Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Episode 16. New Corner (2)
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The day of the Pobokjeoldo recording.
Unlike HSL, Pobokjeoldo was a live comedy show where actual audience members were seated and the performances unfolded right in front of them. For that reason, they didn't record the program separately but connected the corners continuously in a stage show format.
Kang Han-do had been practicing relentlessly with the script right up until the day before recording.
As soon as he appeared in the waiting room, Kim Sang-heon called out to him.
"Han-do."
"Yes, sunbae-nim!"
He hurried over, and Kim Sang-heon asked a perfunctory question.
"You practiced a lot today, right?"
"Of course."
"Got confidence?"
"Yes!"
"That's the spirit!"
Kim Sang-heon gave Han-do's back a light pat.
Even before recording started, the Game World team had repeated their own practices and rehearsals. Kang Han-do's comedic talent on display then had been truly astonishing.
If he performed at his usual level, he should handle the show smoothly. That was Kim Sang-heon's positive take.
But practice and the real thing were different.
Complacency until the very end was absolutely forbidden. A single moment's mistake could ruin the stage.
* * *
A quiet afternoon.
Choi Ye-hee, busy straightening her hair with a curling iron in her room, suddenly raised her voice.
"Ugh... Mom! I told you to wake me up earlier!"
"That's why I said not to stay up all night."
"I had no choice because of homework!"
Thanks to school assignments, Choi Ye-hee had wrestled with them all day yesterday.
By the time she opened her eyes, lunchtime had already passed.
If she'd had just a bit more time, she could've done her makeup properly or fixed up her appearance more.
But with regrets piling up, she haphazardly finished and changed clothes.
As Choi Ye-hee rushed to get ready to leave, her mother casually asked.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?"
"BLT Broadcasting Station."
"BLT? Why there?"
"There's a thing."
Without giving a clear reason, she quickly slipped on her shoes. Then she hurried outside, practically running toward the convenience store near her house.
A young woman who had been staring blankly at her watch there spotted Choi Ye-hee and let out a complaint.
"Why are you so late?!"
"S-Sorry. Anyway, let's catch the bus quick! No time!"
"Ugh, seriously."
Jo Yeo-min, her friend from the same department, grumbled as they hurriedly headed to the bus stop.
Their destination was BLT Broadcasting Station headquarters.
They barely squeezed onto a city bus that went straight there without transfers.
The moment they sat down, Jo Yeo-min asked Choi Ye-hee with a hint of worry.
"You didn't forget to bring the tickets in your rush, did you?"
"As if. Ta-da!"
Choi Ye-hee pulled two tickets from her handbag. Her expression brimmed with pride over her own thoroughness.
The tickets she showed were none other than Pobokjeoldo admission passes.
"Still, you managed to get these somehow. I heard the competition is always fierce."
Jo Yeo-min had applied online for Pobokjeoldo tickets several times but failed every time, to the point she'd nearly given up lately.
So when Choi Ye-hee had gotten not one but two, she couldn't help but be surprised.
Plus, Choi Ye-hee wasn't the type who usually showed interest in Pobokjeoldo. How did she end up with these?
"Just got them through someone I know."
"Someone you know? Got a staff friend?"
"No, from someone in the cast..."
"What?!"
Jo Yeo-min's shout made everyone on the bus turn to look at the two women.
Even the bus driver, during a stop, eyed them suspiciously.
Wondering if there was trouble inside.
"S-Sorry!"
Flustered, Jo Yeo-min bowed her head and apologized to the passengers and driver alike.
Once the stares dispersed, Jo Yeo-min tried to stay calm and pressed Choi Ye-hee point by point.
"What did you just say? You know someone in the cast?"
"Yeah."
"Wh-who?!"
"Kang Han-do... You know him?"
"Han-do? He's on HSL."
Jo Yeo-min had a hobby of watching pretty much every variety show she could.
So when she heard the name of the relatively rookie comedian Kang Han-do, she immediately recalled which program he was on.
From what she knew, Kang Han-do didn't appear on Pobokjeoldo. So if he was?
Choi Ye-hee must have it wrong.
"Probably just that Kang Han-do guy got tickets through someone he knows and gave them to you."
"No. He said it's his debut today and asked me to come watch, so he gave me tickets. I heard it clearly."
"..."
She vaguely knew Choi Ye-hee was acquainted with Kang Han-do. But hearing he was appearing on Pobokjeoldo—a stage considered major league among comedians—was news to her.
