25. Music Broadcast (2)
I met eyes with Woobin, who had found us accurately in the crowd. His languid yet indifferent eyes tilted along with his head.
I quickly bowed and Hwang Bo-kyun followed suit and greeted us. Woobin thought for a moment and then greeted us with his eyes. Then he passed us by in an instant.
...... Was Woobin originally like that?
When I saw him before, he was a little more, what should I say... not so lively, but his eyes were still alive.
"Ah... no, did you see Senior Woobin greet us?"
"I did."
Anyway, it had nothing to do with me. I followed Woobin and walked through the deserted hallway again as people left. Hwang Bo-kyun was so excited that he kept patting my shoulder. It was a little painful.
"Senior Woobin is really handsome, right? Wow....... I feel like I've really debuted."
"Yes, hyung. We have to go here, not over there."
I grabbed Hwang Bo-kyun's arm and went, and soon our waiting room came into view. I still can't get used to that partition. In the waiting room, the members who had arrived first and waited were warming up.
"....Did you have a good trip? Were you lost somewhere?"
"Um... Yes, it was fine. When are we going to start filming?"
"Uh, the manager said he'd come check that."
Ryu Hyun-seung brought me water as I sat down on the small chair. If I had stopped him from leaving without saying anything, he would have been upset, but he didn't show any sign of that.
"I think there must have been a reason for that earlier. The details... shall we talk about it later?"
Oh, he mentioned it first in case I was worried. It seemed like the broadcasting station had advised him to be careful with his words since he didn't mention it here.
I smiled satisfied and nodded. It was also my fault for not being careful in advance, so I planned to explain it in detail later.
"Huh? What about Yi-soo hyung?"
"Filming a challenge."
At Hwang Bo-kyun's question, Lee A-ram pointed at Ahn Jung-woo with his chin. Ahn Jung-woo's hair and clothes were a little disheveled, so the staff was fixing them.
"After you guys left, Ahn Jung-woo filmed too."
"With who?"
"Ahn Jung-woo is with a senior he met at Lux. One of the seniors asked Yi-soo hyung to do the challenge earlier. He said he had time, so he went quickly."
"The video is...."
"Jung-woo's video was checked by the manager, and Yi-soo hyung went with him."
Baek Han-gyul sighed, feeling regretful that he couldn't film the challenge.
"I also wanted to film a video with seniors...."
"Give up. Can you memorize the choreography on the spot?"
"No, I can't...."
"......Hey, if you're going to be so down, what am I? Cheer up, you're the center."
Baek Han-gyul seemed dead. The guy who was like that seemed to have high expectations for the challenge with another group.
I watched the flustered Lee A-ram trying to calm Baek Han-gyul down and made up my mind.
'Baek Han-gyul should never be left alone.'
He's not a bad guy, but he likes people too much, and it's a problem. It's fortunate that he's not completely clueless. Otherwise, I would've spent a whole month just educating him before debut.
'They say you shouldn't be picky about who you make friends with, but the entertainment industry is different.'
If you make the wrong friends, you could end up getting involved and going down the rabbit hole. Bad things happen in a moment. There's smoke in the chimney, too, so what's the point of increasing the number of people who will fan the flames with socializing?
"Oh, right. Did you see Senior Woobin on the way to our waiting room?"
"Wow, awesome. Is it real?"
"Oh, he even greeted us."
"I'm jealous......."
Baek Han-gyul opened his eyes wide. It seemed like he had a lot to ask. He really recovers quickly.
Ryu Hyun-seung suddenly asked as if he found it strange.
"Weren't Seniors Rebel inactive right now...... But?"
The answer to the question was revealed by the stylist. She was touching Ahn Jung-woo's collar, and she exclaimed, "Oh my," before shrugging her shoulders.
"Do-ah said he'd be the special MC here. He said he'd be on stage for this week only, and I think Woo-bin came to cheer him on?"
I blink slowly. My doubts still remained.
'Do-ah is on stage as a special MC for a music show. Why...?'
Doah is the leader of Rebel. With Rebel's popularity and years of experience, their schedule would be so busy that it would be divided into minutes, and it would be possible to refuse unimportant castings.
