Chapter 44
Then, even if I played the contents of the recorder for him now, did that mean Han Taesung might simply turn a blind eye to everything?
But the Han Taesung I knew was not the kind of person who would allow the company or a movie production to suffer because of personal feelings...
My thoughts became complicated.
That was when Han Taesung, as if he had read my thoughts, spoke.
“You seem to have a lot of questions.”
I hesitated for a moment before opening my mouth.
“It’s just... I can’t really understand how you knew about it but pretended not to know.”
“I suppose you wouldn’t be able to understand. But you see... Choi Moonho also had a time when he shone just as brightly as you do now. There was a time when he genuinely loved movies and worked on them with that same passion...”
Han Taesung’s expression became nostalgic, as if he were wandering through some place in his memories of the past.
For a moment, I doubted my own ears.
I even wondered whether the person Han Taesung was talking about was really the same Choi Moonho I knew.
Han Taesung seemed to notice my changing expression and gave a small chuckle.
“You don’t believe me. Well, looking at the Choi Moonho of today, it’s hard to imagine.”
“Yes... Honestly, it sounds like you’re talking about a completely different person.”
“Choi Moonho wasn’t someone who, from the very beginning, would hesitate to do anything dishonest just for his own benefit. To be honest, I never expected things to go this far either.”
Han Taesung said that he had first met Choi Moonho when he was working in the video business division of S Company.
At the time, Choi Moonho had just graduated from college.
Together with a director he was close to, he had developed a screenplay and was going around looking for a production company that would turn it into a movie.
That was when he knocked on the door of S Company’s video business division.
When Han Taesung saw Choi Moonho approaching him with nothing but a proposal and a screenplay, he was initially dumbfounded.
It was almost as if Choi Moonho believed that ignorance made him fearless, charging forward and throwing himself at a wall without hesitation.
However, Han Taesung decided that the proposal and screenplay were better than he had expected.
So he introduced Choi Moonho to a movie company.
After that first encounter, ten years passed before they met again.
But the Choi Moonho Han Taesung met again was no longer the passionate and inexperienced young man he remembered.
The work he had struggled to develop had been taken away by a major production company.
He had been betrayed by people around him.
And even when he finally managed to make a movie after going through all that hardship, all the glory went to the director and actors...
Choi Moonho realized that none of that glory would ever come to him.
Han Taesung’s face became bitter as he explained that perhaps that was when Choi Moonho began using movies not as something he genuinely loved, but as a means to an end.
“But well, in a way, I thought that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing either... The more ruthless a person becomes, the closer they get to success. But... now I’m not so sure. I don’t know if Choi Moonho can ever come back...”
“PD Choi won’t be able to come back anymore.”
Han Taesung hesitated at my unexpectedly firm answer before eventually nodding as if he understood.
I continued.
“And I don’t think everyone makes the same choice just because they are put in a difficult situation. Especially if those feelings were truly sincere...”
Before my regression, Cha Seungjun and I had been in a situation similar to Choi Moonho’s, yet we had made different choices.
Just because the person you love doesn’t acknowledge you doesn’t mean hurting that person is the right thing to do.
Cha Seungjun and I were both hurt, but we chose to leave.
That was why Cha Seungjun immigrated to Canada.
And I, after enduring for as long as I could, had also planned to leave the movie industry.
But Choi Moonho made a different choice, and in the end, he destroyed himself.
It was basically an own goal.
In any case, I had confirmed how Han Taesung felt about Choi Moonho.
I took out the recorder containing reporter Gu Yangmo’s statement from my pocket and handed it to Han Taesung.
“What is this?”
“It contains a statement from Gu Yangmo, the reporter from Hanju Ilbo who first reported that actor Min Seongjae would appear in our movie. He personally stated that he had heard the information from PD Choi Moonho.”
This time, Han Taesung was also visibly flustered.
“Then... PD Choi Moonho was the one who leaked the information about actor Min Seongjae?”
“Yes.
I was secretly investigating it with Manager Baek because it seemed that information about actor Min Seongjae had been leaked from our side.”
Han Taesung seemed more shocked than I had expected.
He gently pressed his temple.
“There probably isn’t any need to explain separately why PD Choi went this far. Na Yoseop just came to see me...”
I told him that this was on an entirely different level from secretly making deals with an actor he personally knew over casting.
The entire movie could have been canceled because of this.
I explained the seriousness of the situation, saying that this also showed a problem with his qualifications as a producer.
“And that’s not all. There are also signs that he used production funds for personal purposes. I think it’s time for you to make a decision, Director.”
A short but heavy silence filled the room.
“I understand what you’re saying.
I need some time to think about this as well, so you should go home now.
You’ve worked hard until late at night.”
I quietly placed the recorder I had been holding on the desk in front of Han Taesung.
“I’ll leave the recorder here. Whatever decision you make, I’ll consider it the best decision. Then I’ll head home first.”
I left the office.
On my way home, I called Manager Baek Seonghan and told him everything.
I told him that actor Na Yoseop had come to the company and met Han Taesung, and that I had handed Han Taesung the recording of reporter Gu Yangmo’s statement.
Baek Seonghan seemed surprised when he heard that Choi Moonho had been secretly making deals with actors over casting.
But he soon regained his composure.
<So how did the director react?>
“He said he needed some time to think.”
<Well... I told you, didn’t I? The two of them are closer than you think...>
“That’s true, but handing information about actor Min Seongjae to a reporter and making him write a malicious article is basically the same as trying to harm the movie itself.
From the director’s perspective, this isn’t something he can simply overlook.
He may take action as soon as tomorrow.”
<Yeah. Anyway, we should make sure the other staff members don’t get unsettled. Good work.>
