Life suddenly brings two old acquaintances together, who were separated due to a tragedy. Hwang Seohyun (황 서현) meets her classmate again after so long.
Their worlds that were different for 7 years collide once again and become one. Unexpected secret...
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Jongno-gu, Seoul 2017
"When are you going to return to the studio? It's already been more than a month now since you're away from Seoul, Song Yejun!"
I sat in my chair with my chin between my palms as I lazily gazed at our producer, Shin Jungsuk yell over the telephone. The other rest of the film crew were also scattered around the little studio, doing the exact same thing as me.
Our producer was a 40 year old man but the way he always frowned, he looked not a day younger than 45; especially when he stood with his hands on his waist like he was right now.
"If you don't come by the end of this week, I'm going to cut down your salary!" He continued to yell with a bitter and loud voice that could easily make Yejun feel little but I immediately interrupted him.
"Mr. Shin, that's now how you talk!" This time, I was the one to scream. "Afterall, he's not gone for a vacation or to have fun. His family is sick. How could you be so insensitive about your own employee?" He just kept on listening to me without saying a word so, I continued to speak. "you should help him at times like these instead of cutting down his salary."
"That's right! Seohyun is right!" I could hear others hyping me up as they nodded at my words and that encouraged me to say more.
"And when do you even pay us our salary?" I cocked my eyebrows at him, my question instantly took him off guard.
"Right, my salary from last two months is still unpaid!" Jinhyuk; who was sitting across the doorframe suddenly joined our conversation as he continued to bite his nails. He wasn't a type of person to engage in any of the conversations, he often minded his own business.
Our producer was so surprised at all of our sudden outbursts that he fell silent for sometime as he stared at us with widened eyes. After a few seconds passed, he blinked his eyes multiple times and then shook his head, maybe trying to compose himself.
He drew in a long breath before forcing out a nervous smile, "Aish, fine. Why are you all getting angry? I understand it now!" With a sly chuckle, he brought the telephone closer to his ear. "Yah, Yejun! Listen. You stay there for as long as you need, kid. And if you need any money, I'm always here. Do you hear me?" He glanced at us and repeated his previous sentence, this time with more emphasis. "Do you hear me? I'm always here if you need money! Okay? Okay."
Although, I was irritated enough but I couldn't help my smile, imagining Yejun's surprised face by our producer's unusual gentle behaviour. I could garantee that his mouth is left open due to unexpected outburst of genuineness from this man.
Soon, Mr. Shin placed the telephone down and fell over his chair as if he had no life in him. All of us shared glances with eachother and continued with our business. We weren't surprised, we were in fact used to it by now, he always does that. He facepalmed himself and I think, began to rethink his own life. But when he didn't say anything for a few more minutes and kept staring into the distance blankly, it worried me. I looked at others and they were already looking at me with the same expression.
I once again, secretly glanced at Mr. Shin again only to find him almost in a vulnerable state, that I've never seen him in. I cleared my throat, breaking the silence. "Did you find any other script or anything else for us to shoot?" He shook his head with a sigh, not even having the energy to speak.
We were all a part of film industry, working at Mr. Shin's little studio. I was both a photographer and cinematographer, alongside Jinhyuk as a camera operator and a gaffer. We hardly managed the camera and lighting department. Mr. Shin was both our producer and director while others led the sound department and editorial department. Whereas, Yejun was our only screenwriter, carrying the whole script department all alone. He was all Mr. Shin could afford under his tiny budget but now that he was also gone, it was hard for our studio to survive.
"But we can't just sit like this for months, you know? We need to atleast make something." Jinhyuk spoke as he walked over to where I was sitting. It was somewhat surprising to see him socialize with us. Suddenly, I remembered something Mr. Shin told me when I first joined his studio. He said that being a part of film industry is like standing in a crowd. If you just stand there without doing anything, you might get lost and in no time you'll be forgotten.
"How about we make something that doesn't follow any kind of script?" My words lightened the whole studio's mood as they stared at me hopefully. "Like... a wildlife documentary? Moreover, I'm basically trained as a wildlife photographer."
Mr. Shin's face dropped when he heard me, "Who watches such things nowadays? And... that'll be still out of our budget. Hiring a new screenwriter would be easier than that."
I stared at him, thinking about something else. "Hey! I might've some short stories at home, my friend from highschool used to write." I almost jumped up from my chair excitedly, "They can work as scripts for awhile, I guess?"
"They will!" Mr. Shin let out a guffaw of happiness that I didn't even realize I longed for. Our studio erupted with cheers and that was heartwarming to witness, maybe because it had been quiet for a long time. I also smiled softly, admitting that our source of happiness was Mr. Shin's happiness, we all loved our under-budget producer.
"Very well then. I'll leave now, I'd have to search for it in my shelves. Will get back tomorrow with it, don't worry." I assured them and stood up to leave.
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Might look senseless to read but it's actually the base of the story so, I hope you read it to know the story better.
