Variety Show Selection
"How is it?"
"The layout is pretty different from place to place."
They had come to look at a unit listed for sale in the neighboring building, and the floor plan was considerably different from Son Jin-uk's.
"This is the top floor, so if you practice acting in the duplex here, you won't have to worry about noise at all."
"Nice. Glad I called you after all, hyung. I'll take this one."
The real-estate agency's representative, who had been watching from behind, lit up and stepped forward.
"As expected, you actors have an excellent eye. Shall we proceed with a contract on this unit?"
"Yes, please. This one."
"Then, just as I explained earlier, I'll handle all the miscellaneous details myself."
The man smiled and bowed politely.
The person Son Jin-uk had introduced was nothing like an ordinary realtor. Accustomed to dealing with privacy-conscious figures from politics, business, and entertainment, he left Yeon-woo with nothing to do but look at the house and decide whether he liked it.
From the contract and acquisition-tax paperwork all the way through the move itself, the man took care of everything in one clean, efficient sweep.
A few days later, once the settlement money from Sketch came in and Yeon-woo paid the balance, the agency finished cleaning and arranging furniture that suited the place so he could move in immediately.
"So this is what money can do."
The day after the move was complete, Yeon-woo opened the door and stepped into his new home; his head nodded of its own accord.
In his previous life he had moved dozens of times—both while living in Korea and while stationed overseas.
Living in a designated safe house was actually more convenient.
Whenever he judged that surveillance had attached itself after entry into a country, he would skip the safe house and rent short-term housing like an ordinary exchange student or businessman, so he knew better than anyone how messy the process of moving could be.
"Still, this is the first time a move has felt this comfortable."
Yeon-woo crossed the modern living room and climbed the stairs.
The first place he checked—before even the master bedroom—was the acting practice room installed in the duplex.
It was rare for him to look at something and feel genuine envy, but when he had seen the practice room in Son Jin-uk's house he had honestly been jealous.
He opened the transparent door and stepped inside. The walls were soundproofed, and in front of them stood a white cyclorama of the sort usually found only in studios. There was also simple video equipment for recording and even a field monitor of the kind he had seen on set.
"Perfect."
With gear like this he would be able to practice a scene and then immediately check the playback in real time.
Smiling with satisfaction, Yeon-woo left the practice room and went back downstairs.
After touring every corner of the house that would become his new nest, he sat on the sofa and scrolled through his phone.
"Hmm. Even if I don't throw a full housewarming, I should at least invite family and friends."
Come to think of it, in his previous life he had never once invited anyone into his home.
"Well, of course. My address was classified information."
"Kim PD. How's the casting coming?"
"Aigoo, Chief. I've already put in the request several times. It's not just us—every other network is after him too, and right now he isn't appearing anywhere."
"Honestly, what's with the kid acting so expensive? This time put the fear of God into that agency of his. Where is it again? LN Entertainment? Tell them if they don't want to make an enemy of Han Young-hoon in this industry, they'd better put Ryu Yeon-woo on once."
Team Leader Kim let out a long sigh at Chief Han's words.
That was the problem with the man raging in front of him. Having started as a PD back when the terrestrial networks still ruled the industry, he treated entertainers as if they were nothing.
The thought that a man like that might soon rise to head of the variety department made Team Leader Kim sigh again.
"With OTT services and internet platforms booming these days, our influence has dropped a lot. Push like that and they'll just snort at us. And with the momentum Ryu Yeon-woo has right now, what agency would be scared of us?"
"You idiot. I mean push hard enough that it works. If it's not his first appearance, there's no point."
Even if they did manage to cast Ryu Yeon-woo, it would not actually be his first variety appearance. After Summer's Closet ended he had already filmed a variety show.
Ever since Sketch became a massive hit, JNBC's secondary channel had been filling both its regular slots and rebroadcasts with the follow-up variety show Summer's Table.
It was practically becoming an annual event. Last year, when Master Plan and Star Beyond the River had been hits, the network had likewise re-aired the dramas and variety shows Yeon-woo had appeared in.
The rebroadcasts of Summer's Closet and Summer's Table had been edited to remove the footage of An Jun-ho, who had been forced into an ignominious hiatus after being framed in a drug scandal. Even so, with the name value of the then-leads Son Jin-uk and Han So-hyun, plus the fact that Ryu Yeon-woo—who had held the third-largest role—had since grown into a major star, solid ratings were only natural even for a re-airing.
The other networks were in much the same situation.
May was a month full of holidays and family-themed specials, yet ratings still struggled. Landing a big fish like Ryu Yeon-woo at a time like this would guarantee ratings for any variety show, so it was only natural that they were all diving into the casting war with eyes blazing.
It was not only the network people who wanted Yeon-woo's non-drama activities; the fans felt the same way.
Meanwhile, Yeon-woo's phone rang while he was still unpacking the few belongings he had brought into the new house.
"Yes, Team Leader."
"Ah, Yeon-woo-ssi. Are you at school by any chance?"
"No. I finished all my classes today. I was just unpacking a bit."
"I see. I heard you moved. Congratulations."
At the sound of Jeong Hyeok's voice over the line, Yeon-woo gave a small snort of laughter and looked around.
It was certainly a luxurious house of a kind he had never enjoyed even in his previous life.
"Thank you. Thanks to all your hard work, I've finally achieved the dream of owning my own place."
