"...20.3%??!!"
At Song Manwoo PD's announcement, everyone inside the barbecue restaurant went speechless.
Wearing a faint smile, he gave them the answer again.
It was the kind of number that could leave anyone stunned.
"This—this is real?"
"PD, don't joke around!"
"It really hit 20.3%?!"
At the staff's agitated reactions, Song Manwoo PD raised a thumbs-up.
"Yes. 20.3%."
Dozens of staff members and actors jumped to their feet and erupted into cheers.
It might have looked a little excessive, but their excitement was completely genuine.
"Woooow!!"
"No way! It broke 20%?!"
"A toast! A toast!!"
"This is insane! Tomorrow's going to be absolute chaos, right?!"
"Yes!! Let's eat and drink as much as we want tonight!!"
As people hugged each other and jumped around in excitement, the second floor of the barbecue place instantly turned into something like a club.
Everyone let out the same breath of relief.
It felt as if all the suffering and hardship they had endured until now had vanished in a single moment.
Madness.
The staff poured drinks and clinked glasses while sharing their excitement, while the actors bonded over visions of their bright futures.
The actors' managers were busy making phone calls somewhere nearby, and in the middle of it all, the assistant Director rushed downstairs to deliver the shocking news.
As if passing the baton—
"What was the rating?!"
Choi Sunggeon, who had been downstairs, came hurrying up to the second floor.
The other actors' managers followed behind him.
After hearing the number, Choi Sunggeon—
"...Haha. Twenty percent?"
He looked half out of his mind.
It was a rating he had never imagined.
Song Manwoo PD smiled and handed him a shot of soju.
"It's been around three years since a drama last hit 20%."
"But… wasn't it nearly impossible for a first episode to hit 20%?"
"This isn't just a record. No, this is history."
"Our drama was promoted at an unprecedented level everywhere, including across the networks, and the media also played a huge role by turning it into a full-blown drama war."
"Viewers watched the competing dramas, then chose ours, didn't they?"
Song Manwoo PD explained it to the stunned Choi Sunggeon while clinking glasses with him.
Then he explained it to the entire staff as well.
"But this isn't the final official overall rating."
"It's the interim figure, so the number may shift a little once the final result comes out."
"Still, the difference probably won't be big."
Then Song Manwoo PD patted Kang Woojin on the shoulder.
Woojin had been sitting quietly the whole time.
"Assistant Manager Park pushed the tension even higher in the second half, so the drop-off in ratings was probably smaller."
"If anything, it may have gone up even more."
Soon, the staff started calling out to Kang Woojin.
"Waaah—Assistant Manager Park! Assistant Manager Park!"
"Seriously! Assistant Manager Park's impact was enormous!"
"Woojin! Aren't you way too calm?! Hahaha!"
But Kang Woojin looked strangely detached.
That was because the shock was so overwhelming that his mind had gone blank.
No way. Twenty percent? It really passed twenty percent?
Even though Woojin didn't understand the entertainment industry in detail, he knew perfectly well that a 20% drama rating was absurdly high.
He had seen hit dramas become national crazes before.
These days, even 10% was already considered a massive success.
But this had doubled that.
Twenty percent… how many people even watched that in real life?
Just thinking about it made him dizzy.
Then, naturally, the void space came to mind.
-[2/Script (Title: Profiler Hanryang Part 1), S-grade]
S-grade. Damn, S-grade really is something else.
And that was only the first episode.
In other words, the influence of that S-grade project had only just begun.
Right then, a few of the still-noisy staff suddenly pointed at Kang Woojin.
"Ah! Come to think of it, Woojin's debut projects are completely insane?!"
"Oh, right! His filmography is unbelievable! He won the grand prize at a short film festival, and now his very first drama passed 20% ratings?!"
"Whoa, that's true! Woojin even won the bet too! He guessed 20% exactly!"
"What? Seriously?!"
At that exact moment—
Ah.
In the middle of all the praise being showered on Kang Woojin, Song Manwoo PD, who had been watching him, suddenly realized something.
