“I suppose we’ll have to launch *Rental Lover* as well.”
At the words of Tom Cavill, General Director of Netflix Japan, about half of the team leader-level employees looked surprised, while roughly half had expressionless faces. Among them, a male employee spat out in Japanese,
“Are you thinking of bringing in… a one-act drama?”
Tom Cavill shifted his crossed legs and let out a small sigh.
“If it was enough of an issue in Korea, it’s not an ordinary one-act drama.”
“That may be true, but—”
“Besides, if Choe Rina, a top-tier actress, is the female lead, then *Rental Lover* has already surpassed being a simple one-act drama.”
“······”
All of the employees slowly nodded. The atmosphere was largely one of agreement. Soon, one female employee cut in.
“Come to think of it, there’s currently a Korean drama starring Choe Rina in the rankings too, isn’t there?”
“That’s right.”
It was a valid point. Currently, a miniseries with Choe Rina as the female lead was lodged in the Netflix Japan rankings. A Korean drama, of course. It was a work of Choe Rina’s from two years ago. It wasn’t just this work. Lately, Korean dramas were always present in the Netflix Japan rankings.
Even looking just up to 10th place, there had been times when as many as five slots were occupied by Korean dramas or content.
Wasn’t *That 100 Percent* in first place right now?
It had reached the point where seeing Korean content on the Japanese Netflix rankings was no longer strange. The Japanese public consumed Korean content as if it were natural. It hadn’t been like this in the past. Japanese anime had always been dominant, and Japanese dramas and films had formed the mainstream.
Occasionally, overseas works including American ones making an appearance had been the extent of it.
But now, Korean movies, dramas, variety shows, and more were overwhelmingly dominant. Japanese anime still appeared frequently in the rankings, but the amount of content hanging on there was about equal. This was proof that Korean culture was rapidly conquering Japan.
[Japan Is a Corpse Without Animation? Looking Into Why It Was Completely Pushed Out by Korean Content]
Japan’s broadcasting and film industries were somehow holding back the tide, but every other sector was already receiving enormous influence from Hallyu. Japan’s younger generation already had considerable interest not only in Korean content but also in food, cosmetics, and numerous other things.
In particular, they were half-crazy over idols.
It was now an era where Korean idols filling tens of thousands to a hundred thousand seats in Japan was a given. On the other hand, even while knowing it was being dominated, Japan could not imitate Korean idols.
Because of a deeply rooted system.
It was to this extent that the General Director of Netflix Japan had, in a meeting with PD U Hanseok in the past, confirmed the launch of *That 100 Percent* on the spot.
That same General Director opened his mouth.
“At this rate, *That 100 Percent* will hold first place for a long time, and the ripple effect is already this huge just because contestant ‘Number 1’ mentioned it in one episode. With even a little monitoring of social media, countless fans are clamoring for us to bring *Rental Lover* over.”
Naturally, General Director Tom Cavill hadn’t made the decision based solely on public reaction.
“And with the flow of Hallyu amplifying in Japan right now, and *That 100 Percent* maintaining first place—if the popularity of *That 100 Percent* and ‘Number 1’ continues like this, *Rental Lover* will definitely achieve good results too.”
A question thrown by one male employee.
“As for checking the content of *Rental Lover*—”
“Of course, we’ll need to check it too, but I’m confident it’ll be better than anything coming out of the dying Japanese drama scene.”
General Director Tom Cavill was of the sort who thought Japanese films and dramas were ailing. However, he was on the side of cheering them on rather than continuously pouring curses on them. He wanted to find the problems, diagnose them, and see them recover.
“Already, most Japanese films and dramas are live-action adaptations of anime. Moreover, the pure contents that come out every year avoid taking risks, so only similar things come out. It’s regrettable. I will continue to bring in external content and reap good results. Then perhaps someday, the market here—the directors—will wake up.”
The atmosphere was subdued for a moment. To change that air, the General Director smiled.
“Anyway, for us, not bringing in *Rental Lover* right now would be a foolish thing to do.”
The General Director gave an order to the male team leader sitting to his right.
“Contact the people for *That 100 Percent* and *Rental Lover*. I’ll need to go to Korea as soon as possible.”
Arms crossed, he murmured an additional remark in a low voice.
