Chapter 9

From 0 to Superstar Chapter 9

Choi Hyun-ji, the head of the planning team for the Elephant series, bowed her head.

“Sigh, what should I do…”

The more she read the comments, the darker her world became. Just a week ago, she was happy thinking about the bonus, but now it seemed she would have to write a report instead of getting a bonus.

“Surely, I won’t get fired… right?”

She had been having good luck lately.

On Friday, after happily finishing work, the instant lottery ticket she bought on the way home won two 50,000 won prizes. Work went well, and the clothes she bought online fit perfectly. The food she ordered late was delivered hot and fresh in just about 15 minutes, and it was so delicious that she thought she might become a regular customer.

She slept soundly without any dreams, woke up early, and finished cleaning the house neatly. She was about to watch a movie that had received good reviews...

Bam! Bam!

The wind blew. It was the beginning of a storm.

When Marketing Team Leader Kang So-ra urgently sent a Banana Talk message, she thought she might have to work over the weekend, which made her frown. But now, she wasn’t sure if it was fortunate or unfortunate that she hadn’t.

> Hyun-ji! Something terrible happened 😭

<What? What happened?

>The LALA we were planning to cast for the CF just uploaded a new video!

LALA was the biggest contributor to the Elephant series' sales over the past week. The formula milk she fed her daughter was one of the Elephant series.

Her video recommending the Elephant series helped the small formula milk company achieve a continuous sell-out for a week.

Not only in Korea, but also in the U.S., U.K., and Australia, parents who watched LALA’s video seemed to buy at least one can.

From online shopping malls to domestic markets, orders flooded in, asking to increase the order quantity as they were sold out.

“So, we increased production...”

Once they understood the reason for the formula milk sell-out, they thought it would sell well for at least three months and suggested increasing production. So, the factory was operating 24/7, but that was a mistake.

>The reason wasn’t the formula milk, but the baby eating video!

After that, Choi Hyun-ji couldn't take her eyes off her laptop. She first watched LALA’s video and then JUN’s video.

Honestly, the baby, according to the male voice, ‘Seo-joon,’ was cute. How could such a beautiful baby exist? It was quite surprising. But this video was the cause?

The situation changed rapidly.

Choi Hyun-ji read the comments on Nertube and checked the mom cafes where her cousin was registered, as well as other sites she was a member of.

By then, the baby eating video had been posted on most sites, and it even made it to the real-time search rankings, albeit at a low rank.

Finally, while browsing through the certification photos taken by moms, Choi Hyun-ji sighed.

“Really?”

It felt like she was under a spell. The reason wasn’t the formula milk but this little baby’s eating video. It was surprising that just two 10-minute videos had such an effect.

>What should we do with our inventory?

Even though it was the weekend, the factory was probably still running hard. The thought of the mountain of formula milk inventory made her dizzy.

Her company, Elephant, was a small but good company that was established to make healthy and good formula milk for babies.

She couldn’t let the company falter.

These days, companies often cast Nertube stars who match the target demographic instead of famous celebrities for their CFs.

So, Elephant also planned to follow this trend and send a proposal to LALA and her daughter.

However, there was something even more impressive than them. Choi Hyun-ji made a decision.

<Let’s do it.

>What?

“Seo-joon, can you help the aunts?”

Choi Hyun-ji clasped her hands and prayed. The fate of the company was in the hands of this little baby.

* * *

“Finally, it’s here!”

Mina’s mom said excitedly. Seo Eun-hye was confused.

“What’s going on?”

“No, Seo-joon’s video was only uploaded three days ago?”

“Originally, you have to ride the trend when it’s popular.”

Proposals flooded in for the Nertube channel [JUN]. The most common were from formula milk companies offering to be promotional models or CF models. Next were baby clothing and shoe companies, and baby-related product companies.

Unable to decide on her own, Seo Eun-hye called the moms.

Meanwhile, unlike his usual habit of playing separately, Seo-joon played with the babies using dolls.

Among the babies, there was a large, fluffy gray bear doll, twice the size of Seo-joon.

* * *

Last weekend evening, after watching Seo-joon’s video, Seo Eun-hye and her husband’s friend, Kim Hee-sang, rushed to their newlywed home.

