Radio Appearance (Five Girls)
◈ Radio Appearance (Five Girls) ◈
November 10th, a Friday.
Once again, Young-hoon was the first to arrive at the office.
He pulled out his work notebook and ran through the day's schedule. Today was the day of the nationwide marketing team leaders' meeting in Busan — which meant, in practice, an unofficial day off. Thanks to the phone incident, though, a proper rest seemed out of the question. With no one able to predict how events would unfold, he figured it was wise to prepare in advance as much as possible.
Still, the thought of an unofficial holiday did put a spring in his step, he had to admit.
Today's outside engagement was a radio appearance on Pleasant 2 PM, with Five Girls guesting on the show. It would be their first broadcast in years, so the girls were bound to be nervous. But then again, these girls had been eating showbiz rice for the better part of a decade — surely they could handle this much. He decided not to worry too much. A quick courtesy call to PD Lee Hyo-young and PD Jang Won-seok wouldn't hurt, either.
He'd also promised the girls dinner tonight. With the maknae Su-min carrying on about meat, he'd have to dig deep and treat them to beef. These days he was pulling in over fifty million won a day, so beef was hardly a problem. If anything, considering the revenue Five Girls would be bringing in going forward, he probably owed them something even better.
Young-hoon headed to the break room, brewed himself a cup of coffee, and stirred in a pinch of Magic Seasoning. Truly, nothing beat coffee with Magic Seasoning.
Just then, a message arrived. It was President Lee Jae-man — apparently he'd heard the commotion in the background during yesterday's call.
While Young-hoon was trading messages with President Lee Jae-man, the employees trickled into the office one by one. True to its unofficial-holiday status, everyone wore a relaxed expression, and a few were even late. Assistant Manager Park was among today's latecomers — watching him shuffle into the office, you'd have thought a zombie was crawling in. He must have kept pouring drinks down his throat even after storming off from Deputy Hong yesterday.
Assistant Manager Hwang from Team 2 was also late, and he looked nearly identical to Park.
"Looks like you got pretty hammered yesterday. Why even bother coming in? You should've rested at home."
"Ugh, don't even get me started. I drank so much I couldn't make it home. Slept around here somewhere with Hwang. Come grab a coffee with me — I need something to bring me back to life."
"I've already had mine… but well, if a classmate insists, one more wouldn't hurt."
By the time Young-hoon and Park reached the break room, it was already packed — plenty of people must have been dragged into drinking yesterday as well. Left with no choice, they brewed their coffees and headed back to the office. In Team 3, only Manager Kim was at his desk; even Lee Ji-young seemed to have run off somewhere to enjoy herself. That was Manager Kim for you — a total by-the-book man. People like him were the ones who deserved to climb the ladder, yet the world never took a shine to rule-followers. Worse, they were the easiest kind of people to exploit. To survive in a jungle of a world, one had no choice but to compromise with it; those who trudged silently along their own path were quietly weeded out before they knew it. That was why someone like Manager Kim, no matter how high he climbed, would cap out at department head. Executives who rose from ranks of FM men were rarer than hens' teeth — barely two or three in a hundred.
"Manager Kim, what are you up to today?"
"I'm meeting President Jung of Seoul Distribution at one. We're going somewhere together."
"So no hanging out with us again today, huh?"
"Tell me about it. Why the man insists on meeting on a holiday of all days, I'll never know."
"Well then, we'll have our fun without you — you go bust your ass working."
"You animal. What a thing to say."
While he was exchanging banter with Assistant Manager Park, group messages started flooding in from the Five Girls members. Apparently President Jae-man had let them know he'd be stopping by the station. Young-hoon was in the middle of his KakaoTalk session with the girls when a call came in from Director Park, whom he'd met just yesterday.
"Mr. Young-hoon, I must apologize for yesterday — and thank you. You helped me find the man I thought I'd lost."
"Not at all. Did it work, by any chance?"
"Of course it did. I feel like I can finally live like a man who's respected again. Heh heh. The money should be hitting your account shortly."
"Thank you, Director."
"Well, you must be busy. Get to work."
"Yes, take care."
