Chapter 117

Chapter 117. The Smell of Success

Heenari made their flashy debut after securing a slot on 〈Music Bang Bang〉.

There were plenty of bigger stages available, but I deliberately chose 〈Music Bang Bang〉.

I knew exactly how much trainees dreamed of standing on that show.

Besides, if our goal was number one on the music charts, 〈Music Bang Bang〉 was a perfectly useful tool.

Among domestic music shows, it had the highest ratings.

"Neo-mu, sarang hae~!"

When Billy appeared with Heenari and shouted in clumsy Korean, the filming set nearly exploded.

The stage felt too small to contain all the screaming.

The combination of Billy and 〈I Love You So Much〉 didn't even feel strange.

We could capture both the retro craze and Billy's popularity while still giving the Heenari members plenty of attention.

Starting today, their six months of activities officially began.

Dae-hun would handle their promotions from here on.

I had to release Blue Moon's new song.

When I went to the practice room and played 〈Hippie〉, the song we'd selected as Blue Moon's new track, Serin and Anna both burst out laughing in surprise.

The guide vocal was Serin.

And the composer was Anna.

I asked what the hell had happened.

"Ji-hye unni said she'd show me around her studio, so I followed her and learned how to use composition software. I made this with it."

"You learned the program and this was the first song you made? That kind of software isn't something you can learn that quickly."

"There wasn't really much to it besides having lots of functions. It took a little longer because I didn't know any shortcuts..."

Anna's genius had suddenly jumped out and punched me in the face again.

I'd thought she was just good at languages and history.

At this point, wasn't she simply some kind of memorization monster?

There was a thing called hyperthymesia or something like that, wasn't there?

Anyway, fortunately Serin and Aran seemed to like the song too.

"Seung-tae, what do you think?"

"I think it's good too."

Thinking back, Seung-tae had shown absurd talent while working on 〈I Love You So Much〉.

The original choreography consisted almost entirely of simple moves anyone could imitate on the spot.

But those movements themselves were still remembered as the signature point choreography of 〈I Love You So Much〉.

So we couldn't change them.

But we also couldn't leave them untouched.

Either way, we had to make a choice.

Seung-tae chose a complete recreation.

He created as much choreography as he wanted to match the modern arrangement of 〈I Love You So Much〉 and pushed ahead with it.

The first stage would naturally attract the most attention.

And during the beginning of that first stage, most eyes would be on Billy anyway.

So trying to force nostalgia for the original from the very beginning would've been difficult.

Instead, Seung-tae asked Sang-do to insert the original version's sound as a special event near the end of the song, after the second chorus.

By fully embracing the original sound there, he drew a clear line between the original and the remake.

Naturally, during that special section near the end, they performed the original choreography exactly as it had been.

Sea Girls themselves weren't even onstage, yet some audience members still cried.

It seemed Seung-tae had really developed a proper feel for directing public stages while working at Universe.

"All right, then. How amazing a choreography are you planning to give our Blue Moon family?"

"The moment you asked, I saw 593,487 different futures where Blue Moon performed different choreographies."

The members burst out laughing at Seung-tae's joke.

"And in how many of those futures does the choreography succeed?"

"...None."

"None?"

Seung-tae answered,

"I tried looking for a future where it failed so we could avoid it in advance, but there wasn't one."

Wasn't this the same guy who always said there was only one perfect choreography for any given song?

And now he had nearly six hundred thousand?

Anyway, Seung-tae began showing them the point choreography, and the members followed along while we checked how everything looked on video.

When he trained Heenari, they stumbled fairly often.

Even if all of them had previous debut experience, it seemed they still couldn't compare to Blue Moon.

I was watching their practice and giving occasional comments when someone peeked through the glass door of the practice room.

It was Moon Hee-jung from New Dimension.

She seemed to be looking for me, so I opened the door and stepped outside.

"What brings you here?"

At my question, Moon Hee-jung awkwardly held up a few sheets of paper.

"I've never received investment in this kind of arrangement before... So just in case, I wrote a business proposal and emailed it to you, but you didn't read it. So I printed it out and brought it myself."

"What? A business proposal?"

I had noticed something like that arriving in the company inbox.

I'd specifically told the staff not to open it.

It was obvious she'd written it out of obligation.

