Legendary Superstar

The next morning came faster than anyone expected.

The cast was up before the sun, groggy and sleep deprived. They were only wearing hoodies and oversized clothes as they arrive one by one at the filming location as it was still cold outside.

Inside the makeup tent, it was quiet at first. Only greetings to one another sounded. It was obvious that everyone was still tired from yesterday, yet they showed up for today's filming event.

Silene surrounded them. However, it didn't last that long.

"Wait… what??"

Jihoon's voice pierced through the silence. He was scrolling through his phone with one hand while a stylist gently dabbed concealer under his eyes.

"What?" Yura asked, turning her head while someone was curling her hair. She raised her brow, her voice was low, reflecting her low energy for the day.

Jihoon spun his phone around for them to see.

"The Star's Secret… is number two in the real-time drama rankings right now. We overtook Kill Me Kindly."

"…'

"…"

"…"

There was a moment of silence for everyone as if they were just slowly processing Jihoon's word."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"No way," Seojin uttered with widened eyes, sitting straighter in her chair. "Is that real?"

"Check your phones," Jihoon urged them. He was smiling so widely and confidently.

One by one, they all unlocked their screens, and sure enough, it was real.

When they checked heir social media accounts, they were greeted by numerous headlines.

"The Star's Secret Surges to No. 2 Overnight Following Viral Fan Event."

"Rising Cast, Rising Ratings: How One Event Changed the Game."

"Netizens Praise 'The Star's Secret' Cast for Heartfelt Fan Engagement."

"We… we really overtook Kill Me Kindly?" Yura blinked rapidly.

"That show's been top 2 since the start of the festival," Haejin muttered, disbelief was written all over his face.

"I thought it was impossible, but we actually did it."

Minjae didn't speak right away. He was sitting at the end of the row, already half-dressed in his outfit for today, while a stylist brushed through his hair.

He was staring quietly at his phone, scrolling through clips of last night's event. There were publicized posts of fans screaming, cheering, opening gifts, posting messages with shaky hands and teary voices.

One clip had already hit 2 million views overnight. It was the one where he smiled at a fan and said, "I hope whoever you choose brings you happiness."

"Damn." Minjae finally let out a breath. "We didn't just do well. It was all over the internet."

The stylists and crew members in the makeup tent had been quietly working up until now, moving from one actor to the next with practiced hands and groggy eyes. But as soon as Jihoon's announcement spread through the tent like wildfire, their energy began to shift.

"Wait, number two? Are you serious?" one of the stylists gasped, her mascara wand halting mid-air as she reached for Seojin's lashes.

Another stylist, who had just finished tying Yura's hair ribbon, rushed to pull out her phone.

"Hold on, hold on, let me check—"

Soon, phones lit up in every corner of the tent. Their quiet little makeup space was now filled with scrolling, gasps, and stunned reactions.

"Oh my god… It's literally everywhere," someone murmured. "I didn't even get to open my phone until now. We were all so tired yesterday…"

"I thought it would just be a few clips floating around, but this—this-this is insane." A coordinator from the wardrobe team joined the conversation, holding up her phone. "My cousin in Busan already messaged me asking if I saw Minjae smile at a fan."

"I got a DM from my college friend overseas. She asked if I was part of the fan gift prep team!"

Laughter broke out as realization settled among the staff members.

"I mean, we knew yesterday went well, but this? We're trending on every major platform. Even global ones!"

"Did you guys see this one?" a lighting assistant called from the corner. "There's this thread of a fan explaining how she lined up for Seojin's gift, and her tweet has 80,000 likes!"

"And this edit of Jihoon," another stylist showed her phone to the group, where sparkles and dramatic slow motion surrounded the clip of Jihoon and Seungho. "The caption says, 'peak cinema.'"

Even the usually serious assistant director poked his head in from outside, holding his phone in one hand and a warm drink in the other.

"I swear," the assistant director added, "you guys just created a new way on how to promote a drama."

The staff inside the tent continued to talk about it. Everyone was happy, especially knowing that their hard work was getting paid off.

