When I Opened My Eyes I Was a Superstar

# 191

Guerrilla Warfare (3)

***

KK was preparing for the performance in the waiting room behind the auditorium at Minguk University with a trembling heart.

“oh! It’s also #1 on the one-hour chart!”

“I’ve known it since I broke through the roof at dawn.”

“Ha… I think I can breathe now. “If it stays at number one on the real-time charts for about 12 hours, you can relax a little.”

Ahn Hyeong-seo, Jeong Yoon-gi, and Seok Ji-hoon sat huddled together on chairs in the waiting room and checked the music charts. Hearing Seok Ji-hoon’s words, Ahn Hyeong-seo and Jeong Yoon-gi looked blank for a moment.

In fact, since KK’s name value is now considerable, it was natural for it to top the real-time charts for several hours after the announcement.

The question was, ‘Can we maintain that ranking?’ Even if you saw the name K.K. and listened to the song, if the song wasn’t good, you would immediately press the stop button and your ranking would quickly drop.

As winter ballads have been coming out recently, the music chart rankings have changed day by day.

“Didn’t you say that Ye Ji-eun’s special album will be released tomorrow?”

Hyungseo Ahn muttered as if he was talking to himself. Ye Ji-eun was a music powerhouse that captivated not only the younger generation but also the middle-aged with her clear voice. Ye Ji-eun was a singer who was considered worthy of winning first place on the music charts.

“Once we lined up, Gao lined up. “Ma”

KK’s albums were ranked from 1st to 6th on the music charts. The title song ‘Connection’ was first, followed by the included songs. Even this was half a success.

However, my mouth was bitter at the thought of losing the top spot on the music charts in just one day. Jeong Yoon-gi tried to comfort himself.

I was worried about how many people would come to the guerrilla performance that would be held soon, and I was also worried about the music chart rankings.

Confidence comes and goes and disappears and then arises. In short, it went back and forth.

No matter how high you were, you were always afraid of being evaluated. I was even more scared because it was the top position.

“Do not worry too much.”

“Brother Do-wook….”

Do-wook, who had finished preparing, said to the three people. Seok Ji-hoon was floating in the water and looked at Do-wook with an expression as if he was grasping for a straw.

“Why are you so worried when things are going well?”

“This is it… phew…”

Ahn Hyeong-seo sighed while trying to explain.

As Do-wook said, things were going well. The response to the new song ‘Connection’ released was enthusiastic.

Not only the music chart rankings, but also the number of music video views on MyTube was rising faster than ever.

It was even ranked highly on foreign music charts. It also charted on the Billboard chart in an instant.

We were achieving tremendous results in just one day. I wasn’t worried about Ye Ji-eun, who was releasing an album tomorrow.

Of course, Do-wook was well aware of that anxiety even without Ahn Hyeong-seo explaining it.

It was an anxiety that I couldn’t help but feel because I was human. Moreover, the comeback stage was a completely different type of stage. It was a stage where it was impossible to predict whether it would succeed or fail.

Because no one had challenged it, it was impossible to know the precedent…. KK was now creating its own path.

One by one, the members entered Dowook’s serious black eyes.

Dowook also wanted to relieve the members’ tension. I wanted to share my anxiety. However, each person had their share that they had to endure. There was nothing I could do until I went on stage.

Once the stage started, my body reacted first. The random thoughts that were wandering around in my head disappeared and only the voice calling me to sing dominated my mind.

“…I’m just nervous.”

Hyungseo Ahn said while taking a deep breath.

“I…”

Park Taehyung, who appeared later, suddenly spoke.

“I think it will be as good as ‘Continue’, if not better than ‘Continue’.”

It was rare for Taehyung Park to say something that drew attention. Taehyung Park seemed to have some confidence.

The new song ‘Connection’ was sophisticated, just like KK’s music.

While ‘Continue’, which created a craze overseas last time and earned Billboard’s Rookie of the Year award, was a powerful song, ‘Connection’ was an exciting yet soft song.

When you think of KK, the group dance that comes to mind was made up of movements with waves rather than precise movements.

Although it was not possible to know all of the choreography just by watching the music video, fans were eager to see the stage as KK’s changed point choreography movements.

Taehyung Park was confident that after watching the performance, you would fall in love with the song ‘Connection’ even more than if you just listened to the song.

This was because Taehyung Park, who learned singing with his body, was already like that.

Of course, in order for many people to see the stage even without broadcasting, today’s performance had to be successful both online and offline.

At Taehyung Park’s words, Jeong Yoongi relaxed his tense expression and smiled.

“I heard Taehyung said that, so I guess that’s it.”

The rest of the members also smiled and nodded.

At that time, the waiting room door opened and a staff member stuck his head out and shouted.

“Please stand by! “It’s 10 minutes before the show!”

“Me!….”

The staff member disappeared into the waiting room, just shouting, ignoring Kim Won’s call to ask how many people were outside. Outside the waiting room door, the staff were bustling about.

Even if I had asked, there would have been no answer anyway. Even Director Oh Baek-ho left the waiting room to avoid members asking questions and was leading the scene from the concert hall.

The KK members naturally gathered in a circle.

“Hehe… no matter how many people come… let’s do our best to create the best stage.”

Jeong Yoon-gi spoke in a trembling voice and looked at Do-wook.

