Chapter 9 – I’ll Tear It All Down and Rebuild It!

Dongsu and Yun Hayan took a taxi to the SBC Broadcasting Station.

In the taxi, Dongsu quickly sent a message to Park Jihye.

└Dongsu: Youngest! I found the writer!

└Youngest: ٩(๑>∀<๑)۶

└Dongsu: I’m bringing them right over. Prepare a laptop for the writer in the meeting room!

└Youngest: Yes!

└Dongsu: Set up some snacks and drinks too! Don’t forget the receipts!

└Youngest: Yes!

At that moment, Gaon spoke.

‘What, tteokbokki during a meeting? No way.’

‘Mission?’

- Ding

A notification appeared.

『Mission: Gaon wants to experience spicier flavors. Eat five spicy dishes.』

『Spicy pig’s feet, jjambbong, tteokbokki, spicy chicken feet, green chili peppers』

『Reward: One use of the Ensemble System』

‘Ah... I forgot about this. I must have overlooked it.’

At that moment, an exclamation mark-shaped mission icon appeared next to the Ensemble System icon.

Dongsu frowned.

‘What is this? It’s so annoying.’

‘You just want to eat tteokbokki, don’t you?’

‘If this exclamation mark keeps floating around, I won’t eat tteokbokki at all.’

Then the exclamation mark icon disappeared.

Dongsu thought it was like having another nephew and sent a message to the youngest.

└Dongsu: Youngest, buy a pack of tteokbokki from the convenience store.

└Youngest: Yes!

Gaon spoke in a monotone.

‘Eat whatever you give me! Or I won’t eat at all!’

Dongsu finished talking to Gaon and glanced at Yun Hayan.

‘Huh? She’s...’

She was watching ‘Living with Puppies!’ on her smartphone.

The VOD was playing at 1.5x speed, so the screen was quickly changing.

A smile formed on Dongsu’s lips.

‘I like this person.’

He turned his gaze to the window, thinking not to disturb her concentration.

‘I need to get a new car.’

He had given his old car to his parents after being demoted to the review department, where it wasn’t needed...

It was too inconvenient.

‘The Meyer Car GU 70 seems to handle well...’

‘Why?’

Dongsu said firmly.

‘No electric car! They say internal combustion engine cars will be phased out soon, so I want to drive one last time!’

‘It’s the romanticism of a man enjoying the last days of an era.’

Gaon was silent.

It seemed she was studying the romanticism of a man.

As they were almost at Mokdong SBC, Yun Hayan turned off the VOD.

Dongsu asked with a smile.

“Did you enjoy it?”

“Yes!”

“How was it?”

Yun Hayan smiled and asked in return.

“Do you want the facts? Or do you want to hear something sweet?”

“The facts.”

This isn’t the time for sweet talk.

‘Living with Puppies!’ has only a few episodes left before it ends.

‘I need to show something.’

For example, high ratings!

Only then can I survive in the variety department.

‘Even if guys like Gong Su-chul cause trouble!’

Yun Hayan said seriously.

“The first two episodes were charming because they focused on the interaction between the dog and the actor (1st and 2nd episode guest). But from the third episode, I don’t understand why the spotlight shifted to the glamorous lives of celebrities. It’s not about living with a dog; it’s treating the dog like an accessory... If that’s the case, I’d rather watch MBS’s ‘Single Stars’.”

The first two episodes followed the script written by Kim Min-hye, the main writer who planned ‘Living with Puppies!’. But from the third episode, the script was written by a new writer hired by PD Song Min-ji.

It was a show tailored to PD Song’s taste.

As a result, the ratings plummeted.

Dongsu said with a smile.

“Wow, that’s a precise analysis.”

At that moment, the taxi driver said.

“Sir, we’re here!”

Dongsu paid the fare and got out with Yun Hayan.

Thus, they arrived at Mokdong SBC.

As they walked side by side, Yun Hayan asked.

“Was the writer of ‘Living with Puppies!’ replaced from the third episode?”

“It wasn’t a replacement... It seems another writer wrote the script due to some circumstances.”

“I see...”

They entered the SBC building.

Yun Hayan looked around and said with a nostalgic expression.

“SBC... It hasn’t changed at all.”

“Is that so? I heard you left ‘I Want to Know That’ and have been working at Q-TV ever since.”

Q-TV is a documentary channel that started about 9 years ago.

Six years ago, Yun Hayan left her job as a writer for ‘I Want to Know That’ and joined Q-TV to work on nature documentaries.

I don’t know why a well-known writer from a terrestrial channel would move to a niche channel.

According to Park Dae-chul, there must have been some circumstances...

At that moment, Yun Hayan nodded and replied.

“Yes, this is my first time here in six years.”

She looked a bit sad as she said this.

Dongsu thought he would like to hear her story if he got the chance.

At that moment, she smiled and said.

“PD Dongsu, let’s go to the meeting room.”

“Sure!”

As they headed to the meeting room, Dongsu thought about Yun Hayan’s analysis of ‘Living with Puppies!’.

‘Interaction with animals... and the spotlight... Hmm...’

Something seemed to be on the tip of his tongue after hearing Yun Hayan’s words.

If he thought a bit more, he might find the answer...

At that moment, Gaon’s voice was heard.

‘Gaon, what’s with the sudden search?’

‘What?’

‘TV Animal Farm’ is a variety show that has been airing on SBC for 10 years.

It has an average rating of 8% and is one of SBC’s most successful programs.

When Dongsu was puzzled,

‘It will be helpful, right?’

At that moment, a woman’s voice was heard.

