Chapter 99:
Chapter 99
No singer seats?
Jin sent him a signal.
A blue dot, indicating that he had seen Ian somewhere before.
‘If he was a male fan, I would have known him…’
Male fans who followed male idols were rare. So even without Jin’s help, he would have remembered his face if he was a male fan.
[He lost a lot of weight from dieting.]
‘Was he a hidden gem? But how did you know?’
[His facial features are amazing, I knew his face would be too if he lost weight. I have a great observation skill.]
‘You’re going to collapse from your own ego. You’re supposed to be a reporter…’
[Hey! I’m a rhyme!]
Ian shook his head vigorously.
****
After finishing the choreography revision for a few days, Awi headed to the Bada Chart Awards.
[They said those two got fired from the company.]
‘Really?’
Ian leaned back on the seat, listening to Jin’s story about the incident a few days ago.
‘What about Im Noeul, our backup dancer? He’s coming too, right?’
[He was the top of the trainee evaluation.]
‘Impressive, huh?’
The Bada Chart Awards this year had many big singers participating, so the venue was the Olympic Park Gymnastics Stadium.
“By the way, there will be no singer seats today.”
The members who were half-asleep opened their eyes wide at Kim Myungjin, the road manager’s words.
“No singer seats?”
“Wow, we don’t have to worry about fancams.”
The fans and homemasters might be disappointed, but from the singer’s perspective, it was not easy to have their every move watched and recorded in real time by the whole audience.
“But there’s an arcade here.”
“An arcade?”
“They said they’re broadcasting the arcade situation on Y app channel. You can go to the waiting room if you’re tired, so it’s better than having a reaction cam like the singer seats.”
Of course, it was better than the singer seats. The broadcast footage would become a content clip, so it was a win-win situation.
“Guys, we’re almost there. Get ready.”
“Yes.”
The members checked their appearance before getting off the van. Their hair was pushed back and their makeup was dark, but their eyes were serious.
Kim Myungjin swallowed his laughter at the sight of them holding princess-style hand mirrors that the makeup director gave them.
“The trend boy group! Awi!”
The red carpet host shouted loudly as Awi got out of the car.
“How long will we be the trend?”
“I want to be called the top next time.”
“Wow, that’s when the community will explode. Who’s the top? Are they good enough to be called the top? They’ll say that.”
Lee Joo-hyuk sighed as he overheard Jo Tae-woong and Kim Joo-young whispering.
“You guys should stop looking at the internet.”
Awi lined up in front of the photo zone and took pictures with the reporters as they were used to. Then they entered the concert hall.
“So, where’s the arcade?”
“Over there.”
Awi didn’t head straight to the waiting room, but to the arcade.
“Wow… It’s pretty spacious?”
“Let’s do that later! That!”
“A photo machine? Can we all fit in there?”
“We should be able to, right? I want to take a picture too!”
Other singers who heard the rumor also looked around the arcade. Awi greeted them politely while pretending not to be excited.
The excitement in the arcade subsided, and Awi changed their clothes in the waiting room for their stage preparation.
“Choi Ian has panda eyes.”
“Is it weird?”
“No? It suits you strangely well. How about me?”
“You too. But will we stand out on stage? We’re so black.”
Among the five members who were wearing white clothes, only Ian and Jo Tae-woong were black from head to toe. They even had dark smoky makeup on their eyes.
“It should be fine since we asked them to brighten up the lights during rehearsal.”
“Maybe? Well, we’ll look good with these decorations anyway.”
Ian and Jo Tae-woong stood in front of a full-length mirror. They were wrapped in gold jewel ornaments over their black shirts and pants.
Ian touched his hair awkwardly, trying to create a wet look with spray.
“Wow, it looks like a black dragon is sleeping on your left arm.”
“You’re having a second-year syndrome.”
They were busy taking pictures with their phones, even as they did so. It was their first time with this kind of stage outfit.
“Wouldn’t it be a spoiler if we post it on the fan cafe now?”
“Let’s post it after it’s over, this came out well.”
Ian and Jo Tae-woong, who were looking at the photos they took together, were caught by Lee Ju-hyuk.
“We have to go backstage now.”
“Is it already that time?”
The members who headed backstage checked their microphones and in-ears for the last time.
“It’s been a while since we performed in Korea. On stage.”
“The gym is bigger than I thought. It’s no comparison to handball.”
Ian heard the fans’ cheers as he adjusted his microphone. He wasn’t that nervous because of his experience in the world tour.
[The trainees are here.]
‘Where?’
[There.]
He turned his gaze to Jin’s lens direction, and three steps away from Awi, the trainees of BHL Entertainment who would be backup dancers were waiting. They were wearing black clothes from top to bottom and masks that covered their chins. They were all bouncing nervously for their first stage.
Ian glanced at them and said to Lee Ju-hyuk.
“Hyung, instead of doing our own cheer, how about we include the trainees too?”
“Wow, I didn’t think of that, guys!”
The trainees came closer to them with a timid look at Awi’s gesture. The members sandwiched the trainees who came to their side.
“Come here, stand in a circle. Let’s do a cheer together.”
“Us too?”
“Yeah, you guys. We’re all in the same family anyway.”
The trainees put their hands on top of the members’ hands with a face that mixed tension and joy at Park Jin-hyuk’s words.