Why would the CEO of a company need to write a business proposal just to launch her own idol group?

If anything, she was supposed to be receiving proposals, not writing them.

"I mean... didn't I tell you I wouldn't interfere?"

"Still, this isn't like I received a hundred or two hundred million won. The amount is huge. You have to be curious, don't you? So..."

Fair enough.

Honestly, I was curious.

"All right. Let's look at it now."

I went through the business proposal she'd brought.

And since I'd agreed to read it, I wasn't going to skim.

I read every part carefully.

Well, look at this...

Reading it like this actually gave me questions.

"I'm genuinely curious about something here."

"That's fine! I hate interference, not healthy debate."

"Oh, really? That's reassuring."

It wasn't anything major.

I asked about the teaser plan in the proposal.

Her strategy was to pour a lot of money and time into the teasers so buzz would reach its maximum before the song was released.

"Ah... Is it too expensive?"

"No. If money were the problem, I'd say that. Why do you suddenly lose confidence whenever money comes up? I'm asking because this looks like something you especially want to focus on."

Moon Hee-jung fiddled with her earlobe before answering.

"I'm confident in the song, and I'm confident in the music video too. If people hear our song once, I can turn them into listeners. That means I need to make sure they listen at least once. If the teaser looks as amazing as 〈The Emperor of the Rings〉, wouldn't people want to check it out at least once?"

"I probably would."

Moon Hee-jung was right.

Some entertainment companies released two or three teasers sequentially before a debut just to keep anticipation building until release day.

Pantheon loved blockbuster music videos and spent plenty on teasers too.

And back when I worked there, I had never once thought that spending was a waste.

"Of course it'll have an effect. And there'll already be some anticipation because we're planning to spread the word everywhere that Universe invested in the group. In that case, rather than pouring more money into marketing, shouldn't we focus all that money on satisfying the fans who are already looking forward to it? That's my opinion."

A bad work needed rumors to sell.

A masterpiece spread by itself.

And I already knew Moon Hee-jung had made a masterpiece.

A world-class one at that.

Just like Choi Gyu-sik, who would make a quiet art film commercially successful in an era obsessed with spectacle.

But I'd clearly promised not to interfere...

Then instead of interfering, I should discuss it with her.

"Looking at the music video plan, it seems like you've been trying to save money there too. If you follow my suggestion, then I should take responsibility for it as well. I'll cover the music video budget without a fixed limit. As long as you don't literally try to make a feature film."

"You're right, CEO Do Jun-hyeok. I think I still have too much of that survival mentality left."

Of course, we still needed some promotion.

If nobody promoted it at all, even a masterpiece could disappear in 0.1 seconds.

"By the way, do you have any other songs besides this one?"

The song I'd seen in the future clip was called 〈Come Out of There〉.

That song was guaranteed to attract attention even on Billboard.

But the title in this proposal was 〈City Heart〉.

"We do, but even releasing this song alone is going to keep us busy for now."

"Let's hear the others too. Send them to me and I'll take a look."

Apparently, the plan was to release 〈Come Out of There〉 later after the first track succeeded.

If the next song was guaranteed to succeed too, there was no reason not to invest in it immediately.

I could smell it.

The smell of success.

"Ah, don't worry. I'm not going to steal anything from you. You've registered the copyrights already, right? And the recordings?"

[Heenari's 〈I Love You So Much〉 Finally Reaches No. 1 on Mango Chart! Effectively No. 1 for 〈Fri-Sat Singer〉!]

[Despite Repeated Entertainment-Industry Scandals... What Was Universe's Strategy That Ultimately Made Them Succeed?]

The moment 〈I Love You So Much〉 surpassed the streaming count of the current number-one song, we gathered in Team 2's office and ordered chicken.

Then, after midnight, when the chart officially updated and placed it at number one, the entire building shook with cheers as though we'd just scored the winning goal in a World Cup final.

Blue Moon had already taken number one several times.

But Heenari had faced a lot of criticism from the beginning.

We'd turned down the opportunity for a Billy Aaron song and instead decided to remake an old track.

And we'd gotten lumped into some of the criticism surrounding entertainment agencies too.

"Haaaa... Number one in the end! If God sent someone to teach humanity how entertainment planning should be done, that person would be Do Jun-hyeok."

