Chapter 102
Chapter 102
The 'prologue' teaser, which openly took aim at the <MAKE100%> manipulation scandal and drew aggro, was praised for being cathartic, but it also came with a healthy dose of fan concern.
―Honestly kinda scared. You think QTen's just gonna let that slide??
―If we get on QTen's bad side, can we not go on Music Q?ㅠㅠ Their cameras are the best
―I dunno, feels like they're poking the bear for no reason and it might block the kids' path. Sorasum handling things makes me nervous
However, this worry had been largely alleviated by the 'Music Q Pre-Recording Audience Application Guide' that had been posted in advance.
[HAZERD Music Q First Broadcast Pre-Recording Applications Are Up!!!!]
Comments
―Oh, Hooked and MAZE? They're doing a b-side too? Nice!
―Two pre-recorded stages, damn
―That's a lot of people getting in, whoa
―What, they actually seem to be on good terms with QTen? lol We worried for nothing lol lol Giving them two whole songs, that's generous as hell
Being given the chance to perform two full songs was an incredibly exceptional treatment for a rookie from a small or mid-sized agency.
Additionally, pre-recording meant filming some stages in advance because it was too difficult to set up and strike dozens of live broadcast sets one by one.
In other words, it was as good as a notice that more care would be put into the set design and camerawork.
Of course, the set production costs were typically shouldered by the agency.
If there was an extra story that fans wouldn't know, it was exactly this part.
―Your debut stage will be on 'Music Q'.
QTen's 'Music Q'.
Even for cable, it held a reputation you couldn't ignore, so it was a program where even snagging an appearance was a major hurdle for a rookie idol with zero name recognition.
But of course, the worry that we might not get on... I hadn't had that worry from the start.
It was true that I hadn't worried, but their attitude was way beyond what I had expected.
―Two stages, and they even said they'd cover the set costs.
Wasn't this basically them groveling for us to come on?
'They must have been struggling since the manipulation scandal.'
From the rumors going around the industry, it seemed QTen's situation had been pretty grim in many ways since the controversy.
The audition programs they had been planning all fell through one after another, and they hadn't produced a single proper hit show for a while.
On top of that, other problems had piled up.
'Why the hell did they fight with Mary?'
I didn't know the exact inside story, but it seemed clear that QTen and Mary's relationship had soured.
The proof was that AWER, who had the hottest stock these days, hadn't shown their face on QTen even once since debut.
So from QTen's standpoint, needing to recruit at least one more buzzworthy team, we must have looked like a joker card that could also help restore their image damaged by the manipulation scandal.
For the record, the Music Q appearance itself had been confirmed a month ago, and the additional offer with the conditions had come in after the 'prologue' teaser was released. You could say it was the exact opposite result of what fans had feared.
This take was probably pretty spot on.
―Feels like they got stung but are overcompensating to act like they didn't lol
Well, in the end, it meant they were also betting high on our chances of success.
'The start is good.'
The debut showcase had wrapped up successfully, and the conditions for our first music show stage were the best possible. It was being buttoned up perfectly from the very first step.
I felt the corners of my mouth unconsciously curling upward.
"Chaegyeom, it's your turn to wash up....... What the, you were awake?"
Just then, the door carefully opened and Kim Yuri poked her head in.
"If you just stare at your phone and don't sleep, you'll become even more of a dum... ow!"
"......I didn't even hit you, why are you making a fuss by yourself?"
"I got hit via Bluetooth!"
Rubbing her perfectly fine arm as if she had actually been hit, Kim Yuri left the room again.
It was time for me to get ready too, so I got up from the bed and headed out.
It was 2 AM right now.
After the showcase ended, we returned to the dorm and I had only slept for two hours.
But strangely, rather than feeling tired... it felt like every cell in my body was thrillingly waking up.
Because finally, the day of our first music show broadcast as HAZERD had dawned.
4 AM. The hour when the cold air pierced right down to the bone.
Hyelin rubbed her cold hands together briskly and joined the long line for attendance check.
The passion to overcome the heartbreak of failing to get into the showcase and to see the first music show stage with her own two eyes made her forget the cold... she'd thought it would, but actually being out here, it was damn cold.
'But I have to come while I'm still a college student! College students are the best! Vacation is the best!'
Before she knew it, the line had shortened, and Hyelin's turn arrived.
The tired-looking fan manager checked Hyelin's ID and carefully wrapped an admission bracelet around her wrist.
"It's not too tight, right?"
"No! It's fine!"
"Glad to hear it~"
'Whoa, so kind!'
Hyelin bowed her head, touched internally.
In the meantime, the fan manager handed her an orange paper shopping bag.
She peeked inside slightly and saw a photocard set that would come to be called 'broadcast photo cards', Hot Packs, and chocolate.
'Oh, they're giving these out already?'
Because of resellers who collected the goods and then ran off without entering to flip the items, it was standard practice to hand these out right before entry. Even more so for teams whose music show competition rates weren't that high.
'Maybe they trust the fans. Or they just don't know yet.'
The welcome kit that had already been handed out at yesterday's showcase was already listed on trading sites for eye-popping amounts that would make your jaw drop.
Hyelin, who hadn't been able to invest heavily in the debut showcase because she was saving up funds for the fan signing event, had bought just enough albums to barely scrape the cutoff and had, naturally, failed to get in.
So every time she saw welcome kit reviews, the tear-jerkingly pretty photocards and packaging had made her agonize dozens of times over whether to buy it or not.
But... thinking about how she didn't want to line the pockets of resellers, she had held back her tears and let it go.
'Of course, if I don't buy it, someone else will... but still!'
That resolve Hyelin had barely managed to hold onto was now being violently shaken again.
'Ah, it's totally going to get even more expensive over time.'
Because HAZERD's momentum was no joke.
