Dream Future.
A youth romance drama filmed with young actors or children.
Its basic plot could be described as a drama portraying the journey of participants in an idol audition program up until their debut.
The lead characters, including male protagonist Kim Si-hwan and female protagonist Song So-ha, totaled six people.
“Still, since this is an idol-themed drama, are the actors really okay for this? Don’t they have to dance and sing as well?”
This question, asked with a smile, came from Yeon-woo Ma.
Currently, three of the six main leads were actors.
Seoyeon, Park Jung-woo, and Hwang Seol-ah.
Among them, Hwang Seol-ah had appeared twice as a supporting actress in cable dramas. She didn’t have much experience, and this was actually her first time appearing in a network drama.
But when Ma Yeon-woo made that comment, it grated on her the wrong way.
“But we haven’t forgotten this is a drama, right?”
The tone was sharp, like arrows being fired.
To be honest, Hwang Seol-ah didn’t like Ma Yeon-woo from the start.
Just X.
Ah, right. He’s a popular idol. She knew that much.
Compared just by popularity, it might be debatable whether he could stack up to Park Jung-woo, who was seated nearby, so composed.
In truth, the popularity of actors and idols differs.
It’s more intense, with a thicker fan base. If anything, Park Jung-woo might be unusually popular among actors.
“Dancing and singing can be improved with practice, but acting? That’s not so easy.”
Hearing Hwang Seol-ah, another idol-origin actor, Aiden—of Canadian-Korean descent—smiled faintly.
“It sounds like you’re saying acting cannot be easily learned, but singing and dancing can be done quickly.”
His tone was calm, but it carried a subtle edge.
This made Cha Na-hee, sitting nearby, visibly uneasy. She too seemed offended by Hwang Seol-ah’s comment.
Amidst this hostile atmosphere,
“Hmm.”
Director Kim Pil-seok was somewhat flustered.
Considering their similar ages, he had thought this would be a great opportunity for everyone to build a rapport.
However, the strange competitiveness between idols and actors emerged.
“I can’t intervene in this situation.”
A director’s word is absolute.
If he spoke up, they might appear to quiet down, but the conflict wouldn’t truly be resolved.
So Director Kim silently prayed for someone to mediate.
“You, please, Jung-woo!”
He subtly nominated someone as an intermediary.
Understanding that things had come to this, Park Jung-woo let out a sigh.
Even if he tried to resolve it with words…
This wasn’t a conflict that could be settled quickly.
Approaching each other’s perspectives calmly would be a better approach.
As Park Jung-woo was about to open his mouth,
“Let’s challenge each other.”
“Huh?”
Jung-woo looked at Seoyeon, surprised.
There was Seoyeon, hand raised slightly, proposing the idea.
The surrounding chatter immediately quieted.
“Actors by dance and singing. Idols by acting.”
Has she gone mad?
Park Jung-woo wanted to say something along those lines, but the strange gleam in Seoyeon’s eyes made him close his mouth.
‘What exactly is this?’
So, to summarize Seoyeon’s proposition: ‘The losing side listens to the winner’s terms’?
‘Ah, no, that can’t be.’
The strange gleam in her eyes…
Perhaps she just lacked some social acumen.
‘She basically wants to resolve the conflict by having a one-on-one match of skill and then reconciling… roughly that idea?’
It made a bit of sense.
But it was too simplistic and even absurd, so when he tried to interrupt,
“Hey, that’s a great idea!”
Ma Yeon-woo had already jumped in.
This guy just lacked social awareness altogether.
“To actors go the dance and singing. To idols, the acting competition. But how exactly?”
“Ah, hadn’t really thought that far.”
Seoyeon closed her mouth.
She hadn’t thought it through fully. She had simply proposed it based on the idea that kids fight and grow closer, a rather old-school way of thinking.
“Oh, this sounds good.”
Just then, Director Kim Pil-seok cut in, as the room was about to fall silent.
“Ah, leave it to me. Your idea’s clever, Seoyeon.”
Everyone stared dumbly at Kim Pil-seok, unable to grasp what he was saying. Even Park Jung-woo was particularly flustered.
Only Seoyeon looked smugly satisfied, which made Jung-woo sigh inwardly.
‘What on earth is this supposed to mean?’
Kim Pil-seck was a young director, social and often mingling with variety show producers.
He was open-minded compared to other directors. Or you could say his ideas weren’t bound by industry norms.
“Let’s call it a night, we can chat some more later. I’ve got some work coming up.”
With a laugh, Kim Pil-seok and a few staff members, leaving only Park Jung-woo behind, disappeared.
And then…
Silence fell awkwardly again.
The only sound was Ma Yeon-woo’s excited voice.
“Ugh, this headache.”
On his own, Park Jung-woo cupped his head, as [Dream Future]’s first meeting concluded.
Anyways, after that first encounter, on the way home, Park Jung-woo scolded Seoyeon.
Next time, be more careful with such comments.
Although Park Jung-woo knew Seoyeon didn’t intend to create any sense of hierarchy, he warned her that words could still be misinterpreted.
It was an earnest piece of advice, nonetheless.