"Aigoo, don't mention it. The reason I'm calling is about the additional shoot for the Ihan Technology commercial we discussed last time."
"Ah—the new version timed for Patriots and Veterans Month. I remember."
"While we're doing the commercial shoot, I was hoping we could slot in one more schedule as well. Preferably something on the variety side."
Yeon-woo nodded at Jeong Hyeok's words.
Ever since he had gone into filming for Sketch, he had done no non-project activities at all, and after that he had returned to university, so aside from the music-show appearances in between he had been completely inactive.
There were fans waiting for him with their necks craned; doing some activity seemed like a good idea.
"Sounds good. Midterms at the university just finished, so the timing feels right."
"Then if you're free now, would you like to sit in on the meeting? Manager Kim Min-su will be there shortly."
"Yes, understood."
After hanging up, Yeon-woo quickly got ready to go out.
He had brought so little luggage that there was nothing left to organize in the house.
Because the new place was closer to the agency building, a call from Manager Kim Min-su came almost at once, and Yeon-woo went downstairs to meet him.
"Min-su hyung. You really got here fast."
"It's nice that it's close. I used to drive you over to Actor Son Jin-uk's place all the time—congratulations on the move."
Yeon-woo smiled as he climbed into the car, and before long Min-su's vehicle arrived at the agency building.
They took the elevator up to the planning-team conference room he had visited before.
When he opened the door, the planning-team staff who had been holding a free-form meeting greeted him warmly.
"Yeon-woo-ssi. It's been quite a while since we last saw each other in person."
Yeon-woo smiled at Jeong Hyeok's greeting.
As the team leader said, the last time they had met face-to-face was when he had seen Director Hwang Min-gwon and CG Director Jeong Yo-han in the representative's office after returning from Berlin; already three months of university life had passed.
Of course they had just been on the phone, but for courtesy's sake he asked after him.
"It has, hasn't it. You've been well?"
"Me? Haha. Please, sit over here."
Once Yeon-woo took his seat, a publicity-team staffer brought up materials introducing several variety programs on the screen.
"To be honest, the variety shows that have requested you are pretty much every program out there—that's not an exaggeration."
"I can see that. There are a lot."
Yeon-woo nodded.
The screen was packed with program titles.
"Still, after an internal meeting we narrowed it down to a few."
The publicity staffer operated the remote; the screen advanced and only four items remained.
1. SBC – Surprise Attack
2. KBC – Today's Cooking
3. JNBC – Summer's Table Beyond
4. Other Production Company – Find the Fans
"First is SBC's flagship variety show, Surprise Attack."
Yeon-woo knew the program well. It was a long-running show that had been on air for more than ten years, in which guests and regular cast split into two teams and competed in fixed variety games and sports events.
"Have the other guests already been decided?"
"If you appear, they'll almost certainly cast you as the sole guest."
Yeon-woo nodded and fell into thought.
It was a high-rated program that had hosted countless guests over the years, so it was not a bad option. Measured against the original reason he had decided on non-project activity—communication with fans—however, it was not particularly suitable.
"There are too many cast members and it's too chaotic. I'll have to think about that one."
"Then the second is Today's Cooking, which KBC recently launched and which is doing well."
It was a program in which participants followed a famous chef—something of a godfather in the culinary world—and carried out cooking missions.
"The parts where you cooked on the island in your previous variety show are still circulating as clips. We selected it thinking it would be nice to show more of that side of you as a continuation."
It would certainly produce a bottomless well of clips that fans would love. Even so, Yeon-woo scratched his head with a troubled expression.
"The cooking I did before was just dishes I make often enough that I could manage them. Cooking isn't actually a hobby of mine, and I'm not particularly skilled."
Years of living alone overseas had naturally left him with a handful of dishes he could prepare; he was nowhere near as proficient as the public image suggested.
"Come to think of it, there's nothing from MBS?"
At Yeon-woo's question, Jeong Hyeok tilted his head and answered.
"After the representative spoke with an MBS contact last time, he got a little angry and said their variety department has an impossible old fogey, so he told us to take everything from that side off the list."
"Hmm, the representative?"
It was hard to picture the usually cool-headed Representative Kim Ju-seong losing his temper.
"And the third is a short three-episode variety proposal from JNBC as a follow-up to Summer's Table."
Summer's Table Beyond.
They had already finished discussing this project among Son Jin-uk, Han So-hyun, and Yeon-woo himself.
Yeon-woo opened the messaging app on his phone and tapped the group chat.
After reading through the messages, Yeon-woo set his phone down.
"We've already decided with Actor Son Jin-uk and Actor Han So-hyun not to proceed with Summer's Closet Beyond."
"Ah, is that so. Understood."
Jeong Hyeok seemed to have roughly guessed the reason and did not ask further.
Yeon-woo looked again at the address for An Jun-ho that Son Jin-uk had sent him.
I've got a decent grasp of Baeksol's identity by now. For An Jun-ho's sake as well, it's about time I started investigating that incident properly.
Yeon-woo turned back to the screen, eyed the final item, and tilted his head.
"What does 'other production company' refer to?"
"Ah, number four is a YouTube channel. It's a corporate channel run by a production company—a hidden-camera concept where a star goes and finds a fan in person and grants their wish."
At the explanation, Yeon-woo smiled faintly.
"Number four is the one I want to do most."