Chapter 117
Chapter 117
[Hello!]
Hyelin's fingers sped up as she saw the members appear on the screen.
The dark environment made the video quality terrible, but paradoxically, that made the members' sharp, distinct features stand out even more.
―Ah his shoulders are out of control
―ㅠㅠㅠ
―I don't wanna go to heaven anymore
[We're on the way to a radio schedule so we can't stay long, but we turned this on because there's something we really wanted to say.]
Seo Cha-gyeom raised his arm high to illuminate the inside of the car.
Soon, the members' voices all mixed together and burst out in a rush.
[Thank you for the No. 1 nomination!]
[Seriously, thank you!]
[It's all thanks to you!]
Hyelin felt herself getting choked up for a moment.
'So the day has come when I get to hear words like this.......'
Just a month ago, her idol's debut had been completely uncertain. And now here he was, standing tall as a No. 1 nominee, delivering words of gratitude.
Hyelin couldn't contain the overwhelming emotion and frantically typed in the chat.
―We're the ones who are thankfulㅠㅠㅠㅠ
―HAZERD is the best!!!!!!
―Let's go No. 1!!!!!!!
[We'll work even harder to reach No. 1!]
Seo Cha-gyeom shouted the pledge as if representing all the members.
After that, the members' short relay thoughts followed. Seeing each one convey their thanks with sincerity, the chat window rippled with waves of emotion.
Kim Sanho's thoughts finished, and the phone returned to Seo Cha-gyeom's hand.
[There's a comment asking where Yuri hyung is. He's next to the driver's seat right now, so for safety reasons I'll answer on his behalf....]
Right at that moment.
―Managing to score a No. 1 nomination while dragging around a malignant tumor like Kim Sanho, that's impressive bb Hurry and cut him off and go go go to No. 1 ^^
'......!'
Before her brain could even issue a command, Hyelin's fingers moved frantically.
―ㅠ
―Congrats
―Guys I love you all
―I love you!!!!!!
It was a desperate effort to push that vile comment out of sight as quickly as possible.
'Did he, did he see it?'
It looked like he did.
Hyelin didn't miss the very subtle way Seo Cha-gyeom's expression hardened as he glanced at the chat window, which had probably scrolled up a bit late due to the delay.
Seo Cha-gyeom paused for a moment and took an action that looked like he was manipulating something on the phone screen.
[Ah... yes.]
'......Looks like he's reporting that chat from earlier.'
These were kids who had just debuted and should only be seeing and hearing good things.......
Hyelin wailed internally and typed furiously in the chat.
It wasn't just Hyelin. Other fans seemed to feel a similar sense of responsibility, pouring out messages of support with even more passion than before and purifying the chat window.
Perhaps seeing the fans' efforts, Seo Cha-gyeom let out a brief laugh.
And then, as if nothing had happened, he returned and added Kim Yuri's thoughts in a calm voice again.
After that, various bits of light chatter continued for a few more minutes.
[We're off to do well at the radio now! See you later!]
[See you at 8 o'clock!]
The live broadcast ended with the members' final farewells.
A short but intense first live.
Hyelin felt the joy and overwhelming emotion of the No. 1 nomination and at the same time... an uncontrollable rage.
'Seriously, there's a line you don't cross!'
Without even a moment to savor the lingering feeling of the live, she rushed over to Wit. As expected, the place was in an uproar.
―No, are they out of their minds? Saying crap like that right in front of the members????
―San-ho is a malignant member... lol wow seriously... I'm so dumbfounded I can't even speak lol Is this your first time stanning an idol? lol lol
―You crazy bastards cut it out seriously
The fans who had been consistently ignoring every instance of unfair criticism related to Kim Sanho with "don't feed the trolls" could no longer hold back and rose up.
In truth, there had been exactly one malicious comment during the entire live broadcast, and even that had been quickly buried by the fans' response.
But the core of this incident wasn't the number of malicious comments.
It was the fact that 'a member saw it directly.'
―Ah seriously I'm so annoyed I could die
―We don't even have enough time to show them only good things and you let them see trashy words like thatㅠㅠㅜ
―On a good day you ruined the mood and did something really big~
Even amid all this, the trolls diligently performed their role as expected.
―Seo Cha-gyeom really lacks professionalism too. You should know when to ignore things and actually ignore them, why show a reaction? Where all the fans can see it ㅇㅅㅇ
―It is true he couldn't manage his expression though. He basically served up bait for the trolls.
―Is Seo Cha-gyeom mentally weak? lol I saw the malicious comment and it wasn't even anything, what's the big deal about that? lol lol
The efforts of these trolls, who seemed thrilled to finally have something on Seo Cha-gyeom, brought about a tremendous effect.
