The staff who would soon be separated into Drama Division 2 were honestly taken aback.
That was because even when episode 1 hit 6 percent, they thought it was the end.
"6 percent means it's over, right?"
"Honestly, watching it. From the setting alone, it's hard to understand..."
"They said it was originally a script for cable, and that fits perfectly."
When episode 1 aired, everyone laughed and shared such conversations.
That's because it was 6 percent.
Generally, ratings tend to maintain from the first episode.
An ambiguously high, not low number like that.
Plus, looking at the setting alone, it was a very unfamiliar drama.
For creators, the thing to be most careful about is unfamiliarity.
No matter how great a work is, you have to adjust settings and content to fit viewers' preferences.
This is a drama that doesn't consider viewers.
Make that judgment and watch episode 2.
'...Why is this fun?'
'Something feels a bit strange.'
The content of episode 2 was about Minseo and Lee Yooju.
Minseo was what you'd call a 'disappointing child' to her parents.
A girl whose grades were slightly lower than her brother's.
But that slight difference was as huge as a thousand-foot cliff to her parents.
"My parents dote on me, but you know. I'm just a cute daughter."
Lee Minseo said to Lee Yooju in a subtle tone.
Honestly, she couldn't properly understand why she needed to get close to Yooju.
They told her to get close to Yooju, but that was for her brother, not herself.
She was dissatisfied with that.
"Just spoiled and cute. How is this different from a pet dog?"
It wasn't something she said trying to get close to Yooju.
It was just that Yooju didn't particularly react to whatever she said, so she muttered to herself.
"They have no expectations for me. Since they gave up long ago, I don't do anything."
Probably her brother Lee Minhyuk doesn't know this fact.
He just thinks their parents are generous because they dote on their daughter.
But Minseo knows.
People can be generous when they hold no expectations for the other person.
There might be exceptions, but at least her parents are like that.
"I don't even know anymore~"
Knowing Yooju wouldn't answer no matter what she said, Minseo chewed on the bread she bought from the cafeteria and said so.
'For someone who made such a grand declaration, she's awfully quiet.'
In school life, Yooju was just ordinary.
She didn't talk much so she didn't stand out, and spent most of her time sitting.
But there was nothing she couldn't do, so she naturally caught attention.
For someone who said such things on the first day, she was mysteriously quiet.
As if she was observing something.
"I've decided."
Then, Yooju who had been staying quiet opened her mouth.
Decided what?
With curiosity, biting into bread, she turned her gaze to Yooju.
"I'll go with you."
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"Your twin brother. You want to beat him, right?"
Yooju whispered in a small voice.
As if being quiet all this time was a lie, bringing her face right up to Minseo's face who had bread in her mouth.
"I'll make that happen."
Lee Minseo looked at Yooju as if drawn in.
It was that kind of atmosphere.
There was a presence like magic, as if only the two of them existed in the world.
"Y-yeah."
"But."
Raising her index finger, Yooju whispered near Minseo's ear.
"You have to trust me."
Those words were like the devil's whisper.
"Completely, everything."
Minseo could only blankly nod.
That was how episode 2 of
The adults' perspective, and the children's perspective.
The two progressing simultaneously, with many things they each desired intertwining.
"It's peculiar."
The person who watched it, the staff designated for Drama Division 2, said.
"Honestly, if you examine it one by one, it doesn't make sense..."
"It just strangely draws me in."
"Ah, but it's still not my taste."
Clank!
The people having such conversation saw the person who just entered with suddenly tense faces when the door burst open.
Baek Taesoo.
The man who would become the king of this Drama Division 2.
He looked around with a calm face and said.
"Did you watch Sky Garden?"
Just that.
At those words, the gathered PDs and staff exchanged glances and then spoke.
"I did watch it, but honestly I'm not sure about it."
"It was just watchable, I think."
"There was a feeling that the color was unique. It's definitely a first for broadcast TV."
"It felt like romance was completely excluded."
