Chapter 116
Chapter 116
Part-time job break time.
After frantically handling the flood of orders and finally planting her butt on a chair, Hyelin habitually checked her phone.
[Juha: Hey sis the kids are 1st place nominees]
[Juha: Muntoo quick]
"......Huh?"
Hyelin, who'd checked the message, practically rolled off her chair and shot to her feet.
"For real?"
No matter how much people called this an "empty house" period, an idol from a mid-sized company becoming a 1st place nominee on a music show in just their second week since debut was never an easy feat.
The Tuesday music show, which at least was considered easier to become a nominee on, was currently on a broadcast hiatus.
What Juha meant was probably Quten's 'Music Q'.
'......How did they make it?'
For a cable show that didn't get full recognition, becoming a 1st place nominee on Music Q was just as difficult as on public broadcast music shows.
That was because Music Q had a structure where winning 1st place was impossible without global firepower and digital streaming performance backing it up.
'Let's see.'
Hyelin turned off her phone and seriously calculated it out.
'Overseas reactions have just started coming in, the digital release entered Top 100 at 99th then fell off the chart, then rose to 71st with music show and challenge buffs, now it's maintaining in the 80s.......'
HAZERD's title track 'MAZE' wasn't a song that did well on digital charts.
Despite that, maintaining this performance was an absolutely incredible defensive feat. Because compared to other idol teams currently appearing on Music Q, it was a standout result.
Saying it like that made it seem like HAZERD winning 1st place was a given, but.......
Another reason Music Q's 1st place was considered difficult was because artists who didn't even appear on that day's broadcast could also become 1st place nominees.
Thanks to that, world-class Tier 1 idols who no longer needed to appear on domestic music shows, Deplote, had been monopolizing Music Q's 1st place trophy all through January.
'No, if you're not doing domestic music shows then aren't you basically a foreign artist!'
Hyelin, who'd naturally assumed they would be HAZERD's competition, huffed and puffed, then remembered something and held her breath.
'......Wait?'
Hyelin immediately typed Deplote's latest album release date into the search bar.
And she also checked today's date.
'Ah!'
On Music Q, after 5 weeks from the release date, you got unconditionally excluded from 1st place nominee status.
And today was exactly the timing when they'd be excluded!
'Then they've got a fighting chance?'
Her heart suddenly began pounding with anticipation.
[Me: Who's the opponent?]
[Juha: Ninety Globe]
"......."
'It's over.'
The talk of it being an empty house only applied to the idol lineup. It wasn't just idols HAZERD had to compete against.
And '90Globe' was a hip-hop team that was a digital streaming tyrant — the moment they released a song, it shot straight to 1st place on the charts, no, they played jump rope with the very top ranks of the yearly charts.
'The bigger issue than HAZERD not winning 1st is that these folks haven't won 1st yet.......'
They'd apparently been stuck at perpetual 2nd place until now due to being pushed back in overseas firepower by Deplote, but it was about time for these people to win 1st too.
In fact, it would be more of a problem if HAZERD won 1st here.
Based on her past fangirling experiences, Hyelin imagined the reaction if HAZERD beat Ninety Globe and won 1st place.
—These days there seem to be a lot of issues with music show 1st place wins.
—Does a 1st place that the majority of the public doesn't acknowledge even have meaning?
—Our big bros should work on their looks too~ 1st place would be a piece of gum for them~ lol
'Ugh, that damned public!'
For a boy group to win the public's hearts, they'd need to be world-class enough to fuel national pride, so it was effectively safe to ignore them.
......The problem was that the checking forces riding on this public opinion would gleefully try to tear HAZERD down.
'Better not to win.'
For Hyelin, who was used to stanning failed idols, not getting cursed out was more important than the team's results.
'And the chances are low anyway.'
Even if HAZERD got perfect scores in album sales points and text voting, and even came out even in global points, they were clearly going to get pushed back in digital streaming points.
Plus, music show scores aggregated performances from Monday to Sunday, so HAZERD, who'd made their comeback on Wednesday, was bound to be at a disadvantage.
