Chapter 17: Vol. 1 - Ch. 17 - Aren’t You Feeling a Bit Anxious?

Jae-Yoon entered the War Room holding an Americano filled to the brim with ice cubes. The only thing he could trust in this War Room other than himself was the cup of caffeine.As Oh Eun-Sun PD said, it was an unprecedented case for the CEO to personally select products and take on the MD role in the War Room.

The War Room was equipped with a PC with dual monitors and eight additional monitors set up for monitoring purposes.

Jae-Yoon swiftly inspected the monitors. They displayed other networks’ broadcasts and the current number of calls. All systems looked good. Then, the telephone in the War Room rang.

-Can you hear me, Mr. Min?

“Yes, I can hear you well… Pre-orders are at 300? I was expecting around 500, but 300’s not bad, I guess.”

-No issues with the phone. Could you check the messenger too? The PC sometimes glitches. It’s time for an upgrade, don’t you think?

“Shall I pass that along to the Finance Department? Anyway, send a message to test.”

As soon as Jae-Yoon hung up, a message flew in through the corporate messenger for communicating with PDs. Most feedback and updates during live broadcasts happened through this messenger.

[ Content Team 1 Oh Eun-Sun: Ah, test. ]

[ CEO Min Ho-Jun: Check, okay. ]

[ Content Team 1 Oh Eun-Sun: You need to type fast. ]

[ CEO Min Ho-Jun: Till the East Sea’s waves are dry, Mt. Baekdu worn away, may God protect our land, our Korea everlasting. That’s fast, right? ] { National anthem of South Korea. }

[ Content Team 1 Oh Eun-Sun: Hahaha, good. ]

Jae-Yoon raised his head to look around. Through the transparent glass, the master control room was visible at a glance. He saw the staff keep glancing at the War Room. Unbothered, he sat down.

Sitting there, Jae-Yoon truly understood why it was called a War Room. The space felt like a courtroom, where the customer’s verdict could be immediately observed.

Customer gender, age, order volume, remaining inventory volume—everything could be seen at a glance in real time.

[ Exclusive on It’s Home Shopping + 50,000 won credit for this model only during the live broadcast. ]

Below the simple copy, show host Jeong Mi-Ran was tidying her props. In a black tweed two-piece with glittering threads, paired with a chic bob haircut, she exuded madam vibes. Exactly what Jae-Yoon wanted.

Today’s broadcast motto was ‘Wannabes Broadcasting Wannabe Electronics’.

[ Today, MilkBot, Korea’s #1 technology robot vacuum cleaner is coming to your home. Look forward to it. Hello, I’m your show host, Jeong Mi-Ran. ]

The studio composition and narration contrasted the Home Run broadcast. It was calm and elegant, and would carry the theme of electronics everyone wanted but couldn’t have.

Instead of displaying a media wall (digital backdrop), the studio was set up to mimic a real home atmosphere, featuring a desirable fabric sofa, a ceramic tea table, and a herringbone-patterned carpet in the living room.

[ Beyond appliances, fulfilling its role as an interior object, the matte white dust tower blends in like a decorative piece in any interior. Exclusive on It’s Home Shopping, you can choose the MilkGrey color option. ]

Like listening to ASMR, the reliable, relaxed voice was comfortable. As MC Jeong was captured on camera, the order quantity graph rose.

Real-time orders: 732

Jae-Yoon, who had been watching the monitor, immediately called the master control room.

“Get ready for the first drama commercial break.” Sixty seconds during breaks of popular dramas to capture the consumers’ eyes.

“The ad is on. Ms. Oh, switch screens to Ducci and Puku right away.”

Today’s secret weapon and highlight: Two cats lazily napping in a living room styled with trendy items.

Silence.

Showing it like this once with impact worked better to grab attention than talking about it a hundred times.

[ MilkBot, considerate of homes with pets. Introducing the 2023 silence model. ]

The screen switched to the cats.

