The Genius's Next Move
“Viewership numbers online, comments, and reach are all strongest in Southeast Asia. The profit we stand to gain comes from exactly there.”
Ad revenue from clicks on InTube videos was far too small a scale to be satisfied with. No one in the room grasped it immediately. They only exchanged silent glances.
“Netholics is producing original series. Riding this momentum, they will land on Korean shores before long. I guarantee you that all three terrestrial broadcasters, down to the cable channels, will be pushed aside by OTT services.”
"…."
“Before they produce originals in Korea, they'll need content Koreans actually want to watch to launch the service. And at that moment, Strange Tales is guaranteed a place. As the teens and twenties sign up, the thirties and forties will follow.”
Murmurs rippled through the room.
“Unless Netholics is a fool, they'll pick Strange Tales.”
It was different from before. The room was awash now with reactions soaked in anticipation.
“What's more, a Netholics original is already in production in Japan. They'll be looking for somewhere in Korea to begin production within a few years, won't they? So where do you think they'll look?”
Jegal Rok was already playing several moves ahead.
“They'll want a company whose existing titles are performing well on Netholics, and whose mention volume is high both domestically and across Southeast Asia, won't they?”
Which meant—Jegal Rok was saying that the moment Netholics entered Korea, they would reach out and take JC's hand.
The executives' eyes gleamed. If Jegal Rok's projections held, the profits flowing into JC would dwarf anything they'd gained by abandoning the Chinese market.
“Is there anyone here who can dispute this?”
No one could raise a hand. It had been nothing more than a fusion period drama based on a web novel—yet in Jegal Rok's hands, the scale had transformed entirely.
“Ugh, I'm so full….”
Ae-tami was stuffed without eating a single meal. Teasers were pouring down on her every single day. A new Brand N photoshoot, InTube clips, and now—finally—Yeo-reum's proper, official profile had dropped.
“So Yeo-reum's birthday really was midsummer.”
August 17th. She had already saved the video of Yeo-reum's birthday party uploaded to Brand N's social media story ages ago.
“Ah, I want to do a birthday fan project for her.”
The sight of Yeo-reum standing before a cake, just barely misty-eyed, wrung her otaku heart dry. The photos Yeo-reum had posted on her socials were already circulating through the community boards.
Recommend me an actress who photographs well and has great visuals. Want to save pics to my gallery and copy her poses. Idols are fine, actors too! Hoping for lots of casual everyday shots rather than glossy ad photos
“The mention volume isn't as active as it was during Pachehi…. But honestly, this much is plenty!”
In those early debut days, every single mention of her name, every single photo, had been precious. Ae-tami hoped Yeo-reum would imprint herself subconsciously even on people who didn't know her yet.
Once again today, she checked Yeo-reum's follower count as it climbed steadily onward.
“Any day now she's smashing through 200k. Why is my baby rising this fast, huh?”
Wearing her Pi Chae-won sneakers, Ae-tami searched Yeo-reum's name on the portal site out of pure habit.
Five minutes ago, photos of Yeo-reum attending Brand N's offline event had gone up. The moment she saw Yeo-reum in an ivory knit set, her heart started pounding.
“My daughter…. My daughter Han Yeo-reum…. Truly a legend again today.”
Click.
[Proceed with purchase?]
Ae-tami darted into Brand N's site and bought the outfit Yeo-reum had worn without even pausing to add it to her cart. The ALAB hair mist from the ad that had dropped a while back had long since been purchased too.
In the meantime, everything Yeo-reum had worn had climbed onto the bestseller list. Instead of a fan project, Ae-tami consoled herself by buying the things Yeo-reum advertised.
Just as she was devouring the flood of articles about Yeo-reum—
“…Huh?”
An entirely unexpected headline caught her eye.
JC ENM was putting Yeo-reum forward as the MC of its music show.
Let me admit it. Division Head Jegal Rok is a genius.
“How does he even connect the dots like that?”
Everything out of Jegal Rok's mouth turned into reality before long. Most of the productions that had taken Chinese investment had all but collapsed.
I didn't know the details since my connections didn't reach that far, but I remembered that the losses had been enormous.
