The Whole World is At Your Fingertips
When Gongbeomche launched, the signals of its box-office success were clear as day.
Not just in the metrics, but because you could easily find people talking about Gongbeomche all over the internet.
But At Your Fingertips is different.
It's not just visible...
"The whole world is At Your Fingertips."
There's no way it could go unnoticed.
Our drama has become a full-blown trend.
Comedians are doing skits related to E-sports on their YouTube channels, parodying Park Sung-hwa's press conference.
Baseball fans are waving cheer signs that say "It's a job too!", and Jeon So-ra is fielding endless advertising offers.
Word is she's thinking of doing the TOOL ad first...
Isn't that a bit weird?
In the show, she's the villain trying to destroy Seonghwa Empire.
But since she's not attacking the game itself, maybe it's fine?
Kim Ra-un has completely shed his "Young & Rich" image and made a flashy comeback.
People don't call him a "trendy star" anymore.
They call him an actor.
Thanks to that, offers are pouring in from Chungmuro.
The film industry is surprisingly picky about using hot drama actors, but his performance as Park Sung-hwa seems to have really impressed the directors.
Rumor has it many fell for how he even changed his voice to play a forty-something.
Actors like Min Jae-yul and senior Kang Min-sik aren't quite at that level, but they're doing plenty well.
The only real noise is coming from Ruan's fandom.
You know those characters, right?
The ones where you get why they're acting that way, but it still frustrates you enough to curse them out.
That's exactly Pi Do-seon.
On top of that, Pi Do-seon has a decent role up to part 3, but it steadily shrinks all the way to part 10.
Yet every time you think you've forgotten him, a storyline about his mom pops up, making viewers reject the character outright.
But it's unavoidable.
Part 11 is all about Pi Do-seon, by Pi Do-seon, for Pi Do-seon. And from part 12, the awakened Pi Do-seon becomes Seonghwa Empire's masterpiece.
His fandom, clueless about this, is ripping into me, saying I hired him just to be a flower vase punching bag.
Can't spoil the plot just because of some backlash, so I'm enduring it.
We're at part 8 now, so his awakening isn't far off.
On the flip side, At Your Fingertips hitting part 8 means Oxygen Alarm has reached part 12.
The climax-racing Oxygen Alarm is still doing well.
It's secured a solid core fanbase, and Tae-woong's fans are showering it with praise as an "eye-candy drama" every day.
But...
It's lacking expandability.
The overseas hype died down faster than expected, and domestically, it's failing to pull in new viewers.
Rumor has it CL Team 3 is blaming it all on me, but that's not true at all.
The real issue is the story unraveling from around part 9.
More precisely, the characters and plot are at odds.
Save the characters, and the plot dies. Save the plot, and the characters die. That's the phase it's in.
The uneven density I sensed from the first script read.
But it was so subtle that monitoring didn't catch it, so they're pinning it all on me.
Even without us, the same thing would've happened.
Of course, Oxygen Alarm hasn't flopped or failed to break even.
It's a clear success.
Converted to broadcast ratings, it'd be just under 15%.
It's ranked #2 on the integrated content rankings that include all broadcast and OTT shows.
It's just that #1, At Your Fingertips, is overwhelmingly strong.
Ours would clock at least 20%+ in broadcast terms.
Generously, you could even say it broke 25%.
So Oxygen Alarm is like a mere mortal born in the era of At Your Fingertips?
And then something poured fuel on the fire.
It came after the main culture segment wrapped up, but our drama got a positive shoutout on broadcast news.
I'd worried it might get framed as "fueling kids' gaming addiction"...
What luck is this?
But of course, there was no such thing as pure luck in the world.
[Enflicks Cha Seong-woo Executive: How about it? Isn't Enflicks appealing?]
Cha Seong-woo himself had pulled the strings.
I had to admit, I was impressed.
This is why you gotta swim with the big fish.
Never even dreamed of leading broadcast news.
In this situation, plenty of folks were clutching their stomachs in envy.
