The Kidnapping

Episodes one and two of the drama followed the protagonist—someone grinding through every ordinary day—as he stumbled upon a chance discovery: while he was playing basketball, his condition never flared up.

Watching the first week’s reactions, Yeon-woo thought once again that a writer was a writer for a reason. Choi Mi-hyeon might not have been as famous as some of the other writers he had worked with, but she possessed an almost supernatural knack for knowing exactly how to structure a story so that viewers would accept it without resistance.

When Yeon-woo had first received the synopsis for Parabola, he had felt the story was a little thin in places—understandable, since Director Kim Han-su had planned it alone.

Back then the supporting characters were barely sketched out, and the protagonist’s overall arc felt strangely disconnected.

The character Yeon-woo played—also named Ryu Yeon-woo—was heavily laced with autobiographical elements from Director Kim Han-su himself.

Director Kim said that during his school years his OCD was so severe he could barely function in daily life.

From his debut as a rookie, Kim Han-su had always spoken to everyone with formal respect. Yeon-woo found things to admire in that, yet also found it genuinely peculiar. On a film set the director was absolute king, yet Kim Han-su’s manner was nothing of the sort. He still possessed enough backbone that the atmosphere never descended into chaos, but the way he used polite speech even with the lowest-ranking staff and with the then-underage Yeon-woo was truly unusual.

Maybe that, too, was a lingering trace of the OCD he suffered in school.

The protagonist of Parabola was the fictionalized character Kim Han-su had built by holding a mirror to his own life.

Originally he was born to wealthy parents, played baduk as a kid, and… what else was it…?

Yeon-woo scratched his head for a moment. In any ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠case, the first synopsis had been packed with details that had almost nothing to do with the plot’s forward motion. Writing an autobiographical story had probably made it hard for the director to stay objective, and the excess baggage had piled up naturally. Once Choi Mi-hyeon joined, she took a ruthless scalpel to those unnecessary elements and cleaned everything up. She kept the foundational concept of the protagonist’s illness intact, boldly rewrote the family background, and at the same time restructured countless smaller details into a tight, coherent whole. The other characters were also reshaped with as much input from the actors as possible, each becoming a distinctive role.

Well, thanks to that, the part I play went from rich kid to dirt-poor overnight…

For an audience to fall into someone’s story, there always had to be at least a few points of identification; empathy was everything. Still, the gradual revisions to the character’s background had only increased the story elements that could draw that empathy from viewers.

Episode one, launched with equal parts hope and anxiety, opened with a strong start—its ratings only 2.5 percent behind rival Daytona. The natural carry-over of the audience that had just finished Survival Island was almost certainly the reason. In episode two, however, the gap widened a little, probably because of the other side’s aggressive marketing.

Daytona hit 17.7 percent, we hit 14.3.

Fortunately Parabola itself had not dropped from episode one; it had even climbed a modest 0.2 percent and kept its upward momentum. SBC, sensing danger from the first episode’s numbers, had begun airing promotional spots day and night, and Daytona’s ratings jumped a full 1.2 percent.

“Hmm. Well, we’ve started our own engine now, so we’ll just have to wait until next week to see the results.”

The moment the teaser for next week’s episode three dropped, the internet was hit with one enormous piece of bait. The video released on TVM’s official YouTube channel:

The suddenly released video, exactly as the title promised, captured a friendly match between the cast of Parabola and Fast, the most famous celebrity basketball team around.

Screech—

The score stood at 5 to 11. The actor team looked visibly tense. In contrast, Fast dribbled in with relaxed smiles the entire time. Then Yang Yun-jae of Fast launched a shot that caromed off the rim, and Son Jin-uk overpowered the opposing center for the rebound. The pass came, and Yeon-woo followed with a dazzling double-clutch.

“Whoa!”

“Yeon-woo!”

“Get back on defense, now! Defensive formation!”

Cross-cut editing showed the actors reacting to his unexpected flashy play. After that, tension-soaked music and tightly cut game sequences, edited to the beat, teased the audience mercilessly.

