In the ‘Munhwa Seorap’ meeting room, Kang Ro-jun’s name was abruptly spat out. As the very person who had written the movie screenplay passed over to ‘BG Pictures’. At this, Director Yoo Ji-heon asked back with a slightly blank expression.
“···What? Who?”
Team Leader Ryu Jeong-hwa, maintaining her smile, repeated Kang Ro-jun’s name in an even tone.
“The one who wrote the screenplay is ‘Writer Ro-jun’.”
“······Hoo—”
Director Yoo Ji-heon, his bewilderment plain. He paused for a moment and looked to his side. The eyes of Chief Jang Hak-seon and all the other ‘BG Pictures’ staff who had come with him had grown wide too. A natural reaction, if ever there was one. They had been exchanging talk about Ro-jun just moments before, and they had never dreamed that Writer Ro-jun was the one who wrote the screenplay.
Director Yoo Ji-heon, whose face was generally flushed with drink, met eyes with Team Leader Ryu Jeong-hwa across from him and let out a rough voice once more.
“···Writer Ro-jun? Th-the one who wrote ‘Rental Lover’? That’s right, isn’t it? It’s all the rage right now.”
“Yes, Director. That’s correct.”
“That kid is the writer who wrote this screenplay? Are you sure??”
“I am certain.”
Team Leader Ryu Jeong-hwa answered with a professional demeanor and explained the whole story.
“PD Jeong, who received the screenplay from Writer Ro-jun, passed it on to Chief Jang Hak-seon here. It was a request to look it over first, and the reason the writer’s identity was hidden—if you see Writer Ro-jun’s current situation, you’ll understand.”
“R-right.”
Kang Ro-jun was undoubtedly the hottest thing right now. If he had read the screenplay knowing Ro-jun was the writer, Director Yoo Ji-heon might have had other thoughts. Indeed, hadn’t the ‘BG Pictures’ staff here also viewed it through colored glasses?
‘Just because you say you don’t care about a person’s background doesn’t mean you aren’t influenced by it. If you think about it that way, hiding this screenplay’s writer was the right answer.’
In any case, it was a shock to Director Yoo Ji-heon. Leaving aside Kang Ro-jun’s current situation.
‘To think that after so long I finally met a script I liked, and it was written by such a young writer.’
Because admiration for Writer Ro-jun’s talent came out naturally. A hollow laugh naturally escaped Director Yoo Ji-heon.
“The screenplay’s packed density··· I unconditionally thought a name-brand writer had written it. I still have much to learn.”
From behind Director Yoo Ji-heon, who was scratching his head, Chief Jang Hak-seon—his eyes still wide—interjected.
“I-I couldn’t have imagined either. No, I never dreamed that Writer Ro-jun wrote this script. But, but is Writer Ro-jun capable of writing screenplays too??”
Though there were occasional cases of drama writers writing movie screenplays, it was absolutely uncommon. In fact, it was more common for film directors to write drama scripts. Yet, for Writer Ro-jun, who had just debuted, to freely write both drama scripts and movie screenplays was quite astonishing.
Then, Team Leader Ryu Jeong-hwa, brushing back her long permed hair, answered.
“We haven’t known Writer Ro-jun for very long either, so we’re surprised day by day. However, the writer writes whatever he wants regardless of genre. For your reference, this screenplay was written in the middle of the ‘Geubaekpeu’ schedule.”
“Yes??!”
Chief Jang Hak-seon, his mouth hanging open noticeably.
“Not something written in advance, but written during ‘Geubaekpeu’ filming?? I-is that even possible?”
“It is hard to understand logically, but it is the truth.”
Chief Jang Hak-seon, who had been stammering, made eye contact with Director Yoo Ji-heon. The two conversed with their gazes. Roughly something like, ‘Then what about ‘Rental Lover’??’ Soon, Chief Jang Hak-seon asked directly.
“Wasn’t ‘Rental Lover’ written during ‘Geubaekpeu’??”
“It is difficult for me to tell you the details.”
“Ah—”
“In any case, Writer Ro-jun completed this screenplay in just over a month.”
“······A month??? What the hell is this—”
Director Yoo Ji-heon, who had been listening quietly, summarized.
“So you’re saying Writer Ro-jun—while doing ‘Geubaekpeu’ activities and working on ‘Rental Lover’, in that hectic chaos—wrote this screenplay as well.”