Despite two MilkBots going around, the two cats were sprawled out, napping on the carpet. And as one of the MilkBots approached the cats, the one sleeping stretched languidly and leaped casually on top of it.

[ Low noise, low vibration. Pets are sensitive to sounds. I have a pet dog at home too. When low-quality robot vacuums operate, he shows signs of distress. Why could that be? Yes, due to the noise. But households with MilkBot? Your child and pet’s deep slumber need not be disturbed any longer. MilkBot will guard your most precious time. ]

Jae-Yoon’s prediction was spot on.

The order quantity exactly doubled.

Real-time orders: 1,503

Jae-Yoon picked up the telephone.

“The live broadcast comments are fun. It’ll be good for the show host to read some.”

-Yes, Mr. Min.

Jae-Yoon’s feedback was swiftly reflected.

[ So many customers are empathizing. Churung says, ‘My cat is scared of the robot vacuum, so I should get one.’ Todayandtomorrow says, ‘My mom is sensitive to noise, so I couldn’t buy a vacuum recklessly, but Milkbot seems fine.’ Yes, that’s right. We exclusively researched robot vacuums for ten years. Customers who want quality, yet reasonable pricing… Hesitation will only delay delivery. ]

It could not have been easy scouting such a docile cat. Jae-Yoon was once again amazed by Oh PD’s recruiting ability amidst this.

“The cat’s reaction is good. What should we do, Mr. Min?”

“Stick to the plan. Introduce QR right away.”

Forty minutes into the broadcast. Twenty minutes left.

The time when channels changed after the hit drama ended. The victory or defeat of today was practically decided during this time.

[ See the QR code at the bottom of the screen? Having trouble with the old app? Worried the MilkBot app might be too complex for elderly homemakers? Let’s go through it together, step by step, with me, Mi-Ran. Starting with installation… ]

As the viewer participation broadcast began, the rapidly increasing order rate momentarily stalled.

The tactic worked precisely. While holding smartphones up to check the QR, orders could not be made. A double-edged sword, but as if by magic, once the app tutorial ended, the order quantity resumed climbing.

[ Homekeeping is about the little things. Each item defines the elegance of a home. For a refined robot vacuum, the standard is MilkBot. ] Sᴇaʀᴄh the N0vᴇlFirᴇ.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Order quantity: 2,739

Milkbot’s broadcast ended with total sales of 2.7 billion.

Jae-Yoon left the War Room with a satisfied smile. Oh Eun-Sun PD approached Jae-Yoon briskly and raised her right hand high. High five! The sound of their two palms meeting was quite cheerful. { E/N: I feel so excited like I participated along with them! }

“You worked hard. Wow, Ms. Oh, you’re really like a goddess of fortune with the two cats.”

“They’re very docile.”

“I’ve only heard of cats riding robot cleaners, but it’s actually real?”

“It varies by individual.”

“Don’t you have to pay them an appearance fee?”

“The CEO already paid for plenty of snacks with his card, so that will cover their appearance fee.”

After greeting the staff, Jae-Yoon moved to the conference room attached to the studio. Clasping his hands together. Jae-Yoon could feel the warmth from his palms.

Oh Eun-Sun sat across from Jae-Yoon and spoke up, “Ah, it’s a bit disappointing, right?”

“Why? Because we didn’t hit 3 billion?”

“No. One of the cats kept falling asleep. If it had ridden with the other one, sales would have been a bit higher. By the way, you seem a bit down because we didn’t hit 3 billion.”

“And you are biting your thumbnail, Ms. Oh…”

The expected sales were 2,500 units. Jae-Yoon had met his target. Of course, this goal was for sales during the live broadcast.

“The others are coming. Let’s have a quick post-broadcast meeting and leave.”

“Oh. I guess I was a bit nervous. I need to go to the sauna and relax.”

Oh PD stretched out her arms while turning her neck from side to side. Her face looked a bit darker than when Jae-Yoon first saw her.

“Mr. Min, you worked hard. For your first broadcast, you did better than most MDs. Wow, aren’t you going to receive a planning team from It’s Home Shopping tomorrow?”

