Jun 25, 2008

Behind the Press Conference


Satoko's Story - Part 3

Satoko didn’t raise her hand. Neither of the questions she had in mind was appropriate as the first one. It is always quite difficult to break the ice. Let’s just see what happens here, she thought. A middle aged man in a suit who sat right in back of Satoko stood up. Because the emcee had no choice but to ask him, the mike went to him. It was a reporter from K Company. Way to go K! With the mike this close, if she can receive it naturally like it was passed to the front, Satoko would have the chance to ask the next question.

The man from K asked about YJ’s favorite location spot, and as if he wanted to show off his memory, YJ started to give out a long list of places he went on location.

In “Roman Holiday” style, it was a question that should be answered “each, in its own way, was unforgettable…”, but YJ answered “Jeju” (where the main set is located) as predicted.” He also mentioned that if he were to pick one more place, it would be Danyang, and the atmosphere of the place was getting somewhat dull.

Hmmm, this is not good….
If this session continues like this, tomorrow’s news will be all of 30 seconds.

ALRIGHT, it’s settled!
What this place needs next is a bomb of laughs.
My darling, mianamnida (forgive me)! Yong Joon, yorobun, laugh PLEASE!!
I will bear the pain of you hating me.
If it’s going to help you become the best actor of Asia, I will put up with any kind of embarrassment~~~~~
Oh what a fool you are Satovic~~~~~~~~~~~~♪

Hearing the emcee call for the next question, Satoko turned around quickly and receiving the microphone from the reporter from K, she stood up half way and called out “HERE!”

It would be expected that the emcee would have no choice but to choose Satoko seeing her in this position, but for some reason after saying “yes, the lady in the front”, she added the unnecessary remark “with the gray sleeves”.

Satoko, who had thought it was her all along was now totally confused, and looked around her, but no one with gray sleeves was in sight. The person in front of her wore green, the one next to her wore white – Satoko’s own China blouse was black, so some may have thought it was gray with the reflection of the lights. Not knowing who was chosen, Satoko stood up with a mike in her hand,

Me?

No?

Who?

Her?

That person there?

Isn’t it me?

Alright, I’m just going to go on.

Okay?

It is okay, right?

She went on trying to make her point with a lot of messed up sign and body language.

“Ohh, so all of you are in gray…alright then, the lady holding the microphone, please.”

That’s what the emcee said, but the truth was, no one was wearing gray.
What was he seeing?

Anyway, setting out with cold sweat breaking out from the very beginning, Satoko totally flipped out – her mind went blank, and couldn’t even remember the name of her magazine.

At that moment, Norisuke-san whispered to her, “Korean Drama Tsushin! Korean Drama Tsushin!”

Oh, yes right!
“Um, my name is Satoko from Korean Drama Tsushin. I have a question for Pye ha (your majesty 陛下) Damdeok.”

Oh, this is no good… my voice is cracking, and I’m starting to talk really fast.

“I have over 100 questions here entrusted to me from your fans, and this question is one of the typical ones. In the drama, Suzini played by E Jiah-san goes like this…”

Oh no! Words aren’t coming out!

“clinging close to you from the back…”
as Satoko said this, she imitated hugging someone from the back.
AHH~, I look so ridiculous~~~, what on earth are you doing in front of YJ!

“On the other hand, Kiha played by Moon Sori-san (she wanted to add with her ample bosom, but guessed , no not now) hugs you tightly from the front…”
AHH~, this was no time to be hugging myself!!!
This was SO embarrassing ~~~ but I can’t stop myself ~~~~~
Moon Sori-ssi and E Jiah-chan were laughing, but YJ was looking down as if he were writing something down, and she had no eye contact with him.

“Your fans want to know which of the two is preferred by Damdeok Pye ha personally for future reference. Your answer would be appreciated.”
(↑hey, how come no one is feeding the line, “reference for what”?)

The place room roared with laughter.
The TV reporters all must have thought, OK now we have a headline.

But Satoko’s mind was in panic.
NOOO~~~~~ !!!

She had intended to ask decently,
“Which of the two expressions of love do you feel is filled with yearning?”
Why did I end up asking it in a comical way?!

