"We're number one."
"We're number one!"
Inside the Yunteng TV station, Cheng Lie was as giddy as a child. A wave of indescribable joy surged through him.
"Minister Meng Yu, episode seven of 'Hikaru no Go' just hit the top spot in the ratings. After five years, we did it again! For the second time in history, Yunteng has taken the crown in Great Zhou's TV drama scene."
"Brother Cai, you know why I'm calling so late, right? Of course, we're number one—even if it's just for the week, it still counts!"
"Next week? Of course, we've got to hold the lead! What is Xingtong TV, Imperial Captital TV, or Huanshi TV? I'm up now, and I'm not going back down!"
"What? You're worried the Big Six might start playing dirty again? Like last quarter, shifting premiere dates to line up against 'Hikaru no Go' Season 2 and compete head-on, right? That's nothing to worry about. They wouldn't dare now."
"They've seen firsthand what kind of payback Jing Yu is capable of. If they pull the same tricks again this quarter, they know their flagship dramas next season will be his next targets. When both sides have nukes, no one's stupid enough to press the button first."
"Teacher Jing Yu…"
Finally, Cheng Lie called Jing Yu directly.
"Hmm? From your tone, things must've gone well tonight. Number one, huh?"
Jing Yu stood in front of a floor-to-ceiling window, looking out over the neon-drenched skyline of Modo City. It was past 11 p.m., but traffic still bustled below.
He was pleased, of course, but he kept it under control.
After all, it was just one episode topping the charts. Granted, a single-episode spike still said a lot. If your drama wasn't popular, even a one-off spike wouldn't happen.
Take 'Steins;Gate', for example. Its average ratings might have been pulled down by a weak start. Still, once it picked up, its impact—and eventual merchandise sales after the finale—was undeniable.
In the Great Zhou TV industry, what truly matters is a drama's overall performance—its average viewership across the entire run.
So far, 'Hikaru no Go' Season 2 has consistently outperformed both 'Black Cat' and 'Manual', episode by episode. But in terms of average ratings across the whole summer season, 'Hikaru no Go' was still sitting in second place—The 'You, Under the Cliff' remained number one.
If 'Hikaru no Go' wanted to overtake it, the upcoming episodes were going to be critical.
Jing Yu and Cheng Lie spoke on the phone for a full thirty minutes.
The next morning, when Jing Yu arrived at the filming base, the whole crew was already buzzing with excitement. Everyone had heard the news—episode seven had reached the top.
And right from the start of the day, Jing Yu was bombarded with gifts.
From Wu He, who played Hikaru. From Li He, who played Akira. From the music team, the logistics crew leads…
It wasn't just empty flattery. It was genuine gratitude.
Even a single-episode ratings peak was still a big deal. Just being part of a drama that reached that milestone gave everyone involved a significant boost to their industry resume. Whether or not Yunteng TV increased their pay, the prestige alone would follow them if they ever jumped to another network.
Still, after the buzz died down, it was back to the grind.
Whether it was 'Hikaru no Go' or 'Steins;Gate', both shows were now in a make-or-break phase in terms of ratings. There was no time for silly celebrations. Sure, popping champagne at halftime might sound fun, but that would've been incredibly dumb.
"So let's wait until the summer ends before we celebrate properly," Jing Yu told the entire crew after wrapping that evening's shoot.
While Jing Yu remained composed, the Big Six networks found themselves in a bizarre state of tension.
The Big Six, split into the Upper Three and the Lower Three, were usually fierce competitors. Still, there was a strange camaraderie among them.
They could accept losing to each other—it was a familiar battlefield, after all. But to be overtaken by a drama from a station outside the Big Six? That stung.
For Xingtong TV and Imperial Capital TV, they had previously laughed at The 'You, Under the Cliff' getting dragged down by 'Steins;Gate'. But now? The tables had turned, and things didn't feel so funny anymore.
By this point in the season, the Big Six would usually start sabotaging 'Hikaru no Go'—finding ways to keep it from topping the charts again before its finale.
But those were tactics meant for a Yunteng TV that had no counterplay.
Back then, Yunteng TV's highest-rated show in a given season barely scraped 2% or 3%. So when the Upper Three sabotaged Season 1 of 'Hikaru no Go', they were ruthless, knowing Yunteng TV wouldn't dare risk blowing up its best drama to go head-to-head with theirs.
But the summer season had shown them exactly what Jing Yu was capable of.
With 'Another' and 'Steins;Gate', he'd left three of their networks completely dazed.
Even now, sure, the Upper Three could still think of ways to suppress 'Hikaru no Go's ratings—but then what? Would Jing Yu retaliate next quarter with another batch of low-budget, high-impact dramas just to spite them?
So, after a few days of internal deliberation, all three networks silently backed off. No dirty tricks. No announcements aimed at sabotaging 'Hikaru no Go' Season 2.
