Chapter 855: Movie Preview of Menghuan Yinghua (1) – Part 2
At that moment, a large screen began coming down from the ceiling.
Gun-Ho turned around and looked at the back area of the hall behind his seat. Every seat was now occupied with someone. The hall was filled with a lot of people.
“Hey, Mr. President Goo. You are here.”
Gun-Ho turned his gaze to the source of the sound. It was Director Seukang Li.
“Thank you for coming, President Goo. Because of you, we could make this great movie.”
“Don’t mention it. It was part of my business anyway.”
When the movie preview started, Gun-Ho and Seukang Li had to stop their conversation. The moderator made an announcement in Chinese for quite a while, informing the movie will soon start. Eventually, the movie screen completely came down from the ceiling, and the movie finally started.
Gun-Ho enjoyed the movie while having the popcorn that was distributed to every audience at the movie preview. He also drank the beverage. He could hear other people in the back having their snacks and beverages as well. Those people were also talking in a low voice, and that distracted Gun-Ho greatly. He couldn’t focus on watching the movie.
“They are being so loud.” He felt irritated.
Gun-Ho watched the movie for a while and then dozed off for a while until the movie finally ended.
The movie was over, and the screen went back up to the ceiling. On the stage, the actors, actresses, and movie directors were already sitting at the table.
The moderator made an announcement for quite a while again, and then he started introducing the people on the stage to the audience. Everyone’s attention was, of course, drawn to the leading actress—Mori Aikko—who was sitting in the middle of the table. Gun-Ho also craned his neck out to see Mori Aikko better.
Mori Aikko was wearing a white blouse. Gun-Ho couldn’t see whether she was wearing a skirt or pants because her bottom was covered by the table. Mori Aikko in a white blouse looked more like an office worker lady rather than a celebrity, most of whom usually enjoyed wearing conspicuous colorful clothes. The neat and simple dress made Mori Aikko look more j.a.panese.
“Let me introduce the leading female actress—Ms. Mori Aikko.”
Mori Aikko stood up from her seat. And, she made a deep bow to the audience, a deeper bow than other Chinese actors or actresses did. She was wearing a long black skirt which Gun-Ho could see now.
“I’m so happy to be here and be on this good movie.”
Mori Aikko continued to talk for a bit before sitting back in her seat. The reporters busily took pictures of Mori Aikko, and they also started pouring all sorts of questions for her. Because of an overwhelmingly great number of questions that Mori Aikko received, the moderator had to announce that they would accept questions for her from three reporters only.
The first question was thrown, “When did you begin learning the dance?”
And other questions followed, “What is the requirement to be a dancing geisha in j.a.pan?”
“Does a geisha not go to school, and just learns how to dance?”
“Does a geisha have to serve alcohol to clients as well?”
All sorts of questions including difficult ones to answer were addressed to Mori Aikko, but she stayed calm. She answered every question while keeping a warm smile on her face all the time. Gun-Ho heard the Chinese people, who were sitting behind him, saying, “She looks like a graceful lady.”
“She surely does. Her face is so pretty, and she looks very elegant. Chinese actresses are spoiled compared to her. They should learn from her.”
At that moment, a man among the audience suddenly screamed loudly, “Let’s see how well Mori Aikko can dance! I want to see her dancing in person.”
As the man made the suggestion, everyone started screaming for the same request. At that moment, a man jumped on the stage and dragged Mori Aikko to the middle of the stage. Mori Aikko looked perplexed. The reporters started taking pictures of her again.
Gun-Ho remembered how Mori Aikko danced at the private bar.
“Mori Aikko’s dance is sad and plaintive.”
Gun-Ho thought that her dance wouldn’t satisfy the audience here because they looked so excited, and they must expect some dance that had similar vibes—excitement. Her dance certainly wasn’t one of those.
In the meanwhile, someone seemed to bring a j.a.panese song. When it was turned on, seemingly traditional j.a.panese music came out.
“Let us see you dance, Ms. Mori Aikko!”
“We want to see!”
Mori Aikko still looked perplexed. After a moment, she looked determined and grabbed the microphone and said, “This is certainly not an ideal setting for my dance, but since you all want it, I will make a brief dance performance, like 2 or 3 minutes long.”
A big round of applause ensued.
“I heard the music—Hanagasa Ondo—as one of the music that someone prepared. I will dance along to that music.”
Mori Aikko then picked a tray that was placed on the table to get ready for her dance.
“She picked up a tray? Is that because she needs a hand fan, but she doesn’t have it now? Is she going to dance with a tray?”
Loud music started, and Mori Aikko began her dance along with the music. Other than the sound of the music, it was dead quiet. Her dance was different from what Gun-Ho remembered. The music was rhythmical, and Mori Aikko didn’t look sad at all. She was smiling while dancing. She even lifted her leg a little bit from time to time while dancing. It was certainly not the dance that Gun-Ho had seen before. She looked so great. Her dance was great. The vibe and atmosphere that her dance was exuding was excitement. It certainly was what the audience expected.
“Wow!”
The people were impressed, and they started clapping enthusiastically. The sound of camera shutters was heard here and there. People were being exhilarated, and they were saying that they wouldn’t be able to see a dance like that elsewhere even though they would be willing to pay for it.
Mori Aikko’s dance lasted for 3 minutes. The following clapping sound from the audience seemed to last more than that.
The movie preview was finally over.
Some of the audience left the place, and some still-excited people stayed and asked Mori Aikko for her autograph.
“Umm, sir.”
Gun-Ho turned around to see who it was. It was Director Woon-Hak Sim. He was holding a bouquet of flowers.
“Sir, I prepared these flowers for you. You probably want to bring these flowers to Mori Aikko when you congratulate her.”
Gun-Ho thought that Director Woon-Hak Sim was a very thoughtful man.
Gun-Ho pulled out an envelope, that he prepared, from the inner pocket of his jacket. And then, he went up to the stage holding the bouquet of flowers that Director Sim handed to him. He then walked toward Mori Aikko.
“Aikko, congratulations.”
“Oh, oppa!”
Mori Aikko, who was giving her autograph to one of her fans while sitting at the table, jumped up from her seat when she saw Gun-Ho. Gun-Ho gave her the bouquet of flowers and the envelope. There were 3,000 dollars in the envelope.
“Thank you, oppa.”
“I came to congratulate you, Mori Aikko. You did fantastic work. I have to go back to Korea today. I want you to enjoy the rest of the evening. I will talk to you later.”
Mori Aikko smiled and waved at Gun-Ho.
‘If there was no one around us, I would have hugged her so tightly.’
Gun-Ho wanted to hold her so badly. She looked so cute. What she did, what she said, and everything about her felt so cute for Gun-Ho.