Become A Music Monster Overnight! [EN]: Chapter 124

Music Monster Overnight! Episode 115

The YC Revolution’s market share, which had been faltering, began to rise again thanks to ‘Please Take Care of Diva(G)!’

It rose by a whopping 6%, successfully reaching a 31% market share.

And around that time, the Diva(G) project also came to an end.

The trainees selected from the massive challenge numbered 21.

Twelve of them were male trainees, leading media outlets to predict that Diva(G)’s next idol team would be a male idol group.

In any case, through ‘Please Take Care of Diva(G)!’ and the Diva(G) project, Diva(G) became a subject of intense interest in Japan.

However, something happened that reignited this interest even further: an anime collaboration with an anime artist famous for moe-style [a Japanese aesthetic emphasizing cuteness] drawings.

In other words, the anime, which included content from ‘Please Take Care of Diva(G)!’ as well as other material, was broadcast with tremendous viewership from its very first episode.

-Have you seen ‘Please Take Care of Diva(G)’? It’s amazing! The idols in ‘Diva(G)’s Circumstances?’, a work drawn by the manga club kids from ‘Please Take Care of Diva(G)!’, are actually debuting.-

└Really? ‘Please Take Care of Diva(G)!’ was an idol anime?

└I guess so. I was surprised.

-Wow~ I’m an otaku [a person with obsessive interests, commonly anime and manga], too, but seriously, you guys are amazing. How can you not know about Diva(G), which has been plastered all over the main pages of media outlets for months?-

└So, it was true that the members of ‘Please Take Care of Diva(G)!’ are anime characters that moe-ify [to make cute or charming] actual idols?

└Yeah, the comeback date is set. Two weeks left.

└Wow! Really! I need to save some money urgently.

-Me too! I should look for a place with a high hourly wage.

└Diva(G)’s real-life visuals are amazing? Where can I watch the live-action drama of ‘Please Take Care of Diva(G)’? Is the quality good?

└Haven’t you seen it yet? It’s crazy! I don’t usually like live-action adaptations, but this feels even better than the anime. Above all, the manga club teacher is unbelievably good.

└The manga club teacher, who only appeared as a light in the anime, is appearing in live-action?

-I found out they’re super famous! They’re the person who sang “Snow Country,” the song from the anime edited by ‘Moe Heaven’ two years ago.-

└Wow! Really? Goosebumps. I cried listening to that. It’s still on my playlist.

└Me too! Wow~ I have to go watch it.

Even those who were so immersed in subculture that they didn’t know what was going on in the world started to learn about Diva(G) through ‘Please Take Care of Diva(G)!’

Having learned about Diva(G) in this way, they were now more eager than anyone else for Diva(G)’s comeback, which was just around the corner.

“That’s right! This is it!”

As expected, Ichiro clenched his fist and rejoiced when he saw them joining the fanbase.

That’s because he knew very well how dedicated they were.

Since they poured more than half of their monthly salary into their hobbies, their spending power was enormous.

Even if only some of them became fans of Diva(G), it would definitely be a huge help to Diva(G), which still had a weak foundation.

As the comeback approached, teaser videos of each member began to be released, starting from D-13 [13 days before the event].

The music video for Diva(G)’s title track, which had been receiving a great deal of attention, was released the day after the teaser video for the last member, Nana, who completed the 13-member Diva(G) group, and the reaction was explosive.

-Crazy! Crazy! As expected, I trust Director Hong!-

└The music video’s visuals are wow!

└YC sama’s [sama is a Japanese honorific] grace has descended again this time!

-The song is so good too! I was worried because too many teasers were released, but it’s a little different. Rather, the original song is much better.-

└The most notable thing about Diva(G) is that it’s made up entirely of Japanese members!

└Good heavens! I never thought I’d see such a great Japanese girl group in my lifetime!

-Diva(G)’s hair, makeup, and costumes in the middle of the music video are crazy!

└The return of 80s female idols!

└Especially Yui, who used to wear big glasses? Did you see her? Wow, there was a hidden gem here.

