Chapter 402 (1/2)

“I was worried since there was a loud sound, but it seems that his reflexes are quite good.”

“He should have learned a lot of things after all,” Moonjoong, who was watching Maru from the side, spoke.

He was the first one to rush up to Maru, even before the staff, when Maru fell down.

“Uhm, sir. I mean, senior.”

“Hm?”

“You said there was someone you know. Is it him?”

“It is.”

“I see. Then is he a member of your family?”

“No, he’s just a drinking friend.”

“What? A drinking friend?”

Moonjoong put on his gat as he smiled in satisfaction.

“A drinking friend, you say? Isn’t he only a high school student?”

“When drinking with an adult, age doesn’t matter,” Moonjoong spoke with a serious expression.

He didn’t look like he was joking.

A drinking friend? Changsung didn’t know whether he was supposed to laugh or get confused here.

“He’s young, but he has a deep heart. It’s to the point that I can’t believe he’s at the age he is. Perhaps that’s why I don’t get bored when I talk to him. If you have the time, you should come to my house and drink over some pork belly, producer Han.”

“If you call me, I’ll be there anytime.”

Replying, Changsung followed Maru with the corner of his eyes.

“He caught my eye during the audition, and it seemed that there was really something to him.”

“Since we’re talking about him, I’ll tell you this: Watch him well. He’ll be very useful. If you deem he’s okay, then you can use him, and if not, then that’s that.”

Moonjoong seemed to be soliciting him, yet not soliciting him. He didn’t sound like he was using his name to pressure him to use the boy. It sounded like he should use him since there was a lot to get out of him.

Moonjoong, one of the big elders in the movie industry, was well-known for not recommending people easily. Even though he spoke as though it was nothing much, from how it contained a hint of recommendation, it could be seen just how much he cared about Maru.

“I saw him for the first time on the drama side, but sounds like he’s a promising youth on the movie side, I mean, you’re looking after him.”

“Promising? Nah. He’s just a youngling that only shows his face as a minor actor. It hadn’t even been that long since he started acting. He wasn’t coached from the days he started learning to walk like the others these days but rather, he learned to act after he had a grasp of what’s going on around him. I think it’s been a little more than a year now.”

“Really? I thought he must have studied since young. Then, how did you meet him? Was it a movie? Or….”

“You mean president Lee Junmin of JA production?”

“Yeah, the puppet president of that place.”

“Haha, a puppet president? You must be the only one who can call him that.”

“Just saying. Rather than that, I thought you knew already. Maru, he belongs to JA as well.”

“Really?”

“You didn’t know that?”

“I didn’t. He got through the public audition after all. We already held an audition for the agencies, so I thought he naturally didn’t have an agency.”

In the case of public auditions, although they received the resumés of the applicants, they were overlooked, most of the time. That was because talks with various agencies would finish before the audition stage.

The big agencies introduced their minor actors when looking for the lead actors, as though they were a set. Like that, most of the roles that had any weight to them were taken by actors or agencies who had name value. After that were actors that came through connections, then would be the auditions of various acting academies, and only after that were minor roles picked through public auditions.

Due to this method of selection, most of the people that came to the public auditions didn’t have an agency to speak of. They were either just members of a theater troupe or people just starting out acting. There was no need to go through their resumés so they were differentiated according to their facial features and attire during the audition, and were picked after looking at their acts.

Changsung asked for Moonjoong’s understanding before calling the TV station. He ordered one of his juniors to look for contracts with the name Han Maru.

-Ah, here it is. He belongs to JA Production. What about it?

“It’s nothing much. I’m hanging up then.”

-Yes. Please take care.

Changsung looked at Moonjoong as he put down the phone.

“Han Maru, is this kid abandoned by the company or something? They shouldn’t neglect him so much if they’re planning to raise him.”

“That’s just how Junmin works. He doesn’t handle low-quality goods. He’s a picky guy who only deals with mid-rate, no, high-quality goods.”

“Well… JA Production is a long-standing company, but I guess it’s been only half a year since they started adding actors in their ranks. The people they possess are all actors that other agencies are greedy for. I heard a rumor that you’ll only get used when you’re big, and from what you’re telling me, it’s true.”

“I wouldn’t know. I don’t need to mention how good Junmin’s business skills are. He might be visiting the various TV stations in a while, who knows.”

Moonjoong stood up from his seat.

“I think people are waiting. We should get started.”

“Yes.”

Changsung also put back on his hat and stood up. It had been around ten minutes so things should have calmed down a little. He walked towards the camera director with the script in one hand. He tapped on the shoulder of the camera director who was instructing his assistant on the position of the tripod.

“Director Jang.”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Did you see what the situation was like when you were shooting last time? I was looking through the monitor, so I don’t know exactly what happened.”

The camera director shrugged.

“I’m also very confused. That guy suddenly pushed the boy in front of him. I thought you ordered him to do it.”

“So it wasn’t an accident? Like he misstepped or something.”

“He pushed intentionally. You might not have seen it since it happened off-camera, but it was definitely not a mistake.”

“Is that so?”

“I’m also curious, so why don’t you go and ask?”

Changsung replied yes before going to Uljin. He called out to Uljin, who was walking around on the spot nervously.

“Yes, producer.”

“What happened to you? I’m sorry I shouted at you, but I just couldn’t understand. Why did you suddenly push someone like that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not here to hear you apologize, but I’m curious as to why you did such things.”

He almost injured a completely fine man. There were no signs of it either. It shouldn’t have been that the two were on bad terms. They did the shoot together during the day as well without any accidents.

Uljin was a very polite boy. There was no way he did such actions without any reason.