Which Drama Will Be a Smash Hit (2)
"Both synopses are really fun, though."
Chief Jo nodded as if that went without saying.
"Right? You've got an eye. If one of them were clearly better, we'd just decide on that. The trouble is they're about equally good, so I can't choose."
About equally doomed, more like.
"This is a little delicate to say, but..."
I swallowed.
Take away the fact that I knew the future, and I was a rookie who hadn't even been at the company a month. Across from me sat professionals who had spent years working the drama and film circuit. I had to deliver this very carefully.
All right. I'll do my best to convince them.
"Both synopses really are excellent, but there's something that bothers me a little—"
"Oppa. Who is this?"
Son Chae-young cut straight through my sentence and turned to Chief Jo.
"Huh?"
"He just said something bothers him. What does he even do, that I have to sit here and listen to him jinx a project before I've started? Whose manager is he?"
"He's Neptune's manager."
"Neptune?"
Son Chae-young's face soured at once.
"Those kids aren't actors. They're singers. Idols. And I know their manager's face. This isn't him."
"...He just came in. He's new."
"New?!"
Son Chae-young folded her arms and laughed as if she couldn't believe her ears.
"You sat a rookie down for this? Have you lost your touch, oppa? Look at him running his mouth."
"The thing is, actually..."
The moment I opened my mouth, Chief Jo cut me off.
"The second he started here he brought in a smash hit, and now they're calling him Management Team 3's Fortune Boy. I wondered if beginner's luck might actually be real, so I asked. It's all for your sake..."
"Just tell him to stop jinxing my project and get out. God, this is annoying."
Ah...
The nation's very symbol of purity crumbled into dust.
I knew how much of an actor's image was manufactured. Even so, hearing get out from an actress I'd liked enough to see the same film three times in theaters was... a serious shock.
"Hey. Go."
Before the shock had even faded, Chief Jo tapped my arm.
"I told you to just pick which one looked like it'd do well. Why'd you have to run your mouth out of turn and piss her off?"
"...I'll be going, then."
I swallowed the rest of what I'd meant to say and stood.
Fine. Do whatever you want.
The Mermaid Who Came Ashore? Shoot it and tank it. See if I care.
I'd been told to get out, and called presumptuous on top of it. I had no will left to keep persuading anyone, and no loyalty either.
I didn't head straight back to the office. I stepped outside, picked up coffee to go, and carried it up to the fifth floor. The whole way, the worry kept turning.
The water was already spilled. Still, so long as this ability of mine didn't vanish, things like this would keep happening.
Did I bring it up wrong? Was my approach off? If so, what should I have done?
The elevator doors opened onto a sleek corridor. Frames lined both walls in a row—pictorials of the celebrities signed to W&U. Son Chae-young in a clear smile. Sung Do-won gazing straight out from underwater. And the countless other actors and actresses who made up the agency.
Neptune had a frame too. An album cover of the four of them, faces familiar to me now, pressed close and laughing. I paused in front of it, then moved on at a quicker pace, toward the PR team's office at the end of the hall.
Looking in, I saw familiar faces between the partitions. The two people I had shared knife-cut noodles with in the future, talking the whole meal. A woman and a man sat side by side, tapping at their computers, and behind them Team Leader Park was raking a hand through his hair over something that refused to come undone.
I set the coffees down quietly beside them.
"Hello. Please have some coffee."
"Oh?! What's this? Coffee out of nowhere?"
"I was just dying for caffeine. What is this, a gift from heaven?"
The reaction was as warm as I'd expected.
"There's something I wanted to ask, so I brought it."
Team Leader Park claimed his cup and jabbed me in the lower back.
"I heard Son Chae-young tore into you a little while ago. That why you're here?"
"How did you— oh. Right. This is the PR team."
"Exactly."
"Sit down first."
The man pulled out a chair, sat me in it, and kneaded my shoulder as if to comfort me.
"Shocked, huh? Son Chae-young started as a child actor, you know."
His voice dropped, mindful of who might be listening.
"She never had an unknown period at all. From the time she was little, everyone around her just spoiled her rotten. So her personality's a bit... like that."
"She thinks she's the greatest person in the world and that whatever she says goes."
