A Shared Meal and an Unexpected Visitor
After hearing the explanation about the debut album for the first time, the members gathered together and spent a little time eating a simple meal.
Although they hadn't become close yet, so it might have been quiet, but since they all gathered, the atmosphere quickly became lively.
So, they shared the trivial stories they experienced during the survival show, shared funny incidents, and had a fun time.
“I thought this would be the end when I was inside, but how did we end up debuting.”
“What do you think of our debut song?”
“I liked it.”
“Me too.”
Most reactions were positive.
I also liked the song. Since it was a demo song that hadn't been recorded with our voices yet, I was curious what it would feel like after recording.
It felt really happy to have times like this.
Hyeon Si-woo, who was eating, said with a somewhat emotional expression.
“The debut or talking about the debut album. Until a while ago, I didn't think I could talk about things like this.”
Hyeon Si-woo had every right to say such words. He had gone through an enormous amount of hardship before debuting.
“Yes. You went through a lot.”
Knowing how we endured those many times, there was a sense of bond or camaraderie that we felt between us even though we weren't close yet.
So, there was an even more poignant feeling.
‘Above all, because I almost died at the very end...’
Just being able to talk about the debut song was really a grateful thing.
If I hadn't debuted and ended up with a fate like the System, I can't imagine what kind of me I would have become.
“Let's work hard until our debut.”
While eating together, we casually made such a promise.
To never feel that all these moments are natural, we promised to work hard and work hard every moment.
After finishing the meal, we returned to the room, lay on the bed, and closed our eyes.
I mulled over the debut album name again in my head.
Ashes.
A word meaning what remains after burning. Suddenly, the prophecy written in the original novel came to mind again.
There was a moment when everything burned hot for everyone. Joy and ambition, obsession and blind faith, pain and emptiness, and after everything burned, the desolation and emptiness that followed...
I became ashes. Even if hope burned at the end of the hot burning time, can we rise again?
The message the album wants to convey is a story about everything that became ashes.
Whether it succeeded or sank, only ashes remain at the end of the hot burning time. Can we walk anew holding those ashes?
Will we not rest on the achieved dream but run again with the resolve to fail. Even if we fall and become ashes, do we have the courage to rise again holding those ashes?
This album is a story about things that became ashes. And it also carries a message about another beginning.
Blue Flame.
The hottest flame, a blue flame. A song containing the ambition to burn hot again even after becoming ashes.
It was liked. The story the debut album wants to convey, and the song's message.
The System also disappeared, and after that, nothing happened as strangely as it could.
It was so quiet that it made me feel uneasy.
When nothing happened, I felt relieved, but there were times when I felt uneasy.
Was I having some kind of neurosis?
During the survival show, because I was always entangled in all sorts of incidents, now a life without any incidents felt strange.
But I decided to try to dispel the unease by thinking that this quiet time couldn't be enjoyed at any other time.
“Where did I put my phone...”
It was when I was looking around for my phone before going to the practice room.
“Won-woo, are you still here?”
At that moment, Lee Hyo-seop's voice was heard from outside the door with a knock.
“Ah, I'll go soon.”
The debut schedule was set, and the final choreography came out, so we entered full preparation.
On practice days, we leave the accommodation with the members. If there's a member who prepares the latest, it was Na Jae-hyun...
“Today, you prepared early for some reason?”
When I went out, Na Jae-hyun was already ready and waiting.
“Today, it didn't take much time to choose the t-shirt.”
“Yeah.”
So, when we left the door, the members who came down from the upper floor were waiting for us.
“Ah, it's late because of Won-woo?”
“What, Do Won-woo. What were you doing that's late?”
Members teasing.
I shrugged my shoulders and walked.
When we arrived at the practice room, the performance director was waiting for us.
Choreography practice was under the director's supervision. During the survival show, practice was tough, but as a formal group, the practice became even more intense.
There was a process of matching even small details.
“Are you tired?”
When practicing, Kwon Hak-jin was seen taking care of the members beside him.
“It's okay, hyung.”
“Well, then shall we start again?”
The intensity of practice was high, but mentally it was fine.
There was no severe scolding to pick out deliberately provocative scenes like during the survival show.
It was hard, but the practice was fun and lively.
This is enough... it's fine, right?
But, the world doesn't flow easily.
It was only a few seconds after thinking that.
Bang!
“Do Won-woo!”
