Chapter 69

Chapter 69

The others gathered around spoke in disbelief.

“A tip that could make a lot of money? If you know about such an opportunity, why aren’t you taking it yourself?”

“Exactly. Why would you give an opportunity like that to someone else? It makes no sense. Haha.”

I gave them a relaxed smile.

“Because I can’t do it myself.”

My continued riddling attitude seemed to irritate the distribution manager a little. He asked impatiently,

“You can’t do it, but I can?”

“Yes. I’m suggesting that you distribute Director Song Jae-hyun’s film, the one submitted to this year’s Busan International Film Festival.”

Everyone gathered there stared at me in stunned silence.

The person whose expression changed the most was none other than Director Song Jae-hyun himself.

“Hey, Min Gi-baek. What are you talking about...?”

Just then...

“Hahaha!”

Cheerful laughter erupted from all around us.

“Well, well. You really are an amusing young man. Was everything you said until now simply a way to lead into asking us to distribute Director Song’s movie? Hahaha.”

Some of the people seemed to think everything I had said was merely preparation for bringing up the distribution of Director Song’s movie. They simply laughed it off.

However, others still looked serious, as though they were carefully considering my words.

I didn’t know exactly why, but the moment I realized CEO Han Tae-seong was trying to make me look impressive in front of these people, I made a decision.

Regardless of Han Tae-seong’s true objective, I would use this chance to speak with C Entertainment’s distribution manager about distributing Director Song Jae-hyun’s new film.

Fortunately, the perfect opportunity had naturally presented itself.

“But has Director Song’s new movie still not found a distributor? I assumed that had already been settled.”

“Well, we’ve been considering several options. We’ve been weighing both independent distributors and commercial film distributors...”

I calmly made up the lie on the spot.

“All right. Director Song, let’s meet separately in Seoul sometime soon.”

“What? Ah, yes... Ahem...”

Director Song answered with a dazed expression, as if he still couldn’t understand how any of this had happened.

It worked!

Having achieved my small objective, I decided to leave before the conversation drifted toward anything unnecessary.

Using the excuse that I needed to rejoin my team, I stood and practically tossed Director Song into their hands like a prisoner.

Of course, I still didn’t know why Han Tae-seong had arranged all this.

Judging from the expression on his face, however, he seemed satisfied that his plan had worked to some extent.

“Where did everyone go? Their bags are still here...”

When I returned to the place where Team Leader Kim Eun-kyung and the others had been sitting, I found only their belongings.

I searched around the reception hall for my missing teammates. Then I stopped when I heard Oh Sang-min and Joo Han-young’s voices coming from the emergency stairwell.

What are they doing in a place like this...?

Then I heard their conversation again.

“Don’t you think this is going too far? I knew he was a parachute hire, but I stayed quiet and tolerated him. Does everyone think Min Gi-baek is the only person on the Planning Team? If this is how things work, why did the rest of us study so hard and spend so much money building our qualifications? Does he have no conscience?”

Huh? What is this? It sounds like they’re talking about me...

“Exactly. Team Leader told us not to make it obvious that he was a parachute hire and to get along with him, so we pretended not to notice and included him. But he seems to be getting too full of himself. Team Leader is still in charge, and that movie wouldn’t even have been produced if she hadn’t approved it in the end...”

Did they overhear the conversation I had with those people earlier?

“That’s enough, everyone. What the CEO said wasn’t exactly wrong. And Gi-baek didn’t deliberately go around telling everyone at the gathering that he was the one who planned the movie.”

“Team Leader! Even so...”

Oh Sang-min looked wronged, but he eventually trailed off after seeing Kim Eun-kyung’s stern expression.

“I’m telling you this in advance. I trust none of you will show your feelings about this in front of Gi-baek. Do you understand?”

When I heard the sound of dress shoes approaching up the stairs, I hurriedly fled from the area.

As our schedule in Busan continued, the team members appeared to behave exactly as they normally did.

Even so, I couldn’t shake the discomfort in my heart.

A few days after we finished everything in Busan and returned to Seoul, I received a call from Writer Jo A-ram.

“I’ve finished revising the screenplay.”

Writer Jo A-ram and I met again at the café where we had checked in every day for an entire week and stayed up all night revising the screenplay together.

“What did you think?”

Jo A-ram’s face was filled with tension as she waited for my answer.

I had probably worn the same expression while waiting for Director Song Jae-hyun’s response.

The thought made me chuckle without realizing it.

“Why... Why are you laughing? Can’t you see how serious I am right now?”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I was just thinking that I must have looked exactly like you do now...”

Jo A-ram stared at me as if she didn’t understand what I meant. Then her shoulders drooped.

“The way you’re avoiding the question... I guess it wasn’t very good.”

“That’s not it. It was good. Much better than I expected. You didn’t merely reduce the science-fiction elements for practical reasons. The emotional flow of the story has also become much richer. You worked incredibly hard, Writer Jo.”

At those simple words of praise, Jo A-ram’s eyes quickly filled with tears.

Perhaps embarrassed by her own emotions, she quickly turned her head and wiped her reddened eyes.

“Still, I’m relieved. I’m glad it has improved...”

“It didn’t just improve. It’s genuinely good. And I’ve also found a director who is interested in working on Timeless with us.”

