*Time Between You and Me* by Writer Im Seong-hee.
And *Catch Me If You Can* by Writer Jeong Tae-mi.
Both works received unilateral cancellation notices from their respective broadcasting stations.
It was almost unheard of to scrap a drama mid-production after filming had already begun. Of course, such things happened in cases like Park Taewon’s drunk driving incident, where the lead actor caused a social controversy beyond recovery. In those instances, production might be halted to replace the lead or delayed indefinitely.
However, dismantling a project in the middle of production when no accidents or scandals had occurred was a patently absurd situation. From the broadcasting station’s perspective, they would have to bear massive losses, as payments for the scripts had already been made and expenses had been paid to the production company and staff.
Yet, they hadn’t just canceled one project; they had canceled two.
The fact that this happened to works by Im Seong-hee and Jeong Tae-mi, both of whom were under Gat Media, felt like more than just an absurdity—it felt like a sinister intention.
“They are writers who have already proven themselves with *Chaebol at Thirty* and *The Prosecutor’s Dispute*, and they’ve shown consistent results. So why was the production canceled?”
“I also just heard it as a notification, so I need to look into the circumstances, but one thing is certain…”
“What is it?”
Seo Sun-ae hesitated before speaking in a cautious voice.
“I don’t think it’s a personal problem with Writer Im or Writer Jeong.”
“Then is the broadcasting station ostracizing our Gat Media? Unilaterally, without any reason…”
As I followed the thought of who would display such blatant, unilateral malice, only one place came to mind. One person, full of spite toward Gat Media—no, toward the human Lee Junghyuk.
‘Could it be Jeon Minjeong?’
But thinking rationally, even if Jeon Minjeong harbored such ill will, this was crossing the line. Setting aside morality, for a corporation to pressure a broadcasting station into canceling two works already in production was a reckless move, even for a conglomerate like CL Media.
‘In the first place, if the goal was just to ruin me, there are plenty of ways to do it without taking such a financial hit.’
No matter how powerful CL Media was, the limit of what they could do out of personal spite was usually manipulating public opinion or framing someone, not this kind of tyrannical sabotage. The losses alone would amount to billions of won, and they would have likely had to pay a separate price to the stations to rush in replacement works for the canceled slots.
“What reason did the broadcasting station give for the cancellation?”
“It’s not like they pointed to one specific reason. They gave various excuses.”
“Like what?”
According to the station, they claimed the situation was difficult and that internal reorganization was a factor. Among the excuses, some even mentioned that the quality of the works was disappointing.
‘That’s ridiculous.’
Maybe if it were just one or two works, but for the past three years, most of the projects we handled were brought in from Gatflix. None of them had failed to reach the break-even point, and both of these canceled works were proven titles with ratings over 3%. As for the quality, since I had been confirming the scripts all along, their claim sounded like a blatant lie.
“Ha, there’s a limit to how much someone can force an excuse.”
“For now, I’ll check if there have been any recent incidents with the actors in those two works, or if there are any rumors and gossip circulating in online communities that haven’t hit the news yet.”
“Alright. Director Seo, please check the rumors and public opinion. I’ll go meet the people from our production companies.”
The moment Jo Minsung, the General Manager of Ten Enter, and Hong Juhee, the CEO of H Studio, heard about the cancellation, they had already agreed to gather at our office for an emergency meeting. Thanks to that, both Minsung and Juhee were able to assemble in the meeting room within one hour.
The three of us, meeting with grim expressions, skipped the pleasantries despite it being a while since we last saw each other and got straight to the point.
It was Hong Juhee who spoke first with a gloomy face.
“First, I contacted the CPs and PDs I’m personally close with at the broadcasting stations, but there wasn’t much to gain.”
“Did they keep making excuses about quality?”
“Yes. It was as if they had all coordinated their stories. They wouldn’t reveal their true intentions at all.”
Upon hearing that, General Manager Jo Minsung became indignant, calling it nonsense.
“That’s bull. If quality were the issue, production wouldn’t have even started in the first place.”
