Peninsula: I can steal the luck of disgraced celebrities

The news came from KBS's overseas business division.

The contract was signed two days ago. The buyer is Japan's DATV television station, and the total price is 27 billion Korean won, which is approximately US$240 million.

The contract was signed even earlier; the Japanese side had already begun contacting KBS before "Sungkyunkwan Scandal" had even finished filming.

The news officially became a trending topic on Naver the next day.

The entry was accompanied by three images: a poster of the four main characters from "Sungkyunkwan Scandal," a Korean won currency conversion symbol, and a yearly export ranking table released by KBS's Overseas Business Division.

"Sungkyunkwan Scandal" is ranked first, and "King of Bread" is ranked second.

This drama and "Bad Man," starring Lin Chih-hsun, both air on Wednesdays and Thursdays, making them competitors in the same time slot.

However, in terms of viewership ratings, "Bad Man" was completely outclassed.

At this moment, the comment section was in an uproar.

"Are you kidding me? A youth historical drama can sell for this price in Japan? Even 'Dong Yi,' which had a 24% viewership rating at the same time, didn't sell for this price."

"I'm not bragging, it's true. DATV has already held a press conference, the Japanese subtitled version will premiere next year, and the movie version is also in the editing stage."

Kim Won-seok made a statement during an interview with Chosun Sports that has been repeatedly quoted by various media outlets:

"Sungkyunkwan Scandal is a 'fusion historical drama' packaged as a youth historical drama. It proves that the export of Korean Wave is no longer limited to middle-aged romance or palace intrigue, and that the market of young audiences can also be activated."

But in fact, the reason why this "record" could be broken is not only because of the quality of the drama itself.

The Korean Wave market in Japan is not the same as it was a few years ago.

After "Winter Sonata" sparked a Korean wave in Japan, more and more Korean dramas flooded the Japanese market, and viewers' tastes gradually expanded from purely tragic love dramas to various genres such as historical dramas, school dramas, and fantasy dramas.

Sungkyunkwan Scandal hit the mark at this point in the expansion cycle, opening up a new vertical market with its "youthful version of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai".

When the news of the trending topic reached the Yongin film set, the "Sungkyunkwan Scandal" crew was shooting some promotional photos and reshoots for behind-the-scenes content needed by Japan.

The reshoot location was still Yongin Folk Village.

The ginkgo leaves have all fallen in November, and the bare branches stretch towards the gray sky, making the gray tiles and white walls of Sungkyunkwan appear even cleaner and shinier.

Park Yoochun came from Seoul. He didn't really want to come to this film crew again, nor did he want to see Lim Ji-hoon again.

But the overseas promotional contracts are strictly enforced, so they have no choice but to come.

When he arrived at the film set, he was wearing a long black down jacket, and the rosary around his neck had been replaced with a more understated obsidian bracelet. He also tucked his tiger tooth pendant into his collar.

He saw Lin Zhixun leaning against a pillar in the East Hall drinking hot cocoa. He paused for a moment, then took a large, roundabout route and walked past the prop shed, never coming into Lin Zhixun's sight.

Song Joong-ki, having witnessed all of this, said to Park Min-young beside him, "Park Yoo-chun's distance from Lim Ji-hoon has expanded from three meters to within his line of sight."

"In another two months, it'll probably expand to the entire city of Yongin." Park Min-young tucked the small hand warmer into her arms. "That's good, at least he won't spill coffee on set anymore."

The theme of the first set of behind-the-scenes footage is "Daily Life at Sungkyunkwan".

Kim Won-seok had four people dressed in theatrical costumes walk casually on the long steps of Sungkyunkwan's main gate, and the photographer captured the moment.

There were no lines, no blocking; they were simply allowed to interact naturally.

Lin Zhixun lifted his robe and sat down on the steps, one leg straight and the other bent, his elbow resting on his knee. The November wind lifted the corner of Wen Zaixin's open Confucian robe, revealing a section of collarbone that was slightly red from the cold.

Song Joong-ki walked up from behind, holding a cup of hot coffee he'd swiped from the food truck, and glanced down at him: "Aren't you cold?"

"It's cold." Lin Zhixun rubbed the goosebumps on his collarbone. "But it was actually summer when we were filming."

Lin Zhixun originally thought that the biggest advantage of the character Jie Ao had turned out to be the disadvantage.

Song Joong-ki was silent for two seconds, then handed him the cup of hot coffee.

Lin Chih-hsun took the coffee, warmed the cup with both hands for a while, and took a sip.

The photographer took more than a dozen photos, and the final selected behind-the-scenes shot was later featured on the Japanese DATV website for an entire promotional season.

Moon Jae-shin sat on the stone steps, with Koo Yong-ha standing half a step behind him. Koo Yong-ha had already finished drinking his coffee, while Moon Jae-shin was drinking a steaming cup of coffee.

The theme of the second set of behind-the-scenes footage is "Garang and Kim Yoon-hee's Private School Time".

Park Yoochun and Park Min-young sat on either side of Dongjae's desk, each with a prop book open in front of them. The script prompt read, "The two are discussing the script in a private school, and the atmosphere is harmonious."

The director let them chat freely, and the captions would be added later.

Park Min-young spoke first: "Park Yoo-chun sunbaenim, Lim Ji-hoon is less than three meters behind you."

"What?!" Park Yoochun turned around in shock.

He found that there was no one behind him.

This made Park Min-young burst into laughter.

The post-production editing, highlighting the contrast between the character's inner and outer self, also resonated with Japanese audiences.

Of course, they didn't know they were talking about Lin Chih-hsun.

The theme of the third set of behind-the-scenes footage is "The Dinner of the Gang of Four".

The props team set up a low table in the main hall of the East Study, with several dishes of prop food and a pot of wine on it.

Four people sat around a table, and the script indicated that "the four people discussed their respective futures in a warm and lively atmosphere."

A long shot slowly zooms in from outside the sliding door of the main hall of the East Study, capturing the silhouettes of four people sitting around a low table in a brightly lit room, eating and chatting.

Park Yoochun and Lim Ji-hoon were separated by the diagonal of a low table. To Lim Ji-hoon's right was Park Min-young, and to Park Yoochun's left was Song Joong-ki.

This seating arrangement was adjusted by Kim Won-seok before filming began, because "the diagonal composition creates a greater sense of depth."

By the time the last group photo was taken, it was completely dark.

One by one, the lights in the folk village came on, outlining the silhouette of Sungkyunkwan University in the night.

Park Yoochun was the first to leave the set. After changing out of his costume, he got into his van, and the sound of the door closing was particularly crisp in the empty parking lot.

Park Min-young stood under the ginkgo tree, holding a small hand warmer, watching the van drive out of the folk village gate, and sighed.

Lin Zhixun followed her gaze and glanced in that direction before looking away, taking off the prop scarf hanging around his neck and casually draping it over a pillar.

He casually asked, "Why are you sighing like that? Have you fallen for someone?"

"No," Park Min-young said, "I just regret that I found it quite amusing to use you to tease Park Yoo-chun today, but filming has already wrapped up."

Lin Zhixun looked at Park Min-young with a "Are you a devil?" look in his eyes. "Have some decency, Ms. Park Min-young."

"This is a world-class discovery," Park Min-young said proudly. "I really want to work with Park Yoo-chun again."