Jo A-ram’s eyes reacted instantly when she heard that I had found a director.

“Really? What’s the director’s name? No, I’m not good at remembering names. What movies has he directed?”

I slowly explained Director Song Jae-hyun’s background to her.

“Ah, now that you mention it, I think I may have seen him in a film magazine. Wasn’t there an article with a title like ‘An Emerging Director Who Will Lead Korean Cinema’...?”

“I’ll arrange a meeting with the director soon.”

“Then what about Big Picture? Are we completely giving up on them?”

“No. Of course Big Picture is still our first choice.”

I explained that recruiting Director Song first was also part of my strategy to improve our chances of getting Timeless accepted by Big Picture.

“In any case, I’m so grateful that Director Song liked it.”

“Your part is finished now, Writer Jo. From this point onward, the rest is my responsibility. I’m going to work incredibly hard for this.”

“Th-thank you, Producer.”

Jo A-ram’s voice trembled with emotion.

“I’m the one who should thank you. Thank you so much for trusting me and following my direction.”

It was still too early for anyone else to arrive at work.

Alone in the empty office, I performed one final review of the proposal for Timeless and the revised screenplay, both of which I had worked on throughout the night.

Then I began printing them.

The printer stopped after producing the final page.

Now all that’s left is the result...

I held the printed pages in my hands and let out a short sigh.

As nine o’clock approached, my team members began arriving one after another.

Ever since I had accidentally overheard them talking behind my back in Busan, I had felt uncomfortable around them.

Still, I could understand their feelings to some extent.

In their eyes, I was merely a parachute hire brought in by Han Tae-seong...

But it would be a lie to say I wasn’t angry.

They had eyes, so they must have seen what I had accomplished.

They must have known that my results were by no means inferior to theirs.

If anything, my achievements were far greater.

That was precisely why I needed to prove my ability and value through Timeless.

We each handled our morning duties. Shortly before lunchtime, I submitted the prepared proposal and revised screenplay to Team Leader Kim Eun-kyung.

“So you ended up revising it after all.”

“Yes.”

Keeping her eyes on the proposal I had handed her, Kim Eun-kyung raised the corner of her lips with interest.

“Good. There’s no reason to drag this out. We’ll make our decision during this afternoon’s meeting.”

She’s going to decide today? Well, our trip to Busan delayed preparations for the pitch. She probably wants to reach a conclusion as quickly as possible.

While I was briefly lost in thought, Team Leader Kim Eun-kyung issued instructions to Oh Sang-min and Joo Han-young.

“Sang-min and Han-young, make sure you familiarize yourselves with the screenplay and proposal before this afternoon’s meeting.”

With my business there concluded, I returned to my desk.

Outwardly, I acted calm. But the thought that the future of Timeless would be decided today made my mouth go completely dry.

Just then, the phone on my desk vibrated.

I quickly picked it up.

It was Producer Jung In-beom.

After glancing at the other team members, I quietly carried my phone outside and answered the call.

“Yes, Producer Jung.”

“You’re at work right now, aren’t you? Are you able to talk?”

Producer Jung’s voice was filled with an unusual mixture of tension and excitement.

“Producer, did something happen?”

Producer Jung told me that earlier today, C Entertainment’s distribution manager had formally offered to distribute Home Sweet Home.

“So Director Song and I are meeting with the manager tomorrow.”

“That’s wonderful. Congratulations.”

“Apparently, their team even conducted an internal review of the movie. Everyone’s response was extremely positive.”

“Then they’ve already watched our entire movie?”

“It seems so. While we were on the phone, they actually asked us why we never mentioned that Moon Hyun-bin was appearing as the lead actor. Hahaha.”

Producer Jung sounded far more excited than usual, and his excitement began to rub off on me.

“This is fantastic. It would be great if we could secure around fifty screens nationwide...”

“Hey, forget fifty... I’d be happy if we got it onto thirty screens. Hahaha. Anyway, this is all thanks to you, Gi-baek. Thank you. I truly mean it.”

“There’s no need to thank me. I only did it because I want a bigger share of the profits. Hahaha.”

By the time the call ended, my heart felt much lighter.

The tension I had felt only moments ago had disappeared, replaced by a surge of confidence.

That’s right. No matter what anyone says, I’m doing well right now.

At three in the afternoon, we gathered in the conference room for our scheduled meeting.

“Rage Escape is now in its sixth week of release and has attracted 2.3 million viewers so far. We’ve reached an agreement with the distributor to reduce its screen count from two hundred to one hundred starting next week.”

Oh Sang-min, who was in charge of planning Rage Escape, briefed us on the film’s current direction. It had been released to target the Chuseok holiday period.

“Still, 2.3 million isn’t a bad result. I think it will definitely reach three million.”

Joo Han-young spoke as if praising Oh Sang-min for his hard work.

“It would be wise to start coordinating the right time to pull it from theaters as well. Good work, Sang-min. Please continue monitoring it closely.”

“Yes, Team Leader.”

“All right, then... Lastly, let’s begin evaluating the revised screenplay for Timeless that Gi-baek submitted. Everyone has read both the screenplay and the proposal, correct?”

Oh Sang-min and Joo Han-young exchanged glances before nodding.

The moment had finally arrived.

Keeping my expression as calm as possible, I looked at Kim Eun-kyung and the other team members.