There were whispers going around that a significant number of the big-spender fans who had come just to 'dip their toes in' after seeing the showcase scale, which had seemed somewhat reckless, had now fully switched over to HAZERD.
―The only fandom friend I had who went to the HAZERD showcase has gone completely MIA...;;; She swore she'd only love our kids forever, the traitor
―What's this déjà vu, it's exactly like back in the day when everyone who said they'd just enjoy Mebaek for a bit and then come back to their main group all permanently job-changed into Kes and we never saw them again
―...I was originally a XXX fan... but after seeing HAZERD's showcase stage, I feel like I took the red pill... I can't go back to my main group anymore... This is a maze...
―Every single one of my mutuals who went to the HAZERD showcase has gone missing, fml they said they were just dipping their toes
'......Should I just buy it after all?'
Before the premium gets even higher?
As she was agonizing and stamping her feet, a biting early morning gust of wind whooshed past.
Hyelin snapped back to her senses and quickly pulled out the Hot Pack she had just received from the shopping bag.
On the Hot Pack wrapper, there was a small note attached.
[Begone, cold~ Don't catch a cold~ ^^@@ ―Yuri]
'Why is her handwriting so round and cute!!'
On top of that, even a boomer-style emoticon. Thanks to the content being so unbalanced against her trendy face, the note felt even cuter.
Judging by the reactions around her, it seemed each Hot Pack had a handwritten note from a different member attached.
'Then what about Chaegyeom's?'
Unable to contain her curiosity, Hyelin carefully started talking to people around her, searching high and low for Chaegyeom's note.
After a few rounds of investigating, she finally found it.
[Think of this Hot Pack as my hand and please hold it tight ―Chaegyeom]
'Adorable!!'
Just as Hyelin looked at the fan holding Chaegyeom's Hot Pack with desperate eyes and was about to say, 'Um, would you maybe trade.......', the other person shot her a wary look and tucked the Hot Pack preciously into her pocket.
Smacking her lips in disappointment, Hyelin gripped her own Hot Pack tightly with both hands and stamped her feet again.
"Everyone who's finished attendance check! Show your bracelets and come get a warm drink over here!"
The fan manager's booming voice rang out.
Turning her head, there really was a coffee truck parked off to one side.
And it had a pretty familiar logo.
'Huh? Dayday Coffee?'
It was that very franchise cafe that had collaborated with <MAKE100%>.
There was a large banner hanging above the coffee truck, which read:
[DayDay celebrating HAZERD's first broadcast!]
And underneath that, in very small letters, was a postscript.
[Please don't hate the Cucumber Ade too muchㅠㅠ We also have warm cucumber tea available♥♥]
Wasn't that the very cucumber ade that had tormented Chaegyeom and Neuti?
'How does a drink that got discontinued in two months have the nerve to show its face!'
Hyelin shook her head firmly.
No matter how nostalgic it was, it was a taste she never wanted to challenge again. She lightly ignored the tearful banner and got a warm Americano.
And after a long wait outside, cramming the fan chants by heart, it was finally time to go inside the studio.
Hyelin moved her steps with a fluttering heart.
Luckily, thanks to getting a number that had been drawn for the front of the line, Hyelin got to enter first and quickly moved to the left side.
That way, she could see the members who would be monitoring more closely!
Once she secured her spot, Hyelin immediately looked around the set.
'Wow.......'
Today's first pre-recorded song was 'HOOKED', the b-side from the debut album that had also been Kim Sanho's teaser concept.
The stage looked like the giant board game from Kim Sanho's teaser video had been transplanted directly. Colorful squares were drawn on the floor, and large red dice props and 'HAZERD' signs were placed here and there.
Also, seemingly meant to evoke the American bank that was the game's main setting, the set was elaborately constructed with chandeliers, heavy-looking marble pillars, and a massive vault door.
On the screen, countless bills were fluttering down, just like the last scene of Kim Sanho's teaser.
By anyone's standards, it reeked of a massive budget and hard work put into it.
'......Sorasum paid for this, obviously, right?'
Since there was no way a music show would build this for them.
The groups Hyelin had liked before had been on live broadcasts more often than pre-recordings, and because they were live, the sets... inevitably ended up being quite shabby.
No, actually, the live broadcast thing was just an excuse, and it was probably just because they had no money.
Feeling unnecessarily anxious, Hyelin pitied her own situation.
'Ugh. I don't want to be thinking about company money when I'm watching idols.'
But worrying about the company was just one of those unavoidable plights, especially for people who liked failed idols from small or mid-sized agencies.
Because if the company goes under... the team goes under too!
So she couldn't help but worry about Sorasum.
No matter how much HAZERD was being evaluated as the second-best-performing team among recently debuted idols right now, weren't they spending way too much money?
Where on earth did they even get the money to shoot that crazy quality music video with 6 whole sets and CG splashed around everywhere? It was suspicious.
'Agh, stop!'
It had already been proven that HAZERD, no, Sorasum was on a whole different level from the so-so failed idol agencies she used to know.
Yeah, it was finally time for her to truly escape from being a fan of flopped idols.
'It's time for me to be a fan on a flower path too! For real!'
Hyelin firmly resolved never to return to those tearful days again.
Of course, even if she resolved it, deciding success or failure was up to the members.
The only thing she could do was trust and cheer them on.
It was just as she shook off her stray thoughts and cast her gaze toward the stage, full of anticipation.
HAZERD finally appeared.
From the left entrance, with Kim Yuri at the front, the members revealed themselves one by one.
In that instant, a collective, swooning gasp burst out from the entire audience.
Hyelin was internally jumping around like crazy and making a huge fuss too.
'Aaahhh! Look at the outfits!!!'
Today's costumes were.......
They were suits, heavily evoking the image of gamblers.