CHAPTER 058: Information Cascade
CHAPTER 058: Information Cascade
In the MBS Variety Department editing room.
The PD of The Manager’s Viewpoint was humming to himself as he checked Ryu Sunho’s footage.
‘What a gift this is. Seriously.’
The PD couldn’t hide his satisfied smile.
When he first cast Ryu Sunho, his expectations were modest.
It was variety content featuring a rookie actor who had come out to promote a film.
From the PD’s perspective, he thought he could get a decent picture out of “a rising rookie actor’s first film festival appearance,” and if he was lucky, snag a few small behind-the-scenes stories.
But from the first day of shooting, the set was a nonstop chain of unexpected big events.
‘I was just going to capture him communicating with the audience at the GV, and Quentin Marino was sitting there?’
From that moment, the PD’s excitement meter shot straight up.
Even just getting the two of them in one frame and putting it in the teaser could’ve become a massive talking point.
‘But it wasn’t something that would end as teaser bait…’
The PD replayed the moment Quentin asked his question over and over.
Naturally, he expected Quentin to direct a question at Ji Seongwoo, another film director.
But Quentin’s finger pointed precisely at Ryu Sunho.
And what was even more shocking—
‘Ryu Sunho answered on the spot, without interpretation.’
No hesitation, no stumbling—he expressed a deep consideration of the character in smooth English.
The PD had been dumbfounded watching it.
‘Was Ryu Sunho always this good at English…?’
A new side of Ryu Sunho he’d never shown anywhere.
And this program was showing it first…?
The PD instinctively knew it.
This scene would definitely get mentioned across all kinds of communities.
And every time it did, this program’s logo would be stamped on it.
Just thinking about it made the corners of his mouth lift up to his ears.
And then the finishing blow was Quentin’s unexpected move.
Near the end of the GV, when he barged onto the stage and put his hat on Ryu Sunho, dopamine exploded at maximum.
‘Even if we tried to cast and direct it, we couldn’t make that happen.’
What variety PDs love most is exactly this kind of unexpected action.
Real fun and real issues always explode out of the unexpected.
Even the reason a famous webtoon artist goes wild on variety shows is probably because of that unpredictability.
‘But it wasn’t just an unexpected action. It actually carried a pretty big meaning.’
At the time, he’d thought it was just a bizarre performance.
But after filming, when he looked it up, Quentin’s red hat wasn’t just a fashion item.
It was his “favorite hat,” the one he never took off even at countless official events and award ceremonies.
He put that hat on a total stranger like Ryu Sunho?
‘A narrative where a Korean rookie actor gets recognized by a Hollywood master!’
It was a perfect scene that didn’t just deliver entertainment—it also filled national pride and vicarious satisfaction.
Even thinking about it again felt thrilling, and the PD, grinning ear to ear, swept through the timeline.
After that, they captured the award win at the closing ceremony in vivid detail, and even added the manager’s awkward behavior that worked like seasoning laughs, which also brought the program’s identity to life.
There was more footage than they could possibly need.
If anything, there were so many scenes he hated to cut that he fell into a happy kind of agony.
‘If this airs… the ratings are going to blow up…’
Not just ratings—if the film Vacuum State became a hit, this episode would become a “holy site” and keep getting cited endlessly.
‘Then…’
The PD gripped the mouse with a determined expression.
‘If this is going to be a video that lasts, I have to make it with everything I’ve got.’
His editing soul ignited.
Employees at multiplex theaters nationwide were busy carrying out an urgent notice sent down from the distributor, PlayT.
They tore down all the existing Vacuum State posters and put up new ones shining with laurel logos.
[Triple Crown Winner at the 39th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival]
[Best Film | Best Actor | Audience Award]
The change online was immediate too.
Every thumbnail and banner on the film’s official SNS accounts and YouTube channel was swapped to versions stamped with the award record.
And a new trailer was uploaded under the name “Special Commemorative Award Trailer.”
Marketing that burned even hotter with the award news.
As expected, the first place to react was the film community “Amazing Movie.”
-Wow holy shit, jackpot! It really won three awards?
-The laurel on the poster is so damn coolㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Is it that good? Just from the trailer it feels like it’d split people hard.
└Yeah, it’s that good. I went and saw it myself.
└Everyone who watched it at Bucheon will admit it. When it ended, people just sat there stunned and clapped.
-Wait, Best Film, sure, but Audience Award too? That’s unexpected. So it’s just straight-up entertaining for the general public too?
