Chapter 170

Chapter 170. Master of Turning the Tables

Director Park Chan-deok went to visit Choi Gyu-sik, who was buried in editing work on the director's cut of 〈The Stranger〉.

Choi Gyu-sik had graduated from film school and followed the proper elite path toward becoming a director.

Park Chan-deok, on the other hand, had dropped out of high school, entered the film industry, and slowly worked his way up from minor acting roles.

Even so, the two had become close.

They liked each other's films.

"Director Choi, do you think I'm being pretentious too? Do I look like a snob?"

"Who said that? What, are all directors supposed to make commercial movies?"

One reason Choi Gyu-sik liked Park Chan-deok's work was that his films had become the destination every painfully pretentious art film wanted to reach.

Park Chan-deok genuinely created art.

And he had become the idol of obscure directors who tried to hide sloppy filmmaking behind incomprehensibility.

His stories weren't even that difficult.

His films were meticulous.

Complete.

The people who accused him of being pretentious were probably mostly big-studio directors suffering from a quiet inferiority complex.

"If you're thinking about making something that sells well in theaters, I'd recommend giving up. You're not the kind of person who'd enjoy making that sort of thing anyway."

"You really do read people frighteningly well. I'm going to try it."

Choi Gyu-sik stopped what he was doing and turned toward Park Chan-deok.

"You're going to try?"

"Yeah. Part of me wants to show everyone what a truly commercial film looks like, and how good I can be at making one. Even if it's artistic, if my movie makes far more money, doesn't that make it a commercial film?"

"I suppose it does."

Until now, Park Chan-deok's films had been, in other words, movies for critics.

Films with a generally quiet emotional tone, made to be watched repeatedly and interpreted, contributing to the creation of critical authority.

Choi Gyu-sik wasn't particularly convinced that Park Chan-deok could suddenly become completely commercial.

"You've done both, haven't you? Don't you have any advice for me?"

"Anyone can make art. Anyone can sell something too. In the end, what matters is whether you win awards."

When Choi Gyu-sik responded halfheartedly, Park Chan-deok clapped his hands once.

"Good. Give me some useful advice, and I'll tell you how I swept all three major film festivals. That's advice worth tens of billions of won. Are you really going to keep acting this lukewarm?"

"I'll advise you with all my heart and soul."

Choi Gyu-sik began explaining, one by one, what he believed were the formulas for commercial success.

Even if one or two leads were unknown actors, the supporting cast had to be popular stars.

Production investment should be attracted as aggressively as possible, even if it damaged the screenplay somewhat.

Study successful films from major distributors and use a plot structure practically guaranteed to perform at least moderately well.

Never use more than two pieces of foreshadowing that required audiences to interpret things outside the film itself.

Don't waste time on metaphors that theater audiences were likely to miss anyway.

Turn your back on critics, and you gain the audience.

Park Chan-deok listened, then said,

"I don't like it."

"Then your attitude is already wrong."

"Basically, you're telling me to make something that's easy to promote before and after release, aren't you?"

Choi Gyu-sik nodded.

"That's outside my talent. If I can't do it myself, I should borrow someone else's strength."

"How?"

"I'll make an advertisement film. Then the company will handle all of that for me."

Park Chan-deok showed him a contest announcement on his phone.

It was an advertising competition hosted by the major Korean corporation Sriver.

"What? That's an advertising contest."

"Exactly. Advertisements are video too. I can just shoot a film using an Sriver phone."

Park Chan-deok made the outrageous declaration.

"I'll satisfy their required conditions, and everything else will be exactly how I want it. Especially the casting. I refuse to compromise on that."

All right.

Let's organize this.

Youngchae's Woosung Pharmaceutical hair-dye commercial becomes an enormous success thanks to the Mayway versus Pakwis fight.

But about two weeks later, it gets hit with a backlash for false advertising.

Because 〈Bad Product Busters〉 blows it apart.

The third future video had continued beyond what I'd already watched.

The chairman of Woosung Pharmaceutical, his voice altered to sound sinister, made excuses.

Apparently, the dye had originally been produced using natural ingredients.

But because those ingredients had temporarily become difficult to obtain, they'd switched to ordinary chemical materials for the time being.

He claimed they would secure a new supply as soon as possible and return to natural ingredients.

Whatever their circumstances were, every product would end up being refunded.

And if that happened, forget the company's finances.

Youngchae's image would be completely wrecked.

