Chapter 127: Turning Point
127. Turning Point
The "First Place Speech" that Taeil sent to Hajin wasn't too long or too short.
"'...We'll always be here for you. Congratulations on first place, Idea. Your eternal paradise, Utopia.' ...That's the message I was asked to deliver. Once again, congratulations on your first place win!"
It carried the practiced cadence of someone who'd delivered countless award speeches before.
The words struck the perfect balance—showing enough sincerity and gratitude without dragging on long enough to feel tedious. Even Hajin found himself impressed as he read the script.
"Yes, that's truly a moving acceptance speech."
"Now we'll say our goodbyes while you enjoy the encore song!"
As the MCs gave their closing remarks, the MR for began playing.
They'd originally planned to just play the music video, but the music show PD had stubbornly insisted—for reasons unknown—that Miro Maze perform live instead, claiming the MV "didn't do it justice."
'If we have to perform anyway, we might as well do it right.'
While other artists exited the stage, Hajin signaled to the trainees with his eyes.
The trainees who received microphones quickly formed a line on either side of him.
Holding placards in one hand and microphones in the other, they began singing in unison.
I'll be there
Where your feet come to rest
I'll be there
Where your gaze comes to rest
It would've been presumptuous to divide up parts in someone else's precious fan song.
The trainees sang together with the solemn expressions of students reciting a school anthem—no, more like a hymn.
Though trainees like Jayden and Jaeyoung, whose singing still needed work, held their mics at a distance, the group sing-along still carried powerful emotion.
In this paradise night you've created
We promise eternity
I'll be there
The melody resonating in one voice was...
Truly beautiful.
The audience seats before them shimmered like waves as light sticks from various fandoms swayed.
Hajin burned that sight into his memory.
"......"
"...What are you thinking about?"
After finishing the encore stage and walking back, Taehyun approached Hajin, who had been quiet the whole time.
Hajin glanced at the trophy in Taehyun's hand, brushed off a speck of confetti from his shoulder, and answered:
"I was thinking... next time, I hope we're not just stand-ins."
Someday.
Holding a trophy engraved with our names, standing before our fans, filling this space with our songs.
Hajin smiled and patted Taehyun's shoulder.
"Let's work hard, all of us."
"...Yeah. Let's do that."
I really hope we can debut together.
With Taehyun's small wish, the A-Countdown recording came to an end.
Unsurprisingly, Utopia's first place win sent shockwaves through the entire K-pop community.
[13-year veteran idol flips the charts upside down with first place speech]
[Utopia leader delivers love confession instead of acceptance speech (ft. Miro Maze)]
[Full transcript of Utopia's Seo Taeil's first place speech]
[Why am I more moved by Utopia's win than they are?]
[Is it too late to become a Utopia fan now? Please say no]
Seo Taeil's speech—which proved he could make a living off lyric writing alone—became a sensation in its own right, bringing tears to fans across fandoms.
From a 13-year-old group winning first place over rookies despite not actively promoting...
To the song being a fan song released to commemorate their full-group reunion after military service...
It was a perfect storm of fan-service.
As a result, the clip of their first place announcement went viral with staggering view counts.
Which, of course, meant the Miro Maze trainees who accepted the award on their behalf were thrust into the spotlight just as intensely.
ㅡ Omg these kids are so cuteㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㅡ You could feel how genuinely happy they were for themㅠㅜ so touching
ㅡ The one who read the speech is the kid Taeil said looks like him, right??
└ Yepㅋㅋㅋ now I get why he said that
ㅡ The group sing-along at the endㅠㅠㅠ felt like they were singing for all of us
Hajin had been most worried about Idea's reaction, but their response was overwhelmingly positive.
Their leader's devastatingly heartfelt love letter had already turned Idea into "Utopia Lovers MAX." Frankly, whether the trainees accepted the award or not was beside the point now.
ㅡ Wait but are we just gonna ignore that these trainees accepted a first place award for someone else?
└ Is that really important right now?
└ HELLO?? OUR BOY JUST SAID HE LOVES US!
└ Sometimes hearing a love confession secondhand hits harder
Right now, they were invincible—immune to any controversy short of disbandment.
Plus, these kids were clearly sincere too!
@u_top_world
Ah f*ck that placard yesterday
Apparently the kids made it themselves
Taeil sent me pics
Who came up with the message?
I need ideas too;;
(Photo of Taeil's pop-up message)
(Photo of trainees making the placard)
1,099 shares | 2,000 likes
[But the fact they memorized the lyrics and sang along thoughㅠㅠ]
Is this... what it's like to be a senior group with junior fans...?
Does this mean... someday... a Miro Concert...?
Might actually be possible...☆
ㅡ What kind of concept is this even supposed to be
└ Leave them alone... they're too hyped up to stop now
ㅡ Miro Concert? Holy sh*t just thinking about it gives me chills
ㅡ Curious what kind of "chills" the above comment means
└ Ngl I'm kinda scared
└ Just thinking about ticketing makes my hands shake
└ Omg they just mean it in a good way you idiots
Amid the positive buzz, mentions of Miro Maze and their trainees began increasing in earnest.
Clips from their <To You> performance and live broadcast reactions started surfacing.
Destiny fans seized the opportunity to relentlessly promote their boys.
[Was that Boyhood Under Heaven's Seo Taehyun at A-Countdown yesterday???]
Wait Taehyun debuted???
ㅡ That's Taehyun! He's on Miro's survival show now—he got a special stage for placing first in the last mission!!
└ (OP) Ahh thanksㅠ! I was so happy thinking he'd debuted... he's grown up well
@kang_HD
How is it possible for one stage to contain:
A delinquent high schooler with a band
A full three-piece suit man
...at the same time?
