Chapter 92: First Broadcast

Chapter 92: First Broadcast

"Eun-Ah will soon reach adulthood and her father won’t be able to interfere with her matters then. Until then, please stay by her side and protect her."

As I explained how to deal with Eun-Ah's father, everyone listened attentively.

"Okay, oppa!" the members of Cherry Blossom answered in unison.

Nevertheless, Eun-Ah appeared disheartened and held herself responsible for unlocking the door, believing she could persuade her father, who had been forcefully banging on it.

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault."

"No, don’t say that, Eun-Ah unnie."

"That’s not true, Eun-Ah. Anyone would have opened the door in that situation."

Yang Eun-Bi and Sae-Ri took turns consoling her. I also reassured her and said it was nobody's fault, especially since it was her father.

During this whole time, Woo Yeon-Hee repeatedly mulled over my words in an attempt to store them in her memory. She had a look of determination on her face as she believed she had to protect Eun-Ah since she was the eldest in the group. Updated from novelbIn.(c)om

Seeing the strong bond between the four made me want to protect these girls no matter what happened. Most girl groups were known for being at each other's throats rather than being close—although they might get along at the beginning of their career, they would soon begin taking out their stress on each other.

But the Cherry Blossom girls seemed to have become even closer after this incident. I couldn’t help but smile at the scene before me—a scene that I had longed to see since I traveled back to the past.

***

Everyone who was involved in managing Cherry Blossom—Lee Dong-Min, Han Myung-Ho, and Lee Ju-Yung—all gathered at Cherry Blossom’s dorm.

"You did well, Yoon-Ho. You handled this situation perfectly."

Han Myung-Ho clicked his tongue and admitted that he wouldn't have been able to act so assertively like me if he had been there.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been away today of all days..." said Lee Ju-Yung as she let out a regretful sigh.

However, Lee Dong-Min simply shook his head and responded, "It's okay. It was an unexpected incident and it's all over now. There’s no need to feel sorry."

"Thank you, sir."

Lee Ju-Yung didn't receive much blame since the reason she was absent was that she had been out on official business.

Lee Dong-Min smiled at the Cherry Blossom members who were seated on the sofa. "You all must have been quite startled, huh?"

"Yes!"

‘Typical Sae-Ri.’

While everyone else forced a smile and said they were okay, Sae-Ri honestly shouted out how scared she was.

Lee Dong-Min turned to Eun-Ah and said, "Especially you, Eun-Ah. It's not your fault, so keep your chin up."

"Yes, sir."

"You all should know this already, but our company is very meticulous with contracts, even more so than other major companies. We have a great legal division to take care of the problem, so don't worry too much."

Eun-Ah nodded silently.

Having shared my plan with Lee Dong-Min, the conversation didn't drag on. Nonetheless, there was no such thing as a foolproof contract and there was always the possibility of finding loopholes. Hence, my initial strategy was simple: push Yoo Han-Seok away for now and buy as much time as we could. Once Eun-Ah reached adulthood in a month, we could renew her contract and make it impossible for her father to interfere.

Despite my strategy, the schedule in my planner remained unchanged.

[Everyday V10]

[May 11th, 2020]

-01:00 PM Training session for Handling Family Members of Affiliated Entertainers (basement level 2 theater.)

The fact that this event hadn't been canceled yet indicated that Yoo Han-Seok probably hadn't given up on his plans. There was one month until Eun-Ah became an adult. Depending on how you look at it, it was either a long or short period of time.

***

With the date of the first broadcast of Blue Sky approaching, an unprecedented tension began to ripple through the set. The rival drama, Moonlight Starpour, had amassed a dedicated fan base, comprising enthusiasts of the original work and fans of the male lead, Han Soo-Ho. They were actively dominating the comment sections of articles.

(Comments)

-Congratulations to the drama debut of the beloved writer Choi Sung-Eun!

-The male lead of Moonlight Starpour is named Soo-Ho. It must be fate that my favorite, Han Soo-Ho, is playing Soo-Ho.

-Blue Sky is the competing drama? Who's the lead in that one?

Lee Ki-Do quickly bowed. "Welcome, Mr. Kim."

"Ah, there’s no need for formality. Everyone, please sit down. Technical team, don’t mind me and carry on with your work."

With less than a minute left until the drama broadcast, Kim Gab-Soo tried to ease the tension.

"Let's relax and enjoy the broadcast. It'll go well."

Chairs were quickly set at the back of the control room and some junior staff discreetly left due to the uncomfortable atmosphere.

As soon as the commercial ended, the team lead of the control team immediately signaled the start of the drama.

The intro of Blue Sky began with cheerful music and images evoking the 1980s. Kim Gab-Soo and the executives smiled nostalgically.

"I was such a rascal back then..."

"Haha, I caused a lot of trouble for my parents too."

"Haha, did you?"

The executives, who were mostly in their 50s, exchanged childhood stories from elementary school. Everyone seemed pleased with the drama's smooth start and were especially impressed by the surprisingly excellent performance of the child actors.

"The child actors are doing better than expected, aren’t they? I was worried because they were mostly rookies."

"They really are. They all seem like they’ll become great actors in the future."

However, the staff monitoring the live time ratings looked worried, and as soon as the executives saw their expressions, they slowly fell silent.

After a long hesitation, Lee Ki-Do asked, "What's the rating?"

"Um, well..."

"What is it?"

When urged by Lee Ki-Do, staff of the control team, Kang Woo-Sung, hesitantly spoke with a trembling voice. "We started at 1.5%. And now it's at 2.2% after 5 minutes."

"What? 1.5% start? And only 2.2% now?"

The atmosphere in the control room became tense. Even though the drama started with child actors, this was still a disappointing start for Blue Sky, especially given the high expectations. Everyone had hoped for a 5% start and maybe 8% by now.

Kim Gab-Soo lost his smile and a silence enveloped the room.

After 20 minutes, Kang Woo-Sung spoke up, "We've risen to 3.7%."

It was an improvement, but very far from satisfactory.

Lee Ki-Do closed his eyes tightly and asked, "What about Moonlight Starpour?"

Kang Woo-Sung looked around the surroundings with dry lips and hesitated to answer.

"Come on, what is it?"

"M-Moonlight Starpour is at 9.2% per minute."

The unexpected revelation of Blue Sky lagging significantly behind Moonlight Starpour in ratings caused a chain of coughs among Kim Gab-Soo and the other executives.

"Ahem."

"Cough."

After a moment, Kim Gab-Soo stood up and tried to ease the tension with an awkward expression.

"Let's not get too nervous just yet, everyone. This is just the start, after all. I have some work to attend to so I’ll get going now. And CP Jung."

"Yes, sir."

"Report the final ratings to me directly after the broadcast."

As Kim Gab-Soo left the control room, Lee Ki-Do began to show his frustration out of anger.

"What's going on!? We poured so much money into this but why are we falling behind!? Speak up if you have a mouth!"

Jung Sam-Ryong had no rebuttal to Lee Ki-Do's outburst as arguing with an irate superior would only be like adding fuel to the flame.

And after an hour, the final viewership ratings for the first episode of Blue Sky came in.

Jung Sam-Ryong received the results and let out a long sigh.

"Sigh... This is... unexpected."

It was just the first episode, but the results were nothing like anyone had anticipated.