Please! My relationship with the girl group leader is purely platonic.

Chapter 85 Propaganda of the State

At the party, Jack, who also didn't have a female companion, chatted with Kang Woo-jin for a long time. The two of them were good-looking and tall, and when they stood together, many female models secretly looked at them, but they didn't come over.

The most important reason is that these two people are not famous enough.

Of course, the LGBTQ+ community is quite strong in some foreign countries. When they see the two chatting happily, and influenced by the movie "Brokeback Mountain," they can't help but wonder if their relationship is even closer than it seems.

While the two were chatting, some people from film companies came over to strike up a conversation. Kang Woo-jin tried his best to suppress his shyness and smiled as he exchanged business cards with them, including those from Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Fox, Sony Pictures, and others.

Without Tony's help, Jack was able to introduce him to quite a few film company executives and producers.

However, before Jiang Youzhen could even exchange a few words with them, people from Columbia Pictures came over to protect their own. They were in a sensitive period right now, and having found a promising new director who wouldn't make them lose money, they were naturally unwilling to let him go to another company, especially since they were dealing with him right under their noses. The people's faces grew darker and darker.

Nothing much happened after that. Kang Woo-jin and Jack agreed to meet again on the day the movie was released. When they first mentioned wanting to collaborate on a film, Kang Woo-jin had already come up with a lot of ideas.

Jack's acting skills are beyond question, his appearance is also excellent, and he's a serious senior student, so he can't just use some low-budget scripts from the past to get by.

After leaving the hotel, Jiang Youzhen avoided the women with eyes like sniper rifles. He didn't mind the media taking pictures of him, but he just hoped they wouldn't photograph him with any women.

But to his utter surprise, the media took photos of him and Jack, and then added a large, bold, realistic "Brokeback Mountain" caption, which caused Kang Woo-jin to receive many enthusiastic private messages from male celebrities and models in the industry the very next day.

He was already feeling a bit down, but Tony's call urging him to finish the script made him even more frustrated.

Feeling utterly frustrated, Kang Woo-jin posted "Don't spread rumors" on Twitter and then packed his bags. Today, he was going to Toronto, Canada with the film company's publicity team for promotional activities. Fortunately, he only needed to promote the film in Canada for one stop before he would fly to Mexico to promote the film.

While busy promoting his movie and dealing with issues related to his new film crew, he paid little attention to outside affairs. As a result, the rumors about him being gay naturally faded away, replaced by the promotional film for "[REC]".

It wasn't exactly a massive, ubiquitous campaign, but Columbia Pictures was able to allocate several million dollars for marketing and distribution, which was several times the film's production cost. The trailer's footage was constantly being shown on television and on billboards along the street.

The campaign started in North America and then moved to several important European countries before finally returning to South Korea as its final stop.

There were already quite a few media outlets waiting at the airport. The film and television industry is developing rapidly, but Hollywood movies rarely come to this small country for promotion. This is partly because the market is not large enough, and partly because of the bias in entertainment culture.

Idol groups are quite popular in Asia, but they still can't break into the United States.

Jiang Youzhen, whom they regarded as the "hope of the whole village," has recently become the focus of domestic media attention. Jiang Jingshu asked Secretary Lin to arrange a vehicle to pick up the "REC" crew, but they spent more than half an hour at the airport before they finally met anyone.

"Yoojin-ssi, there are quite a few media outlets here. We've scheduled a press conference for this afternoon, and the venue is already set up."

Secretary Lin adjusted his glasses, which had become askew due to the crowd. He was quite resentful at the moment. These reporters and paparazzi were really crazy. What had he done wrong, a mere working animal?

Jiang Youzhen nodded and told Mikael and Jennifer that the two of them looked a little haggard from the continuous promotion, and they fell asleep as soon as they got in the car.

The weather in December was cold, and it was snowing in Seoul. Neither Mikael nor Kang Woo-jin were people who were afraid of the cold. They could even adapt to Denmark, let alone South Korea.