And Hyelin's prediction proved exactly correct.
[Juha: I'm anti Ninety Globe from today]
'I was prepared for it, but still a shame.'
Still, wasn't becoming a 1st place nominee in just their second week since debut an amazing achievement in itself?
Plus, their opponent was 90Globe?
'Just competing against them is an honor!'
Hyelin converted the pride welling up inside her into fuel and worked hard through the rest of her part-time shift.
And she returned home, lay on her bed without even washing up, and turned on her phone.
Seeing '1st Place Nominee' on Wit's real-time trends and naturally assuming it would be about HAZERD, Hyelin clicked without hesitation.
—Real-time HAZERD 1st place nominee just 2 weeks after debut!!!!
—Mom I'm a fan of a 1st place nominee singerㅠㅠㅠㅠ Our HAZERD fighting all the way to becoming 1st place singers!!
—Wow how long has it been since a mid-sized rookie boy group set a record like this... 5th gen idol scene is really getting fun
—Huh but their first-week sales were lower than expected for a group with three survival show alums and they're already 1st place nominees?
└These days first-week numbers are inflated because of that pulling-forward purchase trick, their numbers are actually good. Of course we'll have to see later but with current firepower it looks like they could sell plenty and then some
└lol well Giddeun did have fan signs up until last month... lol
'Phew.'
Clean reactions, without even the sajaegi suspicions that every mid-sized idol gets accused of at least once.
There weren't even any sneers calling it an empty house fluke since the opponent was such a heavyweight like Ninety Globe.
Relieved, Hyelin happily returned to her own timeline where only HAZERD fans were gathered.
But instead, she witnessed an unexpected scene there.
—Wow is this for real some butthurt or whatever, the kids become 1st place nominees right after debut and if it's cos Kim Sanho's family bribed someone then I'd believe it;;
—It's so fucking transparent that weird malicious hate is getting attached to HAZERD's scene for real lol use that time trying to hold us back to stream your own faves~
—The reverse viral is so obvious but you idiots falling for it please get some brain cells... people calling themselves fans are causing division lol sigh...
'Why's the mood so grim......?'
Fans who should've been basking in the joy of 2nd place were instead sharpening their blades even more viciously than people outside.
Hyelin, scratching her head, sent a message to Juha who styled herself as an information source.
[Juha, did something happen with San-ho?]
The reply came quickly.
[Juha: Just fucking malicious hate]
'No, I'm asking you to explain.......'
In the end, Hyelin had no choice but to explore the internet herself.
And she realized.
"Huh, this really is malicious hate!"
It was so absurd that the tears she'd shed over Kim Sanho's career change backstory dried right up.
—I was in arts and athletics too but once I got injured my family's fortunes declined... I'm jealous, must be nice to just casually switch career paths
—Why'd it have to be an idol of all things~
—Of course a rich kid doing the idol thing as a hobby is annoying, they're taking spots from kids who are serious about it... gold spoons can just give their company money and get trained
└I was quietly watching but this is really some bullshit fuck... is Sorasum a company you can just pay your way into?
This was... really just hating on him purely because his family was well-off, wasn't it.
Sure, it's true you couldn't simply dismiss their opinions as just an inferiority complex. There were parts she could sympathize with as an ordinary person.
But.
'Aren't there loads of gold spoon idols?'
They used to fawn over others calling them sheltered young masters, so why were they doing this to San-ho?
It didn't seem like he'd simply been unlucky and become a target. Hyelin dug deeper, venturing into the abyss of the controversy.
And she found out that the process through which this absurd controversy gained this much power was entangled more complexly than she'd thought.
But if you cited the fundamental reason, there was just one.
—No you know why we're calling out the gold spoon thing? If you're lucky enough to get into a top-tier skill team and get carried, then at least practice hard enough to match that level
—If the team flops he can just brush it off and live off daddy's allowance eating and playing, if it were me I'd half-ass it too lol meanwhile someone else devoted half their life to being an idol...
