* * *
This was KOEX, located in Samseong-dong. Business hours had ended at eleven o'clock. Christmas had passed, and the removal of decorations was in full swing.
The library at the center of KOEX Mall.
The vast space surrounded by glass walls on all sides had been turned entirely into a promotional zone for <Seoul Metropolitan City>.
“Lowering the lines! Watch out!”
Normally, the Christmas tree and decorations were supposed to stay up until mid-January. They were the result of a year of planning and billions of won in investment. During the year-end season, department stores' extravagant decorations served as both SNS photo zones and cheat codes for attracting customers.
“Bringing the line across!”
But this time was different.
As soon as Christmas ended, everything was dismantled and replaced with new decorations. The interior of the massive KOEX was changing in real time.
[Seoul Metropolitan City]
In place of the sparkling and hopeful decorations came dark crimson bandages. The long, worn strips hanging down created an eerie atmosphere.
The <Seoul Metropolitan City> team covered the entire plaza floor with hundreds of pyeong of special high-definition 3D wrapping.
At the center stood a hospital bed.
In stark contrast to the blood-red floor, the bed remained spotless white, creating a disturbing image.
“Can they really do this at the end of the year?”
“Seriously. It's not even Halloween.”
The workers muttered as they watched the project gradually take shape.
From the movie theater onward, various <Seoul Metropolitan City> zones had been set up everywhere. Bloody footprints had been recreated as stickers and scattered chaotically across the floors.
It was completely different from ordinary drama promotions.
“NetHolics money really is something.”
Someone summed everything up with that one sentence.
As soon as the Christmas season ended, every movie theater screen began playing <Seoul Metropolitan City> footage, and giant outdoor billboards at major stations across Seoul displayed the faces of the lead actors.
Screen-door advertisements practically wallpapered entire subway stations, and anyone visiting portal sites would inevitably see a NetHolics banner on the main page.
The work concluded with three-dimensional structures placed atop the floor wrapping to draw people's eyes upward.
“Wow... this is really...”
The sun had risen before they knew it. Dawn sunlight spread through the towering glass walls of the KOEX library.
Under the blue light of early morning, the <Seoul Metropolitan City> installation looked silent and unsettling.
“This is insane.”
It felt like something was beginning.
* * *
Andrea Shark checked the time.
It was currently two in the morning in America. Once morning came, NetHolics Korea's first self-produced drama, <Seoul Metropolitan City>, would finally be released to the world.
Click.
Andrea opened the file she had received.
It seemed the concept of streaming subscriptions itself was still unfamiliar in Korea. The domestic VOD market led by terrestrial broadcasters and JC was much more active.
Current subscribers after the one-month free trial promotion stood at two hundred thousand.
“And among these, the ones willing to keep paying...”
Like any service, even if it became a huge success, only around eighty thousand people would remain after the free trial ended. People would naturally resist making that first paid purchase.
Of course, distributing Korean content through NetHolics would attract subscribers from other countries, but that wasn't what Andrea wanted.
She wanted to swallow Korea's media capital whole.
Just imagining herself controlling and moving the K-Drama industry with her own hands gave her a sense of accomplishment.
“Excluding the die-hard fans.”
Among current NetHolics subscribers, around sixty thousand were devoted American drama fans. Only a minority watched popular series every day.
It's free, so maybe I'll try it?
Everyone keeps talking about NetHolics, maybe I'll download it too.
Nothing to lose, right?
People entering with that mindset had to be prevented from ever leaving.
[Netholics KOREA]
Andrea smiled as she looked at the projected subscriber numbers for NetHolics Korea, which would begin in earnest in January.
“This is going to get interesting.”
Judging by the final edited version, she felt those numbers would be exceeded by a vast margin.
* * *
[HOT / Today's KOEX.jpg Receiving Tons of Negative Reactions for Being Creepy and Depressing]
(Photo of KOEX Library.jpg)
They completely removed the Christmas tree and replaced it with <Seoul Metropolitan City> decorations, but people are saying it just looks like Halloween and demanding they bring back the tree.
-Anonymous 1: Huh? What's that...
-Anonymous 5: Didn't they just steal Halloween decorations from Neverland? LMAO T_T
˪Anonymous 23: Seriously, anyone would think so
-Anonymous 67: I like it lolol I hate seeing the same tree every year, it's so lazy
˪Anonymous 88: 2222 You can really feel how serious they are about promoting this drama
-Anonymous 92: Just release it already instead of wasting time on this stuff; I'm bailing before my free subscription ends
˪Anonymous 101: Same lololol I'm only here for <Seoul Metropolitan City> and then I'm canceling immediately
˪Anonymous 107: So everyone thinks the same T_T... American dramas aren't my taste and everything else is just okay. Nothing to watch.
