I’m an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me - Chapter 17
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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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Episode 17
* * *
A pristine white three-story building located in Cheongdam. A simple and clean name was engraved on it.
[Gogyeol]
There was no additional explanation of what kind of place it was. It was an unfriendly shop, but it had good reason to be.
This was a makeup shop frequented by celebrities so famous in South Korea that everyone would recognize their names.
“Hello, this is Gogyeol. Do you have a reservation?”
“No. But just tell the CEO that Min is here.”
“Ah… excuse me, but what’s your relationship?”
“We’re family.”
With those words, the two were immediately allowed entry.
As they moved upstairs, Yeoreum’s eyes widened.
‘Wow… it’s a field of celebrities…’
Even just looking at the customers’ backs, they had a different aura. She could see famous celebrities too.
‘Isn’t that Eun Baekhap?’
Yeoreum’s eyes seemed to spin the entire time she entered the private room prepared inside.
‘I didn’t even dare hope for this much.’
Yeoreum was a bit nervous at the results that exceeded her imagination.
“Is your sister really family with the CEO here?”
“It’s obvious from the name.”
“…The CEO’s name is ‘Go Gyeol’. Wasn’t that a single character name?”
“Hey. ‘Dokgo Gyeol’ is also a single character. Sister should be coming around now.”
Click-clack- Click-clack-!
Just as Dokgo Min said, confident footsteps could be heard from far away.
It was the entrance of this place’s owner, Dokgo Gyeol.
“Hi everyone~? Min, you need to get in the habit of calling ahead. It’s lucky my schedule was loose today. What would have happened otherwise?”
“Sister, long time no see. I just came because I had a good feeling about it.”
“Who’s that next to you? Min’s friend? Nice to meet you. I’m Dokgo Gyeol, CEO of Gogyeol Shop.”
Yeoreum jumped up from her seat to greet her.
“Hello. I’m Han Yeoreum, a first-year student in the Acting Department at Korea National University of Arts. I have a good senior-junior relationship with Senior Dokgo Min.”
At Yeoreum’s introduction, Dokgo Gyeol raised an eyebrow.
And she looked her over thoroughly with eyes that resembled Dokgo Min’s.
“Acting Department… I can roughly guess why you came… Ah! The one who did the photo shoot with Min last time? With the blue lighting?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“That was pretty. Good. I saw it well. Then you. Want to turn around?”
Dokgo Gyeol extended her index finger and made a spinning motion.
Yeoreum obediently spun around in place.
“She’s not bad, right? She’s going into a web drama, so give her a discount. It’d be even better if you did it for free.”
“Absolutely no!!! There are no free customers in our shop! Not even if Eun Baekhap comes!”
Money-obsessed Dokgo Gyeol’s eyes instantly became fierce.
“Min. In this world, you see? You can assume everything is worth its price. Cheap and good things? Never, ever!!! don’t exist. Naturally, price equals value.”
Behind Dokgo Gyeol, a blazing apparition of King Sejong could be seen.
“Money. That is truly the standard of the world.”
Yeoreum hid behind Dokgo Min. In front of a real money-obsessed person, fake money-obsessed Han Yeoreum had no choice but to shrink…
“But how much is the value of hair and makeup, the best weapon in the battlefield called the entertainment industry? Among them, what about Gogyeol, Cheongdam’s number one shop???”
“Sister. I haven’t deleted a single photo of her.”
At Dokgo Min’s words, Dokgo Gyeol’s eyes, which had been gleaming brightly just moments before, changed.
“…What?”
“I think I’ll have many occasions to look at her photos again.”
The reason Dokgo Gyeol could become the CEO of a Cheongdam shop at such a young age.
It was entirely thanks to her cousin Dokgo Min.
“I think she’ll make it big?”
Dokgo Min had an accurate eye for spotting stars since childhood.
“I don’t know… Hmm~. That’s just the feeling I get.”
Gogyeol didn’t create top stars.
“I just like her.”
That image was created because she meticulously selected only those with potential among countless stars and made them VIPs.
“Not this person, but this person. They catch my eye much more?”
That’s how she made groundbreaking exclusive contracts with newcomers based on Dokgo Min’s picks, and the results showed a 100% success rate.
“You said Han Yeoreum, right? Web drama… how many episodes?”
The fact that such a Dokgo Min wanted to look at her several times again.
“8 episodes.”
In other words, it meant she had legendary star quality.
“Then… I’ll decide after watching episode 1. For now, on credit. Payment after delivery is the limit. The discount matter will be discussed after that. Deal?”
Dokgo Gyeol brought over a calendar and held it out to Yeoreum.
“You’re confident you’ll make it big, right?”
Yeoreum, who was checking the schedule, smiled brightly.
“Of course.”
* * *
Click. Click. Click.
This was JC ENM’s PR Team.
A place that did the work of truly adding fantasy through monitoring, writing and distributing press releases, planning SNS content, preparing press conferences, and handling reporters.