He guessed exactly twenty percent?
It was because of the ratings bet they had made before the broadcast.
Come to think of it, Kang Woojin had said this:
"I'll put fifty on 20%."
He had muttered it in a small voice.
And now it had landed exactly on the mark.
Because of that, Song Manwoo PD narrowed his eyes slightly and murmured,
"...This is less like a totem and more like seeing the future."
His uncanny instincts and strange senses had already been enough to shock people, but to even hit the exact percentage?
Song Manwoo PD began seriously wondering whether Kang Woojin was even human.
If he was human, then maybe he was some kind of divine secretary.
Of course, the truth was nothing like that.
During the bet, Woojin had simply thrown out a random number.
He hadn't even used the void space.
In a way, it had been completely Kang Woojin's own luck.
He had just gone with the flow.
But Song Manwoo PD was being entirely serious.
And then—
Swoosh.
Writer Park Eunmi grabbed Kang Woojin's hand once more and closed her eyes.
"Thank you. Thank you so much."
It was like she was expressing gratitude to a totem.
Woojin decided to let it slide again.
Honestly, reacting to it felt like too much trouble.
Soon, the roughly 500,000 won from the betting pool was transferred to him.
"Assistant Manager Park wins! Here's the prize!"
The misunderstandings kept piling up in real time.
"Yes, free money!"
At this very moment, Kang Woojin was simply happy without thinking too deeply about it.
Later.
Around midnight, Kang Woojin was in the van on his way home.
Even then, his phone kept filling with nonstop messages and chats.
Bzzzz. Bzzzz.
There are way too many messages.
Congratulatory texts were pouring in live from Director Shin Dongchun, from Director Kwon Gitaek, from his family, close friends, and acquaintances.
What was interesting was—
Why is this person suddenly messaging me and making such a fuss?
Even people he had forgotten were reaching out.
Not that many yet, but already more than five people had contacted him.
-Kim Ajeong: Woojin~ long time no see. Are you acting these days? Was that you in the drama?
-Park Jijae: Kang Woojin! Were you in that drama? Did you start acting?
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Wearing a puzzled expression, Kang Woojin lightly ignored those messages.
They didn't feel especially important.
For now, he only needed to respond to work-related ones.
Besides, Choi Sunggeon and the team were already in the car with him anyway, so it would be better to contact family and close friends later.
At that point—
"Wow."
Han Yejung, sitting to Woojin's right, cut in with her calm voice.
"Articles are pouring out every second across all three portal sites."
And just as Han Yejung said, articles related to Profiler Hanryang were really being published every second.
『[Recommended Drama] Profiler Hanryang Creates a Storm from Episode 1』
Strictly speaking, it had started while the broadcast was still airing.
And among the dramas caught in the so-called drama war, the media's pick was Profiler Hanryang.
It stood out by far.
『Profiler Hanryang Shows Overwhelming Quality Among the Three Network Dramas Battling It Out』
『[Issue Pick] Immersion Maximized by the Perfect Acting of Ryu Jungmin, Hong Hyeyeon, and Others… Profiler Hanryang Expected to Explode』
On top of that, media outlets had their own ways of roughly gauging ratings, so everyone already knew Hanryang had become a hit.
『Profiler Hanryang Surpasses 20% in Real-Time Interim Ratings』
And what stood out especially was this:
『Who Is Kang Woojin, the Actor Playing "Assistant Manager Park"? Turns Out He Was a Rookie Actor Who Won the Acting Grand Prize at the Mise-en-scène Film Festival』
Among the flood of articles, Kang Woojin's name appeared surprisingly often.
He was an actor with a story.
And in the latter half of Hanryang, Assistant Manager Park had made a huge impact.
『[Photo] "Rookie Actor Kang Woojin's Scene-Stealing Performance Lives Up to Writer Park Eunmi's Praise" / Photo』
Still, the current situation was only the beginning.
It had only been around two hours since the drama ended.
A massive storm was already approaching from far away.
Its full force would probably reveal itself starting tomorrow, when public opinion really began to move.
And that public opinion was already half-crazed.