“You see the reactions?”
“Ah, senior.”
Reporter Wi, who had come to KOEX, walked toward the library with a camera hanging around his neck.
Today was finally the release day for NetHolics Korea's first original work, and the last day of the year. KOEX was already crowded.
“Well... you can see it in real time right now.”
Since they had given an apocalypse-style makeover to a building with heavy foot traffic, reactions were split right down the middle.
“Why did they decorate it like this? Ugh. It feels unpleasant.”
Middle-aged and older people tended to react negatively.
“Myeong Jeha's really coming later, right? You're sure?”
“I'm telling you, he is.”
Meanwhile, younger people who found the Halloween atmosphere stylish had already begun taking proof shots and uploading them to social media.
“What kind of drama makes this much fuss? Honestly, how noisy.”
“Wow... the apocalypse boom is coming...”
But this was clearly a victory for NetHolics.
Every passerby had something to say about the decorations.
“At least they succeeded in grabbing attention.”
“Right? When you open portal sites, all you see are <Seoul Metropolitan City> banners.”
Hearing his senior, Wi Jaehwi let out a sigh.
The first step of publicity was awareness.
You had to first approach people who didn't even know such a brand, person, or company existed.
Then the next step would determine everything.
Would people react positively?
Or negatively?
‘They really need to do well today...’
The director, writer, and actors had all kept their mouths tightly shut since the press conference under the pretext of preventing spoilers.
Ever since then, reporters had not been looking kindly upon NetHolics Korea's first original production, <Seoul Metropolitan City>.
Even now, long after that, the actors and PR company remained strangely passive, avoiding interviews as much as possible.
‘Of course they wouldn't look pretty.’
Moreover, NetHolics seemed determined to show everyone what capitalism looked like. They focused solely on massive offline promotions like KOEX floor wrapping and giant outdoor billboards.
The message was crystal clear.
= We don't need you guys
“So what if they have enough money to plaster Gangnam-daero with giant screens and cover KOEX floors with bloody wrapping? If the content itself is garbage, who gives a damn?”
“What are we, paid NetHolics billboards? Are we supposed to just copy their press releases word for word? If that's the case, why don't they write the articles themselves and send them over? So all we'd have to do is click?”
“Let's see just how amazing they think they are.”
No matter how huge NetHolics was.
No matter how rich the American backers were.
In Korea, the VOD market was still much larger than the subscription market.
* * *
I parked the car in the lot KOEX had provided. Just thinking about getting out in the hotel VIP section made my heart tremble.
“Unni...”
“What is it? Nervous, Yeoreum?”
“Don't I feel way too much like a celebrity right now...?”
Of course, I wasn't a hotel VIP member, but just being able to park here at all felt unbelievable.
As soon as I got out and headed upstairs, there would be giant wrapping advertisements with my face printed on them, my face on the electronic billboards, and people waiting for me. Just thinking about it made me feel like I was going to faint.
“Yeoreum. You are a celebrity.”
“Nooo! I know that. But right now, I really feel too much like a celebrity.”
A schedule starting from the KOEX Hotel....
It sounded so high-class I didn't even know what to say.
Knock knock.
Someone tapped on the car window. It was the guard in charge of guiding our route.
“I'll escort you.”
Ahhh.
Even those words made me nervous. They made me feel as though I were someone truly important.
“Unni, I really feel like... I've become someone incredible....”
I chattered away as I followed behind Choi Seonhye, trying to ease my tension. It seemed I still hadn't shaken off the anxiety from the NetHolics press conference.
That precarious atmosphere where people weren't on my side.
The feeling that everyone was waiting for me to make a mistake.
“Yeoreum. You are incredible.”
Manager Choi smiled as she said it.
After getting beaten up by the Kim Jisang school violence scandal and then the dating rumors, I seemed to be even more nervous.
Just imagining articles even sharper than those during the press conference made the back of my neck stiffen.
‘But that's only because I'm a successful actress now.’
If the atmosphere had been, Who's that? What does she do? Why should anyone care? then things wouldn't be like this.
I knew people's eyes would become friendlier after today.
Because I believed in the power of the story created by Seomun Ihwa and O Seonyul.
‘The beginning of NetHolics Korea is finally here.’
Walking through the deserted corridor along KOEX's private route, I shivered at the realization.
The global stage was truly about to open.
A life unlike any Han Yeoreum had ever lived before was about to begin.
‘But....’
Why is it so quiet?
The surroundings were silent.
I stepped through the door the guard opened.
“...”
And I, too, lost my voice for a moment.
Myeong Jeha had already arrived and was studying a script written in English.
