Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Episode 4. 16th Public Recruitment Comedian Exam (3)
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Choi Ye-hee headed to the central library at her university to prepare for her exam.
After finding a seat and staring intently at her major textbooks for nearly two hours.
‘I can’t do this.’
Choi Ye-hee, who had been fiddling with her pen, finally couldn’t hold out any longer and stood up from her chair, leaving the reading room.
She had tried her best to sit there with her butt glued to the seat for two hours, but it just wasn’t working.
Her eyes were on the book, but her mind was filled with entirely different thoughts.
The current time: 2 p.m.
‘By now, it’s probably…….’
The BLT 16th Public Recruitment Comedian exam would be underway.
She had heard that Kang Han-do was taking this public recruitment exam. If what Kang Han-do said was true, he might be in the middle of the exam right now—or perhaps he had already finished and gone home.
She wanted to call him, but if he was still taking the test, she might cause an unexpected disturbance.
Because of that concern, she hadn’t even been able to bring herself to call Kang Han-do.
‘A message should be fine, right?’
The best thing would probably be to stay quiet until Kang Han-do contacted her first.
But in situations like this, Choi Ye-hee’s greed made her want to reach out even more.
‘Yeah, I’ll just send a text. That won’t disturb him during the exam!’
With that decision, Choi Ye-hee pulled out her smartphone and searched for Kang Han-do’s name.
But when it came time to actually send the message, she couldn’t think of what to write.
“Haah.”
Why was she so worked up about something that wasn’t even her own business?
She kept writing and deleting texts, letting out sighs all the while.
Choi Ye-hee could only hope that Han-do would contact her first.
Did her wish reach him?
Ding-ding-ding!
“……?!”
Suddenly, an alarm rang from her smartphone.
She immediately checked the caller ID, but it wasn’t the Kang Han-do she’d been waiting for. A different name appeared on the screen.
Min Ji-yeon.
The caller was none other than her same-law-school friend.
“Ah, seriously!”
With a short sigh, she pressed the call button.
“Hello?”
-Ye-hee-ya. It’s me…… You sound kind of agitated. What’s up?
“No, nothing. Anyway, what’s going on?”
-Well, it’s not a big deal……
Min Ji-yeon suggested forming a study group to study together since the exam was coming up soon.
She didn’t see a need to refuse, so she gave a half-hearted “Got it” and ended the call right away.
She didn’t want to miss a possible call from Kang Han-do.
Just then, another call came in.
‘Is it Han-do already?!”
Calming her pounding heart, she checked the screen. Choi Ye-hee’s brow furrowed deeply.
It was Min Ji-yeon again, the one she had just hung up on.
“What now?!”
-I had something I forgot to tell you…… What’s with the attitude?
“It’s nothing.”
After receiving the specific time, place, and materials from Min Ji-yeon.
As soon as she ended that call, the ringtone started up again.
“This girl, really! I said I got it! Stop calling!”
Unable to hold back, she yelled without even checking the caller ID.
-I’m sorry, Ye-hee-ssi. It seems I called at a bad time.
“……!!”
It wasn’t Min Ji-yeon!
Realizing too late that it was Kang Han-do’s voice, Choi Ye-hee quickly apologized.
“S-Sorry, Han-do-ssi! I thought it was my friend calling. More importantly, is the exam over?”
-Yes. It just ended.
“How did it…… go?”
That was the question she most wanted to ask.
She had known early on that Kang Han-do was putting his all into this BLT 16th Public Recruitment exam. That’s why she hoped more than anything for a good result.
In response to Choi Ye-hee’s question, Kang Han-do slowly opened his mouth.
* * *
Rewinding time to just after lunch.
After a quick lunch, Kang Han-do and Oh Min-tae returned to the Pobokjeoldo Studio and stared at the stage.
Soon, not only the participants but also the judges would take their seats, and the tests would continue.
In the meantime, Kang Han-do closed his eyes and sank into thought.
Meanwhile, Oh Min-tae poked his side, wondering if Kang Han-do might be sleeping.
“Hey, this isn’t the time to sleep. Our turn is coming up soon. We need to decide which of the three we prepared to do.”
“That’s what I’m thinking about right now.”
He closed his eyes again and focused.
He thought, and thought some more.
Comedians were ultimately in an idea battle. There had to be a way to maximize the comedy material they had prepared.
To show the most fitting material in the right place, they had deliberately prepared three situational skits.
Kang Han-do carefully opened his eyes. He looked at Oh Min-tae as if he had finally made his decision.
“Let’s go change into suits.”
“Suits…….”
“Plan 2, the satire one.”
“Got it. But why satire of all things?”
“Is there something you like more than satire?”
“Personally, I thought the parody we prepared was the funniest.”
