Chapter 3

Chapter 003

“Hello, I'm Min Gibaek!”

I bowed 90 degrees to Director Song Jaehyun, showing all the respect I had for him.

“Yes, nice to meet you.”

After giving me a brief greeting, Director Song continued talking with Cha Seung-jun.

“Seungjun, you're graduating this year, right?”

“Yes… I've actually been feeling a little troubled about that lately.”

“Because of your graduation project? How far along is your graduation project? You must have finished filming by now, right?”

“I’m not making a graduation project.”

“I don't plan on becoming a director anyway, so I chose to write a thesis instead of making a graduation film.”

“Really? That's good then.”

Director Song told us that the screenplay he had written had recently received independent film production support from the Korean Film Council.

He added that he planned to put together a staff team sometime next month, begin pre-production, and start filming in the first half of the following year.

“Really? That's great. Congratulations, hyung. Is that the screenplay you showed me before? I really enjoyed reading it.”

“Really? I'm glad you enjoyed it.”

As I listened to their conversation, a memory came back to me.

Was it 2006?

Director Song Jaehyun had made his first independent feature film, Home Sweet Home, a rare noir film for an independent production.

It had also achieved something unusual for an independent movie and became a commercial success.

That movie became the beginning of Director Song's rise to fame as a filmmaker.

‘Ah… Home Sweet Home is finally entering pre-production now….’

“Then have you found all the staff members? What about the actors? Who's going to appear in it?”

“No, that's the thing.”

“I've only decided on the key staff so far.”

“So I was wondering, Seungjun, how about joining our project as the head of the production department?”

Faced with the sudden offer, Cha Seung-jun looked startled before eventually making an awkward expression.

“Hyung… well… I'm grateful for the offer, but… I think I'm going to join Director Kim Taechang's project as part of the production department this time.”

“And this friend is coming with me too….”

“Ah… I see.”

“If it's a commercial film, I can't really stop you….”

Director Song finished his words with a disappointed expression.

At that moment, my mind began racing.

‘What should I do?’

‘Director Kim Taechang's movie is going to collapse six months from now!’

I had participated in Director Kim Taechang's movie as part of the production department alongside Cha Seung-jun.

I had been incredibly excited just to step onto the movie set I had always dreamed of working on.

However, fifteen days before the movie was scheduled to begin filming, the main investment fell through.

The movie collapsed after six months of pre-production.

And at the time, after working for six months, I received only 1.8 million won.

The minimum wage in 2004 was 2,510 won per hour.

Based on an eight-hour workday, that was a little over 20,000 won a day.

In other words, I had received only about half of what I should have earned for six months.

Looking back now, it was completely absurd.

But back then, exploiting workers in the name of ‘passion’ was considered normal.

Since I knew what was going to happen in the future, I had to stop this from happening.

Moreover, this situation might actually be an opportunity for me!

It was an independent film, but it was Director Song Jaehyun's first feature film.

Just participating in it would give me valuable experience for my career.

And if I could continue working with Director Song starting from this project…!

Just thinking about it sent an exciting shiver throughout my body.

Once my thoughts reached that point, I became impatient.

Feeling like I had to grab even a single straw to save myself, I shouted toward Cha Seung-jun.

“Seungjun hyung! Let's do this! We absolutely have to do this!”

At my sudden outburst, Director Song and Cha Seung-jun widened their eyes as if they had no idea what I was talking about.

“Hey, Min Gibaek.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You're not going to do Director Kim Taechang's project?”

“Hyung! We can't do that one.”

“We absolutely have to do this one!”

“What do you mean we can't do it?”

“What are you talking about?”

Cha Seung-jun asked with a confused expression.

Since I had no idea how to explain myself, I desperately searched for an excuse.

“T-That is… well…”

“Ah, my mom went to get my fortune told, and she said I shouldn't work on Director Kim's project.”

“Holy crap….”

Cha Seung-jun looked at me with an expression that had gone beyond confusion and was now completely dumbfounded.

“Hey, what kind of superstition is that?!”

“Ah, I know what I'm saying sounds ridiculous.”

“But hyung….”

“Forget it.”

“We'll talk about this separately later.”

Annoyed, Cha Seung-jun quickly cut me off and turned his attention back to Director Song.

“Hyung, he's not usually like this, but he's really confusing me today.”

“No, it's okay.”

“And if you happen to change your mind, contact me.”

“I'll welcome you with open arms as long as you're willing to join.”

“Well then, I have an appointment, so I should get going.”

“Yes.”

“I'll contact you again soon.”

As Director Song stood up to leave, he reached out his hand toward me for a handshake.

“It was nice meeting you today.”

“Let's meet again if we get the chance.”

I stood up awkwardly and bowed 90 degrees before shaking his hand.

“Yes! I definitely hope we can meet again!”

The forty-year-old version of me had rarely shown his thoughts or emotions.

But perhaps because I had returned to my twenties, my thoughts and emotions had also returned to those of my younger self.

I had become much more impulsive.

