Recruiting PD Shin Hye-yoon
Young-hoon had first met PD Shin Hye-yoon back in October, at the Girin Entertainment office in Seongnam.
It was no exaggeration to say that, at the time, he had honestly mistaken her for the top actress Song Hye-kyo herself.
He'd considered making a move back then, but thinking that a woman with her kind of beauty was surely bound to have a boyfriend already, he had given up without a fight.
Even after that, their professional dealings continued, and every time they did, PD Shin Hye-yoon kept sending him inexplicable signals.
Somehow she was always snapping at him — not out of dislike or irritation, but with the sulky air of a girlfriend who felt neglected.
In truth, Young-hoon wasn't entirely without the urge to get closer to her either.
But rather than her stunning looks, what drew him to Hye-yoon more and more was her sheer competence.
Having just watched her handle the notoriously difficult Chinese buyers without breaking a sweat, he had already resolved to bring her into his own company, YH.
So he decided to strike while the iron was hot and call PD Shin Hye-yoon to offer her a position as a production PD.
He took a deep breath and dialed her number.
As if she had been waiting for his call, Hye-yoon picked up before the second ring.
"Oh, President Kim. What brings you calling at this hour?"
"Well, PD Shin. I just wanted to hear your voice, so I called."
"Hohoho, really? I know you well enough by now, President Kim, so none of that sweet talk. Just tell me what you want."
"I mean it. I really just wanted to hear your voice. Oh, and I still owe you a meal from before, too."
"Really? Funny, I don't seem to remember that."
"In mid-October — you said you'd let me use a song I made as an OST for Love After Separation, and told me to buy you dinner if things went well. That's why I called."
"Ah, now I remember. But I told Lee Jae-man to buy me dinner back then. Why is President Kim the one footing the bill?"
"That's... President Lee Jae-man said he was too busy, so he told me to buy you dinner in his place."
"Hmph, so you're a stand-in? Well then, I have no reason to refuse. So what are you buying me?"
"Anything you want, PD Shin. No limits."
"I've been shooting a drama lately, so I don't have time to go anywhere far. Just keep it simple — pasta will do."
"Perfect. Then where shall we go?"
"Come down to my office building around seven and give me a call. There's a pasta place nearby."
"Understood. See you then."
She'd picked up the phone in such a good mood, but the moment he mentioned President Lee Jae-man, her temperament had soured again.
They say a woman's heart is a reed, and truly, her mood swung from one second to the next — Young-hoon had no idea what rhythm he was supposed to dance to.
Once again, a man hopelessly ignorant of a woman's heart was shouldering his own self-inflicted suffering.
Young-hoon printed out a copy of the script and headed out.
When he arrived below the Sinabro Production building and called, PD Shin Hye-yoon came down about five minutes later.
The moment she spotted him and broke into a bright smile, Young-hoon's heart dropped like a stone.
Her beauty glowed so dazzlingly that he could almost believe Song Hye-kyo herself had come to meet him.
"Were you waiting long?"
"Not at all, I just got here. I heard you've been worn to the bone lately, but you're as radiant as ever."
"Spare me the corny jokes and let's get going. I have to be back at the office after we eat, so I can't stay long."
Young-hoon and Hye-yoon walked to a nearby pasta restaurant, ordered a light meal, and carried on their conversation.
"PD Shin, with a schedule that packed, how do you ever find time to date?"
"Hmph, coming from the man who set me up on a blind date, that's rich."
"With your looks and talent, aren't men just lining up around you? And if nobody's claimed you... well, how about me?"
Young-hoon cautiously hid his fluttering nerves and floated the question half as a joke.
If the answer came back positive, he had no intention of retreating a single step further.
Hye-yoon, meanwhile, found the moment both thrilling and bewildering.
She knew perfectly well that Young-hoon was not the type to confess easily.
After all, wasn't he the man who always took a step back whenever she showed the slightest sign of liking him?
So she decided to test his heart, just once.
