Chapter 166: That Time I Implemented a Cultural Promotion Policy in South America (4)

TL: Skye

Which of San Marcos's government ministries did the most work, and did it best?

Most people would think of the Ministry of Construction and Housing or the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.

They really did have the heaviest workloads, and they were currently handling the most projects.

The reality, however, was different.

Another ministry worked faster and better than any other in San Marcos: the Ministry of Industry.

What indicator did Yu-jin care about most?

The unemployment rate.

That was why he had personally overseen virtually every policy, from the Libertad Industrial Complex to measures encouraging private industry.

Naturally, that had worked the Ministry of Industry's civil servants to the bone, and now, in the seventh year of his rule, they had become veritable masters of administration.

With that ministry driving the private broadcasting station project, things were bound to move quickly.

And so, three months later.

San Marcos's first private broadcasting station, LBC (Libertad Broadcasting Company), went on air.

Yu-jin had originally offered the position of CEO to Nicolas, the chief reporter at Libertad Daily, but Nicolas had declined, citing the need to preserve journalistic neutrality.

Instead, he recommended a man named Marcelo Aguilar.

A second-generation Salvadoran immigrant.

A former executive at a local TV station in the United States, he was a broadcasting veteran with twelve years in the business.

As it turned out, he was an excellent choice.

As soon as he took office, Marcelo introduced an American-style television production system.

News, talk shows, documentaries, variety shows, and more.

It was an approach that perfectly matched Yu-jin's intention to let San Marcos's culture flourish in as many forms as possible.

One variety show in particular caused quite a stir.

[Find the Master]

The concept was simple.

The program sought out little-known experts from all across San Marcos and showcased their remarkable skills.

The first episode featured a master of the sewing machine: Carmen Soto, a female employee at Taeyang Apparel.

Twenty-seven years old. Five years of sewing experience.

Carmen appeared on TV looking very nervous.

“I-I just do what I normally do, right?”

“Yes, just relax as much as you can.”

The producer reassured her, but Carmen's hands were trembling.

The moment she sat down at the sewing machine, however, she became a different person.

Whirrrrr!

As the sewing machine started up, Carmen's hands moved like the wind.

The fabric flew beneath the needle, forming perfectly straight seams, and she didn't slow down even on the curves.

“Is that for real?”

“Is she doing that without even looking at the fabric?”

A skilled worker usually took about four minutes to finish a T-shirt.

Carmen, however, finished in one minute and forty-seven seconds.

And it was flawless, without a single missed stitch.

“How are you so good at this?”

Carmen smiled shyly and replied.

“I just worked hard, thinking of everything His Excellency has done for me, and this is where it got me.”

The response after the broadcast was explosive.

Carmen's sewing video went viral on social media, which had taken off thanks to the national smartphone project.

It passed five hundred thousand views in a single day.

Considering that San Marcos had a total population of ten million, that was one in twenty people.

And so the variety show earned a 65% rating for its first episode.

Of course, allowances had to be made for the fact that the country only had two channels, but a success was a success.

For episode two, the producer visited a master corn harvester at Tortilla Farm; for episode three, a master fish cleaner at Tortilla Seafood; and for episode four, a master plasterer at Tortilla Construction.

Every one of them worked at a Tortilla Group site, but no one raised any objections.

Where else in San Marcos could such masters be found except at the Tortilla Group?

Naturally, Yu-jin was very pleased with LBC's success.

And LBC had one more stroke of good fortune coming...

The final World Cup qualifiers.

The final World Cup qualifiers for North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Since making it through the regional qualifiers, San Marcos had been struggling in the final qualifiers.

A 3–1 loss to Mexico. A 2–0 loss to the United States.

The football powerhouses were a formidable barrier.

They had a different history, different infrastructure, and a different depth of talent to draw on.

But Coach Kim Hang-seo and his players didn't lose heart.

If anything, they were fired up.

With the announcement of a professional league, public interest in football had exploded.

Football talk filled every street, and noticeably more citizens were walking around in national team jerseys.

Then came the last qualifier, against Honduras.

A win would put them in the playoffs.

LBC broadcast the match.

It was the station's largest live broadcast since its launch.

Marcelo, the CEO, personally oversaw the broadcast, and LBC's entire staff was brought in.

Match day.

Large screens were set up throughout Libertad.

Outdoor watch parties had been organized using the experience gained from the earlier festival.

Seven in the evening.

An hour before the match began, crowds started gathering in front of the large screens.

Citizens in San Marcos's sky-blue jerseys flocked to the screens, waving flags.

A father with a child on his shoulders, young friends linking arms, even a group of middle-aged women carrying Women's Association flags.

It was hard to believe this was the same country where, until recently, the streets had emptied after midnight.

Eight o'clock. Kickoff.

LBC's coverage began.

“Tonight, the final ninety minutes begin, with our fate on the line!”

The first half.

San Marcos and Honduras were locked in a closely fought contest.

