Became The Leader of a Girl Group Destined To Fail - Chapter 240

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 32.

[StillBlue’s Second Full Album ‘Un:muted’ Sells 1.19 Million Copies in First Week, ‘Career High’]
[StillBlue Dominates Music Charts with ‘Blue Burst’… Sweeps Melon Daily #1 and Genie Real-Time #1-5]
[‘Blue Burst’, ‘Saltwater Mine’, ‘Into the Silence’ Chart Domination Success—Where Will StillBlue’s Momentum Lead?]
[Positions #1 Through #3 All Belong to StillBlue, Emerging as New Force in Digital Music]

StillBlue’s domestic streaming performance was nothing short of a career milestone, surpassing every previous achievement.
Where we’d previously managed only one or two tracks within the top five, this time three songs held positions one, two, and three with remarkable stability, while the remaining album tracks settled comfortably within the top twenty.

“Is this a dream?”

Among the members, dazed and transfixed by the charts, Kim Geum was the first to break the silence.

“It’s not a dream.”

Seo Baek-young answered.

“We must all be sharing the same dream together. Otherwise… how could a song I wrote be sitting at number seven right now?”

Yeon Ju-hong’s expression betrayed her disbelief that ‘Pom Pom’, which she had composed and written entirely, had claimed the seventh position.

“Wow. This is seriously insane.”

The members rubbed their eyes in wonder and let out bewildered laughter, yet only Yun Chung remained tense, unable to fully surrender to joy.
Friday, 1 PM—the day StillBlue released their first digital single.
But today was Thursday. Six days had passed since the release, and these numbers showed no signs of declining.
StillBlue had primarily made comebacks on Mondays. Since music broadcasts aired on weekends, launching on Monday—when chart aggregation began—gave them the advantage of accumulating points throughout the week to secure first place in the release week.
This time, however, the target was none other than the Billboard charts, so they had chosen Friday for their comeback to align with Billboard’s aggregation cycle.
However, since the goal this time was none other than the Billboard charts, Geum ended up making her comeback on Friday for Billboard, which begins its count from Friday.

“…I have to make it succeed.”

Only through my unwavering insistence had Friday been set as the comeback date.
The other members didn’t have much desire to be on the Billboard charts.
But it was solely due to Yun Chung’s strong insistence that the comeback date was decided to be Friday.

‘…The members won’t understand why I’m suddenly acting like this.’

They’d probably think I’d caught some American fever, given how unlike me this is.
But believe me… I’m not doing this because I want to.
Yun Chung quietly shed tears within her heart.

‘From now on, the Billboard chart counting period begins….’

Yun Chung tensed up.
The Billboard 200 will announce its top 10 this coming Sunday morning, ten days from now. Since aiming for top 10 from the start is unrealistic, realistically the day of reckoning will be next Tuesday when the full chart drops.
The Billboard Hot 100 also releases its complete results on Tuesday….
The Billboard Hot 100 results come out in full on Tuesday, so…
Six days.
In six days, it will be decided whether Kim Geum can regain her hearing.
Yun Chung took a long, deep breath.
The die has been cast, and all that remained was to focus on the comeback activities and wait.

“Chung-chung.”
“Huh?”

At Kim Geum’s sudden call, Yun Chung lifted her head.

“We got first place! The digital sales are absolutely record-breaking right now—aren’t you happy?”

The other members turned to look at Yun Chung with worried expressions on their faces.
With such a stiff face on such an auspicious day, they looked like they were wondering if she’d eaten something wrong.

“I’m so happy. Happier than anything.”

It was the truth.
I really was happy.
There was just one circumstance that kept me from smiling freely.

“Chung, you’ve been really strange lately, you know that?”

At Seo Baek-young’s words, the other members all nodded their heads vigorously in agreement, and amid their nods, Yun Chung laughed awkwardly, letting out a forced “haha.”
I’d tried my best to hide it.
Looks like I really have no talent for acting.
Maybe I should get private lessons from Ryu Bora about this….

