Chapter 346: Mayfly (5)
At the finals of Table of Mukbang, Haru watched his unconscious mother with tears streaming down his face.
It had been five years since he last saw her, but he couldn't even touch her and had to step away as she was receiving emergency care.
A moment later, Kim Chul-Soo finished the emergency treatment and let out a sigh of relief. "Phew..."
Kim Chul-Soo wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at Haru. "So you're Haru. Your mom was just a bit shocked, so don't worry too much."
"Thank you..." Haru responded softly.
Seeing how anxious Haru was, Kim Chul-Soo spoke gently. "Come here and hold your mom's hand for a moment. Just gently."
When permission was given, Haru carefully held his mother's hand with trembling fingers.
"Mom..." Haru called out to her, but Natalia showed no response.
At that moment, 119 emergency paramedics arrived at the studio entrance with an orange stretcher. "Where is the patient?"
"Right over here. I'm her primary doctor."
"Then please come with us."
Kim Chul-Soo patted Haru on the back. "Haru, your mom will be fine. Let's meet again later, okay?"
Haru nodded and let go of his mother's hand.
The paramedics carefully placed Natalia onto the stretcher and secured her. "Alright. Everyone, please step aside."
Kim Chul-Soo said he would call once they arrived at the emergency room, then quickly left the studio with the paramedics.
Now, less than two minutes remained before the live broadcast resumed. The live broadcast would be disrupted if more than two minutes passed.
At that moment, Jo Han-Ill motioned from afar for me to return to the set.
I called out, "Haru."
Haru, still staring at the exit his mother had left through, came to his senses. "Yes, hyung."
"I hope you can win with the meal you prepared today."
"..."
"Let's meet your mom with the winner's trophy."
After a brief hesitation, Haru nodded. "I will."
I continued, "And...thank you so much for the meal. I've already enjoyed it with my eyes."
Haru shook his head. "No, I should be the one to thank you—for saving me and for finding my mom."
At that moment, Haru hugged me tightly. "Hyung... thank you."
"You're welcome, Haru," I replied and patted his back gently to calm him down.
"Come on, let's go back. Mr. Jo might cry waiting for us," I urged him.
When Haru nodded, Yang So-Ri quickly came over to wipe his tears and fix his makeup.
Now, only one minute remained.
Haru quickly turned around and hurried back to the set.
***
In the five-minute break for the live broadcast, 4 minutes and 30 seconds had already passed and only 30 seconds remained.
From this point on, any mistake could lead to a broadcast disaster.
Jo Han-Ill called for the filming to resume immediately.
"We're going live right away. Mr. Jin-Tae, start by talking to Haru then go straight to the judges for their comments."
"Yes, sir."
"And Mr. Baek, please keep the deliberation short and announce the results immediately."
As soon as Baek Jong-Suk nodded, Jo Han-Ill gave the signal. "We're live now! Everyone, stay focused. Ready~ Action!"
At that moment, Kim Jin-Tae picked up the mic and pointed at Haru. "Mr. Haru, you must have been very surprised to see your mother whom you haven't seen in a long time, here today."
Haru held back his tears and nodded. "Yes, I was...very surprised."
"Regardless of the outcome, I hope today will be a memorable day for you."
"Thank you, Mr. Kim!"
Kim Jin-Tae smoothly continued from the moment Haru's mother appeared.
In the meantime, I checked the live broadcast of Table of Mukbang on my phone. Because the scene of Natalia collapsing had aired, the live chat was blowing up.
[Table of Mukbang Chat Room]
-Bon Bon Shake it Shake it: What? Was that really Haru's mom? Is this a documentary, not a variety show?
-Yellow Cucumber: Wow! His lost mom came back during the finals?
-Matcha Coffee: Seeing Haru cry makes my heart ache. Haru, don't cry!
-Cabbage Flavored Cake: Congrats on finding your mom!
-Skills of Fist Fight: Haru deserves to win today to celebrate his reunion with his mom!
-Best Earthling: Make sure you vote, everyone!
