(Coco) Pimmy Park’s Plan

“I won’t do it!!! You can’t force me to!!!” cried out a young girl with bright red hair. She angrily walked away from a man in a black hoodie and mask, standing by a van. This was the latest scandal in Idol Land. The victim, you might be surprised to hear, was allegedly the man, not the girl.

You see, the two people in the viral video I just watched are Pimmy Park of Cherry Plaid, and her poor manager. The story is that Pimmy Park, after insisting on auditioning for a TV drama, refused the role she got because it wasn’t the lead character. A passerby was able to capture a clip of her screaming at her manager, and that’s when things started getting blown out of proportion.

And that was why the very Pimmy Park in question was currently bawling in the corner of the café, with my mother sitting across from her. My mother had gone over to her table to tell her to quiet down (funny coming from her) and ended up awkwardly trying to calm her down. My mother was unusually weak to crying. I felt bad for the girl too. It was probably her first time receiving death threats.

After reading the rest of the article, I went over to her table. “Don’t worry, my mother is good at dealing with death threats,” I greeted her. I gave my mother a meaningful look, and she glared at me, but didn’t say anything. That meant she would handle it. But Pimmy was still crying, face down on the tabletop.

“Look, it’s not that bad. Your fanbase seems to be on your side,” I offered, “There is a bigger story behind this, right?”

Pimmy started saying something in between sobs, “Well...that’s...I…” She looked up.

As soon as she saw my face, she stopped crying. Or maybe she saw my mother’s “I’m uncomfortable so stop crying” face. It usually had the power to make even babies stop crying in fear.

“Oh...Coco…Ms. Park...” She mumbled, staring at us. She sniffled a little, and then looked down at the table.

“FINALLY,” My mother grumbled. She sipped her tea, enjoying the silence.

Pimmy excused herself to the washroom to wash up her face.

A few moments later, she came back, makeup reapplied.

“TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED,” My mother demanded. “BUT MAKE IT FAST,” She added quickly.

Pimmy took a deep breath. “Well, it all started after our latest comeback. I was looking for ways to make our group more popular.”

“Isn’t your group pretty popular already?” I asked. A few of their songs had gotten pretty popular. Popular enough to play in malls, for example. Maybe they weren’t popular internationally, but I was sure that most people in Korea had at least heard the name Cherry Plaid.

Pimmy paused, thinking for a bit, “No actually. Well, what I mean is...do you know my group member’s names?”

Oh. Uhhhhhhhh…

“YOU HAVE GROUP MEMBERS?” My mother asked.

“See, that’s what I mean. Cherry Plaid is my group. People know our songs, and I think they know me, but they don’t actually know my group. Most of our fanbase are my solo stans…”

“I KNOW WHAT CHERRY PLAID IS KID,” My mother corrected her, slightly offended, “I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS YOUR STAGE NAME. ALBEIT, A QUIRKY ONE. EITHER WAY, YOUR COMPANY MUST BE HORRIBLE AT PROMOTIONS.”

“Yeah…” Pimmy nodded sadly, “That’s the problem. My company isn’t even interested in promoting the other members. They say this setup makes them the most money. So I wanted to do something...”

Pimmy explained how she had begged her company to let her and her group members audition for a few TV dramas. Other idols had risen to fame from their acting careers, so it wasn’t a bad idea. If her group did well, it would basically be free promotion for their idol careers. The problem was:

“My company only gave us 1 week of training in acting. They had to pay for it, so they didn’t agree to any more.”

“SO YOU GUYS FAILED THE AUDITIONS,” My mother nodded, as if agreeing with the ones who rejected them.

“Obviously we did. Our acting instructor sucked too! But see, that wasn’t even the biggest problem. We’re just not famous enough. It backfired on us.”

“YOU’RE A ROOKIE GROUP, OF COURSE THAT WOULD HAPPEN. THEY WON’T RISK IT UNLESS YOU’RE REALLY GOOD AT ACTING,” My mother told her.

“Yeah...that’s...well…” Pimmy trailed off. “We...were…but... well-”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN? DON’T GIVE YOURSELF TOO MUCH CREDIT.”

“No, it’s true! I’m not talking about me! Dandelion was really good! Even the scriptwriter said so!!! She was about to get the role, but then, the producer said no. He changed it to me...”

My mother was silent. We could both guess why.

“I’m not even that good at acting. It’s just because I’m more famous...and the producer said...in front of Dandelion, he said…” she started tearing up, “that my face was more-”

“GIVE ME HIS NAME,” My mother said.

“What?”

“GIVE ME THE PRODUCER’S NAME. INSTEAD OF CRYING YOU SHOULD TAKE REVENGE.”

