CHAPTER 018: An Identity No One Could’ve Imagined
CHAPTER 018: An Identity No One Could’ve Imagined
The closer the drama’s broadcast date got, the more material I found myself looking up.
Especially the competing dramas airing in the same time slot—SBC’s, and KBC’s.
Including the one I was in, , the three most-anticipated new releases were, annoyingly enough, starting their first broadcasts around the same period.
[‘Possessed Investigation’ vs ‘Ghost Doctor,’ a head-on clash for Wed–Thu first broadcasts… ‘Survival Romance’ joins a week later]
[“Ghost vs Shaman”… Wed–Thu drama clash: SBC·MBS strike first, but the real showdown starts with KBC’s ‘Survival Love’?]
[The real Wed–Thu “typhoon” is ‘Survival Love’? KBC’s confidence builds anticipation]
Among them, public interest in was blazing hot.
And honestly, it made sense—when I heard that Writer Choi Jeongin, who wrote , was coming back after seven years, even I got curious.
For a moment, a different worry surfaced.
Back when I was hospitalized, the people watching in my hospital room—
What if they were the ones with a weird taste?
What if everyone only watched because one person happened to be holding the remote?
Then a text came from Director Chae Wongi.
[The teaser trailer’s up.]
I pushed the worry aside and went straight to YouTube to find it.
‘Oh.’
Pretty high view count.
Thankfully, our drama was getting public attention too.
The comment reaction was positive.
Most of it was about Seo Yoonha and Park Juwon, but I was getting mentioned here and there.
—Seo Yoonha’s acting, I’m seriously excited… she fits the shaman character perfectly 😭😭
└What is that “possessed” vibe on her face lol She’s a perfect match
—It’s been a while since I’ve seen Park Juwon make that expression. Looking forward to his emotional line
└Feels like he found his old form again? lol Lowkey he really has a detective face
—A shaman–detective duo… the premise alone is fresh, I’m hyped
—Who is that at 0:24?
└Probably Ryu Sunho?
└Why is Ryu Sunho good?
└Even his voice is good. Solid projection
—“What you need to be careful of is… the attitude that takes it lightly.” drdrk tak. “What you need to be careful of is…” drdrk tak. “What you need to be careful of…” drdrk tak.
└Sunho stans are hyped;;
—If you suddenly got insanely excited for Possessed Investigation, upvote lol
Of course, the “acting controversy” still wasn’t completely gone.
—Even though Ryu Sunho only showed up briefly, there’s no awkwardness.
└Isn’t it because he only shows up briefly?
└He spoke lines and it wasn’t awkward at all. That’s enough to at least wait and see.
└It’s just one line, what are you even—lol
—Everyone who said Ryu Sunho can’t act, come out. You fuckers!
└Whoa whoa calm down
└Once the full version drops, it’s gonna flop like hell again lol
—But on the official site, there’s no role listed for Ryu Sunho? He’s probably just a bit part
└They just shoved him into the teaser for bait lol
└Maybe that’s the only decent acting he had so they only put that in lol
This kind of noise would naturally die once the broadcast started.
Why?
Because even people trashing me were still leaving “holy shit” reactions to the scene that showed up at the end of the teaser.
—Whoa the last line gave me chills… “They say God is dead. So why are you still alive?”… insane
—One line flips the whole mood…
—Feels like the genre suddenly turns into horror
—That last scene made my hair stand up
—I replayed the last part so many times
—That one scene made me decide I have to watch this drama
—But seriously who is that? Feels like a major villain and they’re hiding the identity hard
└They’re telling you to watch live lol
└MBS… you sell well. Fine, I’ll get fooled one more time
└Just from the silhouette, kinda feels like Park Ilgyu or Jeong Seonghyeok
└Oh yeah, those two do villains well
Time would give the answer.
No need to react to pointless stuff.
‘Yeah.’
It doesn’t matter.
It doesn’t matter what kind of results the drama got in my previous life.