"If it's you, President Kim... I'd give it some thought."
But Young-hoon failed to answer the way she'd hoped.
He had clearly come for some other reason entirely.
"Thank you for thinking so well of me, PD Shin. I'll work hard from now on."
The voice carried not a shred of sincerity.
Crushed, Hye-yoon kept the conversation going while pretending everything was fine on the surface.
"I know you're not the kind of man who calls a woman without an agenda, President Kim, so go ahead — spit out the real reason."
"Tsk. You leave me nothing to say. Then would you take a look at this?"
Young-hoon pulled a script from his bag and handed it to her.
"A drama script? The title's Love Met Again, and the writer is... 'Great Stone Face'? Huh? Wait a second."
Hye-yoon froze when she saw the cover of the script he'd handed her.
Because 'Great Stone Face' was the pen name of the man sitting across from her.
"So this piece — did you write it yourself, President Kim?"
"I did. I brought it for you to read. Do you think it could succeed as a drama? I'd like a professional's judgment."
Hye-yoon's interest suddenly sparked to life.
He wrote wonderful songs, but surely he couldn't write a good drama script too — and yet, she was all the more curious what kind of story he had actually penned.
"When do you need my answer by?"
"The sooner the better, if you can manage it."
After finishing their meal, Young-hoon and Hye-yoon moved to a nearby coffee shop.
"Would it be all right if I skimmed this right now?"
"Go right ahead. It's fine."
Hye-yoon seated Young-hoon across from her and began to read the script.
About ten minutes in, tears were streaming down her face.
Her chest had surged with emotion before she knew it, and she couldn't hold it in.
Only after a long while did she finish reading, wiping her eyes as she spoke.
"Who... are you, President Kim? Writing lyrics, composing music, penning masterpieces like this... is there anything you can't do?"
"So in your professional opinion, would it have commercial potential?"
"I've only read the first episode, but I can already tell. It's good enough to crack the top ten ratings in the entire history of Korean drama. I'll read it all the way through and give you proper feedback."
Sensing that the mood had ripened enough, Young-hoon decided to land the fish right now and reel PD Shin in for good.
"If... I asked you to be part of turning this piece into a drama, what would you say?"
When Young-hoon asked to meet her, it had never once crossed Hye-yoon's mind that he might be about to offer her a position.
Which was exactly why she was so flustered now.
"Aren't you being a little too blunt?"
Young-hoon knew that this sort of thing called for the usual push-and-pull of negotiation — but the woman across from him was the one he had feelings for, and he was utterly at a loss.
He'd never had this problem with the dealership owners... and so Young-hoon was every bit as rattled as she was.
He dreaded to think how he'd manage when it came time to actually date her.
"I'm just not very good at saying things tactfully."
"You come at me so out of nowhere that I don't know which way is up."
"I'll give you time to think. Until Monday morning next week — one week should be enough, right?"
"President Kim, that's not the point. I'm an employee of Sinabro Production. We're in the middle of shooting a drama right now. And do you really think CEO Joo would just let me go?"
"Let's sort this out one piece at a time. CEO Joo, Chairman Jang will handle. The drama wraps by mid-January, so a company is just something you move. Simple as that, no?"
"I'll grant you one thing, President Kim — you charge forward like a rhinoceros. But realistically, this is a difficult situation, so for now, all I'll do is review the work."
"Understood. Today isn't the only day, after all."
Parting from Young-hoon, Hye-yoon went up to her empty office and read the script.
She had felt it reading the first episode, but this work was unmistakably the kind that could redraw the very history of Korean drama.
In this industry, moving to whichever company offered better terms was an everyday occurrence, so the job change itself posed no real problem.
What made her hesitate was this: the drama was still filming at full tilt, and even after it ended, there would be overseas rights sales and a mountain of work left to do. To abandon all of it and walk away to another company was something her conscience simply could not permit.
Young-hoon would have blown right past me if it weren't for the script... it's a real dilemma. If Chairman Jang covers for the CEO, then... ugh, whatever. Let me just finish reading the script first.
