Episode 56. Sunbaenim (4)
After all the CM song recordings were finished.
Finally, the moment Kang Dae-oh and all the former Amare executives had been nervous about arrived.
The day Kang’s Tteokbokki Branches 1 and 2 opened simultaneously.
This day became an extraordinary day for Kang Dae-oh.
This was because countless people lined up to show their support for Kang Dae-oh, who was challenging a completely new business, leaving the coffee industry behind.
He hadn’t even imagined so many people would flock.
However, Kang Dae-oh decided not to let his guard down.
The most important thing when doing business is not to count your chickens before they hatch. This is because baseless convictions like ‘This time it’s a huge success. It will definitely succeed’ lead to overconfidence, and this overconfidence soon leads to carelessness.
Business is a dangerous field where one mistake can send you spiraling down.
Of course, it’s the same for celebrities.
Just as a single mistake can completely shatter a celebrity’s accumulated image, business also has a brand image.
Therefore, to fully meet people’s expectations and to prevent these expectations from turning into disappointment, Kang Dae-oh put in his best effort, being meticulous about everything.
Was it thanks to his passionate efforts?
Even though it had been almost a month since Kang’s Tteokbokki opened, it was still receiving a lot of public attention.
Originally, the plan was to open additional branches after Branches 1 and 2 had established themselves to some extent.
But Vice President Yoo In-seok shook his head and was the first to suggest that the plan should be revised.
“If this trend continues, I think it would be fine to open Branches 3 and 4 next month.”
“How is the construction progressing?”
“It’s almost in the final stages now. We’ve already hired managers and staff, so there shouldn’t be any major issues aiming for an opening next month.”
“Hmm…”
It was time for a decision.
One should hoist the sails diligently when the wind is favorable.
Only then can one move forward quickly towards the destination.
Kang Dae-oh nodded vigorously and decided to accept Vice President Yoo In-seok’s proposal.
“Understood. As you said, Vice President-nim, let’s move the timing forward.”
“Yes, CEO-nim. Oh, and this is something from the marketing department. We produced a CM song and have been playing it regularly in the stores, haven’t we?”
“That’s right.”
“They say the response to that is quite good. What was it again? They said there’s something trending among young people…”
On behalf of Executive Director Yoo In-seok, who was weak on youth culture, Kang Dae-oh uttered a remark that perfectly addressed the issue.
“You’re talking about challenge videos, right?”
“Yes, challenges. That’s it. They say it’s becoming a trend for people to create choreography to the CM song and upload it as videos. They say we’re getting a really good promotional effect from it.”
Kang Dae-oh had already encountered several news articles about the Kang’s Tteokbokki CM Song Challenge.
It wasn’t intentional, but it didn’t matter.
This is because trends don’t easily emerge just by intending them.
Even though it wasn’t intended, people are using this to build their own culture.
Kang Dae-oh viewed this very positively.
And it actually helped a lot with sales too.
“CEO-nim. What do you think about having producer Na Jun-tae extend this CM song into a full-length track later, and then having Harin and Yera perform it together on a music show? Like when Yera appeared in a movie with Yebin as a singer group before.”
At that time, the Kang Yera and Kang Yebin duo gained great popularity not only in Korea but also in Japan.
Thanks to them, the movie surpassed 10 million viewers. Kang Yera unexpectedly added the credit of appearing in a 10-million-viewer movie to her filmography.
As such, trends and flows are not fortunes that come easily.
One must use this to create and seize as many opportunities as possible.
“Vice President-nim, could you formally schedule a meeting with Pureum Entertainment and discuss this? I will talk to Yera myself.”
“Yes, CEO-nim.”
Each person resolved to seize this opportunity well.
Kang Yera always tells Kang Dae-oh this:
“If Appa needs my help, I’m always ready to step forward.”
This time, too, her stance was the same.
What about Harin?
Harin also readily agreed.
She had a connection with Kang Dae-oh.
And since Harin was coincidentally taking a break from activities to work on her next album, there was no major problem in temporarily forming a project team with Yera to prepare for a stage.
This way, both their intentions were confirmed.
They also agreed to quickly push forward with producer Na Jun-tae’s arrangement and choreography production, raising the quality to a level where they could perform on broadcast stages as quickly as possible.
Around the time their broadcast activities officially began.
After discussions with his executives, Kang Dae-oh decided to expand Kang’s Tteokbokki stores to double digits, coinciding with the start of the project team’s broadcast activities.
This was because the majority opinion was to definitely push forward when showing aggressive momentum.
Would their strategy work well?
This was confirmed sooner than expected.
On the day the project team, formed by Kang Yera and Harin, first performed on a broadcast stage.
Surprisingly, the CM song they sang achieved the remarkable feat of ranking 8th on the daily music charts.
