Chapter 149:
Chapter 149
How about suing them?
AWY, Billboard 200 charting for three consecutive weeks… soaring high in the US
‘Heebin Jang’s’ Kim Chuntaek craze… AWY’s Ian chosen as the global muse for a luxury brand
AWY, Ian’s trendsetting move… Z brand beauty ambassador appointed
“Yes, I like it.”
Ian, dressed in luxury clothes, changed his pose to show off his handbag to the camera. The shutter sound and the camera flash sparkled one after another.
“Good! Let’s wrap it up.”
“Thank you for your hard work!”
Ian bowed his waist slightly. The photo shoot for the luxury brand that lasted for several hours was finally over. Ian tapped his shoulders with a tired face. This pictorial was scheduled to be published in a Chinese magazine.
“Excuse me… can I take a picture with you?”
“Me too!”
People gathered around Ian. The shooting was over, but he had to fulfill the staff’s requests for signatures and selfies before he could leave the studio.
Ian, who changed into casual clothes, followed Kim Myungjin to the parking lot.
“Damn, who leaked it again?”
“Should we run, hyung?”
“Sorry, but we have to.”
Kim Myungjin frowned. Despite being a private schedule, somehow the paparazzi and the fansites were waiting for them.
“They’re here!”
Ian ran past them and quickly got into the car. Kim Myungjin didn’t forget to lock the door as soon as he got in.
“From now on, we have to bring bodyguards even for secret schedules. You did well. Let’s go straight to the company.”
“Hyung, you too. Did you wait long?”
“It’s okay. It’s good to be friendly with the industry people. The real problem is those guys.”
Kim Myungjin gritted his teeth as he saw the fanatical fans through the rearview mirror.
“Wow, it’s going to take a long time to wash this hair.”
Ian touched his front hair that was stiffened by the hair spray.
“What’s left now?”
“We have to film a dance video at the practice room.”
“Again? What version is it this time?”
“The uniform version that you wore when you debuted.”
The uniform version after the suit and hanbok versions. Ian chuckled.
“The kids are probably getting ready at the company. You already have your hair and makeup done, so you just need to change your clothes.”
The uniform that was made by the all-nighter of the debut-era stylist was still considered a legend by the fans. Thanks to that, there were many requests to dance other songs in that outfit, but the company seemed determined to upload various costume versions of dance videos every week.
“Wow, our fans are going to get sick from eating too much fan service.”
“Don’t say that…”
Kim Myungjin sighed as if he couldn’t stop him.
“Don’t look at the internet communities too much and play some games. You had fun doing that ‘Arimpic’ thing, right?”
“I play a lot of games too.”
AWY’s game craze didn’t know how to stop. They played games together with other singers who became close after ‘Arimpic’.
Kim Myungjin glanced at Ian’s face through the room mirror and asked casually.
“…How are you guys doing these days?”
“We? We’re fine. Lately, I feel anxious because it seems like we’re never going to break up…”
“Haha, that’s a good thing. Ian, are you okay? If you need anything, just tell me, okay?”
Ian opened his eyes slightly.
“You’re not curious about our relationship, but about the internet reaction, right?”
“I know very well that you guys are happy… But lately there are more negative reactions…”
“That means our popularity is rising.”
Ian shrugged his shoulders. AWY’s popularity was burning hot both domestically and internationally, and they were slowly being grouped with the top three male idol groups. Along with group ads, Ian was also in high demand thanks to the success of ‘Heebin Jang’.
“I’m fine. We have a lot of fans too.”
“Yeah? That’s good then. Director Seo said he would set up a monitoring team separately.”
“That’s nice.”
And so did the negative reactions.
They couldn’t stand seeing others do well. It wasn’t just rumors and malicious comments that crossed the line. There were also articles that tried to discredit AWY, and it turned out that they were sponsored by a rival sports wear brand that AWY had advertised for.
