Agency Horror Story (2)
Unlike the Kang Min Special that had taken the world by storm, the early episodes of King and Sovereign Episode 1 unfolded in a surprisingly mundane fashion.
At first, the camera focused squarely on just how pathetic the male lead—the crown prince—truly was.
Despite bearing the overwhelming legitimacy of being the king's only son and eldest heir, the crown prince was little more than a worthless layabout.
[Urgh, I thought we'd get a daughter this time!]
[Let's drink! What else is there to drown our sorrows in but booze?!]
[I am the root of the nation, the pillar of justice! Do you dare defy the will of the nation's root?!]
Even toward his sejasah—the royal tutor appointed by the king himself, the Minister of Personnel—he showed no restraint.
The viewers vented their frustrations at the stifling pacing.
But it didn't last long.
By the midpoint, Prime Minister Jeong Ji-uk assassinates the king and queen in a staged accident, then immediately props up a puppet to seize power.
Treason.
[The late king was not of the Grand Queen Dowager's bloodline. Surely you haven't forgotten how he treated her?]
[I've heard that Princess Yi Hye's child—your grandchild—is exceptionally gifted. Though it's tragic what happened to the crown prince, His Majesty's heir, perhaps everything has come full circle?]
The breakneck developments left viewers scrambling to keep up.
With even the remaining loyalists like the Minister of Personnel imprisoned, the crown prince flees alone.
But this was a crown prince who'd lived a life of luxury and indulgence. Hiding out penniless was no easy feat.
He boldly demands food at an inn and gets beaten; he eats first and tries to slip away without paying, only to get beaten; he even attempts theft and gets beaten again.
[You bastard! Do you know who I am?! I'll remember this!]
[I'll wipe your clans from the earth! Got it?! I'll exterminate your entire clans!!]
[You beggarly son of a bitch, yapping away like you've got something to say!]
And in Korean dramas, it's a given that some plucky heroine with no connections swoops in to save the arrogant pretty boy.
[Stop it! You're gonna kill him!]
[Shut your trap! Can't you hear what this beggarly scum's saying—]
[He's just a crazy guy! Spit and move on—no need to beat him to death!]
The crown prince stares blankly at the heroine as she stands there, veins bulging on her forehead in fury.
What follows is predictable enough.
The fed-up heroine takes the able-bodied bum home, puts him to work on dishes and laundry, snaps at his constant blunders from a lifetime of never lifting a finger, and though he initially snaps back, he gradually softens. Their stormy relationship blooms into affection, subtle romantic tension builds—
All textbook romantic comedy clichés, tried and true.
The viewers' reactions were mixed.
And then,
One single actor flips the entire tepid vibe on its head.
[Warrior Hui-yul, here on orders to secure the crown prince's safety.]
An ordinary daily scene.
A slightly lighthearted moment.
But Hui-yul infiltrates it so naturally, overlaying everything like a dark tint.
[Hmph, had I known you'd be playing house, I would've grabbed a bowl of gukbap first.]
His words are joking, but his parched gaze is endlessly cold.
Just adding one person to the frame freezes the bubbly rom-com in an instant.
Even the MBS editing director had muttered in a daze, "What the hell," as that inky atmosphere bled into the scene untouched.
The message boards fall into a momentary lull.
Then erupt anew as if nothing happened.
Regardless of the viewers' guesses, the ensuing conversation veers closer to thriller territory.
The crown prince stammers through his indescribable fear.
[I-I like things as they are.]
[Is that so.]
[I-I heard rumors. That bastard Jeong Ji-uk's already crowned a new king and controls the ancestral shrines! And everyone's going along with it! Even those who swore loyalty to me!]
[A bit exaggerated, but close enough.]
[Then what the hell can I do now?!]
The crown prince wails.
His face is a chaotic mix of terror at the figure before him and pent-up rage from wandering as a beggar despite his noble blood.
The heroine, pale from the surreal situation, finally grips his hand and looks up.
The power of love.
[I didn't betray anyone! They betrayed me!]
