Peninsula: The Great Producer

For Lee Ji-eun, this trip to Wanjae Island yielded four key takeaways.

The first one is when Qi Yaojiu's childhood friend Song Xihai called Li Zhi'en his future sister-in-law after drinking too much.

Secondly, Grandma Ki-Yao treated Lee Ji-eun like her own granddaughter, caring for her so much that even Ki-Yao couldn't upset Lee Ji-eun on Wan-jae Island.

The third is that Qi Yao Jiu is not like the previous version of "resisting" himself, and has more contact with others, which has formed this beautiful memory.

The fourth item is a photo that Grandma Qi Yaojiu gave to Lee Ji-eun when she left, and a seafood gift box that Song Xihai gave to Lee Ji-eun.

Back in Seoul, Lee Ji-eun, sitting in the passenger seat of Ki Yo-gu, marveled at the beauty of Manjae Island, imagining how happy she would be to spend her old age there.

Qi Yaojiu, unusually, poured cold water on things. He told Li Zhien that going to Wancai Island once in a while would be a wonderful memory, but living on Wancai Island would only involve facing endless chores every day, smelling the salty sea breeze, having no place to shop, and no rich life.

Youth is full of naive dreams, and Lee Ji-eun didn't care at all about Ki Yo-gu's cold water, because in her dreams, she wouldn't be alone in her later years.

Qi Yaojiu drove Li Zhien to Heishidong first. Li Zhien gave the seafood gifts she received to her parents. She never cooks in the dormitory, as keeping food in the dormitory is a waste.

Originally, Lee Ji-eun's parents wanted Ki Yo-gu to stay for dinner, but Ki Yo-gu received a call from Kim Young-beom, the director of S Broadcasting Station, and had to go to handle some work.

Lee Ji-eun, who rarely had the chance to stay alone, accompanied her parents to a sumptuous seafood feast in their rented apartment.

The TV was showing Lee Ji-eun's new drama "Dream High" on K Broadcasting. Her parents were genuinely proud of her performance in the drama, but the atmosphere was a little awkward, especially with Lee Ji-eun's mother, who would always secretly wipe her eyes when Lee Ji-eun wasn't looking.

Lee Ji-eun is still quite shy in front of her parents. Whenever the topic of "Dream High" comes up, she immediately steers the conversation to its rival, "My Love from the Star".

Lee Ji-eun hopes that Ki-yo-gu will succeed more than her own.

Of course, "My Love from the Star" has been a hot topic of news since its production was announced on the S Broadcasting Station's official website. Tomorrow, this new drama produced by Qi Yao Jiu will finally premiere on S Broadcasting Station.

When Ki Yo-gu rushed to S Broadcasting Station, he thought there was a problem with the first two episodes that had been submitted for review. Ki Yo-gu was even prepared to stay up all night to revise them.

When they arrived at the broadcasting station and met with Director Kim Young-bin, they learned that the problem stemmed from a communication issue regarding the filming location.

Ki Yo-gu didn't understand why the broadcasting station would call him over to discuss and decide on such a trivial matter. On the surface, it was because Director Kim Young-beom completely trusted and delegated authority to Ki Yo-gu, showing respect for him and fulfilling his promise that all decisions regarding the drama would require Ki Yo-gu's approval before they could be implemented.

In reality, Ki Yo-gu knew very well that the Director Kim Young-bian in front of him was just like the former Director Kim Jae-in of the TVN Broadcasting Station's Drama Production Center—both were afraid of taking the blame.

Compared to TVN's adaptation of "The Moon Embracing the Sun," Ki Yo-gu made a last-minute change in the casting of the male lead, which is what made Kim Young-bian uneasy.

Although "The Moon Embracing the Sun" was not a drama series that Ki Yo-gu was fully responsible for filming and production, TVN adapted the novel of the same name based on Ki Yo-gu's advice, and the actors were also recommended by Ki Yo-gu.

