Chapter 215

# 216

Hero (4)

Team leader Lee Dae-hyung felt his hands sweating at Martin’s sharp expression.

If there were no major problems, in fact, even if there were some problems, appearing in ‘Heroes’ was unconditionally beneficial to Do-wook.

It was a separate issue for KK to be a world-renowned idol group and for Dowook to become a truly world-class actor.

Team leader Lee Dae-hyung looked at Martin’s expression.

Martin was an old man and a master. Although he may seem like an ordinary old man in passing, the world he created called ‘Heroes’ was not an easy one.

Of course, Team Leader Lee Dae-hyung also had some parts that bothered him, but it was very difficult to express them without adding or subtracting them in front of Martin, the creator.

It was because I couldn’t mess things up for no reason.

“There are several reasons...”

“Which one is it?”

When I heard that there was not just one, but how many, Sarah quickly asked.

“The story is that David’s mother works as a cashier at a Korean town supermarket and his father works as a cleaning worker at the university David attends. “I came to the United States for the education of my only son.”

“that’s right. Even Americans know well that Koreans have a tremendous passion for education. Thanks to this, there are many Koreans in leading universities such as the Ivy League. The parents’ spirit of sacrifice for him is also extraordinary.... Martin was also deeply moved by the story of Mr. Choi, a professional golfer, about his father. “They say he worked as a manager while starving for Choi.”

In response to Dowook’s words, Sarah explained the background to the setting.

“yes. David’s family story is quite understandable... In order not to fail his parents’ sacrifices and expectations, David becomes a person who does nothing but study. “He comes to a foreign country and only studies. He has no freedom of mind and is oppressed, so he is an introverted and passive person.”

Martin nodded.

Dowook’s interpretation of the character was accurate.

And the character David portrayed by Martin was also convincing from the background to the present. Considering that the heroes of ‘Heroes’ have their own human agony, the setting given to the character of the first Korean-American immigrant child was quite persuasive.

But that was the problem.

‘What Americans think of Koreans... is very much the same.’

Although it seemed like he had put some thought and research into it, in the end, the image of Asians that Westerners had was inevitably embedded in it. The part about meeting Billion Man, receiving the latest Real Man mask, and growing up while working as a hero could actually be interpreted from a Western perspective.

‘You can’t be thankful just because it doesn’t remind you of Koreans during the Korean War.’

Do-wook continued speaking while thinking.

“Of course, other heroes also have flaws and struggles. However, I have an introverted and passive personality... a study bug... I think this only fixes the preconceived notions about Koreans or the negative image of reality.”

Martin’s expression was dark.

“If such an ordinary, universal character becomes a hero and changes, wouldn’t that be meaningful?”

Sarah countered.

“of course. However, I am not happy with the idea that introverted and passive characters are the common characters in Korea. Even if you become a hero, that will ultimately be your true personality.”

Dowook said with a serious expression. Sarah fell silent, thinking she had made a mistake.

“Actually, I may be hoping for too much in this regard. But...”

“Keep talking.”

Martin said to Dowook, who looked cautious as he looked at Martin’s expression.

“More than anything... the reason I can’t play this character is because of the changes in David’s body.”

A man several generations older than David, probably his great-grandfather, lived on the Korean Peninsula and lived during the Japanese colonial period. And he was a person who was mobilized for Japanese medical experiments. Although he was released safely without any problems at the time, it was established that genetic modification had occurred in the body of Do-wook, the third generation.

Team leader Lee Dae-hyung nodded.

This part was also difficult for team leader Lee Dae-hyung to understand. However, since it wasn’t explained in detail and was treated as a single line of dialogue, I wondered if I should skip it.

During the Japanese colonial period, Japan committed many atrocities. The Maruta experiment was one of them.

However, the Maruta experiment was simply summarized in one line as a ‘Japanese medical experiment’ for technological advancement.

If used well, it could have been an expose on the fact that human experiments were even conducted during the Japanese colonial period, but the focus was not on such anti-humanity aspects.

“......yes?”

Dowook looked at Martin with a puzzled expression. Sarah smiled as if she knew that would happen.

In fact, when setting up the character, questions were raised just once about whether it was already too old-fashioned or whether it contained only preconceptions about Koreans and whether there were no elements that could break the preconceptions.

That was even by Martin. The Korean that Martin met, Do-wook, was by no means introverted, timid, or passive.

However, there was an image that the majority thought of, and following the image was an easy way to gain sympathy from many people.

There is only an image of Koreans that the majority think of, and the concern about what the majority of Koreans are actually like is ‘because they are going to become heroes anyway.’ It was true that I didn’t think about it any more.

Since he is not yet the main hero of ‘Heroes’, it is true that there was little time devoted to him.

In any case, Do-wook saw right through the fact that he was trying to go so easily.

I hadn’t even thought about the Japanese experiment, to the point where I thought I might have to apologize to Do-wook. It was a failure to properly understand the pain of the Japanese colonial period.

“The Real Man character will be completely revised.”

“That’s...”

“Do-wook is a real man who needs to be completed anyway. There’s no way other Koreans would want a real man who Do-wook doesn’t want. I am a person who does commercial comics and commercial films. “This amount of modification is nothing in order to allow a wider audience to see it.”

Martin said firmly. Do-wook, who had guessed that he would be a very stubborn type as a master, had to admit that this was also his prejudice.

As a commercial writer, Martin was always ready to accept the opinions of others.

Because of that, we were able to build the world of ‘Heroes’ by transforming the work to keep up with the times.

“Still a no? Was the revised script so messed up that you didn’t want to receive it?”

“Oh no! “It’s just Mr. Martin’s work...”

“Can you reject it by criticizing its mistakes so harshly?”

When Martin said something half-jokingly, Dowook could only laugh.

“thank you. For speaking honestly. “It’s a commercial movie focused on entertainment anyway, so not everyone has high expectations, but I still thought it would be good if it had some depth.”

Dowook nodded at Martin’s sincere words.

After a long meeting with Martin, Do-wook and team leader Dae-hyung Lee left Martin’s mansion after spending dinner together.

Sarah saw the two off.

“How did you know?”

Team leader Daehyung Lee asked Sara.

“Martin will accept Do-wook’s words...”

Sarah looked at Team Leader Lee Dae-hyung as if asking what he meant, then smiled as if she understood. This was because the embarrassed expression on Team Leader Daehyung Lee’s completely incomprehensible expression when Sara smiled earlier left quite an impression on Sara’s memory.

“Martin never responds by saying, ‘I see,’ to opinions he doesn’t approve of. Because there are many people who distort and understand even the shortest words they say... But in Do-wook’s words, in the end, ‘I see.’ “You said it.”

“Oh, I see.”

“yes. okay.”

Team leader Lee Dae-hyung and Sara looked at each other and smiled.

There was a long discussion, including connecting the director of the ‘Heroes’ film team via video call, but it was fortunate that the work was completed well.

Do-wook and team leader Lee Dae-hyung could not hide their expectations about how the revised script would turn out and how Do-wook’s ‘Real Man’ would ultimately turn out.

***

3 months later.

General Comics Studio in the United States.

Dowook entered the huge studio for his first filming.

It was also Dowook’s first appearance scene.

It was a character that Dowook studied for quite a long time, going through various script revisions. Dowook was confident that he could play David, who was now a completely new character from the first draft, and the real man well.

It was like that until I arrived at the studio.