Especially for the stage, since he has to practice, it takes up a lot of time regardless of the scale.
As I stood still and waited, the stylist added back words.
"I heard MH is releasing a new artist this year? I think they must have made a deal with the broadcasting station to take good care of their juniors."
"Aha......."
In that case, wouldn't other programs be better than special MCs on music shows? Well, I thought they had their own circumstances, so I let it go.
It's not a bad thing for us.
'Thanks to that, the ratings for music shows will go up a little.'
These days, music shows are really programs that only the right people watch.
Unless a popular guy like Doah appears, the ratings tend to be low, and unlike before, they don't get much promotion when they do appear.
And yet, the appearance fee is a pittance, and the agency has to cover the stage setting cost for the music show, so the old-fashioned culture of bullying still persists. Even the production crew dinner cost has to be paid by the agency of the top singer.
That's why most of them only appear long enough to be uploaded to NutTube videos. Or use it as a 1st place media play on music shows.
'But now we have to cherish any show.'
No matter how unprofitable music shows are, we can't neglect them.
Even though music shows won't dramatically increase our recognition, at least we can meet and take care of our domestic fans often.
"How do you know all that?"
"I get to hear all sorts of things while doing this job~"
Baek Han-gyul gave a thumbs up, saying that it was great. It definitely helped.
'Hmm........ There will be more rookies.'
As far as I know, MH Entertainment hasn't had a rookie for the next three years, so I don't know what happened.
In the meantime, Seol Yi-soo arrived at the waiting room with Ji Yeong-heon.
Seol Yi-soo hummed with a very excited face. As soon as he saw us, he smiled and said,.
"Hey guys, do you know that there are fans outside?"
"Huh? It's 3 in the morning?"
"Yeah, they're all waiting to see us."
Seol Yi-soo looked happy that he would soon meet fans. However, he couldn't hide his worry, on the other hand. Lee A-ram muttered with the same worry.
"It must be really cold outside......."
It seemed like something Aram said absentmindedly while lost in thought, but his voice resonated so that everyone there heard it.
Aram blinked and raised his head. His neck was as red as a fire.
"What, why, what."
"No........ No. That's why I asked the fan manager in advance to give the fans warm drinks and hot packs."
It's embarrassingly small, but shouldn't we do something for the people who came to see us at this time?
We were still rookies who hadn't even received a settlement, so we used company money. Surprisingly, no one in the company opposed this.
'The members seem to have good personalities, so it's fortunate that they know how precious their fans are.'
Sometimes, when things are going smoothly, there are guys who think that their popularity is all their own effort.
They don't even know who is supporting them from behind, and they're rude.
That's not right.
"Shall we move? The recording time is almost up."
"Yes, I understand."
Following Ji Young-heon's instructions, we headed to the studio where the recording would take place. There was plenty of time, so there was no rush.
As we were walking down the hallway, saying hello, someone coming from the opposite direction grabbed An Jeong-woo.
"Huh? I see you again."
"Ah.... Hello, senior."
An Jung-woo awkwardly greeted him. I quickly turned my gaze and exchanged glances with Lee A-ram.
At a glance, it seemed like this person was the person who had filmed the challenge with An Jung-woo.
'He's not someone I know, so he must have debuted relatively recently or was unknown. His face looks familiar, so it must have been the former.'
An Jung-woo knows him; he's from Lux, and he debuted recently. I put in keywords and searched for the memory of regression, and I got a feeling. The group that An Jung-woo was eliminated from the debut group. He's a rookie male idol from Lux who debuted at the end of last year.
"Are you going to record?"
"Yes, senior."
"You debuted and appeared on a broadcast, and your fortune has really improved."
"Thank you."
I had to swallow a hollow laugh at An Jung-woo's honest answer. He was so polite that it seemed like he was feeding him. The other person must have felt it too, because his jaw clenched. I watched him and inwardly admired him.
'Ahn Jung-woo doesn't even blink an eye.'
Isn't it normal to hold back your anger or, on the contrary, become discouraged in times like this?
I was so shocked when he said, "You bark, I'm pitiful," like someone who knows everything about life. At this point, the other person would have given up, but he didn't seem to be in the mood to just leave it alone.
