Chapter 38: Competitor Analysis
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 38: Competitor Analysis
Parte’s teaser began with a sophisticated group logo.
Soon after, a succession of beautiful boys with intense makeup appeared on screen.
The sight of them all dressed in black, standing amidst a thick layer of fog clinging to the floor, was striking.
The short teaser ended with them standing in formation beneath a CG of a blood-red moon.
Aside from the fact that their expressions were a bit stiff—typical for rookies—it was a masterpiece.
“…It’s intense,” Choi Je-ho remarked. It was a characteristically concise review.
“What kind of concept is it? Since there’s a moon, maybe werewolves?”
“I’m thinking the underworld. Their group name comes from the Parthenon, after all. Maybe they’re going for a Greek mythology concept right from the start?”
I said this as I dragged the playback bar back to the beginning.
I’d been too busy stanning Spark on behalf of others to pay attention to other idols, but when a concept was this distinct, it was impossible to miss.
“We won’t know for sure until the next teaser drops. Is there a schedule for the next release?”
“…They say it’s coming out next week.”
Next week was the same week Jang Jun-hu’s music video was set to be released.
On our end, there was no teaser; it was a straight release.
I couldn’t tell if they simply lacked a proper promotional plan or if they were trying to concentrate all the hype into the music video itself instead of splitting it with a teaser.
Even considering the difference between an idol and a ballad singer, the comparison is stark.
Perhaps because I’d seen the filming site in person—even if only once—I could roughly gauge the scale of the sets just by looking at the teaser.
I suppose this was why people said if you’re going to be a servant, you should do it at a nobleman’s house.
I scrolled down to check the comments.
They hadn't even debuted yet, but they must have already attracted international fans, as half the comments were in English.
Even looking only at the scattered Korean comments, the reception was quite positive.
≫ This is why you stan big companies.
≫ The taste of capital is so sweet.
≫ Min-il, congrats on your debut! ♥ Let’s walk only on flower paths!
≫ How does MYTH find faces like these every single time…? Every day there’s a new handsome kid.
I was confident that our team’s visuals wouldn't lose to anyone.
With the porcelain-skinned Lee Cheong-hyeon at the center, Spark’s strength lay in the fact that every single member boasted top-tier looks.
Some might suspect my vision had blurred after making over twenty Spark cup holders, but I could swear by this one thing:
Spark had never received those crude malicious comments claiming they had a "visual hole."
It was just a shame that with someone as ordinary as me joining, the group might lose that prestigious reputation.
If so, the problem would undoubtedly lie in "capital power."
As trends became more vital in the entertainment business and the scale of investment in the idol industry grew, the public’s standards rose higher every year.
It was good that we’d moved up Spark’s debut date to narrow the gap with frontrunners like Parte, but comparisons between the groups were inevitable.
≫ Honestly, Spark’s MVs… are pretty mid. It looks like UA is trying to spend money, but it still feels cheap.
≫ I can understand skimping on stage outfits, but I wish they wouldn't hold back on the MVs ㅠㅠ Relying on the kids' faces to carry everything only works so many times.
≫ The company just doesn't want to spend money where it matters. lol Why bother spending when fans will suck it up even if they film it like total shit? This is all the fandom’s fault.
└ Wow, you’re blaming the fans for this? hahahahaha
└ ┐
These were the kinds of comments I’d seen just while making a compilation video of Spark’s comments.
And now, they were about to be compared head-to-head with a rookie from a major label?
I could already see it: people would post four or five screenshots of the MV backgrounds in a row on community sites with the title "The Reality of Mid-tier Agencies."
The image of being "mid-tier" wasn't inherently bad. It wasn't like we could help the fact that the company was actually small.
Besides, it wasn't as if there were no success stories of groups debuting from small agencies.
However, it was dangerous to repeatedly instill the image that "the company does not invest in the group." Fans would eventually grow weary of it.
I was someone who would be leaving soon, but Spark was a group that had to last seven years. In times like this, I had to think from a long-term perspective.
To do that, it was crucial to secure a budget from the company somehow.
If push came to shove, I planned to point out every cent saved by having Lee Cheong-hyeon write the songs and Choi Je-ho and Kang Gi-yeon create the choreography, and then beg the company to pour all those savings into the music video.
That was the only way they’d survive seven weeks, let alone seven years.
Fuck… thinking about them disbanding on their 7th anniversary still pisses me off.
Oops. I’d gotten so caught up in thinking about the group’s future that I’d accidentally recalled a bad memory.
It was time for a deep breath to find my peace.
I handed over my phone to regain my composure, and Kang Gi-yeon and Jeong Seong-bin immediately began reading the comment section I’d been looking at.
Joined by Lee Cheong-hyeon, the three of them read the comments with increasingly grim expressions.
“People leave hate comments even when they’re this cool…? And it’s only a teaser.”
“Even this gets mixed reviews? Was I the only one who liked the sound?”
At the same time, the boys were rapidly eroding their own mental fortitude.
If I left them alone, they looked ready to spend all night writing positive comments for Parte until they were interrogated for being viral marketing plants.
Kang Gi-yeon’s face, in particular, was ashen.
“If people who haven't even debuted yet are getting this much criticism… then after the debut…”
“Hey, hand over the phone.”
“Ah, yes.”
“And from the day you debut, you guys are banned from monitoring comments or searching your own names. Got it?”
“What?”
That was a close one. I almost let my own team fall into a pit of despair while monitoring another group.
I made a firm mental note of these three "high-risk monitoring individuals."
Even if my eyes went dry from reading comments, I vowed that I would be the one to handle the monitoring.