[Hm.]
[I'm not going back! You're all just using me anyway! Now I see your true colors! The others just want power!]
[And if that's the case?]
[Get lost! I have no more interest in the palace!]
Hui-yul nods indifferently, as if it doesn't matter to him.
The crown prince and heroine brighten.
Love seems poised to triumph; their hands clasp tightly.
And then,
[Then die.]
[...What?]
Shing.
The sword is drawn.
A mere prop, backlit, glows ominously in its wielder's grasp.
The two leads freeze rigid.
And so do the viewers.
The boards explode in a dizzying frenzy of posts.
Amid it all, Hui-yul remains utterly composed.
[Do you know? Great villains are moths drawn to a flame of conviction.]
[You bastard!]
[Those moths are lured by grand causes, justice, glory, and all manner of things—but inexplicably, the purest is always the royal bloodline.]
Step.
Hui-yul advances.
The camera follows in a plain pan shot, basic enough for a middle schooler—no contrast, nothing fancy.
But it's enough.
Sometimes, a person's mere presence overwhelms others.
[What that prime minister thinks is his business, but why leave a dim flame flickering and spark needless strife?]
[W-what are you saying, you scum?! So you're a traitor too!!]
[Didn't you just say you'd abandon everything?]
[.......]
[Tell me, then—which dynasty's traitor is he?]
[Y-you...!]
The crown prince goes deathly pale, speechless.
The heroine trembles, legs shaking, mouth clamped shut.
Only those on set knew their reactions weren't acting—they were terrifyingly real.
With no answer forthcoming, Hui-yul mutters as his sword rises.
The blade reflects the crown prince's face, still wordless,
And swings down.
A chilling sound.
Blood spray effects and groans.
The heroine's scream.
The boards ablaze with "What is this?!"
The screen fades to black amid it all.
And the next scene—
“.......”
“.......”
“.......”
Silence fell.
The KBC production team, gathered to analyze the rival drama, stared blankly in unison.
The CP, who'd been rubbing his dry face, squeezed his eyes shut.
“These bastards suck at the drama game...!”
On the first day the King and Sovereign special aired, entertainment outlets held their breath for a while.
It was a topic that upended the entire internet, with utterly absurd firepower.
But that's precisely why the situation felt so suspicious.
Does this even make sense?
Looks like pure hype...
An absurdly structured special,
A rookie with absurd acting chops,
And absurd online buzz to top it off.
Having been burned before after hyping things up prematurely, the outlets stuck to so-called "wait-and-see" articles for a full day.
But after King and Sovereign Episode 1 aired, they could hold back no longer.
The moment ratings dropped, reporters screamed in glee and unleashed a barrage of articles.
Black Forest's budget: 30 billion won.
You with Many Secrets's budget: 9.2 billion won.
And King and Sovereign's: about 3.7 billion won.
Obviously not a normal amount—just a stopgap planning budget from the start.
Recycling every prop, skimping on script fees, cutting lead actor pay, minimizing location scouts—extreme cost-cutting across the board to scrape it together.
With the extra budget now, it's far richer, nearing 7 billion.
But reporters didn't care.
What mattered was the killer narrative: 3.7 billion punking 30 billion.
While reporters raked in views with whatever spin they wanted, YouTubers weren't far behind.
Nothing's more entertaining than a fat cat getting slapped down.
But yeah,
To write those "They're doomed lol lmao" articles, you eventually have to analyze why they flopped.
Yet those trying to mock Black Forest's middling results for clicks hit a wall.
There was no problem at all.
“?”
“...?”
Reporters bingeing Episodes 1 and 2 in dusty gloves exchanged glances.
All blank expressions.
“Unless my eyes are busted, isn't Black Forest straight fire?”
“...Yeah, seems like it.”
“Directing slays, acting's top-tier, story's tense...”
“This would've soloed 30% in past seasons?”
Black Forest was KBC's all-out project, and it showed in the polish.
Just two episodes in, but the tight scripting was evident.
Reporters, even notable critics, found nothing to nitpick.
