Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 178

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Genius Archer’s Streaming Season 1 Episode 178
62. The Past I Didn’t Know (2)
As I rode in the car, the Green Diamond headquarters gradually came into view in the distance.
A verdant garden nestled in the center of the massive building complex.
That was Green Diamond’s symbol.
‘Wow… It really is Green Diamond.’
‘How much would it cost to build something like that in downtown Seoul? At minimum….’
Though our thoughts differed, Sanghyeon and Juhyeok both dropped their jaws simultaneously.
As we drew closer to the headquarters, the garden fell away above us.
“Over here!”
Someone waved from far off near the building entrance and came running toward us.
The man who arrived displayed his employee badge and greeted us.
“Ah, hello. You’re Almond, the one here for filming today, correct?”
His practiced smile belonged to a man with the typical appearance of a large corporation manager.
Behind him came two younger men who had followed along.
They too looked like copy-paste versions of each other—people I’d seen somewhere before.
Sanghyeon wondered anew if he’d looked that identical back then.
“Please get out. I’ll park the car for you.”
“There’s no need to go that far.”
“It’s fine. The basement parking here is rather complicated relative to the building’s size.”
It was a well-intentioned lie.
There was no way a building of this caliber would have inconvenient parking.
He was crafting a reason so the other party wouldn’t feel burdened by his kindness. I could tell he was practiced at this.
“Ah, yes. Then I’ll leave it to you.”
Juhyeok handed over the car keys and entered the building with Sanghyeon.
The two remaining employees followed them and held the elevator.
“Have you had experience filming advertisements like this before?”
“Yes. Not long ago, I did a mobile game advertisement called Reckless Warrior Training….”
“Ah, from Fantasia Corporation… I think I’ve seen the teaser for that too….”
By the time we finished chatting about this and that, we’d already arrived at the designated floor.
‘They’re being quite considerate.’
Sanghyeon recalled the image of successful celebrities being treated well that he’d only seen in dramas.
While not quite VIP treatment, for someone like him who’d spent his entire life as a company employee, this dynamic where the advertising client showed more consideration was genuinely strange.
“Ah, Almond! Welcome!”
“Almond has arrived! Let’s begin preparations!”
“You haven’t had makeup done yet, right? Good call. Come this way.”
“You’ve probably received a rough storyboard, but our filming location is the rooftop garden of our headquarters.”
In an instant, the makeup team and the planning team attached themselves and proceeded simultaneously.
‘So that time wasn’t particularly unusual.’
During the Fantasia filming, I thought Almond had interjected midway and caused considerable trouble.
It seemed that film sets were places where absolute chaos reigned.
“Here’s the storyboard. You don’t need to match the pose exactly—just use it as a reference.”
“We’ll shoot in 360 degrees all at once, so there shouldn’t be much schedule pressure. Technology has gotten so good these days.”
“However, if the Director doesn’t get the shot he wants, we might have to extend.”
Sanghyeon tried to nod in acknowledgment, but the makeup artist grabbed his head and repositioned it.
“You can’t move.”
“Ah… yes.”
“That concludes the explanation. Do you have any questions?”
“Hmm…”
Sanghyeon pondered for a moment before suddenly remembering the previous shoot and asking.
“Will I be shooting a bow?”
The Employee stared blankly and tilted his head in confusion.
“…Yes?”
He asked back as if he didn’t understand.
“A bow? I’m not sure what you mean. Are you talking about the bow used for hunting?”
“Yes.”
“No, nothing like that. It’s just a product advertisement. Think of it like an old TV commercial.”
“Ah, I understand.”
Right. Archery in a nature-friendly Almond advertisement—that made no sense.
Unless the concept was direct-from-Mongolian-mountains, which it wasn’t. Sanghyeon’s face flushed slightly with embarrassment.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Makeup was applied over it.
The makeup artist spoke with a slight smile.
“Almond, you’ve probably heard this a lot.”
“?”
“That you don’t need makeup.”
I’d heard it plenty.
“Your skin just glows even without any makeup. Do you follow a special diet? Or exercise? Is it mostly just natural talent?”
At the mention of diet, Sanghyeon answered seriously.
“I eat a lot of almonds.”
“Huh…?”
The makeup artist’s hands paused for a moment.
“I eat a lot of almonds regularly.”
