Chapter 87
“Whoa... This person has more than ten certificates. Look at this. A recreation instructor certificate, a Korean cuisine chef certificate, even a heavy machinery license. Why would someone working on a planning team need certificates like these?”
“The more, the better. Who knows? Maybe they’ll come in handy someday.”
Baek Seonghan answered with a playful smile.
But soon, he picked up another résumé and let out a short sigh.
“Still, this person is too old. And he doesn’t even have any relevant experience... I guess finding a job really is difficult these days. It’s not someone else’s problem either.”
“Exactly. His academic background and qualifications are actually pretty good too...”
I agreed with Baek Seonghan when he said it wasn’t just someone else’s problem.
At the same time, I suddenly felt a little amazed at myself.
I had climbed all the way here without any impressive qualifications.
I didn’t even have a university diploma.
“This person has an interesting background. Apparently, he makes videos reviewing dramas and movies and uploads them to a platform called YouTube.”
“Oh, I know YouTube. It’s kind of like AfreecaTV.”
Baek Seonghan proudly spoke up after hearing Choi Seonhwa.
YouTube had officially launched its Korean service in 2008.
At this point, however, it still wasn’t nearly as well known as platforms like AfreecaTV or Pandora TV.
Still, if he was already uploading drama and movie reviews to YouTube at this time, he must be a serious drama fanatic.
The man was thirty-two years old.
His name was Lee Hyeonwoo.
On his résumé, he described himself as someone with excellent content-analysis skills.
For some reason, I found myself interested in him.
Besides, only a few years from now, an era would come when dramas and movies would be heavily promoted through YouTube.
Even major production companies would eventually create their own YouTube channels and use them for promotion.
But Lee Hyeonwoo already understood how YouTube worked.
He even ran his own movie-review channel.
If we used someone like him properly...
Big Picture could become one of the first production companies to promote its own movies and dramas through its own YouTube channel.
We could stay one step ahead of the times.
“I think he looks promising. I’d like to watch some of the review videos he uploaded to YouTube too.”
“Oh, this person looks pretty good too. Kang Juyeong, twenty-nine years old. She used to be a variety-show writer at KBC, and she has eight years of experience in that field.”
Kang Juyeong?
That name sounds familiar...
I took Kang Juyeong’s résumé from Choi Seonhwa and quickly looked through it.
Sure enough.
A familiar face was attached to the résumé photo.
Ah, it really is her.
Juyeong noona.
She said she had double-eyelid surgery... So this must’ve been before she got it done.
Haha.
My connection with Kang Juyeong went back to 2019, before my regression.
At the time, I had been working as the producer of an independent feature film.
The CEO of Byeolbyeol Film Company, which was a mid-sized film company back then, became interested in our project.
He suggested that after revising the screenplay a little more, we turn it into a commercial film.
The director and I happily accepted.
That was how I first met Kang Juyeong, who was working as a planning producer at Byeolbyeol Film Company.
My impression of Kang Juyeong back then was simple.
She was someone who was just as unlucky as I was despite being highly capable.
Still, to me, Kang Juyeong had always been a talented, hardworking woman who gave her best at everything.
And above all else...
She was a kind noona who always bought me meals.
I suddenly remembered one of our conversations.
“Min PD, if this movie fails, I might get fired from the company.”
“Then why did you quit being a successful TV writer? If you’d stayed there, who knows? Maybe you would’ve become a famous variety-show writer by now.”
Back then, I had heard from people around us that Kang Juyeong had once worked as a junior writer on a popular variety show.
So I had casually teased her about it.
But her answer had been surprisingly serious.
“Maybe I could’ve become a successful writer like you said.”
Despite the bitterness on her face, her eyes were firm.
“But even if I could go back to that time, I still wouldn’t regret the choice I made back then.”
I had wondered what happened to her.
But Kang Juyeong clearly didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
So I never asked.
Anyway, because the two of us were in similar situations, we often comforted and encouraged each other.
We relied on each other quite a lot.
But just like most things in my life before my regression...
An unexpected disaster called COVID happened.
In the end, the movie was never made.
And as far as I knew, Kang Juyeong was eventually fired from the company too.
Yet now...
I was meeting her here.
“I think she looks good too. People who worked as variety-show writers usually have very good instincts.”
Just then...
“Wait. You said she used to be a variety-show writer at KBC, right? Give me her résumé for a second.”
Baek Seonghan took the résumé.
As he looked through it, his expression slowly darkened.
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“No... I just... I think I’ve heard something about this person before.”
He hesitated for a moment.
“Or rather, I heard some stories about her somewhere...”
Choi Seonhwa looked at him curiously.
“You heard stories about her? What kind of stories?”
Baek Seonghan looked uncomfortable, as if he wasn’t sure whether he should say it.
After hesitating, he carefully continued.
“Well... I only heard it casually while drinking, so I’m not sure if it was accurate. I might’ve heard it wrong too...”
His reaction seemed strange.
Still, I decided not to pay much attention to it.
Whatever Baek Seonghan had heard, the Kang Juyeong I knew was outstanding.
Both as a planning producer...
And as a person.
More importantly, if my memories were correct, Kang Juyeong was someone who could eventually connect me with a very valuable contact in the coming era of general programming cable channels.
Maybe this is another form of luck.
Perhaps Kang Juyeong had appeared in front of me at exactly the right moment.
“Then let’s pass Kang Juyeong through the document screening too. I really like her experience.”
In the end, out of roughly fifty résumés, we selected six people to pass the first round of screening.
The second-round interviews were scheduled for Friday that same week.
The interviews began at ten in the morning in the large conference room on the ninth floor.
Three people were sitting as interviewers.
CEO Han Taeseong.
PD Baek Seonghan.
And me.
Han Taeseong suddenly smiled as if he had remembered something amusing.
“Come to think of it, this reminds me of when you first came here to interview for the lowest position on the production team.”
He chuckled.
