| Episode 30. The Appearance of a Competitor (2)
“There are eight members, and their age range seems similar to ours.”
“It’s been quite a while since MYTH put out a boy group, so I thought they’d be a little older…… isn’t that right?”
Jeong Seongbin and Lee Cheonghyeon spoke in turn.
MYTH was a major agency on a scale that couldn’t even be compared to UA.
Naturally, MYTH’s trainee pool was that much bigger as well. Even if they only tried to pick young, talented members, they would have had plenty of prospects.
Perhaps the image of being a prestigious idol company hadn’t come from nowhere, because even the usually easygoing Park Juu looked fairly serious.
‘So this is the name recognition of a major agency?’
Well, most groups would have a hard time getting their name out in real time before debuting.
Idol groups were something that appeared and disappeared by the dozens within a single year.
There were even years when over a hundred teams debuted.
That was how oversaturated the market was, and the peculiarity of the K-idol scene was that, within it, a generational shift was bound to happen someday.
In a market that was already fiercely competitive, a group from a major agency—one that, at a glance, seemed the most likely to lead the generational shift among its peers—was debuting?
‘It’d be stranger not to keep an eye on them.’
When I read the article, sure enough, the photos and stage names of the members who were about to debut had all been revealed.
Their profile photos and everything else were already in place, to the point that it wouldn’t be strange if they already had a fandom.
‘It’s not like there are no agencies that promote trainees before debut.’
Moreover, a company like MYTH, which had been in the idol business for a long time, had a clear identity and set of values of its own, and that too became an element of marketing.
Because of that, they also had a fairly solid fandom that followed not only the group, but the company itself.
In other words, they were starting out with people who would support “any idol carrying on MYTH’s lineage.”
Judging by the atmosphere, everyone seemed to have thought that far.
The fact that none of them were saying anything naive like, “Wow, debuting under a major agency, I’m so jealous!” was a decent sign of quick thinking.
As I scrolled down the article, I said,
“For starters, we lost in sheer numbers.”
“Huh?”
“They said they have eight members.”
The strategy of “One of these should be your type” was a victory for the other side. The risks that came with personnel management were their problem, so that was a separate issue.
“What should we beat them with?”
“Beat them……?”
“If we lost in headcount, we have to find another way. If we fight with height, I think our team, which possesses Choi Jeho, would win.”
After putting the entire article into my head, I closed the internet window.
“I know very well what you’re worried about, and I know it’s an extremely important issue realistically speaking.”
“……”
“But let’s not get intimidated before we’ve even competed.”
I, too, was of the opinion that goals should be set realistically, but considering that about half the members were in a state of lowered self-esteem, I changed course to boosting morale through warm encouragement.
“You have to think about winning for anything you do to feel motivating.”
“That’s true. Hyung, then should we make some personal talents? If each of us practices just three, I think we could even do a personal talent medley!”
“I don’t think pushing with quantity is a good method. If they practice three each too, Parte will bring twenty-four personal talents.”
“Gasp, you’re right?”
“Why is the conversation going that way……?”
Choi Jeho, who had been watching the back-and-forth between me and Lee Cheonghyeon, made a reluctant expression.
I was reviewing a member’s opinion from an extremely objective perspective, so I couldn’t understand why he looked so puzzled.
“In my opinion, the best method is improving our skills. If we have skill, there’ll be some way to put up a fight.”
I knew very well how Spark, whose skills had been battered by controversy, had survived for seven years.
If there ever came a moment when Spark had to focus on something in the future, the guys would probably have to choose skill until the very end.
And the next most important thing after skill was the title of “a clean zone without controversy.”
Well, if I talked about that now, I’d only be wasting my breath, so I’d gradually tighten discipline later.
“Any objections?”
Still, since this was a group activity, I thought I should at least hear their opinions and asked, but there were no dissenting views.
“Then everyone, go to sleep so we can beat them not only in tallest member but also in average height. Tomorrow, wake up early again and improve your skil—”
……I got that far when a chill ran down my spine.
Something felt ominous. I had a very bad feeling.
It was like Department Head Nam hadn’t told me the meeting time had changed, so I went to the conference room at four, only to find that the meeting had already started at three-thirty…….
‘The monthly calendar!’
I hurriedly pulled up the hologram calendar I had forgotten about for a while after moving up the debut date.
In today’s date box, “Parte debut plan revealed” was written, and in tomorrow’s date box…….
[(???) Debut lineup confirmed press release distribution]
The very same “press release distribution” schedule that, in the past, had been scattered around starting two years before our debut, drawing every kind of aggro there was, only for all the sweetness to have been sucked dry by the time we actually needed it, was written there.
My God.
I should have assumed this issue would be moved up too. I’d been complacent.
Had my discipline gone slack just because Department Head Nam wasn’t around? If that was the case, I needed to overhaul my mindset.
“Hyung! The manager says they’re releasing a press statement about our planned debut tomorrow too!”
“Tell him to stop immediately.”
“Huh?”
“Tell him we’d rather hold up a banner that says ‘Congratulations, UA’s First Idol’ when we debut!”
* * *
After that, we wasted about an hour communicating with the manager through PC messenger.
Manager Chanyeong
[Why? Once you guys debut, there’ll be several times more articles than this^^ If you’re already embarrassed by this kind of thing, what are you going to do later lol]
Because the manager interpreted our side’s opinion that a press release was too early as about the same level of humility as a bowed head of rice.
Park Juu supported me as I was about to flip over backward out of frustration. It was a sight one couldn’t watch without tears.
