Immediately after Gang Rojun’s name was revealed, articles appeared online not from just one outlet, but from several media companies all at once.
《“Rojun, Writer No. 1 from P100, to Attend Rental Lover Production Presentation”》
The headlines differed, but the contents were similar. The production presentation for Rental Lover, information about that presentation, and the fact that the hot writer “Rojun” would be attending.
This was, of course, the timing PD Jeong Suryeong had aimed for.
Because right after the name of Gang Rojun, P100’s star attraction, was revealed, search volume would be at its highest. Probably. No, almost certainly, the countless viewers watching P100 would all be searching “Rojun” on the phones in their hands.
In fact, at a large café near Gangnam Station, customers were—
“Is anything coming up??”
“No? For now, Gugle and Neriver are just showing random people I don’t know, and there’s no Rojun from P100. What about Insta?”
“Same. Other social media’s the same too.”
They were deep in the throes of searching for “Rojun.” As expected of a thirty percent viewer rating. Even at a glance, the ripple effect was tremendous. It wasn’t just one or two tables; most of the customers on the first and second floors were showing similar behavior. They watched P100 and searched Rojun.
“There’s no info at all! What is this? Did they say a stage name instead of his real name??”
“I don’t think so. The narrator said they were the contestants’ real names.”
“Wow—there are a fair number of people named Rojun, but it’s not that common. How can there be this little information?”
“Dig through Facebook more!! I’ll keep looking on Insta!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Of course, this wasn’t limited to search engines.
From all kinds of social media to Neotube and online communities, the search volume for the name “Rojun” would be enormous. Social media in particular would be burning up, but there was no way information on Gang Rojun would come out. Rojun didn’t use social media.
PD Jeong Suryeong’s scheme, aimed precisely at this timing, hit the mark.
“Huh?? Look at this article! I think it just went up. Rojun’s attending the Rental Lover production presentation!”
“Whoa, it doesn’t say No. 1, it says Writer Rojun??”
“The Rental Lover side must be watching P100 too?”
“Well, he did go to their fourth-round judging too, right? Anyway, Writer Rojun feels kind of fascinating.”
“Jackpot! It says the Rental Lover production presentation will be livestreamed too?? It’ll be up on Neotube too, right? I absolutely have to watch this.”
Most of the people searching for Rojun became aware of the articles about Rental Lover’s production presentation. The promotional effect of the name Rojun right now was beyond imagination. After confirming that the articles were being flooded with comments, PD Jeong Suryeong—
“Okay, it’s going the way I thought. Now let it breathe for a bit, then tell the reporters to pump it up once P100 finishes airing.”
—broke into a smile. The entire Rental Lover team did the same.
“Yes, PD-nim! By the way, the response is insane?? The comments are just— The articles haven’t even been up that long!”
“Everyone’s curious about the first appearance of ‘Writer Rojun.’ There’s never been a precedent for an idol debuting as a writer. At this rate, the live viewers on the day of the production presentation will explode several times higher than expected, won’t they??”
PD U Hanseok, who was at the JTVM broadcasting station, wasn’t unaware of this either. He had already discussed it with PD Jeong Suryeong.
‘Once episode eleven ends, our kids will make noise, of course, but Rental Lover is going to get noisy too.’
Meanwhile, Gang Rojun, who was watching episode eleven in Room 101 on the campus, received a message.
—Bzzzz.
It was from PD Jeong Suryeong. She had sent him a link to an article about “Writer Rojun” that had just gone up, and after checking the article, Gang Rojun’s eyes widened slightly.
‘Oh—my name is in an article…….’
He had seen No. 1 countless times in many places, but this was the first article that used his real name. The power of the emotion and thrill he felt was definitely different.
‘It finally feels like I’m being properly introduced?? I don’t know, I can’t really put it into words. Anyway, it’s sick.’
As he imagined the future ahead, the thrill doubled.
From today on, he would keep being called Rojun instead of No. 1. Unaware of this, 26 Dogyeong, 46 Gangmin, and 58 Sihu, who were in the same room, were completely absorbed in watching P100. The mood of episode eleven, which had been in the middle of revealing the contestants’ names, changed abruptly.
—[“The results of the fourth-round judging vote are out.”]
On the screen was PD U Hanseok with a firm expression.
The time had come to pronounce death sentences on the twenty-four contestants. Soon, the angle shifted to the dazzling successful-candidate zone, and PD U Hanseok explained the changed process for announcing the successful candidates. When he said there would be a total of ten final successful candidates, the viewers were taken aback.
