Chapter 30: The Great Heat and the Showdown (Part 2)

  The second update is seeking recommendations!

  Thanks for "Bone Ash" classmate's vote!

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  "These fans have gone crazy!"

  The director of "The Last Dance", Li Chenglie, swept away the messy pile of documents on his office desk, his eyes, filled with bloodshot, stared intently at the computer screen, his face ashen.

  The producer initially re-posted the comment, and he also knew about it and allowed it. In his opinion, the special drama that aired on weekends had no conflict of interest with "Sorry, I Love You" which aired during the prime time slot, but just borrowed this slightly exaggerated comment to boost popularity, shouldn't be a big deal. Who would have thought that "Sorry, I Love You", which only aired for 6 weeks, already had so many die-hard fans, and they came after him without distinction of guilt or innocence.

  On the bulletin board of the official website, every refresh brings a huge surge in posts, like a stormy rainstorm, overwhelming him with anxiety and irritation, shattering his original optimistic thoughts.

  At this moment, he suddenly felt a bit of what Lee Hyun-min had gone through when he was surrounded by people on the internet a month ago, which was also suffocating and angry!

  Sitting across from him at his desk, a middle-aged man with a calm demeanor but a hint of embarrassment between his eyebrows, seeing him so emotionally out of control, could only remain silent. After a while, when he had calmed down somewhat, he asked: "Then, what should we do? Issue an apology letter to clarify things?"

  "What's the point of issuing an apology now? You've been criticized and others have scolded you, those who don't want to see it anymore won't bother with you even if you kneel down and kowtow. Apologizing will only cause some of our fans who support us to lose faith."

  The producer who knew he was wrong didn't care about his attitude, and thought for a moment: "Well... how about contacting the entertainment editor of the Morning Post and asking them to issue a statement."

  It's better not to mention this. As soon as it was mentioned, Li Chenglie let out a cold laugh: "That group of newspaper media? Hmph, they'd love for us to start fighting!"

  Here is the translation:

  "After that, things developed just as he said. The day before yesterday, the entertainment section of the Morning Post published a comment, and then the website of 'The Last Dance' was hacked. The next day, big and small newspapers swarmed in, publishing the news on their front pages: "'Sorry, I Love You' fans attack 'The Last Dance' official website, supporters clash', 'Li Chenglie remains silent about the reprinting incident, suspected to be preparing for battle', 'Li Hengmin says it's easy to take down 'The Last Dance'. The sensational headlines made people who didn't know the situation think that a war had broken out somewhere. Of course, similar to the last one, this is just a small unknown newspaper making things up."

  At that time, the crew of "Sorry, I Love You" did not accept any interviews and did not allow any reporters to appear on the set or in the office area. The warehouse where the offices were located had been surrounded by barbed wire many days ago, which was later widened and heightened. When filming on location, staff also put up isolation belts to keep everyone out.

  The entire crew was almost isolated from the outside world.

  The snow in early November ultimately had a huge impact on the shooting work. The severe cold weather, during the time when the snow did not completely melt, made the outdoor progress of the crew almost completely stagnant, delaying it for two weeks before recovering normally in the continuous sunny weather.

  Now everyone is under the director's drive, desperately chasing the progress to avoid being unable to maintain enough broadcast volume. Especially for Lee Hyung-min, who has to coordinate and handle the food, clothing, housing and transportation of hundreds of people in the entire crew, as well as direct the play, he is busy every day, wishing he had a technique to split himself into multiple bodies, how can he have the mood to care about what's going on online.

  The same busy ones include Ahn Jun-hee, Lim Soo-jung and others. The plot is gradually approaching the end, with only two weeks of broadcast remaining. A large number of scenes are concentrated on them, running through various scenes every day, eating and sleeping in the crew, getting up at dawn to shoot, resting very late, if occasionally a scene doesn't pass, it may be delayed for another night, tired to sleep as soon as they touch the bed, not caring about anything, basically disconnected from this society.

  Only occasionally having a brief leisure time, I would hear colleagues describe how popular they are outside, but in reality, there isn't much actual feeling. Occasionally going online and looking at those comments, it feels more like watching others' success, seemingly completely unrelated to them.

  Whether they are popular or not can only be perceived through applause and cheers, but those who are isolated from the world do not have this condition.

  The media and newspapers intentionally stirred up the rivalry between the two dramas, which is good for click-through rates and sales. Whether or not the fans of both sides really start fighting, it has nothing to do with them now. Everyone in the crew just wants to finish filming as soon as possible and take a good rest. The crazy pace of life over the past month has really exhausted their energy.

  Time flies in the hustle and bustle of the internet, amidst the busyness of actual work, it has quickly reached mid-December. At a villa owned by KBS TV station, the biting cold wind cannot blow away the lush greenery in the garden. Under the branches that are both withered and full of life, Ahn Jun-hee wipes his eyes and stands at the entrance of the house, looking back at the woman behind the slanted floor-to-ceiling window, slowly kneeling down.

