Novelist Running Through Time - Chapter 96

TL: KSD

The catchphrase of a comedian that the entire nation used to follow is forgotten.

The national variety show at 6:30 PM has been buried in oblivion.

And no one cares about such things anymore.

In an era where ‘pop culture’ has become a vulgar joke,

One PD was writing a legend.

EP 6 – The Show Must Go On

If you ask who the greatest genius PD currently writing a legend in real-time is, it’s obviously Park Young-tae.

It’s not like he has a status window. So, it’s not like the genius PD is hiding a status window.

However, he made the impossible possible even without such a status window.

The cultural power of broadcasting stations, centered around TV, has been utterly defeated by new media including YouTube, podcasts, OTT, and online communities.

The concept of the masses disappeared, leaving only fragmented consumers.

Yet, Park Young-tae is creating something akin to ‘pop culture’ that the entire nation enjoys.

How is that possible?

The answer lies in defeating each challenge one by one.

PD Park Young-tae captures TV viewers with variety shows, captures YouTube viewers with short clips of those variety shows, and captures netizens with captured screenshots summarizing those clips.

Even in an era where people who watch TV don’t usually watch YouTube, and those who watch YouTube don’t usually watch TV, he forcibly brings people in front of the screen with pure fun.

Therefore, PD Park Young-tae’s variety shows have an influence beyond visible ratings, and Kim Byul’s ‘leadership’ was also shown to that many people.

Yes.

That was it.

I know it in my head. Wouldn’t I know that after a decade in the broadcasting industry?

But it was the first time I’d directly felt it.

“Kim sunbae!”

Kim Byul bit her lip hard.

She almost closed her eyes tightly but resisted.

In an era where a frowning face in front of people could spread on SNS and make one a bitch, one has to be careful or else they’ll instantly become human trash. Kim Byul put on a professional-capitalist smile on her face.

But this strange feeling was something she couldn’t explain in words.

The one who called Kim Byul ‘Kim sunbae’ was not Moon In-seop.

The place where she heard ‘Kim sunbae’ was not at school.

Kim Byul heard someone she didn’t know call her ‘Kim sunbae’ on the street when she went out to buy banana milk and sugar cream roll bread (secretly without her manager).

“Are you really Kim sunbae?!”

Now they even confirmed it.

Kim Byul, hiding her bewildered feelings, nodded.

Then, a female college student, who to anyone’s eyes shouldn’t be calling Kim Byul ‘sunbae’, asked with sparkling eyes if she could please take a photo with her.

“Could I… take a photo with you, just once?!”

“Yes, of course.”

Kim Byul put on a cool and beautiful but not too arrogant persona and agreed to take the photo.

This mask was the product of trial and error over 10 years of experience. It may seem trivial, but it’s very difficult.

Coolness, being aloof.

Beauty, loveliness.

This is a haughty attitude that invokes people’s admiration. Yet, if mixed with a polite demeanor and the feeling of ‘I may be cold and aloof, but I’ll be warm to you, my fan who likes me’, Kim Byul’s everyday <celebrity mode> is complete.

Thus, she can overpower the excitement of the people around her, take beautiful photos, not shatter people’s fantasies, and not be cursed for being rude.

That’s how Kim Byul safely sent off the female college student she met on the street.

As such, Kim Byul was an experienced celebrity.

She was accustomed to someone liking her, admiring her, and in industry terms, fawning over her.

But what she’s experiencing now, she just can’t get used to it.

Kim Byul twisted her body like a pretzel and pulled at her hair in frustration at an empty street corner.

“Ugh…”

It was embarrassing.

Especially these days.

After all… ‘Kim sunbae’ wasn’t a role.

The admiring looks that had been pouring onto Kim Byul were not for Kim Byul, but for Kim Byul’s ‘persona’.

That is, the praises were directed at the role Kim Byul played.

Actor and role are concepts that are strictly separated. People think they like the actor, but in reality, they like the role the actor plays.

Money doesn’t lie. If you think about whether an actor appears as themselves or as their character from a blockbuster movie or a popular drama in a commercial they star in right after, the answer is clear.

