The Korean webtoon ‘The Mercenary Enrollment’ achieving 1.5 billion cumulative views worldwide; Popup sales target set at 50 million yen… Plans for future popups with Naver Webtoon
In Tokyo’s Shibuya, the Line Friends Square is located in one of the hottest spots, akin to Gangnam in Korea. The area is bustling with Japanese in unique outfits and travelers from various countries, with the Line Friends Square at its center.
Inside the building, familiar K-pop tunes played, making it seem even busier than the Line Friends store in Gangnam. The first floor was filled with products based on the intellectual property (IP) of BT21, while the second floor was stocked with various items using NewJeans as IP.
In the basement of this building, the first-ever popup store for the webtoon ‘The Mercenary Enrollment,’ titled ‘The Perfect Soldier,’ was launched. This is a major hit, ranking first in annual popularity on the Naver Webtoon’s Japanese service ‘Line Manga’ for 2023 and 2024, with a cumulative global view count of 1.5 billion.
The Korean original webtoon ‘The Mercenary Enrollment’ is an action drama about a former top mercenary who grows through the love of family and friends after enduring harsh times.
Before entering the popup store, there’s a large media zone of about 40 pyeong (approx. 132 square meters) displaying a video summary of ‘The Mercenary Enrollment.’ It offers a media experience that deeply immerses visitors in the characters and the author’s world.
Taiki Tanaka, Line Friends MD and project manager, expressed his hopes for visitors to become immersed in the world of ‘The Mercenary Enrollment’ and enjoy many experiences, leaving satisfied. He mentioned the anticipation for 10,000 customers, which is 1% of domestic readers, to visit the popup store.
The popup store featured over 100 products, including keychains, stands, and tapestries with newly illustrated characters by Rak Hyun for the event. Other items like replica fashion items, office supplies, and employee badges that reflect the three-dimensionality of characters working in the SW Group from the webtoon were also displayed.
Local fans of the webtoon filled their baskets with merchandise from the popup store, where 20-something female customers were notably present. The highest purchase amount per individual was reported to be 70,000 yen.
According to global mobile app research firm data.ai, Line Manga was the top-grossing app in the Japanese app market, including games, as of last May.
Japanese locals visiting the popup revealed that they first encountered webtoons through ‘Line Manga’ and consider discussing webtoons with friends essential. Taiki Tanaka shared that the sales target for this popup is 50 million yen and that they plan to discuss future popups with Naver Webtoon and Line Manga based on the results of this event.