Chapter 585
Unlike during the interview, it was nice not having to look at Do Gyeoul for long periods of time.
‘But the problem is...’
No matter how many times I ran my shallow little calculator, both screen time and impact converged toward zero.
Sure, nobody could deny that my character left the strongest impression at the end of 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉, but if you dissected the characters individually, Myeong Jeha’s Kim Kangil wasn't behind at all.
‘Especially with this kind of content format, Myeong Jeha is going to devour everything.’
After web dramas created a whole new market on Intube and people realized they made money, companies started flooding in. Among them, channels with TV-like formats but B-grade vibes began gaining popularity.
And this was the hottest one lately.
Working Holysh!tday.
Shortened to WorkHol.
The appeal of the channel was simple: celebrities or famous people got thrown into jobs they'd never done before and stumbled their way through learning them. Watching glamorous guests blend into places they obviously didn't belong made people feel closer to them.
‘And among the four of us, the person who feels the most distant from the public is Myeong Jeha...’
Tak Jeongyun's face was less recognizable, but her story was so relatable that people would warm up to her easily.
She couldn't compare to a twenty-something A-grade actor who had suddenly broken into Hollywood a few months ago and was arguably at the peak of his career.
‘If we're not careful, Myeong Jeha's going to eat everything.’
And this episode had another layer of entertainment mixed in, making it even more dangerous.
The 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉 promotions spread throughout Samseong-dong.
The pity and laughter that came from people failing to recognize someone standing right in front of them.
The curiosity of imagining what you yourself would have done.
That was exactly what the producers were aiming for with this 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉 WorkHol episode.
‘Even if they don't want the spotlight to shift his way...’
It couldn't help but happen.
The deliveryman role.
Samseong Station.
And Myeong Jeha, whom people kept saying was impossible to see in person.
Incidentally, Myeong Jeha had even spread a new term overseas.
“Delivery bro.”
His influence was ridiculous.
‘Sigh...’
It was only natural that Myeong Jeha was the star of this WorkHol episode, but I didn't want to lose to Do Gyeoul.
‘But the problem is, she got a good role too.’
Three people in the kitchen would ruin the balance. But sending just Do Gyeoul or me out to the floor would paralyze the store.
‘Because it'd ruin the image Working Holysh!tday wants to show.’
Tak Jeongyun in the dining area while Do Gyeoul and I stayed in the kitchen?
That was the one arrangement I wanted to avoid.
Fortunately, Do Gyeoul had never worked in a kitchen before, and thanks to the part-time skills I'd shown on , we ended up with the current setup.
Which meant Do Gyeoul was handling deliveries too.
Do Gyeoul was playing the side-dish role.
She'd completely stolen the cute member position.
Mini Kim Kangil.
And not even riding a bike.
She was doing deliveries on foot.
‘Ahhh... I can already picture the reactions when this airs...’
-TT__TT Do Gyeoul is working so hard in weather this cold.
-Damn, I used to curse at people delivering on foot... seeing her doing it makes me feel guilty hehe
└ Me too. I'm reflecting.
-How can you not love Do Gyeoul waddling around carrying delivery bags bigger than her body TT_TT
-So. Freaking. Cute.
I could see it.
No matter how much octopus I stir-fried and sweat I shed, I'd end up losing to Myeong Jeha and Do Gyeoul...
Ding! Order!
Ding! Order!
Even then, I checked the endless stream of orders.
The place was famous, so they never stopped.
Hands fast.
Mind cold.
“Unni, that one's not done yet! You forgot the wet wipes!”
“Ah, the special request...”
While checking the receipt, I kept Tak Jeongyun in my peripheral vision.
If our routes got mixed up, we'd end up getting complaint calls.
“Yeoreum, put spoons in that one.”
“But they checked ‘No disposable utensils.’”
“No. It's a hotel address. We should put them in. They probably forgot to change the previous setting.”
“As expected...”
Still, working with Tak Jeongyun again felt incredible.
