Chapter 54: A Once-in-a-lifetime Honor (4)

The good news Production Director Kwon Heung Jo was calling about was none other than that KK was picked as the new model for Yoo Sung Electronics’ latest laptop.

Yoo Sung Electronics wanted to use Do Wook as a model again anyways as Do Wook’s popularity grew from the success of ‘Rendez-vous project’. Then the position of the advertisement model for Yoo Sung Electronics’ laptops opened up.

Even though Do Wook was currently an idol, he had as much credibility as any actor.

At the same time, his popularity was as high as any other idol, and the modeling fee wasn't very large. Therefore, of course the Yoo Sung Electronics Marketing Team’s analysis showed Do Wook as one of the suitable candidates for a model.

Yoo Sung Electronics had recently been rising in the laptop industry as an affordable and innovative brand, but they had a slightly old image. Therefore, they wanted a model with a fresh image.

Do Wook was a given, but the group KK as a whole had a fresh image. Yoo Sung Electronics picked KK as the advertisement model because they decided it’d be good to carry on that brand image.

‘The exclusive model for Yoo Sung Electronics’ laptop…It’s an ad that takes 3 months to work on, but it’s still definitely a big deal.’

Do Woo thought about the content of Oh Baek Ho’s phone call.

If they continued to build a good relationship with Yoo Sung Electronics, which could be called the nation’s top group, it would definitely become a growing support.

“Yes…Yes, Director.”

Oh Baek Ho replied as Director Kwon continued to talk.

Honestly, it would have been fine for the Fan Marketing Team Leader Jo Anna to deliver the news since she would be the one explaining the details, but there was a reason that Director Kwon personally called Manager Oh Baek Ho.

It was to imprint on the members as well as Oh Baek Ho how much attention he was giving to KK.

It was to raise the members’ morale through him, and make them aware of his efforts so it could be recognized.

“Yes. I’ll make sure to relay it to the members.”

It was definitely more effective and made them happier the higher up the compliment came from.

“Also, Director, there was something I wanted to ask you. Do you have some time?…Yes. yes. Then I’ll go see you in the afternoon.”

Manager Oh Baek Ho hung up the phone and explained to Do Wook in detail about being Yoo Sung Electronics’ laptop model.

“He said that you all are working hard, and he thinks the success is thanks to that, so he's happy. He said you especially have been working hard.”

“Not at all. I’m sure the members will be happy when they hear the news.

“Yeah.”

“The advertisement shoot and broadcast is next January?”

“Yes. Early January.”

They said next January but that was less than 3 weeks away. After thinking it over thoroughly, Do Wook said to Manager Oh Baek Ho,

“Then would it be ok if I asked Director Kwon for a favor?”

“Favor? You have a favor to ask of him?”

Oh Baek Ho frowned. He was only frowning because he was surprised by the question, but it had a pressure that could feel threatening from an outside perspective.

Of course, having become proficient at reading Oh Baek Ho’s expressions, Do Wook was not surprised at all.

He simply had a sincere look in his eyes as he conveyed his thoughts.

***

Then, a few days later.

The internet was flooded with articles about KK getting selected as Yoo Sung Electronics’ laptop model.

What Do Wook had asked Oh Baek Ho to relay to Director Kwon was none other than that it’d be good to release articles regarding the advertisement model selection a little earlier.

When Director Kwon learned the reason behind it, he said they wouldn't know the results until they try, but that it sounded like a good idea. Following Do Wook’s suggestion, Director Kwon consulted with Yoo Sung Electronics and had the articles distributed.

Director Kwon suggested to Yoo Sung Electronics to publish the articles early since KK was a strong candidate to win the Life Song Rookie of the Year award, and to distribute the articles again should they win the award.

Yoo Sung Electronics had no reason to refuse. It wasn’t as if they had to hide the models until the advertisement was released, and it was Yoo Sung Electronics who would benefit from the promotion if they released the article early and it became a hot topic.

Once the articles were released, the fandom cheered. They were already popular rookies, but the fact that they became Yoo Sung Electronics’ exclusive models gave the impression that they were more than rookies, that they attained a truly popular level of fame.

The fans weren’t the only ones who felt that way.

Even among the public, the opinion was that KK had become more than just a rising star.

That being the case, the majority opinion was that KK would have a landslide victory for the Rookie of the Year award at the upcoming award ceremony.