...
The winner of the Table of Mukbang finals would be decided by a combination of the judges' scores and the viewers' votes. Because of what happened earlier, Haru's fans were rallying in full force.
In the meantime, Baek Jong-Suk began his evaluation on set. "It's wonderful that Mr. Haru reunited with his mother. Congratulations."
"Thank you."
"Now, let's start the evaluation."
Baek Jong-Suk began assessing the two contestants' final dishes. "The dishes prepared by both contestants are of a level that professional chefs would create. So, the conclusion that we judges reached is..."
Baek Jong-Suk paused for a moment and a drumroll echoed in the studio.
After about ten seconds, Baek Jong-Suk announced the results. "We believe both of you deserve to win, so we declare a tie!"
There was an uproar in the studio. No one had expected the judges to declare a tie.
As Jo Han-Ill urgently signaled, Kim Jin-Tae, sweating profusely, picked up his cue card and spoke. "Ah, yes, this is an unexpected result. The final decision will now be made by the viewers' votes. The text vote will be tallied in one minute. This is a crucial moment, so please cast your vote right now!"
There was only one minute left to count the votes.
Even the staff and talent agents on-site who hadn't voted earlier were now busy casting their votes.
After a short while, the minute was up.
Kim Jin-Tae announced the end of voting. "Alright, the voting is now closed!"
Just then Jo Han-Ill's face turned pale as he shouted into his wireless intercom. "Mr. Jin-Tae, the server's crashed! Stall for time!"
Kim Jin-Tae looked flustered as he fidgeted with his cue card. "We just received an urgent message."
He struggled to continue with beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "Due to the overwhelming response from viewers, the voting server has temporarily crashed."
No longer looking at his cue cards, Kim Jin-Tae relayed information from his earpiece. "We received ten times the expected votes and we're experiencing difficulties in counting. Uh, so... 1.2 million viewers voted, and it will take about ten more minutes to get the results."
Kim Jin-Tae wiped the sweat from his face before continuing. "We'll return after a short commercial break and show some memorable dishes from the past episodes. We'll announce the final results as soon as the tally is complete."
After Kim Jin-Tae's announcement, TVM's Table of Mukbang switched to commercials.
The network displayed an apology notice, and a message appeared in the top-right corner of the screen during the commercials that read: "Table of Mukbang Finals Text Vote Tallying in Progress."
Though they managed to buy some time, the staff were still in crisis mode.
"Get the voting server back up! What are the engineers doing?"
"Mr. Jo! We're trending number one on real-time search rankings right now!"
"I don't care! Once we have the results, we'll cut to the broadcast immediately. So don't leave your posts!"
While the staff were moving frantically, I checked the real-time search rankings.
[Live Search Rankings]
1. Table of Mukbang Finals
2. Haru
3. Haru's Mom
4. Lee Jin-Taek
5. Server Down
6. Table of Mukbang Server Crash
...
Thanks to Natalia's appearance, Table of Mukbang was the center of attention.
After six minutes had passed, Jo Han-Ill shouted, "We've got the results! Cut the commercials and go live. Everyone back in position!"
He must have pushed the tech team hard as what was supposed to take ten minutes was done in six.
"Cutting commercials in ten seconds. Standby~ Action!"
Simultaneously, Kim Jin-Tae wiped his sweat and looked at the camera. "Ladies and gentlemen, we finally have the results!"
Once again, the drumroll echoed through the set.
"I won't drag this out. Today's winner, with 941,123 out of 1,212,313 votes, is Mr. Haru!"
As soon as the winner was announced, Haru's legs gave way and he leaned against the table with both arms.
Confetti popped and rained down from the ceiling of the set.
Still in disbelief, Haru covered his face with both hands. His shoulders were shaking as he wept.
When Lee Jin-Taek approached to congratulate him, Haru wiped his tears with his arm and thanked him.
"Mr. Haru, please come up and accept your trophy."
When Baek Jong-Suk called him, Haru stepped forward.
