* * *

“Our designs that did really well.”

Someone suddenly spoke up from behind Jeon Segye as he was about to leave Dongdaemun Market.

Lovely’s owner had left the store in the designer’s care and followed after him.

“All of those were made by the employee you met last time.”

“...The one with glasses?”

“Yes. That girl.”

Lovely’s owner nodded while looking at Jeon Segye.

“Is she a designer?”

“She’s not an official designer, and honestly she doesn’t know that much about design....”

In response to Jeon Segye’s question, the owner answered with absolute certainty.

“But she’s good.”

Jeon Segye headed back toward the B-bly office in his car.

A subtle emotion appeared on his face as he gripped the steering wheel.

Not a designer, yet good at design.

The woman who had created the blouse that caught his attention.

“She didn’t seem like that type at all....”

As Jeon Segye recalled Nam Pyeonghwa with her compressed glasses and messy appearance, he suddenly saw her through the car window.

Sitting by the window inside a stylish café, scribbling something down.

Completely ignoring the sharp stares directed at her, Nam Pyeonghwa had a faint smile hanging from the corners of her lips.

Screech.

-In fifty meters, turn left.

The navigation announced the route.

But Jeon Segye stopped the car.

Keeping his gaze fixed on Nam Pyeonghwa, he stepped outside.

The moment Nam Pyeonghwa tapped away at a message to someone, Jeon Segye’s phone vibrated.

Bzzzt.

[Lovely: Hello~ This is Lovely from Diot 1 A-27...]

Jeon Segye checked his phone.

It was the sample photo message she had sent.

Without hesitating, he started walking straight ahead.

The women taking pictures nearby immediately stared at the unexpectedly handsome man who had suddenly appeared.

Completely used to those gazes following behind him, Jeon Segye walked toward Nam Pyeonghwa.

Music filled with fluttering excitement began to play.

Knock knock.

Jeon Segye tapped lightly on the table.

Nam Pyeonghwa lifted her head.

At that exact moment, sunlight sparkled through the window behind him.

For a brief second, she couldn’t see the man’s face.

“May I sit?”

Looking at the slim navy tie visible beneath his neat shirt, Nam Pyeonghwa nodded.

With relaxed movements, Jeon Segye pulled out the chair across from her and sat down.

Only then did his face become fully visible.

Once again, Jeon Segye’s gaze drifted toward the notebook lying on the table.

This time, it contained yet another design.

“She’s good.”

The words Lovely’s owner had said resurfaced in his mind.

The meeting between a man perfectly styled from head to toe and a woman completely unstylized from head to toe naturally drew attention from everyone nearby.

Even the girls who had been glaring at Nam Pyeonghwa earlier started looking over.

“I saw the message. The stuff you sent.”

“Ah....”

The surroundings grew quiet.

Because everyone who had been listening to the two stopped talking.

A weekday afternoon.

A newly trending European-style café.

The main customers were women.

Curiosity about the relationship between the two rapidly intensified.

“It’s pretty.”

The straightforward comment made the eyes of the people nearby widen.

“I like it.”

Hearing those words, heat spread across the right side of Nam Pyeonghwa’s face.

It was probably because the sunlight was too strong.

The sunlight resting across Jeon Segye’s face made him shine too.

Music played softly.

“What did you like the most?”

At Nam Pyeonghwa’s question, Jeon Segye answered.

The faint smile on his face looked impossibly handsome.

The clean curve of his lips drew attention.

“All of it.”

The final scene froze alongside the ending song.

Then the preview immediately followed.

“I need someone like you.”

Jeon Segye looked at Nam Pyeonghwa as he spoke.

“You’re joking, right, CEO?”

“If she were a real designer, maybe!”

The employees tried to stop him.

“PinkJoo... that’s you, right?”

Nam Pyeonghwa attended a meeting with the fashionably dressed influencer.

“You can tell exactly what kind of company employees they hire.”

“We won’t kick you out. Just come back. Isn’t that what brothers are for?”

The half-brothers sneered while looking at Jeon Segye and Nam Pyeonghwa.

