READ NOVEL ONLINE Episode 019
Episode 019
After the first broadcast of
My brother, father, and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole chicken soup.
After heartily eating kalguksu and fried rice, we couldn’t help but get quite drunk.
This all happened in just a few hours.
We three continued emptying our glasses without stopping, and eventually, the gathering ended with my brother, the weakest drinker among us, getting drunk.
After laying my groaning brother in his room, I came out to find my father cleaning up.
“We could drink more, but I have to open the shop tomorrow, so it’s a bit difficult.”
“You must be tired if you’re opening tomorrow. I’ll clean up here. You should go to bed first, Dad.”
“No, let’s do it together. I’m not drunk at all. I’m perfectly fine.”
As he regularly exercises, he indeed looked the most sober among us three.
It seemed that exercise also helped maintain liver health.
Seeing my father’s fit appearance made me think I should pay attention to exercise too.
Physical strength was crucial to endure shooting a 16-episode drama.
‘I’ll have some free time soon. I should focus on exercising. What kind of exercise would be good?’
After cleaning up with my father and taking a quick shower, I entered my room.
It was already approaching 2 AM.
I was about to go to sleep to manage my condition but reached for my smartphone by my pillow.
I felt I couldn’t sleep without checking the online reactions.
As I turned on my smartphone screen, the first things that caught my eye were internet articles related to
[Unexpected twist! The rookie actor in
[Rookie actor’s outstanding acting skills… Eliciting cheers from viewers!]
[Truly a lead actor! But who is this rookie in
[Amazing looks and excellent acting! A major rookie has appeared!]
[Profile finally updated on official website! The actor playing high school student Shin Han-jae is named Lee Si-joon!]
[Even the profile picture is beautiful! Continued praise for the acting skills of the perfect man, Lee Si-joon!]
[
[An Myung-hyun’s leaked acting footage, ‘Thank goodness it’s Lee Si-joon.’]
[Comparing An Myung-hyun’s acting footage with Lee Si-joon’s? There was a reason for this casting!]
Fortunately, the internet articles were full of praise.
I was especially happy to see many positive evaluations of my acting.
Another notable point was the information about An Myung-hyun’s acting footage being leaked.
The timing was so cunning that it seemed like the production company or broadcasting station had a hand in it.
‘Usually, these kinds of leaked videos surface when negative issues are at their peak.’
But An Myung-hyun’s acting footage was uniquely leaked when public opinion about
Moreover, in this process, the production company belatedly revealed my profile on the official website.
It was an action that strongly suggested
It seemed like a strategic move.
Indeed, some of the internet articles were brimming with a promotional feel.
They were clearly the work of journalists with close ties to the production company or broadcasting station.
‘While it’s always happening and somewhat unavoidable to do provocative promotion for a drama’s success…’
It gave me a strange feeling.
The choice of this promotional method seemed to include a vengeful psychology towards FQ, which wasn’t paying the rightful compensation.
‘It reminds me again how scary places involving money are. Anyway, it’ll be hard to gauge objective public opinion from internet articles.’
That’s how internet articles usually were.
To check proper reactions, I needed to look at the drama community.
This place, where drama enthusiasts gather, would allow me to grasp what kind of trend
After some time has passed since the drama’s airing, even this place would lose objectivity, but it was still reliable right after the first broadcast.
So I accessed the drama community and started quickly scanning through the posts.
Arrest│ So this man is Lee Si-joon, right?
-If so, I can’t help but love himㅠㅠ
-How did such a handsome and talented actor suddenly appear?
└It’s my eternal regret that I only met Si-joon nowㅠㅠ
└Surprised by his face, then surprised again by his actingbbbb
└At this rate, a talent like Song Jung-hyuk or Park Jun-min might emergeㄷㄷㄷ
└I already think he’s at the same level as those two
└It’s too early to say that;; Song Jung-hyuk and Park Jun-min are in a different league
└Yeah, he needs to succeed as a lead in at least one work to be in the same league as them
└But we can agree there’s no rookie as good as him right now, right?
└We don’t need to praise his looks just because he can act well now!
└For real, I’m really looking forward to Lee Si-joon. Please be this good in Episode 2 tooㅠㅠ
Arrest│ I watched AMH’s acting footage..
-No matter how many times I think about it, I’m glad our Si-joon was cast
-Si-joon! Noona is sorry for cursing! Will you forgive me? Thanks, I knew you would^^
└If AMH was the lead, many people probably wouldn’t watch Episode 2
└Episode 2? If it wasn’t Si-joon, I would’ve changed the channel before the middle of Episode 1
└AMH not only has a bad personality, but his acting is also terrible
└Casting AMH as a good character was a huge mistake from the start
└I heard Si-joon was originally cast as Hwang In-seop’s high school role? Evolved from villain to hero!
└I wonder how well he played Hwang In-seop’s high school role to get an internal promotionㄷㄷ
└And yet people cursed without knowing the full story. Here I am(__)
└This time, staying neutral was the right answer feat. regretting now
Arrest│ Everything else was good too, but
-Lee Si-joon was legendary
-Honestly, after seeing Lee Si-joon, no other actor catches my eye
-How can even his voice be so perfect?
└I can’t sleep because Lee Si-joon’s face keeps flashing in my mind until dawn
└22222 He was so handsome…. He seemed like a creature from another world
└Lee Si-joon: ?? I never said I was human
└The tension of the actors performing with him also seemed different
└Usually when one actor is too handsome, the chemistry gets ruined, but that doesn’t happen with Lee Si-joon
└Thinking it might be his acting skills too. An actor who can even act out chemistry….
└It might seem like we’re getting too excited after just one episode, but he’s definitely the best in his age group
Similar posts kept appearing in the community.
