Chapter 93
Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: NicoleTempest
Chapter 93 Countdown (2)
I was startled to see Kyunghwa’s eyes spinning as if he was dizzy and lifted him up.
There was a bright red mark on his forehead.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like he had a bruise… but it must have hurt. Yi-jun checked the red spot and pressed it hard with his hand.
“Ouch…”
Kyunghwa screamed and came to his senses. Sometimes he did things that made me wonder if he was a friend or a foe.
“Are you okay, bro?”
Seon-woo ran over to Kyunghwa’s side and asked. Seong-won also came out of his room, startled by the loud noise, and looked at Kyunghwa.
“What happened?”
Seong-won asked with a suspicious expression, and Kyunghwa shook his head.
“No, no. I just had a little dizzy spell…”
“You should go to the hospital and get checked if it’s habitual. It’s better to take some medicine than not.”
It wasn’t incorrect, but it sounded more like he was advising me not to cause him any trouble rather than expressing genuine concern.
Couldn’t he say the same thing a little more gently?
“It’s not that serious. Um… I’m glad the response was better than I thought, but…”
Kyunghwa hesitated, as if he had something to say but was a bit embarrassed.
What was he so hesitant about? I narrowed my eyes and asked.
“Just say it.”
Then Kyunghwa rolled his eyes a little more and finally spoke.
“I can’t believe it. It’s so unreal that they’re reacting so much to the teaser… What if they go crazy and call it a scam when the song is released?”
Kyunghwa tilted his head, as if he couldn’t believe it. He had been getting nothing but cold indifference and sarcasm until now.
“Who cares… It feels like I’m on the Truman Show or something.”
I snorted and felt bitter at the same time. It was just a teaser reaction, not a number one on the music chart. How could he think that?
‘It’s probably because the singles’ reactions were generally not very good.’
Ever since I started searching on SNS, I could easily find the harsh reviews of Climax’s previous singles.
There weren’t many posts related to Climax in the first place, so I could see posts from years ago just by searching ‘Climax single’.
[- Climax? Are they rookies? I listened to their single on the music show and it was seriously awful. Aren’t they from the same agency that takes the Mydol kids? I’m worried already.]
[ㄴ They’re not even mediocre idols, they’re so bad that even if they brought the number one Mydol and had him spin the windmill while singing, it wouldn’t cover it. It’s like they got a consolation prize at a school festival. The part where they put autotune to make it sound better was the most annoying.]
[- Guys, I’m starting producing today. I feel like I can make a living with music. MC Beat Genius debut, cheer me on.]
He must have felt dizzy seeing such reactions turn into praises for the first time.
“It’s not a scam, you know that better than anyone. You’ve seen the music video.”
I patted his shoulder as if to tell him not to worry, and Kyunghwa nodded slowly.
As I calmed Kyunghwa down for a while, I felt a bit hungry.
I had forgotten for a moment because I was so focused on the teaser release, but it was dinner time at six.
‘Maybe they’re more restless because they’re hungry.’
I had been cutting down on carbs for a while, and I felt like my brain was getting slower.
I was planning to have a light salad for dinner today, since the comeback is near… but health is the most important thing.
I nodded and decided to change the dinner menu.
“Would kimchi bean sprout rice be okay for dinner?”
I blurted out the question after keeping my mouth shut for a long time, and everyone’s ears perked up and turned to me.
“Wow, I was just craving that!”
Seon-woo exclaimed, as if I had read his mind. Of course, he was the type who always had thirty different foods he wanted to eat in his mind.
“Anyone else have any complaints?”
All I had to do was chop up some fresh kimchi and boil it with bean sprouts and rice, then top it with some crumbly beef and a bit of special soy sauce.
It was a bit of a hassle to stir-fry the beef, but there was no better dish to eat as a special treat.
“Yeah!”
Yi-jun nodded his head, supporting the wilted Kyunghwa like a plant that hadn’t been watered for a month, and took him to the room.
“I think Kyunghwa should lie down for a while. I’ll put him inside.”
“Sure.”
I nodded my head casually and waved my hand.
“Don’t go and eat something weird, just go to your room and wait.”
I pointed at Seon-woo as if to shoo him away, and he nodded his head vigorously.
“Okay! I’ll be good in my room.”
After Seon-woo went to his room, the living room became quiet as if someone had poured cold water over it.
Seong-won, who had his arms crossed tightly, looked down at me with cold eyes that showed no intention. What… What did he want?
“Are you not going in?”
I asked with a nervous expression, and he snapped back.
“Do I have to go in?”
I closed my mouth and avoided his gaze, feeling awkward. I didn’t want to cause any trouble when there wasn’t much time left until D-day.
“Well, everyone else went in, and you’re the only one left.”
Seong-won scanned my face with a displeased expression. Then he opened the fridge door and took out a kimchi container and some bean sprouts.
“It’ll be faster if we do it together. What can I do?”
He then fumbled with the sticker that sealed the bean sprout opening, grunting.
He struggled with the sealing sticker for a while, and then he gave up and got some scissors to cut it off.
