In the 3rd episode of JTBC's Saturday-Sunday drama 'Agency' (directed by Lee Chang-min/written by Song Soo-han/provided by SLL/produced by How Pictures and Drama House Studio) that aired on the 14th, Go Ah-in (Lee Bo-young) is an 'advertiser' who has fought against the stereotype of common sense. The head of production took out the sword of his/her personnel authority and carried out a 'creative' personnel reform. First, the team leaders of Choi Chang-soo (Cho Seong-ha), who had been receiving entertainment by twisting the company's wrist under the pretext of giving them work, were demoted to team members. A warning followed, “Choose only one of the three: lead, follow, or get out of the way.” She didn't stop there. A special personnel evaluation was conducted on 'useless' managers at the manager level who had been recruited through public recruitment and were promoted because they were in someone else's line even though they had no ability. As the subtitle of this day’s broadcast suggests, “When the lion changes its posture, the jungle becomes tense.”
Here, Goain, who competed solely on skill, had a strategy to create a solid team for himself in order to rise to a higher position. With the goal of “Divide & Rule,” that is, if you can’t have it all, you should have at least half of it, the production team controlled by Planning Director Choi Chang-soo (Cho Seong-ha) was split into two, one from the public and one from non-public recruitment. Despite the dissuasion of her right-hand man, Manager Han Byeong-soo (Lee Chang-hoon), who asked her why she kept increasing the number of enemies when it would not be enough to increase the number of allies, Go A-in remained adamant. There was a lot of backlash against such an unconventional appointment that was so reckless that he could be dismissed from his position. However, Go Ah-in seemed to have expected even this and asked the Managing Director of Personnel (Eom Hyo-seop) to convene an executive meeting.
Go Ah-in, who attended a meeting filled with publicly recruited executives for the first time, was met with strong opposition, saying, “If you look down on publicly recruited executives, who will show loyalty to the company?” However, due to the advertiser's dirty work instructions and company politics, the employees he worked hard to teach moved to competitors, and as a result, he pointed out the fact that the competitive PT budget alone was 35 billion won, saying, "The company promotes even if you do something that harms the company." “Isn’t this what it’s like?” he overpowered them with his witless killing. He then delivered a decisive blow, saying, “I promise to increase sales by 50% within 6 months, and if the results are not met, I will take responsibility and leave the company.” Since she has nothing to lose, she thinks financially rather than positively, and will only show results through numbers. PT It was a perfect declaration of war, showing off the undefeated legend Goain's skills to the fullest. And CEO Cho (Ji-il Park), whom everyone thought was “the old man from the back room who came to spend his retirement,” appeared at a crucial moment. With representative authority, he approved the Goa people's unconventional move.
Choi Chang-soo, who had been walking on a solid path to Goain's complete victory, felt the feeling of defeat for the first time, "being swayed by a child who had no foundation." This was the reason why he, who had never blushed once before, was so excited that he responded with anger. However, Goain did not back down and fought back more fiercely. He returned the 'sarcasm' he received from him, saying, "If you get excited, you make mistakes," and promised to show the difference between flowers that grew beautifully in the rain and wind and wild flowers that grew on the road, foreshadowing even bigger trouble. It was a thrilling ending that sparked curiosity about what strategy the two people, who exchanged victory and defeat in a tense atmosphere that would make their hands sweat, would use another fierce battle in the future.
Episode 4 of ‘Agency’ will be broadcast on JTBC at 10:30 pm today (15th) Sunday.
Ryu Ye-ji, Ten Asia Reporter ryuperstar@tenasia.co.kr