Free Web Novel* * *
Manager Hong focused on monitoring.
What truly drove real fans insane was never the kiss scene. Real ones lost their minds over hands overlapping.
The narrative itself—Huijae writing her name in Japanese on his palm, only for Taeseok to rewrite it in Joseon—was like a massive tidal wave. Drama fans were completely swept away in tears.
-Director Ja you crazy bastard (Positive)
-I’m going insane can’t they just show Taeseok and Huijae for a whole hour TT_TT
-Daeseokhwan: sorry I baited you just to show you this....
“Sir! The reactions are insane!”
“Yeah. I’m watching.”
Energy surged through JC ENM’s marketing team, including the new recruit Shin. The buzz created by Episode 1’s unprecedented ending—something never before seen in K-drama history—was incomparable.
In an instant, every other drama airing in the same time slot had been reduced to mere wallpaper. freёwebnoѵel.com
“I can’t wait to see the advertisers’ reactions.”
“After Episode 2’s ending airs, this is going to be—”
Manager Hong, who already knew every scene Han Yeoreum would appear in, folded his arms and smiled. Even at this very moment, the live discussion boards were on fire. Comments were stacking up several per second.
“Game over.”
* * *
After that, Taeseok and Huijae could no longer meet again. Hanamura’s departure schedule overlapped with Taeseok’s delivery hours.
But it was undeniably different from before.
Taeseok looked toward the wall with anticipation in his eyes and, each time he left, he turned back at least once.
Huijae studied Joseon diligently.
Carefully opening her elegant blue hardcover notebook, she picked up her pen. With a fountain pen held in her slender, pale hand, she wrote each letter slowly and neatly.
Hello.
Nice to meet you.
Please take care of me.
She no longer lay helpless on the bed. Lying on her stomach across the heated ondol floor, Huijae immersed herself in learning Joseon. She sounded out the syllables haltingly, practicing aloud.
“My name—is—Hanamura—Rio. I am....”
About to introduce herself, Huijae paused as she looked at the open page. Then, with deliberate care, she drew a long line through the words she had written.
“My name—is—Huijae. I am.”
She rewrote it.
Not Rio.
Huijae.
Meanwhile, at that very moment, Hanamura was inspecting the brewery.
He pulled a pocket watch from inside his coat. Click. The golden watch snapped open, its hands ticking busily across the dial. Satisfied, Hanamura closed it.
“These Joseon scum... they may not know how to use their heads, but when it comes to using their bodies, they’re remarkable.”
He spoke in Japanese to the butler walking behind him, looking thoroughly pleased.
“With you visiting, sir, they’ll work even harder. People can be used differently depending on who commands them, can’t they?”
On the second-floor staircase stood the pro-Japanese collaborator Hanamura. On the first floor, Joseon laborers sweated profusely as they worked.
The composition displayed the class divide in a single glance.
In this sweltering summer heat, Hanamura wore layered luxury suits, merely observing. The Joseon men worked shirtless, pouring sweat.
The world was wrong.
Hanamura strolled leisurely toward the next location—the harbor. Seagulls wheeled freely above ships coming and going, crying out sharply.
Just as he was about to head toward a cabin, something caught his eye.
“That one. Who is he?”
Hanamura asked while looking at Taeseok. The butler answered immediately.
“That’s Gi Taeseok, one of the harbor laborers. Recently he’s also been in charge of delivering the brewery’s leftover mash to the U.S. military base.”
“Hmm... is that so....”
As if an interesting thought had just occurred to him, Hanamura walked over. Each step he took made the polished leather of his shoes gleam.
“You’ve arrived, sir?”
The dock supervisor recognized him and hurried over. Hanamura gave a short nod of greeting and then stopped in front of Taeseok.
“...?”
Taeseok, wiping sweat from his neck with a towel, noticed the expensive shoes in his field of vision and slowly lifted his gaze upward. Because he was bent over working, he had to look up at Hanamura’s face, now cast in shadow.
“You’re the one delivering the mash?”
Hanamura spoke in Japanese. Taeseok did not fully understand.
But an unexplainable tension seized him.
“Seems you don’t understand Japanese.”
Hanamura switched to fluent Joseon. All eyes nearby turned toward them.
“...Yes. That’s right.”
Taeseok answered calmly.
Hanamura slowly scanned him from head to toe. By then Taeseok had straightened his back and was looking down at him. His gaze was insolent.
“English?”
“I can recognize a few words.”
“How foolish.”
Hanamura sighed. The sarcasm was unmistakable.
“Do you not understand what kind of privilege it is to come and go from a U.S. military base?”
He slowly raised his hand.
“I deliberately chose a young one. Old men’s brains don’t work properly. But if you’re young, then this head of yours—hm? This head—”
He tapped Taeseok’s forehead lightly with his index finger.
“You should think about seizing opportunity. If you only use your body, you’ll stay poor your whole life. Hm? Learn something. Tsk....”
Taeseok clenched his teeth. The muscles in his jaw bulged. He exhaled hot breath, then spoke.
“...Thank you for the advice.”
He slowly lifted his previously lowered head. Unhidden anger flickered in his eyes.
“But when you live hand to mouth, studying is a luxury. I ask for your understanding, sir.”