Of course, the article was taken down within three hours after receiving a flood of complaints from the fans.
“Teacher Heesang said that usually when someone is popular, both fans and haters go crazy.”
“Yeah, that’s true… How is he doing after the surgery?”
“Yes. I have to visit him soon… Are we short on time?”
“Let’s go and check the schedule.”
Kim Heesang had reluctantly gone to the hospital after Ian’s incessant requests for a health checkup, and thanks to that, he was able to find a tumor that had settled in his body.
Kim Heesang cherished Ian more than his real son ever since then.
“Oh, right. The teacher said he wanted to work on music with you after he was discharged from the hospital.”
“What? You’re telling me that now…”
Kim Myungjin turned his head sharply, then realized he was driving and looked back at the road.
Ian, who was in his second round as an idol, was now able to enjoy reading the hate comments. But…
‘Jo Taewoong, I’m worried about him…’
Ian’s expression darkened as he watched Kim Myungjin’s face change drastically. Jo Taewoong’s attitude controversy had flared up and disappeared several times, but he couldn’t help feeling like it was the calm before the storm.
[Don’t let your guard down. These days, the haters are organized, you know? If you take them lightly, you’ll lose your mental stability right away.]
‘I know that.’
There were groups of people who formed gangs on sites like A TV program gallery, private cafes, open chat rooms, and so on.
-Hey, I posted a post about his attitude problem on Ongchang, so comment gggg
-I bought his middle school graduation album lololol
Should I upload it on the board lololol? Should I frame him for school violence? How should I do it?
└Lololol go for it lololol
└How much did you pay for it?
└└20,000 won lol
└└└That’s the price of chicken lol you flexed lololol
-He must have a lot of debt to pay off for his copyright infringement
└He must not be his real mom lol
It wasn’t just galleries, portal sites, or cafes. On SNS like Parangsaeng and Mystagram, where it was easy to create accounts, accounts with basic profile pictures appeared out of nowhere and posted rumor posts that were not verified.
-Did you know that he dated girls when he was young? Lololol
-He was famous in Chungan High School for dating a cheerleader lololol How do Chungan fans feel? Puhaham
-He was notorious for drinking and smoking in Ding Middle School and you guys don’t know lololol
-Let me be blunt, don’t suck up to those assholes and live like a god
They would chat excitedly and RT each other until they saw the lawsuit coming, then they would blow up all their posts and accounts and disappear.
Ordinary people couldn’t understand their way of thinking.
‘It’s true that ignorant people are the scariest when they have faith… But what do they want by doing this? Do they have any faith?’
[Their basic faith is rage. What do you expect from trashy lives? They just live by seeing celebrities who are better than them get screwed.]
Jin answered calmly. Ian looked surprised and stared at him.
[Those losers who live like losers in reality act like they’re the best in the world on the internet. They act like they know everything about the world and give lessons with their good intentions and nagging…]
‘Why are you talking so bluntly? That’s weird… You weren’t like that before?’
[What are you talking about? I’ve always been a righteous person.]
Well… Are you not self-hating? Ian held back what he wanted to say.
[But isn’t it funny that celebrities care about every single thing? Your group is too obsessed with internet reactions.]
‘Yeah, sure. I heard you very well. You’re blaming the victim.’
Ah, of course. I wondered why he said something right for once. Ian rummaged through his belongings and found his earphones.
[Celebrity hate comments are just everyday life. If you don’t like it, don’t look at it. You look at it reluctantly and then cry and whine that you got hate comments. You act pitiful for getting one curse… Hey! I’m not done talking!]
If I talk to him again about hate comments, I’m not human. Ian put his earphones in his ears and turned up the volume. The car that picked him up cornered smoothly and parked in the company parking lot.
‘There shouldn’t be any trouble…’
Ian shook his head vigorously.
‘No, I shouldn’t just sit here like this. I should start making some countermeasures.’
After all, lawsuits should be done without warning, with no agreement after notifying them first.
