When I Opened My Eyes I Was a Superstar

Chapter 105: A Song You Sing Alone (1)

The person who passed by Do Wook was none other than PD Um Woo Suk.

PD Um Woo Suk became KVS’s poster Entertainment Show PD with the entertainment program he started a year or so ago, < Camping 48 Hours >.

‘Camping 48 Hours’ was a program where 5 contestants went off to all over the country and camped for 48 hours.

The basic format was similar to previous entertainment or cultural programs, but by having diversity in things like the episodes and games that took place beyond camping, it became popular with the public after only a few months.

Other than one MC who was called the MC of the Nation, they had all unknown singers or comedians without much of a name for themselves as candidates. A big part of the fresh entertainment they brought was due to the candidates straining their bodies.

Contestants of ‘Camping 48 Hours’ went into icy valleys in the dead of winter, or slept outdoors huddled up in one sleeping bag, etc. Seeing them put their bodies through that made viewers think, “Amazing!”

Additionally, seeing a person, determined by among other things drawing lots, for example eat a gimbap full of wasabi as a penalty made for simple and basic fun.

There was even a separate “Camping 48 Hours” penalty game. Many people played the games and penalties from “Camping 48 Hours” during things like a college trip or a drinking party.

The scenes that had familiar travel destinations as the background were friendly yet comical. ‘Camping 48 Hours’ was responsible for KVS’s Sunday entertainment, bringing viewers of various ages together to watch TV.

Ratings for ‘Camping 48 Hours’ skyrocketed day after day and were currently at 28-30%.

‘Are their ratings currently at least 30%…?’

Do Wook thought as he watched PD Um Woo Suk, who was on the phone, getting further away.

When he looked it up on his cell phone, the highest rating they had last month was 31%.

However, if there’s something going up, there is also something going down.

As they passed the one year mark, the opinion that ‘Camping 48 Hours’ also had to change started to emerge due to decreasing ratings.

‘They probably need a new approach about now.’

The ‘Camping 48 Hours’ broadcast writers were struggling to come up with new games every day and find a slightly better site to film.

They also tried to get away from the formula of ‘camping site introduction – camping (game and punishment) – cooking your own meal’ that was repeated every time.

However, as long as they could not completely escape from the basic framework, there was a limit to their ideas.

PD Um Woo Suk, who was gathering people’s opinions, started to think that ‘Camping 48 Hours’ might need to introduce a new character.

At the same time, the director of the entertainment bureau also called in PD Um Woo Suk to suggest the possibility of putting in a new person. However, the ‘new person’ the director of the entertainment bureau was thinking of and the one PD Um Woo Suk was thinking of were completely different.

The average age of the candidates in “Camping 48 Hours” was 42.

There is the MC of the Nation who was in his early 50s, two comedians in their 40s, and two singers in their late 30s.

They had been doing well so far with the MC of the Nation Kang Chun Ho and the other unknown people to the point that they had become famous entertainers, but the director of the entertainment bureau now felt it would be better to add another famous person besides Kang Chun Ho.

The person the director of the entertainment bureau was thinking of was an official KVS comedian. Currently, he appeared in various KVS entertainment shows flaunting his gift of gab.

However, PD Um Woo Suk had a different opinion.

Of course, if the comedian that the director of the entertainment bureau was recommending, Jo Gap Sung, came on he would be able to quickly adapt to ‘Camping 48 Hours’ and revitalize the program to some extent with witty remarks as he’d done on other programs.

Since the main viewers of ‘Camping 48 Hours’ were in their 30s and 40s, not in their 20s and 30s, Jo Gap Sung, a comedian whom people of that age liked, would be a very safe choice.

However, PD Um Woo Suk felt that that path was too safe. A path that’s too safe easily becomes boring.

In PD Um Woo Suk’s opinion, the reason ‘Camping 48 Hours’ wasn’t as fun these days was because there were less times where candidates jumped into risky things without hesitation like in the early days.

Rather than the cast becoming proud as they gained popularity, they seemed to be feeling the physical limitations as the program became a running battle since they were older to begin with.

On top of that, because the cast got used to the format of ‘Camping 48 Hours’ before the viewers did, they made similar reactions as before that fit their characters, making viewers feel as if the same situation was repeated.

That’s why rather than a well-known person, PD Um Woo Suk thought they needed ‘young blood’.

Of course he wanted someone energetic who wouldn’t shy away from risk, like contestants did in the early days, and had the stamina as well as someone who could build new relationships with the existing cast.

‘Who was the new person added…right, that rapper-turned-entertainer…’

When Do Wook opened the waiting room door and entered, the members were already awake and getting their makeup fixed.

Before he knew it, the time for the pre-recording was approaching.

“Do Wook, I’ll do your hair after I’m done with Ji Hoon! Just wait a little~!”

“Ok.”

Do Wook sat on the sofa behind the mirror. He continued his thought as he looked blankly at Suk Ji Hoon who was getting his makeup done.

After compromising with the director of the entertainment bureau, PD Um Woo Suk chose a person in his early 30s who was making a name for himself as a rapper-turned-entertainer as a new cast member.

Do Wook didn’t know all the details, but he at least knew that a rapper-turned-entertainer joined the cast.

‘That person drew in a lot of interest as a new addition…”

Do Wook slowly nodded his head.