“Oh, really? Almonds… maybe I should try some… haha…”
“You don’t eat them? You work at Green Diamond.”
“Huh?”
The Woman burst out laughing.
“I’m not an Employee here. Obviously… a food company wouldn’t have makeup artists and a film crew. Not even a major corporation.”
“Ah… that’s true.”
Fantasia was a game company, so specialized shoots like this were commonplace, but a food company certainly had no need for such things.
“I’m part of Choi Gang Planning, which handles planning in conjunction with this place. But I’m not a full-time employee there either—we have our own makeup team. It’s more like freelancers subcontracting work, you know?”
Her hands moved busily once more.
“I see.”
Green Diamond > Choi Gang Planning > Makeup Team > Freelancers.
I habitually organized the subcontracting structure in my mind.
“Choi Gang Planning… isn’t that an Asung affiliate?”
“Oh, you know! That’s right. Our team works with them a lot.”
Choi Gang Planning.
A planning company founded by one of the wealthy families at Asung.
From what I understood, they typically handled all advertising for Asung affiliates and also took on outsourced projects for particularly large contracts.
“I used to work at Asung.”
“Ah, right! I heard about that! Do you know people from the planning division?”
“No. I was in the products division…”
Though it was called an Asung affiliate, it was actually a completely different company—different corporation, different name, different representative.
Aseong Corporation had its own separate planning and marketing team, so Choi Gang Planning didn’t always get involved.
“You must have been quite popular. Handsome and talented too—though I suppose you’re even more popular now… haha.”
Popular?
I responded with a bitter smile.
‘That couldn’t have been further from the truth.’
Working at a major corporation wasn’t something that could be resolved simply by having a decent face.
I was absolutely not a popular person there.
The compliments about my appearance that I heard so naturally now were never said to me back then.
People often forget how fickle human perception can be.
“There we go! All done! There wasn’t much to do anyway!”

* * *
The shoot began.
The poses and actions requested were nothing particularly special compared to the Fantasia shoots.
I just needed to smile brightly in the forest of the atrium that Green Diamond boasted, nestled in their aerial courtyard, and take a bite of Almond.
“Alright, rolling.”
A flash of red light momentarily gleamed from the cameras surrounding the 360-degree setup.
‘Wow.’
Juhyeok felt like it was exactly like a SWAT team firing laser pointers to eliminate terrorists.
The video team’s equipment was that brutal in its precision.
‘Being Choi-gang Planning’s specialized team, it’s definitely different.’
Fantasia had assembled their own filming crew, but this was outsourced to a professional advertising production company. There was no way the quality wouldn’t differ.
Of course, Fantasia would excel in special effects, but they seemed to fall far short in this kind of analog media shooting.
“Alright, next sequence.”
Following the Director’s instructions, Sanghyeon began performing the predetermined actions, and the cameras pursued him sharply once more.
This time it was a scene of running across a grassland. They seemed to have planned this sequence based on Sanghyeon’s aristocratic appearance.
In reality, it wasn’t a concept that suited him well.
They seemed to want something like pure innocence, but that wasn’t the case. He was worn down through and through.
Of course, Juhyeok thought even that appearance suited him quite well on the surface. He certainly looked the part.
‘Either way, this should wrap up soon.’
Juhyeok withdrew his attention, thinking instead about the menu for tonight’s first company dinner.
[Jia: What are we eating today?]
[Juhyeok: Raw fish?]
[Jia: Ooh. The oldest one’s treating?]
[Juhyeok: Are you insane.]
Gia: Haha, oppa~ buy me rice~
Ju-hyuk: hahahahahahahahahaha
[Jia: Why are you laughing?]
[Juhyeok: …Anyway, there’s a famous raw fish restaurant near here. One’s called ‘Takamura,’ and there’s another place called ‘Panda’—a Chinese drinking establishment with appetizers. You know, the kind that sells things like eggplant in garlic sauce and mapo shrimp, right?]
[Jia: Eggplant ugh]
[Juhyeok: Panda then]
[Jia: ?]
[Juhyeok: …Should we just do raw fish?]
[Jia: Panda then]
And so Panda was decided.
Sanghyeon had no say in the matter. Since he didn’t really like anything except Almond, Juhyeok had excluded him from the decision.
“Perfect~”
The Director gave an okay sign and lifted his head from the camera he’d been buried in.
“The takes are finished for now. Rest while I review the footage.”
