Chapter 192

Chapter 192. Those Born With It

"Ah, yes. I understand."

I finished my call with Chairman Kim Gyu-bong and hung up.

Only then did the president and the members gather around me with interest.

"What did he say?"

"He asked me to send you his regards, Mr. President. Told you to take good care of your health."

The president tilted his head.

"Hmm. That doesn't sound like him... Does he mean he's planning to kill me?"

He hadn't sounded like that at all.

Still, from the president's perspective, a strange show of goodwill from a chaebol chairman might seem suspicious.

I was pretty damn suspicious myself right now.

"You know how Youngchae became our model last time? When we calculate modeling fees, we price them separately depending on whether it's a domestic or overseas campaign. In other words, Youngchae's original advertising fee ended up being undervalued. We signed the contract when there were no plans to air it internationally."

So Kim Gyu-bong said he wanted to pay Youngchae the proper additional amount for an overseas campaign, even now.

In other words, he wanted to wire a huge amount of money into my account even though he didn't strictly have to.

I'd read the contract carefully when we signed it.

There definitely had been a clause like that.

The fee would be quantitatively calculated according to the advertising period and the regions where the commercial would be broadcast.

But the overseas campaign had only happened later because I'd practically pushed them into doing it.

I'd never asked them to recalculate the fee.

And that wasn't all.

"So first, we'd like to pay the additional amount. And we'd also like to officially make Youngchae the global face of Sriver... Actually, I wanted to ask whether we could sign an additional contract with the other members too and make Blue Moon itself our model. There would be no requirement that you must film advertisements or carry out specific activities. What was the word again? Am... Am... Ambrosia?"

He even wanted Blue Moon to become Sriver's ambassadors.

Of course, it probably wouldn't be an ordinary ambassador deal.

What he meant was that Sriver wanted a relationship deep enough that every time Blue Moon grew, Sriver would clearly benefit too.

To put it simply, he was saying:

If you inconvenience yourselves just a little for Sriver from now on, we'll regularly bring you enormous amounts of money.

But as far as I knew, businessmen didn't make deals where they lost money.

He had clearly calculated that using our members as models would bring in even more profit.

Looks like he'd made quite a bit from the Mayway boxing match and the Super Bowl advertisement.

What I had to think about was whether accepting too eagerly might let Sriver swallow Blue Moon's entire image.

A planner like me worked hard to produce Blue Moon's image.

An advertiser like Kim Gyu-bong was someone who enthusiastically spent that image.

For now, I told him I'd think about it and ended the call.

We properly enjoyed the reception at the Blue House before returning to the company.

On the way back, I kept thinking about Kim Gyu-bong's proposal.

If we accepted today's offer and Blue Moon really became the complete "Sriver Girls," additional contracts would eventually be necessary.

He'd said there was no need to spend time shooting commercials.

But that didn't mean we could literally never shoot anything.

People weren't going to magically seek out Sriver just because Blue Moon walked around saying, We're Sriver models.

Which meant Kim Gyu-bong intended to gradually pull Blue Moon deeper into his orbit.

Rather than agonize over it alone, I decided to ask someone who would know.

I immediately called MVN president Jung Tae-jin.

"Chairman Kim Gyu-bong? Oh dear. So it finally happened."

Jung Tae-jin sighed after hearing the story.

"I haven't met him very often myself, but my older brother deals with Chairman Kim quite a lot. He said Chairman Kim seemed to have taken a very favorable view of Universe after Youngchae's advertisement."

Apparently, Jung Tae-geon and Kim Gyu-bong had talked more than I'd expected.

According to him, when Kim Gyu-bong first benefited from the Mayway fight, he'd focused more on the attention surrounding the sports event than on Youngchae as a model.

That was why he'd begun considering acquiring a sports team.

But after the Super Bowl advertisement became a hit, he'd directly experienced just how much value the Halftime Show generated.

Apparently, he'd become convinced that celebrities were actually a more profitable product than sports.

On top of that, Youngchae had left quite a good impression on Americans as the Sriver Girl, and Sriver's US business was doing well because of it.

So Jung Tae-jin said it made sense that Kim Gyu-bong was becoming this aggressive.

"Think about it. He originally planned to buy a baseball team. Now he's prepared to pour that entire budget into Blue Moon instead. When my brother told me, I thought he was exaggerating, but apparently not. Tragic news. I should tell him to give up on ZJ and just go manage headquarters."

So he wanted to pour enough money into Universe to build an entire sports franchise?

I ended the call with Jung Tae-jin and pictured it.

A mountain of money pouring into Universe.

Kwon Dae-hun buried beneath stacks of cash, screaming.

To start a sports team, you'd at least need to build a stadium in a decent-sized regional city.

I couldn't even properly imagine how much that alone would cost...

As if telling me to cool my head, Choi Gyu-sik called.

"Yes, Director. This is Do Jun-hyeok."

"Yes, CEO. I'm starting a drama, so I'm calling to offer our Serin another role."

I checked my email.

Attached were the synopsis I'd already seen through Serin and a full first draft of the script.

"Ah, is that so? Yes. I'll make sure Serin gets it."

"Thank you."

We ended the call.

Should I see how the script had developed?

I opened the file.

〈Do Hyeok-jun Runs Through Time〉

Do Hyeok-jun Runs Through Time?

Wasn't it The Manager Who Runs Through Time?

And now it's Do Hyeok-jun?

Director Choi Sik-gyu, this man really...

While I was at it, I decided to go through all the casting offers the members had received.

The one that stood out most was a dubbing request from the Korean distributor of World Dizn, a globally renowned animation studio.

Apparently, a man named Adam, a sound director at World Dizn in America, had fallen in love with Serin's voice during the Academy Awards and personally recommended her to World Dizn Korea.

