The Last Piece of the Puzzle
It wasn't just one or two things that had been overturned in such a short span of time. Geum Bit-gang's recognition, the title of Dokgo Min's Muse, the lead role in The Cherry on Top of the Parfait Belongs to the Heroine, view counts unlike anything before, and even Jegal Rok's special favor.
"She seems sweet? Of course, not as much as you, Mr. Myeong Je-ha — the pride of our Dae-ye-jong."
Ju Jun-seo was always the same. He'd sued his own agency because he couldn't forget the runway, then dragged out a sluggish legal battle that went nowhere.
Though I don't remember the details.
The entertainment industry was a place where someone new was always rising and vanishing again. Something was always skewed, a puzzle forever missing its one proper piece so the picture could never be completed.
And that was why Myeong Je-ha had grown curious. Just how far would the variable called Han Yeo-reum reach? To put it precisely —
"Then get close with Ju Jun-seo."
Just how much would change, from beginning to end, because of one Han Yeo-reum?
"What? Weren't you the one who told me not to get close to him?"
"You said he was a good person. Then it's fine to be friendly with him."
Je-ha gave his Summer a faint smile and thought: Maybe she's the very last piece of this godawful regression.
Maybe, this time around, I could finally put an end to it.
"Director, what are you watching?"
"This? A web drama."
"Ohh~ Then I'll bring the snacks over here."
"No, I'm fine. Let the others have them."
The staff didn't pay it much mind. It wasn't a movie, or even a drama — just a web drama. The kind of forgettable snack culture you watch once and never think about again.
"What's the Director having?"
"Nothing. She's watching some web drama."
"Oh~ Pachehi. You know it? The female lead in that one — she's our salon's exclusive client."
The coworker lowered her voice and murmured quietly to the staff member.
"She got a fifty-percent DC contract?"
"What?! Hey, don't lie to me...!"
The staff member shot up from their seat, refusing to believe a word of it.
Who was Dokgo Gyeol, after all? A miser among misers.
She was famous for handpicking only the people who would truly make it big and sorting them into her ruthless grading system. Things had reached the point where people in the industry said, If you want to recognize real star quality, go ask Dokgo Gyeol.
"It's true. The Director absolutely adores that female lead."
"She came in with the Director's cousin last time, didn't she? Maybe that's why."
"She's not the kind of person who'd cut a rate over something like that."
"That's true..."
Who on earth was this girl? Just how remarkable could she be? This was Dokgo Gyeol, who applied her grading system with surgical precision even to celebrities from the most famous agencies, if they failed to meet her standards.
A fifty-percent DC was something she had never seen or heard of in her life. Even Eun Baek-hap, the hottest actress in the country right now, wasn't anywhere near that ratio.
"Is it really that good? The thumbnail alone looks childish..."
"I watched episode one of Pachehi too. It's fun."
The Cherry on Top of the Parfait Belongs to the Heroine. The staff member had never heard a title like it. Though then again, web drama titles were usually exactly like that.
[The Fox Friend Trying to Steal My Boyfriend Got FACT-BOMBED]
[POV: Showing My Real Gold Spoon in Front of the Classmate Faking One]
"What was the title again? Cherry-something-whatever?"
"Just search 'cherry on top parfait' and it'll pop right up."
Curiosity got the better of the staff member. During break, they searched the title straight into their phone, and the childish pink thumbnail appeared immediately.
The staff member's video-watching method was as follows:
One: click the thumbnail. Two: watch the first ten seconds, skip ahead thirty, then watch another ten. Three: repeat that three times, and if it's boring, close the video entirely.
When something was dull, they simply didn't invest time in it — no different from any average viewer. Average watch time: one minute, twelve seconds.
And so, ten seconds into Pachehi, just as the staff member was about to skip ahead—
a blaring trumpet split the air.
"Our concert band! Together, we'll make beautiful music! You WILL join us!"
Club promotion squads stretched in long lines on either side of the screen. Club recruitment had begun in the school auditorium.
"It's a three-year commitment, you see~"
Pachehi — the kind of show that pinned your eyes in place, set the corners of your mouth twitching, and curled your toes without permission — seized the staff member completely, and they never once touched the skip button.
"Ugh..."
They did let out groans here and there, embarrassed on their own behalf for reasons they couldn't quite name, but they couldn't even spare ten seconds. They simply stayed glued to Pachehi.
Three extras appeared on screen.
"Isn't that right?!"
"It IS!!"
"How DARE you!! Monopolize Jun like that?!"
One by one, they raised their fists. Painted on them in bold letters: School. Jun. Guard Squad.
"Truly!!"
"Absolutely!!"
"UNFORGIVABLE!!"
The male lead's personal guard squad — the kind of thing every shojo manga was contractually obligated to include at least one of.
Only when the title card, The Cherry on Top of the Parfait Belongs to the Heroine!, filled the screen did the staff member realize the video had ended.
"It's over already?"
They had watched the entire fourteen-minute-and-twelve-second video without a single skip.
"This is so ridiculous it's actually funny."
The staff member reported their impressions to the coworker who had recommended Pachehi.
"The show itself is hilarious, but... honestly? The female lead just pops off the screen."
"Right? I already follow her."
"What's her handle? I want to follow her too."
The staff member followed Yeo-reum's Youstagram as well, then went back into InTube to browse the comments.
"Huh? Why did the views suddenly shoot up?"
Earlier, the view count had crept past one hundred thousand — and now it was rocketing toward four hundred thousand in one breath.
"Oh, it's THAT!"
"What?"
"The real-time trending videos!"
With just its third episode, Pachehi had landed squarely on the trending charts.
It had now spread to the online communities too. Riding the trending algorithm on InTube, it was being exposed to wider and wider feeds.
Across several communities, talk of Pachehi began springing up one thread at a time in every drama-category board there was.
"There's a Pachehi megathread — take it over there."
It was a first in the history of web dramas.
I pushed open the cafe door and stepped inside. I had an appointment here today. Raising a hand in greeting as I entered, I called out—
"Han Yeo-reum!"
"Over here!"
And at the exact same moment, two people at two different tables greeted me.
"What the—!"
"What the..."
The two of them shot me a flustered look, then turned their heads and found themselves staring straight at each other.
"Uh~. Shall we take that room in the back, then?"
It was Chu Ga-eul and Ju Jun-seo.