After hearing the translation, YJ took the mike with a serious face, answered something and laughed – Moon Sori-san punched him lightly with her fist as if to say, “hey come on!”

But when he answered “first of all, I think either way is okay by me.”, the whole room was turned off at that moment.
Oh, oh, oh why of all answers did you have to give the most boring one?

As he took the mike again, she thought oh, perhaps you will give us something more interesting this time?

But again, YJ gave a most serious analysis:
“Because Kiha was his lover, I think she was able to hug him from the front, but Suzini being a friend ended up holding him from the back, and because they were under the relationship of Pye ha 폐하and vassal, she expressed her feelings of reluctance in that way.”

Time was passing very slowly…
Maybe it was YJ’s wish to explain the message of the drama seriously after all.

While this answer was being translated, YJ did not look towards her direction at all.
During the previous answer too, he looked the other way and did not look at her eyes.

Years back when they had the press conference in Taiwan, Satoko almost swooned as she saw YJ’s piercing eyes through her video camera as a reporter in front her was asking a question to YJ – he was looking towards him straight on…
Prior to the press conference she was thinking “what should I do if we look into each eyes directly~~~?” but YJ was looking toward a totally different direction, and did not try to look at Satoko.

Oh… it’s as I thought… he hates me.

Here I am standing in front of YJ among 300 people, and he won’t even give me a glance…
I must have done something really dumb…
I only wanted to make him laugh… it’s too late, he doesn’t like me… (sobs^^;)

It seemed like forever.

After the translation ended finally, YJ once again took the mike.

“I’ve thought it over, and I would like to say I prefer the front.”

After amending his answer, those who understood Korean seemed to think it funny but the reaction after the Japanese translation was not particularly enthusiastic.

Perhaps it was too early in the session to ask such a comical question.
Maybe I should have asked it after the place was more warmed up.

Thinking such thoughts, Satoko said to YJ,
“Ne, Kamsahamnida” and sat down.

The rest was wiped out from her memory.

Yong Joon hates me…

Yong Joon hates me…

Those words just went round and round in her head.

Moon Sori-ssi’s answers were quite specific and interesting, and people were drawn to her as her narrative skills was like that of a story teller in a children’s educational program.

Looking at the stage, one was able to feel from the atmosphere that they were on friendly terms.

After the questions was the photo session.

YJ waved to the camera in a good mood with a bright smile through out the long shooting.

When someone shouted,
Yong Joon-ssi, yogi ba, yogi yogi~
he looked their way, so the photographers all started screaming yogi yogi without the faintest idea of what it meant.

Reacting to the request, “center please” , YJ turned his position.

However, when they were asked,
“The three of you, please stand together with your arms linked. Translator, could you ask them to do that?” The translator conveyed their request, but YJ continued to just smile and wave and ignored it.

Unlike Won-nim, perhaps it was not Damdeok’s image to link arms with Kiha and Suzini, and with the rumor with E Jiah, perhaps he was being careful.

In any case, Satoko got the impression that he was a professional who was able to maintain a smile while making the necessary calm decisions.

In the end, they were seated again, and just as YJ took off the lid of his mineral water, the emcee announced the closing of the event, and with the sound of music, YJ who lost his chance of getting a sip of water made an exit laughing “he he he” in a cute manner holding the bottle against his chest.
That’s another cute side of pye ha that you couldn’t help loving, thought Satoko. .

But… sob… he doesn’t like me…

Satoko left the room with her shoulders stooped.

Reporters who have only known YJ for a short time came over to her and said “That was an interesting question~” but those who have known him over the years really rubbed it in saying things like “His eyes weren’t laughing” or “maybe he was uncomfortable because it was an erotic question” ^^

They’re probably right…boo-hoo-hoo… he hates me for sure!

As Satoko cried, only Norisuke-san comforted her,
“No, I thought it was quite good. He seemed at ease, and it brightened up the atmosphere… you made people laugh!”

But Satoko did not have an ear for her kind words.

After leaving NHK, in low spirits, she dragged herself to Shibuya Hall where her family was waiting.

So, how was it? How was it?
Was he in a suit? Jeans?
Did he have weird things hanging from his outfit?

No, there were no noodles hanging from his shoulders,
And he was not wearing a t-shirt with holes.

