Rookie Talent Agent Knows It All - Chapter 280: Jung Yoo-Jin's Showtime (2)

I could hear Kim Sung-Woon’s excitement through the phone.

-27.4%!

The 8th episode of In the Name of God whichaired last week had a viewership ratings of 21.2%. Today, the 9th episode jumped by more than 6% compared to last week.

Raising viewership ratings by 1% in the 20% range was exponentially harder than in the 10% range. However, the news that Yoo-Jin was actually Manshin Wol-Ah made this difficult feat possible.

‘Surpassing 25% in just 9 episodes is amazing! It’s a huge hit,‘ I thought to myself.

Suppressing my excitement, I asked, “And what about Festival of Money?”

-There’s no need to worry about them anymore because the viewership rating gap is too big now. Their viewership ratings have dropped to 11.3%.

Not even the provocative plot by Hong Jang-Mi or So Yi-Yung’s passionate performance could beat Yoo-Jin’s surprising reveal.

This showed that while making a good drama is important, the real game was won through publicity. Our rival drama, Festival of Money, was designed to chase viewership ratings only. On the other hand, we managed to generate a huge buzz and pull ahead with a double score.

-I never imagined this would happen. I’ll see you on set tomorrow!

“Yes, sir!” I replied enthusiastically.

Kim Sung-Woon said he was being called by the head of the drama department and ended the call.

After the call was over, I turned to Yoo-Jin and the Actor Division 2 staff and shouted, “It’s 27.4%!”

“What? Come on~ No way!”

“Mr. Jung, you’re kidding, right? How can the viewership ratings jump 6% in just one episode?”

Everyone looked skeptical.

I said to them, “I’m serious. It’s not a joke.”

Once I reassured them, the team members looked at each other for a moment before erupting in cheers.

“Wow! 27.4%?”

“Really~?”

“This is unbelievable… you’re not joking, are you?”

In the Name of God reached an incredible viewership rating with just the 9th out of 24 episodes.

At that moment, everyone started hugging each other and cheering.

“Yoo-Jin, well done!”

“I knew she could do it. She was special even as a trainee.”

In the midst of this, someone stood out.

“Sob Sob. Yoo-Jin~~”

It was Do Ran-Hee who started crying uncontrollably. Ran-Hee wasn’t in charge of managing the actors but had a special affection for Yoo-Jin.

As Ran-Hee cried to the point of ruining her makeup, Yoo-Jin went over and hugged her tightly. Instead of the talent agent comforting the actress, the actress was comforting the talent agent.

“Ran-Hee unnie, stop crying. Why are you crying so much… sob sob,” Yoo-Jin said in between sobs.

Tears began to fall from Yoo-Jin’s eyes as she consoled Ran-Hee, who only cried harder in response.

Seeing this endless display of tears, I tapped Lee Yung-Jin’s shoulder. “Hey, try to calm her down.”

However, Lee Yung-Jin shook his head. “Ran-Hee can’t be calmed unless you offer to buy her Hanwoo beef.”

At that moment, Ran-Hee turned sharply with swollen and teary eyes. “Hanwoo?”

Startled, I waved my hands in denial. “No, no. You must have misheard me. I didn’t say anything.”

Ran-Hee wiped her tears and replied, “Sob. I thought you were offering me Hanwoo… Anyway, Yoo-Jin~ well done.”

I should have treated everyone to Hanwoo beef on a day like today, but it was already too late.

‘Alright, we’ll have Hanwoo next time,‘ I thought.

Suppressing my disappointment, I asked Jung Sang-Bong to take Yoo-Jin home first.

Yoo-Jin looked puzzled. “What about you, oppa?”

“I’m working late tonight as I have things to finish up.”

“Okay, but don’t overwork yourself.”

“Got it. Don’t worry.”

After saying goodbye, Yoo-Jin left the meeting room.

After watching Yoo-Jin leave, I headed to Kang Gam-Chan’s office for the next step.

It was time to deal with Reporter Kang Ill-Gu.

***

[Jung Yoo-Jin. Deceiving viewers with clumsy acting to play dual roles…]

Bang!

Frustrated, Kang Ill-Gu slammed his fist on the desk as he wrote a negative article about Jung Yoo-Jin.

“Damn it! This is impossible!” he cursed.

It was 5:30 a.m.

Kang Ill-Gu thought he finally had a major scoop but things suddenly went south.

News about Jung Yoo-Jin dominated the headlines all day, making it impossible for him to publish his article.

