Chapter 1035: I knew it (4)

A light swing-jazz tune began to play as the studio logo appeared on screen.

The logo looked different from usual.

It was as though the worn lighting of a classic jazz club was shining directly onto the film studio's emblem.

As the production company and CG studio logos rolled by to the accompaniment of jazz music—

[Silver Screen Pictures Presents]

A distributor credit appeared, and the camera slowly swept upward from a man's feet.

An empty concert hall.

There, seated alone at a piano, was a genius pianist wearing glasses.

As the camera gradually approached the man, who was completely absorbed in playing jazz by himself—

[Welcome. You've finally arrived.]

Sun Myungju greeted the camera in English.

The scene was framed as if he were breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the audience beyond the screen.

[Some of you probably know me very well. Most of you, however, probably don't. So for their sake, let's take a moment to look back on everything that has happened so far.]

While improvising a jazz melody with his left hand, Sun Myungju raised his other hand in introduction.

[Allow me to introduce today's leading cast. First, my lovely wife, Lee Myeongeun!]

The sound of applause and cheers rang out.

A spotlight descended beside the piano, revealing a smiling woman playing the cello.

Each time another person was introduced, another light brightened.

And the music gradually became more vibrant.

As the lively jazz performance gained momentum, Sun Myungju smiled toward the camera and asked:

[Let me play something for you.]

The dialogue transitioned naturally into music.

Within the improvisational performance, the pianist swayed his shoulders and laughed with delight.

The cello joined in.

A trumpet lifted its bell and burst into a spirited, marching-band-style performance.

And the opening number began.

"Hmm..."

The industry personnel watching the film in Lemon Entertainment's screening room exchanged subtle looks.

'The opening feels a little weak.'

The opening was the heart of a musical film.

How would it capture the audience?

Could it make viewers fall in love with the music within the first five minutes?

That was the real challenge.

And from that perspective, the opening felt slightly lacking in impact.

'It's not that the music is bad.'

The music wasn't bad at all.

There was just something slightly off about it.

As the staff involved in production and marketing watched with growing unease—

[Now then, everyone we need is here. Shall we travel back in time?]

The pianist's fingers gradually slowed.

[You're wondering how we'll do that? Well, I think life has a lot in common with jazz. And because of that, traveling through time isn't all that difficult. Not if you know a few tricks.]

His fingers, which had been moving from left to right, suddenly began moving in the opposite direction.

[Slowly. Backward.]

At the same time, Sun Myungju began playing the improvised melody in reverse.

"...?"

"??"

His fingers moved faster and faster.

And one by one, the jazz musicians who had been playing alongside him also began performing in reverse.

The melody, which had sounded somewhat ordinary moments before, transformed into a breathtaking harmony.

Gasps erupted throughout the audience.

As Sun Myungju played the introduction, he looked directly into the camera.

[Ah, before we begin properly, one more thing.]

His eyes sparkled.

[Do you know what jazz and life have in common?]

The audience stared at him intently.

With a wink, he answered his own question.

[No one knows what's going to happen next.]

And then the melody of the first number, Time Travel, began.

♪ If we could travel back through time— ♬

The dazzling jazz composition drew the audience deeper and deeper into the film's charm.

And before long, sounds of admiration began to spread.

【Audio Commentary from the Director and Cast】

The first scene opened with Sun Myungju's monologue.

[Lee Gyeonwoo]: This reminds me of the atmosphere at the first internal screening. The director was incredibly nervous back then.

[Deborah Kim]: That's right. I was so nervous my palms were sweating. I was trembling the entire time...

[Lee Gyeonwoo]: Everyone's initial reaction was kind of... "Huh?" Because they thought the song was weaker than expected.

Then the music reversed itself.

And the first melody began.

[Deborah Kim]: This was the exact moment the mood completely flipped.

[Yeo Eunseon]: That's right. From that point on, everyone had that "Wow..." expression while listening to the music.

[Deborah Kim]: Watching the audience's reaction, I knew.

