A Genius Director Who Dominates OTT Platforms - Chapter 111

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Genius Director Who Dominates OTT

Episode 111

With those questions in mind, I skimmed through the script I had read several times before.

The content was simple.

It’s something I always say when analyzing dramas, but this one is really simple.

Korea, which had been secretly developing nuclear weapons, faces sanctions from the United States and attempts to experiment with biological weapons designed by a genius scientist 50 years ago as nuclear development material.

And surprisingly, they succeed in creating the biological weapon.

That was the protagonist, An Yeong-ung.

The name is a bit…

Anyway, An Yeong-ung initially lives as a super soldier following the nation’s orders, but feels conflicted when ordered to kill children in conflict zones and rebels.

The ROK-US Combined Forces, sensing the crisis, try to kill An Yeong-ung, but he devastates the African region while escaping with the children.

Then, 2 years later.

Black Agents launch a surprise attack to eliminate An Yeong-ung, who had illegally entered Korea and was living a quiet life.

An Yeong-ung, who barely survives, realizes that he cannot live as a human unless he annihilates the Black Agents composed of next-generation superhumans.

Thus begins a fight of kill or be killed.

That’s everything.

It feels like a lot is missing, but this really is all there is.

Of course, there’s the Hacker Boy who becomes An Yeong-ung’s ally and the National Shooting Team Representative that An Yeong-ung has unrequited love for…

There are no character arcs.

Should I say they only serve as symbols of allies and ordinary life?

There’s even the obvious twist that the National Shooting Team Representative is the National Intelligence Service Director’s daughter.

There are so many sloppy parts in terms of setting.

I don’t understand why the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which operates within the United States, would be dispatched to Korea, and I don’t understand why An Yeong-ung came to Korea either.

He’s an orphan with no family and can’t even use a resident registration card, so wouldn’t it be better to just stay overseas?

Or at least hide for a few years before coming.

There was also a setting that superhumans have long lifespans.

Oh, come to think of it, it’s also strange that the United States, which sanctioned nuclear weapon development, knows so much about An Yeong-ung.

If it’s a biological weapon made instead of nuclear weapons, shouldn’t it be kept secret?

Or not?

Is this part actually realistic?

The United States might have found out on their own and then said they wouldn’t impose political retaliation if data was shared.

Anyway, the important thing wasn’t whether it made sense or not, but that something felt sloppy.

Actually, verisimilitude doesn’t need to be exactly like real life.

It just needs to feel real.

In that sense, Unknown was a work that lacked a lot of verisimilitude.

However, as I quietly examined the script, I became certain of one thing.

‘I can’t add anything to this.’

Until now, I had always been adding something.

Of course, you could say I didn’t add anything to Handtip Crawl since I changed volleyball to E-sports, but didn’t the AI Company story come in strongly?

It was almost 1/3 of the drama.

But with Unknown, I feel like I shouldn’t add anything.

‘But it would also be strange to subtract something.’

If I had to subtract something, I could remove the Hacker Boy, but I don’t think it would make a significant change.

And wouldn’t it feel empty if I actually removed him?

The part where he saves the Hacker Boy suffering from domestic violence is predictable, but it’s entertaining in its own way.

“Ah, shit. This is really difficult.”

I leaned my cheek against the desk and sighed.

It’s really difficult.

Moreover, this time I can’t rely on hints from the precursor symptoms.

The precursor symptoms for Unknown were…

A bit strange.

Until now, the precursor symptoms gave hints through hearing and smell.

Accomplice had the sound of insects and the smell of grass.

Handtip Crawl had the cheers of tens of thousands of spectators, the Coach’s shouts, and the smell of sweat.

But Unknown only had a long silence amid the acrid smell of gunpowder.

I can be certain it was silence because I heard the faint sound of wind.

The words heard after the long silence were exactly four syllables.

“I am… your…”

That was the end.

With just this, there’s nothing to infer or analyze.

Honestly, I wonder if I was dreaming.

I was really tired when reviewing the Unknown script.

Originally, scripts assigned to teams become that team’s assets, so other teams have no way to see them.

But I was able to obtain the script thanks to 3 Team’s whistleblower.

Then I started reading through the 59 scripts one by one, praying to my supernatural ability.

Please let the precursor symptoms activate just once.

Since Ju Yeong-hun took one, shouldn’t I take one too?

But no matter how much I read the scripts, there was no sign of my supernatural ability activating, so I was about to give up…

The supernatural ability activated right at the end.

The 59th script.

Unknown.

That’s why I wondered if it was a dream.

Falling asleep at the end and having a dream wasn’t entirely impossible…

“What am I thinking?”

No.

Absolutely not.

I was tired, but it definitely wasn’t a dream.

The fact that I keep having strange thoughts even though that’s impossible shows that I’m anxious too.

It’s not just Ju Yeong-hun who has a lot riding on this project.

Even if Ju Yeong-hun’s historical drama fails spectacularly, if Unknown fails, I’ll be in trouble too.

It’s the first project I’m handling as a senior, the project where I’ll use Chae Seo-hui as CE, and a project with a high production budget.

