Free Web NovelTen hours earlier.
Chairwoman Han Myeongsuk of Haebo Brewery headed to the department store for one final inspection of the pop-up.
The department store interior was dim after closing hours. As she rode the elevator with the staff up to the sixth floor, where the Creamy Soda pop-up would be held, Han Myeongsuk looked out through the transparent glass wall.
The entire inside of the department store spread beneath her at a glance.
‘At least I already pulled the trigger....’
She recalled the Korean broadcast of The Great Garland.
She still couldn’t forget the thrill of Episode 1.
And that wasn’t all.
The Great Garland was her life drama.
From the brewery workers during the Japanese occupation era to the entire process of struggling to create “our own liquor” after liberation, every step of it had struck a chord deep in Han Myeongsuk’s heart.
She was certain there could be no more meaningful investment than this.
Still.
‘Whew... so what if some stock is left over. We can always sell it in Korea, so it won’t be a huge loss. Steady yourself, Han Myeongsuk.’
This decision itself was nothing short of radical.
She had expanded the scale of the pop-up far beyond the original plan.
Normally, a food-and-beverage pop-up would be held in the basement food hall or maybe an event zone.
‘Absolutely do not regret this.’
The planned merch had originally been simple, inexpensive things like hand mirrors and pens.
“Chairwoman. We’re here.”
But Han Myeongsuk had changed everything.
After barely an hour-long meeting with Jegal Rok, she had boldly scrapped the entire original plan.
Eleven types of merch.
It was such an extraordinary lineup that everyone had tried to stop her.
No one had imagined a liquor company would produce merch of this quality, in this quantity.
Even Han Myeongsuk herself would never have imagined it before meeting Jegal Rok.
“So this is what it means....”
Arriving at the entrance of the Creamy Soda pop-up, complete with both a photo zone and an experience zone, Han Myeongsuk pushed her sunglasses up.
Her dark red lipstick curved into a beautiful smile.
“So this is the new stage for our Haebo Brewery....”
Jegal Rok had shown her the sales figures from the The Great Garland pop-up jointly run by JC ENM and KBC.
The scale was enough to make her eyes spin.
“Good. Let’s make it to the end without a single mistake.”
Everyone had opposed her decision.
“Wasn’t Ji Haebeom there? That Ji Haebeom!”
“This won’t work with Han Yeoreum alone. And this is the first launch in Taiwan, the first launch! You know better than anyone what happens if this much stock is left over, Chairwoman... remember what happened to our Fresh Leaf?! Fresh Leaf!”
Not just the marketing team, but the executives too had all tried to persuade her.
They had even brought up the towel merch of Fresh Leaf, Fresh Leaf Soju, the ambitious mascot product Haebo Brewery had launched years ago only for it to be ignored.
And to be fair, the The Great Garland pop-up hadn’t succeeded with Han Yeoreum alone.
It had Ji Haebeom, a giant actor.
Even Han Myeongsuk herself had believed his presence was what pushed the sales that high.
‘But so what?’
What was she supposed to do about that?
‘If we only keep looking at the domestic pie, we’ll stay stuck forever.’
If she had only ever made safe choices, she never would have reached this seat.
She never would have beaten out her older brothers to seize the chairwoman position.
So Han Myeongsuk bet boldly.
The next morning at 10 a.m., the moment the department store doors opened, people flooded toward the sixth floor.
“Please don’t run on the escalators!”
The attendants shouted, but nobody listened.
The pounding footsteps echoed through the high department-store ceiling.
It was the beginning of a warlike waiting line.
* * *
Decorated in a refreshing mango color palette, this was Haebo Brewery’s Creamy Soda pop-up.
The soft blend of orange and yellow looked sweet enough just to stare at.
—Want to drink with me?
On the monitor installed at the entrance played a newly filmed CF starring Han Yeoreum for the product launch.
A mango hairpin was clipped into the hair of Han Yeoreum, dressed in pure white.
—If not, then mango!
The addition of fizzy sparkling CG popping beside Han Yeoreum was a stroke of genius.
The soft color palette conveyed smoothness, while the sparkling effect perfectly delivered the refreshing, tingling finish.