“Hey kay!”

Jeong Yoon-gi followed Do-wook’s chant and shouted.

“You kay!”

“let’s go!!!”

The KK members’ chants rang loudly in the waiting room.

***

That time.

In the largest conference room of the Friends headquarters building, executives related to this project, including the CEO of Friends and the head of the me App business division, gathered to receive reports on the status of the me App live broadcast.

“It’s really amazing!”

The head of the Friends me app business division applauded while looking at the screen.

On the screen, the number of people accessing the me app in real time and the number of subscribers were rising rapidly. In the blink of an eye, the units had changed.

As many as 350,000 people accessed the me app to watch the live broadcast. An article about the number of people connected was already being published.

The number of subscribers to the me app was reaching its maximum, and the goal set by Friends for the number of subscribers to the me app was already achievable within one day. As a domestic streaming site, it had the largest number of subscribers.

Considering that the performance hasn’t even started yet and there are nine more performances left, it was an incredible goal achievement rate.

This kind of mobilization was possible because KK’s fans were not only in Korea but also overseas.

It was having a tremendous effect as fans from all over the world flocked to it. As the Chinese government’s regulations, which are still highly regulated on the Internet, were relaxed only for Korean sites, fans from China were also flowing in.

The number of Chinese KK fans was an unthinkable number in Korea.

Real-time search terms on the Friends site were filled with keywords related to KK, such as ‘me app KK Minkook University guerrilla KK comeback connection’.

It was an event that was quite interesting not only for KK fans but also for the general public.

“Director Park, isn’t this really amazing?”

The head of the me app business team, who was looking at the screen together, said.

The me app was a project that took a lot of effort for Friends, which aims to expand its business beyond Internet portal sites and into broadcasting.

“This is huge!”

Director Park said excitedly, as if he were singing a song called Lulu Lala.

“Hey, assistant manager Shin sang the song KK KK. The effect was amazing. We would have to promote it twelve months out of the year. “It’s even more amazing abroad!”

There were many concerns when using the capital that was supposed to hire several stars as models to produce a performance for the KK team. However, after comparing various evaluation tables and profit models, Director Park made his current choice, and his mouth was torn as he realized that it was exactly the right choice.

“I don’t know if Deputy Shin is crying at the scene right now.”

“How’s the scene?”

When deciding on an advertising model, Assistant Manager Shin argued several times that KK should be used as the main model, as it would have a clear advertising effect even if a little more money was spent. At the same time, I was dispatched as a me app representative in charge of overseeing the scene.

The director answered Director Park’s question.

“It’s huge. “Currently, fans who couldn’t get into the concert hall are standing in line outside Minguk University.”

“what? “You said you couldn’t all get in there?”

“yes.”

The capacity of the Minkuk University auditorium was about 5,000 people.

The smile on Director Park’s smiling face gradually disappeared.

“This is this….”

“Huh? Any problem…”

“It’s not just going to be a hit, it’s going to be a real uproar, isn’t it?”

“Ah…”

The director nodded. Everything was more than I thought.

It wasn’t just KK and Friends staff fans or the general public who were paying close attention to the results of today’s performance.

Broadcasting officials and officials from large entertainment companies were also gnashing their teeth or anxiously waiting for the results.

KK’s performance in collaboration with Friends. If it were to become a sensation just by broadcasting it live on the Internet rather than through a broadcasting company, the power that had been solidified so far would be cracked.

Broadcasting companies were no longer the only way for stars to reach the public.

Another window was created for many stars.

And there were already no restrictions for KK.

At that moment, the number of connected users exceeded 400,000. It was 1 minute before the performance.

***

The screen that users of the me app were looking at showed an empty stage.

Time was counting down at the top right of the screen. It was only a minute before the performance, but because everyone was muted, it was difficult to know the situation at the scene just by looking at the screen.

However, the audience was full, filling 5,000 seats.

Even so, about 1,000 fans surrounded the Minguk University auditorium building for a long time, hoping to hear any sound coming out of the building.

There are 400,000 fans from all over the country and around the world who couldn’t go to the concert hall but want to share this stage with them.

Everyone saw it with their own eyes, and articles about the heat were pouring in. The only person unaware of this situation was KK, who was wearing earplugs.

In order to capture the dramatic moment of K.K.’s surprise, me app and the people in charge of the performance asked K.K. to wear earplugs before going on stage.

A state in which no sound is heard.

The members saw the staff’s signal and began to go up to the stage, step by step.

The first to take a step was Dowook.

I was dazzled by the intense stage lighting. Behind the stage, where there was only darkness, things that had been invisible began to appear one by one.

As Do-wook’s silhouette was seen, the audience at the concert hall erupted in cheers.

It was a roar that seemed to pierce the ceiling of the main auditorium.

Dowook slowly took off his earplugs.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!!!!!”

Dowook’s face was captured with his mouth open and an ecstatic expression on his face as he looked at the audience filling the me app screen. At the same time, numerous posts were being posted quickly in the comment window. The servers that Friends had already expanded to accommodate a certain number of people were becoming unstable.

Do-wook calmed down his emotions and stood at the designated spot.

Other members came up afterwards and, like Dowook, witnessed the scene before their eyes.

When all six members were on stage, the prelude to ‘Connection’ began.