If I Run Away From Here, Isn’t It All Over?
TAN, the production studio.
Looking out at the enormous studio, about a hundred pyeong in size, Assistant PD Jo felt his heart begin to race.
"PD Hwang."
"What is it."
"Haven’t we basically made it?"
PD Hwang, who was in charge of the main direction for K-Singer-Songwriter, looked back at him with a confused expression.
"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"No, I’m saying, seeing a studio this amazing and you don’t feel anything?"
"...?"
"Wow. PD Hwang, you’re such a hard-core T, aren’t you? Aren’t you a little too emotionally dried up?"
At Jo’s jab, Hwang clicked his tongue.
"We haven’t even started filming yet, and you’re already getting ahead of yourself."
"...Since when were you so rational?"
"I can hear you muttering to yourself, Jo."
Hwang slapped away Jo’s protruding lower lip and held out his hand.
"Cut the nonsense and hand over the cast list."
At Hwang’s scolding, Jo handed over the document file with a sullen look. Hwang studied the file with cautious eyes before asking,
"Everyone in here has had their schedules adjusted, right?"
"Yes, all done."
"And the supporting cast, K-1? That’s been coordinated too?"
"Yes. For the next month, he’s agreed to focus his schedule entirely on our side."
PD Hwang nodded slowly. Watching him, Jo called his name again.
"But PD Hwang."
"What now."
"Who do you think is going to win this competition?"
Jo explained with excitement.
"Surely genius singer-songwriter Jo Yeon-jin is the strongest contender, right? Or maybe K-1, the guy who won that music competition variety show on another network!"
Hwang answered with a bored expression.
"Jo."
"Yes?"
"Like I’ve said over and over, we haven’t even started filming yet."
Jo bristled and shouted,
"Aw, come on! I’m just trying to guess for fun. Who do you think it is, then?"
"Do I have to say?"
"If you’re not confident, you don’t have to."
Jo taunted him in a low voice. Hwang let out a snort and stroked his chin.
"Who do I think will win, huh..."
"So it’s Jo Yeon-jin or K-1 for you too, right?"
"...Mm. No. I’m going with Park Ga-eul."
Jo’s eyes widened.
"Huh? Park Ga-eul? The rookie girl group leader?"
"Yeah, that’s right."
"...She is a dark horse, but isn’t it a bit hard to aim all the way for first place?"
At Jo’s words, Hwang said flatly,
"She’s good."
"Pardon?"
"That girl can sing, and she’s good at writing lyrics and composing too. If that’s not enough to put her in contention for first, I don’t know what is."
Music played in Hwang’s head. Youth Travel. It was the kind of song so high in quality it was hard to believe it had been written and composed by a rookie girl group.
"If she can come up with another track at that level, one that can go all the way to number one on the digital charts, then Park Ga-eul could seriously win this competition."
Jo’s expression turned doubtful.
"But wouldn’t that apply to the other contestants too?"
"Really? Then think about it this way."
A crooked smile touched Hwang’s mouth.
"If Park Ga-eul is an artist Baekhak is pushing, isn’t she already one step ahead of everyone else?"
***
Sitting on a bench in the smoking area in front of TAN’s variety studio, I put a cigarette to my lips.
I pulled my collar closed against the cold autumn wind and lit the cigarette.
"A new Future Text Message, huh..."
Right before filming K-Singer-Songwriter began, a new Future Text Message had arrived.
'And not just one. Three of them?'
Thanks to that, three unfamiliar voice files had landed on my phone.
I scratched my chin slowly and muttered,
"What kind of incident is this time?"
The odds were good. Just like before, a new Future Text Message always arrived right after some big incident had wrapped up.
I found myself smiling as I muttered,
"What am I, some debt-ridden fool?"
The messenger called Future Text Messages felt like some loan shark, constantly shoving new situations and new trouble at me and telling me to keep working without a break.
If this had been the old me, I would probably have felt a little tension, a little stress at all this. But maybe I’d gotten used to it now.
Instead, I was starting to get curious.
What kind of opportunity, what kind of incident, was this new message bringing me this time?
Letting myself drift with that anticipation, I put my Galaxy Buds in and played the first voice file.
"Wow... what are these views?"
It was a voice I didn’t recognize. I focused and listened closely.
"This Take a Drink Nuttube variety show that MC Kim Dong-hun hosted this time blew up completely, didn’t it?"
"Average views of one million... That’s top-tier even among broadcast station Nuttube channels these days, isn’t it?"
