Peninsula: Please, I only want to talk about ordinary people.

Chapter 1: Finding a Friend

The vending machine made a muffled sound, and two bottles of cola rolled out.

Jiang Yongtai bent down, took out one of the bottles, and stuck it to the back of Jin Chengyu's neck.

"I'm not even sad yet, who are you putting on this act for?"

Kim Sung-woo suddenly turned around, the veins on his neck bulging.

"Brother! How could they do this?!"

Jiang Yongtai didn't reply, but opened the can and took a big gulp.

Ten minutes ago, in the office of the Vice Minister of the Entertainment Department.

"Yongtai, the pilot episode of 'EXIT, the tone-deaf boy' received a really good response."

The vice minister, with a cigarette between his fingers and a smile on his face, stood there.

"But there are other considerations at the higher-ups, so please wait a little longer."

"What are you considering?" Jiang Yongtai frowned slightly.

"It was originally a special program for the Spring Festival, so I can understand if you want to turn it into a regular program."

The deputy minister flicked his cigarette ash, his smile fading.

"The audience base for the third season of 'Love Intervention' is there, the sponsors have been secured, and a new PD has been transferred from the department head to take charge, as well as the scheduling..."

He paused for a moment, then said, "I'm sorry to trouble you to make room for me on your end."

"What about my show?"

The vice minister's face hardened completely.

"Yongtai, this isn't your program, it's the station's program. You can do it in the second half of the year."

"Will do it again in the second half of the year" means "will not do it again".

Jiang Yongtai knew, and Jin Chengyu knew, that they had waited a whole month from the end of the trial broadcast until today, only to be told, "We'll do it again in the second half of the year."

……

"So we're just going to leave it at that?" Kim Sung-woo asked, clutching the Coke can.

"During the test broadcast, you only slept three hours a day, and the editing room floor was covered in cigarette ash. They just changed it like that? They parachuted in a PD? They didn't even notify you until today..."

Cheng Yu.

Jiang Yongtai interrupted him, placed the Coke can on the windowsill, took out a cigarette pack from his pocket, pulled one out and put it in his mouth, then patted his pockets but couldn't find a lighter.

Kim Sung-woo took out a lighter from his pocket and handed it over.

Jiang Yongtai took the cigarette, lit it, took a drag, and exhaled the smoke out the window.

"Remember, this is KBS."

He returned the lighter to Kim Sung-woo, picked up the cola, and took another sip.

This means that you lack the qualifications, connections, and powerful backers.

What good is a good pilot episode if it means nothing compared to seniority and connections?

The setting sun outside the window dyed Namsan Tower red. Jiang Yongtai looked in that direction and suddenly remembered the moment he had bumped into Sasha in the coffee shop that afternoon.

They're the same; there's no difference.

Kim Sung-woo leaned against the vending machine and sullenly took a swig of cola.

"...Brother, I'm not convinced."

Jiang Yongtai stubbed out his cigarette, which he had only taken two puffs of, and patted him on the shoulder.

"If you're not happy, just remember this. Wait until the day you become a minister."

Kim Sung-woo gritted his teeth and glanced around.

There were only the two of them in the corridor, but he still lowered his voice and took half a step closer to Jiang Yongtai.

"Brother, leave KBS!"

Jiang Yongtai paused for a moment, holding the can in his hand.

"Go to tvN! To PD Na's place..."

Kim Sung-woo's eyes lit up.

"Hasn't he been hiring a lot lately? It's all over the industry, saying he's building a new team, using that project you told me about!"

Na Young-seok, one of the top variety show producers in the industry, single-handedly created KBS's "2 Days & 1 Night," and then left at the height of his fame to join tvN.

His departure wasn't exactly honorable, and to this day, no one can clearly explain his relationship with the station.

But one thing is universally acknowledged: the people he took with him are now doing better than his contemporaries who stayed at KBS.

"What about PD Na..."

Jiang Yongtai didn't look at him and put the Coke bottle back on the windowsill.

"Do you know how high the bar is for that line?"

"I know, but you have connections."

Jiang Yongtai chuckled upon hearing this, "How come I didn't know I had connections?"

"Didn't PD Na send a message through someone during the test broadcast?"

Kim Sung-woo pointed out the window in the direction of TVN.

He said, "This project is interesting," and at the time, you told me not to tell anyone.

Jiang Yongtai did not respond.