—He's already the weakest dancer but we also have to accommodate his shoulder? Ah seriously this gold spoon young master is such a headache
—Tbh aside from face physique and vocal tone there's not a single thing that's outstanding, why's he even an idol
└If he's got face physique and vocal tone that's exactly why he should be an idol you fucking dickhead
Lack of skill.
'But.......'
It was true that Kim Sanho's skills were the weakest within the team.
But it was absolutely never to a degree that noticeably grated on stage. In fact, on the digital release, Kim Sanho's voice played such an important role that people were calling it the killing part.
'If he were in another team, a guy with that face and that height who's also decently good at dancing and singing would've been hyped up like crazy.'
Then why was it that Kim Sanho's shortcomings were so singularly magnified?
The reason was... first, because the overwhelmingly skilled Seo Cha-gyeom, Kim Yuri, and Han Neuti existed on the same team.
Anyone would inevitably look lacking compared to them.
The second was that teams containing survival show alums were bound to inevitably attract legions of extreme individual fans called 'akgae'.
That legion solely supported their own ultimate bias member, and they routinely treated the other members as mere hangers-on, or even worse, as obstacles.
—Let's just make it 5 members and increase Gyeon-woo's parts
—The debut album was possible to go hard because the prep period was long, but as time goes on I'm scared they'll adjust the difficulty level because of a certain someoneㅜㅋㅋ surely they wouldn't do that to Kkam-gyeom.. right???
—They grit their teeth and don't show us Flight Debut Diary but Gyeon-woo and KSH are roommatesㅜㅜ it's annoying cos it feels like they're forcing it down our throats... please pair him with Cha-gyeom
In other words, this was... external forces checking Rising, and internal forces wanting only their own fave to succeed.
It was the result of the two's interests aligning chillingly well and merging.
But actually, the majority of general public opinion was sympathetic, calling it a pitiable past.
'Did I call them "the damned public" earlier?'
No, looking at this mess, it seemed the public were the sane ones after all.
'......This kind of thing needs to be suppressed early.'
The incident had happened less than a day ago.
If things stalled any longer, Kim Sanho's negative image would solidify completely, and he'd be branded as a 'member it's okay to hate on.'
And it was only a matter of time before that absurd atmosphere became a massive barrier blocking the influx of new fans.
"I can't just sit still. I need to do something too....... Aaaack!!"
The reason Hyelin, who'd been seriously pondering countermeasures by herself, suddenly screamed.
That was because a new notification had popped up on HAZERD's channel.
[LIVE: Thank you for the 1st place nomination!]
It was their very first live notification ever.
Hyelin, frantically clicking the notification window, went through a short loading screen and joined the live.
Along with rustling noises, the screen brightened and Seo Cha-gyeom's face appeared.
[Is it working?]
'It's Chaegyeom!'
Hyelin quickly typed into the chat with trembling fingers.
—Chaegyeom-ahㅠㅠ ㅠㅠㅠ congrats on the 1st pladce nominee
Seo Cha-gyeom, who'd been staring intently at the screen, blinked and then pushed the phone downward.
[The chat isn't coming up.]
—A fox running off with the camera angle
—Chaegyeom-ah... what are you doing
—A handsome man doesn't care about angles
—No!!! It's on!!!!! We're right hereㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Hyelin spammed the chat window with an anxious heart.
Unaware of the fans' feelings, with a serious face just tapping at the screen, a voice was heard from beside Seo Cha-gyeom.
[Give it here.]
'It's Gyeon-woo!'
Once again, a rustling sound was heard.
Soon the screen shot upward and the familiar ceiling of a car came into view, then after finding its angle, it soon showed Baek Gyeonwoo's face.
'They're in a car?'
Baek Gyeonwoo looked at the screen as if checking it for a moment, then said indifferently.
[Seo Cha-gyeom turned off the chat window and is going "the chat isn't coming up".]
[......It's my first time doing this.]
Baek Gyeonwoo passed the phone back to Seo Cha-gyeom, who was sitting in front.
Another rustling sound passed by, and finally the members' faces began to appear at a proper angle.
Seo Cha-gyeom smiled as if nothing had happened and greeted them.
[Hello!]
The full-scale live had finally begun.