So When's It Coming Out? - 2
Setting aside A-yeong’s pure little dream for a moment and looking at it coldly, ABCD were dead idols. I didn’t mean they were literally dead; I meant there was no world in which fans could breathe with them, talk to them, and share space with them.
Was a phantom that existed only in virtual space really an idol? You couldn’t buy their music and listen to it, and you couldn’t buy their merchandise and set it up in the corner of your room. There was no way to connect with them in this world. And on top of that, they were VTubers. They couldn’t step past the virtual barrier and meet people face-to-face.
Broadcasting? Sure, that was a perfectly good way to connect.
But it was missing that one blow that made you look at them and instantly think, “I want that.”
So right now, ABCD were a kind of meme. Something you could laugh at, talk about, and spend money on. But they still couldn’t become idols who were emotionally bound to their fans. No matter how much they talked, danced, and sang live, a single object proving that they existed, or one short track, carried more power than all of that.
In short, they needed a world they could play in together. And worlds could be built with money. Not a greenhouse born from a ten-billion-won donation arc and the Bigman religion, but a world A-yeong herself would have to run through, sweating and singing her heart out. A world where she could still live as an idol even after Bigman disappeared.
I could do that. A world with a shelf life of about a year, though. That was the repayment for the ten thousand won I’d received that day.
Flip—
I looked at the stiff white paper. Written on it was the corporate name established through my proxy, a legal entity large enough to manage the remaining eight billion won after setting aside two billion of my ten billion in total assets as personal investment capital.
Big Plan A Company
Big Plan A Company—the name of an eighty-billion-won blade.
...
It was insanely tacky, but since it would disappear with my regression anyway, it didn’t matter. There was no point painstakingly coming up with a name when it was never going to matter in the end.
Ping!
“!”
I picked up my phone.
Legal, 3D, merchandise, accounting... the companies that formed the backbone of the content market had been bundled together through corporate investment. For the next year, they would be working in collaboration with Aurora Prism Entertainment.
Investment money? Not needed. For a full year, they’d move on my capital. I’d even already worked out how to keep the tightly linked distribution structure from collapsing all at once if I vanished after July 31.
The downside was that eighty billion won could only keep this system running for one year. ...But there was nothing I could do about that. If I’d scraped together more money during this May of all loops, I could have built something much bigger and made it last much longer, but...
Maybe, if it had been bigger... maybe I would have seen them shining even sooner.
...
There was no helping it.
It was too late for a first step.
Hoo.
A little later, Attorney Kim sent me another text.
“...”
Would they even believe me if I told them?
“I just happened to find out by chance.”
After sending that, I slipped my phone back into my pocket. In the pocket, I could feel the ten thousand won that could only exist in this regression.
Rustle—
...
The first week of June.
The streets were bustling with the usual flood of people. None of them were preparing to disappear in two months.
...
I walked that familiar street, heading back to the convenience of a world that would only exist for two more months.
*
CEO Baek Su-cheol was trembling so hard that his whole body shook. He had pulled the orange teddy-bear blanket his son had given him up over his head.
Fear.
The fear of someone who had stood before a god.
“U-uh... I’m scared because things are going too well for me. Bigman’s hand is just too huge. It’s terrifying...”
“...”
“...”
Operations manager Go Min-young and member Choi Ye-seo looked at him with utter disdain. Even so, they couldn’t just outright curse out CEO Baek Su-cheol.
“Well, the CEO does have a point. So many companies suddenly rushing over to offer collaboration... It’s basically like we got to use a distribution network for free.”
“...”
Even Choi Ye-seo couldn’t quite believe reality anymore.
Who would have thought related companies would come flocking in, volunteering to collaborate?
-What?! The record label called?
-What?! The 3D production company called?
-What?! The merchandise distributor called?
-What?! Even the law firm and the accountants...?!
And every single person who came through the door was holding a crisp business card.
Big Plan A Company
A content investment specialist corporation.
The company’s representative remained anonymous.
-Based on the investment terms, we’ll be collaborating with your company for one year. The exact details will be discussed in a follow-up meeting...
-T-Then what are the collaboration conditions? And the payment?
-Ah, that’s fine. We’ve already received the operating expenses up front. All you need to do is write the proposal, and we’ll handle the rest.
With that one statement, the dead world of ABCD began to breathe again.
Music, merchandise, events... a “big picture” had appeared in this world to bring them back to life.
A collaboration system where they could do nothing but plan for a year and have everything made for them?
“Good heavens.”
It was nothing short of a miracle from God.
Even having a major corporation as a sponsor couldn’t make this happen.
At least, that was how Choi Ye-seo felt.
“...Big Plan.”
Big Plan.
A corporate name that made anyone think of that person at a glance.
CEO Baek Su-cheol nearly jumped when he saw the card. If it hadn’t carried the scent of that person, he probably would have assumed it was some corporate conspiracy and run for his life.
But what on earth is the A...?
A
“!”
Wait, could Big Plan A mean...?
Choi Ye-seo flinched for a moment.
But she didn’t actually say the thought out loud. If she admitted it, she felt like she’d end up like CEO Baek Su-cheol, with a blanket over her head.
...