  The lingering long shot, took this segment of the performance, all into the TV in the back, Li Hengmin holding the director's tube, held his breath until Ahn Jun-heo had brewed enough emotions, choked and bowed heavily, then got up and left with the movement of the camera, only to take a deep breath and clapped his hands loudly: "Great, cut!"

  Over there, Ahn Jun-hee, who had already shed tears, heard the "cut" and hurriedly wiped away his tears, extricating himself from the emotions of the scene to return this way.

  Gwon Bo-geun, who had been waiting on the side, quickly ran up and put his coat over him. The December weather was below zero even during the day, and it had started to get cloudy again these days, making the outdoors extremely cold. Now An Jun-hyuk was more important than himself in Gwon Bo-geun's heart, fearing that he would catch a cold and fall ill, not daring to slack off for a moment.

  It's worth noting that since the drama "Oppa" became a huge hit, there are countless people in the company who envy him. Not everyone is as lucky to be able to bring out a new star who becomes an overnight sensation. Among SM Entertainment's trainees, there have been some who debuted as actors, but most of them remain unknown. So far, aside from Ahn Hyun-seok, the only one who has managed to make a name for himself is Go Ara, who debuted last year with "Snow Flower". However, due to the drama's target audience and her age, she is still considered half-famous.

  Now many people are waiting for him to make a mistake, and then find an excuse to take away An Junhe's position as a broker.

  Wrapped in a coat, Ahn Jun-hyuk found Lee Hyung-min amidst the busy staff collecting equipment around him: "Director, did it pass?"

  Lee Hyung-min, who was staring at the TV and watching the replay footage, was taken aback for a moment before reacting with a smile: "It's passed, it's passed. Jun-hyuk, this is your last shot, don't rush to leave after we finish wrapping up, I'll treat you to a barbecue restaurant, let's have a few drinks, you've worked hard during this time."

  "Haha!" An Junhe laughed, "You'd better not bother, and your time is tight too. The other actors still have scenes to re-shoot and edit, how can you waste your time on me? If you really want to treat me, let's do it once the final episode is wrapped up!"

  Li Hengmin thought for a moment and nodded: "Alright, I'll listen to you."

  The two chatted for a few more sentences. On the other side, Assistant Kim Woon finished packing everything up, and Ahn Jun-ho bid farewell to Lee Hyeong-min and got on the van.

  The air conditioner in the nanny car was turned on, and the sudden warmth made An Junhe, who had been frozen outside with cold hands and feet, feel a wave of numbness all over his body, and he couldn't help but let out a soft sigh.

  After a while, Jin Xun, who was driving the car, turned his head and asked him: "Junhe, are we going back to the company or...?"

  An Junhe lay on the soft bed, not responding. Quan Baogen was searching for something and leaned over to listen. A faint snore entered his ears, and he smiled silently. He gently pulled up the quilt for him and walked to the partition, saying in a low voice, "Go to the company first, he's asleep, drive slowly."

  "Hmm!"

  The nanny car swayed gently twice, slowly started, and the warm-toned soft light that poured down from the top of the car with the curtains drawn, reflected on Ahn Jun-hee's face as he slightly shook his head while sleeping. In the front driver's seat, soft music started playing, and he turned over drowsily, continuing to sleep in the soft melody...

  When he was sleeping quietly, the dispute between fans of "Sorry, I Love You" and "Last Dance" was in full swing online. The two sides went from debating to quarreling, completely crazy about proving that their favorite drama was better. "Sorry, I Love You" had a large number of loyal fans due to its deep emotional tone, and they mobilized their strength to crash the official website of "Last Dance" for several days in a row. Although "Last Dance" didn't have many loyal fans supporting it due to its lack of depth as a light idol drama, the female lead unexpectedly provided some help - the actress who played the female lead was Ryu Jin, formerly a member of SES, and after releasing two solo albums following the group's disbandment, she began her acting career. However, it seemed that her popularity as a singer hadn't completely faded away, and many people from that era still had special feelings for her.

  This group of people, under the large-scale propaganda of newspapers and portal websites, joined the supporter camp of "Mo" to counterattack the attacks of "waste people". For a time, they even withstood the pressure, and the online dispute was in a stalemate. Of course, the main controversy between the two sides is still focused on which drama has better achievements, so after the quarrel, they all prepared to give each other a good show on the day of broadcasting.

  Such a contradictory and intense scene delights online media and newspapers, who are not afraid of chaos. The more chaotic the internet is, the more topics they can create, and the more attention they can attract to their websites and newspapers.

  They originally thought that the fan base of "The Best" was too weak to compete with "Oppa", but unexpectedly, the fans of SES gave them a surprise, and what made them even happier was that this unexpected event itself became a topic.

  The male lead of "Sorry I Love You", Ahn Joon-yeong, belongs to SM Entertainment, and Ryu Jin, before going solo, was also trained and debuted by SM.

  This is a showdown between seniors and juniors!

  Many journalists and editors have already thought of tomorrow's headlines.