At the staff's words, PD Baek Taesoo silently fell into thought.
At his appearance.
"Y-you don't need to worry too much. Honestly, it was an unfriendly drama, right? It doesn't properly explain a single thing."
"Y-yes, that's right. Honestly, even if episode 2 got 10 percent, we're still higher, right?"
At their words, Baek Taesoo's eyes narrowed.
It was a look asking if they were being serious.
At that gaze, the staff who had been talking with forced smiles stiffened like stone.
'Is, is he angry?'
Thinking that while breaking into a cold sweat.
Then Baek Taesoo's mouth opened.
"Not explaining is intentional."
"What?"
"If you explain, viewers end up thinking."
Baek Taesoo revised his evaluation of drama writer Min Sehee who took on
He knew that previously writer Im Jinha modified the script for
At that time, it was just a feeling of 'quite good.'
"They deliberately don't explain and push the content forward as fast as possible. If explanation goes in, the tempo naturally slows down and viewers have time to think. But what about Sky Garden? The moment you go 'whaaat?', it's already over."
But is it simply content with only sensationalism? Then that's not it either.
Settings that can be glossed over are glossed over as much as possible, and the content develops faster than viewers can think about causality.
Looking back, you might think 'that honestly doesn't make sense,' but at least while watching the drama, you forget it.
Of course, it won't suit those it doesn't suit.
Probably extremely so.
But from a drama writer's perspective, that's the minority.
It drags along only the overwhelming majority of viewers.
That was Sky Garden's method of progression.
Whether that was intended, I'm not sure.
"That's immersion. Making you watch in a trance without any thoughts. Furthermore, that directly connects to fun. Put simply, Sky Garden is just a fun drama."
At PD Baek Taesoo's words, everyone was speechless.
But that was only for a moment.
"...Still, that's the same for us too."
Baek Taesoo soon smiled faintly.
The people who had tensed thinking he was angry finally relaxed their faces.
"In episode 3, we'll dominate again. I guarantee that."
He said so and went to sit at his seat.
And, in a sight where they couldn't see, he hardened his smiling face.
'Right, we'll win up to now.'
Of course they should win.
There's a difference in material.
Genre ultimately has characteristics.
In Baek Taesoo's thinking, this drama will sail smoothly at least until episode 6.
The problem is after that.
The script from episode 6 onwards.
In other words, the point where romance starts to come out in earnest.
"..."
Conflict appeared on his face.
After all, he was also a broadcast TV PD.
***
"I'm relieved, our daughter."
Sooah saw Seoyeon playing with her younger sister Sooyeon.
The drama clearly didn't seem to do well in episode 1, but Seoyeon had a fine face.
No, rather she looked like she was in a good mood.
'Does she want a work to fail?'
It made her think that.
Of course that wouldn't happen.
Probably, Seoyeon had that much confidence in her drama.
Seeing that she was the only one fine while everyone else was frightened.
"This part takes after dad."
"...Dad?"
Seoyeon's face soured.
A face saying don't say that.
While she might tolerate other things, she couldn't accept being told she resembled her dad.
At her daughter's appearance, Sooah chuckled.
"Even if dad's like that, he's the type who does things when he makes decisions."
"Really? I'm not sure about that."
The Youngbin that Seoyeon sees is, honestly, a light-hearted person.
A personality not much different from his peers.
Sometimes it felt like his mind had stopped in his late teens, early twenties.
"As a creator, you have to always think young. ...Me too."
Sooah paints.
It's close to a hobby now, but she painted really hard in high school.
Whether an illustrator, or a game planner, or a novelist, and a singer.
You have to be young in the end.
When thoughts get old, that's when to retire.
"Dad said so."
"Dad?"
"He says it like a habit. That you have to live young."
For that, he plays games that kids these days like.
To not forget that sensibility, he seems to do this and that.
When you become an adult, your thoughts age in the blink of an eye.
Faster than your body aging.
"Originally, your dad was a person who didn't know worry."
Sooah looked at Seoyeon.
