When I Opened My Eyes I Was a Superstar

He wasn’t the CEO of Yoo Sung Electronics at this time, but Lee Chul Ho would become the CEO of Yoo Sung Electronics in the future. Do Wook had no idea he’d meet the guy he’d seen on the economy-related news in person.

It was something that a typical agency PR employee could never imagine.

Yoo Sung Electronics was the nation’s leading conglomerate, the nation’s undisputed leader in home appliances and related electronic devices. They were still the best even now, and they would maintain their number one spot for the next decade.

They had also started investing in the cell phone business early on, so 70% of cell phone users in the nation used Yoo Sung Electronics’ products.

The company that recently gave the KK members cell phones while giving phones to Milky Way and Monster was Yoo Sung Electronics.

Do Wook bowed his head as he accepted the slightly cracked cell phone.

“Ah, Thank you.”

“You dropped it because of that woman right? Our mangnae* was always a bit of a tomboy since she was little…I apologize on her behalf.”

(TL note: mangnae is the youngest)

President Lee Chul Ho said as he raised the edge of his horn-rimmed glasses. Do Wook shook his head.

It was later discovered that the woman was the president of Yoo Sung Fashion. Yoo Sung Fashion was a company under Yoo Sung Electronics. It was also the company that gave Lucas the investment money and made it possible for him to launch his brand.

Yoo Sung Fashion’s President Lee Yoon Min was President Lee Chul Ho’s youngest sister.

“Pardon? Not at all. I’m ok.”

“That’s right, you were on the runway right? Your name was…”

“Ah, sorry for the late introduction. I’m Kang Do Wook.”

“I was late introducing myself too. I’m Lee Chul Ho.”

All he did was tell him his name, but Lee Chul Ho smiled brightly when Do Wook nodded his head. It seemed like he knew Do Wook recognized him right away.

Lee Chul Ho was wearing a blue suit and horn-rimmed glasses. Contrary to the image that came to mind when he was on the news, he had a slightly more relaxed vibe. It might be because he was a middle-aged president and not a CEO yet.

During his days as an office worker, Do Wook didn’t think he would be able to have a proper conversation with him. He surprised himself when he realized that he was able to converse more casually than he expected.

It was true, though, that he was overwhelmed by Lee Chul Ho’s soft but serious charisma.

“I enjoyed the show. Anyways, that’s unfortunate about the crack on your phone…it cracked when all you did was drop it.”

Lee Chul Ho frowned slightly. When he realized there was a flaw in his product, he was upset. Once he frowned, Do Wook felt the fierce Lee Chul Ho of Yoo Sung Electronics that he had expected.

Before Do Wook could reply that it was ok, a person who looked like President Lee Chul Ho’s secretary approached them.

“Mr. President, there you are.”

You could tell immediately by looking at the man that he was pressed for time. President Lee Chul Ho’s schedule had the 24 hours of the day broken down to the last minute. As the person in charge of such a schedule, it was a given that he was always in a hurry.

The man was even more taken aback over the fact that the person President Lee Chul Ho was speaking with wasn’t someone important, but just a young model.

“Director Yoon.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“Please send this person a new phone of our best product series.”

Chief Yoon replied without question.

“Ok, Understood.”

Having given the order, Lee Chul Ho asked Do Wook.

“Black like your old one? White?”

“I’m really ok, but if that will make you feel better…”

“You get it.”*

(TL note: For clarification, here, he’s saying Do Wook understands that the correct/polite thing to do when an elder gives you something is to accept it.)

“Black is good.”

“Yeah, definitely black if you’re a guy.”

Do Wook smiled awkwardly at Lee Chul Ho’s dry joke. Director Yoon told President Lee Chul Ho that they were late for their next appointment.

“Then, I’ll see you around if I can. It was nice to meet you.”

Do Wook politely gave a deep bow and said goodbye to President Lee Chul Ho. President Lee Chul Ho leisurely left the area.

After hearing about the meeting with President Lee Chul Ho from Do Wook, Manager Oh Baek Ho was also bewildered.

Top models and celebrities were a given at Lucas’s fashion event, as well as famous people from all walks of life. It was Oh Baek Ho who warned them to bear that in mind and always be careful how they act. Despite that, meeting with Lee Chul Ho was something Oh Baek Ho hadn’t imagined.

Soon after, Do Wook received from Oh Baek Ho the new cell phone that was delivered to the company.

Then while in the conference room one of the days leading up to the repackage album, he understood what President Lee Chul Ho meant by “if I can see you again”.

***

A week before the release of the repackage album.

Recording for the additional song in the album was already done. The title of the additional song was ‘Windy Day’.

PD Yong Soo Chul’s song was a medium tempo pop dance song that expressed the briskness of a windy day. It was a song that kept PD Yong Soo Chul’s personality while being relaxing, making it a comfortable song to listen to.

The lyrics were done by Kim Soom, who had formed connections with HIT Entertainment after working on Monster’s album.

Kim Soom was writing the lyrics as well as composing songs for Kim Woo Yeon, who had started preparing for his new album. When she met Do Wook at the meeting, she told him that she felt working as a lyricist/composer was busier work than working for her main band.

It was a comfortable pop dance song, so the difficulty of the choreography was low this time too.

During the active period for ‘Very Sorry’, the members worked themselves to the bone starting from rehearsals. Now, this level of choreography was a breeze. They didn’t have to rehearse as much since it was an easy choreography, which meant the members were less stressed.

However, as Noh Yoon Tae was heading out of the rehearsal room after guiding them through the choreography, he told the members something that hit them like a ton of bricks.

