Chapter 202. Amateur Basketball Team
The meeting with Director Kim Han-soo was scheduled for the next day.
Yeon-woo headed to the company early in the morning.
He wasn't the only one drawn to the company by the familiar name.
Son Jin-yuk was the male lead in "Summer's Promise," and Jung Cheol-min was Director Kim Han-soo's junior from university.
'And now they're both New Star Entertainment actors. They'll be appearing in this drama together.'
Yeon-woo recalled when he first met Director Kim Han-soo.
'Back at the audition, when I knew nothing about acting, I just performed according to the script I prepared, thinking all I needed to do was make expressions.'
Still, it was because Director Kim Han-soo cast him as 'Cha Woo-joo' that he was able to start his current career right away.
Yeon-woo was curious about how different his acting would be under the same director now, given how much experience he had gained as an actor through various projects since then.
When Yeon-woo opened the conference room door, he saw a familiar face.
"Director."
"Oh, Yeon-woo. It's been a while."
That same warm voice, unchanged as ever, rang out.
He was a director who always spoke formally to everyone, from the filming staff to Yeon-woo, who was just a rookie actor and high school student at the time.
Yeon-woo approached him with a smile and shook his hand.
"Have you been well?"
"Oh, you know, I've been traveling abroad and resting since my last project. Can you see my tan?"
Director Kim Han-soo smiled as he slightly rolled up his suit sleeve, revealing skin that had indeed gotten quite dark from tanning.
"So you've been relaxing in nice places without us, Director."
When Yeon-woo grinned playfully, Director Kim Han-soo smiled back.
"Even abroad, news about you kept reaching my ears. And I hear you're doing theater in small venues these days?"
"Haha. You must have just returned to Korea, right? You're really up to date with everything."
"I heard it from Lighting Director Lim Seong-su. He's working in Daehangno these days and talked my ear off for an hour about how fun it is. Besides, when you're abroad, you tend to follow Korean news even more closely."
Yeon-woo nodded at Director Kim Han-soo's words.
'Lighting Director Lim Seong-su used to be in charge of lighting for Director Kim Han-soo's filming team. So he must have found work with other teams while the director was taking a break.'
Just then, the conference room door opened and Son Jin-yuk and Jung Cheol-min entered.
"Oh my, senior!"
"Director, it's been a long time."
Director Kim Han-soo's eyes widened at the sight of these familiar faces.
"Well, I wasn't told both of you would be coming today."
The men, reuniting after a long time, sat down to catch up.
CEO Jung-hyuk, who had been watching their reunion with a smile, spoke up.
"As you might have heard from Director Yoon Mi-yeon, nothing has been decided about our new project except for the genre."
"Yes, I'm well aware."
Then Director Kim Han-soo pulled out a stack of papers from his bag.
"It's still rough and will need adaptation, but this is the story I had in mind."
Director Kim Han-soo distributed the script.
No, it was too short to be called a script - it would be more accurate to call it a synopsis.
Son Jin-yuk and Jung Cheol-min's eyes widened at the unexpected synopsis.
"What, you brought a story with you?"
"Our senior had it all planned out."
Yeon-woo smiled as he looked at the synopsis.
"So you already had a sports drama you wanted to write, Director?"
Director Kim Han-soo smiled at Yeon-woo's words.
"Well, wanting to see all of you again was certainly part of it, but..."
Yeon-woo looked at the synopsis Director Kim Han-soo had handed over.
It was really rough, just a skeleton of a story - it didn't even have the protagonist's name.
Basketball was the main subject of the drama.
The story he quickly skimmed through was a bit different from what he had expected.
'Hm? It's about amateur basketball, not professional basketball.'
Though it was still just a synopsis and the content could change considerably, he had some questions as he read through it.
Compared to the rough storyline, the protagonist's character development was quite detailed.
While the subject was marked as "Amateur Basketball (subject to change)," the description of the protagonist took up nearly a full page.
"Director, the protagonist's description is quite detailed. Is it based on a real person?"
At Yeon-woo's words, Director Kim Han-soo gave a somewhat awkward smile.
"...Yes. It's based on me."
Then Jung Cheol-min, who was still reading the content, looked up.
"Senior? Is this your story?"
"Well, it's hard to call it a true story, and as you can see, it's a rough story with added imagination. But I did write the protagonist's background with myself in mind."
At Director Kim Han-soo's words, Jung Cheol-min clapped his hands as if remembering something.
"Oh, right! Senior, you really loved basketball in college."
At that time, a basketball drama had just finished airing to great popularity, and Korean professional basketball was at its peak, so many college students played basketball.
But even among them, Kim Han-soo had been particularly passionate about basketball and was good at it too.
"Senior, didn't you always referee basketball at the school sports festivals?"
"Hmm hmm, you remember quite the details, junior."
Basketball has such complex rules beyond the commonly known fouls and violations, like time rules, that ordinary people absolutely cannot referee.
Before Jung Cheol-min entered university, Kim Han-soo had always played as a member of an amateur club.
Yeon-woo nodded as he listened to the conversation between Jung Cheol-min and Director Kim Han-soo.
'So it's an autobiographical story.'