This was what Do Wook was after, becoming the talk of the town.

People think that the group who easily becomes a hot topic is the more popular group. Of course being the talk of the town correlates to popularity, but it isn’t a straight relationship.

Anyways, leading up to the ceremony, KK was talked about by people significantly more than M2M. They were definitely the sole topic people were talking about.

It was a stroke of luck that they were selected as Yoo Sung Electronics’ laptop model at just the right time.

Even in the internet polls, which they were initially falling behind in due to the force of the anti activities that even the Monster fandom joined in on, the number of votes for KK started to rise.

There were even cases where people became interested in KK after Monster members mentioned them and expanded from the Monster fandom into the KK fandom.

The voting was neck-and-neck between KK and M2M.

It became difficult to know the results of the internet voting until the very very last second. Currently, KK turned the tides on M2M.

In the case of the Rookie of the Year award, KK was ahead of M2M by a 6% margin, and for the K-POP STAR award M2M was ahead by 1%.

SVS Broadcast Station Conference Room.

The key coordinators had convened to discuss how to progress with the ‘Music Awards’ award ceremony winner selection.

The main person in charge of the music awards, CP* Nam Un Young, frowned as he looked at the current status of the voting on the award ceremony home page.

(TL note: CP is chief producer)

“Will it be possible for M2M to get the Rookie of the Year award like this?”

“As you can see, the voting has flipped. KK is now higher in total album sales. M2M’s sales have stopped, but KK is continuing to sell. As for music chart ranking, KK is ahead by a landslide.”

“This is driving me crazy.”

CP Nam Un Young clicked his tongue at the remark by PD Hyun Joo Hyuk, who was also the PD for Life Song.

The pressure from M2M’s agency, Ara Entertainment, was very strong.

“M2M’s, who was it again, Seo Jun? That punk’s daddy is Director Seo. I can’t NOT give it to him either. He was throwing a fit that he’d retaliate if I didn’t give it to him.”

“If it were a small difference we could adjust the ratio to give it to M2M and cover it up…but with a gap like this it’ll be hard to stop rumors, Mr. CP.”

“Now now, rumors about award winners spread all the time.”

Even though he responded like that, CP Nam Un Young muttered all sorts of swear words to himself over the stressfulness of the situation.

The PDs under him, including PD Hyun Joo Hyuk, shook their heads. Everyone there knew that CP Nam Un Young was taken out by Ara Entertainment’s Director Seo for a round of golf.

“What the Yoo Sung Electronics’ representative said is weighing on my mind too.”

Yoo Sung Electronics was one of the official sponsors of the annual SVS award ceremony.

They received sponsorship from Yoo Sung Electronics this year too, as usual. The company sponsored them every year, but CP Nam recently met with a Yoo Sung Electronics representative to negotiate the sponsorship amount that varied year to year.

At that time, the representative brought up KK in passing after negotiations were over.

It was a group they planned to consistently use as models, there was even an ad scheduled to air next month, and he was happy they were a strong candidate for the Rookie of the Year award.

Yoo Sung Electronics was simply a company that was using KK as a model.

The representative wasn’t saying that in a threatening way at all, it was genuinely said in passing, but CP Nam Un Young, who had to keep a good relationship with Yoo Sung Electronics, couldn’t help but be worried.

“One of the Apollon models was M2M’s Oh Bin.”

One of the PDs under him spoke up to try to ease CP Nam’s concerns. However, CP Nam vigorously shook his head.

“Yes, still, he was saying KK this and KK that so it doesn’t feel right.”

A silence fell in the conference room. Not a single person was willing to speak up. In the end, it was CP Nam Un Young’s decision.

A few moments later, CP Nam Un Young started to speak while frowning.

“We’ll be completely fair no matter what. Score it according to the rules and give the prize!”

If they did that, it was highly likely that M2M would not get the Rookie of the Year award. PD Hyun Joo Hyuk asked with a worried tone,

“Huh? What about Ara Entertainment then…”

“I don’t know. As you said, there has to be a reasonable gap for us to cover it up and give the prize to M2M. It could backfire on us.”

They’d known each other for years, and it wasn’t like they had made a deal. CP Nam Un Young knew that Ara Entertainment’s Director Seo had made such threats because it had been a narrow margin.

