After Story 84

“It has snowed a lot.”

“It’s a difficult season for driving. Wasn’t it difficult getting here?” Maru said as he looked at the snow piled up through the window. The snow had become a thin layer of ice on top of the road.

“I came here using my insane driving skills.” Junmin took off his coat and hung it on the backrest. “As I told you before over the phone, the reason I called you out before the contract is to find out a few things beforehand. Before we get to the main topic, let me check again. You currently don’t belong to an agency, correct?”

“That is right.”

“Okay. Then I guess I should introduce myself and my company a little. Oh, shall we drink something? This might take a long time.”

While the coffee was being made, Junmin kept talking about the weather. It seemed that he would talk about the contract once the coffee came out.

When the cups were placed on the table, Junmin started talking again,

“First of all, here, please take my business card.”

Maru received Junmin’s business card and spoke, “I don’t have one yet.”

“That’s okay. Business cards are for giving out rather than receiving. As you see, I’m currently the CEO of JA Entertainment. Have you heard about it?”

“I have.”

“That’s good. Then allow me to introduce my company a little. JA is an agency that exists for the convenience of the actors. We’ll do various tasks so that the actors can focus on their acting. We also resolve various problems that the actors may run into during their career.”

“So it’s a necessary place for actors.”

Junmin smiled. “Of course, there are people who set up personal agencies and run that way. There are pros and cons to partnering up with a big company and running your own business. However, in the case of new actors, it should be a lot easier to work with a company.”

“That’s true. A nameless actor like me will have a hard time getting any work at all.”

“That’s the kind of thing that the company takes care of. Unlike normal companies, who pay salaries to employees, actors start off on equal footing when it comes to entertainment agencies. Though the agency might be worse off if the actor’s name value becomes high, that’s a conversation for later.”

Junmin drank some milk tea. Maru also raised his cup. The things mentioned until now were all just formal things. Did Junmin come here to talk about these things? Probably not. Maru had come across numerous different Lee Junmins in his numerous lives. His personality and hobbies may have changed each time slightly, but the fundamental person known as ‘Lee Junmin’ had never changed even once. He was definitely not someone who would spend any time just to explain the obvious.

Maru looked at Junmin with some coffee in his mouth. Thanks to God’s mischief and the sacrifice of numerous Han Marus, he had gotten this last life, and many things had changed. There was an innumerable number of things that he had never experienced before, even in his nigh-infinite life experiences.

Did the character known as Lee Junmin change as well? He couldn’t leave out that possibility. If that really happened, he would have to refrain from making a decision. If this was the Lee Junmin he knew, then he would have signed the contract without even reading it. It was okay to do that.

However, if he had changed, this would require some thinking. Choosing the first agency was a big crossroad that might decide the very future career of an actor.

“The things I said until now are just typical stuff. You’ll hear this wherever you go.” Junmin put down his cup. “But is that really the case? Can an agency and an actor truly treat each other as equals when the agency has many connections through various channels while a mere actor has no power at all?”

Maru smiled as he listened to Junmin’s words. He was finally saying what the actor needed to know. They were also words that the numerous Junmins in his memory said to him as well.

“That’s probably difficult.”

“Agencies make a living by selling their actors; they consume their image for an expensive price in order to grow big. That’s why sometimes things like these happen.”

Junmin reached out to the makeshift shelf next to the table. He grabbed a magazine. When he opened it, there was an ad.

“After you sign a contract with us, I make a proposal that goes something like this: this is a commercial for a health supplement, and I hope you can do it. As it is a product that you’re going to promote, you must look into it, right? But when you do, you find out that it’s just expensive and has no effect at all. The reviews are all negative as well, saying that spending any money for stuff like this is basically a scam.”

“That sounds tough.”

“I’m sure it is. You might tell me that you cannot do that promotion. However, when you do, you might notice something. You might no longer receive proper management the moment you refuse it. Even if you get a decent scenario in your way, you might be passed, and I might prevent you from meeting the director directly. Of course, there is no proof. You’ll only know through intuition.”

“That sounds scary.”

“Actors are freelancers after all. They don’t get paid for just sitting down at a desk as most salarymen do. They also don’t get any retirement money or severance pay even if they work for years. The moment the contract is cut off, if they don’t have any other forms of business that they have been running, they will have zero income, if not negative. In that situation, can you really refuse the company’s offer?”

“It won’t be easy. If the company really pressures me, it’ll be hard to hold on too.”

“On top of that, I might be able to influence others too. I’ll tell people around me not to use the actor Han Maru so that I can fix that ‘bad attitude’ of yours. I’m no one amazing, but that should be enough to damage you.”

If you’re not amazing then who is? – Maru faintly smiled instead of speaking.

“What would you do? Would you accept the agency’s proposal, or reject it?”

“If it’s within the scope I can understand, then I’ll do it of course.”

“What if it’s outside that? What if it’s a promotion for something that’s far outside your moral standards? Of course, just because you do it, you will not need to take any legal responsibilities. We won’t have you do something illegal. It’s just a moral thing.”

“If I deem that it’s something I should not do, then I will not take it. I’ll lose more in the long term compared to the immediate benefits I might gain.”

“Even if that means you’ll fall out with the company?”

“At that time… I’ll have to use the other method you talked about. Running a personal business shouldn’t be that bad. If I once belonged to JA and even received an ad because of it, it means that I’ve made myself known to the investors.”

