The Genius Manager Who Sees Algorithms, Episode 16
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16. Not Even My Dedicated Charge
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“If you need anything, just pay for it with this.”
Team Leader Dokgo handed over his corporate card and hurried off toward Seoul. With Yang Jimin heading toward the camera to match her call time, I was left alone with the road manager.
“…….”
“…….”
The atmosphere was quite awkward with two men who had just met standing side by side. After a long silence, the road manager was the first to speak.
“How old are you?”
“I’m twenty-eight.”
“Ah… we’re the same age.”
I could feel him doing some quick mental math from the slight drawl at the end of his sentence.
‘He must have been born early in the year.’
If we were truly the same age, there would be no need to calculate. It’s a habit some have—usually, they speak informally, but when they’re with other men, they always try to add a year to their age. Still, there was no need to go out of my way to ask about his birth year. Getting on bad terms with someone from the company would only be a loss for me. At least, I’m an angel until someone picks a fight first.
“Hey, take this generator off! Who tightened this so much?”
“Whose shoes are these? Get them out of here right now! Are we shooting a sneaker commercial?”
“Watch the lighting! That thing costs more than your monthly salary!”
The shouts of the production crew with booming voices could be heard everywhere, chaotic and loud. Right, this is what a set is like. It brought back old memories.
Back when I was struggling in this industry, dreaming of becoming a film director. The days when I pulled all-nighters like it was nothing and poured my passion into the dirt. Those were memories of my college days, when things were tough but rewarding, and I dreamed of a shining tomorrow.
“Hey, youngest!”
I flinched instinctively at the shout looking for the youngest member of the production team. It was scary how habits stuck, seeing as my body still reacted to it.
“I’m going to look around.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
I left the road manager behind and slowly scanned the set. The first thing I had to check was the location of the restrooms.
‘When shooting outdoors, always find the restroom first. Got it?’
It was something I’d heard until my ears bled back when I was the youngest on the production team. It was essential information to ensure the senior production staff and actors weren’t inconvenienced. I never thought that experience would come in handy like this. Truly, you always find a use for what you learn.
“Excuse me, this is the restroom, right?”
I looked to see who it was, and it was the manager of Kang Ju-hyuk, Yang Jimin’s co-star. He looked young, but he had an air of experience about him that suggested he’d been in the business for a while.
“I believe so.”
“Ah, it’s just a habit of mine to find the restroom first whenever we’re on an outdoor shoot.”
There was someone else who thought like me. It seemed managers were all the same.
“I was taught the same thing.”
“Ah… I see. Are you Yang Jimin’s manager?”
“Yes. I’m a road manager from the company. Not her dedicated one, though.”
“I see. I’m Jang Jae-jun.”
“I’m Kim Jung-woo.”
He was a natural socialite; you could tell at a glance that being a manager was his true calling. He handed me his business card naturally.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have a business card to give you yet.”
“That’s fine. But let’s exchange contact info, shall we? This industry is small, so we’ll run into each other again someday. Besides, you can’t really trust the production team on set. We should help each other out.”
He meant that managers should share information. It was a way to get much more detailed knowledge about shooting sequences or waiting times. Since it was a proposal I had no reason to refuse, I simply exchanged contact information with him.
“Jang Jae-jun! What are you doing over there?”
Just then, I heard someone calling Jang Jae-jun. It was his actor, Kang Ju-hyuk.
“Ah, yes! I’m coming! See you later.”
He hurried off, greeting me with a face full of tension. The way Kang Ju-hyuk started pointing fingers the moment he approached showed that his personality wasn’t exactly standard either.
‘Aside from his handsome looks, his personality is rotten.’
It wasn’t just Kang Ju-hyuk. When you’re on set, you naturally observe the relationships between managers and actors. Colleagues, siblings, parents and children, enemies, master and slave—you see all sorts of human archetypes.
‘That guy back then was something else.’
The manager who woke his actor up the moment they arrived, even though there was still time before the shoot. The half-asleep actor threw the script at the manager’s face, and that scene remained etched in my mind. The manager’s lack of tact was regrettable, but thinking back, the actor’s character was also… well. It was ironic that the actor ended up becoming a ten-million-viewer star. Is there really no such thing as karma in reality? I returned to the car, lost in thought.
*KakaoTalk*
Team Leader Dokgo posted today’s shooting schedule in the group chat. Seeing a schedule for the first time in a while brought back a wave of nostalgia.
“Do you not know how to read a schedule?”
The road manager, who had been watching from the side, acted like he knew better. He must have thought I didn’t know because I was looking at the schedule in silence.
