Episode 5: The Newcomer Who Saved the Music Video (1)
I’ve been working diligently at my job.
Not because I’m hoping to run into Chae Seoyoon again.
Even though my job in the general affairs department mostly involves miscellaneous tasks, but I have to maintain my uncle’s reputation since he referred me for the job.
Above all, I get to see so many different kinds of people here.
Though not quite at Chae Seoyoon’s level, I can easily spot rookie idols and actresses in the lobby.
‘That one would be great in a villain role.’
‘This one seems suited for a protagonist.’
Even though I’m a complete novice with no experience in any film clubs, I let my imagination run wild, assigning roles to these up-and-coming idols and actors.
And surprisingly, it’s fun.
It feels like a creative spark I didn’t even know I had is blossoming inside me.
In short, seeing so many unique individuals every day is fueling my inspiration.
Recently, I’ve started writing stories for dramas and movies.
I have no foundation or technique, so I just write whatever comes to mind.
Once, I even posted one of my stories in a media community, asking for feedback.
The responses were…
└ Just stick to watching movies.
└ No offense, but this is so amateurish.
└ At least do some basic research before asking for feedback.
└ But honestly, there’s no sign of talent here.
The feedback was so bad it couldn’t even be called criticism.
But my spirit remained intact.
It’s not surprising that I’m bad at this—I haven’t even mastered the basics.
Then something happened that changed my image as a clueless beginner.
Someone in the community posted their own scenario, asking for feedback.
[Here’s a scenario I wrote. Please give me honest criticism.]
It wasn’t a complete work.
The author mentioned they’d only posted about 1/5 of the story.
‘This is good.’
I read it eagerly, holding my breath.
By the time I finished, I wanted to know what happened next.
It was amazing.
It wasn’t a novel but a script primarily made up of dialogue and concise stage directions.
And yet, in my mind, the characters and actors came alive, moving vividly.
It felt like the scenes were being painted in my head.
My heart pounded with excitement.
‘Hey, video app. I want to make a storyboard out of this. You know, a rough draft for the visuals.’
A storyboard.
It’s the first visual draft of a movie script.
No matter how much a director explains their vision to the staff and cast, words alone can only go so far.
A picture conveys the vision far more effectively.
There are even artists who specialize in drawing storyboards for movies.
[I recommend creating a short black-and-white animation rather than still images.]
‘That’s even better. Nothing conveys ideas more effectively than moving visuals. This is a movie script, after all.’
Click, click, click.
Not just my fingers, but my brain cells worked furiously—click, click, click.
Whew, I’ve burned a lot of glucose.
Anyway, after about an hour or two, I managed to create a five-minute black-and-white animation.
I visualized the most intense scene from the scenario.
I scheduled my ODM (original design manufacturing) storyboard video to upload five hours later.
[The script was so good I couldn’t resist turning it into a moving storyboard.]
I was already excited about the reaction.
Watching the comments flood in tomorrow on my way to work would surely make the commute fly by.
But I didn’t get to enjoy those comments.
An urgent message from my uncle woke me up.
[Uncle]: Go straight to the address I sent you instead of the office.
[Uncle]: As soon as possible.
Something urgent must have come up.
I hurriedly got ready and hopped on a bus.
My uncle wasn’t reading my messages.
He must be too busy.
I asked in our company group chat.
[Me]: I was told to head to ○○-dong instead of the office. Does anyone know what’s going on?
— That’s the music video set. There was a fire there this morning.
— What? Don’t tell me they’re expecting us to put out the fire.
— They said the fire’s already out.
— They probably need people to clean up.
— Why would they make employees do that?
— Who knows? Orders are orders.
Weird.
Why call regular employees to clean up a fire scene?
That’s a job for professional cleaners after the investigation is done.
I only understood the situation after arriving at the scene.
“We’re screwed. Four days’ worth of music video footage is gone. The data manager panicked during the fire and just ran out.”
“What? Didn’t they even grab the laptop? How heavy could it be?”
“They weren’t near the laptop when the fire broke out.”
As I pieced things together, it became clear that the data manager wasn’t entirely at fault.
When the fire alarm went off, everyone evacuated in a rush.
How could they risk pushing past others to retrieve the laptop?
But still…
“You idiot! What are we supposed to do about four days’ worth of footage? Do you have any idea how much that costs? You should’ve backed it up in advance!”
“I’m sorry. All the external backups were in the same location too…”
“Why the hell would you store everything in one place? Don’t you understand what backup means? You should’ve kept at least one set of drives in the car!”
“I’m really sorry. I apologize.”
The PD (Producer-Director) was screaming at the data manager, ready to eat him alive.