└Yeah. It’s absolutely not a film that’s only “difficult.”
└It just sucks you in like crazy.
└There’s laughter, there’s tears, there’s shock—at this level, anyone can enjoy it.
-A rookie wins Best Actor with his first lead role? This is a real monster.
└Honestly, there was no argument about Best Actor. Anyone who saw Quentin praising him at the GV would’ve expected it.
└So Bae Seonggeon wasn’t praising him for nothing, damn.
└Saw this and immediately bookedㅋㅋ
└For real, with praise this intense, how do you not go watchㅋㅋ
Vivid reviews poured in from people who had watched the film early at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival.
Strangely, you couldn’t find negative opinions.
It was a community of film maniacs, so tastes were diverse and standards had to be strict, but for everyone’s opinions to converge like this was a rare phenomenon.
There was a reason this mood formed.
It wasn’t only that Vacuum State was an extremely well-made work—
more precisely, it was the “information cascade” phenomenon.
Information cascade.
When humans have to make a choice, they follow other people’s choices rather than their own information.
The start of that massive waterfall was Quentin Marino, who held absolute authority in the film world.
Quentin’s explosive reaction at the GV created powerful social proof for this film: “even a master acknowledges it.”
After that, the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival jury supported it.
Winning Best Film and Best Actor meant a professional group had officially certified the film’s artistry and the acting.
With high praise chaining together from authoritative people, confirmation bias was inevitable.
Even if someone felt the film wasn’t great, anxiety—‘Was I the only one who didn’t enjoy it? Do I not know how to watch films?’—kept them from daring to voice a negative opinion.
And since it was a community of people proud of their film sense, it wasn’t easy to say something that might brand you as someone who “doesn’t get movies.”
In the end, more people rode the atmosphere with “I loved it too,” the snowball rolled, and Vacuum State ended up receiving an overwhelming pre-release evaluation as a “masterpiece.”
-Yeah, when it’s all people who really know films, everyone’s standards are high.
-If this movie fails, we need to question the level of our audience, yeah.
-I’m proud a high-quality film finally came out in Korean cinema for once.
Meanwhile.
Reactions in entertainment communities were hot in a slightly different direction.
Their interest wasn’t the film itself, but “real-life impressions” of Ryu Sunho, who attended the screening ahead of release.
[I went to the Vacuum State screening and Ryu Sunho in person was insane, seriously (pics)]
-Uh… wow…
-Wow;; insane;; Cutting his hair really changed him.
-I thought the Instagram photos were edits, but his real face just crushes.
-I’ve seen tons of idols and actors, but this kind of shock is my first time;;
-Is it because he works out? His male hormones are up and his face is at its peak right now.
└Seriously, you can see testosterone blasting—his facial structure got sharper;
-His physique is unreal too. His profile says 184 cm, but he looked even taller than that. He’s still young, so maybe his growth plates are still open;
└Yeah, if he’s still 22, he’s loaded with potential right now.
On top of that—
it was unfortunate for Park Juwon, but with a tragic comparison target added, Ryu Sunho’s “in person” evaluation soared even higher.
-You can’t even see Park Juwon next to him…
└No, Park Juwon is also crazy handsome, but it feels like a different genre. Ryu Sunho feels kind of unreal.
-Park Juwon should feel threatened…
-Park Juwon was a sensation early in his debut too, but when the era changes, someone new shows up again.
-But looks like he traded acting for visuals. Park Juwon did a new transformation in the movie and he was pretty goodㅇㅇ
└But wasn’t the Best Actor at the festival Ryu Sunho?
└Ryu Sunho is better though.
└He already swept three awards at the MBS Acting Awards and left, so.
-Now I’m even more curious about the movie.
Of course, that didn’t mean talk about the film disappeared.
With the shocking performances at Gangnam Station and Jongno, the name Vacuum State was already etched hard into people’s minds.
With that lingering in the subconscious, the screening “in person” reviews and the festival awards lit the fire again, and expectations and curiosity amplified out of control.
-These days there’s nowhere you don’t see Vacuum State.
└The marketing was that intense, so yeah. It really baited attention hard.
-Couldn’t hold back and booked right awayㅋㅋㅋ Going to watch tomorrow right after work.
└Same.
└Face-genius acting-genius moment…? I can’t resist. I’m watching immediately.
Because of that, the film Vacuum State saw a series of sold-out reservations.