On-screen, Sun Myungju was smiling brightly.

[Deborah Kim]: Unless something extraordinary happened, this movie was going to succeed.

From beside me, I kept hearing sounds of amazement.

"Wooooow..."

It sounded like Jiho was staring at the screen with a hand over his mouth.

Biju, Junghyun, and Ri Hyuk seemed equally impressed.

The reason I kept saying "seemed" was because I couldn't take my eyes off the screen either.

♪ If we could travel back through time— ♬

The song was familiar.

After all, I'd rearranged Dad's Time Travel into a musical number.

But I never imagined it would be used like this.

Time Travel.

The very first song Dad ever composed.

It carried symbolic meaning because of that, and it fit perfectly with the film's opening flashback sequence.

Dad had once said in an interview:

"The first song I ever wrote contained a wish I always carried in my heart. If only I could travel back through time. If only I could have saved my parents."

At first, the adult Sun Myungju sang in English.

Gradually, the lyrics shifted into Korean.

His voice grew younger.

And before long, the scene transitioned to the child version of Sun Myungju.

Sitting on a swing behind an orphanage, gazing up at the moon, he sang sorrowfully.

♪ If we could travel back through time— ♬

Then he lowered his head.

A child whose parents had died.

A child abandoned at an orphanage after every relative refused to take him in.

From there, the story unfolded at a brisk pace.

A boy who drifted through life without purpose slowly experienced event after event, growing and changing.

♪ Now I want to write a brand-new story— ♪

The child who had always wished to go back in time met precious people.

And gradually changed.

He no longer wanted to return to the past.

Now he wanted to write a new page.

Singing those words with conviction, the story of Sound of Sun truly began.

"Wow..."

Our youngest, who always got teary-eyed whenever he watched a good movie, stared at the screen with moist eyes and an unending smile.

The others looked much the same.

Ri Hyuk, who couldn't help smiling whenever he heard a good song, was nodding along happily.

And Biju and Junghyun, who were always straightforward—liking things when they were fun and showing it when they weren't—were sitting there munching popcorn and murmuring, "Wow..."

It wasn't just us.

Everyone else seemed similarly captivated.

"Wow..."

"Ooooooh..."

"Waaah..."

Soft exclamations drifted throughout the room.

Beside me, Director Kim Bora looked around at the audience and repeatedly let out relieved smiles.

The actors kept alternating between watching the movie and watching the audience's reactions.

It made sense.

"Wow, this movie..."

At Jiho's muttered comment, I found myself agreeing.

Everything was perfect.

Well.

Almost everything.

[Smack.]

As a romantic melody played, a scene appeared of Dad kissing Mom on the cheek.

Without realizing it, I grimaced and squirmed in my seat.

"Come on..."

My face crumpled like a crushed soda can.

And everyone around me burst out laughing.

"Ugh..."

I didn't know why, but my face was burning.

It was just embarrassing.

But that was only the beginning.

Covering my eyes with both hands, I groaned.

"Why are they kissing every chance they get..."

Seriously, didn't Dad have any work to do?

I suffered through scene after scene of the couple showering each other with affection whenever they had the slightest opportunity.

And only then did I remember the forgotten subplot of Sound of Sun.

—The epic love story of Sun Myungju and Lee Myeongeun!

Everyone around me was squealing, "Oh my goodness!" like panelists on a romance variety show.

Meanwhile, I was dying inside.

'Stop. Please stop kissing!'

Eventually I pulled my T-shirt over my face and hid inside it.

"Wooju. Wooju."

Someone tapped my shoulder from the row behind me.

"...?"

When I turned around, Yeo Eunseon, who played Lee Myeongeun, and Lee Gyeonwoo were grinning at me.

Mischievous smiles.

The two actors clasped their hands together, mimicking a scene from the movie.

"...!"

It felt like I'd witnessed something I was never supposed to see.

I immediately whipped my head back around.

Behind me came the triumphant laughter of the actors.

"Revenge for the recording accomplished!"

