After Story 184

The old lord of our radio has returned. Mr. Maru, please say h.e.l.lo to our listeners, Suyeon said as she looked at him with urging.

Maru put his mouth against the mic,

I guess I havent been here for four months now. Im Han Maru, who has returned from a long break. Thank you for calling me without forgetting about me.

At least you kept your promise. I thought you wouldnt come again after the drama.

Youre making me nervous with your attacks right off the bat.

This is nothing. Mr. Han Maru, did you have fun ignoring the pleas of our listeners and going drama-shooting instead?

I was having fun until just a minute ago.

And its not fun now?

Im uncomfortable because a certain actress gaze is too fierce.

Suyeon snorted.

Everyone, you hear that? Thats how Maru is. If our writer did not call him and beg him to come back, he wouldnt have come. Well, I guess bringing a famous actor here is as hard as reaching for the stars.

Ive become a famous actor without me knowing, huh?

You didnt know?

I completely didnt know. It feels somewhat strange since Miss Kim Suyeon, whos sweeping all sorts of prizes at all sorts of award ceremonies, is calling me a famous actor.

After a mischievous exchange of greetings, Suyeon asked some questions to catch up,

What have you been doing lately? Youve finished your drama shoot, so youre taking a break?

Yes. Im taking a good break. During the shoot, I was planning to go traveling once it was over, but now that it actually is, I cant be bothered to do anything, so I just stay at home all the time.

Youre at the age where you should go traveling. Werent you twenty-four this year?

Yes. In a month, when the year changes, Ill be twenty-five.

Youre at an age where you should hate to be at home.

For some reason, staying home is really good. Im happy even if I dont do anything.

I guess staying at home is good. Once youre done with a shoot, you lose all the tension, so you dont want to do anything.

Right. Lying down and watching movies and TV programs is whats good. Im living like that with the cat I serve.

Suyeon smiled.

Since were on the topic of cats, whats your cats name?

Its Ricebun. Shes really stretchy.

Do you have a photo?

Maru showed her a photo he had on his phone. Suyeon exclaimed.

Everyone, this is one pretty cat. Ill have it uploaded on the message board later, so definitely go have a look at it. Hey, why dont you bring her in for the show one time?

Maru spoke in a disappointed tone,

She really hates going outside. You know how people say cats are territorial animals, right? Shes a total queen at home, but shes a scaredy-cat when shes outside. I took her out to a park to show her around, and she snarled like crazy in my arms.

Thats a pity. Then take a lot of photos and show them to our listeners. Many people have cats these days.

I will.

The youngest writer from the team entered the booth. She put down a piece of paper in front of Suyeon before leaving.

Usually, I dont introduce other media channels on my show, but I guess I cant help it with this drama. The interest in it is crazy high, even to the point that they are sending in letters. Case Number 0. Whats going to happen in the future?

Isnt that too direct?

Youre not going to answer me anyway, so I might as well ask straight up. Since I asked up front, youll be a bad guy if you dont answer me.

Is this how you run your show? Arent you being too much of a bully just because I havent been here for a while?

Who told you you could leave? Anyway, what really happens in the drama? Ever since the notice went up that youd be returning to the program, the message board and the incoming texts are flooded with questions about it. Its not on the level of a hot potato, its a burning potato.

Maru looked at the real-time messages. Everyone was talking about the drama. It was hard to proceed with the segment where they listened to the worries of salarymen.

-Please tell us a little bit of the story.

-What happens to Ahn Changsik? He gets Yoon Hojung, right?

-Are you close to actor Yang Ganghwan?

-Im really enjoying the drama.

Episode 6 ended yesterday. The viewing rate, which stayed at 0.1% for the first two episodes, had risen to 1% for the following two episodes. It was satisfactory to see the viewing rate on par with other private-owned channel dramas, but it rose once again for episodes 5 and 6. According to Messouth, the viewing rate investigation agency, the viewing rate was 4%.

Compared to the huge-budget espionage drama with Park Sinseo in it, which fell to 0.7%, it was a huge number.

Did you expect that youd receive so much attention? Suyeon asked.

Maru raised his voice slightly,

I really didnt. I wished for it to do well, but many people around me said that it was going to be hard. They all said that the TV station had just opened up, and itll be hard to compete with existing public channels.

And yet, against everyones expectations, youre receiving a huge amount of attention.

Right.

Is it because you are good at acting, Mr. Maru?

I guess thats part of the reason? He laughed softly before continuing, Im just joking. The story is really good. The people around me also told me that the progress is really fast so its really refres.h.i.+ng.

I thought that too. As its only 10 episodes, it feels like it cut off all the auxiliary branches and focused on just the core point.

As the number of episodes is smaller than existing dramas, I think the writer focused on the main event as much as possible. I saw many people who said that its really hard to keep up once youre distracted for a few minutes.

Username Snow White says that its a drama that you cant take your eyes off of even for a moment. It must mean that its that interesting, but at the same time, should you take your eyes off it, youll be hard-pressed to understand whats going on.

Maru nodded.

Its unexpectedly difficult to keep focusing for the span of one hour. That was why the director thought things over and over. He had to control the fatigue level of the drama to transmit the fun parts. If there are too many lines just to transmit intent, then itll even more tiring, so I think he did a good job of controlling that.