And when the lid finally opened on release day—
[Vacuum State surpasses 500,000 on opening day… surprising opening-day box office performance]
the astonishing results kept coming.
Meanwhile,
news quietly spread through the industry that Doctor Princess, the grand-prize winner of the JTBN drama screenplay contest, was moving into production quickly.
“Did you hear? They already started casting for Doctor Princess.”
“Huh? Really? Didn’t it just get selected as the contest grand-prize winner not long ago?”
“I heard ContentTrinity is really interested, and JTBN is backing it too.”
“Then what about the leads?”
“Female lead is still undecided. For the male lead, it’s basically confirmed as Ryu Sunho. They say only the final signature is left.”
The whispers of Flash Entertainment employees seeped in through the crack of the practice room door.
Inside, Seo Yunha’s ears perked up as she was reviewing scripts.
‘Doctor Princess… Ryu Sunho…?’
Seo Yunha’s mind spun quickly.
Then she reached a conclusion.
Without hesitating, she sprang up and strode out.
Her destination was one place only.
The office where Team Leader Manager Heo Jeongseok was.
Seo Yunha declared it without preamble.
“Team Leader, I want to go into Doctor Princess.”
“…What now, all of a sudden. Have you even read the script?”
“You didn’t give me the script, so how would I read it.”
“Then… you haven’t even seen the script, so why are you saying you’re going in—!”
At Team Leader Heo Jeongseok’s flustered shout, Seo Yunha spoke as if it were obvious.
“Because the mountain is there.”
At that one line, a recent horrific memory flashed through Team Leader Heo Jeongseok’s head.
The sight of Seo Yunha stubbornly insisting over the role of Professor Baek in the film Vacuum State.
Back then too, she’d had the same look in her eyes.
A look no one could stop.
‘Here we go again…’
Heo Jeongseok let out a long sigh and pressed his temples.
He already knew he couldn’t break her stubbornness.
Trying to stop her more would only hurt him.
He quickly resigned himself and returned to the face of a professional manager.
“Fine. First, calm down. Even if you’re climbing the mountain, you still have to bring hiking gear, don’t you? I’ll get the script first. Read it, then we’ll talk again.”
A little later, Team Leader Heo Jeongseok obtained the script for Doctor Princess and handed it to her.
“Here. Read it closely, and think one more time.”
Seo Yunha took the script.
Her eyes swept across the pages at a furious speed.
At first she read with a cold, analytical expression, but before long, her face was changing moment by moment as she fully immersed in the story.
The manager’s “think about it” had already been erased from her mind long ago.
Seo Yunha’s head was filled with only one thought:
how to make this princess character hers.
‘I need to understand the life of a princess… how do I do that?’
She was a method-acting type.
When she got the role of the shaman Shin Myeongju in Possessed Investigation, she attended a shaman academy for two months, studying the role and understanding the life of the character.
But this time, the difficulty was higher than back then.
‘There’s no such thing as a princess academy, and I can’t exactly meet a princess in person and interview her…’
Seo Yunha thought for a moment, then suddenly came up with a good idea.
‘There was a place where I could indirectly experience the life of a princess…!’
Hongdae, Seoul.
A certain café located in the middle of a bustling downtown area.
Ding-a-ling—
With the bell on the door, a pink world overflowing with lace and frills spread out.
“Welcome back, Prince!”
Maids in black dresses with aprons trimmed in pure white frills bent at ninety degrees to greet the customer.
The sweet smell of desserts. Bright J-pop music.
On one side, a maid was drawing a cat with ketchup on an omelet rice while reciting the order.
“Be delicious, moe moe kyun!”
When the maid chanted the line and made a heart gesture with her hands, a shy smile spread across the male customer’s face.
That was when it happened.
Ding-a-ling—
Once again the doorbell rang with a clear sound.
This time, light, gentle footsteps.
‘A female customer!’
A veteran maid, sensing it, whispered into the ear of a rookie part-time maid.
“It’s a female customer—use the title ‘Princess.’”
As the manual said, the maids rushed to the entrance together, dropped to their knees, and bowed their heads.
“Welcome back, Prin—cess…?”
The maids who had lowered their heads had an earthquake in their pupils as soon as they saw the customer’s face.
A shock strong enough to make them forget even the speech concept that was the foundation of a maid café.
“S-Seo Yunha…?”
The top actor in South Korea.
Seo Yunha was standing there.
A maid, stunned out of her mind, muttered without realizing it.
“Why is Seo Yunha here…?”