When the time came, I'd probably slam the ground in regret several times and then file a damages lawsuit.

But even if I won the lawsuit, would Youngchae's ruined image magically recover?

No.

First, the advertising contract had to be canceled immediately.

I'd have Dae-hun handle that...

But why did the future spam show me Director Park Chan-deok winning an award?

Come to think of it, submissions for the Foreign Language Film Award had already closed long ago.

After replaying the video several more times, I searched Park Chan-deok's name online.

[〈Fiesta〉 Director Park Chan-deok to Enter Advertising Competition for First Time!]

[Winner of Sriver Phone Advertising Contest Entered by Park Chan-deok to Receive Running Royalty!]

[Unprecedented Terms Since Sriver's Founding: Running Royalty Offered!]

Apparently, the short-film category didn't require the same formal submission process.

Nominations could be considered right up until shortly before the awards ceremony.

It didn't look like filming had even started yet.

But as long as he finished the project before the February ceremony and managed to catch their attention, it wasn't particularly late.

Besides, if the future spam said so, he'd surely win the Academy Award somehow.

Park Chan-deok had never made a film that became a massive box-office hit.

But if a man called a genius of his era challenged himself to make something commercial, the result could be historic.

Sriver made the best-selling smartphones in Korea.

If their product was involved, they'd pour tremendous effort into distributing and promoting the film too.

And because they were offering a running royalty, Park Chan-deok himself would probably work hard toward commercial success.

It might even become a masterpiece remembered throughout Korean film history.

Park Chan-deok's success.

The huge advertising impact of the Mayway fight.

The collapse of Woosung Pharmaceutical.

What if I took advantage of all three opportunities?

First, it meant I could put Serin into Park Chan-deok's film.

Second, it meant I needed to pull Youngchae out of the Woosung Pharmaceutical advertisement.

Then what about the Mayway fight commercial?

Think again.

The future video about Mayway's fight wasn't telling me whether the fight itself was good.

It was telling me how successful the advertising had been.

That combat-sports Nutuber furiously cursed the match, but he never denied that the advertisements had succeeded.

And Youngchae's face was on one of them.

Even if Youngchae's image crashed afterward, that wouldn't mean the Mayway fight advertisement itself had failed.

It would mean Woosung Pharmaceutical had failed.

Which meant even if I cut off Woosung Pharmaceutical, I could still somehow obtain that advertising opportunity.

But I had nothing to advertise right now.

Should I advertise the Full Moon Foundation?

...I didn't know yet.

Still, I knew what I needed to do first.

I needed to meet Director Park Chan-deok.

"Cancel Youngchae's hair-dye commercial? We already agreed to it."

Dae-hun answered Jun-hyeok's sudden phone call.

"Ah, don't ask questions and just cancel it? Yes, well... If you tell me to strip, I'll strip."

"You mean, 'If you tell me to do it, I'll do it.'"

The call ended.

"What did he say? He told you to cancel the Woosung Pharmaceutical commercial?"

"Yeah. Apparently."

Maybe their schedule in America was going to take longer than expected?

Either way, nothing Do Jun-hyeok had ever ordered them to do had ended in disaster.

If anything, it usually helped them avoid one.

Dae-hun had never once regretted whatever small loss came from terminating a contract.

He called the advertising manager at Woosung Pharmaceutical.

"Yes, this is Woosung Pharmaceutical's marketing depart..."

Before the employee could even finish introducing himself, Dae-hun launched into an exaggerated apology.

"This is Director Kwon Dae-hun from Universe! Ah, I'm afraid something unfortunate has come up. It looks like we won't be able to proceed with the advertisement."

"What? Why all of a sudden?"

"Youngchae suddenly developed a personal issue. I know you're busy too, and I'm terribly sorry to inconvenience you like this. We'll quietly pay whatever cancellation penalty you request."

Dae-hun had dealt with Do Jun-hyeok's sudden changes of direction far too many times to be unfamiliar with this kind of situation.

The advertising manager, however, had no such experience.

The man took several strained breaths before suddenly exploding.

"Does that make any sense? If you cancel the contract now... We've already bid for terrestrial broadcasting slots! What are we supposed to do about all those costs?"

"If you bill us for them, we'll compensate you."

"This isn't something you can just fix with compensation! What about our entire advertising schedule? And broadcast bidding isn't the only money we've already spent."

Dae-hun silently listened to the man's complaints.