“Wait, Mother,” I stopped her, “That won’t fix the problem right now.” I looked at Pimmy, “What happened after that, is that you refused the role because they picked you for the wrong reasons, right?”

She nodded, “But then my company tried to force me to do it, saying I was wasting this chance. What’s the point anyway? That would just make me popular, not my group…”

“And that’s when that video was taken, then…” I thought for a bit, “Don’t worry, there’s something else we can try.”

------------------------------

A week later:

“SHE’S CRYING. AGAIN.” My mother noted dryly.

My mother did not appreciate people who cried. People who were crying also did not appreciate her. She was not very comforting. I had retired from crying at age 5.

My mother walked up to Pimmy. “WHAT IS IT THIS TIME?”

Pimmy looked up, “Ms. Park...the...the drama scandal…”

“WHAT ABOUT IT? DIDN’T MY COCO’S GENIUS PLAN WORK PERFECTLY?”

It actually did. What Pimmy needed to do was prove her side of the story, so that the public would see that her behaviour could be justified. But obviously, her company wouldn’t let her speak about it on her own. It would ruin their image. But we had a loophole - this café, and the fact that she knows me. Well, actually, the fact that she knows my mother, to be specific.

After my mother threw around her authority a bit, Pimmy was able to use my company’s account to hold a BLIVE livestream press conference. Since my company was pretty famous (thanks to me) she got a lot of viewers, and she was able to get netizens on her side. My mother even got one of her underlings subordinates to bait the producer and secretly record him stating the real reasons Pimmy was picked for the role. Now, the press had changed their tune.

That brings us to the new problem.

“This doesn’t change anything!! Now we’re back to the beginning, and it’s even worse!!!” Pimmy wailed.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN? YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY THAT YOUR HOUSE IS NO LONGER BEING VANDALISED.”

“I...I am happy about that, of course...but...this whole plan was to make my group more popular. Now all that’s happened is I’m more popular.”

It’s true. Now Pimmy was being made into a saint. Everyone praised her for her courage and good character.

“My company got flamed for trying to force me to do the role, and for not promoting our group enough. They deserve that, but now they have even less resources to support my other members with…” Pimmy whimpered.

My mother looked a little irritated. “WELL, BEGGARS CAN’T BE CHOOSERS. YOU MAY BE A LITTLE FAMOUS BUT IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY YOU ARE A BEGGAR.”

Harsh. Funny how my mother hated people crying when she was often the one making people cry. I guess that’s karma. But Pimmy actually stopped crying.

“Then, how do I stop being a beggar?”

“IT WAS A FIGURE OF SPEECH.”

“No, I mean, how can my group become more popular? Clearly my ideas aren’t working…”

She looked up at us expectantly.

“Do you guys have any suggestions? Anything would help,” She pleaded, “Ms. Park, you have so many years of experience, and Coco is the most famous idol in the world. As the best of the best, do you have any expertise you can spare me?”

She was laying it on thick, but I guess that’s what works. My mother’s face softened a little. Very slightly. It was miniscule. Only I would notice.

“I SUPPOSE THERE IS SOMETHING,” she said.

Pimmy’s face lit up. “Thank you! Thank you so much!!!”

“QUIET DOWN KID. I HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING YET.”

Pimmy nodded, embarrassed.

“SHOW ME ONE OF YOUR MUSIC VIDEOS.”

Pimmy took out her phone and showed us her group’s latest comeback. “This is Dandelion, this is Violet and this is Daisy,” she pointed at the screen.

Oops. I thought those were backup dancers. Can you blame me? They barely got any screen time.

My mother watched the video attentively, all the way to the end. As soon as it stopped, she said, “I UNDERSTAND. I KNOW WHAT THE PROBLEM IS.”

“Please tell me!”

“YOUR GROUP IS TERRIBLE.”

“Wha- what…?” Pimmy looked hurt.

“Mother, constructive criticism please?”

“SHE SHOULD BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND. I SAID IT CLEARLY. YOU NEED TO IMPROVE.”

Pimmy recovered a little, “Alright, then what should I do?”

“WELL, FOR STARTERS, EVEN THAT DJ IS BETTER THAN YOU AT STAGE PRESENCE.”

“Wait, but I haven’t even shown you one of our live per-”

“I SAW YOUR PERFORMANCE AT THE TALENT COMPETITION. YOU LOST TO MY COCO. INSTEAD OF TALKING BACK TO ME GO BOTHER THE DJ.”

Pimmy nodded sullenly.

“AFTER THAT, YOU SHOULD SEE THAT OTHER PRICK WHO PLAYS GUITAR. HE IS GOOD AT SINGING, EVEN THOUGH HE IS TERRIBLE AT EVERYTHING ELSE. DON’T LISTEN TO ANYTHING HE SAYS ABOUT ‘ARTISTIC VISION’ THOUGH.”

