Chapter 130
As December began, a brutal cold wave swept in.
Since we had outdoor shoots and overnight filming, I worked with the youngest member of the production team to light fires in metal drums for the staff who were shivering from the cold.
While I was busy carrying firewood, Cha Seungjoon approached me with a sly grin.
“Hey, CEO Min. When am I getting married?”
“Marriage? Why are you suddenly asking about marriage? And how would I know when you’re going to...”
I stopped.
Something immediately came to mind.
Ha... so that rumor finally reached his ears too.
I had tried to be careful.
But the rumors about me refused to die down and instead spread rapidly among the staff.
Some people were even saying I had already undergone a shamanic initiation.
“Where did you hear that ridiculous nonsense this time...? Ahem.”
“Are you sure it’s ridiculous?”
Cha Seungjoon narrowed his eyes.
“Sometimes, when I watch you, it really does seem like you have some kind of spiritual gift.”
“Come on. Stop talking nonsense.”
“Hey, don’t be like that.”
He grinned.
“You can tell me honestly.”
“What kind of spirit is it? A child spirit? A fairy maiden? A general?”
Ha... what kind of nonsense is this now?
Cha Seungjoon stared at my face and suddenly burst out laughing.
“Though with your face, a fairy maiden would be a little... pfft!”
He doubled over laughing as though the image alone was too much.
Then a voice interrupted him.
“Enough with the ghost talk.”
Producer Baek Seonghan had approached without us noticing.
He looked troubled.
“Manager Cha, I think we need to change tomorrow’s schedule.”
“Suddenly? Why?”
Cha Seungjoon looked confused.
“They’re forecasting snow in Daegwallyeong tomorrow.”
“Seriously?”
Then Cha Seungjoon immediately asked,
“What percentage this time?”
“Over fifty percent.”
Baek Seonghan continued.
“So like last time, let’s have Director Song move with only the minimum staff first.”
Cha Seungjoon looked troubled.
“Ah, but we’re supposed to shoot in Suncheon Bay tomorrow.”
“If we change it now, the entire schedule afterward is going to get tangled.”
The situation was like this.
Ever since December began, Director Song Jaehyun had been checking the weather forecast around Daegwallyeong in Gangwon Province every single day.
It was all because of the ending scene of the movie.
In the ending, the protagonist, Youngsik, destroys the organization he built with his own hands.
Severely wounded, he then crosses a vast snow-covered field as he makes his way toward the home where his beloved family is waiting.
And as Youngsik walks across the pure white field, each of his footsteps stains the snow red with blood.
It was both the climax of the movie and one of its most visually overwhelming scenes.
That was why Song Jaehyun had chosen a field near Daegwallyeong, one of the snowiest places in Korea, as the filming location.
He had been waiting desperately for snow.
Not long ago, after seeing another forecast predicting snow in Gangwon Province, Song Jaehyun had taken a minimal crew to Daegwallyeong.
They waited three full days.
But the snow never came.
In the end, they had been forced to return.
And now another snow forecast had appeared for Gangwon Province tomorrow.
The truth was...
I was just as troubled by the situation.
Ha... what do I do?
The place where it’s going to snow tomorrow isn’t Daegwallyeong.
It’s Naju.
Before my regression, I knew that Song Jaehyun had eventually finished this scene using practical effects and CG to create the snow.
The reason was simple.
That winter, Gangwon Province suffered an unprecedented winter drought.
It barely received any rain, let alone snow.
The final scene completed with practical effects and CG wasn’t exactly bad.
Even so, among fans who loved Kingdom of Crime, it remained one of the film’s few regrets.
Before my regression, Song Jaehyun himself had mentioned in an interview that the scene would have been even more perfect if it had been filmed in a genuinely snow-covered field.
And because I already knew all of that...
This time, I had prepared carefully so we could shoot the scene in real snow.
Right.
In the winter of 2012, Gangwon Province barely got any snow.
But because of abnormal weather, Naju in the southern region, a place that normally received very little snow, got hit by a massive snowstorm.
Good.
I can use that.
The snowfall had even made the news under the headline The Heaviest Snowfall in Forty Years, so I remembered roughly when it happened.
That was why, when the directing team had been arranging the schedule, I deliberately guided them into scheduling the Suncheon Bay shoot around the time snow was supposed to fall in Naju.
Suncheon Bay and Naju are only about an hour apart by car.
We could shoot normally in Suncheon Bay.
Then, the moment news came in that snow was falling in Naju, we could immediately head there.
I had carefully planned everything in advance.
But if Director Song left for Gangwon Province tomorrow, all of it would become meaningless.
“PD Baek.”
I couldn’t hide my frustration as I spoke.
“The schedule is already fixed.”
“If you suddenly cancel it...”
I sighed.
“And last time the forecast said there was over a fifty-percent chance of snow too.”
“You spent three days in Gangwon Province and still didn’t see a single flake.”
Baek Seonghan nodded helplessly.
“I told Director Song the same thing.”
“But he won’t listen.”
Ha... what do I do?
I can’t exactly tell them the snow will fall in Naju tomorrow.
If I did that now, everyone would absolutely believe I had really undergone a shamanic initiation.
Ha... what kind of ridiculous dilemma is this?
Then suddenly...
“No.”
A familiar voice rang out.
“Absolutely not.”
It was Assistant Director Woo Jungin.
We immediately looked toward the voice.
Among the staff members moving around after finishing a shot, Song Jaehyun and Woo Jungin were arguing.
“You know how much trouble we went through rescheduling all the actors after losing three days because of that last trip to Gangwon Province!”
Woo Jungin sounded furious.
Although she and Song Jaehyun had been university classmates, she usually used formal speech with him around other people.
But this time, she was clearly so angry that casual speech came spilling out.
“Jungin.”
Song Jaehyun frowned.
“If we let December pass, the chances of snow drop even further.”
“You know that too.”