Team Leader Ryu Jeong-hwa confirmed. A brief silence fell over the meeting room. The expressions of the ‘BG Pictures’ staff were a sight to behold. In particular, Director Yoo Ji-heon, classified as a master-level figure, was grave. Even for him, who had trudged through the film industry for quite some time, this was a first. He briefly stretched his imagination.
‘Writer Ro-jun—I heard that kid can act too. Not just directors, but the stiff-necked actors in this business need to get their act together. If his acting is lacking, that’s fine, but if he has that face, that writing skill, and decent acting to boot······’
At this point, Director Yoo Ji-heon let out a wry laugh and shook his head back and forth.
“That’s why people in this business must always stay humble. Monsters you never expected pop out suddenly like this. Not just the drama side, but the film industry needs to be on guard too······”
He spoke to Team Leader Ryu Jeong-hwa, a mix of mildness and cool-headedness in her.
“I understand everything about this screenplay. I really want to do it—would that be possible?”
At this abrupt decision, the ‘BG Pictures’ staff rolled their widened eyes urgently.
“D-Director!”
“So flat out like this!!”
The one who shut the staff’s mouths was Chief Jang Hak-seon with a firm face.
“The Director’s decision is correct, so stay still.”
After a few minutes of practical talk, the ‘Munhwa Seorap’ side, including Team Leader Ryu Jeong-hwa, briefly stepped out of the meeting room. At this time, Chief Jang Hak-seon opened his mouth while looking at the staff.
“‘Geubaekpeu’, which flipped Korea. No, even Japan. Its face is Ro-jun. The single-episode ‘Rental Lover’ he put out has a whopping 21% viewership rating. And a movie screenplay written by Writer Ro-jun that is still unknown to the world.”
The corners of Chief Jang Hak-seon’s lips, who had been serious, curved up faintly.
“We’ve hit the jackpot. A big one.”
Afterwards.
While the meeting between ‘Munhwa Seorap’ and ‘BG Pictures’ was deepening, on the internet, the voting atmosphere for ‘Geubaekpeu’ was overheating.
《Enormous Interest Poured into ‘Geubaekpeu’ Voting / Photo》
《‘Geubaekpeu’ Final Winner Predictions Sparked on SNS, Various Communities, etc.》
It was a vote that had already been held several times, but this vote had devastating explosive power. Because it was ‘Geubaekpeu’s last vote. Selecting the final winner with one’s own hands gave the public pleasure and delight.
《[Issue Pick] Already Crashed for the Second Time, When Will ‘Geubaekpeu’ Voting Page Normalize?》
Such was the heated interest that the voting page crashing frequently occurred. Of course, the ‘Rental Lover’ side was no pushover either.
-[Rental Lover] Episode 2 Official Trailer｜SBC
Starting with the official trailer for episode 2 released by the ‘Rental Lover’ side, various videos boasted firepower easily surpassing a million views. In particular, the edit compilation of Kang Ro-jun’s appearance scene that PD Jeong Soo-ryeong deliberately launched was:
《‘Rental Lover’ with 21% Viewership, Ro-jun Appearance Scene Edit Video Surpasses 6 Million Views!》
It surpassed 6 million views in an instant. It was still rising exponentially. Riding this momentum, both ‘Geubaekpeu’ and ‘Rental Lover’ dropped new bait.
-Omglllll Geubaekpeu final song Bold releases tomorrow!!!
-Seriously?? Really???!
-Geubaekpeu is so quick lolololol well they gotta promote the hell out of the song
-I heard Rental Lover drops their OST tomorrow too??
-Ro-jun sings it?!
-Yeah, that's right
It was that they would release the final evaluation song ‘Bold’ and the OST ‘Lovers’ tomorrow.
Around that afternoon, ‘Munhwa Seorap’ called Kang Ro-jun at the campus. To be exact, it was Team Leader Ryu Jeong-hwa of the dedicated team.
“Writer-nim, the meeting with ‘BG Pictures’ is over!”
She conveyed the contents of today’s meeting with ‘BG Pictures’. There were many complicated words here and there, but what stuck in Kang Ro-jun’s ears was this.
“Director Yoo Ji-heon said he read the screenplay very enjoyably, and he was very surprised that Writer Ro-jun wrote it.”
“Ah—really??”
That felt good. Of course, Ro-jun had been briefed about today’s meeting. And about Director Yoo Ji-heon’s existence too. Though Ro-jun didn’t go to the movies often, he roughly knew Director Yoo Ji-heon.
