WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Potter
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Why Do My Dramas Keep Becoming Hits!? ◈
Chapter 3: Anyone Can Write Dramas? (3)
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Second-round judging was nearing its end.
Before the final judging, Woo Young-taek went to see someone he knew well: Ha Do-woon, head of the drama planning department.
“Hmm...”
Ha Do-woon silently read the script they had been given. Soon afterward, an exclamation burst from Ha Do-woon.
“This really is something.”
“Heh. Just as I expected from our chief. Even if you’re old, you’ve still got an eye for good work, don’t you?”
“You’re getting cheeky. So you don’t know who wrote this?”
“Ah, yes. I thought it might be one of the writers currently on hiatus, but I couldn’t figure it out. I’ve never seen this kind of prose or narrative structure before.”
“Hm...”
Ha Do-woon recalled the script they had just read.
The distinctive repeated words. The character work. The occasional punctuation. The overall nature of the writing.
There was exactly one writer who came to mind, though it could have been a mistake.
‘...That’s impossible.’
Not only would a heavyweight like that never enter a rookie contest, the writer had already retired.
No matter how much Ha Do-woon thought about it, the guess had virtually zero credibility.
Then who was it? A rookie? An established writer?
As Ha Do-woon mulled it over for a long while, Woo Young-taek spoke with a smirk.
“Come on, Chief. Does it matter who the writer is? It’s fun, isn’t it?”
“Sure. It is fun, like you said, but why did Writer Seong have to enter? This has become a headache.”
“Hey, things were going so well. Why bring up Writer Seong? What’s the purpose of this contest? It’s for fostering and discovering new writers. We should rule out Writer Seong accordingly.”
“What nonsense. Weren’t you the one saying this writer’s work felt like an established writer’s? If you want to foster rookies so badly, why not promote the other works?”
“That’s not what I mean. And purely in terms of quality, isn’t [Living with an Ex-Boyfriend] the clear winner? Writer Seong’s entry isn’t that great this time.”
As Woo said, Seong Yu-ra’s script fell far short of expectations.
The queen of romantic comedies had given up romantic comedy, so naturally it was less fun.
“Besides, this one is closer to a slice-of-life story, so it’ll be cheap to produce. Writer Seong’s work, on the other hand? We’d have to put helicopters in the air and blow up several cars. How are we supposed to afford that? Can’t you already hear the production budget being stripped bare?”
“You punk, that script has really bewitched you. Or do you have some sort of grudge against Writer Seong?”
“A grudge? I’m only discussing the work’s potential. Honestly, Chief, you agree with me too.”
Ha Do-woon had also read Writer Seong’s entry, [Suspect X].
It was a well-constructed script with an exciting plot. Even with the writer’s name hidden, Ha Do-woon would have found it quite entertaining.
But it did not earn any higher praise. The script had clear flaws.
‘You can tell the writer specializes in romcoms. The romance gets shoved in at every opportunity.’
Romantic moods appeared at every turn, regardless of whether they suited the genre.
A kiss scene while chasing the culprit. A bed scene during an operations meeting.
With the genre’s flow changing so drastically, there was no way it could maintain immersion.
“You can’t change old habits, can you? If [Suspect X] wins the Grand Prize and gets a broadcast slot, it’s obvious the writer will keep forcing melodrama and romance into it until the final shoot, then tank the ratings.”
Ha could not deny it.
A future in which the ratings steadily fell due to forced romance was within Ha Do-woon’s expectations too, and its success could not be guaranteed.
But the story changed if Ha Do-woon stepped back and looked beyond the immediate issue.
It might not be an instant hit, but building a good relationship with a star writer could pay off with another golden egg someday. It might also lead to connections with the writers in Writer Seong’s circle.
It was a golden lifeline. Letting it slip away would be far too regrettable.
“Anyway, Chief, what are you planning to choose in the final judging? For the Grand Prize?”
“I don’t know, asshole.”
“Honestly, you were hooked on that script too. Your expression earlier gave you away.”
There was no need to lie.
With a deep sigh, Ha Do-woon reluctantly spoke.
“Fine. I also think [Living with an Ex-Boyfriend] is better. A quality work in such an accessible genre is all you need.”
“Okay! You have to do that. Don’t ever give [Suspect X] a broadcast slot.”
“Hey. We won’t know until we see the scripts through Episode 4. What if Writer Seong stays consistently decent, but this writer falls apart halfway through?”
The scripts submitted so far covered two episodes.
The thirty works selected in the second round had to submit scripts for Episodes 3 and 4 as well.
The scripts through Episode 4 would be considered in the final judging.
“Then it’s over. We’ll have no choice but to go with Writer Seong.”
“Ugh. Don’t say something so horrible. I can’t stand the thought of that work becoming a drama.”
“Is that up to you? The work that succeeds gets picked on its own.”