“Look here. This is the scene number, D/N is Day/Night. S/L is Set/Location, and…”
Do you think I don’t know that? I was the one who used to make these every single day. But come to think of it, this guy is getting a bit too comfortable with his speech.
“I know. I learned it from my seniors.”
I naturally switched to informal speech as well.
“Oh? Well, even if you know, keep a close eye on it. It’ll be a disaster if you miss a call time or the scene order. Especially on set, things change constantly, so you have to check it frequently.”
This guy, is he acting like a senior just because he’s been here two weeks longer?
Suddenly, I was reminded of the guys from the October enlistment class I met in the military. The nine guys who split the months and acted like total seniors over a two-week difference.
Right, I had nine "seniors" who were only two weeks ahead of me. An unavoidable problem for units deployed to the GOP.
Damn, I had almost forgotten, but this guy is triggering my PTSD.
“Besides, the schedule here is a total mess. They should at least tell us which characters are involved or how long we’ll be waiting, but I don’t know what the production team is doing. They can’t even get the props right. Did they get lazy because it’s the final shoot?”
He was a talkative and exhausting type. I tried to turn my gaze away to avoid him, but the set suddenly became restless.
“Director, what do we do? I heard there’s a local event today!”
“What are you talking about? We booked this place first!”
“W-well… the person in charge accidentally gave double permission.”
People started flocking in due to the local event. The production team couldn’t keep blocking them. There was no time to scout another location. In the end, delaying the shoot was inevitable.
“Sigh. I’m sorry. Please wait for now.”
The assistant director’s troubled face was pitiful. It wasn’t his fault, but seeing him running around apologizing to everyone didn’t feel like someone else’s problem. Yang Jimin had no choice but to return to the car.
“Ms. Jimin, try to get some sleep for a bit. I’ll keep an eye on the situation and wake you up.”
The road manager’s tone was dripping with fake kindness. Still, his sense to let the actor rest for the sake of her condition wasn’t bad.
“Yes, I’ll get some rest inside then.”
As soon as Yang Jimin went inside, the road manager looked at me. He pulled out a lighter as if he’d been waiting for it.
“I’m going for a smoke. Call me if anything happens.”
That’s something I heard a lot in the military. As I headed to the back of the car, I could hear him on the phone.
“It’s me. Yeah. We’re waiting. Of course Yang Jimin is here too. She can’t function without me.”
I was starting to get a feel for what kind of personality this guy had.
I spent that time searching for information on Yang Jimin. Even though it was just a one-day experience, it was only right to make things as comfortable as possible for her while I was in charge. This was a habit I’d naturally developed from dealing with VIPs at my previous job. Truly, you always find a use for what you learn.
I had already checked her filmography, so I focused on her latest interviews.
‘Huh? She’s a non-smoker. And her ideal type is a non-smoker, too.’
My gaze naturally drifted toward the road manager, who was busy "catching raccoons" in the back. Being a smoker isn’t a bad thing, but shouldn’t you at least know your actor’s preferences? Seeing her earlier, it seemed like Yang Jimin was the type to endure things internally. But it wasn’t my place to step in. I had to know when to stop being a busybody.
I listened to the rest of the interview to see if there was anything else.
-What is the biggest source of your stress these days?
-Obviously, people say I’ve gained weight.
-Ah, that’s unavoidable for an actress.
-Right. Plus, my face is the type that gets puffy easily. Even if I take a short nap, my face swells up. So people misunderstand and think I’ve gained weight, and that’s the most stressful part.
So she’s the type who gets puffy even from a short nap. But she couldn’t just not rest during this downtime. It was enough to be stressful.
‘Then she needs to wake up 30 minutes before the shoot.’
She needed to wake up early to reduce the puffiness so she would look good on camera. I immediately went to find the youngest member of the production team.
“When do you think we’ll be able to shoot?”
“It’ll probably take an hour and a half. The event is just starting…”
Looking at it, she could sleep soundly for about an hour. That was enough time for puffiness to set in. I needed to prepare a bit.
I approached the road manager as he was finishing his call.
“I’m going to the mart for a bit.”
“The mart? Ah, are you hungry?”
“No, I just need to buy something.”
“Oh? That’s good. Buy me some cigarettes while you’re at it. Oh, and coffee too.”
What, cigarettes? Does this guy think I’m his subordinate? There’s a limit to how much a person can endure. If I put up with this too, I wouldn’t be a colleague—I’d be a pushover.
“Hey. What do you think you’re doing?”
“…Huh?”
“Buy your own cigarettes. Don’t push it.”
“Oh? Ah… uh…”
I said it with a blank expression, and he quickly avoided my eyes. That’s why you shouldn’t mess with someone who’s minding their own business. I might have a friendly face, but I bite when I’m angry.