“Who knows?”

Jeon Segye answered indifferently.

* * *

“He gets an 8 out of 10 from me.”

“I’d give it a 7.”

“I’d say maybe 8.5? The directing’s ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ way cuter than I expected. Seo Eden’s not bad either.”

The Daily Media employees, gathered in a chicken restaurant near the office to watch episode one live, all gave their own scores.

The entertainment reporters were more excited than anyone about the actress Holy Grail war.

Because nothing like this had ever happened before.

“How are the reactions?”

[DramaMovieActor TALK / Byeon Juhwa definitely has directing sense]

I watched all his previous work live too and he’s so good at cute little scenes T_T the Seo Eden CG and Nam Pyeonghwa clothing imagination CG were so good

-Anonymous 1: Same lolol it had that commercial-film kinda vibe? The cute visuals are amazing

-Anonymous 2: I wondered how they were gonna carry Seo Eden TT_TT lololol but if they do it like this I think it works.. honestly speaking Seo Eden doesn’t really have executive-director vibes

↳ Anonymous 4: Yeah yeah the young CEO image turned out great

“They kept saying they spent a ton on CG and I didn’t get it before, but there really are a lot of people praising Director Byeon’s directing.”

“He’s definitely good at making scenes look cute and visually pleasing. Like the café scene.”

[DramaMovieActor TALK / The drama where the male lead gets his nose pinched sharp and the female lead gets turned into braised black beans]

This is MY drama

-Anonymous 1: LMAOOO what the hell is braised black beans T_T

-Anonymous 2: The more I watch the more attached I get now even that looks cute

↳ Anonymous 5: Did you compress your glasses twice too

↳ Anonymous 8: I seriously doubted my ears when he said “It’s pretty” LMAO

“There’s not really much talk about Han Yeoreum’s acting though....”

“That’s because she’s good. Calm stable-type characters usually don’t get much discussion in episode one.”

[DramaMovieActor TALK / Seo Eden’s actually better than expected]

He got SO much hate before airing that now I kinda wanna acknowledge him more..lloool maybe I’m just contrarian but I’d totally eat up a sly cute male lead like this

-Anonymous 1: Yeah compared to all the malicious comments he actually did really well

-Anonymous 3: The chemistry between them is good so I’m sticking with this one live looool trusting Byeon Juhwa and Hwang Boseok

↳ Anonymous 5: Same T_T I like that there aren’t any headache-inducing villains and everyone’s kinda mild

“Before this, most reactions said 〈Tamhok〉 was the most anticipated, but I guess way more people are trying episode one than expected?”

“It’s Hwang Boseok. Of course they are.”

“Seo Eden supports the drama better than expected.”

“But episode one was kinda bland.”

Someone said it.

“...That’s true.”

“Honestly, yeah.”

Episode one of a drama — especially a romantic comedy — was critically important.

Unless there was a huge event, it was hard to create a strong enough hook to grab viewers.

“What the hell! What a jerk!”

“I’ve never seen such an idiotic woman in my life.”

There was a reason romcoms usually started aggressively in episode one.

“Huh? Isn’t that the jerk from before?”

“Huh? Isn’t that the nuisance girl from before?”

But 〈Dongdaemun Romance〉 didn’t really have a powerful villain-type character.

In fact, both leads treated each other with a certain amount of politeness, so there wasn’t explosive chemistry either.

“It’s too mild.”

At this rate, viewers might end up getting stolen away entirely by the other dramas.

Wi Jaehwi carefully asked,

“...What do you think, sunbae?”

The senior famous for predicting first-episode ratings opened his mouth.

“In my opinion....”

* * *

7:00 AM.

As if they had made a promise, Lee Saerok, Manager Hong from JC ENM, and Director Byeon all came to work early.

Each of them held a dark iced Americano with extra espresso shots added, yet none of them brought the straw to their lips.

Their eyes were fixed solely on the clock at the bottom-right corner of the monitor. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

“Alright....”

Gulp.

The sound of someone swallowing rang out unusually loudly.

“Time to check the report card....”

