Entertainment Life With A Camera

Chapter 154

I wonder how he’s doing.

Ian’s solo life in the dormitory began.

There was nothing to take care of, since the cleaning lady came regularly to do the laundry and tidy up the place.

There was no bathroom war among the members who shared a room, and no one suggested going to the convenience store to get some late-night snacks behind the manager’s back.

[Ian] AWY, did you sleep well? Good morning.

└Good morning, oppa!

└You’re up early! Did you eat breakfast, oppa? Don’t forget to eat well!

Since he had no one to talk to except for the occasional phone calls, he wrote posts on the fan cafe every day. Thanks to that, he got a new nickname. They called him ‘Choi-tto’ because he came again as Choi Ian. Of course, it also meant Choi Crazy in a double sense.

‘Did I always get this lonely?’

Ian sat on the dining chair and answered the people who asked about Jo Tae-woong’s well-being. Then he rested his chin on his hand and looked at the living room.

The empty living room, it was hard to adjust to the quiet atmosphere after being in a noisy and chaotic one.

***

AWY Ian-Joo Young ‘Amazing Holiday’ appearance, special entertainment sense ‘explosion’

[Exclusive] AWY Ian, participates in ‘Our Youth’ OST, reveals luxurious OST lineup

AWY Ian, chosen as the model for N company’s game ‘Kingdom: Origin’

-If AWY is on hiatus, why is Choi Ian active?

└Idiot, it’s ‘team’ activity that’s on hiatus

└He’s working hard despite the hate comments and you’re here to write hate comments about other membersㅅㅂ have some sense

└Hey, he has to do solo activities. Do you think the other members are just sucking their fingers?

-I’m glad he has a lot of solo activitiesㅎ I wonder what our kid is doing

└Tae-woong-ahhhㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠ

└ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ태웅이보고싶다

└Let’s go write some support posts on the fan cafe

└I sent a fan letter too…ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

└We’re going to do a mass support at 8 pm tonightㅇㅇ The announcement is up on the support team

After finishing various photo shoots and OST work for other dramas, Ian headed to the advertisement shooting site without a break.

“Hello.”

“Oh, hello!”

The advertisement staff who met Ian blushed. The people who were busy preparing for the shooting glanced at Ian. It was indeed a big company’s game advertisement, there were many staff members and the set was splendid.

[Wow, game companies are the best. They pay a lot and they also give us bonuses.]

They even prepared various finger foods for the advertisement model.

The game that Ian was going to advertise, ‘Kingdom: Origin’, was a large-scale project that the game company was pushing hard.

It was a fighting game where various characters with different worldviews gathered and fought each other. Ian played the role of a new character, Lee Hwan, a famous general from a virtual Joseon era.

It was their first grand update and the game company also paid a lot of attention to it. This advertisement was going to be used for a massive marketing campaign.

“Director Lee, hello.”

The director who was looking at the script got up and reached out his hand to Ian. Ian shook his hand and smiled brightly.

“Long time no see, how have you been?”

“Yes, director. I checked out the changed script yesterday.”

“How was it?”

Ian had met the director before. It was an advertisement with dialogue in a drama format, so Ian had requested a meeting beforehand.

“It was really good. I hope it turns out well.”

The director looked relieved at Ian’s expectant expression.

“I’m glad. I’m so nervous. You’re such a big star.”

“Come on, director. You’re flattering me too much.”

“You’re the first one who asked me for a script beforehand for a two-minute advertisement.”

“But it was better that we discussed it beforehand, right?”

“That’s… true.”

The director chuckled. They had discussed the advertisement script, dialogue, and acting direction beforehand, so they felt comfortable with each other on their second meeting.

“Did you practice swordsmanship a little?”

“Yes, a little… But I’m not confident.”

Ian had played a minor role as a martial arts extra in a fusion historical drama when he was Kim Yong-min. Of course, that drama had flopped so badly that the ratings were barely measured, but his experience back then was helpful now.

“Good. Jae-min! Where’s our prop? Give me the sword!”

“Here!”

Jae-min, the prop staff, ran over and handed Ian a sword. Ian grabbed the sword and pulled it out smoothly.

“Oh, you did more than a little? Aren’t you a bit stiff? Is this what you call not confident?”

“I worked out, you know.”

“Right, you played football, right? That’s amazing.”

“It’s not like I was a main character anyway. I was just a supporting role.”

Ian smiled awkwardly. His experience as a supporting actor in Kim Yong-min’s movie was a vague memory from a long time ago.

His natural athletic ability would help, but this was not about showing real swordsmanship, but rather how to look cool on camera. That’s why Ian practiced with the long pipe of the wireless vacuum cleaner in his dorm.

‘I’m glad there were no members around then…’

He didn’t have a mirror to check his appearance since he was in his dorm, not the practice room. If any of the members had seen him, they would have surely made fun of him. They might have even recorded a video and shared it among themselves.

‘…Can I do this?’

It was a model, but it was lighter than he expected, and as soon as he held the sword, he remembered that time vividly. Ian swung the sword lightly. The staff who were watching him exclaimed in admiration.

“Wow.”

“He’s really good, isn’t he?”

“Not bad.”

It was more than not bad… It was really good. The director’s eyes sparkled.

