After Ho-jun’s sudden death, the three assistant writers who worked under him fell into deep shock. It was inevitable. They had witnessed the unexpected death of a main writer they respected.
Among them, Park Hee-jeong, the second assistant writer, was no different. She was devastated by the unbelievable situation, and the damage from that shock did not heal for a long time. The image of the kind Ho-jun from the past kept coming to mind.
‘He was truly a kind person. He always said meeting the three of us was a stroke of great luck.’
However, Ho-jun wasn’t the only one who felt lucky. The three assistant writers, including Park Hee-jeong, felt the same way. They considered it an immense stroke of luck to have met Ho-jun as their main writer. Their respect for him was vast and solid.
In fact, to the three of them, Ho-jun didn’t feel like just a main writer who was good at writing scripts. He was the one who taught them what kind of professional image one must project to gain trust, what mindset is necessary to work long-term as a writer, how to avoid conflict and create a good piece of work, and how to handle inevitable conflicts when they arise. He was someone who gave them answers close to perfection in every aspect and was a compass for their lives.
‘His skill level was something that couldn’t be seen as a rookie writer who had just debuted.’
Ho-jun was talented, meticulous, generous, thoughtful, and wise. His only flaw was that his standards for evaluating himself were too high, causing him to push his body to the limit. That led to his cause of death: a heart attack due to overwork.
‘As an assistant writer, I should have stopped him… I should have helped him get even an hour more of sleep…’
This was a regret shared by the three assistant writers, including Park Hee-jeong, even now. Regardless, for over half a year after the death of the respected Ho-jun, the three of them could not pull themselves together. CEO Choi often contacted them to check in and offered to find them work, but it was difficult to carry on through the sorrow.
People must keep living. They knew the saying, but putting it into practice was not easy. While working on *Running Time* together, Ho-jun had become more than family.
Fortunately, the first assistant, Seo Yi-ji, was the first to snap out of it and announced she would make her debut. It was a relief that she took the youngest, Chae Sang-woo, as her first assistant writer in the process. Of course, Seo Yi-ji had made an offer to Park Hee-jeong as well.
“Let’s be co-writers. We can debut together. What do you think?”
However, Park Hee-jeong declined Seo Yi-ji’s offer. She also wanted to start as a co-writer whenever she made her debut. She thought it would be good to compensate for her weakness—having fewer ideas despite being good at creating emotional beats. It was also advice Ho-jun had always given her.
However, Seo Yi-ji’s proposal was somewhat burdensome for Park Hee-jeong. It was because Seo Yi-ji’s individual ability was too outstanding for Park Hee-jeong to simply join as a co-writer. Seo Yi-ji was a writer who, unlike herself, wrote emotional beats well and had many ideas. From the time she joined as Ho-jun’s assistant, she had been capable enough to be evaluated as a complete package.
After declining Seo Yi-ji’s offer, Park Hee-jeong focused on pulling herself together for a while longer. In truth, there was a bigger reason why she declined the offer. She had suffered more damage from Ho-jun’s death than Seo Yi-ji or Chae Sang-woo. It was unavoidable, as Park Hee-jeong was the one who first discovered Ho-jun on the day he lost his life. Her body still trembled and her heart ached when she thought of that time.
After having three more months of mourning, Park Hee-jeong finally stood up. Then, she went for interviews at other studios. This was because she judged her skills were still insufficient to aim for a debut.
Park Hee-jeong entered the studios of two writers and worked on two projects. The highest viewership ratings for the two works were 8.7% and 9.8%, respectively. For Park Hee-jeong, who had experienced a peak rating of 13.8% with *Running Time*, the results were somewhat disappointing.
However, she definitely learned something while working on those two projects. One was the fact that the main writer’s ability was even more important than she thought, and the other was the realization once again that Ho-jun had been an amazing writer. The feeling of her body and heart heating up just by reading a script—she hadn’t been able to feel that while working on other projects.
Then she realized something.
“Even if I continue living as an assistant writer longer than this, I won’t get that feeling again.”
In other words, there was no reason to continue being an assistant writer. It was time to stop helping someone else indirectly with their scripts and instead jump into the field directly to grow her skills. She sensed that such a time had come.
‘If you feel the time for independence has come, challenge it boldly. You don’t need to worry about what others think. Just believe in yourself and move forward.’
It was advice Ho-jun had always given her, saying that he hadn’t been able to do so under Baek Seung-chul.
It was just as Park Hee-jeong was making up her mind to debut. A phone call came from CEO Choi, with whom she had stayed in constant contact.
“I have a friend who worked as a first assistant under Writer Baek Seung-chul. This friend has great ideas, but his emotional touch is a bit lacking. Hee-jeong, do you have any thoughts about debuting yet? How about debuting together with this friend? I think you two could complement each other’s weaknesses.”
