Bedroom Genius Actor - Chapter 73
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Episode 73
“You’re moving?”
“Yes… I want to do it as quickly as possible.”
Kim Ji-hu said to Choi Tae-geon.
Moving itself was a big deal, and since Kim Ji-hu had only ever signed studio apartment rental contracts, he wanted to consult about it.
“I think it would be better to decide with a little more time. There’s a lot to look into, money-wise and in various other ways.”
“I thought so too… but I think it’s better to do it as quickly as possible.”
Kim Ji-hu had always been indecisive and passive in his thinking. Honestly, he would have liked to take his time looking around before moving, but he thought that wasn’t an option in his current situation.
‘At least when it comes to family matters, I want to be more decisive.’
He had been intentionally turning away from matters related to his mother all this time.
But he didn’t want to do that anymore.
Now he had to take care of Grandmother and Kim Ji-hye.
‘Besides, I can’t guarantee I’ll have free time in the future.’
Since he couldn’t predict what kind of schedule he’d receive going forward. So he wanted to find a place while he could move around freely.
Moreover, the house where Grandmother and Kim Ji-hye lived was a basement.
Grandmother’s health was an issue, but it would also be inconvenient in various ways for Kim Ji-hye, who was in the middle of preparing songs.
It seemed best to find a house as quickly as possible for everyone’s sake.
“If that’s what you want. So are you thinking of getting an apartment?”
“That would be nice… but a villa would be fine too.”
“Hmm, how much money do you have available?”
“About 300 to 400 million won…”
“Including loans?”
“No…”
“Is there a particular area you want?”
“Anywhere seems fine. Oh, as long as it doesn’t interfere with mine and Ji-hye’s work…”
“What about the floor?”
“Ah, Grandmother has some mobility issues, so a lower floor would be good.”
Choi Tae-geon, who had asked various questions, smiled brightly.
“Then we have someone at our company who can help, so I’ll inquire with them.”
“Someone who can help?”
“Actors and singers often have privacy issues with houses, and it’s difficult to look for houses in various situations. There’s someone who helps in those cases. I’ll ask them to look into it as quickly as possible.”
“Thank you…”
He didn’t know managers helped with things like this. He thought it was good that he had asked Choi Tae-geon.
“More than that, you’ll have to work even harder now. If you’re buying a house.”
“Haha… I suppose so.”
“Then shall we start with work right away?”
Actually, Kim Ji-hu had met with Choi Tae-geon not only because of moving, but also for work.
Setting up SNS and planning YouTube.
“SNS can be set up right now, so there’s no problem. We can use the profile photos we took last time for the profile picture… and we’ll go with posting selfies for posts.”
“Understood…!”
“Then YouTube is the issue now…”
The first content carries a lot of meaning.
Especially the most important point for gathering people.
Of course, since YouTube activities weren’t the main focus and were closer to fan service and promotion, they had to keep that in mind.
“Do you have any good ideas, Ji-hu?”
“Uh… how about doing something with Ji-hye?”
“Hmm, that’s good too, but similar activities have already been uploaded to Ji-hye’s YouTube, and for the first video, it would be better to do something alone.”
“Then, something like a Vlog…”
“…For a Vlog, don’t you just stay at home, Ji-hu?”
“That’s true too…”
The two put their heads together and pondered. Although Hanbit Entertainment had a Content Team, since it was the first video, they planned to think about it a lot separately from the Content Team.
‘Fan service and attracting viewers…’
Kim Ji-hu thought for a moment and soon had a good idea.
“Didn’t movie reviews and such get posted on the fan cafe recently…?”
“Right, it seems like that’s become the main content.”
“Then how about content where I read those?”
“Oh!!!”
Choi Tae-geon slapped his knee.
“That’s really good! As expected, since you’ve run a blog before, you really know the key points.”
“Ahaha… thank you…”
“Then let’s go with that. I’ll talk to the Content Team.”
The first YouTube video seemed to be decided on that direction.
Of course, to be precise, the very first video would be Kim Ji-hu’s introduction video and greeting, so it would be the second video.
“But there’s something I’m curious about…”
At Kim Ji-hu’s question, Choi Tae-geon, who was organizing content, looked up.
“What is it?”
“Well… I heard the editing period is about 6 months, so what do I do during that time?”
Choi Tae-geon stroked his chin.
“Usually some people take a break, and some look for their next project. If they have some free time, some make brief appearances in other works or go on variety shows.”
“I see…”
“Of course, for us, it seems better to go on variety shows minimally to maintain mystique. For actors, it’s better to kill their own character a bit for the sake of their on-screen characters.”
It seemed right, considering there were actors who were banned from variety shows because their characters came out too strongly on variety shows.
Especially in Kim Ji-hu’s case, since he was good at various types of acting, exposing his real character could actually work against him.
If a passive character became imprinted on the public, it could become difficult to receive various roles.
“The best thing would still be self-improvement. In the case of Netflix, since it airs overseas too, you might have to do interviews in English. So wouldn’t it be best to practice acting while doing exercise and English in parallel?”
“Understood…!”
“Yes! Good! Then let’s go in that direction!”
***
Kim Ji-hu, who returned home, pondered.
‘I thought I’d at least have some work in between…’
Six months was truly a long time.
Currently, there were no financial problems, but if he bought a house, problems could arise.
Of course, since Kim Ji-hu was frugal, living expenses wouldn’t be a problem, but if he bought a house with a loan, he’d have to pay interest at least, so he thought he needed money.
‘Then should I tell the manager I’ll do variety shows?’
Choi Tae-geon had said variety shows weren’t that good, but knowing his situation, he probably wouldn’t tell him not to do them.