Somehow he felt a twinge of guilt toward Assistant Manager Park. Should he consider this a side effect of the Elixir?
Come to think of it, Young-hoon took the opportunity to call PD Jang Won-seok. Since Five Girls was appearing on the radio today, basic courtesy demanded at least one call beforehand to wish things well.
"Well, if it isn't who I think it is — the great Great Stone Face himself!"
"Hello, PD Jang. Our girls are on your show today, so I thought I'd call and ask you to take good care of them."
"Haha, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. If anything, I'm bracing for our internet servers to crash today — we're already preparing for it."
"Surely it won't come to that?"
"I'm telling you, it's no joke. The fans' reaction is anything but ordinary. We've run a few teaser promos already, and every single time, the number of people flooding our site shot through the roof. Today the internet might well explode."
"I certainly hope you're right. It would be proof of just how much love our girls are receiving. Actually, I was thinking of stopping by to watch — would that be all right?"
"If Great Stone Face is coming, you're welcome any time. Although — while you're at it, might I ask you to appear on the radio as well?"
"No! I'm no celebrity, and more importantly, I've got a genuine phobia of being on air."
"Aw, come on, just one appearance. If you made a surprise cameo while Five Girls is on, it would create such a delightful moment, wouldn't it?"
"Absolutely not, and that's final."
"Ha, well, we can negotiate that later. For now, just come to the radio station. Have lunch with me — I'll invite my senior Lee along, too."
"Lunch only, then. I just need to be at the station by twelve, right?"
"Yes. Give me a call when you arrive downstairs, and I'll come down with Senior Lee."
"Got it. I'll call when I get there."
By the time Young-hoon finished his call with PD Jang Won-seok, Manager Kim and Assistant Manager Park had already headed out to play, nowhere to be seen. Thanks to that, Young-hoon could get ready to go out without watching anyone's back, and set off for MBS in Sangam-dong.
About five minutes after he called, PD Lee Hyo-young and PD Jang Won-seok came down to the lobby. The three of them had a light lunch of hwaejangguk — a hearty dried-cod hangover soup — at a nearby restaurant, then moved on to a coffee shop.
PD Lee Hyo-young spoke first.
"As I mentioned over lunch, I wholeheartedly agree with PD Jang. There's a bounty out on Great Stone Face on the internet right now. Word is they're offering a hundred thousand won to anyone who provides the decisive tip on his identity."
"Isn't a hundred thousand won a bit stingy?"
"I think it's just for fun. That's not really what matters anyway. Regardless, tips are pouring in by the dozens, and so far every last one is a dud."
PD Jang Won-seok, sitting beside them, chimed in.
"That's what I've been saying! Five Girls may be riding high these days, but Great Stone Face's popularity is no joke either. If appearing in the radio booth in person feels like too much, what about a phone hookup? Wouldn't that be easier on your nerves, Mr. Kim?"
Truthfully, Young-hoon didn't find the proposal bad at all. A phone call was definitely less daunting than a full on-air appearance — and besides, he found himself curious to hear how his own voice would sound on the radio.
"Then what would I have to do?"
Young-hoon, finally surrendering to temptation, asked cautiously. At the same moment, color began to bloom across PD Jang Won-seok's face. The first-ever broadcast appearance of Five Girls — the hottest act in the country — was on his radio program, and if Great Stone Face appeared on top of that, a ratings bonanza was as good as guaranteed. Once this broadcast aired, praise from the radio station director was a certainty. He had to slam the seal down before Young-hoon changed his mind.
"For now, tell the Five Girls members you're too busy to come today, and wait in the guests' greenroom. We'll connect the phone call at around 2:50."
And so Young-hoon called President Lee Jae-man to say something urgent had come up and he couldn't make it to the station after all, then settled into the guests' greenroom that PD Jang had arranged for him to wait.
Left all alone, Young-hoon amused himself by searching for Great Stone Face on his phone. Sure enough, there was an article confirming that a hundred thousand won bounty was being offered to whoever gave the decisive tip on his identity. Two or three dozen people actually knew who he really was, but the bounty was apparently too small to bother turning him in.
