Chapter 145:
Chapter 145
Explain.
They had finished their first week of comeback music shows and video call fan sign events without a hitch. It was the second week now.
Awi had decided not to appear on the cable music show on Monday, which gave them some extra time.
(He… hello!)
“Hello. Oh! Long time no see. This is your first time at the video call fan sign, right? What was your name again… It was Lee something.”
(Ye-yes! I’m… Lee Dasol!)
Of course, that also meant they had more fan sign events. Dasol had only been to one face-to-face fan sign before, but she was happy that he still remembered her. She almost bit her tongue.
“You don’t have to be so nervous. Did you have any questions for me?”
(Uh… um well…)
“Well?”
(I forgot my questions… It’s been so long.)
Dasol answered with difficulty and made a sad face. She had prepared many questions beforehand, but when she faced Ian’s face, her mind went blank and she couldn’t say anything.
He wasn’t surprised by this, as there were quite a few fans like that. He smiled mischievously at a sudden idea that flashed in his mind.
“Hmm… then how about I sing a song for you?”
(Uh… yes…!)
Ian cleared his throat and sang a verse of a song. Dasol watched his face and listened to his song with a dazed expression.
“Okay, that’s the end of the song.”
(Wow…)
Dasol clapped her hands as she relaxed a bit.
(Isn’t that too short? Can’t you sing more?)
“I had a reason to sing only a little bit.”
(But what song is that? I’ve never heard it before…)
“That’s right. You’re the first one to hear this song, sis. It’s the OST of ‘Heebin Jang’s Family’ that I recorded at dawn. How do you like it? The OST lineup articles should be out soon…”
(Really?!)
Dasol screamed and pressed her face against the phone screen. As she was about to ask him a question, the phone in front of Ian was being passed to Park Seodam, the next in line. The fan manager had snatched the selfie stick that Ian was holding because he took too much time.
(Kyaaah!)
“Seodam, put on your earphones later.”
“It’s okay, she’s far away from her phone right now.”
Ian handed over the earphones to Seodam and chuckled at her scream.
Ian had finished recording the OST at dawn and asked the drama production team for permission to sing it briefly for the fans as a promotion.
“But can I sing it in advance?”
“They said it’s fine.”
“The song is good. Wait, yes! Are you Jang Minhee, number 23? The last digits… yes, I got it, there can’t be anyone else on the screen. Yes yes…”
The video call fan sign system was that the fan manager would call the winners first to confirm their information and then pass them to the members.
They had to check their faces one by one because of the problem of winners selling their tickets and sending proxies instead. That’s why the video calls took as long as the face-to-face fan signs.
“Sis!”
(Hello. You won the entry to my fan sign event. What name should I write?)
Unlike Dasol who couldn’t ask her prepared questions because of nervousness, Jang Minhee, a veteran K-pop fan, tried to do a reverse fan sign. Of course, Ian, who was an idol for the second time, wasn’t flustered either.
“Please write ‘Ian who missed you so much, sis’.”
(Oh really? No, that’s not it.)
Jang Minhee’s expression quickly relaxed and then she coughed awkwardly and suppressed her rising smile.
(Did you really want to come to my fan sign?)
“Yes, sis, do you remember me? I came before.”
(Oh really?)
“What are you talking about, sis? You’re using forbidden words right now.”
(I can’t do this. This is not easy. How have you been?)
Jang Minhee quickly dropped the reverse fan sign concept. She wanted to talk more with Ian. He had exchanged a few words with her and made a regretful face at the fan manager’s signal.
“I have to pass it on now.”
(I really liked this comeback. I’ll watch the drama live! See you next time!)
“Thank you.”
Ian gave Jang Minhee a skillful fan service and handed over the selfie stick to Park Seodam. He stretched out his arms.
‘Right, I almost forgot to sign again.’
Ian hastily signed the album. He couldn’t make the same mistake of sending it later again.
***
During their comeback activities, Awi’s third anniversary of their debut, December 12th, was in between. The singers who went up on stage for the first place announcement were keeping their distance from each other in groups.
“Yes! The first place is… Awi! Congratulations! Please say a few words!”
“Today is our third anniversary of our debut, so it’s more meaningful and we’re happy to win first place today. We love you, Awi-doms!”
“Our Awi fans! Thank you for the 3rd anniversary gift!”
Lee Ju-hyuk and Jo Tae-woong expressed their gratitude for winning first place, and the encore stage without fans began. They couldn’t slack off on the stage even without an audience. These days, there were many people who criticized their live performance and sincerity based on the encore stage.
“Thank you!”
They couldn’t stop even after the broadcast ended. They had to finish one song while recording the encore fancam. The members bowed to the staff and quickly went down the stage.
‘I wish there were fans.’
Ian looked at the stage with regret. He wanted to celebrate their debut anniversary with the fans on the encore stage.
‘Well, there’s always next year.’
***
They couldn’t celebrate together on site, but they could do it online.
After having a simple dinner, they headed to the company’s practice room to do a Y app live broadcast for their 3rd anniversary. The wall was decorated with balloons and lights by the company staff, and a phone for broadcasting was fixed on a tripod.
“Guys, happy 3rd anniversary!”
“Wow.”
“Did you do all this for us?”
The staff clapped and welcomed the members as they entered.