Director Song Jaehyun smiled at me before leaving the café.

After Director Song left, Cha Seung-jun stared at me with an openly displeased expression.

After a long silence, he finally spoke.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

I deliberately avoided his gaze and quietly sucked on my drink through the straw.

Since things had already gone this far, I decided that I absolutely had to join Director Song's project.

With determination in my voice, I finally spoke.

“Have you ever heard the saying, ‘Better to be the head of a snake than the tail of a dragon’?”

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”

“Don't interrupt me.”

“Just listen to me first.”

My firm tone left Cha Seung-jun staring at me blankly.

I quickly continued.

“Even if we join Director Kang's project as members of the production department, both you and I will be the youngest members.”

“Well, I should be considered slightly above the youngest.”

“After all, I've only made a few short films at school.”

“But you're different.”

Before going to the military, Cha Seung-jun had worked in the production department of an independent feature film.

In addition to the school projects that were practically amateur-level, he had also participated in quite a few short films.

“But in Director Song's project, you'll be joining as the head of the production department.”

In a typical commercial film, the production department was divided into several positions.

There was the overall producer who directed the entire process, from the planning stage through pre-production, production, post-production, and finally the theatrical release.

Then there was the executive producer, who handled investment-related matters.

There was also the line producer and production manager, who managed the actual film set.

Under them were the production department head and the rest of the production staff.

In most commercial films, the line producer, often called the production manager, acted as a middle manager within the production department and handled a large portion of the work.

However, independent films with significantly smaller budgets and scales rarely had every staff position that a commercial film had.

Because of that, each staff member had to perform multiple roles.

The production department head sometimes had to take on the role of the production manager as well.

Of course, this varied depending on the situation.

“Hyung, wouldn't being the production department head, where you can gain experience in various practical areas, help your career much more than being the youngest member of the production department doing odd jobs?”

“It's still an independent film.”

“Commercial film companies don't even count independent film work as proper career experience….”

Cha Seung-jun said this with a gloomy expression.

He wasn't wrong.

The act of making a movie itself wasn't all that different between commercial and independent films.

But at this point in time, even filmmakers had very different perceptions of commercial films and independent films.

“Of course, that's true, but….”

Cha Seung-jun was a very emotionally sensitive person.

So I changed my strategy.

I decided to appeal to his emotional side.

“Hyung, you said you read Director Song's screenplay, right?”

“You said you liked it.”

“Well… yeah.”

“It was interesting.”

“Hyung, why do you want to become a producer?”

“!?”

The unexpected question left Cha Seung-jun flustered.

He looked at me as if asking what kind of nonsense I was spouting now.

I quickly continued.

“Hyung, this is how I think about it.”

“If the ultimate goal of a director is to make good movies, then the ultimate goal of a PD is to recognize and discover directors who know how to make good movies.”

I threw together all kinds of words that might appeal to his emotions in order to persuade him.

But that was only an ideal.

Reality wasn't like that.

As I spoke, I suddenly felt a little bitter.

Cha Seung-jun looked at me with a stunned expression again.

“Hey, Min Gibaek.”

“Why are you suddenly so good at talking?”

It seemed my plan to appeal to Cha Seung-jun's emotions had worked.

“Yeah.”

“What do credits matter?”

“What matters is being proud of participating in a good movie….”

‘Hyung, I'm sorry.’

‘Credits matter.’

‘They matter a lot.’

“Still, I think I need to think about it.”

“I already told the PD over there that I was probably going to join them….”

‘Hyung, this really is for your own good.’

‘That movie is going to collapse six months from now….’

“Still, you seem a little different.”

“I didn't know you had such a strong dream about movies and becoming a producer.”

“It feels like I'm learning something from you.”

‘Hyung, I didn't know anything either when I started.’

‘I just happened to figure things out after doing this for twenty years….’

That evening, after Mom came home from work, she ordered chicken.

Ever since middle school, I had eaten chicken with Mom once a week.

Of course, Mom always had it with beer.

Then one day, Mom offered me a drink.

“Mom, I'm still a minor.”

“It's okay when it's from your mother.”

“If I wait until you're all grown up, I feel like I'll die first.”

“Just have some.”

And so began our weekly chicken-and-beer nights.

They naturally disappeared after I returned from the military.

My eyes naturally turned toward Mom.

‘My mom….’

‘She was still young at this time….’

Like any other man my age, I had never once told my mother that I loved her.

‘If you could go back to the past, when would you want to return?’

Suddenly, I remembered a question a screenwriter I used to know had once asked me.

At the time, I had answered without even the slightest hesitation.

‘Go back to the past?’

‘No, I don't want to.’

‘Even if I went back, I don't think I'd really change anything….’

‘I would still live like this and grow old like this.’

‘So I don't want to repeat that life again.’

But that wasn't true.

Now that I had actually returned to the past, I was changing.

No.

I wanted to change.

‘Seungjun hyung! Let's do this!’

‘We absolutely have to do this!’

There were things I was saying and doing now that the 2024 version of me would never have been able to do.

I had to change.