Dae-hun said that.

He was probably waiting for me to respond, I don't remember sending anyone like that.

I didn't.

I'm not rap god Seminem.

I wanted to give all the glory to the Heenari members who had suffered through so much anxiety even before debut.

Though I suppose God had sent me a few spam messages instead.

-This song's insane. Even my aunt likes it. Legendary generation unifier.

-I heard their contracts only last six months. Do they really have to go back to their original agencies afterward...? That's depressing.

-Shin Hyung-geol, Yang Won-cheol, Lee Jong-soo are getting a free rideㅋㅋㅋㅋ If they have any conscience, shred those contractsㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

I'd been curious how long the public anger would last.

I kept watching.

And kept watching.

At this point, my neck was practically falling off because netizens refused to let it go.

Every entertainment company connected to Shin Hyung-geol's side, as well as every agency that had participated in 〈Rebooting〉, was getting torn apart one by one.

Turb Entertainment was included too.

They still hadn't recovered from the beating they'd taken over the Sang-ha and Do-ha brothers.

At this rate, Turb might genuinely shut down soon.

Bzzzzt.

Billy Aaron called me.

I answered.

"Yo-bo-se-yo, Jun-hyeok Do."

"You saw the online reaction, didn't you?"

"I did. Someone gathered screenshots and translated them for me. Korean lighting made me look incredibly girlish too."

Girlish?

As far as I knew, Billy Aaron was twenty-two this year.

He was on the younger side even among the Heenari members.

After practicing with them for so long, had Billy somehow convinced himself those girls were all around fifteen?

"Anyway, thank you. Billy, your help made a huge difference."

"Honestly, I thought it would all succeed because of me. But I don't think that's true anymore. It was a good memory for me too, and I learned a lot. I thought if the song and stage quality were good, that was enough. But Jun-hyeok Do pays attention to everything from every direction."

It wasn't a strategy I'd ever named before.

Personally, I decided to call it the Moon Hee-jung Strategy.

"Ah, but I think my influence in Korea is still bigger than Heenari's for now."

"Of course. Billboard fame doesn't disappear overnight."

"That's why I want to hurry and give them one gift before Heenari gets any bigger."

I asked what kind of gift he meant.

Billy just told me to look forward to it and hung up.

I wasn't exactly fond of surprise gifts.

Was he planning to buy every member a convertible like Revick?

Or maybe a skyscraper in Manhattan?

About two days after that call, I finally saw what Billy's gift was.

I had no idea whether it was worth as much as a Manhattan high-rise.

But it was definitely something I needed right now.

Billy Aaron: A lot of people ask me how I felt about staying in Korea for so long. It was a fantastic trip. Everyone was passionate, and they knew how to enjoy my music. But the owners of entertainment companies who manage artists were very different from the image I had of Korean people. With the exception of Do Jun-hyeok, most of them treat artists like machines they can use however they want. If some idiot ever confuses North Korea with South Korea, it's probably because of Korea's entertainment company CEOs.

┗Revick: Oh, really? I work like a machine too, though.

┗Billy Aaron: This isn't something to joke about. For them, it's reality.

He'd even mentioned North Korea.

That was an extremely harsh criticism.

And Koreans hated being compared to North Korea more than almost anything.

Billy's post, along with comments from other Billboard pop stars, caused public anger to explode.

Criticism I'd expected to continue at a moderate level began boiling over instead.

Nearly every bad practice in the entertainment industry was dragged into the open.

Ten-year contracts.

Penalty clauses for terminating contracts.

Everything.

The fences around major agencies like Root and Riven barely had time for the raw eggs to dry before more were thrown.

Banners calling for Heenari's liberation appeared in front of entertainment companies.

I wanted to stay serious about the situation.

But deep down, I couldn't help feeling excited.

If they genuinely freed Heenari, I could bring the members over without paying a single won in penalties.

One day, while I was still obsessively monitoring the internet, another spam message arrived.

The situation hadn't even fully settled yet.

[Title: 6/10]

[Recorded: 2024.03.26. 21:01]

[Free Opt-Out: 010-xxxx-xxxx]

The recording wasn't very far into the future.

I opened the video.

...Seongdam Engineering?

It was a little unexpected.

The video was about a company called Seongdam Engineering.