May 2022

"Nous avons le plaisir d'accueillir l'équipe du film 'The War Room' de Kathryn Bigelow. Le film est présenté ce soir en compétition pour ce 2022 Festival de Cannes. Avec nous sur le tapis rouge..."

Jessica was one of the last few people climbing up the red carpet stairs to the Grand Théâtre Lumière at The 75th Cannes Film Festival before the spotlight was fully shifted to the star-studded cast of Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow's latest film. She looked behind her to see some of Hollywood's biggest names lining up, arm in arm, to ceremonially walk down the red carpet together while hundreds of official photographers dressed in suits were snapping pictures from the right and left side of the red carpet, screaming names, requesting who and who to look at the lenses of their cameras with their thick French accent.

This was her third time attending this event, dubbed as the most prestigious film festival in the world, but she would never be able to get use to the glamour and the madness of the festival. After her appearances in 2018 and 2019, the festival had to be cancelled in 2020 due to the global pandemic, and it made a successful comeback the next year, albeit with limited guests and an incredibly strict health and safety protocol. This year, the festival came back with full force as France had lifted the travel ban for most countries; making it possible for people like Jessica, who weren't directly involved with one of the many films premiering at the festival, to attend.

Jessica was there courtesy of the Swiss luxury brand Chopard, wearing its diamond necklace, earrings and bracelets that complemented her Jean-Paul Gaultier's avant-garde black ball gown. The stares that she received from people gave her the indication that she looked fabulous that evening.

Not usually a big fan of political war thriller, especially not one that was almost 3-hour long, Jessica reluctantly followed the rest of the audience who jumped on their feet to applaud the director and the cast of the film for a job well done. It was a tradition in Cannes that standing ovation could last for long minutes, depending on how appreciative the audience was of the film. She was later told that the record for this famous protracted standing ovation was at 22 minutes, back in 2006 for Mexican director Guillermo del Toro's 'Pan's Labyrinth'. These days, however, the people involved in the film would humbly bow out of the theatre after a good five to ten minutes while people were still clapping, probably feeling awkward and embarassed for staying too long while having a camera shove in their faces targeting their appreciative and emotional reactions.

After leaving the theatre, Jessica was ushered to one of many gala dinners and soirées happening almost nightly in Cannes during the festival. She was invited to one hosted by Chopard. Dinner was served and the food was impeccable, as expected of an event attended by millionaires and billionaires. A series of speeches and performances happened subsequently and after that the formal event ended. As people started to mingle, Jessica excused herself from her date, a friendly middle-aged Chopard executive, and made her way to the rooftop open bar with her assistant in tow. 

As luck would have it, she spotted French actress Léa Seydoux by the bar. Jessica politely asked if she could take a photo together with her, telling her that her younger sister was a huge fan. The actress gladly accepted the request and Jessica's assistant quickly snapped a few photos using her phone, which Jessica asked her to AirDrop right away so she could send it to Krystal. She was waiting for her glass of bordeaux when she saw a figure marching confidently towards her, getting closer by the second as her eyes widened in fear of what was about to happen.

"Bonsoir, Mademoiselle." The person greeted her with a smile and a side hug, subsequently bowing a little to her assistant, accompanied with a polite "Annyeonghaseyo." that stunned both women on the receiving end of this unexpected encounter.

"What the , Klaire?" Jessica managed to croak after recovering from the shock, eyes started looking around if the interaction was captured by anyone around them.

"Chill, will you?" Klaire giggled. "We're in South of France, darling. No one cares about us here." Her arms opened wide to their surrounding.

It took a good few minutes to calm Jessica down from her outburst.

'There are cameras everywhere.'

'They might not know us but it won't stop them from taking pictures and putting it on the internet.'

'What were you thinking?'

'You're gonna get in trouble, Klaire.'

She finally settled down after Klaire's non-chalant 'what's done is done'. Her glass of bordeaux now in hand as Klaire ordered a martini for herself. Jessica's assistant had left them to go hunt for pictures with celebrities. Jessica knew Klaire would be in Cannes, however, she didn't know that they would be attending the same event as Klaire had omitted this particular important information when they were discussing the trip to France back in Jessica's living room in Seoul.

Klaire, who was a self-proclaimed cinephile, suddenly had an ephiphany during the pandemic to cure her boredom. She somehow managed to get herself a side job as a guest writer for a popular Korean film magazine. Her desk job entailed writing a review of whatever newly-released movie she was tasked with for the magazine's monthly publication. Additionally, every three months, she received an extra page to write a review of a classic film of her choosing.

The very first classic film she selected was '12 Angry Men' by Sidney Lumet, released in 1957. It was a black and white American courtroom drama about 12 citizens chosen as jury members for a murder case, who had the responsibility to decide whether an 18-year old boy accused of the murder of his own father was guilty or not. The majority of the film took place in one set, which was the jury room, where these twelve men of different personalities exchanged thoughts in order to obtain an unanimous verdict.

Sunny, who had moved out to her own place, was sleeping over at the dorm the day Klaire rewatched this movie to write her review. She joined her on the couch when the movie was already running halfway, curiously asking questions and at one point Klaire explained that these men were basically locked in the room and were not allowed to leave until they could reach an agreement. Klaire then absent-mindedly wondered if K-Pop history would have a completely different outcome if back in 2014 the nine of them were locked in a room to talk like that. She noticed that Sunny just looked at her with sad eyes.

Long story short, Klaire was sent by the magazine to the festival to do a video interview with South Korea's famous director, Park Chan Wook, whose widely-anticipated new mystery film was in competition at the festival. The video would be posted on the magazine's Youtube Channel, while the edited version of the transcript would be published in the magazine. So here she was, in the South of France, rubbing shoulders with A-listers of the film industry and one Jessica Jung.

"Hey, do you remember when I rejected that invitation from W Korea for an event that you and Soojung attended?" Klaire asked while sipping her apple martini.

"How could I forget?" Jessica answered sarcastically.

"Remember when you went ballistic and I told you that I had my reasons for not going?"

Jessica rolled her eyes. "First of all, I did not go ballistic. Second of all, it's been six years and I still don't know the reason. Thank you very much."

"This was it." Klaire said with a little smile on her face, ignoring the heavy sarcasm and Jessica's annoyed tone.

"This was what? Stop speaking in riddles."

"I didn't want to meet you in public and pretend that I didn't know you. To have pictures and videos taken and for people to use it as a proof that we were not friends anymore. I wouldn't be able to do what I did today back then considering the consequences, so I'd rather not go. Now, on the other hand, I'm free and this gives no . I will greet you, I will talk to you, and I do hope people take pictures of us right now so the whole world knows that we're still friends." Klaire explained with determined eyes, seemingly proud of herself.

Jessica took a big gulp of her red wine, sinking in the words. "What do you mean you're free? You just signed another three-year contract with SM, you ."

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