The next morning, sunlight streamed softly through the curtains of Minjae's apartment. He had left them slightly open the night before, and now the warm light crawled gently across the wooden floor and up to the couch where he had fallen asleep.

Snow has finally stopped.

Minjae stirred in his sleep, his eyes fluttering open slowly. He sat up with a stretch and ran a hand through his hair. The apartment was quiet. The only thing that was making a sound was the hum of the fridge in the kitchen and the faint sounds of the car from below.

He reached for his phone on the table, expecting the usual handful of messages.

But what he got was far from usual.

[Donghyun Hyung]:Check the ratings. You're gonna want to see this.

Minjae blinked at the message.

He immediately opened his browser and typed in the drama's name.

The first headline he saw made him sit up straighter:

"The Star's Secret Hits Its Highest Rating Yet With Episode 8 – Viewers Praise 'Natural Chemistry' Between Leads."

Minjae's eyes widened. He scrolled down to check the numbers.

Episode 7 – 9.6%

Episode 8 – 10.4%

Double digits.

For the first time since the drama started, it had broken through that line.

Minjae exhaled in disbelief. His heart thudded a little louder.

Just then, another message came in.

[Yura:]

OPPA WE DID IT. DID YOU SEE?? DOUBLE DIGIT RATINGS!! 😭😭

[Minjae:]

I just saw. Wow… I didn't expect this.

[Yura:]

Me neither!! But everyone's saying the beach and café scenes were their favorites!

He couldn't help but smile at that.

[Minjae:] That's thanks to us and the staff's hardwork.

[Yura:] Yes, Oppa. I'm really grateful.

Minjae let out a smile. He stood up from the couch and walked over to the window. The city was wide awake now. People were out, shops were opening, and the cool breeze came in when he cracked the window open.

It felt like something had shifted.

Not just in the story of the drama.

But in his own story, too.

As Minjae continued to scroll on his phone, the articles online continued.

"Nam Minjae and Seo Yura's chemistry shines in this week's episodes—subtle, grounded, and refreshing."

"Netizens fall in love with Minjae and Yura's growing bond."

"#WaiterTaeyung and #ThatStoneTossScene lead real-time search trends overnight."

Minjae saved a few of them to his phone quietly.

He wasn't going to brag. He didn't need to.

But it felt good to know that people were watching.

And that, maybe, they were rooting or him.

He went into the kitchen to prepare some breakfast. It was just eggs and rice, something simple. While cooking, he kept glancing at his phone, seeing more messages come in from his stylist, a few of the crew members, and even Jihoon again:

[Jihoon:] Next time I go on a date, hyung, I'm bringing a seashell and pretending I'm Taeyung. 😂

Minjae shook his head and laughed.

As he sat down with his meal, with his phone beside him, Minjae felt something he hadn't felt fully in a long time:

Content.

Just… good.

And he hoped it would last, even if only for a little while longer.

At the same time Minjae was quietly enjoying his breakfast in his apartment, things were far from quiet inside the sleek glass office of Global Studios' headquarters.

The marketing team was already in their morning meeting.

In a bright conference room on the 8th floor, a group of professionals sat around a long table. The room was lined with whiteboards and pinned-up posters of the company's ongoing dramas, one of which—*The Star's Secret*—was now boldly circled in red at the top corner.

A team lead in their early thirties stood at the front, flipping through a digital presentation as the others listened and typed quickly on laptops.

Their focus? The aftermath of the previous night's episode.

"We hit 10.4%," the lead said, her voice crisp and quick. "Our highest rating yet. As expected, the momentum came from the Jeju episodes."

A junior staff, the one usually in charge of social media trends, chimed in as she glanced between her phone and her screen.

"Hashtags trended in the top five globally overnight. The café and beach scenes—especially the stone toss—have been reposted across international fan pages already."

Another staff member, slightly older and in charge of video edits, nodded. "It's time to release the BTS footage we planned. We still have that cut of Minjae and Yura laughing between takes in Jeju."

"Right," the lead replied. "That one looked really natural. Just them… being comfortable."

A third member, who normally worked on international engagement, looked up from his laptop.

"Also, we're getting fan-submitted content from abroad. There's a whole thread of people recreating the stone toss."

