The drama is still cruising along smoothly.
The trend of rising ratings with each episode continues.
The hidden conflict between the protagonist Kang Min, who is chasing after a three-star rating in Michelin, and the leftover members of Cheese Pia who are after his cheese sauce recipe.
Additionally, the gradual revelation of conspiracies and the appearance of new aliens are receiving positive reactions for their freshness.
Though, the term ‘freshness’ might be somewhat overly mild.
What should we say? It’s more like ‘they’re on drugs?’ or ‘they’ve gone mad?’ These kinds of expressions were far more frequent.
– The KTD anti-drug team should arrest the PD and the writer of Prom first! These people are on drugs!
This is one of the comments in the drama community that has received overwhelming support.
It seems that the consensus in the drama community is that this production team is on drugs.
-Hey, it’s truly amazing. I’ve never watched a drama where I couldn’t predict the next episode’s development until now!
Even my father, who is well-trained in various melodrama dramas, says he has no idea how our drama will proceed.
He mentions that the progression is so unexpected that he can’t even predict what’s next.
In fact, I am the same.
I don’t know how this drama will turn out.
The scripts keep changing as additional pages keep flying in every week.
From that perspective, Writer Ok is truly remarkable.
How does she keep up this level of tension while continuously throwing in last-minute changes?
Perhaps I’ve awakened an unheralded master of the melodrama genre.
Anyway, in the predictable landscape of Korean dramas, this one stands out as the first where the next episode can’t be guessed, and this seems to be why many people are watching our show live.
If the acting hadn’t held up, the audience’s interest would have quickly waned, but the actors have managed to keep their cool and endure somehow.
On the other hand, it’s not just our drama that’s doing well.
Heavenly Yuah’s KTD and Moon Suyeon’s Mother’s Song are also gradually on the rise in terms of viewership.
KTD has been brilliantly illustrating the tenacity of the National Narcotics Investigation Bureau’s relentless pursuit of justice against a cartel that’s spreading its tentacles into the political and financial sectors.
Mother’s Song has a unique story showing a single mother resolving to enter a trot singing contest, systematically eliminating competitors and delivering catharsis to the viewers.
KTD and Mother’s Song are undoubtedly well-made dramas, and the praise they’ve garnered accumulates week after week.
“Even now, after the second week, Restaurant Promo is still number one in the ratings. It’s quite amusing, even though it’s still nerve-wracking.”
Indeed, we still haven’t surpassed the ratings for Restaurant Promo.
Are you watching, Heavenly Yuah? This is the true power of the melodrama you dismissed!
Then, just as if to end the deadlock, Moon Suyeon began to make her move.
– Mother’s Song: Moon Suyeon (Luna)’s unique drama promotion! Meeting viewers directly!
In order to target the housewife audience, who are the core viewers of Mother’s Song, she started going to events herself and singing the drama’s OST live wherever housewives gather.
Many housewives were unaware of who Luna was.
After all, her fanbase predominantly consisted of people in their teens to thirties.
However, Mother’s Song was already a popular drama in the housewife community.
The trot OST she sang for the show had also gained considerable recognition among housewives.
And no drama fan would dislike an event where the lead actor of their favorite drama personally sings the OST.
Moreover, above all else, she was an exceptionally talented singer.
The kind of talent that makes even people unfamiliar with the drama curious about the song.
It was even rumored that some people were asking their parents to download the song, with these requests circulating on internet forums.
And, naturally, this interest eventually flowed back to the drama as well.
It’s a somewhat risky promotional method, though.
As places where housewives gather inevitably draw large crowds, various issues could have arisen when Luna arrived.
However, Flame’s support crew executed these seemingly impossible events seamlessly, thanks to the heavy investment of money and manpower.
Or rather, I knew that the entire budget of that drama came from our side, but I never imagined they’d support it to this extent.
Additionally, how much do these Luna events cost, anyway? What are they even doing over there?
Nonetheless, thanks to Moon Suyeon’s enthusiastic efforts, the drama was effectively promoted, the OST got great exposure, and as a result, the ratings are significantly increasing.
“If she had gone through with that till the end, it could have been truly dangerous. Anyway, she’s quite a scary woman, isn’t she?”
However, we had our own troubles, mainly due to Luna’s fans.
The scale of Luna’s female solo fanbase is remarkable.
Given its size, it housed all kinds of people, but since Flame started managing it rigorously, most of the problematic fans have been weeded out.
The remaining fans warmly welcomed her decision to take a break as well.
The atmosphere of the fandom only turned slightly complicated after her participation in Mother’s Song was confirmed.
Despite delaying the release of her album on the grounds of a hiatus, her decision to return to acting created some unrest within the fandom.
However, the majority of her fans positively supported her acting comeback, which managed to adequately resolve any building negativity.
The reason fans could hold on once more was her refreshed and healthy appearance compared to previous times, at the drama production press conference.
Now that that drama is about to end, there’s a belief that her singing career and album release will resume.
– Luna’s event popped up!
– Huh? Isn’t this her break period?
– No, it’s a drama promotion event.
– But it’s trot.
– Trot or whatever, Luna can’t be resisted! It’s my turn first!
That’s how the desperate news of her guerilla event reached the fans who had been enduring patiently.
