Where To? The Question Everyone Is Asking Nowadays
by Yom Syejin for Forbes Korea
Unless you're living off the grid, you probably have heard of Where To?, the fitness app that's taking South Korea by storm.
Although, it's not fair to merely call it a fitness app; social fitness is more fitting. The app's augmented reality (AR) map is great for planning a running route with real time traffic data factored in, and its virtual workouts feature lets you video chat your friends during a sweat session while also tracking your energy output! Whatever you needed from a fitness-minded social media app, Where To? provides.
It all started during a bike ride along the Han River with a friend. Mild sidewalk repair led to a bottleneck at the three kilometre mark, and wouldn't it be nice if there were some sort of app where urban outdoor enthusiasts could warn each other about things like this? Fast forward a few weeks to a chance dinner with a venture capitalist family friend, and Where To? was born.
Within three short years, Where To? became the most popular social fitness app in South Korea. Technological improvements in its core capability, the AR map, were accentuated with a social media platform, a stylish wearables collection (cleverly named Wear Too™), and an impending partnership with Genie that will allow for a seamless and simultaneous group music listening experience during workouts as well.
Where To? completely elevated and upturned people's expectations of what it means to be social and to be fit, and at the center of it all is founder and CEO Choi Siwon. Every innovation, unique partnership, and percentage point of their recently attained 2% market share was helmed by the charismatic and handsome visionary, and he has not ceased to amaze.
A two-percent market share is nothing to scoff at for any hobby company such as Where To?, but to have attained it so quickly and from scratch? Practically unheard of. Two percent of consumers in South Korea either have the app itself or would choose to download it over other competitors' if they were looking to download such an app. 63% of our 52 million population own a smartphone. You can do the math.
Everyone expected Where To? to sponsor some sort of occasion to celebrate the major market milestone. It would be the first large-scale, public event since their launch; and speculation had included everything from a Day to Play campaign for children to a 42km marathon through Seoul.
Instead, Choi announced a gala.
The Two-Percent Event promises an evening of sustainable opulence and new-age elegance. Hosted at Paradise City Chroma, ticket-buyers—a whopping one million won for investors, venture capitalists, and the ilk with similarly pricey various booster packages whereas us normies would pay a more modestly-priced one hundred thousand won—will enjoy the food, music, atmosphere, and visuals. At the same time, Choi hoped to use the opportunity to raise more money.
Not for Where To?, however, which is what most people expected upon hearing the term 'gala': that it would be an investors-and-partners-only occasion to thank them for their patronage and encourage them to continue or bolster their business relationships. No; according to the press release, it's called the Two-Percent Event because Where To? will only keep 2% of the proceeds. Everything else will go towards, wait for it, supporting the children of multicultural families in South Korea.
You read that right. A social fitness tech startup is sponsoring an extravagant evening open for anyone to attend with the humanitarian goal of empowering one of South Korea's most marginalised populations.
Absolutely nothing about this event is something that anyone—myself included!—could have anticipated, but the wild (read: best) part is that it seems to be working for them. I couldn't tell you how ticket sales are doing, but a quick query on your search engine of choice will reveal lack of interest will not be a problem for this event; and you know what they say: social capital is as liquid as cash these days.
All Choi and Where To? have to do is ride the wave to wherever it takes them next.
Siwon loves his job. His days are fast-paced, frantic, and fulfilling; but some days are certainly worse than others.
"Good morning, Choi-sajangnim! Your 8 o'clock is waiting for you in your office."
"Choi-sajangnim, Analytics is ready to present their findings on engagement versus advertising metrics according to district. When can I schedule them in for you?"
"Sorry to interrupt, Choi-sajangnim, but Customer Service reports multiple users within the last six hours experienced inconsistent interface displays when switching from the watch to the phone app or back. Frontend is already working on it, but PR needs your direction for next steps regarding customer redress."
Unfortunately, today is looking like one of those days. Apparently it would be too much to hope that there would be less real-work to do on the same day of the gala.
Siwon fights the urge to run a hand through his hair in anxiety as he tries to focus on Analytics' presentation. He can feel his phone in his pocket buzzing minute after minute with new emails and text messages, and he just knows every single one of those are related to the gala without even looking. It makes him anxious not to be able to respond to any of those people immediately, but he won't let himself. This team worked hard to scrape together the data for which he specifically had requested and to organise it for his consumption. He owes it to them to give him his fullest attention, no matter how hard that is for him right now.