His ear tips, peeking out from between his blond hair, were redder than usual.
What, did he take some medicine? Why is he like this? I couldn’t tell him to just go in when he offered to help himself.
“Can you wash the bean sprouts and pick out the bean skins and any bad parts?”
I didn’t care if the bean skins were in there, I ate them anyway. But it looked cleaner without them, so I thought that would be a good thing to ask him.
“Okay.”
Seong-won inspected the bean sprout heads at the sink, plucking out any wilted or rotten parts, while I chopped the kimchi.
I was going to cook the rice first and make the topping and sauce while the rice was cooking.
‘I didn’t expect him to butt in and offer to help.’
It wasn’t a dish that requires a lot of hands, so I could have just sent him away.
But I couldn’t be cruel and send him away, thinking that this might be the last time.
With Seong-won’s help, I cooked the rice and stir-fried the minced beef with simple seasoning, and a savory aroma filled the air.
“Can you check the seasoning for a second?”
I called Seong-won, who was standing idly in a corner of the kitchen, and he came closer.
He suddenly leaned his face towards me. His fox-like eyes had a mischievous glint that matched his temper.
“What are you doing… You should get some chopsticks or a spoon.”
I pointed at the utensil holder and he blushed like a tomato, covering his face with his palm.
Why was he acting like that? He looked so embarrassed and nervous, as if he had made a mistake. He brought some spoons with him.
“Try it, see if the seasoning is right.”
He scooped up a piece of meat and zucchini with his spoon and put it in his mouth, then hesitated for a moment.
Then he chewed for a while and muttered timidly.
“It’s good. Not too salty, just right.”
The rice was a bit bland, so maybe I should have cooked it a little longer.
“Okay. The rice is ready, you just need to serve it. Can you put some bowls and spoons on the table?”
“Sure.”
He nodded slowly and headed to the table with the spoons.
After 15 minutes of steaming, I opened the lid of the rice cooker and a huge amount of steam came out.
“Go and call the kids.”
I glanced at him to make sure he heard me and then carried the rice cooker to the table.
I added some sesame oil and mixed it well so that the ingredients wouldn’t clump together.
The smell of fresh kimchi tickled my nose.
“The rice turned out really well.”
Well, of course. I cooked it with good rice and well-fermented kimchi, so it smelled amazing.
“Wow, I’m hungry~!”
How long did he make them wait? Yi-jun appeared, scratching his belly.
I served him some rice with a ladle and he ate it without even adding any sauce.
“That’s going to be bland if you eat it like that.”
“It’s fine, it’s delicious.”
The others also took some rice and mixed it with the side dish. They tasted it and nodded.
“It’s good. I’ve been eating salad all the time, so I feel like I can eat a lot.”
Kyunghwa seemed to have regained some energy.
He brightened his eyes and took another scoop from the rice cooker.
Then Seon-woo also looked around for a chance to refill his bowl.
“You can’t.”
I blocked him before he could even try. He nodded with a sullen expression.
“Yeah…”
I felt a bit sorry for him, but it couldn’t be helped.
He had eaten a huge amount of cream cake last week when I wasn’t watching and gained some weight again.
He didn’t move much, but he had a body type that easily gained weight. It would have been different if there was a reason, like the last time we had raclette, but not today.
“Ah, I’m full.”
“I’ll do the dishes, since I have to digest!”
Seon-woo volunteered as if he was paying taxes. He went to the sink and cleaned up the places where the other members had eaten.
With nothing to do, I sat quietly on the sofa in the living room and checked the schedule.
The only things left until D-Day were… stage practice, music and music video release, and the comeback special filming for Boys in Crisis.
There was also a live event scheduled from 5 pm until the release time on the day of the music release.
The comeback special for Boys in Crisis, which was scheduled for tomorrow, was basically a promotion for the goods.
‘We’re getting goods too…’
***
I looked at the products we had sold so far and wondered who would buy these weirdly designed hats and t-shirts for that price.
This time, thanks to Kyunghwa’s involvement in the MD planning, it seemed like we had some trendy items.
‘Keyrings, lenticular cards, stickers, straps, phone cases. Is that all?’
Most of them were not very expensive and came with some strange paper cards.
I didn’t know much about that, so I asked Kyunghwa if it wouldn’t be better to give something else instead, but he said that those paper cards were the main attraction.
He said that when physical albums came out, people would buy tons of them just to collect these cards.
Of course, that was not something that applied to Climax in the past.
‘Then why don’t we just… sell these cards only?’
Isn’t it too wasteful to buy the same album ten times and then throw it away or give it away just to get one card?
He looked at me as if I was a barbarian.
‘The point of giving out photo cards is to sell the albums and the fan signs. What do you think we are giving them for?’
From what he told me, it seemed like the bonus products that were originally given out as bait had become the main factor that influenced the sales.
‘Then what about us? We don’t have an album this time, just a digital single. How do we sell these photo cards?’
‘…’
Yeah. That was the expression he had back then.
As if it was the beginning of another ordeal, he glared at me with a fed-up look.
