If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them - 4
Live viewers: 60,000.
Of course, not all of them were ABCD fans. There were probably far more RD fans who had rushed over after hearing about the collaboration stream with Romantic Drive.
I tapped a finger against my desk and roughly calculated the viewer split.
...
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
If you factor in duplicate viewers from the Big Plan planning team’s average live audience, ABCD’s total comes out to a little over twenty thousand. If I include Romantic Drive’s average too... that makes the split about two to four, ABCD to RD.
Well.
ABCD was the two, and RD was the four.
Maybe that was why the actual broadcast atmosphere was far more muted than ABCD’s usual stream. Instead of worshiping Bigman and spamming catchphrases, everyone was paying attention to the stream itself.
Inside a studio designed like a karaoke room, seven colorful girls bustled about and chattered over one another. Then, in turn, they each delivered their signature greeting.
“Toward the light—! We are ABCD—!”
“One, two, three! For happiness! We are Romantic Drive!”
To keep the vibe from feeling disjointed, Romantic Drive also did a full-group greeting for the first time in ages, carefully leaning into their identity as “broadcasters.” The fresh sight sent their fandom into a frenzy.
“Careful....”
...
...
...
Chat is talking more about RD than ABCD.
Even by eyeballing it, the split was about two to one.
And that was despite the fact that ABCD was supposed to be the star of today’s stage.
Still, they didn’t get swept away.
Their signature small-streamer vibe remained firmly in the center, and oddly enough, it was RD that had let go of its usual polished professionalism.
Thanks to that, the studio had turned into a complete zoo.
“Today, Aki-chan opened the karaoke room so we could all have fun together! But! If it’s just us, that’d be boring, so we invited these wonderful Romantic Drive members to join us—!”
“Everyone, get ready to clap! Ah!”
“DoDa, why are you holding your hand up like that...?”
“My apologies. Our kid is a little....”
“Ah!”
“Ah, right, Danhui unnie likes this sort of thing.”
“Nice! Preparing to clap from the side... very spirited!”
“Aki wants to sing with Danhui-nim today!”
“Ah!”
“No, Danhui-nim....”
“Ah!”
It was a mess, but somehow, it also felt unified.
So they must have coordinated beforehand and decided to keep ABCD’s lively, chaotic atmosphere exactly as it is.... Looks like A-young really took the lead well.
It was, by their standards, a pretty encouraging result.
The gap was still overwhelming, but the dying little streamer had managed to keep up with an established group this much. Thanks to that, the chat wasn’t being dragged in one direction during the collab stream.
Aki was doing a good job keeping the broadcast balanced.
...
I finished assessing the reaction there.
Besides, there are plenty of viewers watching both sides, and now that they’re already here, who they originally supported doesn’t matter much.
Right now, they were all just viewers.
In that case, I figured I should just go back to donating like usual and enjoy the stream. Just as I was about to open the donation window with that thought—
“Aki is so happy we can all play together in such a lively atmosphere! While chatting with all of you from RD, it’s already been ten minutes.”
“Ahaha! I think our chemistry is way better than I expected.”
...
Aki-chan smiled, joked around, and kept the program moving.
“Here! Raise your hand if you’ve never gone to a karaoke room with friends!”
“Uwah, stop it—!”
“That’s too much!”
But beneath that smile, I could feel the tension of someone who was steering the wheel. She was struggling not to lose her way at the intersection where ABCD’s world and RD’s world overlapped.
This was the precious stage A-young had made.
A world watched by 60,000 people.
A world where emotions came crashing in without end.
It was not something to touch with a mere one million won.
...
I quietly closed the donation window.
If I revived the Bigman worship atmosphere right now, the viewers who had come in from outside would definitely feel the disconnect.
That would only interfere with A-young.
...I’ll do it after the broadcast ends.
Instead, listening to Aki-chan’s voice, I picked up the planning document I’d shoved in the corner and started reading it again.
I should at least calculate how much they’ve figured out on their side.
“Thank you, everyone—! Then from now on, we’ll keep it going by singing one line each!”
...
*
A classic song that had even been used as an anime opening.
Taking the final high note was Romantic Drive’s Oiram. With her brown twin tails, she struck an exaggerated pose like a rock vocalist and rasped out the line.
“I luhhhve yooouuuu—!”
It was supposed to be a sweet song, but the performance came out with such ferocity it felt almost like death metal.
“Waaah!”
“Death metal—!”
The people around her clapped.
Clap clap clap!
And right beside her, Danhui with her straight black hair applauded in a bizarre rhythm and cheered, using the “spirited applause” she had apparently learned from DoDa. It was such a strange behavior, completely at odds with her calm voice.
Clap!
Clap!
Clap!
“Ah! Hitting the high note is fun. Well done, Oiram-nim.”