“Of course. General Manager Jo, what do you think is the reason behind this?”
“This isn’t official yet, but…”
Jo Minsung and the CEO of Ten Enter had personally contacted a Director at TBS to ask about the truth. Because they had worked on numerous projects together through Ten Enter, they were able to hear a different story than Juhee.
“It’s certain that there was a forceful demand from CL Media.”
“I knew it.”
“This is just my subjective opinion, but it might be related to the recent passing of Chairman Jeon Young-hoon, the founder of CL Group.”
“Chairman Jeon Young-hoon?”
My curiosity grew as the name of the man who was once my father-in-law came up. I had known about his passing through the news, but I didn’t feel the need to attend the funeral. Since I had no personal relationship with him anymore, it was hard to predict how his death had influenced this situation.
“I know a political reporter personally. According to him, there’s currently a power struggle over the succession of the next chairmanship within CL Group.”
“The core shares of CL Group would be in the distribution sector. How does that relate to the movements of CL Media?”
Jo Minsung nodded as if I was right but shared his opinion carefully with a serious expression.
“It’s true that CL Group’s core shares are weighted toward distribution, but since CL Media has also rebounded as a core subsidiary within the group, I suspect this might be a cornerstone to forcibly drive up CL Media’s stock price.”
“Ah, then perhaps…!”
Although it was too early to speculate since we didn’t know the detailed inner workings of the CL Group succession battle, Jo Minsung’s words were highly plausible. To gain the upper hand in a shareholding battle that would decide the fate of the group, they would need to pull together every possible share.
‘In that process, if the eldest grandson, Jeon Youngjun, is in a vulnerable position, he would need to gather all the shares he can and boost the stock price by any means necessary.’
If he was trying to collect distribution shares in exchange for handing over CL Media shares, it made perfect sense. Although it had been on a downward trend recently, CL Media was still undeniably the blue-chip giant of the Korean media market. If they were making moves to secure shares in such a situation, the first thing they would do is…
“They intend to monopolize the entire market.”
If that were the case, their aggressive pressure on a small company like ours was understandable. If this was true, the pressure wouldn’t just be on us, who were about to launch, but on all small and medium-sized production companies that had broken away from the CL Group umbrella.
“They’re planning to use direct pressure on broadcasting stations—using the withdrawal of investment and advertising as leverage—to insert a large number of CL Group works as replacements.”
“Yes, I believe that’s the situation.”
It was only possible because it was CL Media. They held the largest share of advertising for the three major broadcasting stations, and they were also major shareholders. It was a tyranny they were uniquely positioned to execute.
Realizing this, Hong Juhee turned pale and clutched her head in agony.
“If that’s true, what can we possibly do?”
If it were true, this was no longer just a problem for Gat Media. It would be the same for large production companies like Ten Enter, and small ones like H Studio; unless they worked with CL Media, launching a project might become impossible in the future. Of course, this kind of abuse couldn’t be kept a secret forever, and it would surely lead to public condemnation.
‘But Jeon Youngjun wouldn’t care about that as long as he becomes the group chairman.’
However…
‘There is always a way out.’
Unlike Jo Minsung and Hong Juhee, who were lost in despair, I—having experienced hitting rock bottom numerous times and climbing back up—had no intention of just sitting idly by.
As I left the meeting room with a heavy heart, I made a vow.
‘I’ll find a loophole somehow. No, I have to find one.’
—
New office furniture began to arrive on the eleventh floor of CL Media.
The ones bringing in the furniture were the members of the secretariat, including Kwak Gahyo, the Chief of Staff. This was due to an organizational restructuring ordered by Vice President Jeon Youngjun, which dissolved the existing secretariat and merged it into the Strategic Planning Office.
In the process, Kwak Gahyo, who had been the Chief of Staff, was demoted from his executive position to a Deputy Head of Team 3 within the Strategic Planning Office. Since most of the newly transferred secretariat staff went to Team 3, he should have held a team leader position, but Team 3 was now a newly formed unit without a designated head. Led by the temporary person-in-charge, Deputy Head Kwak Gahyo, it was a group that could be disbanded at any moment.