Handing over the winner's trophy, Baek Jong-Suk said, "Congratulations, Mr. Haru!"
"Thank you, Mr. Baek."
As congratulations continued, Baek Jong-Suk spoke about the pop-up restaurant featuring the finalists' dishes. "The dishes these two showed today will be served in one month at Restaurant Yeon in Apgujeong, Seoul. So please show your support."
The broadcast ended with the announcement that these dishes could also be tasted at Baek Jong-Suk's restaurant.
"Cut! Good work, everyone!"
"Good work!"
The staff wiped their sweat and congratulated each other.
Given the reactions from netizens, it seemed likely that this episode would far exceed last week's 11.5% viewership ratings.
I asked the talent agents who had come with us to take care of the cleanup. "Yung-Jin, please take care of things here. I'm going to the hospital with Haru."
"Yes, sir. You should go quickly."
Just then, my phone rang.
"Is it Dr. Kim?"
However, it was a completely unexpected call.
-Hello, Mr. Jung. I'm Kim Yong-Suk from KY Law Firm, representing Mr. Lee Hyung-Moon.
It seemed Haru's father, Lee Hyung-Moon, had hired a lawyer.
The name of the firm sounded familiar.
'KY Law Firm? Where have I heard that before?' I wondered.
That's when a memory flashed in my mind. 'KY Law Firm... that's the family Eun-Ah almost married into.'
The head of the KY Law Firm, whose son once almost married Eun-Ah, was calling me now.
***
KY Law Firm was one of the top ten corporate law firms in Seocho-dong.
Kim Yong-Suk, the head of KY Law Firm, had once almost become Eun-Ah's father-in-law.
'Of all the people Lee Hyung-Moon could hire, he went to Kim Yong-Suk?' I pondered.
It was too much of a coincidence to be a mere accident.
-Hello? Are you still listening?
I snapped out of my thoughts and answered. Whatever the case, it was clear that Kim Yong-Suk was now my enemy. "I'm busy right now, so please get straight to the point."
-Then I'll get straight to the point. We will be filing a lawsuit against you, Mr. Jung Yoon-Ho—for verbal abuse, physical assault, and threats made against Mr. Lee Hyung-Moon. We will be sending a legal notice to both Hoop Entertainment and you, so I wanted to give you a heads-up.
"Did you just say... threats?"
-You heard me correctly. You verbally and physically assaulted Mr. Lee who was distressed over his missing wife, didn't you?
"Did you not hear what Lee Hyung-Moon did to Haru?"
-I believe that's not something a third party should interfere in. It's a family matter, after all.
In other words, Kim Yong-Suk was saying I shouldn't have meddled in family affairs because Lee Hyung-Moon had parental rights.
-Oh, and we'll be filing a lawsuit for the recovery of Mr. Lee Haru's earnings as well. If the company spends even a single penny without proper authorization from now on, we'll be suing for breach of contract and demanding several times that amount in compensation.
"I understand. And please tell Mr. Lee Hyung-Moon this: I'm holding back until tonight. If he apologizes now, I'll let it go."
After hanging up, I immediately called Kwak Moo-Hyuk at Hoop Entertainment to prepare for the situation.
Then I called Kim Chul-Soo to check on Natalia's condition.
-We're at Seven Star Hospital. Miraculously, Ms. Yung-Hee has regained some of her memories. She wants to see Mr. Haru, so you should come right away.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" I exclaimed with joy as I repeatedly bowed my head.
I held the phone tightly and said I would come immediately before hanging up.
Haru, holding a trophy in his hand, quickly rushed over and asked urgently, "Hyung, where is my mom?"
"She's at Seven Star Hospital in Gangbuk. She just woke up. Let's go right now."
Now that Natalia had regained consciousness, I had no concern left for Lee Hyung-Moon nor was I worried about the threats from Kim Yong-Suk at KY Law Firm.
'How dare he threaten Haru?' I fumed.
From now on, I planned to show those two lunatics exactly who they were dealing with.
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