The woman joined in, grumbling. They'd clearly been sitting on a lot; once the two of them got going, Team Leader Park waved a hand and shut it down.
"Enough chatter. This is the office."
He warned me too.
"And don't you go around talking about Son Chae-young's character just because you're mad. She's still our actress."
"Yes."
I wasn't planning to. She's about to tank a drama anyway.
What I cared about was something else.
"Team Leader Park. Would it be possible to get hold of a synopsis?"
"Hm? That's the favor?"
"Yes."
"Which project? What's the title?"
"I don't know the title. It's by a new writer, Hong Joo-mi. Slated for cable."
"Cable?"
Team Leader Park tilted his head as if he'd heard something odd.
"You told Son Chae-young something was wrong with those perfectly good synopses, and now you're suddenly hunting for a cable one?"
Because it's the drama that blew up at home and exploded even bigger in China—so big that people said every lead and every supporting actor caught a ride on it.
What Son Chae-young is holding is a peach that's all shine and no flavor.
"Let me ask you something first. What bothered you about those synopses? I read them too, and both looked good."
I hesitated over how to put it, then opened my mouth. Half a sigh, half a voice.
At least here, nobody's going to tell me to get out halfway through.
"The synopses are good, but... with Timeslip, I heard something unpleasant about the writer and the director. That there's something between the two of them."
"What? What kind of something? I haven't heard a word. Is there a tabloid rumor going around?"
When Team Leader Park asked, baffled, the two staffers immediately searched the internet. Writer, director, this and that—of course nothing came up.
Of course not. It blows up during filming.
"Who'd you hear it from?"
"That's difficult to say, but it's reliable. I was worried it might affect the next project."
"All right. Then what about The Mermaid Who Came Ashore?"
"That one has a huge original fan base, and they're extremely intense. I was afraid the drama would lose its way under that kind of pressure. The fans are so set on the casting they want that—setting Son Chae-young's acting aside—they'll say she doesn't sync with the character at all, that she isn't the heroine they pictured, and tear her apart for it. There have been plenty of cases like that. Fans have turned their backs and killed a casting before it ever happened."
I laid it out in a rush so Team Leader Park and the staff would understand, leaving out the part about having seen it all in the future—the part that would get me treated like I was out of my mind.
Team Leader Park stared straight at me and laughed.
"You're the type who goes looking for things to worry about, huh?"
"Me?"
"Worrying's allowed. What if the Timeslip writer and director really do have something going on and it hurts the show, what if the original fans of The Mermaid Who Came Ashore rise up—that's fine to worry about. But you can't refuse to make the sauce just because you're afraid of maggots. We'll look into Timeslip ourselves. The Mermaid Who Came Ashore, though—why on earth are you worried about that? Nobody knows how the future turns out."
If I die like this, they'll write frustration on the certificate.
Jung Sunwoo. Twenty-seven. Died of sheer frustration.
"A big original fan base means a big promotional effect. Those fans could even be what pulls the ratings up."
Was this how the barber felt, the one from the old story who couldn't keep from shouting that the king's ears were donkey ears?
At first I wanted to sigh. Once I emptied my head and thought it through, though, Team Leader Park's reaction made sense. If I had never gained the ability to see the future, and someone had come to me with a story like this, I might have said the exact same thing. Why are you worrying it'll fail before you've even tried? You ought to be thinking about how to make it work. I might be the only person who knew how the future would unfold. Perhaps that knowledge was the very thing boxing me in. Even so, I couldn't go around acting like someone who knew nothing.
Either way, it was time to stop offering worries nobody wanted. I gave up on making Team Leader Park understand and simply dropped the bomb.
"Honestly, I had a bad feeling about both Timeslip and The Mermaid Who Came Ashore. My instincts tend to be very accurate."
Team Leader Park and both staffers clutched their stomachs and laughed.
"Ha ha ha! So Hong Joo-mi's project gives you a good feeling?"
"Yes. An incredibly good one. I think that show is going to do really well."
I nodded hard, and they laughed so hard they nearly tipped over. Fine. Laugh all you want. At least I'd managed to be the entertainment.
That aside.
"I'd really like to read the synopsis. Would that be possible?"