I borrowed a car that wasn’t being used by the production team and headed to the nearby Nonghyup mart. I bought tea that was good for reducing puffiness and an extra box of warm canned coffee for the production team. This was also something I’d learned by watching managers on set in the past.
Just then, a loud ringtone blared. I wondered who had no sense of decorum to set their ringtone so loud, but… wait, it’s me? Right. I had changed it to a ringtone just in case I couldn’t hear the phone on set. I should turn the volume down so it doesn’t disturb the shoot later. I checked the caller ID; it was Senior Park Hyung-soo.
“Yes, Senior.”
-Are you doing well?
“I think so, for now. But is something the matter?”
-It’s not exactly a problem, but there’s something I didn’t tell you. Oh Seri is coming tomorrow afternoon. Let’s have a meal together.
Oh Seri was the actress I had been assigned to manage alongside Go Arin.
She was the very same "bomb" that both seniors had avoided because of her poor acting.
“Understood. I’ll clear my schedule.”
I answered calmly, but my mind was a bit complicated.
It felt like I had just climbed over one mountain only to face another.
Of course, the front mountain was Go Arin, and the back mountain was Oh Seri.
Still, I couldn't neglect her.
After all, she was my actress too.
I loaded the luggage into the backseat and got back into the driver's seat.
However, one question kept lingering in my mind.
‘Is Oh Seri’s acting really the problem?’
It was a riddle I couldn't solve without meeting her.
* * *
Although I had taken my time, the filming set was still in a holding pattern.
But the road manager was nowhere to be seen.
Where did this guy go now?
Did he go off somewhere because he was sulking about what happened earlier?
Well, it didn't really matter.
I went to find the youngest member of the production team again to ask about the situation.
“How is it going?”
“We’re in the final stretch. I’ve been promised that we’ll finish in 50 minutes, no matter what.”
I could even feel a sense of firm determination on the youngest’s face.
It was the look of someone ready to do whatever it took to wrap things up.
“I see. You’re working hard. Have this while you work.”
I handed over a warm canned coffee.
“Oh, thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”
A brief smile flashed across the youngest’s face as they held the warm coffee.
Warm canned coffee in the middle of winter… I knew that feeling well.
I went around to each of the staff members, handing out coffee, and returned to the car.
Come to think of it, I still remembered the managers who had made the effort to get their faces known like this.
I was realizing that this was surprisingly important.
Before I knew it, it was 30 minutes before filming.
Checking the time, I carefully knocked on the car door.
The window rolled down, and Yang Jimin looked out with a face that showed she had just woken up.
She said she was the type to get puffy, but was that a lie? To my eyes, she looked beautiful.
But, of course, human eyes and cameras were different things.
“Is it time for filming?”
“No. It’s 30 minutes before.”
“…Pardon?”
Yang Jimin asked back, looking a bit surprised.
Just then, the road manager came running over late, appearing from out of nowhere.
“Why are you waking her up already? There’s still 30 minutes left.”
His tone was sour, perhaps because of what happened earlier.
But I wasn't the one who had to deal with him anyway.
“I heard that you’re the type to get puffy easily, so I thought it would be good to walk around a bit before getting ready.”
“…….”
Yang Jimin blinked without a word.
Was she still not fully awake?
“Hey, you’re being awfully meddlesome in front of someone who couldn't even get a few hours of sleep… Jimin, just sleep more. I’ll wake you up on time. Seriously, why are you doing useless things? You’re not even her dedicated manager.”
The road manager stepped in again.
Does this guy think being a dedicated manager is some kind of noble title?
Besides, if he were a dedicated manager, he should act like one.
But just then, Yang Jimin opened the car door and stepped out.
“Why? Do you need something?”
“It’s not that I need anything, I just wanted to walk a bit.”
“…Pardon?”
The road manager’s expression went blank for a moment.
“I’m going to go for a walk. I think that would be better. Um, Manager, if you don’t mind, would you like to come with me?”
Yang Jimin said.
Of course, she was asking me, not the road manager.
I deliberately looked at the road manager instead of Yang Jimin as I replied.
“I’d love to. I like walking, too.”
The road manager could only stare at us, dumbfounded.
The Genius Manager Who Sees Algorithms Episode 16
Author | The-Bro
Publisher | ONE store Co., Ltd.
Published by | ONE store Co., Ltd.
Registration No. | No. 2016-000040
Address | 20, Pangyoyeok-ro 146beon-gil, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, ONE store Co., Ltd.
ISBN | 979-11-6795-278-3
Price | Not for Sale
※ This book is published by ONE store Co., Ltd. under a contract with the copyright holder, and unauthorized reproduction or distribution without our permission is prohibited by copyright law.
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