The Road to Glory

Even before the gradual rise of the tracksuit brand Custom Stella, Roh Haeil was already gaining attention from companies.Before Roh Haeil debuted with the mini album ‘Another Life’.Yes, he started catching people’s eyes from the final episode of the drama OST ‘From Today On’.At the time when he led the drama’s ending with Heetae’s reprise, giving viewers emotion and excitement, not only did Lee Jeongmin (who played Heetae), an unknown actor at the time, rise as a blue chip in the advertising world, but Roh Haeil also received offers.It wasn’t just requests for drama and movie OSTs, but there were quite a variety of brands including events in various regions. One school uniform brand that recruited actor Lee Jeongmin as a model even requested Roh Haeil to rework Heetae’s theme song reprise.Of course, that was it. Just a few requests from companies that liked the drama OST.He didn’t receive as much attention as actor Lee Jeongmin.After all, the main characters of the drama were the actors.But at that time, Roh Haeil entered the charts dominated by HALO, putting his debut album ‘Another Life’ in the top ten. As he proved not only his singing ability but also his songwriting skills, requests for Roh Haeil instantly increased fivefold.Additionally, when he appeared on the terrestrial <2030 Sing Festival – Rendezvous>, it multiplied exponentially from there. Roh Haeil, the star of the music festival with the highest viewership rating of 25%, was enough to emerge as a blue chip in the advertising world.At the young age of 17.Talent enough to be called a genius.Number one on music charts.In fact, more than these things, what the advertising industry noticed was that they felt the boy standing on stage was receiving the spotlight at the center of the world for a moment.That was star quality.Despite having looks that were considered average in the entertainment industry full of handsome men and beautiful women, the fact that he brought the presence of stars standing next to him could only be attributed to star quality.From after the music festival, Roh Haeil could have raked in money if he had wanted to. If he just focused on filming commercials for a year and didn’t cause any trouble during that time, he wouldn’t have to worry about money for the rest of his life.However, Roh Haeil chooses to do music activities instead of commercials.Honestly, the advertising industry viewed this as strange or peculiar.There are celebrities who don’t prefer filming commercials, but there are no celebrities who don’t film any at all.Celebrities are also clearly businesses.The primary purpose of a business is to create value.Not accepting commercials, which can be said to be the biggest means of generating revenue among them, was not fulfilling one’s responsibility as a business.Some thought it was because he was young.Some thought it was cool that he was focusing on his main job, and some thought Roh Haeil was deliberately doing this to create a pure and genius image.There were also those who said it was to raise his price, but well. This opinion couldn’t be agreed with because for the price to go up, Roh Haeil had to show more activity right away.Roh Haeil did show that activity later by releasing singles and full albums, but until then, no one expected greater activity from Roh Haeil.As a result. Roh Haeil shows even greater activity that no one expected by plastering the upper ranks of the music charts again with his full album. Companies wanted Roh Haeil’s value but didn’t have high expectations.Given his current behavior, it seemed Roh Haeil wouldn’t film commercials right away.Suddenly, on a day in August, a guerrilla concert in Hongdae.All perceptions changed when Roh Haeil wore a sponsored tracksuit there.“Contact Roh Haeil for recruitment again.”Companies thought Roh Haeil had finally opened his eyes to advertising.Custom Stella even certified Roh Haeil’s advertising effect. Currently, Custom Stella was the hottest thing on social media.From food companies like chicken, pizza, and beverages to luxury CFs like cosmetics, mobile communications, and movie theaters, they were interested in Roh Haeil. Even the advertising agency of a Korean car brand showed interest, but-.“How about Roh Haeil as a model? His young, genius image is appropriate for targeting people in their 20s and 30s for this new release-.”“Sir, everything else is fine, and I like Roh Haeil’s songs too, but Haeil doesn’t have a license…”“!”“If Roh Haeil films our commercial, it becomes a public service announcement instead of a car commercial.”“A public service announcement about driving without a license… It would get a lot of views.”Regrettably, they gave up.While such familiar brands were considering Roh Haeil as a model, there was also a somewhat unexpected brand.A long history.Because of that, a brand with an old image in the Asian market. It was Arbor, which comes to mind with the ‘dry tree’ logo.Although they have diverse customer bases in Europe and English-speaking countries, they were strangely focused on middle-aged customers in Asia. This was despite their latest fashion collections paying quite a bit of attention to the youth.To rebrand with a young and innovative image, they were having aggressive marketing discussions.If it’s aggressive marketing, it naturally means celebrity marketing. Among them, they were looking for an ambassador who would grow together with them in the future.