With anticipation and nerves crossing wires inside him, Young-hoon did his best to calm his fluttering heart. He was dying to know what results his broadcast debut would actually bring.
Time slipped away, and before he knew it, two o'clock had come and gone.
In the greenroom, President Lee Jae-man was soothing the Five Girls members, who were trembling with nerves, doing what he could to loosen them up.
"Come on, girls. We may be a mid-tier girl group in our seventh year since debut, but getting this worked up already? It's a radio show — nothing but voices. Just relax. Nail this, and the TV appearances will come rolling in one after another."
"Still, we can't help being nervous."
When the maknae Su-min spoke up, wound far tighter than usual, President Jae-man gently patted her and offered his reassurance.
"Girls, think back to where we stood just a month and a half ago. Weren't you desperate? Compared to that, a pipsqueak radio show like this is nothing, isn't it?"
"That's right, President. That's exactly why we have to make a lasting impression this time."
Hye-in, the group's eldest, added her own encouragement.
"Joo-yeon, Ha-yeon, Ga-eun, Su-min. I know you're all nervous, but let's treat this like it's our last shot and give it everything we've got. It's not as if we've never been on TV or radio before, have we? And did we ever mess up back then? No — honestly, even a mistake would've at least gotten us some attention."
Mid-sentence, Hye-in's voice caught briefly, as if seven years of hardship had come flooding back. The other members' faces flushed with emotion too.
"All right, this time we show them every ounce of our charm. No regrets — got it? Come on, let's do this!"
"Yes, unnie."
"We will, unnie. Girls, let's cause a scene out there today."
"Yeah!"
As if to trample the humiliations of the past and soar anew, Five Girls' resolve set the greenroom ablaze.
Meanwhile, Young-hoon was listening to Pleasant 2 PM on the radio from the greenroom. Around 2:30, when Five Girls' voices began flowing out of the broadcast, he felt a warmth of fondness he couldn't quite suppress. That's it, girls. This is just the beginning. Do a great show, and let's make it big together.
After a short stretch of banter and personal chitchat with the MCs, a live performance of After Farewell followed. Young-hoon felt his emotions stir anew. The song was his own gift, yes, but hearing it through Five Girls' distinctive, beautiful voices made it pierce his heart all the more deeply.
And yet — the song ended, and for a long moment, not a word came from the radio MCs.
Huh? What is this? Is this a broadcast accident? Why is everyone silent? This show cannot fail…
Young-hoon panicked, at a complete loss. This was Five Girls' monumental comeback broadcast — if something went wrong here, it would reflect badly on everyone, and the worry gnawed at him.
A short while later, the radio MCs seemed to finally come to their senses and resumed the show, but there was no denying it: the broadcast had dead-air for a good ten seconds. This was, unmistakably, a broadcast accident. The female MC delivered her lines in a faintly flushed voice, apologizing and asking for the audience's understanding — the internet servers had gone down. On top of that, she made the unprecedented announcement that text-message requests were flooding in beyond control and asked listeners to please hold back. It was, quite literally, a crisis without precedent. Only then did the male MC seem to claw his way out of his daze of emotion, insisting that in all his years he'd never seen anything like it as he showered the performance with excited praise. He fussed over how he wanted to buy the song already, even though the digital release hadn't even happened yet.
Despite the sudden on-air mishap, Five Girls handled it with perfect composure. Having steeled themselves back in the greenroom, there wasn't even room left for panic. Hye-in, rock-steady, flawlessly promoted the upcoming MBS drama Love After Separation exactly as scripted, and the other members each showed off their own talents in full.
Amid the feverish response from listeners, Five Girls' radio appearance drew steadily toward its close. When they performed A Loving Heart live as their final song, the station's servers convulsed once again.
Just as it seemed Five Girls' segment had come to an end, the male MC suddenly threw out a line that wasn't in the script: a phone call with a listener. The unplanned turn left the Five Girls members more than a little flustered. At last the call connected, and the male MC spoke.
"Hello, there. This is Choi Won-gyu, host of MBS Radio's Pleasant 2 PM. May I ask your name, and where you're calling from?"
"Good afternoon. I am Great Stone Face — the man with a hundred thousand won on his head."