And your acting was the cherry on top.

Youre going to make people swear at me if you keep saying that.

Who told you to leave our program then?

He also said a word to Suyeon, who was smiling mischievously,

You say that, but you came out as a cameo too, SSu-D, didnt you?

How can you say that? It was supposed to be a secret.

Its all over the news already, you know?

Its supposed to be a public secret. I was going to say it myself after the episode went live. Suyeon crossed her arms. Since were on the topic, Ill talk about some of what I saw from Mr. Maru at the scene.

As soon as Suyeon spoke, there was a message from the writer. It said to keep talking about the drama because the responses were good.

On the radio, Mr. Maru has a docile side to him. When we listen to peoples worries, he always says practical things, so he might sound like a cold-hearted person, but its different if you meet him in person. But at the set how should I put this hes really ferocious.

I am? he responded to give a reaction.

I was right next to him when he was acting with Mr. Yang Ganghwan, right? The two of them were having an acting bout, and if someone not in the know saw that, they might think that the two of them were irreconcilable enemies.

Senior Ganghwan put too much strength into his acting, so I had to clench my teeth so that I didnt get pushed back. It might have looked fierce from the side.

How was it in regards to working with Mr. Ganghwan? Hes known to be quite an eccentric actor.

At the beginning of the story, we were doing relatively okay since there was no intense clash of emotions, but once the friction occurred and the conflict deepened, I was shooting like I was at war. The moment I stopped focusing, I would lag behind the two seniors in terms of acting, so it was really hard.

Suyeon pulled her chin inwards.

How were you with senior Hw.a.n.g Hojoon? Hes the character who becomes your support in the drama.

Senior Hojoon is a really rea.s.suring man even in reality. He looks out for me a lot during shoots. I dont know if its okay to say something like this, but hes one of the few people who can keep senior Ganghwan under control at the set.

Mr. Ganghwan is known to run wild in sets.

He just has so much energy. You know how sometimes, shoots happen for a whole day, sometimes going well into the night and even the next morning, right? Actors are only human, so once theyre at that stage, it becomes hard to even speak, but senior Ganghwan moves like hes some perpetual motion machine.

I get what youre saying. Someone whos so proactive that it makes the people around them tired. Of course, without malice.

Thats exactly it. Hes a really good senior. He really is, but if I stay next to him, I feel like Im drained of energy? Thats when senior Hojoon steps in.

How does he do it?

Its nothing special. He only laughs heartily and says Ganghwan, lets be quiet for a bit. Just that.

And he becomes quiet?

Yes. He doesnt listen to other people, but he really listens to senior Hojoons words. The two of them get along well.

Really? Thats something good I learned today.

Suyeon smiled. After that, they rounded up the questions from the viewers and Maru replied to the ones he could.

Honestly, it was surprising. He didnt know that the responses would be so good.

The pa.s.sionate interest must be in part due to the fact that the listeners of the radio and Case Number 0 were in a similar age group.

It seems that there really isnt a single person who has been stressed at work today. All the texts and posts on the message boards are talking about the drama. I know we did have fun talking about it, but Im slightly disappointed. It feels like were worse than the drama, Suyeon said in a soothing voice.

Stress-related posts came up immediately.

Its too late. The shows almost ending. Since were at it, should we listen to Mr. Marus stories until the end?

Arent you going to get an earful from the higher-ups later? Were practically talking about a drama on another channel for thirty minutes.

Dont worry about it. The big-unni producer outside whos all smiles will be the one taking care of that. Right? Suyeon said as she looked outside the gla.s.s door. The producer at her seat made a large circle with her hands.

Since we got her permission, arent there any interesting episodes that happened during the shoot? Dont talk about it anywhere else, and do it here. We can get some more listeners that way.

Then shall I talk about a few things?

Everyone, please turn up the volume. And if you think that the story is really bad, then give us a message immediately. Well be harsh critics here.

Suyeon looked at him with lazy eyes. She looked like she was leaving the rest up to him since she was going to get some rest. He cleared his throat and spoke,

I guess I should talk about senior Ganghwan first.

* * *

[From 0.1% to 4%. The charm of Case Number 0 and the secret to a 40x increase in viewing rates.

Choi Junghwa pasted the t.i.tle she had edited for the final time at the top of the doc.u.ment and saved it on the cloud server. Once it was done, the head editor would read it before it would go on the magazine Movie Road.

The schedule, schedule, she hummed and looked through her calendar diary.

She had an interview scheduled with Han Maru during lunch. It felt like just yesterday when she first got to interview him for Depths of Evil, and that was at the beginning of the year.

Were spending January and December together.

She checked over the word interview written on December 3rd. An actor who had caused a storm in the first half of the year with his murderer role has now returned with a drama. The work was an incredible one as well.

He was practically a blue chip. Everyone was trying to get an interview from him.

However, Han Maru designated her as his interviewer just like he did at the beginning of the year. She felt grateful.

Maybe he has a personal interest in me or not.

While he was an amiable person, he didnt appeal his traits as a man. It felt like he was giving her respect as a business partner.

Yes. Mr. Maru. Right now? Im fine with it. Okay then, I'll see you there.

She put on her watch and picked up her bag. The schedule was pulled forward. She left her house after checking if she didnt miss anything.

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