ATGRA 59

After that, Lee Seolwoo continued to visit our clinic frequently. It seemed our herbal medicine worked quite well for him. Lee Seolwoo was, in name and reality, a VVIP customer of our clinic.

Even without that, I personally liked Lee Seolwoo. Aside from the fact that he showed interest in Jung Pureum, he was someone who had recognized the true value of my herbal medicine even before I became famous for Gongjindan.

I didn’t want to get on bad terms with Lee Seolwoo just because of my personal feelings. In any case, he and I had a doctor-patient relationship.

Although Jung Pureum sometimes ignored the ban on entering the clinic, thankfully, he never ran into Lee Seolwoo there. The ‘Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Clinic?’ project I had planned had been firmly established as a definite ‘No.’

“Did you speak with that PD?”

“Not yet.”

Ms. Kim Miyoung suddenly spoke to me.

Lee Minsoo, the PD of <The Alpha Who Used to Be a Beta Is Too Much!>, didn’t answer his phone well. To be precise, it was closer to him not being able to answer rather than not wanting to.

Whether I called in the morning, afternoon, or evening, the line was always busy. I suppose all jobs as a PD are like that, but he seemed incredibly busy. Either that, or he was intentionally avoiding my calls.

“Every time I call him, the line is busy.”

“Really? I wonder if it’s because the drama is about to air soon.”

“Excuse me, Assistant, could I possibly borrow your phone?”

At my request to borrow her phone, Ms. Kim Miyoung readily handed over her own. I used Ms. Kim Miyoung’s phone to try calling PD Lee Minsoo.

Having gone through this a few times, I knew the broadcasting station folks had predictable methods. They either contact you excessively, or they ghost you. Broadly speaking, it was one of the two. However, since they couldn’t just openly ignore my calls, it was highly likely they were up to some other trick.

—Hello?

Look at this. He had clearly set it up so that any calls from my number would automatically go to a ‘busy’ signal. Otherwise, there was no way a call from Ms. Kim Miyoung’s number would go through perfectly fine.

There are all sorts of ways to block someone, too. I was deeply impressed by the variety of blocking methods.

“Hello? This is Uri Oriental Medicine Clinic.”

—Ah.

“For once, your line isn’t busy! This is PD Lee Minsoo, right? I’m calling to discuss a matter related to <The Alpha Who Used to Be a Beta Is Too Much!>.”

It was obvious that when PD Kim gave him the number, he had also given PD Lee Minsoo a heads-up. I don’t know what PD Kim rambled on about me, but I was certain it wasn’t anything good.

So, it wasn’t surprising that PD Lee Minsoo’s attitude was not friendly. How could he speak kindly when it must have felt like the nuisance from next door had come to visit his house as well?

—Contacting me like this is a bit problematic. If you send an email to the broadcasting station, we will schedule an appointment.

“I’ve already sent about three emails, though?”

—…

“Shall we meet in person if possible? We’re both busy, so let’s coordinate quickly.”

PD Lee Minsoo was easier to deal with than PD Kim. Even though he found me a bit uncomfortable, he didn’t hang up the phone in the middle of the conversation. I thought he would shamelessly feign ignorance about the Gongjindan, but he just deflected by saying he was late in contacting me.

If we hadn’t pressed the issue, he probably would have never contacted us first. After all, drama productions aren’t in the business of asking for permission to use source material.

I laughed cheerfully and returned the phone to Ms. Kim Miyoung.

“Director, you’ve got that look in your eye again.”

“I’m in a very peaceful and calm state right now.”

In reality, I was not calm at all. Getting involved with broadcasting stations may be the destiny of a famous oriental clinic, but where in the world do they get to use source material for free?

I went through so much trouble to patent the Gongjindan. Just thinking about the past when I struggled to get it approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety still brings tears of blood to my eyes. So there was no way I would be pleased that someone else was using my hard-earned work for free.

If you’re not going to pay, at least give me some free PPL. Let me get some PPL on a public broadcast network.

Like a person crazed by capitalism, I muttered, “Give me the money…” Ms. Kim Miyoung looked at me pitifully from the side.

PD Lee Minsoo was younger than I thought. I expected a greasy middle-aged man like PD Kim, but at a glance, he seemed to be around the same age as me.

How did such a young person become the main PD of a public broadcast drama? Perhaps this person also has royal blood flowing through his veins like me. Meaning, it’s highly likely he’s a parachute appointment.

“I’m Lee Minsoo.”

“I’m Moon Yeonghwa. The director of Uri Oriental Medicine Clinic.”

A long, drawn-out discussion took place before we could even decide on a meeting location. This was thanks to both me and Lee Minsoo trying our hardest not to leave our respective home turfs.

To gain the upper hand, you have to win the battle of wills first. In PD Kim’s case, I had laughed and bowed my head for the sake of promoting Gongjindan, but there was no reason to do so with PD Lee Minsoo. Why should I? They were the ones in the wrong.

When I set the meeting place as our clinic, Lee Minsoo naturally showed reluctance. When he said he was too busy and would send another PD instead, I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even speak.

At the broadcasting station PD’s stubborn behavior, both Ms. Kim Miyoung and Nam Jungyoon were furious. To be precise, Ms. Kim Miyoung had an ‘I knew it’ attitude, and only Nam Jungyoon was worked up. For once, it was a very Taeyangin-like attitude.