“Aww, our eating star, Seo-joon!”

“What are you doing here so late?”

The dad, looking dubious, opened the door and held the still energetic Seo-joon. Seo-joon’s eyes were bright, probably because he had a good nap. The mom, who had been bombarded with messages and calls all day, had already fallen asleep.

“A-boo-boo-boo!”

‘Oh, the gift uncle.’

“Seo-joon seems to recognize me now, doesn’t he?”

Kim Hee-sang smiled brightly at Seo-joon, who was waving his arms at him. Lee Min-joon patted Kim Hee-sang’s back.

“What’s going on?”

“Oh, this.”

Kim Hee-sang brought out a box, about twice the size of Seo-joon, from behind the front door.

“Uuuu!!”

‘Oh!! Is it a werewolf in human form? ’

“You, again...”

Lee Min-joon, who was about to comment on what strange thing Kim Hee-sang had brought, was cut off by Kim Hee-sang shaking his head.

“No, not this time! Absolutely not!”

Kim Hee-sang opened the box. Gray fur was visible. There was one doll, and it was a bear.

Seo-joon was disappointed. It was a normal, cute, and gentle bear doll, like the ones babies carry on TV.

It didn’t have sharp teeth or a sharp gaze, and there were no sharp claws on its fingertips. It was really just a bear doll.

‘Oh, Uncle is disappointing.’

“U-boo.”

“...A bear doll?”

Unlike Seo-joon, who was disappointed and slumped in his dad’s arms, Lee Min-joon, with a half-angry expression, picked up the bear doll from the box with his other hand.

“Really? A normal teddy bear?”

“Yes, a normal teddy bear.”

Kim Hee-sang said proudly.

“No, when I was watching Seo-joon’s video, I saw a twin-headed troll behind the chair.”

“...?!”

Lee Min-joon’s face turned pale. Seo-joon, disappointed with his uncle’s gift, thought, ‘Did he play with it and leave it there?’

“No... really? It was there?”

Dropping the bear doll he was holding, Lee Min-joon took out his phone and watched Seo-joon’s video stored in the gallery.

“It’s in the baby food version.”

“Baby food. Baby food.”

While Lee Min-joon was frantically searching through the video, Kim Hee-sang picked up Seo-joon.

Seo-joon’s lips were pouting. Kim Hee-sang noticed this.

“Don’t tell me you’re disappointed because Uncle brought a normal doll?”

“A-boo-boo-boo!”

Seo-joon slapped Kim Hee-sang’s arm. Hmm. Kim Hee-sang understood the meaning.

His friend’s son... already had a firm taste.

“Oh, Seo-joon is disappointed. Uncle hasn’t seen you in a while, hasn’t he?”

‘Lii... eee...?’ He couldn’t understand everything, but he understood the word ‘disappointed.’ Seo-joon’s mood was indeed that.

While Lee Min-joon was searching for the green doll in the video, Kim Hee-sang quietly brought the bear doll that had been thrown on the floor and said to Seo-joon.

“This, if you open the zipper...”

Kim Hee-sang opened the zipper on the bear’s belly, which was hidden by the fur. Inside was a small black doll, like a shadow.

Seo-joon’s eyes widened.

‘No, that’s!’

“A-boo?! A-boo-boo-boo?”

“Yes! This is the doppleganger!”

It was a doppleganger!

The good bear doll was controlled by the evil doppleganger. Seo-joon, surprised by the twist, made an “A-boo-boo-boo” sound and waved his arms.

Kim Hee-sang, who was holding Seo-joon, got hit in the cheek by Seo-joon’s arm but smiled and put the black doll back into the bear’s belly.

“This is a secret between Seo-joon and Uncle. Promise!”

“A-boo!”

Seo-joon, who was put down, hugged the bear doll.

‘No, such a twist bear! Uncle is really amazing!’

While Seo-joon was excited about the doll with a twist, Lee Min-joon was serious. If something went wrong, it could be known worldwide, whether it was the parents’ or the baby’s taste... Anyway, it could be known that they had a strange taste in dolls.

“No, where is it?”

But he couldn’t find it. He watched the video several times at double speed, but the twin-headed troll wasn’t visible.

