Chapter 150

Chapter 150. Wish Fulfilled

I told Burtman everything.

Once filming ended, the environmental organization in Korea was going to attack Winner Brothers.

Anything Winner Brothers tried afterward would be useless.

I advised him to move the shoot to a proper location before they caused any more environmental damage.

For now, I handed Na Hye-sook my business card.

I told her I wanted to provide something more valuable than a regular donation.

The first organization that came to mind was UNEP, the environmental group I'd seen in the future video, so I asked her to recommend one of our members as an environmental ambassador.

There was a reason I deliberately made that suggestion.

Na Hye-sook seemed like the kind of person who would do anything for Greenist's growth.

If I said I wanted to support a UNEP ambassador position instead of Greenist itself, she should naturally have been disappointed.

But Na Hye-sook accepted immediately.

If anything, she welcomed the idea.

That confirmed it.

Her claim that Greenist desperately needed to become an officially recognized environmental organization was at least half a lie.

Na Hye-sook already seemed to have connections with UNEP.

She might even be planning to score points with them by saying she'd brought one of our members in as an environmental ambassador.

I told her to contact me once it was confirmed, then headed back to Seoul.

Both Burtman and Na Hye-sook would be busy now.

Some of the nearby roads had already been damaged, so Na Hye-sook would probably try to make an issue out of at least that much.

And if Burtman took my warning seriously, he would start preparing for the public-opinion battle that was about to break out.

When I returned to the company, it was lunchtime.

The members were gathered in the kitchen area across from the office, eating.

Naturally, their meal was an eco-friendly salad.

"Wow. You eat salad for lunch? Being an idol really is hard. You can't even eat whatever you want."

"No, we always eat like this. Proper meals fill us up too much, so we can't finish them. Unless we're filming a mukbang or something, all of us are light eaters."

The filming crew looked impressed.

Very good.

Youngchae looked a little unimpressed, but that actually made the whole thing look more natural.

"Oh? CEO-nim is back. Do you normally have this many activities of your own?"

"Of course. To preserve the members' stamina, I personally handle most business meetings and activity contracts whenever possible. I just got back from Gangwon Province over something related to the distributor for 〈The Stranger〉, which Serin is appearing in."

"That's really impressive."

I hadn't added a single lie.

"You girls. Even if they're here filming, you should at least put on makeup before coming out."

"Aww. That's such a hassle."

Jin-hee said it as if it were nothing.

Aran, who had already gone through a full round of heavy natural makeup, answered with perfect shamelessness.

By the time everyone finished their salads and started cleaning up, the field PD came over and asked me something.

"Director Kwon Dae-hun mentioned Blue Moon is going to America. Are you planning to promote the new song overseas too?"

"Ah, we've been invited to the United Talenet Live festival. We're going for that, and since we'll already be there, we're planning to promote 〈The Stranger〉 as well. Everyone will be going together."

"United Talenet Live. That's incredible. Isn't Blue Moon going to hit number one on Billboard too, just like Dessault?"

If the members really set their minds to it, it was probably possible.

I just didn't intend to spend all our time trying to force a Billboard number one right now.

"That would be amazing."

"Then why don't you make a promise too, CEO Do Jun-hyeok? Like you did with PD Na Young-hwan before. If Blue Moon reaches number one on Billboard, what will you do?"

"A promise? Hmm..."

They probably wouldn't reach number one.

And if they weren't going to anyway, I could promise anything.

"If they reach number one, I'll go to the moon and..."

"Go to the moon and?"

No.

Making a promise involving the moon felt ominous.

If I wasn't careful, I might end up in a swimsuit like Na Young-hwan.

"We'll release a new song titled 〈Let's Go Play on the Moon〉 and sell the album for 500 won a copy."

"Five hundred won! Sounds great! You'd better print fifty million copies!"

Then we'd immediately become the best-selling album in history and probably stay there for a very long time.

"Wow! A private jet! A private jet!"

It was the day we were leaving for America.

Aran shouted as she boarded Jung Tae-jin's plane behind him and the other members.

"You said you'd take care of the flight, but I never imagined you meant a private jet. Do broadcasting company presidents normally own things like this?"

"No. Hahaha. It's not quite like that. But if you're the son of the head of ZJ Group, I suppose owning one isn't too strange. I share it with my older brother. It's a shared plane."

If there were only two users, you could just call it a private jet.

Once we got onboard, every seat was first class.

Even Youngchae, who had been acting calm, widened her eyes when she saw the interior.

Each seat even came with its own refrigerator and washbasin.

Youngchae sat beside me.

"This is seriously comfortable, Youngchae. Right?"

"It really is. When I was little, my ideal type was a man with a private jet. I never thought there were actually people who owned one."

Your ideal type was a man with a private jet?

Dae-hun.

Sell the company and order one immediately.

"No, Youngchae. A man with a private jet cannot be your ideal type."

I couldn't surrender Youngchae's heart to something as trivial as a private jet.

"Wouldn't someone with a private jet have to be incredibly smart? People talk about being car-poor, but nobody says they're private-jet-poor. If he bought something this expensive through his own abilities, he'd probably be someone I could learn a lot from."

"Yeah. Still no."

"I understand. Even if that's not my intention, you're worried it might make me look materialistic, right? From now on, I'll say my ideal type is a man who works diligently and responsibly."

That wasn't what I meant.

But like the veteran idol she was, Youngchae interpreted my words in her own way.