My uncle clicked his tongue as he watched the scene.
“How big of a loss is four days’ worth of footage?”
“Time is one thing, but the money is the real issue. They’ll have to rebuild the sets from scratch, and then there’s the time and labor costs… At least 1 billion won (approx. $750,000) in losses.”
“Does it cost that much to make a music video?”
“This is for WIS’s new title music video.”
WIS is the most popular 5-member girl group in our company.
“How could the data manager have known there’d be a fire? But still, it’s our job to prepare for situations like this. I can understand the director’s frustration. Ugh.”
After the fire department fully cleared out, the company staff got to work.
The mission: find the laptop and external hard drives.
【Initiating lost media retrieval.】
‘Huh? Are you going to help?’
【The loss of video content is unacceptable under any circumstances.】
Was it feeling some kind of camaraderie? It jumped into action, and I couldn’t help but feel a little moved.
A golden glimmer caught my eye.
I approached it.
After clearing away the charred debris, I found the laptop and external hard drives we were looking for.
It was hard to even recognize its shape.
Anyone else might have just walked past it.
“I found it! I found it!”
“What? Really?”
“Yes! I found it!”
The colleagues who had been working so hard cheered in relief.
I felt good knowing I’d spared them time and trouble.
The PD came rushing over, only for his face to twist when he saw the laptop and drives.
“They’re completely burned. At this point, even the platters are probably melted, right?”
“Looks like it.”
“Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!!”
The good mood was short-lived.
The furious PD’s outburst turned the atmosphere somber.
I had thought we’d be praised for finding it quickly, but I ended up feeling awkward.
【Data recovery is possible.】
‘What? Isn’t the disk completely ruined?’
【Over 80% of the data is damaged. By this era’s technology, it’s permanently lost, but I can recover it.】
‘Is there a price?’
【According to the User Growth Support Manual, I should charge 100 million points. However,】
It paused dramatically.
【Since this is the tutorial stage, I’ll do it for free. My decision.】
‘Alright. You’re sure you can recover it?’
【The recovery is complete.】
…That was fast.
The media app displayed the recovered video data.
Even at a glance, it was clear these were the music video files.
The new choreography looked great.
As expected of the number one girl group, all of them were stunning.
‘But Cha Seoyoon is still the best… Wait, no.’
What was I thinking?
I discreetly approached my uncle.
“Uncle, I know a really good data recovery company. Maybe we could take it to them as a last-ditch effort?”
“Really?”
“Yes, they’re amazing. But they said they need it right away because they’ll be busy later this afternoon.”
“Hold on.”
My uncle approached a distressed middle-aged man in a suit and started talking.
The man glanced at me, then explained something to the furious PD.
The PD’s eyes lit up as he hurried toward me.
“Quick! Take it there! Even if they can’t recover it, I won’t hold you accountable. Just go!”
“Yes, sir. I’ll do that.”
My uncle handed me his car.
I spent the day loitering around Seoul and called in the evening.
“Uncle, the recovery’s done.”
-Really? Seriously?
“Yes. It’s about 600GB in total. Can you confirm if that’s right?”
Cheers erupted from the other side of the phone.
It seemed they’d been waiting for my call all day.
Maybe I should have told them sooner.
Still, recovering it this fast was already suspicious.
Originally, I’d planned to wait a few more days, but I figured people would collapse from the stress if I didn’t tell them soon, so I called as the evening approached.
-Doyoung! Come to the office immediately! Hurry!
“Alright, I’m on my way.”
I drove my uncle’s car to the office.
The atmosphere in the lobby was different.
Everyone seemed to recognize me.
I felt a little embarrassed but also walked with a bit more confidence.
It was like being a general leading a triumphant march.
The PD stormed over to me, looking like he was ready to devour me.
“The data?”
“Here it is. I made three backups.”
I handed over three external hard drives.
The PD grabbed them and ran off somewhere.
“Doyoung, follow me.”
My uncle dragged me to the third team’s office.
I sat on a leather sofa, waiting.
The middle-aged man in a suit from earlier approached me with a bright smile.
“I just heard from PD Jung. He confirmed all the data is recovered.”
“Thank you.”
“There are some people who are really grateful to you. They insisted on thanking you in person. Girls, come in.”
The door opened with a click, and the girls entered in a burst of energy.
It was WIS.
“Thank you so much! Really, thank you!”
“You’re Doyoung, right? Thanks to you, all the footage we worked so hard to shoot was saved! We’re truly grateful!”
Surrounded by the scent of various perfumes and the dazzling presence of the girls, my senses were overwhelmed.
My eyes, nose, and mind all started to spin.
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