Chapter 223
[When Karis first said, 'This concept is war!', I thought, what kind of strange thing is this? I also thought that he got hooked on something strange while reading a web novel.]
[You said you liked it from the beginning, so why are you suddenly saying that, Si-yoon?]
[That was after you had explained it a bit more. I was like that at the beginning, you know.]
Homma was lying comfortably in bed watching Karis and Kang Si-yoon's early morning live broadcast.
Looking at it in such a comfortable position gave her a very healing feeling.
'It must have been hard for you to finish your schedule and come back.'
Currently, Sushis is talking about the behind-the-scenes story of preparing for KAMA.
The more she listened to their stories, the more she felt that they put a tremendous amount of time and effort into creating this legendary stage.
It's clear that the members practiced without rest.
Karis and Kang Si-yoon were communicating until this late because they were thinking of their fans.
At the beginning of the live, the atmosphere was chaotic and noisy because of the gacha, but now there was a hushed conversation that felt like a radio show.
[I had only heard that Tokyo Dome was huge, but it felt so different during rehearsal. I felt a little overwhelmed.]
[It was the same for me.]
[I thought it was ridiculous that 50,000 people would all sit there. But I was surprised twice when I saw that every single seat was taken.]
When top idols go on tour in Japan, their final destination is always Tokyo Dome.
It has great symbolic meaning, but above all, it has the greatest advantage of being able to gather the largest number of audiences.
Homma swallowed deep regret as she looked at the messages coming up in the comment window.
'I should have gone no matter what. Ha, I really should have made time, even if it meant forcing myself to do so.'
Since this was the first year-end awards show, it was expected that Seleste would show off their skills.
However, there is a world of difference between thinking about it in your head and witnessing it on stage with your own eyes.
If Homma had known that the identity of the flag emoticon that Karis had been sending so diligently was that kind of performance, she would have somehow cleared her schedule and flown to Japan.
But that's already in the past.
She vowed to manage her schedule carefully to avoid such an unfortunate incident next year.
Kang Si-yoon and Karis' live briefly moved on to a behind-the-scenes story of the KAMA main stage.
[Do you know? Hyungbin almost got in big trouble because his in ears fell out during his performance. Oh, you saw it fall out? Really? Oh, you thought he did it on purpose~. When we first heard it, we also thought he took it out on purpose, but he said he didn't. He was really scared because he almost slipped.]
While Kang Si-yoon was talking earnestly while looking at a Seleve comment, Karis looked at the rapidly increasing white letters and searched for something to reply to.
[Hmm... Wasn't it hard to practice the action scenes? To be honest, it wasn't easy. But my role was actually on the easy side. I just had to do it with my hands without any special tools. I think it was harder for Hyung-bin hyung or Yoon-chul. Hyung-bin hyung in particular had a really hard time practicing acrobatics.]
[I wanted to do that too.]
[You couldn't even jump over the jumping jacks properly and fell down on top of them, didn't you?]
[You don't have to go into detail about that!]
The behind-the-scenes footage of the action scene that created a different point from other performances. The behind-the-scenes footage of the practice process. And the behind-the-scenes footage of the idea of lowering Karis flag.
As Homma watched the live, she vaguely felt that Karis had become much more talkative than before.
'Are you the same Karis who was fidgeting when he first installed StarUs, not knowing whether to use informal or formal language?'
Maybe it's because Karis was with such energetic members, but he, who usually seems reserved, seems to have become quite talkative.
On the contrary, it is good. If Karis can communicate more freely with fans, Homma's happiness index will continue to rise.
The live performance, which started at 1 AM, had already lasted for over 2 hours.
Sushis, who had been communicating without realizing that it was past 3 o'clock, was surprised to see messages from Seleves.
[It's already 3 o'clock? Wow, time really flies.]
[I want to play more, but I think we should go to sleep now since we have to catch a flight back to Korea later.]
When we return to Korea, the hellish schedule will start again.
For some reason, this year all the broadcasters have pretty much crammed all their programming into the last week of December.
Seleste will continue to work hard for the awards ceremony held every day.
[Good night, Seleve! See you later in Korea!]
[I hope you all have a peaceful night.]
Kang Si-yoon and Karis worked hard until the end and then ended the live.
From Chae Eun-gyu's birthday party to the current live, the two members have been communicating with fans nonstop for almost 4 hours.
Homma thought deeply about which idols had performed live lately, staying up all night like this.
But no matter how much she tries to remember, the name just doesn't come to mind.
'... All I can say is that it's truly amazing.'
Seleste is a character that you can't help but love both on and off stage.
* * *
We returned to Korea on the 23rd, the day of Chae Eun-gyu's birthday, and immediately started preparing for the next stage.
There was no time to rest. It took a lot of determination and effort to finish this year well, which was extremely packed.
One thing that was fortunate was that we didn't have to prepare a stage on a huge scale like KAMA.
"At this point, we'll probably just do one song and add one additional element to the entrance or exit scene."
"Yeah. Since there are a lot of collaboration stages and a lot of performers, it seems like time is tight."