"Exactly! It’s a total smash! My God, even just with ads and sponsorships, how much would the rates be?"
MC Kim Dong-hun? If it was MC Kim Dong-hun...
'That Kim Dong-hun, the one who was once called the nation’s MC?'
That Kim Dong-hun’s Nuttube had hit an average of one million views? Interested now, I listened more carefully.
But the voice file, barely ten seconds long, gave me nothing more.
"Damn it, it cuts off here?"
I clicked my tongue and tilted my head.
"Wait, Kim Dong-hun is doing Nuttube?"
I thought about how Kim Dong-hun had been doing these days.
'As far as I know, he disappeared after the entertainment company under his own name went under.'
If things unfolded according to the Future Text Message, was he making a comeback?
'Looks like it.'
If that was the case, the situation had become rather interesting.
According to the source the Future Text Message showed, Kim Dong-hun’s YouTube channel was pulling an average of one million views. That was an enormous number. Even a studio variety show, carefully produced by a network, would struggle to achieve results like that.
'If this information is right, then it means the glorious return of Kim Dong-hun, the former nation’s MC.'
The comeback of a once-fallen national MC. After planting that first keyword in my head, I played the second voice file.
"Who could have known something like that would happen?"
This time, it was a familiar voice.
'The PR team leader?'
Then the future PR team leader’s mouth spilled something unbelievable.
"Who could have guessed a drunk intruder would barge into the Clair d'Or party?"
"!"
"Thanks to that, actress Lee Ha-eun was apparently in a horrible mood that day, too? Man. The lioness who’d been quiet for a while really got pissed off!"
As the second voice file ended, my eyes widened.
"A drunk guy barges into the Clair d'Or party?"
...And that ruins Lee Ha-eun’s mood?
Before I knew it, I was holding my breath.
"This is a full-scale emergency."
As Lee Ha-eun’s manager, her being in a bad mood was a top-priority crisis.
I quickly ran the possibilities through my head and muttered,
'No, but if it’s the Clair d'Or launch party, security should be no joke. How would a drunk even get in?'
On the face of it, impossible.
But what if the Clair d'Or party was being held on Christmas Eve?
"If it’s Christmas Eve, of all days, it’d be insanely crowded."
In that crowd, if a drunken mess managed to slip into the Clair d'Or launch party, it was plenty plausible.
After piecing the situation together, I let out the breath I’d been holding.
"It is an emergency, but..."
This was an incident we could probably stop without much trouble, wasn’t it?
There was no need to overthink it. All I’d need to do was ask the security company to handle it.
"Let’s set that aside for now."
I moved my finger to the third and final file.
'What’s the last Future Text Message going to be about?'
The first Future Text Message was about a possibility.
The second was about an accident.
Then was the third also a possibility?
Guessing at the source of the message, I played the last voice file.
At that moment.
"Wow... holy shit. That song was plagiarized?"
My eyebrows twitched.
'Plagiarized?'
It was a familiar word in this industry. But hearing it now, right before filming a K-Singer-Songwriter competition show, sent a strange chill crawling up my spine. And that uncanny feeling hit the mark exactly.
"That song that completely blew up on K-Singer-Songwriter!"
The corner of my mouth twisted.
"That song, it was supposed to be the one To.Any’s leader, Park Ga-eul, wrote, wasn’t it?"
***
Meanwhile, at Baekhak headquarters.
Team Leader Lee Jae-min barked at the PR team leader.
"No, PR Team Leader-nim! Please push our Seung-jun too!"
Lee Jae-min’s face was red with irritation as he shouted.
"You’re already promoting Backstreet Police, so how can Baekhak’s PR team just sit there and do nothing? Please write some articles for our Seung-jun too!"
After hearing the same complaint for hours, the PR team leader let out a deep sigh.
"No, Team Leader Lee. It doesn’t work like that."
"What do you mean it doesn’t work?"
"Promotion for Backstreet Police is handled by KBN’s marketing team. We can’t just write articles about it however we want. How many times do I have to explain this?"
Lee Jae-min’s face twisted even more.
"Then what about Kwon Hyeon-bin?"
"...What?"
"Baekhak is pushing Kwon Hyeon-bin’s new project hard this time! They have a marketing team too, so why is the PR team writing articles for Kwon Hyeon-bin?"
The PR team leader stared at him with an expression of utter disbelief.
"...Are you jealous right now?"
"What jealousy? This is about fairness!"
"..."
