Chapter 28

As time passed quietly, it was already February, and the Spring Festival had come and gone. Zhang Chengyuan's father, Zhang Donghu, returned to the country for a few days and then hurriedly left again. It was unknown what such busyness was for—whether it was due to the demands of making a living or the habits formed over the years.

With the new semester about to start in early March, Zhang Chengyuan seized the opportunity to shoot some advertisements, planning to earn more money so he wouldn't have to work after school started. The reason he wouldn't have time was that he was a senior in high school this year.

Senior year, such a magical term, just hearing it made some people shudder. All Koreans who had experienced the terrifying senior year of high school would never forget it. Thinking about the pain and suffering they endured preparing for the college entrance exam, no one would want to go through it again. Although Zhang Chengyuan hadn't experienced it yet, recalling the scenes of his seniors over the past two years, who were always drowsy and studying hard, he could empathize.

Once he became a college entrance exam candidate, Zhang Chengyuan feared he wouldn't be able to take leave as casually as last year, as the school teachers wouldn't allow it. In the eyes of the teachers at Jiulao High School, Zhang Chengyuan was the school's ace, a top student with the potential to score high and get into any of the three major universities in Korea—Seoul National University, Korea University, or Yonsei University—thus bringing glory to the school. They would never allow Zhang Chengyuan to be distracted and affect his studies.

On a day in mid-February, at an indoor ice rink in Yangcheon District, Seoul, Zhang Chengyuan was gliding smoothly on ice skates. He would suddenly speed up, then brake sharply, move forward and backward with ease, and occasionally leap into the air, spin, and land steadily, his movements graceful and agile, giving the impression of being more flexible than a squirrel and more agile than a cheetah. Seeing his actions, no one would have thought that a week ago, he was still a complete novice who couldn't even put on ice skates.

A week ago, the day after the three-day Spring Festival holiday, a representative of a newly established clothing company suddenly approached Park Byung-ryeol, asking Zhang Chengyuan to endorse their school uniform brand, CleverS, and entrusting Park Byung-ryeol's advertising agency to shoot an advertisement for them.

Park Byung-ryeol learned that the reason they chose Zhang Chengyuan was that the company's president had accidentally seen Zhang Chengyuan's role as the young Bo Hu in the TV drama "Famous Doctor Heo Jun" and was deeply moved. He believed that Zhang Chengyuan, with his sunny and handsome image and being only 17 or 18 years old, was very suitable to be the image ambassador for their newly established school uniform brand. After finding out more about Zhang Chengyuan, he felt that Zhang Chengyuan had great potential, with his popularity and fame on the rise, and because he had just started his career, his endorsement fees were much lower than those of established stars, making him a "high-quality and affordable" choice for small and medium-sized enterprises.

To show the company's sincerity and to get Park Byung-ryeol and Zhang Chengyuan to accept the commission, the representative of the clothing company, after reviewing the past works of Logosfilm Advertising Agency, decided to entrust the shooting of the advertisement to this agency, and all the costs would be 20% higher than the market price.

After Park Byung-ryeol and Zhang Chengyuan reviewed the clothing samples sent by the company, they considered that although the CleverS school uniform brand was unknown and might not boost Zhang Chengyuan's popularity, the appearance and quality of the clothing were excellent, comparable to the three major school uniform brands in Korea—Elite, Smart, and Ivyclub. Additionally, the endorsement fees and production costs were very satisfactory, so they readily agreed without engaging in the commercial tactic of "repeated negotiations to raise the price."

Since the clothing company had already prepared the creative concept for the advertisement, the employees of Logosfilm Advertising Agency worked urgently for a few days and then started shooting, aiming to produce a high-quality advertisement as quickly as possible.

The school uniform advertisement definitely needed male and female models to represent male and female students. Zhang Chengyuan was already chosen as the male model, so they needed a female model. However, Logosfilm Advertising Agency did not have any outstanding female models, so the clothing company had to select one from other companies.

According to the script, the male model needed to have certain ice skating skills. However, Zhang Chengyuan was a complete novice, having never been exposed to ice skating, a sport popular among young Koreans, let alone perform on ice. Therefore, during the preparation period for the advertisement, Zhang Chengyuan devoted himself entirely to learning ice skating, which would affect his current career prospects. With his excellent physical fitness and strong learning ability, in five days, he transformed from a complete novice to a skilled skater capable of performing many fancy moves, though he could not perform high-difficulty moves like a triple axel.

On the day of the shoot, Park Byung-ryeol, Zhang Chengyuan, and the production team arrived at the shooting location early. The female model had not yet arrived, so Zhang Chengyuan went onto the ice to warm up and practice the ice skating skills he had just learned. After about ten minutes, a young girl with a fresh and lovely appearance and a tall, strong figure arrived at the shooting site, accompanied by several staff members.

At Park Byung-ryeol's call, Zhang Chengyuan stopped practicing and quickly skated to the side, taking a look at the newcomer and guessing that this girl must be the female model he would be working with.

According to Park Byung-ryeol, the female model had a significant background. She was Yoon Eun-hye, the youngest member of the currently popular girl group BabyVox. She was not yet 16 years old, a year and a half younger than Zhang Chengyuan. She joined the BabyVox group, which had been active for two years, last year and officially debuted as a singer in August. It seemed that she had debuted a few months after Zhang Chengyuan.

However, before that, Yoon Eun-hye had already modeled for many magazine covers and various advertisements. If they were to compare, it was uncertain who was the senior. Moreover, at this point, Zhang Chengyuan's popularity and fame were still far behind Yoon Eun-hye, so Park Byung-ryeol had already instructed Zhang Chengyuan not to act superior and not to put on an air of seniority in front of Yoon Eun-hye.

Having been in the entertainment industry for more than half a year, Zhang Chengyuan had worked with several female artists, but none of them were as young as Yoon Eun-hye. This made Zhang Chengyuan have a bit of special anticipation: perhaps today's shoot would be interesting, at least he wouldn't be taken advantage of by some older sisters.

At this moment, Zhang Chengyuan carefully observed Yoon Eun-hye and found that although she was not a stunning beauty, she was still quite attractive, with a good physique, unlike the frail bodies of most female artists. Her big eyes and slightly chubby face made her look very cute, which was exactly the type Zhang Chengyuan liked, and he immediately formed a good impression of her.

Yoon Eun-hye, after greeting the director and others, came over with her agent to greet Zhang Chengyuan and Park Byung-ryeol. After a brief exchange, the two agents walked to the side, leaving Zhang Chengyuan and Yoon Eun-hye alone. Both knew that the agents did this to give them some private space to get to know each other, so they could reduce some awkwardness during their collaboration.

According to the introduction by her agent, Yoon Eun-hye knew that Zhang Chengyuan was a promising new star in advertising and a newcomer in television, with a good reputation and worth befriending. She said frankly, "Chengyuan oppa, can I call you that?"

Seeing such a handsome and vibrant young man, few girls could remain indifferent and not want to get to know him. However, some girls were either too shy or pretended to be reserved, and Zhang Chengyuan's usual cold and aloof demeanor made it difficult for them to approach him. But because of the work, Zhang Chengyuan's expression was much warmer, so Yoon Eun-hye was not intimidated by him at all.

Zhang Chengyuan replied straightforwardly, "Of course, you can. In the future, I will also call you by your name without using honorifics." Formalities and honorifics, while appearing polite, can create barriers when used too much. Therefore, good friends usually don't pay attention to these, and Zhang Chengyuan and Yoon Eun-hye, who were about to start working together, naturally didn't want to engage in unnecessary polite gestures.