The Debut Album: Ashes
It wasn't until I first accessed the fan platform that I truly felt like I had debuted.
The fan platform Onpick. It was the platform where idols could interact with fans in real time. When I turned on the app, it was surprisingly that Starlight's channel was already registered.
“Wow, there are already so many posts?”
“Yeah.”
Even though the channel had only been created recently, there were already many posts uploaded.
I quietly scrolled through the posts. I hadn't had the time to pay attention to fan reactions during the survival show. My mental state at the time had been seriously bad too.
But since I had debuted and had some free time, I decided to look at the fan reactions.
Most of the posts were congratulating the debut. The fans seemed happy too. Thinking about the time they had spent voting, it made sense that they looked this happy.
“Foreign languages, more than I thought.”
It was natural in a way.
The broadcast itself was aired in multiple countries, and the overseas voting rate was quite high, so overseas fans would make up a significant portion.
“Hyung, can you read this?”
Na Jae-hyun pointed at a post in English and asked in a playful tone.
The app had a translation function, but I could read it without using the translation. Of course, it was because the sentences weren't too difficult to interpret either.
When I read the English, Na Jae-hyun pulled his head back in surprise.
“Whoa!”
The reaction was more intense than I expected, making me feel awkward.
“Why are you reacting like that?”
“Whoa, your English pronunciation is really good?”
His reaction made me even more flustered.
“I’ve never seen you speak English before. Amazing.”
“……Really?”
Thinking about it, I hadn't had much reason to use English during the survival show.
Thinking back, I didn't feel like boasting about my English skills or anything.
“It’s really surprising. No, Won-woo hyung, have you lived abroad?”
“I haven’t been to foreign countries.”
While saying that, Na Jae-hyun pointed at another post and asked.
“Can you read this too?”
“This is Japanese.”
“You don't know Japanese?”
I let out a dry laugh. He thought I was some robot that automatically outputs multilingual languages when you press a button.
“Just English, not the other stuff……”
Clearing my throat, Na Jae-hyun scrolled the screen again and pointed at something else.
“Then this one?”
The post said [Do Won-woo is handsome.]
“This is Korean. Idiot.”
“But why can't I read it?”
“It’s a bit awkward to say it out loud.”
Clearing my throat again, I quickly scrolled.
Somehow, it was peaceful. During the survival show, I had been exhausted from dealing with various events, but seeing the fans' reactions made me feel a bit relieved.
“Of course, once we leave here, there will be chaos elsewhere.”
Since the debut team had only just been formed, it was a time when all attention was focused on them.
There would be positive reactions, but also negative ones. There would be people who were already desperate to attack the group itself.
“For now, I guess I should just look at the fan reactions.”
It seemed better for my mental health.
* * *
After the debut team was formed, we started training with the members.
The debut song and choreography hadn't been released yet, but we needed to do team work training beforehand to match the team.
The first person to arrive at the practice room was Han I-jae. I knew he was diligent, but he was even more enthusiastic these days.
Then the members came in.
“Let’s start.”
The practice went without any problems.
There was no particular difficulty. The practice had been crazy intense during the survival show.
The harmony was good. Because they had been selected through voting, everyone had a certain level of skill.
“Whoa, it's good?”
After finishing the first practice, Kwon Hak-jin gave us a high-five.
It was the first practice as a group called Starlight. It felt good. The atmosphere wasn't bad either.
“Since it's the first time matching, if it's this good, it will get better with time.”
Saying that, Kwon Hak-jin looked around at us.
As expected, it seemed that being the leader in the original story wasn't just because he became the leader. He was already playing a big role in creating a good atmosphere.
“Since it's only been a short time since we became a team, there isn't much to call team work, but still……”
The atmosphere itself was peaceful.
There was no one who was overly picky, sensitive, or lazy.
In the original story, there was an episode where Lee Hae-won and Han I-jae had some friction during the first practice, but here it passed quietly.
“Han I-jae’s personality has changed a lot too.”
After being bent once during the survival show, his personality became a bit more venomous.
It wasn't that bad of a personality to begin with, but the slightly sharp personality now seemed to have become rounded.
“First practice over! Everyone worked hard.”
The first practice ended in a good atmosphere.
* * *
I heard that the first group live schedule had been set.
Since they were newbies, the live couldn't be turned on at will, but only on days when the company set the schedule.