Jin Yingbian is a cautious person. He found out some things and guessed that Qi Yaojiu changed the male lead at the last minute because of those things.

That's exactly what I'm worried about, because the lead actors for the TV series produced by Qi Yaojiu were already decided during the creation process. Will a sudden change affect the quality of the work?

Since the second half of last year, when Qi Yaojiu collaborated with the Entertainment Center on the project "Heroes and Heroes", some people on the internet have been discussing whether Qi Yaojiu has run out of creative ideas.

This self-produced drama series, costing over 15 billion won, has put the KPIs of all staff at the S Broadcasting Station's drama production center, as well as Director Kim Young-beom's future prospects, at stake.

Humans are inherently selfish.

It's understandable that Kim Young-bian wanted to leave himself a way out, but Ki Yo-gu knew that "My Love from the Star" would definitely prove many people wrong.

The location for outdoor filming was changed to a national comprehensive university. Originally, Ki Yao-gu wanted to film at Kyung Hee University, which was nearby, with the plot including a romantic scene before the end where the male and female leads revisit the campus to admire the cherry blossoms. However, it seems that even God doesn't want Ki Yao-gu to add any more scenes.

After quickly finishing his work, Director Kim Young-byun invited Ki Yo-gu to dinner, but Ki Yo-gu politely declined. He usually didn't have time, but today he happened to be going to Cheongdam-dong to check on the apartment's renovation progress.

The night is getting darker.

Qi Yaojiu parked the car on the side of the road in front of the apartment.

After getting off the bus, I walked towards the back without any warning.

Beside the driver's seat of the white private car, Qi Yaojiu knocked on the window and asked with great confusion, "Reporter Jin Yongtai, how did you know I was here?"

Inside the car, Kim Young-tae responded with a smile, "I don't understand what PD Ki is talking about."

"You've been following me all the way from S Broadcasting Station, no, how did you know I was going to S Broadcasting Station today?"

"Did I?"

"I remember your license plate even better than you do. Is there some information exchanged?"

Kim Young-tae shook his head and said, "No, I was just passing by."

Qi Yaojiu said "What a pity" and turned to leave.

Kim Young-tae really wanted to get out of the car and catch up with Ki Yo-gu to ask him what he regretted, feeling like he had missed out on a major news story.

Kim Young-tae held back. If he really chased after them, the person who provided him with the information might be exposed by Ki Yo-gu, which would be putting his friend in danger. He couldn't do that.

People in the entertainment industry still need to be loyal to each other, otherwise, if their reputation is ruined, they won't be able to get any clues or information even if they spend a lot of money.

I glanced at the luxury apartments on the right that were just completed last year. Qi Yaojiu bought a new house here, and he bought four at once. He lives alone. Are the other three apartments for investment or...?

Keep going, you'll eventually reap the rewards.

Nothing particularly special has happened with T-ara these past few days. The new member who joined T-ara seems like a completely different person. Kim Young-tae photographed the new member and Park Ji-yeon going to a coffee shop together very intimately, and it was the new member who bought the coffee and treated Park Ji-yeon to it.

Something's not right, something's definitely not right.

Sangam-dong, T-ara's dormitory.

It was still Ham Eun-jung and the other four who lived in the dormitory.

In Park Jiyeon's room, Park Hyomin, who was wearing a face mask, stood in front of the bunk bed and stammered, "Jiyeon, you've been getting a lot of attention with her lately."

Park Jiyeon knew who Park Hyomin was talking about and replied, "Because of Oppa."

Park Hyomin continued to stammer, "I knew she wanted to get closer to Oppa through you so she would have more opportunities to appear on Oppa's shows or in his dramas."

"But Jiyeon, haven't you heard any rumors at the company lately?"

Park Jiyeon, who was on the upper bunk, shook her head.

Park Hyomin walked back to her bed opposite her and sat down, gently touching the face mask on her face with her right hand, saying, "That person told the company staff that we were ostracizing her and wouldn't let her stay in the dormitory." (End of this chapter)