Debut or Die

“That’s what I said! But I thought he’d fulfill his term this year.”

According to the rumors, there were several talks between the payment bot and the higher-ups as the industry spy case entered T1’s head office.

And whatever agreement they had, the payment bot retired and left for an affiliate, and a new director was appointed in his place.

“The director said he’s not from T1 this time. Some famous professional CEO is coming!”

“I look forward to it.”

I wasn’t expecting anything, but well, I couldn’t do anything about it, so I nodded to the company staff.

By the way, this was a concert-related meeting.

“Then the direction of Moondae-ssi’s solo song will be set like this.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

This meant that I didn’t expect to hear the unexpected talk of the trip to the US at the reality show meeting two days later.

“America?”

“I like it! Let’s go to America!”

“Ah, Eugene, wait a minute. America is good~ But will our schedule and the cost be fine? We almost don’t come near America at all on our tour.”

As soon as he heard the remark, ‘For this reality show, you’re going to America’, Keun Sejin smoothly brought up the realistic issue.

‘His point is accurate.’

When we said that we got a certain amount of response from the US, what we meant was that we had a reputation worthy of the first-tier group in Korea only among KPOP fanatics.

The interest we received from the game talk show helped us gain some popularity in the subculture, but only at a small level.

This meant that the size of the tour was not as we had expected, and of course, the concert in the US only matched that range.

“Oh, they said that they plan the flights according to the South American tour schedule. About the cost, of course, Tnet will invest this much on Testar~”

“Oh~”

“I’m grateful, but what if there’s a situation where we can’t recover the production cost…”

A few naive guys were embarrassed by the staff’s flattery.

‘It’s strange.’

They suddenly brought up America. The cost-performance ratio didn’t fit.

I purposely asked straightforwardly, in order to see the staff’s reaction.

“But why America? Did Tnet suggest it first?”

“Ah, um… It’s what the director suggested…”

“…The new director?”

“Yes.”

It had only been two days since I heard that the director changed, when did he make that proposal?

“What reason did he tell you when he talked about it?”

“Well, first of all, I didn’t hear it directly from him… Well, since he chose it with the simultaneous global release in mind, he said that he chose a background that is familiar to the world.”

He created holes to escape and gave a vague answer. It seemed he had something on his mind.

‘Let’s dig a little more.’

Before I could open my mouth, Ryu Chungwoo continued with the next question.

“Simultaneous global release?”

“Yes. We are discussing releasing this reality show directly on WeTube outside of Korea!”

Cha Eugene stepped in.

“A lot of Americans are going to watch it?”

“…! Uh, yes. We talked about it, but…”

Looking at the agitated staff, it was clear that Cha Eugene had accidentally stumbled upon the right answer.

‘They’re aiming for the English speakers.’

Trying this reality show was not a bad thing, but the problem was that the director’s preference was visible here.

Rather than selecting content to appease domestic fans during the overseas tour and preventing them from leaving, he was thinking of increasing overseas viewers.

Not a country where KPOP was already familiar, but the US that ‘apparently watches KPOP’.

‘Let’s put it off for now.’

It would be better to check whether they would be cautious when we showed our reluctance.

I looked around the members and opened my mouth.

“Can we discuss it among ourselves first and then talk about it at the next meeting?”

“Right~ I think that would be better!”

Keun Sejin fired a support shot, but the responding staff’s speech got longer.

“Ah, of course! However, Testar’s opinions naturally will be considered but the final decision is made by the program producers after taking various realistic requirements into account… I’m really sorry about that, but I ask for your understanding.”

This meant that even if we didn’t want to go to America at the next meeting, they would send us away.

‘F*ck.’

It must have already been half-decided because of the strong push from the inside. Still, because of the industry spy case, they showed signs of being cautious.

“Then I’ll see you next week.”

“Thank you~”

After that, we left the meeting room while talking about the content we wanted to do in the reality show.

“What do you think? About America.”

“Let’s go! Go to my home. There are a lot of delicious restaurants! Mom miss hyungs!”

“Ah~ that’s nice.”

“I-I wish I could say hello.”

Cha Eugene fiercely supported it, and other members seemed to think it was only natural.

‘It can’t be helped.’

He had fewer chances to meet his family compared to other members, so if there was a way to meet them, he would want to use it.

‘He must be homesick.’

If we would go anyway, it would be better to go to Cha Eugene’s house in regard to the content.

‘It would be better to set the mood before that.’

From what I noticed earlier, maybe there would be some gestures in the company before the next meeting.

And sure enough, the next morning at the company practice room, we received a new schedule from the manager.

“Guys, the director said he wanted to see you.”

“Ah, the director.”

“…Now?”

“About an hour later? They said it won’t take long!”

Bae Sejin’s face was gloomy when he asked.

It was understandable.

‘The break time is gone.’

We were in the middle of a busy schedule, so we were barely able to make use of our time and enjoy a break in the practice room.

“I understand…”

“Um, yes!”

The responses were not very enthusiastic.

Still, an hour later, Testar headed to the director’s office for the first time in a long time.

Seeing that even Seon Ahyeon, who had recently switched to French embroidery or something, glanced at the pile of cloth with regretful eyes, it was clear that the general manager had made his first impression.

‘We’d rather spend the meeting time doing anything else.’

He only managed to buy our slight animosity while trying to establish his position in a hurry.