“And if possible, I’d like to meet ‘Number 1.’”
At the same time, in Korea. The Paju campus.
The *That 100 Percent* campus was quite empty now that the surviving contestants had decreased to twenty-four. Regardless, Gang Rojun was running now as part of his morning routine. He had begun the daily mission.
What was unusual was,
“Hurk— hff—”
the contestant following behind Rojun. There was only one person who wasn’t from Room 105. Number 26, who had become his teammate yesterday. He had come by in the morning and joined, saying he wanted to participate at least once, but his usual dry demeanor was nowhere to be seen as he was half-dead.
And he had only been running for about thirty minutes now.
Still, for a first-timer, he was keeping up quite well. Gang Rojun, who glanced back at Number 26, was naturally unfazed.
*He runs better than I thought; then can I pick up the pace a bit?*
Number 26 gasped for breath in fright at the increasing speed.
“Huff— h-hold on! Wait, what the hell. Are you the Terminator?”
Without caring whether Number 26 screamed or not, Gang Rojun began running twice as fast. Number 26, with despair filling his eyes, gritted his teeth. Giving up wasn’t in his nature. Though wobbly, he somehow kept running, and Rojun, glancing at him, let out a short laugh.
*He’s as stubborn as those laborer uncles.*
Gang Rojun’s exercise routine was usually joined by quite a few contestants. However, the reason only the two of them were running now was simple. For one, the number of contestants had dwindled to twenty-four, and aside from Rojun and Number 26, the rest had been participating in team rap training briefings since early morning an hour ago.
In other words, only the two who had passed on training had time left at the campus right now.
After running for about an hour since then, Gang Rojun tilted his head and loosened up. Looking back, he saw Number 26 sprawled on the ground, groaning. Rojun approached and asked,
“You alive?”
Number 26, wheezing, answered roughly,
“I feel like I’m gonna die, but I’m barely hanging on.”
“What a shame.”
“What?”
“Just kidding.”
It was Gang Rojun who reached out his hand, and Number 26 got up with difficulty, still clutching both knees and catching his breath.
“Huff— you do this hellish thing every day?”
“Yeah, I do it every day.”
“······With that face, and you work out too? That’s too much. You’re gonna get hit with rocks by men.”
“I’ve got good reflexes.”
Soon Rojun continued with the rest of his workout, and Number 26, who had raised the white flag on the run, returned to the dorms. Gang Rojun, having finished his daily mission, checked his coins while heading to the showers.
-[Coins Held: 647]
Since thirteen coins accumulated each day, even after spending them on strengthening and learning, he didn’t feel like they amounted to much. Rojun, a smile tugging at his lips, immediately spent twenty coins to continue his stat enhancement. Currently, his singing, choreography, and rap had all surpassed twenty points, so aiming for forty points, he was once again raising his singing first.
After a few dozen minutes, Gang Rojun gathered his laptop and other things and entered a quiet practice room.
It wasn’t very large, but perhaps because he was alone, it felt desolate. Then Rojun placed his laptop and cell phone in front of the mirror, briefly warmed up, and manipulated the laptop to find the track he wanted. It was “Small Fry,” which Number 26 had composed and which had been confirmed as the evaluation rap for Rojun’s Team A in Group 2.
-♬♪
Once, Gang Rojun did nothing but listen to “Small Fry” through to the end. Next, whether preparing to start, he cleared his throat. There was no hesitation. His rap stat was already not bad, and he had finished learning it.
“Small Fry” played again.
Gang Rojun, who had been slightly nodding his head,
-Swish.
Sitting, he began spitting out rap in an appropriate voice. The rhythm was free, and he toyed with the beat. Rap was a different tone from vocals. Like flowing water, yet aggressive at the same time. Gang Rojun’s “Small Fry,” where even his breathing sounded like a section of the rap, was such that after he digested both the first and second verses, his rap and the beat that had filled the practice room cut off abruptly.
For a moment, he organized his slightly roughened breathing.
Soon, he smiled.
“Rap is fun too.”
If someone who knew nothing saw this scene, they would have undoubtedly taken Rojun for a rapper.
At that moment,
-Buzz.
A short vibration felt from his wrist. The moment Gang Rojun checked it, his smile deepened.
