Chapter 263
Chapter 263
Cha Yu-jin’s suggestion wasn't exactly an out-of-this-world marketing tactic.
“Let’s make a challenge!”
“A challenge?”
“A ‘Try to Dance’ challenge!”
In short, it was a ‘film yourself following our dance’ video.
It had been a trending short-form content format for several years now. Honestly, these days, I hadn't seen a single team make a comeback without trying it.
‘Gold 1’s group got pretty big because of one of those.’
But that was because their company worked hard; for most, it ended with the mere satisfaction of having tried. People didn't just follow along because the song was good or the choreography was nice.
I didn't quite get it myself, but there seemed to be a specific kind of enjoyment that demographic preferred.
However, Cha Yu-jin had an incredible instinct for capturing that vibe.
[You use this sky filter... and then right here, bam! You switch to a Halloween filter and change the song!]
“Oh.”
[In the pre-chorus of Wheel, where it goes da-da-da and feels like it’s building up...]
Cha Yu-jin adjusted the music, taking the refreshing, overwhelming climax of Wheel and attaching the dark, intense whistling chorus of Drill to the end.
[Whistle! And then ta-dan! You drop the beat for Drill, and you’re done. Good, right?]
‘Not bad.’
It was a bit cheesy, but since the atmosphere, song, and choreography all shifted with a single whistle, it had a certain flair that grabbed your attention instantly.
Even Seon A-hyun, who usually had zero interest in such things, nodded.
“I-it’s cool...!”
“I know, right?!”
It looked plausible even at a glance. It meant that even without prior knowledge, it fit the context of what was currently trending.
‘If we play this right, we’ll see some results.’
“What does everyone thin—”
I was about to check for a show of hands when I saw the faces of a few guys who looked like they were thinking, ‘I’m not sure if I actually understood that English.’
...Translation first, then.
“I think he’s saying we can highlight our ‘reversal charm’ by making a dance challenge that connects the two title tracks.”
“Ahhh~”
Only then did the opinions start flowing. Most were in favor.
“Then both songs can benefit from the promotion.”
“It fits our promotion and story too, doesn't it? The taste of a reversal! Oh, Cha Yu-jin~”
“Hehe.”
Since it wasn't a dangerous gamble and was actually closer to a standard method these days, it passed quickly within the group and the company.
“The platform partnership will even provide the remix for us.”
“Yeah~!”
“Then we should film the announcement videos for the challenge. One for each person.”
Bae Se-jin swallowed hard.
“...Alone?”
“Yes.”
Given the nature of these videos, two people was the absolute maximum if you wanted them to look good. Bae Se-jin’s face filled with worry.
“Me, me, me! I’ll go first!”
Of course, Cha Yu-jin filmed his video with excitement.
To be honest, even in my eyes, his was the most convincing. It seemed he had a complete picture in his head when he made the suggestion.
The way he tilted his head while doing the catchy hand movements for the Drill chorus was spot on.
‘Is it because he’s young?’
He was a guy whose instincts for this kind of thing were naturally sharp.
However, there was also a guy the same age as Cha Yu-jin who failed the video recording about ten times.
“L-like this...?”
“Hahaha! Kim Rae-bin is so bad at this!”
“...! It is only because this is my first attempt! Once I grasp the underlying principles a few more times, I shall be better than you!”
“No, you’re a dummy!”
In the end, Kim Rae-bin barely succeeded, suffering a mental defeat to Cha Yu-jin.
“I-it is done...”
Cha Yu-jin enjoyed the victor’s leisure.
“Everyone did great. It’s because Kim Rae-bin’s song is so good!”
Giving the disease and then the medicine, I see.
“......”
Wait. Come to think of it, strictly speaking, Kim Rae-bin is the youngest since his birthday is the latest... well, he’s just a guy who has no connection to these kinds of modern trends.
Anyway, the videos we uploaded synced up with our promotional strategy and went quite viral.
It even evolved beyond Cha Yu-jin’s original idea, with users creating a new, modified trend of their own.
[TeSTAR Reversal Challenge!]
Bae Se-jin watched a compilation video on WeTube and spoke with a complicated expression.