“That’s right. Until now, we only monitored domestic reactions, but this time we’re monitoring overseas responses too.”
“And now I’m watching them study slang just to understand English comments. Do we really have to go that far?!”
“Of course, it would be wonderful if we got good responses from the United States, but it’s not absolutely necessary, is it? Let’s put down some of this burden and think about it more comfortably. We already discussed this before—the US is nice if it happens, but otherwise it’s just a market we can’t control.”

Despite Seo Baek-young’s reassuring words, I couldn’t bring myself to nod in agreement.
Right.
That’s what we said.
Before that Cotton Ball Entity suddenly threw this ridiculous mission at me.
In the end, I forced a bright smile to ease my worried members’ minds.

“I’m sorry, everyone. It’s just… we all worked so hard that I got a little greedy, hoping for good results worldwide. From now on, I’ll let go of that and just be grateful.”

…For now, anyway.

***

“…They’re offering to lobby for you to appear on an American broadcast, and you’re going to refuse?”

Inside the Colors Entertainment Headquarters Conference Room.
Representative Choi Han-jin, Hong President, and I were gathered for a secret meeting.

“Yes.”
-Wait, Yun Chung. Last time you seemed incredibly eager about activities in the United States. Did you suddenly change your mind?

Representative Choi Han-jin looked bewildered, as if he hadn’t expected me to refuse.

-We managed to secure a lobbying opportunity, which is already huge. And you’re going to turn down such a golden plate?

It was true that the broadcast slot Representative Choi had secured was a major talk show even by American standards, so it wasn’t unappealing… but I shook my head once more.

“To appear there, I’d essentially have to give up all the Music Broadcasts this week. That’s not acceptable.”
-Why? There are already plenty of examples of artists who gave up domestic music broadcasts to focus on the US market. Even BunAsh’s Dan-ha solo is proceeding that way—

Is Dan-ha already that popular?
I wore an expression of genuine surprise.

“They can do that because they’ve already established themselves in the United States. But we haven’t. I don’t want to start off with the perception that we got this broadcast through lobbying.”

I continued speaking calmly.

“Rather than that, please put more effort into Apple Music and OTube promotions. These days, that’s far more effective.”
-And you’re focusing your content around TokTik challenges?
“It’s essential these days.”

The choreography for this title track, ‘Blue Burst’, had shifted from the intense, razor-sharp synchronized formations of the past to something more liberated and addictive with a moderate difficulty level—all because of TokTik.
I had been determined to secure mainstream appeal above all else.

‘Because that’s the global trend.’

Of course, I hadn’t chased pure popularity alone. In the end, the most important thing was the fans.
That’s why—the album’s message and lyrics remained focused solely on StillBlue itself. The album’s concept, every single detail.
And the sincerity of my heart that I wanted to convey to the fans.
Compromise where I could, but never surrender on what truly mattered.
That was the one thing I had struggled with most, but ultimately accomplished.

“I want to appear on all the Music Broadcasts. It’s one of the few opportunities for our fans to see our stages.”

Unlike the old trend where artists would appear on Music Broadcasts for 3-4 weeks straight, the current trend was for most idols to appear for only 1-2 weeks, unless they were rookies.
Since StillBlue could only appear for 2 weeks due to various circumstances, I didn’t want to skip even a single day of performances.
During those 2 weeks, I wanted to focus entirely on Music Broadcasts and show the fans a more diverse range of stages.

“Fortunately, the Broadcasting Stations have been considerate enough to allow us to showcase diverse stages. I want to show them through our performances.”

Each Broadcasting Station had allocated time for StillBlue to perform two songs during comeback week.
The title track, ‘Blue Burst’, would always be the foundation, and since I wanted to showcase a different song each broadcast, this proposal had been accepted.

“Well then, I should get going.”

Yun Chung rose from her seat.

“Today’s Sunday, so there’s a Music Broadcast.”
“The Billboard 200 Top 10 results are coming out today too, aren’t they?”

At Hong President’s words, Yun Chung nodded.

“…That’s true, but Top 10 isn’t a position we should be aiming for yet. For now, I just need to see if we can maintain first place on the Music Broadcast this week.”

Today was the last day of the second week.
The goal was simply to hold onto the first-place position I had maintained steadfastly until today.

‘Why am I feeling so unusually nervous today?’

…Was it because of the Billboard 200 announcement?
Yun Chung smiled bitterly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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