Chapter 90

Chapter 90. Jo Chae-won's Designated Bully

[Title: 3/5]

[Recorded: 2023.10.13. 21:31]

The video showed Na Young-hwan and his staff talking after returning to the broadcasting station.

Na Young-hwan's face was clearly visible, but I couldn't tell exactly how many staff members were present.

Only three people appeared on screen at the moment.

I stepped outside the restaurant and checked the video.

"I thought Actress Jo Chae-won's personality seemed a little risky from the beginning. I guess she finally caused an incident."

"Enough. Don't talk about her like that. What's the point of blaming someone after the fact?"

"I wasn't blaming her. I just couldn't believe it. There were stories from the staff on the 〈Tribe of the Jungle〉 shoot too, and then the social media reactions... If people wanted to make an issue out of it, they definitely could, but isn't it also something they could've just let go?"

"We were careless. We were blinded by the agency's investment and the actress under them."

"Now I'm scared every time the views go up. Looks like everyone's clicking just to curse at us."

"She already asked us to take the video down. Says the hate comments are making things difficult for her. Of all people, she had to get caught putting on that fake act in front of those innocent engineering students. Must be humiliating."

"Yeah... Even the way she talks reminds you she's a top actress. Well, sure. We'll have to take it down."

It was a fairly long conversation.

I immediately went over it again and transcribed everything.

Na Young-hwan and his staff were clearly troubled by some controversy involving actress Jo Chae-won's attitude.

The only Na Young-hwan program Jo Chae-won currently appeared on was 〈Shin Restaurant〉.

And when a PD was suffering, the cause was almost always one of the cast members.

Whatever happened with Jo Chae-won was clearly going to negatively affect 〈Shin Restaurant〉.

I organized the keywords.

〈Tribe of the Jungle〉 staff.

Engineering students.

Fake act.

The jungle probably referred to 〈Tribe of the Jungle〉, just as Shin Yeo-sook had mentioned earlier.

Jo Chae-won was scheduled to appear there.

Did something happen during that shoot?

Then what about the engineering students?

It wasn't as though 〈Tribe of the Jungle〉 was being filmed inside an engineering building.

Either way, something was going to happen.

Once it did, Na Young-hwan's program would have to take its video down from Nutube entirely.

If I could put Aran into Jo Chae-won's empty spot after that, it would be perfect.

Aran had appeared on plenty of variety shows by now, but she'd never once become a regular cast member.

For now, let's just finish filming and go back.

I had no idea how a trip meant for resting had somehow ended with the members sitting in front of cameras again.

Once we got back to the company, I'd look into Jo Chae-won.

Something would come up.

"Did something happen?"

Na Young-hwan asked when I came back inside.

I told him it was nothing, and he apologized.

"Since this shoot came together so suddenly, we don't even have a proper rundown. You might've been flustered. I feel bad, like we're asking for help while borrowing pocket change."

"Not at all. Our members are good at unscripted stuff. Just like you said, we're avoiding the rain and making money at the same time. Sounds great to me!"

Whenever punishments like "Film a V-Live while dressed as a golem" or "Do the national calisthenics routine in Gwanghwamun" were decided, the members groaned in pain while laughing their heads off.

I listened to the noise as I walked back inside.

Just as I reached the middle of the restaurant hall, my eyes met Jo Chae-won's.

Maybe it was because I'd just been thinking about her.

I gave her a slight nod and was about to look away when Jo Chae-won suddenly seemed to remember something and uncapped her marker.

"I'm adding one!"

Then she wrote:

[Blue Moon's manager immediately jumps into the water.]

Why are you suddenly throwing me into the sea?

Were you in the Marines too?

Jo Chae-won smiled proudly after writing it.

But the members' laughter gradually faded.

Youngchae was practically glaring at her.

Wasn't a clueless person pretending to be an airhead exactly the type Youngchae hated most?

"Leave one space empty. I've got something too."