Setting aside the obvious Oxygen Alarm, there were tons complaining of gut aches.
First up: Haien Games, Days, and GE Magazine.
Haien and Days are regretting not picking a fight, beating their chests. GE Magazine's excuse that they ignored TOOL because our drama seemed doomed spread like wildfire.
Next is MBY?
Their drama department head, who'd scouted me before, called with a deep sigh.
"Do CE. I'm really just curious—did you know right away when you saw Yeom PD's script?"
Honestly, no clue.
My superpower kicked in the moment I got the script, so I read it closely.
Even without it, I probably wouldn't have tossed it aside.
To save face for Writer Yeom, I said "Yes" and wrapped up the call...
"Heard this morning MBY's drama CPs and PDs got reamed by the head. 'How'd you sit on the golden goose for 15 years?'"
"No way that's possible."
"Their head seems hot-tempered?"
"No, how the hell do you get intel on something that happened this morning?"
I talked to him last night?
How's he getting today's morning scoop this fast?
Couldn't take it anymore, so I swapped Status Window's hearing to "Immeasurable."
The title Sung Tae-chang would never yield, no matter how capable...
Anyway, if some are hurting, others are toasting.
TT Engine was the most hyped.
"You really can't?"
"Absolutely not."
"We'll pick a good one, promise."
"Absolutely, positively not."
This crazy CEO messaged asking if he could print my face huge on a banner for their office.
Told him no way, so he asked if he could make a new character called "Do-men."
No again, then he begged to pay a cut of skin sales.
I actually pondered that one, but still said no.
No idea how much cash it'd bring, but I can't kill my public persona for it.
TOOL is killing it these days.
Teens say you can't chat if you haven't played.
According to hardcore gamer Yoon Hyun-sol, it was always a solid game—just late to shine.
As hyped as TT Engine was Enflicks, on a hot streak since My CEO I Made.
D.P, holding both Kim Ra-un and Kang Min-sik.
And...
"Hyun-woo. Wanna go on an overseas trip?"
Our SSK.
"Overseas trip out of nowhere?"
"Nah, just wanna send you. Seeing you lately, I'd ship you to space."
The division head had been beaming for weeks.
Oxygen Alarm succeeded, At Your Fingertips too—and we own 95% of its IP.
Every episode is money.
"Dying of busyness here, no trips."
"Go after the busy stretch. Round up all our actors for a reward vacation."
"For real?"
"Dead serious."
"What about staff?"
"Usually don't send freelance staff on reward trips... but I'll push for it."
"If it's just a push, forget it. No freelancers, no me."
Without director Jo Tae-seok and director Oh Jun-jae, credits would've been a nightmare.
"OK. Deal. Everyone goes."
"Ooh, gotta tell 'em."
Grinning, I messaged the directors, then cautiously asked,
"So, how's the Tvic contract going?"
Wasn't sure if a second-year CE should pry, but the head was chill.
"Super, super, super smoothly."
"High chance of renewal?"
"Yeah, but no full exclusive. Maybe first-look with Tvic, or exclusive lifts after annual quota. Tasted Enflicks—scale's different."
"Huge, right?"
"Koreans switch platforms easy if word spreads, but overseas is another level."
That's when, chilling in the familiar division head's office—
His phone buzzed. Someone looking for me.
"Hyun-woo, CEO's office wants you."
Han Sung-hoon himself.
Staring at the numbers on the documents before me, I panicked.
The incentive lined up for me was too—wait, is this even real?
"CEO, isn't the unit wrong?"
Couldn't imagine Han Sung-hoon messing up, but humans err—maybe finance added an extra zero.
Even without one, it'd be satisfying...
Then Han Sung-hoon smiled.
"Missing a zero?"
"Pardon? No, no way. That'd be insane."
"Then just sign."
"Uh, sure."
A bit shocked, but no reason to turn down free money?
House... fat chance.
Seoul prices are insane.
Car first?
---