"This is honestly a little overwhelming. It's just one film, yet we've received support for everything from promotion to distribution... It almost feels like the side dishes are bigger than the main course."

Director Choi Gyu-sik, sitting in front of me, spoke in a calm voice despite his excitement.

"Didn't MUC agree to distribute it? They're famous for not touching films they don't believe in. How can you call Director Choi Gyu-sik's movie the small part? If anything, I'm the one hitching a ride on it."

I tried encouraging him a little.

Choi Gyu-sik said that with so many people supporting him, he actually had nothing left to worry about.

Hearing that, Jung Tae-jin spoke from behind me.

"I enjoy hitching a ride too. You may not know this, but MVN's Blue Moon channel reached an 11 percent rating recently. The average for that time slot was around three percent. Doesn't that make me an eight-percent hitchhiker?"

"Come to think of it, how's the broadcasting station coming along?"

"I'll organize everything and report back to you step by step. It shouldn't take too long."

The sooner we got the broadcasting station established, the sooner the PDs could relax too.

Because I'd promised her a good seat in exchange for not filming, I had also brought Kim Hye-jin, the rookie marketer from ZJ headquarters.

It was to fulfill both a member's wish and a fan's wish at the same time.

Still, I deliberately seated her far away from Youngchae.

If she saw Youngchae sitting too close, she might actually faint.

Cardiovascular health was important before a flight.

After roughly thirteen hours, we arrived at San Francisco International Airport, sacred ground for rapper shootouts.

We immediately got into vehicles and headed to the festival venue first.

Normally, we would've booked accommodations in advance, stayed overnight, then visited the venue the next day.

Thanks to Jung Tae-jin, though, we'd traveled as comfortably as if we were at home, taking showers and watching television along the way.

The venue was packed with Americans.

The stage design and atmosphere were exactly as I'd seen in the future video.

Still, I found Moon Hee-jung quickly.

Even from the venue entrance, I could see her moving busily among the dispatched staff.

"President Moon Hee-jung! It's getting harder and harder to see your face these days!"

I quietly approached from behind and shouted.

Moon Hee-jung jumped and spun around.

As I got closer, I could see the Dessault members gathered in the waiting area.

They were all wearing leather pants.

Their styling had become so thoroughly Americanized that it felt a little unfamiliar.

"Hahaha. What are you talking about? This is your first time in America in ages. If you came, I'd cancel every schedule I had just to see you, CEO Do Jun-hyeok."

I wasn't receiving reports on every little thing, but if MUC had gone as far as offering to acquire New Dimension, she must've been receiving a huge number of invitations.

Even the talk-show offers I knew about were too numerous to count.

The Blue Moon members quickly changed clothes and entered the waiting room where Dessault was gathered.

Dessault's faces were completely stiff.

They looked incredibly nervous.

Well, how were they supposed to truly grasp what being number one on Billboard meant?

Billboard number one was probably the kind of achievement you could work in this industry for ten years and still never get used to.

Aran started throwing out silly jokes and laughing exaggeratedly to help Dessault relax.

The Dessault members gradually loosened up with her.

Moon Hee-jung watched them with a pleased smile.

"It's so nice having a senior group from a sister company. They can take care of the girls like that. No matter how much I tried comforting them, they couldn't relax at all."

"That's how it is. People get nervous when there aren't any seniors who've already opened the road ahead of them. Dessault is doing well."

Dessault took the stage and performed two songs.

〈City Heart〉 and 〈Come Out of There〉.

As they accumulated more songs, they'd eventually be able to perform much longer sets.

They only had two songs today, but their choreography was far more polished than before.

Americans loved performance just as much as Koreans did, so the reaction from the crowd was explosive.

Blue Moon performed right after Dessault.

At this point, the only thing making it not a K-pop festival was the fact that we were in America.

For a moment, I wondered whether anyone would complain about getting K-pop acts back-to-back.

There was no need to worry.

When goddesses were taking the stage, who cared whether it was K-pop or psychedelic pop?

They performed only one song, 〈Hippie〉.

Yet they completely transformed the entire venue into something that felt like their own solo concert.

As always, it was a killer performance.

[As expected of the outdoor goddesses, Blue Moon... They are exceptionally beautiful...!]

[They're raising national prestige! Give Blue Moon a tax exemption!]

[No! Don't get any ideas about Blue Moon, Americans!]

The fans in the chat room started losing their minds.

Under the American sunlight, our Blue Moon goddesses practically glowed white.

The weather was so good that I could appreciate every single strand of their hair.

United Talenet Live was filming the performance too.

Every time the giant screen switched to a different member's face, the audience erupted in cheers.

When the performance ended and the members came down from the stage, Moon Hee-jung made a huge fuss praising them.

Apparently, she felt that since I took care of Dessault, she should do the same for Blue Moon.

"You were amazing! You girls know Jared Big, right?"

"What? Jared what?"

"Jared Big! NFL star! The Minnesota Vikings' star running back! He just mentioned your performance on social media!"

Really?

I had no idea who Jared Big was, but with that many impressive titles attached to his name, he was probably very famous.

I'd been too busy checking fan reactions to notice.

"Jared Big?"

Anna thought for a moment.

Then her eyes widened.

Apparently, she recognized the name.

Moon Hee-jung showed Anna her phone screen.

"Jared Big mentioned us..."

"Why? Is he really that famous?"

Serin and the others, who clearly had no idea, asked.

Anna answered.

"Being famous isn't even the most important thing about this guy...!"