Chapter 125
Chapter 125
These days, most people were closer to their phones than the TV.
Following the flow of the times, idols too had begun putting more effort into in-house content rather than TV variety shows.
It was an era of content abundance compared to the past, when appearing on variety was only possible through casting calls. Now, if there was content you wanted to see, you just had to relentlessly pester the company to make it!
But wishing alone often hit the realistic wall and ended up as just wishful thinking.
And that... was always a money issue.
So recently, the quality of in-house content had also become an important factor in gauging a company's capabilities.
And at this time, how did HAZERD's fans react?
―I don't usually watch behind-the-scenes content but I watch theirs lol freaking gorgeous
―It's so precious how they always bring a camera everywhere they go... Thanks to that I've seen the music show snack bar so much I've memorized the whole menu
―Was I always this easy to make laugh
―Even when Cha-gyeom just says hello it's funny and then I tear up because I remember Mebaek days you sons of bitches
―But the behind content quality is decent, especially the faces
―No seriously I can't tell if it's actually funny or if I'm just laughing because they're handsome
......Whatever it was, the reactions were that the visuals were satisfying.
Of course, this was only possible because the behind-the-scenes video quality met the minimum standard.
However, behind-the-scenes videos usually weren't even counted as proper in-house content.
―Them just messing around with each other is freaking hilarious, I'm seriously looking forward to their in-house variety
―They'll give us mystery variety, horror variety, chase variety, dating sim parody, right? That's the bare minimum, isn't it? Huh?
―DORM REALITY SHOW!!!! I've entrusted it to them!!!!
―Calm down and let's start by tearing into the Lunar New Year special in-house variety first
And finally, HAZERD's first variety-style in-house content was uploaded.
The fans who saw the thumbnail were all satisfied.
―Hanbok, approved. Character interpretation, approved.
―Mom, watch closely, Mom. He's a son-in-law candidate heh
―Hello, mother-in-law~
―Holidays really are great.
Soon the waiting time ended and the video truly began.
And before the screen fully brightened, there was a phrase that caught the fans' eyes.......
[Contains paid advertisement]
―Huh? An ad?
―Oh they landed a PPL???
―Omg what kind of ad is it
―Isn't it Dayday Coffee? They still haven't given up on the cucumber ade
└Is an executive the Cucumber King or something
―Wow then the in-house content costs must've been covered to some extent, they can demand even more heh heh
Setting aside the identity of the PPL for later, the fans refocused on watching.
The first thing to appear in the brightened video was Han Neuti and Seo Cha-gyeom, holding a self camera.
[Cha-gyeom: Hello. We are Kkam-gyeomz.]
[Neuti: Hello.]
―Gasp
―Oh no, this framing is...
―Ahhh it reminds me of the old days ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
―This is that scene that announced the birth of Kkam-gyeomz.
[Cha-gyeom: (Nudging him) Hyung, what did we say is the reason we came to this grocery mart?]
[Neuti: Yes, we came to buy HAZERD ingredients... to celebrate Lunar New Year!]
[Cha-gyeom: No, dumplings, obviously.]
[Neuti: What did I just say, though?]
―Jae-hyun, Seongjun, Gyu-min, Uma, are you doing well?
―An idol who parodies himself
―Look how much the kids have grown in just half a year...
―Why is Neuti so much more talkative ㅠㅠ
―If you watch that Mebaek scene again after this, two scruffy cats show up
[Cha-gyeom: We thought it would be nice to make some dumplings for the company family, who are like family to us, to celebrate the holiday.]
[Neuti: And we thought it would be great if our production crew could eat together with us too.]
[Cha-gyeom: The ingredient costs were provided by the company. (from Sorasum to Sorasum)]
[Production crew comment: Thank you, thank you]
―Oh my, how precious
―Give me some too, I'll resin-coat it and wear it as a keychain
―...I work at an entertainment company and most of the idols just call the staff 'family' with empty words and practically treat us like vending machines, so whenever I see an idol who genuinely takes care of people like this, I get max emotional...
Since the main consumers of in-house content were fans, there were no malicious comments unreasonably nitpicking like 'they're just pretending to be nice' or 'it's all for show'.
Though, that didn't mean there weren't any reactions that killed the mood.
―What has the company even done to deserve eating dumplings, too
└Isn't Sorasum doing pretty well at this point? Why are you mad
└Hasn't the trend of mindlessly bashing the company passed already lol
―What kind of content is this... Are you gonna take responsibility if the members' arms fall off?
└They said the members themselves wanted to do it ㅜㅜ
└Sorasum has like a dozen employees at most, what an overreaction
It was the habitual minus flow within the fandom.
But even that quickly tucked tail after getting disciplined by the fans. The combat power that had risen from the last extreme solo stan incident hadn't dropped yet, which played a part in the early suppression success.
[Neuti: Seeing a grocery mart reminds me of back then.]
[Cha-gyeom: (Silence)]
[Cha-gyeom: When is 'back then'?]
