Day 4 after release.
Numbers up to day 3 had already been published.
It had been only a few days, yet to the veterans of this industry the outcome was plain as day.
This one is going to be a hit.
Even someone who knew nothing could see the curve meant success.
On the third day, the audience count had doubled exactly from the day before.
Unless some natural disaster struck, a box-office run was guaranteed.
“Hey, this… really might happen.”
Yes, the weekend was included, but choosing an opening date is part of promotion.
Depending on the slot, competing titles, turnout and final score all change.
“Looks like I really will have to buy that beef dinner.”
Even Koo Il-hwan, famous for few words and nicknamed Stone Buddha for his lack of emotion, chuckled as he added a comment.
“Right, hyung, you said it, didn’t you? If we hit big you would treat us to top-grade hanwoo. Ah, first time in a while we will get some real grease in our bellies.”
“How many blessings at once is this? Il-hwan sunbaenim scores a smash with his comeback, our director returns in glory…”
Only a few days ago people had hushed their voices for fear of jinxing things, but that mood had completely vanished.
How could it not, when the cumulative audience in just three days was already 770,000?
Add today’s day-4 figure and the million mark would be passed with ease.
Everyone threw caution aside and began seriously calculating success.
“Frankly, what I enjoy most now is imagining those reporters who mouthed off at the press conference eating crow.”
The signs were clear not only to the Gwiro team.
Fast-moving media outlets had begun posting articles on the film’s trajectory.
Attention on Rowoon’s public pledge was enormous.
Would they, or would they not, break one million within a week?
Whatever the outcome, public interest itself meant goodwill.
Journalists never missed such a tasty morsel.
“Our youngest really spoke well that day,” someone said, and nods went all around.
They had sat through that minefield of a press event wearing faint smiles, being old hands, yet even they admitted now that inside they had been nettled and annoyed.
“Remember? When Rowoon flatly named the million, figure everyone blinked in a daze. Bet they never imagined someone would say that outright.”
The memory alone made laughter burst out here and there.
“The more I think about it, that one line from him was the master stroke. Without it, we would be buried under the opposite kind of article right now.”
They sighed, imagining the headlines sneering at the audience’s taste.
“Come to think of it, maybe our youngest calculated everything and tossed that remark on purpose. Otherwise, how could things line up so perfectly?”
Curious eyes turned to Rowoon.
It was true. He had done it knowingly, throwing the bait of provocation because he was confident.
If he had not cut them off at that point, the talk would have dragged on and on.
Focus had to stay on the film, because although box-office success was not the whole goal, they needed it to move on to the next stage.
The lure had worked splendidly.
That the original body’s bad image could help at such a moment was something he had never expected.
Of course it would be trouble if the stigma lingered too long, but Rowoon felt sure of himself.
Since he could not explain all that, he only smiled. Luckily the topic soon shifted.
“So, the million is near. What about our pledge?”
“The free hugs, you mean? Would anybody want a cuddle from us old folks?”
“Oh, quit worrying, we have people right here who pull crowds.”
Rowoon expected everyone to look at Kang Chaheon because adding free hugs to his own wager had been Kang’s idea.
Yet something felt odd.
Why are they looking at me, too?
Chaheon had name value and a solid career, so of course the public would welcome him.
But why himself?
“Mm, that could work. Put him in a school uniform and it would be perfect.”
“Ah, someone gets it.”
“My daughter likes that stuff, so I did some research.”
Without consulting Rowoon, the broad outline snapped into place.
“Doing it during the stage-greeting run feels weak.”
“Agreed. What if we set aside a whole day as an event?”
“It should be guerrilla style. If we announce the spot in advance the crowd will be unmanageable.”
“Right, we only hint that free hugs will happen, without saying where.”
The million was already taken as a given.
“Wait, a guerrilla hug event? That is brilliant. Not in one place, but several times in different areas, then we will get varied reactions…”
Director Kim, back from the restroom, joined the late-stage brainstorming. The plan ballooned in an instant.
As people exchanged ideas excitedly, the framework fixed itself and the scheme was completed before anyone knew it.
Listening, Rowoon felt it was less a pledge and more a one-off show.
The actors and staff, having whispered and drafted with glee, now looked at Rowoon, Kang Chaheon and Shim Saero wearing fond expressions.
“Our babies will have a hard time.”
“Hoho, looks like I really must buy a lot of meat.”
Huh? Not only Chaheon but me as well?
“You started it, so you do it too. Always wagging your tail at meeting people, and now trying to back out?”
“My tail…? I do that?”
While Rowoon was stunned by the unexpected word, Kang Chaheon, who had come up unnoticed, slung an arm around his shoulders in a very friendly manner.
“Did you think of sending me alone, buddy? We have to help each other. I helped you, and you would just run off?”
Instinct told Rowoon there was no escape.
The stage tour had been exciting, yes, but only because the audience liked the film.
Free hugs were a different story entirely.
On day 5, the cumulative audience for Gwiro passed one million, a full two days faster than Roun’s seven-day forecast.
That same night, Director Kim posted a new update on his social media.
“Wouldn’t I have the opposite effect if I go?”
The stage greeting was already in its second week.
After this week, the team would rest until week 4, although rest meant filling individual schedules.
The free hug event had been fixed for that break.
Rowoon almost fainted when he saw the finalized schedule, which had morphed from a guerrilla pop-up into a full-day program.
He managed not to faint, and was called to the office for detailed planning, clinging to a last hope.
“Why talk nonsense? If you do not go, who will? And negative effect? I am more afraid it will work too well,” the staff said bluntly.
In that case, why couldn’t they cancel? But since Kang Chaheon had hold of him, Rowoon had to go, no matter what.
What went on in that man’s head was unfathomable.
“But Rowoon, do you ever look at the public response?” the assistant director asked while helping set chairs in the meeting room. He rolled his eyes sideways but could not deny it.
He had never dreamed the response would be this strong.
Frankly, crowds still scared him. It was trauma left from Garion, compounded by the sins the original body had amassed.
Scared, he had let the manager monitor reactions.
He looked so striking, it showed in the sea of fan banners waving for him—and unbelievably, someone had already launched a fan site just for him.
Home-master, a dedicated fan who runs a fan site, is the symbol of success itself. In the idol world, that meant concrete core fandom.
Someone like that attached to him?
Manager proudly showed the legendary tweet, thousands of retweets, of Rowoon wearing animal-ears hairband, smiling into the camera.
That had been the third day of the stage tour, when he first began to feel delight.
The warm reception had melted his caution.
Yet a guerrilla event was another matter. The general public, unrelated to the film, might react unpredictably.
He worried that he might ruin everything at the last moment.
He fretted until the night before, wondering if senior actor Koo Il-hwan or others should take his place.
They laughed and refused, saying young people should do it.
“You’re overthinking this,” Kang Chaheon said. Kang seized him by the scruff and hauled him out.
Even more shocking was the manager, who not only failed to stop Kang but said, “Please take good care of our kid,” and delivered him politely.
That night, a thread was started.
[Life is truly beyond the reach of non-fans…]
Multiple online communities with diverse user bases began to blaze.
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