Chapter 35: 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.

The makeup artists tried to add volume to his bangs before neatly pulling it back. It might look natural, but if he were to shake his head vigorously, his hair would stay still because of the amount of wax and hair spray on it. On the other hand, there was not much makeup on his face – they had only filled in his eyebrows and applied some eyeliner, which made Woo-Jin’s facial features and fair skin stand out even more. Since the team of makeup artists prepared by the magazine was in charge of Woo-Jin’s hair and makeup, Hwang Yi-Young could only sit on the sidelines and evaluate their work. Judging from her brief smile, it seemed to have gone well.

Originally, editorial photo shoots conducted by magazines were not compensated, and on top of that, in most cases, models had to prepare their own clothes and makeup. Nevertheless, they would still do it because it was a way of advertising themselves. If the models were celebrities, there would be several companies who would sponsor them, so compensation did not matter. It was not much different from going abroad for free for a photo shoot and having fun.

In contrast, even though Woo-Jin would not be compensated for the editorial photo shoot today, his clothes and makeup were being taken care of by the magazine company. Since it was no different from a fashion editorial spread, coupled with the fact that it was aimed at advertising sponsored products, the magazine company paid a lot of attention to the details. The clothes they had prepared for him were similar to the ones that Hwang Yi-Young had prepared for Woo-Jin for the preview screening the other day. However, even though the photos would be published in the August issue, it was still surprising that he had to wear a vest.

“Wouldn’t the readers feel hot just by looking at the photos because it’s August?” asked Woo-Jin.

Regardless of how breathable the fabric was, it was hard to tell from the photos. In response to the worried Woo-Jin, the editor smiled and gave him his assignment.

“Your job is to ensure that the readers don’t feel that way when they look at your photos, regardless of the season.”

That’s the job of the model. From the clothes to the accessories, every single one of them was to be advertised in the magazine. The level of appeal of the products that were advertised showed how good a model was. Even though the model was the main focus in the photos, if the model outshone the products to the point where people only concentrated on the model, that would mean that the model was not doing a good job.

Well-known and talented models had the ability to bring out the appeal of both themselves and the products without sacrificing either. Hence, today’s photo shoot could be rather challenging for Woo-Jin, as he had only focused on acting out a character well.

The first outfit was a pure white suit with a contrasting blue tie, and a platinum watch. The watch was adorned with blue sapphires which complemented the necktie, creating cool vibes. After he changed into his clothes and completed all his preparations, Woo-Jin was finally able to meet Kim Jun-Yeol, the photographer.

“Sexy.”

He did not mean that Woo-Jin had sex appeal, but rather, it was a word that was commonly used in this field to describe someone when they looked very attractive.

“I was worried that you might give off cheap gangster vibes like your character did in the movie, but it turned out much better than I had expected.”

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As Kim Jun-Yeol personally chose Chae Woo-Jin to be his model, he could not help but feel worried. The task for today’s theme was to express the laid-back and sexy vibes that a successful man gave off, with luxury products as the main subject. After watching the movie, he fell in love with loan shark A and was in awe of Chae Woo-Jin’s looks, but it did not change the fact that he was worried about the overall unsophisticatedness of his character as a gangster that was portrayed in the movie. Nonetheless, he had chosen Chae Woo-Jin for the editorial after seeing his photos that were uploaded to the internet.

At the VIP preview screening, Chae Woo-Jin and Park Min were dressed similarly. Regardless of whether it was coincidental or intentional, it had become a topic of discussion for quite some time. That was because Chae Woo-Jin made mass-produced clothes that were made domestically look like luxury clothes when it was compared to Park Min’s clothes which were from a renowned luxury brand. Currently, that outfit worn by Woo-Jin has been called ‘That Actor’s Suit’ and was selling like hot cakes.

Thereafter, Chae Woo-Jin’s clothes had always been at the center of attention at every stop during their regional promotional tour. He had a classy and modestly sexy look that was completely different from loan shark A, who was a gangster in the movie. This was in line with the concept for this editorial. From his appearance alone, Woo-Jin had passed the first stage.

“Since we know each other’s names, let’s skip the old-fashioned greetings and introductions, and start shooting immediately.”

