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A peaceful afternoon like yesterday.

“Oh, I said I had work at the company today, right?”

“It’s more of a casual meeting.”

Since I had an appointment, I finished my morning schedule and headed to Sangshik Entertainment’s headquarters with Park Kang-seok.

Speaking of which, it’s been a while since I’ve been to the headquarters. I hadn’t been there since signing the contract.

“We’re almost there.”

Arriving at the headquarters, I got out of the car. Park Kang-seok seemed pleased, saying there was plenty of parking space, while I entered the building, revealing a spacious lobby.

“Kim Soo-hyun?”

As I was affiliated here, it was natural that an employee recognized me and guided me inside.

This time, since I wasn’t meeting the president, I headed somewhere other than the president’s office.

Right to the meeting room.

However, when I entered, it was completely empty. I heard they were already here; where did they go?

For now, I sat down in my seat, where there were snacks and a bottle of fruit juice, and waited while munching.

After a short while—

Creak.

The meeting room door opened, and Moon Chang-sik, who I was supposed to meet today, walked in.

“When did you arrive?”

“Just now.”

“You came in just while I was bringing this.”

He said so, placing a bundle of papers he was holding on the desk.

“What’s that…?”

“I brought the roles you were considered for, printed out.”

So he was away, but he printed this out?

Moon Chang-sik then sat right across from me and spread out the stack of papers.

“So you’re unsure about how to choose, huh?”

“Yup.”

This was precisely why I had come to the company today.

Earlier this morning, while heading to the filming location, I had contacted Moon Chang-sik saying I was troubled picking from the casting roles.

So he said he was free today and asked me to come to the company.

“Is it that there are too many choices? Is it normal to get this many options?”

Honestly, I didn’t expect to meet him in person… but since he showed up, I poured my worries out.

The biggest problem with not being able to make a choice right now was just that there were too many items.

If they had only given me about three to choose from, I could make a selection. But with this overwhelming amount, it’s like a blockade to my decision-making!

“Normally, we filter them for you.”

“Excuse me?”

I wondered if this was a method unique to Sangshik Entertainment—when Moon Chang-sik delivered a shocking statement.

It’s standard to filter them for you? Why did they give me this batch then?

“Weren’t you supposed to be a special one?”

“Yeah?”

“Oh, no, then why did you give me so many?”

Looking at how Sangshik Entertainment had been operating so far, I thought they would have filtered these down for me, but this time it was an exception.

So I asked Moon Chang-sik, and without any hesitation, he answered right away.

“Well, it’s because it’s your first time picking your work.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve never chosen directly before.”

“Uh….”

Well… that’s true?

Usually, or actually, it’s always been Moon Chang-sik who dragged me along by the neck.

“So, I guess they wanted to see what your choice would be.”

“Aha….”

Is it to foster independence—something like that?

But calling Moon Chang-sik like this must be a hassle for Sangshik Entertainment.

“But can’t I filter them out? There must be some roles that would be tough for me to take on.”

Independence is good and all, but… are they really letting me pick anything freely?

If I end up with a role that could hurt my career or is too difficult for me, the agency should cut it out from the selection— I asked out of concern.

“Anyway, it’s just to gauge your preference. If there are roles that seem unsuitable, we can have you audition for a similar role in another drama.”

“Audition?”

“Actors usually go through a lot of auditions. I also auditioned a couple of years ago and landed a lead role.”

“Oh… even top actors have to audition?”

I thought actors like Moon Chang-sik, who are superstars, would just get cast with a “thank you for appearing”, but he actually auditions.

This industry is certainly not as easy as it seems….

“Of course, the director will definitely pick you, so he asked for you to come in for an audition.”

“…Isn’t that corrupt?”

“…Some might call it an unspoken convention.”

“And if we say it plainly?”

“…It’s just a show-off audition.”

“Aha, so it’s corrupt.”

“Anyway, is there a place among these that you’re remotely interested in?”

Avoiding the question… Beyond that, a place here that I’d like.

I don’t have anything concrete, but if I had to set a standard…

“I think I’d want to try something I haven’t done before.”

I definitely want to do a role I haven’t tackled yet.

In that sense, roles like the villain in a chaebol genre or a leading role in a historical drama like Lady Soo-yeon can be ruled out.

“Sounds good. Having a diverse spectrum is also important.”

“Right? After all, doing the same old thing isn’t great, right?”

“No, there are many things to learn even from roles that seem similar. And generally, it’s better to strengthen your strengths.”

“…So what should I pick?”

Both diversity and repetition sound good.

What is this? It seems both statements are true.

To my confusion, Moon Chang-sik answered calmly.

“Just choose as your heart desires.”

Hmm… Is this what they call unwavering positivity?

I’d rather have a solid recommendation instead.