―Knowing the internal atmosphere isn't good right now, the idol scene pests really know how to show up at the perfect time
―We need to self-police this. This isn't a time where ignoring them works.
―Akgaes, hardcore stans, let's sweep them all out right now. If we let this atmosphere go on as is, those bastards will gain control and the whole fandom atmosphere is screwed
It had awakened even some of Seo Cha-gyeom's fans who had been taking a somewhat passive attitude, considering it another member's business.
It was literally the signal for an all-out escalation of combat power.
* * *
At this moment, having just finished our first live, if I were to give my thoughts.
'It's harder than I thought.'
I'd figured it would be just like having a conversation via text message, but taking in the flood of countless pieces of information all at once while simultaneously speaking naturally wasn't an ordinary kind of difficult.
Above all, matching my words to the chat window reactions with the delay was seriously... hard.
'I'll have to turn it on often from now on and get used to it.'
I'd been a little worried there might be reactions criticizing us for doing our first live spontaneously with no preparation, but fortunately, there hadn't been any.
More precisely... it was more accurate to say it had been pushed to the back burner.
I thought to myself amid the members who had grown quiet as they prepared for the radio show coming up shortly.
'Let's tell them to put up a lawsuit notice.'
I couldn't say for certain, but judging from the atmosphere in the car right now, it seemed like I was the only one who had seen that chat earlier.
So now, while the fans also perceived that comment as trolling rather than just an opinion, let's cut it off quickly and move on.
Even if the lawsuit threat didn't actually take effect, just putting up a notice would soothe the fans' anxiety at least a little.
'Hmm.......'
I couldn't just end this here.
I hesitated for a moment, then called out to the manager in the front seat.
"Manager, the live song we're singing on the radio is 'MAZE,' right?"
The manager seemed busy driving, so Kim Yuri in the passenger seat turned his head and answered in his stead.
"Uh, it's MAZE. Why?"
"I was wondering if we could change it."
"Since it's a full live, it should be possible if we just send over the MR. I'll contact the company."
Kim Yuri, who had picked up his phone, paused briefly and asked.
"But what song?"
"Ah, 'bye my december.'"
"Ohh."
He didn't even ask why.
Anyway, I didn't get the answer until we arrived at the schedule location.
"Cha-gyeom, they said yes."
I nodded and called over the members who had just gotten out of the car.
"Is everyone okay with it? Changing the song."
"It's our song anyway, so whatever."
Judging by Baek Gyeon-woo's answer, the other members didn't seem to have any objections either.
'Singing it live would feel different though.'
Besides, this was a song we hadn't performed live even once since debuting.
......Well, still, it was convenient in many ways that they followed along without even asking for a reason like this.
"But why?"
"Reasons."
Jeong Sowol, who had been tilting his head at my answer, soon stuck an earphone in his ear. Probably intending to familiarize himself with the song in advance.
I pulled the earphone back out of Jeong Sowol's ear and spoke.
"And one more thing."
I still had something planned.
"Let's change our script a bit too."
* * *
one's party time.
It's an idol-specialized radio show where the team appearing that day runs everything themselves, without a DJ.
Free hosting. Free script. Free questions and answers.
And thanks to that, it's also called the holy land of slip-of-the-tongue controversies.......
'Yuri hyung gave us a warning about this in advance, so I can rest easy.'
What did he say again?
'If you're not sure whether you should say it, just don't say it.'
And 'Don't be greedy, because being boring is better than trying to be funny and making a mistake.'
Honestly, about that first one, I felt like the moment you're capable of having that internal debate, you're already a fully realized adult.
Anyway, we finished negotiating the live song change with the writer and finally entered the booth.
I sat down next to Han Neuti, who already seemed nervous.
A moment later, the red 'ON AIR' sign lit up, and the radio started with the signal music.
"one's party time! Who's the DJ in charge of today's party?"
"One, two, three! Hello, we are HAZERD!"
After that, the radio show flowed along in a somewhat safe and predictable manner. Thoughts on debuting and the No. 1 nomination, thanks to the fans, and so on.......
But there was a separate corner where the real verbal slip-ups began.
"HAZERD's warm-up corner, 'Ask Anything Time!' Send your questions now to #11XX!"
This corner was the main culprit that turned 'one's party time' into the holy land of controversy.
It was a format where the members personally selected and answered listeners' questions that poured in in real time, and naturally, sensitive questions frequently came up without being filtered out.