"Anyway, I can’t let this go. Our Seung-jun’s project articles got buried in the entertainment rankings because of Chief Manager Kwon. How am I supposed to just watch that happen? Please, just get the article out there, quickly!"
Finishing his rant, Lee Jae-min flopped into a chair. With his arms tightly crossed, he looked exactly like a man who would not budge an inch unless the PR article was handed over.
Watching him, the PR team leader gave a dry laugh.
'So it is jealousy!'
But looking at it this way, it was clear that the object of his jealousy wasn’t Kwon Hyeon-bin, but Chief Manager Kwon, who happened to have the same family name.
'...Unbelievable. Why are management-department turf wars getting dumped on PR?'
Knowing how severe the internal rivalries between management departments were, the PR team tried to handle things as fairly as possible. But this case was a little different.
In Chief Manager Kwon’s case, the network’s director himself had stepped in and assigned Baekhak’s PR team to handle promotional marketing for The Wise Life of a Namhae Intern Doctor.
'At that point, there’s no way not to push it hard.'
On top of that, Chief Manager Kwon had even generated his own publicity issue through the Baeksang interview.
That quick wit had far greater promotional value than a few articles the PR team might write.
'How am I supposed to push Backstreet Police in a situation like this!'
After finishing his thoughts, the PR team leader crossed his arms just like Lee Jae-min.
No matter how fair he tried to be, what couldn’t be done simply couldn’t be done.
He was just about to cut off Lee Jae-min’s tantrum then and there when the PR office door opened.
The PR team leader’s eyes widened.
"Team Leader of 3?"
The Team Leader of Management Team 3 appeared with a worn-out face, his brow furrowed. The PR team leader tensed a little at seeing him look so unlike himself, and then Kim Hae-chan spoke.
"I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but since I heard it anyway, I’ll say this, PR team leader."
Kim Hae-chan’s gaze narrowed sharply.
"Like Team Leader Lee said, please give Backstreet Police some promotional marketing."
"...No, why are you doing this too, Team Leader of 3? The authority for PR isn’t with us; it’s with KBN’s marketing department, remember?"
At the PR team leader’s words, the Team Leader of 3 called someone and made a phone call.
And a little while later,
"Yes, Director Kim. This is Team Leader of 3 from Baekhak."
"!"
"We were thinking Baekhak’s PR team could help out a little with the promotional campaign for Backstreet Police. Would that be all right?"
At his words, the PR team leader and Lee Jae-min both stared in shock, mouths hanging open.
'Huh...?'
'He called the KBN director and asked?'
After finishing the call, the Team Leader of 3 jerked his chin.
"Director Kim from KBN gave approval, so go ahead, PR team leader."
"..."
The PR team leader nodded with a reluctant look. The Team Leader of 3 glanced sideways, then motioned to Lee Jae-min.
"Chief Manager Lee, come with me. I’ve got something to say."
Looking dazed, Lee Jae-min stood and followed him out.
Watching the Team Leader of 3 walk ahead without a word, Lee Jae-min belatedly thought,
'Team Leader of 3 seems a little... different today?'
How to put it.
Had he become colder?
Or maybe, looked at another way, he seemed tense.
It was definitely different from the usual image of Team Leader of 3, who always dealt with the employees with a soft smile.
Then the Team Leader of 3, who had been leading the way, suddenly stopped.
Lee Jae-min’s steps came to a halt behind him too, and when the Team Leader of 3 turned his head, he smiled brightly.
"Chief Manager Lee."
"...Yes?"
"If something like that happens, you should tell me."
"?"
"Didn’t you know the PR team is famous for favoritism? Why are you getting treated so badly there?"
By then, Kim Hae-chan had returned to being his usual self. Lee Jae-min’s eyes widened.
"Ah, ah... I’m sorry, Team Leader of 3."
"What are you apologizing for? But I see you in a new light."
Team Leader of 3 lightly tapped Lee Jae-min’s shoulder as he spoke.
"Watching you cling so hard to the PR team leader because of Backstreet Police... today, Chief Manager Lee looked a little different."
Lee Jae-min’s mouth parted slightly.
"Ah, ah... thank you, Team Leader of 3!"
"Haha. So what are you doing today, Chief Manager Lee?"
"I don’t have any outside schedules, so I think I’ll just be doing paperwork today."
"Oh, really? Same here. Then today..."
As he let the sentence trail off, Team Leader of 3’s eyes flashed with sudden sharpness.
"Shall we have a proper drink, just the two of us? I’ve got some things I’d like to talk to you about."