Chapter 85
Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: NicoleTempest
Chapter 85 What are you talking about?
“What?”
When he asked me what I was talking about, Seon-young looked furious, as if she couldn’t believe I was ignoring her while she was talking.
It would be good for her to think from the listener’s perspective for a bit.
Seon-young talked way too much, beyond the normal range of people.
I had never met anyone who talked this much, not even in elementary school.
“I asked you if you could appear on Sweet Road. You kept nodding and responding, so I thought you were listening. Don’t tell me you were just pretending to listen all this time?”
That’s when Yi-jun, who realized I was in trouble, added fuel to the fire.
“Wow, hyung, that’s too much. How can you not listen properly when Seon-young noona said so much and just play dumb?”
Hey, kid. You were also listening with one ear and letting it out the other.
“No, I was just thinking for a moment. We have a comeback soon, so I have to keep in mind the group schedule too…”
Then Seon-young quickly seized the opportunity and shot back.
“We just go to the store, eat, interview the customers, and play some games with the pedestrians. That’s all we do! There’s no waiting time, and we just finish the schedule neatly and quickly. It’s really fast. You can also fit it in between other schedules like Tetris!”
Really… Even her diction was good, and the words stuck in my brain.
There was no point in refusing here… She was a member of the family, and it wouldn’t be good for the atmosphere.
‘This is when it’s best to use the company as an excuse.’
“I’ll talk to the manager hyung. It might be difficult if the company doesn’t approve.”
I didn’t even say I would do it, but she seemed to understand it as a yes, and her face brightened.
“I hope it works out! I’ll appreciate it!”
No, I didn’t say I would do it.
I don’t know what the overall vibe of Polaris is, but… If the remaining six members are all like this, I won’t be able to stand it.
If I appear, I might end up as a porter who withers and dies under the pressure of the energetic girl group seniors.
‘I don’t really hate doing that…’
But it seemed obvious that I wouldn’t be able to do anything else once I went through that schedule.
“Yeah, I hope so too.”
I tried my best to smile for business and waited for the practice to resume.
***
“Wow… That was amazing.”
On the way back.
As soon as he got on the minivan that the manager had arrived for the pickup, Yi-jun stuck out his tongue.
“Our noona talks a lot, right?”
It wasn’t just a little bit. This was the first time in my life that I saw such a level of speech.
“But she’s not a bad person. She has a nice personality too…!”
That seemed true. But being a nice person and having the same frequency with someone were two different things.
‘She’s not the type I would ever get along with.’
I basically liked quiet people. Calm and doing their work neatly and without making mistakes.
When I described it like that, there was one person around me. It was Ryu Kyunghwa.
I wouldn’t have minded meeting her somewhere else. If she had joined our company as a new employee, I would have thought she was a good one.
Anyway, that’s another story.
I searched my pocket and took out my phone. It was to watch the final version of the music video that the manager had sent me during practice.
“Seon-woo, you too…”
I wanted to ask him if he wanted to watch it with me, but I couldn’t finish my sentence.
Seon-woo, who had been defending his sister until a moment ago, was already dozing off.
‘He must be tired. He had to take care of his sister and practice the choreography. He hates being a nuisance to anyone.’
I closed my eyes for a moment and opened them again as the music video started. A space that looked like a ruin appeared.
[A siren rings in my ears ring ring]
Seon-woo emerged from the darkness and reached for the sky. I was worried that the CG would be poorly done, but it was surprisingly good quality.
Seon-woo, wearing a black outfit that resembled a military uniform, looked very exhausted and had a visual that was enough to shake the hearts of his sisters.
As the lyrics progressed, the next part’s protagonist, Kyunghwa, appeared. He was wearing a white outfit in a space surrounded by mirrors.
According to the synopsis that the music video director had sent in advance, Kyunghwa was ‘the traitor’.
He betrayed his members and volunteered to become a villain alone for the sake of ‘her’, whom they all wanted to protect.
She was locked up in the lower floor of a high tower, but he couldn’t save her, let alone being resented as a traitor.
The rest of the members confronted Kyunghwa to rescue her, but they failed every time.
Finally, Yi-jun succeeded in reaching the space where she was, but he was blocked by soldiers of unknown identity.
In the process of letting Yi-jun into the tower, Seong-won and I were injured so badly that we couldn’t stand up.
The battle scene between Yi-jun and Kyunghwa continued, and Kyunghwa won the fight, but he freed her from the prison.
In the end, Kyunghwa was executed by the soldiers of unknown identity, and she escaped with Seon-woo, crossing the desert.
‘Who said he wasn’t the center? They pushed him so hard with the music video story.’
Of course, it was a much better choice than pushing me out of nowhere. Kyunghwa did a good job of bringing out his visual and narrative.
When I compared the five of them at once, Kyunghwa’s sorrow stood out.
‘Is he… sad or excited to fight?’
Yi-jun’s character was a bit aggressive, but he just… looked like a comic book fighting maniac. Of course, he suited it so well that I had nothing to say.
