WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Potter
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Why Do My Dramas Keep Becoming Hits!? ◈
Chapter 48: Fake Madness, Real Madness (9)
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[Exclusive] Woo Yeon-hee, embroiled in drug controversy, returns as a “drug cartel boss”? Public deception crosses the line
[Focus] Even noise marketing has limits... Production team goes too far by setting the stage for a drug offender's comeback
[Did the whole production team get high with the actress? LOL Are they insane?]
[I'm adding every company that advertises on a drama with Woo Yeon-hee to my boycott list. The network airing it is an accomplice too.]
[A drug cartel boss, my ass LOL. At least it'll come naturally to her. Have the cops waiting on set while they film.]
[A criminal crawling back onto TV LOL. What is the Korea Communications Commission doing? Ban it already.]
[They gave a junkie a junkie role LOL. Her method acting will be amazing. Bet she'll get paid in drugs too.]
[The second Woo Yeon-hee's face appears, I'm changing channels. Never watching. Let's boycott.]
At Hi-Up Entertainment's CEO office, the public relations team leader continued the briefing amid a heavy silence.
As the report went on without pause, Division Chief Choi Seong-hwan, reclining on the sofa, let out a deep groan.
"Tsk... This is a bloodbath right from the start."
Rubbing their face, Division Chief Choi turned to Han Young-soo, the team leader and manager standing nearby.
"How's Yeon-hee doing? She didn't completely fall apart after seeing the article, did she?"
"Well..."
Han Young-soo hesitantly began to answer.
"I'm not sure why, but she's actually doing much better than before the article came out. She's eating well too."
"Really?"
"Yes. I think she's gotten somewhat used to it by now. As you know, Yeon-hee isn't exactly an ordinary person."
Division Chief Choi gave a hollow laugh.
"Come on. Does that make any sense? The entire world is rushing at her like it wants to kill her. How could anyone get used to that? She might act tough on the outside, but inside, she's obviously been holding it in until she's rotted away."
"That... is true."
"Right. It won't be easy to handle. Take good care of her."
Namgung Seok, silently listening from the seat at the head of the table, deeply agreed.
An entertainer with ordinary mental resilience would have left the industry long ago, or taken their own life.
That was how brutally cold the public's gaze had become as it closed around Woo Yeon-hee's throat.
More worrying still was that she had only recently managed to quit drugs and was in an unstable state.
If she could not endure this suffocating stress and pressure, there was a high chance she would reach for drugs again in search of an escape.
Just as Namgung Seok was about to speak, Han Young-soo, noticing Namgung Seok's intention, hurriedly cut in first.
"CEO Namgung. Yeon-hee really has quit drugs."
"...."
"She'll never do it again. I guarantee it. Please believe me."
Han Young-soo's objection was full of certainty.
But Namgung Seok's gaze remained cold.
"Team Leader Han. Quitting drugs is not as simple as deciding to quit."
"...Pardon?"
"There's no celebrity who has completely quit drugs. There's only a reprieve, where they grit their teeth and endure until the next time they reach for them."
For over a decade, Namgung Seok had seen countless drug-addled celebrities in the entertainment industry.
Sometimes, they seemed to miraculously escape their addiction and return to normal life. But it never lasted long.
There was no complete recovery.
"B-But there are actors here and abroad who were declared fully recovered and returned to work normally."
"Those are rare miracles."
Namgung Seok tapped the desk with cold emphasis.
"And those people had at least something else to rely on. Does our actress have anything like that?"
"S-Something to rely on... what do you mean?"
"Anything. Religion, a clear motivation, even another person. Does she have anything she can obsess over instead of drugs?"
One famous Hollywood actor quit after being shocked by the bizarre reality of no longer being able to taste a favorite cheeseburger.
Another quit after being deeply moved by religion, while someone else desperately quit to protect their family.
But Woo Yeon-hee was different.
She had already reached the top of the industry, so she had no burning drive to rise higher as an actress. Even her fans had all turned their backs on her.
Everyone around her either envied or hated her, so she had no colleague she could open her heart to and lean on.
It would have been nice if she had at least family to hold her up, but she had cut ties with them long ago after a bitter falling-out.
Naturally, there was no one who could become a stronger addiction than drugs for someone like her.
Namgung Seok rose and spoke sternly to Han Young-soo.
"Our actress has nothing. She's surrounded by enemies on all sides."
"...."
"So keep a close watch, Team Leader Han. Make sure she doesn't touch drugs again. And if she does..."
Namgung Seok paused and let out a deep sigh.
