Chapter 120:
Chapter 120
Don’t call me hyung next time we meet.
(Seon) Guys – 15:46
(Seon) What’s up? – 15:46
(Hyunhyun2) Waiting room – 15:52
(Hyunhyun2) We’ll come to your side – 15:52
Awi and Maikit, who started with a mafia game, met again on a music show after a long time.
Awi headed to the shared partition waiting room where Maikit was.
They met in the hallway and raised their hands above their heads to do a vigorous high-five. Kim Cheolmin of Maikit pointed at Park Jinhyuk’s leg in a cast.
“The lame one is the culprit!”
“Long time no see.”
“Are you okay walking like that, hyung?”
“It’s all healed. I’ll take this off soon.”
Park Jinhyuk smiled. Although he was injured, it wasn’t too serious, so he didn’t feel much pain even when he limped.
“It’s been a while since we were on the same show.”
“I can’t believe you got out of Japan. Choi Ian is scary.”
Park Seon and Kim Cheolmin, who were the same age as Ian, whispered and glanced at him.
“I decided to listen to whatever Ian said as soon as I got off the plane back to Korea.”
Maikit’s leader, Jung Jisu, added more fuel to the fire. Ian rubbed his forehead.
Whether they meant it or not, Maikit and Awi surrounded Ian and clasped their hands together in a praying gesture.
“We believe in you. Choi-men.”
“Choi-men.”
“Joo Hyuk hyung, even you…”
The one who usually stopped them from being too noisy was Lee Joo Hyuk, but since everyone was quietly praying, he joined them in teasing Ian.
“Hello, seniors!”
“Yes, hello.”
They awkwardly let go of their hands and bowed in response to the greeting of a junior singer. Jo Tae Woong widened his eyes as he saw the idols entering the waiting room non-stop.
“Why are there so many people today?”
“There are a lot of multi-member idols these days.”
“It seems like corona has finally died down. I see a lot of comebacks.”
Park Seon leaned against the wall. There were seven members of Awi and five members of Maikit, so they couldn’t stand in the hallway all the time.
“Let’s not do this here and find a corner somewhere.”
“Shall we? Ah, you guys are lucky to have a separate waiting room.”
“Do you want to come to our waiting room?”
“Nah, that’s too far… We have to go on air soon.”
Jung Jisu shook his head at Lee Joo Hyuk’s offer. As they moved to a corner, another junior singer greeted them.
“Hello, seniors!”
“Yes, hello.”
The Awi members mechanically greeted them and then paused for a moment. There was someone they had seen somewhere before in the back.
‘Who is that? I’ve seen that face before…’
The man in the back pushed the person in front of him aside slightly and stood in front of Kim Hyun with a friendly smile.
“Hyun hyung, long time no see.”
Ian put his clenched right fist to his mouth. It was an action to hide his open mouth.
[They’re Sky High.]
‘That guy? Park Sung Hoon from YANG Entertainment.’
Park Sung Hoon looked genuinely happy to see Kim Hyun, as if he had erased his memory of being a beneficiary of manipulation.
Ian exchanged glances with Jo Tae Woong. Jo Tae Woong also had his mouth wide open like Ian. He mouthed without making a sound.
‘Did you hear? Awesome.’
‘How dare he act like he knows him?’
Jin circled around Park Sung Hoon with interest.
[You have to have this kind of thick skin to be an entertainer.]
Jin seemed to like him. He brought popcorn from somewhere and sat on Park Sung Hoon’s shoulder.
Kim Hyun crossed his arms and snickered. Then Park Sung Hoon also laughed.
‘Wow… He’s tough.’
It was a suffocating battle of wills. Kim Joo Young joined Ian’s side and watched the situation with excitement.
“Long time no see. How are you?”
“Yes, hyung. It’s the first time since then.”
“Since then? We’ve exchanged songs, you know. Don’t you know ‘Manipulation’?”
Lee Joo Hyuk led the remaining members of Sky High to a corner, leaving Kim Hyun and Park Sung Hoon to talk. He didn’t really want to stop Kim Hyun.