Youngchae yanked the marker cap off roughly and wrote on the roulette wheel.

[Use 〈Homesick Girl〉 as background music for one month.]

Na Young-hwan visibly swallowed when he saw it.

There were plenty of other rewards too.

[Insert our music video at the end of this episode.]

[All staff wear Blue Moon fandom T-shirts.]

They should've written something like buy us a van too.

We were obviously going to beat these actors easily anyway.

"All right, then. Let's begin."

"Yes! We'll go first!"

Jo Chae-won raised her hand with a smile.

Youngchae, who'd also been about to raise hers, hesitated and folded her arms instead.

The actors went first and listened to the opening song clip.

A sticky guitar riff started playing.

The actors immediately focused with all their might.

For some reason, the members held their breath and listened too.

But nobody raised a hand to answer.

Serin apparently knew the song, because she smiled while simply watching the actors struggle.

"Ah, I know this song! What's the title?!"

Jo Chae-won furrowed her brows as she listened.

I'd have to see how the rest of the questions were selected, but honestly, this one felt incredibly biased.

The answer was Oh Seung-hoon's 〈Walking in the Rain〉.

It was one of countless songs people might associate with rain.

And rain was pouring down outside right now.

Then the intro ended and the lyrics started.

"I walked~ along the rainy road~"

"Answer! 〈Walking in the Rain〉!"

"Correct!"

The title literally appeared in the very first lyric.

Even then, in games like this, the average person usually got it from the intro.

The questions came from all kinds of genres.

There was trot.

There were famous idol songs like those by Eblis.

Even 〈N.Dolphin〉 appeared.

And it still took them more than a full minute to get that one right.

"That's so mean! How can you not know our song? You should've gotten it by the 'Endorphins go—!' part!"

"I know the whole song! I seriously just couldn't remember the title."

Every question took them a while.

They got six in total.

Then it was Blue Moon's turn.

"All right, here's the question."

"Answer! Singer Oh Seo-kyung's 〈Love Comes to Everyone〉!"

The song's intro began with a chorus going ooh~.

But Serin shouted the answer the instant that first ooh began.

"Correct...!"

That speed was impossible.

It was like she'd analyzed the waveform.

Honestly, I hadn't even figured out yet whether that sound was a human voice or an instrument.

After that, songs like 〈Weekend Palace〉, 〈Solo〉, 〈Love Is Like Tears Beyond the Window〉, and 〈Lilac〉 were all answered before the lyrics even began.

Whenever Serin didn't know one, another member eventually got it.

The actors' six correct answers suddenly looked adorable.

Blue Moon got thirty.

At this point, we needed a mercy rule.

"So... what will you do?"

Apparently the production team still had one last thing they were counting on.

There was no mercy-rule system.

But there was a Go-Stop rule.

If the members called Stop, the game ended.

If they called Go, they continued playing while putting the next roulette reward at stake.

Of course, if they lost any game along the way, they'd lose every reward they'd accumulated.

"Go!"

The next game began the instant Serin shouted.

Things did not go well for the production team.

Blue Moon won three more games in a row.

Eventually, only one unused reward remained.

It looked like the final game.

That was when Youngchae raised her hand and offered an opinion.

"One of the punishments involves our CEO too, so I think he should play the last game. It'd be a little weird if only we played when he's the one who'd have to jump into the water, right?"

"That's true."

She really didn't seem to like that punishment.

I hadn't realized she'd been thinking about it this whole time.

After hearing Youngchae, Na Young-hwan asked whether I'd participate once.

At this point, they'd made such a big deal out of it that refusing would've been difficult.

"We're currently doing the famous-person quiz, right? Since CEO Do Jun-hyeok is joining us, let's change the question category a little."

"How?"

"You'll see."

The final game began.

Presidents from various countries and famous actors appeared one after another.

Unlike before, the actor team performed fairly well.

Eventually, it was my turn.

"Just give us the person's basic affiliation and name."

"Affiliation?"

