Chapter 153

Chapter 153. Make It Happen!

Apparently, the visit to Thailand by Queen Kassadian, whom I'd seen in the third thumbnail last time, was scheduled for August.

And August turned out to be packed with all kinds of events.

First, Winner Brothers released 〈The Stranger〉.

In Korea, ZGV handled distribution, and the film was already on a tremendous run.

They'd actually had to increase the number of theaters beyond the original plan.

The attention Serin had received after exposing the fake married couple had boosted public interest even further.

Distribution in America was also going smoothly, and I heard quite a few distribution investors had begun gathering around the film.

Since I'd ended up owing Winner Brothers a debt I never asked for, I discussed it with Choi Gyu-sik and gave Winner Brothers exclusive distribution rights.

Of course, I attached a condition.

Once the film was submitted to festivals and its nominations were confirmed, we'd open distribution to others.

Second, Anna and Jared Big were growing closer and closer.

She'd done the same thing with Billy before.

Maybe Anna had some special charm that attracted foreigners.

Was it because she spoke English well?

Wait.

"A charm that attracts foreigners?"

Come to think of it, wasn't I a foreigner to Anna too?

And so was everyone in this country.

Could it be...?

I immediately shoved that confusing thought into the deepest corner of my mind.

Anna being charming was an undeniable truth.

Trying to divide that charm by race would be blasphemous.

The Red Hog ambassador deal Jared recommended went through almost immediately.

Being an ambassador didn't involve any particularly demanding group activities.

Every now and then, Anna just had to post something on social media like:

[I practiced all night drinking Red Hot~]

That was basically it.

Anyway, the Red Hog ambassadors, including Queen Kassadian, were scheduled to visit Thailand on August 20.

It happened right when Serin was riding high on the success of 〈The Stranger〉.

A Red Hog marketing manager even called me personally and invited Anna to Thailand.

He spoke fluent Korean.

"I knew there was some kind of event, but what exactly do you do there?"

"Red Hog is the largest sponsor of the Minnesota Vikings, so we occasionally invite them to Thailand for friendly matches. It's an event. A festival, really. You can think of the Minnesota Vikings as just one part of Red Hog's festival."

Singers.

Actors.

Sports stars.

They invited all of them to Thailand at once and held a wide range of large-scale events.

There was even an audience with the King of Thailand, just like I'd seen in the future video.

"As you probably know, Chairman Srinawong is a royal noble, so we do receive quite a lot of support from the royal family. Strictly speaking, however, the event itself has nothing to do with the royal family. Celebrities come to Thailand for the festival, and then His Majesty invites them for an audience."

That was what the manager said.

But the royal audience was probably the main event from the public's perspective.

Whatever the planners intended, there was a good chance people would see it the other way around.

They'd assume the ambassadors came to Thailand to meet the King and just happened to participate in some other events along the way.

Should we accept?

I couldn't really see any major advantage.

Thanks to Jared, Anna had already gained popularity among Thai people.

And no matter what the circumstances were, getting politically entangled was absolutely something to avoid.

An artist should be loved by everyone.

The moment an artist leaned toward one side, the fandom itself would split.

If you wanted to remain politically neutral, you had to balance carefully between both camps.

If my connection with Jared had nudged us one step to the right, then it was probably time to nudge ourselves one step left.

"Unfortunately, we already have a schedule that day, so I don't think we'll be able to attend."

The manager stammered as though he hadn't expected that answer at all.

"I-Is that so? Ah, that's really unfortunate. This will receive worldwide coverage, so I think visiting the royal family at least once would help solidify her image as an ambassador."

I appreciated the symbolism of becoming an ambassador for the sponsor of one of the world's most powerful sports teams.

But there was no reason to get tied to politics.

And why did this guy keep pushing after I'd already said not to proceed?

"It really is unfortunate for us too."

I tried rejecting him politely again.

But the manager kept trying to persuade me as if he couldn't read the room.

So I decided to say it plainly.

News that Do Jun-hyeok had rejected the visit to the Thai royal family eventually reached the planners of the NFL Super Bowl.

Sports reporters who closely followed team sponsors and their ambassadors spread the story rapidly.

In the United States, an ambassador for a major sponsor was effectively also an ambassador connected to the sponsored team.

After all, sponsors used celebrity ambassadors precisely because they could promote both the company and the team at the same time.

"So this Thai girl, Anna Maralak, has been doing that well lately? I know who she is too. But is she popular enough to bring into our halftime show?"

