Chapter 46

"Hey, you silly thing, borrowing a place to stay and staying overnight are completely different, you know." After Jin Taeyeon asked in detail, she realized she had been tricked. This silly thing had been learning Korean for years, but it still made her heart race, as she could easily say something terrible without being careful. Jessica only stayed at a senior's place because she couldn't return to her dorm, which was far from staying overnight.

"Even if it's just borrowing a place to stay, it's not good without Sica's mom's permission," Tiffany pouted. Her Korean was also just so-so, what could she do?

"Pan, are you possessed by Hyo? 'Unnie, this is not good,' hahaha..." Jin Taeyeon mimicked Seo Juhyun's voice with a serious face, then laughed first, a middle-aged woman's laugh coming from her small mouth, creating a very incongruous scene.

"Uh." Mentioning Seo Juhyun, Tiffany's mouth twitched; she was indeed a very special kid.

"By the way, Pan, have you eaten?" Jin Taeyeon's stomach was a bit hungry; she wondered if there was still food in the cafeteria now.

"Don't you dare trick me. I can gain weight from eating just a piece of candy. I've finally slimmed down," Tiffany shook her head in panic. She had basically said goodbye to dinner, and every time dinner time came, she had to distract herself by watching TV or surfing the internet. Now Jin Taeyeon was mentioning dinner to her.

"Ah, I also have a body that gains weight easily. I really envy Yoona." Jin Taeyeon sighed helplessly, wishing she had a body that never gained weight, "Let's go online together, bring me along."

Jin Taeyeon sat next to Tiffany. She had spent all her money on various phones and hadn't even bought a laptop, so she usually borrowed Tiffany's.

"Hey, what's this?" Tiffany noticed that after pausing the video today, what popped up wasn't an ad but a survey.

It was called a survey, but it only had one question: "Have you had a deep and unforgettable first love? If he or she is no longer by your side, what is the one thing you most want to say to them?" Below the question was a box where you could enter up to 150 characters. There was also a note that the "one thing you most want to say" collected would be voted on for three days, and the top ten would win a one-week luxury trip to the United States, sponsored by LAD Entertainment, to attend a music festival. The 11th to 50th place winners would get a three-day luxury trip to Japan, also sponsored by LAD Entertainment. The 51st to 500th place winners would receive a small gift from LAD, which was actually a debut commemorative poster of Lee Jinmyung. However, a few years later, those who received the commemorative posters happily announced that they had won the grand prize.

"Wow, you can even go to a music festival," Tiffany clicked and looked at the prizes below, marveling. The content of the U.S. trip included a large music festival. She imagined how happy she would be if she could travel for free, but it seemed easy for her to go to the U.S. anyway...

"Is LAD an entertainment company?" Jin Taeyeon asked, puzzled. Why would an entertainment company do this? Entertainment companies usually organize tours of the company and interactions with artists.

Song Seokjae also thought about it, but unfortunately, LAD currently only had one artist, Lee Jinmyung, who hadn't even debuted yet. The company was small, with only three floors, and there wasn't much to see. To gain popularity, they had to spend money on prizes to get people to participate in the survey.

"Don't think about it. Do you have a first love?" Jin Taeyeon pouted. Her friend had come to Korea at such a young age and had been studying in the company all along. Plus, young Pan was a bit chubby and dark, so she hadn't dated anyone yet.

"But you can imagine, right?" Tiffany said indifferently.

"You're almost debuting. Even if you win the grand prize, the company won't let you go," Jin Taeyeon seemed determined to dampen Tiffany's enthusiasm.

Still, Tiffany was curious and clicked to take a look. What would others say? Girls always had special feelings about their first love.

As soon as she entered the corresponding website, a fresh atmosphere greeted her. The page was pure white, with light green leaves and a few scattered flowers. A small path seemed to lead to the past of lovers.

The website could be logged into with a Cyworld account, an MSN account, or an account registered on the official LAD Entertainment website. Many people had already participated in this activity, as the prizes were very tempting. The most popular comments already had a lot of votes. Tiffany roughly calculated that about 50,000 people had participated and voted, which was quite a lot, especially since it was only the first day.

