Become A Music Monster Overnight! [EN]: Chapter 101

30. Late Dinner

2014.

This year could easily be called the year of YC Entertainment.

This was true even without considering Black Tiger.

The first full album of YC Entertainment’s first idol group, Blue Rose, who had become stars with tremendous buzz since their debut, achieved shockingly good results.

They reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, demonstrating the prominence of a K-pop idol who had transcended the genre.

This proved that the K-pop idol market, which had been shaking up Southeast Asia, Japan, and China, could also aim for the global market.

Blue Rose’s record-breaking achievements with their first full album didn’t end there.

Through Kowloon Entertainment, which dominates the Chinese entertainment market, Blue Rose’s album sales in China reached an all-time high.

This was as much of a hot topic in the industry as Blue Rose’s entry into the Billboard Hot 100.

Why do entertainment companies bother to raise male idol groups, who can’t keep up with female idol groups in terms of buzz and are therefore difficult to promote?

The answer lies in the overwhelming difference in spending power of their fans.

This can be seen from the fact that a mediocre second-tier male idol group easily surpasses the album sales of a top-tier female idol group.

So, if they succeeded in raising a top-tier male idol group, it was only a matter of time before a small to medium-sized entertainment company would rise to become a mid-sized company.

However, this formula was broken by Blue Rose.

This was partly due to Kowloon Entertainment’s expanding influence, but even considering that, their album sales were unbelievable.

These record-breaking album sales were not limited to the Chinese market.

Blue Rose also achieved tremendous sales of over 100,000 copies domestically.

Considering that the top-tier male idol groups who made a comeback this year couldn’t even reach half of that, this was an unbelievable record.

However, Blue Rose wasn’t the only boon for YC Entertainment.

Lee Na-eun, who returned with her first full album, received tremendous praise from experts and fans alike.

-Title track ‘Spring Day’: Lyrics reminiscent of a lonely lyric poem. Lee Na-eun’s unique and special tone.

-Lee Na-eun’s songs herald the beginning of spring-

-‘Spring Day’ plays endlessly on the streets.-

-The title track ‘Spring Day’ playing amidst the fluttering cherry blossoms is being called ‘Cherry Blossom Pension’ [a song that makes you think of spring every year].-

-Lee Na-eun’s true colors revealed in the ‘Spring Day’ music video.-

Her title track ‘Spring Day’ was a huge hit, with people already calling it a ‘Cherry Blossom Pension’ because it would come out like a pension every spring.

In addition, it was revealed that Lee Na-eun had personally written and composed ‘Spring Day,’ which led to her recognition as an artist.

Of course, there were still some shortcomings in capturing the public’s attention, so Young-chan arranged ‘Spring Day’ and several of her other songs, but even considering that, these amazing results were surprising.

Within YC Entertainment, where they thought it would be fortunate if she brought in buzz similar to that of a mini-album, this was a surprising major event.

However, unlike the others, Young-chan simply shrugged his shoulders.

“Na-eun is capable of that.”

Knowing that she had been a top solo female singer in Korea for a long time, and even if that weren’t the case, Young-chan knew that her musicality was genuine, so he took the grades she received for granted.

In any case, she, who was already a star, rose to become a superstar after ‘Spring Day.’

She joined the ranks of stars who were eagerly sought after, not just sparkling popular stars.

However, surprisingly, the place that showed the most love calls to Lee Na-eun was not entertainment shows that were busy raising viewership ratings.

It was dramas.

“Huh? A drama?”

“You don’t have to feel pressured. It’s not a very important role. As you can see, it’s a minor role among the supporting roles. There’s not much acting involved. It’s a role that competes with the female lead in the beginning, so most of the scenes are on stage.”

“Um… still.”

Lee Na-eun was just embarrassed because she had never thought of acting.

However, she couldn’t just say she didn’t like it because the person who brought it up was the head of YC Entertainment.

Although he was the head of the department, he wasn’t authoritarian in nature, so she could refuse if she really didn’t want to.

However, the head of the department had been constantly taking care of her since he was the manager.

Perhaps he was the closest person to her in YC Entertainment after Young-chan, so she couldn’t refuse.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Okay. Good thinking. Here… It’s okay if you don’t want to do it, so read it once. I’m not recommending this role to you for no reason.”

That’s how Na-eun got her hands on a drama script for the first time.

As a diligent person, she started reading the script that night.

She was quite familiar with this script format because she had filmed several music videos, so she had no difficulty reading it.

“…Huh?”

As soon as she opened the script, she fell into it, and when she finally came to her senses, she had already turned the last page.

She had been so engrossed in it that she hadn’t realized how time had passed.

“I think I know why the head of the department recommended this to me.”

Lee Soo, the supporting role in the drama she was going to play, had a lot in common with her.

Including her background of failing as a singer and her introverted personality. The only difference was that she had a strong proactive tendency.

Because of this tendency, Lee Soo showed a ruthless side, which put the female lead in a difficult situation.

She was a typical villain, but Na-eun could easily understand why Lee Soo was so vicious.

No, the background images that made her understand were naturally drawn in her head.

After that, she started looking at the script several times.

The script, which she read again after drawing a new background picture, was more interesting than before.

Thanks to this, in the process of looking at the script more than ten times, the character Lee Soo in the drama had a lifelike quality as if she actually existed.

* * *

The drama being produced by N Broadcasting Station this time was a work that the broadcasting station was putting its heart and soul into, with a production cost of hundreds of billions of won.

Of course, there was no one from the lead to the supporting roles who wasn’t a Korean Wave [Hallyu] star.

However, a rookie was inserted into one of those positions, and PD [Production Director] Yoo Byung-chul couldn’t help but get annoyed at the story.