The first stop was Yonsei University, where the press conference and promotional event for the film were held. FFF Company played a big role in this, and the film received almost all the votes in Seoul and other cities. In addition to the "Hollywood" label, the ticket prices were not high, and the atmosphere at the event was very enthusiastic. Many people came to support the film because of the effective promotion.

After arranging the backstage lounge, Secretary Lin handed them the manuscripts needed for the interview. The group had only been sitting down for a few minutes when there was a knock on the door.

When Jiang Youzhen saw that it was Jiang Jingshu coming over, he quickly stood up and introduced her to the film company representative. Jiang Jingshu's English was very good and she had no accent, which made the white representative's tightly furrowed brows relax.

He had been listening to broken English with an accent the whole way, and he was so jealous he felt like he was going to cry, but he politely kept quiet and just muttered some unpleasant things to himself.

Fortunately, Jiang Jingshu was able to communicate with him and arranged for a translator to accompany him.

After doing all that, Jiang Jingshu went to find Jiang Youzhen. She told him that there were other guests in another lounge and asked him to go and meet them.

Kang Woo-jin cooperated and followed her to the other side. Upon entering, he saw a number of people. In addition to the company representatives who had worked with Kang Jung-seo before, there were several familiar faces: actress Kim Hye-soo, Cha Tae-hyun, Seol Kyung-gu, director Bong Joon-ho, and then... Lee Soo-man?

When Kang Woo-jin saw Lee Soo-man, he was a little surprised. If it was an actor and a director, he could understand that they were both related to movies, but Lee Soo-man?

Out of politeness, Kang Woo-jin introduced himself to each of them. Kang Jung-seo told him that the actors she had invited and Bong Joon-ho were all people that FFF Company wanted to collaborate with or even poach. As for Lee Soo-man... SM Entertainment has a big reputation, and the two companies had collaborated twice before. She felt that it would be good to befriend Lee Soo-man.

More importantly, it would be good to showcase Kang Woo-jin's strengths and abilities to Lee Soo-man, so that they could collaborate more often in the future.

She meant the OST, and of course, within her understanding, she only agreed with one or two people.

After chatting with everyone, Kang Woo-jin and director Bong Joon-ho found they could get along well. Bong Joon-ho had worked with Kang Jung-seo before and the two had known each other for many years. Bong Joon-ho had also seen the movie "Lost in Delta" and thought it was very good, with a good connection between the beginning and the end. He just felt it was a pity that the whole movie was only a little over an hour long.

Not enough!

"I've watched the trailer for [REC] dozens of times. This kind of mockumentary style filming will definitely do well at the box office, but it's also very difficult to make. Some shots are hard to control well, and the reviews after its release were mostly polarized. I heard from Jingshu that you have a new project in the works?"

Seeing Kang Woo-jin nod, Bong Joon-ho couldn't help but remark, "You young people are really something, so talented and quick-witted. By the way, has your father finished filming the movie?"

"Yes, filming has wrapped up. He's still resting. Director Lawrence said he needs to be ready to reshoot scenes at any time, so he hasn't come back," Jiang Youzhen explained.

As they were talking, several more representatives from the agency came over. They were very polite and offered generous praise.

Jiang Youzhen responded to them with a polite smile, and only after they left did he become a little more reserved.

Noticing this, Bong Joon-ho chuckled twice and teased in a low voice, "Don't you also think they're fake? They're all hypocritical, putting profit first, and their performances and affirmations are completely worthless. What do you think?"

Kang Woo-jin turned to look at the senior director, his somewhat numb facial muscles relaxing, revealing a genuine, slight smile, and said,

"Senior, if I'm overjoyed by those people's performances and praise, I'll also be heartbroken by their criticisms. I don't need so many people's approval; that kind of life is too suffocating."

The senior colleague beside him was taken aback. He quieted down and looked seriously at the new director who had been in the industry for less than a year. Perhaps thinking of what he had just said, he laughed again.

"You're absolutely right. If we have the chance, let's collaborate sometime."