If anyone understood how vicious the exploitation of the Empire had been, it would be Hanamura. Everything born and raised on this land—your people took it all. And you, who survived by currying favor with those proud Japanese—
Opportunity?
Gi Taeseok said it with his eyes.
Hanamura was not a man who would miss such meaning. With slick, gleaming eyes, he stepped closer until the tip of his polished shoe touched the worn toe of Taeseok’s.
From his coat, he pulled out a wallet made of snakeskin.
“You would miss this opportunity over something so small? I am not a man who gives advice empty-handed....”
One bill.
Two.
Three.
“Here. Take it!”
In his hand was a sum that far exceeded Taeseok’s monthly wage.
He was a man who knew exactly how to humiliate someone most efficiently.
-Did you eat some son-of-a-bitch fruit?????
-I can’t even speak.... what are you all doing grab the spears
-Call Gaksital you bastards
The discussion board wasn’t just hot—it exploded.
* * *
Money.
The thing Taeseok clung to day and night just to barely earn.
“What’s the matter? Not taking it?”
But his hand would not reach for it. Taeseok’s eyes reddened.
“I appreciate it, but I have no reason to receive this money from you, sir.”
His voice trembled.
Hanamura did not withdraw his hand.
“What is wrong with giving pocket money to a laborer who carries out my work?”
“I am properly paid for the work I do.”
“Hm... so you don’t want unearned money....”
Hanamura laughed as though this were becoming increasingly entertaining. Then he stepped back half a pace and looked over the laborers behind Taeseok.
“If even the young one’s brain doesn’t work, how much worse must the old ones be....”
An ominous melody flowed. Though it was midday, dark music settled into the background.
“What should I do? In the new world I am building, I suddenly find myself wanting to eliminate those older than you.”
He was no longer merely Hanamura.
He was the wealthy man holding Jinhae’s financial lifeline in his fist.
The laborers understood the meaning of his words. Their faces drained ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) of color.
Taeseok was the youngest here. Which meant every single man older than him—everyone present—would lose their jobs today.
“Why should I feed the bellies of the stupid, the slow, the useless?”
Each word he spoke carried weight.
He was telling Taeseok to act wisely.
One by one, heavy burdens settled onto Taeseok’s shoulders.
Uncle Junseok, who had to feed his older brother half-lost to his senses after being dragged away by the police.
Uncle Gangjae, excited about marrying off his daughter soon.
Uncle Gitae, overwhelmed by medical costs for his sick wife.
The old man raising his orphaned grandson alone.
“This insolent brat! His Excellency shows you such consideration and still!”
The butler standing behind Hanamura slapped Taeseok across the face.
Smack—!
His head snapped sideways under the sharp blow. Taeseok closed his eyes.
There was no choice.
There truly was no—
“I will accept it with gratitude.”
None.
“Good. That’s more like it.”
Hanamura relaxed his grip. The banknotes fluttered into the west wind.
“Pick them up.”
The vile Hanamura and Taeseok, one cheek flushed red, were captured in the same frame.
Episode 2 of 〈The Great Garland〉 ended like that.
* * *
“Oh...”
The head of KBC’s Drama Center slowly closed his eyes.
“Sweet advertisers...”
In another sense, KBC’s drama department was on fire.
At the same time, Manager Hong of JC ENM’s marketing team flexed his fingers.
“Let’s begin!”
For the next week, the world would buzz with 〈The Great Garland〉.
* * *
The buzz volume was truly insane.
[The “Joseon scum” Controversy of 〈The Great Garland〉 Settled Immediately After Episode 2... Netizens: “A Wave of Emotion”]
[“I am Joseon person” — Awkward but Sincere, Yeon Huijae’s Clumsy Loveliness]
[Two Birds with One Stone... 〈The Great Garland〉 Episode 2 Records 14.3% Viewership]
Articles poured out like madness immediately after broadcast. It felt as though no other drama even existed.
It was overwhelming.
What Director Ja wanted to show through Huijae was not merely first love.
It was the uniquely Joseon spirit of self-improvement and perseverance.
The mindset of the generation that endured both colonial rule and war.
If you endure and endure, tomorrow will come.
And that tomorrow must be cultivated by your own hands.
Even Joseon people who had not lived through that era could not help but understand the feeling. Because we have all seen someone’s back—pressed down, suppressed, beaten—yet never truly fallen.
Director Ja’s intention was clear.
He wanted viewers to truly feel that emotion which made one’s chest burn just by watching Huijae.
First love, yes.
But also another self.
Another meaning of Yeon Huijae was patriotism.
“...This is really impossible to predict.”
Reporter Wi of Daily Media murmured as other reporters around him parted their lips slightly in shock.
Director Ja’s choice had been right.
The fury that had centered on Huijae at the end of Episode 1 had lost its direction—and immediately, he provided a new one.
In just twenty-four hours, the entire atmosphere flipped.
Currently, the top five trending articles on Daily Media were all about 〈The Great Garland〉.
“What do you think the next episode’s ratings will be?”
Someone asked.
“...I honestly don’t know.”
No one could predict it.
Only one forecast proved accurate:
“Pre-broadcast ads are going to stick like crazy....”
Advertisers were already running toward them, arms full of money.
