I Will Live As An Actor - Chapter 97:

Chapter 97

The Perfect Score.

This year’s college entrance exam, known as the Fire Exam for its unprecedented difficulty, was enough to surprise many people.

Not only did the overall level of difficulty increase significantly, but especially the high-difficulty math problems that were much harder than the September mock exam made even the top students sigh in frustration.

It was clear that the exam board had sharpened their knives to wash away the shame of last year’s Water Exam.

“Tsk, it’s going to be hard to get a perfect score this year.”

“Last year was the first time someone got a perfect score, right? That was possible because it was the Water Exam. How can anyone do that with this Fire Exam?”

There was one place that was as sensitive to the exam results as the exam board.

It was the media.

On the day of the exam score notification, they would fill their front pages with the exam results without fail.

Well, the Korean people were as interested in education as they were in politics, so there was no better gossip than this.

“By the way, I wonder if the test-takers are crying or laughing right now.”

“Of course they’re crying, aren’t they?”

“Not necessarily. If it was the Water Exam, the top students would be at a disadvantage. But this year it was the Fire Exam, so the lower-ranked students will have a fierce competition for their college applications. Anyway, editor-in-chief, please take a look at the headline for tomorrow’s article.”

“Let me hear it.”

“Fire Exam, is this really okay?”

“What’s the gist of it?”

“Compared to last year, when the first perfect score was produced, this year’s exam did not produce a single perfect score. Was it to increase the discrimination, or was it the mockery of the exam board? I’ve already prepared the full article. We’ll print it as soon as the sun rises tomorrow.”

It was a juicy topic.

The people who were as angry as the students right after the exam were the parents.

Especially the parents of the Gangnam 8 school district were furious.

They had spent a lot of money on private tutors or famous entrance exam instructors, but they did not get satisfactory results.

“Editor-in-chief, do you think there’s a chance of someone getting a perfect score without going to private tutors or entrance exam academies like before?”

“I doubt it. I’m also having a hard time sending my daughter to an academy. Back in the day, I used to go to an academy secretly when I took the school exam, but now they go openly. The entrance exam instructors take care of not only the college entrance exam, but also the school grades. Even so, the tuition fees are too expensive. At this rate, I’ll have to spend all my retirement savings.”

“Come on, editor-in-chief, if you’re complaining like that, what about me?”

“What are you worried about, you’re not even married yet. If I had known this, I would have opened an entrance exam academy instead of a media company. A tax accountant friend of mine told me that the entrance exam instructors in Gangnam are very high-income earners. Some of them even rank high in the income tax. The times are like this, it’s hard to study on your own and ace the exam like before.”

The time when a dragon could rise from a humble background was over. As the entrance exam war became more fierce, even that became difficult. It was then.

Knock knock―!

Someone banged on the door of the editor’s office.

“Min, what’s going on?”

He was so anxious that sweat ran down his forehead and his breathing was rough.

He was the younger brother of Min, the team leader of the exam board.

He was in a position where he could know the exam results before anyone else.

Min reported the news he had just heard over the phone.

“It’s out!”

What was out?

The editor narrowed his eyes, and his eyes widened at the next words.

“There’s a perfect score!”

***

[Fire Exam, the only perfect score, Jang Young-guk, a student at Sehwa High School!]

[Even the exam board was surprised, the only actor who broke through the hardest exam ever!]

[Actor Jang Young-guk, revealed to have never received any private tutoring or entrance exam education!]

There was only one perfect score in this year’s exam, which was known as the hardest in the history of the college entrance exam.

It was Jang Young-guk, a senior at Sehwa High School.

He was not a namesake of the actor Jang Young-guk, who had shown a brilliant performance with the title of the nation’s first love and the confession of the priest.

He was the actor Jang Young-guk himself!

• • ··(omitted)···Actor Jang Young-guk was known to have never received any private tutoring or entrance exam education.

***

According to his middle school teacher Kim Bong-du, actor Jang Young-guk had a hard time studying because of his poor family situation and had to borrow study guides from his teachers every time.

His hometown, Yeongdo, is in a festive mood.

A merchant at Yeongdo Namhang Market said to the reporters, “A dragon has risen from Namhang!”

Reporter Min Jin-ki.

