midas’s Hand. It’s been a long time since I last heard that.”

Their chuckles and laughed ground my ears. Although I didn’t have a sip of alcohol, flames ignited in my stomach. Flopped? The project I thought long and hard before deciding flopped? What project did I end up choosing?

Wait, wait.

Right now, I should focus on not missing a single word…

“Also, I heard Team Leader Jung fell out of favor.”

“Huh?”

“There are even rumors that he’s being pushed aside since W&U is recruiting another team leader and other rumors about how he fell out of CEO Baek Hansung’s favor and was demoted to back to chief. Either way, his current predicament isn’t very good.”

“Team Leader Jung Sunwoo, wasn’t CEO Baek the one who promoted him to team leader?”

“I guess he found out that he wasn’t team leader material after promoting him.”

I didn’t even have time to think as my legs just moved.

“He acted arrogantly like he wouldn’t be successful for the next ten thousand years, yet look at him no…”

“If you have something you’re curious about me, then just ask me directly. Instead of spouting nonsense.”

Such sarcastic remarks came out of my mouth. A man who was exhaling cigarette smoke coughed loudly. His expression momentarily flashed with shock before he wiped it from his face. He said in a mocking tone,

“I mean I’m sorry that we talked about you behind your back, but it’s not nonsense. Someone might think that I was making it all up. I heard this from someone at W&U.”

“Who?”

“I can’t tell you. Anyways, rumors have spread internally.”

The man shrugged.

“That Team Leader Jung Sunwoo is a kite with a broken string.”

I heard loud clapping. I blinked my dry eyes. My vision was no longer filled with static.

Someone who waving his award and bouquet in front of the screen.

“I saw his work, and it was filmed well.”

Someone struck a conversation next to me. Still a little out of it, I turned my head and frowned. The person who said I saw a kite with a broken string was sitting next to me. I barely managed to contain my urged to shove his approaching face away.

“Team Leader Jung, are you perhaps interested in rookie director’s works?”

He spoke with a smile on his face.

“Why there are cases where one’s debut work is a huge hit. Those who wait a long time to debut and put their life on the line when the opportunity arises. Our company is looking for rookie directors like that, so if you are interested…”

“I don’t know.”

I fixed my gaze in front of me. I kept recalling his words, so I felt like my hand would strike out if I kept looking at his face. An unfamiliar man, clearly moved, was giving his award speech at the podium.

While acting like I was listening carefully, I organized the information in my mind.

I obtained a lot of information this time.

I now knew that the project I would choose would flop and that it would be a flaw in Lee Songha’s filmography. It was also possible that matters other than that also didn’t work out.

Though I couldn’t be sure, I also knew that unpleasant rumors about me would also spread in W&U.

So all this would happen in a year.

My future looked great.

I rubbed my face when Im Seoyoung poked my side.

“Oppa, it’s Lee Songha’s turn.”

When I raised my head, Lee Songha was handing a bouquet to another award winner. Applause soon broke out. I mechanically clapped before stopped. Then I scanned the winner. A young man who hugged the bouquet in a stooped position.

“Director Joo Jaechan. We will now listen to his award speech.”

Joo Jaechan. Director Joo.

Yeah, I had obtained some good news before getting beat up about all this bad news.

No matter what project I choose in the future that will flop, it hasn’t occurred yet. I could simply change the future like how I saved Royal Family, which had been about to flop due to a drug scandal. I had all the information I needed.

I just needed to grab ahold of the opportunity that found its way in front of me.

I attended the afterparty after watching all the winning works after the closing ceremony. The location was an outdoor banquet hall, different from the one I saw in the future. While I went around clinking glasses with people, my gaze soon fixed in one direction.

Director Joo Jaechan was sitting at a table with the unknown actors who appeared in his work. The actors went around, trying to network, but Director Joo Jaechan sat stiffly like a turtle.

I wasn’t sure if he was just too shy or had no intentions of marketing himself.

Recalling his appearance in the future, he didn’t seem like the shy type.

Right now, he was hugging a clunky backpack while downing glasses of soju. He occasionally glanced at other winners who were receiving attention from production companies.

Director Joo Jaechan had received a mise en scène award. Since it was an award given to works with great visual arts and expression, he would receive less attention from production companies than the grand award or best work award.

“Congratulations on your award.”

“Thank… Oh, hello!”

Director Joo Jaechan stumbled to his feet when he saw my face.

“Is there a spare seat?”

“Ah, of course. Please sit anywhere!”

As soon as I sat down, I raised a bottle of soju. Director Joo Jaechan quickly downed the glass of soju I poured for him. Half of it dripped on his clothes. I refilled his glass, and he poured me a glass as well. I would get to the point after buttering him up with small talk.

“Is there a scenario you are preparing for a feature-length film?”

I went straight to the point… Forget butting him up, I couldn’t contain myself.

“…. A scenario?”

“Yes, a feature-length film. I was wondering if I could take a look if you did have one.”

Director Joo Jaechan, who blankly looked at me as if wondering why I was asking, moved his pupils. Soon, his face ignited with anticipation. The moment he was about to speak, someone grabbed my shoulder.

“Team Leader Jung, if you ask that, our rookie director here won’t be able to sleep tonight from the anticipation.”

He was the person who introduced me to Director Joo Jaechang. He seemed to be quite drunk as he was starting to slur his words. He placed one of his heavy arms on my shoulder and the other on Director Joo Jaechan’s shoulder before saying,

“Director Joo. Don’t get ahead of yourself and just show him. Relax. Team Leader Jung here is obsessed with scenarios. I heard he reads scenarios to proposals no matter if they were from a pro or an amateur.”

“Ahh…”

The flames in Director Joo Jaechan’s eyes dwindled slightly. He opened his backpack with a bashful expression. He seemed to have been prepared for situations like this as he took out a neatly bounded scenario.

I unconsciously gulped.

“Err, this is a scenario I’ve been working on for a long time.”

Yeah, this.

“It isn’t polished enough that I can show it off confidently…”

Even though he said that, his hands showed no hesitation in handing me the scenario. I checked the title as soon as I received it. I flipped the pages and skimmed through the plot.

Then I asked Director Joo Jaechan,

“… Is this all?”

“Pardon? Yes.”

“Even proposals?”

“This is the only feature-length film I’ve been preparing.”

I looked down at the scenario again.

From what I knew, the title of his work was City Jungle, and it was a noir flick.

Why was this one completely different?