Let's Go Full Fantasy!
-------------- 44/53 --------------
"Let's go full fantasy!"
That was the writer's killer conclusion to the PD's critique that the concept was vague and lacked a solid motif.
"Twenty years before the main story, there was a massive peasant revolt—a full-blown revolution! That solves everything!"
"That doesn't solve even a speck of it..."
The writer with eyes sparkling.
The PD squeezing his brow with eyes squeezed shut.
This scene captured the atmosphere in the King and Sovereign conference room over the past few days.
Well, it was a bit lacking in nuance depending on the perspective.
Yu Ho-hyeon looked like he was about to lose his mind.
'To be honest, I've been worried about Writer Baek lately...'
She'd seemed increasingly timid and anxious recently.
As a half-rookie writer, how crushing must it feel to have her drama dismissed as a "one-trick pony actor vehicle"? Even Yu Ho-hyeon, her senior by far, felt sorry for her deep down.
But that Baek Chae-i had gained confidence after Kang Min's encouragement not long ago.
And as a side effect, she'd spun a full 540 degrees off the rails.
'There's a limit, even if...!'
Clutching his throbbing head, Yu Ho-hyeon mustered a counterargument.
"...Writer Baek."
"Yes?"
"To start with, didn't you say Hui-yul is one of the common folk, on the opposite side from the Left Prime Minister? Leaving that aside, a guy who can write like this at that level hardly seems like an ordinary peasant."
It was a sharp jab for something pulled out of thin air.
But Baek Chae-i clapped her knee instead. "That's exactly it!"
"Hui-yul—and even the Left Prime Minister—had a sort of mentor figure!"
"A mentor? Like a teacher?"
"More distant than that. Like Alyosha and Elder Zosima in The Brothers Karamazov... or Bloom and Dedalus in Ulysses?"
"......."
"The latter even has a perfect line: 'History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake'... Oh, the mentor's personality should feel like Julien Sorel from The Red and the Black! Starts as an ambitious go-getter but gradually corrupts into 'screw this absurd world'... Gotta jot this down."
"......."
"Anyway, that's the vibe!"
Yu Ho-hyeon PD fell silent.
Ulysses? Was that Julius Caesar?
And while the PD just blinked, the writer launched into even more fervor.
"Hui-yul was innocent back then! He believed he could change the world following his mentor's ideals. But this Julien Sorel type didn't exactly betray the revolution... but it turned out so far from what he imagined!"
"......."
"Of course, the revolt fails. Hui-yul watches countless deaths and the fall of the man he once called teacher, drowning in disillusionment!"
"......."
"That's how Hui-yul breaks from the remnants of the revolutionary forces—now just bandits—and the phrases he memorized and learned turn into cynical sneers at how worthless it all was! Meanwhile, unlike Hui-yul's bitter disillusionment, the Left Prime Minister sees it all as the will of the people and the call of the times! That's why they become mortal enemies!"
Where'd the romantic comedy go?
"And so the two heroes stand beneath a shattered sky!"
Why's the sky shattered?
"Mm, I think that's brilliant."
Kang Min, are you sane? You're the one acting this!
Watching Kang Min nod seriously as always, with the writer's face lighting up, Yu Ho-hyeon clutched his head.
Even worse, the staff were buzzing too.
Some voiced doubts since the script had been so good, but plenty others stroked their chins thinking, "Eh... this might actually work?"
"Honestly, the back-half impact drops a lot."
"Agreed. After the Left Prime Minister vs. Crown Prince showdown, Hui-yul's presence evaporates..."
"I think it'll be tasty? Focusing on Hui-yul and the Left Prime Minister, with the heroine reeling from Hui-yul's truth and the hero pondering his path..."
"It was supposed to be romantic comedy, though."
"Black comedy at least?"
"......."
To Yu Ho-hyeon, they all seemed sleep-deprived and out of their minds, but it wasn't the important issue anyway.
The key was that the writer—and the genius actor who'd put King and Sovereign on its current track—were pushing and agreeing to this madness.
Unable to convince Baek Chae-i, Yu Ho-hyeon desperately turned to Kang Min.
"Actor Kang. Let me say it again: the scale's gotten too huge."
"Yes."
"Frankly, it's too risky for you. Even if we coast to the end safely, you'll snag a solid award and offers from great directors. No need to go this far, right?"
Then I can't do Unbelievable...
Of course, Kang Min didn't voice that desperate thought.
He just pretended to ponder, then opened his mouth with an unnecessarily grave expression.
