Chapter 1177: Movie Star (5)

Academy Awards Performance

“!”

“!!”

The underlings stared at me with wide eyes.

“What? Then does that basically mean you’re guaranteed to win the award?”

“You’ve already won!”

At first, I thought the same thing.

If they were inviting me to perform at the ceremony, didn’t that mean they were going to give me the award?

Jiho spoke up.

“That’s not how it works.”

“It’s not?!”

At the others’ questions, the youngest shook his head.

“Usually, at the Academy Awards, all the nominees for Best Original Song perform once.”

“Ah……”

Junghyun hummed.

“Have we gotten too used to Korean award shows?”

“I thought the same thing, hyung. I was thinking exactly that.”

Seokhwan hyung, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, spoke.

“Jiho’s right. The Oscars usually have three to five performances every year. Most of the time, the nominees for Best Original Song perform. This year, you were the one they contacted.”

“Ah……”

While we nodded in understanding, the TF team leader reminded us of something surprising.

“But I don’t think you guys have considered one thing.”

“?”

“The Academy Award nominees haven’t even been announced yet.”

“!!”

We realized the fact we had overlooked because we were so captivated by the invitation to perform at the Academy Awards.

If singers whose songs were nominated for Best Original Song performed on stage, then the fact that I had received a request to perform meant—

“Hyung!”

“Congratulations, hyung!”

They had contacted me first because of scheduling issues, but it meant that had been nominated for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards.

The younger members rushed toward me, and we hugged each other, jumping around in excitement.

Biju asked with a flushed expression.

“Team leader, then does performing increase the chances of winning?”

“I don’t know about that. But…”

Seokhwan hyung smiled.

“According to the agency, most of the movies that have won Best Original Song in the past performed their songs at the ceremony.”

“……!”

“I can’t guarantee anything… but considering how also won at the Golden Globes, which is often called a predictor of the Oscars, I think the chances are very high.”

The members cheered at his words.

“Our hyung is going to the Academy!”

“The Academy!”

“We’re going to the Academyyyyy!”

While Seokhwan hyung tried to stop them from making enough noise to shake the hotel suite apart, I stared blankly into the air.

My god. The Academy.

My head was spinning so much that I dropped heavily onto the sofa.

That was when I saw Junghyun staring out the window with a deeply moved expression.

“Souffle, can you see this?”

“Junghyun~ Why are you embarrassing hyung like this?”

“Can you see this, Souffle? Our Wooju hyung may not have been able to go to university, but he’s going to the Academy this time~”

“……”

Everyone burst out laughing at the joke that I couldn’t go to University but was going to the Academy, and I smiled.

“Come here.”

“No way.”

“Hey, you’re not getting away!”

Junghyun immediately started running.

That day, I realized the hotel suite was much bigger than I had thought.

Early morning in Korea.

Unlike usual, most Koreans started their morning in almost the exact same way.

By repeatedly refreshing the internet.

They said it would be announced soon.

Everyone was looking at a different screen.

Some were repeatedly refreshing the best posts on online communities. Others refreshed portal news pages or opened entertainment news articles only to go back and refresh again.

Yet the final destination for everyone repeatedly refreshing their screens was mostly the same.

An article uploaded during the early morning.

—The 76th Golden Globe Awards: What Will Be the Results for Sound of the Sun?

The article reported that the film had been nominated for Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Original Song, Best Picture, and other categories, expressing anticipation over how many awards it would win.

Ah, when are they going to post it?

Koreans felt restless.

It felt like cheering for the national team at the Olympics.

Everyone knew that no matter how glorious this was, the honor belonged to the people directly involved and would not actually affect their own daily lives.

And yet, they were still excited.

The reason Koreans were especially interested was because nobody could predict the results.

Although Sound of the Sun had been praised for captivating both audiences and critics overseas, when it came purely to reviews, West Hollywood and Miami 13 were also formidable competitors.

However, Sound of the Sun had one advantage.

It was connected to several major social issues of the moment.

Oh. We’ve been discriminating against Asians all this time?

It was a recurring trend in Hollywood.

Oh? We’re already in the 2010s and Black people were still being discriminated against? Oh my, we had no idea~ Black filmmakers! Come receive your awards! We prepared a generous feast of trophies at this year’s Oscars~

Wait. Did we not give awards to female directors? Then we can just give them now!

Ah, so we were giving awards mostly to white people.

Every so often, a season came when Hollywood suddenly went, “Oh my, we were too harsh,” and poured awards toward minority groups.

This time, that group was Asian artists represented by Seon Myeongju.

That was why everyone was watching to see just how many awards Sound of the Sun would take home.

The Golden Globes, especially, drew attention from Korean audiences.