For Park Hee-jeong, who had just decided to debut, there was no reason to refuse. Moreover, it was a co-writing system that could mutually supplement her weaknesses. It was a perfect proposal.
‘I can even trust CEO Choi’s eye for scripts. He was the one who discovered Writer Ho-jun’s Running Time, after all.’
Just as Park Hee-jeong was about to give a positive answer, CEO Choi added one more thing.
“What’s more, this friend was the youngest assistant when Ho-jun was the first assistant under Writer Baek Seung-chul, so your styles should match well. It seems he learned well from Ho-jun. I heard he was the one who even stood up to Writer Baek Seung-chul before leaving this time.”
She already disliked Baek Seung-chul for framing Ho-jun and tarnishing his reputation, so hearing that this person was like that made it even better. There was no need to hesitate further.
“I’ll give it a try. Debuting as a co-writer.”
***
That was how Park Hee-jeong and Lee Hyun-seung finally met through CEO Choi’s introduction. The two got along better than expected. Their preferred styles of work were similar, and their desired direction for the project was also alike.
Of course, that didn’t mean there weren’t days when they clashed. As they finished the broad framework of what kind of work they would write and began to decide on details, points of contention started to emerge. It was inevitable, as writers possessed tastes they couldn’t explain in words but could never compromise on.
However, both of them had learned the methods for mediating such conflicts under Ho-jun. Because of that, the two tried to understand each other by revealing and tracing where their tastes originated. They knew that in the process of uncovering the starting point of their tastes, conflicts would naturally dissolve and a point of compromise would be found.
Slowly, the work began to take shape. Before they knew it, the scripts were completed up to part four. It was now time to proceed with casting.
“As expected, the only person suitable for our drama’s solo male lead is him.”
“Yeah. Kang Tae-ha.”
However, the expressions of the two as they discussed this while thinking of Tae-ha’s face were not very bright. It was only natural. Tae-ha, whom they considered their top casting priority, had suddenly become the hottest actor in the Republic of Korea through *Your Brilliant Sparkle*.
Even the two of them, who had many acquaintances in the industry, had heard the news. Currently, a number of scripts and scenarios beyond what one person could handle were pouring in for Tae-ha. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that almost every existing script and scenario in the Republic of Korea was heading toward Tae-ha.
And what this fact meant was clear. The possibility of Tae-ha accepting their casting offer was remarkably low. Two people who were merely rookies—it made no sense for the hottest actor in the Republic of Korea to join a project written by them.
For that reason, Lee Hyun-seung brought up the subject to Park Hee-jeong with a dark expression.
“Should we just skip Kang Tae-ha and send the script to another actor?”
This way might certainly be better. While waiting for Tae-ha’s answer, they might lose a second-choice actor suitable for the lead role to another project. However, Park Hee-jeong opposed Lee Hyun-seung’s opinion.
“Who else? We wrote this with Kang Tae-ha in mind for the protagonist from the start, so we don’t even have a proper second choice.”
“That’s true. Haa, it’s a headache. We can’t change the concept of the solo male lead now.”
“…Even if we change it later, let’s send the script to Kang Tae-ha for now. Since they say they’re doing a blind evaluation, who knows?”
“I heard from CEO Choi that the blind evaluation is only for when the TF team filters scripts in the first round. He said Kang Tae-ha sees the writers’ names and reads everything.”
“Haa. That’s tough. By the way, can’t CEO Choi try to persuade Kang Tae-ha? Come to think of it, we’re all under the same production company as writers.”
“No way. Our importance wouldn’t be the same as Kang Tae-ha’s. I asked him already, but CEO Choi told me not even to dream of it. He said he wouldn’t even mention that this script was sent from Salamander Studio.”
“That’s really too much. Well, let’s send it anyway. We’ll worry about the rest later.”
It was a script they had written with great care. Furthermore, it was a script written specifically with Kang Tae-ha in mind. There was also a vague expectation that if it was a truly well-written script, Kang Tae-ha would recognize it.
This was the process leading up to the moment Park Hee-jeong and Lee Hyun-seung’s work reached Tae-ha. And the two did not know that Tae-ha was thinking most positively about their project.
It was only natural, as…
“What? Baek Seung-chul made a casting offer to Kang Tae-ha? Why?”
“My thoughts exactly. Wasn’t that man writing a love story about a man and woman in their thirties until you left the studio? Why did he suddenly change course!”
A few days after sending the script to Tae-ha, they received this news. The news was that Baek Seung-chul had made an offer to Tae-ha for a solo male lead role.
***
At the same time.
In Baek Seung-chul’s studio.
Baek Seung-chul glared at the three newly hired assistant writers and asked a question.
“Still no word from that arrogant brat, Kang Tae-ha?”