Kwak Gahyo, who had dedicated his entire career to CL Media and Director Jeon Minjeong, had to maintain a calm expression despite his miserable feelings. Although he had been demoted, he still had a family to feed, and Kim Gil-tae, the head of the Strategic Planning Office—now the most powerful organization in the group—had summoned him.
“There are eyes watching, so let’s lower the blinds.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kwak Gahyo lowered the blinds of the glass-walled office.
Head Kim Gil-tae didn’t even ask Kwak Gahyo to sit before getting straight to the point.
“Alright, report on the current agenda.”
“Yes. I met with the drama center directors of each broadcasting station and concluded the meetings. We have finalized the agreement to cancel the two works scheduled to launch from Gat Media and replace them with our own works.”
In the process, millions of dollars had been spent to win over the center directors and heads, and negotiations were concluded with what bordered on threats. However, Strategic Planning Head Kim Gil-tae didn’t care about any of that and asked in a dry tone.
“What about *Traveler*, which is supposed to launch on Setflix around the same time as us?”
“As you know, Setflix Korea is in a difficult position to meet our demands unless it’s a direct order from their headquarters.”
“Everyone knows it’s a difficult situation. So, you’re saying Lee Junghyuk’s work is proceeding as planned?”
“The production cost already invested by Setflix is in the tens of billions of won. Aside from that, if we consider the penalty for Grace, the lead actress, the financial loss would be significant.”
“Do you think I don’t know that?”
A vein popped on Kim Gil-tae’s forehead.
“If we can’t stop the launch, we should at least throw a wrench in it. Do I have to spell everything out for you to understand?”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Listen closely, Deputy Head Kwak Gahyo. The treatment of your team and its members will be decided by how you wrap this up.”
“I will do it right.”
Kim Gil-tae ordered him to use every possible means to thoroughly crush Gat Media.
Those means involved dismantling the small-scale studio teams hired as contractors by Setflix—either by scouting them as production staff for CL Media or by issuing petty threats that anyone collaborating with a project related to Gat Media would be blacklisted by all CL subsidiaries.
They were to sabotage production by causing manpower shortages and go beyond that by intensifying the rumors and public opinion manipulation they had used before. It was a petty and narrow-minded level of bullying for a conglomerate to engage in.
In the past, if CL Media was a bully that ruled the school, it was a ‘nice’ bully that at least kept to a minimum line. No matter how wild a bully was, they didn’t typically mess with the top-ranked students or the school’s sports teams. They didn’t just go around demanding money from everyone; they only called those who posed a threat to their power up to the rooftop.
But now, that bully was declaring that they would indiscriminately extort and slap every single student in the school. Naturally, doing such a thing so openly would lead to being bad-mouthed and reported for school violence, but unfortunately, this wasn’t school—it was society.
In the capitalist democratic society of South Korea, once you’re on the bad side of a conglomerate, the victims are the ones who have to transfer schools—no, immigrate. CL Media now had the determination to thoroughly root them out and a justification they felt they must carry out.
Even Kwak Gahyo, who was once a lackey to the bully—or rather, someone who just acted like one—was now in a position where he might fall out of favor with the giant corporation. This wasn’t a situation where anyone could afford to worry about others.
With a heavy heart, Kwak Gahyo bowed and left the office. He loosened his tight tie, feeling as if he were being suffocated.
‘This time, Lee Junghyuk’s life is truly going to end.’
Sensing that the time had come to cover himself in filth for the sake of his wife and children, he let out a bitter sigh.
***
Meanwhile.
Immediately after Gat Media announced its future reform plan.
Lee Junghyuk, who had been dazed by the unprecedented cancellation situation, was quietly sitting cross-legged in his dark room, staring at something.
The only light illuminating the pitch-black room was his laptop screen.
On the screen, the Gatflix homepage banner was visible. Underneath it, an expensive item he hadn’t dared to use until now was shimmering.
[**Do you wish to use the B-grade Wish Coupon?**]
Lee Junghyuk, staring at the screen, spoke quietly.