Chapter 126
Chapter 126
―Even the ones who said "can't wait for your acting" are only looking at his face
―I can't feel the soul, but he's got the basics down?? LOL
―The acting of someone who's only ever received romantic interest their whole life
―If I were the love interest, I'd be so confused if he's sincere, I'd probably pull out a knife first;;;
―With that face, even just asking 'what did you eat' creates a narrative...
[Gaze Score: 100]
[Voice Score: 100]
[Soul Score: -100]
[Production Team: We'll pass you.]
That was how Seo Cha-gyeom managed to pass safely by leading with his face.......
Even after that, the members' acting skill verification time had popped up intermittently whenever the cooldown ended.
[San-ho: Fluttering, even in my heart, just like back then, a plum blossom resembling you.]
[Cha-gyeom: Say it with some commas.]
[Gyeon-woo: Let's go. Backwards.]
[San-ho: Yes.......]
[So-wol: What does it matter if the wall of status has lasted a thousand years!]
[Neuti: No, yours isn't a romance.......]
[Yuri: It looks like you should be holding a torch?]
And each time, their acting skills had reassured their fans.
―What a relief, they look like they'll be idols forever
―Congratulations on HAZERD's contract renewal
―But just looking at the maknae line, you can tell they can't act LOL
―The acting potential is all Baek Gyeonwu, he's probably already received a few scripts
└This is something only people who recently entered Gyeon-woo's fandom can say
└How can he act when his expression doesn't change from -_-
After that, the members' efforts and the production team's generous judging repeated themselves, and the yutnori game progressed steadily into the next round.
After a fierce back-and-forth battle full of endless twists and turns.......
The final results finally appeared.
[The winner is Team Kim Yuri&Seo Cha-gyeom!]
[Congratulations!]
―This actually works
―Aiming only for shortcuts leads to ruin... Noted
―Giving a holiday lesson and HAZERD's in-house content is so fulfilling
―How did it end up like this LOL
―It was a clean game with no... sweaty palms
―This isn't the tortoise and the hare, it's a third party reaping the benefits
[A peaceful time that returned after the yutnori was over (feat. Dumplings)]
As the atmosphere shifted, the screen closed up on the appetizingly finished dumplings. They were dumplings the members had made themselves.
Admiring exclamations full of pride poured out, and soon, scenes of the members tasting the dumplings and sharing heartfelt stories followed.
[Neuti: Like during the last Chuseok, having memorable holidays pile up one by one like this... it's really nice.]
[Gyeon-woo: It's the first time I've ever felt the holiday spirit.]
[San-ho: (Nod nod)]
[So-wol: It's fun. I want to do it again.]
As the warm conversation revealing the members' true feelings unfolded, the comment section was likewise flooded with messages like 'HAZERD, let's be together forever.'
The thing that triggered the peak of that emotional moment was.......
[That moment]
[Gyeon-woo suddenly lowering his head]
―Huh?
―No way
―Is he crying?
―Suddenly?
[Members flustered by Gyeon-woo's sudden tears]
[Cha-gyeom: ......What's wrong?]
―Gyeon-woo is crying?
―That Baek Gyeonwoo?
―The Gyeon-woo who looks like he'd bleed Americano instead of blood if you poked him?
―TT TT TT
―How deep is your bond TT TT
The production team, who would never miss such a rare touching moment, immediately laid down a sorrowful and wistful BGM in the background.
Simultaneously, unreleased behind-the-scenes photos of HAZERD passed by on the screen, one cut at a time with painstaking retouching.
[Passing through countless times of laughing together and crying together]
[They solidified as one team]
[Thinking of their sincerity towards each other]
[And the memories they've made together, tears.......]
And then the song cut off abruptly.
Baek Gyeonwoo raised his head with reddened eyes.
[Gyeon-woo: Who put wasabi in the dumplings.]
[Silence......]
