Chapter Fourteen: Signing and Waiting

  After the three-day holiday of Chinese New Year, Zhang Donghu took another day off and brought Zhang Chengyuan to Logosfilm Advertising Agency to sign a formal artist economic entrustment contract with Park Byung-ryul, who had just returned from his hometown for the Lunar New Year. The terms of the contract were roughly unchanged, except for one additional clause, which roughly meant that if the company did not make an effort to secure business for the artist, the artist could seek work on their own and even terminate the contract unconditionally.

  Park Byung-ryul thought for a moment and felt that this situation was impossible, so he nodded in agreement. For him, Jang Sung-won was a money tree, and he couldn't bear the thought of Jang Sung-won not working at full capacity every day, which would bring in even higher profits. How could he possibly let Jang Sung-won idle away? Of course, it was impossible to work at full capacity every day, as the contract stipulated that Jang Sung-won had an average of one month's vacation time per year. During this period, Jang Sung-won could freely arrange his own life, as long as he didn't damage his image and affect the company's interests.

  To celebrate the formal signing of the contract, Park Byung-ryul warmly entertained Jang Dong-hu and his son at a Chinese restaurant near the company. Afterwards, Park Byung-ryul personally drove to send the father and son back home. Seeing Park Byung-ryul's efforts, Jang Dong-hu realized that Park Byung-ryul indeed valued Jang Sung-won highly, so he felt more at ease. So the next day, he went abroad again, leaving Jang Sung-won alone to enjoy himself even more freely.

  Before signing the contract, Park Byung-ryul fulfilled his promise and had the advertising agency's staff take Jang Sung-won to some advertising shooting scenes and even film sets for on-site observation training and understanding of the shooting process. During his observation, he also had someone explain the various tricks in detail and answer his questions. He even let him make a guest appearance as a passerby. This teaching method, which combines theory and practice, with practice being more important than theory, allowed Jang Sung-won to quickly grasp the essentials. After more than a month of training, he had become a quite experienced advertising newcomer.

  After the formal signing, Park Hyung-ryeol did not rush to let Jang Sung-won formally shoot an advertisement. On the one hand, he continued to let Jang Sung-won go to various production companies to play guest roles or shoot covers for small magazines. On the other hand, he was looking for an advertising role that suited Jang Sung-won's image, planning to make Jang Sung-won famous with a certain memorable advertising image. From these actions, Jang Sung-won saw Logosfilm Advertising Agency's deep connections and Park Hyung-ryeol's calm and composed attitude, so he settled down and waited for the opportunity to come.

  Because he had to receive advertising training, Zhang Chengyuan quit his part-time job at the beginning of January. Although he received a little subsidy from the company, his income was greatly reduced, and he had to control his food intake, which slowed down the growth rate of his physical quality. During the entire winter vacation of about two months, his height only grew to 180CM. However, Zhang Chengyuan was not anxious or impatient, with a calm mind, and didn't mind this at all. He just worked hard to enrich himself, even having no time to do other things, including rejecting Li Xiaoli's invitation several times.

  It was only at the birthday party of Seung-yeol, Ok-joo and Jin in March that Jang Sung-won presented a birthday gift and a few words of congratulations before leaving. He was later scolded by Lee Hyori over the phone. However, when Lee Hyori found out about the reason, she didn't blame him anymore but instead promised to celebrate with him when he becomes the main model for an advertisement in the future.

  Time slipped away quietly, and another month of the new semester had passed unnoticed. After his incredible performance in the second half of last year, Zhang Chengyuan was already a well-known figure in school, with his black-rimmed glasses against the tide and his strong, lonely figure becoming his unique logo.

  In school, Zhang Chengyuan was still that lonely lone traveler. In the past, no one wanted to get close to him, and now although many people want to approach him, they are all rejected by his coldness, far away. The only person who had ever interacted with him among the students in the school, Jin Youji, had already graduated from high school in February this year, and was said to have followed a triad leader, responsible for security work in an entertainment venue, and would never again set foot in the school to wink at Zhang Chengyuan. In this way, Zhang Chengyuan became even more silent every day in school, unless it was to answer the teacher's questions or greet the teachers, otherwise he would not open his mouth, thus earning him the nickname "Miracle Iceberg".

  Now the only ones who can still get along with Zhang Chengyuan are his head teacher Song Youshan and the school's academic director Zheng Zaidi. This is because Zhang Chengyuan considers that he will definitely ask for leave frequently in the future to shoot commercials, so if he can get along well with them now, he will be able to get their strong support in the future. Therefore, Zhang Chengyuan always performs well in the aspects of study, sports, and discipline that they care about, in order to win their favor.

  In fact, Zhang Chengyuan was initially unwilling to do such a flattering act, but under Park Hyung-ryeol's strong request and considering that it would reduce trouble in the future, he put down his proud heart and slightly got along with him.

  This change had the desired effect, and afterwards, every time Zhang Chengyuan asked for leave, although Dean Zheng Zai De and Class Director Song You Shan repeatedly advised him to spend more time on his studies and not fall behind in his schoolwork, they unconditionally approved his requests. Of course, this was also because Zhang Chengyuan could always maintain the first place in his subsequent learning process.

  At the end of April, on a weekend, Zhang Chengyuan, who had been waiting patiently for his chance to become famous, finally got a rare and precious opportunity. On this day, Park Byung-ryul showed him an advertisement script with great enthusiasm and told him that this advertisement was invested by Nong Shim Ltd., Korea's largest food company, for its flagship product Nong Shim Shin Ramyun. Although the investment in this advertisement is not very large, Nong Shim Shin Ramyun has a market share of over 50% in the Korean instant noodle market, far surpassing other similar products. If Zhang Chengyuan can seize this opportunity and show a healthy image in the advertisement, it is likely that he will become famous overnight.

  Originally, a large company's advertisement production would not have been handled by Park Byung-ryul's Logosfilm advertising agency, but thanks to his strong connections in the industry, he was able to get Zhang Chengyuan's portfolio into the hands of the director, Park Myeong-cheon. After Director Park looked at Zhang Chengyuan's photos, he was stunned for a few seconds before immediately deciding to have Zhang come in for an audition.

  Holding a thin script, Zhang Chengyuan scanned it quickly and said, "Director Park, there are two roles in this script. The one I'm preparing for is just a supporting role?"

  "This is a matter of course. For such a large company's advertisement, they would definitely want to invite a top-notch celebrity with high personal appeal to perform. I've already used all my connections to get you an audition for a supporting role. Although it's just a supporting role, the screen time is not much less than that of the lead actor. And if you perform well at the audition tomorrow and impress the director, who knows, maybe they'll even add some more scenes for you. Sigh, it's still too early to talk about this, first we need to secure this role. The company has done all it can, now it's up to your own efforts. Hope everything goes well tomorrow."

  It's said that, but in Park Hyung-ryeol's heart, he already felt that Jang Sung-won getting this opportunity was a sure thing. First, Jang Sung-won's appearance and temperament were exceptional. Second, over the past three months, Jang Sung-won's acting skills had improved dramatically, from being awkward to becoming sophisticated, from shallow to profound, enough to handle any commercial shoot. All employees at the advertising agency sincerely admired this and thought that Jang Sung-won only needed one opportunity to become a star overnight.

  Zhang Chengyuan nodded and said, "I will do my best." Holding the script, he pondered for a long time, then suddenly looked up at Park Byung-ryul and said, "Director Park, to be on the safe side, please find an experienced actor to rehearse with me, so that we can quickly identify areas that need improvement."

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