Chapter 111:
I’m a licensed teacher now.?? Thanks to galaxytl, translator community and readers for your support.?? You helped me pass my exam with confidence. As a token of gratitude, I’ll give 5 chapters each for my novels today. Enjoy??!
Chapter 111
Don’t you feel weird without any cheers?
BHL Entertainment had a trick to prevent their songs from being leaked.
They sent different versions of the songs to each broadcasting station for review. One station would have a brief piano melody at the beginning of the song, while another station would have a guitar melody instead.
“Did it work this time?”
“Yes.”
“So it wasn’t our staff who leaked it…”
Seo Suryeon sighed in relief.
Ever since they entrusted the song producing to Lee Juhyuk and Park Jinhyuk, only less than ten staff members in the company had access to the songs.
“They must have felt guilty and didn’t leak it this time.”
And the method of adding different melodies to each station was not new. It had been used before. So the leaker must have been more careful this time.
“What about the showcase?”
The comeback show that was supposed to be broadcasted on Nnet was already cancelled, so AWY decided to do their own comeback show through Yapp live streaming.
“We can’t do a fan showcase, but we have to do a press showcase… We’ll only invite a few reporters and keep a safe distance…”
Besides, to appease the fans who were suffering from a lack of content due to the pandemic, AWY had also filmed two music videos for their side tracks.
“How’s the live streaming system?”
“We signed a contract with a company, and they’ll start setting it up tomorrow.”
“Good, it’s almost time for the showcase, right? Let’s go monitor it.”
Ian had suggested something else besides the video call fan signing event. It was an online concert. Since the online concert would be paid as well, they decided to build a live streaming system for paid members only.
The reason why things went so smoothly was because of the president’s support.
‘Good! Go ahead!’
That was what Lee Byunghun, the president, said when he heard Ian’s opinion.
***
NEW 1. AWY – Eternity
“We’re number one…”
“Finally!”
On the day of their comeback, AWY finally reached number one on the music chart.
They all checked the ranking together on one phone and jumped in joy.
“Juhyuk and Jinhyuk are gods.”
“You guys sang well too.”
“I wonder if we can stay on the chart for a long time. I hope we can make it to the yearly chart too.”
Lee Juhyuk smiled awkwardly at Jo Taewoong’s words.
“Guys, if you praise us too much, we’ll feel pressured.”
“I don’t. Ouch!”
Lee Juhyuk elbowed Park Jinhyuk’s side. Lee Juhyuk was worried that the members would become complacent or disappointed later if they took number one for granted.
“Sorry to burst your bubble, but our song was good, but it wouldn’t have been possible without our fans. We should think that this is not something natural. What do you think?”
“You’re too considerate, hyung.”
Jo Taewoong shook his head vigorously and then stopped abruptly.
“But you’re right.”
It was good to be humble. The members nodded along with Lee Juhyuk’s words. The managers and Lee Juhyuk smiled contentedly behind them.
“Then, let’s go rock the stage for our fans at home. We are who we are?”
“AWY!”
***
Even if the music shows were held without an audience, they still did pre-recordings. It was for any unexpected situations.
Usually, they did pre-recordings for the first or second week of their comeback, and then performed live without pre-recordings afterwards.
“But if there’s no audience anyway, why do we have to do pre-recordings? Can’t we just skip them?”
Park Jinhyuk said as he got on the van last.
“Right? Maybe they’ll film our whole performance? I heard they also film face cams these days.”
“And we have to stand behind anyway at the end.”
“When they announce the winner? Can we gather as a group then?”
They had some doubts, but they had to follow what the broadcasting station said. AWY, who were in their first week of comeback, headed to the station after taking a nap for pre-recording.
“It’s kind of comfortable that there are no photos.”
Park Jinhyuk said as he got out of the van and walked towards the station.
They kept their commute secret because of the new coronavirus. Thanks to that, they didn’t have to stop by a shop beforehand.
AWY headed to their own waiting room as usual and then went to the stage for the morning rehearsal.
“Hello, sunbaenim! I’m a fan!”
“Hello, thank you.”
A rookie group greeted them politely as they passed by AWY. Ian and the members nodded their heads. The rookie group looked excited as they sat down and watched AWY’s back.
“Who are they? I’ve never seen them before.”
“Are they rookies? They’re making a comeback in this situation?”
Kim Hyun, who was listening to Ian and Kim Joo-young, exclaimed.
“Hey, do you know? Park Sung-hoon debuted.”
“The guy who ate a lot of sweet potatoes from you?”
“Yeah.”
“He was so arrogant, but he finally debuted now.”
Kim Joo-young nodded his head vigorously. He whispered as if he was afraid someone would hear, but the members nearby could hear him well.
“That’s what I’m saying.”
Cho Tae-woong grinned wickedly as if he remembered something. Kim Hyun stepped back from him.
“Why are you laughing like that?”
“Then he will have to greet us, you as seniors, right?”
“Huh? That’s true.”
Kim Hyun looked blank. He didn’t think of that.
What’s wrong with you, bro? You’re not an amateur. Following Cho Tae-woong, Ian also smiled strangely.
“They have a mid-year review here. They do cover stages, and they can cover our songs too, right?”
“Wow, this is refreshing.”
“Hey, that’s a bit…”
Cho Tae-woong gasped at Ian’s words. Kim Hyun made a strange expression.
