While the staff was in the middle of the last-minute work ahead of Watts’ advance into Japan, I, the CEO, was also having a busy day.
Among them, the item with the most effort was definitely an idol audition program conducted between Korea and Japan.
smart.
Just in time, the person in charge of leading this item arrived.
“Come on in.”
The door to the representative office opens and a man with a nervous look enters. It was PD Shim Jong-mo who was in charge of planning the Acorn Concert not long ago.
“Nice to meet you, CEO.”
“You have worked hard to come this far. Please sit down.”
“Oh, before we talk about work today, I have someone to introduce.”
“Who should I introduce? Who are you?”
Shim Jong-mo gestures out the door, and pretty-looking girls come in one after another.
“hello!”
A total of 12 girls entered the representative room.
All of them greeted each other brightly, but their voices were trembling and tense. Some can’t even make eye contact with me.
“PD Shim, who are these people?”
“These are the participants of the idol development project being produced by TV Plus. Have you ever heard of it?”
“I heard at least a brief explanation. The program was off topic… … .”
I tried to talk behind my back, but I swallowed it. Because there were tears in the eyes of one child.
“phew… … you’re right. I finished filming the first episode, but the strands were caught with the temporary abolition. It’s a really sad situation for these kids.”
I look back at the girls’ faces once again. Maybe it’s because they’re elite members who came up through the tough preliminaries, but their appearance shines brightly.
Even so, I think the world is very ironic to be in a position where you can’t even get a chance at the wrong time.
“That’s why I’m telling you, how about giving the members one more chance?”
“What opportunity are you talking about?”
“This time, we are going to put this member in an idol audition program with the Japanese region.”
I can feel the desperate eyes of 12 people. Their future could change with my one word, so how can they not be desperate?
However, my answer shattered their expectations in an instant.
“If new alcohol has to be put in a new bottle, is there any reason to recycle an item that has already failed to gain buzz? There must be aspiring idols in Korea.”
“I vouch for the skills of these children. And there is also the advantage of shortening the production period because there are already filmed scenes.”
At this time, one of the members who was crying suddenly stepped forward.
“We are confident in our real skills! Give me a chance.”
As soon as one of them stepped forward, the other members probably gained confidence as well, and started begging for one word at a time.
“that’s right. I desperately practiced even less sleep!”
“Give me one chance. please… … .”
“Please. If you don’t believe me, I can dance right here. Guys, line up.”
In the narrow representative room, they start to dance in a hesitant manner, as if they are really planning to dance.
I waved my hand at them.
“We don’t want to pick dancers who can dance well, but rather choose idols who can attract the public’s popularity.”
“Ha, but… … .”
I cut in the middle of what the first member was trying to ask.
“No matter how brilliant you are, you are still just an unknown wannabe. But if you show up as the preliminaries at the survival audition, will the public understand that?”
Everyone bows their heads. I’m not crying anymore, but I’m even shedding tears.
They would have known too. The preliminaries and filming they had done, everything has already become meaningless.
The reason why I came this far is probably because I couldn’t let go of the last string called lingering.
“If you are thinking of participating in this project, either watch the preliminaries from the beginning again, or build a reputation that the public can understand. Do you understand?”
The members left the representative office without even raising their heads.
There is an awkward silence, perhaps because people have left the place like the ebb tide. Now, the only ones left are me and producer Shim Jong-mo.
widely.
Shim Jong-mo turns off the cam he secretly left on in the corner. Then the breath I was holding in bursts out.
“phew… … It’s hard.”
“CEO, are you really good at acting? You can learn.”
“How am I going to learn?”
From noble mtl dot com
“I am not joking. When the naturally slender girls cry as a group, their eyes might shake, but the CEO cut them off like a knife.”
That’s right, I was asked to kick it out as hard as possible, so I just did my best to match it.
“hahahaha, anyway, thanks to the CEO’s passionate acting, I think the picture will come out even better.”
“Will this setting work?”
“It works. What the public wants is not a pretty wrapping paper, but a story inside. I assure you, there will be explosive reactions from the first broadcast.”
“hmm… … .”
Shim Jong-mo’s plan was as follows.
The members who passed the audition program struggled through the preliminaries, but the program was abolished and the last remaining hope disappeared.
At this time, like a miracle, the touching story of an idol who goes up from the preliminaries.
‘It may feel artificial, but with his planning skills, I think he can make good use of it.’
Anyway, Shim Jong-mo has already proven his skills with the Acorn Concert. So this time, it was right to empower him as much as possible.
* * *
The preliminaries for the Korea-Japan joint idol audition were conducted online.
The method used in the preliminaries is, of course, a short video of Watts.
It was a method in which the judges contacted each other personally when a contestant took a picture of a dance, song, or skill for one minute and uploaded it.
In the Korean market, the preliminaries were held without major problems because Watts became popular, but Watts had not yet been released in Japan.
Accordingly, we decided to quickly release the Watts beta version in the Japanese market.
“Please check the server connected to the Japanese side first. When the app starts downloading, it can cause a momentary traffic rush.”