[Neuti: ......We, you know, what was it, we went grocery shopping together while watching that program. At (Beep—) Mart.]
[Cha-gyeom: Ah, right. You made kimchi jjigae for me.]
[Neuti: You asked me to buy you 1kg of corn kernels.]
[Cha-gyeom: I think it was 10kg.]
―Program, you mean Mebaek no way?
―No seriously the people who said Kkam-gyeom weren't close back then, thinking about it again it's so freaking absurd lol crazy. While people were saying Kkam-gyeom had a relationship where they dropped each other cold the second the team ended, Kkam-gyeomz: nomming kimchi jjigae
―A two-person live broadcast, urgently needed
―What's this, only sharing stories only they know about;;; give us more
―It was fate to become HAZERD after all
―10kg of corn kernels is fucking enough to be used as nuclear weapon material
[Cha-gyeom: Hyung, there are cucumbers.]
[Neuti: No, do you think I eat nothing but cucumbers every day?]
[Cha-gyeom: You eat them every day, though?]
[Neuti: I eat them because you buy them!]
[Cha-gyeom: I bought them because hyung eats them every day, though.]
―Holding in laughter every time the truth about Cucumber Ade is revealed
―When the Mebaek manipulation evidence was bursting out one by one, people said Cucumber Ade was part of the manipulation and that the production crew subtly encouraged it but fuck
―The only thing that was real in Mebaek: cucumber
―The longing for dorm reality content was growing stronger and stronger
―Cats are supposed to be scared of cucumbers, this is weird;;; at this rate So-wol has to be the cat;;;
After many twists and turns, the grocery shopping ended, and finally the scene of the members making dumplings appeared.
[Yuri: Wouldn't thirty per person be enough?]
[So-wol: 160? That seems like enough.]
[San-ho: ......180.......]
And so, the members immediately began making dumpling filling with a goal of 180 dumplings.
Divided into the kimchi dumpling team and the meat dumpling team, three members each, they were peacefully measuring out the filling when.
[Cha-gyeom: .......]
[Gyeon-woo: .......]
[Neuti: Why did you two suddenly stop moving?]
[Cha-gyeom: Hold on, we'll go talk and come back.]
[Neuti: Uh....... Where are you going? Hey! What am I supposed to be doing!]
Abandoning team leader Han Neuti, Seo Cha-gyeom and Baek Gyeonwoo urgently grabbed the bowl of filling and evacuated to a corner of the studio.
The two's secret conversation appeared.
[Cha-gyeom: From now on, we're on the same side.]
[Gyeon-woo: You're the one who made the mistake.]
[Cha-gyeom: You should've kept a proper lookout.]
[Gyeon-woo: Are you a child?]
And the video's timeline rolled back, showing the two pouring in seasoning under Han Neuti's instruction.
Soon, the scene of the soy sauce in Seo Cha-gyeom's hand... quite literally vomiting itself all over the dumpling filling appeared.
―Lolololololol
―Pulling another accident lolololol
―Fuck, I 100% understand what Gyeon-woo meant during the showcase when he said Cha-gyeom was a handful
―Be a handful to me, too
―What do we do if you cause even an accident So-wol didn't cause
―The soy sauce was at fault, crazy. That soy sauce bastard, I'm only eating gochujang from now on
[Cha-gyeom: Can't we scoop out a little?]
[Gyeon-woo: It's already soaked in.]
―What is this, sounds like song lyrics
―Once soy sauce has soaked in, there's no turning back
―This isn't what I imagined Airplane-z to be like... They were supposed to be two kingkas who dominated the school, why are there two idiots here...
└Yeah give the name Airplane-z to Baek Geonwoo and Seo Jagyeom and it's about time Cha-gyeom and Gyeon-woo use a different name...
└Pat and Mat
└Lol
A moment later, the two returned.
Seo Cha-gyeom shamelessly spoke in a tone that wasn't flustered at all.
[Cha-gyeom: We thought about it and 180 seemed a little lacking, so we decided to make a bit more.]
[Neuti: Since when?]
[Gyeon-woo: It's a holiday, everyone should eat their fill.]
[Cha-gyeom: (Nod nod)]
Han Neuti, who couldn't bring himself to oppose that statement, obediently prepped the ingredients again.
Seo Cha-gyeom and Baek Gyeonwoo secretly exchanged thumbs-ups behind him.
―Hold on, this is Chateebaek lol
―Ahh.. the weight of the eldest hyung..
―We have to redo the character interpretation lol where did the Seo Cha-gyeom who cleans up the accident-prone Tibaekz go lol
└I mean, it's Cha-gyeom causing accidents alone and the two of them cleaning up now
Following the two, the other team also burned with enthusiasm.
[So-wol: What the! Why are you making more over there?]
[Yuri: You're doing that to beat us, right? Let's make more too!]
[San-ho: .......]
