Chapter 34: KBS Acting Grand Prize (Part 1) (Second Update)

  The second update is seeking recommendations~

  Thank you for the rewards from Xperia S, speechless de men, sad ⊙ three classmates, thank you for the evaluation vote from Xperia S classmate.

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  There are only two days left before the New Year's Day, and the sky that has been gloomy for a long time finally started snowing again. The north wind is biting, whistling through the mountains, submerging this city of Han in the undulating mountains. If you have a bird's-eye view at night, when the city lights are lit up, you might see such a magnificent scene:

  Innumerable rays of light converge in the city, from the dense center gradually spreading to the edges and becoming thin. It is like a fountain of fierce flames, inhaling and spitting out a huge amount of light points every moment, as if it were a giant heart radiating light, with road-like blood vessels running through it. The starry lights gather from all sides and rush away. The vast Han River flows quietly by the side of this magnificent city in the wind and snow, like the snowflakes dancing in the sky, cold and silent.

  But even the cold weather couldn't stop the enthusiasm of netizens, and after getting the ratings on the 29th, KBS immediately contacted Park Young-jun, hoping to buy back the copyright for "Sorry, I Love You" from him at a price of at least $500,000 per episode. The huge popularity of the drama has made KBS's top management extremely regret their decision to sell the broadcasting rights, and now they have to pay a high price.

  Because on that day, somehow getting the news that the copyright of "Sorry, I Love You" was not in KBS's hands, SBS and MBC, who had been arch-rivals with KBS, spread the word that they wanted to buy the re-broadcasting rights. The three major Korean TV stations had always been sworn enemies, and KBS would never allow its hit drama series to fall into their hands.

  Park Young-joon, who received KBS's intention, did not delay much and was taken to SM Company by Won-seong in the afternoon of that day. He informed Ahn Jun-hyuk about this matter, and then heard Ahn Jun-hyuk say lightly: "Sell it! Let's cooperate for once, no need to be too harsh."

  He then intuitively understood and went back to reply to KBS, agreeing to 5 million US dollars per episode, but only agreed to sell rebroadcasting rights and DVD, peripheral issuance rights. The other part of the highest revenue overseas copyright was refused to be given out. Facing his toughness, KBS, which had been at a disadvantage since the beginning of the negotiation, had no choice but to swallow its pride.

  After re-acquiring the rebroadcasting rights, KBS scheduled a rerun of "Sorry I Love You" that same night, riding on the fervor of yesterday's tragic finale, and achieved a viewership rating of 30% from the start.

  The next day, in the midst of heavy snowfall, many media outlets stared at the data report from the investigation agency for an entire morning before swarming forward to report on it in a flurry.

  "Tragic slaughter knife aims at 8 o'clock slot, 'Against' drama continues to gain momentum and refuses to retreat, re-opening a 30% hot broadcast storm!" The subtitle is a cartoon-style bloody pig-killing knife.

  "Rebroadcasts are more popular than first broadcasts, what's wrong with this world?" The entertainment newspaper magnified the question.

  "One-third of the nation is watching 'Sorry I Love You' for the second time, are you?" Next to it was a huge shock icon.

  ……

  It's not surprising that these media outlets are not surprised, it's been a long time since a TV drama has had a re-run with higher ratings than its first broadcast, which usually represents the birth of a classic. Although in the reports on the finale over the past two days, they often misused the word "classic", but very few really think it is a classic, because if you count the history, there are too many TV dramas that have achieved better results than this one.

  Korean Broadcasting Association conducted a special online survey to gather why netizens watch reruns. Among the 2,000 surveyed, "Although it's sad, the plot and actors' performances were too detailed, I really want to experience it again" accounted for 71%, "I didn't finish watching the first broadcast, only saw the ending, but was attracted" accounted for 20%, and "I've never seen it before, it's popular now, so I'm curious" accounted for 9%.

  In other words, the terrible reopening data was completely supported by people who had already watched it once, which made the media breathe a sigh of relief and also be surprised by the infectivity of "Sorry, I Love You".

  Was it during "Blue Life and Death" last time?

  But the explosive influence of "Sorry, I Love You" didn't just stop at TV broadcasts. On the 30th afternoon, KBS released the soundtrack for "Sorry, I Love You" on their official website, and the theme song "Snow Flower" broke into various music charts within a short 12 hours, pulling off an All-Kill performance, just like the drama itself, cutting down many singers in its path.

  The music chart, which was originally quiet due to the end of the year, was suddenly stirred up by it, and became hot and bloody.

  While other singers' fans were wailing, Ahn Jun-hee's fans were jubilant. Many music newspapers and magazines, after praising Ahn Jun-hee's performance, also put him in their sights. "The Voice of Popular Music", which had promoted Ahn Jun-hee before his debut, and music critic Jiang Ming-shi, this time also lavished praise on him:

  "I had listened to the original 'Snowflake' last year and thought no one else could perform it as beautifully as Nakajima Miyuki, but An Junhe's cover completely shattered my perception... It is entirely different from the deep and mature tone of a female voice. If the original version represents the gentle and affectionate side of a woman, then this version represents the heavy-heartedness and silent burden of a mature man. The explosive singing style brings out the sadness in a more intense way, and the rewritten lyrics maintain the song's atmosphere with rich literary foundation, even painting an even lonelier picture, making one feel as if they see a figure wandering silently in the snowy wind when closing their eyes... I had heard that he sang the theme song for his own drama, but I really didn't expect him to have such high skills in singing ballads outside of HIPHOP. Combined with his acting skills, I wonder if God is real, is he really 19 years old?"

