Entertainment Life With A Camera

Chapter 182

I shouldn’t get my hopes up.

Kim Joo-young had finally managed to arrange his schedule so that he could stay in Gangwon-do for three days. He was going there to film ‘Rural Life’. The day after he left, Ian was invited to one of the three major film festivals in the country for his role as Kim Chun-taek in ‘The Hee-bin Jang Clan’.

‘I never thought I would be invited to the Yu Art Awards.’

The Yu Art Awards were divided into two categories: movies and TV. They covered various fields such as dramas, variety shows, plays, and musicals. They were the oldest and most prestigious comprehensive art awards in Korea.

Just being nominated was enough to boost his career.

[You could have been nominated for the rookie award, but you went straight to the supporting actor award. You have a good chance of winning.]

‘Why?’

Ian had never even crossed the threshold of the awards ceremony when he was Kim Yong-min. The categories he was nominated for were the popularity award and the male supporting actor award.

[There were some unknown actors who were nominated for the rookie award after three or four years of debut.]

‘Really?’

He was happy just to be nominated, but hearing Jin’s words made him feel a bit hopeful.

‘Could I win?’

[You might not know about the other actors, but you have a hundred percent chance of winning.]

Jin said casually.

In the future, ‘The Hee-bin Jang Clan’ would win the TV drama award, the screenplay award, and the directing award at the major awards ceremony.

[If Yeon-joon Seo had acted well in his previous life, he might have won too. But he was too bad at acting.]

All the main supporting actors of ‘The Hee-bin Jang Clan’ were also nominated for the acting awards. But they didn’t win because their competitors were too strong.

‘No, I shouldn’t get my hopes up.’

He thought so, but he couldn’t help feeling nervous when the day of the ceremony came.

“Are you going to the Yu Art Awards, Ian?”

His dedicated hair designer asked him as he entered the shop in a tailored suit.

“Yes.”

“Lim Hye-ji came earlier. She asked if Joo-young was in Gangwon-do.”

“Yes, did Hye-ji noona mention Joo-young? What did she say?”

Jo Min-hwan and Lim Hye-ji, who were filming ‘Rural Life’, also came out halfway to attend the ceremony.

When Ian asked, the hair designer chuckled and said.

“She called him Kim Joo-young ‘nim’.”

“Really?”

“She said she would have been in big trouble if it wasn’t for him. She said she wanted to live with him even after ‘Rural Life’ was over. What did he do there that made her praise him so much?”

As expected, he was right. Ian pretended not to know and answered.

“Joo-young must be good at his job.”

“Lim Hye-ji is not the type to compliment anyone like that. How do you want your hair?”

“What do you think would look good, manager?”

The hair designer and the makeup artist joined in to admire Ian in the mirror.

“You look good with anything. Are you still working out?”

“Yes.”

Ian had lost weight for the filming of ‘Z-Day’, and he was in the process of building his body.

“Should we cut it in half? Like this…”

“Covering his forehead with bangs is a waste. How about pushing it all back? To emphasize his jawline…”

After their deliberation, they finished his hair and makeup beautifully. Ian received the cheers of the shop staff and headed to the exhibition hall in Samsung-dong.

-Who will win the grand prize at the Yu Art Awards today?

The movie is No Future? The drama is The Hee-bin Jang Clan?

└The Hee-bin Jang Clan, yeah

└They might win the best and the supporting actor awards too

-Ian is already nominated for the male supporting actor award?

Will they give an award to an idol at the Yu Art Awards? They are so conservative. They might give him the popularity award at best.

└But wouldn’t it be weird if they didn’t? The work was good, the acting was good, the buzz was good. Who else would win if not Ian?

└Huh? Why would he win? Lol

└They might give him the popularity award since he has a lot of fans.

└I think Ian will win the male supporting actor award. There was no one who made a syndrome like him last year.

The Yu Art Awards were one of the famous awards ceremonies, so there was a lot of interest even before they started.

There were even articles that predicted who would win based on the critics’ subjective opinions, the ratings, the brand evaluation rankings, and so on.

[HotstarTV] 2021 Yu Art Awards, who is the next star?

A shortage of 20s male actors? Who is the next ‘acting idol’ after Ian?

The net was full of talk about the Yu Art Awards, so articles were popping up left and right to insert the keywords and attract clicks.

‘Eom Ji-hwan, the ‘quality supporting actor’, shows his acting skills… He follows Jo Min-hwan, Kim Min-jae, and Ian.

Eom Ji-hwan, reveals his warm daily photos. Netizens, “He looks like Ian.”

-My idol’s article came up when I searched, but there were more articles about other actors.

Isn’t Eom Ji-hwan’s negative publicity too much?

└Yeah, me too lol. They’re doing a lot of media play lol

└I searched for my actor and saw him being dragged by the hair

└I wish he didn’t do that work with him

Meanwhile, Eom Ji-hwan’s media play was unrivaled.

[His agency is famous for doing dirty media play and also famous for being bad at it.]

‘As expected…’

[Are you jealous because you can’t go to the awards? You’re so active today.]

Today, he felt like they were dragging not only Ian but also the other actors who were attending the Yoo Sang Arts Awards and doing media play.

“We’re almost there. Do you think you can win the award today?”

“Hey, hyung. Don’t put pressure on me already.”

“It’s not pressure… I’m just excited.”

Kim Myung-jin parked the van at the entrance. Ian checked his outfit one last time before the security guard opened the door.

“There he is!”

“Kyaaah!”

As soon as Ian got out of the van, the reporters pressed the shutter and the fans cheered.

Ian pretended to be calm and smiled faintly at the corners of his mouth. He stepped out of the van.

