When I Opened My Eyes I Was a Superstar

# 173

50X100X200 (2)

“Yes, what’s going on?”

Team leader Lee Dae-hyung asked in confusion at the hectic situation.

“Rain… Our KK is on the Rain billboard…!”

Nam Hyo-jin’s voice as she answered was trembling.

Although I was surprised as an employee, it was Nam Hyo-jin who was also a fan of KK. Because it was even more happy news as a fan, Nam Hyo-jin found it hard to believe it when she told her boss the news.

“Billboard?’

Team leader Lee Dae-hyung asked Nam Hyo-jin’s words back. At the same time, I saw messages popping up on my phone screen. The most recent message was floating on the lock screen.

It was a message from a friend who works at a record label.

[Big brother, didn’t you say you were working with KK? [On the Billboard charts…]

Although the latter part was cut off and not visible, it was clear that it was the same news that Nam Hyo-jin was trying to convey.

“yes. It entered the Billboard chart announced today!”

“Uh… you mean Social 50?”

In response to Nam Hyo-jin’s answer, Team Leader Lee Dae-hyung asked again.

The Billboard chart was an American chart. Just as every Korean music site has a ranking chart and an album chart that calculates album sales, the United States also had charts, and one of them was the Billboard chart.

Although it is said to be one of them, entering the ‘Billboard Chart’ as the most credible chart in the United States and in the world was a chart that was recognized not only for its influence in the American market but also in any music market in the world.

There were three major charts within the Billboard chart: ‘Social 50’, ‘Hot 100’, and ‘Billboard 200’.

‘Social 50’ was the most recent chart to emerge in the digital age. The popularity of singers in the 21st century could no longer be measured using the same methods as before. The way the public consumes singers is now evolving in a variety of ways beyond just listening to songs.

Because of this, the ‘Social 50’ chart was literally a chart of how active people were in various popular social network services, including SNS Facenote and My Tube.

If you think of it as a ‘social index’ that calculates the number of followers of various SNS accounts, the number of page views, the number of streaming, etc., the more information about the singer is produced and consumed around the world through the Internet, the higher the ranking.

KK has aggressively implemented marketing using social media since its debut. We increased the number of followers by operating only one account per SNS to prevent followers or views from being distributed.

Thanks to this, along with KK’s popularity, the ‘social index’ increased exponentially.

Therefore, KK was already ranked high on Billboard’s ‘Social 50’.

With the development of the Internet and SNS, and the influence of the Korean Wave, not only KK but also other popular Korean singers often entered the ‘Social 50’.

That alone was already great, but Team Leader Lee Dae-hyung thought that entering the ‘Social 50’ would not have caused such a fuss.

Team leader Daehyung Lee’s question was filled with expectations.

It was true that when ‘Continue’ was released this time, there were great aspirations for the global market.

‘Aiming for the Billboard chart was such a ridiculous dream that I couldn’t bear to say it…’

Nam Hyo-jin nodded vigorously.

“yes yes. Social 50, of course. It’s number 1. 2 weeks in a row. And it also entered the Billboard 200.”

“Billboard 200….”

“Yes. 79th place! “Isn’t she the first Korean idol singer?”

Team leader Lee Dae-hyung nodded.

“Not only is it on the Billboard 2 million, but it’s also on the Hot 100 right now!”

The excitement dripped from Nam Hyo-jin’s voice. Nam Hyo-jin clenched her hands. The billboard felt like a dream.

Entering the Billboard charts is every musician’s dream.

The dream of every idol or singer in Korea was to rank first on music charts and music shows, and the next step was to win the grand prize at the Music Awards.

There were so many people who thought that even this dream was out of reach. For those who had just joined Hit Entertainment and were currently working as trainees, debut would have seemed far away.

But now, KK has achieved what all singers only dream of and cannot even think about achieving.

It meant that people not only in Korea but around the world know and love KK’s music.

The remaining two of the three Billboard charts, ‘Billboard 200’ and ‘Hot 100’, had different weights from the ‘Social 50’.