The person in charge of Korean localization went on at great length about the appeal of Serin's voice.

They asked her to read the original animation's story and, if she liked it, strongly consider joining the project.

Since they had received an early recommendation and were approaching us far before final casting, they said there was still plenty of time and she could answer slowly.

The animation was called 〈The Three Duchesses〉.

The basic plot went like this:

The crown prince of an empire falls into a deep sleep after being cursed by evil magic.

The eldest daughters of three duchies all want to break the curse and marry him, so they compete against one another.

Eventually, however, they join forces, save the world, and create an even larger united duchy capable of standing against the empire itself.

The role being offered to Serin was the one reputed to be the bravest and most beautiful of the three duchesses.

Of course, only her voice would be Serin's.

To me, it looked like an excellent opportunity.

I wasn't about to say voice actors had it easy.

Still, wasn't it better than spending months rolling around American cities filming some tentpole movie?

And this was a Dizn World dub.

It would be a perfect chance to indulge in Serin's voice acting.

"Something like this came in. It looked unusual, so I brought it over. They want you to think about it, Serin. I don't really know much about this stuff."

I hid my personal enthusiasm as much as possible and handed Serin a printed copy of the offer.

"Wow. Dizn..."

She looked impressed at first.

Then her expression gradually became uncertain and she tilted her head.

"Ah, but I've heard dubbing is really difficult because you have to act using only your voice. I don't know if I can do it well."

Of course you can.

Serin wasn't merely a great actress.

Her voice was so clear and beautiful that she could probably read a textbook aloud and make critics give her a standing ovation.

"Then practice a little. If you think you can do it, we'll say yes?"

"Yes! I should at least try."

I printed several more copies of the script and handed them to the members.

They agreed to read the opposing roles so Serin could properly practice.

"This is terrible! The prince has lost consciousness because of the dragon's curse!"

Serin nailed it immediately, like someone who'd already spent years working as a professional voice actress.

For the first time in my life, I understood why people described a beautiful voice as sounding like jade beads rolling across a plate.

I wanted to keep listening.

The next line was Youngchae's.

"What?! You evil dragon! I'll b-break you... Ah! Why is it me again?! I swear I can do anything except this line!"

That was enough teasing for this week's quota.

No need to keep going.

Anna and Aran were chosen to read Serin's other scene partners.

The three duchesses began arguing over an abandoned carriage.

Our Anna and Aran were surprisingly good actors too.

And Serin still sounded like a professional voice actress.

Watching the practice, I could already tell Serin would never be satisfied with her own performance no matter what.

So I recorded the whole thing and sent it to World Dizn.

If the staff praised her directly, maybe Serin would gain some confidence.

"You heard the dubbing sample Universe sent for Serin, right? Honestly, if she'd been a little worse, it would've at least sounded like we cast an idol. For a second, I thought they'd brought in a voice actress with a similar voice and were trying to scam us."

"Even if she's an idol, she should still be good at dubbing! We're casting her because her voice is good."

The Korean distribution manager at World Dizn Korea replied.

The sound director was right.

The whole point of casting Kim Serin was that the audience should keep being reminded that it was Kim Serin's voice.

But while the dubbing itself was excellent, the voice was unmistakably the Kim Serin he knew.

He'd already thought there was something unusual about her diction back during 〈The Theory of a Crush〉.

Apparently, she was excellent at dubbing too.

There had been a reason the American sound director recommended her.

"Well, she did star in a movie that won four Academy Awards. I guess she's good at everything related to acting."

The sound director said.

Now that he thought about it, that was true.

〈The Stranger〉 had recently won several major awards and filled news pages everywhere.

But Kim Serin had originally become famous not for acting, but for singing.

She was good at emotional songs.

She could hit high notes.

And judging from her appearance on 〈Mask Singer〉, she would probably be good at musical-style vocal projection too.

"You know the role Kim Serin recorded? Let's lock her in for that part. There's no reason not to cast her with acting like this."

"Agreed."

"Then who do we use as the singing voice? Should we have Serin do that too?"

Not only 〈The Three Duchesses〉, but most World Dizn animations were essentially musicals.

Like Bollywood movies, characters would suddenly sing and dance throughout the film.

Since this film was expected to succeed partly through its music, they would normally cast a separate singing voice with a similar vocal tone.

But Kim Serin was already an outstanding singer.

"Yes."

The sound director smiled and nodded.

"By the way, in this recording Universe sent... someone seems to be reading the other roles. Who are these people?"

"I'm not sure. The notes only mention Kim Serin's role. There's nothing about the people reading opposite her. Should I ask?"

The manager asked the sound director to contact Universe.

Then he replayed Serin's recording.

"This carriage belongs to me."

"Yeah, right. At least wet your lips before you lie."

"You're calling me a liar? With legs like tree trunks? You think the prince would like someone with legs like yours?"

"Tree trunks? You freckled little... Stay out of this!"

Had they deliberately chosen distinctive voices so the roles would be easy to tell apart?

World Dizn hadn't even finished casting the other characters yet, and Universe's recording already sounded almost complete.

The sound staff member returned from the call.

"They said the other members who happened to be in the practice room read the parts with her. 'Anne' is Anna, and 'Yoon' is Aran."

"What? They're all good?"

Were idols normally good at everything?

That couldn't be right...

The casting manager had worked with idols many times.

If anything, idols tended to enter dubbing more easily because of their fame, which often made their weaknesses more obvious.

"These girls really were born talented. No wonder they're famous."

"Exactly."

"This is enough. Bundle Kim Serin as both the acting and singing voice and send it to headquarters in America for approval. They haven't cast the main roles over there yet either, so our casting might even become a reference for them."

The film was planned for simultaneous worldwide release.

If Serin's acting was anything to go by, the Korean dub might end up receiving the highest praise of every language version.