The broadcast time came, and the members sat in front of the camera and waved their hands.
“Hello, Awi fans!”
-Wow
-Say hello to Indonesia
-Happy 3rd anniversary!!!
-Explain yourselves.
-hi from Brazil
As soon as the broadcast started, the number of viewers and the chat window rose rapidly. They usually started around 8 pm considering the dinner time, but today they started two hours early.
“It’s been a while since we did this as a group, right? Have you all eaten?”
“Did we come too early? Right? We usually start after eating dinner… But we have to go watch ‘Heebin Jang’s Family’ later, so we came early.”
“That’s right. Ian is appearing today. Please watch it live.”
Today was the day when ‘Heebin Jang’s Family’ episode 2 was aired, and episode 2 had Ian’s first appearance scene.
“As expected, we only have our members. Right?”
The members promoted his drama before he did. Ian smiled warmly at them.
They shared their feelings about their 3rd anniversary and revealed some stories before their debut. They also played a mafia game and gained more viewers than before, surpassing 100 million hearts.
-Please read my ID
-Is your mother a bee? She seems to have given birth to honey.
-Explain the attitude controversy
-Are you still friends with Mykit?
-Jo Tae-woong explain the attitude controversy
‘What is this? Attitude controversy?’
What happened while they were doing their schedule? He was curious, but it was better to ignore and bury these things. Ian changed the topic so that the other members wouldn’t notice.
“The company staff prepared this cake for our 3rd anniversary.”
“Wow, a three-tier cake!”
Kim Myung-jin lit up the candles on the cake. Ian went out of the screen and brought the cake to the center of the table.
“Let’s blow out the candles and end the broadcast before we go.”
“Okay.”
“One two three four! Happy 3rd anniversary!”
The members sang a birthday song with changed lyrics and blew out the candles with a loud cheer.
Park Seo-dam habitually picked up the bread knife stuck on the cake plate and cut the cake.
“Wait, don’t cut that…!”
Park Dong-soo’s urgent hand popped out from the corner of the screen.
“What? I already cut it…”
“What’s wrong?”
But it was too late. The members looked at the split cake with a hollow laugh.
“What is this? It’s styrofoam?”
“Ah, what? This wasn’t a cake?”
Park Dong-soo sighed and touched his forehead. He should have told them in advance that it was a model considering how serious they were about food. The members lost their appetite.
“Why is there a bread knife if it’s a model? Is it to make it more realistic?”
“Ah… I wish I left it at the dorm. It’s such a waste. Can’t we glue it back with bond?”
“The coating is all torn up.”
The members looked at each other and laughed helplessly. The Y app chat window was filled with ??? (lol).
“It can be confusing sometimes. Right, everyone?”
“Honestly, this looked too real.”
“Well then… We were Awi who stupidly cut a model cake!”
“See you on the fan cafe! Bye!”
-Why don’t you read my comment, oppa?
-No, don’t go???
-Explain yourself
-Bye!! Happy 3rd anniversary!
The members waved their hands at the camera. Park Dongsoo pressed the end broadcast button and turned off his phone to avoid any possible errors.
“The broadcast is over, guys.”
“Good job, everyone!”
“What about the cake we prepared?”
“Well, these things happen. Let’s go to the dorm.”
The members followed Kim Myungjin to the parking lot. Park Jinhyuk, who was walking ahead, suddenly turned around.
“Did anyone see the comments asking for an explanation of the controversy?”
“I saw them. Taewoong was getting attacked, right?”
“What controversy does he have?”
“I mean, I’ve lived cleanly.”
Jo Taewoong shrugged his shoulders. He had no scandals thanks to his sharp sense and image management since his child actor days. He didn’t even have the common false school violence accusations these days.
“Look it up.”
“What is it?”
The members in the van turned on their phones and searched for Jo Taewoong.
-Jo Taewoong’s attitude, what is this?
The controversy started with a single photo.
It was the day Jo Taewoong lost rock-paper-scissors and had to get drinks for everyone. It was a common eyewitness photo of him handing his card to a cafe part-timer, but the angle of the photo was strangely weird.
-His attitude is trash
-I hated those bastards when I worked part-time???It makes me mad???
-Does it look like he put his card between his fingers?
└I don’t think so, look closely
-If I were the part-timer, I would have frowned whether he was an idol or not??
Jo Taewoong frowned as he zoomed in and out of the photo.
“What is this, I wasn’t rude at all? The angle is weird.”
“How did you hand it over?”
“Me? Like this.”
Jo Taewoong stretched out one hand and put the other hand on his chest. The members looked at the photo again and compared it with Jo Taewoong’s posture.
“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s not easy to be polite like this.”
“But the angle is weird. How can he look so arrogant so perfectly?”
He was standing slightly slanted with one leg relaxed, probably before he adjusted his posture.
And the photo was taken from far away with zoom, so the quality was not good either.
“Honestly, he wouldn’t do that. Is someone making this up?”
“It seems like it. There are so many people who make controversies out of these things.”
“Right, we did this schedule last week and it came out today.”
“It’s not worth responding to. It will disappear soon.”
“These things usually get cleared by CCTV.”
The members chuckled. They only thought that their group was doing well since even such forced controversies were made.
Jo Taewoong also shrugged his shoulders with a nonchalant face.
“I guess so.”
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