Let’s not think useless thoughts.

Didn’t I realize while making ‘Changed Relationship’?

That dramas aren’t made by me alone, but completed with everyone’s help.

Then the person who can help me the most right now is the Author.

I might get hints from conversations with the creator.

I should sleep for now and contact the Author tomorrow with a clear mind.

* * *

Meeting the Author of Unknown wasn’t difficult.

When I called saying I was from SSK, there was chaos, and when I revealed my name, I thought my eardrums would burst.

I arranged a same-day meeting with the Author who happened to live not far from the Company…

“Oh, ohh! Really! Was it real? Director Dohyeon-u! It’s really real!”

I’m not a director though.

No, and what do you mean asking me if it’s real when I’m the one who contacted you?

“Am I going to make it big now? Am I going to debut? Am I going to become a star writer!”

“…Hello. I’m Dohyeon-u from SSK.”

“I know! I’m Jang Chi-su!”

Wow…

Author Jang Chi-su was a type of writer I had never encountered before.

Yeom Jae-mun and Hong Hee-yeong weren’t very talkative, and Gil Sanghun and Go Yeongtae were closed off until we became close…

“I’m really so excited.”

This person is an extrovert among extroverts, and a social butterfly among social butterflies.

I’m not exactly lacking in social skills either, but I can’t even imitate this.

“Author, please calm down a bit. Shall we order drinks first?”

“Oh, sorry. I got too excited, didn’t I? I’ll have a dolce latte venti size with soy milk, espresso with whipped cream and caramel drizzle please. Oh, and light ice!”

“…Let’s go order together.”

After ordering together and sitting down, he asked if we could take a photo together, so I took one for him.

He asked if he could post it on social media, so I told him to go ahead.

Looking quietly at Author Jang Chi-su, one question was resolved.

Originally, drama writers often catch the disease of “Ah, is this too obvious?” while writing.

After staring at the same script for months or years, their writing starts to feel like a cliché mess and predictable.

So they obsessively search for special developments and often end up making the script go off track.

Actually, good writers are those who find a good balance between clichés and originality.

Anyway, writers are inherently prone to falling into doubts that their writing is too obvious…

Unknown was a bit different.

Despite the extremely obvious content, there was no sense of doubt, only the feeling of excitedly rushing forward.

Even in the development and characters, it was obvious he had written straight through without any signs of deliberation.

I wondered if the submission deadline was urgent, but now I understand.

It’s because of his personality.

“Author Jang Chi-su?”

“Oh, yes. Just a moment. I’m thinking about hashtags.”

Would it be rude to say he seems to think more about hashtags than character arcs?

“Yes! Please go ahead!”

“How long have you been writing scripts?”

“Me? This is my first script!”

“Where did you learn to write?”

“I went to a drama study group with a girl I was seeing, and it looked fun. That’s when I started.”

“A study group? How many years ago was that?”

“I think it’s been about 8 months.”

“Excuse me, but your age…?”

“Twenty-nine.”

The same age as Go Yeongtae and Gil Sanghun when they wrote Accomplice.

No, wait.

Come to think of it, he was twenty-nine when filming started, but he was younger when he won the contest.

But if this is his first work and he’s never properly learned writing, he’s quite talented, isn’t he?

I don’t know about other things, but I was satisfied with at least the fight scenes.

“Author, I want to do this project.”

“Gasp!”

“…You can breathe.”

“Hah. I wasn’t trying to hold it, I was just so nervous. Wow, but you’re so handsome. What skincare products do you use?”

“I just pick any all-in-one product. Whatever’s on sale.”

“Really? You don’t take care of your skin at all?”

“I paid attention to my skin when I was an actor, but after retiring…”

Wait, why am I answering this? This is driving me crazy.

“Author. Let’s talk about our work first. We can chat later.”

“Yes. Sorry. I talk a lot, don’t I?”

“First, I want to do this, but I think we need to make quite a lot of revisions.”

“Yes. Just give me the direction and I’ll do my best to revise it.”

“I’m not sure about that direction. I feel like it can be changed to be interesting, but I’m confused. Do you happen to have any planning documents, settings, or materials where you organized your thoughts from when you first wrote the script?”

“Uh… No.”

I thought so.

“Nothing at all?”

“No. I just suddenly thought of it and wrote it all at once. But I have something else.”

“Something else?”

“After I finished writing, the script felt somewhat lacking, you know? It’s CIA, not FBI.”

“…Yes.”

“So I wrote another script with similar content. Would you take a look at it?”

“Yes. That sounds good.”

When he said he wrote another script, I thought he had written parts 1 and 2, but that wasn’t it.

What Author Jang Chi-su pulled out of his bag was a whopping 16-episode script.

“It would be hard to read it all here, right?”

“I’ll take a look for now.”

The moment I received the script.

The cafe table felt like it was suddenly moving away.

Whoooosh.

I heard the sound of wind, and the acrid smell of gunpowder stung my nose.

A long silence followed.

After a very long silence, short words were heard.

“I am… your…”

Incomplete.

The precursor symptoms had arrived.

Exactly the same as what I had experienced before.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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