CHAPTER 023: Meticulous Payoff of Planted Clues
CHAPTER 023: Meticulous Payoff of Planted Clues
Right at the point when episode 1 ended.
“This is definitely…!”
“Feels like the reaction’s going to explode, right?”
Seo Yoonha nodded vigorously.
“Wow, that ending gave me chills! I think it’s going to hit 7%!”
While Park Juwon and Seo Yoonha were getting excited and running their mouths, a notification popped up in my field of vision.
【Goal Achieved! First appearance, first broadcast! Ratings reached 10%】
【Reward: Stat Point +1】
Oh.
It broke 10%.
“How do you know?”
“They won’t have finished tallying yet.”
The two of them turned to me with shocked eyes.
Ah. My mouth moved recklessly.
I was looking at the status window, but I couldn’t say that.
“It was just a feeling.”
“A feeling…?”
Park Juwon stared at me with a serious look, then clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, this… Sunho’s got it too.”
“Got what?”
“Celebrity disease. That’s exactly how I was after I filmed my first drama.”
“Ah, right. I remember.”
Seo Yoonha chimed in from the side.
“You used to go to the theater, watch a movie after it came out, and always predict the final audience count. And you were wrong every time.”
“Th-that… yeah. The results went to hell. But Sunho’s doing it now. It takes a while to cure.”
While I was being misunderstood, all our phones rang at once.
-KakaoTalk! KakaoTalk! KakaoTalk!
It was the group chat.
[Director Chae Wongi]: This is insane!!! Breaking news!!!!
[Director Chae Wongi]: MBS contacted us
[Director Chae Wongi]: Our drama’s first-broadcast ratings
[Lighting Team Kim Seokbin]: The ratings?
[Props Team Lee Subin]: Why do you stop mid-sentence, Director!!!!!!
[Makeup Team Kang Heejin]: There are two ways to make someone angry. The first is stopping mid-sentence…
Props Team Joo Yesul: (knife emoticon)
[Director Chae Wongi]: Ah sorry sorry, I spilled water by accident
[Director Chae Wongi]: Anyway first-broadcast ratings 10.3%!!!!!
[Camera Lee Jeonggyun]: Wow!!!! This is insane!!!!!
[Props Team Lee Subin]: Holy crap!!!!!!!
[Assistant Director Lee Hyeokgon]: I just got a call—apparently the station is completely flipped right now!
[Assistant Director Lee Hyeokgon]: Not only #1 in the same time slot, but the #1 first-broadcast rating for a miniseries in the past 5 years!!!
[Assistant Director Lee Hyeokgon]: For reference, SBC Ghost Doctor was 6.7%!!
The chat room went berserk.
The speech bubbles flew up insanely fast.
And at the same time, the two people sitting in front of me were staring at me like they’d seen a ghost.
After episode 1 aired, a lot of people contacted me.
Acting academy classmates, hometown friends, even the convenience store owner where I used to work part-time.
If I’d ever even brushed sleeves with them, they all offered a congratulatory message.
And the one that made me happiest was—
-Hey, son. You busy training?
“What training?”
-You’ve been busy with firefighting training these days. Hurry up and go put out fires.
…
So he watched the drama well.
-They picked someone just like you to act it. Easygoing and spirited. Felt like I was seeing myself when I was young. Hahaha.
Tsk.
That’s not it.
I could already picture my father getting shocked later.
-Tonight I’m gathering all the neighborhood people at my place to watch. Gotta brag that that good-looking, kind kid is my son.
“Um, Dad…”
-Hm? Why you calling me?
That…
It’d be better if you held back.
I almost said that, then stopped.
So what. It was just acting.
Instead, I asked him to make sure my little sister didn’t watch, and ended the call.
But then.
Bzz— bzz—
Endless notifications.
Notifications that a new comment had been left on my Instagram post poured in by the second.
Looks like they were pretty satisfied with episode 1.
They must’ve looked up information about the drama while riding the afterglow, then found the Instagram too.
It was a good reaction.
It meant that many people were that immersed in the drama.
I replied in moderation, provoking their over-immersion.
And the last remaining photo…
Let’s post it when that scene appears in episode 2.
That evening.
A home with an EMT uniform hanging on one side of the closet.
A short-haired woman opened a delivery app.
Because a guest would be coming soon.
“I guess ice cream would be good for dessert, right?”
Then.
Ding-dong—
“Jisu, I’m here.”
“Oh, wait a second.”
The short-haired woman called Jisu opened the door.
