lovenovelstory Chapter 64 Kim Tae-hee: Assistant, you're trying to freeload too?
Chapter 64 Kim Tae-hee: Assistant, you're trying to freeload too?
On the morning of September 10, LG Electronics officially announced the brand ambassadors for its new Chocolate phone.
Girls' Generation, along with SM Entertainment's newly launched rookie girl group f(x), will both be the GG models for this fourth-generation Black Label product.
The news quickly made the entertainment section buzz.
It's not too surprising that Girls' Generation became the spokesperson for the new Chocolate Phone.
From "Gee" at the beginning of the year to "Genie" in the summer, this nine-member girl group practically swept the first half of the year.
They are extremely popular among teenagers and young adults in their twenties, and even ordinary viewers who don't usually pay much attention to idols can often hum a few lines of their songs.
For LG Electronics, which urgently needs to regain momentum in the mobile phone market in the second half of the year, choosing Girls' Generation is a perfectly normal decision.
What truly surprised the outside world was the name of f(x).
This group only officially debuted in early September, and their activities haven't even lasted a week.
Although SM Entertainment prepared a lot of hype for them, their debut stage and the amount of buzz surrounding them were quite impressive.
No matter how you look at it, a new group that has just entered the music industry should not appear on the endorsement list of LG Electronics' new flagship mobile phone so quickly.
Moreover, prior to this, there had been rumors in the industry that the male model for the new Chocolate phone would only be Girls' Generation.
Therefore, when LG's official press release included both Girls' Generation and f(x), many media outlets were surprised.
Despite the unexpected circumstances, when it was actually written down, everyone could only attribute the cause to SM Entertainment's resource management capabilities.
After all, Girls' Generation, which is already at the top of the girl group scene, plus a newly debuted girl group with a strong style and an Asian focus, does fit the contrast that LG wanted to create this time.
One is a pure, lively, and already well-known national girl group.
One is a young, unfamiliar, yet highly impactful new duo.
If managed well, this combination of one after the other might be able to replicate the craze created by Big Bang and 2NE1 on "Lollipop" at the beginning of the year.
For f(x), this is undoubtedly an amazing debut gift.
......
Two days later, on the afternoon of September 12.
When Lee Ji-hyung arrived at the filming location of "IRIS" in Munjeong-dong, Seoul, Lee Byung-hun and Jung Joon-ho were filming a scene together.
In the morning, he had just finished reviewing the final shooting plan for the new Chocolate phone, GGMV, in the conference room of GG Company.
The spokesperson has been officially announced. The shooting schedule, storyboard order, product shots, and the visual styles of the Girls' Generation and f(x) versions all need to be confirmed before the official start of filming.
This wasn't his first time participating in LG's GG filming, but it was his first time being fully responsible for a commercial GGMV as a director.
After returning from Shanghai, he was practically used by both sides in this way.
Busy with work in the morning, filming dramas in the afternoon, and still having to be dragged to action school for extra training every night by Kim So-yeon.
In the actors' rest area, Kim Tae-hee, Kim So-yeon, and Kim Seung-woo were sitting together chatting.
As usual, Lee Ji-ha asked Kim Tae-hee's assistant for a bottle of water before walking over.
Kim Tae-hee glared at him, annoyed.
"Hey kid, can't you just hire your own assistant?"
Lee Ji-haeng chuckled, took out an autographed photo from his pocket, and handed it to Kim Tae-hee's assistant.
"Soojin noona, here's the autographed photo of Jiwon noona that I promised you, please sign it~"
The assistant's eyes lit up, and he quickly took it.
"You really got it? Thank you so much, Zhixing-xi."
"I should be thanking Nuna; I've been troubling you these past few days."
After Li Zhixing finished speaking with a smile, he greeted Kim Seung-woo and Kim So-yeon, then pulled up a chair and sat down next to them.
Kim Tae-hee watched as her assistant was flattered by his few words and beamed with joy, and she couldn't help but laugh in exasperation.
"Oh, you shameless thing."
Li Zhixing smiled without saying a word, and simply lowered his head to drink water.
Kim Seung-woo, watching from the side, found it amusing and couldn't help but ask, "Zhi-xing, your company doesn't even provide you with an assistant or a van? What kind of company is that outrageous?"
Li Zhixing explained with a smile, "I don't have a management company yet."
"Hmm? That shouldn't be the case!"
Kim Seung-woo looked at him in surprise.
Kim So-yeon was also somewhat surprised: "With your current popularity, no companies are contacting you?"
"Yes, there are."
Li Zhixing placed the water bottle at his feet and said calmly, "No rush, let's talk about it after this movie is finished filming."
Kim Seung-woo seemed to understand what he meant, and smiled as he reached out and tapped him.
