WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Potter

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◈ Why Do My Dramas Keep Becoming Hits!? ◈

Chapter 4: Bring That Writer Here Right Now! (1)

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In a quiet corner of a café, a middle-aged woman tapped away at her laptop.

Her name was Seong Yu-ra, a star screenwriter known as the queen of rom-coms.

"You're late, Department Head Han."

"Oh, Writer Seong. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. I didn't realize you'd arrived already, haha."

Han Kang-hee, a department head in SBC's Drama Bureau, arrived late and dropped into his seat with a sly smile.

"Have you eaten? There's a private Japanese restaurant nearby that I know well. Shall I take you there? It's an incredible place."

At that, Seong Yu-ra, who had been working, raised a finger to her lips.

A gesture telling Han Kang-hee to be quiet. In a detached, offhand voice, Seong Yu-ra said,

"Just a moment. Could you keep it down a little? I'm in the middle of something."

"Ah, yes, of course. Don't mind me. Please write comfortably, haha."

She had someone sitting right in front of her yet stared only at her laptop.

She was clearly the rude one, but Department Head Han chuckled good-naturedly and let it slide.

Even if Han Kang-hee clicked his tongue inwardly and thought, 'What an arrogant woman,' his outward smile remained perfectly businesslike.

"Sorry. I got so focused that I lost track of everything."

"Hahaha. Not at all. Of course you should focus solely on writing when you're working. I completely understand."

"So what did you want to say? As you can see, I'm very busy."

Though she was speaking with Han Kang-hee, her eyes remained fixed on the laptop screen.

Despite the slight, Department Head Han maintained his friendly smile.

It was Han Kang-hee's survival tactic in this brutal industry.

"Haha, it's about work. Aren't you preparing your next project right now?"

"If that's what this is about, you're too late."

She was busy preparing for the contest.

The final judging would take place soon, and barring any surprises, she would win the Grand Prize.

After that, she would be even busier with drama filming.

"I think my next project will be with tvM."

"tvM... So the rumor that you submitted a script to their contest was true?"

Han Kang-hee phrased it as a question, but already knew.

News in this industry never stayed hidden forever.

That was especially true for a major writer like Seong Yu-ra.

Every broadcaster watched her every move.

"That's how it turned out. So let's talk about SBC another time."

Seong Yu-ra finished speaking and started to rise from her seat.

But Department Head Han's next words stopped her cold.

"I heard only the Grand Prize winner goes into drama production."

"...And?"

"I heard there's another writer who is practically guaranteed to win the Grand Prize."

Her usually composed face crumpled in an instant.

Writers tended to be proud people.

And someone like her, who had produced numerous hit dramas, was even more so.

"Where did you hear that?"

"Haha. My nephew handles outsourced productions over there, so he knows all their internal news. You know PD Woo Young-taek, right?"

"Yes. I know him well."

Woo Young-taek was a veteran PD at tvM.

He had been directing dramas for nearly fifteen years and had produced no small number of hit works.

He also had an exceptional eye for choosing projects. Without exaggeration, there was not a single title in his career that could be called a blemish.

"I hear he's obsessed with some strange script and pushing it hard."

"PD Woo?"

"Yes. I don't understand it either. Has that man lost his touch so badly that he can't even recognize Writer Seong's script?"

What nonsense.

Could the people there possibly not know something that even Han Kang-hee, a department head at a competing network, knew?

In other words, they had chosen another script even while knowing it was Seong Yu-ra's.

They had rejected her.

"...."

Seong Yu-ra was a star writer courted by multiple broadcasters.

For a long time, she had wanted to shed the label of queen of rom-coms.

So she had ambitiously prepared a crime thriller novel, the complete opposite of a rom-com. But since it was her first attempt, it was only natural that she hesitated.

Then she heard about tvM's contest.

A cable network came with less pressure. There was less to gain, but also less to lose.

And with Woo Young-taek himself directing the winning entry, it was a gamble with ratings assured to some extent.

Yet things had turned out like this.

'This is... unsettling.'

She could not understand it.

They should have been begging her to come aboard, yet this was how they treated her.

Could there really have been a script by a writer even bigger than herself among the submissions?

"Writer Seong."

As she stood there dazed, Department Head Han spoke carefully.

"Don't let them treat you like this. Why don't you commit to us instead? If you come to SBC, I'll personally secure you a prime weekend Broadcast slot."

