When I Opened My Eyes I Was a Superstar - Chapter 46
# 46
Our meeting was coincidental (4)
Lee Cheol-ho, who is currently the president of Yusung Electronics, but will become the president of Yusung Electronics in the future. Do-wook didn’t know that he would meet him in person, whom he had only seen in economic news.
This was something he could not have imagined as a regular employee of the agency’s public relations team.
Yusung Electronics was a leading conglomerate in Korea, occupying the undisputed first place in domestic home appliances and related electronic devices. It is a company that is not only the best now, but will also maintain its top position in the next decade.
It also began investing in the mobile phone business early on, with up to 70% of domestic mobile phone users using Yusung Electronics’ products.
Not long ago, Yoosung Electronics was the company that provided mobile phones to Milky Way and Monster, and also provided mobile phones to KK members.
Dowook bowed his head as he received the slightly cracked cell phone.
“Oh, thank you.”
“You probably dropped it because of that woman, right? Anyway, since I was young, I accepted that my youngest son was a quarrelsome child… so I apologize on my behalf.”
CEO Cheol-ho Lee said, raising the ends of his horn-rimmed glasses. Dowook shook his head.
I later found out that the woman was the president of Yoosung Fashion. Yuseong Fashion was a company under Yuseong Electronics. It was also the company that provided investment funds to Lucas and allowed him to launch the brand.
Lee Yu-min, the president of Yoosung Fashion, was the youngest sister of President Cheol-ho Lee.
“yes? no. it’s okay.”
“okay. You were on the runway, right? “The name is…”
“Ah, the introduction is late. “This is Kang Do-wook.”
“I’m too late to introduce myself. “My name is Lee Cheol-ho.”
Although he only said his name, Do-wook nodded and Lee Cheol-ho smiled meaningfully. Lee Cheol-ho knew that he recognized him right away.
Lee Cheol-ho was wearing a bluish suit and horn-rimmed glasses. Unlike the image I thought from watching the news, it felt a little more finite. It could have been because he was a middle-aged president who had not yet become chairman.
When he was an ordinary office worker, he thought he wouldn’t be able to talk properly when they were together, but Dowook was surprised at himself when he found himself talking more casually than he expected.
It was true that I was overwhelmed by Lee Cheol-ho’s soft but profound charisma.
“I enjoyed the stage. “Anyway, my phone is cracked. What should I do? If I drop it like this, it will crack.”
Lee Cheol-ho frowned slightly. When he discovers a defect in his product, he becomes dissatisfied with it. When he frowned, he definitely got the harsh feeling of Lee Cheol-ho from Yusung Electronics, which Do-wook had originally thought of.
Before Do-wook could reply that it was okay, a person who appeared to be a secretary approached President Cheol-ho Lee.
“Boss, are you here?”
At first glance, the man seemed to be out of time. President Lee Cheol-ho’s schedule was such that he divided the 24 hours a day into minutes. Since he was the person who managed his schedule, it was natural that he was always in a hurry.
The man seemed a little more embarrassed that the person President Lee Cheol-ho was talking to was not an important person but a young model.
“Chief Yoon.”
“Say yes.”
“I’ll send this friend here one of our newest products.”
Then Director Yoon answered without a single question.
“yes. All right.”
Lee Cheol-ho, who gave the instructions, asked Do-wook.
“Black as usual? white?”
“I really don’t mind, but if you feel comfortable doing so…”
“I understand.”
“I’d like black.”
“Yes, if it’s a man, it’s black.”
Dowook smiled awkwardly at Lee Cheol-ho’s joke that wasn’t a joke. Director Yoon told CEO Cheol-ho Lee that the next schedule was delayed.
“Then let’s see it again when we can. “It was nice to meet you.”
Dowook bowed politely and greeted President Lee Cheol-ho. President Cheol-ho Lee leisurely left the room.
Oh Baek-ho, who heard from Do-wook about the meeting with President Lee Cheol-ho, was equally dumbfounded.
It was Oh Baek-ho who always warned Lucas to be careful about his behavior, as top models and celebrities from all walks of life were attending the fashion event. Nevertheless, it was a meeting with Lee Cheol-ho that even Oh Baek-ho had never imagined.
After some time, Do-wook received a new cell phone from Oh Baek-ho that came to the company.
And one day before the repackage album was released, I realized the meaning of what CEO Lee Cheol-ho said in the conference room, ‘If only I could see you again.’
***
A week before the release of the repackage album.
The recording of the songs to be added to the album had already been completed. The title of the song to be added is ‘Windy Day’.
Producer Yong Soo Cheol’s song was a medium tempo pop dance song that expressed the refreshing feeling of a windy day. It was a song that kept Producer Yong Soo Cheol’s personality alive, but was also more relaxed and easy to listen to.
Kim Sum, who had a connection with Hit Entertainment through Monster’s album, participated in writing the lyrics.
Kim Sum said that he was composing and writing lyrics for Kim Woo-yeon’s song, which was in preparation for a new album, and told Do-wook, whom he met at the meeting, that he seemed to be busier with composing lyrics than with his main job, his band activities.
Since it was a comfortable pop dance song, the difficulty of the choreography this time was not high.
These were the members who worked hard from practice while working as ‘Very Sorry’. Now, choreography at this level was a piece of cake. It seemed like less practice was needed for the easy choreography, and the members’ minds were bound to relax.
