Chapter 82:
Chapter 82
Do we have to do this for the whole month?
“Look at what’s written on the door. Can you all see it?”
“We have our own waiting room.”
The members were excited by the ‘AWY’ letters on the door.
“Let’s… open it.”
As Lee Joo-hyuk opened the door, the members sang the background music of a variety show that had changed their house interior.
“Wow, it’s bigger than I thought.”
“Was Kim Myung-jin hyung already here?”
The waiting room was already occupied by the staff from their agency, and Kim Myung-jin, their road manager, was putting some snacks on the table.
“We can all lie down and still have space left.”
Ian sat down on a chair and looked around.
It was a private waiting room that they had never had even in their Diamond days.
Before, they had used a shared partitioned waiting room where the members could barely curl up and lie down.
Because of the limited space, the staff had to wait in the car or in the hallway.
The members who had felt uncomfortable about that gave thumbs up to the staff.
“If this is how it is today, tomorrow will be even more insane, right?”
“I heard from MOM that M company is on a different level.”
“Really?”
There was a rumor that M company’s music show had the best waiting rooms among all the broadcasters.
They had spacious rooms and even beds.
“Can we be loud then? Should we play games?”
“I think the soundproofing is weak. If we’re noisy, we’ll blow up this place. It’ll be a nuisance to others.”
Jo Tae-woong and Kim Joo-young’s conversation was interrupted by Park Dong-soo, who was helping Kim Myung-jin with the snacks.
“Guys, don’t be loud in the waiting room or in the hallway.”
“Yes.”
“Do you all like it so much?”
“Of course. Isn’t it amazing that we have our own waiting room at our seniority?”
Jo Tae-woong smiled brightly. ‘Well, it’s faster than Black Rush.’ Park Dong-soo also smiled as if he had gotten the waiting room himself.
The private waiting rooms were usually assigned according to seniority unless you were very popular.
AWY was not yet at that level of seniority.
They got it purely because of their popularity.
“Guys, we should go out soon.”
Park Dong-soo opened the door after checking his phone.
“Is it already here?”
“That was fast. Take lots of pictures in front of the car.”
The members jumped up and followed Park Dong-soo outside.
There was a coffee truck parked on the roadside, with a large group photo of AWY printed on a banner.
“The car is bigger than I expected.”
Park Seo-dam walked around the car and admired it. The banner said ‘AWY fans~ Thank you for coming to cheer us!’
The first thing that AWY members wanted to do when they got paid was ‘to give back to their fans’. The members planned a coffee truck event with the help of their manager.
“I’ll have an americano.”
“I’ll have a kiwi juice.”
They didn’t accept any food support from their fans on the day of the event. The coffee truck prepared not only for the fans but also for the members and staff. The menu was coffee, juice, and sandwiches.
“There are our photos on the cup holders too.”
“Can we have some unreleased photo cards too?”
The plan was to give out snacks, drinks, and signed photo cards that were not available to the public.
“Guys, let’s get in position. We need to post this on our SNS right away.”
The members each held a drink and a sandwich and posed in front of the coffee truck.
“That’s good. Let’s go inside before the fans see us.”
“Hold on a second.”
The photos they took were not uploaded by themselves, but by the SNS promotion staff.
“This is my spot.”
“Hey! Move it!”
“Go somewhere else.”
“This is the best background, you know.”
Kim Joo-young and Jo Tae-woong argued and fought over the spot.
Ian laughed as he took a picture of the scene, and behind him, Lee Joo-hyuk was taking a picture of the three same-aged members from afar.
“What kind of framed composition is this?”
Park Dong-soo looked at the other side and saw that the other members were also taking selfies non-stop.
They even changed the filter apps and took them very carefully, but Park Dong-soo shook his head at the mess.
They were crazy about betting.
“Are you still doing that? Is it meat again this time?”
“This time we bet on a prize. Wireless earphones.”
“That’s cool? I won’t stop you since it’s a good thing for us, but don’t spam with meaningless content.”
These days, the members were betting on ‘who goes to the fan cafe more often and writes posts’.
The one who had the most visits, posts, and comments combined was the winner of the bet, and the fans loved the flood of spoilers.
***
When they had to use a shared partition waiting room, they were rookies, so they tried to be quiet and not bother other teams by sleeping or playing games on their phones.
But the atmosphere of the solo waiting room was quite different.
As they passed by the hallway after taking pictures of the coffee truck support, they saw people gossiping about other celebrities, people who took off their tops without hesitation and walked around outside the waiting room.
“They’re so… free.”
Lee Joo-hyuk chuckled as he closed the door of the waiting room.
“…Let’s not do that.”
It was a hallway where entertainment industry staff also walked around, so they didn’t know what kind of rumors would come out.
The other members nodded.
They quickly ate the snacks they got from the coffee truck and lay down.
“I’m bored. What should we do?”
“Mafia call?”
“That will make us 100% noisy… Let’s just sleep.”
They slept the same even in a solo waiting room. A little later, Ian woke up from his sleep feeling noisy.
“…What is it?”
“I woke up because of this too.”
Kim Joo-young gestured to the direction of the next waiting room.
“They’re fighting next door?”
