Episode 45. Strike while the iron is hot (3)
To head to Japan, Kang Dae-oh diligently rushed his preparations from early in the morning.
Even before boarding the plane, he constantly thought about whether he had forgotten anything.
Yang Ha-young, who was accompanying Kang Dae-oh in place of Executive Director Yu In-seok, looked at Kang Dae-oh and spoke in a tone that suggested he shouldn’t worry too much.
“You’ve packed everything, haven’t you? Aren’t you worrying too much?”
“It’s strange, but whenever I go on a trip or business trip, I always end up leaving something behind. It would be a problem if it were something important, wouldn’t it?”
“Do you have your wallet?”
“Of course.”
“And your smartphone?”
“It’s right here.”
“You must have your passport, of course.”
“If I didn’t have that, there’s no way I’d be on this plane with the staff in the first place, right?”
“You have all the important things. So, wouldn’t it be okay?”
Perhaps it was thanks to Yang Ha-young’s reassurance.
Kang Dae-oh felt a little relieved.
“More importantly, I’m sorry to make you come all the way to Japan when you must be busy.”
“It’s alright, CEO. I was actually thinking of going on a trip sometime later, as it’s been too long since I’ve been on a plane. So, it’s even better that I get to go overseas for work like this.”
Yang Ha-young maintained her positive mindset.
Recently, she had been promoted to director, transitioning from an employee to an executive.
Yang Ha-young’s performance had been immensely helpful to the company.
The mere fact that she was here to replace Executive Director Yu In-seok showed her standing.
Executive Director Yu In-seok was such an important figure that he was like Kang Dae-oh’s right-hand man.
The number of people who could replace him was extremely limited.
Since Director Yang Ha-young had temporarily taken on that role, she had expressed her honor on several occasions.
“Doesn’t it feel like we’re going on a trip, CEO?”
“Well. If things go well, I suppose I might feel that way.”
They boarded the plane, entrusted with the crucial task of laying the groundwork for Amare’s first overseas expansion.
Japan is a neighboring country that is similar to Korea yet also different.
They planned to thoroughly research what kind of coffee flavors Japanese people prefer, what types of beverages are most consumed, and what direction the cafe interior should take, before making a final decision on the first store.
It wasn’t just about setting up a cafe.
They had to diligently inform the local people that Amare had entered Japan for the first time.
Due to the importance of promotion, Director Yang Ha-young’s accompaniment was essential.
Flight attendants began walking around, checking on the passengers.
As soon as she saw them, Yang Ha-young immediately sensed it.
“It looks like we’ll be departing soon.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than the announcement for takeoff began to play.
Kang Dae-oh took out his Bluetooth earphones, put them in his ears, and leaned back into his seat.
Since their destination was Japan, the travel time wouldn’t be very long.
Still, Kang Dae-oh intended to rest as much as possible if he had even a little time to close his eyes.
He had been losing sleep lately due to the preparations for entering Japan.
Just as he was about to play music on his smartphone.
“Ah, I almost forgot.”
“Yes? What did you forget?”
Yang Ha-young perked up her ears at Kang Dae-oh’s mumble.
“Oh, nothing. It’s just that my kids asked me to buy some things in Japan. I wrote them down, but I’ll have time to buy them, right?”
“Probably, wouldn’t you?”
If there wasn’t time, he would make it.
It wasn’t just anyone asking. It was his daughters’ request.
Kang Dae-oh wanted to fulfill his daughters’ wishes as much as possible, even if it meant delaying the flight time.
That was Kang Dae-oh’s small happiness.
While Kang Dae-oh was busy with his schedule in Japan.
Kang Yera and Kang Yebin, the sisters, began an unplanned temporary idol group activity.
Since it was a one-time group created for a movie shoot, there wasn’t much pressure.
Even though the purpose was a movie shoot, Kang Yebin had constantly mentioned since the crank-in that she never thought she’d ever form an idol group with her unnie.
Today was no different.
“I still can’t believe it.”
“What?”
Kang Yera asked her younger sister while putting on the stage outfit prepared by the costume team.
Kang Yebin pointed at herself and her unnie, replying wearily.
“The fact that unnie and I are doing this.”
“’This kind of thing,’ you say. Anyone who hears you might misunderstand that you’re being forced to do something you don’t want to, you know.”
“That’s not entirely wrong.”
“That’s too much. I thought we looked pretty good together. Look this way.”
Kang Yera switched her smartphone to selfie mode and motioned for Kang Yebin to move closer.
Kang Yebin sighed deeply and reluctantly leaned against her unnie’s left arm.
Click!
Even so, Kang Yebin smiled brightly for the camera, as if she hadn’t just been reluctant.
Yet, perhaps dissatisfied with the photo she just took, Kang Yebin insisted that Kang Yera take it again.
“My bangs were covering my left eye a bit. Unnie, take out your phone again.”
“What? You were acting like you didn’t want to take it.”
“If we’re going to take them, we should try to make them as pretty as possible. You’re going to upload this to your unnie’s SNS account, aren’t you?”
“How did you know?”