That sigh carried the bitter weight of having to personally cast aside an actress with whom Namgung Seok had shared twenty years of joys and hardships.
But Namgung Seok was responsible for the company. Personal pity could not drag everyone down with her.
After a long, miserable sigh, Namgung Seok's eyes hardened.
"Then we'll have to cut her loose too."
#
After the article about Woo Yeon-hee's casting broke, Studio Miracle and MBS's drama department were thrown into complete chaos.
Viewers' complaints came flooding in every day, while major sponsors threatened to pull out one after another.
They endured wave after wave of crises, barely keeping the ship from sinking. Then, at last, the inevitable day arrived.
The script reading, the true first step of drama production, where the entire cast and key staff gathered for the first time.
With about an hour left before it began, an odd tension already hung over the reading room.
"Uh... Director? Did something bad happen?"
"...No."
"You look exhausted. Didn't you sleep last night?"
As I approached the seat at the head of the table, I casually spoke up.
Pyo Won-ho, looking like a zombie, raised his eyes and snapped at me.
"You think I only missed sleep last night?"
"Sorry?"
"How am I supposed to sleep when I'm this anxious? I've only gotten short naps all week. But how is it that your skin looks so glowing, Writer? Huh?"
Pyo Won-ho stared at me with a look of resentment.
What? Why was he looking at me like that? What did I do?
Still, I could understand why Pyo Won-ho was so anxious.
'Well. Everyone must be worried. I get it.'
Looking around, I saw shadows on the other staff members' faces as well.
Of course there were.
Since the article about Woo Yeon-hee's casting broke, public opinion had been a raging inferno.
There were even arguments inside and outside the network over whether the drama would be canceled. There was no way the atmosphere could be good.
'Ugh, I feel bad for them.'
I was thrilled, of course, but I felt guilty seeing other people suffer because of me.
Later, I should send a coffee truck or a meal truck out of my own pocket.
Just as I was making that pointless vow...
"There you are, Writer."
Two middle-aged men with imposing presences walked in from the conference room entrance.
The surrounding staff immediately bowed to greet them.
'Their faces look familiar. Who are they?'
As I studied their faces without thinking, I vaguely remembered.
Son Jeong-ho, CEO of Studio Miracle, and Im Mun-seok, CEO of Aster, the main investor.
"Writer, if it isn't too much trouble, could you spare us a moment? We have something to discuss."
"...?"
"It will only take a moment. Ha ha."
What was with this serious mood?
Without argument, I followed them into an empty waiting room next door.
Once the door closed, CEO Im Mun-seok broke the heavy silence.
"Writer. You know what the public response is like outside right now... I don't need to spell it out for you, do I?"
I could roughly guess where this was going.
And CEO Im's next words were exactly what I expected.
He went over the public outrage surrounding the article about Woo Yeon-hee point by point and expressed deep concern about the drama's future production and profitability.
CEO Son Jeong-ho of Studio Miracle, standing beside him, added his agreement with an uncomfortable expression.
'Well. I knew this moment would come.'
The article had exploded without any buildup, and the damage was enormous.
Bigger than I had expected.
Naturally, the main investor could not just sit back and watch.
"We are making this proposal with our hearts bleeding because we all need to survive. It isn't too late yet, Writer."
"That's right. We understand how you feel, Writer, but you know what the public response is like. We can't handle this as it is."
They went around in circles for a while, but what they wanted to say came down to one thing.
Get rid of Woo Yeon-hee.
That was the only way to survive.
"...."
"Writer?"
After the two CEOs finished their relentless persuasion, I lowered my head and thought in silence.
My deliberation did not last long.
"If we remove Ms. Woo, who will take that important role immediately?"
"You needn't worry about that. We'll narrow it down to top-tier actors with stronger momentum and no risks, then send you a list by today."
CEO Son answered quickly, as if waiting for the question.
But I replied at once, without the slightest hesitation.
"No. There isn't anyone."
"Pardon?"
"There's no one but Woo Yeon-hee. It has to be Woo Yeon-hee."
The two men frowned at my firm refusal.
Unable to hold back any longer, CEO Im raised his voice.
"Writer! Dramas are commercial art and a business, through and through! At this rate, the projected losses alone will be at least several billion won. The public is saying they'll boycott us. Who do you expect us to air this to?"
"CEO Im, we haven't even started broadcasting. There's no need to get scared this early."
"What are you talking about...?!"
"I said it already. Replacing the actress is absolutely impossible. I hope you understand that."
After that, the tense tug-of-war continued in the empty waiting room.
They tried to persuade me with practical figures and pressure from the network, but I stubbornly refused to budge.
