Departure, March to Battle
It was plain to see that Blue Whale Gate was pouring serious effort into this project.
The scheduled air date was still a long way off, yet the production schedule was flowing along without a hitch.
Back home, whether it was a television program or a film, things almost never moved according to the timetable once production actually began. Delays were the daily norm—something always went wrong and shooting dates slipped. Against that backdrop, the crisp, orderly progress of this one was genuinely impressive.
"It's moving faster than I expected."
"They probably don't know the proverb about striking while the iron is hot, but watching the way they work, that's exactly the feeling I get. Haah… if our own networks moved this snappily, we wouldn't have to suffer through schedule hell."
Having received the confirmed shooting dates through Executive Director Yoon Mi-yeon, Yeon-woo marked them on the calendar with a red pen.
"Then I should use the time in between to get my body into proper shape. Ever since the drama wrapped I've been half-assing the workouts…"
"Anyone listening would think you were an athlete training for the Olympics."
Yeon-woo let out a quiet laugh at Director Yoon's remark.
"Still, I'm a national representative of sorts. I have to give it everything I've got."
"Hmm. Now that you put it that way, you're right. You are competing for the country."
"Let me know the moment anything else on the schedule changes."
After ending the call, Yeon-woo stared at the red circle he had drawn around the first day of filming and sank into thought.
These days everyone managed their calendars digitally, but whenever an important schedule loomed, Yeon-woo still circled the date the old-fashioned way on a paper calendar.
In a way, it's a kind of jinx.
Every time he stepped into a new project he marked the first shooting day in red. That alone showed how seriously he was treating Global Match—not merely as a variety show, but as a proper work.
Truth be told, I never took Survival Island this seriously.
It had been nothing more than a promotional vehicle for the drama Parabola. Expectations for a domestic cable variety show were low to begin with; if even a fraction of those viewers carried over to the drama, he would have counted it a success.
Who knew it would explode like that on the global stage.
Looking back, White Blood had been the same. Domestic broadcasters and production houses simply had no vessel large enough for such a radical script, so they had been forced to turn to an OTT platform like Netflix. It had never been a calculated campaign aimed at the world market from the outset.
In that sense, Global Match is the first time we're deliberately charging into the global arena, true to its name.
Of course the principal player was still Blue Whale Gate, not Saebyeol. While filming, Yeon-woo intended to wring every scrap of know-how that might prove useful when Saebyeol eventually launched its own original content onto the world stage.
Someday Saebyeol will have to jump into the global market with its own productions. Still… two weeks from now…
Casting would have begun at the production stage, so the participants had decided to appear some time ago. Yet from the moment the schedule was announced to the actual start of filming for Global Match, the date felt right on top of them.
Coordinating the schedules of celebrities from every corner of the globe must have been a nightmare. They had succeeded, of course—otherwise the notice would never have gone out—but Yeon-woo remembered how even a simple schedule for Summer's Table Season 2 had been a headache, and that had been among people under the same agency.
This time the countries were different, the fields of activity wildly varied. Actors like himself, singers, models, broadcasters—participants from every corner of entertainment. Contemplating those tangled calendars, he felt anew the sheer weight Blue Whale Gate carried.
In the end, the power that untangles all of that is Blue Whale Gate's name value and money.
He had heard the appearance fees set for the celebrities were staggering. His own was no exception. Perhaps Blue Whale Gate had not even fretted much over the participants' existing schedules. Even if someone already had commitments, they would have moved heaven and earth to free themselves and join.
That means every single one of them is diving in with their lives on the line.
Yeon-woo smiled.
And life and death are decided on the battlefield.
How their life-or-death struggle would end was something only time would tell.
Time slipped by, and the filming date for Global Match drew near.
Yeon-woo, Kim Su-hyeok, and Park Jung-hyeon—together with Saebyeol staff—headed for Miami International Airport.
The moment they arrived, personnel dispatched by Blue Whale Gate were waiting to escort them.
"This picture is somehow amusing."
"Pardon?"
Kim Su-hyeok, walking beside him, asked back.
The sight of Kim Su-hyeok and Park Jung-hyeon strolling side by side—men who, to the outside world, were simply security—struck Yeon-woo as funny. He could not say that aloud, so he steered the conversation elsewhere.
"You two are the CEO and security team leader of Pridwen, the firm that handles our company's security."
He glanced at the two men flanking him, then at the additional security detail trailing behind—bodyguards provided by Blue Whale Gate, not Pridwen agents.
"It's funny that even the two of you need extra bodyguards to protect you."
Strictly speaking it was even more layered: Pridwen agents protecting an agent named Yeon-woo, and then bodyguards protecting those agents.
This is like a set of Matryoshka dolls.
Kim Su-hyeok chuckled at the remark.
