Chapter 70: Genius Writer vs. Genius Actor (8)
After that, the first thing Jung Se-yeon did was call her close journalist friends and arrange interviews for Kim Si-woo. Meanwhile, Park Woong-deok was assembling a film production team through his own connections.
That evening, Kim Si-woo sat in his living room for the first time in a while, watching TV.
“It’s coming on…”
A commercial played, and soon afterward, his face—and the actors’ faces—appeared on screen.
About 40 minutes in, the scene aired.
The moment where he publicly called out Choi Do-hyun.
And just as Si-woo predicted, the controversial clip began spreading like wildfire.
“Hahahahaha.”
For a brief moment, Kim Si-woo imagined Lee Hae-soo diligently compiling a list of malicious commenters.
“Hmm… thinking about it, this is only going to make things harder for Hae-soo… I feel a bit bad now…”
But that sympathy lasted only a moment—soon, countless calls and messages flooded his phone.
“Knew this would happen…”
From Shim Ji-young to Lee Hae-soo, Jung Se-yeon, and Si-woo Film team members, he received messages ranging from worry to encouragement.
He answered the first call, which came from Shim Ji-young, acting like nothing was happening.
“Yes, hello.”
—Hello? You sound awfully calm. What are you planning to do now? What if YOU get blacklisted from the industry?!
“Hmm… I haven’t really thought about that? And honestly, I have too many people on my side for that to happen.”
—Well… that’s true, but still…
“Noona, don’t worry too much. Just watch. I’ll erase the name ‘Choi Do-hyun’ from the film industry before this year ends.”
***
The next day, Si-woo met with the journalists Jung Se-yeon had arranged.
“Hello.”
Waiting at a café near the Si-woo Film office, he watched as the journalists arrived one by one.
“Now that everyone is here, shall we begin?”
Once all the invited reporters were present, he immediately started the interview.
“Before we start, let me say one thing. Please report only the facts. And I will only answer questions that I believe can be answered.”
The reporters all nodded.
They were already known for being professional entertainment journalists—people Jung Se-yeon had known throughout her career—but one could never let their guard down completely.
Si-woo handed out the legal agreements prepared by Lee Hae-soo, and the reporters signed them after skimming through.
“Alright, let’s begin for real. We’ll start with the reporter who arrived first.”
A middle-aged reporter who came earliest opened his laptop, ready to type.
“First, I’m Park Dae-woon from XX Media. Yesterday, on the CBS talk show and even at the Taesan Arts Awards, you publicly called out Actor Choi Do-hyun. Is that correct?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Hearing his answer, the other reporters quickly typed on their keyboards.
“Then when you said you won’t associate with people related to him, does that mean you won’t work with anyone connected to him either?”
“Yes.”
“What is the reason you’re taking things this far?”
“He started it. He insulted the actors who gave their best after trusting my script. I’m simply responding accordingly.”
“If Actor Choi Do-hyun apologizes, would you accept it?”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
The reporters continued firing questions, and Kim Si-woo answered them calmly.
Most questions were about Choi Do-hyun.
But then a question came up regarding Jung Se-yeon.
“Do you know the song ‘The Man of October’?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Your birthday is also in October, Writer Kim… Are you the inspiration behind the song?”
“Well… I’m not sure.”
He obviously knew the answer—but he refused to say it.
He didn’t want Jung Se-yeon to get dragged into unnecessary dating rumors because of him.
“I see. Thank you.”
“More importantly, let me tell you about our new movie.”
“Movie?”
The word “movie” made every reporter perk up.
Kim Si-woo meant movies,
And movies meant Kim Si-woo.
That was the reality of the film industry today.
Among Kim Si-woo’s many nicknames, the most famous was “Star Maker.”
It was a nickname born from the fact that every actor he selected as a lead or personally cast ended up becoming incredibly famous.
“Who’s the lead this time?”
“The lead is Actress Jung Se-yeon.”
As soon as he said that, the reporters looked at him with clear suspicion.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’ll leave right now, you know?”
“Ah—haha. Sorry. Please continue.”
The reporters hurriedly stopped him from standing up—no one wanted to miss information about Kim Si-woo’s new movie.
“Ahem… Director Park Woong-deok has agreed to take the director’s chair for this film.”
After sitting back down, Si-woo cleared his throat and continued.
“What?!”
The reporters were even more shocked than when he announced Jung Se-yeon as the lead.
“And Actor Park Jun-ho, who worked with me on Gangster Detective, and Hong Soo-yeon from Si-woo Film will also appear. Aside from two or three supporting actors I already have in mind, the remaining roles will be filled through auditions. So please spread the word widely.”
“Wh–what kind of story is the movie?”
“That’s a secret. We’ll send details later through Actress Jung Se-yeon.”
When the meeting ended, the interview articles went online within an hour.
Interviews about Choi Do-hyun were big news, but the real explosion was around the audition announcement for the new movie.
‘Guess I need to hurry and make an audition poster and announcement video…’
Looking at his buzzing smartphone and Si-woo Film’s ringing office phone, Si-woo shook his head.
“Alright, let’s split into two teams—one for the posters, and one for the audition guide video. Let’s get to work.”
“Yes!”
The Si-woo Film members began moving busily, and Si-woo called Park Woong-deok and Jung Se-yeon to ask them to participate in the audition announcement video.
After securing their approval, Si-woo joined the audition meeting and stated the requirements that must be included under audition eligibility.
And the requirements were:
Anyone NOT close to Choi Do-hyun.
Anyone NOT from the same agency as Choi Do-hyun.
