Chapter 172 : Where Should I Drop the Bomb First?
Chapter 172: Where Should I Drop the Bomb First?
Some time later. KW Group Headquarters.
The day of the final evaluation for the Orbit Campaign CF.
KW Electronics executives and the head officers from the main office had all gathered.
The atmosphere was as heavy as the suits they were wearing, tense with taut anticipation.
Executive Director Kim Jinsoo of KW Group, seated at the head of the table, brought a bottle of water to his lips as he looked around the conference room.
‘Still can’t hide those expressions, huh.’
The expressions on the executives’ faces were unmistakably displeased.
No wonder—they still weren’t ready to accept a DJ. They probably never would be.
He knew full well how controversial the decision had been.
– Are we only trying to sell to the younger generation?
– What if we drive away our existing middle-aged consumers?
– A DJ? From Sindang-dong?
– Take a Bow? That’s a Madonna song. Rihanna has one too. Isn’t this too risky? People will compare them.
– And the model doesn’t even reveal their face?
None of that mattered to Kim Jinsoo.
If he were scared, he wouldn’t have started in the first place.
It was always those at the top who feared change.
They were the ones who always preached change and innovation, yet the moment something new appeared, they’d be the first to nitpick.
They’d nod and say they understood—only to talk in cold numbers and market share.
‘Not that I can’t understand them.’
On their shoulders rested the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of employees.
The eyes of picky shareholders.
The burden of maintaining the title of industry leader.
So this wasn’t a matter of personal taste.
It was a moment that required conviction it would work—and the gut feeling it would sell.
And Kim Jinsoo had that.
“This is the final version of the Orbit Campaign. Runtime is 60 seconds.”
As the staff’s concise briefing ended, the lights dimmed.
Soon, the large screen lit up.
Using a planning video as a pretext, the specs of the 12th generation Orbit Phone were listed alongside the KW Electronics logo.
Then, the real video began.
Thump—
A heavy heartbeat filled the space.
Simultaneously, a whisper-like narration echoed softly.
「 Every moment has a rhythm. 」
A round of gasps followed Taeyoon’s voice, resonating with depth.
“Great voice. Doesn’t sound like a voice actor though.”
“Very trustworthy tone.”
“It’s a narration recorded by the model himself.”
“Oh ho?”
The mood began to shift.
As if pleasantly surprised, the people who had been lounging back in their chairs now sat upright.
Shh—
Amid the morning rush at a subway platform.
A young man stood with his head lowered, quietly catching his breath.
His toes subtly moved in sync with the rhythm flowing from his earphones.
Then—
Thump!
The subway doors opened with a bass drop.
The rhythm began—starting from the young man’s heartbeat, flowing through the earphones, into the club’s beat, and onto Blackhole’s turntable.
In the darkness.
The young man who had been sitting in the subway now appeared atop a DJ booth.
With a single gesture, he awakened the lighting.
And the city began to move to one unified rhythm.
Office workers commuting to work.
A young man running on a treadmill at the gym.
A middle-aged couple shopping for groceries in the evening.
Their movements all aligned precisely with the beat.
A rhythm quietly pulsing through the cracks of daily life.
Not just within the earphones—our very way of living was the beat.
The calendar notification on a smartphone screen, the heart rate graph on a smartwatch.
Everyday beats gradually overlapped with the music.
Boom!
The screen transitioned again.
The setting changed to Club Sierra.
The stage lighting exploded in dazzling colors.
The main theme, Take a Bow, charged toward its climax.
Thump, thump, thump—
Following the heavy bass—whether it was a drum or a heartbeat—everyone’s chest began to pound in sync.
「 Rhythm doesn’t only belong to music. It’s in every moment of our lives— 」
Again, murmurs of awe filled the room.
“Ah……!”
“Oh…….”
Impressed gasps from even the most rigid executives.
No elaborate explanation—just a few compressed sounds like ‘Ah’ and ‘Oh’—but they were handing out their highest praise.
A voice so steady it was hard to believe it belonged to a DJ.
That voice was shaking the executives’ hearts.
Indeed. Every moment was a rhythm.
Up until now, the only rhythm that came to mind was biorhythm.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
The next scene shifted again—this time showing the audience.
