When Crisis Turns to Opportunity
The next day.
When I got to headquarters, glares were already raining down on me from the lobby entrance.
If I put it a little dramatically, it felt like every employee I passed on the way here was staring at me.
My chest felt tight, so I headed for the break room to grab a cup of coffee.
But there was already someone there, and I could hear a strange murmur of conversation.
"Did you see it yesterday? Lee Ha-eun’s lead drama, Queen of Joseon?"
"Yeah. It was cast well. And I heard the ratings were a hit too?"
"Ratings aside, did you see that article, Team Leader Kim?"
"That article...? Ah! You mean the interview piece about Lee Ha-eun?"
"I was shocked when I read it. That Lee Ha-eun was praising her manager out loud like that? Seriously, what is going on?"
I gave up cleanly and turned around.
At this rate, I needed nicotine more than anything.
But even on the rooftop smoking area, there were already people there first.
"I watched Queen of Joseon live yesterday, and the actors were insane."
"Lee Ha-eun’s got a rotten personality, but she really can act."
"Lee Ha-eun’s personality is really that bad?"
"Bad doesn’t even cover it. How many managers has she chewed through? And this time, for some reason, she praised one? The former manager... that Chief Manager Kwon guy, right?"
Damn it.
They were talking about me here too?
I let out a long sigh and looked around.
Thankfully, the corner wall of the smoking area was empty.
I shuffled over and tucked myself into the corner to smoke, and one minute later I found myself muttering under my breath.
"This is annoying."
I should have been focusing on To.Any, but the accident that had blown up kept chewing at me from the inside.
And the one who had caused the accident was Lee Ha-eun, of all people, so there was no easy way to clean it up.
The top-tier actress whose hobby was supposedly replacing managers.
It was only natural that if that actress started praising a manager, the whole company would turn it into gossip.
With nothing else I could do, I kept smoking away at my poor cigarette, then finally pulled out my smartphone.
After a few rings, road manager Jeon Hyeong-u picked up.
"Yes, I’ve got it."
"Hyeong-u. It’s me, Chief Manager Kwon."
"Ah, yes! Chief Manager."
"Did you ask Lee Ha-eun about the interview?"
At my question, Jeon Hyeong-u trailed off.
"Yes! But..."
My pulse ticked up a little.
What the hell had that insane woman said in the interview to mention me?
"She said it really was you who picked the project for her."
"?"
...My pupils moved up and down like an earthquake had hit them.
I picked Queen of Joseon?
Jeon Hyeong-u hurriedly explained the situation.
"I thought you and she had fallen out, so she was doing that interview to screw you over, but that wasn’t it. According to Lee Ha-eun, you really were the one who chose it."
I frowned.
What is he talking about now?
I picked Queen of Joseon?
To Lee Ha-eun?
I dug frantically through the buried archives of my memory.
The next work from star writer Kim Go-eun, one of the industry’s top three names.
A highly anticipated quarterly project with a 30 billion won budget.
A script with a role that fit Lee Ha-eun like a glove.
As I put the shattered pieces of memory back together, my shoulders gave an involuntary twitch.
...I did pick it, didn’t I?
Uh...
For a second, I lost the ability to speak.
"..."
Even as I sat there, the memory grew sharper.
I could see myself fielding a call from writer Kim Go-eun, checking the script, and strongly pushing Queen of Joseon forward.
No, no, that’s not it.
When I thought it over again, I realized I’d had no choice but to recommend it.
How could I turn down a project like Queen of Joseon?
Besides, back then, before things had really gone sour with Lee Ha-eun, I still had a manager’s sense of responsibility intact.
Once I sorted out the whole situation, my expression soured.
"...So you’re saying I just stated the facts without thinking?"
Jeon Hyeong-u asked in a puzzled voice.
"Pardon? What was that, Chief Manager?"
"No, nothing. I was talking to myself."
"Oh, really? But I should probably head out for the interview soon..."
"Ah, right. Good luck, Hyeong-u."
"Yes! You hang in there too, Chief Manager!"
I hung up and sank into thought.
Unfiltered, purposeless delusions or fantasies kept drifting on and on.
Had he really just spoken the facts without any particular thought?
Or was there some other intention hidden underneath?
Or maybe...
"Agh! That Lee Ha-eun bitch really needs to crash and burn once in her life!"
A rough voice yanked me straight back to reality.
Before I knew it, I held my breath and listened in.
It was the marketing department.
"...Far from crashing, Queen of Joseon had a huge first-episode rating, Team Leader Kim."
"I don’t care! Every time I think about that Ticksola sponsored ad we had lined up getting wrecked because she couldn’t control that temper, I still boil over!"
Marketing Team Leader Kim whipped his head around and shouted at the staff around him.
"And what, because the first episode did well, does that mean the whole drama will? In my eyes it’s definitely going to come crashing down! Because that Lee Ha-eun bitch caused trouble!"