"I still love you."

"Are you doing well lately?"

"Who is with you? Please be good to them."

"Once I had a sincere love in front of me, but I didn't cherish it. I only regretted it after losing it. If I had another chance, I would tell that girl 'I love you.' If I had to give this a deadline, I would say 10,000 years."

Up to this point, everything was still normal, but the comments below started to get more sophisticated and grand.

"Jang Moumou, you still owe me 6,400 won!"

"I've found the one who only drinks pure water, not banana milk."

"It's been five years. If you don't find someone, I'll be the sinner."

"@#%￥）*！%……"

What was this Martian language? Was someone's first love a Martian? And there were actually over 600 people who voted for it.

Tiffany had never used Cyworld because the seniors in the company had learned a lesson, and the company now prohibited them from having Cyworld accounts. Although she had an MSN account, she still registered one on the LAD official website. She found the activity quite interesting, browsing through the emotional and funny comments. Time flew by, and new people kept leaving their thoughts. Tiffany suddenly realized it was already nine o'clock.

Jin Taeyeon had already started yawning. They were usually very tired because everyone practiced extra, and it was a good thing it was the weekend, so they could go to bed earlier.

"Uh, Pan, I can't take it anymore. I'm going to take a shower and go to bed," Jin Taeyeon, who had been running around all afternoon, finally couldn't hold out. She said goodbye to Tiffany and went to the bed to get her clothes for a shower.

After seeing too many comments, Tiffany also found it a bit boring. She decided to continue watching the show she hadn't finished. She didn't have the habit of going to bed early.

While Tiffany was watching the video, a fierce online storm was brewing.

In the morning, Song Seokjae had arranged through public relations to place a 30-second preview of Lee Jinmyung's "Confession" on the homepages of six major music websites. Each website had sections like "First Listen," "New Songs," or "Featured," and starting that morning, these sections all featured "Confession."

It had to be said that Lee Jinmyung's face was very appealing. The cover of each preview was a still from the MV where Lee Jinmyung received a letter from Lee Jihyun and looked nostalgic. The image was well-captured and had a good atmosphere, so by the end of the day, the total number of clicks on the preview of "Confession" on these websites had already reached 40,000. This number might seem small compared to the millions of clicks for popular stars, but for Lee Jinmyung, who was still unknown to the public, it was a good start on the first day.

The comments below the preview MV were mostly along these lines:

"This new artist is so handsome."

"His handsomeness is over 9,000, certified by the appearance association."

"His voice is great, looking forward to it."

Most of the comments were from girls, who naturally praised and admired Lee Jinmyung. Men, on the other hand, usually just scrolled past when they saw a handsome stranger on the album cover.

This was just a small step, and not much resources were used. To get these websites to recommend the song on their homepages, it just needed to be "worth it." The websites didn't say how good the song was; they were just recommending it to listeners, not ranking it, so they could do it as they pleased. The three major TV stations were a bit harder to deal with. SBS wasn't considered, but KBS was willing to give Lee Jinmyung a good promotional time slot, and the advertising fees were not cheap. However, Lee Jinmyung ultimately chose MBC because his grandfather had already taken action. MBC offered very good conditions, so good that it was hard to understand. Starting from the weekend, for three nights at 7:55 PM, MBC would air a three-minute clip of Lee Jinmyung's "Confession."

MBC was Korea's undisputed drama kingdom, and weekend dramas were always popular. 7:55 PM was the prime time between the end of the first episode and the start of the second, a golden slot. This time slot was usually for company advertisements, but the Lee family had secured it for three days to air Lee Jinmyung's MV clip.

This had its pros and cons. The good part was that everyone knew the Lee family had taken over the prime advertising slot, and when they saw an MV from a company called LAD instead of Hanwha's ad, they would know who was behind LAD. The bad part was that once people knew LAD was backed by the Lee family, those who opposed the Lees would try to trip up LAD. However, Lee Jinmyung knew that once he debuted, his identity wouldn't be hidden from the forces truly capable of standing up to the Lee family.

This was the best start, but whether it would yield the best results was up to fate.