What was his hair like?
Was it curled at his ears? Or was he showing his forehead?

Don’t worry, he wasn’t showing his forehead. It was curly.

I hope he wasn’t wearing cheap looking glittery stuff.
Was he wearing the white tuxedo?

He was wearing neither. He wore a black suit with a gray tie, and was perfect…

Satoko felt really sorry towards her sisters who were all ears wanting to hear the details, but she was not in the mood to talk about the conference in detail.

“You know, I’m kinda tired to talk about it… so could you watch the VOD for yourselves?”

Sitting down on the steps of the Shibuya Hall, Satoko started to play the tape she had taken at the studio.

Satoko was thinking about a certain rainy day that she experienced four years ago. Perhaps she was happier than as she waited in earnest for YJ to arrive on the steps of the same hall then she was today, now that she was disliked by him.

Ignorant of Satoko’s depressed feelings, her sisters were getting all excited.

OH~~~~~~~~look at him~~~~~~he’s so cute!!!

They were about to watch the part of Satoko’s question.

He getting it, he’s getting it!
YJ is having fun!
Satoko, you shouldn’t feel bad!

Look! After the second answer, he’s turning the mike round and round – you can see that he’s really aiming to say something funny.

These ladies who will not miss the minutest detail when it comes to YJ came up with tons of evidence that he was enjoying this question from his expression.

Huh? Really? Chon mariya?

Looking into the video, Satoko was surprised to see that they were right.
Because he was quite far away, she could not see his expression, but she was able to see that he was looking at the mike concentrating on what he was going to say, and when he was talking, he was being careful to take the position of the camera into account, and tried to look all around the room as he talked – this was what was happening while Satoko had thought he was turning the other way to avoid looking at her.

The biggest surprise was that the time YJ was laughing most of all was before her question.
It was when Satoko had been clinging desperately to the mike while trying to get the emcees’ attention with her messed-up sign language – is it me? No? Who?

Yong Joon was laughing as he watched that.

What do you know!
I wasn’t making him laugh,
he was laughing AT ME!!!

AUGH~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!!

(THE END)

16 comments:

gosijo said...

Dear Flowerbossa,

This reads just like a tale. Satovic's storytelling skills are phenomenal and your translation skills are way up there!

satovic said...

Hello, this is Satovic.

Thanks Thanks flowerbossa!
There is no word to say to express my thanks.

This original story is written as
"Pyrites2008 Naniwa-koishigure"
"pyrite series" is a Satoko's story which I have wrote on 2004 , it is Satoko's detective story on BYJ's 2004 Nov, visit in Japan.
Naniwa-koishigure is a typical melancholic popular song. I took that motif on this story. But it is difficult to show it on English. However, flowerbossa well edit it and mix that taste into English story. Thank you very much.
I love you my long time friend! SMA~~~CK!

Unknown said...

thank u satovic and flowerbossa for such a wonderful and enjoyable write up and translation.

really really love reading all of them and yeah i think he enjoyed himself too. and from what ive remembered he has always been mischievious whenever he's asked 'mischievious' question. always saound professional and yet naughty at the same time..hahaha

once again thank u so much to both of u !

ps : flowerbossa, thumbs up to ur trans! i can actually picture satovic exactly with her "me? no? who? her?" hahaha

gosijo said...

Hello Satovic-san,

It is wonderful to greet you here. Yours and Flowerbossa-san's are among the first few names I recognized in Bae circles when I was just a neophyte (2006), all at a loss with the k-entertainment jargon coming on top of the internet jargon. Your Satovic Theater, as translated by Flowebossa-san was just what I needed!

(Bowing deeply and then winking)

flowerbossa said...

Hello gosijo,

Thank you for being such an avid reader! Means a lot to me.

As Satovic herself has explained in her comment, this story is like a "sequel" to Satoko's story "Pyrite", which was written inspired by YJ's wish to "produce a thrilling movie like 'The Usual Suspects' and play a role of a villain under the guise of a good man." That is the story Satovic handed to YJ on the plane when she met him.

Thanks again^^

love,
flowerbossa

flowerbossa said...

Hello my dear Satovic,

What a nice suprise to have you here!