That was all.
Experience, age, gender, education—irrelevant.
Under these conditions, preparation for the audition progressed quickly.
The team fully agreed with Si-woo’s approach and had no objections to the audition criteria targeting Choi Do-hyun.
If the boss had already decided to start a war, all they could do was follow.
Of course, many in the movie industry criticized him:
“Is filmmaking a joke to you?”
“Why drag personal grudges into casting?”
But none of that mattered.
Si-woo had already expected such criticism. And if he didn’t work with those people, that was that.
***
A week later, the audition poster and announcement video were completed.
First, Jung Se-yeon appeared on screen to explain the date and location.
Then Park Woong-deok introduced the key roles.
Lastly, Kim Si-woo appeared and explained the audition eligibility criteria.
As soon as the video was uploaded to the Si-woo Film channel, the view count skyrocketed, and comments poured in:
[LMAO look at him sniping Choi Do-hyun even here. Honestly satisfying though.]
└ Writer Kim Si-woo must be REALLY pissed lol
└ Wouldn’t you be? Some random guy suddenly attacks you for no reason hahaha
[Choi Do-hyun: Ah… I was gonna apply too. Guess I’ll need a name change.]
└ LOL 😂
[This is the worst. A writer acting this petty is embarrassing. I’m not even a Choi Do-hyun fan.]
└ Sure, and your oppa is worse though. Like celeb, like fan~
[I’m just curious how long this will go on.]
└ Same 😂
Praise, criticism, mockery, jokes—people left all kinds of comments.
As the controversy grew, both Choi Do-hyun’s image and Kim Si-woo’s image worsened.
However, the one suffering the most damage was undoubtedly Choi Do-hyun.
Actors, unlike writers, lived and died by their public image.
Acting fees aside, their biggest income came from advertisements.
As an extremely handsome actor, Choi Do-hyun received endless CF offers—and the money from those alone was enormous.
However, no matter how handsome or popular an actor was, no company wanted to use someone constantly caught in controversy as their advertisement model.
Thus, after The King Has Changed, all the advertisements that had been pouring in for Choi Do-hyun suddenly stopped. Even actors who used to contact him no longer reached out.
They all understood.
Choi Do-hyun damaged brand image.
As time went on, not only advertisers but actors themselves avoided him.
Some didn’t show it openly, but many actors clearly distanced themselves.
If you were on good terms with Kim Si-woo, you might receive a role.
But being close to Choi Do-hyun would only make roles disappear.
Even if he was handsome and a good actor, the connections Choi Do-hyun had were nothing compared to Kim Si-woo’s influence.
It was around this time that Choi Do-hyun began realizing something had gone terribly wrong.
Meanwhile, the popularity of Si-woo’s audition skyrocketed.
Aspiring actors and trainees dreaming of debuting in Korea,
Middle-aged and older actors hoping for a second prime,
Popular actors and well-known stars wanting to appear in a Kim Si-woo film,
And countless supporting actors aiming for minor roles—
They flocked in from all across the country.
Part of this was thanks to the “Our Teacher” trio—
The three actors who had received help from Kim Si-woo.
Everywhere they went, they said Si-woo was their benefactor and that their acting improved because of him.
And when people saw that respected, trouble-free actors like Jung Se-yeon, Shim Ji-young, Park Jun-ho, and Ha Seung-woo were close to Kim Si-woo, they concluded that Si-woo’s character must not be bad.
And so, the long-awaited audition day arrived.
The Si-woo Film staff had spent days exhausting themselves—
Securing the location, sending audition reminders, preparing lunchboxes and snacks, and setting up the audition process.
To make things worse, the actors from Si-woo Film all decided to participate in the audition, so they had taken time off for acting practice, making the staff even busier.
The venue Kim Si-woo rented was the main auditorium and three classrooms at the Seoul Arts University.
With so many applicants, they divided the audition into three teams over three days.
Team 1:
Kim Si-woo
Lee Yoo-jin
Kim Ji-hyun
(Writer Team)
Team 2:
Park Woong-deok
Lighting Director
Cinematography Director
(Director Team)
Team 3:
Shim Ji-young
Jung Se-yeon
Park Jun-ho
(Actor Team)
Students from the university trained as stage staff were also assigned to assist all three teams.
Once everything was ready, participants were guided to each team’s room.
“Let’s begin. Please bring in Participants 1 through 3.”
“Yes!”
At Si-woo’s words, a student went out and brought in the participants.
“Hello.”
“Yes, hello.”
The actors entering the classroom-turned-audition-room greeted them politely.
“Alright, let’s see your prepared acting. Participant #1, please start.”
Participant #1 immediately took hold of their emotions and began the performance.
“Hey! I heard you think you’re hot stuff just because you can sing a little? Come on, keep showing off.”
The actor’s rough, edgy performance continued, and Si-woo, Yoo-jin, and Ji-hyun watched closely.
“Aaaaargh! Why her and not me?! WHY! WHY! WHY! What does she have that I don’t?!”
Beep-beep-beep-beep.
At the same time as the actor’s scream, the timer alarm rang.
“Thank you.”
For faster progress, Si-woo had added a new rule to the audition: each person was given exactly 3 minutes.
As soon as the actor began acting, a timer was pressed.
When the 3 minutes were up, acting stopped and the next participant came in.
And because of the huge number of applicants, no scripts were given out.
Only a simple description of the character type they had to portray.
But after seeing such a high-level performance from the very first participant, Si-woo felt troubled.
‘No way… they can’t all be this good… right?’