novelraw Chapter 259: Advertisement Grand Reveal (2)
Chapter 259: Advertisement Grand Reveal (2)
It all started with a single review post.
≫ Lee Cheonghyeon’s photoshoot that makes you have no choice but to acknowledge he’s the top male idol visual today
No words needed
Just art
└ Wow
└ Saved
Starting from social media and forums—the fastest places for celeb news—Lee Cheonghyeon’s face spread like wildfire.
≫ Forget everything else—
Is that really a human face?
Even the Creator must be speechless. Is it okay to be this biased toward a bias?Even Michelangelo wouldn’t have worked this hard on The Creation of Adam
└ I couldn’t believe it either, but I’ve seen him in person, so I have no choice but to believe… Lee Cheonghyeon is the real deal
└ Friend, didn’t we agree to share this kind of stuff through brickwall-level fangirl posts? Is our friendship that shallow?
└ Is it really that shallow??22
≫ Kim ??: You want a spoiler for Cheonghyeon’s photoshoot? It feels like a sunflower blooming even at the North Pole
└ When I watched Bubble Pop, I thought they kept their cuts under wraps, but after seeing the photoshoot, Kim Iwol gave it all away. That’s what stings more
└ Stop trying to out-fangirl the fans, Kim Iwol, you’re hurting our pride. We already lost
└ I genuinely want to know what Iwol thinks about all day… How does he come up with stuff like that all the time?
≫ Who is this man?
I want to know this man’s name
└ He is Cheonghyeon of the Spark
└ Please tell me this man’s nickname. Cheonghyeon is too long :face_with_tears_of_joy:
└ It’s not long in Korean, damn it. We went out of our way to tell you in English, and you’re still complaining. You should say Kor plz :face_with_tears_of_joy::face_with_tears_of_joy:
Aside from a few strange things mixed in, the reaction to Lee Cheonghyeon’s photoshoot was truly hot.
With the appearance of a photo that made even non-fans save it, Lee Cheonghyeon became known to a slightly wider world.
Some might ask: are you really that excited over one viral post? But in the entertainment world, nothing mattered more than trending.
Just think about how long it usually took for a photo that was only circulating among idol fans to reach marketers of all sorts of brands through social media.
≫ (Rep.) Lee Cheonghyeon’s photoshoot that makes you have no choice but to acknowledge he’s the top male idol visual today
└ I came in like ‘Who’s Lee Cheonghyeon?’ and now I have to agree…
└I don’t even know if I deserve to agree…
└ I now understand what ‘my eyes have been opened’ really means
≫ The male idol who wrote a new history of photoshoots
└ @sui_2__ Say hi to my boyfriend
└ Even considering the editing, this is insane
└ The saying that there are no visuals in male idols these days was all a lie
└ Awesome…
≫ Missing out on this face is a crime
└ Of course I thought it was a fashion magazine photoshoot, am I the only one surprised it’s for Indenia?
└ Nope, everyone thought this was this month’s Vogue main spread
‘At this rate, Cheonghyeon’s going to land a solo ad by the end of the year.’
It wasn’t a KPI or a work task, but it was a proud achievement. At the very least, Song Minil would stop looking down on Cheonghyeon so much. That alone felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my chest.
Just as I was enjoying the heartwarming reactions, the system appeared above my phone.
+
[SYSTEM] The ‘Subordinate’s’ ‘Captivating Starlight Smile’ is activated. Tremendous influence occurs.
+
Captivating Starlight smile?
I didn’t sell anything like that. I’m literally lying on the couch with a lazy smirk right now.
And if I’m supposed to be captivating the masses, shouldn’t I have gained like, ten thousand new fans…?
+
[SYSTEM] The progress of KPI ‘Capturing the Hearts of Potential Customers’ is being notified to ‘Subordinate.’
▷ 2,053/10,000
+
…is what I was about to say.
The number of potential customers had increased by a surprising amount. My hand went to my eyes before I knew it.
I rubbed my eyes a few times and looked again, but the number didn’t change. It meant I hadn’t misread it. Maybe it was easier to grasp because of the comma.
‘Was there anything in my photoshoot that could attract new fans? I wasn’t even smiling in it, though?’
I did smile in the group photoshoot, but I didn’t think I would have gained a fan from there. That was because Jeong Seongbin was smiling a ‘real’ starry smile right next to me. My knock-off walnut-cookie smile wouldn’t have stood a chance.
If it wasn’t the photoshoot, then where did some unknown algorithm kick in?
I shot up from the sofa. Then I started to search my phone diligently.
And after a long and humiliating ego-surfing session, I arrived at one video.
≫ IDC FINAL – Spark Song (Iwol Fancam ver.)
#IdolDynastyChronicles #IDC #IDCFinalContest #Spark #spArk #Song #Iwol #KimIwol
It was my fancam from the time of ‘IDC.’
≫ I came in after seeing the photoshoot and got interested, and ended up falling for this man’s smile
≫ Since when could this guy smile like that? You’re a stranger to me…
└ If you watch this year’s ISD video, you can see a flower garden of smiles
≫ Why does he only enter halfway? Is it a surprise effect? I was watching and wondering about that, when I saw a comment saying he appeared right after a head injury and I was surprised… I replayed the smiling part about 30 times and was surprised again to see that he was carried off as soon as this stage ended… I don’t know what this feeling is, but I just want to cheer for him somehow. Is this what becoming a fan feels like?