[Trying to act cool.]

‘Shut up.’

Ian walked on the red carpet with wide strides. When he stood in the center of the photo wall, the flash lights were so bright that they blurred his vision.

“We’ll have a photo time. Please look to the right first.”

Ian posed and Jin showed the sign as usual.

‘There are a lot of our fans here.’

The fans holding the light sticks with Awi’s logo shouted Ian’s name. Ian waved his hand toward them.

He followed the security guard’s guidance and entered the awards hall.

“Kyaaah!”

“Ian!”

The audience who were already seated screamed. They were holding unofficial slogans with pictures taken by Homma and shaking them. Ian waved his hand to them too.

“Ian! Over here!”

Among the cheers of the audience, a familiar voice called him. It was Park Tae-hyun, the director of ‘Heebin Jangssi’, and Yoon Mi-sook, the writer.

“Hello, writer-nim.”

“You did a work with Ju-hee on Emflix, right? Do another one with me next time.”

“Haha, I’m grateful just for your words.”

Ian bowed his upper body to greet the writer. Yoon writer was sincere. She had stopped her long break and was immersed in writing a script.

“I’m not just saying this, okay? I’ll send the script to your agency.”

That’s reassuring. Ian smiled broadly.

“I have to go if Yoon writer-nim calls me. As long as the schedule allows.”

“Is your schedule okay?”

“It’s going to be busy soon.”

Jo Tae-woong would return soon. He would probably focus on group activities. The company was already looking for a concert venue even though the next album release was far away.

“You know I review your script first before any other writers, right? You’re going to work with me all the way.”

The writer misunderstood that he was going to do another work besides the group activities and claimed her ownership. She looked serious.

Yoon Mi-sook’s name had become a brand as a hit writer, and to have continuous work with her…

‘I won’t starve to death as an actor.’

[You won’t starve to death, you’ll die of overeating.]

Anyway, it was good news.

Ian shook hands with Park director, who was next to the writer.

“Director-nim, don’t we see each other too often?”

“I want to see you more often.”

After the writer, the director also made a sincere joke. Next to the director was An Dong-jae, who didn’t look very happy.

“Dong-jae hyung, hello.”

“Oh, Ian. Long time no see.”

An Dong-jae, who played the role of Suk-jong, was also nominated for the male lead award. An Dong-jae responded to Ian’s greeting and then took out his phone from his pocket and deliberately ignored Ian.

‘…What’s wrong?’

After ‘Heebin Jangssi’ aired, An Dong-jae became distant from Ian as the supporting actor became more popular than the lead actor. He didn’t even show up at the wrap-up party.

‘Don’t tell me he’s acting like this because of that.’

[That’s how he is. Besides, An Dong-jae has a very narrow mind.]

‘That’s too bad.’

He was very nice and friendly to Ian when they started filming. Ian smiled bitterly.

Ian passed by An Dong-jae and sat in the seat with his name on it. The seat next to him was Lim Hye-ji’s.

‘When will she arrive?’

There were many things he wanted to ask about Kim Joo-young when Lim Hye-ji came. But he couldn’t see her among the other actors who were filling up the seats.

Instead, Ian turned around and waved at the audience. They screamed in response.

“Ian.”

Lim Hye-ji arrived just before the ceremony started and took the seat next to Ian.

“Hye-ji noona, did you come straight from Gangwon-do?”

“Yes. Thank you so much, Ian.”

She probably meant that she was grateful for introducing her to Kim Joo-young. Ian couldn’t tell her that he heard it from the shop manager, so he pretended not to know.

“What do you mean?”

“Our Joo-young.”

Kim Joo-young had only spent one night in Gangwon-do. But she already called him ‘our’ Joo-young. Ian tried to hold back his laughter.

“Did Joo-young do a lot of things there?”

“Wow, even his breakfast menu changed. How can he be so good at housework?”

“Of course, Joo-young is our group’s mom, mom.”

“I thought so.”

Lim Hye-ji exchanged a few words with him and then the lights on the stage changed. The MCs of the ceremony came to the center of the stage with the introduction of the announcer.

Lim Hye-ji whispered in Ian’s ear.

“Joo-young said you should take the drill. If it wasn’t for that, we couldn’t even do the dishes.”

“I told him to take it too, but I didn’t know he would really do it.”

Of course, it was a lie. Ian was called a shaman in his group and not only the members, but also the managers and the agency staff believed in his words.

“I can’t wait to eat the delicious food that Joo-young makes.”

“Wow, Joo-young really did a great job. Can I look forward to the broadcast?”

“Sure, you guys are making a comeback, right? The broadcast date and your comeback date will be similar.”

Lim Hye-ji’s praise for Kim Joo-young was endless. Anyway, during the ceremony, he couldn’t do anything else because he would be photographed and broadcasted by the cameras. It was better to have a conversation with someone.

“Oh, noona, the camera is on us.”

The audience cheered louder when Ian appeared on the screen above the stage. Ian smiled awkwardly.

The awards for the theater and musical categories ended and the TV category began. The winner of the previous year came out as the presenter and opened the sealed card.

“The 59th Yoo Sang Arts Awards, Popularity Award. There are two winners.”

The presenter read the card.

“With 1.25 million votes, senior Jo Min-hwan, and.”

Ian clenched his dry lips. He didn’t hope for the supporting actor award. He just hoped he wouldn’t go back to his dorm empty-handed.

“With 1.47 million votes, Choi Ian. Congratulations.”

Ian jumped up and headed to the stage. He was glad he didn’t have to go back empty-handed.

‘Good.’

But as he climbed the stairs to the stage, he became more greedy.

‘…Can I win the supporting actor award today?’