"Did Han-do really say he's doing Pobokjeoldo?"
"Yeah."
"What's the corner name?"
"Game World."
"Game World..."
Jo Yeo-min fell into thought for a moment.
She'd already heard through the news that the comedian playing the NPC had gotten into a car accident.
Combining that with Ye-hee's words—if his hospital stay was going to be long...
"So he's filling in as the NPC."
She came to her own conclusion, and Choi Ye-hee nodded in agreement.
"That's what I heard."
"NPC, huh. Well, he does seem like he'd fit."
"Han-do said the PD there liked him and picked him."
"But he's a rookie, right? That's when the pressure's the biggest."
"That's what worries me too."
Choi Ye-hee let out a natural sigh.
It wasn't even her performing, but she was worrying about Kang Han-do first for no reason.
Watching Choi Ye-hee's reaction, Jo Yeo-min grinned mischievously.
"Go cheer him on lots when we get there."
"Me?"
"Yeah. With a beauty like you just cheering from the side, he'd get a ton of energy."
"Beauty? With all the female celebs around Han-do, think he'd even notice someone like me?"
"Oh, listen to her."
Choi Ye-hee was already famous in her department as one of the top beauties.
The queen of queens, so to speak. The number of confessions she'd gotten from juniors, seniors, and classmates alike was well into the double digits. That's how much of a star she was.
Yet she lacked confidence in her own looks.
From Jo Yeo-min's perspective, it was frustrating. All that overflowing charm, and she didn't even realize it.
"Anyway, at least pass on a 'fighting' from me later. You can do that much, right?"
"Yeah, got it. I'll try."
With that, the bus they were on picked up speed toward BLT Broadcasting Station.
* * *
Kang Han-do secretly peeked at the audience filling the seats from behind the stage.
A meaningful sigh escaped his lips.
Kim Sang-heon, his senior watching from behind, spoke to him.
"No need to worry that much. Just do it like in practice, and you'll be fine."
"Yes, understood."
Truth be told, Kang Han-do wasn't sighing from nerves.
Pobokjeoldo. This had been his home ground for a long time.
Standing on the Pobokjeoldo stage again for the first time since regressing brought fresh emotions.
But he wasn't purely happy. His mind was fairly complicated.
His debut corner here had been different back then, and the members weren't the same as the comedians from that time's corner.
Even so, he wanted to nail today's stage somehow.
This place, the Pobokjeoldo stage, was the hometown of comedian Kang Han-do!
As people filled seats one by one, the ushers' voices grew louder.
"Please show your tickets and enter!"
"No cutting in line—pay attention!"
"That's not the entrance over there!"
"Photo and video shooting strictly prohibited. Please refrain from using smartphones once inside!"
The Pobokjeoldo filming site was in full swing.
With hundreds visiting every time, BLT Broadcasting Station turned into a spectacle on recording days.
All available staff volunteered to control the crowd.
Choi Ye-hee and Jo Yeo-min just barely made it into the venue before recording started.
They followed the seat numbers on their tickets to find their spots.
The moment they sat, Jo Yeo-min let out a deep sigh.
"Whew, really... chaotic, so chaotic."
She hadn't expected it to be this hectic.
Well, it was her first time attending live, so that made sense.
Not just Jo Yeo-min—Choi Ye-hee also slumped into her seat with a weary expression.
"It's a war, a total war."
"Yeah."
Jo Yeo-min agreed with Choi Ye-hee.
Choi Ye-hee, fanning herself with her hand, then asked Jo Yeo-min.
"Is the Pobokjeoldo site always like this?"
"How would I know? First time for me too."
Both Choi Ye-hee and Jo Yeo-min. This was their first audience experience.
So they had no way of knowing if it had always been this intense.
Of course. As Korea's top gag program, Pobokjeoldo had the pull to draw crowds like this.
Choi Ye-hee and Jo Yeo-min had thought tickets would mean smooth entry, but today felt like barely summiting a steep mountain path.
"Now we just sit and wait."
Jo Yeo-min's line, not wanting to leave now if she could help it.
But Choi Ye-hee was different.
If possible, she wanted to stop by the waiting room, see Kang Han-do's face in person, and give him some words of encouragement.
But barging into a celebrity waiting room uninvited would be rude to others. That reluctance left her regretting it.
'Han-do will definitely do great.'
Choi Ye-hee held strong faith.
Recalling what he'd shown so far, she had no doubt he'd nail this stage too.