Chapter 144:
Chapter 144
I think I did well not accepting it.
After the comeback showcase, the members returned to their dorm and had a feast with delivery food.
“What is this, what did you order again?”
“Me me me!”
“Can we eat all of this?”
While Kim Joo-young ran to the door, the members were busy unpacking the delivery food. They ordered as much as they wanted with the card that Lee Byung-heon, the CEO, gave them as a comeback celebration. The table was already full of delivery food, leaving no more space.
“Let’s toast before we eat.”
“Bon appetit.”
They clinked their glasses with Park Jin-hyuk’s.
It was their first stage in front of the fans in months. The members felt good and drank the alcohol in their glasses in one shot.
“It was so nice to have the fans, but the showcase was too short.”
“Yeah, we should have done it for two or three hours.”
“That’s not a showcase, that’s almost a concert.”
Lee Joo-hyuk clapped once and changed the mood.
“Guys, we have a day off tomorrow and a comeback show the day after. Let’s rest well until then.”
“Yeah. You guys worked hard. Especially Joo-young hyung.”
“What are you talking about, your work was already good.”
The members laughed wickedly at Kim Joo-young. His mashup video was more popular than expected. Even a Dutch DJ shared the link to his mashup video.
“I knew he would cause trouble someday.”
“I keep listening to his mashup.”
Kim Joo-young scratched the back of his head awkwardly at the praise from Jo Tae-woong and Ian. While the members didn’t stop eating, Ian was still immersed in the aftermath of the stage and stared blankly at the air with his chin propped up.
‘I enjoyed acting too… but the stage is still the most fun.’
It was their regular comeback day now, but he always felt excited whenever they started their activities. Maybe it was because he had gone through a hopeless period when he didn’t know when their next album would come out.
“Hey, what are you doing? Don’t prop your chin on the table. Eat quickly before I eat everything.”
“Yes mom.”
Kim Joo-young hit his side. Ian quickly picked up his chopsticks.
“Joo-young could be a DJ later.”
“Later? That’s a long way off.”
“Let’s do another mashup for our next activity, Joo-young.”
Ian snorted as he saw the members thinking about their next activity already.
They kept moving their chopsticks while saying a word each. Park Jin-hyuk stopped eating and chewed on his wooden chopstick.
“When are we going to do our own concert and activity next year? Around summer?”
“Probably, why?”
“The trainees are debuting early next year. Joo-hyuk hyung and I asked them for some songs.”
“Well, it’s about time they debuted. Our Joo-hyuk hyung can’t die from overwork.”
“What about me?”
Kim Hyun ignored Park Jin-hyuk’s words and grabbed a chicken. Park Seo-dam comforted the drooping Park Jin-hyuk.
“I thought of our debut when we were on stage earlier.”
They were reminded of their debut because they did their showcase at the same place as their debut showcase.
“We got a song from Se-jun hyung when we debuted too. Now I have to give songs to those kids… It feels weird.”
“Yeah…”
It felt like yesterday when they got a song from Jung Se-jun. Now they all participated in the album work without fail. If they couldn’t compose, they wrote lyrics or choreographed.
The members were lost in thought. They wouldn’t promote two teams at the same time in one agency, so they wondered if their hiatus would be longer until their next album activity.
“Can you believe we only debuted three years ago? Time flies so fast.”
“I remember when we signed our artist contract. Kim Hyun was crying somewhere.”
“Shut up.”
“You have to admit it, Hyun hyung. You were a trainee for over ten years.”
They pretended not to notice Kim Hyun’s embarrassment back then, but now they were close enough to tease each other. They all laughed as they saw Kim Hyun’s face turn red.
“Joo-young and Ian fought too.”
“Sigh… We were so young then.”
Kim Joo-young smiled shamelessly as he received the comeback buff. He put a wooden chopstick on his finger and pretended to smoke like a cigarette.
“By the way, I heard that the trainees haven’t confirmed their debut group yet.”
“Still? They said they would debut in spring?”
“Well, do you know this? There’s a kid who’s like Ian among them.”
“Me?”
“There’s a kid who entered the company last week and got into the debut group right away. If we assume that they debut in spring next year, that’s a debut in three months after joining.”
The members exclaimed and admired. Ian would have debuted in half a year too if his debut with Awi wasn’t delayed because of ‘Project Idol’.
[Jo Tae-woong He knows everything.]
‘That’s right.’
Jo Tae-woong was popular among the company staff and trainees for his friendly personality.
“He’s lucky. Does he have a face like Ian’s?”
“He’s just neat-looking. I heard he’s a main vocal.”
“That’s impressive. But Choi Ian is both handsome and a main vocal.”
“Well, the world is unfair.”
It was not easy to find a main vocal. They had to sing without losing their breath while dancing, and look good on camera.
“I was lucky too.”
After living as a failed idol, he reincarnated into his original body with a handsome face and body, and a strong voice.
According to Park Dong-soo, the agency expected to sell over a million copies of their album. He felt nostalgic when he thought of the Diamond era, when they couldn’t even sell ten thousand copies.
“You’re lucky and talented.”
Jo Tae-woong offered his glass to Ian. Ian spilled some alcohol as he poured it into the empty glass.
“I was jealous of you, you know.”
“Of me? You?”
“Just for a while, when we debuted.”
Jo Tae-woong laughed heartily.
“Really?”
“Why, are you surprised?”
Ian nodded vigorously. Jo Tae-woong played a big role in making him close with the other members when he joined the company. That’s why he was more surprised by his confession.
“You had the shortest training period among us, but you were so skilled. You were the most popular too. And the gifts you received were on another level.”
