Chapter 151. Highly Advanced Sports Fandom
"The Minnesota Vikings receive major sponsorship from a Thai company famous for the energy drink Red Hot. And Jared Big is the player that company values the most."
The moment Anna said that, I received an animated image.
Spam.
But wait.
Red Hot?
Wasn't that the drink people said gave you wings if you drank it during exam season?
"Really? That's an incredibly famous drink."
"Exactly. There's a famous Thai aristocratic businessman named Srinawong. He's the chairman."
I hadn't spent much time looking him up before, but I had searched the name once.
He was the current chairman of a Thai company called Red Hog Co., Ltd.
I'd never known what kind of company it was.
So they were the ones who made Red Hot.
All right.
One thing at a time.
A famous American football player had just mentioned Blue Moon.
That player was also the favorite athlete of Srinawong, the same man who would later ignite the protests in Thailand.
Got it.
I'd remember that.
First, let's check the spam.
[Title: 7/10]
[ZJ Logistics]
[Registered Parcel Cannot Be Delivered - Unknown Address]
[Confirm Address: https://aafo.to/Plvfabb]
The very first thumbnail on the linked page looked brutal.
It showed a street somewhere in America at night.
Two men were visible.
One was lying on the ground.
The other was walking away quickly with a handgun in his hand.
It looked like he'd shot the first man and was fleeing.
The second thumbnail showed a Black man surrounded by several men in suits providing heavy security.
He had to be someone important to receive that kind of protection.
I couldn't search by face alone, so I memorized his appearance for now.
The third thumbnail showed a large group of people raising glasses in what looked like a banquet hall.
Their faces looked familiar.
Probably Hollywood celebrities.
There was one person I recognized.
A pop singer named Queen Kassadian.
She didn't look particularly central in the thumbnail, but she was the only person I could identify, so I searched for her online.
[Queen Kassadian Selected as Global Beverage Brand 'Red Hog' Ambassador]
When I searched Red Hog and the company behind it, the results led to Anna's home country, Thailand.
I also discovered that the banquet hall where Queen Kassadian and the others were raising their glasses was a place you could only enter with an invitation from the Thai royal family.
The others looked like celebrities too.
Apparently, Srinawong had invited all of Red Hog's ambassadors to Thailand.
If he was summoning famous celebrities, then there had to be something he wanted to promote.
"CEO-nim. There are way too many people gathering now. I think we should head inside."
"Ah, should we? Yeah. Let's go."
For now, I put my phone back in my pocket and loaded the members into the vehicles.
I deliberately had Anna sit in the very front.
While we were moving, I asked her about Red Hog.
"They're the company that makes Red Hot. Srinawong. The Minnesota Vikings are practically treated like Red Hog's personal team, and Jared Big is the most popular player among them. He's huge, but he's insanely fast. The second he gets the ball, the crowd goes crazy. Thai people love him too."
"He's that popular?"
If people in Thailand were going out of their way to follow games played almost entirely in America, his star power had to be enormous.
"There's a famous highlight. Want to see?"
Anna showed me footage from one of Jared Big's games.
I glanced at it occasionally while checking the road.
I couldn't properly study his playing style, but I saw the close-up after he successfully broke through the defense.
That face was familiar.
He was the man surrounded by guards in the second thumbnail.
Considering his fame, that kind of security wasn't strange.
Though there was probably something more serious hidden in that future video that I didn't know yet.
So the third video was Red Hog's ambassadors invited by Srinawong.
The second was Jared Big receiving heavy protection.
Then what was the first?
After dropping the members off at their accommodations, I looked at the thumbnails again.
All I could tell from the first was that there had been a shooting.
It wasn't a particularly informative image.
Still, these three videos probably pointed toward the same incident somehow.
And if a shooting was involved, the shooting itself was most likely the core event.
I boldly clicked the first video.
Had someone taken advantage of a gap in Jared Big's security and shot him?