However, Noh Yoon-tae, who instructed the choreography and was walking out the door of the practice room, delivered a message that seemed like a bolt from the blue to the members.
“I heard that this stage will be performed all live. Take note!”
Noh Yoon-tae said only what he had to say and disappeared. The members were lying down on the floor of the practice room, looking at the closed door in bewilderment.
“too much!”
Hyungseo Ahn rolled his body on the floor and screamed.
Of course, the previous stage was also performed as a live stage. But it wasn’t the whole stage. Optionally, the stage was performed live.
This was because the choreography was too difficult and physically demanding to perform all the stages live. If we performed live for no reason, the quality of the stage could have been lowered.
However, this time the activity period was short. In addition, since the difficulty level of the choreography was low, the company decided to perform all stages live in order to improve and promote KK’s skills.
However, roughly speaking, there were seven music shows to watch in one week. There will also be additional special stages. The repackage album’s activity period is 2 weeks. Just thinking about performing live on stage every day for two weeks made me exhausted.
‘But if we do it, not only will we be recognized as a talented group, but the members’ skills will also increase.’
Dowook was once again realizing how important actual stage experience was.
Seok Ji-hoon also confessed that he was able to dance on his own after his debut, which he was unable to do even after practicing for over a year when he was a trainee.
Dowook also agreed. Gestures on stage, how to dance in unison between members, and know-how when performing live were things that were limited in learning as a trainee.
Jeong Yoon-gi kicked Ahn Hyeong-seo’s butt as he rolled on the floor.
“Innara Ma.”
Taehyung Park quietly laid down on one side of the practice room and began to get into position.
“Oh my gosh!”
It was the beginning of live stage practice. Kim Won shouted while looking at Park Taehyung in a plank position. However, soon Kim Won also took a stance. It was a posture I learned from a professional trainer who was in charge of physical training within the agency.
Dowook also took a stance after playing the accompaniment. The six of us sang ‘Windy Day’ while in plank position. It was practice for the live stage.
Dowook thought that from now on, instead of exercising early in the morning, he should go to the gym and sing while running on the treadmill.
It was when everyone came out sweating after practicing once.
Oh Baek-ho gathered the members in their practice uniforms. It was an order from production director Kwon Heung-jo to convene a meeting.
“Aren’t you angry because the price of beef is too high?”
Hyungseo Ahn muttered as he walked to the conference room. Oh Baek-ho and the members looked at Ahn Hyeong-seo with dumbfounded expressions. I scratched my head and said, “It’s not Ahn Hyeong-seo.”
Still, the members felt more comfortable with Director Kwon than before, as they had recently attended a company dinner together.
In fact, when I was a trainee, I didn’t have much time to meet higher-ups, to the point where I thought the head of the rookie production team, Lim Seong-an, was the highest-ranking person in the company. To those members, production director Kwon Heung-jo was a person they could hardly even see.
As we entered the conference room, the album production team leader Shim Jun, the fan marketing team leader Joanna, PD Yong Soo-cheol, and all staff related to KK were all gathered in the conference room.
The members couldn’t help but be a little surprised by the meeting being larger than expected.
“Come on in.”
Today’s meeting was an opportunity to announce to everyone the signing of a contract with Yoosung Electronics ahead of the KK repackage album and to convey the fact to the members.
After the members took their seats and the atmosphere in the conference room was restored, Director Kwon continued.
“This ‘Windy Day’ is actually a song prepared as a sample song for the new model of Apollon, Yoosung Electronics’ mobile phone series.”
Since it was still in the contract stage, it was a fact that was only shared with the team leader and spring producer.
The Yusung Electronics marketing team recently launched several versions of smartphones and used aggressive and diverse marketing against foreign companies seeking to enter the Korean market.
Among them, marketing projects using music were the most actively underway.
‘As the number of people listening to music on smartphones increases, products such as CD MP3 players are disappearing. It will be even more so in the future….’
Do-wook thought as he listened to the explanation.
One of the projects using music was to add songs by famous singers as default music to mobile phones to check sound quality. However, the selection of singers was quite difficult due to issues such as payment of music fees. It was natural for singers with greater promotional effects to spend a large amount of money on marketing.
While looking for a singer, KK was the singer whose spending was at an appropriate level compared to the expected promotional effect.
Hit Entertainment welcomed Yoosung Electronics’ proposal with open arms.
In fact, the main purpose of Yusung Electronics’ project was to create awareness in the public that the smartphone Apollo is a good device for listening to music.
It was clear that if the song was featured on all Yusung Electronics Apollo series models, it would be KK that would see a greater promotional effect. Therefore, Hit Entertainment was not picky about issues such as music fees and concluded the contract.
The success of the contract was largely due to the fan marketing team leader Joanna, who received confirmation from Hit Entertainment’s directors and pushed for the contract.
While listening to a brief briefing on the process and results, Dowook was impressed by the decision-making skills of the working staff and management.
‘Although Hit Entertainment was a small company, there was a reason why it did consistently well.’
The KK members looked down at the cell phones they were using. Their songs will be included in all future mobile phones.
“And Yoosung Electronics is working on one more project…”
Director Kwon began.
“They say they are gathering artists from various fields to shoot advertisements. “Based on the works of art they created themselves.”
Dowook opened his eyes wide.
‘Could it be that advertisement…?!’
Dowook remembered the Apollo advertisement that was once very popular.
The advertisement was so popular that all kinds of parodies began to appear.