Chapter 66 of 100

Chapter 66

16 min read4,003 words

Another week passed, and the final two episodes of "The Crown Prince's First Love" were broadcast. The finale, aired on August 26th, was what the audience had been eagerly awaiting for a long time. The ending was based on the results of the audience's vote, which gave it a special meaning to them.

In the two weeks leading up to this, the staff of the official website of "The Crown Prince's First Love" and the telephone operators of the relevant TV station had collected tens of thousands of votes from the audience. The summarized results were as follows: the votes for Cha Tae-hyun and Jang Seong-woon were less than a hundred votes apart, representing less than two-tenths of a percent of the total 70,000 votes. According to the previously announced voting rules, the two were considered a tie. This result came as a great surprise, as most people believed that Jang Seong-woon had a much higher chance of winning, given that the show's ratings in the second half were largely supported by him.

The production team thought there might have been a mistake in the tallying, so they rechecked, but the result remained the same. After a careful analysis, they understood why there was such an unexpected outcome.

The majority of the supporters of Jang Seong-woon were female viewers, ranging from young girls to elderly women, spanning all age groups. Each age group had different reasons for liking Jang Seong-woon, but we won't go into the details here.

On the other hand, the supporters of Cha Tae-hyun were a more complex group. Their reasons for choosing Cha Tae-hyun were roughly as follows:

"Although I prefer the second male lead, Jang Seong-woon, Cha Tae-hyun is the original male lead, so the female lead should naturally be with the male lead." This was the conservative view, and there were still many traditionalists in Korean society.

"Unconditionally supporting Brother Cha Tae-hyun, I support him no matter what." This showed the strength of Cha Tae-hyun's fan base.

"Jang Seong-woon is too arrogant, too conceited, and too annoying. I'd rather choose Cha Tae-hyun than him." This was the reason given by Jang Seong-woon's anti-fans for choosing Cha Tae-hyun.

"Jang Seong-woon is too perfect; he would take our little girl away. I don't want them to be together, even on TV." This was the decision of some of Sung Yuri's fans.

Although Jang Seong-woon was more popular among female viewers, his handsome appearance and cold, arrogant character in the drama also made many male viewers jealous and dislike him. Because they didn't want to see Jang Seong-woon win, they voted for Cha Tae-hyun. This was the main reason for the tie in the votes.

After learning the reason, Cha Tae-hyun laughed it off, his laughter tinged with a bit of bitterness but mostly with a sense of openness; Sung Yuri teased Jang Seong-woon, saying he deserved it for always bullying her in the drama; Jang Seong-woon didn't take it to heart at all; and the others felt that Jang Seong-woon's popularity brought him more trouble, and it was understandable that he would be disliked by other celebrities' fans.

Upon confirming that the voting results were correct, the director and the screenwriter immediately felt a headache. They had expected Jang Seong-woon to win, so they had carefully shot the first ending where Sung Yuri and Jang Seong-woon became a happy couple. To be safe, they also shot a second version of the ending where Cha Tae-hyun and Sung Yuri lived together in Tahiti. They never imagined that the audience's support for the two male leads would be almost equal, so they never considered shooting a third version of the ending. However, the results were far from what they expected.

To give the audience a satisfactory conclusion, three days before the finale, the production team, which was about to disband, worked overtime, day and night, and finally managed to complete the official finale that was broadcast. In this ending, the female lead, Sung Yuri, neither ended up with Cha Tae-hyun nor Jang Seong-woon, but went to Paris alone. Upon hearing the news, the two male leads abandoned everything and went to Paris to pursue love. As for who ended up with whom, it was left to the audience's imagination, as the plot ended there.

As expected, the broadcast of this ending resulted in a wave of criticism. The audience was furious, feeling that the director and screenwriter of "The Crown Prince's First Love" had lost their minds, producing such a disappointing ending. On the night of August 26th, they had waited for about an hour, eyes glued to the screen, hoping for a satisfying conclusion. Now, feeling cheated, they were understandably angry. That night, the production team, especially the director and screenwriter, were heavily criticized by countless viewers.

However, the production team had their own difficulties. Integrity is the foundation of being a person. Since the voting results were announced by the notary, even if they didn't want to broadcast an ending that pleased neither side, they had to face the storm of criticism. Compared to pleasing the audience, maintaining industry credibility was more important. This gimmick of letting the audience vote to decide the ending was their idea, and they had already faced immense pressure. If they didn't fulfill their promise, they might be severely punished by the Korean Broadcasting Commission or the Korean Drama Association, with even more serious consequences. In comparison, the public's criticism would fade away in a few days.

However, the production team did take some measures. They held a press conference to apologize sincerely and explain the reasons, seeking the public's understanding. They also made a solemn promise never to use such a gimmick again. Finally, they released the other two versions of the ending online for free, to satisfy those who were disappointed by the official ending.

However, this had nothing to do with Jang Seong-woon anymore. The day after the wrap party, on August 27th, he immediately went to the Jeong family to comfort Little Crystal, as he had made her very sad recently.

Throughout the entire summer vacation, due to Jang Seong-woon's busy filming schedule, he hadn't played with Little Crystal once, and even their meetings were rare. Little Crystal had complained a lot, even saying over the phone that she didn't want to recognize him as her brother anymore. For children, spring and summer vacations are the best times to play, and Little Crystal had been looking forward to spending the summer with Jang Seong-woon. It's no wonder she was very upset that he hadn't properly spent time with her. Fortunately, children's tempers come and go quickly, and when Jang Seong-woon appeared before Little Crystal and apologized sincerely, she immediately forgave him.

In the evening, in the room of the Jeong sisters, Jang Seong-woon lay on a single bed, his large frame almost taking up all the space, leaving little room for Little Crystal, who was lying next to him. She had fallen asleep hugging him tightly. Earlier, Jang Seong-woon had played a knowledge quiz game with Little Crystal, and she had fallen asleep on his chest after getting tired. Afraid of waking her, Jang Seong-woon lay still, lost in thought.

He thought about the past few months of filming and the gains; he thought about how, with his current popularity, he could take on the lead role in his next drama, and his career could finally be on track; he thought about how to deepen his relationship with the four Fin.K.L sisters, hoping to formally establish a romantic relationship with them, or at least pursue one of them...

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