Chapter 119
Chapter 119
After the radio show ended.
I sent the members off in the vehicle first, then Kim Yuri and I waited for the manager at the broadcasting station entrance.
The night air felt quite chilly. I stood watching the boundary where the entrance lights ended and the street darkness began, hesitated a moment, then spoke.
"Did you have time to look at the internet?"
Kim Yuri shrugged and answered.
"The leader has his own routines."
"......What about Neuti hyung?"
"I told him myself. It's the younger one's issue, so the hyungs should step up."
The conversation flowed smoothly even without mentioning Kim Sanho's name, so it seemed this hyung had been paying attention to the issue today as well.
Should I call this being on the same wavelength? Or should I call it a lack of communication.......
"Who wrote your lines for you?"
"What lines?"
"......."
"Huh? Oh, no way."
After a brief silence, Kim Yuri burst out laughing.
"Wrote them for me? No way! I didn't say anything to Sanho in the first place."
"......."
"He's a Hyeondae person too, so I don't know if he genuinely didn't know either. But wow, Chaegyeom, you really thought that was all scripted?"
Still chuckling, Kim Yuri tapped my shoulder.
"Try trusting your members a little~"
Honestly, me.
It's not that I don't trust the members, it's just.......
'......Am I not trusting them?'
Just then, I spotted the manager coming down the stairs in the distance.
We immediately stopped talking and headed with the manager to the parked car.
Once in the vehicle, I stared blankly out the window for a while before pulling out my phone. It was to check the internet reactions.
Among the many positive responses, what was getting the hottest reception was, as expected, the live performance.
―Bamadi Lemon real-time search rising
―Reason HAZERD should promote forever: my standards got too high and I can't stan anyone else now lol
―Heard HAZERD fans were fighting so I came to watch and saw the live too... there's a hole here...? What kind of K-pop are you guys doing on your own?
―One of the reasons I like HAZERD, they seriously don't waste a single one of the kids' voices and utilize them so perfectly in the right places, Comet-zem teachers please stay with our kids forever...
―But why did Yuri say he "made" it when introducing Bamadi? Did he participate in something?
└...The truth about self-producing idols is they get credited even for 1% participation, but the kids' names aren't listed so it's probably just Yuri misspeaking...
└Probably, right? lol
I looked into it a bit more closely to confirm.
'Nothing.'
I thought there might still be some malicious reactions toward Kim Sanho lingering, but they had literally evaporated.
All that remained were just traces that a fight had occurred.
―Where did all the haters go lololol
―They got smacked down not that long ago and already all tucked tail and vanished, damn it, they need to get smacked more
―Wow they seriously all got account suspended or wiped clean ending lolol like cockroaches, so nasty cry emoji
―So it really was a coordinated swarm attack...
―To the bastards who contributed even once to bashing our kid this time, please just unstan, we roll along just fine without you
This sort of thing.
Even these were being deleted one by one thanks to the fans' cleanup campaign.
―Honestly with three survival show members in the group, this was bound to get raided at some point.. cry emoji The akgaes genuinely think they're acting in the members' best interest, so if the main group doesn't help out, they can never be eradicated. I'm so grateful the kids showed their stance this time
└Still, I hope we don't see this kind of filth from now on... cry emoji
└That's true.. the company should handle the monitoring..
'Hmm.......'
Let's admit it. This time, Yuri hyung's judgment seemed to have been right.
So if you ask whether the problem was perfectly resolved.......
Well, you could call it perfect except for one very minor flaw that wasn't really worth worrying about.
Because outside forces, realizing they could no longer start a fire with the same kindling now that internal solidarity had strengthened, were expressing their frustration in other directions.
―Did they bring an easy song because they got scared of doing it live?
―They even sing with AR all laid down at the radio show, it's hard watching tone-deaf people who swallowed the CD go off like that
―Why is their skill flexing more cringey than others lolol Would they rather promote with their faces, you want to take the skill god image too? lolol
―lolol Fans were probably all excited to certify the MAZE live but then suddenly autotune-drenched b-side lolol
'.......'
In the case of 'Bye my december', the effectors are heavily applied to create a dreamlike effect.
With this kind of song, even a slight pitch mistake during a live performance creates a completely different atmosphere from the original track.
Which meant the live difficulty was considerable.
But since it wasn't a song like 'MAZE' where high notes or vocal prowess suddenly burst out, I supposed it could be perceived that way.
I turned off my phone.
'Wasted effort on their part.'
We had plenty of opportunities to prove our skills, so I wasn't impatient at all.
If anything, I was looking forward to it.
......Although I didn't expect that opportunity to really come within a single day.
* * *
"Today's Music Box winner is?"
I thought there was a possibility.
'Music Box' had the highest album reflection ratio among all music shows, so it was a place where boy groups strong in album sales had the advantage.
The score proportion gained from appearing on the broadcast was also quite high, so winning without appearing was difficult.
For that reason, it was the music show evaluated as having the easiest difficulty for rookie boy groups to win a terrestrial broadcast first place.
So from the moment we heard that our team and Hainoeo were nominated for first place, the waiting room atmosphere had been constantly buzzing.
Especially Baek Gyeonwoo, who engaged in the eccentric behavior of sticking one earbud in his own ear and the other earbud suddenly into my ear, forcing me to listen to songs by Giddeun and AWER.
Half of this buzzing atmosphere was anticipation, and the other half was nervousness.