Parting from Hye-yoon and heading home, Young-hoon simply could not keep the grin off his face.
PD Shin is fifty percent won over already — one more push should do it. Maybe it's time to call in a favor from Chairman Jang. And then there's PD Lee Hyo-young to deal with... I'll meet him tomorrow and worry about it then.
What encouraged him most was the fact that there had been a deep rift between a man and a woman in all this. His words had come out stiff and awkward from sheer giddiness, but with a little effort, good results seemed certain to follow.
Still, why did she sulk again? Did I make another mistake?
Young-hoon remained completely unaware of what misunderstanding his own behavior had provoked.
Many more obstacles were destined to plague Young-hoon's campaign of love.
The moment Young-hoon opened the front door, Su-jin reacted with wide-eyed shock.
It was barely ten o'clock, and here he was, coming home sober — she could hardly be blamed.
"Big Bro, the sun's going to rise in the west tomorrow, huh? Home at this hour, stone-cold sober."
"Heey, sis, there's gotta be days like this. You think I'm some kind of drunkard? Everything I do — even the drinking — is for business."
"Sure, sure. Well then, since I'm bored, should I have a beer with the ladies upstairs?"
"I dunno, Hee-joo's not going to be in the mood."
"Why? Should I give them a call?"
"Do whatever you want."
Just as Young-hoon had predicted, Hee-joo was decidedly grumpy about the call — and so was her husband.
I swear, I will never understand these two. Are they trying to make a third kid, or do they genuinely just enjoy the sport? Can it really be that fun?
When Su-jin made her call, Hee-joo and Ki-jin had just changed into their workout clothes and were about to enter the arena.
The moment the whistle blew, the match was to begin in earnest — but from the apartment above, a whistle sounded first, as if some act of God had been summoned to cancel the game outright.
Hee-joo pleaded a sudden ailment and escaped from the brink of disaster.
The way things were going, the next match wouldn't end for four or five hours — someone would have to collapse first.
Until now, she'd always been the one to pass out first, which made it hard to talk any big game — but tonight, she steeled her fighting spirit.
The outcome would be decided in overtime or a penalty shootout.
The whistle blew.
Five Girls had another truly happy day.
They had just finished a morning event and were on the move when a text message chimed in.
Five hundred million won in cash had just been deposited into each member's bank account.
It had been less than a month since they'd begun their activities in earnest.
A proper income settlement was still some time away.
And yet they had already received six hundred fifty million won.
It was enough to blow away every ounce of the humiliation from their unknown days in one stroke.
But the real problem lay elsewhere.
The Five Girls members had headaches these days.
They were all in love with Young-hoon, yet the man himself seemed to have zero romantic interest in any of them.
They were grown women, fully of age — and he insisted on treating them like kids.
And now, two more rivals had entered the ring.
PD Shin Hye-yoon already, plus two Chinese women... there were a full three formidable rivals at this very moment.
They considered PD Shin Hye-yoon the most powerful competitor, but the insanely wealthy ones were not to be dismissed either.
Among women, a single glance at each other's eyes was enough to tell friend from foe.
The Chinese women were, without question, enemies.
The saving grace was that they lived across the ocean — though who knew, they might just pack up and move to Korea.
Some drastic countermeasure was needed, but no plan presented itself.
Utterly oblivious to the dilemmas of the women orbiting around him, Young-hoon was lounging at home, mulling over the idea of writing another drama script.
This time, he thought, a fifty-episode family drama might be fun.
Among the drama scripts the Archmage Hains had left behind, an easygoing one came to mind.
The catch: it ran to more than five hundred episodes.
Clearly, it would have to go seasonal.
Even on a seasonal model, it would take a good ten years to get through.
He decided to make Season One alone into a drama for starters.
At five episodes a week, it would take about ten weeks to write.
He would draft Part One tonight and go to sleep.
And so another day slipped quietly away.