And in the eyes of everyone else in the Great Zhou TV industry, that silence was as good as a white flag.
When even the Upper Three—Xingtong TV, Imperial Capital TV, and Huanshi TV—stopped underestimating Yunteng TV, that meant one thing:
Yunteng TV was no longer a second-tier player.
All of this had happened in less than six months, after a single young screenwriter joined Yunteng TV.
Compared to the short-lived triumph of topping the weekly charts, this had shaken the industry even more.
Meanwhile, the mysterious "puzzle" left behind for fans in episode seven of 'Hikaru no Go' had started to gain traction.
The move Hikaru declared as the comeback-defining play, captured in that final game board?
Professional players across Great Zhou were now openly debating it on social media.
"Doesn't exist," many concluded.
The scene in the drama had made it clear—the move was made deep into the endgame, when the board was almost fully played out. At that stage, especially in a match between top-tier players, there's no room for wild, imaginative plays. Everything hinges on razor-thin margins.
This was one of those matches where only one correct move existed.
One slip, even a minor misstep during the final exchanges, would flip the outcome entirely. And even if everything was played perfectly, the final result was a half-point reversal loss for black.
Many of the viewers were pro-level players—some even ranked 8-dan or 9-dan. And not a single one had found a way to make that reversal happen.
So naturally, people started questioning it.
Was the legendary comeback move Hikaru claimed to have found even real? Or was it just a storytelling slip—a made-up miracle move that couldn't exist in actual play?
These questions would all be answered in this week's 'Hikaru no Go' Season 2, Episode 8, airing Sunday at 10 PM.
But before that, 'Steins;Gate' was heading into its penultimate week.
And its fans? They were in full-on civil war.
On one side: Team Makise.
On the other hand, Team Mayuri.
The show had made its stakes clear: the convergence of world lines couldn't be broken. No matter what you tried, a character fated to die because of a world line shift would die—unless you could somehow break into a different major world branch.
But based on what was known, the two existing branches—Beta and Alpha—didn't allow both girls to survive at the same time.
So while 'Hikaru no Go' fans were racking their brains over the board puzzle, 'Steins;Gate' fans were tearing each other apart over who deserved to live more.
"So the original world line was one where Makise dies. If the protagonist never invents the PhoneWave, the timeline never shifts, and Makise's death is the original outcome. Mayuri only died because of the time machine's interference—she's the true victim. Keeping her alive and returning the world to the Beta line is the only logical path."
"But in the Beta line, Makise dies. Then Okabe invents the PhoneWave and shifts the world to Alpha. He bonds with Makise over time—those aren't fake memories. He lived that time with her. Choosing to save her, even if it means heading into a world ruled by SERN, is still valid. That's also 'logic.'"
"Exactly. Just because the world started with scenario A doesn't mean Okabe must now steer everything back to A. His time travel is part of the natural progression. The world being altered proves it can be altered. The very fact that it changed suggests it was meant to."
"You Makise stans are deranged. You'd rather sacrifice Mayuri so Okabe can stay in a lovey-dovey Alpha world? No shame?"
"Then what—blame Makise for the time machine? As if it wasn't Okabe's invention that caused the shift? Why should Makise be forced to die just to 'correct' something Okabe did? Alpha and Beta lines are equal—why must Beta be the 'correct' one?"
"Bottom line: if someone's fated to die, just let them die. You Makise fans have no morals."
"No morals? You're cheering for Mayuri's survival at the cost of Makise, who's alive and well in episode 10? Talk about double standards."
"The original world—"
"Forget the original world. Let's talk now. Imagine the world originally had you dying yesterday, but you somehow lived. Now you're holding a button that, if pressed, resets the timeline and kills you yesterday. Would you press it? No? Then stop pretending to be a moral saint."
"There's no such thing as a 'correct' timeline. The past is gone. Only the present is real. Whether it's an Alpha branch Okabe jumped through 100 times, or a Beta line he barely remembers—what matters now is the people standing before him. Both Makise and Mayuri are here. No choice is right. Or wrong. He'll choose whoever matters more to him."
"This show is brutal. I'm a Harem fan, but this writer is basically saying: pick one, the other dies. What kind of messed-up plot is this? I really hope Jing Yu has some way to resolve this in the last two episodes."
"Resolve it how? In Alpha, Okabe tried saving Mayuri a hundred times and failed. She even died choking on water once. The convergence is predetermined—the outcome exists first, then the path forms to meet it. Mayuri's death is inevitable. If he chooses Beta, Makise dies. End of story."
"Sigh… Episode 11 is going to be pure pain. I'm not even sure I want to watch it tonight."
"Same. But I still have to see who Okabe chooses."
Jing Yu took his eyes off the fan discussions and let out a silent laugh.
This debate over Makise vs. Mayuri? It was almost more intense than the wars back when 'White Album 2' was airing.
But of course, this was exactly what Jing Yu had hoped to see.