If you think back to the terrestrial music awards ceremony outline that we were previously informed of, no matter how successful a group was this year, they were not allowed to sing more than two songs.
In our case, it's a bit disappointing that both of our songs got good results, but it was a bit more comfortable because we could invest all of our remaining time in KAMA.
So, the conclusion is we perform
December 24th, Christmas Eve.
We successfully concluded the MBS Music Festival, which was filled with a Christmas atmosphere.
"I think I really enjoyed myself today."
"Huh? You didn't enjoy it before?"
On the way back to the accommodation, Yoo Min-ha shook her body from side to side after hearing Kang Si-yoon's questions.
He looked very excited.
"During KAMA, there was an award at stake, and it was my first year-end stage, so I was a little nervous! But after doing it once, I didn't feel nervous, and I really enjoyed the stage."
"I agree with what Min-ha said."
Chae Eun-gyu looked out the window and agreed.
"I wasn't that greedy about the awards, but I started to look forward to them without realizing it. Of course, it must have been impossible to get for other reasons, but I wonder if this is why terrestrial broadcasters give little at their award ceremonies."
"... It's a shame."
It was a moment that you only get to see a few times in your life.
Ji Yoon-chul, who had been sitting quietly, did not agree with what his eldest brother, Chae Eun-gyu, said.
When Heo Yu-bin and I opened our mouths slightly and looked at Ji Yoon-chul, the youngest one wiggled his fingers and said,.
"... If there was an award, we would have received it unconditionally. That was a shame."
"You, you, you, Yoon-chul."
Heo Yu-bin, sitting next to Ji Yoon-chul, was flustered and stammered a lot.
"This is the first time I've heard Yoon-chul say something like that."
"I guess this is your first time, Yubin."
"Eh?"
I deliberately thrust my chest forward and grumbled.
"Yoon-chul used to talk about this with me often. What a shame."
"Why only with you, hyung-nim... ?"
"This is possible because I was chosen."
"Yoon-chul, can you do it with me too?"
"...."
Heo Yu-bin looked at Ji Yoon-chul with both hands clasped together.
However, Ji Yoon-chul stared at Heo Yu-bin and then stabbed him in the chest with a knife.
"No."
"Why can't you do it!"
"...Well."
"Don't just pass it by without thinking!"
Even as all this was happening, Kang Si-yoon seemed to be quietly thinking about something.
Song Hyung-bin noticed that and lightly tapped his shoulder.
"What are you up to now?"
"... Now that I think about it, today was Eve."
"Right? Tomorrow is Christmas. That's why the girl idols did a collaboration stage."
"That's it, that's it."
Kang Si-yoon reacted strongly to Song Hyung-bin's words.
Then, while he was at it, he asked a question to all the members.
"How about we do something to celebrate Christmas? Maybe we film a video and post it on our official channel."
"Video?"
"It's something to do with Christmas...."
Not a bad idea.
I thought about it for a moment and then threw out a simple idea that suddenly came to mind.
"What about Carol?"
When we think of Christmas, carols naturally come to mind.
Classic carols that create a special Christmas atmosphere are still loved around the world.
Songs in which famous foreign singers reinterpret classic carols are also extremely popular.
"Carol is great! What if we put on makeup? Don't you think it'll be nice?"
Kang Si-yoon's eyes sparkled, and he showed signs of going wild again.
No, Christmas is tomorrow, so how big of a deal are you trying to make?
"What kind of makeup?"
"It's Christmas, so of course it's Santa."
"If all seven of us are Santas, wouldn't it feel a bit too much?"
"If that's what you're worried about, I have another thought."
Chae Eun-gyu shouldn't have brought that up.
"One person is dressed as Santa, and the rest are dressed as Rudolph."
"Ru, Rudolph?"
"If there are six Rudolphs, this will overlap too―."
"Oh my, you don't know this. The deers Santa brings around all have different names and characteristics."
Yoo Min-ha's rebuttal was helplessly blocked by Kang Si-yoon's ironclad defense.
I already knew where this discussion was headed.
"It's hard to tell the difference with a Santa costume, but it's different with Rudolph. There's so much to do."
As Kang Si-yoon rubbed his palms together with anticipation in his eyes, sighs escaped from many places in the car.
Song Hyung-bin glared at Chae Eun-gyu.
"Hyung, if you had just said let's be Santa, this wouldn't have happened."
"I didn't know things would turn out like this."
"If there's a weird makeup look, you have to do it. Okay?"
"Why is that! It should be fair and unbiased."
No, if he says it like this, doesn't it automatically mean he agreed to the suggestion to wear weird makeup?
I tried to stop it quickly before it got worse, but it was useless.
"There's just a way for everyone to be normal―"
"That's not fun, Karis. Why would we do everyone knows? It's not fun."
"Okay! As long as it's not me, it's fine!"
Since Yoo Minha also blindly agreed, there was no turning back.
Kang Si-yoon, who realized that the initiative had completely passed to him, raised the corners of his lips and ordered an unusual item from our manager.
"Hyung, can I ask you for a wire light bulb?"
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