I enjoyed the story you posted on BSJ so much that I was tempted to share it with our English speaking sisters. Thank you for giving me the opportunity!

I hope you continue to entertain us with your "thrilling & humorous" tales.

Take care!

love,
flowerbossa

flowerbossa said...

Hi Yokee,

How have you been?

I'm glad you enjoyed Satovic/Satoko's adventure.

You're right - I think YJ is always on the look out to display a bit of naughtiness. I'm so glad Satovic gave him the chance!
He needs a break too!

Thank you for coming by^^

love,
flowerbossa

bbmag said...

it's an immensely stressful period for me at work these weeks... so your translation of satovic's tale is really really a godsend. kindda takes my mind off work for awhile... (bb lamenting, how come the tale's not any longer?)

know what? these passages come across as really really animated and fun... truly great! i believe you're someone would take pride of what you post at your elegantly subtle blog (just like the blogger!), so i'm sure you've tried to remain as true to the original as possible. thanks much much for the effort.

p.s. satovic!! you're here! haha, didn't know you 'lurked' around here too... miss ya!

Anonymous said...

Thanks flowerbossa and Satovic-san for such a wonderful background story of that infamous 'front or back' question. What a refreshing perspective as we experience the amount of preparation and consideration, intensity and nervousness from a reporter (besides also being a fan) attending a critical press conference like this. Yong Joon has this amazing analytical ability to explain the contrast of these 2 different embraces and of course, the sense of humour to diffuse the seriousness of it later.

From satovic-san's account, seems like not only we love Yong Joon at his most natural self, sounds like he also loves other people at their most natural selves. Hehe, he is actually quite amused at the confusion satovic-san was having with the microphone :)

Thanks to both for an enjoyable read!

love ... Jaime

mishio said...

hi hi flowerbossa!

How've you been? Gosh, can't believe we missed you in Osaka :(
Please say hello and thanks again to pallet for me ~~!

Anyway........what a great, great story this was! While reading this piece, I almost felt like I was experiencing it for myself - I literally twisted in my seat (and my stomach even ached) for satovic when she was feeling low, and my moods leveled with the realization that she made him smile - what a precious experience and thanks to you both for sharing!

What everyone has said is true - only a gifted writer/translator combo can deliver all that for us! Thanks, thanks much!

mishio said...

P.S. what to do? my stomach still hurts! ~~

actually, I just wanted to add something - although I understand that there's a lot of humor to satovic's stories, but I just wanted to say that I hope your friend satovic is not really feeling low (for some reason, as a fan, I can totally understand/relate to all that she felt). On the contrary, she needs to know that she did a superb job braving it up in front of so many reporters and our big man there!

Anyone else (like me for instance) would have made stupid popping noises, spitting while talking fast at that mike thing, and recruited YJ-ssi into action to intercept the flying mike that I would have nervously flung across the room! What a good job and such composure! Bravo, she did GOOD!

flowerbossa said...

Hi bb,

I hope the weekend is doing you some good in relaxing.

Truth be told, the tale IS longer, but as wuri writer satovic explained, a fair amount of is difficult to translate...

But there are some parts that I didn't translate this time around that is quite interesting (hilarious^^) so if I have the chance, I will try to introduce it here.

Take care!

love,
flowerbossa

flowerbossa said...

Hello jaime!

I agree with what you said:"not only we love Yong Joon at his most natural self, sounds like he also loves other people at their most natural selves".

(I think Leslie Kee mentioned something of the kind.)

I think that he would appreciate the opportunity to communicate with people when they are at "their most natural selves". But then, who can act NATURAL in front of HIM?!!

love,
flowerbossa

flowerbossa said...

Dear Mishio,

I was so jealous when pallet told me that she met you - it was so nice of you to think of me though (I will always treasure your beautiful gift!)

Too bad you missed satovic in Osaka. You will discover that she is much more vivacious then what you read in my translation.

But as you observed, she is very sensitive as well, so I'm sure she went through a lot during that press conference.

Thanks for reading!

love,
flowerbossa

bbmag said...

hey flowerbossa, think you've satovic down pat.

vivacious.
sensitive.

yea, that's our dear friend satovic all right :p

flowerbossa said...

I'm glad you agree with me bb^^

flowerbossa