However, the investor who brought up the story was YC Entertainment, which was currently experiencing insane growth in this industry.

Although they were called the Big 3 entertainment companies, it was not surprising that YC Entertainment would soon become the top company.

Since the story came from such a place, the broadcasting station was under a lot of pressure to simply refuse.

“She’s the hottest singer these days. You know ‘Spring Day’? She’s the one who sang it. Her buzz is going to be amazing.”

“Huh? Chief. Don’t you remember who the lead actor in this drama is? We already have enough buzz.”

“Where is there enough buzz? The more, the better. Let’s have an audition first, and if you really don’t think it’s going to work, then tell me again. Haa~ In my day… when the higher-ups told me to do something, I just did it somehow. These days……”

“Ah… I understand.”

That’s how the audition was suddenly arranged.

Because of the background, neither the writer nor the PD could be friendly. Rather, it was an audition that they watched with a look of displeasure.

“This… this was everything to me!”

Lee Soo, no, Lee Na-eun, who was panting and shouting, looked at the female lead who was questioning her with complicated eyes and hurriedly turned her body.

The shoulders of her back seemed to be shaking as if she couldn’t overcome her emotions and burst into tears.

“…Cut!”

PD Yoo Byung-chul barely shouted ‘Cut’ after a long time.

Looking at his two eyes behind his large glasses, which had become as large as the glasses, it seemed that he was quite surprised.

Yoo Byung-chul was not the only one who was surprised. The writer, who was known for being picky, was also surprised.

“…What did you say her name was?”

How impressed she was, the writer hurriedly asked the assistant director next to her for her name, and the assistant director gave the writer Lee Na-eun’s name and her profile, which she had prepared as a spare.

The writer looked over the profile and made a dumbfounded expression.

It was because her activity record was almost non-existent, making the word profile meaningless.

Three music videos were all she had, and even these were music videos of the songs she sang.

In fact, it was safe to say that she had no experience.

“I know why the investor pushed so hard so ignorantly. She’s a natural.”

The writer had no choice but to admit it.

She had seen the character Lee Soo, who was more vivid than the one she had drawn, right in front of her eyes, and if she didn’t admit it, there was a problem as a drama writer.

Of course, there were some disappointing parts in her pronunciation, etc., because she had almost no experience, but that was something that could be supplemented.

However, there was someone in this place who was more surprised than the greatly surprised writer.

It was Head Jang Gil-san, who knew that the atmosphere would be hostile and came to this place himself despite his busy schedule.

As a result, the judges couldn’t openly show their displeasure with Lee Na-eun.

However, as Lee Na-eun’s acting began, he realized that he didn’t need to come today.

“Is this your first time acting?”

The insight he had gained from living in the entertainment industry for a long time was not limited to the singer side.

He also had some insight into actors, and he immediately recognized how great Lee Na-eun’s acting was.

“It was as the CEO said.”

The reason why Head Jang Gil-san suddenly pushed Lee Na-eun, who was doing well as a singer, to become an actress was actually because of a story Young-chan had brought up in the past.

-Na-eun will be able to build a pretty amazing career as an actress. If you have a good opportunity, try to proceed with it.-

He remembered this story well, and as she seemed to be establishing herself as a superstar, he immediately pushed her when he got his hands on a good scenario.

And like a lie, the result was excellent.

She showed acting that didn’t look like a first-time actress at all.

Lee Na-eun’s ‘Lee Soo’ performance, which surprised everyone, surprised countless viewers after the drama aired.

The volume of the character, who would have been cursed at, increased, creating emotions that could not be hated, but rather made her look pitiful.

In most cases, there were many cases where a popular singer would act and fail, so when she first came out in the drama, there were many people who had a negative view.

However, those who actually saw her Lee Soo performance became her fans without exception.

And after her last drama scene, inquiries protesting to the broadcasting station were endless.

“Phew~ It was like this even though I increased the amount, so if I hadn’t, it would have been a disaster.”

The PD muttered like that, but on the other hand, he was also disappointed.

If he didn’t know, the PD who would film Lee Na-eun’s next work would definitely get one of the best works of his life.

Lee Na-eun, who hit the jackpot in the acting field following the singer, showed tremendous influence on YC Entertainment.

While Blue Rose and Lee Na-eun were performing greatly like this, there were those who were performing poorly compared to the size of YC Entertainment.

It was the G1 band, which can be said to be YC Entertainment’s first singer.

They were the ones who created tremendous buzz to the point where they could be said to be the de facto winners of ‘Legends of Rock,’ but now they have fallen to the level of just another band in Korea.

It was a natural story because they didn’t work in Korea.

However, unlike their lowered awareness, G1 band’s skills were now at their peak, to the point where people would say that they were at their prime.

The technical aspects have also improved to a level that cannot be compared to the time of ‘Legends of Rock.’

In addition, they were a band that was known to some extent in Japan and China, unlike in Korea, so it was funny to say that they had failed.

The comparison was with Blue Rose and Lee Na-eun, so it seemed harsh, but they were main-class celebrities no matter which entertainment company they went to.

However, it was true that they were lacking in the current name value of YC Entertainment.

* * *

“I’m finally giving this to you guys.”

Young-chan, who was taking a break, gave a song to the G1 band, who were looking at him with complicated eyes.

-‘late dinner’-

It was a masterpiece among the songs he had composed when he met the G1 band in the past, so he had kept it.

It is an alternative rock genre song, and it is best for a female band vocalist to sing it rather than him.

The lyrics had a unique end-of-the-century feel from the 20th century, and as retro is in fashion these days, it coincided with the times in many ways.