He did remember that sentence. The night he received the message, he stared blankly at a row of timelines in the editing room, unable to do anything.

But that was two months ago. Two months is enough time for someone to go from "interesting" to "not remembering".

"Isn't KBS going to film a third season of 'Love Intervention'? Let's go and compete with them!"

Seeing that he didn't speak, Kim Sung-woo added another sentence.

"Brother, they even cut the test broadcast here. Do you really want to wait until you're old and end up like Vice Minister Li, in front of the deputy minister...?"

He stopped talking, and Jiang Yongtai turned to look at him, his expression unchanged, showing no sign of anger.

Kim Sung-woo swallowed the rest of his words.

"What about the contract?" Jiang Yongtai said.

Kim Sung-woo was stunned.

"Penalty for breach of contract"

"..."

Jiang Yongtai casually gave a number.

After listening, Kim Sung-woo opened his mouth and then closed it again, finally leaning against the wall and letting out a sound that was hard to tell whether it was a sigh or a laugh.

"How come there are so many?!"

"Because I'm the PD they paid to train." Kang Young-tae crushed the Coke can and threw it into the trash can next to him.

"Do you think KBS is a convenience store where you can just quit whenever you want?"

Kim Sung-woo remained silent for a long time before finally saying in a muffled voice, "If you ask me, the breach of contract fees for those people that PD Na took away weren't any less than mine."

Jiang Yongtai glanced at him, said nothing, but did not refute him further.

The last rays of the setting sun disappeared completely outside the window. He put the cigarette pack back in his pocket, took a few steps toward the office, and then stopped.

"That project you mentioned..."

Kim Sung-woo immediately looked up.

"Let me think about it some more."

Kim Sung-woo stood there, watching Kang Young-tae's back turn as he walked away down the corridor, and let out a "Ha".

He had known Jiang Yongtai for almost two years, and it was rarer for him to say "I'll think about it some more" than for others to say "I agree"!

……

The moment the office door opened, several people simultaneously looked up from their phone screens, then quickly looked down again.

Jiang Yongtai walked from the door to his workstation and heard the sound of keyboards starting up again behind him, very deliberately.

He had only been gone from the deputy minister's office for less than an hour, and the news had already spread faster than his legs.

At KBS, bad things seem to have wings, while good things have to be carried on your own two legs.

He did benefit from his good looks and youth when he first became a PD.

Senior colleagues are willing to mentor him, junior colleagues are willing to follow him, and even the administrative staff are willing to give him a second glance.

But age is the most heartless thing; once the benefits are gone, all that's left are debts.

The phrase "no background" might be just a casual description elsewhere, but at KBS it's a wall.

Jiang Yongtai sat at his workstation, with the revised draft of the follow-up project for "The Non-existent Tone-Deaf EXIT" that he had written last week still spread out on the table, the corners of the pages curled up from being turned so many times.

He stared at it for a while, then gathered the manuscript paper, put it in the drawer, and stood up again.

No one looked up at him; everyone in the office was busy.

He suddenly remembered that after the trial broadcast, a senior PD patted him on the shoulder and said, "You're young, so you do a great job."

I bumped into the same person in the hallway today, and we just nodded to each other.

Jiang Yongtai left the office and headed towards the elevator. He figured he might as well go to the editing room than stay there.

The elevator went down one floor, the door opened, and two interns came in.

He glanced at their temporary name tags—Radio Department.

He recalled that the little girl named You Na had greeted him that afternoon, saying she was there to record a radio program...

The two girls, carrying a half-person-high copy of the script, bowed quickly upon seeing his name tag, then huddled in a corner and lowered their voices to continue their conversation.

The elevator stopped, and the intern carried his things out. Jiang Yongtai didn't know what had gotten into him, but he followed him out.

Posters of radio programs from previous years are hung on the walls on both sides of the corridor.

The two interns noticed that he had followed them out, paused for a moment, and then exchanged a glance.

The girl with glasses asked softly, "PD-nim, where...are you going?"

Jiang Yongtai realized that he shouldn't be there, but to avoid the two girls misunderstanding, he could only smile politely.

"I came here to find a friend."

The intern exclaimed "Ah!", nodded, and left without asking any further questions, carrying the script with her.

Just as Jiang Yongtai was about to turn around and leave, a slow, leisurely voice came from behind him.

"Does PD Kang have any friends here?"