"PD Yu Ho-hyeon."
"Yes."
"When we first met, did you think 'just coast to the finale' back then too?"
".........."
For a moment,
Yu Ho-hyeon fell silent.
Kang Min continued weightily, seeing the stunned look.
"The writer and PD I met had desperation. And the guts to say 'what's there to fear?'"
"......."
"Sure, ending as is wouldn't be bad. I'd follow your lead, PD."
But—
"Are you okay with settling for this?"
"......."
Yu Ho-hyeon fell silent.
Parents warn kids away from bad influences for a reason.
Yu Ho-hyeon, with his pure heart, was instantly corrupted by Kang Min's rainbow factory effluent nonsense.
And that drivel even sparked a small epiphany.
'Right, I've been a third-rate PD scraping by for 10 years from the start...'
Yu Ho-hyeon squeezed his eyes shut.
He couldn't keep up with the times.
No eye for scripts.
Not even talent.
His last straws were Baek Chae-i, then Kang Min again.
That was all there was to producer Yu Ho-hyeon.
So, shouldn't he be begging the actor and writer for a directing challenge...?
'Shameful.'
Yu Ho-hyeon closed his eyes, lost in thought.
These two had dragged the drama this far. Even if it seemed nonsensical at first, they could make it work.
That was the PD's role.
Flip the chessboard.
Not "What setup avoids viewer backlash?" but "How far to push for cheers?"
And,
at that line, Baek Chae-i's idea fell short.
Yu Ho-hyeon opened his eyes.
And with the look of true enlightenment, he joined the effluent chorus.
"All good. But the revolt's scale is too small, Writer."
"Huh?"
"If it won't convince viewers, overwhelm with shock. This scale won't cut it. Make it massive—a war-scale uprising."
"......Pardon?"
That was how the factory effluent, now tainting even the PD alongside the writer, unfolded before the three slack-jawed directors.
#
In truth, viewer reactions weren't much different from the directors' initial shock.
Most vented complaints.
Most figured Hui-yul's backstory was just sappy, forced feel-good vibes.
Naturally, follow-up reactions stayed ice-cold.
In short—
The moment the first frame hit, viewers were collectively dumbfounded.
[The king knows not our pain! The king knows not our deaths! The king knows not our rage!!]
[Unite as one heart, shout as one voice, arm as one hand!!]
[Advance!!]
[Waaaaaaaaah────!!!!!!]
Thud thud.
A massive army advances.
A ragged, starving horde. Barely clothed, let alone armed.
But their desperation burns fierce.
Along the path, government troops numbering dozens appear, but overwhelmed by those mad eyes, they falter and flee. The peasants roar in triumph.
And viewers screamed.
The fiery boards cooled a bit soon enough.
Soon, the elite suppression force arrived.
[Suppress them!]
[Traitors! No mercy!!]
Even if numbers favored the rebels, training gap was wider.
Men crumple like scarecrows or straw dummies, screams everywhere.
As that brutal battle raged, the three directors finally snapped out of it.
'A bit...'
No, wildly off-script and baffling, but something else dawned in their eyes.
Director Jeong Seo-hoon cleared his throat, composing himself.
"Uh, what is that... Looks like they rounded up some extras and CG-stamped it? Used drones or something."
"...Yeah. Camera work's solid, but it's obvious. Viewers'll notice if it drags."
"What the hell are they planning?"
Directors and PDs don't avoid massive battles out of dislike. Budget.
A scale only 90s/00s KBC PDs with full backing could pull. Impossible for King and Sovereign's shoestring setup.
The directors' suspicious, "they lost it?" faces went blank again.
The grand music trended trendy as the shot zoomed first-person.
Familiar Hui-yul's back centered, soldiers charging from all sides.
[You traitor!]
[How dare you tread this land!]
Hui-yul raises his head.
Kang Min's swordplay was heartbreaking to describe again.
The three directors blankly watched the flashy blade—like a first-person game—and troops crumpling with screams.
Hui-yul walks, camera walks. Hui-yul swings, camera swings.
[Kraaaagh!]
Extras: barely two digits.
But the epic prior scenes, and relentless Hui-yul, turned dozens into hordes.
Viewers marveled, but it didn't end there.
The shot flew aerial, zooming elsewhere.
Hui-yul capture music—jaunty percussion—faded to faint piri flute, focusing a young, sparsely bearded man.
Tormented face of the Chungcheong military commander.
But viewers freaked for different reasons.
Whether viewers gawked or not, the reporting soldier buzzed with excitement.