Chapter 303 (1/2)

“I said we should shoot for now. Only if the episode goes on air do we get more budget to work with.”

“I heard those words two months ago. You said the exact same thing word for word back then, too. Producer Lee, isn’t this going too far? Is everything okay as long as you receive your pay? You’ve changed too much.”

“Hey, I didn’t change at all. I’m also on your side. I’m eating out of the same pot as you.”

“You say we’re eating out of the same pot, so why do we get to starve to death while you get to have your fill? Look at our kids.”

The man who was standing opposite to director Lee grabbed a pair of two young men behind him.

“These two are our youngest members. They’re really hard-working, good kids. They come early in the morning to move equipment around, go on errands that your people give them, and clean up until the very end even after the shoot ends. But you know? This guy has a part-time job right afterward at a convenience store, while this one has another job at a bar. You know why, don’t you?”

“...Bro Kim. Let’s talk inside.”

“Who the hell is your bro! Producer Lee, no YOU. You promised us two months ago, didn’t you? That you’d pay us properly for the full amount that we didn’t get paid; that you’d talk to the CEO of the company and have the pay transferred to our bank accounts. Hello? Producer Lee? Am I, no, are we asking for money that doesn’t exist? We’re asking for the amount we worked for. A few of us can still cope with daily life since we have other work elsewhere, but these youngsters are putting their entire lives into this, yet you have the heart to not pay them? I know that TV broadcast runs on money, but aren’t humans supposed to be more important? No, even if humans are less important, you should at least allow them to have a proper life at least!”

“I know, I really do. That’s why I said we should talk inside. Things will get complicated if we cause a scene here. You should remember that we barely got permission to do the shoot here.”

“And who got that permission? It was one of ours that was stuck to the phone all the time, getting the permission, and coming here with boxes of drinks to hand out to the people here, wasn’t it? Don’t say it like you did the work.”

Director Lee raised both of his hands in an attempt to calm the other party down. It seemed that this was a payment problem. It seemed that they didn’t get paid for two months, or even more. It had to be quite serious considering that they were rioting during the shoot.

“Doesn’t this mean that we have a problem as well?”

“Probably.”

Word got out amongst the supplementary actors as well. Where did the supplementary actor’s pay come from? The production company, of course. Even official staff that signed a contract with the production company had their salary delayed, so would the supplementary actors, who were considered like temporary employees, get paid in time? Probably not.

After realizing that this had something to do with them, people quickly walked over to the middle-aged man’s side. They started glaring at director Lee from behind the staff.

Director Lee became visibly more nervous. It seemed that he felt very agitated because the shoot was halted. The middle-aged staff member, surnamed Kim, kept asking him to call the president and get a clear answer. Director Lee had no choice but to make the call.

“Yes, yes. I’ll hand you to him. Here, take it.”

The middle-aged staff raised his voice as soon as he received the phone.

“Hello? Yes, we met once, didn’t we? I’m Kim Jangsoo. You do know why I called you, right? What? I should continue shooting for now? Are you fucking kidding me? You’ll pay me after shooting the next episode? Do you take me for a fool? Your sugar-coating won’t get you anywhere this time. Do you even know what we’re going through right now? There’s a kid that’s staying at a friend’s house because he can’t pay rent, and there’s a person who can’t even pay for food for his baby, you cunt!”

Mr. Kim widened his eyes before taking the phone off of his ears. He laughed once before handing the phone back to director Lee.

“So you’re hanging up on me, huh. Let’s pull out. We’re not getting paid for our work anyway. We aren’t playing around here.”

The staff members behind him all nodded. It seemed that they were prepared for this. At that moment, people not standing on either director Lee nor Mr. Kim’s side started speaking. They were the staff members that were standing with the people with the TV station employee cards.

“Let’s shoot for now. He did say he’ll pay you after shooting the next episode, didn’t he? Also, if you quit like that, the TV station might claim damage. So let’s talk about it after we finish shooting the episode. They should have their own circumstances, shouldn’t they?” One person, who had an employee card on his neck, spoke.

Maru scratched his eyebrows as he looked at the three groups. Director Lee and the production company’s side, Mr. Kim and his staff members, and lastly, the staff members employed by the TV station. The sides that had stable salaries were saying that they should shoot for now, and the other side was saying that they will not budge unless they got paid first. Common sense dictated that whatever company that was paying them should pay them to get them going, but from the looks of it, it seemed that this company had no intentions of paying them right now.

“Hey, you can’t do this to us. You can say that because you get monthly salaries. How desperate do you think we are to the point that we are taking our hands off everything? You know what it’s like, so you can’t do this to us. Also, damage claims? Stop kidding. You want to discuss who did bad things first?”

“That doesn’t mean you can just dump your work like that. You should be responsible for your work. Don’t you have any love for the work you’re doing?”

“Love? LOOOVE!? Try living in a run-down single room and eat ramyun for three meals a day. Any love you have will be gone. If you want to shoot it so much, then you can shoot by yourselves for all I care. Or else, you can pay us with your own money, considering it as sharing your so-called love.”

“Are you shitting me?”

“You know better if I’m shitting you or not.”

Maru nodded his head and inwardly applauded. The one called Mr. Kim had awesome verbal skills. Even the TV station staff started glaring at the man that talked to him. They were indirectly telling him to read the mood a little.

The staff members on Mr. Kim’s side started turning around with cold eyes. It seemed that they were set on leaving.

“Bro Kim! You can’t leave like that!”

Director Lee grabbed Mr. Kim.

“Bro Kim, yes. I already got the money. I did. I also know how hard your lives are. But if you leave like this, you’ll have an even worse time. Do you think the production company will try to prevent you from leaving at all costs? You know they won’t. They’ll just hire new people.”

Hearing those words, the people that were leaving all stopped in their tracks as though they hit an invisible wall.

This was the worst ace-in-the-sleeve - Maru thought. Mr. Kim’s ‘right words’ could not win against director Lee’s ‘realistic words’. Director Lee’s words were a snare trap. No matter how hard Mr. Kim wanted to ignore it and shake it off, it was already around his neck. The moment he started walking, it would end up strangling his neck. Everyone here knew that. The hostile atmosphere died down in an instant.

Director Lee’s words contained rotten hope. Although they were working without pay, just the fact that they were working gave them a sense of stability. Director Lee touched on that. If they left now, even that ‘work’ would disappear.

Most of the staff members were in their early to mid twenties. Those young people turned around slightly and looked at director Lee. While they needed money, an opportunity to gain career experience was also important to them. This might be no different from a part-time job in terms of environment, but it was also a job that got better treatment the more experience you had. Working part-time at a petrol station or a PC bang was never a ‘career experience’, but experiencing the TV broadcasting scene raised them to ‘immediate usable manpower’ status.

Mr. Kim and a few others were still showing their frustration, but the majority was alternating between director Lee and Mr. Kim with unease.

It was over now. The goddess of victory took director Lee’s side. Overdue wages versus unemployment. Faced with a choice, even Maru would choose overdue wages over being unemployed, even if it meant that his payment was getting delayed indefinitely. Without the confidence to get another form of employment immediately, it would be extremely difficult to let go of one job.

‘While that’s true, it still feels….’

Bitter. It was no longer a world where the offender had uneasy and sleepless nights and the victim could rest at ease. It was a world where the victim became tragic and sleepless, and the offender proudly walked out in the open.

Maru did want to help them. However, he couldn’t because he had no realistic solution in his mind. Telling them to cheer up in consolement was no different from making fools out of them.

The meaningless dispute was nearing its end. Mr. Kim had a look at the expression of his team members before sighing.