Managing the Korean entertainment industry: I have superpowers, but I won't say.

The day after Su Yu returned from Busan, she found an email from A24 in her inbox.

It was sent by Rachel. The attachment was a complete script titled "The Last Song," a 117-page PDF file. Su Yu opened it at the company and started reading from the beginning.

The story is simple. A Korean immigrant family lives in a small town in Oregon, USA. The father, Mr. Kim, works at a convenience store, the mother works in a sewing factory, and their daughter, Kim Nana, is seventeen years old and wants to sing a song at her high school graduation party.

The problem was that her family couldn't afford a piano, and no one taught her. She secretly went to the church to play the old piano, but the priest found out. Instead of kicking her out, the priest taught her for three months. On the day of her graduation party, her mother was working overtime and couldn't come. Her father sat in the last row, listening to his daughter sing, and he cried.

Su Yu stopped when he reached page fifty and lit a cigarette. There was a scene in the script where the father was secretly counting change behind a convenience store shelf, not enough to buy his daughter a gift. He put the change back, took it out again, and put it back again. He repeated this three times. There were no lines, no narration, just the silhouette of a man crouching behind the shelf.

He remembered counting his change when he first arrived in South Korea. Behind the convenience store checkout, he would carefully arrange the coins one by one, calculating whether he could make ends meet that month. Back then, he hadn't noticed the black crack, nor did he know he would end up like this.

He finished his cigarette and continued watching.

When he reached page ninety, his eyes welled up with tears. His daughter was singing on stage, and Old Jin sat in the audience, his hands clenched into fists on his knees. Only after his daughter finished singing did he relax his fists. He didn't applaud, he didn't stand up, he just relaxed his fists, placed them on his knees, and let out a soft breath. The script said—"He didn't cry, but his eyes were red, like they were in the convenience store that night."

Su Yu closed the script and shut her eyes for a while.

Kim Dong-wook knocked and came in, then paused, noticing him leaning back in his chair. "What's wrong?"

"It's okay. I've finished reading the script."

"The one on A24?"

"Um."

"How is it?"

Su Yu opened her eyes. "Very good."

Kim Dong-wook sat down beside him. "Then, shall we throw?"

"Let's invest. Three million dollars, half each."

Kim Dong-wook took out his phone and did the math. "One and a half million. We have enough in our account."

"If that's not enough, we'll get it from Bitcoin."

Kim Dong-wook glanced at him. "How much did you actually make from that Bitcoin?"

Su Yu did not answer.

Kim Dong-wook didn't ask any more questions, stood up, and left. As he reached the door, he turned back and said, "A24 asked if we should send someone to the US to negotiate."

"I'll go."

"When?"

"next week."

Kim Dong-wook nodded and left.

Su Yu picked up her phone and called Cai Xiubin. It rang four times before she answered.

"Are you done with work?" Su Yu asked.

"Just got back to the hotel. What's wrong? Your voice sounds off."

I'm going to the United States next week.

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone. "America? What for?"

"The A24 project. We need to go to Los Angeles to discuss the contract."

"How long will it take?"

"One week."

Cai Xiubin paused for a moment. "So when are you coming to Busan?"

"Going again this weekend. Leaving next week."

"Will you come again after you return?"

"Come."

Cai Xiubin's voice softened. "Su Yu, I feel relieved every time you say 'come'."

Su Yu didn't speak.

"Then be careful when you go to the US. Don't always eat hamburgers, find Chinese restaurants to eat at."

"Um."

"Message me when you arrive."

"it is good."

After hanging up the phone, Su Yu sat at his desk, looking out at the Han River. Sunlight shone on the water, shattering into golden fragments. He reopened the script on page A24, turned to page ninety, and read it through.

In the afternoon, Shirley arrived. She was holding a cup of coffee when she opened the door, wearing a white sweater, her hair down, and she looked very relaxed.

"I heard you're going to America?" She sat down on the sofa.

"Kim Dong-wook really talks fast."

"He told Choi Min-soo, and Choi Min-soo told me," Shirley said, taking a sip of her coffee. "How long are you going to be gone?"

"One week."

"What are you talking about?"

"A co-production film. A budget of three million US dollars, split equally between the two parties."

