Chapter Fifteen Before Shooting

  After a day of intense preparation, on the second day, Park Byung-ryul confidently brought Jang Sung-won to the filming location of Nong Shim Shin Ramyun's commercial. When they arrived, it was just past 7:00 am, and the staff were already busy setting up the filming site, with only one middle-aged man who seemed like a director sitting in a reclining chair deep in thought.

  Park Byeong-ryeol greeted people along the way, regardless of whether he knew them or not, and Jang Seong-won followed suit. The two stood quietly in front of a middle-aged man who was deep in thought, not daring to disturb him, waiting for him to notice their presence himself. After a while, the middle-aged man came back to his senses, suddenly saw a pair of feet appearing in his line of sight, and hastily looked up to see a very pleasant-looking middle-aged man smiling at him, so he stood up and asked: "May I ask who you are..."

  "Hello, Director Park! I am Park Byung-ryul, the representative of Logosfilm Advertising Agency. This is Jang Sung-won, an artist from our company. We received a notice to attend this interview at your company. Please take care of us."

  Zhang Chengyuan followed with a bow and said: "I'm Zhang Chengyuan, a newcomer model here to participate in the audition, please instruct me, Director."

  After Park Do-hyun finished speaking, he took a closer look at Jang Sung-won and was taken aback by his appearance. "Not bad, not bad," he exclaimed. "He fits the role perfectly, just like in our advertisement. It looks like I've made the right choice this time." As it was only a minor supporting role in an advertisement, acting skills were not important; Jang Sung-won's striking appearance alone would be enough to capture people's attention.

  Park Byung-ryul's heart was initially filled with joy, but he soon expressed some dissatisfaction, saying: "Director, thank you for giving us this precious opportunity. We are deeply honored. However, I think we should let our artist show off their acting skills a bit more. This way, the director can gain a better understanding of the model's situation and make better arrangements during filming or editing later on."

  Director Park thought for a moment and felt that Park Byung-ryul was right, thinking to himself: "If this model's acting skills can reach a certain level, then the advertisement will also be more vivid. I won't mind giving him some extra guidance. If his acting is extremely poor, then we can modify the script and let him just be a pretty face, which won't hurt the overall situation." So he nodded in agreement.

  To be honest, Director Park didn't have high expectations for Jang Sung-won. Based on his experience, models who look as good as Jang Sung-won usually don't have great skills, and even if they do stand out a bit, it's not by much, since they're still young and lack practical experience. So, Director Park only had Jang Sung-won make some common expressions and a few cool poses, and when he saw that Jang Sung-won could easily complete his requests, he praised him a few times before hastily ending the interview without delving deeper into Jang Sung-won's abilities.

  Perhaps he didn't want to crush the young man's confidence, or perhaps he thought it was a complete waste of time. But Park Byung-ryul was deeply disappointed with the director's behavior and let out a quiet sigh, not daring to make any more unreasonable demands. Jang Sung-won, on the other hand, simply shrugged his shoulders indifferently. He had self-awareness and knew that he was currently just a small fry, only worthy of following orders, without even the qualification to speak loudly. Even if he felt some dissatisfaction in his heart, he could only endure it. Fortunately, Jang Sung-won's many years of living as a hermit in his past life had given him an excellent advantage - being able to hold back his temper and endure loneliness.

  After trying on the mirror, Park Byung-ryul and Jang Sung-won bid farewell to Director Park and prepared to leave. However, Director Park asked them to stay and wait for filming. It turned out that Director Park had planned ahead of time, intending to let the selected model start filming on the same day. After all, in any industry, time is money, and for a job like commercial filming that doesn't require perfection, the faster the better. Next, Director Park arranged for Jang Sung-won to go to the makeup room next door to get made up, while he himself sat back down in his chair, lost in thought.

  After twenty or so minutes, around eight o'clock, another group of people arrived, and the scene was much more grand than Zhang Chengyuan's. After finishing his makeup, Zhang Chengyuan, who was idle and bored, glanced over with Park Hyung-ryeol and immediately recognized the person as the currently most popular star Zhang Dongjian and his management team. This time, thanks to the reminder from his assistant, Director Park had already come back to his senses and went forward with several main creators to greet them warmly, letting Zhang Chengyuan initially understand the reality of the entertainment circle.