“So, they wear a mascot costume and run through butterflies... then suddenly throw the head off and act like a villain.”
“...Pretty much.”
“...That’s so different from what we did?!”
Bae Se-jin spoke a bit bitingly, but he was right.
It seemed the influence came from the Drill stage we first performed at the awards ceremony, which had become quite famous.
‘Actually, this is better.’
The fact that it was being over-reproduced meant it was a massive success. The videos would keep pouring in.
‘Young-rin can never do something like this with her new song.’
Her song was strictly focused on the ‘pleasure of listening.’
As planned, the battle was decided by content beyond just music streaming.
When things turned out like this, the company got excited and suggested a ‘Drill Filter Partnership,’ but Cha Yu-jin firmly opposed it.
“There are many people who hate these challenges because they’re too cheesy. Our music video is cool, so we shouldn't use that!”
“Hmm, okay.”
His point was to lower the barrier to entry by making the song and the group feel familiar through the viral trend, but not to get too deeply entangled in it ourselves.
It aligned perfectly with the argument I was going to make.
‘He’s useful.’
He was a smart guy. The only problem was that he only used his brain for things he was interested in.
With Cha Yu-jin’s promotional strategy playing its part, our activities proceeded smoothly as scheduled, as if the previous emergency had been a lie.
[TeSTAR’s new song has great momentum]
[Drill MV view count trend.jpg]
[Drill choreography video is out]
Posts and videos about TeSTAR’s current promotions flooded the internet. It meant our buzz had properly hit its stride.
And as soon as the results started reflecting, we were nominated for first place on a major network music broadcast.
The result?
“Live broadcast Music Gayo! This week’s number one is... Congratulations, TeSTAR!”
Naturally, we won. However, the score was exactly as expected.
‘We’re about 1,000 points behind Young-rin in digital sales.’
But it was fine. Unless someone was an extreme digital-supremacist or an anti-fan, the general atmosphere was that we ‘deserved to win.’
It was a victory for the strategy of creating a justification.
I nodded with a fairly thrilling sense of satisfaction. We won.
“...Thank you!”
“For a long time... thank you for not giving up on us, for supporting us, and for waiting. Thank you so much, Loviewers...!”
Perhaps because it had been a while since we were number one on a music show, there were an unusual number of guys getting choked up.
“Is Se-jin hyung crying too?”
“Yeah, I’m bawling my eyes out~”
Even the guys I didn't expect to cry were so moved that it looked a bit funny, but it surely looked much better than acting like we took the win for granted.
‘We’ve got the domestic market locked down with this.’
I sang the encore about five times along with the guys who were sniffing back tears.
This was the moment when the saying ‘Too bad TeSTAR came out at the same time as Young-rin’ turned into ‘It’s a shame Young-rin’s song came out at the same time as TeSTAR.’
It was around the time we had spent about two weeks doing variety show promotions.
‘Time to check the other boards.’
I began to look into news from overseas. It was after confirming that the scale of our tour had grown astronomically.
‘In the first place, Drill was released with a global response in mind.’
It wasn't complicated; it was fun to listen to, the high-budget visual aesthetics were incredible, and the choreography was top-tier... sentiments that translated worldwide.
‘Is that why demand increased with this album?’
However, the moment I performed the search, I was slightly taken aback.
“...?”
‘What the—why is there so much?’
The results were even more brilliant than expected.
Global. This was where Cha Yu-jin’s promotional strategy truly began to show its worth.
The ‘TeSTAR Reversal Dance Challenge’ created by Cha Yu-jin reportedly gave deep inspiration to overseas fans.
‘So this is what works for muggles!’
K-pop fans who liked TeSTAR bombarded all sorts of WeTubers and people around them with requests to watch the new songs.
The format was simple. They made them watch ‘Wheel’ first, followed immediately by ‘Drill.’
In fact, most people liked ‘Drill’ on its own.
It was a video in the style of a blockbuster comics movie or a game cinematic trailer, aimed squarely at global nerd tastes.
But by having them watch the polar opposite ‘Wheel’ beforehand, the reaction to the gap shown by the same group in the same setting was much better.
