# Chapter 45
“Do you think we can make it properly? There’s a lot to prepare. Everyone will eat this, right?”
When Seo Irun asked, everyone nodded.
“I’m going to eat a lot, Hyung.”
“Good. You cook a lot of rice. Plenty of it.”
“Aren’t there any frozen foods? We could just heat those up.”
“What should I do?”
“Let’s make the broth first. Wash the ingredients and trim what needs to be trimmed.”
Seo Irun gave directions quite efficiently, taking charge of the work, and I watched while eating a banana.
“Let’s add this too. There’s fish cake.”
“Fish cake…? Do we really have to?”
“Yes. I like it. Oh, you don’t like it? Then we don’t have to add it.”
“No, it’s fine. Let’s add it. This would make it refreshing too if we add it.”
“Don’t we need radish? Wouldn’t radish make it more refreshing?”
“I think it’s fine without radish. Hyung, haven’t you had this before? This is supposed to come out in flower shapes. Where would we put the radish?”
“Really? Ah, is this that thing? Millefeuille nabe?”
“No. What have you been listening to this whole time?”
“Irun hyung, it says here radish goes into millefeuille nabe too. It’s written right here?”
Suddenly Jeong Chan spoke while holding his smartphone.
“Ah, whatever. I’ll just do it my way. From now on, no one criticize me.”
“Me too?”
“You’re fine, Hyung. But even if you say something, I can’t accommodate everything.”
“So radish is absolutely out? No room for compromise?”
The staff’s laughter didn’t stop at the random conversation that started again.
“There’s a washing machine here too. Anyone want to do laundry?”
Han Sijin spoke as if he thought he should introduce the washing machine too, and Cha Yeonwoo threw a dishcloth at him.
Even in the midst of the chaos, I thought about how I had really wanted to be with these guys like this.
‘It was really nice. And it’s still this good…’
The sound of excited laughter and chatter felt like flower petals falling around my ears.
* * *
[Hey everyone. Did you see the making film of the Crop Five commercial video? The one for Seyoung Electronics appliances. I won’t sit at the same table with anyone who hasn’t seen it. Go watch it quickly. I’ll specially post the link for you.]
└I saw this. I almost died laughing. I didn’t really like Crop Five before, but I became a fan after watching this.
└You had quite a long period of denial then. How could you not like Crop Five? That collection of male gods? That group where God accidentally spilled all the handsomeness.
└What? Why is Seomin appearing here? Our Seomin. ㅠ I liked Seomin more than the Crop Five members. Thank you so much for posting the link. I keep watching it on repeat. Seomin’s beauty is so dazzling. Please make Crop Six with Seomin included. Grand Tamer~.
└I support Crop Six!
└222
└333
The Seyoung Electronics advertisement was a huge success, with the making film receiving more enthusiasm than one might have expected.
There was a flood of inquiries about when the advertisement would air, and after it did, various online communities heated up once again.
[This is insane. Whoever made this is a genius. This is really… No, this is. Wow. Guys. I’m usually really good with words, you know? But suddenly after watching this… Uwaaaaah… I’m speechless. Go watch it too. Will you become as dumb as me?]
└True, true. I was also really good at, um, that thing. You all be careful.
└I was totally floored by Kang Seomin’s excited expression when he first arrived in the car. How can he be so pure? Someone please write fanfiction. With Kang Seomin as the beautiful bottom. I don’t care who the top is as long as they’re a Crop Five member.
└Beautiful bottom. An overwhelming main bottom with no competition.
└Why is this so funny? Seo Irun making Kang Seomin flustered with his slick talk is too funny. They said all dialogue was ad-libbed without any script, isn’t Seo Irun a genius? How does he come up with things like that?
└You mean when he asked if the manager made a contract mistake? I’ve been rewatching that part so many times because it’s so funny! Isn’t it super cute when Kang Seomin looks into space like his brain froze for a moment? It’s like he’s thinking, “What’s this about?” then “Oh, I’m a one-day manager here now?” and then “Are you being cheeky?”
└Am I the only one who’s sad at the end? I think it shouldn’t end with just a one-day manager. Kang Seomin, please come back.
Most of the passionate responses ended that way.
With pleas for me to come back.
