"Did the meeting go well?"
Drama Department Director's Office.
Director Ha Tae-oh, who had just sat down, looked at PD Lee Min-hwa and asked.
A very dissatisfied face.
He could roughly guess what had happened in the meeting.
"I heard PD Baek Tae-su appealed quite a lot for his own drama."
"...Yes."
Was it simply just appealing?
He practically forced the issue, insisting that his drama be assigned to the prime time slot no matter what.
With the other PDs watching PD Baek Tae-su's mood, PD Lee Min-hwa was ready to burst with frustration.
Of course, it was true that
But they had prepared that thoroughly, and they had definitely come up with measures to overcome its weaknesses.
"Fortunately, everything wasn't decided right there, but it looks like they'll end up splitting it."
Monday-Tuesday drama, Wednesday-Thursday drama.
The probability of it being divided this way was high, and even for that slot, PD Baek Tae-su persistently tried to assign
Naturally, PD Lee Min-hwa rebelled against it, so it didn't go that far, but...
"Lately, PD Baek Tae-su has been particularly strong in that regard."
PD Lee Min-hwa said with a sigh.
At her appearance, Ha Tae-oh quietly gazed at her.
Recently, PD Baek Tae-su had a stronger tendency to assert his own opinions more forcefully than before.
Previously, even when he exerted power, he had a strong tendency to move cautiously from behind the scenes.
A representative example was the matter of Writer Lim Jin-ha.
The type to move chess pieces from the rear rather than stepping forward himself.
However, recently that attitude had changed.
Stepping more to the front, like a leader leading a group.
Considering that there was clearly a Drama Department Director, that appearance was enough to call arrogant.
So to Lee Min-hwa, something like yesterday was very bewildering.
If it were the usual PD Baek Tae-su, he would have at least superficially pushed for
"Yesterday, the Vice President called for me."
"Yes?"
At that moment, Director Ha Tae-oh, who had been quietly listening, spoke.
She had heard he was absent for personal reasons, but was he perhaps called by the Vice President?
"Soon, there will be an organizational restructuring at KMB."
Organizational restructuring?
It was surprising, but it wasn't impossible.
Although
"There are several changes, but... the biggest one is the change in the Drama Department."
"Are you talking about us?"
"I'm not sure if I can say it's us."
Ha Tae-oh recalled what he had heard yesterday.
The Vice President had a very serious face.
It seemed there had been resistance in many ways, but the President had forcefully pushed the matter.
He could roughly guess the reason.
To gain the upper hand in the power struggle with the Vice President.
"They said the Drama Department will be split into Department 1 and Department 2."
"What?!"
PD Lee Min-hwa was so startled she exclaimed and then covered her mouth.
Split the Drama Department into two?
Why on earth?
"What the President claimed was to strengthen competitiveness."
They say they'll split the Drama Department into Department 1 and Department 2 to make them compete with each other.
Also, to prepare for the upcoming OTT dramas, they'll expand the Drama Department and give it more power.
That was roughly the meaning.
"Could it be that PD Baek Tae-su stepping forward recently is..."
"It's because PD Baek Tae-su is the most likely candidate for Director of Department 2."
Originally, PD Baek Tae-su was a strong candidate for the next Drama Department Director.
His class year was similar to PD Ha Tae-oh's, and his track record was decent.
However, losing practically to PD Ha Tae-oh, he had no choice but to step back.
"Surely, that's not... right?"
"I'm not sure, but... I can't say there's no influence."
The current KMB President and Baek Tae-su were entangled in a quite close relationship.
Seoul Baekcheon Arts University.
Academic ties.
A line closely connected to that side.
PD Baek Tae-su was on President Hwang Jung-hwan's line.
And Director Ha Tae-oh was practically on the same line as the Vice President.
Although he had no particular interest in office politics, it somehow ended up that way.
"...Wouldn't it be bad to divide the Drama Department?"
"At least it doesn't seem like good news will come out. Anyway, it seems like we should prepare in various ways going forward."