[Oh, it’s the same setting? Is this an ad for the amusement park... Wait, what? These are the same guys?]
[Oh my god, oh my god! This guy on the cycle is so f*cking cool!]
[I’m telling you now, the only ones I can accept with dyed hair are these cool K-pop stars who look like anime characters.]
It meant it had become better for farming views. All sorts of people, not just reaction WeTubers, were filming videos.
And since the video and song were produced with global tastes in mind, as exposure increased, the view counts for TeSTAR’s new music videos ballooned rapidly.
In particular, ‘Drill’ even made it onto the real-time trending videos list in the United States.
‘...It’s entering the mainstream.’
It was a feat.
I acknowledged it. I should grill some meat for Cha Yu-jin sometime.
“Do you want beef or pork?”
As if he had supernatural hearing, Cha Yu-jin answered from across the room.
“I like beef! I like Hanwoo!”
“Fine.”
But that wasn't the end of it.
When something becomes a huge hit, rumors and controversies naturally follow from everywhere.
This time, it seemed to be Japan.
[This fits so perfectly, it’s amazing (Video) (´ ω｀) _]
Some anime fans used our challenge and music video to mash up scenes, and it apparently became even more famous after a random fight broke out over it.
It didn't even start between TeSTAR fans and anime enthusiasts; the anti-Korean trolls bit into it.
A massive dogfight broke out as the forces that hated anything Korean clashed with K-pop fans.
A WeTuber who summarizes Japanese reactions reported in a cheerful tone:
[So, as the Net-uyoku claim, is TeSTAR being boycotted in Japan?]
[Oh my, TeSTAR’s album was number one on the Oricon Chart this week!]
“......”
Inadvertently, a Japanese viral success had occurred without us even trying.
Since the controversy wasn't caused by us, there was less resistance, and people who watched out of curiosity—‘What is this anyway?’—were drawn in.
And since they were conceptual and, well, handsome guys, the fan base seemed to grow rapidly.
‘Come to think of it, we haven't been to Japan since Haengcha.’
Because the controversy suddenly created public exposure, the accumulated potential fan base seemed to have flooded in all at once.
And these people were essentially the ones filling the concert capacity that had grown from arenas to domes.
In the end... the dance challenge Cha Yu-jin started had branched out in all directions and exploded everywhere.
“......”
Is it... is it actually possible to win the Grand Prize with this album?
‘There’s a chance.’
I was thinking hopeful thoughts for a moment and was about to end my monitoring.
I would have done so, if not for a news article that popped up on the search engine right before I closed it.
[VTIC February Comeback Confirmed... The Kings of the Music Industry Return.]
“......”
Do these guys... have no intention of resting?
A short while later, the confirmation even arrived.
[VTIC Chae-yul Sunbae-nim: We’re making a comeback next month, Moon-dae-ssi! Please give us lots of interest~]
[VTIC Shin-o Sunbae-nim: (Hand gun emoji)]
I don't know why these guys invite me to a group chat to announce news they could send individually. Are they trying to needle me?
[Yes, congratulations.]
I gave a standard reply. Then, a private message came from the guy who usually only posted pictures of his dog.
[VTIC Shin Cheong-ryeo Sunbae-nim: Really?]
This guy, seriously.
[Of course. I wish you great success during your promotions. It’s just a shame I won’t be able to see you once you enlist in the military.]
It was my way of telling him to hurry up and go to the army.
A reply came after a slight delay.
[Hmm? Why me?]
What?
The next message arrived immediately after.
[Since my mother is a Person of National Merit, I only serve for six months. Didn't you know?]
“......”
[Ah, I guess I didn't announce it this time. My apologies ^^ Junior.]
[You’re going for active duty, right? Have a safe trip.]
You son of a...
I turned off my smartphone and made a vow.
‘Starting from this tour... I’m going to use every single schedule to grow our scale, no matter what.’
I’ll make sure this guy experiences a regrettable enlistment next year.
And just then, an appropriate proposal came from Netplus.
“A documentary.”
“Yes! A lot of people are doing them these days.”
It was a behind-the-scenes documentary of our concert tour.