This was the first time a CM song had ever entered the charts.
In a way, Kang Yera and Harin had written a new history in K-pop.
Kang Dae-oh felt apologetic every time he entrusted Kang Yera with business-related tasks.
He wondered if he was unnecessarily forcing his own work on a child who was already busy with her singing career.
However, at this point, Kang Yera was even thanking her Appa.
“Thanks to Appa, I’m getting a lot of love calls from everywhere these days.”
“That’s good. But what about Harin-ssi? Originally, she was just going to record the CM song during her break for album preparations, right?”
Originally, appearing on broadcast stages was not part of the plan.
But because the response was so good, they somehow ended up preparing for broadcast stages and presenting it to the public.
The already good response became even more fervent.
Thanks to this, inquiries for appearances were pouring in from all over.
Kang Dae-oh felt apologetic, wondering if he and producer Na Jun-tae had unnecessarily prevented Harin from resting.
However, there was no need to worry about this.
“On the contrary, Senior-nim said she was happy to have work, you know? She was already contemplating a lot musically, and it seems her thoughts became much clearer while promoting with this CM song.”
“Then that’s a relief.”
Even though it was indirect, Kang Dae-oh had helped Harin organize her thoughts.
From Harin’s perspective, Kang Dae-oh was a benefactor.
“So, are you going to continue with the activities?”
“Not continuously. These CM song activities will end next week as planned. But separately from that, there’s a program Harin Senior and I are going to appear on together, you know?”
“Which program?”
“Don’t be surprised when you hear it, Appa. It’s…!”
Kang Yera deliberately paused to heighten the suspense.
A moment later.
The answer that came from her mouth was enough to surprise even Kang Dae-oh.
“We’re going to appear on ‘Gayo Yeoljeon’!”
‘Gayo Yeoljeon’ is the name of the program currently airing that records the highest viewership ratings among variety shows.
The concept itself wasn’t complicated.
Two teams of singers would come out, form teams, perform their prepared stages, and the team that received the highest scores from the judges would win.
Just looking at the concept, one might wonder if this program is really fun enough to achieve overwhelming first place in variety show ratings.
The true secret to this program’s popularity lay in its cast members.
The broadcast was able to thrive because only legends were appearing.
A program where only singers called ‘legends’ could be invited.
It was here that Harin and Kang Yera officially received an invitation to appear.
This was why Kang Dae-oh was so surprised when he heard the program name from Kang Yera.
“How is it, Appa? I’m amazing, right?!”
“You’re amazing, my daughter. So, you’re going with Harin-ssi?”
“Yes. Harin Senior and I. We decided to form a team and go. We’ve already finished the meeting. They said filming will start next week.”
“I’ll definitely have to watch it with Eomma and Yeyoung. You told Yebin too, right?”
“As soon as the appearance request came in, I contacted her right away to let her know. I definitely can’t miss out on something to brag about like this!”
Kang Yera said, her eyes sparkling.
It was truly a Kang Yera-like trait.
“Appa will cheer you on too. Go there and win magnificently. Got it?”
“Yes!”
Since the CM song had become a huge hit and swept through South Korea,
Kang Dae-oh wanted to believe that things would go smoothly for Kang Yera and Harin as well.
Around the time Kang Yera and Harin were actively appearing on Gayo Yeoljeon and working hard together.
Kang Dae-oh scanned through articles about Kang Yera.
The two idol-turned-singer teams who secured spots on Gayo Yeoljeon due to the CM song craze: Kang Yera and Harin.
Not only the media but also fans who enjoyed Gayo Yeoljeon showed great anticipation for the emergence of the new team.
Although the footage of these two officially appearing had not yet been broadcast.
Still, voices were often heard wondering if the Kang Yera and Harin team could reach a quite high rank.
Kang Dae-oh was also diligently cheering for that to happen in his heart.
However, there was one thing that bothered him.
“Yera and Harin are the youngest team.”
Since everyone else was such formidable legend singers, their age group was relatively older.
In contrast, Yera and Harin were very young compared to them.
Especially in Kang Yera’s case, if considering only the age difference with the senior singers participating in Gayo Yeoljeon, there was sometimes more than a 20-year gap.
‘I wonder if Yera might get intimidated for no reason after going out there.’
Coincidentally, today was the day Kang Yera would return home after finishing her recording.
Kang Dae-oh quickly returned home to match his leaving work time, if only to satisfy his curiosity.
As expected, Kang Yera had arrived first.
But the atmosphere in the house was unusual.
‘Her expression… why is it like that?’
She was going to appear on Gayo Yeoljeon, which she had so desperately wanted to be on.
Yet, Kang Yera’s expression today seemed far from ordinary.
Like someone burdened with a deep, unspoken worry.
