Rankings

While the internet burned with comments, Hong Yu-ri quietly added one of her own and then looped the YouTube video that had dropped the night before, watching it on endless repeat.

It was a drama that featured both her ultimate bias and her second bias together.

As she watched, Hong Yu-ri muttered to herself.

"I've never even watched basketball at our university sports festivals…"

Hong Yu-ri preferred playing dodgeball herself. Truth be told she had never cared much about sports, and if forced to pick a side she was a soccer girl. Her Korean Language and Literature department had always been strong at soccer, and with so many Korean players lighting up the Premier League lately, soccer had become the default among female sports fans rather than basketball.

So when she first heard that Yeon-woo's next project would be a basketball drama, she had privately thought that if they were going to do sports they might as well have chosen something visually cooler like combat sports or track, or at least soccer.

Last night's video had changed her mind completely.

"Turns out I liked basketball."

The squeak of sneakers on hardwood, the dazzling cuts and drives, the nonstop scoring—she had watched with her hands clenched, palms sweating. And the sight of her ultimate bias Ryu Yeon-woo feeding the ball to her second bias Jin Yu-han, then receiving it right back, had shaken something loose inside her chest.

Meanwhile, hearing her roommate's muttering, the girl who shared the dorm room poked her face around the desk partition.

"Huh? Unnie, you like basketball? Seo Eun-jun from Leehan PBT is seriously gorgeous, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you know. Or Kim Ho-seong from Seoul SL—he's tall and his shoulders are insane… Want to come watch a game with me this weekend?"

Hong Yu-ri answered by thrusting her tablet PC forward.

"Nah. I don't like pro basketball. I like this kind of basketball."

"Huh? What is this?"

"Well… Saebyeol's Ryu Yeon-woo, the player?"

The premiere ratings had been 16.5 percent for SBC's Daytona and 14.1 percent for TVM's Parabola.

In the second episode Parabola had edged up to 14.3 percent, while the aggressively marketed Daytona climbed to 17.7 percent. It was an improvement over the premiere, yet the gap with Daytona had only widened.

The second week, however, was different.

Thanks to Hollywood's Bernard Fenton pulling strings, they had landed a main Netflix promotion, and a variety-show teaser had dropped in perfect sync with the release of episode four.

Yeon-woo rose early the next morning and checked the official ratings for episode four released by the research firm.

"Hmm. Only a 0.1 percent difference. We barely scraped the win."

A tenth of a percent was practically a statistical tie, but the real story was the trajectory.

Daytona dropped 0.9 percent from last Thursday.

Episodes three through six were the stretch where a drama was supposed to lock in its audience and climb. An exodus this early meant the remaining episodes would not be smooth sailing.

"At this rate those bastards might start trying dirty back-channel work soon. We've already minimized the gaps they can exploit, but…"

Production was handled in-house at Saebyeol. Broadcast contacts had been made directly. Every cast member except bit players was under Saebyeol, and both the director and writer had already proven they could work together without friction.

"Even so, if they manufacture noise by force, the truth won't matter—the rumor mill will still spin."

Which meant he had to keep them too busy to breathe.

Yeon-woo picked up his phone and messaged Han Hae-un.

A prosecutor-led raid on their secret workshop in Gimpo would leave the Baeksol bastards with zero bandwidth for fretting over a drama.

They'll feel like their feet are on fire. And if the drama tanks while they're distracted, the losses will only compound and come crashing down on their heads.

Yeon-woo glanced at his phone again, then hurried to get ready to leave.

Yeon-woo took the elevator to the parking garage and climbed into Kim Min-su's car.

"I watched the video that dropped yesterday. Nothing beats seeing it live on set, but the footage still looked sharp."

"It was okay? That's a relief."

Kim Min-su studied Yeon-woo's smile in the rearview mirror before continuing.

"You're heading ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to the company for the contract today, right?"

"Yeah. The company's growing so fast that outsourcing most of the work makes more sense. Representative Jeong could handle it alone, but he insisted I show up…"

"Still, it'll feel a lot more solid after this."

Yeon-woo nodded with a smile. From a manager's perspective, once today's contract was signed the company would indeed feel far more secure.

Arriving at the company building, Yeon-woo went straight up to the fourth floor.

Staff crossing the entertainment lobby offered congratulations as he passed.

