Side Story: Busan Signing Event (2)
Side Story: Busan Signing Event (2)
"There are so many people...?"
"That's why we're leaving the day before."
Lee Min-ho's remark made Jeong Hwan-yi nod his head.
The schedule started tomorrow, but we were heading down to Busan today.
"No, I was just wondering why we couldn't just take a bus."
Normally, when moving a large group like this, you'd rent a bus, right?
I had never even heard of celebrities taking the KTX to go to the provinces.
It wasn't that I had celebrity syndrome.
Besides me, there were all the other agency celebrities and MCN creators, too.
About 80% of them were going down to Busan with us.
Combined, it was nearly a hundred people.
"It's way better to take a 3-hour KTX ride than an 8-hour bus ride."
"...Is that so?"
"Besides, we don't have much to carry ourselves. The organizers will prepare everything."
This fan signing event wasn't run independently by our agency.
It was a fan signing event held in collaboration with Busan Metropolitan City and various sponsors.
Was that why everyone was traveling light?
For reference, we had brought one large suitcase.
"Our Arini, this is your first time going to Busan, right?"
"Yeah!"
Having lived her whole life in Seoul, this was Arini's first experience traveling far away.
She had never even gone beyond Gyeonggi Province before.
"Noona, once the work is all finished, shall we go to the aquarium first?"
"That place? So nostalgic. I went there—what, six years ago?"
It had already been six years.
Back then, I was still a university student, and A-ra was still actively promoting as an idol.
"It was probably around then, right? Hey, have you guys been to the Haeundae Aquarium?"
"No?"
"We've been to the one in the Lotte building in Seoul."
"Tsk, why are men so lacking in sentimentality?"
Looking at them, guys like Jeong Hwan-yi or Lee Min-ho were totally like women.
They were more interested in things like working out when they had free time.
As we were chatting about our plans to go sightseeing after the fan signing event, a few people who were intrigued struck up a conversation with us.
The one who showed the most interest was, naturally, Eun-ji.
"Can I come too?"
"Huh?"
Lee Eun-ji, a former member of the now-disbanded idol group 'Queens'.
She used to have a vibe that made you want to protect her, but now she completely exuded the feeling of a mature older sister.
She had done a complete 180-degree turn with her concept, tsk tsk...
"Eun-ji Unnie!"
The moment she saw Eun-ji, Arini jumped out of A-ra's arms and charged at her.
Eun-ji skillfully caught her against her chest, then wrapped an arm around Arini's bottom and lifted her up.
Then, she gently stroked her hair and caressed her plump, chubby cheeks.
"My Arini, have you been well?"
"Yeah! I've been well!"
"Have you decided to become Unnie's daughter yet?"
"Umm.... No way!"
Every time she saw her, Eun-ji would coax Arini to be her daughter.
Arini always said no, but it seemed she didn't exactly hate being asked.
"Seong-hwan, can't I really come along?"
"You didn't pack any clothes or anything, did you?"
"I can just buy some at a department store nearby~"
"Really? Well then, I guess..."
Hanging out together was way more fun, anyway.
The girls were just A-ra and Arini, so this worked out well.
***
"So... you're saying you'll get me any ingredient I want?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying!"
"Then 1 ton of truffles, 1 ton of foie gras, 1 ton of caviar."
"Hey! Not stuff like that! Proper ingredients!"
I was in the middle of signing autographs when the Director dragged me away. I was wondering what was going on, only to be told I had to suddenly do a cooking live.
It looked like other MCN affiliates and celebrities under the general agency had been pulled aside here and there as well.
"You know, that video with over 1 billion views recently! Do that one!"
"That was just a Chateaubriand steak.... Well then, please cut it into a Chateaubriand cut...."
"Did you hear that? Get everything Seong-hwan-ssi needs!"
"Yes!"
No sooner had the Director finished speaking than the staff were bustling around busily.
The staff probably had it harder than me.
In the meantime, Arini, who had been looking around wondering where her dad went, spotted me standing on stage. She gave a bright smile and started walking slowly toward me.
Maybe it was because everyone knew Arini was my daughter?
Normally, security guards and staff would stop any gate crashers, but no one was blocking Arini.
No, maybe it was just because she was walking so confidently.
"Dad."
"My daughter, are you bored?"
"Yeah."
"Then do you want to sit next to Daddy and watch him cook?"
"Can I?"
"I don't know?"
Even our Director was watching from the side with a wry smile. Who would dare tell our daughter to leave?
"Here, please bring a tall chair suitable for a child to sit on."
