11. YouTube Jackpot
People tossed out thoughtless titles as if it were none of their business.
Some of them weren’t bad, but if he went with those, there would be no denying that this song would become something exclusively for dogs.
Jinha sang the song once more at the dogs’ encore request, then wrapped up the performance with the tightrope set up in the back.
Fortunately, the tightrope drew the crowd’s attention more than the dogs did, allowing him to finish the show with great success.
*At this rate, I just spent money to do charity work for dogs.*
Of course, if the dogs were happy, that was a joy in its own way, but the result was far too different from his original intention.
*Could those blue letters floating on the screen have meant that puppies would like it?*
The color of the letters written on the mini audio system.
He couldn’t be sure, but that was the only thing that aroused his suspicion.
*It’s my fault for impulse-buying it without looking into it more.*
Viewed negatively, it was the same as throwing 7.83 million won on the ground.
He could tell by the lukewarm expressions on people’s faces after hearing the song.
No matter how good his voice was or how well he sang, if the song itself was mediocre, there was a limit to the response he could draw.
*I can’t just throw 7.83 million won into thin air. Think how many macarons that money could buy.*
Jinha cranked his brain into overdrive on how to make use of *A Poem for Puppies*.
Whether it was dogs or people, if someone liked it, there had to be a way to put it to use.
And one person filming Jinha with a top-tier camera from among the spectators was thinking the exact same thing.
"Oh, this is a freaking smash hit. A hundred thousand views minimum, totally doable."
It was Ayeong, who had woken up at some point and was filming Jinha from within the crowd.
* * *
"How is it? I filmed it well, right?"
"It’s definitely different. Where did you learn this?"
"Well, I’ve been interested for a long time. But this camera is really good. Expensive things really are worth the money."
After the performance, they watched the video Ayeong had filmed together.
The composition was definitely better than what he himself had shot, and the footage looked far more polished.
It might have been partly because the camera was better, but there was an indescribable difference.
"I’ll edit and upload this today."
"I’d appreciate it. But will it be okay?"
"Do you know how many pet owners there are in this country? My gut says this is a jackpot, so just wait and see."
Her loud boasting didn’t look like mere empty bluster.
Because even Jinha thought that if they used it well, they could make a killing.
"Good work! Oh my, how do you walk that rope so well?"
"Huh? Mister, hello!"
A man approached from behind and struck up a conversation.
A man of short stature and stocky build greeted Ayeong warmly, as if they were acquainted.
"Whew, thanks to you, the alley is packed with people. It’s been ages since I’ve seen it like this. Here, drink up and cool off."
"It’s the SSS-rank tteokbokki shop mister I told you about. It’s absolutely mind-blowing."
"Ah, hello. Thank you, I’ll drink it."
Jinha took the ice water from the tteokbokki shop owner and looked at the information floating above his head.
< Lee Juhyeok / Owner of SSS Tteokbokki Shop. > *Always so simple and clear.*
Juhyeok was so sociable that Jinha could converse with him comfortably despite having just met.
He seemed to have been in this alley for a very long time; there was nothing he didn’t know about the surrounding shops.
"Was there anything inconvenient about performing? We’ve only ever done business, never something like this."
"Nothing inconvenient at all. The equipment was good too."
"Ah, that’s because Kim Hyeong at the vegetable shop is an expert at that kind of stuff. Luckily, he said he had some in an acquaintance’s warehouse, so we rushed to bring them over. Damn, that speaker was so heavy I nearly threw out my back, hoho."
Smiling kindly, Juhyeok handed Jinha a bag he was holding.
"We merchants were planning to give this to you all together, but thanks to you, everyone’s too busy right now, Jinha. I’m giving this on behalf of the alley market, so please accept it."
"What is this?"
"What do you mean. You saved Seongyeon and brought all these people to the market; how could we just sit still? Everyone chipped in to prepare this, so please take it. It’s nothing expensive, but—"
"Wow, oppa, this is exactly what you need. An ear mic!"
What Juhyeok had given him was an ear microphone.
He had actually been looking into buying one because he felt he needed it, and this was even more expensive than the one he had been considering.
"And this. I don’t know if you’ll need it, but I thought it might help."
Juhyeok pulled out a USB from his pocket.
"Mister, what is this?"
"It’s the video taken from below when you saved Seongyeon last time. I kept it because I was worried it might be too painful for Seongyeon’s mother. But she said it was fine and insisted I give it to you."
"A video?"
If it was from when he saved Seongyeon... it seemed to be one of the videos filmed from below on a phone when the fire broke out at Seongyeon’s macaron shop and Jinha jumped from the rooftop.
"So anyway, you do YouTube too, right? I actually know someone at a broadcasting station and thought about tipping them off, but I’m not the person involved, so that didn’t feel right. But if you’re too embarrassed to promote what you did yourself, just tell me. I’ll tip them off for you."