As soon as the news of his perfect score was announced through the press briefing of the Evaluation Institute, the media poured out articles as if they had been waiting for it.

His face was everywhere, in newspapers and on TV.

He even went to interview his middle school teacher Kim Bong-du, who was his mentor, and visited his classmates who had spent their school days with him in Yeongdo, asking them about their stories with him. It was an amazing passion.

‘Teacher Kim Bong-du.’

He was my mentor who helped me a lot in middle school.

He knew when I needed school supplies or study guides and gave them to me like a ghost. I send him greetings every holiday, but I haven’t seen his face for years. By the way.

‘Today is going to be crazy.’

The agency and the school are already in chaos.

The agency said they had to unplug the phone lines all day because of the flood of calls and reporters coming to visit.

And at school, the principal tried to come to his house in person, but the homeroom teacher barely stopped him.

That’s the rumor.

‘I didn’t expect it from the beginning.’

Actually, I didn’t expect to get a perfect score.

That’s because my mock test scores were lower than usual. But what do you know, maybe it’s because I have a stage constitution.

When I entered the exam hall, I felt relaxed and was able to take the test with a comfortable mind.

‘Did I really get a perfect score?’

I couldn’t believe it and checked it three times in a row.

I was lucky, too lucky. I got all the math problems that I was confused about right.

Maybe it was because of my improved concentration, which changed my life drastically.

Maybe it was because of the knitted scarf that my mother gave me during the test.

“Young-guk, eat breakfast.”

I hurriedly put on my uniform and scarf at the sound of the housekeeper’s voice. As soon as I left the room, I smelled something delicious that made my stomach growl.

“Wow!!”

As soon as I went downstairs, my uncle (actor Ahn Jung-hyun) said.

“Brother, aliens have landed!”

***

Songwon Entertainment.

“Boss, you must be smiling ear to ear.”

As actress Park Soo-young said, Kim Sung-hwan’s mouth was not going down.

That’s because he was getting calls non-stop.

He had already written the legend of the blockbuster movie with his confession of love, and he was getting love calls from both the broadcasting and the film industry. But this time, it was different.

According to the advertising industry trends, actor Jang Young-guk was voted the hottest star regardless of being an actor, singer, or comedian.

Even the big companies that are known for being stingy were eager to find him.

“Are you smiling like that because of the advertisers’ calls?”

“Park, don’t say such a sour thing. I’m happy because Young-guk got a perfect score on the college entrance exam. He’s so good at studying even while acting. He’s amazing no matter how you look at him.”

Someone asked Kim Sung-hwan. Why didn’t he do a massive marketing campaign with Young-guk’s academic performance?

Well, if it was known that a teen star was the top student in the school, there would be no better publicity tool. But Kim Sung-hwan had a different idea.

He was worried that Young-guk might feel pressured if his grades were exposed to the media.

“But why did you call me all of a sudden, I thought Young-guk was here, but he’s not. But now that I think about it, it’s outrageous, this kid hasn’t shown his face since the Korean Theater Festival ended. I was going to buy him a meal today. If he becomes more famous than me, he might ignore me completely.”

“Young-guk is already more than Park.”

“Really, boss!”

“That’s not it, Young-guk is at school right now, so I can’t call him. His high school is in a mess right now. The reporters and the broadcasting stations came to interview him. Just in case, I sent Bong-chui and some of the roadies. And the reason I wanted to see Park today is because of Young-guk’s next work.”

Park Soo-young’s expression changed at the word ‘next work’.

“Is Young-guk already working on his next project?”

“Not yet, he’s still looking at the synopses that came from Chungmuro and the broadcasting stations. He likes the historical drama one, but you know. I’m not a manager, and I don’t know much about historical drama sets. I tried to ask other actors, but the most experienced one in our agency is Park.”

“What’s your point?”

“As you know, if he chooses a historical drama, he can’t do anything else. Especially the commercials. I wonder if he should take that risk now. You know how hard it is to work on a historical drama set. It’s the worst among all the drama sets.”

Historical dramas are known as extreme experiences even among drama sets.

There’s the long filming period, frequent location shoots, and filming in remote places where there are few people.

Not to mention the makeup.

For actresses, wearing a wig can cause neck disc and hair loss.

That’s why many actors can’t shoot commercials.