“Please check Terminal 3 again!”
“No problem with our device! Contact the Japanese branch and ask them to check again!”
On the day of the launch, Watts’ development room was like a battlefield.
Even if it is a beta version, the first impression of a service is important, so the development team checked every little thing and repeated inspections.
“CEO! Watts Beta App has been uploaded to the Japanese App Store. It is already available for download.”
Gong Min-joon, the team leader who was directing the scene, runs to me.
I reflexively look at the clock on the wall.
The current time is 10:30.
There is an hour and a half left until 12 noon, the scheduled opening time.
“How is the response in Japan?”
“It’s difficult to accurately grasp public opinion because right-wing netizens flock to Watts articles and tweets and cause a riot.”
“Why don’t you take a look at the community where idol trainees gather?”
“I’ve been reading that all along, but the atmosphere of hesitation to participate is still dominant.”
It was an unexpected result. This is because the idol audition was the place that put the most effort into launching the beta version of Watts.
“Can you tell me what the reason is?”
“I’m not sure, but my guess is that similar audition programs have had foreign participants as bridesmaids.”
got into trouble In order for the match to be held between Korea and Japan by voting, the match had to be played with both sides on an equal footing. Like soccer or baseball, for example.
However, if either side was winning a unilateral fight, interest would naturally drift away.
“For now, let’s open up and watch the situation.”
* * *
The Japanese beta version of Watts, which was released ambitiously, wanted to cruise through 1 million downloads from the first day.
However, half of the downloads were net right wingers who signed up for the purpose of terrorism, so the development team had to work all night to delete trash videos.
The guy who posted meaningless videos or videos of Taegeukgi burning was a nobleman. There were also a number of people who openly filmed and uploaded genital or hateful videos.
The next day and the day after that, the net right wing’s behavior continued.
Although we quickly blocked them, they constantly joined new IDs, and the fight between blocking and re-joining continued endlessly.
As a result, the Watts beta app achieved the feat of being ranked first in the App Store by download new subscribers and scoring 1 rating at the same time.
– Did I lose my hair because of those net-right dogs? never let go! look where
Park Tae-shik’s wrathful screams come from beyond the cell phone.
Since he must be going through this at the frontline branch office in Japan, he must be under a lot of stress.
“calm down. If you get mad about fighting them, you’re the only one who suffers.”
-I thought so too. I can’t stand it anymore. I already hired a lawyer, so I’m going to report them all. do not dry I’m a real do-it-yourself person.
Park Tae-sik continued to swear and curse for a long time after that, so I cut off his words and changed the topic.
“Still, there were more active users than I thought, right? General user videos are also gradually increasing.”
-Thanks to the camera effects team, we did a good job. You put all the effects that make Japanese kids crazy.
Prior to entering Japan, Watts’ camera effects team entered into a large number of camera effects in partnership with the Japanese animation industry.
Straw pirates stickers, Shia costume and scout power stickers, leaf ninja ninjutsu stickers, and more.
Since Japan has a thick animation mania, the reaction was bound to be good.
There was even talk of installing Watts because of the animation camera effect in the local area, so is it necessary to say more?
“With 130,000 live users in the first week of release, it’s not a jackpot, but it’s a hit.”
-That’s why I’m more sorry. Even if the net rightists didn’t hit Cho, they would have hit the jackpot in Japan?
“Can you fill up on the first drink? Think of adding subscribers slowly and take a long look. Also, there is the first broadcast of K-pop idols today.”
-that… … The reaction was cool. I don’t know if I can believe it.
“At the Acorn Concert, the guy who praised PD Shim Jong-mo every time he opened his mouth, why is he so anxious this time?”
– At that time, it was a good thing because acorns, a national consensus, were brought to the fore. This time, even if the dislike level is high, it is too high.
In fact, that’s what I was worried about too.
Even if I put aside the unfavorable feeling, the interest in idol audition programs in Japan has dropped too much.
‘Why? In the future, programs with a similar format would have been successful.’
I know the future, but everything I do cannot be successful. With half my heart down, I wait for the main broadcast of K-pop idols.
-Everyone, you’ve been waiting for a long time! Dreaming of the best idol, K-pop idol star! Let’s start now!
The start was the epitome of a passable audition program. There were a lot of rehash of previous filmings, so I was less interested in it because it was something I knew.
However, from the middle of the broadcast, PD Sim Jong-mo’s true value began to be revealed.
A six-hour concert on a street with no passers-by in mid-winter, an autograph session by myself, a visit to a fish market and a senior citizen’s home, a promotional half marathon, bungee jumping, and so on.
The life of a failed idol is compressed and shown as it is.
Here, the devil’s editing is added and even the villain sponsor appears, and the development continues to the extent that the viewer’s teeth are grinding.
“this… … Is this an audition program?”
I was curious about what kind of ripple effect this broadcast would have, so I looked at tweets from Japan.
Then you discover a surprising fact.
Among the members who did not have any weight in the first broadcast and suffered terribly behind the scenes, there were as many as three Japanese participants.