Free Web Novel[How does Lee Sion even know about this combination??]
「“Mixing Gonghwachun and Buldak and eating it like this is seriously insanely good.
I’m kind of a spice wuss, so I can’t even touch Buldak usually, but this one I could endure and eat.
If you eat it while drinking banana milk like Ryu Ayeon, you seriously end up vacuuming it down.”
(Ryu Ayeon caught on CCTV, holding a cup of ramen and inhaling it)」
↳Ugh... I got hungry watching Agbaek, so I went to the convenience store and ate a hot bar and Gonghwadak. My Agbaek fan body got heavier.
↳Wasn’t it heavy to begin with?
↳Where do you live?
↳Seriously, I watched YouTube yesterday and laughed nonstop for 20 minutes, isn’t that insane?
↳I was genuinely shocked when they escaped using tied blankets.
↳It was my first time realizing girls eat that much—six people went and bought that much convenience store food?
↳You haven’t tried that combo yet, have you? It seriously goes down endlessly.
↳Back in my unit, there was a guy making noise about developing that recipe and selling it to a companyㅋㅋ People really do think alike.
↳Trueㅋㅋ Recipes from students coming back late from night study sessions and soldiers’ PX recipes are always bangers.
↳I’m a night-shift convenience store clerk, and I didn’t get a single moment to breathe until 8 a.m. yesterday. Crazy. I was relieved when Buldak and Gonghwachun sold out, but then Agbaek did an event and they restocked immediately? You f**king pieces of sh*t, I was dealing with that until morning···
Slurp.
“Hooah··· ssup.”
Jiyeon took a bite of the Gonghwadak she’d carefully prepared on her desk and cooled her tongue.
‘This is actually really good?’
After last night’s main broadcast ended, Jiyeon had no choice but to turn on YouTube right away.
To be honest, Episode 5 had been overflowing with things to talk about.
Starting with the hidden-camera prank, then the reveal of the Position Evaluation, the third mission.
On top of that, the team selection push-out, the talent show, and the midterm check.
It was such a packed broadcast that it felt like it would give people enough fodder to talk about for an entire week from the main episode alone, so under normal circumstances, Jiyeon would have been content and fallen into a happy, deep sleep.
But—
「“– I want to eat meat.
A suspicious meeting held in the practice room—Bang! Bang! Love! team?
– Do you know what I did during the last break?
– Attention-seeking nonsense?
– ···Kim Nayeon, your speaking privilege is revoked for one minute. Anyway, what I did back then was thoroughly search the area around our dorm on Google Maps.
(A satellite map image showing the dorm and nearby convenience stores)
– The Idol Ground 100 filming staff all leave work at 9 p.m., keeping only the minimum number of people.
*After that, the production staff also began staying overnight! freewebnσvel.cѳm
– From that point on, the cameras are set in fixed positions, and only camera operators who go around swapping batteries remain. Even then, they usually stay in their own break areas.
*The cameras installed in the practice room are equipped with microphones, allowing real-time monitoring!
– The execution time is tonight at 10 p.m. We’ll gather at my dorm, and start the escape from there.
And thus was filmed—the Bang! Bang! Love! Great Escape Project!
Revealed now!”」
While inhaling her Gonghwadak and watching the Great Escape YouTube video again, Jiyeon once more realized why the production team hadn’t been able to include it in the main broadcast, seeing that the video was a full 23 minutes long.
‘If they’d put this into the main episode, it would’ve been a time issue, and people would’ve blown up claiming favoritism toward the contestants.’ freēwēbnovel.com
At the same time, she probably thought it’d be ridiculous not to include it at all.
「“– Contestants Lee Sion, Ryu Ayeon, Lee Gahyeon, Im Yunkyung, Kim Nayeon, and Geum Shinyu, please put down whatever you’re holding right now.
(The Great Escape team dropping the bags in their hands with blank expressions and raising both hands like surrendering soldiers)
– All food items are confiscated.
– Could you maybe leave the Melona? Back at the dorm, our bunny-like Suyeon is waiting just for Melona···.
– That won’t be allowed.