And that was the story of how HAZERD ended up making fifty dumplings each.
―Where is this dumpling shop?
―Ah, so cute lololol
―Our kids have passion not just for the stage
―Is Gyeon-woo making dumplings, or is he... making grenades? It looks like they'd explode if you threw them?
―So-wol's dumplings could actually be sold lol
[Yuri: To the company staff who worked hard, and also to our members! Please take good care of us this year too!]
[Gyeon-woo: I think it'd be nice if we make dumplings together like this every Lunar New Year from now on. Even if it's not for filming.......]
At the closing ment that appeared, the fans checked the playback bar, feeling regret.
But surprisingly, the playback bar had only reached the 1/3 mark.
And right away, a scene that seemed to announce what was next continued.
[Yuri: But just eating is boring, so let's lightly add a surprise.]
[Everyone.]
[Please remember this dumpling well.]
It was a shot of Kim Yuri adding wasabi to the dumplings.
―The person always suggesting stuff like that ends up getting picked lol
―No but they said it's for the employees tho lol
―Yuri: I'm thankful to the staff but I also want to make them eat wasabi
―But looking at the captions it looks like the employees aren't eating them lol my prediction is 100% Kim Yuri eats it
The video transitioned in the meantime and moved to the scene of yutnori.
After a brief explanation of the rules, the members' game-playing scenes passed by.
Among them, the first legendary scene... was Han Neuti's aegyo mission performance scene.
―The business of my colleague I can't watch without clapping
―Neuti seems kind of greedy to be like a cat after So-wol lol
―Ah their bond is so good
―Seriously fucking hilarious
―Be honest, I usually don't really like forced idol aegyo because it makes me cringe, but why is he cute
└Cha-gyeom saves it lol
└Agreed lol, it would've been awkward if there was all that forced reacting to it
And the second legendary scene was.
[Gyeon-woo: Someone your size, I can piggyback.]
[(Romantic BGM)]
[A fluttering signal that came during yutnori]
[Heart pounding......?]
[San-ho(188): No, I felt like my feet would touch the ground.]
[Gyeon-woo(180): Are you kidding me.]
Though there was a brief happening, the image of Baek Gyeonwoo giving a piggyback ride to Kim Sanho, who was far taller than him, was enough to make fans' hearts flutter.
And this spawned the scenes that followed.
[Cha-gyeom(182): Get on my back.]
[Yuri(185): Are you really going to carry me?]
[Cha-gyeom(182): Were you planning to carry me, hyung?]
[Yuri(185): No? (Bold)]
[Neuti(183): No, seriously... get on your back? You?]
[So-wol(176): I got 1st place in all the pop quizzes.]
―The privilege of a group with an average height of 182: writing heights in the in-house content captions
―If the 176 and 180 are doing that, then what does the 185 who voluntarily got piggybacked by the 182 become
―Absolutely don't screenshot So-wol's legs shaking, everyone pretend you didn't see it
―I can't watch any more, it makes me want to get married
Because each team showed completely different takes on the exact same mission, it created another layer of fun.
And the third legendary scene followed.
The third legendary scene was.......
―Oh my god acting
―Cha-gyeom is acting!!!!
―I feel like he'd be good, his basic voice is nice
―Ah I'm scared he'll get poached by the acting world
It was Seo Cha-gyeom's historical drama acting.
[Cha-gyeom: What did I just pull?]
[Yuri: A dog.]
[Cha-gyeom: I'll go back two spaces.]
[Declaration of surrender before even trying]
―Huh, it's my first time seeing Cha-gyeom try to back out
―Gyeom has a passive skill 'Does Everything He's Asked', what's going on
―If you look at the music video he acts well though why lol
[But HAZERD does not give up]
[What scene must he act out?]
And a scene from a famous historical drama was inserted.
It was a famous legendary scene that I knew, you knew, everyone knew.
[Cha-gyeom: ......(Eyes that clearly showed he didn't know no matter who looked)]
[Yuri: Cha-gyeom only watches Yuri broadcasts so he doesn't watch other dramas!]
―He doesn't know this?
―Does he just not watch dramas at all
―It's not just not watching dramas, it's the level of not using the internet, how many parodies came out of this back then
―What on earth does Cha-gyeom do in his free time to play...
However, like someone who always works hard at anything he has to do, Seo Cha-gyeom seriously familiarized himself with the scene by even borrowing the production crew's tablet.
Soon he spoke with a resolute attitude.
[Cha-gyeom: I'm ready.]
[Yuri: Do you need someone to play the counterpart? For immersion.......]
[Cha-gyeom: No.]
Kim Yuri, who had shot up to his feet, sat back down.
And finally, Seo Cha-gyeom's acting skills were revealed to the whole world.
[Cha-gyeom: If harboring feelings of love is the crime of a traitor.]
[Cha-gyeom: Then behead me.]
The comment section instantly became noisy.
......With content that had absolutely nothing to do with his acting, but about how handsome his face was.