"… So it seems like the districts with high user bases from the onset are the only ones benefiting from increased advertising due to a clustering effect. People are more likely to download our app when someone they know is already using it. To that end, we conclude a brand new marketing strategy in poorly represented districts will work better than increased monetary support for our current marketing strategy. Thank you."
The presenters bow in almost-unison, the visual clue Siwon needed to realise it was finally over. He hurriedly stands up and bows in formality.
"Thank you so much for your presentation. It was very insightful. It seems like the true essence of the matter is about finding that balance in order to reach every potentially interested user."
The Analytics team nods eagerly, pleased with his feedback and his assessment of their findings.
"Work with PR and Marketing so that we can launch a 2.0 on our advertising model. Give them all the demographic information and analysis they'll need to make informed decisions. Thank you again for your hard work today, and I hope to see you tonight at the gala."
He bows one more time and allows them to leave the conference room before him. When the door shuts behind them, he slumps into the nearest chair, needing a moment to himself so that he can face the rest of his day.
Siwon isn't normally like this, he swears. He's just stressed beyond belief. (Not to mention a little hungry. His lunch block was the only otherwise-free moment of the day, so that's when he scheduled the presentation.)
He needs this event to go well. He took a major gamble in diverging so far from people's expectations, and he has the trust of his entire investor's board weighing on his shoulders. If the Two-Percent Event doesn't meet expectations, it'll set Where To? back more than just financially; and everyone knows it.
He almost runs a hand through his hair again, but at the last second he manages to fight it off. Instead, he takes off his silver wire-rimmed glasses and scrubs his hand down his face in frustration.
Forget hair and makeup; he barely has time to change before the gala. If it weren't for a mishap at the dry cleaner's, he'd have even worn his suit to work just to save some time. As it stands, his outfit is just another item on the seemingly endless to-do list for the day; and he's sure he's still forgetting something.
Knock knock. "Choi-sajangnim?"
Siwon is startled out of his seat. "Hi! Yes! How can I help you?"
He finds one of the interns standing slack-jawed at the open door of the conference room, no doubt shocked to see the usually calm and collected CEO in such a state.
"Oh, hello there…" Siwon wracks his brain. "Henry?"
The young man perks up, glad to be recognised. "Yes, sir! It's good to see you again. I'm so sorry to disturb you, but the car to Paradise City Chroma is waiting out front. You're the only passenger yet to be accounted for, so they sent me to find you."
"Ah, yes, of course. Thank you for your diligence," Siwon says appreciatively as he bows his head quickly. He hurriedly collects his (embarrassingly empty) notepad portfolio and coffee mug, drops them off at his office, and follows Henry to the car.
Even as they approach the club, he can see a smattering of activity. Outside the illustrious reflective facade of the building, roadies are setting up the photo-op environment he requested. Between the photographers they hired and the interested journalists they invited, arriving guests will be given the red carpet treatment they deserve for helping contribute to the cause. He hopes people like it.
Inside it is even busier, and the sight of it weirdly puts him at ease. It's an excellent reminder that event preparations are moving forward whether he personally oversees them or not.
After that, it's a flurry of meetings and tours as they survey the final touches of set-up. Catering had a last minute issue with their fish supplier so they will serve halibut instead of sole, but the hors d'oeuvres and other entrees are unaffected. The DJ had no issues with connecting to the club's sound and lights systems. Videographers and photographers have already started collecting behind the scenes set-up footage which they can splice into Where To?'s post-event promotions. A kiosk near the entrance will allow amenable guests to donate more throughout the night—which he desperately hopes will happen.
Ticket sales and booster packages alone didn't raise as much money as he had hoped, even before Where To?'s cut. Their goal is 300 million won, and they're only netting 115 million. Ignoring the financial deficit on the company's end, his heart breaks for those neglected kids and families.
The only saving grace is that they have a good amount of big pockets attending. As long as he works hard and puts his best foot forward, he believes the night will succeed. He won't let himself think of the alternative.
Soon enough, there's nothing left to review; and it's time for him to go pick up his suit, change, and come back. He'll miss some of cocktail hour, but he certainly won't be the last to arrive, which is the best he can hope for.
He buckles himself into the taxi he called for himself, and then his handle phone rings.
"Hello, this is Choi Siwon speaking," he greets into the receiver without checking the contact.
"Yeobo, how nice of you to pick up my call." The caller's honeyed tone does nothing to soothe the very obvious sarcasm. "Was I correct in presuming you would also be picking me up?"
Siwon thuds his head against the carseat. He knew he was forgetting something.
Leeteuk is not the kind of man that tolerates being kept waiting. Siwon is intimately reminded of this fact when he tries his best to break the silence in the car ride back to the event.