“If that’s how it works, then [Living with an Ex-Boyfriend] will win.”
“Based on the scripts through Episode 2, yes.”
The Grand Prize went to the work chosen after evaluating more factors.
Writing ability, prose craftsmanship, popular appeal, completeness. In the case of a big-name writer, past works could also count in their favor.
But the most important thing was whether it was fun.
If it was fun, it could be selected as the Grand Prize winner despite every other criterion.
And if fun was the top priority, then most likely...
‘[Living with an Ex-Boyfriend] will win. Obviously.’
Woo Young-taek was one hundred percent certain.
#
Two in the afternoon.
Inside my south-facing studio apartment, which had good lighting for no useful reason, dazzling sunlight streamed through the window and exposed even the dust on my laptop monitor.
“Phew, this is driving me crazy. What the hell is wrong?”
When you’re unemployed, all you have is time.
So I started writing again, hoping to do something productive. But the more I wrote, the more disappointment and frustration piled up instead of satisfaction.
“It’s bad. It’s so bad. Phew, where do I even start fixing this?”
I irritably held down the backspace key.
The sentences I had just struggled to write vanished in an instant.
I tore apart the structure over and over and tried to make the dialogue trendier, but the result was still utterly terrible.
“...Is the plot the problem?”
Yeah. The plot.
They say the plot is the skeleton of a story. My writing had a perfectly ordinary beginning, middle, and end, but it lacked any stimulating element that could be called fun.
No wonder it was boring.
I went back to the beginning and started revising the plot piece by piece.
“Now that I look at it, maybe the characters just aren’t appealing...”
Characters were what readers found easiest to immerse themselves in.
The protagonist in particular was often considered the reader’s avatar.
If those characters weren’t appealing, of course readers wouldn’t want to keep reading.
I kept their individual personalities while giving them insecurities to make them more layered.
I even gave the supporting characters brief personal backstories so readers could become invested in them too.
But even after making the characters more appealing, the result was still not very satisfying.
“No, no. It’s just too slow from the start. The plot structure is fine, so is it because there aren’t enough hooks?”
I kept revising and revising for a long while.
Ka-talk!
A clear notification sound broke my concentration.
I returned to reality and checked my phone first.
[Yoon Dong-woo: Hey, hey]
[Yoon Dong-woo: I just heard a rumor going around the drama department.]
[Yoon Dong-woo: If this works out, buy me a bottle of whiskey lol, okay?]
“...What kind of bullshit is that?”
A rumor going around the drama department?
And what did he mean by buying him whiskey if things worked out? What was supposed to work out?
None of it made any sense, so I thought about it for a moment.
The last time I had met Dong-woo was at that drinking party.
But I had been so drunk that I couldn’t remember a thing.
“Did I make another weird bet? A bet over a bottle of whiskey, of all things?”
This was driving me crazy. Alcohol really was my enemy.
“I don’t care. I’m not buying it. I don’t even remember, so why would I buy whiskey?”
I pushed Dong-woo’s nonsense out of my mind and put my hands back over the keyboard. Just as I was about to gather my scattered inspiration again...
Bzzzt! Bzzzt!
This time, it wasn’t a KakaoTalk message. A call came in, making the entire desk vibrate.
Was that persistent bastard Yoon Dong-woo calling me now?
I irritably checked the screen, only to find that it wasn’t Dong-woo, but a completely unfamiliar number.
“...Who is this?”
I should at least find out.
After clearing my throat, I answered the call.
“Hello. This is Ahn Ji-young, a PD with tvM’s drama department. I’m calling regarding the work you submitted to our network’s screenplay contest.”
“What?”
“Yes. We need the additional scripts for the final judging...”
I hung up before she could finish.
“Damn, spam.”
What? A broadcaster? A screenplay contest? Were scammers using tricks like this now?
Those bastards really had nothing better to do.
.
.
.
.
.
.
[Living with My Ex-Boyfriend Somehow] had safely passed the second round.
Now all that remained was to submit the scripts for Episodes 3 and 4 for the final judging.
The concern was whether the writer could maintain the quality of Episode 1.
If the strongest candidate for the Grand Prize went off the rails halfway through, that would be a disaster.
That was what everyone thought, but the disaster struck somewhere entirely unexpected.
“Has the writer still not answered the phone?”
“No... They still won’t answer.”
“What? I got blocked outright.”
This was no longer a situation where they could worry about the script’s quality.
They had to worry about the script itself.
The writer had gone off the grid instead of the story going off the rails.
And the final judging was tomorrow.
“What if another broadcaster contacted them...?”
“You bastard! Don’t say something that’ll jinx it!”
“If that’s not it, then why won’t the writer answer...?”
Had another broadcaster really poached the writer?
If that was going to happen, then why submit to the contest in the first place?
“Fuck!”
Overtaken by anxiety, Woo Young-taek could only tear at his innocent hair.
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