Siblings Working in Business (163)
Na na na na Red Light
Eun-jeong left the club room, earbuds in, listening to E-UNG’s new song, .
The hallway was empty, as classes had ended.
“Na na na na Red Light!”
Eun-jeong hummed the song, walking down the deserted hallway, her steps matching the beat.
“Na na na na Red Ni—.”
Eun-jeong, in her imagination, was performing on stage with Eun-ho.
Bzz, buzz, buzz.
Her imagination shattered with the sudden vibration of her phone.
Eun-jeong clicked her tongue in disappointment and took her phone out of her pocket.
“What’s up with her?”
It was Ah-yeong.
Eun-jeong tilted her head, surprised by the unexpected contact, and unlocked her phone.
Ah-yeong had been the one who fervently introduced her to E-UNG from their debut.
But the moment Eun-jeong became a fan…
「“E-UNG’s taking a break from promotions right now.”」
「“Huh? What are you talking about? You said they’ve been working non-stop and are finally taking a break. It’s only been a week.”」
「“Well, anyway!”」
Ah-yeong suddenly used “E-UNG is taking a break” as an excuse and started stanning Poster A, or was it Poster X?
Suddenly, she was into another group, a seven-member boy group.
Eun-jeong, who had just become an E-UNG fan thanks to Ah-yeong, was now alone.
She wasn’t on bad terms with Ah-yeong.
But since they talked about different groups now…
Naturally, they contacted each other less frequently than when they shared the same fandom.
Was their last contact the day she became a true E-Per?
The day after the university festival, where news about E-UNG flooded the headlines.
[Ah-yeong ― Eun!]
[Me ― Huh?]
[Ah-yeong ― Look at this]
Look at what?
Ihan University was close to downtown.
However, her club room was in the most secluded building on campus, near the back mountain.
Perhaps because of that…
It took a while to receive the photos Ah-yeong sent, the signal weak.
By the time she reached her dorm…
As her phone automatically connected to the dorm Wi-Fi, the photos Ah-yeong sent popped up.
“Oh, oh, oh my god!!!”
She hurriedly covered her mouth, realizing she had screamed a bit too loudly. But seriously!
This was unavoidable.
Eun-jeong stood frozen in front of her dorm room door, her fingers flying across the keyboard.
[Me ― OMG
(An emoticon with one fist covering the mouth and the other hand breaking a wall)]
Eun-jeong looked at the photo again and again, each time sending a message to Ah-yeong. The photo was of Eun-ho, wearing a jacket over bare skin, leaning against a wall with a slightly disheveled bouquet in his hand.
[Me ― Is this the phtocrd from the new album?]
[Ah-yeong ― Lol]
Her fingers stumbled over the keys in her haste.
Ah-yeong responded with a string of “lol” at her frantic messages and sent another photo.
What was this?
A mood light?
Ah-yeong had turned off the lights in the room and turned on the mood light.
But the camera seemed to have trouble capturing the light, and it was hard to make out the shape of the mood light in the photo.
[Ah-yeong ― Ah, it’s hard to see]
As if she knew, Ah-yeong sent another photo of the mood light, taken in a brighter setting.
[Me ― H
― Holy shit omg what the hell]
She screamed internally, unable to do so in real life, and checked the mood light photo again.
[Me ― Is this seriously]
[Ah-yeong ― Yep
― That seriously lol]
[Me ― Is that the one from the Deluxe set?]
[Ah-yeong ― Yeah lol Did you buy it?]
[Me ― (An emoticon staring intently)]
[Ah-yeong ― I guess that was a dumb question]
[Me ― Lol yeah]
[Ah-yeong ― What did you buy? I went on E-Per after a while, and there are so many versions]
[Me ― H…….]
After a meaningful “H,” Eun-jeong didn’t reply to Ah-yeong’s question.
She was looking at the photo of Eun-ho’s photocard that Ah-yeong sent.
Eun-jeong had to make a choice.
Sacrifice her fangirling and buy the Simple or Normal set…
Or sacrifice several weeks’ worth of meal money and choose her fandom.