"We have shocking news. Tom Manning of the Seattle Seahawks, beloved by fans across the nation, has died in a tragic shooting. Fans have been unable to hide their grief over his death."
It was footage from a Korean news studio.
The anchor wasn't reporting Jared Big's death.
The victim was a player named Tom Manning.
I kept watching.
As the anchor continued, footage that appeared to be security-camera video of the shooting played onscreen.
It was the same footage from the thumbnail.
A hooded man approached Tom Manning from behind while he was walking normally and shot him.
Manning collapsed.
The shooter immediately ran from the scene.
The news program froze the footage and drew a white circle around him so viewers could identify him more easily.
"The perpetrator has been identified as an avid Minnesota Vikings fan. He reportedly planned the crime out of resentment after Jared Big lost the NFL All-Star selection vote to Tom Manning."
So a Jared Big fan had murdered his rival, Tom Manning.
They said sufficiently advanced fandom became indistinguishable from an army.
Sports fandom was apparently even worse.
Perhaps because it was an overseas crime, the suspect's name and photograph were openly revealed.
He was a white man named Shehada Hager, and apparently he was an active-duty soldier.
"Attention has also returned to the fact that Tom Manning had harshly mocked Jared Big on social media after defeating him in the All-Star vote. However, Manning's family stated that no murder can ever be justified and condemned the perpetrator."
The video ended there.
I hadn't even finished organizing the information yet, but I immediately knew how I should use it.
Why had this spam arrived right after Jared Big gave Blue Moon a shout-out?
What else could that possibly mean?
Help him.
Then create a connection between Blue Moon and Jared Big.
I had no idea what the final result would be.
But this was clearly a revelation from future spam telling me to save him.
"Anna~!"
I immediately followed the members inside and called for her.
"Yes? What is it?"
"A world-famous superstar like Jared mentioned us, and you're just going to sit still? Post something on social media too. And let's go meet him right now! He's in America too, isn't he?"
[Maralak: One shot with Mr. Jared, the f**king idol of American football~ I've been a huge fan since I was little. Such an honor to meet you.]
[┗ Z.Big: Anna is seriously tiny and adorable in person. Thanks for coming~ I never expected you to actually visit. :)]
[┗┗ Maralak: NFL All-Star running back vote = Jared Big, no question! If you don't know that insane breakthrough speed, you're practically a spy~!]
MUC Chairman Brandon Burtman and Winner Brothers President Nicole DeLuca were discussing Anna's account.
Naturally, CEO Do Jun-hyeok was sitting in front of them as well.
They'd invited him over to review promotional strategy.
But Burtman had heard that an unpleasant incident had nearly happened in Korea recently, so he'd gone out of his way to visit Winner Brothers personally.
He was deliberately embarrassing Nicole to make his displeasure over her mistake clear.
A gentlemanly form of humiliation, one could say.
"What exactly does 'if you don't know, you're a spy' mean?"
"Perhaps it's an indirect criticism of America's subconscious McCarthyist tendencies?"
While Burtman and Nicole casually debated Anna's post, Do Jun-hyeok interrupted.
"No, nothing like that. It's just a Korean expression. I think Anna deliberately used it because she wanted people to have something to talk about."
"I see."
Nicole looked fairly young, but she was already in her forties.
Her blonde hair fell long over an outfit that looked more suited to a celebrity than an executive.
Burtman himself looked like the purest white American imaginable, though his hair had gone completely gray.
His expression was relaxed, but he clearly wasn't the kind of man who became complacent.
"Anyway, as you can see, social media promotion can be extremely effective. The important part is giving people something to talk about. If you provide us with interesting material through television appearances and interviews, we can amplify it through the company's social media channels."
Burtman exchanged a brief look with Nicole before speaking.
"You really don't have to go that far. Nicole will handle things properly. I appreciate how much effort you're putting into promotion, CEO Do Jun-hyeok, but..."