“It’s right here, under. Green.”

“...This?”

Lee Min-joon looked at where Kim Hee-sang was pointing. On one leg of the baby chair where Seo-joon was sitting, there was a small, green, pixel-like piece, like a piece of bell pepper. Just... a square... green...

Lee Min-joon said softly.

“What is this...?”

“It’s the foot of the twin-headed troll. I was so surprised when I saw it!”

Lee Min-joon made a decision.

“You’re dead today!”

“No! I told you! Because you don’t like such dolls, and when I saw it in Seo-joon’s video, I came right away to tell you!”

“Shut up! It’s night, so be quiet! And you could have not given him such a doll!”

“But Seo-joon really likes it?”

While the dad and uncle had a quiet argument, Seo-joon fell asleep buried in the fluffy bear doll.

* * *

That’s how a seemingly normal bear doll first appeared in Seo-joon’s living room.

The bear doll controlled by the doppleganger was popular, passing the aesthetic test of the babies.

Seo-joon and the babies played with the doll for the first time. They all grabbed the limbs of the large bear doll and played with it.

“First, our Mina likes Elephant formula milk the most. They use all organic and healthy ingredients.”

“Our Ji-yoon likes Aima formula milk. Other formula milk doesn’t seem to agree with him.”

“The twins also like Elephant. I tried it because it’s in large quantities, and it’s good because it helps with bowel movements.”

The moms discussed the proposals while looking at them. Seo Eun-hye shook her head.

“No, it’s not like we’re going to do an ad...”

“This is a trend. Make money and give it to Seo-joon.”

Mina’s mom, who had been scouted for internet ads a few times, looked at the proposals with bright eyes.

“First, let’s exclude formula milk with bad reviews among moms.”

“Yes, Seo-joon’s image is also important.”

The twins’ mom chimed in.

“Also, exclude companies with bad corporate images.”

“Then, exclude these and these.”

“We should choose formula milk that Seo-joon can eat well. If the baby’s face contorts while eating, they’ll have to feed it several times to get a good shot. Seo-joon will suffer if it’s not done in one take.”

Mina’s mom shook her head, remembering a CF shooting scene where a five-year-old child had to drink milk several times.

Seo Eun-hye, already picking out several pages with the help of her grateful friends, added with a smile.

“Seo-joon likes Elephant formula milk. He will eat other formula milk if there’s no other choice, but if there’s Elephant and another brand, he’ll throw a tantrum for Elephant.”

She smiled, remembering Seo-joon’s pouting face and pointing at the yellow elephant on the formula milk can.

“Really?”

Ji-yoon’s mom was surprised.

“No, does he like Elephant that much?”

She had been feeding Ji-yoon a different brand of formula milk. Since her friends and acquaintances were all feeding their babies Elephant formula milk, she wondered if she should switch.

Thinking about it, she had never tried Elephant formula milk because it was from a smaller company and she didn’t trust it.

Mina’s mom nodded.

“Yes, the CEO was a mom who struggled to find suitable formula milk for her baby. Since then, she has been striving to make healthy and good formula milk.”

“I don’t know much about the company, but the ingredients seem similar to other formula milk, and the quantity is more for the price. Considering the amount the twins eat...”

The twins’ mom rubbed her forehead. Seo Eun-hye added.

“I bought and tried the formula milk recommended by mom cafes one by one. Seo-joon liked Elephant the most.”

“Is that so? Should I try it too?”

The word-of-mouth effect was already showing. Mina’s mom smiled at the sight.

“No, the ad effect is already here!”

“Exactly. This way, Seo-joon might sell out everything?!”

“Then, should we go with Elephant?”

Seo Eun-hye said. Despite her hesitation, the decision was quick. As Mina’s mom said, such trends were short-lived. Even if they appeared in ads, models were quickly forgotten if the product was different.

Moreover, if it was any other company, but since it was Elephant, Seo-joon also liked the formula milk. She thought it could be a good memory.

‘If it helps Seo-joon financially, that would be even better.’

“What about Seo-joon’s dad? What does he say?”

“The ad proposal came in, but... he’s still thinking about whether to do it or not.”

“Then, ask Seo-joon’s dad later. Such things should be decided together as a couple.