Even if they were an extremely successful agency, it wouldn’t be easy to turn their back on an entire cable broadcast station over the Rookie of the Year award, which wasn’t even the top award.

CP Nam Un Young gave orders to PD Hyung Joo Hyuk as he scratched his chin.

“Make up an award that sounds good. Tell them they can take that award if it doesn’t work. We’re a broadcast station, we can’t keep getting dragged around by an agency.”

Despite the contradictory nature of CP Nam Un Young’s words, the PDs answered him in unison even as they clicked their tongues inwardly.

***

Ilsan KINTEX*, located in Goyang City.

(TL Note: Korean International Exhibition Center)

It was what would soon become the location of the SVS Music Award ceremony which was starting that evening.

“Wow…I feel like I’m going to die…”

Ahn Hyung Seo, who had finished rehearsal, made dying sounds.

The members were all utterly exhausted. There were no members who could answer him back.

During a cold snap in the middle of winter, the KK members were drenched in sweat all over. Even though it was indoors, it was such a large space that the temperature was still not much different from the outside temperature.

The coordinators came to distribute water and fan them.

Manager Oh Baek Ho brought the camera he recorded the KK members’ rehearsal performance on. The choreographer Noh Yoon Tae was next to him.

Noh Yoon Tae specially came to the rehearsal site to watch over the performance for the award ceremony.

The members who had been sprawled out and getting fanned all got up and gathered around the camcorder.

“How was it?

“You guys did well but…the formation was a little shaky in the middle.”

Noh Yoon Tae answered when Jung Yoon Ki asked. The other members nodded their heads at Noh Yoon Tae’s remark. It was because they had also noticed it as they were performing.

Oh Baek Ho pressed the play button and everyone focused on the screen.

There were two performances in total that KK had prepared for today.

One was at SVS’s suggestion, a cover of a popular song from a dance group who were hot this year. It was a remix of highlights from 5 different songs, between 2-30 seconds long for each song. The members had to memorize five separate choreographies.

However, a cover performance was rather easy. Their performance after the announcement of the Rookie of the Year award results would be more difficult.

It was a remix version of their debut song ‘Sorry but I Love You’ and ‘Very Sorry’, but difficult choreography was added throughout, such as acrobatic movements in a formation at the bridge.

It was a choreography created from the members’ and company’s strong desire to leave a big impression since it was their first award ceremony performance.

The members worked very hard day and night over a short period of time for this event.

“It’s shaky starting from here.”

Do Wook accurately pinpointed the problematic part. The members replayed the choreography in their heads and were determined not to get it wrong in the final rehearsal.

10 pm.

Despite how late it was, the concert hall was packed with numerous fans.

In front of the audience area, there were about 10 circular tables where the singers participating today were sitting, dressed up and waiting for the performances to start.

Elaborate sound effects and lighting poured out as the female announcer and young male actor started their MC commentary. As fireworks rose above the stage, the ‘Music Awards’ were off to a flashy start.

The KK members, who were sitting at a table, also applauded with an anxious heart.

Soon, the open performance started with a female idol group’s bubbly performance.

Afterwards, the awards segment for the night was introduced with a VCR clip. The first award was none other than the Rookie of the Year award.

The presenter of the award was the nation's sweetheart, Sul Lae Im. As Sul Lae Im called out the names, the camera captured the award nominees who were sitting in their seats.

‘…I think I can hear my heartbeat.’

Do Wook had always been calm, but at this moment it felt like the sound of his heartbeat was pounding in his ear. The other members also all had a flushed expression.

“For me as well, the Rookie of the Year award I received two years ago is still the most memorable of the awards I’ve received up to now. You only have one chance to win the Rookie of the Year award after you debut, so I think it’s even more of an honor.”

Sul Lae Im read the lines written on the card with a clear voice. After a pause, Sul Lae Im started to speak.

“This year’s SVS Music Awards. The group that will get the honor of the one-shot Rookie of the Year award is…!”

Sul Lae Im smiled slightly. When she yelled out the group name, shriek-like cheering erupted in the audience. On the screen were the completely expressionless KK members.

Do Wook slowly got up from his seat.

—

Translator's comments: Thank you all for your support over this last year! Thank you to White Rabbit as well for working so very hard on the PR so that we can post this extra chapter this week!