Shirley put down her coffee cup. "Su Yu, you really dare to do anything. You haven't even established yourself in South Korea yet, and you're already going to America."

Su Yu looked at her. "You don't think it's okay?"

"It's not that I can't. It's just that I think you're moving too fast." Shirley's fingers slowly twirled along the rim of her glass. "How long have you been running your company? A year and a half. You've filmed three movies, bought a building, invested in Bitcoin, and now you're going to America. Aren't you afraid you won't be able to sustain it?"

Su Yu paused for a moment. "No."

How can you be so sure?

"Because every step has been calculated."

Shirley stared at him for a few seconds, then laughed. "You're living a really tiring life."

Su Yu didn't reply.

Shirley stood up, walked to the window, and turned her back to him. "Su Yu."

"Um."

"When you go to America, do you want to bring someone with you? Kim Dong-wook or Choi Min-soo?"

"No need. I'm alone."

"Are you good at English?"

Su Yu looked at her. "Not bad."

Shirley laughed. "You speak English? Is there anything you can't do?"

Su Yu did not answer.

On Friday afternoon, Su Yu boarded the high-speed train to Busan. This time, he brought a bag of oranges and a box of chocolates. Cai Xiubin said she wanted to eat chocolates, so he had someone buy them from Lotte Department Store in Seoul—a box of twelve, each with a different shape.

It was already dark when Su Yu arrived at the cinema. Cai Xiubin was still filming, the last scene, in a coffee shop. Su Yu didn't go in to disturb her, but stood at the door watching. Cai Xiubin was wearing that white shirt, denim apron, and her hair was tied in a low ponytail; she was making hot cocoa for a child.

She squatted down, placed the cup on the table, and smiled at the child. That smile wasn't faked; it was Cai Xiubin's own.

The director yelled "CUT," and the child's mother came over to thank him. Cai Xiubin stood up, saw Su Yu at the door, and ran over.

"You're here? I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow."

"I came after finishing up my company business ahead of time."

Cai Xiubin took his hand and led him into the set. "Look, this is the latte art I learned this week. Tulip." She pointed to a cup of coffee on the bar, with a small flower drawn on the milk foam. It didn't quite look like a tulip, but you could tell it was a flower.

Su Yu glanced at it. "You've improved."

"That's it? Aren't you going to give me some praise?"

"It's better than the leaf from last week."

Cai Xiubin laughed and punched him in the chest. "It's really hard for you to praise people."

After finishing work, the two went to the barbecue restaurant. The owner, an older woman, already recognized them. Seeing Su Yu, she smiled and said, "Your boyfriend's here again." Cai Xiubin blushed, and Su Yu nodded and sat down. While the meat was grilling, Cai Xiubin picked up a piece and put it in Su Yu's bowl.

"You're going to America next week, is Kim Dong-wook going with you?"

"No. I'm going alone."

"Are you okay on your own?"

"Can."

Cai Xiubin put down her chopsticks and looked at him. "Su Yu, you always say yes. Aren't you tired?"

Su Yu also put down her chopsticks. "Tired. But I can't stop."

Why?

"Because when you stop, you start thinking about other things."

Cai Xiubin didn't understand, but she didn't ask again.

The next morning, Su Yu went to the film set. Cai Xiubin was filming her last scene—Jung Ah-young selling the coffee shop and leaving Busan. She stood at the coffee shop entrance, glanced back, and then turned and walked away. No tears, no laughter, just a departure. After the director yelled "CUT," Cai Xiubin stood there, staring at the set, lost in thought for a while.

Su Yu walked over and stood next to her.

"You can't bear to part with it?" he asked.

"Yeah. We've been filming here for two months, coming and going every day, and I've gotten used to it."

Su Yu didn't speak.

Cai Xiubin turned to look at him. "Aren't you going to America next week?"

"Um."

"Will I still be in Busan when you come back?"

"You're done filming. It's time to go back to Seoul."

Cai Xiubin paused for a moment, then smiled. "Oh right. I'm almost done filming. I'll head back after I finish."

Su Yu reached out and ruffled her hair. "Then I'll wait for you in Seoul."

Cai Xiubin smiled, her eyes crinkling into crescents.