[Yuri: Sorry]
―Tears 0.1 sec cut
―No freaking way
―LOLOLOLOLOLOL
―Ah so annoying LOL
―I knew this would happen but I still fell for it
―Of all people, it's Gyeon-woo who gets it, that's freaking hilarious
―He was chain-eating them while others took turns, so he deserved it
―So wasabi is more tear-jerking than a music show #1? WTF are you saying only physical things can make him cry?
The situation was wrapped up with Kim Yuri eating a wasabi dumpling alongside him as an act of penance.
Then, the production team spoke energetically, in a voice that found the members creating their own content just precious.
[Production Team: Everyone! There are still gifts left.]
[Members: Huh? Really?]
[Production Team: Since it's the holidays, we have to give out special holiday gifts!]
[Members: Wow!]
The members looked like 'finally, the inevitable has arrived' and earnestly pretended to be surprised with awkward gestures.
The identity of the PPL product that was soon revealed was.......
[San-ho: Wow, giving us this really makes it feel more like a holiday.]
[Cha-gyeom: Isn't this my favorite vitamin?]
[Yuri: I've become even more refreshing after eating this.]
[Gyeon-woo: The taste somehow reminds me of memories.]
It was the very Vitamin C that had caused viewers to raise suspicions about whether 'the advertiser is a Seo Cha-gyeom fan' back during <MAKE100%> due to the excessive close-up shots given solely to Seo Cha-gyeom for every PPL scene.
Since the SNS manager had subtly let it slip that they were a Seo Cha-gyeom fan, fans had already been feeling a sense of intimacy with the brand.
Fans couldn't hide their delight at the unexpected reunion.
―Wow, Cha-gyeom finally snagged ViewOShin
―He wanted it so bad LOL we should give him a star award
―Thank you, ViewOShin, the best vitamin brand
―Wow! I really want to receive a ViewOShin gift set too!
―So glad the vitamin brand is a fan of the kids, if it was red ginseng...
└Are you dissing red ginseng
└Sry
With that, the PPL ended, and HAZERD's first in-house content came to a close.
The fans' overall review was this.
―The quality of the in-house content is so good
―There's nothing uncomfortable to watch, it's just perfect... TT TT It's nice that they don't overdo it with the comedy greed and keep it just right
―In-house content really captures the kids' charm better than variety shows LOL Ah I already want to see the next one
―Mary Yoos Sora Seom let's go
―Wow, it was 58 minutes long LOLOL This is the true holiday spirit
―I was watching it with my younger cousin and we fought because they suddenly started eyeing my photocard...;;
Afterwards, fans began capturing the highlight scenes of this in-house content screenshot by screenshot and spreading them across all sorts of communities.
Because the quality was such that they had nothing to be ashamed of when promoting it.
[What happened during HAZERD's first in-house content]
[This time's HAZERD in-house content that captured memories, emotions, and comedy all at once]
[The magic of 180 dumplings turning into 300]
[The vitamin brand that successfully turned fandom into a career in half a year LOL]
But the heart of a fan was always hungry.......
It didn't even take a full day for the one-hour content to be fully digested.
―Give us more
―I'm bored now
―It's time for a comeback,,
―It's been half a day since the in-house content was uploaded... The company isn't working...
―Turn on a live broadcast
―Don't these guys have a messaging app TT
Fans were left rubbing their empty hearts and had to soothe their disappointment by rewatching it over and over again.
But right at midnight that very day.
A new video preview popped up on the Sora Seom channel.
'What came out?'
Though puzzled, the fans grasped their pounding, fluttering hearts and entered the channel.
And then they witnessed it.
[HAZERD(HAZERD) 'ISLAND' official video (Coming Soon)]
The only b-side track that had never been performed on stage before.
But a song already renowned as a masterpiece not just among fans, but even among K-Pop veteran fans.
The very song that had fueled the refreshing concept faction's lament that 'this should have been the title track'.......
―No way
―Wait, for real?
―This overflowing feeling?
―It's refreshing it's refreshing it's refreshing it's refreshing
―Sora Seom, if you do this, you can only become a major corporation
It was the song that would become HAZERD's follow-up track.
