| Episode 35. Internship Training (1)
I knew exactly why Lee Cheonghyeon had been singled out to appear in the music video—not vaguely, but “precisely.”
It was because he had once mentioned it in passing on a variety show shortly after his debut.
‘I heard you debuted in a music video first, Cheonghyeon?’
‘Yes! I appeared in 『Time Gone By』 by my senior, Jang Junhu, who’s in the same agency!’
‘But the reason you were chosen from among the trainees was…… because you were handsome?’
‘Later, I heard that from one of the staff members, and yes, apparently that was it!’
In other words, they had picked him based on his looks alone.
However, sending Lee Cheonghyeon into a music video was not a particularly wise choice.
Though Lee Cheonghyeon could do pretty much anything reasonably well, he had relatively little experience presenting something in front of people compared to the other trainees.
There was Choe Jeho and Gang Giyeon, who had entered every competition imaginable since they were children.
And Jeong Seongbin and Bak Ju-u, who had taken practical tests in practical-music classes and auditions.
By contrast, the only experience Lee Cheonghyeon had of standing before a large crowd was a piano competition he had entered as a child.
Because of that, his facial acting and expressiveness at the time were the weakest among the five.
The Lee Cheonghyeon of the future would quickly overcome that gap as he accumulated stage experience, but that was not the case now.
‘If they’re going to promote us as a talented group that’s good at everything, then even setting aside the Jang Junhu issue, Choe Jeho should be the one to go.’
What was more, the protagonist of the music video was a man wistfully longing for his first love and unrequited love from long ago.
A seventeen-year-old boy in a coat, walking down a leaf-strewn street on a lonely autumn day while drowning in tender old memories? There was no greater mismatch.
‘He doesn’t exactly have the image that makes people say he’s a perfect fit for the role.’
At his current age, “pretty boy” suited Lee Cheonghyeon better than “handsome man” or even “handsome youth.”
For this sort of thing, Choe Jeho—who had the universally acknowledged keyword of “indifferent” attached to him—would be far more suitable.
“Even if Jeho hyung goes…… I don’t think we should send him alone.”
Though hesitant, Jeong Seongbin clearly voiced his opinion. It was just like the boy, with his unwavering principles.
“You don’t have to worry about that.”
I knew perfectly well what Jeong Seongbin was worried about.
Even if the younger ones were minors, Choe Jeho and Jeong Seongbin’s ages were not all that far apart.
In other words, if one adult man deliberately set out to bully them, there was a good chance that even Choe Jeho would be unable to do much about it.
But what worried me even more was, of course……
‘A controversy over his character.’
And no wonder. The person we were sending from our side was “that” Choe Jeho.
No one could predict what Choe Jeho might say on the day and whose temper he might provoke.
I gave Jeong Seongbin a reassuring smile and said,
“I’m going with him, too.”
* * *
“I didn’t think you’d really come along.”
Choe Jeho said this after finishing his makeup, showing off a style that highlighted his broad, neatly exposed forehead.
He couldn’t hide his youthful freshness, but compared to Lee Cheonghyeon, he certainly looked much more mature.
Today was the day of the music-video shoot, and from the moment Choe Jeho left the dormitory until we arrived at the salon, I had clung to him like a leech.
“I’m doing this out of concern for Mr. Choe Jeho.”
“Put some spit on your lips before you lie.”
“Just in case, don’t put spit on your lips. It’ll make them chappier.”
“You’re such a pain in the ass, so don’t go telling anyone……”
“I distinctly told you to speak nicely outside, didn’t I?”
Maintaining a smile so that we would look close even to other people was no easy task.
After checking everyone’s positions through the large mirror, I spoke in a low voice that only Choe Jeho could hear.
“You remember the Ten Commandments for when the camera’s rolling, right?”
Just in case, I had sat down all the members, including Choe Jeho, the previous evening and drilled the precautions for when the camera was rolling into them.
The contents were all basic things.
1. Keep your mouth shut.
2. Unless you’ve been instructed otherwise, smile when the camera is rolling.
3. Greet people properly whenever you go somewhere to work.
4. Listen attentively when someone is speaking.
5. Answer and react in a loud voice.
6. Sit upright with your legs together…….
……And so on.
Even after making him copy them out ten times, he still couldn’t memorize them, so I muttered them by his bedside all night, telling him to think of it as listening to ASMR.
By around three in the morning, he had reached the point of rattling them off, claiming that he had memorized everything. Repetition really was the best way to memorize things.
At my question, Choe Jeho answered with an utterly fed-up expression.
“Yeah. My ears are about to bleed.”
“Don’t worry. I checked, and they’re fine.”
I said this while massaging the shoulders of Choe Jeho, who had been styled to the fullest.
Come on, there were only ten of them. He should at least be able to memorize that much.
I had gone to the planning team and given them a tearjerking presentation about our vision in order to change the male lead.