Because two major idol groups were making a comeback today, meaning there would be virtually no opportunities going forward.
Nevertheless, I was deliberately holding my expectations slightly in check.
Because I was reminding myself that while our scores were superior, the Wednesday release date would work against us.
But there was no need to worry.
"It's HAZERD!"
Because we had an overwhelming victory in albums, digital streaming, and voting.
Taking the trophy the MC handed over, Kim Yuri spoke with a dazed face.
"Uh, yes......."
I had told him to memorize an acceptance speech just in case.
But it seemed he had completely forgotten it in that time, because instead of the first line of his prepared speech, something else came out of Kim Yuri's mouth.
"To our fans......."
However, even that only went so far.
As if overcome with emotion, Kim Yuri couldn't continue speaking and bowed his head.
Then he urgently handed the mic over to Han Neuti, who was standing right next to him. Having suddenly received the mic, Han Neuti stammered with a flustered face before barely opening his mouth.
"To our fans, truly, thank......."
Han Neuti, who had spoken up to there, also clamped his mouth shut as if his words had gotten stuck, and passed the mic to the side.
Which meant it came to me.
I gripped the mic and recited the prepared acceptance speech.
"―To the president, the PD, the Sorasum staff, and all the staff who helped us promote safely and show a cool image, thank you. And......."
I raised my eyes and looked toward the audience.
About ten fans who had come into the live broadcast were waving slogans stamped with our logo and cheering.
"To our fans......."
So this was why they couldn't continue speaking.
Even from a distance, our emotions connected with such clarity.
"......."
Baek Gyeonwoo tapped me from behind.
It was an unspoken signal to hand it over if I couldn't say any more.
I forcibly suppressed my emotions and brought the mic back to my lips.
"Thank you so much."
I knew perfectly well that cool and fancy words were more effective at conveying sincerity.
But this was all that came to mind.
"We will become a HAZERD worthy of the trophy you've given us."
Once the acceptance speech ended, the MCs' closing remarks began.
When I turned around, the members had already gathered around Kim Yuri, patting his shoulders.
'.......'
I quietly approached Kim Yuri and wrapped my arm around his shoulder.
"Hyung."
Then I whispered softly into his ear.
"Don't cry. We have to do the encore live."
* * *
[Today's Music Box 1st Place HAZERD (+encore live video)]
First win on the 10th day since debut, congrats congrats
Comments
―Congrats~
―Miracle of a small company, is another one finally emerging
―It was an empty house, they were the only team worth giving it to anyway
―There are three survival show alums in the group, isn't this expected?
└Hey...
└How many groups did you just kill with that one sentence
In the idol community, the emergence of a new first-place idol was naturally a buzzing hot topic.
Especially when the protagonist was a rookie barely ten days out from debut. Even more so if they were an idol from a small-to-medium company.
The post announcing HAZERD's first place boiled over with various reactions mixing congratulations and checks.
However, there was an even more important topic that could quiet that subtle war of nerves.......
It was HAZERD's encore live video.
―Wait, isn't the standard these days just standing there and singing for encore lives? Is there a need to pull it off this perfectly? cry emoji
―The live monster born from malicious haters
―F*** so you're saying this isn't enough to make you cry... okay, take the rookie award
―Ah the moment the MAZE intro comes on and Kim Yuri vigorously wipes his eyes and gets into formation is so admirable but hilarious lololololol
Because AR can't be used during the encore live, your live skills are laid bare.
However, encore lives were originally closer to a fan service concept directed at the fans who gave them first place, so previously it was common to communicate with fans and enjoy the stage in a more relaxed manner.
But recently, reactions began to emerge sneering at this appearance as 'a trick to hide insufficient skills.'
And eventually, at some point, encore lives had long since become a testing ground to gauge an idol's ability.
In this situation, HAZERD had presented the encore live as a perfect stage with barely any difference from an official performance.
―Amazing fact learned today: Seo Cha-gyeom making an expression when hitting high notes was showmanship cry emoji During the encore he just smiles and goes all the way up??
―Sanho, his facial expressions suddenly feel much more natural!!! Maybe it's because he relaxed his energy since it's the encore lololol I think he'll improve even more
―The guy who claimed he's a Hyeon-jik expert and insisted HAZERD was drenched in AR deleted all his posts
―I've already finished imagining going to the concert
―Can we eat the skill flex now? I'll ask nicely just this once~~
It was a flawless verification that even antis, who would manufacture controversy by any means, couldn't do anything about.
Also, when your skills back you up, something else naturally follows.
The public's acknowledgment.
―Yeah, this is the kind of idol that should win first place
―I wondered where they were from, so it's Seo Cha-gyeom's group, whew...
―Look look, the ones who are good try to show it off like this lolol
―People talking about skill or whatever here are fascinating to me, I only see faces
The fans who had been agonizing over various things all this time felt a heart-swelling sense of liberation and enjoyed this festival.
―The flower path idols make you walk is too sweet
―Saying they'd become an idol worthy of the trophy, they literally made that happen right now cry cry cry cry
―I don't think I'll ever regret liking Chaegyeom in the future
―What do I do... having only liked them for 10 days and I'm already daring to want to promise forever...
And a new piece of bait appeared.
Idol Comprehensive Review! @IDOL_summary
The ordeals of variety newbie HAZERD?
The production team prepared it! A variety training hidden camera set!
(But the result was......)