And there had been more than one or two teams whose inexperienced idols failed to filter them properly, answered them, and sparked a controversy.
But let's trust Kim Yuri, who was in charge as the main DJ. That hyung would filter things out well on his own.
Soon, the first question Kim Yuri picked arrived.
"Yes, listener 4XX7 asked, 'Which member has the biggest difference between their first impression and their current impression?' Should we do this all at once? On one, two, three, point with your fingers!"
Hm.
Baek Gyeon-woo and Jeong Sowol were weird from the first time I saw them and still are, and Kim Yuri was consistently bubbly and loud.
Kim Sanho... had changed a lot. But that was a gradual change over time, so it's ambiguous to call it different.
Then there was only one left.
"One, two, three!"
The result was.......
"Seo Cha-gyeom three votes, Kim Sanho two votes, Han Neuti one vote. Cha-gyeom takes the glorious first place!"
......Me?
I was pretending to be surprised, but I wasn't that surprised. Because the ones who picked me were Kim Yuri, Han Neuti, and Kim Sanho.
I'd predicted the first two would definitely pick me, since I was the one who had deliberately changed my attitude toward them from the start.
'No, wait.'
"San-ho, to you....... I thought I was always nice to you from the beginning, San-ho, so this is a surprising... result."
"Hold on, Cha-gyeom. So does that mean you're admitting you treated me and Neuti somewhat poorly?"
"That's... because you two are hyungs."
Han Neuti and Kim Yuri briefly expressed their hurt feelings. I didn't feel any particular need to comfort them, so I just listened and moved on.
Then Kim Sanho began to explain his reason for choosing me.
"Um, when I was alone at Sorasum, Cha-gyeom hyung came in."
"That's right."
"Back then, I didn't think I would debut with Cha-gyeom hyung."
"Why?"
"......Because I thought he'd debut somewhere else."
"Ah, that. Right. What about now?"
Kim Yuri smoothly glossed over the words hinting at <MAKE100%> and prompted Kim Sanho again.
Kim Sanho answered without a moment of hesitation.
"I think he'll always be on my side."
'......Hm.'
So he's not saying his first impression was bad.
That's fine then. While I was satisfied, the talk related to first impressions continued a little longer.
"Now that I look, Cha-gyeom and Neuti picked each other? Should we take this chance to talk about each other's first impressions?"
"Ah, Neuti hyung's first impression was......."
I couldn't say it was bad because he smelled like cigarettes.
"......Good."
"So that means your current impression is not so good......."
"No, it's not that. I mean it's better now, just in a different feeling."
"Right, right. When I first saw Neuti hyung, I felt he was really stiff too, but now I think he's an incredibly cute hyung! Then conversely, this time, Neuti hyung? What was your first impression of Cha-gyeom?"
Han Neuti next to me hemmed and hawed for a bit, then answered a moment later.
"......He was scary."
"Aren't you still scared now?"
"Now... I've realized he's not scary as long as I behave well, so it seems less so."
Why does this hyung keep running with this concept?
I stared at him, dumbfounded. Han Neuti raised his palm to cover the side of his face.
It was a visible radio show, so everyone could see it. I wondered if he knew that.
No, actually, thanks to that, everything would look like a joke, so it was probably fine.
Then Kim Yuri read the next question.
"Listener 6XX1 asked, 'Has San-ho been at the company the longest?' Yes, that's right. San-ho was the first, then Cha-gyeom, So-wol, then after that....... Was I first or was Neuti hyung first?"
"Yuri was first, and then I think it was me. Gyeon-woo was last."
Han Neuti answered, racking his memory.
Going strictly by contract dates, Han Neuti was actually before Kim Yuri, and Kim Sanho was correctly the very last among us, but there was no need to correct him.
Immediately, Kim Yuri read the next question.
"Listener 5XX4 asked, 'San-ho, was there a special reason you gave up the violin and wanted to become an idol?'"
Wait.
"I'm curious about that too. San-ho, what was the motivation that made you dream of becoming an idol?"
As if he had prepared it in advance, Kim Yuri passed the question to Kim Sanho.
That question was openly targeting the current controversy.......
'Ah, right.'
Damn, it hit me that I hadn't given Han Neuti or Kim Yuri any kind of heads-up about the current situation.
The controversy had ignited early this morning, and today had been an especially packed schedule day, so there was no way those two had checked the internet in between.
If you didn't know the situation, it was a completely unremarkable question.
'I completely forgot about the radio.'
This was my mistake.
But there was no time to keep blaming myself. I had to steer Kim Sanho's answer in the right direction.
I hurriedly leaned toward the microphone.