I thought I’d earned at least a first-class certificate in “keeping my mouth shut when I don’t have the seniority,” but not even close.
If I let this situation pass, it was obvious I’d be pounding the ground in regret right before our debut, so I couldn’t keep my mouth shut even in a situation like this.
Me
[Manager, I’m offering this opinion very cautiously, but if our debut schedule hasn’t been firmly decided, I think it may be too early for a press release. In Parte’s case, they’re scheduled to debut next month, so ……
See more]
[Manager, I thought supporting data might be necessary, so I’ve organized and am reporting some promotional articles and debut schedules of groups that debuted within the past year. Due to time constraints, I wasn’t able to conduct a full survey, so as a sample survey ……
See more]
[20XX Debut Marketing Article Sample Survey by Group.png]
Manager Chanyeong
[I’ll talk to the company……!]
In the meantime, WebCell still wasn’t installed, so I had to work on a shared sheet that could be used online and send a screenshot.
The working environment was too poor. I should have asked them to buy me a program account while I was at it.
“So you stayed up all night waiting for a reply?”
“Yeah. They decided not to distribute the press release.”
“You’re really something else.”
Something else, my ass.
It was a shame, because if the company had insisted on pushing ahead with distributing the materials, they could have seen what “really something else” looked like.
If push came to shove, I’d even prepared myself to stand beside the person in charge’s desk for two hours, just like when I asked Department Head Nam to approve something.
“If we preserved our impact by staying up one night, that’s not a bad deal.”
“You stubborn bastard.”
“I’ll take that to mean I have strong survival instincts.”
Everything had gone the way I wanted, so the result was perfect.
For reference, a hidden task had appeared too. This fucking system.
+
[SYSTEM] ‘Hidden Task (Block the Press Release)’ has been completed.
▷ Reward: Experience (5)
▷ Accumulated Experience: 65
▷ Accumulated Points: 0
+
It seemed distributing the press release really had been something I had to fight tooth and nail to stop.
Honestly, on a matter of conscience, shouldn’t it have just told me something like this? Even if I had two hearts, both would’ve dropped.
It was even a task directly related to achieving my KPI. Was this a joke?
Besides, I’m fainthearted, so I’m weak to sudden incidents like this. They should show some consideration for a worn-out office worker.
Following the example of Gang Giyeon, king of management, I mechanically chewed on a slice of bread without so much as a spoonful of jam and said to Choi Jeho,
“You and Juu go to the practice room first.”
“Why?”
“There’s somewhere I need to stop by for a bit.”
Today, I had to go to the artist management team.
As long as I didn’t know when or what UA might do, I needed to make the first move now.
As the first project of Assistant Manager Kim Iwol…… no, Intern Kim Iwol.
Of course, taking into account my narrow perspective, as someone who knew no idols except Spark, I had received confirmation from an expert beforehand as well.
‘A concept?’
‘Yeah. It’s something I was organizing in my own way, and I think it would suit Cheonghyeon’s song too.’
‘What kind of concept is it?’
‘I picked one I thought would suit you guys.’
‘A real youth story……?’
Jeong Seongbin made a reluctant expression.
It was understandable. In the past, Spark had debuted with a proper youth concept and had nearly been buried without a sound.
It seemed they had plenty of self-objectification regarding their own visuals. It was true that none of them had youth in their physiognomy.
But my primary goal was to deceive UA, which clung to the orthodox idol route, and push through my concept.
For that, it would be best to slightly shift the direction from Spark’s original debut concept.
Fortunately, my opinion received the assessment that, while it was a bit too classic, it might be fine depending on how the details were handled.
‘Judging by the nature of the work, I feel like I should go to the planning team…… but for now, I should go to Jugyeong-nim, right?’
The only ways for a trainee to communicate with the company were through the manager or by talking to Min Jugyeong.
If I skipped that, it might look like I was ignoring the system, so I decided to follow the standard procedure first.
Hearing that I was crossing the line from Department Head Nam five times a week had been enough.
The one fortunate thing was that UA viewed a trainee’s proactive attitude positively.
Thankfully, Min Jugyeong listened to my bold agenda without any sign of annoyance. She was a wonderful talent unlike any other in this era. I could only hope UA was paying her a generous salary.
As Min Jugyeong flipped through the proposal I had printed out, she said,
“You tried making a plan?”
“Yes. But I didn’t know whom I should ask for advice.”
“Normally, you’d go to the production division. The planning team and album production team are both there. But well…… I have a meeting with the CEO this week, so I’ll give it to them then!”
The speed at which an agenda could be raised was no joke either. UA really was a small-to-mid-sized company after all.
“How did you think of making something like this?”
“I wanted to try doing something, anything.”
“I’m not in planning, so I don’t know much, but it seems to have everything it needs, doesn’t it? You must have worked hard.”
I had taken all the basic items from UA’s concept proposal format, so if it hadn’t had everything it needed, that would have been a problem in its own way.
Still, I couldn’t say, “I happened to obtain some precious documents from somewhere,” so I decided to quickly give my thanks and leave.
“I’ll leave it in your hands.”
“Sure. Good luck with practice.”
Fortunately, Min Jugyeong, a busy modern person, didn’t hold me back any longer. Thanks to that, the planning work report scheduled for the morning ended without incident.
After that, it was the usual continuation of practice.
“I’m sorry to interrupt practice, but Iwol, could you step out for a moment?”
That was, until Min Jugyeong called me out as soon as lunch break ended.