‘Billboard 200’ was a tally of album sales around the world, and ‘Hot 100’ was simply a chart based on music streaming.

The number of MyTube music video plays alone was setting a huge record. After surpassing 10 million views, every day was just a series of records.

It was impossible to achieve such a record with only the love of Korean fans. This meant that the world’s population was moving.

Nam Hyo-jin, who also monitors SNS, reported to team leader Lee Dae-hyung that several times a day, verification messages were posted saying that ‘Continue’ and ‘Go low Go high’ were played on music channels and radio broadcasts overseas. .

‘I thought it seemed like they were becoming popular overseas, but…’

Even the members said while looking at comments on My Tube or Facenote that they seemed to have more overseas fans. At recent concerts, it was common to see people with eyes of different colors as well as fans wearing hijabs.

I could feel it, so a bigger change was happening underneath the water.

“Two songs even entered the Hot 100. “Both ‘Continue’ and ‘Go low Go high’.”

Hearing Nam Hyo-jin’s words, team leader Lee Dae-hyung quickly checked the Billboard chart on his computer.

1st place on ‘Social 50’ for 2 weeks in a row,

67th place on ‘Hot 100’, 90th place on

‘Billboard 200’, 79th place

was a great achievement.

At that time, Team Leader Lee Dae-hyung’s phone rang.

“hello?”

-hello. Is this a call from Hit Entertainment fan-marketing team leader Lee Dae-hyung?

“yes. you’re right.”

-I am Jinyoung Jeon, assistant manager of the Korea Billboard marketing team… Can I talk to you?

“it’s possible. “What’s going on?”

Billboard had a spin-off in Korea, and the Korean Billboard chart was being operated separately. However, because Korea already had a major music chart, the Korean version of the Billboard chart was not very credible. It was only used to learn about the US Billboard chart news.

-Have you seen the updated Billboard chart?…”

“Yes, I just saw it.”

-You saw it! Congratulations. They were celebrating here too right now. It’s been about 5 years since a Korean singer debuted, so…”

Assistant Manager Jeon Jin-young’s voice was also filled with joy. Korean Billboard was not in a position to support a specific singer, but as a fellow Korean, I had no choice but to be happy.

-There will be a lot of articles coming soon! We are also planning to release it on our side.

“Ah yes. Thank you for your congratulations. “We have just found out and are in a state of panic.”

-Would you like to? Let me just get to the point. It was none other than a call from head office. I want to interview KK…

“At headquarters?”

-yes. They also seem to have judged that KK’s entry into the charts… and the local response was unusual.

Team leader Lee Dae-hyung’s hand holding the cell phone was strained.

‘What…’ Something

great was already happening, but it felt like something even greater was about to unfold in the future.

***

“Unbelievable!”

Kim Won shouted, pointing at the temples on either side.

Ahn Hyeong-seo was unable to let go of his cell phone. I continued to search KK and Billboard on the Internet, looking at the reactions and enjoying the joy of seeing the praise pouring in.

“What is this?”

Jeong Yoongi said as if sighing. He still seemed dazed.

The members gathered at the office one by one after hearing the news of their entry into the Billboard charts. Jung Yoon-ki and Kim Won were in the studio preparing for the OK album, and Ahn Hyeong-seo was in the dorm and Park Tae-hyung was taking vocal lessons, so they were able to quickly gather in the fan-marketing team conference room.

Do-wook also heard the news while taking acting classes from teacher Lee Kang-yeon ahead of filming ‘Lovers from Space’ and cleared out his classes quicker than usual.

“Jihoon… have you heard the news?”

Taehyung Park asked, expressing his regret for Jihoon Seok, who was not present. Seok Ji-hoon was on the set of ‘48 Hours Camping’. Since there were many times when he couldn’t even look at his cell phone while filming ’48 Hours Camping’, Park Tae-hyung was worried that Seok Ji-hoon might not have heard this good news yet.