【...After finishing the first episode, I had a lot of discussions with the PD. The show wasn’t as fun as we had planned. Of course, it’s obvious that it’s not as entertaining when there are no reporters or celebrities, just the animals and the clients. It was unclear whether it was a documentary or a variety show... It was a bleak time. That’s when our youngest member suggested something. What if the animals...】

Dongsu’s eyes widened as he listened to the interview.

‘That’s it! This is it!’

‘Gaon, you little brat! I’ll treat you to dinner tonight!’

‘Sure! I’ll treat you to dinner tonight!’

= = = = = = =

‘Living with Puppies!’ meeting room.

Dongsu introduced Yun Hayan to Park Jihye.

“Writer Yun, this is our team’s assistant director. PD Park, meet Writer Yun Hayan.”

“Hello! I’m Park Jihye!”

It was a spirited greeting, befitting a newcomer.

Yun Hayan smiled warmly and extended her hand.

“Nice to meet you! I’m Yun Hayan! I hope we can work well together in the short time we have!”

Park Jihye responded like a new recruit shaking hands with a battalion commander.

“Yes! I hope we can work well together!”

Dongsu said with a smile.

“Good spirit, PD Park! You’re definitely our team’s assistant director!”

“Ahaha... Thank you.”

Yun Hayan looked at Dongsu and Park Jihye alternately.

‘The program’s situation is bad, but both of them are bright and energetic.’

It wasn’t bad.

Most importantly...

‘The meeting room is clean, which I like.’

The meeting room during ‘I Want to Know That’ was a mess, and it was the same when she worked at Q-TV.

No matter how much she cleaned, it never seemed to get better...

She smiled contentedly at the clean meeting room, which made her want to work.

‘I really like it.’

Of course, this isn’t the most important thing.

The most important thing is that the ratings are high, even if the team’s atmosphere is chaotic and the meeting room is a mess.

Yun Hayan thought.

‘This program... There’s no way it can continue like this.’

She wanted to tear it all down and rebuild it from scratch.

But the decision wasn’t hers to make.

She looked at Dongsu.

‘What does PD Dongsu think...’

From the way he aggressively courted her to join the team, it seems he doesn’t want to end up as a losing pitcher.

More important than will and enthusiasm is...

‘Ideas and time.’

At that moment, Dongsu sat down and said.

“Alright, let’s start the meeting!”

Park Jihye and Yun Hayan also sat down.

Dongsu spoke with a serious expression.

“Since I took over this team a few days ago, I’ve been editing the next week’s preview and the episode airing two weeks from now... I’ve been thinking. Why did this program fail?”

Park Jihye and Yun Hayan listened intently to Dongsu.

Dongsu crossed his arms and continued.

“I thought about when I failed with a program. And I realized that this program failed because it didn’t learn from its mistakes.”

“From its mistakes?”

Dongsu nodded and continued.

“The program should have kept its core while discarding what needed to be discarded and developing what needed to be developed, but the previous ‘Living with Puppies!’ team didn’t do that. Just like I did in the past.”

At that moment, Yun Hayan asked.

“PD, what do you want to do about it?”

Dongsu answered with a bright voice.

“I’ll tear it all down and rebuild it! Starting from next week’s episode!”

“Huh?!”

“...”

Park Jihye looked surprised.

Yun Hayan looked calm.

Dongsu looked at Park Jihye first.

“I’m sorry, PD Park.”

“...?”

“I’m talking about the preview. You worked hard on it, but... I think we need to re-edit it.”

“PD... The broadcast is in four days...”

Dongsu smiled and said.

“We’ll have to work like crazy over the weekend!”

“What about the subtitles? The subtitle team is off on weekends...”

“I’ll take care of it! Haha!”

“...”

Dongsu spoke confidently, but Park Jihye was still worried.

Yun Hayan asked.

“Do you have any ideas on how to edit it?”

“Of course!”

Dongsu stood up and went to the whiteboard.

He picked up a marker and wrote:

【Interaction】 【Perspective】

Park Jihye tilted her head, while Yun Hayan’s eyes sparkled.

Dongsu said.

“Our program needs to allow viewers to interact with the dogs. So, we’ll change the perspective.”

Specifically,

“We’ll edit it from the dog’s perspective!”

The spotlight that PD Song Min-ji directed at the celebrities will now be...

“Focused on the dogs!”

Park Jihye quickly checked the storyboard she had prepared.

“PD, there aren’t many shots from the dog’s perspective. It might be difficult...”

But Dongsu said nonchalantly.

“We can use footage from the next recording.”

“But then what about the next episode!”

Dongsu chuckled.

“PD Park, contact Alice Entertainment. Ask Ms. Kang Se-na to do additional filming next week!”

Park Jihye looked worried but soon answered with determination.

“Yes!”

“Ah! And contact the voice actor association to find a voice actor.”

“A voice actor...?”

“Yes. Since it’s from the dog’s perspective, the dog needs to speak too!”

“Ah! I understand!”

“Great! Then... Writer Yun.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll leave the script to you.”

Yun Hayan asked seriously.

“The script for the voice actor and the additional filming?”

“Yes.”

“...I never thought I’d be writing a script like this.”

“I’m sorry...”

Yun Hayan smiled and said.

“If you’re sorry, treat me to a nice dinner!”

Dongsu smiled.

“How about the best tteokbokki in Namdaemun?”

Yun Hayan and Park Jihye both looked pleased.

“Sure!”

“PD, I’m in!”

“Got it! I’ll get the best tteokbokki in Namdaemun!”

At that moment, Gaon spoke.