Free Web NovelEveryone assumed I’d collapsed from overwork because of my insane schedule, and the live event for <Funny Bunny Harmony> nearly got canceled.
“That absolutely cannot happen! Just kill me instead!”
“No need to go that far....”
“It was finally my turn to step up, unni!”
“You’ve always been stepping up even without this, Yeoreum.”
But that was unacceptable. Cancel a schedule? Even if the world ended tomorrow, I’d still complete at least one schedule.
I summarized the entire situation in one sentence.
“Everyone has seriously lost their minds.”
There was no way things could’ve escalated this far unless everyone collectively decided to die together. At this point, Korea’s broadcasting industry had become a full-on colosseum.
At my words, Seo Eden sitting across from me and Ryu Risa standing in the middle both nodded.
“Do you know how much NetHolics poured into <Seoul Metropolitan City>, Yeoreum?”
“Of course I do.... Thirty billion won.”
And there would probably be even more added onto that. CG costs always exceeded estimates every single time.
“That’s why everyone’s gone insane. They’re throwing blockbuster-film-level budgets into dramas. How could anyone not panic after seeing that?”
As expected from the top of the industry. I nodded at Ryu Risa’s perfectly clear explanation.
“Seriously... that’s enough to drive people crazy....”
And I was seriously about to go crazy too. Before the giant fish called NetHolics fully barged in, the broadcasting stations were making one final desperate push.
Bzzz.
I flinched at my vibrating phone. At this point, there was no telling what fresh disaster might be waiting for me.
“Please let nothing happen.... Please....”
I clasped my hands together and prayed briefly. Across from me, Seo Eden spoke.
“There’s no way anything worse can happen now. Don’t worry too much. Try the Ramadan breathing method.”
“You mean Lamaze....”
“Whatever! Just follow me. I’m an idol, so my breathing techniques are amazing.”
“I was still capable of that kind of positive mindset right up until I saw the Do Gyeoul articles. But even then things got worse. A literal nuclear bomb named Eun Baekhap dropped.”
“If things got any worse from here, they’d have to kick out Lee Yeongyu and bring in Ji Haebeom or Jin Yi instead. But there’s no way that’d actually happen, right?”
“If that happened, we’d have to end our drama early....”
If Ji Haebeom showed up, we’d just pack our bags and leave. What other option was there?
I prayed one more time and checked my messages.
[MBS Director Lee Saerok: Yeoreum~^^ Don’t worry too much. You know the rule—first strike wins^^]
Was he telling me to go beat up Do Gyeoul?
‘How does he understand my feelings so perfectly?’
But then again, if I got arrested afterward, all the Summer Day fans would be devastated, so I shouldn’t clench my fists so easi... easi... wait, why am I already clenching them unconsciously?
[MBS Director Lee Saerok: We’re definitely airing at least one week earlier than them^^ Don’t panic and fighting.]
Seo Eden, who had already leaned halfway across the table to read the messages with me, slammed the desk.
“That’s great!”
At the very least, being the first drama to start airing gave a huge advantage in winning.
But what was with Seo Eden’s triumphant smile?
‘A one-week lead isn’t powerful enough to make someone look that smug.’
Still, Seo Eden seemed to have thought this through.
“I may not look like it, but my brain works pretty well. I’m insanely knowledgeable about romance. I even collect romance stories from countries you people have never even heard of.”
I already knew Seo Eden possessed suspiciously extensive knowledge about every villainess cliché imaginable, so I just nodded vaguely.
“So?”
“We have an ultimate weapon... you know that, right?”
Seo Eden pointed proudly between himself and me.
“Visuals.” frёeωebɳovel.com
I answered coldly.
“Honestly speaking, we’re up against Eun Baekhap and Hong Suryeon. What exactly are the two of us supposed to—”
Out of courtesy, I left Yoo Jiuk out of it so Seo Eden wouldn’t lose confidence.
Of course, I looked better in person anyway, but even on camera I was still adorable, Baby Melon Bread, and beautiful, okay... ah, damn it, Little Hong Suryeon's speech habits infected me. Anyway.
And on top of that, Eun Baekhap was a woman who maintained her star value through her face alone despite repeated box-office failures.
So then?
“That means our drama can go the craziest with styling. Look. Do Gyeoul’s a lawyer, right? So we can toss that side out first.”
“...Huh....”
The fact that someone could casually dismiss Do Gyeoul like that left me stunned for a moment.
The Do Gyeoul who had always felt like she towered over me suddenly became someone another person could brush aside lightly.
My head suddenly felt refreshed.
“Then next. Eun Baekhap. I looked into it, and it’s a little dangerous since she’s a former ballerina... but still, it’s not exactly a profession where she changes outfits fifteen times per episode, right?”
“Right. Probably not?”
“Finally, Hong Suryeon. She’ll probably be the toughest. But we have a card she doesn’t.”
Seo Eden suddenly looked intelligent.
Like, genuinely different.
“That card is transformation.”
Seo Eden declared confidently again, like he’d discovered the criminal in a detective drama.