“Cheolmin said Manager Oh called.”

Do-wook answered Tae-hyung Park’s question.

Director Oh Baek-ho also said he had called with a flushed face. Koo Cheol-min had accompanied Seok Ji-hoon during his filming.

“Video call! Should we make a video call? Are you still filming?”

Hyungseo Ahn made an impromptu suggestion. When the members all looked at Director Oh Baek-ho, Director Oh Baek-ho contacted Koo Cheol-min as if he knew.

Even though ’48 Hours Camping’ was being recorded, the members were excited and quickly made a video call to Seok Ji-hoon when they heard that it would be possible to make a phone call since they were moving around in the car.

They looked like students who couldn’t hide their excitement the day before going on a field trip, huddled together and making phone calls so that all five members could appear on one screen.

After several beeps, Seok Ji-hoon’s face appeared on the screen.

“You’re the youngest!!!”

-uh? Brothers?

“Billboard! Billboard!”

When Ahn Hyeong-seo got excited and just said the word, Seok Ji-hoon’s face, who couldn’t really feel it because he was filming, suddenly brightened.

-Is that real? Are we really on the Billboard charts?

The face of a member of ‘48 Hours Camping’ was reflected next to the shouting Seok Ji-hoon. The comedian was also caught on video opening his mouth and shouting, “What is this?”

“uh! Of course it’s real!!!”

-Wow….

When Seok Ji-hoon lost his words, the comedian sitting next to him grabbed Seok Ji-hoon’s shoulders and shook him.

“If you come, let’s party together!”

“Let’s party together!”

“Good luck with your filming, Jihoon!”

As each person shouted a word, Seok Ji-hoon just nodded with his mouth open. When the stupid face was captured on the screen, my brothers laughed as if it was funny.

The members who hung up the phone felt even better as if they were going to fly.

Perhaps, as this scene appeared on ’48 Hours Camping’, the news of KK’s entry into the Billboard chart would become known to even more people.

There was a reason why Team Leader Lee Dae-hyung called Director Oh Baek-ho and other members together.

First, I had to schedule an interview with Billboard.

The U.S. Billboard published its own online webzine that summarizes interviews and news of the week once every two weeks to convey the trends of the U.S. and global music markets.

It was in that webzine that KK’s interview would be published.

The fact that he was selected as an interviewer by the US Billboard meant that he had become a singer who was also receiving attention from Billboard.

Entry into the Billboard charts was not the end. Just entering was already a huge feat, but no one knew what would happen next. There was a need to act quickly.

“… So, in addition to the Billboard interview, I think it would be good to do more interviews in other media as well. For now. I think I need to adjust my schedule. “I’m sure all the members would like to rest, but…”

Team leader Lee Dae-hyung said as if asking for some understanding, and the members waved their hands.

“I have to do it. of course.”

Team leader Lee Dae-hyung smiled and nodded at Do-wook’s words.

“It’s an opportunity you can’t miss.”

Dowook added, his eyes shining.

‘Entering the charts…. This is just the beginning.’

Dowook also didn’t expect that he would really climb the enormous mountain called the billboard. It was a mountain where it was difficult to even find the entrance. However, we were already climbing the beginning of the mountain.

“But…”

When Team Leader Lee Dae-hyung said that the overseas market entry strategy needs to be reviewed again, Director Oh Baek-ho nodded as if trustworthy. There seemed to be no need to worry about marketing.

Contacts from people in the industry were pouring in, even to Manager Joanie and Director Kwon Heung-jo, CEO of Hit Entertainment. It was the first Korean idol. ‘The first and the best’. Director Oh Baek-ho also had a premonition that the path KK will take in the future will be a path beyond imagination.

While they were sharing joy and predicting the future, Ahn Hyeong-seo cautiously opened his mouth.

“yes?”

Team leader Lee Dae-hyung responded to Ahn Hyeong-seo.

“The things that were published in the article and the reactions…”

Ahn Hyeong-seo hesitated and asked.