“That’s just your amateur perspective. Pros might see it differently. In an exam with no absolute standards, you have to think relatively. It’s not about picking what you find funny—it’s about picking what the judges will find funny.”
“So, base it on the people sitting in front?”
Oh Min-tae kept asking questions out of curiosity as he gathered their clothes.
Kang Han-do hurried toward the bathroom with his arms full of clothes and props, explaining the reason.
“The reason I said to prepare three is because I didn’t know the judges’ tendencies. Once we figure out who the judges are, we target their taste in comedy codes. Like I said earlier, laughter isn’t absolute evaluation. It’s relative. You know people have different laughter codes, right?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Right now, we’re not comedians trying to make the public laugh—we’re comedians trying to make the judges laugh. That’s why we prepared three. Especially look at the recent trends in the shows run by the PDs sitting up front. ‘Pobokjeoldo,’ ‘Emergency Dispatch! Gag Rescue Team,’ ‘Laughter Bomb’—all of them feature satire material.”
“Now that you mention it, yeah.”
“The fact that the PDs in charge of those programs are judging means satire might work. And we waited until after lunch on purpose to avoid overlapping with the applicants who went before us.”
“I see……!”
Only then did Oh Min-tae understand Kang Han-do’s strategy.
In fact, based on Kang Han-do’s memories alone, he could roughly guess who would be participating in this 16th comedian recruitment exam.
However, he didn’t remember the details perfectly, and there was a concern that someone else might fill the judge seats, so he decided to observe until the end.
There was no guarantee that the future events he knew would play out exactly the same.
Even as he spoke, he changed into the suit as quickly as possible in the bathroom and ran back to the Pobokjeoldo Studio with all his might.
“Run faster!! We’re gonna be late!!”
“Got it!!”
At Han-do’s urging, Min-tae squeezed out his voice and started sprinting for dear life!
What good is a funny stage if they were late for the exam? Everything would be over!
They burst through the studio door with all their strength, and just then, the staff announcer called their names.
“Applicant 222, Applicant 223. Please come up to the stage.”
“Yes!”
He shouted ‘Nice timing!’ inwardly. They slowly climbed onto the stage.
It had been nearly 15 years since he last stood on a public recruitment comedian exam stage.
Under the spotlights shining down intensely, two young men dreaming of becoming comedians raised their voices.
“Applicant 222, Kang Han-do!”
“Applicant 223, Oh Min-tae!”
With their self-introductions complete, their unique satire comedy—crafted with so much effort and time—finally began.
* * *
Applicants 222 and 223, who had been assigned consecutive numbers, slowly made their way onto the stage.
The moment Jo Woo-kim PD saw them, he let out a small exclamation.
“They’re finally here.”
As if hearing Jo Woo-kim PD’s mutter, Oh Shin-hoon lowered his voice and struck up a conversation.
“Do you know them?”
“No, not really. I just ran into them briefly this morning in the empty lot behind the station.”
“That alley lot?”
“Yes.”
“Those guys must be visiting the station for the first time, but they found that spot somehow.”
“You’re right.”
Kang Han-do had said it was a coincidence.
But Jo Woo-kim PD believed Kang Han-do had known about the alley lot from the start.
‘Someone who works at the station? I don’t recognize him, though.’
Even for the well-connected Jo Woo-kim PD, there could be station staff he didn’t know.
BLT wasn’t a small station—it was one of the three major broadcasters, with hundreds of employees in its vast premises.
In any case, knowing about the alley lot didn’t affect their evaluation of the comedy.
The most important thing was the performance Kang Han-do and Oh Min-tae would deliver.
Meanwhile, the moment he got on stage, Kang Han-do activated his Happiness Level Viewer.
At the same time, numerical happiness levels appeared above the judges’ heads.
‘Overall in the 250s…… that means slightly below average, I guess.’
Those who made others laugh weren’t necessarily happy themselves.
The pressure of having to amuse others often caused them significant stress instead.
Even Kang Han-do, as a comedian, hadn’t laughed much himself.
No matter how sad something was, he always had to smile on stage.
Comedians might just be one of the most extreme jobs out there.
“…….”
“…….”
Kang Han-do and Oh Min-tae exchanged glances. It was a look of understanding.
Soon, Kang Han-do set down one of the props he’d brought—a folding chair—and sat in it.
As Kang Han-do took his seat, the judges watched him with intrigued eyes.
“A situational skit?”
“Oho.”
From just their actions, the judges immediately grasped what kind of performance they were about to see.
It was obvious.
These were experts who had been through every trial in the comedy world. They could easily predict what amateurs might come up with……
But Han-do was no ordinary applicant.
A 15-year veteran comedian—that was the true identity of applicant 222, Kang Han-do.