Yeon-woo had worked on one project before where the director took his own story and turned it into a work.
Director Park Chan-hong's "Sketch."
Though it went through various adaptations, it was a story that incorporated his experiences as the child of immigrant parents.
'And I never regretted choosing that project.'
Yeon-woo immersed himself in reading the synopsis again slowly.
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Born into what you'd call a "privileged family" with both parents being lawyers running a law firm, the protagonist took up Go at his parents' urging from an early age and became such a promising young Go player that it was difficult to find worthy opponents among his peers.
However, Go was merely meant as training to help him sit still and study, so his parents didn't want him to continue pursuing it.
- How could you possibly make a living playing Go? What useless daydreams are you having? Of course you'll follow in our footsteps and become a legal professional. Have you finished today's assignments? Go to your room right now.
Living a life tailored like his parents' custom-fitted suit, with all excess trimmed away and endlessly adjusted to fit tightly, the protagonist's condition manifested around his high school years.
The trimmed excess was his individuality, and the fit molded to his parents' form had constricted his chest until he could barely breathe - in retrospect, it was inevitable.
Whether to call it an illness or some kind of awakened ability, he wasn't sure, but he personally considered it a mental disorder.
Everyone's facial expressions, finger movements, throat contractions, changes in lip shapes, and so on.
Countless visual details would flood into his mind, and like reading moves ahead in Go, he began analyzing one or two steps ahead, predicting others' next actions as if reading the future.
He started seeing every single movement of people he encountered in daily life with crystal clarity and in slow motion.
Like reading an opponent's moves in Go during his childhood, time would slow down as his mind raced at incredible speeds to predict others' next movements.
But this wasn't a gift - it was a curse.
While it might have seemed like something out of a superhero movie, the reality was that his head felt like it would explode from information overload, his heart would race uncontrollably, and normal daily life became impossible.
The protagonist eventually dropped out of high school and lived like a shut-in, only traveling between home and hospital.
Then one day, by chance, he saw people playing basketball at a street court under a bridge near his house.
Ten people from both teams were moving chaotically all around, and the protagonist naturally began processing and analyzing all this visual information in his mind.
Though he quickly looked away fearing a relapse of his symptoms, surprisingly his head didn't feel like it would explode, and his heartbeat remained steady.
- Huh? What's going on?
He looked back at the court, taking in the movements of all the players.
- That person will pass to the person in front. Dribble behind the legs, run to the left and jump. But they'll get blocked by the opponent running in.
And just as he predicted, the players moved exactly that way.
- But why am I still okay...?
He realized that whatever this condition or ability was, it uniquely didn't affect him when it came to basketball.
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After reading the scenario, Yeon-woo quietly looked at Director Kim Han-soo.
"Director, this could be really interesting if we execute it well."
"You think so?"
At that moment, Jung Cheol-min raised his hand, having apparently finished reading the synopsis.
"Senior, about the kimbap shop owner. Did you write that role with me in mind?"
"That's right."
"How did you know I love kimbap?"
Originally, Jung Cheol-min, being of a different age group, was planning to appear as a director or coach in any sports production, but according to Director Kim Han-soo's story, he would be playing the role of a player since it's amateur basketball.
"Teacher Cheol-min. Think you can handle the running?"
When Yeon-woo asked, Jung Cheol-min grinned.
"What do you take the Hyehwa-dong Flying Squirrel for? Whether it's basketball or soccer, I was the best in Daehangno."
Director Kim Han-soo smiled at Yeon-woo and Jung Cheol-min's playful conversation and continued.
"But basketball needs five players. I heard we're filming with actors from the entertainment company, so what's the plan for the other two?"
Right now, there were three people present: Jung Cheol-min, Son Jin-yuk, and Yeon-woo.
Since they were planning to film a sports drama, they were aware that they were short on people.
That's why Yeon-woo had already secured more cast members.
"We've arranged one person through a favor exchange. Since I've been a soccer substitute before, we're going to use a basketball substitute. Dong-ha from the idol group AXIS has agreed to join."
At Yeon-woo's words, Director Kim Han-soo clapped his hands in recognition.
"Ah, you mean the one who played the prince role in 'White Blood'?"
"Director, have you only been watching Korean movies and dramas overseas?"
"Hahaha. Well, it's quite famous. The bartender at my regular place even asked me first if I was from Korea and if I knew 'White Blood'."
Then Director Kim Han-soo asked again with a curious expression.
"So what about the last person? Will we cast someone?"
"No. There's another actor who will be joining our agency soon. Jin Yu-han."
At Yeon-woo's words, Director Kim Han-soo's eyes widened.
"Jin Yu-han? You mean the Jin Yu-han I know?"
"Yes, Director."
Director Kim Han-soo crossed his arms and fell into thought, looking intrigued.
After a long silence, Director Kim Han-soo finally spoke.
"If we write the scenario with all five cast members in mind, we can create roles that perfectly fit each actor."
Ryu Yeon-woo, Jin Yu-han, Son Jin-yuk, Jung Cheol-min, Dong-ha.
The image of the five-member amateur basketball team vividly formed in Director Kim Han-soo's mind.