A Toast, a Blu-ray, and a New Director
"They're saying you're cute."
Rookie Shin skimmed the live comments on the InTube broadcast, filtering as he went. Only the positive ones were bound for the press roundup anyway; the rest weren't worth his attention. Setting aside the occasional comment in a foreign language, the current reaction looked like this:
That's a decent reaction.
Rookie Shin, who had gazed into the abyss before, tuned the noise out without a second thought. Before he knew it, the song was already winding into its final stretch.
Choosing soap bubbles for the stage effect had been a stroke of genius. The crisp, radiant atmosphere matched the first days of autumn perfectly. When the short performance ended, the last frame holding the two of them together looked genuinely good.
"All right, now let's just give this one quick little refresh—"
The moment Team Leader Hong hit refresh, a fresh batch of newly uploaded articles filled the screen.
Once the live broadcast wrapped, today's stages would be uploaded to the InTube account one by one, and then it would be time to watch the view counts and comment sections.
"Oh, right — we don't have the photos yet, do we?"
"Nope. For now, clock out. Later, take the pictures Yeo-reum posts on her socials and get another round of articles up."
Yeo-reum's social media account now fell squarely under JC ENM's hands, too. After the live broadcast ended, she would upload photos taken in the waiting room, and the reporters would run a second wave of articles off those.
Reactions look good.
Heading home on the subway while checking the community boards, Rookie Shin glanced at the clock. By now it would be time for Yeo-reum's upload.
Watching the trend of comments and likes, Rookie Shin let out a small laugh.
"She broke 200,000 followers just like that."
@midsummer — Followers 200,000 · Following 0
And by the next morning, 210,000. By noon, 220,000. By evening, 227,000. By midnight, 230,000.
Every time he checked in, the follower count had climbed another notch, and Rookie Shin felt the corners of his mouth lift. Music N would keep diligently growing Yeo-reum's following like this, and there was still one more stage left where she would appear before the year was out.
"Once the Pachehi spin-off drops, it'll climb even higher."
The spin-off of The Cherry on Top of the Parfait Belongs to the Heroine! was set to premiere at year's end.
"Yeo-reum, I'll be nearby, so have fun and just text me when you head home. And you remember, right? The awards ceremony is in two days?"
"Oh, come on, unnie, it's not even on my schedule. I'll grab a taxi home later."
"No. Text me when it's over. Got it?"
She seemed fully prepared to bar the door if I didn't say yes. I reluctantly nodded.
This was Garosu-gil by Sinsa Station. I had come out to see some long-missed faces.
"I'm here—"
The moment I stepped into the reserved room, Ju Jun-seo, who was pouring water into a glass as if he'd only just arrived himself, answered without looking up.
"Hey. Sit."
"Where's everyone else?"
"No idea. Haven't checked my phone. Go look at the menu. What do you want? You've lost a lot of weight, so — let's do this bacon mozzarella potato pancake, a pork belly gochujang stew, the chicken gangjeong and galbi salad set, and…"
"Might I suggest giving everyone else a chance to choose the menu as well?"
While I was stopping Ju Jun-seo from mashing the touchscreen menu at random, Chu Ga-eul walked straight in.
"Long time no see, you two."
The instant she came through the door, Chu Ga-eul fixed a deadly serious gaze on the menu screen.
"I'm starving to death. Can we just order everything from here to here?"
"Yeah. I already pressed it all anyway."
Ju Jun-seo went straight to the order screen and hit confirm.
Right. Today was the day the five of us had set aside for our own little dinner party before production began on the Pachehi spin-off. Director Jjang, Writer Pi, Chu Ga-eul, Ju Jun-seo, and me — five people.
"Hello, hello—! Everyone been doing well?"
"So good to see you. I really love meeting like this."
Director Jjang and Writer Pi arrived right behind me. We clinked our makgeolli bowls together and traded updates on our lives. It was Ju Jun-seo who fired the first question at Chu Ga-eul.
"Did you starve yourself before coming here?"
"Oh-yes I did-ng have acting-ng lessons."
"What are you even saying…"
I graciously provided the translation for Ju Jun-seo.