“Jin Xiang isn’t really a young image, honestly. He just pursued youthfulness. What we’re looking for is a young image that appeals to the youth as well.”“No, what does actual age matter? Is Jin Xiang thousands of years old?”Unless a publicity ambassador who fits well with Arbor’s color and philosophy suddenly appears, this heated debate seemed likely to continue for a long time.“What do you think is our brand’s philosophy?”At that moment. A designer attending the meeting suddenly asked.“Of course-.”The marketing manager who had mentioned the name ‘Jin Xiang’ added.“It’s ‘growth’. The process of Arbor (tree) blooming and bearing fruit from a seed. Aren’t we looking for the key that will be the foundation of Arbor and the nourishment for growth?”“Someone who said growth is important brought an old actor whose growth is finished?”Another marketing manager who opposed ‘Jin Xiang’ exclaimed.“And isn’t freedom just as important a value of our brand as growth? We need to find a ‘bird’ that will not only grow, but also allow our seeds to grow all over the world.”Arbor had great value built up over a long history.The healing power to warmly embrace the world and the uniqueness that’s one of a kind in the world. The freedom to reach the ends of the earth and infinite growth potential. The will to transcend, believing that one day they would look at the world from the highest place, was latent in Arbor.“How about this friend?”The designer, who had been flipping through the profiles brought by the marketing managers, tapped on a certain profile.“Ah, that guy. We tried to offer him sponsorships a few times, but he showed no interest in communicating at all.”They added to the photo of a boy with silver hair that suited him well.He was a young star making a name for himself in Korea. A star with such prominent growth potential that not only Korean but also Asian marketers were interested.“No interest in communicating?”“He’s a guy who has never responded to a single recruitment attempt.”The designer tilted his head and scrolled down the profile.There was an attached file at the fingertip.The most recent guerrilla concert he held.Roh Haeil was smiling brightly at the audience wearing Custom Stella’s tracksuit.The next file was a teaser for the small theater concert ticket sales.Is this a guy with no interest in communicating?“For a guy who loves the stage this much, how can he dislike communication.”Even without playing the video, you could see his love for the stage. Disliking communication? No way. The designer raised the corners of his mouth.“He probably just dislikes the current method.”At the words pointing out the old-fashioned and formal emails, the marketing manager’s face hardened.“Why should we beg for a meeting with a seventeen-year-old kid when we have nothing to lose?”Office workers who usually only look at graphs don’t understand artists at all. The designer smiled gently.“The only one who hasn’t entered any advertisement yet.”“Special talent.”“Freedom in pursuing music.”“Potential with no visible end to growth.”After listing these four things, the designer shrugged.“Is there a friend who fits our philosophy better than this kid? Plus, it would shatter the image of being behind the times.”“We definitely won’t hear that we’re old-fashioned anymore.”One person quietly agreed.“No, he’s a seventeen-year-old kid. You never know when he might cause trouble. How many have we heard called geniuses only to be gradually forgotten?”“Is that any different for a twenty-seven-year-old?”“The risk…”“Isn’t a kid who might cause trouble in the future better than an adult who might have caused trouble somewhere sometime? At least we can prevent that.”The designer seemed to really like the boy.Another person cautiously joined the meeting.“How about someone of a similar age group with high recognition in Asia?”Roh Haeil wasn’t well known overseas yet, except in Korea. Even if he would become known someday, right now there were better alternatives.“I like Nike advertisements.”“Excuse me?”At the designer’s sudden remark, the marketing managers frowned, and the one closest to him showed confusion.“Nike uses star marketing, but they don’t only do star marketing. They set a theme for the advertisement and bring in suitable subjects. And then they turn that subject into a star. Can’t we do that?”“…”“And in my view, this friend seems like he’ll become popular soon.”Well, this wasn’t because he had great knowledge about music.He didn’t know which music was superior. He just thought the music he liked was well-made. He couldn’t analyze like an expert whether it was truly well-made or not.But he had other knowledge. He had a designer’s eye and intuition.“With today’s technology, you can change faces, but you can’t change the atmosphere. I like this friend’s atmosphere. And in my experience, friends with such special atmospheres are usually one of two things. Either they run to the end of being minor-.”The designer grinned and pointed upwards with his finger.“Or they hit the peak.”This was him speaking as a designer. He liked the atmosphere of this young star. It was an atmosphere that stimulated his inspiration and spirit of challenge.“Let’s end the meeting here.”As the designer stood up from his seat, the marketing managers also stood up. Because he wasn’t just any designer.Per Aspera, the man recently appointed as Arbor’s creative designer.Whether he, who had been a rookie designer, was suitable as CD. There was a lot of talk about his qualifications both inside and outside the company. But for now, he couldn’t be ignored.