Idols Never Break! (3)
After hearing the specifics from the CEO, what struck me was that Venus hadn't exactly proposed some absurd, baseless campaign.
There were plenty of people willing to model underwear. There was no real reason to pay an idol that kind of money for it. No idol would agree to shoot that kind of ad in the first place.
What Venus had offered was noise marketing, pure and simple.
Something that would let an idol expose the product naturally while grabbing every eye in the room.
Exposure mid-performance.
"…That's supposed to count as advertising?"
Eunchae's eyebrows shot up in disbelief.
"That's not for us to decide. Even if the campaign flops, it won't be our fault."
"…I know that. I'm just genuinely curious. What the hell are those people thinking? Can that even air on broadcast?"
"It won't air. It can't."
Music Center ran on a five-minute delay. Music shows were hypersensitive about exposure; the second anything slipped, they'd cut the feed and switch cameras.
"Then what's the point of advertising at all?"
"It just won't make it onto the broadcast. But the station cameras aren't the only ones there that day."
"…Ah."
Fan clubs. SNS. YouTube. Everywhere.
They planned to put out notices and recruit every last one of them—the sasaengs with their cameras, the fancam shooters, the hardcore fans.
"Through fancams and stuff…"
"That side of things draws way more attention without anyone really noticing."
Enough views to matter, yet nothing officially sanctioned. They could always brush it off as an accident. The image damage would be far lighter than if Sepia openly fronted an underwear campaign.
"So that's how they want to advertise."
"…That's probably why they picked you as the model."
"I get it. Roughly. Why they're doing it this way."
It only came out later, but when Eunchae's underwear molka had spread, sales of the Venus lingerie she'd been wearing had quietly climbed. Venus wanted that same effect again.
"…Is it just me?"
"The stage exposure is for all of you."
"The other members don't know yet, right?"
"They don't."
"When are you going to tell them?"
"I'm not."
"What? Then the exposure—"
"Obviously we shoot it without them knowing."
"…Then that's a molka."
She wasn't wrong.
"…Why are you only telling me? Because of my trauma?"
"That's part of it…. But the clients want to meet you."
"What?"
Eunchae carefully unfolded the business card she'd crumpled. Two executives' names stared up at her.
Executive Director Bu Ra-jang.
Director Baek Pan-su.
"They say they still need approval from higher up. …It's a foreign company, after all. So they need profile shots as advertising samples."
"Profile shots?"
"Underwear photos, basically."
"Ah…"
Eunchae's face crumpled worse than the card in front of her. After that she went quiet for a long time.
…I knew this was a rotten thing to do.
I knew the "profile shoot" wouldn't stop at just photos. Whether Eunchae understood that far, I couldn't say. But for a girl with trauma around lingerie photos, even a simple shoot was already too much.
And still I was pressuring her to do it.
Same as with Harin—I knew it was a sin. But I couldn't stop anymore.
"Eunchae."
"Yes."
"Once word gets out that there's exposure in the fancams…. The views are going to explode."
"…What?"
She looked at me like I was insane.
"People will notice that Sepia was even on a music show. More people will give the song a listen. We'll get more screen time, even if it's just once."
"…I suppose so."
"We fought hard for this music show slot. I don't want it buried."
A music show appearance was massive promotion, but it didn't guarantee success. Just showing up wasn't enough to blow up. If the response was cold, there was no next time.
And if that happened… everything Harin had suffered to win us this chance would turn to smoke.
"I know it's hard. I know I've got no shame left. But… I'm asking you."
"……"
Eunchae said nothing after that. She ground her teeth, clenching and unclenching her fists over and over. Only after a long while did she speak, voice low.
"Manager."
"Yeah."
"You said I'm the only one shooting the profile, right?"
"That's right."
"…When?"
"Yes. We'll arrive in about ten minutes. Yes. Yes, yes. Straight to the studio room? Sixth floor. Understood. See you shortly."
The speakerphone call cut off. In the passenger seat, Eunchae let out a long, heavy sigh.
"Haa…. So we're really going."
"…If you're scared, we can turn around right now."
"Do I look that irresponsible to you?"
No. She didn't.
Just getting this far already told me how resolved she was.
Eunchae and I headed for a studio owned by Venus. For the profile shoot.
Put that way it sounded ordinary enough—but the photos Eunchae would take today were in lingerie. The official line was that they needed them as grounds for hiring the model. I knew full well that wasn't the whole story.
The two men on those business cards were the decision-makers. Once they'd named Eunchae, the model wasn't changing. So why call her in at all? That was because…
"This is it. Venus Central Building."
The navigation cut off at the same moment Eunchae spoke.
"Venus Central. Venus Central…"
For some reason she murmured the building's name two or three times.
We parked in the building garage and got out. Sunday evening—the lot was pitch dark. Only a side door in the corner was open, so we headed that way.
"This way, right?"
"Yeah."
"I absolutely have to see what kind of perverts these people are."
"…Please watch your mouth when we meet the clients."
I said it, but Eunchae always managed herself fine. The sharp tongue was reserved for me. The second she flipped into Idol Mode, she turned into the purest angel on earth. She wouldn't slip up with the clients either.
…Probably.
"Sixth floor, right?"
Eunchae pressed the elevator button herself. Weekend office building—empty and quiet. Only the hallway lights were on, and the walk over had a faintly eerie feel.
Ding.
We stepped out on the sixth floor. Light spilled from only one room at the far end of the corridor.
"…Manager."
"Yeah."
"I'm going into Idol Mode from here. Match me."
Eunchae swallowed hard and started toward the studio.
Click. Click.
The second she stepped inside, Idol Mode shut off.
"…Ugh."
She gagged, just loud enough for me to hear.
The big studio room looked like any other—white backdrop, focused lights, cameras of every kind set up, assorted props. One difference: in one corner, hundreds of women's lingerie pieces were brazenly on display.
That much I could accept—it was a lingerie company. But that wasn't why Eunchae had gagged.
"Heh-heh…. General Manager Jeon Hogu of Sepia? And…. Miss Lee Eunchae?"
"Kheh…. Thank you so much for coming all this way."
Two men were waiting in the studio.
I'd been given two business cards. So these had to be the men on them.
The moment she saw them, Eunchae's face went deathly pale.
"Heh-heh…. N-nice to meet you. I'm Bu Ra-jang, executive director at Venus."
Stick-thin body. Glasses. Buck teeth. A voice pitched high as a woman's. Messy stubble. A suit far too big for him.
"Kheh…. I'm Baek Pan-su, director at Venus."
A suit stretched to bursting over fat. One button already gone. A faint reek even from a distance. About a third of his hair already gone.
What they had in common: they were both hideously ugly middle-aged men.
The kind of image you got if a pair of total losers had rotted in a basement for thirty-five years and then crawled out.
…These people were executives?
At a women's lingerie company?
I wanted to tell anyone holding Venus stock to sell immediately.
Eunchae had been half-hiding behind me for a while now.
"Fuck. Filthy. Disgusting. What the hell is that."
She started spitting curses under her breath.
I understood completely.
But these were the clients who'd offered the campaign. And from this moment on, Eunchae was going to stand in front of them in lingerie and get photographed.
Plus the "business" on top of that…
……
Shit.
My pants started hurting again.