In the visitor Yoonseo’s hands were tteokbokki and chicken.
“Ready to start the pig party, Ji?”
“Of course, Yoon.”
The two of them set the table with practiced hands and placed the food on top.
“No, but how did you end up stanning an actor? Back in school, you didn’t even like idols, let alone celebrities.”
“He’s different. I finally found someone I like.”
“Wow, whenever Ryu Sunho comes up, honey drips from your eyes.”
“Hey, you try watching him yourself. Won’t you fall for him?”
“Is he that handsome in person? I mean, the ad was no joke.”
“It’s not just his face. The person… he’s really decent. Totally the real deal.”
“How would you know if he’s the real deal? You don’t know celebrities all do image management?”
“I saw it myself. At the accident scene.”
“Oh, right. You said you got dispatched. What was he like? Did he act all smug like he saved someone?”
“Smug? Not at all. He said it was just ‘what he was supposed to do.’ He reassured me, saying he was fine and not hurt. Seriously… I can’t forget his eyes back then.”
“Wow… that is cool. No wonder. Yesterday, watching episode 1, Kang Seoho’s character was exactly like what you said. Kind and strong.”
“Right? He’s not just acting—he’s originally that kind of person. He’s Kang Seoho himself. That’s why he made the Instagram as Kang Seoho too. Oh, it’s starting!”
Episode 2 began.
Han Jaeyoon and Shin Myeongju worked together again to chase the culprit,
and finally, with Shin Myeongju’s spiritual power, they identified the culprit…
The culprit’s face filled the screen in a close-up.
It was Kang Seoho.
“…Huh?”
“Kang Seoho is the culprit?”
From there, Kang Seoho’s past story unfolded.
A wildfire caused by an old shaman’s mistake.
He lost his father, suffered horrific burns himself, and his mother developed aphasia.
And the shameless shaman’s one line.
[That wasn’t a fire I started. It was the will of the gods!]
In that moment, Kang Seoho let go of the reins of reason.
Then the screen shifted to the present.
It changed to a dark, ominous shrine.
“It’s making me tense right from the start…”
“I should watch while checking people’s reactions…”
Yoonseo checked posts coming up on the community board on her phone.
-What kind of twist is this;;
-This is scary as hell from the start
-Did you see him laugh when he snapped?
-Yeah, he laughed like a truly insane person
After that.
Creak— a sound, and an old wooden door opened, and Kang Seoho stepped in with a black hood pulled low.
The camera shook from the perspective of the terrified shaman, Jang Manyeok.
In contrast, the camera filming Kang Seoho didn’t move at all, holding his silhouette.
-Wow, Kang Seoho going dark is scary as hell;;
-Is that really the same person as episode 1? The vibe’s totally different
[Stop there. You can’t cross that line. You’ve entered the space of the gods.]
Kang Seoho stared at her without a word, then slowly lifted the corners of his mouth.
In close-up, his lips curled up slowly, like a sneer.
[They say in books that gods don’t interfere with our lives. They just watch…]
Kang Seoho stared at Jang Manyeok with a sharp gaze.
[But it was strange. That god talks a whole lot—out of your mouth.]
Then.
Click—
With a sharp metallic sound, a lighter flame flared in Kang Seoho’s hand.
The flickering small flame reflected in his empty eyes.
-A lighter????? Don’t tell me he’s going to set it on fire??
-Wow, look at his eyes. This is savage as hell, seriously
-He really looks like a completely insane bastard;;;
Jang Manyeok shouted.
Bold and shameless.
[What evil spirit possessed you to do this!]
[Evil spirit… sure. With a face like this, it’s not much different from an evil spirit. But who made that evil spirit?]
Kang Seoho slowly pulled off his hood.
The moment the horribly twisted burn scars were fully revealed under the lighter’s flame,
Jisu, who had been watching with bated breath, let out an “Hk!” without realizing it.
-Wow, what is that face makeup, it looks real
-The makeup is the makeup, but look at his expression, that’s even more chilling
-Looks like he’s about to rush in and strangle someone
-And that’s a rookie?
-He doesn’t get pushed back at all by Park Dusim, holy shit
-He’s practically devouring her
[Remember.]
With lips pressed tight, Kang Seoho spat it out as if forcing each syllable out.
[That mountain.]
One step.
[That spring.]
The closer he came, the more Jang Manyeok’s breathing wavered.
[That gut.]
The camera zoomed in on Kang Seoho’s face to an extreme close-up.
A chilling smile, completely opposite to the pure smile from episode 1.