“Isn’t it natural for the winning side’s opinion to be followed?”
Seoyeon, who thought quite primitively, truly believed weaker parties should listen to the stronger ones.
“Like a barbarian.”
Hearing this, Jiyeon judged her as such.
That was the way Joo Ha-rin socially appraised and judged matters.
“So, what has been decided?”
“That will be discussed today.”
About time someone contacted her.
With the filming of [The Chaser] finished, Seoyeon was merely attending school with nothing else on her plate. [Dream Future] filming was still about a month away as well.
And [Dream Future] wasn’t overly challenging to shoot anyway.
Her role, Joo Ha-rin, didn’t have a high appearance frequency.
‘Probably around the sixth episode of [Dream Future], [The Chaser] will premiere.’
She was told this was two episodes ahead of schedule, putting it at the time when the fourth episode was airing.
“Well, it’ll be tough going.”
“Not really.”
“Not for you.”
“?”
Jiyeon felt slightly saddened by such words from Seoyeon.
To handle this wild girl without having really met her before was occasionally exhausting.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
The communication came just as school had ended.
“Web promotion?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
The call came from Manager Eun-ha.
She explained it in an excited tone.
“Apparently, the idea is akin to web entertainment based on a previous suggestion from Seoyeon.”
‘My suggestion?’
This reminded her of the situation where she had been reprimanded by Jung-woo and called a barbarian by Jiyeon.
‘Look, this is correct.’
Seoyeon, feeling proud, glanced at Jiyeon who was walking beside her.
Jiyeon looked back at her with an expression that said Seoyeon lacked brains.
“The teams will be roughly split. Voting will be done online, and the show will be publicized on the web rather than TV.”
“Internet broadcast?”
“Yeah.”
Internet broadcasting was becoming more prominent.
In a little time, the public’s focus would shift from TV to internet broadcasts and OTT platforms.
The transition phase of internet promotion was here.
‘It looks like this could also help gather interest in [Dream Future].’
Originally, [Dream Future] targeted a young audience for its youth romance genre.
Web promotion means harnessing all the internet has to offer for advertising, including internet broadcasting.
“This is how it works.”
Manager Eun-ha explained what she had heard:
Two teams will compete, and those who voted for the winning team will enter a prize draw.
“The winning team will get all the money from this variety show’s ads.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
“True. The merit for actors is purely in gaining recognition.”
There really wasn’t a need for significant rewards since the point was in the competition itself.
But,
“So, actors vs. idols. Teams like that, right?”
“Kind of, but the teams won’t be purely actors or idols.”
This was perplexing. She listened quietly.
The teams were set up roughly like this:
The actor team includes one idol, and the idol team includes one actor.
This way, members from both sides could learn from each other.
“And Seoyeon, you’ll be on the idol team.”
This unexpected news made Seoyeon pause momentarily.
Dream Future’s promotion gained surprising traction as it progressed.
This was because two highly recognized figures among the younger generation became team captains.
Actor team captain: Park Jung-woo.
Idol team captain: Ma Yeon-woo.
This kind of promotion was already planned since [Dream Future] is an idol drama and the show itself would soon debut on both broadcast TV and the web simultaneously.
In other words, a live showcase with characteristics akin to internet broadcasts.
Therefore, this pre-promotion was sort of a teaser.
“Wow, Yeon-woo, that’s great!”
When the news reached Just X’s members, they congratulated Ma by patting his back.
“Use this to bring that cocky guy down!”
The member who said so while patting Ma’s back would, exactly a year later, be arrested with seven drug charges.
He was Just X’s leader, infamously known as the drug-taking idol.
“That’s right, Hyung. Honestly, I think you can crush them even with acting.”
And this was said by the guy who would be labelled “Apgujeong Killer Hong” two years later after killing six people while drunk-driving.
“Um.”
Even with those words of encouragement, Ma Yeon-woo still felt…
“Hyung, I heard that Joo Su-yeon will be on our idol team. She’s really pretty, isn’t she?”
“Oh, yeah. She is pretty.”
Pretty she might be, but Ma Yeon-woo was actually somewhat concerned.
Because, on that first meeting for [Dream Future],
“Is it okay to address you casually, Seoyeon?”
Yeon-woo had asked this while chasing after Seoyeon as everyone was leaving. The question was met with Park Jung-woo’s disapproving glance.
But Seoyeon unexpectedly responded in a friendly way, partly because she was in the middle of getting a scolding and appreciated the interruption.
“No.”
“…”
“Ah, okay then. But I’ll say this anyway.”
Seoyeon raised her arm.
“I might recognize you if you win in an arm-wrestling match.”
An arm-wrestling match? Suddenly?
Yeon-woo chuckled at Seoyeon’s words—was she implying she wanted to hold his hand?
“Sure, sure.”
“Ah, no, wait….”
Park Jung-woo seemed like he was going to stop the match but Yeon-woo shook his head, sensing that Jung-woo’s interference was unwelcome.
“All right, let’s do this!”
And so the challenge went.
“By the way, Hyung, I heard your arm almost got broken during that incident—wasn’t it against someone?”
“No, not really.”
He was relieved his arm hadn’t broken after all.