“Lastly, please give us a word about your resolution for this performance.”
“I will work hard. Please give us a lot of support…!”
“Cut!”
As soon as I called out "cut," Kang Gi-yeon, dressed in a tracksuit, clutched his chest and let out a sigh of relief.
Tonight, without fail, we were in the middle of a "Mock Interview for Kang Gi-yeon."
And after exactly four weeks and three days, Kang Gi-yeon had achieved remarkable results. It was a miracle, like a midsummer night’s dream.
“Do you realize that today was the first time you finished an interview without your hands shaking once?”
“Really?”
Kang Gi-yeon looked surprised. I played back the recorded video for him to see for himself.
Pronunciation: good. Volume: good. Content: good. This was a massive improvement.
His gaze was still a bit unstable and his answers were mechanical, but that was something we could work on gradually.
+
[SYSTEM] ‘Hidden Quest’ has been completed.
▷ Content: Help a member grow
▷ Reward: Experience Points (10)
▷ Cumulative Experience: 95
▷ Cumulative Points: 0
+
See? Even the system counts it as a success.
This was clear evidence that Kang Gi-yeon’s stats had increased.
Gi-yeon himself seemed to see the clear change, as he couldn't take his eyes off the camera screen.
“There’s still a lot to fix moving forward. You know that, right?”
“Yes. Especially my eyes… they’re mostly fixed on the floor.”
“We can practice that. Starting tomorrow, let’s try to pay attention to other things as well.”
After pointing out the next task, I began packing up the tripod I’d set up on the floor.
Next time, maybe I should find a broken camera from somewhere instead of using a phone camera.
Even on Jang Jun-hu’s music video set, there were several cameras. The pressure those lenses exerted would be incomparable to the tiny camera on a smartphone.
Just as I was starting to crave even the camera Department Head Nam had bought to take commemorative photos at mountain peaks, Kang Gi-yeon, who was clearing away the chairs behind me, spoke up.
“Um, Hyung.”
“Yeah?”
“Where did you learn to do things like this?”
“Cough—what?”
I turned around to find Kang Gi-yeon looking at me with an innocent face, devoid of any malice.
He had no idea he’d just stabbed a regressor’s weak point with a blade he’d sharpened a hundred times.
My heart hammered against my ribs as if I’d been pricked by an awl.
“L-learn? I just thought, ‘Wouldn't it be helpful to practice in a way that’s similar to the real thing?’ and gave it some thought.”
I had learned. By using my bosses as negative examples.
However, Kang Gi-yeon didn't let it go so easily.
“It seems too detailed for that. The points you criticize are different every time, too.”
“Maybe it’s because I have a good eye? Everyone always says I have a good eye for things.”
“Hmm.”
You try conducting orientations for dozens of new hires and see if your pupils don't split.
Since I couldn't tell him the truth, I decided to act bold instead.
“What, you don't trust my teaching methods? Should I just play speech training videos from MeTube starting tomorrow?”
“I’m sorry.”
Fortunately, Kang Gi-yeon backed down immediately.
My humanity might have degraded a bit, but it couldn't be helped.
What if he found out I knew what was going to happen, squeezed all the information out of me, and then I got kicked out?
I couldn't let that happen. I was going to stick to these guys like a leech on the bottom of their shoes.
“Do you think you can handle a simple photoshoot, not an interview or a stage? The profile shoot is coming up soon.”
That was right.
The profile shoot for the portal sites after their debut was just around the corner.
If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have kept Kang Gi-yeon, who needed to sleep a lot to grow, up until this hour.
“I think I can manage if it’s just taking photos. I was fine when I took my ID photos at school.”
Ah.
That photo where you couldn't find a hint of a smile even if you took your eyes out and washed them?
I recalled Kang Gi-yeon’s high school ID photo, which would later become famous as the "ultimate Northern Duke shot of the arts high school ID world."
If he liked that kind of stern impression, it didn't really matter how the photos turned out.
Fans loved any photo as long as the features were clear.
But he didn't actually like those photos…
I didn't know if it was like that from the start, but Kang Gi-yeon tended not to like his own impression very much.
All the guys in this group were like that, but his was the kind of face that was easily misunderstood if he kept his mouth shut.
—‘Are you sick? No, Sparklers. I’m in a good mood today. …Does my expression look too stiff?’
—‘No, Kang Gyeon! Don't lose heart! It’s just because the camera quality is bad today! Right, everyone?!’
I could vividly see Kang Gi-yeon getting dejected whenever his impression was mentioned, and Lee Cheong-hyeon desperately trying to comfort him.
Of course, I had no intention of letting him off just because his natural face was like that.
As long as he wanted to correct it, I would turn him into a smiling machine even if I had to hook rubber bands to the corners of his mouth. I would carve the sorrows of social life right onto his face.
I was about to make him do something like "greet the members with a smile every morning," when Kang Gi-yeon spoke.
“I’ll practice posing for photos more on my own.”
“Can you do it?”
“Yes. You should head home early today too, Hyung.”
For a moment, I wondered if he was being considerate of me, but this was that Kang Gi-yeon.
There was no way the guy who used to make me roll around on the practice room floor until 11 PM would suddenly show such kindness.
Well… whether I go home early or late, I’ll have work to do regardless.
Staying late at the practice room meant more practice, and going back to the dorm meant more work, so there was effectively no change in my rest time.
“Alright. Let’s head out for today.”
I couldn't send the kid back alone, so I wrapped up the practice and packed my things.
Little did I imagine that a few days later, Kang Gi-yeon would return equipped with a radiant, beaming smile.