  Now An Junhe's fans are all in love with this guy named Jiang Ming Shi, he always puts a lot of praise on their idol's head, making them also feel proud and elated.

  They quickly posted this comment on the official website of "Sorry, I Love You", and most of the subsequent responses were shocked.

  "Oh, this song is sung by Uncle? No wonder I always feel the voice is familiar, but didn't know before."

  "Turns out Uncle can sing too... should have the strength of a first-line singer?"

  "Just went to the official website and found out that Uncle is actually a singer..."

  The person who posted this sigh also attached a picture from "Sorry, I Love You", where Cha Wu-hee is wailing in KTV, singing the national anthem with a pitiful expression: "Uncle must have been very painful when performing this part..."

  In a certain dormitory, Taeyeon, who was browsing through the post, laughed out loud while hugging her computer. A girl on the bed opposite to her, who was folding blankets, looked at her strangely, seemingly startled by her laughter, with wide eyes and timid pupils.

  "Sorry......huh......I thought of something funny......hahaha......" As she apologized, she recalled the NG scenes on set where Ahn Jun-hee was struggling, and she couldn't help but burst out laughing. She had to wave her hand in apology while falling onto the bed, holding her stomach which started to ache from laughter, gasping for breath as she laughed uncontrollably.

  The girl opposite looked at her computer screen, saw a full page of Korean text, didn't understand what was so funny about it, and could only force a smile, stuttering: "It's...it's okay..."

  The girl's accent was very strange, but Taeyeon had already gotten used to it. She was her roommate after she came to the company and was a Chinese person who arrived at the company one year earlier than her. However, due to the language barrier, in reality, there was no difference with the new people.

  The relationship between the two is still good, and it's also related to their personal circumstances - they both belong to isolated marginal people apart from being in the same dormitory.

  But now Taeyeon's situation is much better, although she still doesn't have many friends, but no one dares to bully her anymore. On the one hand, it's because she's been playing with Sooyoung and Yulie, those few girls are simply a group of troublemakers, who would dare to mess with them? On the other hand, after "Sorry, I Love You" aired, Park Jung-soo told everyone that Taeyeon is Ahn Joon-young's junior, with such a popular senior backing her up, naturally no one dares to do anything to her.

  Every day without having to endure the taste of isolation, Taeyeon became much more outgoing, otherwise in the past even if she laughed loudly, she would only look for a place with no one around.

  After panting for a while, she felt that her breathing had finally become smooth. Taeyeon closed the webpage and opened Ahn Junghyun's fanclub "Ahn Family Small Pavilion". This community was established by Yoon-ah, and after registering, she was given secondary permissions by Yoon-ah with ulterior motives. However, she rarely spoke or managed anything, most of the time just browsing through Ahn Junghyun's posts.

  The community is now much more lively, no longer as deserted as before with only a dozen or so active cats. Every day there are numerous visits and posts, replies, of course the most popular ones are usually topics started by An Junhe.

  Today he also posted a selfie, which appears to be in a dressing room. In the low-resolution photo, he is facing the mirror, holding up two suits against his chest, one black and the other with stripes. Below the photo is a brief question:

  It's time to attend the acting awards ceremony, which color do you think I should wear?

  "Ah…… acting award ah……" Taeyeon muttered softly, her eyes scanning the comments below, a string of "stripes are more sunny", "all black is handsome", "whatever you wear is cool" and other messy replies, her mouth slightly curved up.

  She took out her phone, flipped through the contacts to Ahn Jun-he's number, and composed a text message: "Ahn Jun-he, you're so handsome that you don't even need to wear clothes!"

  Then hehe smiled and picked up his phone, crawled into the quilt, rolled around with the quilt, and laughed haha.

  The girl on the other side looked at her with an even stranger gaze and shook her head repeatedly.

  On the other side, in a car that was driving, Ahn Jun-hee slightly raised his head and asked Lin Xiu-jing, who was sitting next to him, to help adjust his tie. Across from them, Kwon Bo-geun chattered incessantly: "When we get out of the car later, don't be nervous, smile, there will definitely be a lot of flashbulbs, be careful not to look directly at them, shift your gaze slightly to the side, and don't stiffen up..."

  Standing in front of him, Lin Xiujing, wearing a purple cheongsam that trailed on the ground, exuding an air of maturity and mystery, smiled lightly: "Is he always so talkative?"

  A soft whisper, a wisp of warm and fragrant breath brushed against the tip of her nose, making her feel ticklish. An Junhe sniffled his nose and gave her a helpless look.