—Whoa... 10 people....?
—Now they’re really determined to cut them down
—If it’s 10, isn’t that enough to just debut them as one team??
—I thought at least half would survive....
Then the first successful candidate, who had taken an overwhelming score, was called.
—[“The first successful candidate, ‘Rojun’-nim, has passed.”]
A solo shot of Gang Rojun, his visuals shining even more under the lights. After a brief conversation with PD U Hanseok, he walked to the successful-candidate zone. After that, starting with 26 Dogyeong, a total of ten successful candidates were announced. The packed successful-candidate zone appeared, then the camera caught the fourteen eliminated contestants showing various reactions.
The viewers reacted in all sorts of ways.
Many were satisfied that the contestants they loved had survived, while others cursed after seeing their favorite contestants eliminated. However, the fourteen eliminated contestants had no choice but to leave P100.
Then the screen changed.
The faces and names of the fourteen eliminated contestants repeated. This was not something like a final confirmation of their deaths.
It was like a résumé PD U Hanseok was sending to entertainment companies. Though they had been eliminated, they clearly had skill, so try reaching out to them.
Next, as soon as the introduction of the ten successful candidates ended, the screen changed once more.
Gang Rojun and 58 Sihu stood in front of the empty hall stage.
Facing them, PD U Hanseok said,
—[“Rojun-nim, Sihu-nim. How about the two of you try making P100’s theme song?”]
Something similar to this scene had happened in the past, but that had been footage not meant for broadcast, so this was a newly directed cut by PD U Hanseok.
That was as far as it went.
—“Produce the 100!”
The logo appeared, and episode eleven ended. But the viewers’ fits became even more intense.
—Aaaagh!!!! You’re ending it like this??!!!
—ㅠㅜㅠㅠㅜㅠ So we finally get to hear a theme song made by the contestants??
—A theme song by Rojun and Sihu.... Ha, I’m listening the second it comes out, seriously
—So!! When does that song come out!!!
—Can someone knock me out... Wake me up for the next episode....
Because they had become aware of the existence of “Survival 100.”
Afterward.
As soon as episode eleven ended, articles were released like countless hailstones pouring down.
《[Star Pick] All P100 Contestants’ Names Revealed》
The quantity was astounding. There were usually many articles related to P100, but now there were several times more. The reason was simple.
《From the Reveal of Contestant Names to the Survivors Reduced to Ten, and Even the Possibility of a New Theme Song… A Packed Episode 11 of P100》
This episode eleven had simply been too full. From the opening of the contestants’ names, to the successful candidates being sharply reduced to ten, and lastly, the teaser of the theme song by Gang Rojun and 58 Sihu. Because there were so many mouthwatering keywords, reporters were excitedly churning out articles.
Since the P100 team had also revealed the contestants’ names, they released a lot of content as if they had been waiting.
Edited videos using names instead of numbers, and so on.
They had already prepared everything long ago, so there was no reason for delay. On top of that, news from the Rental Lover side was also hot.
—[Hello! We’re bringing you fresh news from Rental Lover, which recently wrapped filming! On Tuesday, September 29, a production presentation including a live broadcast will be held! And none other than “Writer Rojun-nim” will also be attending……]
Articles were a given, and they also promoted the production presentation through their official social media channels. Comments appeared in an instant.
—Aaaaaaaah I can’t miss Rojun’s debut as a writer
—This is so fascinatingㅋㅋㅋㅋ Attending a production presentation as a writer before even becoming an idolㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—I bet it’ll feel different from seeing him on P100???
—I normally don’t watch stuff like production presentations, but I think this’ll be my first time
—Writer Rojun is somehow insanely coolㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ No, but the writer is way too unrealistically handsomeㅋㅋㅋㅋ
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Whichever side it was, the atmosphere was far from ordinary, and as it boiled from night into dawn, Saturday morning arrived. In a large hall on the fifth floor of a hotel in Samseong-dong, Seoul, the drama production staff were busy.
“The table goes this way!!”
“We need a few chairs too, please!”
“Please check the lighting here!!”
“PD-nim says she’s testing the monitors!”
Four-person desks were being laid out neatly across the spacious area. Dozens of staff members were setting props and installing small cameras in various places. Among them, PD Jeong Suryeong could be seen wearing a cap over her tousled hair.