He also dragged Park Seo Dam, who was standing blankly. Park Seo Dam whispered to him, ‘Can we do this here?’
“Are you doing well? Did you debut for real?”
“It hasn’t been long. You know PD Yeongwoo, right? I got a song from him…”
“Really? PD Yeongwoo is good at picking songs. But President Lim is too much. He kept you in the storage and finally let you debut. You were a trainee for a long time. As long as me, right?”
Maiket was also aware of Kim Hyun’s ‘desperate discernment incident’. He pretended not to notice, but his ears were open to their conversation.
“Speaking of ‘rigging’, I remembered something. The PD of the survival show we did together was also involved in manipulation. The news came out. Did you know?”
At that moment, cracks appeared on Park Seonghun’s face, who had not lost his smile.
‘Wow. Park Seonghun got busted.’
‘Hyunie hyung is so cool.’
‘It’s over. This is Hyunie hyung’s victory.’
The three same-aged members of Awi silently admired and made a gesture of cutting their throats with their hands.
The members of Skyhigh, who were watching the situation, cautiously raised their hands.
“Um… We have to go to the stage now.”
“Oh, really? I guess I held you too long. You have to go to the stage.”
In fact, there was still a lot of time left for the stage, but he said it bravely because Park Seonghun’s expression was not good. Kim Hyun twisted his body and made some space.
“See you next time.”
Starting with Lee Juhyuk, the members of Awi nodded their heads and greeted him. Kim Hyun looked at Park Seonghun’s back heading to the partition waiting room and spoke again.
“By the way, Seonghun.”
“What?”
“Don’t call me hyung next time you see me.”
“…Huh?”
Park Seonghun lost his expression management and looked stupid. Kim Hyun said with a relaxed expression.
“We’re not that close, are we? You should call me senior. That’s what you’re going to call me next time, right?”
The trio opened their mouths wide.
‘This can be considered crazy.’
‘He killed him for sure.’
‘He’s going crazy!’
The reactions of the other members were no different from them. While looking at each other with their eyes as they left Park Seonghun behind, Skyhigh entered the waiting room. Awi and Maiket burst into laughter as they confirmed that the waiting room door was closed.
“Hey, take it easy. The junior must be crushed.”
Lee Juhyuk poked Kim Hyun’s side. Kim Hyun smiled awkwardly with a relieved mind.
“Sorry, I don’t know why I wanted to pick a fight with him.”
“No, hyung, it was a good show.”
“Kim Hyun, he should rap. He raps, right? He already won the diss battle.”
Park Jinhyuk exclaimed and gave him a thumbs up.
He had been fighting all along and Kim Hyun kept cringing. He thought he had let go of the past, but when he saw Park Seonghun’s face, he couldn’t stop his mouth from moving.
Awi and Maiket headed to the end of the hallway and chatted excitedly.
“M company said they would do the Arimpic without an audience, but they ended up doing it as a game broadcast, right?”
“Oh, really? They said there would be a dating signal if they forced it without an audience, but in the end…”
This year’s Chuseok, ‘Idol Olympics’ came as usual and Awi was also scheduled to be on the lineup.
M company couldn’t let go of the Arimpic, which had surprisingly good ratings on holidays, but because of the coronavirus situation, they said they would do it or not, and finally decided to do it without fan attendance.
Fortunately, it changed to an idol game broadcast and there was nothing to worry about.
“I knew it, coronavirus is not over yet.”
Ian’s words made the members of Mykit and Awi stare at him. They clasped their hands together and prayed as if they had rehearsed it.
“Choi-men.”
“Man, he’s gonna be a pain for life.”
How come Mykit, a different team, had such a good chemistry with him? Ian made a sour face. Suddenly, a big man called Mykit from afar.
“Wow, our manager is here. It must be time for the live show. I’ll go first.”
“Already? Crazy, we have to go too. See you in the chat room.”
They scattered and headed to their own waiting rooms.