“This is the one, right? I heard if you win here, your chances of winning at the Academy Awards go way up.”

“Really??”

The media was also focusing heavily on that point.

Rustle, rustle.

The internet was a world without actual sound, but sometimes you could somehow feel the noise.

Like when major news broke.

People who saw the comments quickly opened portal sites.

[Breaking] Sound of the Sun Wins Best Screenplay at U.S. Golden Globe Awards

While people were leaving comments under the article that had appeared without any further details, more news began arriving one after another.

—Sound of the Sun Wins Best Director Award for Deborah Kim… First Korean American to Receive the Honor

Sound of the Sun winning Best Director.

And then—

—NewBlack’s Wooju Wins Golden Globe… “Receives Best Original Song Award” [First Report]

Along with the news that NewBlack’s leader had won Best Original Song came reports that the film had also taken Best Picture.

—Sound of the Sun Makes History… Wins Four Awards at U.S. Golden Globes

It was the second-most awarded film of the ceremony, following director Robert McGuinness’s West Hollywood, which had won five awards.

The excitement spread both online and offline.

“Line 4 won awards in America.”

“Seriously?”

“Wow, so it really was doing well in America. I thought it was just media hype.”

People who were surprised by the news of Sound of the Sun’s victories smiled happily from early in the morning.

This is great. Really.

A single ray of energy during a difficult and boring morning.

Soon, 24-hour news channels began reporting on the Golden Globe results.

[The film Sound of the Sun won four awards at the 76th Golden Globe Awards held this morning in Los Angeles.]

Footage showed Wooju and Lee Gyeonwoo attending the red carpet.

Then Deborah Kim appeared on screen, standing at the podium in her dress and giving her acceptance speech for Best Director.

And the highlight was the moment Wooju, who had won Best Original Song, quietly picked up the microphone.

[Look upon—]

As he extended the microphone toward the audience, they sang together.

[The sun that shines brilliantly upon you.]

People watching the 24-hour news stared blankly at the scene.

Wow…

Everything about it was perfect.

Wooju standing on stage as a singer among countless actors and showing his own charisma through the song.

Everyone singing along to the lyrics of .

They could feel what that moment represented.

Every person in the film industry knew about the soundtrack because Sound of the Sun had become one of the hottest films in North America.

Again. Again.

People grabbed their remotes and changed channels.

Sure enough, switching over to KTN brought up the exact same news on the Yonhap News channel.

[Look upon]

[The sun that shines brilliantly upon you—]

Apparently, Koreans were not the only ones deeply moved by the scene.

The MyTube clip already had comments written in various languages.

People around the world admired the perfect tribute to his father and mother, as well as his graceful attitude.

Heh.

Koreans closed their eyes and smiled.

This is it. This is exactly it.

They did not know why, but somehow, everyone felt happy.

They looked through translations of foreign articles praising Wooju’s acceptance speech, clips of famous overseas actors and directors mentioning Sound of the Sun in interviews, and more.

Meanwhile, broadcasters were rowing hard from every direction, as if trying to capitalize on the public excitement.

[Special Feature: Seon Myeongju]

Broadcast stations prepared documentaries as though they had been waiting for this moment.

[Special Exhibition Celebrating Sound of the Sun]

The Seon Myeongju Memorial Hall in Gunsan, where massive lines had formed every day since the film became a hit.

[Look upon— The damn masterpiece—]

Film channels added provocative captions and scheduled special episodes.

The excitement was so overwhelming that everyone was climbing aboard the Sound of the Sun ship.

The reason was simple.

Because the Academy Awards, the overseas award ceremony most familiar to Koreans, suddenly looked within reach.

Not only the Golden Globes, but various American awards were bringing news of victories, and people could sense a pattern forming.

Seriously… can it win an Oscar?

Could it actually win an Academy Award too?

People were half doubtful but full of anticipation.

And knowing that NewBlack’s leader was also nominated for the Grammy Awards only made their hearts beat faster.

As Koreans held onto their excitement—

“Wait?”

Another piece of news appeared soon after, and everyone started stirring again.

No way.

This is real???

It was the kind of news that made people doubt their own eyes.

[Breaking] Sound of the Sun Receives 8 Oscar Nominations… Most Nominated Film

Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Original Song, Best Sound Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Editing.

Eight categories in total.

“Wow……”

“Wow……”

The Academy Awards had truly given everything they had.

The people involved with Sound of the Sun, who had been excited for some time after the Golden Globe victories, and even my underlings were left speechless.

“Is… is this really happening?”

We knew it would receive nominations in multiple categories.

But we never imagined it would become the film with the most nominations.

Apparently, recent media coverage had caused the Academy to react.