* * *
『 Alley's Market Fire, Saved a Child with a Tightrope 』 U Jinha · 390,000 views · 3 days ago
Despite his remark that it would be rather awkward to tip off his own deed, he uploaded the video to YouTube right away.
It wasn’t something he had done wrong; there was nothing to be ashamed of.
What worried him was whether Seongyeon’s mother would be hurt watching the fire footage, but fortunately, Seongyeon’s mother had given permission first, telling him to upload it.
Such views in such a short time.
There were far bigger YouTubers out there, but this was an incredible feat for a beginner.
And the smash hit wasn't limited to this.
『 A Poem for Puppies - Live Performance That Dogs Go Crazy For 』 U Jinha · 1.13M views · 3 days ago
As Ayeong had predicted, the *A Poem for Puppies* video had scored a mega-hit, literally.
A song that dogs loved so much they went wild.
23,000 subscribers.
As word spread among dog owners, views skyrocketed and subscribers rose like splitting bamboo.
"Hitting the jackpot with two videos in just three days is seriously insane. But let's try recording this properly. There are hundreds of comments asking us to release the song."
Truly, all sorts of things were happening.
Jinha ate macarons with Ayeong as they went through the comments one by one.
- My baby loves this song so much. Did you put some kind of drug in it?
- Please gather the dogs and hold a concert!
- Isn't this a real jackpot? LOL. A song that dogs like. What a doggone mess.
- I don't have a dog, so I drink and listen to it myself, and it's so good.
There were some malicious comments, but most were positive.
Seeing occasional comments left by foreigners, it seemed people overseas were watching the video too.
More surprising was that people affiliated with dog cafes and pet festivals had left comments with their email addresses or phone numbers, asking to be contacted.
"Aren't these sponsorship or performance requests?"
"Right. Should I contact them?"
"You?"
"Yeah, I'm your manager. Ugh, why do you keep trying to push me away? Don't you know the more you do that, the more stubborn I get?"
Well, it was better to have someone handle the contact rather than doing it himself.
Even back in the days of the Cheongmaepae, there had been a position under the Kkokdusoe called the Gombaengisoe. It was the position in charge of obtaining permission from the highest person in the village to set up a performance ground.
Unlike his assumption that Ayeong would just fool around for a few days, she seemed quite serious, and if she worked hard without cutting corners, there was no reason to oppose her.
"Who’s pushing you away? Fine, you give them a call."
Ayeong carefully explained how she would make contact and how she would report back to Jinha.
He hadn’t realized it, but she seemed to have been steadily preparing all this while helping out at the shop.
"Huh? Some broadcasting stations want us to contact them too? Is this for real?"
"Broadcasting stations? Which programs?"
"The program called *Is This Even Possible?* Ah, and *Star King* contacted us too. This could be pretty worthwhile?"
He searched the programs online.
*Is This Even Possible?* was a program introducing unusual incidents and people from around the country.
*Star King* was a program where people with special talents appeared in the studio to show off their skills and be crowned the king of the week.
"From what I know, *Star King* gets pretty good ratings. You know Ryu Hajin among celebrities? He shot to fame here and became a celebrity too."
Would this really help him become a singer?
Or would it be better to go on any broadcast regardless?
The conclusion didn't take long.
Let's do it.
From what Jinha had learned, the world was full of people who worked themselves half to death for years just to get their face on TV once.
Anyway, it wasn't a good idea to receive a broadcast request first and not go while dreaming of becoming a celebrity.
But,
"Let's just appear on one of these."
"Why? Is going on all of them too much?"
"I think choosing just one will have more impact. Even for me, seeing something I've already seen once on TV again is a bit boring."
But that didn't mean going on just any program was good either.
Jinha hadn't been in this world for long, but he had watched TV every day.
Interesting shows were fun even when watching reruns.
But he distinctly remembered hating it when the same person appeared on different programs doing the exact same thing.
He didn't think everyone shared his taste, but he concluded this was basic human psychology.
"You have a point, oppa. Anyway, no matter how trendy YouTube is, TV is still the best for promotion. Subscribers will increase way more than now if you go on broadcast, right?"
"Hmm... increase even more from here."
There was something to do before appearing on TV.
It might be counting chickens before they hatched since nothing was confirmed, but,
"Then let's record something before the TV appearance."
"Record? *A Poem for Puppies?*"
"Yeah, that and one more."
He needed a song not just for dogs, but for subscribers too.
No matter how famous a song popular with dogs became, it was ultimately people who played it.
He needed to upload a song that could turn people who came to the channel to play *A Poem for Puppies* for their dogs into fans.
"For now, contact the broadcasting station and tell them I'll appear."
"Got it. And I'll look into a recording studio by tomorrow too."
"Oh... just who are you?"
"What? What do you mean?"
"How are you so good at this? Have you been a manager before?"
"This much is basic. I can't get you into programs through connections, so I'm working hard to scrape together whatever I can."
"You're really impressive. You could be married off already."
Hearing Jinha's words, Ayeong's expression stiffened and she suddenly broke into a fit of dry coughs.