As expected, contrary to what I hoped, I merely received advice at the level of—what company is good; what role is easy to act.

In other words, it’s just abstract and ambiguous advice saying, your choice is the correct answer— which honestly doesn’t help much in resolving my dilemma.

Well, in the end, it means they want me to decide.

So I began looking through the collection of scripts below.

Moon Chang-sik had printed these out himself, so many scripts that you could call it a huge stack of papers.

“Then what looks good…?”

As Moon Chang-sik pointed out earlier, just because I’m picking now doesn’t mean I’ll jump right into acting.

It’s casting, but I still need to communicate with the people on that side, and above all, it has to be approved by Sangshik Entertainment.

Still, I’m pretty worried about everything.

While I was deep in thought, I picked one up from the stack of scripts I had already looked at last night.

“How about this one?”

“What is it?”

“The role of a woman who’s a model during the day and broadcasts at night, leading a double life.”

“…Are you serious?”

“Haha, just kidding.”

I showed it to get a reaction.

It seemed even Moon Chang-sik found it absurd.

Seriously, why did they send me such a role?

After that, I seriously read through various roles, contemplating.

Excluding chaebol and historical dramas… Excluding the internet streaming role from earlier… and also excluding romance roles that would be tough to pull off…

Hmm, among these, this one seems to catch my interest.

“How about this one?”

I raised the script I was inclined toward and showed it to Moon Chang-sik.

The script I presented to him was an OTT movie based on a Japanese novel.

It was about a woman who joins the protagonist’s party while she’s surviving alone during a deadly survival game.

“Oh, this one…”

“What about that?”

However, Moon Chang-sik frowned slightly as he looked at the script.

“The director isn’t someone with a particularly good reputation.”

“Oh, is that so?”

If Moon Chang-sik is saying that, it must mean it’s really bad.

“Ah, that’s unfortunate.”

So I quickly put the script aside.

It’s disappointing, though.

That was the only role I felt drawn to…

“Are you disappointed?”

“Yeah? Hmm… a little? I like survival games.”

I even used to search for and watch similar genre comics back in the day.

I find the genre combining games and death— something that’s contrasting yet goes together— to be quite appealing.

But if Moon Chang-sik is saying it’s better not to, then I should probably listen.

After all, this is, in some sense, work, so I can’t act just because I like it.

Thus, as I was looking for other roles,

“… There’s a drama currently in production that’s a survival game theme, how about that?”

Did I look quite disappointed? Moon Chang-sik asked me that.

“A drama?”

“Yes, it’s an OTT drama. The planning stage is over, and they’re currently recruiting for the roles.”

“Oh… is the reputation good there?”

“It’s not bad. Moreover, it seems it has a considerable budget behind it, so expectations are high.”

“How much are we talking about?”

“I heard the production cost is in the hundreds of billions. Compared to foreign dramas, it’s not extraordinarily large, but for a domestic drama, that’s a lot.”

“Whoa.”

Wow, hundreds of billions?

That amount is far beyond my comprehension.

I thought I had earned a bit lately, but this industry’s scale is on another level.

“Wait a sec.”

He said that and took out his latest phone, tapped the screen a few times, and then showed it to me.

“I can’t show it to outsiders… but the director said it’s okay to show it to another actor for a recommendation. So take a look.”

What Moon Chang-sik showed me was surprisingly the script for the drama.

“…Are you appearing here?”

“I’m making a cameo, but I have a bit of a friendship with the director.”

“Oh, I see.”

Didn’t he just say he doesn’t have many connections in the entertainment industry?

It seems he made friends mainly among directors during his acting career.

Anyway, I then read the script quickly.

From what I skimmed, it appeared to be a survival game genre like the movie I was interested in earlier.

The plot revolves around clearing various survival games, betting on life and prize money, one by one.

To be honest, it really piqued my interest.

“Is there a role for me here?”

Moon Chang-sik glanced at me and nodded.

“I heard there are still many roles left.”

“Um…”

Then should I give it a shot?

But the audition…

Honestly, I’m not too confident about it.

“And this is actually….”

Did my hesitation show too clearly?

Moon Chang-sik then elaborated on the advantages further.

“Is that so?”

Listening to him, it does seem quite tempting.

At least, it looks far better than the roles I was hesitating over on this desk.

“I’ll think about it some more.”

“Take your time to think about it.”

But I didn’t want to decide right away, so in the end, I postponed my answer for that day.

**

And a few days later.

“Oh.”

When I came to my senses, I found myself in front of the broadcasting station for the audition.

“…Should I go back?”

“You’ve come this far?”

“No, it seems excessive to audition…”

“Where’s the exaggeration in acting? And you said you wanted to do it, so here you are.”

“Ugh…”

“Let’s go in.”

Finally, it ended up this way.

Alright, let’s just give it a try.

With that thought, I walked into the audition hall.

 

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