Chapter 135
“At this rate, aren’t we really going to have to replace the music director?”
Baek Seonghan was thinking the same thing I was.
I forced myself to stay calm.
“For now, let’s meet the people from Golden Sound first.”
When we arrived at the conference room, Director Song Jaehyun, Executive Director Kim Eunkyung, and two people who appeared to be representatives from Golden Sound were already there.
“Ah, I’m sorry we’re late. I’m Min Kibaek, CEO of New Wave, the co-production company for this film.”
“And I’m Baek Seonghan, the executive producer for this project.”
After Baek Seonghan and I introduced ourselves, Kim Eunkyung introduced the people from Golden Sound.
“This is Executive Director Cheon Giseok of Golden Sound, and beside him is Manager Kim Buseong.”
Cheon Giseok looked to be in his early thirties.
He was the son of Cheon Byeongju, the CEO of Golden Sound, who had halted all public activities due to a chronic illness.
In practice, Cheon Giseok was now the real power within the company.
After brief introductions, we got down to business.
“It’s unfortunate that our first meeting is under circumstances like these.”
Kim Eunkyung spoke first.
“But in another sense, perhaps this is all happening because everyone wants the film to succeed.”
Cheon Giseok curled his lips into a smile.
“Exactly.”
Then he added in a deliberately provocative tone,
“Director Song isn’t some amateur filmmaker. Who could’ve expected him to bring some completely unknown rookie music director into a project this large?”
The atmosphere in the room instantly turned cold.
Baek Seonghan quickly stepped in, clearly trying to smooth things over.
“Well, with any kind of art, including music, I don’t think whether someone is a rookie or an established name is necessarily what matters.”
He continued.
“And as far as I know, Executive Director Cheon, you haven’t even listened to the music Director Choi Yujin prepared for our film yet.”
“Our music director?”
Cheon Giseok raised an eyebrow.
“We’ve never acknowledged anyone named Choi Yujin as the music director for this film.”
His firm tone made all of us exchange startled looks.
Then Song Jaehyun finally spoke, clearly having made up his mind.
“But the music work is already finished.”
He leaned forward.
“How are we supposed to replace the music director now?”
“On top of that, if we want to meet the Cannes competition submission deadline, we need to finish post-production as quickly as possible.”
“We already heard all about that from Executive Director Kim.”
Cheon Giseok answered coldly.
“Which is exactly why someone like that can’t be the music director.”
“You’re aiming for Cannes, yet you want to put someone in charge of the score whose entire film-music résumé consists of one short film?”
Ha...
Looking at this, it really does seem true that they create excuses like this and eventually force productions to use their own music directors.
While I was briefly lost in thought, Baek Seonghan spoke again.
“Executive Director Cheon, even a rookie can create excellent music.”
“For now, why don’t you listen to what we prepared?”
“No, once you hear it, I’m certain your opinion might change.”
Cheon Giseok looked at Baek Seonghan and smirked.
“Fine.”
“If you’re that confident, let’s hear what this Choi Yujin person made.”
His tone sounded as though he were granting us some enormous favor.
Baek Seonghan’s brow tightened.
No.
This isn’t going to work.
Cheon Giseok had clearly come here from the beginning intending to push one of Golden Sound’s own music directors into the project.
No matter how good our music was, showing it to someone like that would be pointless.
He would obviously find some excuse to criticize it.
Which meant there was no value in simply playing the music for him.
I quickly thought through the situation.
And I concluded that the best move was to make Cheon Giseok reveal his true intentions as quickly as possible.
Once he did, we could say we needed time to consider the proposal, buy ourselves some time, and prepare a countermeasure.
“Excuse me.”
Everyone turned toward me when I suddenly interrupted.
“Before we listen to the music, may I ask one question first?”
Cheon Giseok smiled leisurely.
“Of course. Ask anything.”
“As Director Song just said, we need to complete the first stage of editing soon in order to submit the film to Cannes.”
I continued.
“But if you listen to our music and decide you don’t like it, then as Golden Sound has demanded, we may end up having to replace the music director.”
“Of course.”
“But we currently have no alternative music director or replacement score ready.”
I looked directly at him.
“How do you propose we deal with that?”
Cheon Giseok glanced toward Manager Kim beside him.
As though he had been waiting for this exact question, Manager Kim immediately answered.
“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that.”
“Golden Sound already has several excellent music directors under contract as affiliated artists, especially in the OST field.”
“Then...”
I deliberately tested them.
“Are you saying you’ve already prepared an alternative?”
Cheon Giseok answered without the slightest hesitation.
“Of course.”
“Our affiliated music directors already have hundreds of instrumental tracks prepared.”
“And that’s not all.”
“Our best music directors will work through the night if they have to, in order to create the highest-quality music for you.”
As expected.
So this was the real point.
I nodded as though surprised.
“Ah, I didn’t realize Golden Sound had music directors under contract.”
Cheon Giseok frowned irritably.
“You’re behind on industry news.”
Then he continued.
“Since the subject has come up, one of our affiliated music directors is Yoo Jaehan.”
“In fact, we believe someone at Music Director Yoo Jaehan’s level is the minimum appropriate choice for this film.”
Yoo Jaehan?
The name alone didn’t immediately bring any specific work to mind.
When I blinked, Cheon Giseok frowned even more.
“You work in film and you don’t know Music Director Yoo Jaehan?”
He listed several titles.
“He did Superman in Our Neighborhood, That Summer, We Loved, and Rainbow Club.”
“Ah.”