“That guy, that guy. He won’t last long anyway.”“Why did they let a designer into a marketing meeting?”“Do we have to lower ourselves to a Korean kid?”The marketing managers grumbled while washing their hands in the bathroom.“It’s already been decided, so what can we do? If you really didn’t like it, you should have said so earlier.”“It’s not that Roh Haeil isn’t suitable.”“Well then. From now on, we just need to work hard.”Colleagues patted their shoulders as they passed by.The Korean and Japanese marketing manager sighed deeply, wondering how to approach Roh Haeil.#And here.Under the same sky on a different day. A woman sighed deeply.“Please, God… In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Namu Amitabul, Maha Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra”What’s important about meals, drinking parties, or part-time jobs?At a very easy-to-remember time, eight o’clock in the evening.With thirty minutes left until then. She was waiting for a singer’s ticket sales with her hands clasped together.How nice it would have been if the ticket sales had opened when office workers were rushing to work. Or add two zeros to the ticket price (88,000 won). Wouldn’t that have eliminated some competitors?She looked at the calendar, thinking they should all die together.Her singer was so considerate that he opened ticket sales at the same date and time to prevent scalping.“There won’t be any scalping anyway since it’s only 830 seats, hahaha.”Then she looked around. Everyone sitting in this PC room looked like a competitor. Though that’s unlikely. How many PC rooms are there in the world?But it’s true that the PC room was unusually full. She had a hard time finding an empty seat too.She nervously bit her nails.It was scarier than the notoriously tight course registration at Yeonkuk University.She had taken cheongsimhwan, but her heart wouldn’t calm down.As time quickly ran out, she looked at the day of the week before it got too tight.Let’s think.Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday – which day would have the lowest competition? First, it wouldn’t be Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.Monday when Monday blues hit?Tuesday for dieting?Somewhat awkward Wednesday?Thursday when meetings were scheduled?“Use your brain. Everyone will be thinking this.”Some people might choose based on their own schedule, but others might consider which day would have the least competition.“Which day would be best?”In fact, it’s all gacha.Even 8,300 seats would be gacha, but 830 seats were no different from a true k-game random box.“Right, they say everything has a price.”The female college student muttered resolutely.Thursday. Let’s sacrifice the blind date with the handsome guy.“I beg you, I’ll sacrifice my love life as an offering. I’ll live as a single for two years, no, five years, so please just let me succeed in getting tickets…”The standard clock in the green window on one side turned red. The college student unknowingly held her breath and clicked the mouse.Loading screen.It’s still okay, wait.Only an idiot would refresh here.The college student waited calmly, and when the seats appeared, she chose a vaguely middle spot and pressed next.Please, not a restricted view seat.So focused on her own screen, the college student didn’t realize that the PC room had become unusually quiet.When the payment window popped up, the college student calmed her excited heart. Calm down, it’s not over yet. There was nothing good about making a fuss.Another brief loading occurs.The screen she finally faced-.“Huh?!”The college student’s eyes gradually widened and then suddenly contorted. Something bubbled up in her chest.“Ugh…”She burst at the words that appeared before her eyes.“I, I did it!”[You have been reserved]What’s the big deal about that one sentence.The college student, overcome with emotion, jumped up from her seat.“I, I did-!”Just as she was about to shout again, forgetting this was a public space- Bang! Bang bang! Bam!Loud shotgun impact sounds rang out, followed by screams and groans. The college student’s voice was completely drowned out by the echoes that erupted simultaneously.“Aaaaah!”“Restricted view seat, you bastard!!”“Roh Haeil, you demon bastard. Who are you to stick 830 seats up our noses? Of all the many concerts, why a small theater!”Numerous wails.‘Was everyone here trying to get Roh Haeil tickets?’The college student realized that truly everyone in this place had been a competitor. But it seemed like she was the only one who had succeeded in getting tickets.“Hehehe.”Hearing laughter from the next seat, the college student slowly turned her head. Did this person succeed? The woman next to her tilted her head sharply.“You think I’ll give up like this? I’ll kill and take it. Just need to kill everyone…”The college student closed her mouth tightly.Thus, screams of pain and joy echoed throughout the country.A small theater concert with 830 seats over a week.Even if you see it only once, less than 6,000 people can see the performance, so there’s no need to say which screams were more numerous.The college student left her seat with a solemn face like the others. Until the concert is held in mid-September. She just needed to wait quietly and safely like this.Hi everyone, I've fully translated this series. If you love the series and wanted to binge read until the end, you can go to my Patreon "Shop" page. Instead of buying the advanced chapters one by one, you can buy them in one bulk (with discounted price too)!