William White and the Sorcerer's Stone (4)
[...This just doesn't make sense.]
Die to Live Episode 4.
The female lead mutters in a pale voice.
"My father, and that family—they're chaebol. People who wield absolute power over this land."
"I was betrayed by them, so I planned to get revenge."
"But..."
"There's no way this level of firepower is possible for your typical Korean chaebol family."
Guns that weren't for self-defense, but the real deal.
Bodyguards who were more like special forces.
Hell, even combat vehicles and helicopters—
All of them were enemies she'd fought over the past three episodes, and she'd nearly died countless times.
No, she had actually died.
If not for the power of this mysterious ally that kept rewinding time, she definitely would have.
Things she knew nothing about— the female lead turned to her ally with trembling eyes.
"What the hell is that family? And what do you know?"
"Hm, well. How about another sandwich instead?"
"......."
The female lead,
for the first time, looked at the male lead—who'd always been so carefree—with a hint of suspicion.
#
"Hm, the impact feels a bit off today."
"What?!"
"No, I mean, it's still watchable..."
Seoul's Mapo Police Station Lieutenant Choi Nam-hyeok muttered without thinking, then slyly turned away under his daughter's sharp glare.
Normally he'd snap back with a "What, so what?", but his daughter was about to enter her senior year of high school in a few months, and she'd just aced her mock exam—better than ever before. Choi Ra-hee's power in the household had reached its absolute peak.
And of course, his wife's full support was behind it all...
"You don't even know about the new Etherbit album?!"
"It came out, but... I'm saving up for the King and Sovereign Blu-ray collector's edition. It comes with polaroids and a photobook. There's even a Hui-yul poster, and a raffle for Hui-yul's sword..."
"Mom'll buy it for you!"
"...For real?"
"Of course! Actor Kang Min was so cool! Mom likes him too!"
"Whoa, that's kinda cringey, Mom! But five kids in my class already pre-ordered—"
If getting Ra-hee to study like this meant his wife would declare support for aliens, Lieutenant Choi Nam-hyeok figured she'd do it.
As his beaming daughter headed off to study, his wife bought the priciest premium Blu-ray without a second thought, then snagged a scalped raffle ticket for Hui-yul's "crow sword" online.
Two weeks of her salary vanished in an instant...
"Isn't that a bit much?"
"Other kids drop hundreds, even thousands a month on private tutors! This is cheap to keep Ra-hee's motivation up!"
"Hm."
He couldn't argue with that logic.
It was just cognitive dissonance from her usual growling threats to smash the shelves full of Etherbit albums.
"Plus, this one's worth it. Actor Kang Min doesn't even have an agency, so official merch is scarce. Fans make do on their own, but this is official. I looked it up—the prop sword quality is legit like the real thing—"
...She was starting to get into it herself.
Choi Nam-hyeok cleared his throat awkwardly and asked,
"But honestly, what'd you think of that drama just now?"
"Content-wise? Pretty good. The problem is that William White video is on a historic level."
"Yeah..."
That was the whole issue.
Kang Min hadn't paid it much mind, but the YouTube video Jo Yun-a showed him at the airport wasn't anything special.
Even as the 2010s "national pride" fad faded, Koreans were born with blood that got hooked on anything "overseas reactions" or whatever.
After the William White frenzy hit, Korea's firepower rivaled America's.
It was a massive uproar.
But a small problem arose too.
S&W was a top global production company, naturally employing top global staff—and even the stunt actors were world-class.
In other words, they'd raised viewers' standards sky-high.
Like people complaining about buyer's remorse after splurging a million won on a chair, they started griping.
This was unexpectedly serious for MBS.
Kang Min's popularity kept ratings steady, but expectations for the drama itself were fading.
Drama Division Head Kim Kang-hyeon naturally worried and asked Han Ye-seul for countermeasures.
Not expecting a sharp answer, but her response was crystal clear.
"What, it's not hard."
"Not hard?!"
"Truth is, I learned a bit from Director Kim Cheol at S&W. K... Editor Shim Yu-hyeon helped too, and above all, Director Gonzalez gave tons of advice. I think we can pull it off."
"Ooh...!"
Kim Kang-hyeon's face lit up—a rare sight.
Unlike the Kang Min Special they had to fend off somehow, Han Ye-seul was talent they could nurture long-term.
How could this good news not thrill him, her apprenticing under Kim Cheol himself?
The head boldly declared,
"Good! I give you full authority! Use any idle Drama Division assets you want!"
"Thank you. I'll put 'em to good use."
Han Ye-seul, who usually quipped back, just calmly accepted it like she'd seen it coming. If anything, it made her more trustworthy.
Huh, maybe I'll trust her once.
And sure enough,
four days later, Kim Kang-hyeon regretted it endlessly, as always.
#
Truth be told, the situation was tougher than Kim Kang-hyeon thought.
"To Lloyd, the biggest issue is there's no rival for Actor Kang Min in the story. No tension possible."
"That's why we brought in the stunt actors, no?"
"Of course they'll make scenes flashy, Producer. But a story needs one great antagonist. Scenario-wise, they're great trials, not a great foe. Can't combine twenty into one, right?"
"Hm..."
A headache.
Viewers' eyes were sky-high post-William White; other actors couldn't match. Handing it all to new stunts lacked direction.
Even Lloyd Gonzalez couldn't find a sharp fix.
His half-baked idea was this much.
"Hm, maybe focus purely on Kang Min 'smashing everything'? Like John Wick—"
"...I just thought of one way."