"The little guy has his own ideas."
Kim Tae-hee gave a soft hum.
"You've got a lot of tricks up your sleeve, but haven't you considered what would happen if the show doesn't get a good reception after it airs?"
Li Zhixing looked at her speechlessly.
"Noona, you wouldn't curse your own drama like that, would you?"
Kim Tae-hee said matter-of-factly, "I'm just reminding you not to be too optimistic."
"But coming from the lead actor, it doesn't sound like a warning at all."
Kim So-yeon couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Kim Seung-woo smiled and nodded.
"Zhixing is right, Tae-hee. If Representative Jung heard you say that, he would probably start nagging about how difficult it was to invest 20 billion."
Kim Tae-hee pursed her lips.
"He recites it every day anyway."
Kim So-yeon's smile faded slightly: "With investments already reduced to this extent, is the premiere date really set?"
Kim Seung-woo looked at Kim Tae-hee.
"Didn't you say it would be the end of September?"
Kim Tae-hee shook her head.
"I don't know either; the information I've heard lately keeps changing."
After saying that, she sighed first.
"To be honest, I'm a little worried now about whether our show will be able to air on time."
Kim So-yeon glanced at her but didn't reply.
Kim Tae-hee frowned and continued, "Our drama has only barely progressed to episode five so far. Is it really feasible to air it by the end of September?"
"We can't broadcast it halfway through without having filmed the rest, can we?"
Kim So-yeon nodded slightly.
"It's really too slow."
She thought for a moment and said, "Usually, if a TV series starts filming a month in advance, it can barely keep up with the broadcast schedule."
"Even though 'IRIS' has a lot of action scenes and is more troublesome to film than ordinary TV dramas, and we started filming so long ahead of schedule, the current progress still makes people feel uncertain."
Kim Seung-woo held his coffee and gave a wry smile.
"There's no way around it; many of the crew members come from a film background, and they can't change their habits overnight."
From the very beginning, "IRIS" was not developed according to the standards of a typical TV series.
What Jung Tae-won wanted was a TV series with a cinematic quality.
However, the cinematic quality comes at the cost of not only more refined visuals, but also a slower shooting pace.
Kim Seung-woo shook his head and added another sentence.
"It's not uncommon for a regular TV series to film more than a dozen scenes a day, but here, just setting up the lights, blocking, and adjusting the camera can take up most of the day. Sometimes, we spend the whole day just to finish filming one scene."
Kim Tae-hee rubbed her temples.
"What's even more troublesome is that there are so many overseas scenes to come."
Kim Seung-woo nodded in agreement.
The filming schedule for "IRIS" includes not only South Korea, but also Akita, Japan; Budapest, Hungary; and Shanghai, China.
These places sound interesting enough, but when it comes to actually filming, each new location requires a completely new scheduling process.
Kim Tae-hee glanced at Lee Ji-hwan: "For those few scenes you filmed in Shanghai, was it really necessary to make a special trip?"
Li Zhixing shrugged, looking somewhat innocent.
"You should ask Representative Zheng that question. I was just someone who was assigned to film the movie."
Kim So-yeon couldn't help but laugh, but quickly brought the topic back.
"The biggest problem now is that the publicity has already made it sound so big, and the audience's expectations have been raised as well."
"If we rush to film the later episodes just to make sure it airs by the end of September, it will actually affect the quality."
"What about the ratings then...?"
At this point, the atmosphere became somewhat subdued.
After listening for a while, Li Zhixing suddenly spoke.
"There's really no need to be so pessimistic."
Kim Tae-hee looked at him.
"And what brilliant ideas do you have?"
Lee Ji-hyung said slowly, "This drama has Byung-hun, Jun-ho, Seung-woo, and So-yeon. With this cast alone, the ratings are bound to be high."
Kim Seung-woo smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
"That sounds quite agreeable."
Kim So-yeon's eyes crinkled into a smile.
Only Kim Tae-hee listened, and slowly narrowed her eyes.
She glared at Li Zhixing.
"Hey kid, did you forget someone?"
Li Zhixing seemed to think about it seriously.
"Ah, yes!"
Kim Tae-hee then let out a soft hum.
"And me too."
The rest area was quiet for a moment.
Li Zhixing added earnestly, "I'm quite popular now, so I guess that should bring some attention to 'IRIS'?"
Kim Tae-hee took a slow breath.
"Li Zhixing."
"Inside."
"Do you want to die?"
Li Zhixing immediately twisted to the side to avoid her hand.
"Noona, don't make a move yet."
Kim Tae-hee gave a cold laugh.
"What else do you want to say?"
Li Zhixing raised his head, his smile fading slightly.
"Our show won't be able to air at the end of September."
......