Once the contract was signed, it would be released, but now the staff was monitoring and we could only live from the place where the cameras were set up.
Before the live, the staff read the pre-notified precautions again.
Since they hadn't debuted yet, the company seemed especially cautious.
“There is no company that wants to be swept up in strange controversies before the debut.”
Before the live started, the staff setting up the cameras were visible.
Tablets placed for each table were visible. It was for reading comments.
A slight tension lingered.
“Am I really an idol now?”
Until the practice, it didn't feel real that I had become an idol.
The practice had been going on while doing the survival show. But when it came to doing the live, it felt real.
Having time to face fans after debuting. And thinking that there would be many such times in the future, it felt a bit strange and unfamiliar.
“Then, I’ll turn on the live!”
I tidied my clothes unnecessarily and straightened my posture again.
The group live started like that.
“……Ah. It’s on.”
“Hello. This is Starlight.”
We greeted the camera together. At the same time, posts started appearing quickly in the chat window.
It wasn't that fast, but it seemed like one would need good peripheral vision or something to read them.
“……There are a lot of hearts.”
I felt like I've seen all the heart emoticons in my life.
“Oh, they wrote to debut quickly here. We want to debut quickly too.”
Kwon Hak-jin read the chat skillfully while looking at the camera.
Even though it was the first live, he was progressing quite skillfully. Thanks to Kwon Hak-jin easing the atmosphere comfortably, the tension seemed to have disappeared.
“Hyung I-jae, someone here wants you to make cat ears.”
Na Jae-hyun pointed at the chat window and poked Han I-jae next to him. It seemed the mischievousness was activated again.
Normally, he would have made all kinds of faces at the request to make aegyo, but since it was a fan asking, he made cat ears without any choice.
“You want dog ears too?”
“……There was no such chat.”
“It was here earlier!”
Meanwhile, Won Ji-an was fixed on the tablet in the corner, lost in reading the chats fans were posting.
It seemed fun. Still, he seemed brighter than during the survival show.
It was fortunate that after debuting, he seemed a bit better than before.
“I’m cute today? Thank you.”
The members' murmuring voices were heard pleasantly.
Since it was the first live at a time when the debut team had just been formed, everyone seemed tense but excited.
After how much time had passed, it was time to end the live.
“Thank you for today!”
“See you next time, bye~”
Only after ending the live did the tension in my body loosen.
“What do you think of the first live?”
“……Heh heh.”
Actually, I don't know how it passed. While reading the chats fans were sending and talking, the time had already surpassed 30 minutes.
“First live……”
I met eyes with Won Ji-an next to me.
“It was really fun.”
It had been a long time.
It was the first time I felt the emotion of fun.
* * *
Right after the debut team was formed, we had no choice but to move busily.
There were many contents to shoot.
“If we don't want this interest to die down, we have to keep supplying contents.”
We were busy dealing with the tight schedule without even having time to be happy that we had become the final debut team member.
Later, I became so used to the system and villain that I didn't even notice.
Above all, that villain guy disappeared from sight after that day.
“Suddenly not appearing is strange.”
He was the type that would provoke and scratch at nerves even if borrowing someone else's body.
These days, he was strangely quiet. Well, it wasn't bad.
Anyway, it was good. I didn't like seeing him sniping, so I didn't have to look at him.
* * *
And a few days later, I heard that the debut song had been finally decided by the company.
The song had already been chosen, and the situation was that only which song to make the title among the candidates was left, and it seemed the conclusion had finally been reached.
“Then, I'll tell you the album name that you will debut with.”
In the meeting room, the debut album was introduced to the members gathered together.
“The debut album name is Ashes. And the title track of the debut album has been decided to be Blue Flame.”
The debut album and title track were exactly as seen in the novel.
“Then, shall we listen to the title track first?”
The title track played. It was a demo version where our voices hadn't been added yet.
Everyone listened attentively. The debut album was an important album as it was the first button for future activities.
First, the song didn't sound bad to listen to. It had a trendy feel that was popular these days.
“Oh, it's good?”
The members' reactions to the song were slightly excited.
To me too, the song itself was good. When I thought about it in the novel, I had a rough idea of the feeling, but hearing it directly, I seemed to understand the feeling.
“Then, shall we listen to the track songs in order?”
By listening to the title and track songs of the debut album, the fact that I was really going to debut began to feel real.