“He’ll lose a lot if you look at it. He’ll miss the opportunity to do commercials when the water is high, and it’ll be hard to look at the synopses from Chungmuro. Especially when the script is late. It’s horrible. Horrible.”

The late script of a historical drama is called a hell script.

“And what if he gets sick or injured? Don’t you remember? Kim Jin-seok, the famous actor from the broadcasting station seven years ago. He’s still suffering from a herniated disc because of a horse-riding accident. That’s why the top stars are scared of historical dramas.”

That’s a natural reaction.

It’s fair to say that top stars rarely do historical dramas.

Young-guk is also a top star now, if you only look at his fame.

He’s getting a lot of attention from the public.

Who else can win the actor award at the Korean Theater Festival and break the box office record in Chungmuro at a minor age?

“But Young-guk might be different, you know. I feel like he can pull off anything. But he should get paid well for what he loses. I think it’ll be fine if we agree on the fee, but what do they say?”

“They keep calling me. The MBS production director is trying to slash the fee. He’s threatening me that he’ll keep casting him, and he’s offering me ridiculous conditions to put our actors in. I wanted to swear at him, you know. Did you see the article this morning? He keeps calling me.”

“So what did you do?”

“I said one thing and hung up.”

“Really?”

Kim Sung-hwan, the CEO, smiles meaningfully.

Damn, how can I cut my son’s pride as a father?

“I said I won’t take less than what SBC offered.”

***

MBS Broadcasting Station.

“Hey, you bastard!”

A loud scream erupts from the vice president’s office at the MBS Broadcasting Station.

The vice president’s face is red and blue. His sharp eyes are directed at the production director Yang Jeong-do, who is groaning with his head down.

“I let you play your faction game to control the drama department, but now you’re messing with the agency. Do you think this is the 80s? Who are you to decide that Young-guk is banned from appearing? And do you think other places will follow us if we ban him? There are hyenas drooling over Young-guk right now.”

“Vice president, that’s not what I meant…”

“That’s not what you meant? Don’t you know that everything Young-guk touches becomes a hit? We should have grabbed him as soon as we heard he was doing our next project. We’re lucky to have him, but you’re sprinkling salt on him? You bastard.”

The vice president grabs his nameplate and throws it at him.

Yang Jeong-do flinches and backs away.

The vice president sighs deeply and waves his hand.

“Get out, and tell the drama director to come in.”

“Vice president, can I say one more thing?”

“Hurry up!”

The vice president’s scolding makes Yang Jeong-do retreat.

Soon, a knock sounds as the vice president’s breathing calms down.

It’s Kim Won-seok, the drama director.

The vice president’s expression changes dramatically from when he faced Yang Jeong-do.

“Kim director, I’m sorry. Yang director thought he was doing well, but the result was weird. By the way, how’s Young-guk’s reaction?”

“He says he won’t appear unless the pay is higher than what SBC offered.”

“Hmm. What do you think, Director Kim? I heard he went straight to the president. That’s why the head of the department was so furious. Director Kim, or rather, Wonseok, let’s talk honestly. You must have some confidence, otherwise you wouldn’t have pushed for him, right?”

Drama director Kim Wonseok and the vice president were colleagues who joined the broadcasting station at the same time.

Of course, one started as an average PD and the other as a star announcer.

“How long are we going to keep cutting the fees while preaching about saving money? The drama department knows the situation better than anyone else. The actors are more sensitive about their fees than you think. It’s not like someone will feed them just because they act. Frankly, wouldn’t we complain if we had to take a pay cut for no reason?”

“Hmm.”

“It’s a profitable deal. Let’s cast Jang Young-guk. SBC failed to get him even with a huge fee. He’s practically an actor who can’t be bought with money. If the head of the department hadn’t been so hardline from the start, the agency wouldn’t have been so stubborn either. You know, Jang Young-guk has plenty of options even if we don’t look for him. I heard that Chungmuro is eyeing him for a blockbuster-level project. Who’s the most famous actor in Korea right now? And he even aced the college entrance exam. The more we hesitate, the higher his price will go.”

The drama director urged the vice president, who was hesitating.

“At this rate, we’ll lose Jang Young-guk to someone else, and we’ll be left sucking our thumbs.”