Although it had been in decline recently, Honduras was a traditional football powerhouse.

There was a clear difference in class between a country that had reached the World Cup three times and one making its first appearance in the final qualifiers.

But the San Marcos players refused to back down.

Buoyed by the whole nation's attention, they ran their hearts out.

“Please, please, please...”

Tens of thousands watched the match with bated breath in front of Libertad's large screens.

Screams erupted whenever the ball threatened San Marcos's goal, and cheers rose whenever San Marcos attacked.

Halftime.

The score was 0–0.

Then, in the second half, at the 68-minute mark.

San Marcos midfielder Rio Pereira received the ball near the halfway line.

True to his Armydesliga roots, he held off the challenge with his solid build, then lofted the ball.

Tap.

A through ball behind the defensive line.

Striker Rafael Costa immediately broke through the offside trap and sprinted.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Once the speedster, who could run a hundred meters in the ten-second range, hit his stride, the Honduran defenders had no hope of catching him.

A moment later, he was one-on-one with the goalkeeper.

Tens of thousands in front of the large screens rose to their feet at once.

And then.

Swish!

The ball brushed the goalkeeper's fingertips and buried itself in the left corner of the goal.

“Goooooooal!!!!!”

The LBC commentator screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice ringing out through speakers across the country.

Libertad exploded.

“Wooooooo!”

Men roaring in the streets. Women clinging to each other and screaming. A father lifting his child high into the air. An elderly man looked up at the sky with tears streaming down his face.

And the remaining twenty-two minutes were hell.

Honduras launched an all-out assault in search of an equalizer.

The defenders gritted their teeth and ran, while the goalkeeper made saves as if possessed.

When a ball hit the post and went out, tens of thousands of hearts seemed to stop.

Four minutes of stoppage time.

Four minutes felt like four hours.

And finally.

Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeep!

The final whistle rang out.

San Marcos had beaten Honduras and advanced to the playoffs.

Cheers echoed across Libertad's night sky.

“Viva San Marcos! Viva Yu-jin!”

Citizens poured into the streets, embracing one another and crying.

Car horns blared, and fireworks lit up the night sky.

Final rating: 97%.

A result achieved just one month after the station's launch.

*

Another seed of culture sprouted somewhere unexpected.

Following the huge success of the World Cup broadcast, Marcelo, the CEO, found himself facing a pleasant dilemma.

The ratings were there, but the content wasn't.

The news and Find the Master alone couldn't fill a twenty-four-hour schedule.

He wanted to increase original programming, but lacked the staff, equipment, and experience.

With the station not even three months old, churning out original programming was too much to ask.

In the end, Marcelo decided to import foreign content.

But the licensing fees for Hollywood series far exceeded LBC's annual budget.

Content from Latin American countries was reasonably priced, but offered nothing distinctive.

As he wrestled with the problem, some old Korean dramas caught Marcelo's eye.

They were about ten years old, but reasonably priced.

About a thirtieth of what American dramas cost.

Even so, the picture quality and production values were fairly high.

Above all, they offered a glimpse of the homeland of Yu-jin, San Marcos's living god.

Besides, weren't schools even teaching Korean as a second foreign language!

Two birds with one stone.

He immediately contacted a Korean broadcaster and purchased the rights to three dramas.

One romance, one historical drama, and one medical drama.

Once subtitled in Portuguese, they were scheduled for LBC's prime-time slot at 9 p.m.

The first to air was the romance.

A love story set in Seoul between a second-generation chaebol heir and his secretary.

It was standard fare in Korea, but an entirely new world to viewers in San Marcos.

“Look at the buildings in that country! They have that many glass buildings?”

“What's that food? It's got all that red stuff piled on top.”

“They say it's food from His Excellency's homeland!”

The drama itself was entertaining, but what truly captivated viewers in San Marcos was its portrayal of Korea.

Gleaming skyscrapers. Clean streets. Glamorous fashion. Café culture. The subway.

“So His Excellency came from a country like that.”

As they watched the drama, viewers pictured Yu-jin's homeland.

The ratings reached 45% in the first week, 58% in the second, and soared to 71% in the third.

Screenshots from the drama circulated on social media, and videos of people mimicking the lead character's lines became popular.

Teenage girls repeating ‘I love you’ in Korean with Portuguese accents.

The word ‘oppa’ began to be heard on the streets of Libertad.

Housewives began asking for red pepper powder at Tortilla Foods stores, saying they wanted to try making kimchi.

All he'd done was set up a broadcasting station, and now Korean dramas were being imported, a Korean-language craze had taken hold, and people were asking for kimchi.

“Wow, I haven't watched a drama in ages. This is fun.”

Yu-jin, too, was completely absorbed in the drama. It had been ages since he'd watched one.

His enjoyment was short-lived, of course.

“Your Excellency, El Salvador has been in touch.”

“Is that so?”

He soon had work to do again.

*****

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