-Is Yui’s appearance without glasses real?-

└Matsuda Seiko herself!

└Is she Matsuda Seiko’s daughter?

└No. Kanda Sayaka, that person’s daughter, looks a little different.

-Wow! I thought they were hiding her face until the end because she was going to be pretty. They were preparing this event! As expected of YC!-

In particular, Yui, who had been receiving relatively little attention in Diva(G), became the center of attention.

That’s because her retro look in the middle of the music video was so similar to the heyday of Japanese legendary idol Matsuda Seiko.

In particular, the Seiko-chan cut (Seiko’s hairstyle at the time, with her hair turned outward and puffed up) set fire to the hearts of middle-aged people who were fans of Matsuda Seiko at the time.

An unexpected age group of fans began to emerge.

This became a big topic, and many people on various entertainment programs began to ask Matsuda Seiko herself about it.

“Do I know about it? Yes, I know. My daughter showed it to me.”

She also told a story about how she was very embarrassed at the time because her daughter suspected that she might be her half-sister.

At the same time, she subtly confessed that she was a fan of Black Tiger. At that, the MC smiled and said.

“Ah! Matsuda Seiko is also a fan of YC sama?”

“Yes? Ah. I do like YC sama. But I like Park Si-young more. He’s cool.”

“You’re talking about that guitarist. Well, there are a lot of people who like him.”

In particular, Park Si-young was very popular with women in their middle age and older.

Tall, handsome, and wearing leather clothes and sunglasses that suited him so well. In particular, his occasional displays of manliness often revealed his presence even in Black Tiger, a group full of strong characters.

Yui, who quickly became one of the most popular members of the team, became a hot topic not only in Japan but also in Korea.

-Wow~ Yui is totally my type.-

-Her voice is so pretty too!-

-I learned about Matsuda Seiko because of Yui. She’s still beautiful.-

-Keke [onomatopoeia for laughter]. Her daughter took a picture with Yui and posted it on YC Revolution! It’s funny.-

└Yeah, she’s a huge fan of Diva(G). But her favorite is still Momo, who is mochi-like [soft and cute], not Yui.

Diva(G)’s popularity, which shook even Korea, was beyond imagination.

It was said to be even higher than the popularity of New Daisy, who made their comeback in Japan last fall.

The word “Diva(G) Syndrome” was already floating around in various media outlets.

Each chart in Japan was already filled with Diva(G)’s music, and many people believed that the initial album sales would exceed 2 million copies.

This was the case even though they did not promote overly blatant business practices such as handshake events, where you had to buy hundreds of copies.

In fact, Ichiro had a lot of concerns about handshake events.

However, he decided not to hold handshake events after much deliberation.

“It’s true that sales will increase dramatically, but this could cause big problems later on.”

Above all, wasn’t Diva(G) created to change the existing Japanese idol culture?

Therefore, he brought in Korean fan signing events instead of handshake events.

To be exact, it was a mini-concert held under the name of a fan signing event, and there were many complaints about this case, but not as many as about handshake events.

“I shouldn’t refuse gifts, should I?”

However, in the case of electronic products, they could be misused for hacking or hidden cameras, so it was decided to reject them all.

In addition, several events and merchandise items were released for some dissatisfied fans who had been expecting handshake events.

Diva(G)’s products were displayed on an entire wall of the YC Goods Store.

Many of the merchandise items prepared in this way caused out-of-stock situations several times.

However, what satisfied fans’ desires the most was none other than the concert.

Many people questioned the fact that an idol who was only two months into their debut with only six songs, not even a full-length album, would hold a concert, but there were no major problems.

They could cover hit songs from MS as well as YC Entertainment seniors Blue Rose, New Daisy, and LALA Land.

On top of that, the most talked about was Yui’s 80s cover stage of Matsuda Seiko.

Since the cover video of “Blue Coral Reef” had already been posted on YC Revolution and became a hot topic, the media was saying that the competition for tickets for this concert would be really fierce.

And as they thought, the competition for Diva(G)’s concert tour tickets was fierce.