So she kept her mouth shut.
In that silence, general affairs manager Park Young-su sat down as if his head were spinning.
“Man, I don’t get it. This isn’t some game where you’ve got a resource cheat code. On top of that, they’re saying we can just take the collaboration line without any conditions at all.”
Everyone sat back down.
CEO, general affairs, operations manager, deputy manager, promotions lead... they all had fancy titles, but in the end they were just ordinary people trying to make a living at a small company.
Just getting a few hundred million won in sponsorship would have been shocking enough.
But this was...?
“He basically tore off a whole market and handed it to us. In a capitalist society, this is the same as just giving us an entire world.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
By then, Bigman was just plain frightening.
That one person’s goodwill could be this vast.
It was nothing but terrifying.
...
...
...
From the corner, the trembling Baek Su-cheol slowly stood up.
He took off the teddy-bear blanket he’d wrapped around his head. When he turned back around, he was once again wearing the face of a CEO.
“Fine. Let’s admit it.”
“Admit what?”
“We got market infrastructure from Bigman. In this brutal market, he gave us a massive power we can wield for a year like a major corporation.”
“A major corporation...”
“That means we don’t have to go around nervously begging, ‘Please do this for us,’ or ‘Please review that for us,’ anymore.”
He widened his eyes and kept going.
“Bigman didn’t ask us for anything in return. At this point I don’t even know if he’s a he, or a sir, or even a real human being. And yet he trusted us.”
“!”
“So now we do it.”
Baek Su-cheol looked at operations manager Go Min-young.
“The music’s ready to hand over to the label?”
“Yes. I’ve already finished organizing the materials.”
Then he looked at Park Young-su.
“With this infrastructure, we can run the company even with our current finances, right?”
“Of course. We’re basically using a resource cheat code at this point.”
Baek Su-cheol nodded.
“Good. Then we go all in.”
“!”
“For the next year, we’re in invincible cheat-code mode. Romantic Drive over there, or Dream Live across the ocean—whatever they’re doing, we can follow it.”
His voice sounded rough, as if he were dragging out some old grudge from the bottom of his throat.
“We can release music, run lessons, make merchandise, print flyers until they’re falling out of the sky, and brag that we’re this prepared.”
“!”
“Let’s run like crazy for one year.”
At that, everyone on the staff stood up.
At last, Baek Su-cheol turned to Choi Ye-seo. She was the oldest member of ABCD and the one who had shouldered the most hardship, the dependable one. At last, he could promise her a stage.
“And...”
“...”
“By next month, let’s pull in as many fans as we can and get ready for a live concert.”
“!”
“Don’t make some stingy school-festival excuse and call it a mini live. Let’s really perform in a venue and blast our songs out for real.”
“...Yes!”
The goal for July was...
A large-scale live concert.
*
Back at the ABCD dorm.
Aki had heard the whole story.
“...So this is where it really begins?”
“Yeah.”
Choi Ye-seo nodded.
“Starting next week, we’ll release four songs, and we’re going to do everything we can until the live concert is actually real.”
Merchandise, music videos, the store...
Everything.
To turn a “one-year opportunity” into something real.
Everything.
“Hold on, unni...?!“
Berry, Kim Ae-ri, spoke in a trembling voice.
“W-what do you mean? Does our company really have enough room to do that much work? Aren’t we overdoing it? If Ye-seo unni collapses, it’s really all over!”
“We’re not overdoing it.”
Choi Ye-seo took out the business card and showed it to her. The other three members all held their breath and looked.
...
...
...
Big Plan A Company
“This corporation has already invested in the collaboration operating costs, so we’re basically in a position where we can do anything we’re capable of doing. Honestly, it’s probably 100 percent that person’s corporation.”
“Bi, Big Me—”
Kang Do-dam crossed herself, pressed her palms together, and dropped to her knees. A familiar prayer began spilling from her mouth.
-Our Father who art in heaven...
Kim Ae-ri gave that blasphemous display a sidelong glance, then returned her focus to the business card Choi Ye-seo had shown them.
“So... music-related activities are, um, free now?”
“Technically it isn’t free if someone already paid for it, but... yeah, that’s the feeling. And on the corporate side, they said that if we write proposals, they’ll review them and can even give us additional content support funds later.”
“Which means...?”
“It means you can just broadcast and do whatever else you want.”
“...”
Kim Ae-ri sat down with a dazed expression.
“Big, Big Me...”
“Yeah, it’s Bigman, all right. I’m so grateful I could cry.”
“But unni.”
“Yeah?”
“What do you think Big Plan ‘A’ means?”
“...”
Choi Ye-seo gave a bitter smile.
Then she looked at Aki.
“...”
As expected.
Aki’s face was flushed bright red. She was trembling, smiling through tears. It was the face of someone who was anxious, and relieved, all at once.
Aurora Prism Entertainment Collaboration Notice
“...And so, we have moved forward with a collaboration with Big Plan A Company. To the fans who have helped us continue moving toward a wider world...”
People understood.
They knew who owned that company.
And they trembled in silence.
-Holy crap.
-Seriously...?
-That’s actually possible?
But they had no choice but to believe it.
All they could do was pray.
-Bigman...