Her deliberation was short.
[Me ― Deluxe, of course, heh]
Pre-orders for E-UNG’s first mini-album, “TIME,” were taken through the E-FAN app’s store.
「It’s convenient for us, but won’t this affect the sales count?」
└ You only read the announcement, didn’t you?
└ Huh? How did you know?
└ Go to the merch shop lol
The store ‘through’ the app.
Existing merchandise, like the light stick, was also sold through the E-FAN app.
But the album was different.
Since album sales counted towards chart rankings, pre-orders and purchases from official retailers were crucial.
Therefore, CEO Park added a button to the merch shop.
【 Order E-UNG’s “TIME” 】
Although it looked like a simple button, it represented the hard work of the NRY Entertainment staff.
Especially Seong-min, the engineer in charge of the app’s system.
There were three websites that counted E-UNG’s album sales, and Seong-min set up the button so that…
…when clicked, the program would automatically redirect to the site with the most stable server.
Moreover, CEO Park, unable to contain his excitement, posted an announcement on E-FAN a few weeks before pre-orders began.
Along with the news of E-UNG’s first mini-album release, he also detailed the contents of each set.
The three sets, ‘Simple,’ ‘Normal,’ and ‘Deluxe,’ were the starting point.
「Simple Set」
-
[TIME] E-UNG 1st Mini Album
-
E-UNG [TIME] Photobook
-
Random Poster (10 variations) x1
-
Photocard (100 variations) x5
Perhaps because the Simple Set only included the basics…
The album price was considerably lower than other idol groups’.
Perhaps because of that…
「Ah… the announcement is ridiculous ㅡㅡ
E-Pers, did you see the announcement?
Doesn’t it feel like a wall from CEO Park Chang-seok?」
└ ? What wall?
└ ★ Per ★ Fect ★ Wall ★
└ Lol I knew it lol
└ Lol
└ The stars make it even funnier lol
└ Agreed
└ I’m so glad Rangi and Ji-ji met God Chang-seok ㅠㅠㅠ
E-FAN was once again flooded with various forms of ‘fanboying/fangirling,’ temporarily filling the free board.
It was, of course, referring to the overwhelmingly positive and affectionate comments.
「Does ‘(100)’ next to the photocards mean there are 100 variations…?」
└ Yes
└ Yep
└ Yes
└ It’s real
Since E-UNG was a sibling duo…
There were only two members.
This meant the chances of pulling your bias’s photocard were 50%, making it relatively easy.
So…
CEO Park generously divided the photocards, 50 each for Eun-ho and Eun-ji.
He prepared a total of 100 photocards, each with different poses and backgrounds.
「Since there are only two of them,
I was planning to collect all the photocards…
Huh?
100 variations…?
100 variations!!!
What is this?!
Chang-seok!!!」
└ ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└ Isn’t it great?
└ It is… it’s great but… I hate it
└ I understand lol
└ Lol
└ Bittersweet
└ Lol ㅠㅠㅠ
Most E% were delighted by the variety of photocards.
Even if they couldn’t collect them all, they could at least see them.
However, the problem was the E% who planned to buy multiple albums just to ‘pull photocards,’ or ‘poka-kkang’ for short.
Of course, it was great.
But also bittersweet.
Numerous posts flooded in from E% who planned on poka-kkang, expressing their complex feelings about the 100 variations.
The Normal Set, in addition to the Simple Set contents, included an E-UNG sticker book and a 10cm cat character keychain.
The cat character keychain was, of course, based on the cat characters from Eun-ho and Eun-ji’s “This Road” and “Hae-ga” music videos.
The cat characters, previously referred to as ‘cat dolls,’ were officially named after a surprise live stream following their trip to the sea with Hwa-rang.
During the live stream, suggestions like ‘Pumpkin Cat’ and ‘Rockfish Kitty’ poured in…
Perhaps because the E% participating in the chat knew their nicknames.
However, this time, the decision wasn’t left to the E%’s vote.