"...."

"Isn't it about time SBC put out a quality drama too? Hmm?"

It was a sudden proposal, but Seong Yu-ra's mind moved quickly.

Her hesitation did not last long.

Clack!

The laptop screen she had been staring at all this time closed.

Only then did Seong Yu-ra turn her full attention to Han Kang-hee.

"Fine. But I have a condition."

"Oh, just say the word. We'll accommodate anything."

Seong Yu-ra's attitude was somewhat high-handed, but the corners of Han Kang-hee's mouth stretched almost to his ears.

A condition? Han Kang-hee would meet any condition.

Seong Yu-ra had practically fallen into their hands. Would they begrudge offering even a liver or gallbladder?

"That nobody script PD Woo Young-taek is obsessed with. I don't know when its Broadcast slot is, but put us up against it in the same time slot."

"Pardon? You want to go head-to-head?"

"Why? Don't you have confidence?"

"Hahaha, of course I do. Who would dare challenge the great Writer Seong? I was simply wondering if it was necessary to go to so much trouble just to crush them."

"Do it anyway. That's my condition."

Her pride had been thoroughly wounded.

She intended to put Woo Young-taek and that insolent writer in their place.

"Let's see whether PD Woo's precious instincts were right or wrong."

A vicious gleam filled Seong Yu-ra's eyes.

And Han Kang-hee, watching her, cheered inwardly.

All while under the mistaken belief that this year's best second-half drama would be born in SBC's hands.

#

"You damned writer! We're spoon-feeding you the Grand Prize, so why won't you take it? Why?!"

Why show us the script in the first place if this was what would happen?

Why make us worry ourselves sick, then quit?

Woo Young-taek groaned, clutching his throbbing head.

"Fuck..."

Had another broadcaster really contacted them?

That unknown writer, who was supposedly just a rookie?

No, they could not possibly be a rookie.

A rookie would never have that kind of nerve, and they would have been delighted like a child just to hear that they had reached the final judging.

They had to be a famous star writer.

Ji Yeon-woo, a name he had never heard before, was surely just a pseudonym.

"PD Woo, what should we do? They still won't answer our calls..."

"...Phew."

Woo Young-taek stopped scratching his head and let out a deep sigh.

"What else can we do? We have to let them go."

"B-but isn't it a shame to lose them like this?"

"What do you want me to do? Will clinging to the phone all day change anything?"

"...."

"Ugh. At least we still have Writer Seong Yu-ra's script. We'll have to take comfort in that."

The moment he said that, disaster struck.

Bang!

"Everyone, stop what you're doing and listen."

The meeting room door flew open, and Ha Do-woon entered with a grim expression.

The office fell silent as if someone had thrown cold water over it. After the department head spoke, the internal PDs' attention turned solely to Ha Do-woon.

Then Ha Do-woon dropped a bombshell.

"Writer Seong Yu-ra dropped her script."

"...!!"

"W-what?!"

Their most likely Grand Prize candidate had vanished, and Writer Seong Yu-ra had withdrawn from the contest.

There was only one way to describe the situation.

They were fucked.

Completely fucked.

"Another broadcaster must have caught wind of her and snatched her up. Shameless bastards."

Only Ha Do-woon, who did not know the full details, managed to stay calm.

"So, that [Living with an Ex-Boyfriend] script. We don't have another option now, so we have to give it the Grand Prize and make it our flagship drama for the second half. Now that we've lost Writer Seong, that script is the only lifeline we have left. We have to stake everything on it. Got it?"

Normally, this would have been news Woo Young-taek celebrated first.

The work he had picked would win the Grand Prize and be produced as a drama.

But right now, Woo Young-taek's face, along with those of the other PDs, was turning pale.

"First, everyone, prepare for the planning meeting. Woo Young-taek, you know the written storyboard is your responsibility, right? That means you'll contact the writer yourself."

"...."

Ha Do-woon issued orders briskly.

Yet the people who would normally rush to move did not take a single step today.

They only watched each other's reactions.

A heavy silence filled the office for a while, until Ha Do-woon spoke irritably.

"What are you all doing? Stop dragging your feet and get moving!"

"Um, Department Head... The thing is..."

While the junior PDs trembled and watched each other, Woo Young-taek finally decided to take responsibility.

