Chapter 113
Chapter 113
The studio was in disarray with the teardown after the recording ended.
As we stood there awkwardly, unable to figure out when and how to say our goodbyes and leave, a few staff members approached us.
"Wow, you all worked so hard on your first variety shoot! We'll edit what we shot today brilliantly and make sure it becomes a legendary episode!"
"And from now on, whenever you have a comeback, you're guaranteed to be regulars on 'Idol Comprehensive Review'! Promise, okay?"
I dazedly grabbed the PD's outstretched hand and shook it.
The members next to me kept bowing and giving thanks as well.
'...Hm, I think I was pretty lacking in the variety department.'
Still, it seemed I had left a positive impression, so I supposed I could consider this a success in its own way.
The staff left with satisfied smiles, and the MC senior who immediately filled the gap slung his arms over my and Han Neuti's shoulders with a cheery grin and said.
"Our adorable juniors~ Was I too difficult for you? You were all so loud and boisterous among yourselves, but the moment I showed up, everyone suddenly acted all prim and proper and kept their distance—it hurt my feelings..."
"No! I—I didn't find you difficult at all!"
Han Neuti's answer, almost like a military salute, deepened the hurt on the senior's face.
Kim Yuri, who couldn't stand by any longer, swiftly assisted from the side.
"We were just so nervous because we were in front of a veteran senior we respect so much! Thanks to you, we wrapped up our first variety shoot safely and successfully!"
"Ohoho, more flattery? Still, it's nice to hear."
The senior cackled and slapped my shoulder.
"I'm doing this because I really want to get close, so from now on, wherever we run into each other, don't be awkward and just greet me casually. Got it? Ah, how about you all just call me 'hyung' from now on?"
I shut my mouth, having prepared a cliché and awkward line like 'How could we possibly call a senior like you hyung...'.
That was because Jeong Sowol cut in during that brief moment.
"Yeonsu hyung."
"Ohh! As expected, kids these days are different. It's Sowol, right? I always see that the youngest ones have great social skills like this."
The senior ruffled Jeong Sowol's hair with a satisfied expression.
...As expected, there really is no right answer in social life.
"Ah, then how about our show's fixed ending course? Shall we film a challenge video together and wrap things up?"
"Yes! Sounds great!"
I might have been a bit late introducing him, but this MC senior was one of those always ranked among the top in dance skills among 2nd gen idols.
If someone like him danced to our song together with us, it would obviously be insane promotion... no, an honor.
Just as Han Neuti and I, who were picked as the challenge members, were loosening up, the senior said in a playful voice.
"Ah, but I'm kinda nervous filming with you two? The reaction to Neuti's challenge video is insane right now."
"Challenge...?"
Han Neuti asked back with a bewildered look, and the senior's eyes went wide.
"Huh? You didn't see it? The one you filmed with AWER! With Haejun."
"Ah, yes. We filmed and uploaded it, but we haven't really checked the reactions..."
"What, you're not checking reactions? You must be too busy these days, right? It's super hot right now."
The senior's words needed no excuse.
The challenge... I knew it was probably uploaded right after the fan signing, but we'd been busy with other schedules since then.
'Of course the reactions would be good.'
There was no way they wouldn't be good, but...
If it was being mentioned in a place like this, it must be more than that.
First, we filmed the 'MAZE' challenge safely in a friendly atmosphere with the senior.
And inside the car heading back to the dorm.
Only then was I able to check the reaction to the challenge.
"...Whoa."
The like count... was this even possible?
In just one day since the upload?
'No, well, hmm, this is also a result of Yoon Haejun's popularity mixed in.'
I tried to suppress my surprise with rational thinking and checked the comments section.
And... I discovered something unexpected.
'There's plenty of talk about Yoon Haejun, but.'
There were even more positive comments about Han Neuti and our song.
As I infinitely scrolled down, I felt almost possessed and headed to AWER's channel.
And then I checked the 'Answer me' challenge video that had been posted there.
'We even have more likes.'
The view count itself was higher on AWER's side.
But considering that the subscriber count difference between the channels was more than 10 times apart, the fact that we won in likes alone was a truly insane result...
'No, wait.'
I went back to our channel.
And checked the subscriber count.
'...When did this increase so much?'
Of course, the subscribers had been ballooning at a frightening pace every day since our debut, but the amount of growth over the last 24 hours was clearly an anomaly even among those days.
It was a pace that was hard to explain with just the domestic fandom alone.
So there was only one answer.
'So overseas fans have flowed in.'
Because the head count difference between domestic and overseas is huge, the amount of growth would inevitably differ even if the buzz was the same.
And... overseas fans tend to put a bit more weight on the agency than domestic ones. Probably because they have less access to information, they prefer companies with high credibility, I guessed.
So our Sorasum would have had a hard time even getting a chance to enter overseas fans' sights.
But thanks to the challenge video being conveniently uploaded on AWER's channel, we finally caught their eyes.
'No wonder there were so many foreign languages in the comments, more than usual.'
...I never imagined the ripple effect of a single challenge video would be this much.
Now I saw that idols these days didn't just upload dozens of challenges every time they came back for nothing.
Of course, this was a result backed by the two's outstanding skills and... more than anything, AWER's high recognition.
The members must have checked the reactions in that time, because the car became noisy.