"Good job, Oppa."

As I listened to them laughing, I could only rub my temples.

Then, after letting out a long sigh, I looked back at the screen.

A beautiful man and woman were leaning in.

Their lips met.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

Why are they kissing again?!

While everyone laughed at someone writhing in agony every time his parents showed affection on-screen—

【Sound of Sun】

The film logo appeared at the end.

And everyone was stunned.

'It's already over?'

The runtime wasn't even short.

It was nearly one hour and fifty minutes.

Yet it felt as though the time had simply vanished.

"WAAAAAAAH!"

"WAAAAAAH!"

Starting with NewBlack, everyone in attendance burst into applause.

Park Gyuho removed his glasses and wiped away tears.

"My investment was the right choice..."

His shoulders shook with emotion.

The staff from Studio Lemon and everyone else present looked delighted.

'The movie turned out incredible!'

Especially as a musical film.

The passionate reaction from the internal screening audience prompted Director Kim Bora to rise gracefully and bow.

Then she adjusted the practice room lights down to their night-light setting.

A soft ambient glow.

The actors visiting Lemon Entertainment for the first time began whispering among themselves.

"What is this? Why does a practice room have night lights?"

"Isn't this NewBlack's practice room...?"

As everyone wondered why a practice room needed mood lighting, Director Kim Bora smiled.

"We'll be moving into a Q&A and feedback session, but everyone still seems immersed in the afterglow of the movie. So we'll keep the lighting soft for now."

Everyone laughed in agreement.

After all, even at home, turning on the lights immediately after a movie always felt like being yanked back into reality.

"Did everyone enjoy the film?"

"Yes!"

"What did you like about it?"

Jiho shot his hand into the air.

"I loved how naturally the dialogue flowed into the music. The entire movie felt like one continuous piece of music!"

"Oh my, thank you, Jiho."

"Please cast me in your next movie!"

"It would be an honor~"

The room laughed as the two joked around.

At the same time, everyone nodded.

'The transitions really were seamless.'

The greatest challenge of a musical film was making the transition between dialogue and music feel natural.

Characters should be able to move from speaking into singing effortlessly.

Poorly made musicals often ruined immersion by effectively shouting:

"Attention! We're about to sing now! Get ready for a song!"

"The direction in the romance scenes..."

"I think the ending sequence left the strongest impression on me. That part where Sun Myungju..."

"The actors' performances were incredible..."

Praise flowed for the directing and the acting alike.

Everything seemed to work together perfectly.

'This is guaranteed to be at least a solid hit.'

Perhaps because everyone felt the same way, the expressions of those attending the screening were exceptionally bright.

Silver Screen Pictures, one of America's major distributors, had contributed forty-eight million dollars in production funding alone.

Nearly fifty billion won.

In Hollywood, films under one hundred million dollars were often considered low-budget.

But in Korea, it ranked among the largest film investments ever made.

As a result, the Korean staff had been losing sleep for months.

Now, at last—

'I can finally breathe.'

The CG work and post-production weren't completely finished yet, making some parts look a little rough.

But the film itself was phenomenal.

It was so good that part of me wondered whether they should just release it immediately.

In fact, it was so good that I worried additional revisions might somehow make it worse.

And then—

"The music was amazing, wasn't it?"

At Director Kim Bora's question, everyone nodded.

The director then pulled Sun Wooju—the person responsible for arranging and composing most of the film's music—to his feet.

"Please give Wooju a round of applause!"

"WAAAAAAAH!"

The highest authority within Lemon Entertainment smiled shyly as thunderous applause filled the room.

The praise was completely sincere.

'The music carried everything.'

No matter what anyone said, music was the most important element of a musical film.

Its beginning.

And its end.

Even if every other aspect of a musical film was mediocre, great songs could still make it a hit.

There was a reason major studios loved adapting already successful stage musicals.

And in that regard, the music of Sound of Sun was—

'A masterpiece.'