Why was affiliation suddenly involved?

Of course, the crisis just had to arrive on the final question.

The actors had set a new personal best.

And here I was, standing among Blue Moon, needing to get at least one answer right.

The song quiz had been absurdly one-sided, but the celebrity quiz had been more evenly matched.

So it wasn't completely hopeless.

Then a person's photo appeared.

The members all froze as though their brains had shut down.

It might have been a face none of them had ever seen.

A reporter from a nearby entertainment newspaper.

"Reporter Kim Young-sun from 〈Wednesday Seoul〉?"

"Correct!"

The next question was the same.

And the next.

Only then did I understand what Na Young-hwan had meant.

The category was major figures in the broadcasting industry.

"Writer Go Yeon-sun from 〈Good Morning Information Line〉?"

Every time I got one right, Na Young-hwan's expression grew a little more serious.

Apparently he'd expected me to recognize their faces but not remember their names immediately.

Since I'd joined the game, it made sense to create this kind of event question.

And if I failed, they could quietly tie Blue Moon down too.

But Na Young-hwan's mistake was underestimating my years in the business.

Maybe he'd forgotten what it was like when he was still a tadpole.

Whether you were a rookie employee or a manager whose job was practically sales, memorizing the names of important people in the broadcasting industry was mandatory.

If you ran into someone and couldn't remember their name, you'd lose your chance to create a useful connection.

Staff members wearing matching Blue Moon T-shirts began packing up the filming equipment.

I got every question Na Young-hwan gave me right.

A few names had been hazy for a second, but I still got them all.

That gave us a decisive victory.

I didn't know what Jo Chae-won had been thinking when she added that punishment.

There must've been some reason.

Too bad.

I didn't particularly want to soak myself in salty seawater either.

Especially while it was raining.

There wouldn't even have been anywhere to dry off.

"If Blue Moon had been just a little more ruthless, you might've ripped the pillars right out of the broadcasting station."

Na Young-hwan walked over after they finished packing.

He wasn't wrong.

If we'd been gambling for money, he'd already be naked.

They'd agreed to play our song at the end of the broadcast.

Use it as background music too.

And even send us a food truck and coffee truck once each.

That alone was painful enough.

Still, the shoot seemed to have turned out well, because Na Young-hwan looked pretty satisfied.

"Blue Moon's energy was so good today that I'd love to invite you as guests again. Do you think we could work out the schedule?"

"Looks like you liked them. We'd love to. You mean guesting on 〈Shin Restaurant〉, right?"

The role of guests on 〈Shin Restaurant〉 was basically to sit around listening to the actors talk while eating the food.

Our members loved food no matter how much their individual eating capacities differed.

Aran's mukbang content was pretty popular too, so I figured that was why he was asking.

But Na Young-hwan shook his head.

"No. 〈Shin Restaurant〉 usually doesn't have a mood like today's. It's more of a healing show set somewhere quiet and peaceful. Not 〈Shin Restaurant〉. I'm preparing a pilot program right now."

It was still in development, and depending on the result, it might or might not get a regular broadcast slot.

So he wanted to put extra strength into the guest casting.

His situation was similar to Seo Hoe-dong's after moving to Watflix.

"What kind of program is it?"

"It's called 〈Jo Mi-won Snack Bar〉. We drive a food truck to crowded places."

"Jo Mi-won?"

I'd heard that name somewhere before.

Was it an actress's name?

"Yeah. Jo Chae-won's nickname is Jo Mi-won, right? People also call her Miwon, like the seasoning, so we're making another cooking variety show around that."

Jo Chae-won cooking?

The Jo Chae-won who couldn't even touch a horse mackerel?

I absolutely had to see that show.

"When you say crowded places... do you mean places like university districts?"

"Oh. Yes, exactly. A food truck has to sell where there are lots of people, right? You really know your stuff."

University districts.

The spam video had definitely mentioned her getting criticized over something related to engineering students.

Then wait.

How does this connect?