-Seriously, this is insane. It was so fun I didn't even realize an hour had passed.
-I picked Hanryang.
-This is legendary. I knew the comments would explode.
-What the hell was that immersive opening episode?!
You could tell just by looking at the official Profiler Hanryang homepage.
The discussion board had already gone past ten thousand posts.
At this rate, another hundred posts would probably appear in the time it took to blink.
Normally, when a new drama started, discussion boards topped out at around a thousand comments.
This time, it was over ten times that.
-See? This is what happens when you cast veteran actors. The drama quality goes up. The MBS drama on the next channel had awful acting.
-Kang Woojin? Does he seriously have no prior work at all? I can't find anything no matter how much I search.
-I nearly pissed myself when Assistant Manager Park showed up at the end.
-Ah… but Ryu Jungmin is way too handsome. ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-Kang Woojin? He's a rookie, but his acting gave me chills.
-Hey, I thought I was watching a movieㅋㅋㅋ
-The dialogue and pacing are definitely Park Eunmi style, but it's seriously fun.
-The tension skyrocketed the moment Assistant Manager Park appeared at the end. A true scene-stealer!
Naturally, Kang Woojin's name was being mentioned everywhere too.
That atmosphere only grew more intense as midnight passed and the date rolled over to the 16th.
It spread rapidly across the country through media and word of mouth.
From site to site.
From phone to phone.
From finger to finger.
And finally, word of mouth added another layer of promotion.
There was no way a 20% rating could have a small impact.
Then, on the morning of the 16th, the Profiler Hanryang production staff announced the official combined rating for episode 1.
『[Ratings] Profiler Hanryang Opens with a Bang, Officially Records 20.5%』
『Historic Ratings: Profiler Hanryang Premieres with an Incredible 20.5%』
The number had really gone over 20%.
That became the trigger.
No—
To be more precise, Profiler Hanryang had already become a national sensation.
By the morning of the 16th, the entertainment sections of all the major portals were covered in Profiler Hanryang articles.
Other dramas appeared here and there, but Hanryang completely dominated.
And it was even coming through car radios.
"Let's start with drama news from episode one—Profiler Hanryang! Did you watch it?"
"No, I missed it, but my mom did. I heard the first episode got over 20%, right?"
"That's right. Apparently it was a record-breaking hit. I watched it too, and the acting was incredible. Especially the actor who played the psychopath."
"Hmm? Who was that?"
"I looked it up. Actor Kang Woojin. He also won the acting grand prize at the Mise-en-scène Film Festival."
On subways and buses, countless people were scrolling through Profiler Hanryang content on their phones.
Whether they had watched the drama the night before no longer mattered.
Now, they had to watch it.
The conversation around Profiler Hanryang had already spread too far.
Searches.
Blogs.
Cafés.
News articles.
The amount of discussion was enormous.
Everyone noticed it.
They could feel that this drama was going to explode.
And where there was demand, supply naturally followed.
Around lunchtime—
-Blockbuster Drama Profiler Hanryang Breaks 20% in Episode 1!! Episode 1 Review!!｜NuclearMovieTV
Videos related to Profiler Hanryang swept the real-time rankings on YouTube.
Official uploads from the Hanryang team.
Review and edit videos from YouTubers.
Everything shot upward in views.
Among them—
-[Special Feature] A True Scene-Stealer! Assistant Manager Park's Most Shocking Scenes!!!｜Profiler Hanryang
The Hanryang team itself uploaded a compilation video centered around Assistant Manager Park.
It was short, but the comments poured in endlessly.
-He looked like a rookie actor, but his acting was seriously amazing… gave me chills.
-Look at his eyes at 3:14! Those are the eyes that appeared in my dreams.
-I memorized Kang Woojin's nameㅎㅎ I'm rooting for him.
-Hahahaha I'm in shock this is Kang Woojin's first drama lol his acting was seriously good.
-Assistant Manager Park's facial acting… I'm genuinely in awe…
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And of course, it wasn't just online.
Offline, the same thing was happening.
