Chapter 5 – Please Give Me a Teaser!

Park Ji-hye called Dong-su a mad dog.

And then...

“......”

“......”

Unable to distinguish between dream and reality, she sat there in a daze.

Then,

“Huh?!”

Realizing the situation belatedly, she jumped up from her chair.

She bowed and apologized.

“PD Kang! I’m sorry for the intrusion!”

“I’ve never had a junior call me a mad dog before.”

“Ugh, I’m sorry!”

Park Ji-hye felt as if she was about to get dizzy.

How could a brief rest due to fatigue lead to such a disaster!

She closed her eyes tightly and thought.

‘This is bad! What, what should I do?’

Senior PDs had talked about how Kang Dong-su treated seniors like trash and juniors like dirt.

Park Ji-hye trembled.

‘I’m, I’m dead!’

Dong-su watched her silently for a moment, then chuckled and said,

“It’s fine. But be more careful in the future. If you get caught by someone trying to assert their authority, you’ll be in for a rough time.”

“......?”

Park Ji-hye tilted her head.

If the rumors were true, she should have been bombarded and kicked around by now...

“CP Kim told me. You’re PD Park Ji-hye, right?”

“Yes? Yes! That’s right!”

“You’ve got good spirit. I’ll call you the rookie from now on. OK?”

“Yes! I understand!”

Dong-su sat down in his chair and said,

“Good. Then.”

Park Ji-hye swallowed hard and thought,

‘Is this the famous brutal hazing finally starting?!”

“Give me a briefing.”

“Huh?”

“‘Living with Puppies!’ I mean. Explain how messed up it is.”

“......”

“Why are you just sitting there? Is it hard to explain?”

“No, no! I’ll tell you!”

Dong-su watched Park Ji-hye, who was hurriedly preparing for the briefing, and thought,

‘Why is she like this? Is she still half-asleep?’

‘Fear? Ah, is she scared because she called me a mad dog?’

‘These days, kids lack spirit. Back in our days, we even called seniors by obscene names...’

‘Life is full of all sorts of things.’

‘Right. You shouldn’t blindly follow social norms!’

‘Then, study more. What kind of update did you do?’

Dong-su glanced at the floating Ensemble System icon and thought,

‘I’ll check it later.’

At that moment, Park Ji-hye stood in front of the whiteboard and asked,

“PD Kang, can I start?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“Yes, first, the next week’s broadcast is already complete. And the rough cut is also finished!”

“Did you do it with CP Kim?”

“Yes.”

“What did he say?”

“He didn’t say anything.”

CP Kim Min-jae is known for his good nature and usually gives good reactions.

But if he didn’t say anything...

‘It must have been really boring.’

Dong-su clicked his tongue.

“What about the week after next?”

“Well... We recorded it, but... the editing isn’t done yet...”

“What? Then what about the teaser for next week?”

“Just go without a teaser...”

Dong-su asked, bewildered,

“Who said that? PD Song? That you should go without a teaser?”

PD Song Min-ji, the former main PD of ‘Living with Puppies!’

She and Dong-su were hired at the same time and took over the baton of the long-running program, leading it steadily.

But when she tried to build a new career by planning ‘Living with Puppies!’ herself, it failed...

She fled to an external production company without cleaning up the mess.

While SBC might consider her a real dog, she gave Dong-su an opportunity.

Park Ji-hye shook her head,

“The teaser was made by PD Shin Gyo-dae, not PD Song.”

Shin Gyo-dae was the sub-director of ‘Living with Puppies!’

He was a bat-like figure who jumped to another team when the main PD quit.

He must have been planning to jump even before PD Song quit.

Dong-su frowned and muttered,

“Shin Gyo-dae, that scoundrel...”

Park Ji-hye trembled in the tense atmosphere.

Dong-su said again,

“We need to make a teaser first. We also need to add subtitles... Can you contact the writer? Was it Kim Min-hye?”

At the mention of the name, Park Ji-hye’s expression darkened.

“Writer Kim... I can’t contact her.”

“Is she ignoring you? Give me her number.”

“Well, actually...”

“......?”

“Writer Kim has been unreachable since I joined the team.”

“What? What do you mean?”

Park Ji-hye joined the ‘Living with Puppies!’ team two months after her OJT training ended.

At that time, MBS’s ‘Butler, Feed Me’ hadn’t changed its time slot and wasn’t completely ruined yet.

But the main writer wasn’t showing up?

“Then who wrote the scripts?”

“The sub-writer.”

“The sub-writer? But there was a main writer?”

“......”

Seeing Park Ji-hye’s awkward expression, Dong-su crossed his arms and asked,

“What happened between PD Song and Writer Kim?”

“According to PD Shin... They had a lot of conflicts from the planning stage. Writer Kim believed that an animal variety show should focus on the animals... PD Song wanted to focus on celebrity casting...”

In the end, PD Song won.

In variety shows, the PD is ultimately the boss.

‘Living with Puppies!’ ended up focusing on the glamorous lives of celebrities who raise puppies.