"How was your day, hm?"
"It was good."
"Did you eat lunch? Was it delicious?"
"Yes."
"You look great tonight, by the way."
"Thank you."
The propitiation is failing so hard that the chauffeur rolls up the partition just to escape the awkwardness, and that is Siwon's final straw.
"Listen," he starts, voice firmer and despairing. "I am sorry that I made you wait; I didn't mean to. We're already on the way, though, so isn't it a little too much to still be upset? You had all the time you could need to get ready for tonight, we're not going to be late… so please stop being mad at me?" he begs.
Leeteuk turns his stare out the window. "I thought you forgot about me." It's only thanks to their years of marriage that Siwon can hear the vulnerability in Leeteuk's words despite his coolly detached voice, and he mentally kicks himself.
"Leeteuk," he entreats. "I'm sorry."
"So you did." Leeteuk turns accusing eyes on him, and Siwon honestly does not need this right now.
"Yes. I did, but I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, and you know I wouldn't have normally. It's just… It's been non-stop since I got to the office this morning; I didn't get to eat lunch; I'm probably not going to meet tonight's philanthropic target at all, and you know how important the success of this event is to me…"
The touch of Leeteuk's hand on his shoulder pulls Siwon out of his spiraling. "Today was very stressful, wasn't it?" he prompts compassionately.
Siwon nods pitifully, reaching up to grasp Leeteuk's hand in both of his. He looks about as exhausted as he did in the months leading up to Where To?'s launch, and that's saying something.
"Siwon-ah, you don't have to stress yourself out anymore. Just sit back and enjoy your night; I'll take it from here."
Siwon raises his eyes to meet Leeteuk's. The other is wearing contacts, and there are more smile lines now than there were before; but Siwon can still see the man who said 'I do' to him all those years before, the same man he trusts with his whole heart. Surely, he can trust him with his company's reputation as well… so he will.
He can tell Leeteuk is wearing a full face of makeup, so he channels his affection and agreement into a kiss on the knuckles of the hand he's holding. Leeteuk raises his hand to caress Siwon's face with a warm smile, and that's that.
The car pulls up to the red carpet with ten minutes to spare. Leeteuk glances outside before putting on a pair of huge square designer sunglasses. His favourite. "Showtime."
He doesn't wait for Siwon to open his door. Instead, he gracefully steps out of the car and into the sea of camera flashes that erupt at the sight of him, hurting Siwon's eyes with the sudden glare up until the door is summarily shut tight. In comparison, Siwon scrambles out the opposite side passenger door like someone who has never owned limbs before, not that anyone notices with Leeteuk around.
The journalists are eager to talk to him; the cameras cannot stop capturing him from any angle they can; and for good reason. From Leeteuk's dusky rose-dyed hair to his Varvatos shoes, he exudes class and power. This is not the average ticket-holder, and everyone can tell.
Siwon watches by the car as Leeteuk calmly and courteously fields interview questions while simultaneously angling himself for poses, and the coil that's been sitting in his chest all day finally starts to unfurl.
Yes, Leeteuk can take it from here.
Siwon is embodying every inch of the perfect host, making the rounds with guests and swiftly handling any event management concerns that are brought to his attention. When he gets the chance, he actively tries to start a conversation with an investor, a business partner, or some other deep pocket that was interested enough to attend. They've all been pleasant enough, but they all end up the same way.
"Would you like to hear more about the charity The Two-Percent Event is supporting tonight?" he'd eventually broach.
"Go ahead, Choi-sajangnim! …"
"... Though, I do believe I've learned enough about it at this point…"
"... I had a lovely conversation with one of your staff members earlier…"
"... and I am really impressed with the work you're doing here…"
"... I even stopped by and increased my donation a little…"
"... Those poor, poor children!"
It seems like the spirit of giving has already influenced all of his guests tonight. Perhaps saying 'an angel of giving' would be more accurate, he thinks to himself.
He stops by one of the many bars in the club, waiting for a glass of whiskey, where he gets accosted. "Choi-sajangnim! My good man. How are you doing?"
"Nam-huijangnim!" Siwon exclaims in surprise, bowing deeply as soon as his wits hit him. He's the venture capitalist that helped Siwon launch Where To? all that time ago. "I'm so happy to see you here!"
"Of course, of course! How could I miss Where To?'s first major public event?" he effuses.
They grab drinks and move off to the side, catching up on family and business affairs alike. Siwon is very humbled and proud that the man who believed in him and his idea enough came to their event. It feels like a different kind of success.
"I must say, Choi-sajangnim, you surround yourself with the most lovely women," the other brings up.