* * *
Monday morning, and the morning of Lunar New Year's Day.
Ahead of the follow-up song promotions, activities were briefly halted for two days.
No matter how faint the concept of a 'holiday' might be in this industry, shouldn't our staff get some rest?
This also meant that we had been granted a holiday as well.
Even though we had to digest twice the brutal schedules last week to pull this off, the accumulated fatigue could just be recovered with the upcoming rest.
"Are you heading out right away too, hyung?"
"Yeah. They said if I don't come today, they'll rip up my family registry."
Kim Yuri, whose family home was in Chungcheong Province, said as he busily packed his bags.
It seemed his family had gotten on his bad side for skipping the trip home during the last Chuseok, saying he wanted to hang out with us.
'Hmm.......'
I looked around the dorm, bustling since morning, and asked each of them a question.
"Sowol, when are you leaving?"
"Right when I get a call."
"Whose call?"
"My younger siblings."
I nodded.
I knew that Jeong Sowol's two middle school siblings attended a boarding school in Seoul. It seemed they were planning to meet up and go down together.
'Mmm.......'
Next, I stared at Kim Sanho, who was sitting at the table eating cereal soaked in milk.
"Sanho, you're not going."
"I'm going."
"You're going?"
......I thought he had pretty much cut ties with Kim Ha-rok after that absurd escape act back then?
I asked carefully.
"Can you go?"
"Ah, not there. To see my brothers... My youngest older brother said he'd pick me up later."
"Ah, I see."
Right. His relationship with his brothers still seemed fine.
'If they'd told me earlier, I would've prepared some presents.'
......Actually, it had been bothering me since earlier.
I was wondering if preparing gifts for their families was my duty as a fellow team member.
The one who stamped a seal of confirmation on that thought was Han Neuti.
"Uh, hey, wait a sec. Hold on."
Han Neuti urgently grabbed Kim Yuri's arm as he was about to head to the entrance.
Then he abruptly held out a shopping bag that had been wrapped with considerable care.
"Give this to your parents."
"Huh? What?"
Kim Yuri looked back and forth between the shopping bag and Han Neuti's face, his eyes widening as if flustered.
"Ah, I completely forgot... Wait a minute. Even if it's just an online gift card now..."
"Nah, nah. I just got this while preparing a gift for Cha-gyeom's mom. Don't worry about it."
I, who had been blankly watching their conversation, asked.
"...Why a gift for my mom?"
"....."
Han Neuti pressed his forehead for a moment and let out a sigh before replying in a slightly dumbfounded tone.
"Your mother and my mom were classmates."
"Ah, right."
"Aren't you going to Suwon? Here, take it first."
He even knew my hometown was Suwon.
Well, my parents never moved once after they got married, so if there was past interaction, it was plausible he'd know.
I received the shopping bag Han Neuti handed over and first expressed my thanks.
"....."
But to deliver this... should I go?
My family wasn't the type to gather up just because it was a holiday.
"Are you going too?"
Baek Gyeonwoo, who had slipped out of the room at some point, plopped down beside me and asked.
"Then I'll be alone in the dorm until tomorrow."
"Ah, I'm coming back right this evening. I'm only going to eat."
Kim Sanho answered.
Well, since that one was meeting in Seoul, it was a perfectly feasible schedule.
Truthfully, my house wasn't that far either, so it seemed doable if I just stopped by briefly and came back.
'If it's just for a little while...'
I looked at Baek Gyeonwoo and asked.
"Bored?"
"Yeah."
"...Really?"
"I get bored when I'm alone."
Considering that, he always played by himself when we were together.
"Wanna come with?"
"What?"
"I'll show you Suwon Hwaseong."
"What even."
Baek Gyeonwoo, who habitually frowned, relaxed his expression a moment later as if realizing my proposal wasn't particularly strange.
Then he shrugged his shoulders and answered.
"Fine. Sure."