Chapter 12: Job Experience

“A microphone? Why are you asking about something like that? Just use it freely.”

Mister reacted exactly as I expected.

He held out a professional broadcast microphone, but I refused.

It’s just a microphone for making calls, it’s a waste to use something that costs hundreds.

Besides, that kind of equipment is complicated to install.

“…Just assign me anything and buy me a cheap microphone.”

“Anything? Hmm….”

He practically provides food, clothing, and shelter, and it didn’t feel right to just accept this too.

I was brought here as a production assistant, but I haven’t done anything yet.

After thinking for a moment, Mister clapped his hands as if he had an idea.

“Ah, then let’s go to the broadcasting station together.”

“The broadcasting station? tvM?”

“Yeah.”

“What for?”

“There’s a program my junior colleague is filming in the studio this time, and I promised to help him a little. Since I brought you here as a production assistant, you should know how the cameras work, right?”

A PD is a so-called director.

And directing is not just about editing, but also about adjusting everything on set to create the best video.

So, it was natural to go to the filming set to learn about being a production assistant.

I nodded at Mister’s words.

The first impression I had when I entered the tvM building was that it was refreshing.

As a company that was not established long ago, I could feel a new and refined atmosphere somewhere.

Of course, I haven’t been to other broadcasting stations, so I can’t make a comparison.

“Ah, PD, hello. What brings you here?”

An employee greeted us at the information desk in the lobby.

“Can you make a temporary access pass for this kid? Just for a day will do for now.’

“Oh my, what’s this? Is she your niece? You should have brought such a pretty niece sooner. Did she come to experience the job by following her uncle?”

“Job experience…. Well, something like that. Anyway, just make the pass quickly.”

“Geez, okay. Please wait a moment.”

Even though he’s casual, Mister uses formal speech to people he’s not close with.

It looks a bit awkward, though.

“Here you go. What’s your name, niece?”

“…Seo Sua.”

“Sua~ How could such a cute child come from this PD’s genes. Huh? Your last names are different?”

The employee questioned as she personally put the access pass necklace around my neck.

It was too long and, more importantly, too bothersome to explain in detail, so I hid behind Mister’s leg.

Mister was also bothered and made something up.

“…These days, some follow the mother’s last name. It’s like that. Well then, we’ll go in. Thank you for your work.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and left.

I followed him quickly.

Hearing the employee’s disappointed voice from behind, we headed to the entrance gate.

Mister tagged his employee ID on the entrance gate recognition area, and the door opened.

I also followed and stood in front of the gate……

‘…I can’t see it.’

The gate was high, so I couldn’t see where to tag the card.

Even when I stood on my tiptoes, my legs just trembled and I couldn’t see it at all.

I had no choice but to hold the access pass in my hand and tap-tap- I brought it to where the recognition sensor might be, but the door wouldn’t open no matter what.

‘Ugh!’

I get annoyed at the continued failures.

Jump!

I could see the recognition part for a moment.

Jump again!

At that moment, I tag the access pass key on the recognition sensor.

Beep

Then, the gate that finally recognized it allowed me entry.

I felt a bit dejected that I had to go this far, but I also felt a sense of accomplishment at overcoming a world that was unkind to children.

That was until I saw Mister filming me with his phone camera.

Ding-

“It came out cute.”

The information desk employee, who seemed to have come to help me, approached and said.

“Please send me that video too, please! Kyaa! It’s so cute!”

I was heated.

My face is burning.

“Delete it right now!”

This time, unlike before, I felt like I wanted to crawl into a mouse hole.

Even if it’s called a studio, not every place is a wide and expansive set.

Just any place and a camera can be a studio.

In that sense, this place, which was slightly remodeled from a warehouse for an interview, could also be called a studio.

Since it was a small room, there weren’t many staff members.

The PD in charge, who was a junior colleague of Lee Seongbeom, a writer, a camera director, and a lighting director.

Only these four people were in the room, and among them, the PD in charge, who was sitting on the floor in the center drinking coffee, noticed us entering the room and greeted us.

“Sunbae, you’re here early?”

“I finished what I was working on. I was bored, so I came a little early.”

“Who is that child…. Don’t tell me, sunbae, are you doing a new program? No, this can’t be. Our concepts overlap.”

“I have a rough idea of what you’re thinking, but no. She’s not a cast member. Just think of her as a kid who came for job experience.”

“Ah, then that’s fine.”

“……This guy is getting more and more cocky as he becomes the main PD.”

“Who did I learn it all from.”

“Damn, kid, let’s go back.”

“Ah, sunbae!”

He urgently grabs Mister, who turns around and tries to leave.

And he bowed his head, attaching all the honorifics that could be used to praise Mister as much as possible.

To an outsider, it’s a tremendous display of flattery.

With an absurd expression at his desperate junior’s appearance, Mister stopped him.

“What are you doing when there’s a child here…… Okay. So what do you need help with?”

“Ah, that’s….”

The junior PD’s eyes glanced at me.

“Ah, she’s okay.”

“But still….”

“No, it’s okay.”

“Is there a place to sit nearby? I’ll wait there.”

“The room right to the right is the waiting room, so you can go there!”

I interrupted Mister and did as the junior PD wanted.

If Mister pushed, the junior PD probably wouldn’t be able to say anything, but there’s no reason to leave a bad impression on a first meeting.

And there’s nothing more nerve-wracking than having a child on a set.

They might have an accident, or they might make noise during filming.

Rather than causing such worries, it would leave a better impression to leave.

‘I came along to study production assistance, but I can learn that from Mister’s program too.’

Seeing me smiling, Mister sighed and gestured.