I don’t know if the other members are suffering inside, even if Ian is mentally trained.
‘First of all… I have to talk to the company separately.’
The company had grown bigger than when they had Black Rushy, and they wouldn’t ignore Ian’s opinion.
They say you have to pull out the horn as soon as it grows, and Ian stood next to Kim Myungjin, who got out of the car.
“Hyung, how about we sue them once?”
“Sue?”
“Yeah, isn’t forming a monitoring team the same as saying we’ll sue them after collecting the hate comments? Let’s do it sooner.”
“That’s true, but…”
Seo Suryeon was planning to contract a law firm as soon as the monitoring team was formed.
But Ian, who said he was fine just a while ago, suddenly brought up the lawsuit.
‘Wait, I saw somewhere that there are cases where the person doesn’t realize it…’
Kim Myungjin’s expression visibly hardened. He grabbed Ian’s shoulders and asked urgently.
“Are you okay? Do you want me to get you a counselor?”
“No, I’m fine…”
“That won’t do. Let’s go to the director right now…”
“Hyung! I’m fine!”
***
The comeback activities of Awi, which lasted for four weeks, were over, but there was still one stage left. It was the year-end stage.
“Brrr, it’s cold.”
“Let’s go inside quickly.”
Awi got off the van and walked briskly into the broadcasting station. They looked around the waiting room, which was fairly large, with a new sense of emotion.
“We’ve grown so much.”
“Who should we invite to play Mafia later?”
“Sounds good.”
The members chuckled and sat on the chairs. They had to wait until the rehearsal.
Kim Myung-jin, who was talking to the staff outside, came into the waiting room.
“Guys, we’re second to last.”
“Really? Wow, did you hear that?”
The members jumped up.
“We’re finally close to the ending.”
“Kavi~ It would have been awesome if we were the real ending.”
Ian asked Kim Myung-jin.
“Who’s the last one?”
“Teacher Lee Nam-jin and Tae-woo.”
“Wow, Tae-woo hyung is also on stage? That’s amazing.”
The trot boom was still going on. They had no chance of winning against Lee Nam-jin, a veteran of the trot world, and Lim Tae-woo, a rising trot star who had a solid fan base in 2049.
‘Lim Tae-woo will be the first to be on the ending.’
Lucky him. Ian smiled contentedly.
The broadcasting station knew very well that idol fancams made money through MyTube. It was because they took all the advertising revenue. The appearance fees for music shows were already meager, and they also ate up the fancam revenue. The broadcasting station was indeed the boss.
So they even filmed rehearsal fancams separately, and they could watch the rehearsal through the TV on the wall outside the stage.
“Where do I hear that familiar melody?”
“Huh? Sky High is doing our song?”
“What?”
Awi members who happened to pass by stopped. They looked at each other and sneaked up to the TV.
“They must be doing a cover stage for rookies.”
“Wait, this is a scenario I’ve seen a lot before.”
Kim Hyun’s head turned to Ian automatically.
“Scary guy.”
Ian, who received the members’ gazes in an instant, smiled awkwardly. It was a moment when he became an unintentional prophet.
“Huh?”
The door of the studio opened and Sky High appeared. They bowed to Awi who they found.
“Hello, seniors!”
“Ah… hello.”
The members felt like they were caught peeking and smiled sheepishly.
“Oh man, you did so well on stage. So we watched you a little bit.”
Park Jin-hyuk said cheekily.
“Yeah, I don’t know whose song it is, but it’s very well made.”
“The song is a masterpiece, seniors.”
“Thank you.”
‘Stop it already.’ Lee Joo-hyuk clenched his teeth and whispered as he poked Park Jin-hyuk and Jo Tae-woong’s sides. They groaned and leaned against the wall with their sides held.
“We’re looking forward to your stage.”
Kim Hyun, whose view was opened because of that, saw Park Sung-hoon standing at the back and smirked.
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