Chapter Text
EP01
A pair of soft, fluffy little hands were patting his cheeks. Still unwilling to leave the land of dreams, Kim Dokja silently kept his eyes closed, pretending he was nothing more than a not-so-peaceful corpse.
“Baat, Ba-at!…”
The Biyoo-brand alarm clock kept ringing. To avoid the dokkaebi’s tiny fists, Kim Dokja simply rolled up in his blanket and turned to the other side. The moment he flipped over, he bumped into another person, who let out a dissatisfied huff.
Had he been lying in bed for three hours? Maybe more, but it felt shorter than the time he spent wrestling with dough. Kim Dokja felt every muscle in his body protesting strongly. Nothing could make him wake up right now, not even the fact that the person lying in the same bed with him was Yoo Joonghyuk…
Ah, yes. Yoo Joonghyuk. Biyoo mercilessly turned on the light. To escape the glaring brightness, Kim Dokja yanked the blanket over his head and kicked the guy beside him, asking in despair:
“Joonghyuk-ah, what time is it now?”
The person being asked gave a vague reply and glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table. “Six o’clock.”
“Is it still possible to announce a postponement of business?”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
“Why did we even open a restaurant in the first place…”
“You wrote the proposal.”
In just a few short exchanges, Yoo Joonghyuk’s voice had already become clear. With astonishing willpower, the famous Star Stream actor sat up, pushed the blanket that had rolled into a ball, and said coldly:
“Get up. There’s still a lot to prepare today.”
Biyoo made a sound of agreement.
Kim Dokja finally surrendered and poked his head out from under the blanket. Outside the window, the sky was only just beginning to brighten. Yoo Joonghyuk, sitting cross-legged on the bed, looked down at him, seemingly confirming whether he was truly awake.
Perhaps because he had just woken up, the Best Actor’s hair was a little messy. Even so, his face and figure still had no dead angles, and he carried an extra lazy charm compared to usual - like a beast taking a nap, radiating a different kind of allure.
Compared to how he looked on screen, the real person was even more handsome. Who would have thought that Yoo Joonghyuk would turn out to be the type who didn’t photograph as well as he looked in person? Still not fully awake, Kim Dokja stared blankly at him for a while, watching this superstar gracefully get out of bed and head to wash up first.
Even the most boring variety show would surely guarantee ratings with a face like this… Star Stream TV’s top producer - PD Kim Dokja felt somewhat comforted. “Biyoo-ah, we have to work hard.”
The baby Dokkaebi let out a coquettish sound and kept rubbing her face against him for encouragement. Kim Dokja stroked Biyoo’s soft fur, lay flat on the soft bed, and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling, falling into recollection.
Perhaps everything should start from the lack of a minor Dokkaebi protection law in the Star Stream system.
It had been many years since the Star Stream system connected to Earth. Just like aliens suddenly descending one day and announcing that Earth had officially joined the interstellar alliance, the sudden appearance of dokkaebi caused massive chaos. It wasn’t until the great Dokkaebi King personally stepped forward and led the Dokkaebi Alliance to establish Star Stream TV that everything gradually got back on track.
By watching program channels from other planets, people on Earth gradually accepted this fantastical setup — in the distant universe, there existed all kinds of species and civilizations. As exchanges between Earth and other worlds deepened, a new era of entertainment officially began.
Nowadays, Star Stream TV’s Earth branch had become a fairly well-known channel category in the universe. Its multiple sub-channels had produced many excellent programs, and Kim Dokja was a program producer working at Star Stream TV.
“Kim Dokja, your new project has been approved!” Bihyung excitedly pushed open the door to Kim Dokja’s office, bringing what seemed like good news that left him confused.
“What new project?” Kim Dokja frowned and lifted his head from the pile of manuscripts and keyboard, his face showing the fatigue and anxiety typical after consecutive overtime. The dokkaebi baby sitting properly on the desk accompanying her parent to work showed a cute smile, forming a sharp contrast with her parent.
Intimidated by Kim Dokja’s appearance, Bihyung couldn’t help shrinking back. Memories of working together with Kim Dokja on variety shows as his dokkaebi partner immediately flooded back. Considering that Kim Dokja was still a newcomer at the time, the dokkaebi naturally thought he should be the one in control. But this newcomer clearly had different ideas.
“You also want to make interesting programs, right?” When Kim Dokja spoke, his eyes sparkled, and his words were especially convincing. “Then do it the way I say.”
In short, the right to direct the program production was firmly taken by the strong new PD, and they indeed created a hugely popular variety show as Kim Dokja had said — The Absolute Throne. In the program, participants used various subway stations in Seoul as bases. They not only had to complete the challenges given by the production team to accumulate qualifications to become king, but also had to compete with other participants in wits and courage to fight for the final throne and win the grand prize.