Ha Tae-oh said that with a smile.
Honestly, he also knew this situation wasn't good.
It wasn't because of PD Baek Tae-su.
The problem was the loss of manpower that would occur with the division of the Drama Department.
"There's no need to worry about
At Ha Tae-oh's words, Lee Min-hwa nodded.
'So that was it.'
Not only
Moreover, not just Baek Tae-su, but dramas scheduled to be produced on that line were also being given considerable power.
She wondered why, and it seemed he was trying to give some power to the newly created Drama Department 2.
'Even trying to steal the prime time slot.'
Lee Min-hwa ground her teeth.
Knowing how the situation was going, she had no intention of losing.
Above all, she was very confident in this drama,
After seeing this drama reading, she was convinced of it once again.
'Joo Seo-yeon.'
Many said that when it came to acting, she had no rivals among her peers.
Usually, media evaluations of young actors' acting skills are quite harsh.
Even the method actors who are now making a name for themselves with their acting skills heard things like their acting was clumsy, or they insulted acting with their lacking skills when they were that age—countless times.
But Seo-yeon was different.
'Come to think of it, there are many outstanding actors among the young actors recently.'
Representative ones are Jo Seo-hee and Park Jung-woo.
And even among the rising star-like actors recently, about three names came to mind.
However, the most noticeable among them was definitely Joo Seo-yeon.
In this script reading, even the middle-aged actors didn't spare their praise.
However.
"It seems she hasn't quite grasped the feel of the character yet."
"If she just catches that, it'll definitely get better."
Such a conversation was heard.
It was a problem Lee Min-hwa didn't particularly feel, but the actors seemed to feel it.
'In any drama, the protagonist is the most important.'
But Lee Min-hwa wasn't worried.
If it was Seo-yeon, she would definitely overcome that problem in an instant.
'PD Baek Tae-su.'
She had no intention of losing to such an obnoxious person.
And.
As for what Joo Seo-yeon, who would become the core of
"Seo-yeon. Are you perhaps not... ah, not listening to classes?"
"..."
She was being verbally beaten up by the class president, Gil Da-hyun.
***
There was something high school students could never avoid.
Even Seo-yeon, who was an actress, couldn't do anything about this.
'Exams!!'
To be honest, Seo-yeon didn't really care about exams.
After entering high school, she generally took them casually.
Her mother, Soo-ah, had the attitude of "just grow up healthy," so she had never been scolded for that.
In the first place, for Seo-yeon, who was an actress, exams were always just a side thing.
It was that kind of feeling, but.
"Cough! Ahem."
"...Why are you laughing?"
"What? Didn't I give it to you to laugh at?"
She confiscated both the report card and the graphics card from Young-bin, who was laughing at Seo-yeon's report card.
Anyway, at this point, stubbornness kicks in.
"In this exam, I'll be in the top 10... that's too high, top 30."
Seo-yeon said to Ji-yeon.
As for how Ji-yeon reacted to those words.
"Ah, yeah. Sure. Joo Seo-yeon. You can do it."
Literally the level of consciously nodding.
Like "this kid is talking nonsense again," roughly that kind of feeling.
Too mean.
Actually, the reason Seo-yeon was caring about this exam wasn't simply because of Young-bin's mockery.
To immerse herself in the role of 'Lee Yoo-joo' she took in this
And because of Seo-yeon's own image management.
"That's true."
Lee Ji-yeon said with a serious face.
"When you appear in a drama, it'll become a topic whether you like it or not. Besides, she's the smartest and top student in the work, right?"
Lee Yoo-joo not only had her brother's portfolio, but she herself was a near-genius.
In the work, Lee Yoo-joo was actually a monster who never missed first place even once.
If she did that kind of acting, naturally people around her would have to be interested in the person called Seo-yeon.
"Miss Joo, who was a top student in
"...Really?"
"I can't say it's not."
The persistence of reporters goes beyond imagination.
Especially if it's related to defamation.
"And there are competing companies too. They could leak rumors."