(Lee Sion diverting the staff’s attention and sneaking something behind her back, and Ryu Ayeon quickly stuffing it inside clothes)
*The production team only noticed this moment later during editing.
Afterward, the Bang! Bang! Love! team was penalized for rule violations and assigned breakfast dish-washing duty for three days.
(The Bang! Bang! Love! team members washing dishes)”」
↳ㅋㅋㅋ I’d have been seriously pissed if I went to sleep without seeing this.
↳I totally understand Lee Sion’s mother now. She wasn’t suppressing her daughter.
↳The funniest part is Ryu Ayeon refusing at first, then getting scared by Sion and immediately agreeingㅋㅋ
↳Friends really do get close by doing bad things together.
↳For real, even the production team slipped up—Sion got thoroughly checked, but they probably thought “no way” with Ryu Ayeon and just let it slideㅋㅋ
↳Ryu Ayeon copying Pink Spell was innocentㅋㅋ
↳I got hungry watching them eat, so I just went to the convenience store to copy them, and they’re already selling it as an Agbaek set.
Reading the comments under the video, Jiyeon recalled the moment she’d gone to the convenience store earlier.
‘I was the last one, right?’
Even though she’d gone early in the morning, everything was already sold out, and she’d barely managed to get an Agbaek set.
A set bundling Buldak Hot Chicken Stir-Fried Ramen, Gonghwachun Black Bean Sauce Noodles, and banana milk.
When Jiyeon brought it to the counter, the convenience-store clerk—who looked like they’d been tormented all night—scanned the barcode with lifeless eyes, a sight Jiyeon still clearly remembered.
The clerk, who’d been hit by a sudden disaster without even knowing why, looked completely lost.
‘I can’t help it—if buying this might get me a seat at the live show, how could I resist?’
Because the ruthless production team had dangled stage-audience tickets as bait with the Agbaek set, Jiyeon had been compelled to buy it as if possessed.
– “If you purchase the event bundle product, please enter the serial number printed on it on the MPlay website! Through a raffle, we’ll give out ‘Idol Ground 100 Stage Audience Tickets.’”
Seeing the message written at the end of the YouTube video, Jiyeon had bolted straight to the convenience store without a moment to think.
The only problem was that the event didn’t start until 9 a.m., so Jiyeon hadn’t slept at all, replaying the video over and over while waiting, before finally buying the set.
She entered the serial number included with the Agbaek set on the MPlay website and could only pray desperately.
Thanks to already surging competition, Idol Ground 100 audience tickets had become harder to obtain than tickets for top idol concerts.
For the next week, Jiyeon decided that her meals would be Agbaek sets.
***
“Yes, we’re planning to meet sequentially with the companies that reached out regarding final-stage audience tickets. We’re also checking whether we can urgently change the venue. With these numbers, the Gymnastics Arena should easily be filled.”
The Olympic Gymnastics Arena.
With seating for over ten thousand, it was a dream stage many idols aspired to stand on.
Whether or not one could fill the Gymnastics Arena was practically symbolic enough to define entry into the top tier of idols.
And Park Hyungsoo was currently working to secure the Gymnastics Arena as the venue for the Idol Ground 100 final stage.
Originally, the final stage had been planned for MPlay’s music-show performance hall.
But now, with only about a month left until the final stage, Hyungsoo was trying to expand the venue to the Gymnastics Arena.
He was confident that Idol Ground 100’s current popularity was more than enough to fill it.
– “Hyungsoo!!! We hit ten percent yesterday!!! YouTube views already passed 500,000! One million is right around the corner!”
As soon as he woke up, Hyungsoo received a call from Department Head Kang Hyukjin.
He’d just been told the unbelievable news that Episode 5 of Idol Ground 100 had surpassed a peak rating of 10%, breaking its own record.
And that wasn’t all.
[GU Agbaek effect? Agbaek set sells out immediately after launch!]
The Agbaek set, launched in collaboration with convenience-store brand GU and baited with Concept Evaluation stage tickets, had sold out across all stores in less than half a day, setting an insane record.
On top of that, articles poured out nonstop reporting that the Dongyu Pharm products exposed through PPL in Episode 5, as well as the chicken and pizza brands, were seeing sharp spikes in sales.
