Chapter 38
Chapter 38
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Episode 14. A New Role (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The commute to the now-familiar BLT broadcasting station.
But today, it wasn't because of an HSL recording shoot.
“Hello, Han-do ssi!”
“Hello.”
The security guard greeted him cheerfully.
Since he came and went so often, he'd built up a decent rapport with them by now.
“No HSL recording today, right? Got an appointment or something?”
“Haha, yeah. Just a quick meeting.”
“I see. Hope it goes well. Fighting!”
“Yes, thank you.”
He even got a bit of encouragement from the always energetic young guard.
Kang Han-do gave himself another silent fighting cheer as he headed toward the Pobokjeoldo meeting room.
This had been his workplace before he'd returned to the past.
But now, he was making waves on HSL.
Feeling a strange mix of emotions, he gave the meeting room door a light knock.
Knock knock.
“Come in.”
Jo Woo-kim PD's voice came from inside.
According to their texts, Jo Woo-kim PD had a quick meeting with a few writers, so he'd be in the room about thirty minutes early.
And sure enough, that's exactly how it was.
“Hello, PD Jo Woo-kim. Long time no see.”
“Oh, yeah. It's been a while. Wait, did I start using casual speech with you? We're not at that level where it's natural, so it might come off rude if I jump in first.”
Jo Woo-kim PD had a busy schedule that often made him forgetful.
When Kang Han-do voiced his concern, he was the first to brush it off casually.
“Haha, no, feel free to use casual speech. It's actually more comfortable for me.”
“In that case... ahem.”
He cleared his throat lightly.
In the meantime, the three young writers who'd been in a brief planning session with Jo Woo-kim PD exchanged short greetings with Kang Han-do.
Jo Woo-kim PD then pointed to the chair in front.
“Have a seat for now.”
“Yes.”
Kang Han-do sat down as instructed.
At the same time, Jo Woo-kim PD got straight to it.
“I'm not the type to beat around the bush with chit-chat about the weather or how things have been lately. So, I'll just say it straight.”
“Yes. Please go ahead.”
If anything, Han-do preferred cutting right to the chase.
And since he already knew Jo Woo-kim PD's straightforward personality, it was easy to accept.
“Bottom line, we need a replacement cast member.”
“A replacement?”
“Yeah. You know there's a corner in Pobokjeoldo called ‘Game World,’ right?”
“Yes, of course I do.”
He had all the corners from Pobokjeoldo memorized.
“Then that makes this quicker. There's this guy Kim Min-doo who appears in Game World, but he got into a car accident, so he won't be able to appear on air for a while.”
“Oh no. Is he hurt bad?”
“He'll be uncomfortable getting around for the time being. He's hospitalized—heard it'll be about three months.”
“I see.”
News of a fellow comedian's mishap always stung Kang Han-do's heart.
Even if they weren't close personally, wasn't he one of the colleagues shouldering Korea's laughter?
Kang Han-do's regretful expression and words weren't fake acting—they were genuine.
“If you've seen Game World, I guess I don't need to explain the role.”
“Are you thinking of having me take it?”
“Yeah.”
He nodded and answered Han-do's question directly.
Unlike 4 PM News Table, Game World was a corner with a fixed cast of four.
Two players, one NPC, and one staff member.
The role Kim Min-doo handled was the NPC character in the Game World corner.
‘An NPC, huh.’
The NPC character kept a straight face while messing with the players.
In a way, the poker-face role had similarities to the anchor character in 4 PM News Table, who maintained an announcer tone no matter the situation.
‘I get why Jo Woo-kim PD picked me now. Well, yeah—I did pull off some solid acting on HSL.’
Having grasped the PD's intent in an instant, Kang Han-do smiled inwardly with satisfaction.
* * *
Jo Woo-kim PD asked Kang Han-do once more.
“What do you say? Personally, you're my top pick.”
Meaning if Kang Han-do turned it down here, the opportunity would go to someone else.
A once-in-a-lifetime chance!
Faced with it, Han-do took a moment for careful deliberation.
If this weren't his second life, he would've jumped at it like manna from heaven.
But having experienced failure once before, he knew that blindly seizing every opportunity didn't guarantee success.
Timing was key.
He had to consider whether appearing on Pobokjeoldo was essential for him right now, or if it was better to keep building public recognition of his character a bit longer.