Park Sung-hoon, who was basking in the halo of President Lim, sang their hit songs that they had already debuted?
“Isn’t that thrilling?”
“Right?”
“Can we start praying from today?”
“Crazy!”
The three laughed gleefully. And Ian didn’t know, but his casual words later became reality.
“Awi, let’s go for rehearsal.”
At the staff’s words, Awi went up on stage. They were so popular that their broadcast order was almost last. Awi lined up and shouted their group slogan.
The main dancers Kim Joo-young and Kim Hyun loosened their bodies by twisting their ankles and Ian stretched his neck as usual.
“Wow, awesome.”
“It’s amazing.”
The other singers who were sitting in the audience uttered an exclamation at Ian’s voice that started the intro of the song with AR playing.
“How can they do such a stage in the morning?”
“I heard from other seniors that they are always like that.”
“They’re crazy.”
The rookie idols admired Awi who did the rehearsal as if it was the real broadcast.
“Should we try that next time?”
It was the moment when they became someone’s role model.
“Touch my bangs, steel bangs.”
“Awesome.”
Kim Joo-young shook his head violently to prevent his bangs from collapsing while dancing with spray on them. His bangs clumped together and flew heavily in the air.
“I’m tired because I couldn’t sleep.”
“Just sit down.”
The good thing about having no fans at the pre-recording was that they didn’t have to worry about the fans.
Awi didn’t have to talk to the fans while waiting on stage, and it was quite comfortable to sit alone without being tired and hearing ‘he doesn’t do fan service’.
“Awi, let’s record.”
The staff with a microphone organized the messy Awi members. AR played and only a few staff members were sitting in the empty seats.
Awi did one stage and monitor, and then recorded again on stage and came down.
Park Seo-dam, who was heading to the waiting room, talked to Ian who was walking next to him.
“Brother, don’t you feel weird without cheering?”
“Yeah, I feel… I don’t have any energy.”
“Right? It feels empty when there’s nothing in front of you.”
[Why? Isn’t it comfortable without fan service?]
Pre-recording seemed to be comfortable without any audience to care about and only looking at the camera, but it was surprisingly uncomfortable. Kim Joo-young and Park Jin-hyuk, who were listening to the conversation behind Ian, said.
“Did you feel that way too? I didn’t have any fun without hearing the fan chants.”
“Why is it so hard? Is it because there are no fans?”
Jin didn’t understand and clicked the shutter, but Ian and the members looked exhausted.
One of the things they felt during the world tour was that performing in front of countless audiences was a great motivation for singers. But they never imagined that they would feel this emptiness even in pre-recording that they had always done.
“I guess fans’ cheering helped more than I thought.”
Lee Joo-hyuk muttered blankly.
***
-Who has a video call fan sign today?
└Yeah Awi
It was finally happening.
The video call fan signing event that the fans had been waiting for.
The group had decided to make some money by doing something new.
Usually, the fan signing events had a limit of 100 people. But for the video call fan signing event, they had to reduce the number of fans to 30 or 50 per session, because it took longer to prepare and connect the calls.
-Did you see the cut for this fan signing event?
-The cut is insane. JONNA is crazy. Why are they like this?
└Maybe it’s because fans from other regions and countries can also participate.
└There are so many foreign fans. I didn’t get in.
Of course, since only a few fans could get in per session, it was mostly based on lining up rather than random selection.
The video call fan signing event was set up as follows: each member would talk to the fan for one minute, and then they would have a group call. In addition, there was also a personal fan signing event that lasted for two or three minutes per fan.
“Oh, are we doing it here?”
“We rented the whole place.”
The agency’s conference room looked too dull for the occasion, so they rented a cafe instead.
“Wow, look at these fan signing items.”
“If I run out of things to say, I can use these.”
The video call fan signing event was unfamiliar to both the fans and the singers.
The agency had prepared various items that the fans had brought before, such as soap bubbles, animal headbands, flowers, and so on.
“You just have to plug in your earphones and talk like a normal phone call, but there’s also a speaker connected, so don’t worry.”
It was a safety measure to prevent any weird fans from saying something inappropriate. Lee Joo-hyuk, who was sitting next to Ian, smiled awkwardly.
“But I don’t even do video calls with my friends. Will I be able to do it well?”
“Me too. I only do it with my parents. I can’t treat the fans like my mom and dad.”
Ian scratched his head nervously. The time for the fan signing event was getting closer, and the lights on the tripod in front of them turned on.
“Wow, it’s so bright.”
“This is the kind of light they use for YouTube videos.”
The fan manager checked the list of winners.
The winners were notified of their time slot beforehand, and they had to wait accordingly. Then, the staff would call them using their phone numbers.
“Let’s star.”
“Yes.”
Kim Joo-young, who was first in line, looked at the phone fixed on the tripod with a tense face.
(Hello?)
“Hello!”
(Wow!! Joo-young, hi! Look at this!)
“What? What are you… Aaah!”
The fan had started with a horror filter. Kim Joo-young, who was already weak to horror, screamed.
Ian quickly grabbed the back of Kim Joo-young’s chair that was about to fall over.
“Ah, we didn’t expect this…”
“We should ban filters next time.”
Park Dong-soo tapped his forehead.
They hadn’t anticipated this kind of variable in their first attempt at a video call fan signing event.
“Noona, don’t do that!”
The fan laughed at his reaction, and Kim Joo-young protested with a teary face.
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