Chapter 185

Chapter 185. I Can See the Future

The moment the rehearsal performance ended, I hurried straight into the restroom.

Because I needed to pee?

No.

Because future spam had arrived.

[Title: 6/10]

[[International Message] Three days left to apply for your National Health Insurance refund.]

[https://mew.gl/ewRlu]

I immediately opened the link.

Then I checked each video one by one.

The first video was the long-awaited Super Bowl broadcast.

"That was an incredibly moving performance! The game is about to resume, and both teams look extremely fired up as well... Ah, I'm being told the entire Halftime Show wasn't broadcast on television? From here in the commentary booth, we can only confirm... Ah-ha...! So that's what happened. It's all right. We dedicate the glory of victory to that person."

We dedicate the glory of victory to that person?

The first video told me that the latter half of the Halftime Show never made it onto the television broadcast.

The important clue seemed to be that final line from the commentators.

But there wasn't enough information to understand what it meant yet.

"Blue Moon... We definitely can't book Blue Moon, correct?"

"That's right. They have a major performance that same day. In America. Even if they return directly to the United States after giving the speech in Germany, they still couldn't make the performance schedule. They won't be able to attend the peace conference."

"That's unfortunate. Well then, hmm... I suppose there's no helping it. Who's our second-choice speaker?"

Judging by the conversation, the second video was a meeting related to a peace-message speech at the UN.

Everyone there was a foreign middle-aged man speaking English.

Apparently, they wanted Blue Moon as the speaker.

A UN speech.

That opportunity was being offered to Blue Moon?

Of course, they were saying Blue Moon couldn't attend because it conflicted with a performance in America, probably the Halftime Show.

Still, it seemed like an incredible opportunity.

There was practically no precedent for an idol group doing something like that, so it was difficult to even estimate how positively it might affect their future activities.

Now for the third and final video.

"The breaking-news segment ran too long. We had to cut the second half of the Halftime Show entirely. What do we do?"

"Nothing we can do. Air it after the game. How long was the breaking news? Ten minutes?"

"That's right. But ten minutes is too long. There's no way to recover that much time. And we've already charged a fortune for the commercials scheduled after the game too."

"Then air it after those commercials! We've already dumped one giant pile of crap on the schedule. You think that's not enough? Keep delaying it until we're done refunding advertisers! That's the best option!"

This time, it was a conversation between producers at an American broadcaster.

The first video had shown that the Halftime Show couldn't finish airing.

Now I knew why.

A sudden breaking-news report had interrupted the broadcast, forcing them to abandon the rest of the Halftime Show.

The advertisers scheduled near the end must've been celebrating.

By pure accident, they'd essentially bought advertising immediately before the Halftime Show at a much cheaper price.

So what exactly was this breaking news?

If the network had been willing to wreck its schedule to air it, something major must've happened.

A terrorist attack?

A massive accident?

Whatever it was, there was no way for me to figure it out immediately...

So I started by thinking through the parts I could plan for.

If Blue Moon was assigned to the second half of the Halftime Show, we were screwed.

We could still perform live.

But no matter how many people were in the stadium, it couldn't compare to the television audience.

And viewers would end up watching our performance after the game, once all the excitement had already settled down.

Meaning it would only be a Halftime Show for the live audience.

Not for television.

First, avoid being assigned to the latter half of the Halftime Show at all costs.

No matter what it takes.

And then there were the commercials scheduled for after the Halftime Show.

Those slots were probably extremely expensive.

But their value would skyrocket.

Meaning it could be worth taking on debt if necessary to secure one.

Should I place an advertisement there?

We'd already enjoyed a very sweet return from the Mayway and Pakwis fight advertisement.

〈Listen to the Sound of Blue〉 had won the Sriver contest thanks in part to that exposure.

Let's try inserting something again.

Youngchae had recently filmed another commercial as Sriver's brand model anyway.

We had plenty of material to use.

For now, I'd steer things in that direction.

And I shouldn't forget to investigate that breaking-news report as much as possible.

"All right. Now that we've seen how everyone's stages are being put together, we need to decide the performance order. I think everyone will agree that Blue Moon's stage had the strongest impact and the greatest sense of rarity. So I'd like to place Blue Moon at the very end. Does anyone object?"

Lewis spoke in our favor.

The proposal was so unconventional that the singers and planners all looked startled.

But nobody argued.

That's what you get for holding back during the progress check.

If you've stood up to reach for the jackpot, don't bend back down for loose change.

"Looks like nobody objects. We'll proceed that way. Now, as for the rest of the lineup..."

Not so fast.

"I object."

I raised my hand.

Every eye in the room shot straight toward me.

Lewis asked,

"What is your objection?"

"We'd like to perform as early as possible."

"Is there a reason?"

Because the second half of the show won't be broadcast on television.

But if I said that, everyone would start fighting for the earlier slots.

Not that anyone would believe me anyway.

"Some of our dance teachers have other schedules afterward. And we should also make room for the better artists. Isn't it considered more prestigious to perform later?"

"Ahh. I see. I suppose those gentlemen all have their own modest livelihoods these days."

Lewis scratched his temple.

"But you can't go completely first. Lady Gagarin has requested a prerecorded performance. Because of how television works, we'll need to air the prerecorded stage first, then transition into the live portion. Even if we move you forward as much as possible, you'd probably land somewhere around the early-middle section."