└ Congrats on the fan conversion
└ Our eldest hyung is a diligent idol who works his body to the bone. Let’s stan him together
└ Iwol, are you watching? People are recognizing how hard you worked
≫ He performs well—but it’s the fact that he gives his all that hits hard
I hope this kid never lose his original passion
I didn’t know what the video’s previous view count was. My fancam view counts weren’t a part of my monitoring targets.
But I could guess just by sorting the comments by the latest.
From this fancam, and all the related videos, posts, and pictures, it was clear that a lot of people had discovered Kim Iwol—easily more than 1,500.
+
[SYSTEM] Work instructions from ‘Superior’ have arrived
▶ You know that thing Assistant Manager Kim did last time? It’s fine, so just fix the necessary parts and submit it as is!
+
Since this wasn’t from one single incident, but a compound of many overlapping events, the system didn’t count all new fans as potential customers.
But it didn’t disregard past efforts either.
The system seemed to have calculated the number of new fans to be around 1,500, taking these factors into account.
Though if that was the case, it felt a bit unpleasant. What am I, a product? Being analyzed and calculated like market value or crop yield?
Still.
≫ I just want to cheer for him somehow
Still…
I’m grateful for being able to see this. If it weren’t for the KPI, I would have never known.
≫ Iwol, are you watching?
My eyes wouldn’t leave the screen.
≫ People are recognizing how hard you worked
I read those comments for a long time, until the members called for me.
* * *
By the time the recording for the B-side tracks was finished, it was already past midnight. As a half-dead Jeong Seongbin emerged from the booth, Park Joowoo went to greet him, rushing out as if his socks were on fire.
“Cheonghyeon, are you going to do the mixing this time too?”
“Probably?”
“Will the schedule work out?”
Flipping a page on the desk calendar revealed the comeback date marked in large letters. If we calculated backwards from there, accounting for the album production period and the highlight medley production schedule, the remaining time was truly short.
Due to the intense work on just the pre-release song and the title track, Lee Cheonghyeon was in a half-possessed state.
The rest of us weren’t in great shape either. It was a relief that the choreography for both songs wasn’t difficult. If it had been, Spark would have been sprawled out like wilted scallion shreds by now.
“If only Seongbin hyung doesn’t give me a mark for sleeping late, it might be possible…”
Lee Cheonghyeon said, glancing at Jeong Seongbin, who was sitting on the sofa at the back of the recording studio. Jeong Seongbin, looking at his dongsaeng, sighed.
“…Only until the comeback.”
“Spark’s musical prodigy Cheonghyeon, going full 24-hour operation starting today!”
“Even so, 24 hours is not okay.”
At the firm words of our leader, Lee Cheonghyeon clutched his stomach and laughed.
We laughed and chatted as we cleaned up the recording studio. As we were about to finish getting ready to leave, I asked Park Joowoo.
“Choi Jeho and Kiyeon haven’t said they’ve left yet, right? Should we go to the practice room?”
The rap line, having finished their recording first, had left early to check the choreography video. It was as if everyone was on a conveyor belt, scattering to do one job after another and then gathering again.
The recording studio, which had been noisy with jokes just a moment ago, became quiet.
“Uh… well…”
“Well?”
Park Joowoo avoided my gaze.
A sense of foreboding washed over me. Don’t tell me those two fought again? Did you send them off to settle it with a rap battle without my knowledge? If so, I’m going to start learning diss rap from today. I’ll release a mixtape with five songs titled with your names and re-debut as ‘Ice Blood, the cold-blooded rapper who shows no mercy even to his colleagues.’
Seeing me tremble, Lee Cheonghyeon waved his hands dismissively.
“The thing about checking the choreography video was a lie! That was finished a long time ago. Because Spark is a professional idol group that doesn’t procrastinate.”
“What?”
“Those two went to the dorm first with a grave mission. Chanyoung hyung dropped them off earlier.”
A grave mission, you say.
It really must be a rap battle. The loser gets an extra Jeong Seongbin brand for the crime of disrupting the team’s atmosphere.
“What’s the mission?”
“That’s top secret.”
Lee Cheonghyeon replied solemnly. If someone measured my blood pressure right now, I’d be flagged as a hypertension risk.
“Curious?”
“Even if I am, you’re not going to tell me, are you?”
“Hyung, you know me too well.”
Lee Cheonghyeon winked. Seriously, the starlight smile service should have gone to him. You could just name it something like ‘Gold Dust Falling Aurora Natural Rainbow Starry Smile.’
“If you’re curious, let’s go to the dorm!”
Lee Cheonghyeon extended both his arms toward the door.
And so, on the wall of the dorm living room we arrived at…
“You’re here?”
“Oh, you really installed it just like we discussed? Did it take long?”
“Not really. It was quick, except for the part where Jeho hyung almost broke it.”
…a black, rectangular something, like you’d see in a restaurant, was hanging there.
What… do you call that?
A call monitor? A receiver?
And these guys… why did they install this?