“Then, I’ll come find you later. You can wander around, but don’t get lost.”

“Am I a child?”

“Then what are you?”

“That’s true.”

Hearing that, it was true, so I affirmed it and went outside.

The room right to the right is the waiting room, right?

If it’s a waiting room, there must be snacks.

I was in the mood for something sweet, so I opened the door of the room marked waiting room with a joyful heart.

‘Come to think of it, the junior PD earlier mistook me for a cast member and said that the concept of the program overlapped?’

What kind of program are they doing to make that mistake.

That curiosity didn’t last long.

As I entered the waiting room, I saw a girl.

A child who seemed to be between cuteness and maturity.

A quite pretty child.

Ah, is she perhaps an actor in this broadcast?

I was a little flustered because I thought no one would be there, and as I stood still, the girl put down the water cup she was holding and said.

“What are you doing? You should greet your senior first when you see them. Ha, this is why I didn’t want to do cable. Having to film with such a rude kid…. You, are you still not going to bow?”

Aha, I think I know what kind of broadcast this is.

It’s Dr. Oh Eunyoung’s show.

It’s my first time seeing a ‘golden child’!

“I’ve done terrestrial dramas, so I know well, and it’s on a different level from cable, you know? How many people are attached to one program. And look at these snacks.

What are these, just grape-flavored candy and ABC chocolate? Low-budget projects always show their colors in places like this.”

“hmm….”

“And this is my first variety show…… I agreed because it was a tvM production by this PD, and I thought it was PD Lee Seongbeom, but it’s a program by a PD I’ve never heard of…. Ah, my fate is like this?”

“I see….”

So the junior PD was also a Lee.

I didn’t know.

“<There is No Country for Geniuses>, I was completely fooled because I thought it was PD Lee Seongbeom’s work from the title. Still, the PD who cast me has a good eye, I must say.

You’re pretty too, what were you cast for? I’m doing the acting part, so. Idol? Child model? I don’t remember seeing you on TV, are you a trainee?”

“No, I’m just….

The name of the program.

It wasn’t <My Golden Kids>.

I wanted to see Dr. Oh Eunyoung, too bad.

More than that.

‘She talks too much….’

Whenever I tried to say something, she would bring up a new topic and talk only about herself.

From the middle, I just gave up and listened to the child’s story.

I was getting tired of explaining.

Still, it was too tiring to keep listening, so I tried to communicate.

“By the way, sunbae… do you watch broadcasts? I mean, internet broadcasts.”

“Internet broadcasts? Isn’t that where people take off their clothes and dance on the internet or pour soy sauce on kids to beg for star balloons? Do you watch that?”

“Uh, um……. It’s nothing.”

Let’s give up.

I am a person who has the courage to give up quickly.

After that, she preached to me dozens of times about how internet broadcasts are low-class, and what’s the difference between them and strippers,

which would make internet broadcasters furious if they heard it, and she didn’t miss bragging about the drama she appeared in.

Just as my soul was about to be completely drained and wander in the afterlife.

Knock knock-

“Actor Choi Bom, we’re about to start filming~”

A voice of salvation was heard.

“Then I’ll go film first. You’ll probably be next, so don’t be too nervous.”

“……..Yes, sunbae.”

She seemed to think that we had become close somehow, and her tone was softer than when we first met.

Was she that happy to be called sunbae?

She left the waiting room, and I leaned back on the sofa and sighed.

And after a while, Mister came into the waiting room.

“…Why are you so exhausted?”

“…I missed you, Mister.”

Really.

Okay.

“Please take care of me, PD!”

A child with long, smooth hair.

Choi Bom had been in the entertainment industry as a child actor since she was very young.

Therefore, she learned about the workings of society early on, and even if there was something she didn’t like, she was already a pro at hiding it on set.

Although there were only four staff members, including the PD, which was a small scale, she greeted them brightly without showing any disappointment, unlike what she had shown to the child she had seen in the waiting room, and sat in the chair in front of the camera.

“Ah, Bom. Before we start, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Are there any precautions?”

“No, not precautions. While filming, someone might come to observe, so don’t mind them.”

“Alright.”

It’s common for someone to come into the set.

Even in dramas, the director or writer sometimes barged in during an emotional scene.

If you get surprised and lose your emotional line every time, you should quit being an actor.

After finishing the preparations, the filming begins on the PD’s signal.

This time, it was a simple interview shoot, so it wasn’t a difficult task.

When did you start acting?

Who is your respected actor?

And so on.

She was answering skillfully to the questions that seemed to be picked from a list of questions to ask child actors.

The door opened quietly, and someone came in.

‘Huh, that child from earlier? And… Lee, Lee, Lee Seongbeom ?!’

Choi Bom was very surprised inside when she saw the person who came into the room, but she didn’t show it on the outside.

She continues the interview as if nothing had happened.

She was already a pro at not being swayed by such things.

She was very curious why the two were together, but that was something she could ask after the filming was over.

The remarks she made in the waiting room earlier were bothering her, but she could call her aside later and make her keep it a secret.

Choi Bom smiled brightly, not losing sight of the running camera and the PD.

The PD throwing interview questions at her.

At the same time, the girl whispered something to Lee Seongbeom PD.

It was a very small voice, but it was clearly heard in her ears, which were focused on that side.

“…cle Sam….”

Uh.

Uncle?

Lee Seongbeom PD is that child’s uncle?

Really?

Suddenly her mind goes blank.

What did I say to that child earlier?

Uh, uhhhhhhhhhh?

‘Uwaaaaaak!’

This is bad!!!

Smile.

Nevertheless, her expression did not lose its smile.

Choi Bom was a proper professional.