It was a brilliant ad—one that instantly explained the product even to people who had never tasted Creamy Soda.
“Can I see your reservation number once?”
“It’ll pop up if you scan the QR.”
The employees dispatched to the pop-up were already drenched in sweat from the completely unexpected crowd.
Even people who couldn’t get in had come just because they wanted photos.
There wasn’t even space to put a foot down nearby.
Click!
Click!
Not just phone shutter sounds—
DSLRs and even giant cameras that looked like something a broadcasting station would use.
But what drew the most attention was—
[Receive a photo card with purchases over 50,000 won]
—the checkout line with no visible end.
From the seventh floor, Chairwoman Han Myeongsuk looked down at the pop-up booth below and rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
But she wasn’t mistaken.
What was before her now—
this was reality.
“Please split it into two bags!”
“Would you like gift wrapping?”
Haebo Brewery’s Creamy Soda was selling like madness.
The stacked merch was the same.
Box after box after box was torn open.
The jangling sound of mango keyrings filling the boxes sounded like coins pouring into Han Myeongsuk’s ears.
“Please try a sample!”
The staff handed tiny paper cups of Mango Creamy Soda to the waiting customers.
Because of its low alcohol content, it was easy to drink without burden, and the response was excellent.
“Can we only buy this here?”
“It’ll start rolling out to large supermarkets this weekend. Each store will have its own event too.”
Why do marketing at all?
Its essence was to make consumers know the product.
Its taste and scent.
Its name and existence.
And through that, preference, curiosity, and familiarity.
Haebo Brewery’s Creamy Soda had accomplished all of that in a single attempt.
Han Yeoreum’s commercial made viewers feel the familiar sweetness of mango through the screen, instantly engraving the product’s name and presence. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Sampling let them taste it, increasing preference.
They became curious about when sales would start.
SNS tags spread it widely, creating the perception of it as “the trending alcohol.”
“Chairwoman! I think you need to take this.”
Her secretary hurriedly handed over a phone.
“From where?”
Without taking her eyes off the pop-up below, Han Myeongsuk asked, and the secretary swallowed.
“Carrefour. They want to revise the incoming stock quantity.”
A major Taiwanese supermarket chain.
Even the locations already scheduled to receive Creamy Soda had realized what was happening.
“Double it... no, triple it....”
Han Myeongsuk’s eyes were still fixed below.
But she was no longer looking at the Creamy Soda pop-up zone.
The floor below that.
And the one below that.
And the one below that.
Every person standing in the department store—
all of them were here for the Creamy Soda line.
This was no longer normal.
At this point, it was fair to call it the opening stage of a social phenomenon.
A new wave of Korean content was rising in Taiwan.
And at the center of that crashing wave stood Haebo Brewery.
Jegal Rok’s voice echoed in Han Myeongsuk’s ears.
“Let’s make the board bigger.”
That calm voice that made her certain of the bet.
“Our actor won’t disappoint you.”
Han Myeongsuk’s gamble had succeeded.
Perfectly.
* * *
“Um... the thing I asked you for....”
“Ah, here.”
Students were even lurking around near the Creamy Soda pop-up booth, and the short-haired boy was no exception.
“Excuse me a second!”
A pop-up employee wearing a mango badge on her chest stopped the two of them.
“Are you reselling alcohol to minors by any chance?”
At that, the boy rapidly shook his head side to side.
“No no no. No....”
The employee took the bag from his suspicious hands.
What had been secretly traded inside the white bag was—
“Wait, was this not allowed either...?”
Han Yeoreum merch.
“...No. Merch like this is completely... fine....”
The employee smiled kindly and handed the bag back.
Come to think of it, there were quite a lot of people around doing this kind of merch handoff.
Not just students too young to buy alcohol—
but Han Yeoreum fans who had given up on the pop-up waiting line and only came for the merch.
“Then....”
The boy bowed his head and walked away carrying the merch bags in both hands.
For some reason, there seemed to be a strange loneliness in the look of his back.
‘Well, I guess so. He’s too young to drink, so of course it must feel disappointing.’
Watching him go, the Creamy Soda employee smiled warmly.