"Pardon?"
"A rival doesn't need overwhelming charisma to oppose Min. Viewers just need to empathize."
"...Hm, not easy. Viewers empathize through story. Adding a new role now—"
"Pain from getting hit? They'll empathize."
"...Pardon?"
"Nobody likes pain, right? Especially scary pain."
"......."
Even Lloyd Gonzalez gaped at this flawless logic. Hell, Director Shim Yu-hyeon even asked if she was okay.
But Han Ye-seul pushed without hesitation.
And so Die to Live Episode 5 had a focus totally unlike what viewers expected.
"First, recap the story so far. From a different angle."
"Different angle?"
"Stunt Actor Kim Ho-jin's perspective."
"Erm..."
First up: prologue duel between Kang Min and the masked man.
The scene that instantly dispelled Die to Live doubts and hooked viewers.
Over four episodes, Kang Min fought this masked man plenty, repelling him spectacularly each time.
—But naturally, from Kim Ho-jin's view, it looked different.
[Kuh, monster...!]
[How... how can a guy like this exist!]
[Don't wanna die, don't wanna die!]
[Aaaaaaagh!!]
"?"
Viewers glued to their TVs blinked in confusion.
What.
Isn't this scene a bit... different? —
But it didn't end there.
Episode 5 truly recapped every scene with Kang Min and Kim Ho-jin so far.
[Guhk, heurk...!]
[Uwaaak, kuaaagh!]
[Save... save...!]
[Uwaaaaagh!]
Only then did viewers realize this masked man had died more than both leads combined.
No end to the deaths. Hell, more brutal than the protagonists'.
Naturally, the crowning gem was the recent perfectly shot scene.
[Kraaaagh!!]
[Aaaaaaagh!!]
[Stop, stop! It's broken! Broken!]
[Mercy, mercy!]
[Kuaaaaaaagh...!!]
"...?"
But well,
despite the brutality, viewers couldn't grasp the point or meaning.
What.
What the hell's the intent here—
As viewers suspected MBS had gone mad like the Pavlov's Dog Experiment Station fiasco, the Broadcasting Review Committee reacted fastest—unique in that regard.
Still stinging from the Hitler incident, they called immediately.
Kim Kang-hyeon paled and stormed the main control room in under five minutes.
"Have you lost your mind, PD Han?!"
"Knock first. What's the problem?"
"Damn it, that masked guy's death scenes are too graphic! Not 15+ anymore! They'll bump it to 19+ at this rate!"
The head pounded his chest.
A death sentence for a drama. Parents let kids watch 15+ casually, but 19+ was no-go.
He'd told her to fix it; now she'd made it worse.
Kim Kang-hyeon raised his voice.
"What're you thinking?! How do we fix this...!"
"Eat the rating."
"...What?"
"19+. Let's take it now. Better early than late. With the premise, it was only a matter of time."
"PD Han! I get you're hot right now, but this is too cocky! I can't cover for you like this! Get it?! Fix messes when they happen!"
"It's Han as in my surname, so stay quiet till it's over. Few minutes and you'll wonder why you came."
"Ha, if that happens, I'll give you 5 billion more budget! Snap out of it! This ain't the time!"
Whether Kim Kang-hyeon freaked or not, Han Ye-seul—who'd abandoned common sense—stayed calm.
She just watched the graphs, waiting.
Kim Kang-hyeon clutched his churning gut, grinding his teeth—"We'll see"—while control room staff trembled, glancing nervously.
Time crawled.
1 minute.
2 minutes.
5 minutes.
And—
"Now."
With Han Ye-seul's mutter, the ratings graph shot up.
Not the end. It rocketed past previous peaks endlessly.
Control room staff gawked first.
"Wh-what?"
"Huh?"
"Glitch?"
"No!"
"Then why's it spiking?!"
Han Ye-seul stayed unfazed amid the frantic staff.
The deflated head blinked blankly.
Eh...?
Han Ye-seul shrugged.
"5 billion, right? I'll send the list soon."
"No, I mean, that... uh?"
The head's face flushed and paled repeatedly, but Han Ye-seul ignored it.
That too was within reason.
#
Most viewers didn't get Episode 5 until the very end—by design.
Han Ye-seul hid the cheerful, quirky male lead and nagging female lead throughout.
Erased face shots, heavy shadows, awkward angles for unease.
No dialogue shown even.
And,
the Jenga tower built and toppled wasn't the usual goofy "Kuaaaagh."
Episode 2 had a fun, quirky scene.
["No way you're jumping again, right?"]
["Afraid so. No choice."]
["Nooo, no more!!"]
["You'll get used to it."]
["What language are you even speaking?!"]
A throwaway gag everyone chuckled past.
Nothing special.
Viewers,
saw how it looked to the masked man for the first time.
[■■■■, ■■■?]
[■■ ■■. ■■■.]
[■■, ■■■!!]
[■■■■.]
["What language are you even speaking?!"]
Viewers blinked.
The masked man screamed inside.
Warped faces—not even human shapes—turned back at him.
Same scenes as before, but wholly different meaning.
[■■ ■■■...]
[■■■ ■]
[■■■■?]
["Speak human! Human words!!"]
The masked man shuddered.
One shape approached.
And—
[Kuaaaaaaagh—!!!]
Familiar scream, screen blacks out.
But what remained was totally different.
Naturally, the meaning behind the episode-long "Kuaaaagh"s too.
Viewers watching blinked blankly.
"......Huh?"