The sight of his concentration naturally forced admiration from anyone watching.
The staff around him had all fallen silent because of his face.
“Oh? Yeoreum's here.”
Noticing my presence, Myeong Jeha turned his head and removed an earbud.
I had momentarily lost my words myself, which somehow made me annoyed.
“Happy you're going to America?”
“Happy? It's nothing special.”
His relaxed smile irritated me even more.
I sat down in a nearby chair.
“You'd better smile a lot later.”
“Why do you say it like you're burning with vengeance? Haha.”
“The more you smile, the better the articles will be. The better the articles are, the more they'll elevate me standing next to you.”
“How cruel. What a materialist.”
I had just exchanged a few words with Myeong Jeha when the waiting room door opened.
“...Yeoreum, hi.”
It was Do Gyeoul.
As always, her smiling gaze was sharp enough to pierce right through me.
“I missed you.”
Meeting Do Gyeoul again after so long, I realized something.
‘...Right.’
The global stage opening and Han Yeoreum beginning a different life also meant that the opportunities given to Do Gyeoul were the same.
Our faces would appear simultaneously in 190 countries.
The more successful <Seoul Metropolitan City> became, the higher Do Gyeoul would rise as well.
Because she was in the same work as me.
Perhaps I had unconsciously been wary of that.
The thing making me nervous wasn't simply the reporters' sharp reactions.
“Right. I missed you too.”
The countless frustrations I had suffered for so long.
If Do Gyeoul climbed high again, she might take my place once more.
She was, after all, the woman who had pushed aside even Eun Baekhap and seized scripts for herself.
“Hi, Jeha.”
“Mm. Long time no see.”
“It has. Reading a script?”
I wanted Do Gyeoul's downfall.
My desire to stand at the summit was inseparable from the goal of someday stepping on Do Gyeoul.
I wanted to engrave it clearly into her mind—
That I was the greater actress.
That I was far superior.
I wanted to make Do Gyeoul feel the frustration and helplessness I had been forced to endure for so long.
But burning even hotter than that was—
“It's that movie you're joining, right? I'll be joining soon too.”
The certainty that merely surpassing the current Do Gyeoul wasn't enough.
“It's a Korean-Japanese co-production.”
Those words stirred indescribable emotions.
Do Gyeoul was preparing to leap forward again.
She hadn't become complacent after losing the Holy Grail War.
The realization made my heart pound violently.
“You'll come watch it later, right? Ahaha.”
Right.
Climb higher.
Go ahead and become more successful than you ever were in your previous life.
“...Of course. I'll watch. I want to see just how well you do.”
Because I'll climb even higher than that.
No matter how desperately you stake your life on it, I'll beat you.
Looking at Do Gyeoul, I was able to smile sincerely.
‘Right.’
This is what I truly want.
Not a mediocre opponent.
I want Do Gyeoul chasing close enough to threaten me, only to never catch me.
“Am I late? Sorry...! I got held up outside!”
Tak Jeongyun rushed in breathlessly.
At the same time, after receiving a call over the radio, the guard shouted,
“We're moving to standby!”
I rose from my seat, brushed past Do Gyeoul's shoulder, and walked over to Tak Jeongyun.
I took the hand of the unknown actress who had apparently rushed here, breathing heavily.
Strangely, the moment I held her tense hand, my own nervousness disappeared.
“No, you came at just the right time, unni.”
Taking Tak Jeongyun's hand, I led her down the hallway.
“Unni. This time, we're going to succeed. Really succeed. Both you and me.”
Tak Jeongyun laughed as though I were absurd.
“You've already succeeded.”
No.
I'll become much more successful.
I'll live a different life.
* * *
Eunnyangi regretted making year-end plans at KOEX with her friends.
There were way too many people around.
“Please step back!”
People wearing black vests and carrying radios were even controlling access.
“What now?”
“Looks like a celebrity's coming.”
Eunnyangi frowned at her friends' words.
“What kind of annoying bullshit is this.... They're acting all high and mighty when whoever it is probably isn't even that important.”
Because people had gathered to see celebrities, even she—who cared about no one except Eun Baekhap—was getting caught up in the crowd.
As she tried to push through, someone grabbed her arm.
“Hey, don't!”
“Don't what?”
“Myeong Jeha's coming.”
The conversations from the crowd entered her ears.
“Is the whole <Seoul Metropolitan City> cast coming? Han Yeoreum and Do Gyeoul too?”
“Obviously.”
Had her man-crazy DNA activated again?
Eunnyangi stopped in place for a moment.
“Huh? Huhhh?”
“They've arrived!”
Click, clickclick, clickclickclick!
The sound of camera shutters grew louder from the distance.
Han Yeoreum was coming.
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