A smartwatch wrapped around a spectator’s wrist.
The Heart Beat number rising with their cheer.
The beat of Blackhole filling the entire space.
Everything connected into one seamless flow.
「 When technology meets music, life becomes a single track. 」
Every time Taeyoon’s voice came on, more gasps followed.
There was something inexplicably persuasive about that voice.
Calm and pure.
Which only made you want to hear more.
That kind of voice.
“Picked a good model.”
“The voice carries the whole thing.”
“Phew……”
“So this is why Executive Director Kim Jinsoo…”
Sensing all eyes had turned to him, Kim Jinsoo subtly gestured toward the screen.
As if to say this wasn’t the time for that.
As if not a single moment should be missed.
The executives, caught in his signal, returned their eyes to the screen as if under a spell.
Next to the DJ turntable.
A glimpse of the DJing App flashed briefly on the smartphone before disappearing.
Then came the grand finale.
“Huh?”
All the music cut out.
This was Blackhole’s cheat code.
When a pounding beat suddenly vanished from the ears, it could bring out an unprecedented level of immersion.
Turning away from the turntable, Blackhole slowly raised his hand to his mask.
Then, he pulled it down just to his chin.
Gulp—
The only sound in the conference room was that of people swallowing hard.
Everyone was thinking the same thing.
‘Yes! Take it off! Show us!’
They knew the face wouldn’t be revealed.
And yet—they couldn’t help but expect it.
Everything—hundreds of billions worth of campaign success—hinged on the one face hidden behind a mask.
The lighting gently dimmed.
And Blackhole turned to meet the camera’s gaze.
But the face wasn’t revealed.
Only the silhouette bathed in light hinted that he was smiling in satisfaction.
Just as everyone was swallowing their disappointment—
Taeyoon’s voice once again surprised the room.
「 Your stage is new every day. 」
「 A smartphone that guards your rhythm. 」
「 Orbit, design your day. 」
The audience vanished.
Left alone with the turntable, Taeyoon gradually faded into the background as the product appeared.
Orbit Phone.
And then, the watch and earphones.
The three devices appeared, linked by an interface that connected them through music.
The core copy of Orbit ran through it all:
– Your BEAT, Your LIFE.
– ORBIT, Live your HEART BEAT.
It was perfect harmony.
An advertisement worthy of the name—for the first time in a long while.
Even after the video ended,
no one took their eyes off the screen.
Then, somewhere from the executive section, someone murmured,
“……That was moving.”
More than one person nodded in agreement.
The air in the conference room was a blend of admiration and chills.
At least for this moment, everyone was on the same rhythm.
The awkward silence lasted only seconds.
Then, one after another, admiration poured out.
“It felt more like a music video than an ad.”
“I think I wouldn’t skip this even if it played mid-video.”
“Ugh, goosebumps.”
“I haven’t watched an ad this intently in a long time.”
Executive Director Kim Jinsoo crossed his arms in silence, staring at the now-dark screen.
Then, the most critical executive spoke up.
“I particularly liked the mask scene. He took it off, but they didn’t show it. That’s really meaningful.”
Clap clap clap clap—
At last, even applause broke out in the meeting room.
But then came a voice, cautious.
“But…… where do we drop this first?”
The Planning Team, Marketing Office, Brand Strategy Division, A&P Team, PR Office…
There was an intense tug-of-war over where to launch the ad.
“Obviously on terrestrial TV. MBS’s Wed-Thu drama is hot right now. That’s the best frame.”
“No way. With this vibe, we should tease on YouTube first.”
“What about OTT ads? We can segment the target audience more.”
“If we want to capture fandom, we should hit social media first. Quietly, without it screaming ‘ad’.”
The better the product, the more directions to take.
Certainty that it should explode collided with caution that it needed a careful rollout.
Then, Executive Director Kim Jinsoo, who had been silently sitting, opened his mouth.
“An ad you can’t skip. One you simply can’t walk away from.”
Snap!
With someone’s finger snap, the same answer burst out:
“Theater?”
“Theater!”
“Nice.”
“Perfect, actually.”
The debate didn’t last long.
Theater release, and simultaneous YouTube drop.
“Exactly. It’s got that cinematic mood. If we run it as a pre-roll before movies, no one’s forgetting it.”
