Chapter 87:
Chapter 87
It’s not me.
(Unfortunately, AWY is on a world tour, so it’s hard to cancel their schedule right away.)
(That’s too bad.)
(Do you have anyone else in mind besides AWY?)
(Well…)
There was one more person he could think of. But… Lim Tae-woo’s face hardened.
Would he resent me for disappearing without a word? Would he be angry at me for changing my number and going off the grid? But I can’t ignore him any longer.
After a moment of thought, he opened his eyes and said.
(Yong-min. Kim Yong-min, who was in Diamond with me.)
***
“If it’s a long padding ad, are we supposed to do something like this?”
Park Jin-hyuk gestured in the air, pretending to swing a coat that he didn’t even wear.
“And then they’ll add Mount Everest in the background?”
“And the wind will blow from the front and make our hair flutter like this.”
AWY arrived at the shooting site with high expectations, as the clothing brand they were shooting for was a subsidiary of a large corporation.
“The concept of the ad is penguins.”
“Penguins…?”
And their expectations were shattered.
“Yes, do you see that green screen over there? They’ll add the Antarctic background.”
The members, who wore long padding from head to toe, finished the shooting quickly by walking and imitating penguins.
‘It’s not… penguins…’
‘Long padding!’
That was the narration that AWY members had to record later.
What about Everest? The camera that sweeps over the whole body as if flying in the wind?
‘How is it?’
‘It must be fun…?’
The members nodded their heads as they looked at the storyboard of the ad together.
“Next, there will be a short group video of us wearing padding. But this version is a bit crazy.”
“Oh, is there another version?”
“Yes, the other version is just us dancing with our padding on. Coolly.”
There was a non-crazy version too! The members sighed with relief inside.
Anyway, they were only going to film the back of the members walking from afar, so the preparation time was not long.
All they had to do was wrap their bodies carefully with padding.
Ian put on the gray padding that the staff handed him and exclaimed softly.
“Oh, this looks nice, doesn’t it? It’s light.”
“You can take it with you when you’re done.”
“Really?”
“Yes, the head office told us to give it to you as a gift. If you look closely here…”
The staff pointed to the sleeve of Ian’s padding.
There was AWY’s logo embroidered on it.
“It’s one of only seven in the world. That’s what the advertiser asked us to tell you.”
“Wow! Advertiser! Lord!”
The members zipped up their padding to their necks and jumped up and down in their seats, dancing a tribal dance they had seen somewhere.
“It looks expensive and they’re giving it away for free?”
“We have to show them what a real ad model is, don’t we?”
“Let’s wear this in the summer too?”
“Jin-hyuk hyung, that’s too much.”
Anyway, free is good.
The members smiled happily.
A crazy ad would also spread by word of mouth if it was good.
“Don’t we have to make it look like real penguins if we’re going to do it?”
“How do penguins walk?”
“Like this?”
Ian and Jo Tae-woong imitated penguins. They had acting classes where they imitated different animals.
AWY stood on the green screen after checking their movements and rehearsing for the shooting.
“You can just relax and do it. We’ll shoot it many times anyway. Let’s try it once.”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s go. Stand by, cue.”
The members who took their positions at the starting point walked slowly while imitating penguins.
‘Do we really just have to walk like this? It feels boring…’
As Ian thought that, Jo Tae-woong, who was walking behind him, suddenly flapped his arms and stretched his head up to the sky.
“Squawk!”
Ian desperately closed his mouth at the sudden penguin imitation sound. It wasn’t just an imitation, it was too realistic.
‘Hold on… The camera is still rolling…’
But a deflated sound escaped from his closed lips. The other members’ reactions were no different from Ian’s. Kim Hyun, who was walking next to him, had his cheekbones already raised high.
“Cut! Ah, that was great! Do we need to do another take?”
The director shouted “cut” with satisfaction, and the members burst into laughter and rolled on the floor.
Kim Hyun slapped Jo Tae-woong’s shoulder.
“Ah, Jo Tae-woong, you’re hilarious!”
“Don’t make me laugh out of nowhere!”
Jo Tae-woong smiled proudly, having succeeded in making the members laugh again.
“I can’t beat Tae-woong…”
Park Jin-hyuk, who was thinking of something in the corner, ran over to Park Dong-soo.
“Do you guys know this video?”
Park Jin-hyuk took Park Dong-soo’s phone and opened the MyTube app. He searched for “penguin sound”.
A short video showed a penguin falling backwards as it walked peacefully in front of a group of penguins. Then the penguins behind it made a collective crying sound.
“What is this? The penguin sound is so cute!”
“This is fun. Let’s ask if we can shoot this again.”
The director agreed readily. Ian took the role of the falling penguin. AWY finished the crazy version of the shooting without any trouble, and then they also wrapped up the cool version of the shooting that they had been looking forward to in the morning.
“This will be a hot issue when it’s released, right?”
The director smiled contentedly as he watched the footage.
***
After finishing the long padding ad shooting, AWY got on the plane right away. The next city was Singapore. And of course, the tickets were sold out.
