Episode 19. Special Viewer (2)
At the words ‘she won’t do it’, Kang Dae-oh and Min Seung-yeon simultaneously doubted their ears.
“She won’t?”
“Really?”
Kang Yebin nodded and answered once again.
‘Yes’.
The two couldn’t understand Kang Yebin’s answer.
And for good reason.
“I told you Hwang Juhyeok-ssi is playing the lead. If it’s a drama with Juhyeok-ssi, it’s bound to be a huge hit.”
Moreover, it’s not going to be broadcast on a cable channel with almost no recognition, but through a broadcasting station channel quite famous for dramas and entertainment.
Linkage with OTT is also fully possible.
They thought the direction also fit well with recent trends, but Kang Yebin drew a firm line without even a moment’s hesitation.
At this moment, Kang Dae-oh realized something more concerning than Kang Yebin.
Unlike mom and dad.
This was because Kang Yera and Kang Yeyoung were showing reactions that they fully understood Kang Yebin’s decision.
It was as if the two daughters knew something Kang Dae-oh hadn’t noticed.
Kang Yera opened her mouth first.
“Mom. What did you say the drama title was?”
“Wait a moment. The title is……”
Min Seung-yeon, who started looking for the notes she made while talking to the writer, answered Kang Yera’s question.
“It’s called ‘Even If Fate Divides Us’?”
“Then it’s better not to appear in that.”
“Why?”
“That drama will have low viewership ratings and will be prematurely canceled midway through.”
How unpopular was it to be destined for premature cancellation?
There were several reasons for this.
Among them, the biggest reason was this.
“The story isn’t interesting. No matter how famous the actors are, in the end, it’s a ‘drama’. If the story isn’t interesting, viewers won’t watch the work until the end.”
Fan sentiment for actors merely serves to draw people into the drama.
The power to make them watch until the final episode was weak.
Kang Yeyoung also added to the conversation.
“The viewership rating for episode 1 will be very good. Then, from episode 2, the decline will gradually begin…… and later on, more bad luck will pile up.”
“What kind of bad luck?”
“There will be an actor named ‘Ryu Hongin’ who plays a supporting role. While he is appearing in this drama, he will be dropped from the drama due to a minor sexual assault case.”
“……”
Just hearing the explanation made Kang Dae-oh’s head spin.
If, amidst an already uninteresting story causing increasing viewer abandonment, one of the supporting actors commits a heinous crime.
This would be like forcefully removing the ventilator that’s barely keeping someone alive.
If one looks at the cast and other various elements, the fruit before their eyes might seem very sweet, but.
“The reality is a bitter taste, isn’t it?”
At Kang Dae-oh’s neat summary, all three daughters nodded simultaneously.
Knowing the future, there was the advantage of being able to choose to appear in works that would be successful or fail.
It would be a work where they would put in a long time and effort into acting. Wouldn’t it be better for it to be a hit rather than a flop?
The ability to selectively accept projects means more efficient acting activities, which is a huge advantage.
Min Seung-yeon nodded and said.
“Alright. Then I’ll make a suitable excuse to that writer-nim.”
“Thank you, Mom.”
“You’re welcome.”
Kang Dae-oh, who was watching the conversation between mother and daughters, suddenly had a thought.
“Yebin-ah.”
“Yes.”
“You’ll continue your child actor activities, right?”
Kang Yebin nodded vigorously as if it were obvious.
“Because it’s a good time to appear in old dramas that I only enjoyed watching on VOD or OTT.”
Kang Yebin didn’t originally enter the entertainment industry as a child actor like she is now.
She started walking the path of an actress by appearing in small roles little by little since high school.
Because of this, she never had the chance to appear in movies or dramas that came out when she was very young.
But this life is different.
Since she regressed with her acting talent and memories fully intact.
If she sets her mind to it, it’s possible for her to appear in desired works, just like now.
Kang Yebin didn’t seem to want to waste this opportunity.
Of course, Kang Yera was the same.
Once she enters elementary school, she plans to immediately look for agencies and keep knocking on the doors of audition venues.
In Kang Yera’s case, even if she gets into an agency after passing an audition and the company manages her on its own.
Kang Yebin wasn’t at that stage yet.
So Kang Dae-oh thought.
“Then wouldn’t it be good to look for an agency together? Even if Mom follows you around and takes care of your work, there’s bound to be a difference between what a company does and what Mom does.”
An agency would certainly be much more professional and systematic.
Min Seung-yeon also expressed her agreement with Kang Dae-oh’s words.
“Yebin-ah, you would know which agency is good, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
As Min Seung-yeon said.
She also had all the prior information about entertainment agencies, so she could choose one to her liking and sign a contract.
Of course, this would be on the condition that the agency wants to sign a contract with Kang Yebin.
But from Kang Dae-oh’s perspective, it wasn’t a difficult condition.
Kang Yebin had already received rave reviews from viewers, to the extent of being called a ‘child acting prodigy’.
Accordingly, many agencies would be keeping a close eye on Kang Yebin.
Because it’s beneficial for companies to snap up promising talents early.
“There are entertainment agencies I’m keeping an eye on, but……”
Kang Yebin suddenly trailed off.
At that sight, Kang Yera tilted her head.
“Why? You had many agencies you wanted to sign with before. Can’t you just choose one of them and join?”
“……I want to go with unnie to where she enters.”
The family’s attention was drawn to Kang Yebin.
Kang Yebin’s cheeks, having finally revealed the reason, turned slightly red.