-[You have achieved the Hidden Mission “Build-up for an All-Rounder!” 15 coins have been given as a gift.]
The “AI Simulation” app had paid tribute, as if to say it had listened well. Rojun, whose mood had been lifted, repeated “Small Fry” several times over, and once he was reasonably satisfied, he moved on to vocals and choreography.
Time flew by.
He left the practice room and went straight to the lounge instead of his room. While the other contestants were putting their lives on the line for the fourth evaluation, Gang Rojun was going through the same schedule as usual. It was just that a few rap sessions had been added.
He started with music composition study.
Based on what he had learned from Number 58 a few days ago, he reviewed and studied composition alone, and when his studying was done, he dove into writing the film screenplay that was already completed up to the synopsis. Now it was time for character detailing work.
*Fleshing out characters is the toughest, more than the actual writing.*
The last part was time as a lyricist.
His method was to listen to any genre of track’s MR and then write lyrics however he pleased. Already, more than three sets of lyrics had piled up in his “Lyrics Folder.”
At a glance, Gang Rojun seemed the most relaxed, but in truth, he was the busiest on this campus.
Perhaps even more so than PD U Hanseok.
Meanwhile, the twenty-two contestants including Number 58 were split in half and fervently focused on rap training. They took lessons from a trainer who was a working rapper, showed their respective skills, fixed their shortcomings, and repeated this process.
Number 26, who had met Gang Rojun in the morning, remained holed up in his room.
Lying face down on his bed, he was busy doing something with his tablet, cell phone, and laptop. He was probably working on dividing the parts for “Small Fry” for the fourth evaluation.
Then, Number 26 thought of “Number 1.”
“···Is Number 1 practicing rap?”
He muttered dryly, a hint of worry rising in him.
“I need to finish the part division work quickly and listen to Number 1’s rap.”
Number 1 was someone who had said he’d never tried rapping at all. If his skill was below basic, from today onward Number 26 would stick to Number 1.
“I’ll somehow make sure he can at least hit average within a few days.”
There was no choice but to practice him to death.
Afternoon.
While all *That 100 Percent* contestants including Gang Rojun were in a frenzied state, PD U Hanseok’s sudden assembly order for everyone came down. Thanks to that, the twenty-four contestants stopped what they were doing and followed the staff’s guidance.
The place they gathered was not the hall with the stage, but a spacious practice room.
All twenty-four contestants crowded into the practice room where they had first shown the choreography for *Produce*. From the Room 105 members to Number 26 and so on, even Rojun had an expression of not knowing what was going on. It had only been a day since the announcement regarding the fourth evaluation, so it was natural that another assembly had been called.
Gang Rojun, who had been scanning the entire practice room, muttered inwardly,
*Hmm—other than the small cameras that were originally set up, there’s nothing particular. Is it not an official shoot?*
Just then, PD U Hanseok and the writers entered after opening the practice room door. Soon, PD U Hanseok, standing before the twenty-four contestants, opened his mouth.
“Is everyone preparing well for the fourth evaluation?”
Answers were heard here and there. At this, PD U Hanseok, who had been smiling faintly, continued.
“Well—the reason I called you here is, first, to decide the competition order for the fourth evaluation, and also because there is an additional announcement.”
Deciding the evaluation order was necessary, so that made sense, but what was the announcement? The moment Gang Rojun furrowed his brows in question, PD U Hanseok raised his index finger and pointed to the right.
“Some of you may have seen it, but we’ve started simple construction on the hall side. We plan to change the stage for the fourth evaluation, and we’re installing standing areas and seats around the stage.”
The contestants murmured. It was understandable. Standing areas and seats? Regardless, PD U Hanseok continued the briefing.
“This fourth evaluation is similar to past evaluations. The judges will participate and evaluate you. The viewer voting is the same as well. However, this time we’re adding a bit of fun on-site.”
The corners of PD U Hanseok’s mouth curved up deeply as he met eyes with Gang Rojun among the contestants.
“For this fourth evaluation shoot, we plan to accept audience attendance applications from outside.”
Every contestant’s eyes grew wide. Even Gang Rojun’s. It meant that viewers of *That 100 Percent* would be coming here.
“The number of audience members invited will exceed 1,500.”