Episode 10. How Is This Even Working? (5)
The move KSM had made drew far more attention than anyone had expected.
At first, it was nothing more than word of mouth spreading among the small number of people who had watched the making-of film live when it aired — but the ripple effect was nothing to sneeze at.
What people didn't know was that The Spy and I was an ill-fated production — one that had been all but tossed into the discard pile before being rescued from the brink of death.
Because of that, unlike the two major networks planning their own big-budget spectacles, KSM had no money to court established actors. They had been forced to lower their sights and cast unknown performers out of sheer necessity.
Ironically, however, it was precisely because of those unspeakable internal circumstances that people occasionally began to take an interest in The Spy and I as well.
The Underdog Effect.
Truthfully, this was a psychological phenomenon KSM had earned simply by standing at a disadvantage against MBS and SBC.
People came to feel that while The Spy and I — with its unheralded cast and meager budget compared to the other two networks — might never become a smash hit, they hoped it would at least not fail.
The actors' performances shown in the trailers were admittedly not bad.
But not a single one of them was famous or had ever tasted success as an actor, and so audiences naturally found themselves cheering for these performers who clearly had the talent but simply lacked the opportunity to shine.
And when people tried to recall the reason for that cheering, there was one actor who came to mind before anyone else.
Of all the posts filling the viewer forum, the largest share by far was devoted to cheering for "Han Seol," the actor playing Muyoung.
A rising star who had appeared out of nowhere.
A young man who, for now, belonged to me alone.
What would unfold in the rest of The Spy and I was impossible to predict, but one thing was certain: the story surrounding this "Han Seol" that viewers were seeing and hearing gave off a feeling closer to a coming-of-age drama.
The MBS Drama Department office.
The production team of Dawn, MBS's newly developed large-scale historical drama, had been buzzing since morning as they reviewed the broadcast cut of the first episode set to air the following week.
But work being work, it was only natural that not everyone could be busy at once.
Baek Hee-ryeong — MBS's Chief Producer and the showrunner behind Dawn — was occupied with calculating the pie of upcoming dramas, mulling over her promotional strategy.
"The response is... not bad."
Just as expected, viewer sentiment toward Dawn was overwhelmingly positive.
The trailer for Dawn posted on MBS's official channel had already reached a vast audience as well — two videos, one three minutes long and one five.
One was a summary piece showcasing the still-photo shoot and a brief outline of the plot; the other was a short video packed with the script reading and cast interviews.
"Good. Everything is proceeding smoothly."
There was not a single obstacle in sight.
SBC was currently making a spectacle of itself with talk of planning a Korean-style noir, but the effort MBS had poured into Dawn was far too colossal for a single half-baked production, thrown together on less than a year's preparation, to dare challenge it.
The budget MBS had invested in Dawn this time was a staggering 33 billion won.
What was more, they had cut what was meant to be a twenty-episode series down to sixteen for the sake of quality and CG detail — meaning even the money spent per episode put it in an entirely different league from SBC.
"I will not lose this time. Absolutely not."
In fact, roughly three years ago — back when Baek Hee-ryeong was a PD and not yet a CP — a strikingly similar situation had occurred.
Back then, too, MBS and SBC had aired competing dramas at the same time.
But a subtle gap had gradually opened between the two networks, both charging in on comparable budgets, and in the end MBS had been forced to swallow the humiliation of losing the overall ratings by five percent.
And the PD who had created that drama at SBC was Ko Kang-jin — the CP planning this very SBC noir.
After three years, the chance to repay that old humiliation had finally arrived.
"Then again..."
truth be told, Baek Hee-ryeong was already certain that aside from SBC, no production would dare stand against MBS's Dawn this round.
A mega-scale project backed by 33 billion won.
What's more, every heavyweight who could be called a great actor — a true star — had already been locked in.
It was a slightly dirty tactic, granted, but the situation was such that even if another network wanted to make a drama, there were simply no lead actors left worth hiring.
With the historical drama Dawn already assembled from a dream team, crafting a rival to stand against it had become harder than plucking a star from the sky.
"But then what on earth is this supposed to be..."
The Spy and I.
That was why the sudden appearance of KSM's drama was grating on Baek Hee-ryeong considerably.
Not that she considered it a genuine threat, of course.
It merely meant her mood was soured — even a cursory thought made it blatantly obvious that their little scheme was nothing more than an attempt to stir up trouble in the middle of the fight between SBC and her own network.
"Can't win, so they figure they'll claw at us once on the way out... And an hour-long making-of film as the trailer? Not even funny."
Baek Hee-ryeong had yet to watch The Spy and I's trailer.
She was already buried alive preparing for Dawn, and wasting time on another network's drama — KSM's no less, a network that would burst and die on the spot if you pressed down hard on its 33 billion won — felt like money thrown away.
"Although... I am a little curious."
Episode one of Dawn was already in a state of perfect readiness.
Do all that man can do, and wait upon heaven's will.
Baek Hee-ryeong had done everything within her own power; for the journey ahead, there was nothing left but to entrust it to the heavens.
The more a person broods, the more their confidence drains away.
And once confidence drains, one develops an itch to meddle with something that was already perfected — which, in turn, is precisely how a finished work ends up damaged.