All the tickets were sold out in less than 5 minutes, and fans who failed to get tickets were already trying to get ticket transfers.

The price rose 10 times in two days, and the media began to talk about the problems.

It was not just a simple issue, but a malicious attempt to amplify the issue.

This was nothing more than a conspiracy by those who had been dominating the existing Japanese idol market due to Diva(G)’s huge success.

They had been exploiting singers and fans, and the money they had earned was enormous, so their lobbying was also significant.

Even veteran politicians with more than four terms began to get involved.

As a result, it seemed that obstacles were forming in front of Diva(G), which had been shaking the Japanese market with its tremendous success, but unexpectedly, those appearances all disappeared within a few days.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know what you guys were doing!”

Ichiro’s father, as well as himself, had been victims of their conspiracies, so he already knew about their lobbying.

“But you guys can’t be our match in this area.”

He muttered with slightly crazy eyes and thought of the CEO, who was also the object of his faith.

As Ichiro had expected, Young-chan put down what he was doing and immediately visited Japan when the lobbying began.

“I’m sorry. CEO. There are more people to meet than I thought.”

“…It’s okay.”

Young-chan was embarrassed by Ichiro, who treated him as more than a master after a long time, but he soon calmed down and took action.

This was because he knew that this was an important event that would greatly change not only Diva(G) but also YC Entertainment’s influence in Japan.

First of all, he began to meet with politicians and businessmen who had maintained good relationships with him in the past.

The idea was to counter lobbying with lobbying, and unlike the other side, there was no need to prepare a large amount of money for this.

That’s because a photo or article proving that they had a good relationship with YC, which is currently the hottest company in the world, had more destructive power than money.

‘Whether it’s a company or a politician, what they want is public support.’

Isn’t that why they do shows and advertisements and get exposed to the media?

In that respect, the destructive power of the YC brand was enormous.

Hundreds of articles related to him came out without even asking, and if he was lucky, they were even known overseas.

Unlike the closed culture, Japan, which is very conscious of overseas, especially the West, found YC-related issues very attractive.

When YC Entertainment easily blocked their lobbying attacks, the other side was in an uproar.

“Damn it! Was YC this strong?”

“How much money did we spend this time! To be blocked so easily!”

“I’m going crazy. I was trying to postpone it as much as possible… It came sooner than I thought!”

“We’re going to create K-pop style idols too! If they even create male idols and take over the market, it’s over!”

“Talent? Hey! Do you still think there’s no talent in Japan after seeing Diva(G)!”

“If there isn’t, bring them from Korea! Do you think we didn’t do it because we didn’t have money?”

They also realized that the current idol system, which had been cost-effective, was now over with the appearance of Diva(G).

Of course, there were still loyal fans, but they were not enough to reverse this trend.

-Diva(G) Concert Tour Successfully Concluded!-

-Diva(G) turns the Tokyo Dome into a frenzy of enthusiasm!-

-Mini 1st album exceeds 3.5 million copies!-

-Diva(G) is raising voices for self-purification of the idol market, which had been seen as too business-oriented in the Japanese entertainment industry!-

As if to prove it, Diva(G)’s concert tour was a huge success.

Not only did the number of paid fans increase by 300% during the concert tour, but their merchandise showed a crazy phenomenon of selling out as soon as it was released.

This showed that Diva(G)’s popularity in Japan was so high that Diva(G) renewed New Daisy’s sales, which had the highest merchandise sales last year, in just four months after their debut.

Diva(G), which had successfully caused a big popularity boom in Japan, advanced overseas after the concert tour.

And this created another big issue.

That’s because Diva(G) was chosen to be the opening guest for the G1 band, which is on a US concert tour following Black Tiger.

Since the G1 band had topped the Billboard charts for two weeks in this comeback, being their opening guest was a really great opportunity.

It was something that fans who hoped for a big success on Billboard could cheer for.

Fortunately, ‘Diva!’, which was newly arranged for Diva(G) to advance to Billboard, began to catch on in the United States.