Everything clicked perfectly.
‘Back when we used to rotate through part-time jobs, we really were the perfect duo...’
Memories came flooding back.
Whenever a workplace had staffing shortages, the owners desperately tried to keep us together.
At least this would earn me a competent image.
‘More orders, please.’
Pile them up like a mountain.
Let me clear them all stylishly and steal some screen time.
Hopefully Summer Days would feel a little of Na Yuna from 〈Youth Disqualified!〉 here too.
I was really dry and innocent back then.
“I'm back~”
But it wasn't another order.
It was Do Gyeoul.
She walked in carrying a delivery bag.
Thanks to the helmet, nobody recognized her.
To everyone else, she was just Delivery Person #1 passing by.
I could already see the caption.
(The customers focusing only on their octopus, completely unaware... (Do Gyeoul is behind them))
“What should I take?”
“This...”
“Just this?”
Do Gyeoul spoke cheerfully.
Judging by her unusual tone, she'd already figured out what image she wanted to secure.
Impulsively, I grabbed her wrist as she reached for the delivery bag.
“Should I do it now? It's really cold outside...”
If she agreed, great.
And even if she refused, it'd make for a warm editing point.
As though she understood what I wanted, Do Gyeoul simply shook her head.
“Ahaha! Yeoreum. You've got so many schedules tomorrow. What are you saying?”
The staff around us were probably thinking,
Just like the Light Riders of DaeYeJong, they're really loyal to each other.
“Still... it's hard.”
“I'm okay. Unni, I'll be back!”
Do Gyeoul politely greeted Tak Jeongyun and headed off again on her journey as a pedestrian delivery worker.
“Let's cut here for a moment and take a short break.”
The staff sensed an editing point and stopped filming.
I sat in a corner with Tak Jeongyun, eating canceled octopus orders and sighing.
“Unni... what if I don't get any screen time at this rate?”
Tak Jeongyun shook her head with a determined expression.
“No. Trust me.”
“With what?”
“I'll make sure everyone only sees you.”
Even if it was just words, I appreciated them.
Before I could even feel touched by Tak Jeongyun's determination, Myeong Jeha entered with a cameraman behind him.
“Eating something good?”
As Myeong Jeha entered the kitchen and took off his helmet, the staff around him silently cheered.
Tak Jeongyun's “I'll make sure everyone only sees you” was buried instantly.
My heart shattered.
‘That staff unni... she's smiling way brighter than when she's with me?’
She's my camera operator, so how could she?!
Brushing aside his sweat-soaked bangs, Myeong Jeha approached.
Our filming was on break, but his camera was still rolling.
He really had no intention of ever stopping.
“Give me a bite too.”
Leaning forward naturally, Myeong Jeha opened his mouth.
I fed him a piece of octopus.
“Let's have fried rice after work.”
“Haha. Were you planning ahead?”
“Yeah... aren't you hungry?”
I'd already had one wholesome DaeYeJong classmate moment with Do Gyeoul, so I had to do one with Myeong Jeha too.
Without letting the two of them intersect too much.
Making it feel like I was right in the middle.
Ding! Order!
Another order.
Should I stop running my shallow little calculator and actually get back to work?
“Yeoreum, wait.”
And then it happened.
Tak Jeongyun grabbed my shoulder with a serious expression.
* * *
Tak Jeongyun still remembered Han Yeoreum from that day.
“Unni, come up to where I am.”
The noisy pork barbecue restaurant in Daehakro.
And Han Yeoreum's unwavering eyes looking at her.
The words spoken by a rising actress climbing upward at terrifying speed to an unknown Daehakro actress still hadn't faded.
Talent that felt impossible to catch forever.
The first thing Tak Jeongyun thought after passing the 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉 audition—
Was Han Yeoreum from that day.
She'd been so excited just to have caught up with the unbelievably fast-growing actress even a little that she couldn't sleep.
But at the script reading.
On set.
During the interviews.
