Government-Supported Program (6)

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...