The fans, who were waiting for her appearance on any stage regardless of the genre—whether trot or anything else—started following her as soon as they got the news.
The colors of a singer’s fanbase differ slightly from those of an actor’s, and Luna’s fanbase is far more proactive and extreme compared to Yoo-a’s.
Since Suyeon joined our company, the workload of the guards has grown much more intense; their enthusiasm is painfully obvious.
Once the fanbase converged, it grew beyond Flame’s control, and despite hiding the schedule, fans camped out in front of the company and couldn’t be shaken off.
In the end, she had no choice but to announce the end of the promotional events.
Had it continued, Mother’s Song’s ratings would have skyrocketed, which could have solidified my decision to make my next project a melodrama.
Frankly, I felt like thanking Luna’s extreme fans despite everything.
“Crisis time. Deploying such cunning in the sacred realm of acting—who’s saying they’re not villains? They’re utterly despicable.”
I shouldn’t lecture, having thrown my own melodrama into the mix, but using a singer’s performance to promote a drama is indeed an excessively villainous tactic.
I visited the filming site of Mother’s Song the day after Moon Suyeon announced the end of her guerrilla promotion events.
In the morning, I was scheduled to have a cameo appearance alongside Suyeon at this set, then move to the KTD set to film my cameo with Heavenly Yuah.
We had scheduled an exact day to wrap up all the cameo appearances.
“Hey, Siwoo. It’s been a while.”
“Director Choi, how have you been?”
“I’m doing well. And you, Siwoo? I hear your drama is doing great.”
“Nah, it’s just a phase. Mother’s Song is on a great streak.”
At the Mother’s Song filming site, I noticed many familiar crew members.
This too was a drama produced by Phoenix, so the cinematographer and lighting crew were the same people I had worked with on Gold Rush: Joseon.
With Gold Rush: Joseon already being a massive hit and Mother’s Song also performing well, the atmosphere on set was cheerful.
Of course, not including the lead actress, Moon Suyeon.
She seemed somewhat restless, as if something was lacking.
I believe it’s because her numbers, while good, aren’t enough to win the competition yet.
The suspension of the events due to the fan rally probably also had some impact.
As a party involved in the bet, it’s an awkward situation where offering words of encouragement isn’t quite appropriate, so I silently bowed my head and moved on.
“Actor Baek. Here it is.”
“Ahh, the part I’m acting today…”
“Yes, the protagonist’s ex-husband. You kind of know what the scene would be about, right?”
“I see. I somewhat anticipated this, but… there won’t be a kiss, right?”
“Are you kidding? We wouldn’t add a kiss scene here. And, there’s something else.”
“Yes?”
“Families don’t do that kind of thing. They’re already married, and they have a child. This feels more natural.”
“That’s reasonable.”
I was informed that the role I’d be playing was the protagonist’s deceased ex-husband, and a script prepared by Yang Yuli was handed over.
When I heard the story, it was exactly what I expected.
It wasn’t as dramatic as I anticipated, looking at the script.
After all, it was only a few scenes, with the most memorable one being where I embrace Suyeon from behind and whisper words of love.
Is this what Suyeon has permitted? It feels weaker than I expected from a woman who once presented me with a melodramatic plot.
Perhaps Yang Yuli managed to keep her in check.
Scenes without clear purpose tend to negatively affect ratings, so it was a wise decision.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Since the scene wasn’t particularly heavy, we quickly prepared for filming.
It’s a pretty simple scene—just giving her a warm hug from behind and smiling.
As I approached her from behind in the kitchen and gently wrapped my arms around her…
“Cut! Wait a moment!”
Suyeon felt something too intense (I think) and trembled, causing an NG.
Of course, how could I react like this…
Though I have to admit, it did feel rather good. She’s incredibly soft and cuddly, which makes me understand the allure of embracing someone from behind.
But it seems she experienced more than I did.
Back in Gold Rush: Joseon*, even the embrace scenes went smoothly, so it seems a back hug is more stimulating than a regular hug.
Seeing her cheeks completely red from some perplexing embarrassment, she even looked a little cute.
What a strange feeling.
“Take! Great job everyone.”
After a couple more NGs, we finally wrapped the scene.
Upon closer inspection, it seemed the NGs weren’t intentional but rather her body reacting too honestly.
Well, there’s nothing that can be done about that.
She’s had a long career in entertainment but hasn’t had much physical contact with men.
Though she hesitated this much over a back hug, it’s ironic considering she once came with such a melodramatic script.
But there’s no real need to point that out now since this bet will ensure the melodramatic script is erased forever.
“…You did well.”
“Yes, sir. So did you, Seonbae.”
“Alright, let’s head to the next set?”
“Of course. I wonder what kind of scene Yoo-a has prepared.”
“Hmph. Don’t get too carried away.”
“Surely you wouldn’t do something like that, Seonbae.”
“No, this is…”
“Ah, it’s fine. You were kind of cute, in your own way.”
“Cute… But I’m older than you.”
“There’s no rule that being older means you can’t be cute. See you at the company later.”
“…Sure. Go well.”
With that, I neatly wrapped up this cameo and moved on to the next location.
Leaving behind the slightly dampened, yearning gaze of Suyeon.
