Taeha’s first production presentation, held alongside the screening, was successfully completed.
It was an event without any major difficulties.
This was because the hosting by Park Kyung-im, who is often called the Yoo Jae-seop of production presentations, was incredibly clean.
The questions also came out as pre-delivered, so there was no trouble for Taeha to answer them.
The screening and production presentation ended in such a positive atmosphere.
One noteworthy point was that in the middle of the event, Park Kyung-im added a specific comment.
“Wow. Our Taeha seems so composed, as if he’s done hundreds of these production presentations before. His answers are great, and his expressions are so good. I really feel like it’s no wonder he gets to work with people like Director Jeong Myeong-hwan and Seok-hyun.”
To a third party, Park Kyung-im’s comment might have felt like mere Lip Service.
However, anyone present at the scene knew.
They knew that Park Kyung-im’s comment was sincere, without a single lie mixed in.
That was how impressive the composure Taeha showed at the production presentation was.
Perhaps because of that, one reporter even released an article with this title:
[Killer X Killer Two Top Main Character Kang Taeha, ‘Already Top-Star Level in Terms of Composure’]
Besides that, many articles related to Taeha and the production presentation were published with positive titles.
Considering that Lee Seok-hyun and Jeong Myeong-hwan were also there, this was quite a surprising feat.
Usually, a reporter would have no choice but to focus on those two when writing an article.
Despite that, the fact that many articles covered Taeha showed how favorably the reporters viewed him at the production presentation.
Above all, the photos of Taeha taken at the production presentation site caused quite a stir.
This was because he showed perfect beauty without any humiliation, even in the notoriously blunt press photos.
Some people even pointed out that it seemed as though the photographers had taken exceptionally good pictures of him.
They remarked that the angles themselves were closer to a pictorial than a standard press photo.
Most people brushed this off as praise for Taeha’s pictorial-like perfect appearance, but the observation wasn’t actually wrong.
In fact, the photographers had unconsciously burned with passion to capture shots that looked like a professional photoshoot.
Even the photos released to the public were the ones closest to a straightforward frontal angle.
There were even better shots, but those angles were so far removed from standard press photos that they couldn’t be released.
And perhaps thanks to the flood of photos and articles, quite a bit of talk about Taeha emerged in the Film communities as well.
– Is Kang Taeha getting a big push lately?
– He must have answered well at the production presentation.
– I saw the YouTube video that was uploaded, and it was decent.
– First of all, he’s handsome. Haha.
– I saw a few photos and they’re insane. Wow.
– Haha. He stood out even more than Lee Seok-hyun, it’s almost weird.
– I guess they really are pushing him.
– He’s a Lead Role in a Two Top film, so of course they have to. Yep.
– I don’t usually watch dramas, but is Kang Taeha any good?
– His visuals speak for themselves, haha. His acting isn’t bad either.
– His acting is the best among the kids coming out these days.
– With that face, even his acting is decent? Does that make sense?
– He can even hold his own as a Writer. Haha.
– It’s strange that he hasn’t hit it big until now.
– Isn’t he pretty famous by now? He’ll get even bigger though.
– As a drama Writer, he’s the best among the Rookies.
– As an actor, he’s also the best among Rookies. Haha.
– But I wonder if his film acting will be okay?
– That’s my biggest concern too. Usually, actors who only do dramas are awkward in a Film.
– He’s an actor who rose through acting skills rather than just looks, so he’ll be fine.
– Maybe because he’s a Writer, his ability to interpret works is different? Wouldn’t that work well in a Film too?
– Kang Taeha is a drama Writer, after all.
– Besides, is there even anything to ‘interpret’ in a Jeong Myeong-hwan Film? Haha.
– They say this Film is different, but honestly, I don’t believe it.
– Still, it’ll be fun.
– Agreed.
– Listening to the actors describe the characters, they seem like quite multidimensional figures.
– The evaluations from people who went to the screening were really good too.
– The evaluations from critics and reporters were all high.
– You believe that?
– Was Kang Taeha the Writer for Virus? Wow, I didn’t know. I really enjoyed that.
– Virus is the Thriller of my life too.
– I still can’t believe someone with that face can also be a Writer.
– What’s with the prejudice that a Writer would be ugly? Haha.
– I like actor Kang Taeha more than Writer Kang Taeha… I just like him because he’s handsome…
– I agree. Haha. I hope he makes it big as an actor too. Haha.
– So, does anyone know rumors about Writer Kang Taeha’s next project?
It certainly seemed that Taeha’s Success as a Writer had a significant impact on his recognition.
The fact that Taeha as a Writer was being mentioned in various communities was proof of that.
In any case, it was a fairly smooth start for his first Film promotion schedule.
Im Chan-hyung seemingly shared the same thought as he spoke.
“I was worried there wouldn’t be enough talk about you while promoting the movie, but the start is good. I never expected the photographers to be that passionate.”
“I feel the same way.”
“The reaction to the screening is also good, so the promotion agency seems very excited. A pretty hard schedule is waiting for you, so be prepared.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve been prepared for a long time.”
