As everyone slowly accepted this outcome, with the subsequent filming and broadcast, things took a different turn.
The turning point appeared in the second week of October, which was also the second week of the broadcast of Extraordinary You.
According to GOODDATA, a leading statistics company in the Korean film and television industry, when it released its weekly TV drama topicality statistics, Extraordinary You surpassed the hugely popular drama when the camellia blooms in the same period, ranking first in topicality!
Topicality is composed of news topics + netizen topics + video topics + SNS topics. The combination of these factors is sufficient to reflect the most popular drama at the moment.
Despite fluctuating viewership ratings of only around three percent, it became the most popular drama in terms of topicality.
This sufficiently reflects two points.
First, the drama extraordinary you has extremely high actual popularity, and its viewership ratings cannot reflect its true popularity. Its main audience is young people, who are now accustomed to watching online, which led to the mediocre viewership ratings.
Second, Kwon Hyun Hyuk's reputation soared, finally achieving a beautiful opening success.
Due to the extremely high discussion topicality, it greatly boosted the actors themselves, and when applied to Kwon Hyun Hyuk, who played the second male lead, he became famous overnight, and his popularity surged.
He went from being unknown to becoming a promising new-generation actor.
His Instagram follower count grew rapidly, increasing by tens of thousands of followers every day from the initial over one hundred thousand.
The response was even better overseas.
The popularity on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram soared, with viewers creating their own fan-made CP video edits and highlight reels, gaining explosive popularity online.
This also surprised the TV drama production team.
Even for the locations and props that appeared in the drama, many people inquired about them.
In the Greater China region, extraordinary you also received enthusiastic responses and attention, with millions of edited videos on Bilibili in China, trending on Weibo hot searches, and so on.
Despite the low viewership ratings, the production team continued to receive inquiries for overseas copyright negotiations, once again proving the drama's extraordinary popularity.
This was a complete case of 'flowers blooming inside the wall, their fragrance spreading outside,' meaning that aside from the mediocre viewership ratings, all other aspects showed the characteristics of a hugely popular drama.
These successive good news completely diluted the initial calm atmosphere within the crew, replacing it with a relaxed and pleasant vibe once again.
As the saying goes, 'joyful events lift the spirits,' and the actors' states also improved, leading to higher filming efficiency.
It was a peculiar drama. MBC TV Station had previously produced popular dramas, but such a peculiar response was a first. This also reflected the growing power of online streaming, and that viewership ratings are no longer the sole indicator of success in the new era.
"Kwon Hyun Hyuk!"
The producer came to the set, a familiar smile on her face as she looked at Kwon Hyun Hyuk.
Kwon Hyun Hyuk was chatting and laughing with a few people on set. Upon hearing the producer call him, he immediately stopped and went to find her.
"What's up, sis?"
"You've been incredibly popular lately. Some producers and directors have been calling me. Isn't Park Jun-jung managing you?"
Producer Moon Joo-hee knew Park Jun-jung and was aware that he was the person responsible for Kwon Hyun Hyuk.
Kwon Hyun Hyuk was startled, his expression changing to one of slight embarrassment. "I'm really sorry, sis. I'll handle it right away. I haven't sorted out the contract matters recently."
It was time to put signing with an agency on the agenda.
After seeing the producer off, Kwon Hyun Hyuk called Park Jun-jung privately.
"My dear uncle, what's going on lately? I'm popular, but you're not managing me anymore?"
His joking words reached Park Jun-jung's ears, making him somewhat annoyed.
"Don't even mention it. I've been busy with your affairs recently, arranging more important film offers for you. Most of the offers that come in before these dramas have even finished airing aren't very valuable."
Kwon Hyun Hyuk didn't expect him to start working on the next step so early, and quickly became serious.
"What drama?"
"A medical drama. It's a very good resource. To be honest, with your current conditions and standing, it's a bit difficult to secure it. I'm increasing contact with them here."
"How about this, when your concentrated filming is over, come to the company. It'll be a good chance to meet the CEO and sign the contract."
"It'll be much more convenient then. Right now, besides the assistant arranged by the crew, you don't have anyone else around, which is very inconvenient."
Park Jun-jung rattled off a lot of information, but Kwon Hyun Hyuk understood it quickly. Before he was about to hang up, he added a sentence.
"What's the name of the drama? Do you have the script? Can you send it to me first?"
Park Jun-jung heard him and said, "It's a sequel to romantic doctor, teacher kim. Success is highly probable, so the competition is fierce. I'll give you the script when I pick you up tomorrow."
"Okay."
Kwon Hyun Hyuk readily agreed, then hung up the phone and began to ponder, finally taking out his phone to search.
After a long time of looking, he had a general idea.
Park Jun-jung was right; the audition news circulating online recently was also nearing its end. Time was pressing, no wonder Park Jun-jung was too busy to manage him.
Kwon Hyun Hyuk was completely fearless now.
To be honest, among the dramas that aired, besides praise for the female lead's acting, which took up most of the scenes, there was only praise for him.
The well-known news media Joynews evaluated Kwon Hyun Hyuk as such:
"As the highly anticipated Kwon Hyun Hyuk re-debuts as an actor with a new appearance, besides the well-known attention from the audition program, whether he can succeed on the acting path is his biggest challenge and the immense courage he has mustered to start anew."
"It is very exciting that in the new drama, Kwon Hyun Hyuk showed a surprisingly different side from before. Although he is a newcomer who has not had acting experience, his fresh yet spirited performance is refreshing."
"With each episode's broadcast, one can feel his rapid growth. We hope he continues to develop with momentum as a new-generation actor."
There were almost no comments or posts online criticizing his acting; praise far outweighed criticism, which showed that Kwon Hyun Hyuk's acting talent was not exaggerated but a fact. Participating in the audition program midway was also a whim, and he almost succeeded in his gamble.
Not only that, Kwon Hyun Hyuk's fans also started a frenzy online. The largest fan sites and various fan groups, big and small, were frantically updating content related to Kwon Hyun Hyuk.
The fan base and vocal presence that had gradually stopped growing due to the audition program also began to increase continuously with the broadcast of the new drama.
And the continuously growing popularity also added fuel to the fire of the audition rigging scandal.
Too many chemical reactions were caused by the broadcast of a new drama, leading to a series of changes in events.
Kwon Hyun Hyuk, with his advantages, naturally had to plan three steps ahead.