Thanks to that, the names were decided based on the last syllables of Eun-ho and Eun-ji’s names: ‘Ji-nyang’ for the tabby cat with the pumpkin bag, and ‘Ho-nyang’ for the tuxedo cat with the fish mask.
「E-Pers, there wasn’t any news about a limited edition album, right? I didn’t miss anything, right?
(Screenshot of the announcement)
[Raffle event for E% who ordered the Normal Set! [Duplicates allowed]
E-UNG Fan Signing Event
Winners: 200
[Limited Edition] Lee Eun-ho, Lee Eun-ji Cover Album
Winners: 1 each, total 2
… Ji-nyang, Ho-nyang Cushion
Winners: 5 each, total 10]」
└ No, there hasn’t been any news yet.
What drew the most attention to the Normal Set was the raffle ticket for the events, including the fan signing event (200 winners), mugs (50 winners), plain t-shirts (10 winners), and hoodies (10 winners).
└ It’s like you’re guaranteed to win if you buy one? Why are there so many prizes…?
└ Wasn’t this a mini-album?
└ Looks like a ‘many’ album
└ Wow…
└ I’ve seen fan signing events and limited edition raffles, but…
└ Yeah, if they give away this much, what are they going to do for a full album…?
The number of prizes, from clothing to various other items, was substantial.
An E%’s comment about being practically guaranteed to win if they bought a set wasn’t an exaggeration.
But the raffle ticket craze that swept the bulletin board didn’t last long.
It was because of a question from a big spender.
「Is poka-kkang with the Deluxe set too much?」
└ It’s too much
└ ;;Calm down;
└ If you want to give Chang-seok allowance money, buy it.
└ Allowance lol
└ Are you a reseller, by any chance?
└ Can you send me just one, please? ㅠㅠ I couldn’t even listen to Watermelon on streaming and had to download it ㅠㅠ I want to listen to it on the album ㅠㅠㅠ
└ ? Download? Illegal download?
└ An illegal downloader is acting all proud. Just listen to it on O-Tube.
└ What illegal downloader ㅡㅡ I got it because of the ads, it’s not illegal.
└ Yes, if you didn’t buy it legally, it’s illegal, and if you broke the law, it’s a crime lol
└ Too much ;;
└ You’re so proud of yourself lol
The comment section was a chaotic mess.
└ E-Per, how many are you ordering?
└ 30
└ Aha
Meanwhile, the original poster, the big spender, ignored the “please sell me one” comments and continued the conversation in another thread.
└ Ah, it’s 300, I missed a 0.
└ Huh?
└ 300? Did I hear that right?
└ Yes, you did.
└ You’re buying 300 Deluxe sets? ;;;
└ Yep
└ Just buy the Normal set;
└ I want to collect both the photocards and the BeeBook.
└ Ah, because of the BeeBook…;
‘BeeBook’
A newly coined abbreviation for ‘Behind the Scenes Photobook.’
「Deluxe Set」
-
Normal set contents
-
Photocard (100 variations) x10 random
※Normal set + Deluxe set = 15 photocards total※ -
EG Lamp (Mood Light)
-
E-UNG Calendar
-
Behind the Scenes Photobook (1 random out of 7 variations)
The seven variations of the Behind the Scenes Photobook were exclusive to the Deluxe Set.
The regular photobook contained the best A-cuts.
The Behind the Scenes Photobook, on the other hand, contained pages from Eun-ho’s lyric notebooks, photos of them recording, eating, being scolded by CEO Park, and so on.
Countless moments captured on film that couldn’t be uploaded to O-Tube, compiled into a photobook.
E-UNG’s ‘real’ daily life.
A photobook filled with their offstage moments, the countless failures and processes that shaped the current E-UNG.
Perhaps because it contained so much…
Despite careful selection, the photobook ended up being seven volumes long.
And despite the abundance of content across seven volumes, there weren’t many pretty or glamorous, idol-like photos.
But somehow…
「The Deluxe Set is a must-have」
The E% were even more eager to own it precisely because it contained Eun-ho and Eun-ji’s unguarded moments.