"Even world-champion fighters always have bodyguards around them, don't they?"
He found the surrounding detail cumbersome himself, yet since things had turned out this way he decided he might as well enjoy the unaccustomed luxury of feeling like a celebrity.
Yeon-woo tilted his head, studying Kim Su-hyeok's face.
"But CEO Kim, your face looks a lot more haggard than last time."
His eyes were sunken, dark circles hanging heavy beneath them.
Kim Su-hyeok cleared his throat.
"Ah—there's been a lot of work, so I've been pulling overtime… My apologies. I'll bring myself to peak condition before filming starts."
"Overtime?"
Yeon-woo scratched his cheek.
Lately there shouldn't have been much to do.
He was Kim Su-hyeok's superior, after all. The war against Baeksol was in a breathing period; no operations were currently running. Pridwen had no major clients beyond Saebyeol. There was no reason for overtime.
Hmm… could it be…?
If it was not work he himself had ordered, only one person remained.
Han Hae-un.
Come on. He wouldn't be petty enough to take it out on the kids just because he was jealous, would he?
At that moment his phone vibrated.
A message from Han Hae-un—no gentleman, that one.
This matter?
He opened the attached file with a puzzled tilt of the head. It was a dense report listing certain individuals and their characteristics in meticulous detail. Looking closer, he saw it was a rough intelligence brief on the celebrities participating from every country and the specialists they had hired.
Oh. I never even gave the order, yet he put this together. Maybe because, even though it's a TV show, we're representing the nation.
Han Hae-un clearly meant business about this as well.
In the car bound for the hotel Blue Whale Gate had prepared, Yeon-woo rapidly absorbed every line of the material into his mind.
Meanwhile, the working staff of Blue Whale Gate were equally busy.
"The Original Champion and his team have arrived at Miami Airport."
"Original Champion" meant Ryu Yeon-woo and the Korean national team.
John McCallan rose from his seat the moment he heard the report.
"He's the champion. I should go welcome Ryu myself."
At those words the staff and production personnel bustling about the situation room breathed a collective inward sigh of relief.
Whew… please just go…
In any company, when the CEO plants himself on site and starts issuing orders, the working staff feel as though they are sitting on a bed of nails. Of course, efficiency skyrockets in proportion—no one dares slack off—but the pressure is crushing.
"I'll be back within four hours at the latest. Don't worry."
With that, John McCallan strode out.
Once they confirmed he was gone, the staff exhaled in unison.
"Worry? Him coming back is what we should worry about…"
There were almost no projects John McCallan cared about enough to direct personally on the ground. That also meant any mistake on this one would cost them their heads, so everyone was being careful to the point of paranoia.
"I've still got a mountain of real-estate loans to pay off. That can't happen."
Upon arriving at the hotel, Yeon-woo and his party headed first to the restaurant.
The flight to Miami had completely inverted day and night; they had landed right around breakfast time. With two full days remaining before filming began, the plan was a light meal, a little light exercise, then rest to shake off the jet lag.
"Oh…"
Yeon-woo stared across the table at Park Jung-hyeon with open curiosity—more precisely, at the food the big man had assembled.
I'm sure the label said something Chinese.
Yeon-woo himself had circled the buffet once and noticed that soup dish. Park Jung-hyeon had taken the Chinese-style broth, dumped in an assortment of ingredients scooped from every station, then finished it by pouring spices he produced from his own pocket. In moments he had created something that looked remarkably like gukbap right there on the spot.
This guy is dead serious.
When a person loves something enough, mastery eventually follows. Creating something from nothing was an impressive skill.
Feeling Yeon-woo's gaze, Park Jung-hyeon looked up from his pseudo-gukbap. Suddenly he clenched a massive fist and ignited with fighting spirit.
"Leave it to me. I'll wipe the enemies out with everything I've got."
Yeon-woo tilted his head, then turned to Kim Su-hyeok beside him.
"Last time we were in America together, the security team leader didn't seem this… passionate. Feels different."
"…I gave Team Leader Park a little motivation of my own. Looking at him now, it may have been a bit excessive."
Just then a commotion rose at the restaurant entrance.
John McCallan swept in with his entourage in tow.
As a famous producer and successful businessman, he was recognized at once; related personnel flocked to him and the atmosphere grew lively. The entire hotel had been reserved for Global Match participants and staff, so there was no one present who was not somehow connected to John McCallan.
After exchanging cursory greetings and cutting through the crowd, he made straight for Yeon-woo.
"Mr. Ryu. It's been a few weeks. Haha. Was the flight comfortable?"
Every eye in the restaurant snapped toward Yeon-woo and his party.
Until that moment most of them had been half-uncertain, merely eyeing the young man. The instant John McCallan himself walked over and greeted him, all doubt vanished.
That man was the Original Champion.