It was indeed a fast shoot.
“Phew. It’s really faster than I expected.”
Sanghyeon took a seat beside Juhyeok and voiced the same sentiment.
“Right? Is this really professional-level work?”
“Maybe so.”
Sanghyeon popped the leftover Almond into his mouth from the shoot.
Juhyeok was just about to tell Jia to wrap things up, thinking it would be over soon.
“Hmm… I think we need to reshoot this?”
Unwelcome news drifted over.
“It’s… decent enough though.”
“It doesn’t feel alive, does it?”
“Well, she’s not a professional model after all. Some awkwardness is unavoidable.”
“We could always lean into the awkwardness as a concept…”
“Green Diamond doesn’t seem to want that approach.”
“Should we revise the storyboard?”
This couldn’t be happening.
They were actually talking about revising the storyboard.
Sanghyeon and Juhyeok’s eyes met.
‘What the hell is going on?’
The two quietly got up and approached where the directors were conferring.
“Is there some kind of problem?”
“Oh. No, not at all. I just wish Sanghyeon could blend in a bit more with this scene.”
The image of Sanghyeon taking a bite of Almond against a fresh garden backdrop.
Both of them felt their faces flush simultaneously.
‘This feels so awkward…’
‘Something’s off about it?’
There was a disconnect from reality that neither could quite put into words.
“Let’s try it once more.”
Sanghyeon stepped in front of the camera without hesitation.
The directors’ expressions brightened.
They had been wondering how to phrase the request, but having him volunteer to do it again made things much easier.
“Great enthusiasm. Then let’s start from the beginning sequence.”

* * *
Two hours later.
“Sigh. Damn….”
I sat on the bench with my head hung low.
My eyes, hidden behind the hair falling across my face, glared at the innocent garden.
‘What is this…’
I reflected on what I had just realized.
‘Modeling isn’t easy, is it?’
Fantasia had been easy because it was all streamers, game-related filming, and a script optimized for me.
On the other hand, the Green Diamond script was the type that required a professional model.
‘I’m shooting a script that someone like pure-white Ran should be shooting. There’s no way this works.’
I couldn’t understand how to exude a nature-friendly, radiant, and warm smile.
“…Hey. What do we do? It looks like we’re going to be late. Should we cancel the dinner?”
Juhyeok asked worriedly.
I shook my head.
“What are you talking about? It’s our first dinner together. It’s only five o’clock.”
Just then, one of the staff members approached with an apologetic expression and delivered the news.
“Um… the sun is starting to set soon….”
At the mention of the sun setting, Juhyeok and I exchanged a dizzy look as if we’d realized something.
“Since the concept is to shoot with natural light… we’ll have to postpone the shoot to next time if there’s no sun.”
That’s right.
With this shooting concept, we couldn’t film once the sun set.
‘I have to do this again….’
Pushing back the schedule wasn’t ideal.
“Would it be okay if we either postponed it to the next schedule or modified the script on our end?”
“…There’s no other choice.”
Making money isn’t easy.
“Sigh. Really. This isn’t working out.”
I finished off the remaining almonds.
Crunch. Crunch.
As if getting revenge for eating them one bite at a time during filming, I shoved them all in at once.
Juhyeok asked with an exasperated expression, looking at me like a squirrel preparing for hibernation.
“Hey. Are they really that tasty?”
“Yeah.”
“Give me one.”
I silently continued shoving almonds into my mouth. Until they were all gone.
“…You’re not giving me any?”
“Do I look like I would?”
“You ate silken tofu stew too!”
“That’s different.”
“What the—!”
The two of them began bickering as if they’d been waiting for the moment.
At the slight commotion, the Director turned his head.
‘Huh…?’
The Director framed the shot with his hands, capturing both of them.
The rooftop garden of the Company bathed in sunset, exhausted expressions, Almond pouring out stress like shaking off dust, a trivial quarrel…
‘That actually suits better?’
Almond absorbed into everyday life seemed to have far greater appeal as a product than the contrived brightness and freshness of a staged shot.
Most of all…
‘Why is he eating it so deliciously?’
Right now, Sanghyeon was eating the Almond incredibly deliciously.
The Director passed by the Staff and approached him.
“Would you mind doing one more take? With the person standing next to you as well?”
“…Yes?”
Juhyeok, who had been frowning, startled in surprise.

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