Chapter 59
Hwiseok’s explanation of the marketing strategy to Myeongjeon and the girls was as follows.
1. First, release the OST song ahead of time. The singer, composer, and session musicians will remain undisclosed.
On this point, Hwiseok said:
“We’re going to use someone famous as the singer anyway. Because we’ve already decided on one. You might wonder why we’d use someone famous if the singer is supposed to remain undisclosed. But even if we release it as an undisclosed OST, people will recognize the singer once they hear the tone or voice, even if only through word of mouth.”
That was Hwiseok’s reasoning. It would give fans the anticipation of wondering, ‘What will happen when our singer’s identity is revealed?’ and encourage them to promote it voluntarily, while giving the public the pleasure of guessing who the singer and composer were.
But people might guess the singer, sure—but would anyone try to guess the composer? Would anyone be curious about the composer or the performers? In response to the girls’ question about whether anyone like that existed, Hwiseok answered:
“Normally, of course, that would be the case.”
“Then are you saying that isn’t the case now?”
“Are people curious about the things they’re curious about because they genuinely want to know? No. The media creates the public’s curiosity. If people keep talking nearby about something nobody asked about and saying, ‘You’re curious, right? You are, aren’t you?’ then most people naturally become curious.”
Hwiseok had been stringing those words together while acting like an expert, but they nevertheless cut through the nature of mass media to a certain extent. In the twenty-first century—or even before that—people had lived in a society where they watched not what they truly wanted to see, but what the media and its creators wanted them to see.
“That’s why we’ll keep dropping teasers about you. The drama being made now isn’t going to be some enormous sensation, but it is receiving quite a bit of attention. So people won’t have any choice but to react. First, we reveal the singer. Then, if the singer says, ‘The band girls who recorded with me were so good,’ people will react by asking, ‘What on earth was so good about them?’”
2. Reveal the OST and singer, then ride that momentum to release information about the band formed by four high school girls, a song-making video, and various other details.
“If you were signed to our company, everything could proceed very smoothly, but…”
Hwiseok spoke as if he genuinely regretted it. A golden opportunity to film an OST-making video, videos of band life, a reality program, and more!! A celebrity debut!!
Hwiseok dangled all of it before them as though it were an opportunity they could seize simply by reaching out. The other girls seemed subtly tempted by it, but Myeongjeon had no particular desire to do so.
‘Something’s been feeling seriously off lately.’
A KakaoTalk message had arrived a few days earlier. It was from the girl who had apologized regarding Ha Suyeon’s past, and it read as follows.
[Suyeon]
[Hm?]
[I heard you’re doing something band-related these days?]
[How did you find out? We’re doing something like a government-supported program.]
[Be careful.]
[Apparently, some people—including the other girls and, recently, even me—have been subtly asking about your past.]
[I told them I didn’t care, but I don’t know how the others will react.]
Hearing that, Myeongjeon felt that what was coming had finally arrived. Of course, he had been steadily preparing countermeasures.
He had apologized to the girls, too—excluding those not remembered in Ha Suyeon’s memories, the friends of Dain, Chaerin, and Suhyeon, or the victims from that time—and, though it might sound a little hypocritical, he had also kept up his volunteer work.
He had also laid the groundwork regarding his past with the major seniors in the music industry he had met so far. Myeongjeon thought that expression was rather dubious. He had even spoken with the people who had been drinking with him during the ‘Ha Suyeon Kickboard Incident.’
Even so, he could not erase the fact that ‘something like that had happened.’ And, most importantly, the existence of someone named Seong Juhee was the greatest obstacle.
‘I’ve gotten our stories to line up enough to make sense, but…’
With the help of the trio at school who seemed well-versed in the internet, he had somehow prepared a response plan and organized the relevant materials.
Even so, Myeongjeon did not want to join a ‘record label’ and create a huge mess that dragged the company into it. If things went wrong, he could end up falsely accused of ‘hiding a school-bullying past, joining a company, and then bringing the company down too!’
He was already suffering over things he had never even done—what could he possibly do after dying and waking up in the body of someone who had committed school violence?—and if he got saddled with an accusation like that as well, he would genuinely lose his mind.