In other words, it was the Rental Lover team.
PD Jeong Suryeong was inspecting the hall that would become the site of the production presentation in a few days, and at the moment, she was looking at the space where the livestream team would be stationed.
“Hmm—the front angle is good, but it’d be better to pull the framing back a little more, right? So we can capture the backs of the gathered reporters too.”
“Understood, PD-nim.”
Around then, the assistant director, who had finished organizing the media outlets that would attend, approached.
“Wow—PD-nim, did you see the ratings for episode eleven of P100??”
“No. I forgot. What did it get? Did it rise?”
“Yes, it rose again. It hit 31%!”
“It broke through its high point again. PD U Hanseok really cut the episode eleven preview properly. He tossed out the contestant-name bait—how could the fans possibly hold back?”
“That’s true. Episode eleven itself was packed too, so I’m looking forward to next week as well??”
“You punk, if you’ve got time to look forward to that, pay attention to our production presentation that’s three days away.”
PD Jeong Suryeong lightly smacked the back of the assistant director’s head and asked,
“Did you finish organizing the reporters?”
The assistant director nodded and answered,
“Yes! As you said, we matched it to one hundred. If we’d left it open, even three hundred would have been easy.”
PD Jeong Suryeong, who let out a small laugh, turned her gaze over the vast hall.
“For reporters, one hundred is enough if they’re from the key media outlets and the fast-moving ones. If there are too many, they’re hard to control, and it’s meaningless. The viewers watching the livestream that day are more important. Anyway—this is the first time a one-act drama is holding a production presentation in a hall this big.”
The assistant director continued her words for her.
“Even after cutting the number down, it’s also the first time one hundred reporters are coming to a one-act drama’s production presentation.”
“Well, Star Choi’s power was a big factor too. But more than anything, it’s thanks to Writer-nim.”
It was one hundred percent the “Writer Rojun” effect.
The next morning, Sunday.
The place was the P100 campus. From early on, the ten contestants, including Gang Rojun, gathered in front of the stage where filming had already been set up. Naturally, it was because PD U Hanseok had called them. The successful candidates stood in a straight line starting with Rojun, and PD U Hanseok, appearing before them, pushed up his glasses and opened his mouth.
“Currently, P100 has finished airing episode eleven. However, next week, instead of episode twelve, a special episode will air. Episode twelve will air the week after that. It’s the schedule we originally planned, and it gives both us and the viewers time to catch our breath.”
After roughly explaining what the special episode would contain, PD U Hanseok changed the subject.
“As previously announced, a new P100 theme song has been selected after ‘Produce.’ The title is ‘Survival 100,’ and even the guide recording has been completed.”
Here, the eight successful candidates other than Rojun and 58 Sihu began murmuring quietly. They too had seen the final cut of episode eleven. The one who asked the question was 26 Dogyeong, in a dry tone.
“That theme song. Was it made by Rojun and Sihu-nim??”
PD U Hanseok, smiling faintly, nodded.
“That’s right. Sihu-nim handled the composition, and Rojun-nim handled the lyrics. The song came out incredibly well.”
PD U Hanseok prompted applause, and as soon as the applause that rang out for a few seconds ended—
“The current theme song, ‘Survival 100,’ is in the final stages of choreography production by judge Lee Hanna. Once the choreography work is complete, we’ll divide the vocal and dance parts, and you’ll have to perform them. This is my expectation, but unlike with ‘Produce,’ each of you will probably have your own vocal parts, and the choreography formations will become more complex.”
In short, it meant it would carry the scent of something idol-like.
“Naturally, the main vocal, lead vocal, and so on will be decided as well. It will become quite a large-scale project, and rather than being used for judging, we’re thinking of ‘Survival 100’ as a gift to the viewers. Once all of you have mastered the theme song ‘Survival 100’—”
After giving a brief pause, PD U Hanseok continued.
“We will hold a small concert including ‘Survival 100,’ ‘Produce,’ and many of the stages you’ve shown in the judging rounds.”
The contestants immediately began buzzing. Gang Rojun’s eyes also widened. Regardless, PD U Hanseok continued his briefing.
“We expect it to feel like a fan meeting, but it will be larger in scale than the audience attendance for the fourth-round judging. The audience will be around several thousand people. After that small concert ends domestically, we will move on to Japan. You’ll have to perform the same small concert in Japan as well.”
PD U Hanseok recited the plan.
“It will be your first advance into Japan.”