AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart
Chapter 137
written by LoveCR2 -- 2005
edited by All-About-AAE -- 2018
"Let's just hope Jin Sun-Mi can get through one day without causing a controversy." -- Kim Eun-Ki
MBS NEWS CENTER, YEOUIDO STUDIOS...
"This is the news for Friday night..." Anchor Chang Yoon-Seong intones on the News At Nine.
"We're ending our regular newscast early, for a special announcement," co-anchor Choi Geun-Hye picks up her line, "on the exciting changes coming to MBS News with the start of the new season..."
"After today, Anchor Choi and I are moving to 'The Week In Review'," Yoon-Seong elaborates. "We're grateful for your support of this program, and hope that you'll join us weekly, beginning Sunday night."
"The next anchor for the News At Nine is here, to inform us of what is coming," Geun-Hye begins the introduction as Sun-Mi appears at the left side of the news set, wearing a reporter's style, white Oscar de la Renta trench coat.
"Welcome Special Correspondent Jin Sun-Mi," Yoon-Seong says on cue as he and Geun-Hye stand in greeting.
"Thank you... Anchor Chang... Anchor Choi," Sun-Mi greets the pair as they exchange handshakes. "I'm so glad to be here with you and our audience tonight."
As the anchors retake their seats, Sun-Mi moves to the chair at the left end of the news desk.
"Correspondent Jin, can you give us a preview of the new season?" Geun-Hye opens the subject...
In the news center control room, President Kim Eun-Ki expresses surprise at Sun-Mi's appearance. "What's this?"
"Jin Sun-Mi requested a few minutes at the end of the broadcast," Sun-Dal tells him. "I thought it was a good idea, to help the audience transition to the changes."
"But what's with the trench coat?" Eun-Ki questions her wardrobe choice. "And her hairstyle and makeup, especially that bright red lipstick, it's just too much! Who's in charge here? Wasn't she briefed on the standards we expect?"
Sun-Dal squirms under his boss' negative critique, knowing it's directed at him, too, and mumbles a meek reply, "I'll be sure to remind her later."
"How could you even think to put someone like Jin Sun-Mi in charge of our premier news product?" Eun-Ki denigrates Sun-Dal's judgment. "Who'll take a woman seriously, when she looks like she's flirting with the audience?
"Actually, the polls show a lot of people do," Sun-Dal uses the opportunity to support his decision. "75% of respondents chose Jin Sun-Mi among their top ten most trusted news reporters, nationwide."
Unable to argue the facts, Eun-Ki backs down, for the moment... "Let's just hope Jin Sun-Mi can get through one day without causing a controversy," he grumbles, bringing up her spotted history as a newscaster.
Momentarily at a draw in their argument, the two men turn their attention back to the studio...
"... I hope this explanation helps people have a sense of how we, as a News Team, are dedicated to reporting important events of the day in a clear, accurate, and objective manner with each newscast," Sun-Mi summarizes the journalist's creed of ethics.
"Thank you for those fascinating behind-the-scene insights, Correspondent Jin," Geun-Hye responds.
Yoon-Seong concludes the brief interview with a final question, "Is there anything else you have for the audience?"
"How about a quick peek at our future News set?" Sun-Mi replies, then turns to speak directly to the audience, "Let's take a tour..."
Sun-Mi stands and starts off to the left, moving backstage with Camera 2 tracking her progress. Approaching Camera 1, she addresses the operator, "Mr. Park, could you bring the portable boom camera along?"
The cameraman moves to the boom camera, nods that he is ready, and Sun-Mi heads for a backstage door leading directly to the adjacent TV studio...
In the new studio, the boom camera stops just inside the doorway, at the end of its cable. From that vantage point it follows Sun-Mi as she passes through a clutter of construction, electrical, and lighting equipment, cautiously stepping over the tangles of cables snaking across the concrete floor in her black mesh, jewel and bead embellished 105mm stiletto heels by Oscar de la Renta.
"Please pardon our mess, we're still in the midst of getting things ready," she explains the disarray as she comes to a tall stepladder and metal cart piled with spools of colored wires. Several wires dangle loose from the ceiling to the floor, blocking her path.
A technician at the top of the ladder, working on the overhead lighting grid, calls down a warning, "Be careful, Miss! Watch your step!"
Sun-Mi stops to look up and speak to him: "How is the work coming along, Mr. Lee?"
"We're right on schedule, Announcer Jin," he answers cheerfully. "But please go that way, to avoid the wires," he directs her, pointing.
"I will, thanks for your hard work," Sun-Mi give her respects, sidestepping to avoid the wires as instructed.
In the control room, watching the monitors, Eun-Ki is having a fit...
"What does Jin Sun-Mi think she's doing?" he fumes. "Who authorized this?"
Sun-Dal cringes, caught off-guard himself. "Er... I did?"
"After I fire Correspondent Jin, you're next!" Eun-Ki threatens. "I've never seen anything as unprofessional as this!"
While she was speaking to the technician, PD Shin had sent in video operators to man the new studio's main cameras, which take over the broadcast at this point...
Sun-Mi walks onto the new set, a gleaming, minimalistic design of glass and metal on a pearlescent white floor. Instead of the busy 'news center' look of the other studio, a continuous, smooth-surfaced, self-illuminated wall curves around the back and sides of the set. Several panels are missing at one end, revealing the structural frame and web of wiring used to power and control the display.
At the center of the set, a glass-topped, counter-height oval table rests on two clear glass pedestals for a floating effect. Near the table are two armless stools on casters.
"This is where anchors will deliver the news, stand-up, a more flexible and dynamic position than from a stationary chair," Sun-Mi explains the reasons for the new approach, "while this table provides a formal venue for more traditional collaborative News Team reporting."