This tense and exciting survival game attracted a large number of viewers and quickly became a fixed variety show on Star Stream TV. Starting from this program, Kim Dokja’s team continued to grow and produced a series of very popular variety shows, becoming one of the most sought-after program producers at Star Stream TV. Bihyung was also promoted due to the channel’s success and had now entered management.
The Dokkaebi partner for Kim Dokja’s next new project was not Bihyung, but the dokkaebi baby, Biyoo whom he had personally incubated. Biyoo had opened her own channel a month ago — this was also the reason why PD Kim was extremely worried at the moment. A dokkaebi’s channel was closely linked to their power. If the channel was poorly managed, the dokkaebi would become weak and might even face life-threatening danger.
Faced with the worried human parent and the innocent-looking Dokkaebi baby, Bihyung could only comfort him again: “Being able to open her own channel at such a young age proves that Biyoo is a genius. She will definitely become an amazing dokkaebi in the future.”
“Baat!” Biyoo nodded in agreement.
“But there’s still no reason to let an infant who isn’t even one year old enter the workforce. Doesn’t Star Stream have a minor dokkaebi protection law?”
“Dokkaebis’ cognition is different from humans…”
“She can’t even speak yet!”
“Uh… at least the funding for this shoot is very generous, and the concept is solid.”
“That’s exactly the problem.” Kim Dokja’s brows furrowed even deeper. “I haven’t submitted my new project proposal for review yet. What exactly are you talking about?”
“Isn’t this restaurant management proposal the one you submitted?” Bihyung was also confused. “The Variety Demon King personally takes the stage, and a ten million-level actor makes his first variety show appearance… I’ve even thought of the promotional copy.”
These keywords awakened a distant memory in Kim Dokja. He had indeed written a similar proposal. PD Kim’s face changed. He quickly asked: “The actor you’re talking about couldn’t be…”
“It’s Yoo Joonghyuk,” Bihyung said. “You like him a lot, right?”
“Withdraw it,” Kim Dokja said decisively. “That guy probably won’t agree to participate.”
Bihyung was right. If he had to say, Kim Dokja was indeed a fan of Yoo Joonghyuk — and a die-hard loyal fan from the very early audition days, moved by his effort and persistence, witnessing him resolutely leave the audition stage and make a glamorous debut as an actor.
From a scheduling perspective, Yoo Joonghyuk did have time to appear on variety shows. After all, the final installment of the series SSSSS-grade Infinite Regressor had already finished screening, and no new script had been confirmed yet. But from a practical standpoint, it was obvious Yoo Joonghyuk wouldn’t agree, perhaps influenced by his debut audition variety show experience, over the years Yoo Joonghyuk had rejected countless variety show invitations and seemed to have no interest in them.
Kim Dokja confidently judged: “If we can’t invite the main guest, we can reasonably withdraw the proposal. I’ll resubmit the correct proposal.”
“But…” Bihyung said carefully, “he already accepted.”
“What?” Kim Dokja found it hard to believe. He took the documents from Bihyung, flipped through them a few times, and his last hope quietly shattered. It really was the proposal in his memory. Simply put, it was a management-experience variety show where he would serve as the restaurant owner and partner with head chef Yoo Joonghyuk to run the restaurant together.
At the time, Kim Dokja hadn’t officially become a PD yet and had no experience producing programs independently. It was purely out of fantasy that he had written those words with great enthusiasm. By today’s standards, it was nothing more than an immature, fantasy-filled concept draft. How did something like this get approved by the company?
“Perhaps because Yoo Joonghyuk accepted the invitation and you were willing to appear on camera, the higher-ups approved it so readily…”
“What does this have to do with me?” Kim Dokja felt baffled.
“You’re quite popular too, PD Kim,” Bihyung flattered him. “The discussion when you appeared in The Absolute Throne was pretty good, wasn’t it?”
“Appearing as the program representative wearing a mascot suit is completely different from appearing as a guest.”
“The audience finds it interesting, that’s all. Isn’t that what you’re best at?” the dokkaebi comforted him. “Biyoo’s channel can’t be delayed too long. We need to start broadcasting as soon as possible. Since it’s already been approved, just work hard on it.”
Easy for you to say. Kim PD, whose project preparation had been reset to zero, felt his vision go black. Who on earth submitted this old bottom of the drawer proposal?
The dokkaebi baby blinked innocently and let out a giggling laugh.
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Author's Notes:
Long time no see everyone =3=
I dug out an old outline from two years ago and decided to start a long series (probably). Not very familiar with the real Chinese/Korean entertainment industry, so everything is set in an AU.
Translator's Notes:
This is a much longer fic than my usual translation works, so for once I can't spoil you all with a fully completed story to binge read from start to finish. Good news is that I plan to update consistently every week! If you'd like to follow along on this journey, feel free to subscribe so you won't miss any updates.💖
As always, please support the ori author by leaving kudos and comments, their amazing work made this translation possible!
Original Work: https://archiveofourown.org/works/65866504/chapters/169667869