“Haaa…”
And there was a lot of work.
Enough to come to work even on weekends.
“Shin Rookie. Stop sighing. If you do that, don’t you think I, the manager, would want to cry?”
Of course, where would there be a clear weekend in the entertainment industry, but today’s work was a bit tricky.
“Still. Isn’t this too much? This is really ridiculous. There’s nothing to use for the press release.”
“Hehe, that’s true.”
“Except for Ju Junseo, the other two are complete newcomers so there aren’t even photos to use, and at least this Han Yeoreum girl has an amazing profile photo… really, at least! At least it’s better.”
“Hehe… Yes. That’s true.”
Dramas and movies usually have a lot of ‘bait’ to spread around before articles go out.
[Finally ten million, behind-the-scenes photo collection of 〈Rampage〉’s scene-stealer Myeong Jeha]
[The insane combination of SBC and Seomun Ihwa is coming! Do Gyeoul being considered for female lead…]
Official poster shoots, character profiles distributed by type, viewership rating pledges, and so on.
“Even if it’s a team launching for the first time, isn’t the promotional budget too tight?”
But a web drama was still just a web drama.
They had to grab a poster from the filming set and slap a title on it.
“How are we supposed to make press materials with just one script reading video?”
Character profiles also had to be produced similarly to the posters.
Currently, the only promotional method 〈Parfait Cherry〉 could use was script reading making-of footage.
“The rough edit is up, so let’s watch that and write something.”
“I don’t understand why Manager Hong is putting so much effort into this either. I could write something in 5 or 10 minutes. Just take some screenshots from the script reading.”
“This bastard… He acts all sensitive by himself but his brain doesn’t work.”
“Huh? Me?”
It wasn’t surprising that JC ENM had created a web content team.
This was a time when the power of the video platform Intube was growing frighteningly fast.
“Didn’t you know? Our company’s 〈Project 111〉.”
Project 111.
A truly national audition program that JC ENM invested in and achieved great success with recently.
“Of course I know that. Why bring it up?”
“Hehe. That was the beginning of testing the waters. While debating whether to create an entertainment agency or not, they first tried it with trainees from other companies. Right?”
“Right. The commission fees for raising rookies are steep.”
If there were a thousand trainees, only ten would succeed in debuting, and among them, only one would become a star.
“If they quit being trainees, all the money invested goes down the drain, and even after debuting, many end up in the red. Right?”
“Right. Just releasing one album easily costs hundreds of millions.”
“Exactly. So we maintain a trendy image! Discover new talent! Get PPL deals on the side! And suck up those view counts.”
Manager Hong smiled and pointed at the monitor.
“If there are any decent rookies among them, we’ll try developing them. Isn’t that the best? Hehe.”
Shin Rookie looked even more confused at Manager Hong’s explanation.
“Huh… Then why is the structure so haphazard?”
“From upstairs. You know Jegal Rok, right? He also launched our MCN team.”
“Yes. The guy who said some crazy stuff about how influencers will soon become celebrities, and celebrities will want to become influencers…”
Shin Rookie laughed as if asking whether that made any sense.
“According to Jegal Rok, real stars will shine even in a foggy sky.”
“Huh, what’s that supposed to mean?”
“While casting them in web dramas, we’ll properly push only those showing promise, and dump the rest. If they’re mediocre, we’ll contract them to our MCN and make money from branded video content as influencers.”
Shin Rookie’s jaw dropped at this plan. It was a spider web-like structure that could extract maximum profit with minimum investment.
“We’ll develop them as influencers, then depending on market conditions, debut them in variety shows. That way PPL, branded content, and Intube video rates all go up.”
“…With web drama recognition already established and a solid subscriber base. Then variety shows would be easy. Later, people good enough that we don’t need to develop them will flock to us.”
“Exactly. Now you’re finally understanding, our rookie.”
Manager Hong accessed the cloud.
[Parfait Cherry Belongs to the Heroine Making Video Rough Edit_1st_MOV] 03:30
A short script reading video was uploaded with only cut editing done.
“Take a look at that. You have particularly sensitive ears.”
Click.
When Shin Rookie clicked the mouse, the rough edit video started playing.
“Since earlier.”
“So you were just watching?”
“It’s not my business.”
“…That’s true.”
It was dialogue between Ju Junseo and Han Yeoreum. The lines inserted briefly to show character traits lasted just over 10 seconds.
“Huh…”
Shin Rookie tilted his head to one side. The audio quality sounded like only one person was using a different microphone.
“How is it? Now you understand why I’m trying to do something with these scraps.”
Only then did Shin Rookie’s furrowed brow relax.
“Hey, she can… act pretty well?”
“Shin Rookie. Why are you so dense only about things like this when you’re usually so sensitive?”
Manager Hong raised his eyebrows.
“Pretty well?”
Then he waved his cell phone that had just received a message.
“She’s apparently devouring everyone on set right now.”
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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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