Despite staying up all night trying to write something, he couldn’t manage to get even one page done. He eventually gave up when the articles praising Jung Yoo-Jin were still trending even after a day.

The date that Kang Ill-Gu had planned to publish his article was off by just one day. He couldn’t understand how Hoop Entertainment revealed that Jung Yoo-Jin was Manshin Wol-Ah themselves exactly the day before his release.

Because of that, all his preparations had crumbled.

“Could it be that Si-Yeon got caught?” he uttered to himself.

The most suspicious person that came to mind was Lee Si-Yeon, who hadn’t been reachable since yesterday.

At that moment, anger boiled inside him. “Fuck this. I need to find that bitch first and get some answers.”

Kang Ill-Gu shut his laptop and stood up abruptly. His hair was greasy and dark circles hung under his eyes from staying up all night.

Then, Choi Jae-Yoon, his colleague, who was watching game streams next to him asked, “Mr. Kang, where are you going?”

“Where do you think? I’m going to find that dumbass Lee Si-Yeon!”

“Hmm. Why don’t you just let it go? It’s already over.”

Choi Jae-Yoon’s look of disdain implying that good looks won’t be able to save him this time bruised Kang Ill-Gu’s ego.

“Let it go? Do I look like a pushover to you?”

“Well, what are you going to do then? You’re not going to use your fists, are you?”

When Kang Ill-Gu glared at Choi Jae-Yoon, he quickly closed his mouth.

Kang Ill-Gu had never been dumped by a woman before and was always the one to end the relationship. He went down to the underground parking lot and called Lee Si-Yeon once again.

“Answer the phone, Lee Si-Yeon! Because of you, I’m…”

That’s when the call finally connected.

-Hello?

“Hey, Lee Si-Yeon! Where are you right now?”

-At home.

Her usually playful tone was replaced with a flat response.

However, the furious Kang Ill-Gu didn’t notice this change.

“Wait there. I’m coming over right now.”

-Now? At this hour?

“Hey! Is this the time to worry about the hour? Damn it,” cursed Kang Ill-Gu as he started driving.

Despite asking what happened, Lee Si-Yeon claimed she didn’t know anything. She explained that she managed to install the hidden camera but the article was already out before she was able to retrieve it.

Kang Ill-Gu cursed and claimed her excuse didn’t make any sense. Soon, he arrived at Lee Si-Yeon’s apartment entrance.

As his car approached, the security guard didn’t raise the barrier. Instead, the security guard picked up his phone and started making a call somewhere.

“Hey, don’t you recognize me? I’m the boyfriend of the chick from unit 1110!” Kang Ill-Gu yelled.

“Please wait a moment. I need to verify your identity,” the security guard replied.

“Ugh, I’m in a hurry! You’ve seen me many times before. Just open up!”

“Sir, just give me a moment, please.”

Kang Ill-Gu barked out orders using informal and rude language to the older security guard who seemed to be the same age as his father.

At that moment, a police car suddenly arrived behind Kang Ill-Gu. Trapped between the barrier in front and the police car behind, Kang Ill-Gu was unable to move.

The police officers got out of the car and approached Kang Ill-Gu’s car.

“Mr. Kang Ill-Gu?”

Kang Ill-Gu blinked as he looked at the officers. “Yes, that’s me. What’s this about?”

As soon as one officer nodded, another officer roughly pulled Kang Ill-Gu out of the car.

“Hey, what’s going on? Why are you doing this?” Kang Ill-Gu asked in confusion as he struggled.

The officer read Kang Ill-Gu his Miranda rights, informing him he was being arrested for violating laws related to sexual violence. “You have the right to remain silent and…”

“Wh-what? What law? I have no idea what you’re talking about right now!” yelled Kang Ill-Gu.

“Watch your mouth, Mr. Kang Ill-Gu. You’re facing charges of dating violence and threats.”

“What? What threats? I didn’t do anything!”

“You can explain that to the judge. You threatened your girlfriend and installed a hidden camera in a celebrity’s car, didn’t you? That’s considered a sexual violence crime. You’re in deep trouble. Do you not realize what era we live in? Tsk!”

Kang Ill-Gu began to struggle, but he couldn’t break free with his arms twisted behind him.

As one of the police officers quickly handcuffed Kang Ill-Gu and the cold metal dug into his wrists.

Kang Ill-Gu’s screams echoed through the apartment complex. “Hey, let go of me! Let me go!”