The person asking was Lewis, the executive planner in charge of the NFL Super Bowl Halftime Show.

The marketing team leader answered immediately.

"Of course not."

The NFL Super Bowl Halftime Show was basically a concert featuring the biggest artists in the world that year.

Artists like Beyond, Nekil Minaj, and Cold Handsome.

The kind of singers who would leave their names in music history.

Blue Moon, including Anna, had been gaining a lot of attention lately through Jared Big.

But they weren't yet in the same league as those artists.

"But this year's halftime show is designed around multiple performers, isn't it? We've already got a lot of singers participating. The crowd will probably applaud every time another artist comes out. That means popularity alone is enough to make Anna useful for the event."

The team leader explained.

This year's lineup already included famous artists like Austin River, British Spearman, Doctor Andre, and Mary Wild.

If a trending figure like Anna Maralak appeared among them, the audience response could become even stronger despite her comparatively lower global fame.

"She's part of a group called Blue Moon, though. If we want a proper performance, we'll have to bring all of them. Don't you think the response would be good?"

"Probably."

Lewis remembered the period when Anna had first begun attracting attention in America.

She had gone viral through the rap 〈Kim Serin〉.

And the actual Kim Serin named in that rap was currently appearing as a major supporting actress in 〈The Stranger〉, which was now screening in more than sixty theaters across the United States.

Lewis had even watched the movie himself.

Kim Serin.

He repeated the name in his head.

She was incredibly beautiful.

Her appearance also matched the cynical personality of her character so perfectly that she was almost giving Americans fantasies about impoverished first-generation immigrants.

As though any poor Asian immigrant girl arriving in America might look beautiful and cynical like Kim Serin.

"Blue Moon for the halftime show... Hmm."

Lewis thought for a while.

Then he decided.

"Make it happen."

〈The Stranger〉 was steadily marching toward ten million admissions in Korea.

And now it was time to deal with something I'd been putting off for a long time.

I needed to save Kim Hye-jin, who would soon get into a copyright dispute with United Talenet Live.

I opened Kim Hye-jin's Nutube fan channel.

It was called Youngchae's Crush.

Most of the videos had, at best, around fifty thousand views.

But her newest upload had already passed one million.

I checked it.

It was a cross-edited video of Blue Moon performing 〈Hippie〉.

She had stitched together footage from several different performances to make them look like a single stage.

And one of the sources was footage she'd personally filmed at United Talenet Live.

I called United Talenet Live and asked how they planned to handle fan-recorded videos.

"I heard the tradition is not to interfere with that kind of thing. Especially in Korea. The fandom culture is pretty established."

The United Talenet Live stage planner answered.

You say that now.

You're going to raise hell and demand copyright fees later when the views explode.

"I just sent you a link. It includes footage from Blue Moon's United Talenet Live stage. You're really not going to object to that?"

The planner checked the video and said no.

"Then I'd like to purchase the rights to that particular performance footage in advance. Let's assume the video reaches five million views."

"What? You want to do that? I just told you we have no intention of making an issue out of it."

You will.

If I waited until the video hit twenty million views and they suddenly demanded revenue compensation, things would become complicated.

Kim Hye-jin hadn't even enabled monetization.

Meaning she wouldn't be able to pay.

If I wanted to save her then, I'd have to pull company money out and throw it away for nothing.

It would be far cheaper to purchase the rights beforehand.

And even from my perspective, that would ultimately benefit us.

The audio would keep being streamed through Nutube, meaning we'd continue earning music revenue.

"Understood. How should we proceed?"

I explained how contracts for performance-video rights were usually handled.

Maybe he thought there was no way the video would ever reach five million views.

Or maybe he genuinely had no intention of causing trouble yet.

But once it passed twenty million, greed would probably take over and they'd start talking about money.

"Still, may I ask why you're doing this? I heard that in Korea, these things are usually tolerated unofficially."

"That's true. But sometimes they aren't. If a video becomes too popular, there are organizers who suddenly turn around and demand compensation from fans. Once that happens, other fans become afraid to film and upload things too. That part of fandom culture starts shrinking. Then both the company and the fans lose out. So I'd rather secure the rights beforehand."

I exaggerated a little.

I'd never actually seen an organizer stab fans in the back like that.

Except for future United Talenet Live.

After explaining things in a roundabout way, I ended the call.

"Hyung, did you check the email?"

"I'll look now."

The moment I hung up, Dae-hun asked me.

I immediately opened the inbox.

One email stood out.

The sender was listed as:

Super Bowl Halftime Show