“If they’re going to fight, they should do it outside. Why are they hitting the wall too?”
Kim Hyun got up with a frown.
“We did well not playing mafia earlier. The soundproofing is really weak.”
Ian muttered blankly as he was still half asleep.
Maybe when you become popular and experienced enough to have a solo waiting room, you lose any sense of shame… An idol who came out of the next room was yelling in the middle of the hallway, ignoring anyone who tried to stop him.
“…So what did you fight about?”
“I think it was about his girlfriend?”
“Girlfriend? He has a girlfriend?”
The members woke up from their sleep and forgot their bad mood as they stuck to the wall near the hallway.
It was always fun to watch other people’s troubles.
***
“I’m worried about their growth, even though it’s a good thing.”
“I didn’t expect them to increase so suddenly either.”
Seo Suryeon, the director of BHL Entertainment, looked at the graph on the monitor.
It was a report on the popularity change of Awi, researched by an employee.
“Is there still some time before the ticket opening?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s make the stage 360 degrees and increase the capacity. How much will that add? How was it for the other group before?”
“About… 1,500 seats, I think.”
“Then let’s do that.”
Seo Suryeon nodded.
The concert booking schedule had to be set in advance at the beginning of the year, but the venue that was booked according to the popularity trend at that time turned out to be too small now.
‘What a pity…’
The more and more often you have concerts, the better.
Seo Suryeon tapped her finger on the desk.
“Let’s also book an encore concert. How’s the booking schedule? The end of the year must be full, right?”
“I’ll check it out.”
“If not, early next year is fine too. Let’s also produce more goods and hurry up with online sales.”
The employee who had more work to do was busy, but it was a happy problem when he thought of the bonus that would be printed on his paycheck.
***
Awi appeared on all music shows except Nnet, and they had no time to rest.
They had a concert after this album promotion, so they prepared for the concert stage whenever they had time.
“This can’t be.”
At dawn, in the dance practice room where the lights were not turned off, Ian screamed while tearing his hair.
“Do we have to do this for two months?”
Kim Hyun looked at the video with disbelief.
“Where did our choreographer go?”
“He must have left early.”
“He was here a while ago… Did he run away?”
Kim Juyeong widened his eyes.
The intense acrobatic moves that were not in this promotion song were revived on the special stage of the concert.
There were even moves that all members had to do.
“How come it’s harder than last time?”
“That’s why you shouldn’t do too well.”
“We’ll have to adjust this later.”
The choreographer, who made them do anything he asked, had put his taste into Awi’s choreography.
Of course, the ones who suffered in the meantime were Kim Juyeong, Kim Hyun, and Ian.
“Where did Taewoong go?”
Park Jinhyuk, who was watching their scream, asked Park Seodam. Park Seodam shrugged his shoulders.
“He’s at vocal lesson. He should be back soon.”
***
“Taewoong, your singing has improved a lot.”
“Really? Teacher, are you just flattering me?”
“No, I’m serious. Why would I flatter you when you keep me up until dawn?”
“Oh, I’m sorry about that…”
Jo Taewoong shrugged his shoulders.
He had been taking vocal lessons from Lee Heejin, a new teacher hired by Park Dongsoo’s request.
She had stayed until this late because Jo Taewoong kept begging her to teach him more.
“You must have practiced a lot…”
“Yian helped me a lot.”
“Yian? Oh, right, you guys study together, don’t you?”
Lee Heejin thought of the other idol groups she had taught.
They were always competing with each other, trying to get more lessons or bragging about their progress.
She felt differently when she saw these two helping each other.
“Your breathing is also better. Did Yian teach you that too?”
“Yes.”
“You could do musicals later if you polish your skills.”
‘She has talent for vocal training too?’ Lee Heejin wondered. Yian was good enough, but what about her?
“Teacher, are you still here? Hey, Jojo, stop bothering the teacher.”
Someone knocked on the vocal lesson room door.
It was Yian. He bowed his head and greeted Lee Heejin, who had been staying up all night.
“I’m sorry. It’s because of our kid…”
“It’s okay. I thought you were his parent.”
“Dad! What’s wrong with me!”
Lee Heejin laughed as she watched Yian and Jo Taewoong act out a scene.
“Teacher, you go ahead.”
Yian opened the door and saw Lee Heejin fiddling with her bag.
“Okay, see you later.”
She left quickly, afraid that Jo Taewoong would hold her back again.
“How long did you hold her that she ran away like that?”
“I had a lot of questions… I should buy her something later.”
“So, what did the teacher say?”
“She said it was okay. She told me to do musicals later.”
“Musicals are good. You can act too.”
Yian had tried to teach Jo Taewoong some musical techniques as a test, and although he was still weak at hitting high notes, he thought he could be useful if he practiced more.
“Do you like it?”
“Yeah.”
Jo Taewoong’s expression brightened noticeably, whether it was because he was happy to be praised or proud of his improvement.
Yian tried to hide his pride and cleared his throat.
“Hey, but we’re screwed. Our choreography is crazy.”
“Really?”
“Can you do a tumbling without touching the floor with your hands?”
“Are you crazy? If I could do that, I would have gone to Taereung.”
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