"The writer has gone off the grid..."

"What? What does that mean?"

"They won't answer calls, and one of us even got blocked... No matter how we try to contact them, we get nothing."

"...?"

"I think... another broadcaster took this writer too. Like Writer Seong..."

The already heavy air in the office sank even further.

Ha Do-woon stood with their mouth hanging open like someone whose soul had left their body.

Then their expression gradually twisted before exploding like an active volcano.

"You crazy bastards!!"

"We're sorry!"

"The final judging is only days away, and the writer has gone off the grid?! We've already lost Seong Yu-ra, so what the fuck is this supposed to mean?!"

"We're still trying to contact them...!"

"Don't just try! Go bring them here!! Isn't there an address on the submission form? Go pound on their door if you have to!"

"W-well... there wasn't an address. They only wrote down a phone number..."

"You bastard!! Find them somehow and bring them here!"

Ha Do-woon's lion-like roar echoed through the entire Drama Department.

"Bring that writer here right now! If they want a Broadcast slot, promise them prime time! If they want a fee, offer them the best possible terms! Grab them by the collar or cling to their trouser leg, offer any condition you have to, but convince them no matter what! Got it?!"

"Y-yes! Understood!"

Writer Seong was already a lost fish, but they still did not know about the writer of [Living with an Ex-Boyfriend].

In the worst case, another broadcaster had already contacted them. But they had to assume the best for now.

They had no alternative.

They had to secure the writer, no matter what it took.

"Phew... Remember this. Under the rules, the deadline is four days from now, Friday at midnight. Get the scripts for Episodes 3 and 4 by then."

"Y-yes! Understood!"

Thus, tvM suddenly found itself in a state of emergency.

.

.

.

.

.

.

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At the same time, in the editing room of tvM's Variety Department.

"Ah, the subtitle timing is just slightly off."

Yoon Dong-woo lazily clicked his mouse.

Then the notification for the company messenger group chat open at the bottom-right corner of Yoon Dong-woo's monitor began flashing madly.

It was the so-called rumor mill group, where colleagues from the same intake cohort in every department at the network gathered.

[Seong Min-su (Variety): What's Seong-hyeon going to do lololol they're fucked lol]

[Kim Seong-hyeon (Drama): Don't laugh.... This is seriously fucked;;;]

[Choi Su-min (Factual Programming): ??? What's wrong with Seong-hyeon? Did something happen?]

Yoon Dong-woo tilted his head at the lively chat.

What had happened?

[Seong Min-su (Variety): Seong Yu-ra bailed lol]

[Seong Min-su (Variety): And now this contest's Grand Prize candidate is going off the grid too lol]

[Choi Su-min (Factual Programming): Whoa]

[Kang Tae-hoon (Variety): Crazy lol the Drama Department must be in an emergency lol]

[Kim Seong-hyeon (Drama): Don't even start; the department head just went completely ballistic and screamed at us;;]

There was nothing more entertaining than watching another department's problems.

Yoon Dong-woo calmly took a sip of coffee and typed.

[Yoon Dong-woo: Can't you just give the prize to another script?]

[Kim Seong-hyeon (Drama): Fuck if I know. The higher-ups ordered us to catch the writer who went off the grid no matter what]

[Kim Seong-hyeon (Drama): But we only know the phone number and name. How are we supposed to find them?]

[Yoon Dong-woo: What's the name? Are they a famous writer?]

[Kim Seong-hyeon (Drama): We don't even know if it's a real name or a pen name. But the pen name is "Ji Yeon-woo," and it sounds exactly like a real name, you know]

"...! Cough!"

A choking cough burst from Yoon Dong-woo's mouth.

Without even noticing coffee streaming down Yoon Dong-woo's chin, Yoon Dong-woo stared blankly at the three characters on the monitor.

"J-Ji Yeon-woo?!"

Just in case...

[Yoon Dong-woo: Hey]

[Yoon Dong-woo: What's the title of that script?]

[Kim Seong-hyeon (Drama): The title? Hmm...]

[Kim Seong-hyeon (Drama): Was it Living with My Ex-Boyfriend Somehow? Something like that]

"Fuck! Ji Yeon-woo, that crazy bastard!"

The curse flew out as a spinal reflex.

With that brief outburst, Yoon Dong-woo urgently pulled out his phone.

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