‘Grow up slowly and come back....’
By the time that boy was old enough to drink, Haebo Brewery would surely have grown even faster....
“What are you doing?! Hurry up!”
“Yes! Sorry!”
The warm fantasy shattered quickly.
The pop-up zone was a battlefield.
The Creamy Soda employee with the mango badge hurried back almost at a run, thinking once again how cute kids these days were.
“Cough cough!”
“You made it!”
At a nearby café, Wang Haoyu approached the table where Meiling and her friends had taken over a spot and set down the merch he had bought.
“Whew... so this is the authentic stuff I struggled so hard to secure....”
“Let’s see, let’s see.... Let’s check if it’s real....”
Meiling, ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) Jiarong, Xinlei, and Weixin all grinned wickedly as they pulled out the merch printed with Han Yeoreum’s face.
“Wow... this is good....”
“It’s all great, but can you please stop using that old-man way of talking?”
When Wang Haoyu finally gathered the courage to protest, the eyes of all four girls sharpened instantly.
“No... I just thought in front of cute merch... it kind of... didn’t match....”
After several days, there was never a day without handprints on Wang Haoyu’s back.
After repeated “education,” he had eventually learned to automatically correct his speech.
The moment the four girls saw Han Yeoreum’s face on the merch, their expressions instantly softened.
“Uwu... right... in front of our unnieee....”
“Anyway, I didn’t expect much, but the quality is seriously amazing! Look at this!”
“Ah. Maybe we should at least go take pictures in the pop-up zone?”
“Kyaa so cuteee—! Do you think the supermarket event will give out new merch too? Let’s tell Dad to only drink this from now on.”
Watching all four switch tones instantly, Wang Haoyu sighed.
Meiling kept taking pictures nonstop as she happily unwrapped the merch.
“Hey. Let’s head out.”
The four, now dividing up the merch, stood from the table and patted Wang Haoyu’s shoulder.
He had dozed off from exhaustion during their nonstop fangirl talk, having woken up at dawn to help with the proxy purchase.
“Eek... look at that waiting line.”
“It’s really long.”
Outside the department store, people still packed the streets.
Looking up at the building, Meiling muttered,
“I wish Yeoreum unnie’s face were up there too....”
She looked regretfully at the luxury-brand advertisement hanging on the exterior wall.
The merch in her hands was nice, but somehow it still wasn’t enough.
She wanted to see Han Yeoreum even bigger.
* * *
“What? Really?”
I jumped up from the makeup chair in the middle of getting touched up at Manager Choi’s words.
“Yeah. It’s real!”
“Wow. A D-brand FW project is enormous. You’ve really grown.”
Dok Gogyeol let out an impressed sound.
And no wonder.
Luxury brand ads hanging on department-store exteriors were projects only true top stars got.
‘So I’ve really grown that much....’
It was the moment my popularity felt real.
To be recognized this much overseas too. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
For a moment my head spun.
“Me?”
I asked again.
And it wasn’t just D-brand.
Advertisements were flooding in from Taiwan.
Even by rough count, dozens.
“Got it. Unnie will say it one more time. P-Kari, SAUS, Cookku, Happy Tour, Cheonhwa Pharmaceuticals, Limei Milk Tea....”
It was impossible to imagine.
That in just a few months, no matter where I went in Taiwan, my face would be hanging there.
“Oh right. And this... this was only decided very recently.”
Manager Choi, who had been looking at me with a pleased expression, beckoned me closer.
I immediately leaned in.
Her whisper slipped into my ear.
I froze.
“...Really?”
“Really.”
“No way... really?”
“Really!”
I blinked for a moment, unable to believe it.
“As expected of JC ENM... they really know how to stir things up....”
Feeling left out, Dok Gogyeol grabbed my shoulder and pushed me back down into the chair.
“Anyway! Enough small talk. Let’s finish the makeup first.”
After tapping excess powder off the brush, she swept it across my face.
“You need to look pretty for the wrap party too, right? If you only care about overseas fans, the domestic fans will feel neglected.”
Right.
Today was finally the wrap party for 〈Youth Disqualified!〉.
