When I Opened My Eyes I Was a Superstar - Chapter 54
# 54
One-Time Glory (4)
***
The good news that production director Kwon Heung-jo delivered was that KK had become the new model of Yusung Electronics’ laptop.
As Dowook’s popularity grew with the success of the ‘Rendezvous Project’, Yusung Electronics wanted to use Dowook as a model again.
Meanwhile, a position for a Yusung Electronics laptop advertising model opened up.
Although Dowook was currently an idol, he had the same level of trustworthiness as an actor.
At the same time, their popularity was not as high as that of other idols, and their modeling fees did not increase significantly. So, naturally, according to the analysis by the Yoosung Electronics marketing team, Dowook was one of the suitable model candidates.
In the laptop industry, where emerging brands with cheap and innovative images have recently been strong, Yusung Electronics had a slightly old-fashioned image. Therefore, I especially wanted a model with a fresh image.
Not only Dowook, but also the group K.K. had a fresh image. Yusung Electronics chose KK as its advertising model, believing that it would be good to continue its brand image.
‘It was a Yoosung Electronics laptop exclusive model… It was a one-off advertisement that ran for about 3 months, but it was definitely a big deal.’
Do-wook thought about the contents of Oh Baek-ho’s phone call.
Continuing to build a good relationship with Yusung Electronics, which can be said to be the best group in Korea, would definitely be of greater help.
“yes. … Yes, Director.”
Oh Baek-ho responded to Director Kwon’s continued story.
Delivering the news was something that could have been done by the head of the fan-marketing team, Annie Jo, who would be delivering the detailed information anyway, but there was a reason why Director Kwon called Director Oh Baek-ho directly.
Director Kwon’s goal was to impress upon the members, including Director Oh Baek-ho, how much he cared about KK.
This was to raise the morale of the members and to make their achievements known and recognized.
“yes. “I will convey this well to the members.”
Certainly, the more I heard it from someone who highly praised it, the happier and more effective it was.
“And Mr. Director, I have a question for you. Do you have time? …… yes yes. “Then I’ll see you in the afternoon.”
Director Oh Baek-ho hung up the phone and explained to Do-wook in detail about the Yoosung Electronics laptop model.
“Everyone seems to be happy that thanks to all the hard work, there are good results. very. “Especially Dowook, you’ve worked hard.”
“I think the members will be happy to hear about your hard work.”
“I know.”
“The commercial filming and broadcast is scheduled for January next year?”
“huh. “Early January?”
Although it was said to be January next year, it was less than three weeks away. Do-wook thought deeply and spoke to Director Oh Baek-ho.
“Then may I ask Director Kwon this favor?”
“ask? “Do you have a favor to ask me?”
Oh Baek-ho frowned. It was just a frown of surprise, but it was a pose that could feel threatening to the viewer.
Of course, Do-wook, who was already familiar with Oh Baek-ho’s facial expressions, was not surprised at all.
He simply conveyed his thoughts and his eyes sparkled earnestly.
***
And a few days later.
〈KK Yusung Electronics laptop model suddenly selected!〉
〈Thinner and lighter Yoosung Electronics laptop… New like KK!〉
〈Yusung Electronics’ new laptop model KK! Proven to be a trend!〉
〈Rising star in the advertising world! KK’s reception in the advertising world〉
The Internet was plastered with articles saying that KK had been selected as the model for Yoosung Electronics’ laptop.
What Do-wook asked Baek-ho Oh and conveyed to Director Kwon was that it would be good to publish an article on the selection of advertising models a little earlier.
Director Kwon, who found out the reason, said he would have to try it, but it seemed like a good idea, and distributed the article in consultation with Yusung Electronics, as Do-wook suggested.
Director Kwon suggested to Yoosung Electronics that since he was likely to win the Best New Artist Award at the Music Awards, why not publish an article in advance and then redistribute the article again if he wins the Best New Artist Award?
There was no reason for Yusung Electronics to refuse. There was no need to hide the model until the advertisement was released, and if the article was published early and became a hot topic, it was Yusung Electronics that benefited from the publicity effect.
When the article came out, the fandom cheered. Although he was already a popular rookie, becoming the sole model for Yusung Electronics products gave the impression that he had gone beyond being a rookie and had become a truly popular star.