– “Hello, this is the marketing team from Oseong Electronics. We’d like to inquire about a collaboration related to Idol Ground 100···.”
Because of that, Hyungsoo had been swamped all morning, juggling meeting schedules in response to the nonstop flood of advertising partnership proposals via phone calls and email.
‘Credit where credit is due.’
Hyungsoo didn’t think the skyrocketing buzz and popularity of Idol Ground 100 were thanks to him.
After all, he was simply reaping the results created by his predecessor, PD Kim Miyoung.
That said, he did think he might be better than Kim Miyoung when it came to making money.
If Kim Miyoung was obsessed with ratings, Hyungsoo was obsessed with cash.
And why aim for ratings in the first place, if not to secure fat ads and sponsorships?
That part was squarely within his confidence zone.
Pooling his connections and ideas, Hyungsoo had secured massive investment, and as a result, the production budget had increased significantly, raising the show’s overall quality—a true two-birds-with-one-stone situation.
By the time Hyungsoo finally caught his breath and stepped out to buy coffee near dinnertime, after rowing hard while the tide was good and cooperating with every interested company, he ran into Park Taesu by chance.
“Oh, hello, CEO.”
“Hello, PD. Congratulations. The response to yesterday’s broadcast was explosive.”
“Yes, thank you.”
After exchanging greetings, Taesu mentioned that he’d enjoyed yesterday’s episode and started chatting casually.
“When you appear on the broadcast yourself, it’ll cause even more buzz than ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) now.”
“Is that so? I’m honestly looking forward to it myself.”
“For you to be looking forward to it... I guess the Girlish Pop contestants are decent?”
“They surprised me. I shouldn’t say this in front of you, but to be honest, aside from a few contestants, I didn’t have high expectations. They’re all doing far better than I thought.”
Taesu excitedly talked about how Suyeon was holding her own even against a strong rival like Yuri in the Girlish Pop team, and how Sion, when given direction tied to her personal interests, showed unbelievable absorption and followed along immediately.
‘Was Kim Suyeon really that good? And a scene of Lee Sion being directed by Park Taesu would definitely be interesting.’
Hearing things he hadn’t known, Hyungsoo thought to himself that he should instruct his junior, Lee Hak yoon, to cut footage based on what he’d just heard.
“Actually, I was meaning to contact you anyway, PD.”
“What’s the matter?”
“I was originally scheduled to provide training during the midterm and final checks, but would it be okay if I looked after our team members outside of that as well?”
“Ah! In that case, we’d actually be the ones asking you! We’ll make sure everything’s ready so you can come anytime it’s convenient.”
“Thank you. I was worried about fairness with the other teams, but I just keep getting greedy with these kids···.”
“We’ll contact the other producers separately. We’ll tell them they can train freely if they want, not just during the set schedule.”
Hyungsoo was more than happy with Taesu’s words.
‘If even the producers start competing, that’s only good for us!’
The Concept Evaluation was bound to stir competitive instincts not only among contestants, but among producers as well.
All of the Concept Evaluation producers could safely be called the top composers in Korea right now, and for producers like that, having their team’s stage fall behind another was a blow to pride.
If word got out that Park Taesu was personally overseeing extra practice, it was obvious the other producers would be provoked.
Especially—
– “Even the Ryu Ayeon team and the Seo Ryujin team are insanely fired up. The crews filming them have been bragging about it.”
Aside from the Girlish Pop concept with Lee Sion and Kurosawa Yuri, he’d also heard that the other teams’ songs and stage quality were excellent, so expectations for this Concept Evaluation stage were high.
“Then take care.”
“Yes, CEO. Goodbye.”
Watching Taesu leave after their brief conversation, Hyungsoo felt even more confident.
‘The stage itself isn’t really my specialty. So I’ll leave that to the producers and contestants—and I’ll do my job.’
Ring-ring.
“Yes, speaking. The goods? Yes, just bring them in the way we discussed in the text last time. Yes, place them along that route.”
At that moment, Hyungsoo received a call related to that.
A special stage he was preparing ahead of the Concept Evaluation stage.
He was convinced that this would be a plan worthy of going down in variety-show history.