It only looked like she was embarrassed.
Kang Yera gave a meaningful smile.
“So you want to be with this unnie? You have a cute side.”
“Don’t make me laugh. It’s because I won’t feel at ease if I let unnie go into a different place alone.”
“You can be honest. Come on, quickly say, ‘I don’t want to be separated from unnie!’ Then I’ll hug you and pat your head.”
“I’ll never say it. Never!”
At the cute second daughter’s defiance, all the family members suppressed their smiles.
Two weeks quickly passed since the new store opened.
Kang Dae-oh, who felt like the first day of opening was just yesterday, had been feeling lately that time was passing very quickly.
Work is work, but.
He gets the same realization when he sees his children growing up.
Today, too, Kang Dae-oh checked the photos and videos of the children that Min Seung-yeon had sent.
It was a video showing Kang Yera, Kang Yebin, and Min Seung-yeon – mom and daughters – gathered together preparing food.
Kang Yeyoung personally took charge of the filming.
The eldest and second daughters were quite good at cooking, but Kang Yeyoung had no interest in cooking at all.
Moreover, she was young.
Even if she was a grown-up on the inside, she was still too young to hold a knife, so Kang Yeyoung was forced to take on the role of cameraman.
“—Mom, is this how I julienne?”
“—Yes. Good job. Yera is good at cooking, aren’t you?”
“—Unnie might not be good at studying, but she’s good at cooking or physical tasks.”
“—Hey, you! Are you complimenting unnie or insulting her?”
“—Well. If the person who hears it winces, it’s an insult, but if they accept it with a big laugh, wouldn’t it be a compliment?”
“—What are you even saying? Seriously. You’re determined to make unnie look petty.”
The bickering between the eldest and second daughters was still there.
The sight of the daughters gathered together with their mom, cooking, was that of baby angels themselves.
‘It’s cute how the aprons hang long compared to their bodies.’
He had bought children’s aprons in advance, but.
Perhaps because he misunderstood the age range for use, the ends of the aprons hung down to the children’s feet.
Still, it was a relief that the aprons didn’t seem to trip them or drag on the floor.
Lee Seojun, who had finished tidying the tables and returned from the opposite side, asked Kang Dae-oh.
“You’re watching videos of the kids, aren’t you?”
“How did you know?”
He was intentionally watching the video on mute so as not to disturb the employees, but.
Thanks to Lee Seojun guessing it immediately, Kang Dae-oh was quite surprised.
Lee Seojun chuckled and revealed the secret to how he noticed.
“Because most of the time the President is smiling while looking at his smartphone is when he’s watching photos or videos related to the kids.”
“Ah, was my expression like that?”
“Even normally.”
Kang Dae-oh himself didn’t know he showed it so much.
Well, he can’t see his own facial expression.
Kang Dae-oh resolved to be more careful from now on.
Kang Dae-oh, who returned home after work, encountered Min Seung-yeon in the kitchen, who was alone preparing a late-night snack to eat with her husband.
Today’s late-night snack was.
“Suyuk?”
“Yeah. Today the moms gathered and made suyuk. The kids liked it too.”
Among Kang Dae-oh and Min Seung-yeon’s three daughters, there was no child who disliked meat.
All of them eat well across the board.
Only the eldest was surprisingly a bit picky.
However, meat was excluded from her picky eating.
Min Seung-yeon, with quick movements, took off her apron and urged Kang Dae-oh.
“Quickly set up the table in the living room.”
“We’re eating in the living room?”
“Yeah. Today’s the day for that. Hurry, hurry. We’ll be late if we don’t.”
At his wife’s urging, Kang Dae-oh pulled out a small table and set it up in the living room without even time to change his clothes.
He also didn’t forget to be careful not to wake the sleeping children.
On the table, Min Seung-yeon’s suyuk, bossam kimchi, and the canned beer the couple enjoyed were set up.
While Kang Dae-oh opened a can, Min Seung-yeon picked up the remote and quickly flipped through channels.
The TV screen stopped on a certain cable channel.
“Not late. Phew!”
Kang Dae-oh now finally knew what ‘that’ Min Seung-yeon had mentioned was.
“What drama is that?”
“It’s a drama called ‘Memory Bookstore’, and it just started airing yesterday.”
“There’s a drama like that?”
Since the eldest and second daughters were planning to enter the entertainment industry, Kang Dae-oh tended to pay close attention to new popular songs, dramas, and movies whenever he had time.
He would soon become the father of an idol and a top actor who would capture the world stage beyond Korea.
Shouldn’t he at least know what trends are popular?
Despite this, Kang Dae-oh had never heard of the drama ‘Memory Bookstore’ that Min Seung-yeon mentioned.
“It’s not a re-broadcast of something that aired a long time ago, is it?”
“No. It’s a brand new work. But it’s not that famous of a drama. No one else around me knew about it either.”
Kang Dae-oh checked the viewership rating for episode 1 of the drama ‘Memory Bookstore’ via his smartphone.
‘It’s in the 0 percent range.’
As his wife said, the drama itself already had a bleak ending predetermined from the start.
Nevertheless, his wife’s eyes, watching the drama, shone brighter than ever.
As Kang Dae-oh watched the drama, he also began to understand why she had fallen for this work.
“It’s your taste.”
“Right?”
Apart from its fame.
If it suits one’s taste, it becomes a masterpiece for them, even if not for others.
Perhaps ‘Memory Bookstore’ falls into this category.
Kang Dae-oh decided to think so.