Kim Ji-hu had such thoughts as he turned on his computer.
“Hmm…?”
As he was about to enter his blog, Kim Ji-hu saw several emails.
Among the occasional emails from blog fans, there was one particularly unusual email.
-Hello, this is RT Entertainment.
RT Entertainment was Yun Se-ra’s agency.
He knew it well since he had seen it often when Yun Se-ra was trying to find the ‘Armchair Reviewer’ before.
‘But this is different from the emails back then.’
He wondered if Yun Se-ra was trying to find the Armchair Reviewer again like last time, but it didn’t seem like that.
Moreover, this email seemed to be an official email from RT Entertainment.
Kim Ji-hu opened that email.
-Hello. This is RT Entertainment. Our CEO Jo Pil-sik would like to meet with the Armchair Reviewer, so we’re inquiring if you would have time.
“Ah…?”
***
RT Entertainment is one of Korea’s representative agencies.
An agency that existed even before Korean entertainment grew to its current size, like the very history of the entertainment industry itself.
It was truly a mega-sized agency that managed not only actors, but also singers, comedians, and announcers, while also nurturing promising talents and discovering new ones.
And Jo Pil-sik, the CEO of RT Entertainment, was truly a living witness to history, standing at the forefront of Korea’s entertainment industry.
He was a legendary figure who had stood firm from the past when gangsters were devouring Korean entertainment until now when the Korean Wave was spreading throughout world culture.
‘Why, why would such a person want to see me?’
It would be one thing if it were Kim Ji-hu, but since he asked to see Kim Ji-hu as the ‘Armchair Reviewer,’ it was even more puzzling.
He had heard from the MBS people last time that he was famous in the industry, but he never thought such a big shot would seek him out.
‘Besides, wasn’t the industry the MBS people mentioned on the writer’s side…?’
He couldn’t understand why an agency CEO would be looking for him.
They said the details would be discussed when they met in person.
‘But it can’t be seen as a bad thing.’
***
Recently, as actor Kim Ji-hu, he had been continuously solidifying his position, but since the MBS incident, there had been almost no work as the Armchair Reviewer.
Of course, it wasn’t that there was none at all, but rather that he couldn’t do it because his acting work was busy.
“…Is this the place?”
Kim Ji-hu looked up while having such thoughts.
The place Kim Ji-hu had come to was near some recording studio.
He didn’t know why they called him to such a place, but he had come as instructed.
‘I did tell my manager about it, so there shouldn’t be any problems.’
Since Oh Jin-woo had given him various advice to be careful about the entertainment industry, he had told Choi Tae-geon the whole story to be as cautious as possible.
Then if anything strange happened, Choi Tae-geon would be able to help.
‘Of course, it doesn’t seem like such a person would harm me.’
For someone like CEO Jo Pil-sik, burying a mere reviewer would be easy work.
If he intended to cause harm, he would handle it quietly rather than bother meeting.
Kim Ji-hu swallowed dry saliva and entered the recording studio that RT Entertainment had told him about.
Inside sat a white-haired old man with a stubborn-looking face.
“Ah, hello?”
“Heh heh, just as I heard, you came wearing a mask.”
The white-haired old man Jo Pil-sik burst into laughter.
Kim Ji-hu had come wearing a mask like when he met the MBS people.
Since it was their first meeting, he wore a white mask to look neat.
“Well… there are various circumstances.”
“What, did you get burns on your face or something?”
“That’s not it… I just don’t want my identity to be unnecessarily revealed.”
“That’s a wise thought. There’s no point in having a famous face when it only exposes your private life and becomes poison. If possible, it’s better not to reveal your identity. Most people don’t do that because they want to be praised by those around them, though.”
“Haha…”
CEO Jo Pil-sik seemed pleased with Kim Ji-hu’s words, wearing a satisfied smile.
“Sit down. Let’s talk for a moment.”
“Yes…”
Kim Ji-hu sat in the chair, and Jo Pil-sik looked around the recording studio and said.
“Do you know where this place is?”
“Isn’t it a recording… studio?”
“That’s right. This is the very first recording studio I bought. It’s all worn out now so we don’t use it anymore.”
“I see…”
He didn’t quite understand why he was telling such a story, but he quietly listened.
“I started business with a few nameless singers, built a recording studio, made money, expanded the business scale, and brought actors and various people into the company. That’s how the current RT Entertainment was created.”
“That’s amazing…”
“There’s nothing amazing about it. It just happened as I kept doing it.”
Just from his words, it sounded like ‘I just did it and it worked out?’, but looking at Jo Pil-sik’s expression, it didn’t seem like that.
His wrinkles, gray hair, and expression with various emotions crossing it showed what kind of hardships he had endured.
Jo Pil-sik reminisced about the past like that, then looked at Kim Ji-hu and asked.
“Why do you think I called you here?”
“Well… aren’t you trying to commission me for review work?”
“Tsk tsk, then I would have assigned it to an employee, why would I come out personally? And what reviews would an agency have to commission?”
“Then… why did you call me…?”
Jo Pil-sik brought up the main point.
“I heard from Sera. She said your reviews are really good. And that they helped her acting a lot.”
“Ah… is, is that so?”
“She said she talked through actor Kim Ji-hu, wasn’t that right?”
“No!!! I, I heard about it! So I also passed the message to Ji-hu!!!”
“Hmm hmm, and I also skimmed through your reviews, and I think I understand why Sera said that. So what I want to talk about is.”
CEO Jo Pil-sik smiled slyly and said.
“Could you do directing for our RT Entertainment’s actors? I’ll pay you well enough that you won’t be disappointed.”
It was an incredibly groundbreaking proposal.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————