"Excuse me?"
"I just came back from donating, you see. Someone came up to me and was such a charming, alluring conversation partner… Before I knew it, I was authorising a money order to Where To? for ten million won!" He erupts in hearty laughter, a hand supporting his full stomach and everything. He casts an eye around and says, "Ah, that's her over there."
Siwon looks over. Sure enough, he sees Leeteuk is talking to another potential patron.
From far away, he could see how someone might possibly misconstrue Leeteuk's gender. His hair is just long enough, his face just genteel enough, his build just slim enough… And Siwon knows firsthand how Leeteuk's voice pitches higher when he's speaking with intention, as he must have been all night. The delicate hoop earrings, draped choker necklaces, and black handbag may not have helped either.
"Say, is she your wife?" the VC inquires interestedly. "She mentioned that she doesn't work for Where To? but has vested interest in tonight's success. I can only guess she came here with you."
Siwon's gaze is still trained on Leeteuk, completely smitten with this amazing, capable, dedicated man. He finally looks over to Nam-huijangnim again and smiles. "Actually, I think it's more accurate to say I'm merely his husband. Would you excuse me?" He politely bows his torso before making a beeline for Leeteuk.
"I'm so sorry to interrupt, but could I steal my husband from you for a dance?" he cuts into the conversation. The guest nods agreeably and wanders off, and Leeteuk's charismatic veneer slides off to reveal offense. "Have you lost your mind? One more minute, and I would have secured seven million more won for your philanthropy!"
Siwon gives him a cheesy grin. "Philanthropy, schmilanthropy. Come dance with me instead!" he rhymes, pulling the two of them onto the dance floor. The DJ is playing a happy, shimmery sounding song, perfect for his mood.
He spins Leeteuk out and then into his arms. Despite the adamant confusion on the other's face, he still rests his hands against Siwon's shoulders when Siwon pulls him closer.
"You look oddly happy for someone whose company only made a tad more than 4 million won tonight."
In lieu of an explanation, Siwon simply says, "I love you," matter-of-factly and with joy. He shrugs easily, transitioning the movement into a shimmy that corresponds with the music.
Leeteuk is such a sucker for Siwon's goofy side. "Yeah, okay. I love you, too," he says as he finally joins his husband in his silly little dance.
The Two-Percent Event Was 100-Percent Fun!
by Yom Syejin for Koreaboo
If you weren't at the Paradise City Chroma last night, you weren't anywhere, as far as I'm concerned.
For those living under a rock, social fitness new-kid-on-the-block Where To? held a fancy philanthropic gala that literally anybody could have attended if they wanted to, so you know your girl Syejin was there. I got all the deets, just for you Koreaboos!
[Image. Caption: The Two-Percent Event invitation. (Where To?)]
"An evening of sustainable opulence and new-age elegance." That's what the invite promised, and boy, did they deliver. Even just arriving at the event was an experience and of itself. There was a red carpet setup out front, complete with a wall of cameras, so that you and your friends could strut your stuff, show off your outfit, and feel like a ? star ?. (Click through the slideshow below to see my best approximation of a Hadid sister!)
[Image. Caption: Noona, please never try duck face again. (Koreaboo/Kim Mowoo)]
The inside had a classy, clubby vibe that immediately made you feel like the ultimate inssa. Moderately priced drinks and high-class imaginings of your favourite European and Korean dishes emphasised the fact that the event was meant for anyone to enjoy, not just the hoity-toity big bucks—but I'm sure they had fun, too!
[Image. Caption: See? Rich people are just like us. (Koreaboo/Yom Syejin)]
After a fun night of dinner and dancing, Where To? CEO Choi Siwon went before the crowd thanking everyone for coming, highlighting the charity, and announcing the fundraising total. Listen to what he had to say here:
[Video. Caption: Remarks from Choi Siwon, CEO of Where To?. (Koreaboo/Kim Mowoo)]
So well-spoken, so handsome, so tall ?￢ﾀﾔbut sorry, ladies! He's taken. Earlier in the evening, I got to meet him myself, and we even took a selfie together! When he personally poured me a glass of soju (so manner!), I got a clear sight of a ring on his left fourth finger. Whoever he's married to is so lucky, I'll tell you that.
[Image. Caption: My love from afar. I'll wait for you. (Koreaboo/Yom Syejin)]
And there you have it! Congrats again to Where To?, Choi Siwon, and of course the children of multicultural families in South Korea (who, lbr, are the real winners of the evening) for your 225 million won fundraiser! Next time you throw a party, invite me, okay?