Of course, the story is a bit different for fandoms that follow the works of an actor with consistent faith and support, but Kim Byul doesn’t have such a fandom. The peak of Kim Byul’s career was when she coined the catchphrase “Mom is a fool! A fool who only knows Dad!”.

But ‘Kim sunbae’ isn’t a role.

It was just Kim Byul.

Not someone pretending to be Kim Byul, but the human being Kim Byul, purely revealing her true self.

So, every time she saw people looking at her with warm eyes and saying “I respect Kim sunbae”, Kim Byul felt as if her hands and feet were twisting together.

‘It wasn’t acting…’

Then…

It’s a story of people liking her just as she is.

“Ugh!”

***

As proven by the popularity pouring out for Kim Byul, there is power in authenticity.

People living in a media society are pitiful beings living in plastic love.

They admire someone they don’t even know, get excited about developments they know are fake, and satisfy themselves by brainwashing into believing staged situations are real.

That’s the cultural life in the information age.

But because of that, people yearn for “the real thing.”

PD Park Young-tae understood this principle well. And Park Young-tae’s team members are people who do more than expected once they are given direction.

What do people like?

A genius writer thought to be perfect.

Suffering from a slump and unable to sleep.

A boy who comes out to the beach at dawn, struggling.

A girl who sneaks up and sits next to him.

And an interview.

「What were you feeling when you decided to follow Author Moon?」

「Ah, ahaha…」

PD Park Young-tae threw “the real thing” to the people.

And authenticity has a very powerful force.

Kim Byul’s genuineness elevated an episode of a variety show to the realm of art.

「…Actually, In-seop isn’t a genius.」

「People believe they’d like him to be a genius, not because he has overflowing charisma or unstoppable inspiration, but because he’s just overly mature for his age.」

「How do I know? I know because I saw it at school. No, that guy really has no manners-」

Kim Byul’s authenticity also gave people laughter.

「Um… There was a time when I mistakenly thought I was a genius too. I got lucky and became popular when I was young, and I thought it was all because I was a talented kid.」

「In that regard, In-seop is much better than me. He’s the exact opposite of me. He thinks he got popular just because he’s young. So, he believes success, honor, and money are all meaningless. That’s why he’s even more obsessed with literature…」

「But… I can’t say that I didn’t see myself in In-seop when he was troubled. In reality, people do make someone a star just because they’re young. Since I went through that, I can’t deny it lightly. Really… purely… when I realized that all the popularity I enjoyed was just because I was young and cute…」

「It was painful.」

Kim Byul’s authenticity also made people cry.

「But I still haven’t given up on acting.」

「The reason is really trivial, of course, I want to succeed, and it’s painful not to succeed, but the real reason I can’t give up acting is just because I love it.」

「So, I told In-seop too… Even without people’s popularity, money, or honor, it’s okay to keep doing it just because you love it. So, don’t give up and cheer up, that’s what I said.」

The act of one person supporting and embracing another is truly a beautiful thing.

In front of its artistry, rumors of romance lost their power. Because people wanted to enjoy the beauty of a young girl and boy humanly standing in solidarity, not the shallow romance rumors summarized as ‘who’s dating who, blah blah.’

That kind of content can be easily enjoyed in matchmaking reality shows with scripted elements. However, this authenticity could not be found anywhere else.

So, in the end, it was all about entertainment.

People were enthralled by a more beautiful show.

That’s all.

「Ah, embarrassing…」

「A video letter? Oh, no! I don’t want to. Don’t film it…!」

「Is that… In-seop?」

Of course, there were also people who were smitten by Kim Byul’s cuteness.

***

The news that PD Park Young-tae had finally hit a home run thrilled the nation.

Of course, like always, this frenzy was just a fleeting issue that sparkles for a moment and then fades away.

Popular movies of the day. Popular dramas of the day. Popular variety shows are always in abundance.

Even if it’s a masterpiece filled with someone’s blood, sweat, and tears, in the vast current of culture, it’s just content that is glanced at for a moment and then quickly forgotten.

The event that will remain a sparkling moment in Moon In-seop and Kim Byul’s lives, from afar, is just “a funny scene from a popular variety show.”

But if you look closely, it’s different.

The economic effect of “a funny scene from a popular variety show” was devastating.

A brief iconic moment from an episode of a variety show.