Kim Jun-Yeol dove straight into work and led Woo-Jin to the set. It was a very well-known fact that Kim Jun-Yeol was someone who was difficult to work with, so Woo-Jin had prepared himself to a certain extent. Although Kim Jun-Yeol was talented, he was also bad-tempered and stubborn, and he was known for being harsh to his models when he did not get the results he wanted.

Woo-Jin was at a loss because the photographer was someone who seemed like he did not need his model’s input. Regardless of the role he played, Woo-Jin was someone who took time to get a deep understanding of the character he was portraying. Thus, he felt that delving right into the photo shoot was too hasty,

Leaning against a mahogany desk with papers and books, Woo-Jin had to pose with some documents in his left hand while acting as though he was reading them. The problem was that the documents in his left hand should not cover the tie. However, it would make him look a little awkward if he held the documents at a distance. Hence, he double checked and confirmed the concept of the photo shoot before deciding on the poses, but it did not work out well.

“Chae Woo-Jin! If you do that, we won’t be able to see the tie. Hey, do you need a magnifying glass? There isn’t a young man who reads from such a distance!”

It was not easy to come up with a set of poses after incorporating Kim Jun-Yeol’s feedback. He had told him to move in a more natural way, but since this was entirely different from acting, the awkwardness made Woo-Jin hesitate. The neverending shutter sounds and intense reflectors, as well as the annoying voice of Kim Jun-Yeol who kept yelling did not help with Woo-Jin’s situation.

“I told you to have a high and mighty look on your face, didn’t I! Do you know that you look very timid right now?”

He thought that Woo-Jin would know what to do without him having to point it out. As soon as they had started shooting, Kim Jun-Yeol did not share his opinions about the concept and only pressured Woo-Jin. Unless Woo-Jin had some prior experience or collaborated with Kim Jun-Yeol before, Kim Jun-Yeol was not a good photographer for rookies like Woo-Jin. As a photographer who had worked with several veteran models, Kim Jun-Yeol did not have patience for amateurs and their lack of experience.

Goddammit, that’s not it!” Ultimately, Kim Jun-Yeol started cursing and the tension in the air kept increasing.

“Everybody knows how to do that. What are we going to do if you can’t do it!”

Woo-Jin became very emotional as he voiced his discontentment in his mind. Kim Jun-Yeol kept ordering him to act natural and do whatever he wanted to, but when his poses were slightly off, even by a bit, he would yell at him. He already had an image he wanted in his head, so he kept yelling ‘NO’ until Woo-Jin gave him what he wanted.

It did not make sense how he wanted Woo-Jin to be free without giving him any freedom. Woo-Jin found it funny that he expected him to express the laid-back disposition and pride of a successful man while putting such pressure on him, so he burst out laughing.

“Hey, you little punk! I told you to laugh arrogantly, who told you to sneer?”

He tried to wear an arrogant look on his face but it was unsatisfactory, so Kim Jun-Yeol said he gave up.

“I don't know anymore! I don’t care anymore.”

Woo-Jin gave up on caring about what Kim Jun-Yeol thought. He had run out of poses he could choose from the concept that he had been given. Woo-Jin rubbed both temples as he felt like he could not accomplish anything if he flinched every time Kim Jun-Yeol said no.

Kim Jun-Yeol immediately shouted something, but Woo-Jin was not paying attention anymore. Perhaps Kim Jun-Yeol had a firm image of what he wanted for this editorial shoot because he had seen all kinds of people who were successful or people who were born leaders. However, it was something that was too difficult for an ordinary actor in his 20s to capture.

Kim Jun-Yeol’s standards were too high. Even the actor who had worked on this editorial shoot could not do it, so he scrapped it. Since they had already failed once, it was understandable why Kim Jun-Yeol was more picky and pushed Chae Woo-Jin even more.

However, realistically speaking, no model or actor in their 20s could give him what he wanted. Neither could Woo-Jin. However, he could not give up just because he could not execute it well. More than that, he did not want to be replaced like the previous model.

Woo-Jin hurriedly looked back on his past lives and picked one of them where he was a successful person. Since he had once been a noble and a member of the royal family, he knew what true arrogance was.

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