Tak Jeongyun never truly caught up with Han Yeoreum.
Maybe it was simply the difference between an unknown and an A-grade actress, but she could barely keep herself afloat.
The sharp questions.
The sarcastic articles.
And Han Yeoreum trying to take care of her no matter what.
‘I can't stay like this.’
So Tak Jeongyun had read the flow of the battlefield in her own way.
“...Unni. Is this right?”
After watching every Intube video featuring celebrities, she finally discovered Han Yeoreum's editing point.
Seeing it with her eyes made it much clearer than thinking about it.
Even if Myeong Jeha stole the spotlight.
Even if Do Gyeoul stole people's hearts.
Even if Tak Jeongyun failed to protect her own place here—
“Exactly! This is so good.”
Han Yeoreum would definitely leave behind a strong impact.
The smiling staff around them proved it.
This method had to be right.
* * *
Now it was Saturday.
Only a few days had passed since December 31st, but to Reporter Wi it felt like the distant past.
“Wow... that was really exhausting...”
A lot had happened in such a short time.
For one thing, she'd written an absurd number of articles.
Whenever 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉 was in the headline, clicks doubled.
NetHolics' global rankings had climbed to Top 3, and it had even broken into the Top 10 in Japan, one of the toughest markets.
The cast's Youstagram follower counts were setting records every day.
A single story update.
One feed photo.
That alone could take an article straight to number one on the portal rankings.
A cheat code.
Popularity that felt like exploiting a bug.
Daily Media had uploaded today.
Thanks to quadruple editing speed and outsourcing, they managed this pace.
They had to ride this wave properly.
The video reached trending within one hour.
INTUBE
[Watching Episode 1 of 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉 Together—With Who? Myeong Jeha, Han Yeoreum, Do Gyeoul, and Tak Jeongyun | ] 42:23
Views: 234,556
-LMAO 10:23 Their reaction there is so real.
-Please just give Myeong Jeha one school uniform project T_T Stop resting.
-Did they edit this in two days just to farm views? lool
-I think Drama Fan B is a real nerd. Their mouth corners are impossible to control.
-My daughter... Jihwa...
└ What's with this foreigner?
└LMAOOOOO Ah damn, who is this old guy?
Since most Intube viewers had already watched 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉, reaction videos were especially popular.
Everyone related.
The current Intube market was basically a sea of monsters fighting over the giant fish called 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉.
Movie and drama Intubers.
Makeup channels.
Daily vloggers.
Gaming channels.
Even doctors.
INTUBE
[On Jihwa Cover Makeup from 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉 (The Ponytail Does Everything...♥)] 12:45
[Watching 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉 With My Mom, Who's a Real Do Gyeoul Fan! What If A Zombie Suddenly Appeared At Home?] 30:11
[A Doctor Explains The Zombie Infection Route In 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉] 23:44
From January 1st onward, it had become a battle among view-count ghosts who had gone insane.
Everyone wanted to talk about 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉.
Everyone wanted to see more of the actors.
And beyond that, they wanted to witness the birth of a new trend.
By next week, there would be videos uploaded in numbers incomparable to now.
More provocative.
More entertaining.
More definitive.
The actors' promotions had only just begun, so week three would likely be the peak.
“And then 〈Faster Than the Law〉 releases immediately after...”
Reporter Wi smiled.
Fortunately, neither Do Gyeoul nor Myeong Jeha had another project lined up.
Which meant all the trickle-down effect would be devoured by Han Yeoreum.
“Uploaded the SNS photos... if we hit number one on trending, I should post another group picture on Stories.”
Checking the astonishing growth, Reporter Wi entered the journalists' group chat.
As always, it was lively.
[The 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉 WorkHol episode airs next week lololol]
Seeing the information about Yeoreum, Reporter Wi grew excited.
“She'll do well like she did on , right?”
She remembered the warm, smile-inducing image from 〈Youth Disqualified!〉.
When the spoiler dropped that the cast of 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉 would appear—
Everyone had thought the same thing.