Her daughter who reminded her of Youngbin when they first met.
"But as he aged, he gained hesitation. He seems to be worrying about something even now."
"Dad worrying."
At her daughter's face showing she truly couldn't believe it, Sooah burst out laughing.
"Probably, you know the game director position. He's worrying because of that."
"Can't he just do it?"
"No, dad would want to do something else. He's had a dream since long ago."
Not a game director at a large corporation.
Youngbin originally dreamed of making the games he wanted to make.
In other words, he wanted to go independent, but.
"Now there's a family."
"..."
"So he's hesitating now. It seems talk has been coming from above since before. Saying let's plan a big project together with the company now."
Sooah quietly looked at her silent daughter for a moment.
"So, I thought the character Yooju that Seoyeon plays this time is very sad."
The role Seoyeon took on.
She didn't want to move like that, but eventually she moves according to her parents' wishes without realizing it.
Yooju's father wanted Yooju to prove her ability as an admissions coordinator.
Yooju was sick of it.
"But, eventually she had no choice but to use that ability."
Yooju's goal is ultimately the same as her father's.
To prove her ability and create connections.
And she plans to use them as a stepping stone to climb up.
Over the wall created by vested interests, beyond it.
But that's ultimately what her father wants.
Yooju only learned to look up.
She doesn't know how to see other things.
So she's a sad child, Sooah said.
'...Definitely.'
Seoyeon felt it hearing Sooah's words.
The Yooju that Seoyeon had acted so far was a girl working hard to achieve her own dream.
Seoyeon also acted her that way.
But thinking about it, Yooju didn't have a dream she thought of herself.
Ultimately, her trying to climb up was also because of the knowledge and education her father instilled.
The world is all about money and power. And honor.
Yooju wanted to become someone who had all of that.
She didn't want to live a life like her father.
That's how it became.
Because she only saw that in a small world.
Yooju would think it's a decision she made herself.
But is that really all?
"Seoyeon."
Sooah smiled looking at Seoyeon who fell into worry.
"Why did you want to act?"
As if answering Seoyeon's worry about the character 'Yooju.'
"Originally, didn't you want to do something else?"
At those words, for a moment.
Seoyeon couldn't say anything.
The moment she hesitated about how to answer.
"Mom!"
Sooyeon, who was in Seoyeon's arms, brightly opened her mouth.
"When is dad coming today?"
The youngest Sooyeon liked dad.
To the point where she always waits only for the time dad comes.
"Dad said he has an appointment today."
"Appoint~ment~?"
"Yeah, an appointment with a friend."
"Dad had friends too."
At Sooyeon's innocent words, Seoyeon also almost laughed without realizing.
It sounded like something she often heard.
"Yeah, a high school friend."
A friend they used to meet often in the past, but couldn't meet often after becoming adults.
The person Youngbin was meeting today was exactly that kind of person.
***
"Wow, what's with the suit."
Youngbin said entering the promised bar.
Entering the bar, a sharp man in a neat suit was sitting.
Sharp glasses, a man with thick lines and a cold impression.
He looked Youngbin up and down as if examining a product.
"And you work at a company with that?"
"No, how else would I work at a company? Ah, and what's with those eyes."
"..."
Sitting across, Youngbin took off the clothes he had roughly thrown on.
"And, I can't earn as much as you, so I can't wear such expensive suits. How much is that watch?"
"Two thousand."
"Damn. That's freaking expensive. You're paying for meat today."
Youngbin said so, thinking today's meat was all dead.
With that thought, he opened the menu.
"Oh right."
He said as if suddenly remembering something.
"About
"Yeah."
"I heard a director of GH Group planned it. From what Seoyeon said."
"That's right."
"So I found out recently, man."
At his calmly answering words, Youngbin let out a hollow laugh.
Of course.
"When did you become a director?"
At those words.
"It's my father's company."
The person sitting across, Director of GH Group's Cultural Business Division.
Kang Taejin smiled slightly and answered.