Episode 26. Best Scene (3)
For his second daughter, Kang Dae-oh sought out PD Lee Jang-seop separately.
“PD-nim.”
“Yes, Abeonim. Do you perhaps have something to discuss with me…?”
Even though the filming had ended and the crew had begun tidying up the set, upon realizing that Kang Dae-oh had not yet left, PD Lee Jang-seop tilted his head slightly.
He wondered if Kang Dae-oh had something important to say to him privately.
Kang Dae-oh unfolded the script he had borrowed from Kang Yebin for a moment.
He pointed to the page containing the scene that was originally scheduled to be filmed at a cafe but was hastily changed to an indoor set.
“You said you changed to indoor filming due to location issues, right?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
“Then how about this?”
Kang Dae-oh offered a new proposal to PD Lee Jang-seop.
“There’s a cafe nearby that’s suitable for filming. You’ll probably be able to proceed with the location scouting request without any problems.”
“Is there such a cooperative place?”
“Yes. Because…”
Kang Dae-oh pointed to himself and said.
“Because I’m the CEO there.”
“Ah…!”
A fact that Lee Jang-seop had momentarily forgotten flashed through his mind.
“Abeonim, is there an Amare branch near here too?”
“Yes. It hasn’t been open long. About… two weeks? It’s also close by. Would you like to go see it yourself?”
“That would be great for us! I was already thinking that filming at a cafe, rather than a set, would be much better in terms of detail. But I couldn’t think of a suitable place that would allow filming right away.”
“You should have told me earlier.”
“Indeed. I overlooked that.”
It was a case of being dark directly under the lamp.
However, they couldn’t immediately confirm Kang Dae-oh’s cafe as the filming location right then and there.
As he said, they first needed to check how similar it was to the exact image of the place PD Lee Jang-seop wanted.
While PD Lee Jang-seop called for some head staff, Kang Dae-oh entrusted Kang Yebin to her manager and said.
“Yebin, Dad’s going to go to the branch nearby with the PD-nims, so just wait here for a bit. If the PD-nim decides it’s a good place for filming, we’ll go straight there from here. Got it?”
“Should I come along too?”
Since it was related to the drama.
If Kang Yebin went with him, she might be able to offer great help.
However, Kang Dae-oh shook his head, saying there was no need.
“Stay with your manager. Dad can handle it perfectly fine by himself.”
Because Dad decided to solve this problem.
Kang Dae-oh wanted to take responsibility until the end.
And he also wanted to show his beloved daughter a cool side of her dad, even just a little.
When Kang Dae-oh reappeared at the location where the interview had just been conducted, Director Shin Young-jun reacted with great surprise.
“CEO-nim! Didn’t you say you’d be leaving with your daughter?”
“I was going to, but something came up suddenly.”
“What is it?”
Kang Dae-oh pointed to PD Lee Jang-seop’s group, who were following him into the store, and said.
“These people wanted to see if this place could be used as a filming location.”
“Huh? Filming… suddenly?”
Kang Dae-oh nodded.
He postponed a detailed explanation for later and first introduced Director Shin Young-jun to PD Lee Jang-seop.
“This is Director Shin Young-jun, who is in charge of HR at Amare.”
“Sh-Shin Young-jun. Nice to meet you.”
PD Lee Jang-seop also took out his business card, just like Director Shin.
“I’m PD Lee Jang-seop, director of ‘Princesses of the City’.”
“Ah…!”
Only then did Director Shin Young-jun roughly grasp what was going on.
The drama ‘Princesses of the City’ was also a video content in which Kang Yebin, Kang Dae-oh’s second daughter, was currently starring and giving a passionate performance.
The thought that the reason for this situation might be somewhat related to Kang Yebin quickly filled Director Shin’s mind.
PD Lee Jang-seop and the head staff began to quickly scan the surroundings of the store.
“PD-nim. Where should we place the cameras?”
“Isn’t that window seat over there good? The reason we originally tried to scout a location for filming was because we wanted to direct the scene with the cafe’s outdoor scenery as the background.”
Such realism is not well expressed with a set.
Applying CG was one method, but PD Lee Jang-seop was a person with a working style that preferred to implement everything that could be directly realized, rather than relying on CG.
PD Lee Jang-seop formed a rectangle with his index finger and thumb, trying to find a camera angle.
In the meantime, Kang Dae-oh gave Director Shin a detailed explanation of how he brought them there.
Director Shin, who learned the full story of the incident, rather said as if it was a good thing.
“If this store appears in the drama, the promotional effect will certainly be significant.”
“That’s right.”
In fact, Kang Dae-oh was also aiming for this.
Allowing his daughter’s desired ‘best scene’ to be faithfully reproduced, and at the same time, promoting Amare’s new branch.
This was truly killing two birds with one stone.
However, if PD Lee Jang-seop looked around the store and said it didn’t match the image of the place he had in mind, all these expectations would go to waste.
