Chapter 317
"I still can't believe I can perform in front of so many Seleves......."
All the big stages were over, and the members were having a short talk time to catch their breath.
I nodded several times while listening to Chae Eun-gyu's words, which seemed to be overflowing with emotion.
Then, I caught a glimpse of the staff moving busily behind the stage.
'There's something going on.'
Honestly, it was easy to predict.
It was a concert formed to celebrate the 1st anniversary, and the intention was obvious to include a talk time after all the stages, including the title song and special stage, were over.
The video event secretly prepared by Seleves was released during the fan meeting, so I wondered if something different would come out this time.
The fan meeting on April 30th was not that long ago, so I remembered it clearly.
Suddenly, I remembered the day I cried uncharacteristically.
I felt my face turn red.
"That's why the members said to keep our original intentions whenever we stand in a place like this....... Oh, Karis's ears are turning red, everyone!"
"Hey, what if you cry already!"
"I'm not crying yet! How can I cry when I haven't shed a single tear?"
"Oh, when you say 'yet'... you mean you're going to cry soon?"
Kang Si-yoon, who had seized the opportunity to tease me, furrowed his eyebrows.
I trained my mind not to get caught up in his pace as much as possible, and quickly regained my calm expression and fought back.
"Don't you cry more than me, Si-yoon? Since I brought tissues in advance, it's okay to cry."
"He really brought tissues!"
"No, why are you so thoroughly prepared?"
Song Hyung-bin and Heo Yu-bin took out tissues from my pocket and made dumbfounded expressions.
The moment I tried to pass the situation with a faint smile, I faintly heard a fan shouting, "Karis, don't cry!" right under the stage where we were standing.
'I really brought the tissues for the members who would cry, but looking at them like this, it looks like I brought them in advance to wipe away my tears.'
It's not shameful to cry at a concert.
Even I, who vowed not to cry, cried endlessly at fan meetings.
However, this habit that was ingrained in me as the crown prince, was putting unspoken pressure on me to somehow hold back my tears.
As our inconsequential conversation continued, it seemed like the staff had finished preparing as well.
The lights that had been brightly illuminating the stage during the talk time suddenly went out, leaving only a few yellow spotlights.
The yellow lights focused on the edge of the stage.
There, something huge was revealed, dragged out by three staff members, including our manager hyung.
"Wow, wow!"
"Wow......."
"Wow!"
I heard the members on both sides of me exclaim.
My eyes also widened like a full moon when I saw the cake on such a huge scale.
I've seen quite a few cakes while I've been active, but the cake that arrived today to celebrate our concert was a whopping 4 tiers.
Seleste's name was engraved very large on the bottom tier.
On the 2nd and 3rd tiers, miniature figures modeled after our seven members were posing cutely.
And on the very top, Seleste's official logo was placed straight up with dazzling stars.
"I've never seen such a big cake in my life!"
"Wow, is this really us?"
"Anyone can tell that this is Siyoon hyung! The yellow hair is Karis hyung."
"Ah, it's really so cute."
The members immediately ran to the cake and were amazed by the cute design.
I felt a sense of wonder as I looked at the miniature figures boasting high synchronization.
It seemed like they had really captured the members' characters very well.
"Oh, there's a letter down here!"
Yoo Min-ha found an envelope under the cake tray.
He opened the envelope and began reading the letter written in simple handwriting.
"Our brightest star in the world! It's already been a year since we've been together. Every moment we've spent with you is sparkling as a beautiful memory. We'll be by your side so that you can always shine brightly. I'm always grateful and love you for coming to us. Let's create even brighter days together! Seleves."
A heartfelt message from fans.
As we got to the last sentence, I could feel Yoo Min-ha's voice trembling.
But Yoo Minha did his best to read all of Seleves' letters without hesitation.
"Thank you so much, Seleves. When will we have another surprise like this?"
"Thank you!"
"Thank you so much!"
As we continued to express our gratitude to Seleves, applause and cheers erupted from all directions.
Before we knew it, the numerous cheering sticks that Seleves was waving were dyed in Seleste's unique color, sky blue.
The beautiful stars that ripple in the night sky.
It was always touching to see.
Song Hyung-bin, who was quietly watching the feast of light, said in a slightly tearful tone.
"We also have so many things we want to say to Seleve. The words thank you and love are not enough to express our feelings...... Every time, I wonder how I can convey these feelings to Seleve. So this time, I thought it would be good if we all wrote a letter together, so we did...."
"I felt that way a little bit. It felt good to write down the stories I had kept in my heart. Did you guys feel the same way?"
When Song Hyung-bin trailed off, Yoo Min-ha skillfully continued.
Even though he himself was overcome with emotion, his eyes turned red.
Kang Si-yoon nodded at Yoo Min-ha's words.
"I thought that I should write a letter every time I have something to say to Seleve. Oh, actually, there were so many things I wanted to say today. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't write them all in the letter."
"That's why I wanted to talk about it here today......."
Ji Yoon-chul, who had been silent, took something out of his pocket.
A4 paper folded up.
When Ji Yoon-chul opened the paper, the long sentences he had written caught my eye.
"When did you write this!"
"......I have a lot to say, but I don't think I'll remember everything. I wrote down a little bit of what I thought of before going to bed."
Seleves cheered and waved their cheering sticks even more vigorously at the youngest's admirable words.
We stepped back slightly so that Ji Yoon-chul could comfortably convey his thoughts.
Ji Yoon-chul slowly unfolded the paper and slightly lowered his head while wiggling his hands holding the microphone.
It seemed like all sorts of emotions were crossing over at this moment, which was experiencing for the first time.