‘The movie was so amazing that when I looked it up, it was Director Yoo Ji-heon.’
Of course, he hadn’t gone to the theater; they were movies he watched on TV or via OTT. Then Ro-jun had searched about Director Yoo Ji-heon too. A considerably famous master-level director.
‘That Director read my screenplay enjoyably?’
A nameless catharsis welled up in Kang Ro-jun, and beyond the phone, Team Leader Ryu Jeong-hwa threw a question.
“Is Director Yoo Ji-heon alright with you? He is indeed a great director, but if you express refusal, we won’t move to the next option. Your screenplay would be coveted by another film company besides ‘BG Pictures’, another director besides Director Yoo Ji-heon.”
Ro-jun felt his shoulders rising; he didn’t see the need to beat around the bush so much.
“No, Director Yoo Ji-heon is good for me.”
Tuesday, November 10th, a day later.
Though the world was noisy to the point of riot, Kang Ro-jun’s daily life on campus was surprisingly similar to other days. He woke up earlier than the other participants, put on workout clothes, and left his room.
Today, Ro-jun, who had his cap pulled down low, checked the time.
“Whew—let’s run.”
He finished his daily mission just like that. However, today, it was somehow hard to focus on exercise. The reason was simple.
“Today’s the day voting ends.”
Because the final vote finished tonight. After that, the final announcement would be made. That was why Ro-jun had many stray thoughts, and he deliberately erased the other participants’ faces from his mind as he checked the ‘AI Simulation’ app on his phone.
-[Titles: Side Job Tycoon+3 / Awareness Monster+4 / Global Genius+2 / Instrument Master+1]
-[User: Kang Ro-jun / Age: 24 / Height: 182.8 / Desired Job: Idol / Held Coins: 922]
-[Side Jobs: [1]Screenwriter, [2]Actor, [3]Lyricist]
-[Global Languages: [1]Japanese, [2]English]
-[Instruments: [1]Acoustic Guitar]
Ro-jun opened his stat window as he went to shower. Since he had accumulated quite a few coins today, feeling good, he invested 30 coins into enhancement.
-[Appearance(100/100)│Vocals(50.1/100)│Rap(50.3/100)│Dance(43.1/100)│Wit(24/100)│Acting(22.4/100)│Lyrics(100/100)│Composition(21/100)│Arrangement(0/100)]
Scanning the stat scores, Ro-jun muttered internally.
‘Hmm—after 50 points, the scores that rise naturally feel like they’ve slowed down quite a bit.’
In any case, several stats had crossed 50. Kang Ro-jun thought he should experiment soon. Afterwards, Ro-jun had his own time. After practicing vocals or choreography in the practice room, he moved to the lounge to study lyrics, composition, and so on. Today’s composition study included guitar playing too. Though it was just practice and study, there was so much to do that time passed quickly.
The writer side was temporarily stopped.
The reason was that ‘Munhwa Seorap’, now having become Writer Ro-jun’s agency, needed time to sort out the handover and other matters. Since ‘Munhwa Seorap’ had taken on unexpected tasks, they would need time. Around lunch, Ro-jun had a Japanese conversation session with 58 Sihu after a while.
For roughly an hour.
Then, as the conversation was ending, 58 Sihu asked Kang Ro-jun.
“Ro-jun, how about you try making a song now? Nothing complicated, something simple. I-I can help you.”
“A song?”
Right, come to think of it, he had studied composition quite a bit. Well, he was still far behind 58 Sihu or the experts, but if it wasn’t a difficult song, he felt he could make it step by step.
‘Learning guitar really was a divine move.’
Whether composing or writing lyrics, the difference between playing it yourself and just listening was like heaven and earth. The sense, or the learning curve, was definitely different. In fact, after actually learning guitar, the rise in his composition stat had accelerated too.
‘I’ll try making one, and if I’m ambitious after finishing, I can refine it with AI automation.’
Soon, 58 Sihu smiled lightly and added.
“If you get comfortable with composing too, you can do vocals, lyrics, and composition all by yourself, right?”
“That’s right.”
“What the hell, come to think of it, that’s totally OP. No, don’t compose, just don’t.”
“Hyung, I think your personality is getting a bit cranky.”
“It’s your imagination.”
Kang Ro-jun shrugged his shoulders at 58 Sihu, who was grinning.
“I’ll try making one song, by myself for now.”