As such, Taeha spent his time busily handling promotion schedules like participating in various offline events, newspaper interviews, radio guest appearances, and YouTube guest appearances.
In a word, it was a series of incidents and accidents.
First, a riot broke out during a free coffee distribution event held by bringing a coffee truck to Jongno.
The reason was simple.
Lee Seok-hyun, who was supposed to brew coffee with Taeha just the two of them, was unexpectedly bad at the job.
He spilled ice, spilled water, and spilled coffee; eventually, he even spilled syrup, making the entire interior of the coffee truck sticky.
In the end, the person who settled the situation was Taeha.
He told Lee Seok-hyun to take the coffee orders and began brewing the coffee himself.
Taeha ground the beans, tamped them quickly and swiftly, extracted the espresso, and whipped up Americanos in no time.
He even showed the ability to clean the interior of the coffee truck that had become sticky with syrup in the meantime.
The reason Taeha could demonstrate such skills was because of his memories from his days as an assistant Writer.
“Coffee… I really brewed a hell of a lot of it. Just to suit the taste of Baek Seung-chul, who had developed a hobby for coffee.”
After Baek Seung-chul mentioned in a newspaper interview that he had become interested in coffee, coffee bean gifts flooded into the Studio for a while.
The annoying fact was that Baek Seung-chul had never once brewed coffee with those beans himself.
Baek Seung-chul’s hobby regarding coffee was strictly limited to ‘drinking’ it.
Thanks to that, Taeha had to brew coffee day and night as if he had become a professional barista.
An even more annoying fact was that when Taeha brewed the coffee for him, Baek Seung-chul, who claimed to have a hobby for it, would just toss it back in one gulp.
Taeha realized then.
That Baek Seung-chul actually had no hobby for coffee.
In the newspaper interview, he had merely brought it up because he wanted to seem sophisticated.
Regardless, thanks to Taeha’s cleanup, the event to distribute 300 cups of coffee ended successfully.
Then came the newspaper interview.
The newspaper interview Taeha conducted alone was quite difficult because the level of the questions was higher than expected.
He couldn’t even understand how Baek Seung-chul could lie about having a hobby for coffee in a place like this.
Among them, the noteworthy contents were as follows.
Q. Critical Point and Heureojeo Itdeon Saramdeul have been consecutive Successes, making the name Kang Taeha known to many people. You are the most anticipated Rookie actor recently; how do you feel about this?
A. I feel truly grateful. Actually, the profession of an actor came into my life very suddenly. I had a different dream before. However, I’m feeling a lot of unexpected joy while acting, and I’m so happy to receive as much love as I am now. I intend to do my best so that this interest can continue.
Q. I heard you once debuted as an Idol before your debut as an actor. Could you perhaps tell us about that time?
A. It was just one of those things that commonly happen in this industry. I debuted as an Idol, but I didn’t achieve satisfactory results. However, there were good people around me, so I was able to overcome the hard times, and now it’s a new beginning. I want to return all the love I’ve received to the people who believed in me. I want to be someone they aren’t ashamed of. That is all I want.
Q. Kang Taeha as an actor is impressive, but Kang Taeha as a Writer is also formidable. In particular, the Success of Virus is evaluated by the public as the best performance a 12-Episode drama could show. What are your thoughts?
A. Writer Kim Jeong-sik from Heureojeo Itdeon Saramdeul gave me a lot of really good advice. Specifically, the story about how he decided to write the story he liked, discarding the old and writing something new, was like that. Come to think of it, I think that’s right. Me as a Writer and me as an actor have an inseparable connection. If I weren’t an actor, I wouldn’t have been able to hear Writer Kim Jeong-sik’s advice. I think this might be my weapon. I plan to find ways to utilize this weapon more.
Q. Killer X Killer seems to be a work that carries both immense expectations and concerns simultaneously. I’m being cautious, but I’d like to hear your opinion on how you felt during actor Seon Min-gi’s Hollywood advancement and what you think about the weakness regarding the lack of story that is constantly raised about Director Jeong Myeong-hwan’s Film.
A. It is definitely a story that requires caution. First of all, in Min-gi’s case, I was the one who first told him that I hoped he wouldn’t miss the opportunity to enter Hollywood. Because he is a person with a strong sense of responsibility, he had many worries until the very end. If he hadn’t heard the news that Seok-hyun would take his place, he might have stayed in the country until the end. He’s originally that kind of person. The weakness consistently raised about the Director’s Film was a fact the Director himself was aware of, as he personally mentioned during the production presentation. That’s why Writer Sim Yeong-seon joined. Writer Sim Yeong-seon was in the Staff Room almost every day and didn’t spare her advice on the story part. And I believe these efforts were sufficiently captured in the Film. This part also had a big influence on why I chose this Film.
Besides these, questions about the Film’s promotion, the character Ian, and Taeha’s next project were all published in the newspaper.
Because he didn’t expect so many questions to be published in such depth, Taeha couldn’t help but be surprised.
The fortunate thing was that such interview articles had a positive influence.
This was evident just by seeing that posts capturing Taeha’s answers became popular on Film communities.
And what remained were the radio guest appearances and the YouTube guest appearances.
A truly impressive incident occurred here.