The door opened, and a man with a fierce look appeared. The members who were practicing froze in place as if it was a still frame.
Each had an invisible question mark above their heads.
...Ah.
At that moment, my mind raced. And I roughly figured out who the man was.
Do Won-woo’s father.
A dangerous person. The person I had noted in my notebook as a person of interest.
Actually, I didn't know his face. In the novel, he appears briefly when explaining Do Won-woo's past, not a significant role.
Wow, he looks like that... so...
People can look that vicious.
I always thought what "vicious" meant when I heard the expression. But today, I think I understood what it means to look vicious.
“Do Won-woo, you ungrateful bastard!”
The man who came striding into the practice room pointed and shouted.
The members' gazes that were watching the situation all turned to me.
“What? You can't come in. Please leave.”
The staff tried to stop him, but the man didn't seem to listen.
“If you changed the number, huh? You should have contacted us first, right?”
I understood what "vicious" means, and then what "shameless" means.
“Without telling your parents! Huh? You just signed a contract with the agency. What kind of bastards are these. The company is the same! Bringing a kid who doesn't know the world without telling the parents...”
“Please leave, please leave.”
When the staff tried to grab him, the man's tantrum got even worse.
“Release! What are you trying to grab?”
It was unbelievable.
It's like an uncle from a subway 1-line villain video.
Is this Do Won-woo's father. Is he really the biological parent? It's hard to believe that Do Won-woo's face was born by inheriting that gene.
“I’m coming in, huh? I’m coming to see my child who I raised with so much hardship. I barely got in because you didn't let me in! If you kick me out, I'll post on the internet!”
It was embarrassing.
Honestly, I hadn't seen him before, but in this situation where I'm facing the situation where this is recognized as my father, embarrassment came.
What kind of crazy situation is this.
Still, in this situation, I had planned how to deal with it in advance.
“You came again asking for money?”
There were staff, director, and members, so witnesses were sufficient.
This crazy uncle was seen making a scene, and to escape, I need to change the perception from 'child of a true parent' to 'victim harassed by a true parent'.
“I haven't debuted yet, so I haven't received settlement, what money do I have... Please stop. I'm really struggling...”
Instead of fighting back, it was important to act as a perfect victim.
But since my acting is terrible, no tears came out. Instead, I lowered my head and showed rough breathing to reveal that I was in a psychologically depressed state.
“Hey! What's this! You made your parents complete trash!”
I wanted to say "You're trash", but I held it in.
“What’s going on?”
“What? Contact the security team quickly. The member's father came...”
“How did you even get in in the first place?”
The watching staff whispered, and the director started frowning.
Anyway, the rumor will spread, and if I have to be kicked out, it's much better to be the victim of this crazy family than anything else.
While I kept my head down and stayed silent, Kwon Hak-jin and Lee Hae-won, who were beside me, were the first to take care of me.
“These guys! Hey! What do you think you're doing by treating one person as a joke?”
“Hey, uncle.”
The director, who couldn't take it anymore, blocked in front of me and protected.
“What are you doing. Rushing in without permission to practice.”
“What, what?”
When the staff tried to stop, the human who didn't listen when staff tried started shrinking when the somewhat larger director started to stop.
He was the epitome of a pathetic human.
“Contact, no, is coming to see my child such a big crime?”
When the situation went strangely, the human who was making a fuss changed his face and acted pitiful.
But it didn't matter. Because I had already struck first.
“Leave. You don't want to see it, right?”
Then, the man's strategy changed to desperate pleas.
“Why are young people like this. I'm old now, I live for the fun of seeing my child. How am I supposed to live without him. He's the only child in our family.”
I almost burst into laughter.
Living for the fun of seeing the child? It's for the fun of taking the child's money.
Immediately, I loaded the non-existent acting skills and gave a passionate performance.
“I’ve come looking for you in that way before and ruined everything, and this time again? Until when are you going to harass me? Stop now.”
It was embarrassing, but in this place, I had to show myself as much as possible as a victim.
Even twice. I also gave the information that this is not the first time, a repeat offender.
“Harass who? Making the parent who raised you into a swindler is good? You, you ungrateful bastard!”
Oh, assault?
Rather good. In this way, there is enough reason to get a ban on approach.
The moment the man came and raised his arm to strike, someone grabbed his wrist.
“Uncle.”
Han I-jae, standing beside, said while holding the man's wrist.
“It's not good.”