Jazz, which might have sounded subdued to ordinary listeners, had been transformed into dazzling musical numbers.

Combined with the film's direction, every song carried a story.

Even audience members who had known nothing about Sun Myungju's music before today could now hear a song and immediately say, "Oh, that's the one with that story behind it."

And among all the songs, the standout was Wooju's original work.

"Both songs were incredible. Here I Am completely carried the middle portion, and Like The Sun absolutely dominated the finale."

"Seriously... it was so good."

"When are the soundtrack releases coming out?"

Praise also poured in for the themes Wooju had composed for his parents.

In particular, people couldn't stop talking about Like The Sun, which perfectly captured who Sun Myungju was as a person.

Wooju smiled awkwardly.

Meanwhile, his underlings clung to his arms and giggled.

"It's our Hyung! Hehe!"

As they proudly showed him off, Director Kim Bora smiled.

"I think we've heard enough compliments for now. Does anyone have any other feedback? Anything you felt could have been better?"

"Hmm..."

"Even small concerns are worth mentioning. Better to bring them up now than run into problems later."

But nobody could think of much.

With a bad movie, you could list hundreds of flaws.

With a good movie, finding faults was much harder.

If I really had to pick something...

'Maybe the buildup was a little weak.'

The pacing moved so quickly that some elements couldn't be explored in greater depth.

But that couldn't really be helped.

The movie's runtime was only 110 minutes.

And nearly thirty of those minutes consisted of music.

That was simply a structural limitation of the format.

Aside from that—

"There were some scenes involving racial discrimination. Do you think that might be an issue? Some Western audiences could find it uncomfortable."

"We'll discuss it further with the distributor, but I think it'll be fine. We only portrayed about five percent of what actually happened."

"Five percent...?"

Throughout the film there had been moments when I clenched my fists and wanted to punch the villains myself.

To think those scenes represented only five percent of reality.

Everyone clicked their tongues at how heavily it had been softened.

After various suggestions and discussions, the Q&A session eventually came to an end.

"We should wrap things up soon. Does anyone have anything else they'd like to say?"

"I do."

Wooju raised his hand.

The room immediately fell silent.

The key figure behind the entire production wanted to speak.

Director Kim Bora's eyes widened.

People swallowed nervously.

'W-What is it?'

Everyone waited for some profound observation.

Then Wooju spoke with complete seriousness.

"Regarding the amount of screen time devoted to the kissing scenes..."

"That concludes today's Q&A session. Thank you, everyone!"

"Eeeeh..."

The room exploded with laughter.

After the first internal screening of Sound of Sun ended—

The company was filled with cheerful laughter.

"Hahahahaha!"

"Ha ha! I can't stop smiling!"

The reason was simple.

The movie had turned out exceptionally well.

Employees grinned as if a toothache that had lasted a hundred years had finally disappeared.

—Now we just need the marketing to go well!

The film itself was no longer a concern.

Only promotion remained.

Director Kim Bora had apparently sent a more polished version to Silver Screen Pictures, both our investor and one of America's largest distributors.

The response came immediately.

"The distributor wants a meeting. They said they have something to discuss."

"We should meet with them."

I thought everything would finally proceed smoothly from here.

Then Seokhwan Hyung continued.

"But they're coming to Korea."

"To Korea...?"

Seokhwan looked uneasy.

And I found myself swallowing hard.

Junghyun asked:

"Why? Maybe they loved the movie so much they want to meet in person."

"Junghyun Hyung."

The maknae answered on my behalf.

"That studio spent fifty billion won on this movie. They're the ones holding all the cards."

"True."

"They're basically saying, 'We invested fifty billion won in you, and we have something to discuss.' But instead of summoning you to their office and making you come to them, they're coming all the way to your house. What would you think?"

"Uh... that maybe I'd done something wrong?"

"Exactly."

"..."

While the others stared blankly in confusion, I scratched my head.

Inside the email Seokhwan had shown me was a familiar shining film logo.

【Silver Screen Pictures】

For some reason, I suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.