He had secretly thought that he would just shoot this casually and get paid a lot for this two-minute commercial. But when he saw Ian’s attitude, who requested a meeting beforehand, added new scenes that weren’t there, and treated this two-minute video like a well-made filmography, he felt something new.

‘I want to shoot right now.’

Ian had the power to ignite the passion that he had forgotten. The director checked the instructions with the staff while showing them the storyboard with an eager face.

‘This is fun. Wouldn’t it be nice to do this kind of role in a drama or movie later?’

Ian enjoyed it in his own way. His experience from Kim Yong-min’s movie and his idol skills of how to look pretty on camera and what expressions to make in this choreography section combined to make him expect a better outcome than he thought.

“Please change your clothes.”

“Yes!”

Ian snapped out of it as he was swinging the sword like a child who had found a toy. He smiled sheepishly and followed the staff to the dressing room.

“Please wear this and put this on… If you’re confused, just bring it out. I’ll help you.”

“Yes, I’ll try it first.”

Ian nodded. The costume was from the game, so it didn’t follow the historical evidence, but it had flashy decorations. Ian groaned as he changed his clothes in the dressing room.

“Um… How do I do this?”

He could wear everything else without any problem, but he couldn’t fasten the iron armor that wrapped around his arm by himself. The costume staff came over and helped him with the prop.

She glanced at Ian and opened her mouth with a hesitant expression.

“Um… Can I ask you something…?”

“Let’s start shooting!”

The loud voice of the assistant director rang out. Ian was about to go to the set, but he suddenly turned around.

“Do you have something to say?”

“No! Go ahead with the shooting first!”

She looked disappointed, but she forced a smile.

‘What is it? A photo request?’

He usually thought that way because he got so many requests for autographs and photos, but her expression seemed too desperate, as if there was some other reason.

“Let’s start with the medium shot.”

He shot a scene where he stood still in front of the camera like a game character selection screen. It was a scene that was born from Ian’s suggestion. The game company staff who heard his opinion slapped their knees and liked it.

Ian looked around at various game character selection screens while resting for this scene. He rolled his eyes only following the camera and made awkward expressions unique to game characters.

“Good!”

The director gave an OK sign at once.

Then he shot a two-minute video that would air on public broadcasting and MyTube. It was a scene where he dodged the crowd that ran towards him quickly and knocked down many enemies with his sword.

“Wow, this is like a movie.”

“Wow, he does parkour too. Look at him climbing the wall, did you know that, director?”

“No? That looks like an ad-lib.”

The director gasped as if he had taken a shot of alcohol. His agile movements and exaggerated swings showed that he had studied how to look good on camera. After shooting several times from different angles, an OK sign came down.

“He has such a killer English accent since he’s native.”

“Shall we wrap it up like this?”

“Yes.”

Ian changed his clothes and came out after recording his voice on site.

“Thank you for your hard work!”

Ian bowed his waist to greet the staff, and they clapped and saw him off.

“I’ll go ahead first. Thank you for your hard work, director.”

The director who was standing near the exit to see Ian off smiled warmly at him.

“Ian, you would do well in action later.”

“Really? I’ll definitely appear in your work if you do one later, director.”

“Oh, are you serious? I’m recording this, you know?”

“…If my schedule allows it then.”

The director chuckled at Ian’s change of attitude and lightly tapped his shoulder.

“You did really well today. See you later.”

“Yes.”

Ian nodded to the director and left the set. As he was heading to the elevator at the end of the hallway, he heard someone calling him.

“Excuse me… Wait a minute!”

“Yes. Did I forget something?”

“No! I, I… I’m not a weird person, but… I’m a fan of Taewoong, I mean, Mr. Taewoong…”

The one who called Ian was the costume staff from before. She blushed up to her neck as she met his eyes and stammered.

“Yes.”

“I was too busy to write a fan letter… I didn’t write anything on the fan cafe or the internet because I thought it would be better not to look at them…”

“…If you have something to say to Taewoong, I’ll pass it on for you. Do you have any paper? Do you want to write a fan letter?”

“No! You’re busy, so I can’t make you wait… “

She hesitated for a while, then closed her eyes and shouted.

“Please tell him to take care of himself and come back slowly, it’s okay if he’s late… I’m cheering for him and I love him so much, can you please tell him that?!”

Her grammar was a mess and she even had a big accent at the end of her sentence. It was a ridiculous situation, but Ian didn’t find it funny at all. He couldn’t laugh. He nodded seriously.

“Yes, I’ll be sure to tell him.”

***

Ian lay in the middle of the empty living room of his dorm and stared blankly at the ceiling.

‘I wonder how Taewoong is doing.’

He’s not stuck in his room and not eating properly, is he? Ian reached for his phone on the floor.

He sometimes asked about him through the group chat, but he refrained from calling him in case he said something wrong.

‘Hey, do you know what I heard from the staff at the ad shoot today? They’re cheering for you. They said it’s okay if you’re late, just come back slowly. Isn’t this like saying our group should fail?’

But today, he felt like he had to talk to Taewoong.

‘There are so many people who support you like this. You bastard.’

***

At that moment, Taewoong was…

“Grandma! I just ate, why are you giving me so many snacks!”

“Eat everything your granny prepared for you! How can you dance on TV with that skinny body!”

“What do you mean skinny! I have to be thin to look good on camera!”

Contrary to Ian’s worries, he was doing very well.