As the back-and-forth dragged on, for a brief moment I considered just going to the broadcasting station myself, but seeing Nam Jungyoon managing his anger with Lamaze breathing, I felt I couldn’t lose this battle of wills.

So, I insisted very strongly and summoned PD Lee Minsoo to our clinic.

As the saying goes, in Korea, the one with the loudest voice wins. I relentlessly pestered Lee Minsoo, who kept repeating that it would be difficult, hard, and problematic, like roasting a bean on a hot plate.

I think the threat that I would file a civil lawsuit if he didn’t come in person worked the best. After all, hadn’t I also clung desperately to Jung Pureum, afraid of going to court?

<The Alpha Who Used to Be a Beta Is Too Much!> had received quite a bit of investment from distributors. Considering PD Lee Minsoo’s previous experience wasn’t particularly stellar, this PD was definitely a parachute appointment. It might be that he benefited from the writer. The writer was a famous one, after all.

Although writer Seo Eunyoung was often embroiled in plagiarism controversies, she was guaranteed to bring in living room viewership ratings. The reason PD Lee Minsoo had to back down at the word ‘lawsuit’ was likely largely due to this writer. Even if she avoided legal punishment, she had a prior record, so she wouldn’t be able to avoid controversy.

She was involved in a plagiarism lawsuit for her immediately preceding work, so it wouldn’t be good for a similar issue to come up. I hadn’t seen that drama myself, but since my mom was an avid viewer, I was able to easily come across the news. What was it again? They said she had plagiarized a script from someone who was a junior writer and passed it off as her own.

Of course, the result of that plagiarism dispute was not guilty. It was unfortunate for the junior writer whose face I don’t even know, but writer Seo Eunyoung succeeded in airing the drama in a cool, fun, and sexy way.

Some online communities bashed Seo Eunyoung as a plagiarist writer, but in the end, the people who were going to watch the drama watched it regardless.

“First of all, I want to say that we are well aware of what you are concerned about, Director.”

Aware?

I bet you’re not. I nodded my head as if I were listening intently. He was talking smoothly, even though he would have just let it slide if I hadn’t contacted him first.

“The Gongjindan that turns one into an alpha, we know you even received a patent for it. However, the medicine that our drama’s main character takes to go from beta to alpha is a Western medicine, not an oriental one.”

“…”

“Besides, as you’ll see from the synopsis, the setting is a hospital in the first place. It’s a medical romance where a hospital director’s son gets involved with a female doctor…”

“…Gal!”

When I cut him off and roared, PD Lee Minsoo flinched in surprise. Every time my grandfather makes that sound when he catches someone cheating a little while playing Go, I get surprised too.

But other than this scolding roar, there was nothing else I could say. It all ends if you change the oriental medicine to a Western one? Ends what. It’s a logic that ends all conscience.

On top of that, it was a damn medical romance. That darn medical romance! I shuddered automatically. Why do Korean people want to have a romance in a hospital so much!

“Alright. I understand your position, PD. It’s not like you can overhaul a drama that’s already scheduled, right before it airs.”

“Yes. And in the first place, the Gongjindan that turns one into an alpha is, at best, just a reference. To call it plagiarism is…”

“But looking at the synopsis, the hospital director’s son is a character who goes from beta to alpha, and is it also a coincidence that this friend happens to be nineteen at the beginning of the drama?”

“That is…”

“The male lead who goes from beta to alpha because of a medicine that the female lead doctor, whom he has known since elementary school, mistakenly brought out? This sounds exactly like the situation of Mr. J, who became an alpha after eating Gongjindan and gave an interview.”

Lee Minsoo shut his mouth.

He probably had nothing to say for himself. And rightly so, because not just me, but even people who had only seen the synopsis released before the broadcast had readily thought of the Gongjindan that turns one into an alpha.

The drama characters also all showed signs of being pieced together from Jung Pureum’s anonymous interview. What kind of logic is it to say there’s no problem when you’ve adapted a situation from there without any agreement with the person involved?

The fact that it was developed by accident hadn’t been exposed to the media, but even that was the same, so it pricked their conscience. It seems that if you plagiarize in a variety of ways, you can even develop powers of divination.

“I know you can’t revise the script now anyway. You’ve probably already filmed a certain amount. However, as you know, PD, I have a trauma about going on air for Gongjindan.”

“Ah, yes…”

“If you, PD, had contacted us first! We wouldn’t have gone this far! But in the end, I was the one who contacted you first! The fact that I ended up meeting you, PD, also weighs on my mind…”

“…”

“If it’s alright with you, I think it would be better to compromise on something else.”

Seeing the dumbfounded look on PD Lee Minsoo’s face, a smile naturally formed on my lips. Seeing how he couldn’t respond properly, he really is a parachute appointment. For me, that was a total thank you.

“Product placement for our clinic.”

“Pardon?”

“And, payment of a small fee for the use of the source material.”

“…Yes?”

“I think we can accept just that much.”

“Didn’t you just say that going on air for Gongjindan is a trauma for you?”

“I think I can overcome the trauma through unpaid product placement.”

Lee Minsoo stared at me with an incredulous expression. Why, what. First time seeing a businessman?