It's finally the first day of meeting the families.
"We'll be visiting four families for every alternate day until we are done with seventeen of them," Chaeri says while addressing her team. "It's the first day today so I want us all to be present. We can take turns after today."
They all get in their respective buses. Assistant producer Lee is in the same bus as Chaeri.
"I shared the houses to be visited based on their nearness in location."
"How else would you have shared it?" Chaeri asks.
Lee ignores her taunt and continues. "We won't be going outside of Seoul today," he says.
They soon arrive at the first house. Heechang presses the bell and they patiently wait for the residents to open the door.
After trying multiple times, they start to get angry.
"Are you sure this is the right address?" Chaeri asks.
"Yes, I double checked everyone of them," Minsoo says.
They are on the verge of giving up when a car suddenly drives towards them.
"I'll be in the bus," Chaeri excuses herself.
"Producer Kang, wait!" Minsoo calls out. "I think the man driving the car is the one living here."
Chaeri turns to look at the man but he has his back facing her. He is speaking with Heechang and Lee at the doorstep.
He opens the gate and goes in while Heechang beckons Chaeri to join them.
The house is decorated simply. It is obvious the family is well off. Chaeri takes a seat on the couch without asking for permission. The man doesn't seem very affected by it.
"Mr Yu Minju?" Chaeri confirms using the stack of papers in her hands.
"Yes," he replies curtly. He takes a seat opposite hers.
"Are you living alone? It's stated here that you have a mother and two sisters." She takes a look around. "The house seems to be saying otherwise."
He chuckles lightly. "My elder sister is on a trip. She'll be back in two days time. My younger sister -"
Chaeri cuts in. "Your mother? Where is she?"
Minju is a little shocked but he retains his composure. "My mother is indoors," he replies. The crew look at one another.
"She has a hearing impairment so she mustn't have known that you were knocking."
Chaeri rises to her feet. "Can I see her?"
"What?" Minju has a frown on his face.
"Is it not okay for me to see her? She's going to appear on the show, isn't she?" Chaeri and Minju have a little staring contest but Chaeri looks away first.
"This way," he says finally. He leads her to a bedroom. Minju's mother is knitting in a chair by the side of the window. She looks so lost in thought.
"How do you speak to her?" Chaeri asks, her eyes never leaving the old lady.
"In writing most times. I had a helper come over from time to time to teach her in sign language. But it's not of much use because my siblings and I didn't learn."
"You should never lock your mother in the house," Chaeri says out of nowhere.
"Sorry?"
Chaeri doesn't bother explaining. Minju's mother finally notices them but Chaeri walks out of the room almost immediately.
His mother suddenly stands up from her seat. She goes to him and grabs him by the elbow. Then she scurries to her bedside table for a book and a pen.
You finally brought a girl home after a long time
She shows it to him.
She is staying right? She won't leave because of me right?
Minju reads her words with a heavy heart.
Mother, she's someone from the media company. We aren't dating.
Her face falls helplessly.
Chaeri regroups shortly with her crew. "We should get going. We already spent a lot of time here," she says.
Everyone is too stunned to refuse her.
They move on to the next family.
The second family is Hyejin and her husband. Both are friends of Yeoreum and Neurosurgeon Choi. Hyejin remembers telling her husband that they should register for the reality show. She thinks it would benefit a lot of people if they hear the story of their perseverance before she finally got pregnant. Her husband isn't very open to the idea because he thinks she'll be stressed out. He also thinks she won't be able to manage as it is her first time. Hyejin however thinks the extra money might be exactly what they need for raising the child.
The production crew meets them briefly at the restaurant and they are served lunch. They engage in a brief discussion before parting ways and heading to the next family.
The location of the third family is rather unexpected. It is a boxing arena. They meet with the person who registered and he confesses that he wants to use the show to bring his boys to the public. He explains that a competition is coming up and they needed to gain popularity in order to have many supporters.
Chaeri momentarily remembers Hwangjun as he is also a boxer. She twirls her pen before scribbling in her paper.
Finally, they head to the fourth and final family of the day. The family lives on the thirteenth floor of an apartment. Minsoo suggests that only two people go to avoid rowdiness. Writer Han and Assistant producer Lee go while Chaeri waits in the bus.
They come back minutes after. Han joins Chaeri in the bus.
"Producer Kang?"
Chaeri is a bit surprised to see her instead of Lee. "How did it go?"
"There was a mother and her daughter. I think they might be suffering from domestic abuse."
Chaeri's ears perked up. "Go on."
"When we knocked on the door, the mother opened the door very slightly without letting us in. We couldn't speak much because she kept looking behind us."
"You didn't go in?" Chaeri asks.
Writer Han shakes her head. "The mother must have thought we came to see her daughter so she closed the door and left. Then the daughter came to see us shortly. Her face was badly bruised."
"Okay," Chaeri says.
"Producer Kang, should we exclude them?" Han asks.
"Why? They are the ones that registered so why should we?" Chaeri says unbothered.
"But don't you think someone else might have registered them? Perhaps someone who knows something about them."
"We'll find out later," Chaeri says.
*
The week soon passes in a blur. The crew had met with different families and it was finally the last day.
"We should finish up already. It's getting tiring," Heechang says with a yawn.
"Actually!" Writer Han agrees. "Do you remember that family we visited two days ago? The one with the fierce dog," she reminds Lee. He shudders merely thinking about it.
"I'm so glad it's coming to an end. There are only four families remaining," Lee says.
"Four? Why four? It ought to be five," Heechang says.
"A family called to cancel," Lee says.
"Minsoo, is that true?"
They all go rigid when they hear Chaeri's voice. Her hands are loosely gripping her waist.
"Yes," she confirms. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, producer Kang. I thought it won't make any difference if one family cancels."
"It's okay," she brushes it off. "It's lesser than I expected."
They look at her like she suddenly grew horns.
"Let's go. We are going all the way to Chuncheon. We need to hurry up."
The crew sets out again. They visit the families one after the other and ask questions. The third family seems to irk Chaeri. The mother behaves freely with her even placing one of her twin toddler in Chaeri's laps. The innocent child drools all over her arm much to her irritation.
After a long day, they return to Seoul and arrive very late.
Heechang and Writer Han are the first to leave followed by Minsoo.
"You aren't going home now?" Lee asks when he sees Chaeri heading indoors.
"I still have something to do at the office," she says. He bids her farewell and leaves.
After an hour, Chaeri heads home. She fishes her car keys out of her purse and is grateful that she drove it to work today.
From the corner of her eyes, she notices a movement behind her. She quickens her steps and hurries to her car only pressing the unlock button while she was directly in front of it. She enters and immediately drives off.
She gets a call and the caller ID is displayed on her infotainment system. It's her stepmother calling.
Chaeri hesitates before answering.
"What do you want me to do this time?" She asks boringly.
"I heard you will be producing another show," her stepmother says. Chaeri feels her stomach sink.
"Yes," she replies.
"Put your brother on the show," she orders.
"I don't think that would be possible giving the screening has already ended."
She is interrupted.
"You are the producer. Surely, you should be able to pull some strings," her stepmother accuses.
Chaeri sighs. Perhaps bringing him on the show would give her some closure. It was her show anyways so she could always not let things go his way.
"I will think about it," she says. "And if I can't get him on this one. I'll get him on for the next season," she adds and disconnects the call.
She gets home, changes into something comfortable and then lays on the couch. She has a headphone over her ear as she flips through the pages of her note. They would be picking the families soon.
Chaeri could only hope the selection process ended well and the show was successful too. Because apart from getting top ratings, she was in dire need of mending her broken heart.