***

-They got him, Yoon-Ho.

The early morning call from Kang Gam-Chan jolted me awake at once.

He informed me that Kang Ill-Gu had been arrested just a few hours after we filed the complaint last night. This was thanks to the cooperative Lee Si-Yeon who wanted to save herself.

Fortunately, negotiations with Star Patch also went smoothly, ensuring no related articles were published.

The worry about Kang Ill-Gu was now completely gone.

After thanking Kang Gam-Chan, I immediately checked the internet.

A day had passed, yet the positive articles about Yoo-Jin were still increasing.

[Viewership Ratings Soars for In the Name of God!]

[Every Cast and Crew Were Fooled. Acting Genius Jung Yoo-Jin Shocks Korea!]

[An Unprecedented Project in TV Drama History: Jung Yoo-Jin Fooled the World!]

The articles continued to be published without any signs of decreasing, and Yoo-Jin’s name remained at the top of the real-time search rankings.

“This is great,” I remarked happily.

Feeling refreshed, I finished my shower and headed upstairs to wake Yoo-Jin.

Yoo-Jin greeted me with swollen eyes. “Oppa… when did you come back?”

“In the early morning. But why does your voice sound like that?”

“I couldn’t sleep last night because all this feels like a dream.”

Yoo-Jin said her heart was still racing from the excitement.

“Let’s get those eyes to settle down first. Do you want to use an ice pack?”

Yoo-Jin responded cheerfully. “Yes~~”

I opened the freezer and took out a blue eye massage ice pack. After seating Yoo-Jin on the sofa, I placed the pack over her eyes.

Yoo-Jin shivered at the cold touch at first, but soon smiled as she spoke. “Yesterday felt like a dream, you know…”

I smiled and responded, “That dream will continue today.”

“Today too?”

I nodded. “Yes. Yesterday was just the start. Today will be even crazier.”

So far, Yoo-Jin was known as a talented supporting actress. But from now on, things would be different. After all, the title “acting genius” would precede her name.

At that moment, Miso appeared at the door. Rubbing her eyes and holding a Powertuff Girls doll, she politely bowed upon noticing us. “Good morning, Mom and Uncle Yoon-Ho!”

Miso had learned the idol-style greeting from Sae-Ri. After I responded with a polite bow, Miso happily climbed onto the sofa.

Miso pointed at the eye massage ice pack Yoo-Jin was wearing and asked, “Uncle Yoon-Ho, do I have one too?”

“Of course, Miso. Yours is pink.”

Since Miso always tried to imitate Yoo-Jin, I had already prepared a pink eye massage ice pack for her.

“Here you go~!”

When I placed the ice pack on Miso, she let out a surprised squeal. “Oh, it’s cold~!”

“Just hold on for a bit.”

“Hmm~ okay…”

Miso gently held the ice pack with her tiny hands.

With both Yoo-Jin and Miso settled, I headed to the kitchen to make some detox juice. As I prepared three glasses and was about to serve them, I received a call from Jang Ji-Hye, the president of Womans Magazine.

When I answered the phone, I heard her urgent voice.

-Team Lead Jung! Why haven’t you been answering your phone!?

“Oh, I’m sorry. Things have been crazy since yesterday, so I had my phone on silent and forgot to check it. My apologies.”

With the phone ringing non-stop since yesterday, I hadn’t looked at it unless I was making a call.

-Anyway, Team Lead Jung. What’s this about?”

“What do you mean?”

When I asked what she meant, Jang Ji-Hye started complaining.

-If you had such a big story like yesterday, you should have told us first! We could have made it a special feature!

She was referring to the fact that Yoo-Jin was the cover model for the September issue of Womans Magazine, which was set to hit the shelves today.

However, that was impossible. Unlike online articles where we controlled the press releases, pre-printed magazines like Womans had too much risk of leaks.

I tried to explain the situation, but Jang Ji-Hye didn’t seem to be in the mood to listen.

-Oh, silly me~ that’s not the reason I called. The first print run of 50,000 copies is already sold out.

Jang Ji-Hye said that as soon as the magazines went online, they were sold out immediately.

“Congratulations,” I replied.

Jang Ji-Hye’s voice was still high-pitched with excitement.

-No, no, this is not a time for congratulations! The buyers of the September issue are collectively protesting!

Womans Magazine was currently being bombarded with complaints for an absurd reason.

Ristretto’s Thoughts

But do people still really read magazines?