***
Mykit, who had finished their stage in the front order, had nothing to do until the announcement of the first place, so they headed to the corner of the waiting room. There was a TV installed on one side of the wall in the partitioned waiting room.
On one side, there was a pre-recorded live show, and on the other side, there was a real-time stage that was happening right now.
“Hello.”
“Hello, senior.”
There were already some other singers gathered in front of the TV. Mykit watched Sky High’s stage blankly after watching three teams’ stages in a row.
“As expected, big agencies are different.”
The stage looked like they spent a lot of money because they were from a big agency. And their flashy choreography and song were impressive.
“Huh?”
“He lost his balance.”
The singers who were watching the real-time stage muttered quietly.
On the screen, Park Sung-hoon, who had finished his part, stumbled as he tried to find his formation. And because of that, he bumped shoulders with another member.
“Isn’t this being filmed by a fancam? He’s screwed.”
“There will be pre-recorded fancams uploaded.”
“He was so rude earlier. Serves him right.”
Ji-soo made an awkward expression as he watched the juniors gossiping behind his back.
‘How badly did he act to become public enemy number one?’
And he thought Park Sung-hoon was quite something to elicit such a reaction.
“Awi is almost the last order.”
“They’re the trend.”
Park Seo-dam and Mykit’s youngest line, Lee Chi-hoon and Park Jae-hyung, murmured blankly.
“I wish we could be the last order too…”
“Maybe we can if we get more seniority?”
Awi and Mykit debuted around the same time, but they felt the gap from the broadcast order. Ji-soo smiled bitterly as he watched his younger brothers.
Suddenly, the screen changed and a flashy stage set appeared along with a song description at the bottom of the screen. It was Awi.
“Here they go.”
The other singers seemed to be waiting for Awi’s stage too, as they stared at the TV intently.
“Look at that stage. They spent a lot of money.”
“This place is famous for pushing their singers.”
“I should have gone to BHL.”
“What would change if you did? Didn’t you fail their audition?”
A group of rookie members argued with each other while hitting their shoulders. The other singers ignored them and focused on the live show.
“They’re really good at performing.”
“They have class.”
Awi showed off their flashy choreography and moved to both sides, and then Park Jin-hyuk appeared on a palanquin. The singers uttered a low exclamation of admiration.
***
After the singers’ stages were over, all the performers went up on stage for the first place announcement. Awi, who was the candidate for first place, naturally stood at the front. Someone grabbed Mykit who was about to head to the back row as usual.
“Mykit, stand behind Awi.”
A staff member who knew Awi and Mykit’s friendship quickly came up on stage and sent Mykit right behind Awi.
The camera light came on and the MC proceeded with the first place announcement.
“Yes, this week’s first place is…”
“Awi! Congratulations!”
Fireworks popped and Awi members received trophies, bouquets and microphones from MCs as usual.
“Our Awi fans! It’s all thanks to you!”
“Thank you to our company staff who always care about our stage, our manager hyungs…”
Ji-soo stared blankly at Awi’s back as they spoke their feelings.
‘I envy them…’
They became close through playing mafia games and they got along well like neighborhood friends.
But every time this difference occurred, he felt a distance from Awi members that they were different people.
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
Ji-soo tapped Lee Joo-hyuk’s shoulder.
After Awi’s speech was over, only Awi remained on stage for an encore performance and other performers went down under the stage.
“Congrats bro. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay.”
Kim Chul-min and Jo Tae-woong bumped shoulders and greeted each other. Ji-soo turned around and looked at Awi members who sang perfectly even without an audience for the encore live.
‘I wish I could do that.’
Ji-soo was the last one to go down under the stage.
Mykit had once been number one on cable for robbing empty houses during the Olympics. And after that, they couldn’t even dream of being number one.
They smiled and congratulated them on stage, but when they went down under the stage, they felt an indescribable emptiness. It was because of a bit of jealousy and envy.
“I wish we could be number one on public broadcasting too…”
Park Se-on muttered with a regretful face.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