Chapter 69

The incident involving Lu Hongzhe affected many people, but due to his identity as a comedian and his attitude of not pursuing the matter after the incident, the entire event calmed down without causing much of a stir.

Except for the recording of "Infinite Challenge" being slightly affected.

Because of Lu Hongzhe's injury, the recording of "Infinite Challenge" was suspended for four weeks, which gave Yin Xian more time.

So Yin Xian gradually began recording songs for his new album.

And the filming of "IRIS" was nearing its end.

After several weeks of airing, the shooting schedule, which was originally planned to be completed, had been extended by a week.

There was no other reason; the constantly rising ratings made everyone in the crew put their utmost effort into refining every shot.

Fine work naturally required time.

But as the final scene and the last shot of the entire series approached, a dispute arose within the crew.

The two lead actors and the director all disagreed with the tragic ending as originally scripted.

According to the original script, after completing their mission to save the country, the male and female leads would go on a vacation, and the male lead would propose to the female lead during the trip. However, the male lead would ultimately die on the way to proposing.

The tragic ending, as originally scripted, would give the entire series a lingering resonance.

However, the actors' performances far exceeded the scriptwriter's expectations. Due to the actors' performances, the script had been revised many times. Although the overall storyline did not change much, the entire series had transformed from a depressing tragedy into a grand epic.

In the current atmosphere, using a method like a bullet cutting the safety rope to shoot the ending would be a very unwise move.

The scriptwriter knew this.

But he could not bear the ending suddenly turning into a 007-style happy ending. Even if it was a comedy, it had to include some thought-provoking elements.

Thus, due to this not-so-reasonable reason, the shooting entered a stalemate.

Actually, Yin Xian had nothing to do with this dispute. His scenes were already finished. In the series, his character was thrown off a cliff by a traitor to save the two main characters. He came today to prepare for the wrap party in the evening.

Seeing the scene fall into silence due to the dilemma, Yin Xian felt a bit frustrated.

So his MC instincts kicked in.

"Come on, let's summarize!" Yin Xian clapped his hands, gathering the two lead actors, the director, and the scriptwriter, who were all silent. "Let's analyze the situation. The current situation is that if we follow the original plot where the male lead is shot, no one is satisfied, right?"

The four people remained silent, and even the scriptwriter nodded silently.

"That means the male lead can't die; he must survive in the end," Yin Xian summarized.

The four people all nodded.

"But the scriptwriter doesn't agree with the male lead proposing so easily, right?" Yin Xian continued.

The scriptwriter nodded.

"So, we need to set up obstacles, either on the way to the proposal or during the time the female lead is waiting," Yin Xian continued. "On the way to the proposal, there are two scenarios: being saved by someone without knowing it, or defeating the enemy and rushing to see the female lead. During the waiting time, the male lead arrives later and kills the assassin. So, these are the three scenarios!"

"But we don't have any extra characters," the director suddenly said.

"Extra characters? Oh, you mean the assassin! That's simple, you or the scriptwriter can cameo!" Yin Xian said nonchalantly.

On one side, Kim Tae-hee, who had been looking gloomy, burst out laughing at this suggestion.

The scriptwriter and the director's faces turned very colorful.

"This isn't a problem. If needed, I can help find a friend to cameo," Lee Byung-hun said on the side.

"So, the key point is that Scriptwriter Xi and Director Xi need to form a common opinion: what do you want to convey in the end? Is it a tragic hero who sacrifices everything for the people, as Scriptwriter Xi thinks, or a good person who will be rewarded, as the director imagines? Or a compromise..." Yin Xian continued.

"The final scene doesn't have much time," the scriptwriter said.

"That's simple. I have a suggestion. The antagonist arranges an assassin to kill Lee Byung-hun on his way to propose, but his colleagues find out. So, the good guys send a special agent to kill the assassin without Lee Byung-hun knowing, and he successfully proposes. How about that?" Yin Xian said. "This way, the theme of the entire series is: heroes are never alone. Even heroes who save the world need to be saved. A hero of the people. This also fits Lee Byung-hun's performance in the series. How about it?"

After Yin Xian finished speaking, he looked at the director and scriptwriter, who were looking at him, and clapped his hands.

"That's a good suggestion," the scriptwriter suddenly said.