Posts had been continuously created from 10 PM when
I tried to click and check each one but gave up and just skimmed the titles.
Even just roughly looking at the titles, I could tell how positive the discussions were.
Praise no less than that from the media was pouring in.
Naturally, my thoughts turned to the ratings.
‘What will the ratings for Episode 1 of
Just as an album’s success can be determined by how high it enters the music charts,
The rough success of a drama could be gauged by what percentage the first episode’s ratings start at.
For this reason, the ratings for Episode 1 were extremely important.
‘Originally,
It was a poor performance even for a drama aired on ITBC.
Given that it was riding on writer Jung Su-min’s name, it should have at least achieved ratings in the 3% range.
This was evidence of how big the ripple effect caused by An Myung-hyun was.
‘The reactions aren’t bad, but will we face the same result this time?’
Various thoughts crossed my mind, but there was no definitive clue.
I could only hope for even slightly better results now that I had joined.
* * *
“Good work everyone!”
“Thank you for your hard work!”
Finally, all the re-shoots for
Everyone seemed to be in high spirits, probably because the ratings for Episodes 1-2 were good.
I too was in a great mood after checking the ratings for Episodes 1-2.
Episode 1: 3.41%
Episode 2: 3.76%
This was the report card
‘Episode 1 barely met expectations with mid-3% ratings.’
But the situation changed when Episode 2’s ratings increased by 0.35%.
Such a high increase in ratings meant it was likely to continue on an upward trend.
Moreover, viewer reactions to
The fact that it immediately took first place in drama buzz was proof of this.
Clip videos of
Not a few videos were heading towards 200,000 views after surpassing 100,000.
‘Not all of them are hitting 100,000, but this level makes sense for being #1 in buzz.’
It seemed we could expect even better ratings after Episode 4, when
This was natural considering that
“As expected, my eyes weren’t wrong. As soon as the first week’s broadcast aired, our Si-joon’s popularity just-!”
When I turned my head, Goo Kyung-mo and Yang I-deum were there.
It seemed they came to say goodbye since we might not meet for a while after this.
“You worked hard on the re-shoots. Thanks to you two, I was able to finish well too. Thank you.”
“What hard work? You had it the toughest, Si-joon. I’m glad the reactions aren’t bad though.”
Yang I-deum sighed with relief.
“That’s a no-no. I wasn’t worried at all. I knew our Si-joon would do well. In that sense, how about a drink today?”
Come to think of it, we finished shooting three episodes twice but never had a drink together.
There was no reason not to have a drink with Goo Kyung-mo and Yang I-deum.
But unfortunately, today wasn’t a good day.
“I’d like to have a drink with you two too, but…”
“We know. No need to apologize. You have plans today, right? I heard from your manager oppa.”
“What? Why didn’t I hear about this? What kind of plans? Tell me too!”
“Agency meeting. I need to decide where to go now too. The teacher seems to be quite busy because of me.”
Since I didn’t have an agency, almost all inquiries about me were coming to Double U Acting Academy.
It was understandable, but I couldn’t help but worry since Seo Myung-hee, who needed to focus on her role in
Above all, I wanted to receive good scripts while reactions were coming in like this.
Goo Kyung-mo nodded his head, looking disappointed but understanding.
“If it’s an agency meeting, it can’t be helped. We’ll have to give way.”
“Let’s set a date and meet. Tell me a good day for you next week.”
When I said this decisively, Goo Kyung-mo’s eyes widened with excitement.
“Really? When would be good? I’m impossible all of next week except Thursday.”
“…You mean you’re only available on Thursday? Why do you say things so strangely?”
“I wanted to say I’m busy but didn’t want to act busy, so I said it like that. Was it too weird?”
“Yeah. Totally.”
It seemed Goo Kyung-mo and Yang I-deum were quite busy too.
Certainly, both of them were gaining quite a bit of popularity from appearing in
It was natural since they were both good actors for their young age.
Maybe they had already received casting offers for good projects or decent advertising model offers.
While I was thinking this, Yang I-deum, who had been frowning at Goo Kyung-mo, turned her gaze towards me.
“Anyway, Thursday isn’t bad. That’s the only day I’m free too. How about you, Si-joon?”
“Thursday works for me too. I haven’t made many plans yet. Let’s meet then.”
After setting the appointment with Goo Kyung-mo and Yang I-deum, I went to greet Director Kang Han-sung.
I didn’t forget to bow politely first whenever I encountered staff members along the way.
As I had decided to become a good person first to become a good actor, I needed to always make an effort.
“Thank you for your hard work on the re-shoots, Director.”
“Oh! You’re here. Yes, thank you for your hard work too, Actor Lee Si-joon.”
“It’s nothing. You always had it the hardest, Director. Thank you again for giving me such a great opportunity.”
“I’m the one who should be thankful. I shudder to think how we would have overcome this crisis without Actor Lee Si-joon. Let’s have a proper drink at the wrap party. Is that okay?”
“It would be an honor. Until then, I’ll cheer for
I exchanged a few more words with Director Kang Han-sung after that.
He seemed to have something he wanted to say, his lips moving slightly, but in the end, he didn’t bring up anything special.
After meeting with Director Kang Han-sung, the time for my first meeting was approaching.
Sure enough, I started to hear the vibration of my smartphone that I had put in my jacket pocket.
“Hello?”
-Actor Lee Si-joon. I’ve arrived at the filming location now.
“You’re early.”
-Of course I should come early for a meeting with you. Shall we meet at a nearby cafe? I have a place in mind.
My first meeting was with an employee from ‘Festa Entertainment’, the agency Goo Kyung-mo belonged to.