(Hajin smiling in school uniform)
(Hajin adjusting his tie in suit)
1,045 shares | 213 quotes | 1,773 likes
∥
@kang_HD
Woke up to
RTs exploding scary
Long story short
Promoting with pics
Miro Maze's Hexagonal Leader
Kang Hajin vote now
(Hajin in glasses edit)
(Hajin jumping edit)
[Among those who accepted Utopia's award yesterday]
(Pics of Jaeyoung and Haru giggling with placards)
Someone tell me their namesㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
They've wrecked me so hard they're too cuteㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
ㅡ That's Haru and Jaeyoung! The maknaes are adorableㅠ!
└ SO CUTE I might lose it I want to gobble them up and roll them around in my mouth
Interest in Miro Maze—already considered a success—continued growing daily.
Their official account's follower count skyrocketed, and their YouTube views blew past all expectations.
At the center of this buzz was Kang Hajin.
But that wasn't necessarily all good.
"Ugh."
"What's wrong? Why the sigh?"
Soda and Malanggom turned to look at Gwajam, who had gathered with them in the hotel room to watch Episode 5 of Miro Maze.
Among their three biases, Gwajam's—Hajin—was undoubtedly the most talked-about lately, with debut all but guaranteed.
When they should be celebrating Hajin's impending debut, why the sigh?
"Another hate post about Hajin popped up on Pentalk."
"Huh? Again?"
Soda and Malanggom frowned at Gwajam's words.
Recently, a certain community had been systematically uploading posts slandering or tearing down Hajin.
"They're seriously disgusting. Unnie, don't pay attention to them. That place is a cesspool."
"Normally I wouldn't, but it's gotten really bad lately. Last time someone posted that Hajin was a school violence perpetrator, then deleted and ran when they got called out for lying."
"Why do they even do that? Do they get paid for it? If anything, they'd have to pay if sued."
"Because they're pathetic losers who boost their self-esteem by hating on celebrities... it's mental illness."
"Remember how bad it was with Yugeon? I lost faith in humanity. After that died down, they started testing waters with Taehyun posts, then switched targets to Hajin when they didn't get reactions."
At least it wouldn't feel so unfair if Hajin had actually done something wrong.
Most posts on Pentalk were baseless rants devoid of logic or evidence.
Some tried dressing up their vitriol in pseudo-intellectual essays, but the conclusion always boiled down to: "Kang Hajin is annoying because he tries too hard."
Gwajam chugged her drink in frustration.
"The 'Hajin's a company plant' and 'debut lineup's fixed' accusations were better than this. Now they just hate him for no reason. Are they insane?"
"That's what happens when you're popular..."
"Did you know Hajin actually doesn't have that many core fans?"
"What?"
"That's why Kangpics (Hajin fans) are going crazy right now."
The unexpected revelation shocked Soda and Malanggom.
Gwajam sighed deeply while crunching on snacks.
"I've stanned Hajin since the very beginning. But his core fandom isn't as strong as you'd think. Taehyun, Siwoo, Eunchan—they have way more dedicated fans. Hajin's more like... everyone's secondary bias? You know what I mean?"
Soda nodded in understanding.
She herself had Doha as her main bias with Hajin as secondary.
"Hajin's a public favorite, so he gets mentioned everywhere. But that also means he gets targeted more. A lot of fans burn out from all the hate and leave. Even big-name fans get DMs and anonymous hate—the stress is real."
"Wow, I had no idea it was that bad."
"It's no joke. But from the outside, Hajin just looks super popular. Non-fans mention him all the time too. So when Kangpics try to speak up, they get told they're being greedy."
Gwajam massaged her temples like she had a headache.
After her own fan account's follower count recently exploded, she'd been bombarded with hate DMs and had to disable messages entirely.
"It's gotten so bad lately... I'm getting fandom burnout. Not that I'll ever stop—I'll be here until Kang Hajin tops Billboard Hot 100."
"But this is shocking. I totally thought Hajin was the most popular."
"Honestly, they're all still pre-debut. Most fans are casuals or multis, so the atmosphere is so... Even when we encourage voting, people say 'Hajin will debut anyway, why push so hard?' Like?? It's a survival show??"
As Gwajam's face crumpled in frustration, Malanggom patted her shoulder comfortingly.
"He gets hate because he's too perfect. There's nothing to criticize."
"But I kinda get it. Most trainees have that rookie charm—awkward but endearing. Hajin doesn't have those gaps... Not that I don't love that about him."
"Hajin's way too polished for a 20-year-old... Chanpics (Eunchan fans) go crazy over him for the same reason."
Eunchan's stark contrast between appearance and personality made him hugely popular with teen fans.
Compared to that, Soda could somewhat understand Hajin being everyone's secondary bias.
"Ugh, whatever. I'll just keep supporting Hajin harder."
"Yeah, yeah. At least our Doha gets mentioned... unlike some people who get hated just for being bad dancers."
"Ouch, that hurts... But who else would do rap? Definitely not Kyoungho."
"Kyoungho should stick to doing 'SHA SHA SHA' with his girlfriend."
"But don't you think Doha will blow up after the third mission? I'm serious—he killed that performance."
"Is the third mission today?"
"No, the preview showed some kind of... sports day?"
"Wait, athletic trainee favorites actually exist?"
As they talked, Miro Maze's title sequence began playing on TV with the signal song.
The three huddled together, excitement bubbling over.
Soon, Episode 5 began.
<★Miro Maze Cup★ Sports Festival>
They had no idea...
...what awaited them was a parade of giant delinquent chicks in absolute chaos.
No idea at all.