Since then, the way people in the company looked at me had become strange in a hundred-percent negative way, but I didn’t care.
Compared to the days when Manager Nam openly berated me, this was heaven.
While we waited outside the salon after finishing our preparations, the manager drove the car out of the parking lot and came up to us.
I sent today’s great actor, Choe Jeho, to the back seat, then sat in the passenger seat and asked,
“Manager, is Senior Jang Junhu coming to the shoot today as well?”
“As it happens, Iwol, you asked me about it, so I checked with Junhu’s manager hyung. They said they’re shooting separately. He probably won’t be coming today.”
“Really?”
“Why? Were you a fan of Junhu’s?”
“He’s such a senior to us, so I wanted to ask whether there was anything we needed to be careful about. I’m tagging along even though I’m not shooting…….”
“Aw, Junhu isn’t that difficult! He’s just a little blunt in how he expresses himself. He adores his juniors.”
The bastard who was supposedly not that kind of person committed an act deserving of Heaven’s wrath against one of the children in our house, you know?
I had no intention of agreeing that being violent and ill-mannered could be prettied up as “being blunt in how one expresses oneself.”
‘Anyway, he’s not coming.’
If he wasn’t coming, all the better. There was no longer any need for me to fight in Choe Jeho’s place.
“More importantly, Jeho, you look like a completely different person after getting dressed up.”
“Tha……nk you.”
What, he didn’t immediately say thank you? This idiot hadn’t gotten enough ASMR.
I looked at Choe Jeho through the rearview mirror. Perhaps he was aware that he had hesitated before offering his thanks, because he gradually avoided my gaze.
‘Since we’re on our way to work, I’ll let it go this once.’
Still, I was pleased to hear that he looked good. The reaction at the salon had been positive as well.
‘Once the music video starts playing, no one will be able to see anything but Choe Jeho.’
It wasn’t a bad development.
* * *
The first filming set I had ever visited was extremely hectic.
The moment Choe Jeho and I arrived at the site, we bowed at a ninety-degree angle.
I also bowed to the director who had allowed me to bustle around the set with Choe Jeho, as though I intended to plant my head into the floor the instant I arrived.
‘My primary goal was to act as a seawall between Jang Junhu and Choe Jeho if Jang Junhu showed up…… but since Jang Junhu isn’t coming, there’s no need for that.’
I looked all around the rear of the filming location, where preparations were being carried out busily.
All sorts of filming equipment that I had only ever seen in behind-the-scenes clips from music shows filled my field of vision.
Under normal circumstances, I might have been interested in the employment conditions of the video industry, but not now.
The moment I saw Choe Jeho walking toward the bench at which the camera was pointed, Gang Giyeon was the first person who came to mind.
That guy who trembled like an aspen tree even when they merely placed one of the small cameras lying around the company in front of him.
‘If we’re going to shoot Spark’s debut music video, I really do need to come up with a solution.’
The kid had already been unable to figure out what to do with his wandering gaze during Spark’s first music video.
Considering the not-so-distant future, Gang Giyeon needed to get used to cameras as quickly as possible.
I had gotten more than enough experience learning by watching others at Hanpyeong Industries.
Drawing on those memories, I diligently committed the camera placements and changing angles to memory while standing beside the manager.
We needed to at least become familiar with the atmosphere before I could run mock tests or anything of the sort.
Fortunately, I didn’t need to watch Choe Jeho’s acting as well.
That guy was good at facial acting. Perhaps because he had danced for so long, his expressiveness was exceptional.
At this point in time, there was no one else on our team who could play “a lonely man bearing a somewhat poignant air after a breakup” as well as Choe Jeho.
‘That’s one reason I singled out Choe Jeho in the first place. If he can’t do it, I’m the one in trouble.’
There was no way I intended to hear UA say something like, “This instructor is disappointed in Assistant Manager Kim,” regarding the finished product.
Then, all at once, I recalled the countless freeloaders who had passed by me in group projects.
So this was how comfortable and easy you all felt.
I wouldn’t understand you, but I could sympathize.
* * *
The shoot proceeded while moving between several different locations. All of the drama scenes were scheduled to be filmed with Choe Jeho.
It seemed the singer would only be filmed singing in a studio or on a set. As long as our shoots didn’t overlap, that was fine by me.
Of course, I didn’t merely stand around watching the filming.
Since the location changed several times and there seemed to be a lot of luggage to move, I began helping carry all kinds of bags from the middle of the shoot onward.
People were worried that the equipment was quite heavy, so I gave a full display of the skills I had acquired by carrying even the bottled water meant for Manager Nam and climbing Korea’s 100 Great Mountains one by one.
Thanks to that, I was even praised for being so good at moving luggage without getting in the way of the people around me or appearing on camera.
“What kind of luggage are you hauling around like that?”
I was moving a bag packed by the junior writer into the vehicle, feeling rather proud, when someone asked from behind me.
It was Choe Jeho.