Chapter 103
“JX Media... you know them, right?”
“JX Media? The production company making SBC’s drama Big Fish?”
Why was he suddenly bringing up JX Media?
Park Wooseok explained what had happened.
He said he had always been acquainted with Oh Kyunghwan, a PD working at JX Media.
On the day of the production presentation for Big Fish, Oh Kyunghwan had called him to complain. Because of the production presentation for the rival drama, The Woman’s Garden, the presentation for his own drama, Big Fish, had been completely buried.
Apparently, Oh Kyunghwan had then asked Park Wooseok to find anything at all that could be used to damage The Woman’s Garden.
So Park Wooseok immediately found out where the after-party for The Woman’s Garden production presentation was being held and went there.
However, he had failed to get any useful article material or even a decent photograph.
Then he happened to see Han Hyejoo and me together.
He began taking pictures without thinking much about it.
And after looking at them, he thought that with a little manipulation, he might be able to make them look like photos from a dating scandal.
Ha... So this whole thing happened because JX Media, the rival production company, wanted to take revenge on our drama...?
“Well, anyway... as long as JX Media could throw some mud at The Woman’s Garden, they didn’t seem to care much whether it was true or not. They didn’t ask questions. They just paid me for the photos. Ahem.”
“And because you knew the photos were manipulated and thought it might become a problem later, you didn’t publish the article yourself. Instead, you sent the photos to another newspaper as a tip?”
At Do Kijeong’s question, Park Wooseok awkwardly nodded instead of answering.
Ha. Seriously, compared to this, the film industry is full of gentlemen.
This was something I had never experienced in the film industry.
No, it was something I had never even imagined could happen.
I was so shocked that my mind remained blank for quite a while.
Moon Changsoo and Do Kijeong, who had been watching my expression, spoke up.
“Hyung, are you okay?”
“What are you going to do now?”
I finally came back to my senses.
Then I took out my phone and called Goo Yangmo.
“Yes, Reporter Goo. For now, please leave Park Wooseok’s name and Weekly Sunday out of the article. Yes. Thank you.”
After ending the call, I looked back at Park Wooseok.
“Call that JX Media PD who bought the photos from you. Tell him to come meet me right now.”
“Meet him... and do what?”
“I’ll take care of that. Just call him and tell him to come here immediately.”
An hour later, after receiving Park Wooseok’s call, JX Media’s PD Oh Kyunghwan rushed onto the rooftop of the building where we were waiting.
“I... I’m sorry.”
The moment Oh Kyunghwan saw me, he dropped to his knees.
Ha. This is driving me crazy.
Oh Kyunghwan was a planning-team PD, or team leader, just like me.
He said every drama he had worked on for the past several years had suffered disastrous ratings.
Because of that, there were already discussions at SBC that if this drama also performed poorly, the network would stop giving him programming slots.
Unable to endure the pressure, he had done something completely unreasonable.
With tears in his eyes, he begged me for mercy.
“My wife is pregnant with our third child. If I get fired from the company... And I honestly didn’t know those photos were manipulated. I really thought the two of you were... you know... in that kind of relationship.”
I had a lot to think about.
Everyone made mistakes.
Sometimes desperation drove people into making terrible choices.
But...
“I understand your circumstances, PD Oh. I really do. But I don’t think that makes what you did acceptable.”
At my words, Oh Kyunghwan’s shoulders dropped in despair.
“Still... circumstances can be taken into consideration. I won’t personally file a lawsuit against you.”
“Really?”
I nodded instead of answering.
“But the person who suffered the most from this wasn’t actually me.”
Oh Kyunghwan and Park Wooseok tilted their heads.
Then they suddenly realized what I meant.
“Ah... H-Han Hyejoo...”
“I have no idea what Han Hyejoo will decide to do.”
The corner of my mouth rose without me realizing it.
“Forgive them?! Tell them to stop talking bullshit!”
After learning the full story through me, Han Hyejoo and her agency immediately filed lawsuits against Park Wooseok and Oh Kyunghwan.
Well, honestly, I had expected that much.
Maybe that was also why it had been relatively easy for me to forgive them.
The next day, Reporter Goo Yangmo released the footage recorded by a parking-lot black box.
The video clearly showed me vomiting on Han Hyejoo’s clothes.
It also showed Han Hyejoo and her manager supporting me as they helped me into the car.
[What the hell? So it wasn’t a Han Hyejoo dating photo. It was a Han Hyejoo humiliation photo? Hahaha.]
[Well, with Han Hyejoo’s personality, there’s no way a guy would stick around her. Didn’t Han Hyejoo fake this herself?]
[I’ll bet my wrist there’s definitely something going on between Han Hyejoo and that guy in the picture!]
[Seriously, how many wrists does this bastard have?]
“It looks like it’s blowing over more quietly than expected.”
“Well, there’s no reason it shouldn’t.”
“Anyway, Han Hyejoo is back to getting all the hateful comments she normally gets.”
Before I knew it, several people had gathered around Kang Jooyoung’s desk in the planning team, talking about the public reaction to the article that had gone up the previous day.
“What are all of you doing gathered here? Don’t you have work? PD Cha, shouldn’t you be heading to the filming site?”
I scolded them because they gathered to talk about the article whenever they had the slightest chance.
“I was just about to leave.”
Cha Seungjoon pouted.