“Don’t say that. The show host also did a great job today. Thank you. The two-piece outfit went really well with today’s concept.”

“Ms. Oh kept nagging me to do well. She’s been nagging me for two weeks, more than my mother-in-law.” Show host Jeong Mi-Ran glanced at Oh Eun-Sun.

In a cheerful atmosphere, Jae-Yoon’s first live broadcast ended like that.

“Mr. Min, are you going to leave right away?”

“I have something to check.”

“Oh. On a day like today, go home early and rest. Can I help you with anything?”

“No. By the way, Ms. Oh, I have a favor to ask. Do you happen to have a separate community?”

“I keep an eye on a few for monitoring. Why do you need community monitoring?”

Oh Eun-Sun PD smiled and handed Jae-Yoon her cell phone. The screen displayed a cooking community’s ‘haul certification’ board.

“You’ve already looked through it?”

“Here, you can get the gist. After yesterday’s Home Run and today's broadcast, there’s a lot of discussion.”

“Are the reactions similar?”

“No. Look at this. It’s really funny. It was just uploaded.”

Jae-Yoon looked at Oh PD’s cell phone.

[ Verified purchase! Two MilkBots purchased! ]

[ MyPageScreenshot.jpg ]

[ I’m an old woman who failed with three robot cleaners. My dogs are very sensitive. Hoping for no failures this time... :( ]

└ The Silence model is quiet. I’m using it

└ The price is… Wow

└ If it’s a Liv product with these specs, it should be at least 1200. The additional components are exactly what you need, so I recommend MilkBot if you want to use a high-end product.

└ That’s right. Honestly, it’s not that I’m only buying from large companies. MilkBot is good. Don’t rice cookers from small and medium-sized companies work better than those from large companies?

└ This really needs to be spread far and wide. Other things aren’t cost-effective, but this is!!! You can’t buy a product like this for this price.

“Oh. The reactions are quite good.”

“And look at this. The reactions are polar opposites.” This time, she showed Jae-Yoon a different post.

[ Verified purchase! Did many of you buy HomeRun?]

[ MyPageScreejshot.jpg ]

[ I wanted to bring in a robot vacuum, but my husband said it was too expensive, so I couldn’t buy it… Home Run is less than 200,000 won, so I quickly ordered three. It’s made in China, but it can’t be that bad, right? Since I’m going for cost-effectiveness. Please tell me I bought well… ]

└ It’s not good to buy something just because it’s cheap…

└ It’s noisy; I was surprised that it wasn’t loud on the broadcast.

└ It’s okay for everyday use, but you have to throw it away if it breaks.

└ You should never buy this if you have cats or dogs. Hair gets tangled inside, so you have to throw it away after a month.

└ Writer, don’t mind the reactions from the people above. Since you bought it, use it well.

“Hmm… What do you think from a homemaker’s perspective?”

“They buy within their means, that’s why the reviews are really honest. But Mr. Min, this Home Run… Aren’t you feeling a bit anxious?”

Oh Eun-Sun PD crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. She had the intuition of a housewife with ten years of experience.

There was no malicious comment brigade. However, the reviews for Home Run were unusual. Somehow, they were similar to the comments Jae-Yoon had seen after the It’s Food vegan dumpling broadcast.

“We’ll have to wait and see. The real start is Monday.”

“Hope nothing blows up.”

“If something does blow up, does the content team go on alert?”

“Of course. Documents will be flying everywhere. Ugh. The senior in charge of Home Run has a bad temper. Mr. Min, I’ll make a call and come back. I need to ask the team leader for an urgent vacation next week.”

“Come up every day. We need to plan the next product together.”

“You have to keep your promise.”

After saying goodbye to Oh Eun-Sun PD, Jae-Yoon went down to the parking lot. The executive parking space was closest to the entrance. Jae-Yoon got into the passenger seat of the black sedan.

“Let’s go.”

“Great work today. I’ve prepared your usual wine and cookies in advance. Let’s head out.”