Early-middle?

That's a little ambiguous.

If we went on immediately after Lady Gagarin, would we finish before the breaking news?

I couldn't be certain.

And when I couldn't be certain, betting on it was the wrong move.

"Then we'll do a prerecorded performance too."

I declared it immediately.

Come to think of it, there was also that future-spam video about the UN speech.

Those people had clearly said Blue Moon rejected the speaking invitation because of this performance.

Giving up a live stage was a shame...

But these were basically two rabbits that couldn't be caught at the same time.

If we chose the live performance, the television broadcast would get delayed.

If we chose a normal television schedule, we'd have to prerecord it.

At least with prerecording, we could push the quality as high as possible.

And if we could add a UN speech on top of that...

Yeah.

The more I thought about it, the clearer the answer became.

Mary Wild's expression immediately brightened at my declaration.

"Yes, yes. Of course that's the smarter choice. The football crowd will already be completely worked up. Honestly, I was worried the Blue Moon girls might make mistakes under that pressure. It's much safer to prerecord the stage and get out cleanly."

I can see straight through you, lady.

Lewis objected.

"No. Everyone saw Blue Moon's stage. Their live performance is excellent, and those dancers have incredible impact. If that stage happens in front of the crowd, the whole stadium will turn upside down. How can you throw that away and choose a prerecorded stage with no audience?"

Lewis, I know you mean well.

But there's no helping it.

He didn't know that if we performed live, our television broadcast would be pushed back.

This was one of those moments where I simply had deeper reasons than everyone else.

"We'll prerecord it. Our senior dancers aren't in perfect condition every single day either. It'll be a recorded stage, but I guarantee the impact will still be enormous... At least far greater than what all of you saw during today's progress check."

I returned to the hotel café and told the members how the meeting had ended.

"Ah... Prerecorded? Then when do we film it?"

"Whenever we're ready. We can go record it right away. And if we want, we can shoot multiple takes."

The members nodded.

Then Aran suddenly exclaimed as if she'd just realized something.

"Then we can make the stage enormous!"

Exactly.

We could make the stage enormous.

Much bigger and more elaborate than something that had to be installed and removed in a hurry during the game.

Serin nodded.

"That actually works out well. We need to install the hologram equipment too. We might've struggled with that if setup had to be rushed."

That was true too.

We called it hologram equipment, but in the end, it was still projecting video.

Angle and height were everything.

Imagine spending all that effort modeling Michael Jason perfectly, only for him to appear tilted halfway onto his back.

There wouldn't be anything more ridiculous.

"Everything has pros and cons. Still, I can't help wondering whether things ended up this way because of us. Honestly, a live performance is a hundred or a thousand times better than prerecording, isn't it?"

"Exactly. You should've just told them we had holograms. Then they wouldn't have moved us to prerecording."

The dancers spoke.

I'd used them as an excuse, but it really wasn't because of them.

In fact, I'd originally been offered the final live slot.

I was the one who rejected it.

If anyone was responsible for Blue Moon ending up prerecorded, it was me.

Not that anyone would ever blame me for it.

"Absolutely not. Honestly, I trust your dancing far more than I trust the hologram."

To be precise, the hologram movements we'd use for Michael Jason had been captured from dance specialists who recreated his choreography.

The shell was Michael Jason.

But the movement itself ultimately came from elite cover dancers reproducing him almost perfectly.

These teachers, on the other hand, were the real thing.

The same went for Kerins's choreography.

"You remember all the advantages the members and I mentioned, right? Those are exactly why I volunteered for the prerecorded stage."

"You rejected a live performance just for that? Because the hologram projector might be tilted wrong or something? That's strange. Is that level of caution really how Korea made it this far?"

That hit a little close.

But there was nothing I could do.

I had to sound convincing.

"Anyway, I genuinely thought this was the better option."

"If the planner says so, then there's nothing more to discuss. The decision's already made too. And those advantages really are advantages, so let's make the most of them."

The dancers shouted together and rallied themselves.

Youngchae looked back and forth between them and me, then gave a small laugh.

"CEO-nim, you have some other scheme again, don't you?"

"What scheme?"

"You do. Last time, you moved our stage forward too, and we ended up being the only ones whose performance got broadcast properly. Isn't something like that happening again?"

What?

Is this Jin Youngchae Runs Through Time?

There's no way she actually saw the future.

Apparently, she'd simply taken the saying study the past and you'll know the future very seriously.

Of course, this wasn't exactly the same problem.

It wasn't like the entire broadcast would vanish.

Just something similar.

"Come on. Nothing like that. I just think prerecording gives us the best chance to create the strongest stage."

Youngchae smiled and nodded.

"And who knows? If we aren't performing live that day, maybe some other good opportunity will come up."

"What opportunity?"

"Who knows? Not yet."

Right then, Dae-hun called me.

I answered immediately.

I already had a pretty good idea why he was calling, so I switched it to speakerphone.

"Hyung, hyung! You're going to be shocked when you hear what I just found out. The UN asked Blue Moon to give a peace speech! But unbelievably, it's scheduled for the exact same day as the Super Bowl performance, so I already turned it down. Still, even if we had to reject it, isn't that an incredible honor?"

The members' eyes widened.

"See? For example, something like this might come up."