‘But this is just him being excited to fight with Kyunghwa, how is this a scene of him going to save his lover?’
I was stuck between them, but I was decent. Of course, I couldn’t say… I did exceptionally well.
Seon-woo did his role well with his big eyes blinking. Seong-won was the same. His unique half-tied hair suited the modern fantasy background very well.
‘This was good.’
The aesthetics were well polished and the CG was not awkward.
The girl who captivated the members’ hearts was portrayed in a white dress, except for some parts of her body, so there was no room for controversy.
How much time was left until the release? It was already past midnight. I glanced at the calendar and saw that there were less than two weeks left until the music video and song release.
When I blinked and opened my eyes, it was Seon-woo’s live broadcast day. And then it was the teaser release day.
Some of the photos taken at the botanical garden were supposed to be released as teasers.
‘Let’s do one last search.’
I logged into SNS with a soulless eye and saw the feed of my friends who never talked to me.
[- Seon-woo, was it MC broadcast this Sunday?]
[ㄴ Yes, yes, that’s right!ㅠㅠㅠㅠ He said he’s doing a special stage with Seonyoung unnie]
[ㄴ It’s this week, right?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ I’m looking forward to it too. Let’s survive the real life]
[ㄴ Since it’s a special, he’ll upload a fancam, right?ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Oh, I finally have a fancam of my bias]
I realized that we didn’t have any fancams. Sure, we did some music shows last year, but… fancams were…
‘Something that only the broadcasting companies would release if there was enough demand…’
We didn’t have that. They said they only released the fancams of the popular members who got a lot of views within the popular groups. There was no chance for us.
The only stage that could have been worthy of a fancam was when we went to the corn festival last time…
‘It was too much to hope that someone would film a fancam for us in that situation.’
Of course, the middle school friend who took the candid shot that made me a hot topic also tried to film a video, but… it was too shaky to even call it a fancam.
To become a hot topic, you need to at least have a clear distinction of the faces of each member.
Among us, the first fan page was started by Seong-won, and the first fancam was done by Seon-woo.
Things were slowly getting resolved one by one.
‘Last month was unusually full of misfortunes.’
I decided not to be suspicious of this peaceful time. I shook off my anxiety and put down my phone and closed my eyes.
***
When you have a schedule to wait for, time flies by frighteningly fast. Just like I felt on the day of our first practice, the day of our appearance came in the blink of an eye.
“Don’t be nervous and do well.”
Yi-jun waved his hand at Kyunghwa, me, and Seon-woo with a regretful look.
Originally, Yi-jun wanted to go with us so badly that he threw a tantrum, but coincidentally, he had a forgotten appointment with his grandmother.
“Ah, I want to go to the music show waiting room and have fun too.”
“Then why don’t you call your grandma now?”
Kyunghwa sighed as if to tell him to stop whining and answered, and Yi-jun shook his head.
“No, I can’t. Grandma is still recovering, and you never know when the elderly will get sick.”
“Fine, then be a good grandson.”
Seong-won had left earlier for a meeting related to the Star Discovery commemorative concert.
He left a little earlier, so he would probably come back earlier than us or around the same time.
Kyunghwa stuck out his tongue briefly and left the entrance with Seon-woo. Come to think of it… did Kyunghwa solve the problem that he got into on a whim?
I wanted to check it myself, but that would be like crushing his pride.
‘Our goldfish… he can’t die before we make a comeback…’
His mind had exploded once when Seon-woo turned his stomach upside down with the MC casting. He needed to be treated carefully so that it wouldn’t happen again.
The rest of them were… not very delicate. I had to pay attention to them.
But I still wished I could help him if he had any financial problems. I felt the same regret.
He was in a situation where he didn’t have a penny in his house, and he didn’t succeed as an idol… he must have been struggling in many ways.
I kept worrying about it, but there was nothing I could do for him right now. Then it was better to focus on what I could do now.
“Did you forget anything?”
I asked as if I was taking care of elementary school kids, and Seon-woo answered with a surprised look.
“I didn’t forget anything, I packed everything!”
“Okay, then that’s good.”
As we left the dorm entrance, it was clear that it was now the time when autumn was turning into winter. The sun was still not up.
We had to hurry because we had to get to the salon by 6:30.
“Anyway, we’re going to do the stage makeup and hair again when we get there, so they’ll just do the dry and basic makeup for us.”
The manager gave us a brief explanation after seeing me and Kyunghwa.
We didn’t expect to do anything amazing since we weren’t even going on stage.
“Sure, we’ll just cheer quietly from the side.”
I put on the bodycam and mic that the PD of ‘Boys in Crisis’ had asked me to turn on whenever I did any activities that he could use for the show, and got into the minivan.
Another long day was starting.
‘Please don’t let any weird accidents happen.’
Seon-woo was reciting the cue sheet he had received in advance, his eyes spinning.
He seemed to have memorized the script yesterday. But I could only hope he would do well, since Seon-young had taken good care of him.
Another long day was starting.