The startled marketing staff clamped a hand over Team Leader Kim’s mouth.
"My God! What if someone hears you saying that!"
I felt bad for the marketing staff, but it was too late.
Hidden against the wall and watching the whole scene, I let out an admiring breath.
"In more ways than one, that’s impressive."
Lee Ha-eun, the marquee top star actress of Baekhak.
I knew her reputation was notorious, but I never imagined an employee of the company would actually pray for her downfall.
Well, I’m not exactly thrilled that Lee Ha-eun is doing well either...
Let’s be objective.
Was Queen of Joseon some doomed drama?
No.
Judging by its first-episode ratings, if anything it was the kind of drama that could only do better, never worse.
The only variable was Lee Ha-eun, and even she wasn’t doing anything that would damage the work.
I’m sorry for the marketing team, but...
At the current pace, Queen of Joseon was only going to keep climbing.
The problem was that nobody knew how far that rise would go.
***
After a noisy day came to an end, I went back to headquarters the next morning.
Unlike yesterday, the number of piercing stares had dropped quite a bit.
With a much lighter heart, I headed for my seat, only to find someone already there.
It was Team Leader Seo from Public Relations, the one who had looked after me since my first days at the company.
"My, my! Isn’t this our superstar, Chief Manager Kwon!"
Ugh, look at that shameless face.
I shook my head and sat down.
"If you came here to tease me, you’ve got the wrong person. I’m already made of steel."
"Hey now? Chief Manager Kwon! Do I look like that kind of person to you?"
"Yes. Yes, you do."
Team Leader Seo burst out laughing.
"Why are you like this with me~? Come on, spill it! What wind blew through and put our Chief Manager Kwon’s name in Lee Ha-eun’s mouth?"
He was a good person at heart, but he was famous for having a loose mouth.
If I said the wrong thing here, the entire company might end up hearing about this conversation.
So I kept my mouth shut, and Team Leader Seo asked in that slick, teasing tone of his,
"Could it be... a top actress’s flirtation with the manager she can’t forget? Something like that?"
This guy was crossing a line.
"Didn’t I tell you to stop reading romance webtoons?"
"What, why! It could happen!"
"In her personality? Romance? Maybe in a thriller."
Team Leader Seo clutched his stomach and laughed.
"Fair point. With Lee Ha-eun’s personality, romance is a stretch. Thriller, maybe. Still..."
He trailed off and handed me a tablet PC.
"Thanks to Lee Ha-eun, Queen of Joseon fans seem kind of interested in articles about you, Chief Manager. Look."
Team Leader Seo swiped through the tablet.
Without meaning to, I started reading the comments.
- This is so fun. It’s been a while since I found a drama I want to watch live.
- The manager has a good eye for projects.
- So our Ha-eun got cast in Queen of Joseon thanks to this person?
- I was shocked yesterday. Lee Ha-eun looked so beautiful in it.
- Maybe a good manager belongs next to a good actor, hehe.
- So he’s her former manager now? That’s a shame T_T Still, fighting!
I raised my eyebrows slightly.
What is this? There are quite a few comments.
But even more surprising was that among more than a hundred comments, I couldn’t find a single malicious one.
Most of the comments were praising the manager named Kwon Chan, the one who had recommended Queen of Joseon to Lee Ha-eun.
As the mood in me turned strangely warm, Team Leader Seo patted my shoulder.
"Episode 2 airs today, right?"
I snapped back to my senses and answered.
"Should be. It’s a Wednesday-Thursday mini-series."
"Looking at the trend, I bet episode 2 ratings are going to be huge too..."
Team Leader Seo abruptly changed the subject.
"At this rate, Chief Manager Kwon, you might end up getting a performance bonus thanks to Lee Ha-eun."
I frowned hard.
"What are you talking about now?"
"No, seriously! Is Queen of Joseon a drama that’s going to flop? The top three writer Kim Go-eun camp is all here, isn’t it?"
This time I nodded.
Right.
It was definitely not a drama that would flop.
In fact...
It was a drama that would probably keep rising higher.
Then Team Leader Seo pointed at the ceiling.
"At this rate, the ratings are going to break through the roof..."
A shameless grin spread across his face.
"And the article already said it was you, Chief Manager, who recommended this project to Lee Ha-eun, didn’t it? If things go really well, maybe you’ll actually get a bonus."
My lips parted.
I wanted to tell him what ridiculous nonsense that was...
So why couldn’t I actually say it?
- Thump-thump.
Even stranger, my heart had started to race.
As excitement began to swell inside me, I found myself thinking without meaning to:
Even though the managing agent got changed, there’s already an article out there, so this does count as my result.
Queen of Joseon was a major production that was already showing signs of success from its very first episode.
If that momentum...
went far beyond what anyone had predicted,
then it wouldn’t be strange at all if I got a bonus, just like Team Leader Seo said.