“Because you have a unique expression you make every time you take photos for your SNS, so I know.”
She knew everything about her unnie, so she quickly noticed this much.
Once again, a “Click!” sound filled the dressing room.
After finishing the photo shoot, the two sisters moved to the set.
As soon as she saw the stage, an exclamation naturally escaped Kang Yera’s lips.
“Wow. It’s really just like the stages we usually stand on!”
The staff who had perfectly recreated a stage typically used by singers felt incredibly impressive.
Director Kim Ji-suk let out a sigh of relief and asked about their condition.
“How are you? How’s your condition today?”
Kang Yebin nodded and said.
“I’m fine.”
“Yera too?”
Kang Yera also showed the same confidence as Kang Yebin.
“Today, I had a good feeling coming here. And there are no lines.”
Among them, Kang Yera was probably the only actress happy about having no lines.
Kim Ji-suk knew why Kang Yera was saying this.
During last week’s filming, Kang Yera had her first scene with lines assigned to her.
However, even though it wasn’t a long line, just a few short sentences, Kang Yera made far more NGs than the staff had anticipated.
It was because acting was unfamiliar to her.
However, it was also realistically impossible not to give Kang Yera a single line.
Because she was playing a character who was part of the same team as the female lead and active as an idol, she was bound to have lines.
If it was something she had to do anyway.
There was no solution other than diligently practicing to make the best scene possible.
So, this time, Kang Yera had, conversely, received diligent coaching from Kang Yebin.
Thanks to this, Kang Yera displayed a face full of confidence, unlike last week.
Director Kim Ji-suk looked at the triumphant Kang Yera as if she were cute and laughed.
“Then, I can look forward to today’s filming, right?”
“Yes, of course! Leave it to me!”
Kang Yera always played the role of a mood maker on set.
When she was there, the atmosphere on set became lively and bright.
Kim Ji-suk highly valued this aspect of Kang Yera.
“You’re lucky, Yebin.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Yera will surely play the role of a bright unnie at home, won’t she?”
“Well, that’s…”
It wasn’t entirely wrong.
However, the problem was that sometimes when she went wild, Kang Yebin, as her younger sister, would often find herself in awkward situations.
Still, it was better than being gloomy and depressed.
Kang Yebin decided to think positively.
After finishing the audio check.
They decided to go straight into filming without a rehearsal.
They had done enough rehearsals since this morning.
“S#12! Camera roll! Ready… Action!”
The slate made a “Clack!” sound, signaling the start of filming.
The accompaniment of an original song specially created for this movie shoot began to play.
Even though it took quite a while to practice because they had to create new choreography, Kang Yera and Kang Yebin completed the first shot perfectly without a single mistake.
“Okay! We’ll wrap up the stage scene with this. Actors, please stand by while we prepare the next scene. You can do a reading if you like.”
“Yes, understood!”
They had to prepare the scene where they gave their acceptance speech for winning first place on stage.
Most of the acceptance speech lines were to be delivered by Kang Yebin, who was set as the leader.
Kang Yera was assigned only one line.
“We’ll continue to work hard, so fans, please support us a lot! We love you!”
Kang Yebin, who was temporarily in charge of Kang Yera’s acting coaching, clicked her tongue briefly.
“You can do this well, so why did you make so many NGs last week?”
“Because I’ve given 1st place acceptance speeches many times.”
Come to think of it, that was true.
Although Kang Yera had very little acting experience compared to other actors, lines like the one she just delivered were ones she had actually said frequently in front of the camera.
Since the lines were very familiar, she was able to deliver a very natural performance.
“That last one was good, but can you raise your tone just a little more?”
“Alright.”
Ah-ah.
Kang Yera cleared her throat and slightly raised her voice tone according to her younger sister’s instruction.
Since this scene was set as their first music show win, an excited voice and facial expression were required.
To bring out this emotion, Kang Yebin had instructed her unnie to raise her tone.
Even though it was the same line, the feeling was distinctly different.
One might say the latter expressed the lingering emotion of感動 more deeply.
“How about it, unnie?”
“The second one seems better.”
“Right?”
While they were matching their lines through reading,
They saw Director Kim Ji-suk and Music Director Seo Yoon-jin, who was overseeing the music for this film, having a close conversation below the stage.
Kang Yebin initially thought the two directors were discussing something about the reading she had just done with her unnie.
However, this was Kang Yebin’s own misunderstanding.
After their conversation, Directors Kim Ji-suk and Seo Yoon-jin came up onto the stage side by side.
Their purpose was none other than the Kang Yera and Kang Yebin sisters.
“Girls.”
“Yes, Director.”
“Director Seo says she has something she’d like to propose to you.”
“······?”
Kang Yera and Kang Yebin tilted their heads simultaneously.
They tried to think of what she might want to talk to them about.
But there was nothing specific.
If she hadn’t liked their previous stage performance, Director Kim Ji-suk wouldn’t have given an ‘okay’.
Music Director Seo Yoon-jin’s words to them were beyond imagination.
“Girls, how would you like to debut as actual idols?”