Each person’s heart beat with different emotions.

‘Still, it’s Hwang Boseok.’

Some felt anticipation.

‘...But it really was too mild...’

Some felt anxiety.

‘Surely it won’t hit double digits from episode one, right?’

Some felt excitement.

“It’s up!”

The numbers had finally appeared on the internal network.

[Episode 1 — 9.1%]

“....”

“....”

“....”

Everyone inhaled sharply.

Silence briefly filled the room.

“We did it!”

Then, as though rehearsed, they all burst into cheers at the same time.

Articles were uploaded immediately.

There wasn’t much time left to promote as much as possible.

It was a time attack.

[Hwang Boseok breaks 9% ratings from episode one... “Top writers really are different”]

[Han Yeoreum and Seo Eden’s perfect chemistry leaves viewers smiling warmly, 〈Dongdaemun Romance〉]

[Summary of the charm points from episode one of 〈Dongdaemun Romance〉, praised for perfectly capturing Dongdaemun DDP realism]

The ratings had nearly reached double digits from episode one alone.

This was the kind of power only Hwang Boseok could create.

[MovieDramaActor TALK / DongRo ratings are out holy shit LOLOLOL]

9.1 from episode one loool it’s definitely hitting double digits today.. seriously Hwang Boseok’s name value is insane T_T

-Anonymous 1: Wow those ratings are crazy high for a first episode lolololol

-Anonymous 5: It’s comfortably fun lool I’m following this one T_T

-Anonymous 9: The aesthetics are seriously insane.. even the lighting is textbook romcom. The visuals are so pretty I’m getting directing hype lololol

[Dongdaemun Romance Minor Gallery]

[Ratings are out and it’s probably casually passing 10% today]

We came to do the ratings challenge to keep our 10% promise viewers thank you so much for 13% ratings and we’re really happy to have surpassed 15% ratings for DongRo please continue loving our 18% DongRo and we ask for your support toward 20%

Anonymous (17.171): Holy shit lolol but it really feels possible

Anonymous (32.3): No way it hits 20 at this pace. I’m predicting mid-teens

↳Anonymous (2.40): Nah it’s only rising fast right now because there’s no competition in the timeslot. At best it’ll settle into a mellow hit

[It’s such a waste they’re airing against competitors. If they’d started 2-3 weeks earlier instead...]

Maybe if they’d secured viewers properly early on but one week isn’t enough impact especially since it doesn’t start with a hate-love relationship

Anonymous (23.3): Jo Eunnara: you little shit

↳Anonymous (1.7): Ah fuck I’m dying LMAOOOO

↳Anonymous (42.880): By your logic Jo Eunnara’s drama should’ve been 10 episodes you evil bastard

Anonymous (2.31): The comment above is funny as hell lolol but I kinda get what they mean.. they’re probably gonna get overtaken by Yoo Jiuk’s show soon

Anonymous (27.273): Jo Eunnara got scammed by the script too. Episodes 1-4 were definitely god-tier

↳Anonymous (4.29): Yeah who knew the characters would derail that hard

The smiles gradually disappeared from the faces of the people monitoring reactions.

“Starting today, it’s the real beginning... right?”

“Yeah. The real battle starts today....”

“Because....”

〈Tamhok〉, 〈Dear Judge〉, and 〈There Is Only One Culprit〉 had all started rolling out promotional campaigns since last weekend.

Today was Thursday.

Several promotional contents had already swept through the public for days now.

So why did they say the real beginning started today?

[〈Soft Soft Kindergarten〉 Yoo Jiuk captures women’s hearts... “Heart pew pew” ratings record]

[Viewers’ hearts flutter over Yoo Jiuk’s side profile during nap time with Seo Yulhuiyul]

[This is what a real romcom male lead looks like... Yoo Jiuk’s irresistible moments in 〈Soft Soft Kindergarten〉]

Because 〈Soft Soft Kindergarten〉 starring Yoo Jiuk had aired just yesterday, Wednesday at 7:50 PM.

On the exact same day episode one of 〈Dongdaemun Romance〉 aired.