It wasn’t just the fans who felt that way.
Even among the public, the perception of KK was becoming more than a rising star.
As a result, the prevailing opinion has become that KK will sweep the Rookie Award at the upcoming awards ceremony.
It was this topic that Dowook was aiming for.
People used to think that groups that were easily talked about would be more popular. Of course, topicality was directly linked to popularity, but it was not an absolutely proportional relationship.
In any case, it was clear that KK dominated the topic by being talked about by more people in the period right before the awards ceremony than Man to Man.
It was a godsend that I was selected as a Yoosung Electronics laptop model at the right time.
KK’s voter turnout began to increase in internet voting, which was initially pushed back due to anti-forces that even included monster fandom.
There were even cases where people who became interested in KK through mentions of Monster members moved from the Monster fandom to become KK’s fans.
The voting was a situation where KK competed with man-to-man on an hourly basis.
Finally, it became difficult to know the results of online voting. As of now, the trend was that KK was reversing the man-to-man battle.
In the case of voting for the Rookie Award, KK beat Man to Man by about 6%, and in the K-POP STAR Award, Man to Man beat Man to Man by 1%.
SVS broadcasting station conference room.
Key production staff were convened to discuss matters related to the selection and progress of the ‘Music Awards’ awards ceremony.
CP Nam Un-young, the general manager of the Music Awards, frowned as he looked at the voting status on the awards ceremony website.
“Is this possible for a man-to-man rookie of the year award?”
“As you can see, the vote was overturned. KK’s album sales recorded so far have also increased. Man to Man has stopped, but KK continues to sell. Needless to say, when it comes to music, KK wins by a landslide.”
“This will turn people around.”
CP Nam Un-young clicked his tongue at the answer of PD Hyun Joo-hyuk, who is also the producer of Song of Life.
The pressure from Ara Entertainment, Man to Man’s agency, was intense.
“Who is that man to man, Seojun? That bastard, Abby, is the head of the headquarters. I can’t not give it to you. “There was a lot of fuss about retaliation if I didn’t give it to them.”
“If it’s a small difference, I’ll cover it up by adjusting the ratio and give it to Man-to-Man… But if the difference is this big, it’s hard not to say something, Mr. CP.”
“Are we going to talk about the winner for a day or two?”
Even as he asked that question, CP Nam Un-yeong muttered all kinds of hexagrams to himself due to the difficulty of the situation.
Producer Hyun Joo-hyuk and other sub-producers shook their heads. It was a rather rare event for people who did not know that CP Nam Un-young even received a golf treatment from Ara Entertainment’s general manager Seo.
“What the Yoosung Electronics representative said bothered me and made me angry.”
Yusung Electronics was one of the official sponsors of the SVS Awards every year.
This year, as if it were a given, we received sponsorship from Yusung Electronics. CP Nam met with a person in charge of Yusung Electronics not long ago to adjust the scope of sponsorship, which is a company that sponsors every year but varies each time.
At that time, the person in charge who had finished the discussion brought up the story about KK in passing.
They said that they are a group that they are constantly trying to use as a model, and that an advertisement is scheduled to be released next month, and that they are happy to hear that they are a strong candidate for the Rookie of the Year award.
Yusung Electronics was simply a company that used KK as its model.
So, although the person in charge’s words were not any kind of threat and were just sincere remarks in passing, as CP Nam Un-young, who had to maintain a good relationship with Yoosung Electronics, he had no choice but to pay attention.
“Isn’t there a man-to-man Obin among the Apollo models?”
One of the sub PDs stepped forward and said that he would help alleviate CP Nam’s concerns. But CP Nam shook his head vigorously.
“Yeah, but I still feel bad about what to do with 18 KK.”
There was silence in the conference room. It was a situation where no one was willing to come forward and speak out. In the end, the decision was up to CP Nam Un-young.
After a while, CP Nam Unyoung wrinkled his eyebrows and opened his mouth.
“We will go unconditionally fairly. Calculate the scores according to the principles and hand out the awards!”
In that case, there was a very high probability that the Rookie of the Year Award would not go to a man-to-man. Producer Hyun Joo-hyuk asked in a worried tone.