"You're still the same."
"Yes, I will work harder."
"Are you listening to me?"
"I am listening, senior."
"Ha."
Did you film the challenge like that? It was amazing and surprising in many ways.
Of course, the most surprising thing was the attitude of the rookie Lux who seemed to have no awareness of being in a broadcasting station.
'There are kids like that wherever you go.'
How on earth did he debut? Ahn Jung-woo was rejected at the beginning of his debut.
Is that his original personality? Or is he just a person who doesn't like Ahn Jung-woo?
For some reason, Kim Jung-hyun came to mind. I wonder if that guy is doing well.
I stared at Ji Young-heon with the thought that Lux had lost its touch again today. He sensed my gaze and slightly blocked Ahn Jung-woo's path.
"I think we should go now...."
"Oh, no, I'm sorry. You must be busy, but I took up your time for nothing?"
"No. We'll go."
Even though he understood the sarcasm, Ji Young-heon maintained his straight attitude.
This is a broadcasting station where even walls have ears, and there's not much time left to record. It's a loss to delay time like this, and there's no benefit to dealing with a child who's too young to fight.
In other words, he judged that it was not cost-effective.
'If it's not necessary to deal with this, it's better not to do it.'
Even if it's not this time, it seems like we'll run into each other again someday.
Even Lee Aram, who is the most emotional among us, is looking at him with pity, so that says it all.
Ryu Hyun-Seung stood next to Ahn Jung-Woo and whispered with a worried face.
"If I knew you weren't on good terms, I would have been right next to you earlier......."
"No. It's okay."
Ahn Jung-Woo shook his head, looked around, and said in a low voice.
"I went alone to vent my anger."
"...oh."
"I brought a recorder just in case, so you don't have to worry."
Lee A-ram, Ryu Hyun-seung, and I, who were eavesdropping, were speechless. He left out the words in case someone heard, and his polite tone and actions were still the same. He didn't change his expression at all while saying those things.
'.... Ahn Jung-woo's personality is also quite serious.'
Should I call this smart? Or a four-dimensional? Well, that's probably why he lasted so long in Lux.
Lee A-ram and Ryu Hyun-seung kept their mouths shut as if their minds were complicated. It was as if they had witnessed a scene of an innocent child's misconduct.
After passing the Lux rookies and arriving at the studio, the camera director was seen among the busy staff.
Even though we wore a name tag and greeted them, we didn't get a single glance.
"Dry rehearsal will start soon."
Hwang Bo-kyun gathered the team members as if trying to change the mood at the staff's words.
"Then, should we all cheer before going up?"
"Wow, that's great. I wanted to try something like this."
Baek Han-gyul stretched out his hand and looked around with bright eyes. The other members couldn't help but extend their hands at the youngest's expectations.
"Then who will decide the cheer?"
"The one who prepared the album the hardest among us will decide."
Everyone's eyes were drawn to me. The corners of my mouth curled up at the obvious trick.
At that moment, Baek Han-gyul's shining eyes caught my eye.
"Then let's do this. Anyone who makes a mistake on stage will eat only salad for a week."
"No, is that a cheer...?"
"...You just saw me, right? Am I mistaken? Weren't you aiming for that in the first place?!"
Oh, I thought you didn't know. You seem to know that you make a lot of mistakes.
Hwang Bo-kyun laughed quietly and sorted out the situation.
"Um, it's good to work hard during rehearsals just like the actual broadcast."
While there are places that let the audience in for rehearsals, the broadcasting station in question didn't have an audience.
The members won't be relaxed because there's no audience, but who knows?
"Let's decide on the official chant properly next time."
"Okay, let's do that."
Hwang Bo-kyun led the chant. One, two, three. The members, each with a different expression depending on the number, put their hands down.
"If you make a mistake on stage, you have to eat only salad for a week!"
It's been a while since I've shouted "fighting!". I felt strangely excited.
Then, the staff came over and checked the members. After confirming that no one was missing, they gave a signal with their hands.
A quiet stage without any cheers.
I stood there again, where only the sound of the cameras and various broadcasting equipment rubbing against each other resonated.
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