"Wow, I haven't laughed that hard in ages. A synopsis we can get. As long as you're careful it doesn't leak outside, there's no problem with you reading it. But you're Neptune's manager. None of them are going to act. What are you going to use that synopsis for?"
I was wondering the same thing.
How, exactly, should I use it?
The CEO's office at W&U.
CEO Baek Han-sung, the head of the Management Division, the Team 2 leader, and Son Chae-young with her manager, Chief Jo, sat around two synopses. It was the meeting to make the final decision on the next project of Son Chae-young, one of W&U's flagship actresses.
The Team 2 leader stroked his beard and asked.
"I find the detective in Timeslip more compelling. What about you, Chaeyoung?"
"I like The Mermaid Who Came Ashore."
"Yeah? Why?"
"Timeslip is IBC. I hear next year's IBC lineup is full of major productions, so the contenders for the acting grand prize are going to be brutal. On the mermaid I'm the sole lead, and PBS's lineup is weaker than IBC's. If the ratings come in high, I can actually hope for the grand prize, can't I?"
Listening, CEO Baek Han-sung frowned.
"An actor shouldn't choose a project just to chase an award. You need to think carefully."
"I did think carefully. How many years has it been since I signed with W&U, and I still haven't won the acting grand prize? I need to get it next year."
The Team 2 leader laughed and soothed her.
"Right, you should. It's about time our Chaeyoung took home a grand prize. This drama is definitely going to be a smash, so don't you worry. Just focus on the acting."
CEO Baek Han-sung, who had been turning it over with his coffee, nodded at that.
If Son Chae-young had brought in a nonsense synopsis and tried to force it through, he would have shut her down hard. The synopsis for The Mermaid Who Came Ashore, though, wasn't bad. If anything, among the synopses currently making the rounds, it was one of the best, right alongside Timeslip.
"All right. Both synopses are fine, and whichever you choose will have its strengths and weaknesses. Go with the one you want to do more. No regrets."
"Yes. Byunghwan oppa, contact the mermaid side and tell them I'm signing."
"Got it. I'll lock the contract terms in exactly the way you want."
The division head, who had been sitting there with an easy smile and not a word of interference, spoke up.
"That works out. Team Leader Park in PR said he was rushing to look into whether something might be going on between the Timeslip writer and director. Said Team 3's Fortune Boy told him. True or not, it was nagging at me a little, but since we've settled on the mermaid, we don't have to worry about it."
Son Chae-young, who had been getting to her feet in a good mood, went cold.
"Who?"
"Team 3's Fortune Boy. Neptune's manager. Why, do you know him?"
Chief Jo answered, watching her face.
"We saw him in the lounge earlier. He seemed to have a bit of luck following him, so I showed him the synopses and told him to pick which one he thought would do well."
"And?"
"Well, he looked at both of them and right away said the synopses were good, but something bothered him."
"Aigoo. He said that in front of you and Chaeyoung? Cocky little punk."
"That's what I'm saying. There's something wrong with that kid."
"So what bothered him?"
"Sorry? Well... I didn't ask that far..."
Chief Jo trailed off, flustered.
"You should have asked. Now I'm curious."
"Division Head, please don't bring that up. I already feel uneasy."
Son Chae-young said it as if the whole thing had soured her mood. The Team 2 leader, reading her face, raised his voice loud enough for everyone to hear.
"A chick who's barely started working gets called Fortune Boy a few times, and now he thinks the company's a pushover. Who's the chief over that little shit? I need to have a word."
"That's..."
"Enough, enough."
As Chief Jo started to answer, the division head waved him off.
"Don't go after the kid. Leave him be for now. I hear he's doing good work on that team."
"People like that cause a major disaster later."
"If he causes a problem, I'll handle it then. All right. Let's get up."
Having settled the room, the division head rose first.
Son Chae-young, Chief Jo, and the Team 2 leader filed out of the CEO's office one after another. The division head himself was about to step through the door when CEO Baek Han-sung's voice caught him.
"That rookie. What did you say his name was?"
"Sorry?"
"The new one. Team 3's Fortune Boy."
"What was that kid's name? Jung... oh. Jung Sunwoo."
"Jung Sunwoo..."
CEO Baek Han-sung murmured the name to himself, more than once.