"I believe she means she couldn't eat separately today because of her acting lesson."
"How on earth do you understand her…"
"Barely done with your script reading and already working so hard at your lessons. I can't wait for the next heroine."
"Exactly. Our female lead has nothing to worry about."
Director Jjang and Writer Pi beamed at Chu Ga-eul.
"Has the male lead been decided?"
"Yeah. He has. The casting article should drop soon."
"He could really act at the audition, you know. Well, he is an idol, so maybe that figures."
Director Jjang and Writer Pi held up a phone to show us the male lead of the next Pachehi spin-off — a male idol who had debuted a few years back.
So that's it. Episode 1 of Pachehi passing ten million views owed a lot to the overseas subscribers. I suppose they figured the spin-off needed to grab a share of that international pie too.
Director Jjang clenched his fist and gave a small cough. It looked for all the world like he was about to make some major announcement.
"And — did you all hear? We're getting a Blu-ray. So when we shoot the spin-off, we'll be doing separate interview footage too—"
"A Blu-ray?"
I had lived a long time and never once heard of a web drama getting a Blu-ray release. I shot up out of my seat. At my reaction, Writer Pi burst out laughing.
"That's right! Honestly, we never dreamed we'd do this well either. It's going to be funded through a crowdfunding campaign."
"Wow… my God… no, seriously, how could you two hide something like this from us?"
"Oh, please. Hide? We told you the second it was decided!"
With only a single bowl of makgeolli down, I already felt drunk. My head was swimming.
A Blu-ray. So I was going to get physical merchandise after all.
"They're planning to upload the script reading video before the spin-off premiere opens, and they want to launch the funding right when that buzz starts peaking."
Ju Jun-seo must have been just as stunned, because he was biting down hard on his lip. A brief silence hung in the air. A pleasant kind of bewilderment filled the space between us.
"Thank you. Yeo-reum."
Director Jjang said, looking straight at me.
"Writer Pi and I talked about it a lot when the Blu-ray news came in… The truth is, without you, Yeo-reum, we'd never have gotten this far. Ah — of course! Jun-seo and Ga-eul worked incredibly hard too."
Writer Pi's eyes as she looked at me were just as tender.
"It's true, though. Undeniably."
Ju Jun-seo, who had kept quiet the whole time, nodded as well. And Chu Ga-eul…
"Honestly, I hate admitting it, but I don't have a choice. Still, don't you two get too happy. Because we're going to make sure the Pachehi spin-off gets a Blu-ray too. Absolutely."
Even in the middle of all that, she was promoting herself. I couldn't help it — I burst out laughing. I felt strange. Good fortune I had never once known in my life kept arriving at my door, one blessing after another.
"All right! Let's make the spin-off a hit too! How about one more toast!"
Director Jjang rose from his seat along with me. With only five of us, there was no real need to stand — he did it anyway. Then Ju Jun-seo stood, and Writer Pi, and Chu Ga-eul, all stretching their arms out full-length. I raised my bowl as well.
Cheers—!
The sound of the bowls clinking rang out unusually sweet.
"My next project is a noir. The part isn't that big… but the character itself is solid, so I'm going for it. They said the moment they saw my coordination at Leel's mint carpet event, they wanted to call me right away."
The dinner ran long. Ju Jun-seo had been cast in a new drama,
"So what dress are you wearing to the Drama Awards? Why won't you send me pictures so I can help you pick? No — wait, why should you send them? Because that's just what friends in the same! industry do — you come to them with all your dilemmas and—"
I promised Chu Ga-eul I'd send her dress photos.
"We're thinking of including a message card from the script in the Blu-ray package. What do you think?"
Writer Pi talked through the Blu-ray's contents plan,
"Ah, and by the way — I won't be directing the Pachehi spin-off."
and Director Jjang dropped a completely unexpected bomb.
"I'm sorry?"
"…Then who?"
"Director, are you moving on to another… project?"
Just as Chu Ga-eul, Ju Jun-seo, and I all sat there flustered, Director Jjang drew a V with his hand and looked at me.
"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Director Jjang, the man who directed Strange Tales."