Suddenly, Jihoon clapped his hands together, standing up halfway from his chair.

"Okay! Time to bring our A-game today. Episode three's gonna air soon, and we're trending. We cannot mess this up!"

"You're just excited because you trended," Yura teased.

"Of course, Noona," Jihoon grinned and laughed out loud. "I looked handsome yesterday, so good thing!"

The rest of them laughed as the stylists resumed their work, this time with quicker hands and brighter smiles. Their exhaustion didn't disappear, but still they were more energetic than ever

And with episode three just around the corner, they were more motivated than ever to keep the fire going.

- - -

MNL Studio, Seoul, South Korea.

While celebration bloomed across the cast and crew of The Star's Secret, a very different atmosphere lingered inside one of the taller glass-paneled buildings in Mapo District—the headquarters of MNL Studio, the production agency behind the drama 'Kill Me Kindly'.

MNL was what the industry insiders were calling a "mid-rising" studio. It was not a top-tier studio, but they were also behind a few hit dramas that were known globally. They were big, but still couldn't be considered the top.

They had consistent viewership, solid budgets, and a growing pool of A-list collaborators. Kill Me Kindly had been their breakout drama of the year. It was stylish, funny, and suspenseful.

Since the beginning of the Korean Drama Festival, they had ranked comfortably in the top two, trailing only behind the drama led by one of the members of a popular Korean idol.

Well, that was until yesterday.

Inside their sleek, minimalist meeting room on the twelfth floor, an emergency meeting was in full swing.

The mood was tense. On the far end of the long black table, the executive producer tapped a pen rhythmically against his planner while looking at a wall-mounted screen that displayed live ranking stats.

There it was, clear as day:

1. Chasing Dreams

2. The Star's Secret

3. Kill Me Kindly

Silence.

"This… doesn't make sense. We had a high gap between The Star's Secret yesterday." The creative director broke it first.

"Yeah. We were trending just two nights ago," another manager added, frowning. "Now we've dropped, and I checked—there's no controversy, no negative reviews. Just… less publicity for us."

"It's not about us," the marketing head said, leaning forward. "It's them."

She clicked a button on her laptop, and another screen popped up. This time, it was filled with headlines, fan edits, and social media charts.

#TheStarsSecretFanEvent

There were over 2M tweets and the hashtag was trending worldwide overnight.

The room fell quiet again.

"They completely dominated the algorithm," she continued. "From late night until now, every major K-drama content feed has been flooded by clips of that event. Even international fan pages that usually post about Kill Me Kindly and Chasing Dreams were posting about them today."

"I saw the clip where Minjae said, 'I hope whoever you choose brings you happiness.' It had over 2 million views this morning." One of the younger staff members murmured,

"And their gift giving? It's all over LikLok…"

The producer finally spoke, his voice calm but tense, "We were too confident." he sighed.

He stood slowly and looked around the room.

"I thought we will be able to lead because we have a high gap among the rest."

The room nodded quietly.

"Now what?" the director asked, frustrated. "Do we scramble to hold our own event? Push out an emergency livestream?"

"No," the producer replied, rubbing his temple. "It's too late to mimic them. We'll just look like copycats."

The team looked at each other anxiously. The fall in rankings wasn't dramatic, but in a competitive festival like this, even a single position drop could make or break future contracts and sponsorships.

"We need to make our own one," the marketing head said, already opening a new tab. "Something that can make our leads shine. He's funny so it might be easy."

"Let's get them into a talk show," someone offered. "Live Q&A. No script."

"And a behind-the-scenes documentary. Something that makes people care about the actors and not just their characters."

The producer nodded once, slowly.

"Fine. Let's move fast. Because if The Star's Secret hits number one…" He didn't finish the sentence—but everyone in the room already felt the weight of what it meant.

The meeting room buzzed with urgency as their phones lit up again. They opened their laptops and made some plans.

For the first time since the drama festival began, MNL Studio was no longer focused on maintaining its lead.

Now, they were fighting to get it back.