"We have no excuse. We do want to maintain a good relationship with Woosung Pharmaceutical."

"No... We've already spent tens of billions of won lobbying the World Boxing Center specifically for Youngchae's advertisement. What are you going to do about that loss? We can't even replace the model at this point!"

"I'm sorry."

The manager became even more furious.

"You people are unbelievable. Everyone said Universe was a good agency, so we trusted you. You think you can abuse your position like this?"

"We have our own circumstances. Calling this an abuse of power is a little..."

"Too much? What exactly could be so important that you suddenly refuse to participate in something our company has bet its life on? Is the appearance fee too low? Did another company offer more money? Whether it's tens of millions or hundreds of millions, I guess we'll have to match it all! We're the weaker party, after all!"

Dae-hun understood that the man was upset.

But his language was getting more aggressive by the second.

Whatever reason Do Jun-hyeok had for canceling the commercial, this wasn't something deserving of accusations about abusing power.

If they'd spent lobbying money, that was their problem.

And if canceling a contract was illegal, why did cancellation penalties exist in the first place?

Terminating a contract and paying the penalty were both part of the contract.

It wasn't like Universe was refusing to pay.

Dae-hun's patience finally snapped.

"I've been listening quietly, but... Are you really in a position to be shouting at us right now? What the hell did you people do to that hair dye?!"

The other side fell silent.

"What do you mean, what did we do?"

"Our Youngchae's face is her livelihood, and after using your dye she broke out in red rashes all over her skin! She can't even work her schedules right now! We were keeping quiet because we wanted to settle things amicably with Woosung Pharmaceutical, but if you're going to curse at us like this, we're upset too!"

The manager became visibly flustered.

"I-I saw her SNS. She looked completely healthy. Don't tell lies that won't fool anyone."

"Of course we'd retouch the photos before uploading them! What, you expect us to show fans that she's sick? Forget it! If you're going to turn this around on us like we're the villains, then we're not letting this go either. Get ready to receive a lawsuit!"

Dae-hun violently ended the call.

Jin-hee, who had been listening beside him, applauded in admiration.

"Wow. You're really good at telling lies in the most irritating possible way."

"I had a good teacher."

He'd learned all of it from Do Jun-hyeok.

It wasn't like Youngchae had actually developed any skin rash.

And Dae-hun wasn't planning to use that lie to avoid paying the penalty.

He had no intention of suing either.

They were going to pay the cancellation fee anyway.

He'd simply bluffed a little because he was tired of being insulted.

Still...

That commercial was supposed to air during the Mayway versus Pakwis fight.

What a shame.

Did Do Jun-hyeok know that?

Probably not.

The cancellation had already happened, but he could call Jun-hyeok, ask, and if Jun-hyeok changed his mind...

Well.

He'd just have to call the company again and cancel the cancellation.

Dae-hun dialed Jun-hyeok.

"Did you cancel it?"

"Yes. It's canceled. But you know that commercial Youngchae was supposed to film? Apparently, it was going to run during the Mayway versus Pakwis fight. Did you know that? Or were they just lying because they're angry?"

Do Jun-hyeok answered.

"Yeah. I knew."

"Oh, really? That's why they're going crazy right now. You have no idea how much abuse I just took over the phone. I think I deserve compensation for emotional damage..."

"Compensation, my ass. I'll buy you pork belly when I get back to Korea. Happy?"

A few insults in exchange for a meal of pork belly.

That was still a profitable trade.

"But what exactly did they say? Were they really that angry?"

"Yeah. Apparently, they spent a fortune lobbying some boxing organization just to secure that ad."

"They're probably exaggerating. They could just replace the advertising model. Why are they acting like the whole ad disappears just because Youngchae pulled out?"

As expected.

Even Jun-hyeok didn't know everything.

"It sounds like Youngchae being the model was part of the reason they got the deal in the first place. Apparently, without Youngchae they wouldn't have secured the spot. They said they can't replace her with someone else either, so they'll have no choice but to give up the advertisement."

"What? That's what they said?"

Jun-hyeok fell silent for a moment after hearing Dae-hun's explanation.

Then he asked again.

"So basically, they were given the advertising slot on the condition that Youngchae was the model?"

"Wouldn't that be the obvious conclusion?"

"Got it. You get ready for pork belly... No. Beef."

Jumping straight from pork belly to beef?

Apparently, Dae-hun had accidentally helped with something without even realizing it.