—The average loss on those failed productions was around 60 billion won.
Myeong Je-ha, on the other side of the screen, answered helpfully.
A video call out of nowhere—I'd wondered what it was about, but somehow he had found out and was relaying to me, word for word, what Jegal Rok had said.
'Jegal Rok is buying the rights to Strange Tales….'
Before my regression, the party who had purchased the rights and gone into production was definitely not JC ENM. Could it be—could it really, possibly be—
'Did he decide to buy it after watching my video?'
When it hit me that tens of billions of won might be moving because of me alone, the corner of my mouth twitched upward.
My chest swelled with grandeur. I already felt like a great actress.
That was when Myeong Je-ha's voice came through the screen.
—What are you thinking about, that you're smiling like that?
“I just start smiling when I'm looking at the best face in the world. It's like my phone screen suddenly upgraded to 4K.”
—Haha. Have you always been this sly?
We still hadn't talked to each other about the time before our regressions.
I gratefully received the tidbits Myeong Je-ha tossed my way, and he, in turn, checked in on how I was doing. That was exactly the extent of it.
—You know why Jegal Rok is making you the MC of a music program, right?
“More or less.”
I could take a rough guess.
Right now in Southeast Asia, K-pop had far greater name recognition than K-drama. Viewers interested in Korean culture would watch the music shows, and along the way they'd get at least somewhat familiar with me.
Then when Strange Tales went up for export, it would have a positive effect.
—But you're reacting awfully flat about it?
However, Myeong Je-ha's further explanation went beyond anything I'd imagined.
—K-pop fans who follow the music shows to that extent might as well have certified purchasing power. So those fans will follow your social media too, and that makes you look very good to investors. “Han Yeo-reum, a rookie actress with this many followers—wouldn't you like to invest in her next project?” That's the pitch. And with a new market opening up soon, no one will want to stick to the old investment playbook.
Wha…. That was something I hadn't even considered.
He was planning to use my name to pull in investment money? Jegal Rok was?
—In reality, you could count the actresses investors trust enough to hand capital to on one hand, if that. But guarantee overseas purchasing power, and the calculus changes. It's why they keep casting idols more and more.
Myeong Je-ha's gentle voice set my heart thrumming. This wasn't just about the success of Strange Tales.
—He's talking about handing you both roles at once: idol and actress. There are plenty of cases of idols going into acting, but the reverse is nearly unheard of…. It seems Jegal Rok is trying to do something a little more iconic.
It transcended the success of a single drama.
It meant JC ENM intended to raise Han Yeo-reum into a far more serious star. Only now did I grasp the whole board, and my mouth fell open.
—Well, now that I've explained it—how about you get a little more excited, if you understand?
I didn't need Myeong Je-ha's order to be elated. I already was.
Still clutching my phone, I rolled around on my bed. Han Yeo-reum. The sheer anticipation of how far my name would spread made the whole world feel like it was spinning.
“He's out of his mind.”
The news that Jegal Rok was shutting the door on Chinese exports and producing Strange Tales alone spread like wildfire in under twenty-four hours.
It was no exaggeration to say that everyone in the industry had their eyes fixed on Jegal Rok's next move.
“Producing a fusion period drama solo? No…. how does he come up with such a lunatic idea….”
“Blocking Chinese exports. If he does that, he loses not just the Ministry of Culture's support but the production subsidies from the Film Council too, right?”
If it came to that, the next problem was quality. Nobody could deny that the bigger the investment, the better it satisfied the audience's eye.
“So Jegal Rok's first flop is finally upon us.”
“About time, honestly! Let's be real, some of it's been overblown, hasn't it? Innovation this, innovation that—half of that is stuff Manager Ma cooked up for him, no? Frankly, in this business, what matters more than marketing?”
“Oh, come on. Now that's going too far. Why do you think Jegal Rok is Jegal Rok?”
In the smoking lounge, in the broadcast station's first-floor cafeteria, in the staff canteen, in the editing suites, in the meeting rooms, on the filming sets, and from industry hands to phones.
And so the story of Jegal Rok's blockade of the Chinese export route traveled onward.