The Midnight Call

I had heard stories like this before. Noise marketing was a form of marketing, done on purpose sometimes.

But I had heard of companies doing noise marketing to promote their own entertainers, but never of the person themselves doing it directly.

'Would they really go this far?'

The desire to be noticed.

It wasn't like I couldn't understand that emotion, but seeing it exposed so blatantly with my own eyes...

'I should say it's a bit... too much.'

It wasn't about wanting to rise purely on talent, but the feeling of grabbing someone else's ankle and crawling up dirtily, wasn't it?

Do Won-woo, who met my eyes, narrowed his gaze and smiled as if to say 'why are you like this?'

'I knew he wasn't normal...'

Just from his actions so far, it seemed he might be a more dangerous opponent than expected.

Of course, I knew he was a dangerous opponent, but I thought he was the type who only schemed behind the scenes even if it was dirty work.

But now, instead of just plotting behind the scenes, he was boldly committing crazy acts right in front of people's eyes.

'This... I really got hit with a one-shot.'

I hadn't expected him to try such a brazen self-harm method.

I was careless. Exchanging numbers, calling at night, and using it on a variety show.

I didn't know from what point he had prepared this, but anyway, I had clearly underestimated this guy.

In the entertainment industry, image is as important as one's lifeline.

A rookie wouldn't use a self-noise marketing strategy by throwing away their image from the debut stage onward, unless their stomach was huge.

"Please love our debut song~"

After dropping the bomb, Hael waved hearts as if nothing had happened, smiling brightly.

With that chaotic atmosphere, the filming wrapped up.

After filming, in a state of total exhaustion, we left the studio.

The MC was rude too, but with Hael's bomb, our staff were stunned, and the other company's staff were quite angry, which was felt on the spot.

Besides the ominous atmosphere, Hael alone was excited and continued with crazy talk. Most of it were aggro episodes with one thing after another.

Even the MC, who had been asking provocative questions, ended up shutting his mouth on his own after Hael's outburst.

"Won-woo, that... was it really true what you said earlier? About calling at night."

Similarly exhausted-looking Kwon Hak-jin approached and asked cautiously.

From his face, Kwon Hak-jin seemed to have some idea too. This would be the aftershock seen after the broadcast.

"It's nothing special. Just, suddenly a call came at night as I heard, talked for a few minutes, and ended the call."

"...Really? I didn't know. At that time, he was probably sleeping."

"Yes, he was sleeping."

Calling a non-close person at night wasn't something to be said proudly in our country's culture.

But Hael was too proud, and everyone at the filming location knew that it would become a problem once the broadcast aired. Hael knew that too.

"Why did he do that?"

"Yeah."

"Just a bit worried."

While we were talking like that, we saw Hael being almost dragged away by his manager from afar.

A manager who looked extremely pissed off. Still, Hael was smiling even while being dragged, as if enjoying something.

'He's not in his right mind.'

How much does he want to stand out?

Even doing self-harm like that. Was he really okay?

It was strange. Unless in an extremely desperate situation, was there any reason to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sacrifice his own image like that?

Even if it leaked a little, it might be okay long-term.

'Well, it's not my business...'

Anyway, even if this aired, it wouldn't hit me much.

It was just unpleasant. The fact that I had been used for that noise marketing. And the future where I would be dragged into controversy against my will naturally appeared.

'No matter how much you want to rise, isn't it wrong to grab someone's ankle to climb up?'

But saying that wouldn't be believed.

A human who doesn't care about methods and even scratches their own image while climbing wouldn't care about grabbing someone's ankle.

'...I was careless. I shouldn't have even received the call in the first place.'

I realized.

One must not give any excuse to people like that, no matter what.

'I should change the number as soon as I get home.'

"It's okay."

I forced myself to say it's okay to Kwon Hak-jin and moved on.

Time passed since then, and the talk show filmed that day aired.

Even though I thought it might be edited, the problematic scenes weren't edited.

'They must have asked Lumen Entertainment to edit it, but they aired it as is...'

That made sense. The production team wouldn't miss this good aggro.

After all, Hael had blatantly tried noise marketing, so the talk itself had a lot of aggro.

Moreover, a small agency. There was no way they had the power to interfere with editing rights in a desperate situation like a broadcast appearance.

[So, because I was too happy, on the day I exchanged phone numbers, I called for the first time at midnight.]

At the moment the problematic scene aired, reaction cuts of the flustered MCs with exaggerated subtitles came in.

[It's midnight, right?]

[You called at night?]

And the result was obvious.

After the broadcast, Hael's statements started spreading across the community.

The broadcast video was captured in real-time and uploaded to a large community bulletin board. And as expected, the reactions were explosive.

But this too was going according to Hael's intention. What he intended was exactly this: to naturally promote the group as noise marketing while linking with us during the survival show's peak buzz period.

He was willing to throw away his image from the debut stage onward and still do this.

'Actually, it's not a big crime, just a bit of a blunder. It probably won't be a big deal once it airs and we continue activities.'

Putting it in the so-called blunder category, it wasn't dangerous enough from Hael's perspective, so it was a game worth playing.

But the hate comments were harsher than expected. As always, the attitude of 'you messed up, so I'll cover it and beat you' was clear.

'Soon a sympathy wave might form. He's young, a rookie...'

While thinking that, the atmosphere suddenly changed.

"Hael just went live?"

As soon as that comment appeared, the real-time comments stopped flowing.

Everyone seemed to have gone to watch the live.

'What the...?'

Out of curiosity, I picked up my phone to check the live.

Even though I was already being dragged into the mess with you, he wouldn't mention me again, right?

This was enough. If I crossed the line here, it wouldn't be noise marketing anymore, just plain noise.

'As long as he's not stupid, he probably won't cross the line here.'

So the only kind of live Hael could do was this.

To calm the current public opinion, using his position as a rookie to evoke sympathy.

[Everyone...]

When I connected to Onpick, I saw Hael from Innos' channel ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠going live.

[I'm sorry...]

As expected, my guess was right.

'As expected, he's going with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the sympathy-evoking strategy.'

In the screen, Hael looked like he was about to cry, teary-eyed.

'Acting.'

He couldn't have expected this chaos to happen and still done it knowingly.

Yet the acting of pretending to be shocked, drowning in sadness and guilt, felt disgusting.

'Ha...'

Meanwhile, even at this late hour, his makeup was perfectly done, which caught my eye. As ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if he was conscious that this live would be watched closely.

It was amazing in another sense. So this live was also a form of marketing, which is why he turned it on.

A rookie turning on a live without permission from the company? I didn't know, but I decided to keep watching.

[I'm really sorry. I know all about the controversy right now, and watching the broadcast again made me realize how immature my appearance was. I'm so sorry.]

Hael apologized repeatedly.

The sympathy-evoking strategy after the noise marketing. He really had one good head on his shoulders.

[To make a non-apology, after debuting, seeing so many hate comments made my emotions fluctuate a lot and my judgment blurry. Just because I was too happy to receive a number from the person I like, I kept looking at my phone book and accidentally pressed the call button... I should have hung up immediately, but since you picked up, in my excitement I continued the call...]

A sigh escaped me.

'This would definitely flip the atmosphere.'

While teary-eyed, he even stuttered to look more innocent.

It was acting that even an actor would have done well.