The room chuckled.

The lead tapped her pen on the edge of the table. "Alright, here's the plan. Upload the BTS footage by 3 p.m. today. Schedule the release across all our official channels."

"What about the thumbnail?" the youngest member asked from the back.

"Use that moment where Minjae's holding the shell and Yura's looking at him. Brighten it slightly, keep the text minimal. Just 'Behind the Waves' and their names."

"Got it."

The lead looked around at the table.

"This is working because it feels real. Don't overproduce it. Just let the footage speak."

They all nodded.

The meeting wrapped up quickly after that. People filtered out with notebooks and phones in hand, moving toward their own desks to start executing.

By the time it was early afternoon, the team was putting on the final touches.

In one corner, the video editor previewed the footage again. It was less than two minutes long.

It started with Minjae and Yura walking on the beach before the camera had even rolled. They were laughing about something off-camera. Minjae bent down to draw something in the sand, and Yura jokingly nudged him with her foot.

Then came the stone toss scene. The real version—before the official take.

"Wait, do you think this will skip?" Minjae asked, holding the rock.

Yura had laughed. "You've been practicing this, haven't you?"

Minjae looked mock-offended. "No faith at all."

They both looked so relaxed, so natural. The chemistry wasn't just acting. It was friendly, comfortable, and light.

Then the clip transitioned to a scene of the café shoot. During a break, Yura sat on the counter sipping iced coffee while Minjae adjusted his apron in the mirror.

"You actually look like you work here," she teased.

"Maybe I should become as a barista," Minjae replied, brushing a strand of hair from his forehead.

The editor smiled quietly and hit "Export" at the editing app to save it.

At exactly 3:00 p.m., Global Studios' social media accounts all posted the clip with the same caption:

🎬 Behind the Waves – A quiet moment with Minjae and Yura

#TheStarsSecret #BehindTheScenes #MinjaeYura #

Within ten minutes, it started gaining traction.

Fans were quick to notice.

"THE BTS IS OUT OH MY GOD I'M NOT OKAY"

"They're even cuter off-screen?? How is that possible??"

"The way Yura looks at him?? The way Minjae looks so chill but lowkey sweet???"

"I KNEW IT. I KNEW THEIR CHEMISTRY WASN'T JUST ACTING 😭😭"

On UsTube, the video comments filled up in minutes.

- "They're so comfortable with each other… this feels more real than half the romance dramas out there."

- "I love how he's just drawing in the sand like a kid. And she just rolls with it. Their energy is so nice 😭" My Vi*rtu#al- L#i*brary E+m$p.i+r^e (-M*|V|L+0EMPYR!) h&os@ts^ the o#r%ig@ina+l.*

- "Please… I need them on more variety shows together."

- "If this is how they are behind the scenes… I'm shipping even harder."

Even international fans joined in with comments in English, Japanese, Thai, Spanish. Translations began circulating. Fan edits started appearing on LikLok, matching clips from the drama with the BTS footage, overlaying it with soft music and captions like:

💬 "It wasn't in the script. But it felt right."

💬 "The way he made her laugh between takes..."

💬 "Slow burn onscreen. Sunshine off-screen."

By early evening, the BTS clip had over a million combined views across platforms.

Back inside Global Studios, the marketing team was watching the numbers tick upward in real-time.

"We're peaking early," the junior member noted. "Normally it takes at least a day."

Another team member, the one from international engagement, added, "We're getting emails for interviews. Not for the cast—just for the chemistry."

The team shared a quick, knowing look.

This was what success looked like from the inside.

It wasn't just the views or the trending tags.

It was the feeling that the story they helped tell—both onscreen and off—was reaching people.

And at the center of that?

Two young actors.

Back at his apartment, Minjae had just finished washing his plate from lunch when his phone buzzed.

He quickly checked what it was.

[Staff Chat - Global Team]

📎 Behind the Waves BTS is live! Hope you enjoy, Minjae-ssi 😊

Minjae clicked on the link.

He watched the clip in full, with earbuds in.

He laughed at how silly he looked tossing the rock, smiled at the way Yura had grinned without knowing the cameras were still rolling.

When the video ended, he didn't say anything for a while.

"…I'm glad I took this role."