My mother paused for a bit, looking off to the side.

“AND THEN, GO TO LUCKY FOR LEGAL ADVICE SO YOU CAN STOP PEOPLE FROM SENDING YOU ROADKILL IN THE MAIL NEXT TIME THIS HAPPENS. NOW, COCO WILL TELL YOU THE REST, I MUST EXCUSE MYSELF FOR A BIT.”

“Wait, where are you-” Before I could finish, my mother stood up and walked over to the counter, just as Wabong came out of the kitchen. I sighed.

I turned back to Pimmy, who was diligently writing down what my mother had said.

“So, what my mother has said so far is right. There’s just one more thing I would add in terms of getting more recognition.”

Pimmy nodded vigorously, “You have my full attention.”

I pointed to her phone screen, “Your concept is too generic. It’s true that sometimes going for the cute concept pays more than being experimental, but I think your group would benefit from giving it a try.”

“You are so right! Why didn’t I think of that? You’re so smart!! Only you could’ve thought of that!! No wonder you are the Nation’s Idol hehehe!!” Her face got a little red (?).

This girl seems to have a habit of using insincere flattery. Well, I understand. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to survive in this industry.

I continued, “Lately, after STB did it, storylines have become popular. It works especially well for a group. Basically you have a universe set for your group and most, if not all of your music videos should vaguely advance that storyline. That makes people more invested in your music, and it leaves opportunity for fans to make their own theories, making your fanbase more engaged.”

As I finished, I noticed someone out of the corner of my eye.

Oh. It was Rahim. I felt my breath quicken.

He waved to me. It was to me right? I hadn’t seen him since we ate barbeque together. Maybe he wasn’t waving to me. I looked behind me.

Oh. It was a window.

I quickly waved back. “H-hello…”

God, why did I stutter? Well, at least Rahim didn’t seem to notice. He smiled and went back to stocking the display case.

I sighed and turned back to Pimmy. She looked a little surprised. Ugh. She definitely saw all that didn’t she?

She gave me a small smile and said, “Your friend?”

Aghhhhh!!! How embarrassing...and I didn’t even know how to answer her question. Were we friends? That’s the thing, I’ve never had any ‘friends’ before. Friends are different from fans or juniors or colleagues. Maybe that’s why I kept messing up. Where did all my confidence go?

I decided to ignore her question, and gave her a business smile, “Anyway, as I was saying, you should try out some other concepts.”

She nodded and blushed again. Good. Let’s forget about what just happened.

“For reference you can check out Dream Chaser or Soleil. They’re both girl groups who have done storylines,” I stared at the music video on her phone, which kept replaying.

“Oh, one more thing, “ I added, “There’s something else you can do to make your members stand out more. Try having your members do ‘concepts’ as well.”

“What do you mean?” She tilted her head.

“Right now, you guys are all acting cutesy. Maybe you act differently in your BLIVEs but in case you don’t, I suggest adopting different personas. That way you’ll all have different appeal and the others will have a chance to stand out.”

“Oh…” Pimmy thought for a bit.

“Ohhhh….” She repeated, her eyes glimmering.

------------------------

“And that’s what he said,” Pimmy announced. “So we should all pick new personalities!”

“New personalities...?” Violet repeated.

“So we can finally ditch the annoying aegyo thing right? Thank god!” Dandelion sighed.

“So, we just have to pick ones that are different enough right? Like, tropes?” I turned to Pimmy. But we had already lost her. She was back to gushing over her phone. Apparently Coco had touched it with his finger, so now she was figuring out how to extract his fingerprint and make it a keepsake.

“Let’s just go with our regular personalities then,” Dandelion suggested, “If we exaggerate them enough it’ll work. Violet can be the demure, girl-next-door type, I’ll be the tomboy, Daisy can be the cool, mature one, and Pimmy can be the cutesy one I guess.”

“Wait!” Pimmy turned her attention back to us. “I was already doing the girl crush thing with our old concept. I should just keep doing that.”

“Yeah, but that was still within the cutesy concept,” Violet pointed out, “Plus, Daisy’s the rapper of our group. It makes more sense if she’s the cool type.”

I thought about it for a bit. “No, it’s alright. Pimmy already did that modelling thing, and that one video of her at the fansign went viral...it’s better if we don’t rewrite her personality. The rest of us weren’t really in the public eye that much, so it’s fine if we have a personality change, but people know Pimmy.”

“Alright, then will you be the cutesy one instead?” asked Dandelion.

“Might as well,” I groaned.

“Great!” Pimmy exclaimed. “You have to go all out okay?”

“Okay…?”

Oh boy. I shouldn’t have agreed to that.