But it’s not a Black film. It has an Asian lead, so the Academy probably won’t treat it well.

The media had speculated whether the Academy, which was often criticized for being centered around white members, would actually open its doors to Asian artists rather than Black artists, who already held significant representation.

Apparently, the Academy had taken offense.

Jiho said,

“This is like Ri Hyuk hyung suddenly eating snacks on the sofa just to prove he’s not a clean freak.”

We all understood.

“That’s exactly the feeling.”

“They did something they normally wouldn’t do…”

“Why are you all attacking me when I’m just sitting here?”

Regardless, it was an unbelievable piece of news.

Honestly, other American awards were impressive too, but to Koreans, the Academy Awards had a status that no other ceremony could match.

The Grammys or Billboard Awards were something where people who knew about them would go, “Wow.”

But the Academy Awards were something even ordinary people recognized.

“Wow……”

I knew I would be performing there soon.

And yet, it still felt unreal.

“Hyung, hyung.”

“Hm?”

The youngest looked at me with sparkling eyes.

“Are you taking me this time too?”

“No.”

“Then who are you taking?”

“This… this time, I have to go with Grandma.”

“Ah. Agreed.”

If I attended the Academy Awards next month, I planned to bring Kim Deoksun.

“……Getting her to agree to take a plane will be the hard part. But somehow, it’ll work out.”

“Your grandmother doesn’t fly?”

“No. She doesn’t fly for the same reason I don’t.”

In my case, I had no choice because of overseas schedules.

But Kim Deoksun had no reason to force herself.

That was why she had never traveled abroad even once.

I thought I would have to explain everything carefully once I returned to Korea.

Meanwhile—

“Then we’re going back into practice!”

After finishing the Golden Globe schedule, we were busy preparing before the release of .

Final choreography rehearsals.

A Latin version of the lyrics containing Spanish and Portuguese lines to target listeners in South America.

Interview and promotional preparations.

And in my case, there were a few more things.

“Hyung, we’re going to sleep now.”

“Yeah…”

“Hang in there. Fighting!”

While the members went to sleep, I still had several things to prepare.

One was the Grammy stage with Cold Brown.

Another was planning the Academy Awards performance.

“Hyung, people probably think we’re really jealous of you. Because you keep winning awards everywhere.”

Jiho yawned as he flipped through the script for the Chicken Shop Four Siblings.

“But seeing you up close, I don’t think I’m jealous at all. This schedule is seriously shortening your lifespan…”

“Jiho, I don’t think you’re qualified to say that while you’re sitting next to me staying up all night reading scripts.”

“I’m still going to sleep in thirty minutes. Hehe.”

I patted the youngest’s hair as he smiled with eyes that had practically turned into slits from exhaustion.

Then I started writing ideas on paper.

A rough concept for the Academy Awards performance.

Ideas worth sending to the TF team.

But perhaps because I was too exhausted, nothing suitable came to mind.

“Ah……”

Feeling like my eyes were about to fall out, I rubbed them and leaned my head back.

The lights were too bright.

My empty stomach, long after my last meal, felt like it was about to make me nauseous.

“This is what happens right after the new year?”

Usually, January was a month to relax before things slowly became busy around February.

But somehow, I had ended up with a schedule busier than the end of the year starting from January.

The Academy Awards and Grammys.

Shooting the hero movie.

And the Antarctica special coming up next month.

“Ah.”

“?”

“Antarctica too, Jiho.”

“Seriously?”

“……”

“……”

It was impossible to complain about the variety show schedule when the Antarctica trip had been arranged first.

Would Gu Jaeyoung PD have ever imagined this?

Imagine it.

“PD.”

“Yeah?”

“The February shoot might be difficult.”

“Why?”

“Because in the future, I’ll be attending the Academy Awards and Grammy Awards.”

“???”

I laughed to myself as I imagined it.

“Hahahahaha……. Hahahaha.”

Still, the good thing was that I wasn’t alone.

“Where did he go… He went to sleep.”

I clicked my tongue at the youngest, who had quickly gone to bed, and clenched my fist.

“Hang in there, Seon Wooju. Let’s just survive January and February this year.”

I felt like I had said the exact same thing back in November and December last year.

But I decided to believe that was just my imagination.

Even though it was a relentless schedule where I could fall asleep standing still, there was one good thing.

I would be able to see the results immediately.

Because I was attending these ceremonies as a nominee.

As I thought about the upcoming award shows and forced myself to keep going, the news I had been waiting for finally arrived.

[Sunny.]

My heart leapt at the phone call from director John Edwards of <Guardians 2>.

[The post-credits scene is finished. It’ll appear in the Silver Comics movie coming out next week.]

The news was that the post-credits scene I had filmed was finally going to be revealed.