The Face Genius Actor

Episode 155

PD ‘Nam Hyun-woo’ of “Hello, You” couldn’t help but be surprised when he checked the view count of the video featuring Si-joon.

He never imagined that the view count of “Hello, You” would rise so quickly in this way.

Until Si-joon’s video was uploaded, Nam Hyun-woo had many concerns.

He was under extreme stress as he took on the role of overall manager for YouTube channel operations after joining ITBC as a PD.

The cause of stress was, of course, the stagnant view counts and subscriber numbers.

Before Si-joon’s appearance, the average view count and subscriber count of ITBC’s YouTube channel were only around 50,000.

Despite confidently showcasing various content by recruiting famous domestic actors and singers under the halo of ITBC as a broadcasting company, this was the result.

Even the video with the highest view count couldn’t reach 1 million, so Nam Hyun-woo couldn’t help but feel stressed.

‘That’s why meetings about the overall planning direction of the content were continuing day after day…’

It was during one of these meetings that they received a call from Festa Entertainment.

At that time, Nam Hyun-woo and other employees related to ITBC’s YouTube channel were seriously considering discontinuing the “Hello, You” content.

“The average view count is too low compared to the casting costs. This is a problem with the initial planning.”

“Then how about slightly changing the direction, having the celebrity directly visit the fan’s home?”

“Well. Was bringing the fan’s parents to the studio the problem? Honestly, I don’t know.”

“Then should we just give up on ‘Hello, You’? Isn’t it also a problem to stop after spending so much on casting costs?”

The atmosphere of the meeting was flowing towards confirming the discontinuation of “Hello, You” content.

There was an opinion to change the direction from bringing the fan’s parents to the studio to having the celebrity directly visit the home, but it didn’t gain much support.

The dominant opinion was to plan new content for a change of atmosphere.

However, the situation reversed when Nam Hyun-woo suddenly received a call from Festa Entertainment during the meeting.

“What? Really? Actor Lee Si-joon really wants to appear on ‘Hello, You’?”

Si-joon’s appearance.

This was on a different level from all previous castings.

After all, Si-joon was a figure causing a stir not just domestically but globally every day.

Initially, casting Si-joon was impossible even with ITBC’s influence.

That’s why even the higher-ups were in an uproar.

“Is that true, PD Nam? Lee Si-joon wants to appear on our YouTube channel?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“What are you hesitating for! We need to make this happen right away! Call a meeting!”

“Understood!”

With the news of Si-joon’s appearance, not only the YouTube channel operation team but the entire ITBC became energized, leading to the current situation.

The response was that they would provide a year’s budget for this content, so everything was flowing positively.

However, Nam Hyun-woo was internally feeling anxious during this process.

He thought that if the view count of “Hello, You” was poor even with Si-joon’s appearance, the aftermath would be no joke.

If things went wrong, he might even have to give up his PD position.

‘Should I have maintained the studio method instead of visiting the fan’s home?’

Nam Hyun-woo had these thoughts right up until Si-joon’s episode was uploaded, but he shook his head.

There was no use thinking about this now.

Click.

Si-joon’s episode was finally uploaded with all the YouTube channel operation team watching, and real-time reactions started coming in.

The view count rose at a tremendous rate with each refresh, and in just a few hours, it overturned ITBC YouTube channel’s highest view count record.

And a week later, the view count of that video easily surpassed 10 million.

As the view count was still continuously increasing, he wondered what the final result would be.

‘I expected it to some extent, but Lee Si-joon’s popularity is really amazing…’

However, he didn’t feel envious of this popularity at all.

Rather, he thought it was very natural.

‘Anyone who has seen Lee Si-joon in person would think this way.’

Si-joon wasn’t just overwhelming in appearance.

Not only did he possess an incredible appearance that momentarily took your breath away, but he also had a great personality.

Moreover, it goes without saying that Si-joon’s acting skills were excellent.

He was an actor who had won the Best Actor award twice at global award ceremonies.

‘On top of that, he writes his own works and even directs… Listing it out like this, it’s really impressive.’

Nam Hyun-woo smiled unconsciously, remembering Si-joon’s polite bow at their first meeting.

Then he accessed a portal site to check the reactions to “Hello, You”.

And in the process, he discovered a surprising article.

<“I wanted to return the love”, Lee Si-joon reveals reason for donating all fan meeting profits>

Nam Hyun-woo checked the article and let out an incredulous “Huh”.

‘Shouldn’t someone who won 5 Emmy Awards be a bit arrogant…?’

At this point, just saying he had a good personality wasn’t enough.

Si-joon was clearly a genius in personality as much as his overwhelming appearance.

