Cheat day

Curvy Paths (3)

“Netflix ranked third worldwide, with a cumulative viewing time of 62,500,000 hours. We have the four creators of the sweet and confident Sugar Man project with us. Hello!”

Famous host Lee Ji-seok greeted Ju Ji-seung, Cha Ji-chan, Baek Woo-jin, and me.

“Please introduce yourselves.”

“Yes. Hello, I am Cha Ji-chan from Sugar Man Entertainment, the creators of the Sugar Man project.”

“I’m Ju Ji-seung, who participated in the project.”

“I’m Ban Chan-yong, the mental coach from the Sugar Man project.”

“I’m the champion, Baek Woo-jin!”

Baek Woo-jin exclaimed cheerfully.

“Ah, yes. Congratulations on your victory, Baek Woo-jin.”

“Thank you.”

“But you’ve really lost a lot of weight.”

Baek Woo-jin cupped his cheeks with both hands.

“I’ve tried dieting before, and it’s no easy feat, right?”

“Honestly, it was really tough.”

“Didn’t the older guys torment you in the beginning?”

“Yes!”

When Baek Woo-jin quickly replied with a sense of injustice, host Lee Ji-seok laughed, showing his teeth.

“They gave other people support while throwing heavy bags at me. They only added extra broccoli to my lunchbox. They barely let me eat anything.”

“Heavy bags?”

“Yes! But thinking about it now, that actually helped with blood sugar management. I was an idiot.”

“Hahaha!”

Everyone laughed once more.

“What happened there?”

Lee Ji-seok asked me.

“I just thought about how to make it.”

People laughed again, thinking I was joking.

“Cha Ji-chan, you were the mental coach, right?”

“Yes. My role was to help the participants do their best until the end.”

“Don’t sugarcoat it! What are you, a Nazi propagandist?”

“Propaganda! Propaganda!”

“Propaganda! Hahaha!”

Ju Ji-seung mumbled something that made Lee Ji-seok burst out laughing.

“So why did you say that?”

“Actually, motivating people isn’t easy. Unless there’s a triggering event, it’s hard to change.”

“That’s true.”

“In my experience, negative emotions, like wanting to trample on someone else, motivate people more easily than the positive feeling of wanting to become a better person.”

“See?”

Lee Ji-seok grinned broadly.

“Woo-jin played that role well. He worked so hard that other participants seemed to draw motivation from him and push themselves.”

“Speaking of which, Cha Ji-chan, you lost 58 kg, right?”

“Yes.”

“Did you have an object of hatred during your diet?”

“The viewers.”

Lee Ji-seok’s jaw dropped.

Cha Ji-chan waved his arms around, indicating that he shouldn’t be on camera, while Baek Woo-jin doubled over in laughter.

“Wow. I can’t wait to show them how much I’ve changed. I’m going to lose weight and build muscle just to make them feel deprived. That’s what I thought.”

“Ha ha ha.”

After laughing for a while, Lee Ji-seok spoke again.

“Having that experience helped you encourage the Sugar Men well.”

“Yes.”

“Wow, everyone here is so entertaining; this isn’t easy.”

Laughter flowed through the filming set again.

With such a good atmosphere, the recording was comfortable.

“Ju Ji-seung, you played a big role too. You managed the diets of around 100 people, right?”

“Yes. At first, it was a bit overwhelming, but here, Cha Ji-chan and the staff helped. Plus, as the number of participants decreased later on, it wasn’t too hard.”

“It’s surprising that the Sugar Men hated you the most.”

“Ah.”

Ju Ji-seung chuckled.

After all the filming ended, we recorded a review video, and when asked which of the three coaches had been the hardest on them, all the Sugar Men chose Ju Ji-seung.

“They thought I could cook well, but they said I made it taste bad. They felt like they were being tortured. What do you think about that?”

Ju Ji-seung licked his lips at Lee Ji-seok’s question.

“Actually, I’m revealing this for the first time, but I had a certain intention behind it.”

“Intention?”

“It was a kind of direction. Since it’s entertainment, we needed reactions, and I thought it would be better to show them struggling and suffering rather than just enjoying healthy food.”

“Wow.”

Lee Ji-seok exclaimed in disbelief, “This is why the production team can’t be trusted. You shouldn’t believe the production team, okay?”

He spoke as if the staff could hear him.

“Bad bald guy.”

“Pfft!”

Baek Woo-jin’s comment made everyone burst into laughter.

Coming from Ju Ji-seung, who had survived the longest and had to eat the unappetizing but healthy food he prepared, it carried a lot of emotion.

“Maybe that’s why it was more successful. I introduced it with some numbers during the opening, but how do you feel?”

Naturally, the floor went back to Cha Ji-chan.

“I’m a bit dazed. So many people have supported us, yes.”

“About recouping the investment.”

“We haven’t settled it yet, so I’m not sure.”

“Oh.”

“We’ve received about half of our investment.”

“Right. Netflix does advance investment.”

“Yes. It’s usually done once before production, once in the middle, and again afterward, but there’s no additional revenue sharing. In our case, we only got half, but we proceeded with an advance release instead of exclusivity, so it’s a bit complicated.”

“Oh, why make it so complicated? We earned about three times that!”

Baek Woo-jin explained succinctly.

“Three times? That’s impressive! Woo-jin, you received 100 million won for winning and an additional 10 million won for being in the final ten, so that must have been quite a nice sum.”

“I bought a car.”

Baek Woo-jin whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, and they laughed once more.

“Wait a minute. I saw an article saying you’re dating someone now? What happened with the public confession?”