"......To all Seleves who joined us today, thank you so much. I've never written down my feelings like this since my debut, but I thought I should do it for this concert, so I scribbled a little bit. I'm always blunt, huh."
Ji Yoon-chul, who was reading the letter calmly, suddenly let out a choked sound, then closed his lips and turned his head sharply.
"Huh? Huh?"
"Yoon-chul?"
Standing to the left of Ji Yoon-chul, I, Chae Eun-gyu, and Heo Yu-bin could see that his two eyes were extremely moist.
His tightly shut lips moved slightly, showing that he was trying hard to hold back tears.
"Is Yoon-chul crying?"
"Yoon-chul! Yoon-chul!"
"Oh, I'm not crying."
Ji Yoon-chul tried hard to deny that he was crying, but his voice did not lie.
We watched with delight as our youngest stubbornly looked at the letter paper again.
"Thank you to my brothers who always took care of me and helped me when I was blunt, and to Seleves who helped me grow into a better person when I was awkward at expressing my emotions!"
Now, it was time to stop.
Ji Yoon-chul bravely fought against the tears that were about to burst out, but eventually gave in.
He read his thoughts in a loud voice that he usually didn't say, trying to hide his tears until the end, but tears were already welling up in his eyes.
"Yoon-chul is crying!"
"It's okay, it's okay! Yoon-chul, read slowly. You don't have to read it in a hurry, so take it slow."
"Ugh, ugh!"
Ji Yoon-chul, who has been expressing his emotions more and more since he started working as Seleste.
Now, he openly expresses his competitive spirit, and he's often gotten upset by his hyungs' ridiculous jokes.
However, he's never shed tears this heartbreakingly and sadly.
It seems that his tear ducts finally burst in front of Seleves' sincerity.
"Haa, there were many hard days, and there were many times when I wondered if I could really become a good idol. Seleve, who helped me forget those difficult memories, is so precious and thankful!"
The same situation repeated itself for a few minutes after that.
While reading the letter, Ji Yoon-chul had to stop because of his tears and briefly collect his emotions.
We comforted the youngest by touching his arms and shoulders.
Seleves cheered and shouted "Oh my~!" and "Don't cry! Don't cry!" repeatedly while looking at Ji Yoon-chul's tearful face.
After many twists and turns, Ji Yoon-chul reached the last sentence, bit his lips slightly, exhaled slowly, and spoke slowly in a slightly calmer voice.
"...... I sincerely thank all Seleves who came here today and those who couldn't, and I will try to share more love in the future. I love you."
After Ji Yoon-chul's last words, Seleves responded with an even louder cheer than before.
We hugged Ji Yoon-chul tightly for conveying our precious feelings.
"Our Yoon-chul is so cute!"
"Oh my, oh my."
I knew well how Ji Yoon-chul felt after pouring out all the words he had not been able to say, so I gave him a silent pat.
'....You worked hard.'
***
Seleste's domestic fan concert has ended successfully.
Seleste's extremely busy summer schedule has all come to an end.
Seleve was able to spend happy days watching the numerous concert videos and contents that were released during this period.
In particular, the domestic concert held on the first anniversary of their debut left many memorable scenes and received an incredible response.
- (Photo) 2×0727 fancon #Seleste #Karis #seleste #karis #セレスト #カリス
└Honestly, his face is so majestic and GOAT [Greatest of all time], but how come his shoulders are also so broad?
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ You keep calling him Suja-nim Suja-nim, he really became a prince
└Wow, the costume team must have had a hard time. Damn, the quality of the clothes is just amazing.
└Karis, [Kangrim]
-(Quote) Can't we just change the government right now? Let's revive the constitutional monarchy for the sake of everyone's well-being.
└I really really want this right now. I think all the people of our country would agree.
└But he is not Korean....
└It's ok. Kang Si-yoon's diplomatic talks ㄱ
-(Quote) Lies.... The kids wore cosplay today and it was their own opinion...?? The blessings of dedicated content are endless
└What can replace the dopamine you feel when you overcome job instability? Just don't gamble
└(Photo) Chae Eun-gyu and Ji Yoon-chul, are you serious? How can the most well-behaved kids wear clothes like that....
└Wow, the kitchen is completely destroyed. The well-behaved cats just destroyed everything
[A tame cat is usually the first one to jump onto the kitchen.
부뚜막 is an area of a kitchen where people put a big pot on top of a furnace. Since it is where the food is, it must be clean. Therefore a cat jumping onto the 부뚜막, and walking around it would make one hell of a mess.]
- ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Kang Si-yoon and Yoo Min-ha, kids got together, and take pictures of each other's face, but there are people who say "ugh...;;" and leave after seeing their words and actions. There are people who go and do that and what? No wonder it bothers. There are people who are in the latter state, and in the latter case, they rather shed tears and enjoy their nonsense.
During the fan meeting, SNS went crazy because of Karis' tears, but this time, Ji Yoon-chul created a legend by showing off his maknae charm.
- (Video) Our God Angel couldn't control his tears, so he kept mumbling like a chick in between....
└What the f*ck, Yoon-chul cried?? Too much
└Last time, Karis cried, but this time, Yoon-chul cried ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└What is this~???
└Ppuaeang << This expression is really cute when it's caught on the screen ㅜㅜㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
The stage prepared with the best of the members, the successful surprise gift from Seleves, and even Ji Yoon-chul's tears.
Everything was perfect for their first domestic concert.
Meanwhile, a text message arrived for Karis, who was enjoying a sweet break at the dorm for the first time in a long time.
'Hmm?'
Karis raised an eyebrow when he saw the name of the person who sent the text.
-