While Sun-Mi is speaking, the video wall behind her progresses through a smooth transition of varying colors, finally fading in a panoramic view of Seoul's night skyline...
She gestures to the right, where a low, round platform holds a circular couch. Upholstered in smooth white leather, it curls around a clear glass coffee table.
"Alternatively, this more informal, intimate setting is conducive to insightful interviews and deeper discussions into the day's feature stories..."
At that cue, the video wall comes to life, flashing simultaneous multiple images and short video clips of people, places, and recent news events.
"Whether it's breaking news, sports, entertainment, or weather, you'll find the broadest perspective on our world here at MBS," she narrates during the changing images.
Panel by panel, a final image pieces together, spanning the entire wall with the new marketing slogan displayed on a deep blue field watermarked repetitively with the MBS corporate logo...
MBS -- Delivering the News with Style
In the control room, Sun-Dal is smiling. "What do you think?"
Eun-Ki doesn't appear very impressed. "The concept isn't bad, but I'll wait for some substance along with the style," he admits, while maintaining his critical stance.
On the set, Sun-Mi concludes, "Thank you for accompanying me on this brief tour tonight. I hope you'll join us here, next week..."
Moving toward the couch, she continues, "But before you go, I have a personal word to say. As I expressed earlier, news reporters strive to bring objective coverage of events as they happen, but unfortunately, at times inadvertently become part of the news themselves ..."
Sun-Mi unbuttons her trench coat and slips it off, revealing the same style DKNY dress she'd worn at the World Trade Center on 9/11 -- a sparkling sequined, turquoise blue, one-shoulder, figure-cinching sheath with an asymmetric hem slanting up daringly from one knee to the other hip.
In the control room, Eun-Ki immediately reacts. "I knew it, that something would happen -- this is outrageous!"
He shoots a dark glance at Sun-Dal, putting him on notice that his earlier threat was back on track.
"Earlier this year in New York City, such a turn of circumstances happened, causing many rumors and speculations regarding my role as a newscaster that day," she states.
Laying her coat over the back of the couch, Sun-Mi steps up on the platform and sits down, crossing her legs to the side to show off her long leg line for the camera as it slowly zooms in closer...
In the control room, Sun-Dal observes that Eun-Ki, contrary to his verbal outrage at the inappropriateness of Sun-Mi's dress, is leering lasciviously at her, eyes locked on and following her every move, as an animal stalks its prey with the anticipation of devouring it.
... 'he never tried to rape you, has he?' ... he recalls Sun-Mi's accusation, clenching his fist to restrain himself ...
"If you think it's inappropriate, then why are you staring, like you approve?" he remarks with disgust.
Eun-Ki, caught in the act, strikes back, "You, if anyone, should understand, Director Kim. How is this different from your appreciation of those sweet young girls in the clubs you frequented?"
Sun-Dal is incensed at the comparison of Sun-Mi to a bargirl, but stays silent after the deliberate reminder that Eun-Ki will always have him at a disadvantage...
"I'd like to put those rumors to rest, and give you the full story," Sun-Mi continues. "Please join me with Anchors Chang Yoon-Seong and Choi Geun-Hye on the 'The Week in Review' this Sunday evening at 7 PM, for an exclusive, live interview. We'll be taking live call-ins, or you can ask your questions in advance... by email ... even post cards..."
Pausing to smile at her inside joke, she waves to the audience, signing off, "This is Jin Sun-Mi, for MBS News. Goodnight!" Then she holds her smile as the bumper music starts.
In the control room, PD Shin orders, "Cue commercial... 3... 2... 1... Cut!"
A taped commercial appears on the broadcast monitors, and the studio ON AIR light goes out...
On the control room's studio monitor, Sun-Mi relaxes with a deep breath, then the screen goes blank.
"Okay, that's a wrap," PD Shin speaks over the studio intercom. "Thank you, everyone, for working hard..."
In the studios, the crews start shutting down for the night.
Meanwhile, in the control room, the atmosphere remains tense as everyone anxiously awaits President Kim's judgment to fall... Stern-faced, he mulls over what he'd just witnessed, before fixing his eyes firmly on Sun-Dal.
Sun-Dal braces himself, waiting for the expected, scathing dismissal: 'You're fired!'
But PD Shin acts first, speaking into the studio mike, "All crew please report to the control room!" Then he turns to his assistant and requests, "Put up the insta-poll results."
The crew crowds into the confines of the control room, jockeying for position to clearly see the large video screen on the wall where the minute-by-minute poll ratings appear. The display shows three relatively horizontal lines on a chart, representing the three main competing network newscasts, accompanied by the tallies of 'hits' on the MBS News website and internet chat rooms.
"You can see that the hour started out with MBS News -- the blue line -- in third place, below SBC and KBC," the PD describes the graphic. "Let's see the second half of the hour."
The image changes, showing near the end of the hour, the blue line rising steeply, cutting across the other two lines that drop slightly as the hour ends.
"That spike begins just after Jin Sun-Mi appeared on the program," Sun-Dal identifies the time on the chart.
"Right... It looks like tonight's newscast ended with our highest single rating ever!" PD Shin interprets the data elatedly.
Celebratory whoops and cheers from the staff and crew fill the control room...
President Kim, without breaking his deadpan expression, finally gives his assessment, "Congratulations, Director Kim, to you and your team... and my appreciation to Correspondent Jin Sun-Mi... for a 'job well done'..."
The room spontaneously erupts with more applause and cheers.
Sun-Dal looks around the packed space and calls out loudly, "Correspondent Jin Sun-Mi! Can you come forward?"
From the back of the room, someone says, "She's not here."
"I saw her immediately leaving from the new studio," the Camera 1 operator reports. "She seemed in a hurry..."