"We have an assistant chair. Shall I bring that one?"
"Oh, that's perfect. Just perfect."
It was a chair about the height of what you'd see in a restaurant.
It even had a safety belt, so she looked secure and wouldn't fall.
The Director gently lifted Arini up and sat her on the chair.
"Arin. Now, you have to be quiet next to Daddy, okay?"
"Okay, Unnie."
"That's right. Good girl."
Now she was diligently calling her 'Unnie' instead of 'Auntie'.
It seemed she was clearly reaping the benefits of the Director buying her lots of snacks and toys.
Since Arini was seated and the staff had brought all the ingredients, I decided to start with the prep work.
I had often shown myself cooking on live broadcasts, but this was my first time doing it offline, so I was quite nervous.
Arini watching beside me was a common occurrence, but... the look in all those people's eyes...
Thinking of the viewers being right in front of me made it a little scary.
"Seong-hwan-ssi, here's the microphone."
"A mic... why a microphone?"
"Obviously, you have to talk while you cook, just like when you film your videos."
They attached a small broadcast microphone to my body, and the Director and the broadcasting station Director stepped back a little.
Since they left Arini right there, they must have decided it was fine.
"Hoo... Since we're doing this anyway, might as well make it fun..."
But why did I suddenly end up shooting this kind of content during a fan signing event?
Such a headache.
*
"Hoo... I nearly totally fucked... I mean, nearly messed up."
Remembering that my daughter was right next to me, I censored my words.
I let out a sigh as I handed Arini a plate of the remaining meat, lightly seared and sliced.
I stroked Arini's head as she speared the meat with a fork and put it in her mouth, then chugged a glass of cold water.
After finishing the reverse searing, I inserted the core temperature probe and put it in the oven.
It was a method where you quickly seared the outside and let the oven cook it through, making it hard to fail.
Even so, I'd nearly panicked and made it medium rare using the reverse searing method.
I had forgotten that the meat was thinner than I thought.
"Hmm... Should I reduce the oven time a bit..."
I was worried it might come out well-done when I took it out.
If I were filming at home, it wouldn't matter, but if I made that kind of ridiculous mistake here...
"Arin, is it good?"
"Yeah, beef is the best after all."
"But when you're eating pork, you say pork is the best?"
"Heehee."
Geez, such a cute kid.
Just watching her poke the meat with a fork and eat it made me feel full.
I had been stroking my daughter's head for a while when a staff member—who seemed very shy and hesitant—slowly approached.
I looked up, wondering what was going on, and noticed they seemed like someone who got embarrassed easily.
I figured I should be the one to greet them first.
"Hello."
"Ah.... Hello. Seo... Seong-hwan-ssi?"
"Yes. What is it?"
"W-would you mind, if it's okay, trying a Q&A... session?"
"Ah, questions?"
It wasn't in the original plan, but since we had time to spare, it would be fine.
The people up on the other stages seemed to be taking questions, too.
"But are these predetermined questions? Or are they spontaneous questions from the people who came today?"
"P... predetermined questions will be provided to you."
"Ah, then that's fine. I have a bit of stage fright."
"You... you don't really seem like it..."
Well, of course I wouldn't seem like it.
Considering how hard I had worked to overcome my stage fright.
I had even started doing live broadcasts to get over it.
"But are we doing it right now?"
"N... no! It would be great if you could do it after you've finished everything else!"
"Well, I don't know about great..."
I felt like people thought I was some kind of tyrant.
I was unexpectedly very well-mannered and considerate, you know.
***
After all the schedules were finished, I came back to the hotel and collapsed onto the bed.
Originally, we were supposed to take the evening KTX back up to Seoul, but since A-ra and I, the other guys, and Yeji had decided to explore Busan, we stayed over.
Fortunately, the meat I grilled today turned out well without being overcooked.
I had wondered who would be a good person to taste-test it, but people were too shy to come up, so I had to call A-ra over separately to try it.
The slight problem was that A-ra would eat anything I made for her as if it were delicious, making it tricky to get an objective assessment.
"Ugh... I'm beat..."
"How many autographs did you sign today?"
"I don't even remember. No joke, it must have been at least ten thousand, right?"
"You did an incredible amount."
In my case, because of the live cooking, I didn't personally sign that many.
But in A-ra's case, she had sat there all day and diligently signed autographs with a marker.
"Still, thinking about going out to have fun tomorrow makes it... just ten thousand or so..."
"Haha..."
Yeah, what was the big deal about signing autographs, anyway?
Thinking about having fun tomorrow dissolved any stress I didn't even have.