“The moment the plain glasses girl removes her glasses and transforms into Cinderella. That burst of satisfaction... that’s the true essence of visual appeal. Hidden-overpowered losers are something everybody loves regardless of age or gender, okay? That moment when everyone who mocked the female lead as a pathetic loser suddenly sees her differently.”
Seo Eden puffed out his chest proudly.
Only at times like this did his intelligence suddenly skyrocket.
“And that happens in Episode 4! If you pull it slightly earlier, then by the time the other dramas start, we’re basically opening with the joker card of a visual transformation!”
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
Right then.
Ryu Risa, who hadn’t said a word until now, started applauding.
“Bravo....”
* * *
Ryu Risa applauded Seo Eden’s accurate judgment.
“And on top of that, it’s a side of Han Yeoreum that’s never appeared in her filmography before.”
Up until now, Han Yeoreum had never once played a modern-day role where styling could be changed extravagantly and freely to the maximum degree.
In <Faster Than the Law>, she barely had any screen time.
And in 〈Youth Disqualified!〉 and 〈Unfair Trade〉, she’d practically worn the same outfit the whole time.
The passion Ryu Risa had kept buried all this time ignited fiercely.
“Good.... This time... let’s pour absolutely everything into it....”
It looked like Ryu Risa intended to empty out every item from the first floor to the third floor.
Accessories began piling across the table.
“Forget the outfits for now. We’re adding extra details one by one.”
“You mean... going full extra?”
“Yes! Exactly that!”
Brooches, headbands, hairpins, flashy earrings—
Ryu Risa’s eyes gleamed as if determined to make viewers unable to stop pausing screenshots every single time the camera zoomed in on Han Yeoreum’s face.
“Now, like this!”
“Whoa! This is it, this is it!”
“And then this!”
“Hey! This is it, this is it!”
Every time Ryu Risa placed a headband on Han Yeoreum’s head, Seo Eden applauded.
And every time she attached a brooch to Han Yeoreum’s chest, Seo Eden applauded again.
The atmosphere that had been drowning in despair just moments ago completely flipped upside down.
“I’ll make sure no other drama can ever compete with Nam Pyeonghwa in this <Dongdaemun Romance>...!”
Ryu Risa ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) stuck out her tongue and licked her lips.
Her eyes were slowly being consumed by madness.
“At least fifteen outfit challenges per episode.”
“What? Then we’d have to keep splitting scenes apart constantly.”
Han Yeoreum, currently wearing a ribbon hairpin, looked startled. Ryu Risa merely shrugged.
“Then split them.”
The early scripts had already been completed.
Nam Pyeonghwa’s outfits before her transformation wouldn’t vary much anyway.
Which meant after Episode 4—
more precisely, after she started clashing properly with the other actors—
the scripts themselves would need to be rewritten.
“But then everything planned during pre-production will change....”
“This kid still doesn’t understand anything, huh?”
Holding clothes in both hands, Ryu Risa held them against Han Yeoreum one by one.
After agonizing between a pink tweed jacket and a cream trench coat, she apparently decided to use both and tossed them onto the table.
“Sometimes clothing is more powerful than dialogue.”
* * *
Rumble—
Hwang Boseok rocked rhythmically in his rocking chair while gazing out the window.
Today, the sky beyond the glass was dark with heavy storm clouds.
But as always, Hwang Boseok wore a smile.
“Sir....”
Beside him sat MBS Drama Director Lee Saerok.
He’d acted tough in front of Han Yeoreum, but in reality he was terrified out of his mind.
A situation like this had never happened before.
And it should never happen again.
“What do we do...?”
Lee Saerok’s legs shook nonstop.
He’d come to discuss the situation with Hwang Boseok, but no clear solution appeared anywhere.
“It’s fine.”
But Hwang Boseok merely smiled warmly.
“I’ve been waiting for a day like this....”
“Huh?”
Lee Saerok blinked slowly at Hwang Boseok’s words.
No sane person could possibly wait for a war like this.
“Every time Hwang Boseok showed up, everyone always ran away. At first I thought, wow, I must really be that scary? Felt pretty proud. But after a while...”
MBS Drama Director Lee Saerok recalled what his niece Gam Dajeong—who dominated MBS’s variety department—used to say.
“All the sane people already quit....”
That was right.
“It got boring, y’know. Tsk.” frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Hwang Boseok wasn’t sane either.
“But now they’re voluntarily stepping into the arena themselves. Keh-heh-heh.”
In this industry, anyone who lasted long enough was fundamentally abnormal.
Lee Saerok himself had been fooled all this time by Hwang Boseok’s gentle smile.
“Looks like everyone underestimated this Hwang Boseok. Guess using rookie actors made me look manageable.”
RUMBLE— CRASH—!
Lightning flashed across Writer Hwang’s smiling face.
“My heart’s racing....”
A writer who had never once lost.
Hwang Boseok slowly raised the corners of his lips while thinking about the junior writers daring to challenge him head-on.
At last—
the curtain of war had risen.