“How do we do the cheer?”
“Anyone have a good idea?”
“How about this?”
They were just discussing a single word of cheer, but they looked serious and the trainees felt awkward.
“Let’s just do two, three, and then scream on three.”
“Wow, the impact is amazing, is Hyunie hyung a genius?”
Lee Ju-hyuk cleared his throat and lightened the mood.
“Guys, thank you for coming and let’s go rock the stage today. Two, three!”
““Scream!””
Awi lowered his hand as usual, but there were a few people among the trainees who raised their hands.
“What are you doing? It doesn’t match.”
“You should have told us the direction!”
Everyone who was gathered laughed foolishly at that sight.
***
“These people are so popular that they have the nickname of ‘stage gourmet’.”
“I wonder what kind of stage they have prepared for us today?”
“Next stage! Awi!”
At the end of the host’s introduction, Awi went up on stage and took their place. The fans screamed.
They were always a group with high stage completion, so the audience had high expectations.
The singers who were in the waiting room also came out to the side of the arcade, where they could watch the monitor and watched their stage.
The lights turned on and the stage began.
The members in white clothes sat on the bed in the center of the stage and stared blankly at the air.
Below them were backup dancers in all black, and behind them Jo Tae-woong and Ian sneaked up and tried to put their hands on top of the heads of the members in white clothes.
“You can’t dream.”
At that moment when a faint recorded voice was heard, the lights went off with a snap and the song started.
The theme of this stage was insomnia and nightmares.
Ian and Jo Tae-woong played nightmares and the other five members played insomnia trying to avoid dreaming.
“Every moment is dyed with you
An indelible Side Effect”
As Jo Tae-woong started singing, the trainees in black clothes followed him one by one. Ian and Jo Tae-woong cautiously approached from the left, aiming for the members in white clothes like prey.
“Why are you doing this to me
Tell me the answer, you know it”
The members in white clothes avoided them and went to the center, and Ian and Jo Tae-woong stuck close behind them.
At that moment, the chorus started and they gathered together and danced.
“I wander around where you disappeared
An indelible Side Effect”
Kim Hyun, who was standing in front of them, wrapped his head and writhed.
The members who were standing in a line behind him did his action one after another, completing a staggered dance.
“They prepared a lot.”
“It feels like I’m watching NMA.”
The singers who were watching were amazed by their expression like afterimages and their perfectly synchronized dance.
“Are they doing this because they can’t go to NMA?”
“Did they fight with N4? Well… who cares about this crappy award show anyway?”
“We should have prepared more, we can do better than them, right?”
“They are trash.”
Not everyone had a favorable reaction to Awi. The five members tried to escape from the nightmare, but they were soon caught and forced to dance together. Then Ian, who played the role of the nightmare, got a one-shot on the camera.
“…He’s so handsome.”
“I agree.”
Ian decorated the ending and Awi’s stage was over. The singers who watched them went back to the waiting room.
-They are crazy???
-So sexy????????
-They are weaker than before?
-They are the concept masters?????
-They are so good???????
Awi didn’t go to the waiting room after finishing their stage. They headed straight to the arcade.
-Hey, Awi is in the backstage arcade of Bada Chart now???
The arcade was already filled with rookie idols who finished their stages and tired idols who were waiting for their turns. They grouped together and played games.
“Let’s take a picture first!”
“Shall we? But can we all fit in?”
“Seven people is enough.”
Park Seodam entered the photo machine first. Then the other members followed one by one.
“The person in the back has to step on the chair and climb up, right?”
“Ah, Choi Ian, squeeze your shoulder a bit.”
“Did you see how much I had to squeeze in? Did you guys all work out while I was in China?”
“I did some exercise, yeah.”
“Forget it. We’re good at taking group selfies like this, right?”
The seven bulky members skillfully squeezed in and took their seats.
‘Hmm… something…’
‘This feels weird.’
They had just finished their stage and came back with their bodies still hot. Seven men in a tight space.
Suddenly, they felt uncomfortable and shivered.
“Take it quick!”
“I’m pressing it!”
Park Seodam tapped the start button.
“It came out well.”
“Wow, how can our faces look like this even though we just snapped it? Is it because of the stage makeup?”
“Let’s post this on our fan cafe.”
As expected, they didn’t miss the time to praise themselves.
They had taken the picture in a hurry because they felt uneasy, but they all made expressions that matched each other.
Smiling, goofy, and various other expressions. Park Seodam laughed as he looked at the long photo with five scenes.
“Okay, who wants to play a fighting game with me?”
“Me me me!”
“I want to try the claw machine.”
The members naturally split up and went to their own machines. Kim Hyun and Ian stretched their hands in front of the claw machine.
“Hyung, I was a claw machine master back in the day.”
“Hey, I was called the Euijeongbu doll kidnapper. I was so good at it that I cleared all the dolls in this machine.”
They had a strange competitive spirit. Park Jinhyuk, who didn’t like playing games but liked watching them, hovered around them and pointed at a doll.
“Then get me that one, that mouse doll.”
“Okay. Hyunie hyung goes first and then me. The first one to get it wins.”
“What if I get them all? We already have so many dolls from our fan signing events.”
Ian smiled mockingly as he saw Kim Hyun drinking his own soup before he even started.
“There are plenty of people to share them with here, hyung.”
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