“That was crazy.”
Kim Joo-young agreed. There was a gap in the beginning, but as the group rose in popularity, they didn’t care about the gifts anymore. They all received so many gifts that they couldn’t compare who got more.
“Really, at first I was a bit? But then I stopped caring.”
“…Well, I was too good.”
Ian was curious about the details, but he decided not to ask and just let it go.
“Oh, come on.”
“I can’t argue with that, so I’m more pissed off.”
The members threw some popcorn and other snacks at Ian as they ate them. Ian caught the popcorn skillfully and stuffed it into his mouth.
“Anyway, we’re a group. It doesn’t matter if one of us is jealous.”
“That’s why I think it was good not to receive gifts.”
“Yeah.”
Lee Joo-hyuk turned on his phone screen and checked the time.
“It’s almost midnight.”
“You know, right? The person who posts late will buy breakfast tomorrow.”
The members entered the fan cafe with serious expressions and looked at the clock alternately, waiting for midnight. Even Park Jin-hyuk checked the server time with his tablet.
“59… Ding!”
“Done.”
The members tapped the register button. Ian went back to the board and saw that his post was the first one.
“Ah! I didn’t copy my post!”
“Okay, Park Seo-dam wins.”
“Ah hyung, I want to eat off the maknae?”
“Isn’t that obvious? How delicious is it to eat off someone?”
Park Jin-hyuk and Jo Tae-woong jumped up and danced weirdly while making noises. Park Seo-dam pouted his lips as he watched the hyungs who were sincere in teasing the maknae.
“Let’s do well this time too.”
Lee Joo-hyuk smiled as he skimmed through the members’ posts on the fan cafe.
-What? Awi won’t receive support from next year? Good
-They ate everything lol
└Your idols still eat like beggars?
└└Nope my idols didn’t receive anything since debut~
-Good for them idols receiving support is creepy
-Awi sold 100k now? Their firepower is weak compared to their influx lol
└No group orders yet yeah offline sales start today
└The album came out yesterday???
└Don’t feed them they keep scratching sb
-Wow Kpop Town exploded wow 270k
└270k???
└What’s going on? Where did the group order explode?
└mc now Haneum Chart exploded too
└Is it bulk buying?
└There will be receipts for group orders so shut up nn
***
After a short break, Awi recorded the Nnet comeback show. The comeback showcase was unusual, but the broadcasting station still proceeded with the recording without an audience.
Awi’s name was still at the top of the music chart as they started their official music show activities.
“Look at this.”
Ian pointed to a name tag attached to the wall. The members exclaimed in admiration.
MC Waiting Room – Park Seodam –
“Is Seodam using it alone?”
“They have separate waiting rooms for MCs here. Awesome.”
“This is the best waiting room ever. We had our own waiting room too when we were rookies, not a partition.”
The members knocked on the waiting room door. The knock sounded more like they were trying to break down the door as six of them banged on it excitedly.
“What… guys!”
“We came to visit.”
“I told you to come quickly because I was bored earlier, why are you coming now?”
“Sorry sorry.”
The members moved aside and passed by Park Seodam to enter the waiting room. There were already staff from their agency inside, but the space was still spacious even with them added. The members opened their mouths in awe.
“Wow, the MC waiting room is really nice.”
“There’s a sink?”
“Wow, crazy, there’s a room over there too.”
The waiting room was indeed the first priority of the broadcasting station. Park Seodam smirked as he watched his hyungs explore the waiting room excitedly.
“You guys should come and use it too.”
“Wow, look at that space. Is this what MC swag is?”
“I’m actually really bored. My neck hurts from watching TV.”
On the TV hanging high on the wall of the waiting room, a late-night talk show ‘Star Radio’ was being rerun.
On the screen, Park Seon, who was appointed as a semi-regular MC of Mykit, was mocking the guest.
“I wonder if Seon is going for that kind of concept.”
“Yeah.”
Park Seon’s personality was well packaged in ‘Idol Game Olympics’, so the reaction was not bad after the Arimpyk broadcast. That’s why he was able to show his face on other shows with his personality character.
Park Seon threw a question that dug up the guest’s past and smirked.
“This is… should I say he found his calling?”
“Wow, I want to hit him just by watching. Is that really the weak-minded Park Seon?”
Cho Taewoong and Kim Juyeong shook their heads at Park Seon’s drastic character change. At that moment, Kim Hyun launched a surprise attack.
“Rock paper scissors or you lose!”
The members reflexively put out their hands. Everyone put out scissors except for Cho Taewoong who had a fist.
“Taewoong, go buy coffee.”
“Crazy. Why did I do that, me from 5 seconds ago.”
Cho Taewoong grabbed his wrist with his fist out and shivered. The members laughed and told him what they wanted to drink.
“Wait wait, am I going alone? I think I’ll need more hands.”
“Oh, we’re picking someone to go with you and Myungjin hyung.”
Ian pushed Cho Taewoong’s back to the door of the waiting room.
“Don’t forget to go with the security hyungs.”
“Shit… I’ll be right back.”
Cho Taewoong opened the door of the waiting room with a sullen face and left with the menu list he had written down diligently.
Ian leaned against the door outside and looked at Kim Myungjin and Cho Taewoong’s backs. As Awi’s popularity increased day by day, so did weird people. Even on their way to private schedules, they somehow got information and suddenly rushed to take pictures of them like paparazzi and proxy photographers. That made him worry a bit.
“It’s just right in front of us, so nothing will happen, right?”
And then something did happen.
This chapter is updat𝙚d by f(r)eewebn(o)vel.com