The soft power contained within it was directly converted into money.

For Kim Byul personally, this soft power materialized into several CF offers and scripts from directors wanting her for their next projects. But for Moon In-seop, it was something more special.

Behind Moon In-seop was an entire business unit of a certain conglomerate, intent on converting soft power into money.

-The Moon In-seop Boom… Is Coming!

The moment the variety show’s blockbuster success was sensed, the publishing management division led by Lim Yang-wook, like a fierce octopus waiting for an opportunity, sprang into action all at once.

A total war erupted everywhere. Business, after all, should be conducted with a combative spirit.

Promotional battles in offline bookstores, noise marketing battles in online bookstores, battles over TV advertising slots, and in the midst of all this, Yang-wook crushed the schemes of factionalists within Baekhak Publishing.

Finally, the salesmen of the publishing department, fully armed with the spirit of a suicide bomber out of fervent loyalty to the revered Baekhak lineage, won the war.

-Bestseller… 1st place!

-Wowww! We won!

-Long live Director Baek Seol!

-I, I didn’t do anything…

-It’s all thanks to the Director! We dedicate this achievement to the Director!

Moon In-seop’s next work, ‘The Show Must Go On,’ linked to the storyline of the variety show <Peaceful Uninhabited Island>, achieved bestseller status.

Even if the publishing industry is said to be a dying sector, if it really were something insignificant, there would be no reason for the powerful rights cartel called Baekhak Publishing to exist.

Success is as hard as picking stars from the sky, but the moment it is achieved, immense profits are generated.

The profits gained by Baekhak Publishing’s management division brought about an economic performance that was incomparable to the few CFs earned by Kim Byul personally.

As a result, dozens of salaried workers receiving millions in wages were promoted, the leading digit of the budget allocated to a business division changed, and it had a meaningful impact on the political landscape within the conglomerate.

Then the industry people were also thrilled.

It was a different kind of frenzy from the masses.

-Is this… really a huge hit?

Unlike the masses who were enthusiastic about variety shows and novels, industry people focused on a different aspect.

It was the strategy of the publishing management division.

In the past, the reformists of Baekhak Publishing led by Lim Yang-wook claimed that creating <star authors> could bring innovation to the stagnant publishing industry.

It didn’t work at all.

There’s a reason why the Bible says that those who believe without seeing are more blessed. People only believe in what they see. So, they didn’t believe.

However, after a long time, a miracle appeared before their eyes.

The correlation between <celebrity authors> and <increased sales> was proven.

With this, the publishing management division were not merely lucky lottery winners who found a genius author named Moon In-seop, but pioneers who successfully implemented the business model of <publishing management>.

However, where there is light, there must also be darkness.

Ironically, that darkness was also the cause of the light.

-The novel… I didn’t like it much.

There are things that make Moon In-seop’s name shine and that people expect from his writings. That is ‘innovativeness’.

Literature is a very old discipline, similar to music. Because of its deep history, even if you create something, you can find something similar in the past.

Therefore, the literary community wants and inevitably highly values something new.

However, the thematic consciousness of ‘The Show Must Go On’ had clichéd aspects.

The plot of encountering difficulties, giving up on art, and then finding one’s way back to art through inner awakening is touching but not new to the world.

Thus, critics assessed that Moon In-seop had stagnated in a literary sense,

And the people at Baekhak Publishing were ecstatic that even ‘such a novel’ could be sold as an S-grade.

-The broadcasting effect is really no joke.

-Making one writer a star really pays off, doesn’t it?

-But it’s not like there were no star authors before.

-Instead of gaping until the hype dies down, let’s try to make our own, right…?

Amidst this strange atmosphere beginning to circulate within Baekhak Publishing.

Someone in the office of the CEO of Baekhak Entertainment was reading a book.

“……”

It was CEO Baek Seung-won, not in a white suit and black sunglasses,

But in a black suit and with haggard eyes.

*****

TL Note:

Hi, if you aren’t on Discord or haven’t read my announcement, I was in an accident which resulted in a fracture to one of my hands, and I had to be hospitalized. I have since been discharged, but I still have only one working hand. However, with only one hand functioning, the release rate will be very slow. Thank you all for your support.

*****

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