  As soon as he saw the newcomer, Zhang Chengyuan immediately realized that the protagonist of the advertisement must be this person. Park Byung-ryul also immediately gave up his plan to let Zhang Chengyuan strive for more screen time through his outstanding performance, because compared to Zhang Dongjian, Zhang Chengyuan was really far behind in terms of strength, and didn't even have the qualifications to compete with him. So he solemnly reminded Zhang Chengyuan: "Later when we go over there to greet him, you must be polite, do you understand?"

  Zhang Chengyuan nodded calmly.

  Jang Dong-geon was born in 1972, nearly eleven years older than Jang Sung-won, making him a senior. He debuted in 1992 and after seven years of hard work has grown into one of the most popular TV actors today, especially with his outstanding performances in "Brothers" and "Tianqiao Fengyun" in '97, leaving a deep impression on Korean audiences.

  In the past two years, as his popularity has continued to rise, his endorsement fees have also skyrocketed. Park Byung-ryul estimates that Jang Dong-gun would have earned at least 100 million won from this Shin Ramyun commercial, while Jang Sung-won would not have exceeded 5 million won, which is less than half of the average monthly salary in Korea.

  It can be said that becoming a popular and wealthy successful person like Jang Dong-gun is the goal set by Park Hyung-ryeol for Jang Sung-won. Park Hyung-ryeol has mentioned Jang Dong-gun in front of Jang Sung-won more than once, encouraging him to learn from Jang Dong-gun's diligence, introversion, humility, politeness and elegance, because having these qualities makes it easier to stand firm in the entertainment industry.

  However, Zhang Chengyuan was not enthusiastic about this. Firstly, he was not familiar with Zhang Dongjian and had not watched the TV series he starred in, so he did not have a deep understanding of Zhang Dongjian. How could he learn from a stranger? Secondly, he was naturally cold and extremely proud. Even if he had to make some changes for the sake of money, he couldn't become a template for someone else!

  As for Zhang Chengyuan's mindset, Park Byung-ryul would not know, because Zhang Chengyuan, in order to avoid being nagged by him, never discussed these inner thoughts with him, and just casually went along with what he said on the surface, but had other plans for his future prospects in mind. Of course, the two men's current goals were still consistent, so they cooperated quite harmoniously; as for whether differences or even conflicts would arise in the future, that would be discussed later! Zhang Chengyuan made this decision nonchalantly.

  Director Park greeted Jang Dong-gun and exchanged some pleasantries, but it wasn't until they started discussing today's advertisement that he suddenly remembered the presence of Park Byung-ryul and Jang Sung-won, at which point he waved them over. Park Byung-ryul hastily led Jang Sung-won forward to pay their respects.

  Jang Dong-gun has always been considered a "three-good" man in the entertainment industry, with good acting skills, good character and good personality. He never puts on airs, and when he sees Park Byung-eun and Jang Sung-won, he hastily bows his head to return the courtesy. When Director Park introduces Jang Sung-won as the advertising model who will be working with him this time, Jang Dong-gun's attitude becomes even more enthusiastic. Although due to his introverted personality, he can't show off the same passionate and generous demeanor as Park Byung-eun, but Jang Sung-won finds him more and more likable, thinking that this big star is really not bad at all.

  Because of the cooperation, in order to have a better tacit understanding during filming, Jang Dong-gun and Zhang Chengyuan immediately started communicating. At first, it was Jang Dong-gun asking Zhang Chengyuan for basic information, and Zhang Chengyuan responded. After getting slightly familiar, the two discussed the advertisement script, and Zhang Chengyuan also took the opportunity to ask him how to interpret the character's personality and connotation, as well as how to improve his acting skills and other aspects of doubt. Jang Dong-gun gave a very enthusiastic and meticulous response, which benefited Zhang Chengyuan greatly and made him feel deeply grateful.

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