At that moment, my eyes widened slightly.
No, wait... is this really how things are going to turn out?
I forced myself to think calmly again.
No matter how good the situation looked, there was no way to say for certain that Queen of Joseon would definitely become a hit.
After all, it had only just aired its first episode.
But for some reason,
my heartbeat still wouldn’t settle.
And that expectation of mine turned out to be exactly right the following week.
Episode 4 averaged 15.2 percent.
Its highest rating was a staggering 17.5 percent.
An all-time-level sensation appearing after so long sent the industry into chaos.
***
The moment episode 4 of Queen of Joseon aired, entertainment news was plastered with Lee Ha-eun.
Lee Ha-eun, the top-star actress who had gone so far beyond good acting that she seemed to become the character herself.
At that moment, the public began to go crazy for Lee Ha-eun.
On social media and Nuttube, all kinds of memes and parodies related to Queen of Joseon flooded in, and the clothes and accessories Lee Ha-eun wore on screen sold out one after another.
And the most important number of all...
After only four episodes, it had already passed 15 percent.
The final ratings for KBN’s Beautiful Day, a hit from two years ago, were 15 percent, and Queen of Joseon had reached that level in just four episodes.
At that point, the attention on me flared up again as well.
"Life must be good these days thanks to Lee Ha-eun, Chief Manager Kwon. Heh heh..."
Everyone I ran into tossed me words of congratulations.
"Seriously, what did you use to reel in that temperamental woman to get an interview like that?"
"The manager changed, sure, but if this gets counted as Chief Manager Kwon’s achievement..."
"That’s huge, isn’t it? Look at the recent drama ratings! If it’s Queen of Joseon, there’s definitely a bonus coming!"
The whole thing was a little exhausting, but...
also strangely, pleasantly confusing.
"Chief Manager Kwon, you’ve hit the jackpot."
In the six years I’d worked at this company, had I ever been this much of a focus?
During the Kim Jang-hun director incident, I’d drawn similar stares, but back then there had also been a lot of negative looks mixed in.
Not now.
Envy, curiosity, admiration.
Positive attention for me, out of nowhere for once, poured in from everywhere.
The stale air inside the company was blown clean away, and before I knew it, the air in my chest had opened up too.
With that tight pressure gone, I no longer cared about the glares raining down on me.
On the contrary...
I began to enjoy the attention.
And then, without thinking, I muttered to myself,
"...At this rate, am I really going to get a bonus because of Lee Ha-eun?"
I had expected the drama to do well, but Queen of Joseon had blown past those expectations.
15 percent in only four episodes?
And the most astonishing part was that eight more episodes were still left.
Given the current situation, the attention, the momentum, a 20 percent milestone didn’t even feel impossible.
It was exactly the kind of situation where a bonus would make sense, just like Team Leader Seo said.
But should I even be happy about this?
Just thinking that a bonus might come because of Lee Ha-eun...
made my feelings feel a little tangled.
Then someone tapped my shoulder.
When I turned my head, I saw hyung Seok-du with his face red as a beet.
"Chief Manager Kwon."
"?"
"You caused trouble again?"
I blinked.
"What trouble would I have caused?"
Seok-du’s throat bobbed.
"The CEO called for you, man!"
"What?"
"I said the CEO called for you! CEO Baek Ji-won!"
Lightning flashed through my head.
The CEO, Baek Ji-won, called for me?
Why? For what?
I hurriedly ran through every issue I could think of, but nothing came to mind.
At that moment, a faint tension began crawling up my spine.
Seok-du looked stunned and shoved at my shoulder.
"Hey, hey! What are you thinking about? Hurry up and go to the CEO’s office!"
Half-pushed, I got up and caught the elevator.
I pressed the button for the 15th floor, the CEO’s office, a place I’d never been to before.
Inside the rattling elevator, I tried once more to guess why Baek Ji-won had called for me.
But...
nothing came to mind.
No, maybe I was avoiding the answer.
If the reason I was thinking of was right...
then a low-level employee walking into the CEO’s office would be wearing a smile from ear to ear.
"No, that’s absolutely not happening."
I checked my expression in the mirror.
Severe, pained...
I twisted my face into its most miserable shape.
But my steps toward Baek Ji-won’s office...
couldn’t hide it.
The walk to meet Baekhak’s legendary CEO was absurdly light.
By then, the office door was in sight.
I let out one short breath, then knocked.
"CEO, this is Chief Manager Kwon from Team 5."
Baek Ji-won answered in her usual languid voice.
"Come in, Chief Manager Kwon."
My heart was pounding.
I couldn’t tell whether it was beating from anticipation,
or from fear of what was about to happen.
But one thing was certain.
I was enjoying this situation.
Just as my head heated up with surging excitement, Baek Ji-won opened her mouth.
"Chief Manager Kwon. What do you want?"
Crises could become chances.