However, before long the rapper-turned-entertainer became socially controversial and dropped out of ‘Camping 48 Hours’.

As a result, the vibe of the ‘Camping 48 Hours’ program became even more stagnant.

‘Although, PD Um Woo Suk still dealt with it well himself later.’

Do Wook thought about the programs that PD Um Woo Suk did afterwards.

Producer Um Woo Suk, who worked on ‘Camping 48 Hours’ until season 2, received fame later by making various programs in various formats successful.

Taking the time to sit down and analyze it, all those programs had some kind of rule.

When hiring the cast, you had to have at least one person from the old and one from the new generation.

‘I see. All the programs he did after ‘Camping 48 hours’ had a significant age difference among the contestants.’

One program even had a 60-year-old actor and an actor in their late 20s. It was a different choice of cast members from other entertainment shows.

This way, it was possible to appeal to various age groups at the same time while forming lots of relationships and scenes different from existing programs.

‘Seeing as he mentioned earlier on the phone that he wants young blood…‘Camping 48 Hours’ might also actually have wanted someone younger than that person.’

As a result, Do Wook’s analysis read PD Um Woo Suk’s thoughts accurately.

“Do Wook, are you sleeping with your eyes open?”

“Huh? Oh!”

Suk Ji Hoon, who was finished getting ready, asked and approached Do Wook. Do Wook barely snapped out of his thoughts and replied.

Suk Ji Hoon laughed at Do Wook acting spaced out, unlike his usual self. Do Wook, who was being laughed at by the youngest, scratched the back of his head.

“I’m done. She’s calling you.”

Do Wook only saw the coordinator in the back after Suk Ji Hoon said something. The coordinator plugged the dryer into the outlet and was waiting for Do Wook to sit down.

***

Soon after, the KK members, who were in the waiting room getting ready to perform at the local event hosted by the broadcasting station, heard from Manager Oh Baek Ho the initial numbers of the 3rd full-length album.

KK’s 3rd full-length album’s initial sales was 200k copies. It was indeed an immense record.

“Is this real?”

“Wow. Fans are amazing…”

The members, who heard the news of the 200k initial copies sold, were stunned.

The fan cafe almost had the vibe of a festival.

Before KK’s 3rd full-length album was released, the fans worked hard to beat Sa Bang Shin Hwa’s initial sales record starting from the pre-order.

Just as Do Wook’s goal was the grand prize, now KK’s fans’ goal was also the grand prize.

It’s the singer who wins the award, but what a singer needs to win is the power of the fans. That makes it possible for the singer to win. Also, when the singer wins the award, the fans are as happy as the singer.

Fans thought album sales were really important for KK, who was not from a large agency, to receive the grand prize.

Honestly, there was not much to worry about in the music ranking. Their popularity was already recognized and the ranking for every album KK released was good.

On top of that, this time, they received a much better ranking than their previous music ranking. The expression ‘piercing the roof’ was used in situations like this.

There was a lot of anticipation regarding KK. They dominated the music charts as soon as the sound file was released, and the song itself was actually good so they continued to maintain their number one spot.

After a week had passed, they had lost their first place to a ballad singer for about a day, but quickly regained their first place.

Therefore, fans focused on increasing album sales. They held their own events where one person bought multiple copies of the album.

The fandom size had almost doubled since the last album, so the album sales were enormous.

In addition, the biggest factor for the 200k initial sales was fans from China. The amount of album sales had changed due to the influx of Chinese fans from the recent marketing strategy of doing activities in China as well as using Chinese social media.

As expected of overseas. The number of albums Chinese fans purchased was astounding.

“I got a call from L Duty Free Shop recently that they want to make a proper advertisement contract.”

“Oh…”

“Wow!”

Ahn Hyung Seo and Kim Won cheered at what Manager Oh Baek Ho said.

There was a reason why KK members had been waiting for the L Duty Free Shop advertisement. If they ended up properly advertising with L Duty Free Shop, their faces would be hung in front of Incheon International Airport.

The KK members had been looking forward to seeing pictures of themselves on the wall of the huge airport.

KK’s popularity was now something nobody could deny.

Of course, M2M’s comeback was scheduled a month later, but it wasn’t as much of a concern as before. KK was definitely above M2M.

‘Sa Bang Shin Hwa’s fame is starting to crumble too…it’ll probably be KK who’ll succeed them as number one.’

Sa Bang Shin Hwa’s internal discord was gradually coming to the surface. Even those who denied the fact at first were coming around to the emerging discord.

The perfect performance that Sa Bang Shin Hwa used to demonstrate was also gradually crumbling due to lack of practice.

In such a situation, advertisers were not considering Sa Bang Shin Hwa as the first priority as they did before.

‘What needs to be done in the future is to capture Seo Kang Jun himself as well as Director Seo Joong Won’s Ara Entertainment…’

What Do Wook was currently thinking about was raising the recognizability of the individual KK members.

By doing so, he wanted KK to become a group that made its name known in more ways.

Manager Oh Baek Ho, who was checking the messages on his cell phone again after giving the members various news, asked after briefly staring at the screen,

“Oh, Do Wook…”

“Yes?”

Do Wook, who was reading handwritten letters from fans, answered.

“When did you meet with this person?”

Manager Oh Baek Ho held out the cell phone screen towards Do Wook.

—

Next chapter: We find out the identity of the man who asked Do Wook for a picture.