Everything changed anyway.
I can change it.
At least the first broadcast—I can pull the kind of buzz I want and raise the ratings.
Maybe I’d been unstable since the last shoot.
That was why even this kind of useless thinking crept in.
Stop getting trapped in the past and do what I need to do.
I closed YouTube and opened Instagram.
Then I uploaded a new photo.
It was time to leave people with a little doubt, little by little.
@seoho20
(A photo taken in front of a fire station)
[To the people working hard in this scorching heat]
As expected, people commented in confusion.
—Why a fire station??
—Is he doing a fire station event linked to the Brave Citizen Award??
—Oh yeah, maybe he’s doing something
—Even sweaty he’s insanely handsome, holy shit
—From now on, summer is Sunho’s season, always sweat for us
└That’s kinda pervy;;
—Is this really Ryu Sunho??
└Nope it’s Sunho, not Sunho
└Sunho is hilarious lol
└Did he decide to just commit to that ID forever now?
Meanwhile, a giant of the Korean film industry.
Director Baek Junbong was seated in a screening room at the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA).
A display case was packed with trophies from the countless film festivals he’d dominated.
“Hmm.”
On the screen, a student’s short film—one he personally mentored—had just ended.
As the end credits rolled, the assistant professor beside him carefully spoke.
“The cinematography seemed good. The editing was fairly polished too.”
“Right. The shell had nothing to criticize.”
Baek Junbong slowly unfolded his crossed arms.
“But tell me… will the audience cry after watching this? Laugh? No—will they feel anything at all?”
The assistant professor couldn’t answer.
“Kids these days know film grammar inside and out, but they can’t capture emotion. They’re not filming an actor—they’re filming a subject. Maybe it’s because only the technology advanced, or maybe they can’t meet people to begin with.”
He pointed at the actor’s face on the screen.
“Film is an art that records breath. An actor’s sigh, hesitation, the 0.5 seconds right before they turn their head—that becomes a sentence inside the frame, and in the end, it becomes story.”
The assistant professor nodded silently.
“But kids these days can’t endure that gap of emotion. Instead of letting time sit, they’d rather add more cuts, lay music, color-grade. The image got flashier, but the actor gets flatter. It feels like information coming out, not emotion.”
Director Baek Junbong had recently stepped away from commercial film and devoted himself to training young filmmakers at KAFA.
His masterclass was so famous that even active directors came to audit it.
“This is… lack of experience.”
Once, mid-career, he’d tried directing dramas.
Limited time, tight budget, scripts pouring in every episode—he absorbed a rhythm and breath completely different from film.
At first it felt awkward and heavy, but inside it he discovered a new texture: the moment an actor truly moves alive.
Drama grammar that wasn’t film grammar.
That experience broadened his vision by a step, and later he became known as a top-tier director.
“Director Chae Wongi is shooting a new drama, isn’t he? Or something like that.”
“Yes. I heard the casting’s good, and the acting chemistry’s solid.”
“Seo Yoonha, Park Juwon… good actors. Right. I’d like to see for myself what kind of rhythm they build inside the drama frame.”
He turned to the assistant professor.
“Get in touch with Director Chae. Tell him I’ll drop by the set once—with the students.”
“A drama set?”
“If you learned the screen, you should learn the air of broadcast too. You’ll feel it there—how to capture liveliness.”
After the assistant professor left to make the call,
Baek Junbong looked at the script on his desk.
A script coated in dust from waiting too long for an owner.
His practice piece—and the script that would become his last work.
He brushed the dust off and muttered softly.
“While I’m at it… I should feel the air of a set again.”
At the same time, a barbecue restaurant in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.
The after-party for the first shoot of was in full swing.
Writer Choi Jeongin, actor Na Dohyeon, and investor Bae Junhyeok were at the same table, happily raising drinks.
“Of course—Writer Choi, the romcom queen! Your writing hasn’t dulled at all.”