Director Shin whispered softly to Kang Dae-oh.
“Should I go and appeal to the PD-nim once or twice?”
Then Kang Dae-oh shook his head.
“No. It doesn’t seem like you need to go that far.”
Kang Dae-oh could tell what PD Lee Jang-seop was going to say just by looking at his expression as he returned to where they were.
PD Lee Jang-seop showed a satisfied expression and said this.
“This place is really great! It’s even better than the cafe I originally scouted as a location.”
“It’s a relief to hear you say that.”
Kang Dae-oh’s prediction hit the mark exactly.
After securing the Amare store as the new location and continuing filming.
One afternoon, Kang Dae-oh, who had been busy, checked a text message sent by his second daughter.
As soon as he saw the text, a short exclamation escaped Kang Dae-oh’s lips.
Lee Seo-jun, who witnessed this nearby, showed interest.
“Is there something good happening?”
“Did I tell you last time? That a drama was filmed at our store.”
“You did. Isn’t it that drama Yebin is in?”
“That’s right. The scene filmed there is going to be in today’s episode, so she said let’s all gather and watch it together when I get off work later.”
“Oh, really? I’ll definitely watch it after work too! No, wait. I’ll send a group text to the employees and tell everyone to watch it live. We need to boost the ratings, even a little.”
Kang Dae-oh suppressed a hearty laugh and waved his hand.
“It’s fine. Ratings won’t dramatically increase just because of that. It’ll just feel like giving the employees extra homework, so don’t do it.”
Kang Dae-oh didn’t want to strongly compel his employees to do anything.
They were already having chaotic days as the company was in a period of rapid growth.
Because putting more pressure on them for something like this would only earn him criticism.
Thanks to the text message from Kang Yebin, Kang Dae-oh began to look forward to his quitting time already.
Time passed, and finally, the quitting time he had been waiting for arrived.
Kang Dae-oh set off for home with quick steps, as if he were being chased by someone.
When he drove home and arrived, Kang Yebin was the first thing he noticed, talking on the phone with someone.
Kang Yebin, noticing her dad’s return, hung up the phone, saying she would call back later.
“Dad doesn’t need to worry about it. You can just keep talking.”
“No, it’s fine. I was already on the phone for too long, and I was thinking of hanging up soon anyway.”
“Really? Who were you talking to for so long?”
“Jiyoon.”
“Aha.”
She was Kang Yebin’s only friend.
If it was Yang Ji-yoon, it didn’t feel particularly strange for Kang Yebin to be holding onto her smartphone for a long time.
“What were you talking about with Jiyoon that was so interesting?”
“She really loves ‘Princesses of the City’. I told her to definitely watch it because a scene she’d like might appear today.”
Kang Dae-oh felt he knew what scene it was.
“It’s that scene where the sisters all gather at the cafe, drink beverages, and chat, right?”
“Yes. #S25. I really wanted to keep that scene alive no matter what. It’s all thanks to Dad.”
It was because he wanted to hear this last remark that Kang Dae-oh had diligently promoted and introduced his store to PD Lee Jang-seop.
Because a single word from his beloved daughter was more valuable to Kang Dae-oh than any other reward.
Kang Dae-oh looked at the TV screen and said.
“I hope it turns out well. That best scene you mentioned.”
“Me too.”
Even though there was still a lot of time left until the drama aired.
The father and daughter’s excitement and anticipation were already in full swing.
The next day.
As soon as she arrived at school, Yang Ji-yoon looked for Kang Yebin first.
“Yebin-ah!”
Yang Ji-yoon’s eyes sparkled brightly.
Thanks to her high energy from the morning, Kang Yebin unconsciously pulled her chair back slightly.
“Why? What’s making you so energetic this morning?”
“Because of ‘Princesses of the City’! As you said yesterday, I watched the drama with Mom, and you know that scene in the middle where they’re drinking something at the cafe? That place was so pretty! Mom and I both went ‘Woah~’ while watching it!”
The scene of the sisters gathering and talking affectionately with each other was a best scene that perfectly matched the peaceful daily life of a cafe.
Despite not having any particularly provocative directing, the cafe scene succeeded in garnering an enthusiastic response from viewers by renewing the drama’s own instantaneous viewership ratings.
Yang Ji-yoon was one of those viewers.
“If that scene were edited separately and uploaded to YouTube, I’d probably watch it every day. Is there any plan for that?”
“There will be. Because the PD-nim said so.”
PD Lee Jang-seop probably never imagined that a healing scene from everyday life would later be remembered as a representative famous scene of ‘Princesses of the City’.
Content is a field where unplanned things often unexpectedly take off.
Thanks to this scene, PD Lee Jang-seop will be able to firmly grasp what kind of directing and story he should pursue.
He even said so himself in an interview.
Kang Yebin felt particularly proud today that the person who played the biggest role in the creation of the best scene was her dad, Kang Dae-oh.
