Become A Star

Chapter 35

One of the main topics that was discussed among the media and the audience at every stage greeting was how the cameras did not show the appealing side of Chae Woo-Jin on screen. Park Min was no longer deemed as Korea’s most handsome man. Surprisingly, that title was not bestowed upon Woo-Jin either. Instead, he was given a corny nickname – Beauty Slayer.

Additionally, it was evident that the public’s expectations had been raised. People who had not seen Chae Woo-Jin in person were extremely curious about what he looked like, and their expectations snowballed. It was Hwang Yi-Young’s job to make Woo-Jin look good. They could not afford to be lax and think that it would be okay to leave his hair and makeup undone just because he would be getting them done at the studio later. From the moment they left the company till the time Woo-Jin arrived to meet with the photographer and staff members at the studio, Woo-Jin was still considered to be working. Being properly groomed reflected Woo-Jin's positive attitude towards his work.

When Kim Jun-Yeol saw Chae Woo-Jin in the flesh, he was caught off guard as he was expecting to see loan shark A from the movie. This made him realize his previous mistake of turning down a hidden gem such as Woo-Jin. The revenge came as an added bonus. They wanted to tell Kim Jun-Yeo that playing it safe might potentially lead to losses of greater rewards. In any case, the photos for Chae Woo-Jin’s profile were beautifully taken and they would not be replaced anytime soon.

***

In line with Hwang Yi-Young’s expectations, Woo-Jin arrived at Kim Jun-Yeol’s private studio, Yeol Passion, looking absolutely gorgeous.

“He’s glowing.”

Everybody shared the same sentiment as the person who had inadvertently said those words. Even the staff who had been desensitized after working with so many models were in a daze, as they stared at Woo-Jin. They were amazed by the huge disparity between Woo-Jin’s looks and theirs. All of them had seen the movie, but loan shark A and Chae Woo-Jin looked like they were worlds apart.

In the movie, loan shark A was a bad guy who was corrupted and deadly. Characters like that had always been popular, because they were so passionate to the point that they were willing to risk their lives, causing viewers to fall in love with them. People had commented that anybody who took on the role would look cool. However, nobody could deny the fact that loan shark A was amazing because of Chae Woo-Jin’s good looks and great acting skills.

Hence, the staff at the studio were very excited because they were expecting to see loan shark A in Chae Woo-Jin. That was due to the fact that rookies usually tended to keep the image of their characters that had become a hit among the public for a period of time. However, the person who walked in through the door was not the deadly man who died a wretched death in a shabby alley, but a pure and innocent young man who was glowing.

It was not to say that they disliked this version of him; they just found it hard to hide their surprise as seeing this new gem had caught them off guard. The first person who snapped out of her daze and regained her composure was the editor of the magazine. She approached Woo-Jin and greeted him before explaining the concept of today’s shoot.

“Today, we are going for a combination between a successful man who is effortlessly sexy and a wholesome man, who has not forgotten what it’s like to be a playful boy. However, you don’t have to strip to look sexy, so don’t worry. We want to show off the ascetic mature and carefree vibes a man can give off even when he’s wearing a vest, so you won’t be exposing much skin. Also, there’s a term, ‘kidult’, which refers to adults having child-like tendencies. That’s the vibe that we want to capture; a man in a suit playing with plastic models and toys.”

Woo-Jin had assumed that all he needed to do was to wear nice clothes and look good for the photo shoot. As he listened to the editor, he started to become more serious. The image of a pure man playing with toys looking sexy without showing much skin was floating in his head. Even if the task was not difficult, the most important thing was that he had to capture the specific image that the magazine and the photographer wanted.