I entered the director’s office, suspecting that someone who wasn’t good at their job was in there again.

And I was a little surprised by an unexpected sight.

“Ah, Testar. I’m sorry I called you out of the blue. Sit down first.”

The director was waiting with refreshments set up.

It wasn’t at a trivial level that matched the occasion. From chicken to waffles, all kinds of snacks were brought out as if it was some kind of event.

It was like an academy briefing session to attract children, but at least he expressed his intention clearly enough.

He was saying ‘I set up this position with you guys’.

“I called you while you were taking a break, right? You must be busy these days, I feel bad so I prepared some snacks, haha!”

“Oh my, of course, it’s fine, director!”

“T-Thank you.”

“Shall we talk while eating?”

And the director first picked up a chicken.

Seeing that he just put it down after it roughly touched his mouth, I guessed he didn’t want to eat it, and he seemed to know that it was inconvenient for other people to eat comfortably if he didn’t eat first.

‘Oh.’

Still, I felt like he’d been close with the staff. He was also much younger than the former director.

.

The director chatted for a while and after waiting for the kids to eat, he started talking about work.

“The first reason I prepared this was to have a meeting where we can see each other’s faces and greet each other. Please take good care of me in the future.”

“Ah, please take care of us!”

We exchanged light handshakes.

“And the second reason is… I think you’ve already heard about it. It’s related to the reality show in the US.”

The director clasped his hands with a serious face.

“I am drawing a roadmap to target the US market not only for this period but also from a longer-term perspective.”

“Yes…?”

Ah, damn it.

“I checked all your albums and activities before I came here.”

The director talked about Testar’s activities and explained his analysis with a serious look.

“…And it’s clear that America likes it. Underdog, social message, pride and individuality in one’s roots. What do you think, Eugene-nim? Am I right?”

“Oh, you’re right!”

“Yes. And Testar is a team with styles that meets all three. So I’m sure it will work out in a bigger market as well.”

“Oh…!”

It was nonsense.

First of all, those three conditions were an excessive leap of logic, and Cha Eugene was excited because he just ate delicious food, so when the person who bought the food asked his opinion, he just agreed.

And more importantly, if all three conditions were met, groups who didn’t get beaten down by America would be as many as the stars in the sky.

‘I had a false hope.’

The problem was, this bastard was confident in analyzing the data in his own way. And he seemed to have a lot of confidence in his abilities.

Ryu Chungwoo managed to open his mouth.

“Well, thank you for your kind words, but rather than targeting any particular country or class… The team has been working to focus on making good albums.”

“Of course! You just have to keep making good music. I was saying that the company would work harder on how to promote and manage that good music.”

He had a way with words.

“Honestly, I think we’ve lacked support from T1 Stars so far. Rather than sharing my vision with everyone, I was in a hurry to chase after it.”

The director’s eyes were serious.

“For example, the size of this concert tour in Japan. I heard that <Idol Inc.> was well-received from the first episode aired in Japan, so we should have quickly increased the size of the tour, set up additional schedules, and analyzed Japan’s needs, but we didn’t do anything like that.”

Oh, this was pretty new.

I’d been busy lately, so I hadn’t gotten a chance to find out more about the responses in other countries, but now that I thought about it, as he said, it was something that the agency should have looked into earlier.

‘Still, it’s better to not do anything now than pointlessly do something in a strange direction.’

For example, if he had been there instead of the payment bot, we would have been on a Japanese music show out of the blue.

However, the director was deeply immersed in his analysis, and he was so enthusiastic that he was almost spitting out.

“So what’s the result? <Idol Inc.> was a big hit in Japan, and while Testar’s stock prices continued to rise, the agency put the activities in Japan on hold.”

“Um, is that so?”

“Is the upward trend that strong in Japan?”

At the remarks of the flustered Ryu Chungwoo and the curious Kim Raebin, the director took out his pad, excited to boast his knowledge.

And with a smart gesture, he flicked the screen.

“Have you seen this?”

It was a slide of a PPT made with an up-to-date template.

And the content… It was about a Japanese auction product screenshot. There was nothing special about it other than the price range.

However, Seon Ahyeon’s face was clearly visible on the product.

It was a photo card that was given out in a lottery at the beginning of the year as an event for public interest campaigns by some broadcasting company.

It was probably taken behind the scene at the request of the broadcasting staff right after the stage where the ear-in fell off and Seon Ahyeon covered it up with a somersault.

‘That situation was oddly unique’

In addition, considering that it was Seon Ahyeon’s photo, it was as good as ever, and I remembered that the original photo data was finally uploaded to the broadcasting station’s SNS after a barrage of requests.

Still, it seemed that the first few cards released in the event were quite premium, but I didn’t know that it would go all the way to Japan and form such a price range.

“This is almost 500,000 won in Korean currency. It’s strong proof that the demand for Testar is increasing significantly in Japan. In particular, they gave good responses to Seon Ahyeon-nim.”

“Y-Yes…”

Seon Ahyeon’s face turned red. The director exclaimed enthusiastically.

“So now is the time to be more aggressive in targeting overseas markets. Since we invaded Japan so easily, I am sure that we will be able to achieve enough results in the United States if we work hard and break through good routes.”

“….”

Now I got it.

‘I guess ‘Now that I heard it, it’s true’ came back with an A grade to deal with this guy.’

This proved my theory again.

I held back a sigh and opened my mouth.