“Oh no, unnie, please.... I’m embarrassed. Clara-nim! Come help me out here!”
“Danhui-nim somehow feels a bit like our youngest member.”
“Really? Then just take her.”
“Oh! Thank you!”
“Ah!”
Oiram waved her hand at Danhui, who was calmly radiating madness, and fled with Clara. The chat adored it, calling it “the rowdy pro wrestling you only saw in the early days.”
DoDa cackled beside them. Then, lowering her voice like a conglomerate chairman, she said to Berry,
“I like that kid. Let’s hire her this time.”
“DoDa, why are you like this again....”
Berry smacked DoDa on the back.
But the youngest didn’t flinch.
“Today, our Berry’s hand feels a little sharp, doesn’t it? What do you think, Yulhwa?”
“I believe the chairman is correct.”
Yulhwa bowed and played along. Despite his lanky height, he was making the sly, rubbing-his-palms-together gesture of a shameless sycophant. Berry, seeing that, looked thoroughly disgusted.
“What do you mean, my hand feels sharp...!”
The signature chemistry of the two groups.
Add to that the fresh combinations between members from different sides.
The chat was once again flooded with laughing emotes.
With so many people gathered, every kind of skit and random nonsense was flying around.
“Hah, I think DoDa needs to sing a song here. Danhui, why don’t you come over and sing with me?”
“It would be an honor, Chairman.”
“And this Yu section manager will join as well.”
“May I join too, Executive Director Clara?”
“Today is really a day to riff freely....”
Whenever one corner of the room settled down, some other corner would erupt with ridiculous nonsense, warming the place all over again.
It was chaos, pure and simple.
“Berry-nim, what does Berryli mean?”
“Berry is too short, so Berryli.... If you say it longer, it becomes Berryliririri~. Isn’t it cute?”
“Ah. I, I see.”
“No, really, why did Oiram-nim ask that only to look disgusted right after?”
“Well, I’ve been so worn out by unnies with flower-filled brains.”
“Then does that mean Berry is cute like a flower?”
“....”
In the middle of all that confusion, Aki stepped forward with a bright smile.
“Everyone~! Are you enjoying today’s songs? Now that the mood is really warming up, I’m going to play a fun game with all of you!”
Everyone who had been tossing out jokes all at once immediately focused on Aki-chan.
“A fun game?”
“Actually! The game we prepared today is...!”
Thud—!
“Place guessing—!”
“Place, guessing?”
“Yes! From now on, I’ll show you a photo, and you have to guess the location right away! And if you guess the place’s name...!”
“If we guess it...?”
...
Aki whispered quietly.
“What do you think will happen...?It has something to do with the songs we sang today!”
...
...
...
The RD members exchanged looks.
How are we supposed to know that?
The game began in an awkward silence.
But as the Romantic Drive members played along, they had no choice but to be stunned as the game went on.
“Here! Sinchon Station!”
“Ding ding ding! Correct—!”
Aki-chan waved her hand.
“Broadcast camera~! Please connect—!”
Then Sinchon Station appeared on screen.
It was a drone camera feed hovering above the station, showing the steady stream of people passing below in minute detail.
And every single display board there flashed all at once.
-?
-???
-What is it?
-What’s starting?
-???
Aki-chan shouted,
“From now on—! At the location you guessed correctly, the cover MV for the song we sang will start playing—! It’ll be played periodically for one day after the broadcast, so if you live nearby, please come take a look!”
-What?
Just like that, every display board around Sinchon Station lit up, and ABCD’s cover song MVs began playing. Passersby stopped dead as the music videos suddenly appeared across the subway interior.
Yellow.
Blue.
Vermilion.
Pink.
The subway shimmered in a riot of colors.
And there, ABCD’s cover songs played on repeat.
Only then did the viewers realize what was happening.
-No way lmao
-What is this lol
-Whoa, they rented the whole subway’s display boards?
-Oh my god....
The program itself was, in truth, a kind of performance built to unveil the cover-song MVs.
And so....
Four quiz rounds were held in total.
And the MVs were screened simultaneously at four subway stations.
Calling it cover-song promotion almost undersold how extravagant the whole thing was.
*
Jeong Yu-ri watched the broadcast from inside the strategy office.
They had rented out the entire subway display network to air cover-song MVs that weren’t even tied to direct revenue. And they had pulled it off with only a few days of preparation. Even if they had reused existing assets, it was still insane.
An event from which no one could receive a direct payout.
It felt like they were mocking people like Jeong Yu-ri.
...
-We’ve never met them inside the company.
-They ran the meetings on their own too....
-Decision-making authority? They just decided everything among themselves.
Uncontrollable.
A player outside the rules.
Those were the only words that could define Bigman.
Right to the very end,
he answered with nothing but his money.
...
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