For this drama to fail spectacularly in the first place, we absolutely needed a ticking time bomb like Woo Yeon-hee.
Finally, CEO Im, unable to endure it any longer, pulled out his last card with a cold expression.
"Phew... If you're going to be this way, Writer, then we have no choice either. We can't proceed with this risk. Aster will withdraw its entire 15 billion won investment."
It was a sharp threat from the investor's CEO himself.
An ordinary writer might have gone pale and fallen to their knees.
'Oh, fuck. That's even better.'
Production costs determined a drama's quality.
If the main investor pulled out, it would not just be the 15 billion won. Funding from other places would dry up too.
That was a massive gain for me.
Of course, there was the worst-case possibility that production itself would be canceled. But I had to take that risk.
A drama destined to come out looking like garbage was better off never coming out at all.
Once I reached that conclusion, I nodded calmly without looking intimidated in the slightest.
"Yes, withdraw it."
"...? What did you just say?"
"I said withdraw the 15 billion won."
The air in the waiting room froze.
CEO Im, who had seemed rather arrogant just moments ago, stared at me blankly as though he could not believe it.
CEO Son gasped and hurriedly tried to stop me.
"W-Writer! Are you in your right mind?!"
"Why? If CEO Im doesn't want to take on the risk, then of course Aster should pull out. I won't stop you."
"N-No! Then what are we supposed to do about the drama? If 15 billion won disappears, construction on the sets stops immediately!"
"Building sets isn't the problem."
I tapped the script on the table with a finger.
"Money can be brought in again from somewhere else, but we can't find another actress like Woo Yeon-hee anywhere. She's one of a kind."
"W-What are you talking about? There are countless actors in Korea! And aren't there plenty of actresses with cleaner images than that junkie bitch?!"
"She's not a junkie. She's our actress. I had Ms. Woo in mind from the beginning, so doesn't that make her my actress? Is there a problem with me keeping my actress and filming this drama?"
CEO Im let out a disbelieving laugh.
"So you're saying we should hold on to a bomb of an actress and explode together?"
"It might explode in a good way."
"Ha! Do you honestly believe that?! If we just cleanly replace this one actress, it will be much better..."
"Just one actress? No."
I cut CEO Im off without mercy.
Then I spoke firmly, making it clear there would be no further negotiation.
"If you remove that actress, I'll leave too."
"...?!!"
"While you're at it, find a new writer along with the actress."
The two CEOs' mouths opened and closed.
A crazy writer who would declare he was leaving together with the actress without even blinking at a threat to withdraw 15 billion won in investment.
Even after all their years in the industry, this was probably their first time seeing someone this insane.
"I believe in my actress. I know she'll do it more perfectly than anyone else. So I hope the two of you will trust her just once too."
After saying that, I gave a slight bow.
"Then I'll be going."
Leaving the two stunned men behind, I opened the waiting room door without regret and headed into the hallway.
"Phew."
With a satisfied sigh, I shoved my hands into my pockets and felt my phone's relentless vibrations against my fingertips.
It seemed the meeting with the two CEOs had only been the beginning of the chaos.
Bzzzz!
The moment I turned on the screen, a flood of messages filled it from top to bottom.
Most were urgent summonses from the network's chief producers and Studio Miracle's planning PDs.
"Ugh, this is so annoying."
I was about to skim them and ignore them when I noticed a long text that had arrived ten minutes earlier.
It was from Han Young-soo, Woo Yeon-hee's manager and Hi-Up Entertainment's team leader.
[Writer, I'm terribly sorry to contact you while you're busy preparing for the reading. At the last audition, our actress failed to control her emotions and behaved rudely. I sincerely apologize again for that great discourtesy. Just now, our actress recognized the severity of the situation and said she wanted to apologize to you personally, so she went up to the reading room first. She's naturally prickly and has trouble backing down, so her attitude may rub you the wrong way, but I would be deeply grateful if you could please be generous and forgive her this once. T_T]
I looked up from the phone screen and immediately searched the area.
The hallway, with the script reading about to begin, was fairly crowded with staff hurrying around to set things up and supporting actors arriving one after another, awkwardly greeting each other.
But no matter how carefully I looked through the crowd, I could not spot Woo Yeon-hee.
"What? Did she get embarrassed on the way here and bail?"
The thought of that haughty face turning around because she had come all the way to the door but could not bear to lower her head and apologize made me chuckle.
Well, whether she gave up out of embarrassment or got lost, she would come eventually.
I did not think much of it as I stuffed my phone into my pocket.