* * *
Myeongjeon rested his chin on his hand and stared at the screen. In any case, things were unfolding along those lines. Perhaps Hwiseok’s years in the broadcasting industry had not been wasted, because just as he had said, curiosity about the band behind the prereleased OST was gradually intensifying.
= As expected of Juhyeon-nim ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ His tone is fucking killer…
= Wow, what the hell, a real jazz genius…
= Fuck, this guy’s handsome, sings well, and writes great songs too. Why is the world like this? It’s so damn unfair.
ㄴ The wording is rough, but it’s hilarious that every bit of it is praise for Juhyeon-nim lololololol
= Juhyeon-nim said on Instagram that we can really look forward to the band that made this song. Does anyone know who they are?
ㄴ 2222222
ㄴ For real, I’m dying to know… Even when I ask on Instagram, they absolutely won’t tell me ㅠㅠㅠ
It still could not compare with the interest in the singer, but interest was undeniably growing.
“What do you think?”
“Well, it is going well, just like that man said.”
As Myeongjeon stared at the MacBook in the rehearsal room, Iseo spoke up. He lifted his eyes from the laptop screen.
“Once this is released and the video comes out, could we become something like an idol band too?”
“No way. Well, maybe we could, but… as you know, I’ve got all sorts of things in my past.”
Though it had been several months earlier, Myeongjeon had once told the girls in the band about his past. Basically, he had said that he could not remember it well, but there had been some sort of issue related to school violence, and that it might lead to talk about the band and various other things.
Iseo, who knew Ha Suyeon well, accepted it and moved on, but the other two had reacted with considerable surprise. What stayed with him most was Hyeona asking, “You mean that really didn’t happen?” and then telling them the rumor that Ha Suyeon had lined up her juniors and slapped them one by one.
Seriously, would she have done something like that? Of course not. When Myeongjeon first heard the rumor, he had been so horrified that he asked around everywhere, but it was nothing more than a rumor that had been exaggerated and then exaggerated again.
But if one thought about it rationally, a minor would not drink alcohol, ride a kickboard, go flying, and die. So Myeongjeon simply gave up trying to understand the person named Ha Suyeon.
“Anyway, the announcement is coming up soon. Once it’s announced, we’ll have to prepare for an offline performance. Then we won’t be able to practice as leisurely as we do now, will we?”
“Ugh.”
At Myeongjeon’s words, Iseo pretended to die. While recording the OST, she had already been suffering from the feeling that Hyeona—whom she had expected to go easier on them than Suyeon—was a second Suyeon.
Now they were going to enter that hellish practice again. Iseo’s vision went dark…
* * *
“Hello~”
“Goodness, our singer. Long time no see.”
“Wow~ Professor, fancy seeing you again. Has it been a year?”
Somewhere in Hongdae, in a conference room with [2024 Band Pioneer Judging] posted on the door, people who had not seen one another in a long time greeted each other warmly with bows and handshakes.
“What do you think this year?”
“Who knows… Haven’t most of the decent bands won something by now? I don’t see any obvious frontrunners this year.”
“Then won’t that make it even fiercer?”
There were four judges: the leader of a famous rock band, a music college professor, a well-known producer, and a music-show producer. Two of them had served as judges for several years, while the other two were taking on the role for the first time.
The judging process was nothing special. Each person scored the entries according to the established format and criteria, and if there was a tie, they discussed it until they reached a consensus. If they still could not agree, the matter was decided by majority vote, but it rarely came to that.
Because you could tell as soon as you heard them.
They were not judges for an ordinary tax-sharing-style contest, but judges for a program that had continued for quite a long time. With both feet firmly planted in the music industry, they rarely got their judgments wrong.
“I heard there’s one team considered the likely winner this year.”
“Really? I haven’t heard that…”
“It’s a coed team, leaning a little toward J-pop, and apparently they’ve imported the trend very successfully. I hear the album they released this year was a huge hit.”
“Looks like more promising juniors have appeared. That’s what makes the band scene so interesting.”
As they chatted, someone leafed through the documents and spoke up.
“Ah, I heard something too. An interesting story.”
“What…?”
“I heard Seo Myeongjeon has a student. Apparently she started a band this time. Juhyeon-hyung praised her like crazy after coming back from that memorial concert.”
“Ah, that girl. It may sound odd for me to say this, but I’ve met her too. She was a pretty personable young woman…”