"Actor Ryu, congratulations on Parabola taking first in the ratings."

"Come on, that's all thanks to Eun-seol."

The staff member whose name had been called, Noh Eun-seol, looked startled.

"Oh—you know my name?"

Yeon-woo tilted his head as if the question itself were odd.

"Of course I do. Noh Eun-seol from Planning. And the person next to you is Seo Ji-woo from Marketing—you've been with us since the LN days."

"Whoa…"

They had clearly assumed he would not know them; mild surprise flickered across their faces. But of course Yeon-woo knew. He had personally vetted every single hire and still periodically checked for any possible Baeksol connections.

"Well then, I'll head into the representative's office."

Deflecting the congratulations back onto the staff, Yeon-woo stepped into Jeong Hyeok's office.

Click—

"Representative."

"Ah, Actor Ryu."

Yeon-woo looked at Representative Jeong Hyeok, who was seated at his desk reading a classic paper newspaper.

"Checking the ratings?"

"Ah, no—I was looking at the entertainment company rankings. We're listed lower than I expected."

"Entertainment company rankings?"

At Yeon-woo's question, Jeong Hyeok handed over the newspaper.

The article was from the American business journal Type, ranking Korean entertainment agencies.

Yeon-woo stroked his chin as he read.

"Hmm. Twenty-first…"

"Given the quality of our actors the ranking should be much higher, but it seems America still evaluates primarily through a K-pop lens."

"That doesn't quite explain LN Entertainment sitting so high. And third-place Leeds Media is actor-driven too, isn't it?"

Jeong Hyeok nodded.

"As a business journal they start with corporate valuation, but they also factor in global brand ambassadorships, overseas talk-show appearances, and—for idols—the volume of international concerts. The more of those you have, the higher you climb."

"Overseas activity…"

Looking at the detailed scores, Saebyeol's global score was a mere thirty-nine. Top-tier agencies scored in the hundreds; some even cleared a thousand. Saebyeol's number was pitifully low.

The American talk-show appearances had happened while he was still at LN, and although every actor from the globally successful White Blood now belonged to Saebyeol, the rights still sat with LN.

"So this thirty-nine is mostly from the São Paulo K-Pop World Festival, then."

"Correct. And Han So-hyun being the face of Elemé would have counted as well."

The modest bump came from Yeon-woo's Brazil schedule and from Han So-hyun serving as the Asian main model for the global cosmetics brand Elemé. Domestic scores were solid; it was only domestic activity that had scraped them into the top twenty.

"So the foreign press still sees Saebyeol as a domestic-only shop."

"For now, yes, that seems to be the case."

Going forward, Yeon-woo and the rest of Saebyeol's roster would only increase their overseas work. Being undervalued on the world stage was not ideal. On a battlefield the finest strategist still had to treat himself as a piece on the board.

"Any global brand ambassador offers or overseas schedules coming my way?"

"Pardon? There are tons of them. You've always looked slightly annoyed by anything outside of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠acting, and you've turned everything down so far, so we're still busily rejecting them."

"…"

Yeon-woo broke into a light sweat at Representative Jeong's words. It was not simply that he found them bothersome. Well… not entirely.

"You know how even cooking rice needs time to steam? I've been playing hard to get long enough that the value should have risen as high as it can go. I think we can start selectively accepting global brand ambassadorships and main-model deals."

"Ohhh, really? You'll do it?"

The unexpectedly fervent reaction made Yeon-woo sweat again.

"Mm. From now on I suppose I should start properly leveraging my own value."

They decided to ramp up overseas activity gradually until the already-scheduled Survival Island – Global Match.

Yeon-woo and Representative Jeong went down together to the second-floor conference room and waited. The door opened and the party they were contracting with today walked in.

The man who entered had a cold face and the broad, heavily trained shoulders of someone who lived in the gym—an impression of raw strength. He looked like someone who would handle a sniper rifle very well.

"Ah, you've arrived. Jeong Hyeok of Saebyeol Entertainment."

Jeong Hyeok extended his hand; the man took it in a thick grip and returned the greeting.

"Pleasure to meet you. Kim Su-hyeok, representative of the security firm Pridwen."

Yeon-woo smiled as he looked at Kim Su-hyeok.

"Nice to meet you. Actor Ryu Yeon-woo."