#
MBS Annex Underground Parking Garage.
Han Young-soo sat in the driver's seat of a van, tapping the steering wheel anxiously while watching outside.
'I hope she's handling it well... The writer needs to accept her apology properly.'
Han Young-soo worried that Woo Yeon-hee's fiery temper might cause another scene, nervously bouncing a leg.
Then a familiar figure came trudging toward the van from the distance.
It was Woo Yeon-hee.
"Oh, Yeon-hee! You're back?"
Han Young-soo quickly opened the car door, then flinched in surprise.
"But why are you wearing sunglasses? Don't tell me you wore those while apologizing to the writer too?"
Despite the fuss, Woo Yeon-hee said nothing and dropped into the passenger seat.
Her mood was unusually low.
Feeling puzzled, Han Young-soo cautiously reached out.
"Y-Yeon-hee...? What's wrong? Take off the sunglasses first."
Smack!
"Don't touch me."
Woo Yeon-hee coldly slapped the hand away.
Han Young-soo noticed a faint wetness at the edge of her sharp voice and asked in alarm.
"D-Did you cry? Don't tell me the writer cursed you out?"
"I didn't cry. I just washed my face in the bathroom."
Woo Yeon-hee irritably pushed back her damp bangs and raised her lowered head.
She forced down a swallow of dry saliva before speaking in a subdued voice.
"I met Studio Miracle's CEO Son upstairs."
"Huh? CEO Son? Really? What did he say?"
"He told me to step down. To wrap this up and leave quietly."
"Ah..."
At that explosive declaration, Han Young-soo's shoulders slumped helplessly.
"I knew it... So it ended up like this. Sigh, it can't be helped. Public opinion is so vicious, so there wasn't much they could do..."
"...."
"No. Maybe this is for the best. If you force yourself to return..."
"I'm joking."
"...? Joking?"
Han Young-soo, who had been meekly accepting it, opened wide eyes.
Woo Yeon-hee gave a hollow laugh and added,
"Yeah. I was joking."
"W-What?! Ah, hey! You scared me!"
"...."
"Phew... Still, what a relief. Really. Anyway, that's good. Right, Yeon-hee?"
Han Young-soo let out a long breath of relief and rubbed his chest.
Woo Yeon-hee watched that quietly, then suddenly burst out in irritation.
"But that's funny. What do you mean, 'I knew it'? What do you mean, 'it can't be helped'?"
"Huh?"
"I'm asking. How is this for the best? Why are you accepting it before even hearing what I have to say? Huh?"
Han Young-soo protested at the sudden outburst, sounding wronged.
"B-But didn't you just say you were joking?"
"I was joking. But what if it had been real?"
"Y-Yeon-hee. Why are you suddenly acting like this...? Did I do something wrong...?"
"Forget it. Don't talk to me."
"O-Okay..."
Woo Yeon-hee roughly turned away and stared out the window.
Her reflection in the glass was twisted behind her sunglasses.
Of course, she knew.
Han Young-soo's reaction just now was perfectly normal.
That was how this industry worked.
Rats fled a sinking ship first.
Expecting a manager with no blood relation to fight alongside her was selfish greed.
'...So annoying.'
Yes. Her manager was not the only one. Everyone she had ever known had been like that.
People who smiled in front of her as though they would give her everything, only to calculate their losses behind her back and prepare to cut ties at any time.
Fans, friends, colleagues, even the family she shared blood with. None had been exceptions.
And yet.
“There's no one but Woo Yeon-hee. It has to be Woo Yeon-hee.”
The burning lump she had pressed down inside her sunglasses rose up again.
The entire world had turned away, leaving her alone.
So why?
“She's not a junkie. She's our actress. I had Ms. Woo in mind from the beginning, so doesn't that make her my actress? Is there a problem with me keeping my actress and filming this drama?”
"So annoying..."
Why was that complete stranger daring to call her "my actress" as he held my hand at the edge of a cliff?
“If you remove that actress, I'll leave too.”
"So annoying..."
Why would he refuse to back down even a little, willingly offering himself as a shield and saying he would fall from the cliff with me?
“I believe in my actress. I know she'll do it more perfectly than anyone else.”
"So annoyiiing!!!"
She had sworn never to rely on anyone again.
But she hated herself for wanting, like an idiot, to lean on that blind certainty and be comforted by it again.
Woo Yeon-hee clenched her fists tightly and tried to calm her racing heart.
"Seriously... so annoying..."
"...."
Watching the scene beside her, one thought passed through Han Young-soo's mind.
'Did she really quit drugs?'
It was a reasonable suspicion.
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