His voice was low and deep.
And the last line that followed a beat later.
[You said it was the will of the gods, right?]
The moment he dropped the lighter in his hand to the floor, slow motion kicked in.
The instant the lighter hit the ground, CG flames slithered like a snake across the shrine floor, swallowing everything.
With a whoosh sound effect, talismans blackened as they burned, and wooden pillars collapsed.
The screen cross-cut between the blazing flames and Kang Seoho’s face standing motionless before them.
The red fire reflected on his face looked like the infernal blaze of hell.
And in the flames, Kang Seoho quietly said,
[That way it’s fair.]
“Kyaaa!”
With Kang Seoho’s line, Yoonseo screamed and hugged a cushion.
-He really sets it on fire, holy shit. Look at that CG quality, I almost screamed
-‘Then the gods should feel what burning is like’ was plastered all over.
-This is scary as hell, Kang Seoho is the culprit
-Wow, holy shit, this is insane. I never even imagined it
-I was watching with my family at home and almost screamed;;
-Isn’t it kind of random? -> I shut up after the past story unfolded..
-On the other hand, Kang Seoho is seriously so pitiful too
-I want to beat the shaman’s ass so bad
-Wow, that last line, that was chilling as hell, seriously, this is scary as hell
-No, episode 1 Kang Seoho and episode 2 Kang Seoho are totally different people. The acting is insane, seriously
-For real, but that’s Ryu Sunho’s real self. He said it was his first acting, does that make sense?
-It doesn’t make sense;;; he hard-carried episode 2 by himself;;; to the point Seo Yoonha and Park Juwon got buried
A community plastered with all kinds of profanity (high praise).
Ryu Eunji didn’t feel uncomfortable at all.
This level was lower than the stuff all over YouTube videos anyway.
But what she couldn’t understand was—
“Oppa is the culprit…?”
How could that Kang Seoho from episode 1 suddenly become the culprit?
While she was waiting for the clip videos to go up on YouTube,
a post on the community began getting an explosive reaction.
-Oh my god, I went into Kang Seoho’s Instagram and found something huge…
-What is it?
-Right after episode 2 ended, a new post went up on Kang Seoho’s Instagram. (capture: a post that says ‘You said it was the will of the gods, right?’)
-That’s a line that came out in the middle of episode 2.
-Oh? Wait. I get it too
-Why? Why? What is it?
-Up until now, Kang Seoho posted 7 Instagram posts, right? Read only the first letters of those posts.
-Gods… should… feel… what… burning… is… like… Gods should feel what burning is like…
└Holy shit, that’s insane!
└Fucking chills!!!!
└Oh my god!
└This is insane! How far did he design this!
Just as Ryu Sunho wanted, someone found the easter egg.
The sentences in the posts Kang Seoho had uploaded.
[You said it was the will of the gods, right?]
[Dori]
[With burning passion!]
[In sweltering heat like it’s burning]
[Look at my effort]
[A night with a beautiful night view]
[Jirisan is far away…]
Beyond that, people started finding other evidence too.
-He stopped uploading selfies in the middle—does that mean something too?
└Oh yeah. He didn’t upload selfies from [Dori] onward
└If you look carefully in the corner of that post, there’s a lighter and a gasoline can
└!!!!!
└So that was when Kang Seoho got burned and started preparing revenge
└Holy shit, this is seriously fucking chills;;;;
This massive storytelling Ryu Sunho prepared starting a month before the broadcast spread beyond communities and, in an instant, across all kinds of SNS.
[Chills. The secret hidden in Kang Seoho’s Instagram posts]
[Villain clue bait completed with 7 posts]
[An actor planted an easter egg on Instagram?]
[The most meticulous payoff of planted clues in drama promotion history]
[Build-up designed starting one month before the broadcast]
And the next morning.
Flash Entertainment’s Promotion & Marketing Team employees stared blankly at what had happened overnight and muttered.
“…All day long it’s just Ryu Sunho and talk.”
“…Without any promotion budget, he completely devoured the community…”
“Seriously… only twenty-one… and an actor…”
Ryu Sunho had unintentionally delivered a blow to the Promotion & Marketing Team’s self-esteem.
A few days after episode 2 aired,
I got in a car and headed to the meeting place, a cafe, for a meeting with Director Ji Seongwoo.
What was the unknown period of someone who would become a world-class director like in the future?
“Ah, he’s over there.”
I looked toward where Jo Sehun was pointing.
And I had no choice but to stop in my tracks.
“……!”
That was Director Ji Seongwoo?