Then, as if he had suddenly remembered something, the corners of his mouth curled upward.
“By the way, Team Leader Min, did you apologize to Han Hyejoo for throwing up on her? Looking at the picture... wow...”
As if even imagining it made him shudder, Cha Seungjoon trembled dramatically.
Lee Hyunwoo and Kang Jooyoung immediately joined in to tease me.
“Exactly. There were even comments calling it Han Hyejoo’s humiliation photo. Hahaha.”
“Oh, right. Team Leader, did you know? According to the comments, the clothes Han Hyejoo was wearing that day were a limited-edition luxury outfit worth more than ten million won...”
What?! T-Ten million won?!
My eyes widened at the unexpectedly huge amount.
Cha Seungjoon added fuel to the fire.
“I never believed the dating rumor with Han Hyejoo in the first place, but what kind of twist is this? You threw up on her, and now you might even have to pay for her clothes. Hahahaha...”
“Why? When the dating article came out, I actually thought the two of them looked pretty good together. Hahaha.”
Soon everyone was taking turns adding their own comments.
“Oh, and did you know? When the dating rumor first broke, the comments about Team Leader Min were pretty intense too.”
“I saw those. Things like, ‘He’s already a team leader at twenty-eight? He must be really capable.’ Hahaha.”
“They were also talking about how almost every successful movie in recent years was planned by Team Leader Min. People were calling him the Hand of Midas and a hitmaker.”
If I kept listening, they were going to tease me forever.
So I deliberately narrowed my eyes slightly.
“Enough. I don’t think this is the time to be standing around like this. The broadcast is only a week away, yet all of you look incredibly relaxed. Ahem.”
But even after my warning, everyone only grinned.
Just then, the head manager in charge of PPL from one of our partner companies entered the office and quickly walked toward us.
“You’re all here.”
“Huh? Manager Yoon, what brings you here? Did we have a meeting scheduled today?”
Kang Jooyoung, who handled the PPL work, hurriedly checked her schedule, worried that she had forgotten a meeting.
Manager Yoon quickly waved his hands.
“No, nothing like that. I came because I urgently needed to tell you something. I was going to call first, but I happened to be passing nearby, so I came straight here.”
Worried that something bad had happened, I asked,
“Is something wrong? Is there a problem with the PPL?”
“No, no. A problem? It’s the exact opposite.”
Manager Yoon’s voice trembled slightly with excitement.
“Our advertisers contacted us saying they want to put even more advertisements into this drama. And they contacted us first!”
Kang Jooyoung still didn’t seem to understand.
“More advertisements?”
“Yes. Apparently, the advertisers saw today’s dating scandal article involving Team Leader Min and Han Hyejoo. I think they’ve started seeing Team Leader Min as some kind of hitmaker.”
Wait.
What was that supposed to mean?
A hitmaker?
“All the projects Team Leader Min worked on became major hits, right? That rumor is spreading everywhere now.”
According to Manager Yoon, every movie planned by Team Leader Min Kibaek had succeeded.
Because this was the first drama Min Kibaek had personally chosen, advertisers seemed to have developed high expectations for it.
They had contacted the company first.
They even said we didn’t need to naturally work the products into the script.
As long as the products simply appeared on screen, they were willing to pay.
On top of that, they were offering the highest PPL fees they had ever proposed.
Manager Yoon couldn’t hide his excitement.
For a moment, words like a blessing in disguise, fortune from misfortune, and good luck hidden inside disaster appeared and disappeared in my mind.
Ha... Life really is ironic.
I never imagined that ridiculous dating scandal would come back to benefit us like this.
A huge charcoal-grilled rib restaurant that could easily seat more than a hundred people was packed with the staff and actors of The Woman’s Garden.
At last, the long-awaited day of the first broadcast had arrived.
After finishing the evening shoot, the actors and staff deliberately set dinner for the late hour of 9:30 p.m. so everyone could eat together while watching the first episode.
And it wasn’t only the cast and crew.
Members of the planning team, MBS Drama Department Director Hwang Donghyuk, CP Jung Chulwoo, and other people involved in the drama had all gathered at the restaurant to watch the first broadcast together.
“All right, everyone! Thirty minutes until the broadcast starts! Hurry up and place your bets!”
Standing in front of the huge wall-mounted television, FD Kwon Yongmin shouted at the noisy crowd eating rice and meat.
“I’ll go first. I’m betting on 17.4 percent. Writer Hong Yeonhee’s previous drama got 17.4 percent for its first episode.”
“Come on. We can’t get the same number as last time. I’m betting twenty percent, three points higher!”
This time, the director of photography pulled money out of his pocket and slapped it onto the table.
Cheers erupted from around the room.
“Come on, aren’t you all being too stingy? We have Seo Jisoo, the greatest actress in Korea, starring in this drama! I’m going with twenty-five percent!”
Male lead Jung Sewon spoke while secretly winking at Seo Jisoo.
Seo Jisoo smiled shyly, apparently not disliking his playful compliment.
As everyone happily placed their bets, I suddenly remembered the time I had made a bet with CEO Han Taesung over a movie’s box-office performance.
Back then, because I already knew the box-office results of movies from 2005 before my regression, I had been able to win.
And because of that victory, I had gained CEO Han Taesung’s trust.
Then what would this bet mean to me someday in the future...?
A pleasant smile appeared on my face.