"Let's have a look. Who knows — it's KSM, so it might at least serve as a lesson in what not to do."
A true broadcaster learns not only from a work's success, but from its failures as well.
And KSM's recent track record was, quite simply, the worst.
If some fledgling PD were to plan a drama, the saying went, they should binge one of the dramas KSM had produced over the past year and then make theirs the exact opposite — and even that would guarantee a watchable show.
Tok tok.
Baek Hee-ryeong entered KSM's forum and scanned the synopsis of The Spy and I along with viewers' reactions.
Contrary to her expectation of finding a thread scathing with criticism, the board was dominated by posts that were downright affirmative.
"...I'm actually looking forward to it? ...People keep going on about how KSM's been circling the drain lately, but they're not exactly a nobody?...And seeing them hand lead roles to total rookies... kind of warms the heart...?"
Wait — what?
Baek Hee-ryeong froze.
Part of her surprise came from how relentlessly wholesome all this support was — but what truly stunned her was the information about the "rookie lead actor" she had just finished reading.
"Ju-hwan, if you've got a minute, let me ask you something."
"Of course, go right ahead, CP-nim."
And so she grabbed an assistant director nearby and asked about "him."
"Have you ever heard of an actor named Han Seol?"
"Han Seol? Never heard of h— wait, Han Seol? That sounds familiar somehow. Let's see..."
The assistant director she'd snagged tilted his head, then opened his phone and began searching through the list of applicants from the recent Dawn auditions.
"Ah, here! His name is a single syllable, that's why it stuck with me. He's the actor who applied for the bit part of 'Bodyguard Lee Kang' in Dawn... Why do you ask about him?"
At the assistant director's words, Baek Hee-ryeong furrowed her brow and checked the list again.
The same name as the actor cast in a leading role for The Spy and I.
She tapped the name, and the actor's profile came up — and to her bewilderment, the photo on that profile was the very same face as the "Han Seol" plastered across KSM's forum at this very moment.
"That's him. I remember this face!"
The sight of his face brought the audition back to her in vivid detail.
He was tall and handsome enough that he wouldn't have made a bad bodyguard, but his acting had fallen short, and he'd been cut — a genuinely regrettable young man.
Back then, Baek Hee-ryeong had delivered a piece of feedback that stung a little, but was honest.
The Han Seol she had seen then was a hardworking performer of exactly the type the usual Baek Hee-ryeong would have wanted to keep by her side.
But this Dawn was meant to be built not from hardworking performers, but from people who were already finished products — and regrettably, Han Seol had not made the cut.
"Well, all the same..."
It was a KSM drama, yes — but knowing that a gemstone she herself had discarded now sat in a lead role made her feel both sorry and, in a strange way, relieved.
Granted, the poor shooting conditions and meager pay would bring their share of hardship. But that, too, would become experience.
Baek Hee-ryeong decided to send her encouragement to the versatile striver who would one day craft his own wings and take flight.
And she did so without the faintest idea that Han Seol was destined to become the greatest obstacle standing in the path of herself and her 33-billion-won historical epic, Dawn.
One week later.
As the broadcast hour of Dawn approached, the viewer forum began to burn white-hot.
"CP-nim, the atmosphere is absolutely electric!"
"Thanks to the promotion, viewer inflow is going smoothly too."
"Paying all that money to bring in Son Heon-jae was worth every won! At this rate, might we actually break MBS's all-time ratings record?"
Baek Hee-ryeong let out a sigh as she watched her production staff carving the pork before the kimchi soup had even come to a boil.
There had been no word yet on SBC's response.
It was true that Dawn's reception was excellent — but in Baek Hee-ryeong's judgment, they were nowhere near the point where they could afford to relax.
"Let's not drop our guard yet. We're not ending the drama the moment episode one airs, are we?"
The staff answered her words without losing their smiles.
But even she couldn't quite bring herself to believe she would lose this fight.
She had poured her entire life into this single production, and the result was a work she could proudly call the finest of everything she had ever created. She had every reason to be confident.
"Ju-hwan. So where do the ratings stand across the networks right now?"
And so she decided to approach the premiere with a slightly lighter heart.
She wouldn't unwind completely the way her staff had, but a single day spent savoring this victory to her heart's content didn't sound half bad.
"Our own Dawn is in first place with 9.8% right now!"
"Heh heh. And second place?"
"7.5%! That would be SBC's Time of Shadows!"
A gap of more than two percent.
Considering that an average, middling drama wrapped up its run holding steady at around five percent, two points was an enormous number.
But then it suddenly occurred to Baek Hee-ryeong that one drama — one they hadn't even bothered to keep an eye on — was broadcasting today.
The Spy and I, starring the actor Han Seol whom she herself had cut.
And so, without really thinking, she asked the assistant director for KSM's ratings.
Then —
"Ah, you mean KSM's The Spy and I? Let's see... ah, here..."
The assistant director's brow narrowed in an instant.
It was that particular frown that appears when you suspect you've read something wrong — and the answer that came back moments later was a result none of the employees at the three major broadcasters could have predicted.
"5.6%... no, it just went up to 5.7%?"
A drama produced without spending even a tenth of the 33 billion won MBS had committed to Dawn.
KSM's The Spy and I was —
even now, drawing its blade against MBS.