“It just happened to come up during filming. Hehe.”

“Ehehehe.”

Baek Woo-jin and Lee Ji-seok laughed at each other.

“Because of that, instead of a public confession, we just publicly dated.”

“Wow. Tell us more details.”

“I’ve known my partner since elementary school, and she’s my YouTube PD now.”

“Your partner?”

“Yes, but—”

Baek Woo-jin hesitated, twisting his body.

“Ah, just looking at Woo-jin’s expression, he seems happy. Speaking of which, Cha Ji-chan, you also have something to celebrate, right?”

“Yes.”

“You’re getting married in October.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“That’s next month, right? You must be busy with wedding preparations?”

“I’m a bit overwhelmed. I don’t know what’s what, but it’s all in progress.”

“Hahaha. Everyone feels that way. Are you excited at all?”

“I’m super excited. Ji-chan said he’ll give me 10 million won as a wedding gift.”

“When did I say that?”

“Wow. Me too. I want one too.”

“A reminder wedding isn’t included?”

Baek Woo-jin and Ju Ji-seung jumped in, causing Cha Ji-chan to shake his head in disbelief.

“Recently, you’ve been shooting a lot of advertisements and doing Netflix. You’ve also taken care of your health, and now you’re getting married. Isn’t that the life anyone dreams of?”

Lee Ji-seok praised me enthusiastically.

“Right? It’s perfect.”

Cha Ji-chan and Baek Woo-jin poked me from both sides.

It hurt.

“How did you do it? Share your secrets to success.”

“Are you asking me to share my secrets to success in front of Ji-seok?”

To ask me to reveal my success strategies in front of the country’s top celebrity felt more embarrassing than anything.

“Just answer.”

“Ugh, you’re so annoying.”

Baek Woo-jin was particularly funny today.

Once the atmosphere settled down, I brought up the story I had organized while writing an essay.

“In the past, I often thought about wanting to become a YouTuber with a million subscribers and wanting to have a lot of money. I wanted to have enough money to not work and just relax at home.”

“Many people think that.”

“Yes. But when I think about it now, it wasn’t really about wanting money.”

Lee Ji-seok tilted his head.

“It was more about wanting to rest. I didn’t want to feel anxious.”

Ju Ji-seung nodded slowly.

“When your income is low, the future feels uncertain. Working hard every day becomes exhausting. That’s why I wanted to rest and live stably, so I desired money. Without money, you can’t do that.”

“Hmm.”

“But when I actually had money, I didn’t feel like resting at all.”

“That’s funny. You said you’d take all of October off.”

“Hahaha!”

Cha Ji-chan’s jab made everyone laugh.

“I just don’t feel like living a life of leisure like before,” I continued.

“I understand.”

Returning to the main topic, I added, “I want to keep doing things together with these people—like the lunch boxes, the national expedition, and the Secret Santa. I want to help someone. I want to create something like the Sugar Man project. Now that I can live comfortably without working, I find myself wanting to work more. I wondered what the difference is, and I realized that before, I disliked work, but now I enjoy it.”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

Lee Ji-seok’s comment made me laugh.

“Right? But I feel like my mindset has changed. Doing what I love with people I enjoy being with changes a person.”

“Ah.”

“It doesn’t make me anxious. Sure, I might feel a little shaken sometimes, but I have my girlfriend and these three here, and the Sugar Man staff backing me up.”

“That’s nice.”

“Thinking about it that way, I realized that what I wanted wasn’t a lot of money. It was about having valuable people, good food, and enjoyable work. I’m not happy just because I have two million subscribers on my YouTube channel; it’s being able to laugh and broadcast with my subscribers that makes me truly happy. So if you’re thinking that becoming rich or passing some exam will make you happy, I suggest you rethink that a bit. The moment you become wealthy doesn’t guarantee happiness. I believe that happiness comes from the process of figuring out how to create good outcomes and how to use the money. I’m not good at studying, so I can’t say if doctors and lawyers are happy or not, but if you only aimed to become a doctor or a lawyer, the joy of passing the exam won’t last long. The real success in life comes from finding happiness in helping sick people or curing difficult illnesses.”

“Ah. This is important. When we talk about dreams, it’s not about what you want to be but rather what you want to do.”

“Yes. That’s exactly it. I think it applies everywhere.”

***

The Sugar Man project, which once ranked third worldwide on Netflix, quickly faded from the TOP 10 once all episodes were released.

The review videos from the participants uploaded on YouTube also gradually stopped appearing in recommended videos, making way for new content.

Some staff members felt sad that it was forgotten so quickly, but considering the fast-paced consumption of content in today’s age, it was somewhat expected.

Instead, we should celebrate the fact that it performed beyond our expectations, and we need to create new content based on the experience gained from this large project.

“We have additional revenues expected from YouTube, VOD, and re-broadcasts, but we anticipate they won’t have a significant impact. This is the final result.”

During the executive meeting, we received a report on how the Sugar Man project was produced, the detailed expenditure items, and the final outcomes.

The profit was 5.92318 billion won.

It was the first profit reported by Sugar Man Entertainment, which had 107 employees.

Baek Woo-jin, who usually would have been playful, remained silent, but as we exchanged glances, a wave of joy surged up from deep within.

“Today, the results of the Sugar Man project are set to be reported through various media. We can expect an influx of investments for additional content as a result.”

“Awesome! It’s a celebration today!”

Cha Ji-chan jumped up and shouted as he slammed his hand on the table.

“That’s the spirit!”

“Beef! Beef!”