Part 5 – 10.1%, Part 6 – 10.7%, Part 7 – 11.3%, Part 8 – 11.9%…
continued to soar, rapidly increasing its viewership.
It was revealed that behind the Research Center Director, there was an Organization sponsoring the Project Conquest Cancer Cells (Part 2).
It became known that the Organization was being operated by a leading Large Corporation in the Republic of Korea (Part 3).
Then, it was exposed that besides the Research Center Director, there was also a Spy secretly monitoring the Project (Part 4).
There were suspicions that the Spy might be No Ji-hee, the female lead (Part 5).
Someone else, not No Ji-hee, was pointed out as the Spy (Part 6).
However, it was revealed to her face that No Ji-hee was indeed the Spy (Part 7).
And the No Ji-hee who everyone thought had left the stage returned as the new Research Center Director, which was the story up to Part 8.
Thanks to this, Yoo Yeonha, who played the role of No Ji-hee, had acquired a rather unusual nickname.
That nickname was none other than ‘Gakseori Zombie’, meaning she neither dies nor stays gone.
For an actress, it might have felt somewhat uncomfortable.
But Yoo Yeonha didn’t see the nickname as a bad thing.
Rather, she was pleased—because this nickname had drawn great attention to her, who previously hadn’t received much notice despite her acting skills.
In fact, it was easy to find posts praising Yoo Yeonha’s acting on drama community forums.
Of course, despite all these reactions, the one who was receiving the greatest benefit from was, without a doubt, Han Yun-seong.
By playing the character Han Seo-yul, he not only completely broke free from his previous ‘younger man’ image, but also achieved tremendous popularity.
Especially encouraging was the fact that the gender and age of Han Yun-seong’s fans had become extremely diverse.
In universities, workplaces, nursing homes—any place where two or more people gathered—Han Yun-seong’s name was often on their lips.
In this way, all the lead actors appearing in were gaining immense recognition.
Naturally, riding the wave of such a situation, advertisements were pouring in like a flood.
“I heard that, thanks to , Han Yun-seong and Yoo Yeonha alone have filmed more than a dozen commercials, right?”
For Taeha, this could have been a source of envy.
After all, if Taeha had wanted, he could have taken the male lead role in .
But Taeha didn’t feel the slightest bit of regret.
It was all by Taeha’s own choice, so it was only natural.
Of course, this was just Taeha’s perspective.
“Hey! It’s a shame, such a shame. If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve just had you play the lead in .”
Im Chan-hyung couldn’t hold back his regret and voiced his complaint.
It wasn’t just Im Chan-hyung.
Go Seokjun, the CEO of AH Entertainment, also couldn’t hide his disappointed expression.
It was the perfect opportunity for Taeha to rocket his recognition as an actor.
It would have solved AH Entertainment’s chronic problem of lacking a star signboard actor.
Yet, Taeha still felt no regret at the reactions of those two.
The reason was simple.
“If I’d played the lead, wouldn’t have succeeded like this, you know? It probably wouldn’t have even been picked up for a prime-time slot, and everyone would have been wracking their brains.”
That’s how Taeha felt about it.
No matter how powerful Salamander Studio was as a production company, there were still limits.
A broadcasting station wouldn’t easily schedule a prime-time slot for a show with a barely-promoted lead like Taeha.
Even if it had been scheduled, it probably would’ve been relegated to an OTT original level.
Im Chan-hyung knew this, too, but couldn’t shake off his regret.
“That might be true, but I’m still bummed. Anyway, our commercial!”
“Are commercials that important to you?”
“Of course they are! You haven’t shot a proper commercial yet, have you?”
That was true.
The reason for Im Chan-hyung’s regret was just this.
Just as he said, Taeha had yet to film a single commercial.
That didn’t mean there had been no offers.
Having gained so much attention as Lee Jae-hyun and leapt to a major role, it would have been stranger if there were no commercial offers.
But, unfortunately, not a single offer led to Taeha actually being confirmed as a model.
Most offers didn’t fit Taeha’s image and had to be declined.
Of course, some proposals were decent.
But in those cases, his luck in the final selection was poor.
Regrettably, in the final candidate discussions, he was always edged out by top actors or popular idol group members.
One or two could have worked out, but none did in the end.
It was proof that not all fortune was on Taeha’s side.
“Especially the SPA Brand fashion model commercial—that one was a bit disappointing. I thought it really suited your image.”
It couldn’t be helped.
Even if luck wasn’t on his side, the fact that Taeha lost out to other models was undeniable.
“It’s all right. The commercial issue will resolve slowly. Ultimately, it’s about recognition. It could be solved after the release of . So let’s not rush. Let’s not blame ourselves or anyone else.”
Rather, in this situation, it was right to be glad that Han Yun-seong and Yoo Yeonha were filming lots of commercials thanks to .
The fact that they were getting lots of ads was proof of ’s immense popularity.
And in fact, Taeha’s mood had been great lately.
At this rate, might even surpass the ratings of .
Just like , aired on tvM, and its highest rating was 13.8%.