Dong-su tilted his head.

“Everyone has conflicts like that. Did the main writer stop writing because of that? And the sub-writer, wasn’t she brought in by the main writer?”

“No. PD Song hired the sub-writer directly.”

“......”

“Writer Kim only wrote the scripts for the first two episodes...”

After that, all the scripts were scrapped.

And the sub-writer, who came in later, took her place.

On set, PD Song isolated Writer Kim.

When the ratings dropped, she made Writer Kim the scapegoat.

In the end, Writer Kim disappeared, tears in her eyes.

Dong-su sighed after hearing the story.

‘A complete mess...’

Park Ji-hye said with a guilty expression,

“I’m sorry...”

“Why are you sorry? The issue with Writer Kim happened before you joined, right? So cheer up! This is what Song Min-ji did!”

“......”

Park Ji-hye looked at Dong-su with a strange expression.

In the short time she had known him, he seemed different from what she had heard.

‘Senior PDs warned me that Dong-su was a devil and to be careful...’

Dong-su stood up and approached the whiteboard.

He then used a board marker to summarize the situation.

“There’s a lot to do. We need to find a new writer...”

“Yes...”

“First, let’s solve the teaser for next week. Have you ever edited before, rookie?”

“No. I only assisted a little...”

“Then try it this time.”

“What kind of editing?”

“Teaser editing.”

“......”

“......”

“Huh!? Me? I’ve only been here for three months...”

“Don’t worry. I’ll teach you the basics!”

“But, no matter what...”

Park Ji-hye bowed deeply, looking uncertain.

Dong-su asked seriously,

“Rookie, why are you still here for this program?”

“Well...”

The main PD and sub-director had both left.

In this situation, no one would blame Park Ji-hye if she ran away.

But she stayed and even tidied up the meeting room.

Dong-su said in a low voice,

“You didn’t want to give up on your first program, right?”

“......”

‘Living with Puppies!’ was Park Ji-hye’s first program.

Although the ratings were low...

She didn’t want to give up on this program.

Park Ji-hye answered in a small voice,

“...Yes...”

Dong-su smiled.

“Good attitude. So you’ll handle the teaser!”

“PD, I’m still lacking in editing skills...”

“Of course, you’re lacking! That’s normal!”

“......”

“But that’s not the important thing! The important thing is!”

Park Ji-hye thought, dazed.

‘In manga, at this point...’

Petals would flutter behind the male lead as he looked at the female lead...

『The important thing... is your mindset. The beautiful...』

Her cheeks turned slightly red.

At that moment, Dong-su said,

“You’ll do it until you die!”

“Huh? Until I die?”

“Yes! If you keep at it, your editing skills will improve!”

“PD Kang...!”

Dong-su grabbed her shoulder with his right hand and said,

“Teaser... I’m counting on you!”

Park Ji-hye’s face fell.

= = = = = = =

After teaching Park Ji-hye the basics in the editing room, Dong-su headed to the variety department.

On the way, he asked Ga-on,

“I have a question...”

“I accidentally grabbed the rookie with my right hand just now. Why didn’t the data hacking work? Is it broken?”

“Is her mental strength strong?”

“How strong?”

Dong-su thought of Park Ji-hye.

When he told her to edit until she died, her big eyes welled up with tears.

But if her mental strength was strong...

‘I don’t believe it...’

“Well, if she has strong mental strength, that’s good.”

While talking to Ga-on, they arrived at the variety department.

Dong-su looked around the department like a predator searching for prey.

‘Where is that guy?’

At that moment, Yang PD, the sub-director of ‘Dotori,’ approached.

“Senior, hello!”

“Oh, hello. I’m enjoying the ginseng tea you sent!”

“No, I’m glad you’re feeling better!”

Yang PD was too busy to visit in person and only sent a gift to Park Dae-cheol’s episode.

“And... Congratulations on your return to the variety department!”

“I’m not sure if it’s something to celebrate... But thanks anyway.”

“No, but is there something you’re looking for?”

“Yeah. Do you know where Shin Gyo-dae is?”

“Shin PD? I saw him at a cafe.”

“A cafe? That scoundrel... Because of him, our rookie is suffering in the editing room now! What a lucky bastard...!?”

As Dong-su’s voice turned menacing, Yang PD flinched.

At that moment, Ga-on said,

‘Everything has a cause and effect. The cause of this situation is Shin Gyo-dae, who didn’t make the teaser and jumped to another team!’

Dong-su patted Yang PD’s shoulder and said,

“Thanks! Good job!”

Not as fast as Gong Su-cheol, but he hacked the data quite quickly.

Dong-su thought,

‘Is the rookie really that mentally strong?’

Yang PD smiled and said,

“Ha ha, good luck.”

Dong-su headed to the cafe on the first floor.

There, he found Shin Gyo-dae, who was reading a web novel and chuckling,

“Hehe, the plot is so innovative. Is the writer crazy?”

Dong-su sat across from him and asked,

“Gyo-dae, are you the one who’s crazy?”