"Hyung! You crushed Yoon Haejun, hyung! Our hyung got revenge for me...!"
As expected, whether he won or lost was the most important thing to Kim Yuri.
I turned off my phone screen, using the members' ruckus as background noise.
And I threw my gaze to the scenery quickly passing by outside the car window.
"...."
Honestly, there wasn't much benefit AWER could gain from clashing with us. A bit of keeping each other in check, at most?
But we weren't in a position to be checked by AWER right now.
In the end, this challenge had been a structure that was one-sidedly beneficial to us from the beginning.
'There's no way Yoon Haejun doesn't know this.'
But the fact that he suggested it first...
I leaned my head against the window and thought.
'I'll thank him later.'
If I get the chance.
* * *
The second week of our debut, and surprisingly, there were still music shows we were appearing on for the first time.
Today was the airing day for one of them, 'K-Stage', which broadcasted on Wednesdays.
This broadcasting station was famous even for a former trainee like me for its cramped environment, and as the rumors said, the waiting room allocated to us was just barely divided by a partition for each group.
The voices of the team next door could be heard clearly through the thin panel.
'...That team had a comeback too.'
The moment of savoring the beauty of waiting was brief; soon the time came to head to the joint interview zone.
What we were filming right now was a corner where several teams played games or conducted interviews together.
The reason fans had a surprisingly high preference for 'K-Stage' despite it being a cable channel with less renown than QTen was exactly these kinds of small corners.
And so we arrived at the interview zone.
The team that had been so noisy from behind the partition just moments ago had arrived first.
"go high! no more! We are Hainoeo!"
"Hello, we are HAZERD!"
We exchanged somewhat awkward greetings, and Hainoeo started the interview first.
Hainoeo.
A tragic group from last year that got buried and couldn't even be nominated for rookie of the year because their debut date exactly overlapped with AWER's.
But still, they came from a fairly large agency, so they were in an ambiguous spot where it was hard to say they had totally flopped.
Where was that large agency?
EO Entertainment.
The place that was supposedly Kim Sanho's former agency.
I couldn't help but observe Kim Sanho's reaction.
'...He doesn't seem moved at all.'
So there hadn't been any particular discord with the team, I guessed.
Just as I was thinking that, Jeong Sowol poked me in the side from next to me and whispered.
"Hyung, aren't we going to make something like that?"
"Something like what."
"Greeting phrase."
'Hmm.'
It wouldn't be bad to have a catchphrase that shows the group's identity, but I'd decided to keep it plain and just yell the team name because I thought it could also become a barrier... well, if the members wanted it, there'd be room to discuss it again.
...No, they had already started.
"Since rhymes are important, how about 'your legend, HAZERD!'? What do you think?"
"Hyung, you are a rapper, right?"
"Ehe."
That wasn't what was important right now.
I meticulously examined the Hainoeo members and fell back into thought.
'Why did they remove Kim Sanho?'
It was something I should be grateful for because he came to our team thanks to that.
But why on earth... I just couldn't understand why they removed him. What had Kim Sanho lacked?
I had been seriously observing them for a long while and then, seeing the member presumed to be the center, I more or less caught on.
'It was because he didn't match the center.'
I never really sympathized with the concept of 'face harmony' that was frequently used in the idol industry.
But the center of Hainoeo over there had a characteristic exactly opposite to Kim Sanho's, something even I could tell.
That was it.
'He's short.'
Compared to the 180cm Baek Gyeonwoo, who had secretly become a ruler in my mind, all the Hainoeo members were shorter than Baek Gyeonwoo.
And among them, the center was the shortest.
If Kim Sanho had been squeezed in among them... it just felt like the picture would't work at all. It'd also be much trickier to match movement lines.
'...In conclusion, it was a visual issue.'
That was a very idol-industry-like reason.
Well, thanks to that, Kim Sanho got to come to our team, so in the end it was a good thing.
Soon, our interview ended as well, and Hainoeo and we had a slightly less awkward but slightly more proper greeting time.
"Hello, sunbaenim!"
"Hello! We've been enjoying your song!"
Ritualistic greetings were exchanged even though everyone knew it was lip service. Honestly, I doubted they had actually listened to it.
'Of course, I've never listened to theirs either.'
It was just when all the prepared lip service was exhausted and an awkward air was about to flow. One of Hainoeo's members suddenly broke through the ranks and popped out.
He wasn't the center; he had a fairly lively impression.
"Sanho!"
And without a word, he pulled Kim Sanho into a tight embrace.
"...?"
The members who didn't know about Kim Sanho and Hainoeo's relationship stared at each other with bewildered expressions.
That member clung to Kim Sanho as if he was reluctant to let go, then looked at us and asked for our understanding.
"Sorry, but can I talk with Sanho for a moment? It's really the first time I've seen him in so long."
"Ah... Yes, yes. Feel free to talk."
Chatting was a free country. To need permission like that...
Anyway, once our permission was given, that member got excited, grabbed Kim Sanho's arm, and scurried off to the end of the hallway.
I was blankly staring at their retreating figures when Kim Yuri poked my back with two fingers and said.
"You see it? You see it? That's exactly how I felt when you and Yoon Haejun were doing that in front of me! Exactly how you're feeling right now!"
"...."
...What exactly was I feeling?