“We’ll release some short clips as bait, and prepare the full drop properly.”
A single ad may not change the world.
But it can let the world know it’s moving.
And so began the era where DJing was something to watch, not just listen to.
It was the magic of great editing.
Was I always this cool?
That’s how I felt.
I felt like dancing around the studio.
I was just that happy.
Especially the scene on the subway, sitting with my head bowed, headphones on.
We had to repeat the same motion for over two hours just to get that one shot.
It seemed to have paid off—thank goodness.
And that club scene? Just a few seconds on screen, but we had to shoot it over and over again.
– Cut! Great! Action!
Those words had clung to my ears for days on end.
I wondered how Hyung had taken it.
Sixty seconds passed, and I turned my head to look up at him.
“Ugh……”
He let out a groan, turning his head away.
Like he’d seen something he absolutely couldn’t bear to watch.
Huh? What was that about?
I joked.
“Team Leader Seo Dongyoon, this is inappropriate behavior. How can you show such obvious dislike right in front of your artist?”
Hyung replied with an even more horrified look.
“Can you try switching perspectives for a sec?”
“…?”
“Imagine I suddenly became super famous and started shooting commercials. Could you watch that with your eyes open?”
I answered firmly.
“Nope! Never!”
“See? You couldn’t watch either, right? I’ve only managed because I’ve already seen every cringey thing this industry has to offer…”
“No, that’s not it.”
He clearly misunderstood something here.
“Huh? What isn’t?”
“There’s no way you’d ever end up filming a CF, Hyung. That’s why I can’t even picture it…”
“…Oh, you little—”
Uh-oh?
Hyung’s pot-lid-sized hand came closing in.
“Aaack! Aaaack! This handler is hitting his artist! CEO Minsoo!”
“As long as I don’t touch your wrists, it’s fine, right? I can twist your neck all I want, and you’ll still be able to go ‘scratch-scratch’.”
“It’s not scratch-scratch! It’s called scratching!”
“Oh? So your mouth still works? Must not hurt that much, huh?”
“Ack! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! It hurts!”
As we bickered like that,
the video was auto-playing on loop.
Just then, the final scene came up again.
The part where I removed my mask and made a bow-like gesture.
Hyung lifted his pot lid from my neck, leaned in close to the monitor, and muttered.
“Weird. You really can’t see the face. Right on the edge. Even your mom wouldn’t recognize you.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah. I even showed Yeonhee a screenshot, and she said it looked familiar but couldn’t place it.”
If even sharp-eyed Yeonhee-noona couldn’t tell, then no one would.
“That’s a relief.”
“Don’t you get greedy?”
“For what?”
“You know—hoping people recognize you?”
“Oh, absolutely not.”
I instinctively waved my hands in refusal.
I like the idea of people knowing Blackhole.
But Blackhole’s face? That’s… eh.
“I guess I’ve been hanging out with celebrities too much. They’re all dying to get famous.”
“People think differently. So when’s the ad going out? Is this the final cut?”
“Yeah, final version.”
“Where’s it getting released first? YouTube?”
“Probably.”
Hyung checked his planner, then said,
“They want to get it out as soon as possible. Man, the ad turned out great. The song’s amazing, too. If only the model weren’t Seo Taeyoon, it’d be perfect.”
“Hey!”
I snapped and turned off the video.
It wasn’t like it was that great.
I couldn’t just keep watching it over and over.
As the screen shut off, Hyung asked something he never usually did.
“Your mom and Auntie are coming up this weekend, right? What’re you planning?”
“Lunch, then maybe some shopping.”
“Take them to a movie. A family comedy just came out. Yeonhee and I saw it—it was fun.”
“Oh, nice! Mom and Auntie love comedies. They’ll enjoy that.”
“I’ll book it for you. You’re meeting at Seoul Station, right? I’ll send you tickets around lunchtime.”
“Thanks.”
Hyung’s lips twitched for a second.
Hmm? That expression…
That’s the one he makes when he’s about to mess with me.
“If the time changes, let me know. I can reschedule.”
“…That thorough? Sure, okay.”
See? There it is.
His eyes are all crinkled.
He’s definitely up to something.
But I just can’t figure it out…