“yes? Then Ara enter…”
“I don’t know, eighteen. As you said, if there is a significant difference, I will roughly cover it. “You can get in trouble for no reason.”
We haven’t known each other for a year or two, nor have we done business with each other. CP Nam Un-young also knew that Ara Entertainment’s general manager Seo would have made such a threat to him since he was a close second.
Even if it is an agency that flies and crawls, it will not be easy to turn away from a terrestrial broadcasting station entirely because of a rookie award that is not even a target.
CP Nam Unyoung scratched the tip of his chin with his fingertip and gave instructions to PD Hyun Joohyuk.
“Make a decent prize. If that doesn’t work, tell him to take that too. Still, we are a broadcasting station, so we can’t afford to be dragged around by entertainment companies.”
The PDs clicked their tongues in response to CP Nam Un-young’s contradictory words, but unanimously answered that they understood.
***
Ilsan KINTEX located in Goyang-si.
It was a place that would become the stage for the SVS Music Awards, the Music Awards, starting later in the night.
“Wow… I’m dying…”
Ahn Hyeong-seo cried out after finishing rehearsal.
All members were exhausted. There wasn’t even a member who could respond to Ahn Hyeong-seo.
In the middle of winter, when a cold wave hit, the KK members were all covered in sweat. Even though it was indoors, it was such a large space that the temperature was still no different from the temperature outside.
The coordinators came over and handed out water and fanned them.
Director Oh Baek-ho brought a cam that captured the KK members’ rehearsal stage. Next to him was choreographer Noh Yun-tae.
Noh Yoon-tae specially participated in the rehearsal today to watch the awards ceremony stage.
All the members who had been fanning themselves stood up and gathered around the camcorder.
“How was it?”
“I did well… but the formation was a little shaken in the middle.”
When Jeong Yoon-gi asked, Noh Yoon-tae answered. The other members nodded to Noh Yun-tae’s words. This was because they themselves realized it while performing on stage.
When Oh Baek-ho pressed the play button, everyone focused on the screen to monitor.
There were a total of two stages prepared by KK today.
One was a cover of a popular song by a dance group this year prepared at the suggestion of SVS. It was a remix of about five songs with only the highlights of about 20 to 30 seconds selected. The members had to memorize five different choreography.
However, the cover stage was rather easy. Their stage after the Rookie Award results were announced was even more difficult.
It was a remix version of the debut song ‘Sorry but I Love You’ and ‘Very Sorry’, and there was a lot of difficult choreography, such as creating a large formation and doing acrobatic movements in the middle interlude.
As it was the first awards ceremony stage, it was a choreography created by the strong will of the members and the company to leave a strong impression.
For this stage, the members devoted themselves to practicing day and night for a short period of time.
“It starts shaking from here.”
Dowook accurately pointed out the problematic part. The members replayed the choreography in their heads again and promised that they would never make a mistake during the final rehearsal.
10 o’clock at night.
Even though it was late, the inside of the concert hall was filled with many fans.
In front of the audience, today’s participating singers sat at about ten round tables, all dressed up, waiting for the performance to begin.
Starting with MC comments from a female announcer and a young male actor, the curtain of the ‘Music Awards’ opened in a splendid manner with splendid sound effects and lights pouring in and fireworks flying on the stage.
The KK members sitting at the table also applauded with trembling hearts.
The opening stage soon opened with a lively performance by a female idol group.
Afterwards, today’s awards section was introduced along with a VCR video. The first award was none other than the Rookie Award.
The award presenter was Seolleim, the nation’s younger sister. At the excited call, the camera showed the Rookie Award candidates seated on the screen.
‘… I think I can hear the heartbeat.’
Do-wook always maintained his composure, but right now, it felt like his heart was pounding in his ears. All the other members also had flushed expressions.
“For me, the Rookie Award I received the year before last is the most memorable award I’ve ever received. “I think the Rookie of the Year Award is a more honorable award in that we only get one chance to do so after debut.”
I read the message written on the card with a voice full of excitement. After a pause, I opened my mouth in excitement.
“The group that will receive the honor of the one-time Rookie Award at this year’s SVS Music Awards is…!”
Excitement smiled slightly. As the group name was shouted, scream-like cheers erupted from the audience. The KK members were caught on the screen without any facial expressions.
Dowook slowly got up from his seat.