Lee Ji-yeon had been in the entertainment industry much longer than Seo-yeon.
So having seen all sorts of things, it was hard to vaguely deny it thinking "that couldn't be."
"So, there's no harm in putting a little care into it. For your image management."
Right away, not just reporters but people at school would become interested.
Even within this school right now, Seo-yeon had a strangely studious-looking image.
Anyway, looking at her appearance alone, she looked very smart.
"There's such a rumor in your class."
"Rumor?"
"They say the second from the bottom in class grades is blank."
"..."
"Rumors are going around about who it could be."
Like a ghost story.
At Ji-yeon's words, Seo-yeon flinched.
Class grades aren't particularly made public.
Because of that, they generally had to ask each other to find out.
The one rank just ahead from the very back was vacant.
"No one thought it was you."
"It's not me."
"Yeah, right."
Ji-yeon didn't believe it.
But Seo-yeon felt unjust.
Sincerely, Seo-yeon's grades were absolutely not at that level.
'Why does this memory only clearly remember entertainment-related things?'
Anyway, in her past life, Seo-yeon didn't do badly in studying.
Excellent grades that narrowly failed to get into a Seoul university.
So with just that memory, she could get pretty decent grades even without studying at all.
Even Yeonhwa High School wasn't an academic high school, but an arts and physical education high school.
'It was fine until middle school. But I really don't remember high school at all.'
And honestly, she kind of took it casually too.
R-really.
Anyway, in that situation, Seo-yeon thought of restoring her honor.
"Me? I'm busy?"
"Huh?"
"The audition is really not far away now."
"Ah."
Moreover, Lee Ji-yeon was a top student.
Not even once had her school ranking gone outside the top 5.
'Actually, shouldn't Lee Ji-yeon have appeared in
A type who studies really well, which is rare among celebrities.
Thinking it couldn't be helped, she considered contacting Jo Seo-hee... but strangely, her pride was hurt with Jo Seo-hee.
Besides, Seo-yeon was still sulking.
There was also the VTuber issue, so she planned to sulk a little longer.
So what she chose was.
"Huh, studying?"
Gil Da-hyun looked at Seo-yeon with blank eyes.
The people around her also held their breath and looked at Seo-yeon.
Joo Seo-yeon!
Anyway, if you said "the most popular person in class!" she was the person mentioned first.
The problem was she was mainly popular as something to look at, though.
Anyway, when she came to school, she would sit upright at her seat immersed in something, making her not an easy person to talk to.
Just her appearance was pretty as a picture, giving a feeling that made it hard to bring oneself to talk to her.
A celebrity's aura, that kind of feeling was extremely strong.
But such a person suddenly spoke to Gil Da-hyun.
"What's the matter?"
Gil Da-hyun became puzzled.
Because it was really rare for Seo-yeon to talk to her.
Actually, since the 'school festival,' Gil Da-hyun had wanted to talk to her in many ways, but Seo-yeon was so busy that opportunities rarely came.
Variety show, drama, movie.
With her alternating between these three activities, the number of days she attended school had drastically decreased.
'The chairman seems to like it, though.'
If you asked who the student the chairman favored the most at school recently, it was Seo-yeon.
That's because wherever she appeared, she wore a school uniform.
Whatever was so good about school uniforms, whenever she was spotted, she was always wearing the Yeonhwa High School uniform.
So, Yeonhwa High School was naturally promoted too.
- Yeonhwa High School uniform is pretty
- For real
- It's pretty because Joo Seo-yeon wears it, you pig bitches
- Shut up
It was natural that rumors spread that Yeonhwa High School uniform was pretty too.
Because of that, the number of students flocking to Yeonhwa High School this year had increased significantly.
"Hmm."
Seo-yeon hesitated a bit, but soon nodded.
If asked who overlapped the most with the characters in
A top student like a picture drawn from a painting.
That was Gil Da-hyun.
"Would you like to study together?"
"Huh?"
At that sudden proposal, Gil Da-hyun couldn't help but freeze.