That's why he wanted to take on roles with concepts as close as possible to the anchor character he currently played—to prioritize embedding his persona in the public's mind.
That was one of Kang Han-do's strategies.
Of course, trying various roles was important too. But as a rookie, what he valued most right now was establishing and highlighting his comedian's character first.
Conveniently, the character Jo Woo-kim PD wanted overlapped in many ways with Han-do's current anchor role.
After much internal debate, he gave his answer.
“If you're recommending it that strongly, PD... I'll give it my all, though I'm not up to snuff.”
“Glad you made the right call, Han-do. Really appreciate it as a PD.”
“I'm the one thankful for the great opportunity.”
This was the perfect timing!
With that conviction, Kang Han-do ultimately accepted Jo Woo-kim PD's offer.
* * *
All the way home, Kang Han-do's mind was filled with thoughts of the new role he'd taken on—the homework of thoroughly studying the NPC.
“First, I need to get the footage and monitor it...”
He watched Pobokjeoldo religiously every week, but there was a big difference between casually viewing as an audience member and monitoring with a specific purpose.
Kang Han-do resolved to monitor every episode of Game World from the first one onward.
His steps toward home quickened even more.
But the moment he entered the station, a throng of people blocked his path like a wall.
‘Damn, overlapped with rush hour.’
He swallowed a short sigh inwardly.
Bad luck.
Part of it was that the planning meeting had run longer than expected.
But what could he do? A good role had come his way, so he'd grin and bear it.
“Sorry! Coming through!”
He barely squeezed through the crowd and made it onto the train.
It was already rush hour, and to top it off, it was Line 2—the subway line was even more chaotic.
‘If only I had a car.’
He still wasn't financially ready to buy one.
On top of that, he wasn't spending the money he earned just on himself.
With his family back home in poverty, he had to send living expenses regularly, so his outflows were more frequent than expected.
He needed to make money. More money! That was the most pressing issue.
Raising Korea's happiness index was a top priority, sure—but he had to be happy first to spread happiness to others, right?
Happiness was contagious.
If he kept transmitting bits of his happiness to the public one by one, eventually he'd hit the target happiness level.
It was midway through his ride home on the packed train when it happened.
‘Hm?’
The woman standing next to him didn't look right.
A beauty who could make anyone passing by do a double-take.
But her expression was deeply troubled.
‘What’s wrong?’
The happiness score floating above her head wasn't high either.
Her face already screamed discomfort, but just to be sure, he checked her happiness score directly.
‘Looks like she's got some issue.’
A young woman in distress. And this was a crowded subway car.
The two factors naturally evoked one word.
‘Molester?’
He started scanning the surroundings.
But he couldn't openly stare at her lower body.
She was wearing a miniskirt short enough to bare her thighs, so if he gawked at it to catch a molester, he'd end up looking like the pervert himself.
‘In that case... there's one method!’
He reactivated the happiness score viewer function inwardly.
There were various ways to boost happiness scores.
The most common was the emotion of joy.
But there were other ways to raise it besides joy.
One of them was ‘sexual pleasure.’
In this subway car, where everyone was pressed together, brimming only with displeasure—most people hovered around 200 to 250 on the happiness scale.
Slightly below average.
But amid them, one man was maintaining an abnormal 400-range score.
‘Is it that guy?’
The man with the suspiciously high score etched above his head stood out especially.
Still, he couldn't conclude it was him based on the happiness score alone.
‘Catch some evidence!’
He activated his smartphone's camera function. For securing proof. His gaze locked onto the man's hand.
The hand of the man, who looked to be in his early thirties, began to move stealthily.
Slowly. And secretly...
It made contact with the butt of the woman right next to Kang Han-do!
‘Gotcha!’
After snapping a photo for evidence, Kang Han-do—now certain—quickly thrust out his right hand.
He seized the man's wrist.
“What the hell do you think you're doing!”
He yelled at the man in a low tone.
The flustered thirties man glared daggers at Kang Han-do.
Realizing soon enough that the young man confronting him looked younger, the man started acting tough instead.
“You little punk who hasn't even grown pubes yet! What the hell do you think I did!”
“I just saw you molesting this young lady here with my own eyes—still gonna deny it?”
The moment the word “molestation” hit the air, all eyes around them turned to Kang Han-do and the man.