"I wasn't planning to do it completely for free. Social media promotion benefits us anyway, so there's no reason not to help. But I'd like to consider my participation a favor and ask for one thing in return."
Only then did Burtman look genuinely interested.
He asked what I wanted.
"When promoting the film, I'd like Kim Serin to be promoted less as actress Kim Serin and more as Kim Serin of Blue Moon."
"Hmm... That's not particularly difficult."
Burtman answered first, then glanced toward Nicole for confirmation.
What choice did she have?
The chairman had already said yes.
Even if it was difficult, she would have to make it possible.
"We'll do that. And we're currently finalizing the promotional schedule before sending it to Miss Kim Serin. There's one issue we're debating because two good programs have overlapping schedules. Since CEO Do Jun-hyeok is here, I'd like to ask your opinion."
Nicole explained two programs.
One was an interview program called 〈The Arthur Doyle Show〉.
The other was called 〈The Trueman Show〉.
〈The Arthur Doyle Show〉 featured funny interviews with a star host named Arthur Doyle.
〈The Trueman Show〉, on the other hand, attached participants to a lie detector.
If they continued receiving truthful verdicts for every question, they could win a large amount of money.
Kim Serin could appear there as a special MC.
"Could I see the format of both programs?"
"Of course. I'll show you."
Do Jun-hyeok carefully studied the program documents Nicole handed him.
While he read, Burtman and Nicole whispered to one another.
"He'll obviously choose the Arthur Doyle Show, right? It's bigger than the Trueman Show by almost every measure."
"I would think so. We only kept the other option open because he might find the special-MC position attractive. Still, he'll almost certainly pick Arthur Doyle."
A short while later, Do Jun-hyeok spoke.
"Hmm. I think the Trueman Show would be better."
"Are you prepared to tell the truth in front of the entire nation?"
"Of course."
"Then allow me to introduce today's special MC, who will join us for the truth about Mr. and Mrs. Shehada Hager! Serin, member of the famous Korean group Blue Moon!"
It was a sudden schedule, but Serin walked calmly onto the studio set without looking nervous.
In the distance, she could see the members and CEO Do Jun-hyeok cheering her on.
CEO Do Jun-hyeok had said even he had only received notice of the schedule at the last minute, so there had been no choice.
The production team had prepared several English questions for her.
All she had to do was watch the situation carefully and ask each one at the appropriate moment.
"Miss Serin, are you ready?"
"Y-Yes."
"Then please begin!"
The studio was dark overall.
Four people sat on the main stage.
The main MC.
Special MC Serin.
And the married couple who would be judged by the lie detector.
Shehada Hager and Jamie Hager.
The husband, Shehada Hager, was a major in the U.S. military.
His wife, Jamie Hager, was a kindergarten teacher.
Apparently, she'd worked at a kindergarten located inside the military base, and that was how they'd fallen for each other.
Looking at the script, even the first proper question was fairly vicious.
Still, they began with a warm-up.
"Here is the first question. Mr. Shehada Hager. Who is prettier, your wife, Mrs. Jamie Hager, or me?"
"Ooooh~!"
The main MC dramatically slapped his forehead and burst out laughing.
"Miss Serin is prettier."
[Truth]
The word appeared on the screen behind them.
The MC clapped happily.
It was the kind of answer a married couple could laugh off.
But apparently, the main MC wanted to ask the same thing.
He turned toward Jamie Hager.
"This one won't count. Mrs. Jamie Hager, what about you? Who is more handsome, your husband or Serin's manager sitting over there?"
"That Korean man, without a doubt."
[Truth]
The studio exploded with laughter.
Once everyone settled down, the main MC asked Serin to continue.
Now then.
The second question was...
Just as she was about to ask it, Do Jun-hyeok, seated among the audience, began waving his arms to attract Serin's attention.
Then he held up a sketchbook.
Written across it were the words:
[CODE RED. CODE RED.]
[I'll rewrite the script during the break. Ask whatever you want for now!]