That was quite a record for a newcomer, but it hadn’t quite broken the 14% barrier, so it never made tvM’s all-time top ten drama rankings, which was a bit of a regret.
For reference, the current 10th highest-rated drama in tvM history was , with a peak rating of 14.6%.
It’s a 12-episode series, so the 14% barrier feels tight, but there’s enough reason to hope.
More than anything, the significance of this project was that it was created without following Baek Seung-chul’s formula for success.
It finally felt like he had completely stepped out from Baek Seung-chul’s shadow and established himself as a writer in his own right.
At this moment, Taeha was especially grateful for the advice of Kim Jeong-sik, the author of .
If not for Kim Jeong-sik, Taeha would never have thought to break away from Baek Seung-chul’s formula and write a new work.
Some might think Kim Jeong-sik’s advice was nothing special, but it wasn’t like that.
That’s just how things are.
Just as with Columbus, until you actually see how to balance an egg on a table, it’s hard to imagine how it’s done.
But once you see it done, you realize all it takes is a little crack at the bottom.
Likewise, if Taeha hadn’t heard how Kim Jeong-sik, a romance writer, managed to write , he never would have thought of writing .
A shift in perspective.
That’s what Kim Jeong-sik helped make possible.
For that, Taeha couldn’t help but feel grateful to Kim Jeong-sik.
“I’ll have to buy him a meal soon.”
Taeha and Kim Jeong-sik still kept in touch regularly.
It was only natural—he was the person who’d given Taeha, then just a rookie actor, the big role of Lee Jae-hyun.
And not long ago, upon hearing the news that Taeha was debuting as a writer, Kim Jeong-sik was so surprised that he contacted Taeha first.
[Good heavens.]
[Taeha-ssi? Is this for real?]
[Are you really debuting as a writer this time?]
[Oh my… I always knew you had a remarkable ability to read and analyze scripts, but…]
[Was it because of this project that you asked me that question back then?]
It wasn’t just Kim Jeong-sik.
There was another person who gave Taeha the chance to play Lee Jae-hyun.
Director Lee Hae-ik, too, must have been surprised, because he contacted Taeha right away.
[Wow, what’s going on, seriously?]
[I thought you were just good at acting, but now you even write scripts well?]
[But why didn’t you show me the script?]
[If you’d shown me, I would’ve done a full professional review.]
[Next time, let’s work together, Taeha-ssi.]
[Yeah.]
But the most memorable reaction Taeha got about this matter was from Seon Min-gi.
[?]
[…Really?]
After sending just that message, he immediately made an international call.
– Why did you deceive me?
“I never deceived you. I just didn’t mention it.”
– You dare to play tricks on me? I’ll see you in Korea soon.
“Oh? You’re coming to Korea? When? We should meet up!”
– …Hmph. Even if you say that, I’ll never forgive you. Never.
Click.
Just like that, Seon Min-gi hung up after saying what he wanted.
He really sounded upset, but Taeha just shook his head.
It didn’t make sense to think a top actor like Seon Min-gi would get upset over something like this.
More than anything, Taeha sensed that Seon Min-gi seemed a little drunk.
It was highly likely.
Switching to that kind of tone when tipsy was Seon Min-gi’s usual drinking habit.
“How much did he drink? Is life in America that tough? I’ll have to ask when I see him.”
At any rate, Taeha had been getting a lot of calls from people around him about .
Everyone, even fellow actors who were rising in recognition, found it hard to believe that Taeha was the writer of .
And those calls soon turned into congratulations.
In an age where it’s not easy for a rookie to break in, to launch a drama starring a top actor like Han Yun-seong was impressive enough.
And on top of that, for the drama to achieve such success—it was even more incredible.
Especially among the Freesia members, now the most pointless thing to worry about was a celebrity’s well-being, so they stopped worrying about Taeha.
Before anyone realized, Taeha had become not the sore thumb, but the group’s biggest source of pride.
It was while Taeha was recalling all the contacts he’d received about that it happened.
Buzz, buzz.
Im Chan-hyung’s phone, who was sitting next to him, rang and he answered it.
“Yes, this is Im Chan-hyung, Manager of actor Kang Tae-ha.”
A short while later.
“Is that really true?”
Im Chan-hyung, looking surprised, repeated the question to the person on the other end.
Naturally, Taeha was curious about what call Im Chan-hyung had just received.
With both cheeks flushed and still animated from the call, Im Chan-hyung hung up and turned toward Taeha, his face full of emotion.
At that moment, Taeha could instantly tell that some very good news had come.
And sure enough—
“Taeha! You know Par, right?”
“Yeah, of course. Par is one of the leading cosmetics companies in the Republic of Korea.”
“They said you’ve been finally selected as the exclusive model for Sanha’s Mas Cool Rum, their men’s cosmetics brand!”
“What?”
Im Chan-hyung really had brought Taeha some good news.
“They say life is like the wheel of fortune…”
Being the model for Mas Cool Rum was an even better opportunity than the SPA Brand model Taeha had once regretted missing out on.
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