"Wow, I heard the Ryu Jungmin drama got over 20% ratings?"
"Ah! I saw it! I started in the middle, but it was seriously good! The actors were incredible!"
Offices.
Cafés.
Restaurants.
Anywhere people could gather and talk, it was the same.
Because of that, recognition of Profiler Hanryang solidified even more, and interest exploded.
In just a single day.
And of course, even right now—
-Ah… damn! When is it going to be 10 o'clock!!ㅠㅠㅠ I want to see it alreadyㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ!
Word of mouth spread at the speed of light.
On the night of the 16th—
A full day had already passed since Profiler Hanryang swept across the country.
It was around 9:30 p.m.
The world was still boiling with Profiler Hanryang fever.
Meanwhile, Kang Woojin was at his agency, BW Entertainment.
He sat at the desk in the center of the CEO's office.
Woojin looked a little tired after an absurdly busy day.
Choi Sunggeon, Han Yejung, and Jang Suhwan sat around him.
In other words, the entire Kang Woojin team was gathered there.
It was a sharp contrast to last night's dinner gathering, where more than a hundred people had been present.
Naturally, all four of them were staring at the TV.
The channel was SBC.
There was no reason to watch anything else.
They were all waiting for episode 2 of Profiler Hanryang.
Hong Hyeyeon was missing because of her schedule.
Then—
"Woojin hyung! Fried? Spicy?"
The broad-shouldered Jang Suhwan was arranging the fried chicken they had ordered on the table.
As a result, the CEO's office was filled with the smell of chicken.
A moment later, while pouring beer, Kang Woojin answered gravely,
"Seasoned."
"Ah! Hyung, you like chicken?!" (Jang Suhwan)
Han Yejung, who looked as though she had just finished setting everything up, added,
"I like spicy. I like sticky food." (Han Yejung)
Without changing expression, Kang Woojin chuckled inwardly.
Sticky? She really does have a unique personality.
Still, spicy is good too.
As she picked up a chicken wing, Han Yejung suddenly remembered something and spoke.
"Oh, oppa, I uploaded five photos to your SNS today. I was so busy I only just remembered."
SNS?
Ah, right.
Only then did Kang Woojin remember.
Two days ago, at Choi Sunggeon's request, he had created an SNS account for the first time in his life.
It had all been very basic.
What kind of photos did she upload?
Having never really used SNS before, Woojin asked Han Yejung in a low voice,
"What kind of photos?"
"Oppa, you look really good. So I had the promo team upload a few profile shots, some photos from the Mise-en-scène Film Festival, and one from the barbecue place yesterday."
At that moment—
"Ah! It's starting!"
Episode 2 of Profiler Hanryang began on TV.
Immediately, Kang Woojin's team turned all their attention to the screen while drinking beer.
Then Choi Sunggeon shouted,
"Assistant Manager Park's screentime really ramps up from episode 2, right?!"
That was true.
Assistant Manager Park's real value began to show from episode 2 onward.
Even Kang Woojin, whose expression gave nothing away, stared at the TV.
Once today is over, tomorrow's going to be even crazier. Damn.
How much bigger was this uproar going to get?
Woojin felt it.
Yesterday and today had become the turning point of his life.
By tomorrow, he expected the snowball effect to grow several times larger.
At that exact moment—
Bzzzz.
The phone on Kang Woojin's desk vibrated.
A message had arrived.
Since his phone had been going off nonstop since the day before, Woojin almost ignored it.
Still, he glanced down for a second.
Huh? It's from Hong Hyeyeon.
The sender was Hong Hyeyeon.
The message itself was short.
-Hong Hyeyeon: I just followed you on SNS. Did you know your followers increased a lot?
Kang Woojin tilted his head at the unfamiliar words follow and follower.
Then he opened the SNS account he had made two days earlier.
In an instant, his account appeared on the screen.
@Wooji_n
5 posts
31k followers
following 0
In just one day, thirty-one thousand people had poured in.
TL Note:
"From finger to finger" is a metaphorical expression for information spreading from person to person through typing and online sharing.