“They said the performance this time will be completely live. Remember that!”

Noh Yoon Tae delivered his message then disappeared. The members, who had been staring at the closed door in disbelief, plopped down to the floor of the rehearsal hall.

“That’s so unfair!”

Ahn Hyung Seo screamed as he rolled around on the floor.

Of course their previous performances had been live too. However, it wasn’t live for the whole performance. The performance was aired selectively live.

It was because the choreography difficulty was too hard to do the entire performance live, as well as requiring a lot of energy. Doing it live might drop the quality of the performance.

However, the active period was short this time. On top of that, the difficulty of the choreography was low, so the company decided to make all the performances live from here on out in order to promote KK and improve their skills.

However, their schedule consisted of about 7 music broadcasts in the span of just one week. That included an additional special performance. The active period for the repackage album was 2 weeks. Live performances day after day for 2 weeks, they were tired just thinking about it.

‘Still, if we get through it our skills will obviously be acknowledged, and the members’ skills will have improved.’

Do Wook was suddenly starting to realize how important actual performing experience was.

Suk Ji Hoon confessed that after debuting, dance moves he couldn’t do even after practicing for over a year during his trainee days came as second nature to him now.

Do Wook also agreed. As trainees, their knowledge of gestures while performing, dancing in sync with other members, know-hows of performing live etc. was limited.

Jung Yoon Ki tapped Ahn Hyung Seo, who was rolling on the ground, on the butt with his feet.

“Git’ up, dude.”

Park Tae Hyung quietly laid down at one side of the rehearsal hall and started to get into position.

“Oh my gosh!”

They started rehearsal for the live performance. Kim Won yelled at Park Tae Hyung when he saw him in the plank position, however, Kim Won also got into that position soon after. It was a position they learned from the agency’s professional fitness trainer for physical strength training.

Do Wook also got into position after starting the melody. The six of them sang “Windy Day’ in sync while in plank position. This was the rehearsal for the live performance.

Do Wook thought that instead of his morning workout, he should find a fitness center and sing while running on the treadmill.

It happened when everyone was heading out after dripping in sweat during rehearsal.

The members, who were in rehearsal clothes, gathered after Oh Baek Ho called them over. Kwon Heung Jo, the production director, ordered a meeting.

“Do you think he’s mad because the bill for the beef came out so high?”

Ahn Hyung Seo muttered as they walked in a single file line to the conference room. Oh Baek Ho and the members looked at Ahn Hyung Seo, dumbfounded. Ahn Hyung Seo said, “Nevermind,” and scratched his head.

Still, the members were more comfortable with Director Kwon now compared to before, and they even had the company dinner together recently.

Actually, during their trainee days they had no reason to meet with higher ups. So much so that as far as they were concerned, the Rookie Development Team Leader Im Sung Ahn was the highest ranking person in the company. To the members, Production Director Kwon Heung Jo wasn’t someone they could meet with easily.

Once they entered the large conference room, of course the Album Production Team Leader Shim Joon was there, but also the Fan marketing Team Leader Jo Anna, PD Yong Soo Chul, and the employees in charge of KK-related things were all gathered.

The members couldn’t help but be surprised that the meeting was bigger than they expected.

“Please, come in.”

Today’s meeting was to announce to everyone that on top of having the repackage album coming up, they signed a contract with Yoo Sung Electronics, and to tell the members the truth.

Director Kwon continued to speak once the members got settled in their seats and the conference room atmosphere calmed down again.

“The new song ‘Windy Day’ is actually also a sample song that will be included in the new model of Yoo Sung Electronics’ Apollo cell phone series.”

Since they were still in the contract stage, it was something only the Team Leaders and PD Yong Soo Chul were told.

The Yoo Sung Electronics marketing team recently released many versions of smartphones. They used aggressive and direct marketing to compete with foreign companies looking to enter the Korean market.

Among them, the project they were pushing the most was the project involving music.

‘As more and more people listen to music on their smartphones, products like CD and MP3 players are starting to disappear. It’ll be even more so moving forward…’

Do Wook thought as he listened to the explanation.

One of the projects involving music was putting in a song from a famous singer as part of the basic music for checking sound quality etc. However, picking a singer was quite difficult due to royalties and other issues. Obviously, singers with greater promotional pull would cost marketing a fortune.

During their search for singers, KK was the group that had the promotional pull they wanted with a reasonable fee.

HIT Entertainment welcomed Yoo Sung Electronics' proposal with open arms.

Honestly, you could say Yoo Sung Electronics’ main goal with this project was to engrave into the public’s opinion that the Apollo smartphone was also a good device to listen to music with.

It was clear that KK would benefit more from this promotional partnership if their song was put in all Yoo Sung Electronics Apollo series models. Therefore, HIT Entertainment signed the contract without being picky about the music fees and other issues.

Marketing Team Leader Jo Anna played a large part in closing the deal after getting confirmation from the HIT Entertainment board members.

As he listened to the short briefing on the process and outcome, Do Wook admired the administration and management’s decision-making skills.

‘HIT Entertainment was a small company, but there’s a reason for their continued success.’

The KK members looked down at the cell phones they had been using. Their song would be in every cell phone that would come out in the future.

“Furthermore, Yoo Sung Electronics has one more project they’re working on…”

Director Kwon started to speak.

“They said artists from different fields will be included in the advertisement. That is, based on each of their work.”

Do Wook opened his eyes wide.

‘Could it be THAT ad…?!’

Do Wook remembered the Apollo advertisement that was widely popular at one point.

It was an ad that was so popular that many parodies of it were continuously made.

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