Nam Hyun-woo’s heart swelled with pride at the fact that he had worked with Si-joon.

* * *

The 15,000-seat fan meeting concluded in a good atmosphere.

I prepared dancing and singing this time too, and fortunately, I was able to perform both stages without mistakes.

However, feeling that solo performances alone were a bit lacking, I invited special guests for joint performances.

So, I sang a duet with Cindy and finally performed a dance with MOST, with whom I had directly formed a connection this time.

Although we only matched up for one song each, because the special guest members were so spectacular, we were able to draw a lot of positive responses from people.

The reaction was even bigger for MOST, as they had just achieved success at the Billboard Music Awards and American Music Awards.

There were even articles about the meeting of top actors and top singers.

For my part, I felt proud to have put on a performance that was worth every penny for Syrup.

To make this fan meeting a performance worth every penny, I also paid attention to the goods set.

After much consideration, I included sweatshirts with 15,000 different messages in the goods set.

I wanted to write cards by hand like last time, but I simply didn’t have the time.

As a result, the amount of practice doubled with joint performances with special guests.

The fact that the number of cards I had to write increased about five times was also a burden.

So after repeated discussions, I decided to create 15,000 messages myself and have them engraved separately on each sweatshirt.

In fact, this was more financially burdensome than writing cards, but it didn’t matter.

After all, this event wasn’t for the purpose of making money.

‘Let’s just think of it as donating my own money directly. I’ve earned enough money from “Toema Hwan Ya Dam” that I couldn’t spend it all in a lifetime anyway.’

I made up my mind comfortably, and thanks to that, the quality of the sweatshirts turned out quite good.

It was a natural result since I focused solely on quality without compromising on production costs.

However, this action led to unexpected results.

Like this, Syrup members who participated in the fan meeting joined in the donation event.

It was an unexpected result, but I was quite happy to hear this news.

I was even more so because I donated in Syrup’s name, and Syrup donated in my name.

In this way, the total donation amount, including my personal funds, reached 5 billion won, which was used for projects supporting hungry children in Korea.

Kim Bo-mi, who oversaw all the work related to the donations, spoke up.

“…I will make sure to check later that the donation is being used well as per your request.”

“Thank you. If the donation organization says they need my help, please let me know anytime. I’ll help sincerely.”

“Yes, I will do that. By the way, it’s surprising. I didn’t think this amount of money would be gathered in this way.”

I was surprised too.

In fact, it’s more common than you might think for fan meetings to donate all profits or for official fan clubs to hold donation events in the name of their favorite celebrity.

But this time, the scale was so large that it seemed to attract more media attention.

Also, the detailed story of the donation process seemed to touch many people’s hearts.

“It was especially impressive that people who had nothing to do with this event became interested in donating. It’s really amazing.”

“We were lucky. I think the media’s active coverage of donation-related articles had a big impact.”

“The media wouldn’t just cover the story for no reason. They probably did it because it was profitable. By the way, how should we handle the proposals from Hollywood?”

Kim Bo-mi naturally moved on to the next topic.

In fact, I had received a considerable number of casting offers from Hollywood film companies while preparing for the fan meeting.

All were works by globally renowned directors.

However, there wasn’t a work that I liked yet.

“I think I need to read more scripts. They don’t quite meet my standards…”

“Then, are you planning to write and direct your own work this time as well?”

I shook my head in response to Kim Bo-mi’s question.

“As I mentioned, I want to participate in this work solely as an actor. It’s also a problem if my image as a producer becomes fixed at this rate.”

“That’s true. There are new scripts that came in today, so I’ll forward them to you additionally.”

With that, I parted ways with Kim Bo-mi and returned home.

As I opened the door and entered, I saw two huge mountains on the desk.

They were mountains made of scripts.

Yeo Kyung-chan followed me in and asked.

“Ugh. Actor, should I put the new scripts here?”

Yeo Kyung-chan was holding a heavy object.

It was a box containing scripts.

Even though we shared the load, the quantity was considerable.

“Just put it over there. I’ll sort them separately.”

Two large mountains.

One was made of domestic scripts, and the other of foreign scripts.

Yeo Kyung-chan, who had put down the box he was holding on the floor, clicked his tongue at the sight.

“Wow. That’s really a lot. When are you going to read all of that?”

“I’ve read almost all of them. I’ll probably start reading today’s arrivals from tomorrow.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

But the problem was that even after reading so many scripts, I hadn’t found a work I liked.

Given how picky my standards were to begin with, it was natural that I couldn’t find a work I liked.

‘Will there be one among these?’

I thought as I turned my head towards the box containing the new scripts.

* * *

And a few days later.

Late at night, as I was reading scripts with the lamp on, I lifted my head with a satisfied smile.