All Roads Lead to Do Hyun-woo
Given the situation, people assumed I was mocking Youngperal's failure, but that wasn't the case at all.
I didn't want Youngperal to flop.
What had the production team or actors done wrong?
It was all because of Manager Jang.
Still, Youngperal wouldn't crash and burn like this.
The data had tanked, but not the show itself.
I hadn't seen episodes 6 onward yet—just monitored up to 5, and it was plenty entertaining.
Once Gongbeomche bowed out after episode 8, wouldn't Youngperal reclaim the throne?
Compared to competing shows from the same period, Youngperal held a clear edge.
MBY's First Pick was a textbook example of why rookie writers are risky.
The PD famous for his keen eye had handpicked the writer himself, drawing industry buzz, but when the lid came off, the structure was full of holes.
Each scene was solid on its own, but the connections between them felt sloppy, you know?
KBX's High Teen in the 30s showed just how terrifying webtoon original fans can be.
The drama's execution was decent, but they ignored core canon too much, and the fans went berserk.
No, but the fans were totally justified.
If you're gonna freestyle like that, just make an original—why buy the IP rights?
This isn't bias because I'm a fan of the original; it's just facts.
Eventually, the PD wised up—or rather, started considering the fans' feelings and fixed the plot...
But then the drama fell apart.
Stuck in no-man's-land.
After that, it was total chaos.
It got buried under the Gongbeomche and Youngperal buzz, but their noise was no joke either.
That's why Youngperal would rule once Gongbeomche was gone.
Viewership momentum had weakened, so it probably wouldn't break 20%, but 15% for the finale seemed doable.
These days, that's a massive hit.
Jang Manager sucks, but I hoped Ra-un would make it big.
I hadn't watched, but he must've poured his heart into it.
Amid all this, the Gongbeomche actors diligently powered through their schedules.
Their first major variety slot aired on Tuesday, but YouTube clips and interviews were already out in droves.
They'd started out trembling, barely able to utter my name, but they'd gotten pretty good.
Still...
They still name-dropped me everywhere, but now they had some real poise.
The group chat had gotten hilarious lately because of it.
Watching it was so absurdly funny.
Lee Sun-jae, the youngest at 30 aside from Eum Sung-hyun, had serious gag instincts.
He kept dragging in memes to prove he was young, but they were all hopelessly outdated—that was the punchline.
"... "
Come to think of it, that's why Seo Jae-yeon teased me like this.
Of course, to big bro Yoo Won-sang, it was cutting-edge.
Everyone looked great.
Eum Sung-hyun especially—his face had this fresh glow, healthy flush.
His looks had really leveled up.
Speaking of, I needed to warn M2M not to pull shady contract-renewal tricks, since it'd be no fun.
Thanks to Eum Sung-hyun, Agent Secret was on life support with an oxygen tank now—that worried me more.
But with Team Leader Ko there, no issues.
M2M were ants; D.P was a dinosaur.
Pull anything funny, and D.P would back Eum Sung-hyun with dino power.
Time ticked by in moments like these.
Tuesday rolled around.
Gongbeomche's lead and supporting cast debuted on their first major variety: Elegant, Wow!.
Elegant, Wow!.
Or Woowoo for short.
A filler pilot that exploded in ratings and got a full slot as MBY's flagship.
Woowoo was your standard guest talk show, but the guest criteria were quirky.
Celebs sometimes, randos other times—fame wasn't the bar.
The key was having an "elegant" or "wow"-worthy agenda.
Kinda childish phrasing, but hey, pilot origins...
Basically, snag folks tied to hot issues from the last year that viewers cared about.
The big draw? Almost no promo spots timed to drama or movie launches.
They didn't shun celebs, but "celeb" alone wouldn't cut it.
So the Gongbeomche cast group appearance seemed surprising at first, but not really.
Nothing hotter than Gongbeomche right now.
Plus, deep dives on "no-name actors."
...That was the original pitch.
Yeah.
We'd shattered the show's long-standing core format.
Thanks to the actors' devastating, violent interview skills.
The head writer pitched a new format as a result, and this episode was the output.
Not totally rushed—they'd been mulling it awhile and this was the debut try.
It kicked off like a crime exposé.
Distorted voice over a spinning cassette, anonymous tipster style.
[DoXwoo: Yes? Casting? Me?]
[DoHyunX: I have no reason to do variety. That's for the actors to handle.]
[X Sung-hyun: It's not my fault...]
The opening hit, and I let out a sigh of relief.
Show viewers it wasn't some attention-whore stunt—they had no choice.
That was my one condition after their begging wore me down.
Some might say, "Why care so much about optics?"
But it mattered.
Lately, CL Team 2 buzzed that I'd quit soon to act again.
A director chasing actors?
Bad image long-term.
Then my phone buzzed.
Sung Tae-chang.
Viewer reaction AI analysis > What the hell, wrong channel?
AI analysis my ass.
Does the regional head have nothing better to do?
But why this opening?
Was starting the show with my story okay?
Meanwhile, crime-show subtitles crawled across the screen.
[But here's the thing.]
[Is Do-mo really blameless?]
The screen cut to what was clearly pre-meeting footage from a fixed cam.
[June 1X, 2028]
[MBY Variety Dept. Conference Room]
[Pre-Meeting]
Typewriter clacks echoed as eight actors appeared, tense as hell.
They seemed deep in chatter, but no audio...
Subtitles floated over their heads—interview questions, probably.
-WhatwasthehardestpartpreparingGongbeomche...
-Asano-nameactorinacommercialprojectit'snerve-wracking...
Too fast to read full, but Gongbeomche-related for sure.
Actors' responses poured out in parallel.
-Thanks to Director Do Hyun-woo.
-He saw us struggling so Director...
-At Director's house...
-Director in the theater basement...
-On set with Director...
-Director...
-Director, Director.
-D-D-Di-rec-tor...
Why overlay the audio like that?
Speed-ramped too—it made them look like total zealots.
I'd seen this disastrous interview raw.
The writer sent the edit file to lure me on.
But it wasn't this bad.
You could tell they tried squeezing out good answers...
Devil's edit?
Had we been played by the network?
Subtitles continued.
[We thought they were hiding their true feelings.]
[So we hit them with questions that had to get non-Director answers.]
-When eps 1-2 dropped, how'd you celebrate?
-I was sleeping at Do Hyun-woo Director's house...
-Huh? Alone?
-No, all together. So here's how that happened...
[Disappointing.]
[But we didn't give up.]
[We have our coldly rational Brain to guide us.]
Main Writer (41, Brain).
Introduced via dry subtitle, the main writer...
-Aaaaaaah!
...screamed bloody murder.
Actors jolted up from their seats in shock.
I hadn't seen this part.
No wonder the casting call sounded so terrifying.
-What is this, Rome? All roads lead to Do Hyun-woo?
-If acting sucks, suffer! Wander! Challenge! Make episodes we can use on air!
-Aaaaaaah! We don't need it!
The rational writer, screaming like a maniac, lunged at the PD in the corner.
-How do we do pre-interviews like this! If so, cast Do Hyun-woo! Or I'm out!
A lion's roar of a yell, screen blacked out, then brassy pam pam! and lights up.
Studio.
Opening over—the real variety began.