While the buzz was historically high, it was uncertain how much it would affect sales.
As if trying to check our upward momentum, suspicious activities that seemed like organized movements were detected in various places.
Starting with claims about experiencing inconveniences with Seyoung Electronics appliances, there were also posts about rude customer service representatives or unfriendly service center staff. These posts would appear briefly on anonymous communities and then disappear.
We focused on improving service and quality, encouraging the front lines to prevent such problems from actually occurring.
We hoped for results to appear as we had prepared and worked for, without any setbacks.
However, despite the tremendous interest in the advertisement, sales only increased slightly.
It was hard to gauge whose disappointment was greater.
It was just that expectations had been too high, not that Crop Five was a wrong choice as advertising models.
As if to prove this, Crop Five received even more advertising offers afterward and accepted some of them.
One single advertisement was hugely successful, with sales skyrocketing by over 1,200% within a month of its launch, helping that company achieve the number one market share in the industry.
The more this happened, the more the Crop Five members seemed to feel sorry toward us.
Even though there was absolutely no reason for them to feel that way.
Then one day, Seo Irun called me with an excited voice.
—Hyung. I’ve thought of something incredible!
“Yeah, put it back. There’s hardly ever been a time when you had a truly good idea when using that voice.”
—Aw, no. This time it’s real, I’m telling you! Listen.
And then he started talking before I could stop him.
—We should do live commerce. We’ll all appear. Since it would be too chaotic for all five of us to go at once, we’ll each go one at a time. We’ll broadcast for about an hour each.
“Live commerce?”
It was a newly spotlighted platform with lower fees than traditional home shopping channels, allowing for bigger discounts, and the ability for consumers to communicate with the hosts in real-time was also highlighted as a major advantage.
Cases of increased sales through live commerce had been steadily emerging, but Seyoung Electronics had not been actively involved in that area.
The opinion had been to observe the market situation a bit longer, but the moment I heard Seo Irun’s words, I had a feeling this was our opportunity.
Coincidentally, we had an appropriate channel too.
Seyoung Media.
There had been a disconnect between what Seyoung Media had been doing and live commerce.
But just because it was an untrodden path didn’t mean we should never take it, so I thought about actively utilizing Seyoung Media.
If Crop Five would help, it was an opportunity for us.
I hung up the phone and told Noona about it, and she slowly nodded.
“Yes. Let’s try it. If we just keep calculating, we might miss the timing forever. This could work. Live commerce.”
I didn’t think that just because others had achieved good results with live commerce, we would necessarily succeed too.
When I said that it wasn’t because of live commerce but because of Crop Five that there was potential, Noona burst out laughing and said she understood what I meant.
The rumor that Crop Five would do live commerce spread instantly.
People treated it lightly, saying Crop Five must have accepted the live commerce offer out of loyalty.
Some even said that if Crop Five couldn’t save Seyoung Electronics this time as a relief pitcher, then Seyoung Electronics should just leave the appliance industry.
There were also people who criticized both Seyoung Electronics and Crop Five together, making me wonder if I had unnecessarily dragged the guys into this.
But even if I told them not to do it now, they weren’t the type to listen.
—Hyung, don’t worry. Instead, grant a wish to whoever brings in the most sales.
Seo Irun, who called me before I could contact him, made this suggestion while saying what I had been worried about.
I recalled that we had done something like this before and smiled.
“What’s your wish?”
—I’ll let you know when the time comes.
I thought about the wishes the guys had mentioned before and laughed.
“If you mention the same kind of wish as before, I can’t grant it.”
—Let’s talk about that when the time comes. We don’t even know who will win yet.
He was truly unpredictable.
Suddenly thinking of Han Sijin, I called him and told him about it, and Han Sijin burst into laughter for quite a while.
“What’s going on? Do you know about this too?”
—Just grant it, Hyung. Say you will. That way everyone will work hard.
They were about to leave for a world tour soon.
They might be able to come back occasionally, but the situation where I could go see them whenever I wanted was coming to an end.
With their limited time, how could I not grant one wish from members who were willing to do live commerce for us by squeezing out their precious time?
“Alright. Let’s do that. You tell the members.”
—Hyung said so.
His voice was full of laughter.
What could he be thinking to be like that?