“That might lead to severe difficulties. Actors often have a really hard time recovering once they fall down, especially in the case of new actors, where there are a lot of replacements.”

“That’s why I should become an irreplaceable resource.”

“That won’t be easy.”

“I’ve never thought that this was easy. It’s already hard, so it’ll be just a little harder. If there comes a time it becomes too hard that I can’t do anything about it, then I’ll just work elsewhere.”

“You’ll give up on being an actor?”

“Yes.”

“To me that sounds like your dream to become an actor is not that important to you?”

Maru shook his head, “How many people don’t value their dreams? I very much cherish my occupation. I still hope that I will be successful as an actor and make a living out of it. However, I don’t place everything into just one dream. Being an actor is one of the many dreams that I desire the most and want to achieve. Dreams are a method, a way for me to become happy. While becoming an actor is my dream, if I become unhappy because of it, and if the people around me are uncomfortable because of it, I’ll look for something else. Just because one dream fell apart doesn’t mean that I’ll fall apart with it.”

Junmin looked down at the coffee cup. “If you were truly desperate, if you truly want to become an actor, it shouldn’t be easy to say those words. Isn’t that right?”

“I’m not saying this easily. I might look like it, but if such a thing does happen to me, I’ll probably start crying in a corner of my room. I’ll cry and cry again and then let go. Living for the sake of dreams and shackling yourself with them is a completely different matter. You have no choice but to promote the wrong thing for the sake of your acting occupation…. Well, I think that something had gone wrong the moment ‘you had no choice’ about something.”

Maru looked at the magazine that Junmin put down. “I don’t even have to get into talking about my beliefs. The fact that the agency asked me to do such an advertisement means that that’s just my value as a product. If the company can sell me at a much higher rate, would they ask me to promote that product? Absolutely not.”

“Do you think that actors are products?”

“I want to be an artist, but I’m not becoming an actor just to do art. As long as I can fulfill my desire to display my performance, then there are many methods. I can just act all on my own in the streets and put it on the internet. However, I plan to make a living with it. One day, when I become an actor who can stack scenarios in front of me and choose one of them, I’ll choose to do art, but I’ll do my best as a product in order to climb to such a position.”

“While not betraying your own sense of morals, you mean?”

“Yes. Also, there’s no rule that artists have to look down on money, is there?”

“You’re right. Money is innocent. Moreover, it’s the firmest agreement that society has created. What is so strange about an artist who likes agreements? It’s those who tyrannize with that money that are in the bad.”

Junmin apologized before taking out his phone. He seems to have gotten a phone call.

“I’m sorry, but I’m talking right now, so I’ll call you later. What? You don’t see Ulgum anywhere? Calm down and check the veranda. Is he not there?”

Junmin talked with a serious expression. Maru quietly said that he was okay to Junmin who looked apologetic.

“Then go to the smaller room. There should be some space right behind the turntable. Try looking there. How is it? Is he there? Oh, he’s there? Then that’s good. You should close the door to that room since Ulgum might end up in there again. Alright, I will call you later.”

Junmin let out a short breath before putting down his phone.

“Sorry about that.”

“There seems to be a problem. Don’t you need to go?”

“It’s okay. My wife seems to have gotten startled because she couldn’t find a puppy. She’s found it so it’s okay.”

Wife… Maru widened his eyes. This was unexpected.

Junmin had been by himself in the numerous lives before. But here, he was married. It seemed that the last life truly had a lot of changes.

“This is Ulgum.”

Junmin put his phone out suddenly. He had a foolish smile on his face like a parent boasting about his child. Maru couldn’t believe that he was the same person who was coldly talking about actors and agencies.

There was a fluffball-like puppy in a woman’s bosom.

Maru focused on the person’s face more than the dog. So this person became the president’s wife.

He was vaguely expecting this. There was only one person that took Junmin’s heart, and he had heard that numerous times before.

Jung Haejoo should be her name.

“That’s cute.”

“I’ve seen the public commercial that you’ve shot. I knew as soon as I saw it that you must be raising a dog at home.”

“Right now, I have a cat at home.”

“...That’s such a pity.”

It shouldn’t be a mistake that Junmin’s eyes looked like they were full of disappointment. It seemed that he had lost points on a strange part.

“As I said before, I’m only here to talk to you a little today. I thought it would drag on for a long time, but I guess I was worried for nothing.”

Junmin took out an envelope from his bag.

“Take it home and read it over slowly. When you contact me after reading it, we’ll talk about the contract.”

“Don’t you want to know anything more about me?”

“It’s okay. The person I trust the most has already verified you. Also, that conversation we had just now allowed me to conclude that I should grab you now because I might feel jealous if I miss you later.”

Junmin stood up from his seat. Maru also stood up. Putting on his hat and getting his bag, Junmin put out his hand.

“If the contract does go through, the company will do one thing for you: we’ll do everything within our powers so that you won’t give up on being an actor. The company will put a bridge in front of you until the moment you decide to give up on your dream. If the company can’t do it, I’ll do it with my own name. That’s the benefit that actors affiliated with JA will get.”

They shook hands, and Junmin gripped strongly before leaving the café, saying that they should meet again next time.

Maru looked at his numb hand and smiled faintly. The giant’s hand was still spicy.

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