“Yes! Are you all having fun?”
The Singaporean fans cheered politely. Then Ian read the script that appeared on the prompter in English.
“*We heard that our Singaporean AWYDOM prepared something for us… Ready? A surprise video?”
The members, including Ian, turned around to look at the screen at the prompter script that was not in the rehearsal.
(We will always be with you.)
The video started with white subtitles on a black background.
It was a fan-edited video of their trainee days, when they were busking as BHL Boys, and their debut and until now.
(From. Singapore AWYDOM.)
The video also showed a compilation of fan cheering videos.
‘Wow… When did they prepare this?’
The video was crude, not made by a professional. But they could clearly feel how much the fans loved them.
Ian felt touched and pressed his chest.
‘I’m happy just by them coming here…’
They were happy just by liking someone, even if they heard ‘they don’t know you’ from others when they said they liked idols.
‘Can I give them back this much?’
Some fans called themselves ‘ATMs with emotions’.
They didn’t ask for much. They just poured unconditional love, money and time for their singers, their celebrities.
They wished they were not a light money-making tool, but a business.
They wanted them to know that fans have emotions too.
They hoped that their existence in the hearts of their favorite idols was not insignificant.
‘Don’t forget.’
Ian vowed again. Don’t take it for granted that these people like me. And I’ll make sure they don’t regret liking me.
***
After the touching Singapore concert, AWY returned to their hotel.
Park Seo-dam and Kim Joo-young had tears in their eyes after watching the fan video, and their eyes were red because of that.
“It was so good in Seoul too.”
Ian, who finally shared a room with Kim Joo-young, the cleaning king, muttered as he lay on his bed.
“Me too…”
Kim Joo-young lay on his bed next to him and stared blankly at the ceiling.
“I wish we could do more than just perform.”
Ian jumped up at Kim Joo-young’s words.
“Why can’t we do more? The best thing is to keep working for a long time without getting into trouble.”
“That’s true.”
“No crime, drugs or dating until our 30s.”
“Ah, dating is a bit… We’re going to become wizards at this rate.”
“It’s okay to be a wizard once in your life, right? How many years left until we become wizards?”
“If I knew this would happen, I would have dated a girlfriend when I was a trainee…”
Ian and Kim Joo-young chatted casually and fell asleep.
***
Ian watched Lim Tae-woo’s broadcast appearances whenever he had time during his tour, and one of them was broadcasted when AWY couldn’t appear due to their schedule.
The special program after ‘The Man of Trot’ was an entertainment program where ‘The Man of Trot’ TOP7 contestants went to meet someone they missed or wanted to see.
‘Huh…? Something looks familiar here?’
Lim Tae-woo, who was going to meet someone he missed, looked nervously outside, and the outside scenery was familiar.
Lim Tae-woo got out of the van with a gift basket. He waved his hand happily at the person who was walking over from the other side.
(Yongmin!)
“Me?!”
[Is that Kim Yongmin?!]
Strictly speaking, I’m not him anymore. Ian pressed his face to the small phone screen.
It was Kim Yongmin, who looked a bit aged but still healthy. Ian felt a strange feeling as he faced his past self across the screen.
(Taewoo, long time no see. I watched ‘The Man of Trot’. You still got it.)
Kim Yongmin smiled brightly with a carefree face. At his smile, Taewoo suddenly burst into tears.
(What? Why are you crying all of a sudden?)
(I’m… I’m sorry for disappearing without a word back then…)
Kim Yongmin laughed out loud and hugged Taewoo.
(Kid… You didn’t cry like this before. Why are you crying now?)
“Exactly…”
Ian twisted his face as if he was about to cry.
He felt unfamiliar with the sight of his former self moving on the screen.
And at this moment, he wanted to be Kim Yongmin again and talk to Taewoo honestly.
After that, Kim Yongmin grilled some charcoal meat for Taewoo, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time, and the real talk time began.
They drank a glass of soju and asked each other about their recent situations.
It was a late-night cable show, so drinking was allowed.
(I knew he would make it. He lived in the practice room all the time during Diamond.)
Kim Yongmin said to the PD.
(Hey, that’s the same for you. He did more than you, PD-nim.)
(Really… I’m glad you made it too.)
At that unexpected remark, Taewoo clenched his mouth and made a walnut chin. He felt like crying again.
(Why did you quit being a celebrity all of a sudden? You had more talent than me.)
(Ah, that’s not true.)
Kim Yongmin smiled bitterly and gulped down a glass of soju. After a long hesitation, Kim Yongmin opened his mouth.
(You cried and said we were hopeless back then.)
(…I did.)
Taewoo fiddled with his soju glass for no reason. He remembered how he went missing without contact after that.
(It’s not us. It’s not you, it’s me who couldn’t do anything in the entertainment industry.)
(Hey, that’s… What are you talking about?)
Maybe it was because his soul had changed. Kim Yongmin didn’t have the obsession with the entertainment industry that he had in the past.
‘That person is no longer me.’
Ian was able to get out of the unfamiliarity as he saw Kim Yongmin’s face that he had shaken off.
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