Chapter 159
Three days later, at 11 a.m.
The real-time reservation and audience count board on the Korean Film Council’s integrated computer network flashed red.
[Total Admissions: 10,000,204]
“We did it! We just hit ten million! Ten million!”
Ju Hanyoung’s shout shattered the quiet in the office.
Every head turned toward him at once.
“Really?! Where?”
“It’s true! Ten million two hundred and four! We’re at ten million two hundred and four right now!”
Employees who confirmed the number shot out of their seats.
Some hugged one another.
Others pounded on their desks and cheered.
“Team Leader Min! Ten million! We really hit ten million!”
“Wow, this is insane. A ten-million-admission film in my first year here. I can brag about this, right? Hahaha.”
Unlike the excited employees around me, I quietly stared at the number on the screen.
Ten million.
A one followed by seven zeroes.
It wasn’t just a number.
In the Korean film industry, it was an absolute benchmark of commercial success, a territory people practically called the realm of the gods.
Ha... we really did it.
Something hot surged up from deep inside my chest.
Before my regression, I had spent more than twenty years drifting around the film industry.
In the end, I left without even a proper credit to my name, an outsider to the very end.
But now...
With the second chance I had been given, I had become the producer of a ten-million-admission film.
Winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes had given me honor and prestige.
But becoming the producer of a ten-million-admission film would give me something else.
Power.
And freedom.
From now on, every project I chose would be framed as the product of the extraordinary eye of a ten-million-admission producer.
Even the most difficult opportunities would become easier to force through.
What weapon could be more powerful for a producer?
Just then, the phone on my desk rang.
It was Baek Seonghan.
“Yes, PD Baek.”
“CEO Min! I just checked. We passed ten million!”
I could hear Cha Seungjoon and several others cheering in the background.
“Yes, I just saw it too.”
“Are you all together?”
“Yeah, we’re at New Wave. Director Song is here too.”
“Hold on. Director Song says he wants the phone.”
A moment later, Song Jaehyun’s voice came through.
“CEO Min... no, Kibaek!”
His voice was thick with emotion.
“We finally hit ten million.”
“Seriously... we... made it this far.”
“Yeah.”
I smiled faintly.
“I don’t think it feels real to me yet either.”
Then Cha Seungjoon shouted from somewhere in the background.
“Hey, CEO Min! Senior Seokgu and Senior Sungjoon want to have a drink tonight to celebrate. You can come, right?”
“Ah, I don’t think I can.”
“I’ve got too much work to take care of.”
“I knew you’d say that.”
“You act like you’re the only person in the world who works.”
“Fine. If you can make it later, come.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll call again.”
As soon as I ended the call, Han Taesung entered the planning-team office carrying a bottle of champagne.
Kim Eunkyung followed behind him, wearing an equally bright smile.
“CEO Min, congratulations!”
“Thank you, CEO Han.”
“And congratulations to you too.”
Han Taesung repeatedly nodded as he spoke.
“I was certain we would cross ten million.”
“But now that it has actually happened, it feels completely different.”
He laughed and patted my shoulder.
“Anyway, this is a record you made.”
Then he lifted the bottle.
“I actually prepared a very good bottle of champagne for this day.”
Ju Hanyoung recognized it.
“Huh? CEO Han, isn’t that the really expensive champagne you bought in France during Cannes?”
“That’s right.”
“I was actually planning to open it when we won the Palme d’Or.”
“But there were far too many people there, and I missed the timing.”
Han Taesung grinned.
“Looks like I finally found the perfect moment.”
“All right, everyone. Get some glasses. Hahaha.”
And so we opened a bottle of champagne worth more than one million won.
The entire day turned into a celebration.
News outlets raced to publish headlines like:
[Kingdom of Crime Becomes the First Ten-Million-Admission Film of the Year]
And my phone nearly ran out of battery from the nonstop stream of congratulatory messages and calls.
The days passed in a blur.
Before I knew it, the deadline for the competition had arrived.
Compared to one week earlier, the number of submissions had increased somewhat.
But it was still below what we had originally expected.
Even with Kingdom of Crime still riding the heat of its ten-million-admission success, the atmosphere in the office that morning was strangely subdued.
“Hyunyoung, how are the competition numbers looking?”
“Right now, we have about 230 submissions.”
“About 150 are films, and around 80 are dramas.”
It was eleven in the morning.
The deadline was six in the evening.
Still lower than expected.
For a competition on this scale, five hundred entries would normally be the minimum.
Some could attract nearly a thousand.
But with only about 230 submissions on the actual deadline day...
If this were a film, it would be a box-office disaster.
“Team Leader... are we really closing submissions today?”
Lee Hyunyoung asked carefully, looking intimidated.
I could feel the other team members glancing toward me as well.
Everyone looked unsure how to handle the situation.
“What I mean is... maybe we could post a notice now and extend it by just one week...”
But I smiled calmly.
“No.”
“There will be no extension.”
“We close at six today as scheduled.”
“But we put up three hundred million won in prize money...”
Lee Hyunyoung clearly had more to say, but she eventually fell silent.
I continued.
“There are still six hours left.”
“Competitions often get flooded with submissions in the last hour or two.”
“Let’s wait a little longer.”
Right.
Just a little longer.
Even I thought the timing of this competition announcement had been almost perfect.
Rookie writers usually used competitions to get their work noticed and gain a chance to debut.
But even winning a competition rarely guaranteed an actual debut.