"I agree with this ending," the director also nodded. "And the theme is also very good."

"Do you need me to find someone to cameo as the assassins?" Lee Byung-hun also agreed.

"I can find friends too," Kim Tae-hee was also satisfied, and since this ending was suggested by her brother, she should support it.

"Actually, it's not that complicated. The assassin can be played by the scriptwriter," Yin Xian said with a smile. "The backup can be played by the director."

"I don't want to!" The director shook his head like a rattle.

"Then how about I do it?" Yin Xian thought for a moment. "I have nothing to do today anyway."

"Aren't you already dead?" Kim Tae-hee interjected again.

"Just thrown down, who knows if I'm dead or not?" Yin Xian said with a smile.

"That's a good idea!" Lee Byung-hun suddenly said.

"Yes, it also has a bit of a redemptive meaning," the scriptwriter also nodded.

Thus, "IRIS" finally deviated from the original script's ending. The last shot was frozen on Kim Tae-hee's happy smile and the other half of the frame showing Yin Xian lighting a cigarette.

And "IRIS" had already aired halfway, with the average rating of the tenth episode reaching 45%. It seemed that becoming the top-rated drama of the year was a foregone conclusion.

However, after completing the shooting, Yin Xian no longer cared about the ratings. For him, it was just fulfilling a promise to Kim Tae-hee. Although he enjoyed the process of shooting the drama and felt happy, he didn't have the time to enjoy the glory the drama might bring him.

He had more important things to do.

This was his first official album.

After this period of intense work, all 12 songs had been recorded. According to Yin Xian's idea, it was basically ready for release. After all, half of the songs on the album were well-known old songs. Just these old songs had won nearly ten first places on "Music Bank" and "Popular Songs." This was already a very good achievement for any singer's album.

However, LOEN Entertainment clearly did not plan to let Yin Xian off so easily. Because IU's schedule had reduced, Kim Soo-yeon, who had less workload, was reassigned to arrange Yin Xian's schedule.

When Yin Xian saw the schedule, he was somewhat amused and frustrated.

"Is the company planning to sell the album for 80,000 won?" Yin Xian's complaint hit the core of the schedule: cost.

Yes, cost. LOEN Entertainment planned to shoot MVs for all 11 songs on the album, except for "Gangnam Style," which already had a super-luxury MV...

This was not just a matter of sparing no expense.

This was sheer madness.

However, after communicating with Kim Soo-yeon, Yin Xian understood the company's thinking.

Although he did not mind, after the incident at the Baeksang Arts Awards last year, he had almost completely relied on himself for his entertainment activities. Apart from occasionally notifying Jung Mi-sun to do his styling and using his recording studio, he had hardly used any of LOEN Entertainment's resources.

But the value he created for LOEN Entertainment was immeasurable.

First, he helped the company successfully launch IU's first album without any compensation. This album was entirely due to Yin Xian's efforts, so at least half of the income IU brought to the company should be attributed to him.

Second, the revenue from the downloads of his songs on Melon was also a considerable amount.

Finally, Yin Xian had brought countless positive impacts to LOEN Entertainment's overall image.

Considering all these factors, LOEN Entertainment had a guiding principle: "Even if the four-year contract period is up, we must renew with Yin Xian." Naturally, the importance and investment in Yin Xian shifted from "appropriate倾斜" to "spare no expense."

Thus, this crazy album plan was born.

"So many MVs, where will the scripts come from?" Yin Xian's next question came.

"You wrote the songs, so you should write the scripts," Kim Soo-yeon said bluntly. "You can invite any director you want, and the company will pay for it."

"So the company thinks that as long as money can solve the problem, it's not a problem?" Yin Xian was taken aback and joked.

"That's the idea."

"Two years ago, I met a director named Spielberg at the Grammy Awards. He once said he had a good idea for the live performance of 'Rolling in the Deep' and would be happy to try directing the MV if the song were to be filmed..." Yin Xian teased.

"...Do you hate LOEN Entertainment so much that you want it to go bankrupt quickly?" Kim Soo-yeon said, speechless.

"I actually calculated it before. If all the MVs were produced by DreamWorks, the budget would be around 8 to 10 million dollars," Yin Xian quoted casually.

Kim Soo-yeon covered her face and fled.