114: Chapter 114 Advertising Shooting

On February 22, 2026, three black Mercedes were parked outside a professional studio in Seoul's Gangnam District.

Kim Young-jun parked the car and glanced at the backseat through the rearview mirror. Chairman Wang Shunyi was unbuckling his seatbelt, moving unhurriedly, as if he were attending a mandatory but unimportant routine meeting.

The Marketing Director, Lee Jung-hoon, had already arrived early and was waiting at the studio entrance, holding a kraft paper folder.

Seeing Chairman Wang Shunyi get out of the car, he hurried over to greet him and bowed.

"Chairman, the director and the production crew have all arrived. Ms. Bae is in the dressing room; her makeup is finished, and she is currently getting her hair done."

Chairman Wang Shunyi glanced at his watch. Ten past nine. The shoot was scheduled to start at nine-thirty.

He was twenty minutes early, not intentionally, but because his morning meeting had been canceled at the last minute. When Kim Young-jun asked where he wanted to go, he had said to check out the studio.

Kim Young-jun assumed he was going to supervise the shooting progress, and he didn't explain otherwise.

He just wanted to see what Bae Joo-hyun looked like while she was working.

The endorsement contract was signed, the money paid, and he needed to have an idea of how the commercial would turn out before the first round of editing.

The studio was quite large, over a thousand square meters, divided into three independent set areas.

To the left of the entrance was a home kitchen set, to the right was an office lounge, and at the very back was an outdoor camping area.

The director was squatting in front of the kitchen stove, adjusting camera angles with the cameraman. He was forty-five or forty-six years old, wearing a black turtleneck sweater, with graying hair and silver-rimmed glasses.

The lighting technician was calibrating the softbox, and white reflectors were spread across the floor.

Staff members were gathered in small groups chatting. When someone recognized Chairman Wang Shunyi and whispered, "The Chairman is here," the air in the entire studio seemed to be sucked out for a moment.

The chatter died down, footsteps became quieter, and a few staff members who had been leaning against prop tables subconsciously stood up straight.

Chairman Wang Shunyi didn't look at them; he walked straight to the monitor desk next to the director, pulled up a folding chair, and sat down.

"Let's begin. Don't mind me."

The director glanced at him, nodded, and didn't say much. He spoke into his walkie-talkie: "Please have Ms. Bae come out."

The door to the dressing room opened, and when Bae Joo-hyun walked out, everyone's eyes in the studio converged on her.

She was wearing a white knit sweater and light blue jeans, her long hair draped down, and her makeup was very light, but her skin showed a natural glow under the soft lights.

Her features were more striking on camera than in person; Chairman Wang Shunyi noticed this.

Bae Joo-hyun's gaze swept across the studio and quickly found Chairman Wang Shunyi sitting on the folding chair behind the monitor desk.

His posture was relaxed, one leg crossed over the other, his hands resting on his knees, with no expression on his face.

Her footsteps paused for about half a second. It was very brief, but Chairman Wang Shunyi saw it.

Then she quickened her pace to the kitchen stove set.

The director began explaining the scene. Bae Joo-hyun stood by the stove, her back straight, her hands folded in front of her lower abdomen, like a student waiting for an examiner to hand out test papers.

Her gaze followed the director's gestures, but her peripheral vision remained fixed on the direction of that folding chair.

Chairman Wang Shunyi noticed this. He did nothing, only moved his hand from his knee to the armrest.

The first take started. Bae Joo-hyun pulled the fire chicken noodles out of the package and put them into the boiling water, her movements very fluid.

The director called cut, saying the action of opening the package was too fast; the audience wouldn't be able to see the Shunyi Foods logo before it was over.

On the second take, she made a point to face the front of the package toward the camera, pausing for an extra half-second. The director called it a take.

While the noodles were boiling, she said a line to the camera: "After a busy day, I can finally have a good meal."

The first time she said it too quickly, so the director asked her to slow down and enunciate the four words "Shunyi Foods" more clearly.

She said it again for the second take. This time the pace was just right, the tone soft but not forced, like someone genuinely sharing their life.

Chairman Wang Shunyi sat on the folding chair, watching her expression as she ate the noodles on the monitor. Her chewing motion was small but very realistic; after swallowing the noodles, she gently pursed her lips, as if she truly found it delicious.

He remembered that Kim Young-jun had once attached consumer blind test data to a report: Bae Joo-hyun's fan loyalty ranked in the top three among all female artists, and her recommendation conversion rate was high. Now he believed it.

After the kitchen set was finished, they transitioned to the office lounge.

Bae Joo-hyun changed into a black suit jacket and white shirt, her hair put up. Her makeup hadn't changed, but her aura was completely different.

She sat on a white sofa with a bowl of freshly prepared fire chicken noodles in front of her.

The director said the focus of this take was the contrast between exhaustion and satisfaction; she needed to show the weariness of having just finished working overtime before eating, and then have her expression soften after taking the first bite.

Bae Joo-hyun let her shoulders drop and rubbed the back of her neck. She picked up the chopsticks, lifted some noodles, and put them into her mouth. Her expression transitioned from exhaustion to satisfaction, a very natural transition that didn't look like acting.

Chairman Wang Shunyi noticed that her fingers curled slightly before she picked up the chopsticks. That detail wasn't in the script, but she had added it herself. It was a good addition, like someone who had really been working late in an office, starving, finally able to eat something hot.

For the third take, the outdoor camping scene, she changed into a khaki trench coat and sat at a picnic table, with a set-up tent and a few fake trees behind her.

The sun lamp shone from the right, casting a warm yellow halo on the side of her face.

Her movement when lifting the bowl was very light. When drinking the soup, she lowered her head, and her eyelashes cast a small, fan-shaped shadow on her cheeks.

After the director called it a take, she stood up from the chair.

Chairman Wang Shunyi had already stood up from the folding chair and was preparing to leave.

He said to Lee Jung-hoon: "Send it to me once post-production is done."

Lee Jung-hoon acknowledged this. He didn't greet Bae Joo-hyun, nor did he comment on her performance. He didn't need to. His appearance here, sitting from start to finish, was the evaluation itself.

As he walked past Bae Joo-hyun, she had already stood up from the picnic table, still holding the bowl of noodles. Seeing him approach, she subconsciously handed the bowl to the assistant beside her, letting both her hands drop, her fingertips pressed against the seams of her pants.

She bowed slightly, deeper than when he had entered. After bending her waist, she didn't straighten up immediately, waiting until he walked past her to rise slowly.

"Safe travels, Chairman."

"Hm."

He left. The sound of his leather shoes on the floor was unhurried, growing further and further away.

Bae Joo-hyun stood in place, waiting until the sound had completely disappeared before turning and walking toward the dressing room.

Her manager followed behind her, whispering something. She shook her head, pushed open the dressing room door, and went inside.

When the door closed, she leaned against the door panel and closed her eyes for a moment.

At six-thirty in the evening, Chairman Wang Shunyi sat at the dining table in Park Min-ji's house, with a bowl of freshly served oxtail soup in front of him.

Park Min-ji sat opposite him, holding her soup bowl and blowing on the steam.

"How was the shoot?"

"It was fine. Her professional capabilities are good."

"When will the commercial be released?"

"Next week."

She put down the soup bowl and placed a piece of kimchi on his plate. "Did you go watch for the whole day?"

"Just the morning." He lowered his head to drink his soup.

She didn't ask again. The television was on, the volume very low.

He finished the oxtail soup, and she served him another bowl.

Outside the window, Namsan Tower lit up. He picked up the bowl, drank slowly, and said nothing more.