For outlets that jumped on the bandwagon to bash amid the hype, it was pure awkwardness.
Only 17% for this?
Isn't MBS the weird one?!
As reporters panicked, KBC's "sucker punched" postmortem reached a similar verdict.
Han Ye-seul, leading the strategy meeting, sighed and smoothed her brow.
“Alright, chin up everyone. At least it doesn't look like we screwed up.”
Her earlier rampage of "They suck at dramas!" robbed it of weight, but the staff visibly relaxed.
No finger-pointing or scapegoats, at least.
Rubbing her temples, the CP scanned the room.
“Let's talk freely. Did King and Sovereign just make a better show than us?”
“.......”
“I don't think so, for one.”
With the CP opening the floor, staff chimed in cautiously.
No rave reviews.
“Early to mid-episode felt like standard melo drama level.”
“Directing's solid but not standout.”
“Leads are decent for idols, but that's about it...”
“Veterans were great, but within expectations...”
Not malicious, just lukewarm.
Yu Ho-hyeon's retake hell was brutal, but it couldn't fabricate raw talent. Reaching "pretty good" was already a miracle.
Factor in budget gap and tight schedule, and it barely qualified as competition.
Bottom line: one problem.
“So basically, one actor—Hui-yul, Kang Min—caused all this mess.”
“.......”
Silence blanketed the room.
Even they thought it absurd.
A non-lead rookie shattering a 10x budget showdown with brute force.
Had Korean drama land seen this?
Even abroad? Rare.
But undeniable.
Damn it.
Han Ye-seul swallowed her curse. Now wasn't the time—countermeasures were.
She floated a hopeful guess.
“Could it be a flash in the pan?”
“...Probably not.”
“Why?”
“The acting in the special was too good.”
Staff glanced around.
But held their tongues.
“Viewers are piecing the plot together from the special's Hui-yul already.”
“Agreed. Early episodes were meh, but they know Hui-yul exists. Keeps 'em hooked despite the drag.”
“Like old hero comics—expectation that the hero fixes everything no matter what. The special was that teaser.”
“...Right.”
Shouldering 30 billion, the CP slowly dragged a hand down her face.
She wanted to rebut, but couldn't. She'd seen the ratings graph spike insanely when Hui-yul appeared at the end of Episode 1.
Enough fuel for several episodes, at least.
Goddamn it.
Such unfair backlash,
Why here,
Why now—
The CP wanted to scream, but stifled it. Pointless.
Especially since Black Forest had zero mistakes.
Results are what matter.
That's 30 billion for you.
Smooth sailing from here meant one thing: labeled a de facto loss to an underdog.
Her role model once said, "Doesn't matter if it's called a masterpiece later—useless if it flops now."
This was that.
Then.
Fight back somehow.
Han Ye-seul sighed and spoke. Info first, anything.
“...We need to dig into that actor Kang Min first. Anyone know anything?”
Probably what over 3,000 reporters were praying for right now.
They scoured everywhere with bloodshot eyes for a scoop, but came up empty.
Kang Min had done zilch for seven years. Empty trash bin yields nothing.
In other words, KBC got lucky.
“During last shoot, actress Jo Yun-a mentioned actress Seo Bom knows Kang Min.”
“Seo Bom? The lead in our Mon-Tue drama?”
“Yeah. Longtime classmates at the same acting academy.”
“Perfect! Finale party shoot today, right?”
The CP clapped her knee.
KBC's Mon-Tue Red Carpet wrapped decently not long ago. Solid ratings earned a finale special.
Shoot today—perfect chance to meet—
But a staffer hesitated.
“Uh, sorry. Seo Bom didn't show today...”
“What? On a hot streak and already diva mode?! These actors nowadays...”
“No, it's listed as illness...”
The staffer swallowed.
Even he thought it bizarre.
“...Jo Yun-a said she passed out watching Hui-yul's death scene in King and Sovereign.”
“Pardon?”
“Kept muttering, 'Why's it so real...' or something.”
“?”
Agency Horror Story (2)