17 to 19.

20 to 19.

20 to 21.

The fierce back-and-forth left the outcome completely uncertain until the final moment: Son Jin-uk hauling in a rebound and heaving the ball with everything he had, Jeong Cheol-min’s back racing after it. As the trailing defender closed the gap, Jeong Cheol-min hurriedly released the shot. The defender charged. The basketball traced an anxious parabola through the air—and the screen went black for a beat.

Screech—

Across the darkened frame came the raw scrape of basketball shoes grinding against the court. Then the image flickered bright for an instant, just long enough to catch Yeon-woo surging forward. Darkness again, followed by the final buzzer.

Beep—

Waaaaah—!

Together with the buzzer, a roar of cheers erupted—impossible to tell which team was shouting. On the black screen, white letters appeared as if this were the trailer for an upcoming film.

The final line even teased that a variety follow-up to the drama would be airing. Viewer reactions to the released footage exploded.

While the internet boiled over the teaser for the variety follow-up that TVM had pre-released, Yeon-woo had been riding a minibus down the highway since early morning. A voice floated back from the front seats.

“Does anyone need to stop at a rest area?”

It was PD Joo Hyun-seok, who had directed Saebyul Family. Yeon-woo glanced sideways.

“I’m fine. What about you two?”

Son Jin-uk and Han So-hyun, sitting beside him, both shook their heads.

“I’m good!”

“We can stop or keep going. We’ve got enough time, right?”

“Hmm, well… we shouldn’t be late either way…”

“Then let’s just go. PD-nim, we don’t need a rest stop!”

With the cast’s answer, the minibus continued straight toward a certain military base in Gangwon Province. After a long drive it finally stopped in front of the barricade near the base entrance. Han So-hyun, visiting a military base for the first time, kept peering curiously out the window. Yeon-woo, by contrast, scratched his cheek with a thoroughly unimpressed expression.

“Is it really okay to just show up in front of a military base like this?”

At Han So-hyun’s question, PD Joo Hyun-seok grinned.

“Of course we arranged filming cooperation in advance. The sentries guarding the main gate right now are all in on it.”

Meanwhile ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠An Jun-ho had been tossed in the air by his comrades, yet the fact that he was actually being discharged still felt unreal. He had always known the day would come and had counted down every single day, but now that it was here the feeling was even stranger than he had expected. He walked with awkward steps, waving at the people clapping behind him.

As he approached the main gate he suddenly looked up. On the arched structure, bold brush-stroke lettering declared:

“Whew, love and hate are crossing paths in my heart. Will I miss this godforsaken place later? Yeah. I’m heading out into society as an invincible elite warrior.”

While he was busy striking every dramatic pose he could think of, three sturdy men closed in the moment An Jun-ho stepped one foot outside the base.

“An Jun-ho-ssi?”

“Uh, yes?”

The instant he answered, the men on either side seized his arms and hoisted him clean off the ground.

“Eh? Yes? What…? Hey! Who are you people! Wait a second!”

The invincible elite warrior, far more helpless than expected, was lifted into the air without managing any real resistance and could only thrash his legs uselessly. An Jun-ho desperately looked toward the sentries at the guard post, but they ignored his pleading gaze and stared blankly at the distant mountains with expressionless faces.

“No, wait! Let go! What—what is this?!”

With a face full of pure panic he was dragged straight to the parked minibus and, before he knew it, kidnapped and loaded inside.

“Somebody help—!”

Clack—

The commotion at the entrance made the eyes of those who had come out to see him off go round as saucers. But the entire kidnapping-and-loading process happened in the blink of an eye; there was no time to intervene. Then the minibus window rolled down and several very familiar faces appeared.

“What—what’s that? Isn’t that Ryu Yeon-woo?”

“Han So-hyun’s there too?”

“What? Han So-hyun?! Where! Where!”

In the middle of it all, Son Jin-uk stuck his head and upper body out the window and waved.

“Everyone, thank you for taking such good care of our Jun-ho all this time! We’re taking him now so we can put him to work!”