“Heh. Why are you flattering me like that? When have I ever written badly?”
“It’s been a while since I acted in your drama, so both my body and mind feel comfortable. Haha.”
“I was so relieved when I heard you were joining. I heard you’re doing insanely well in China lately?”
“That’s thanks to you. If it weren’t for , I wouldn’t have even dared dream of working in China.”
“Let’s do well with this one too. Cheers!”
Glasses clinked.
Then Bae Junhyeok spoke.
“Writer, when do we do the press conference? I heard is holding theirs the Wednesday after next.”
“Ah, Park Eunju’s drama? Hmm. I don’t know. Do I really need to care about that?”
When Writer Choi answered lightly, Bae Junhyeok’s eyes turned sly.
“I was thinking we should schedule ours to match it.”
“Do we have to?”
“Dramas are a zero-sum game, aren’t they. The audience’s time and attention—there’s only so much pie.”
“Well, that’s true.”
“But if reporters have to choose between two events at the same time… where do you think they’ll go?”
“Come on. We’re better than them. I’ve got my name, and Dohyeon’s got his.”
“Exactly. Instead of splitting attention, we monopolize it. If they wobble from the start, their early momentum is gone. We’ll soar. You know it—early momentum is everything in dramas.”
“Ohh…”
Na Dohyeon, listening along, smiled and asked.
“Haha, you’re going all-in. Vice President, you don’t have some personal beef with Writer Park, do you?”
Bae Junhyeok curled one corner of his mouth and replied.
“Haha. I’m just drawing the picture where we can win strategically. If you want to survive in competition, you have to know how to press the other side down.”
Time passed.
At the press conference venue for .
The atmosphere was gloomy from the start.
Way too many reporter seats were empty.
More than half the press had flocked to the event happening at the same time— .
Park Juwon and Seo Yoonha, professionals, smiled and answered the camera flashes.
But Park Eunju the writer—just a civilian—and Director Chae Wongi looked stiff, barely able to manage their expressions.
When they stepped offstage briefly for photo time, Director Chae cursed under his breath.
“If this keeps up, aren’t we gonna get absolutely wrecked on first-broadcast ratings?”
“Don’t say that kind of unlucky shit.”
“No, but seriously—why would they hold their press conference on the same day… it pisses me off.”
“You think they did it on purpose?”
“Same day, I could chalk it up to coincidence. But same time too? That’s intentional.”
At the same time.
At the press conference hall.
“Na Dohyeon! Look over here!”
“Writer, are you confident this will surpass your previous work’s popularity?”
Hundreds of flashes fired nonstop.
The hall was packed, boiling under the press’s questions.
Watching from behind the podium, Bae Junhyeok wore a satisfied smile.
Everything was going exactly as planned.
After finishing the press conference successfully, he returned to the waiting room and called a subordinate over.
“So? The internet’s going crazy, right?”
At his confident question, the subordinate broke into cold sweat and couldn’t speak easily.
“V-Vice President… it’s…”
“Why are you stammering like an idiot? Articles should be pouring out. We should’ve eaten all the community trending posts too.”
“It’s…”
“Ah, damn it! Speak so I can understand!”
“There’s almost nothing about our press conference… it’s all about instead…”
“What? That can’t be! Hardly any reporters went there!”
Bae Junhyeok snatched the tablet from the subordinate’s hands.
On the screen were real-time reactions across entertainment communities and SNS.
But it was hard to find .
Instead, everything was plastered with a different name.
[Huge twist!! Ryu Sunho’s Instagram ID wasn’t a typo—it was designed]
[This creepy promotion method is blowing up right now]
[You thought it was just a typical celeb account—its identity is something you never imagined]
[“Kang Seoho” Insta pilgrimage coordinates—so interesting]
Bae Junhyeok’s face went rigid in an instant.
Disbelief and shock filled his eyes.
“W-What is this?!”
Footnote fix log