Chapter 399
To be honest, Connex wasn't a group with a good atmosphere from the beginning.
'Everyone is just thinking big and not listening to what others say. They only care about their own pride.'
Probably it's because they had a bad experience before their debut, but even when they went to a new agency, they didn't have a peaceful atmosphere.
Instead, the psychological pressure and burden didn't get any stronger.
Probably it started from that time.
Bae Min-seo himself, like the other members of Connex, was blindly focused on immediate results.
Looking back now, they really didn't have any leisure at all.
They had to succeed no matter what. If they failed again here, they wouldn't be able to show off their faces.
When they thought like this and experienced the taste of success for the first time, and the beauty of great success, everyone changed.
Arrogance.
Self-esteem that goes up unnecessarily.
Looking down on others.
In this situation where these sentiments were laid out, when Chae Eun-gyu, the only one who couldn't transfer to COC Entertainment, debuted, those feelings seemed to have been amplified even more.
And Bae Min-seo was no exception.
He unconsciously compared himself to Chae Eun-gyu and became absorbed in his feelings of superiority.
Wanting to show off somehow, he even subtly leaked Chae Eun-gyu's past to other trainees on
He snorted when he saw Seleste hit the jackpot one after another.
It wouldn't work out for them anyway, but they really worked hard.
However, this relative sense of superiority had been collapsing miserably recently.
"Hey, what did I tell you? I told you not to do this!"
Connex's dorm.
When the title song of this comeback album,
Then Joo Jae Woong, who had been sitting still, laughed in disbelief.
"You were the first one to say yes when we talked about mixing genres during the meeting. Did your memory get erased?"
"When did I say that? Don't push me, really."
"You've been exercising so much that even your brain has become muscle."
"What? Hey, did you say everything now?"
A loud noise was heard, and the other members hurriedly stopped Ki Hyun Sung and Joo Jae Woong.
Perhaps because they were already on edge. Everyone was reacting violently to every little word.
It wasn't that they couldn't understand Ki Hyun Sung and Joo Jae Woong's feelings, but...
"Guys."
Bae Min-seo quietly came into the living room and laughed in a refreshing voice.
When they heard his voice, the members all stopped.
Usually, everyone implicitly knew that when he spoke like this, he was really upset or annoyed.
"I understand that you're upset, but why are you blaming each other? Weren't you all in the conference room? Didn't everyone agree to the planning team's idea and say it was okay?"
"That's true, but...."
"He keeps lying and saying he never agreed to it."
"So what do you want to do? Do you think you'll feel better if you fight each other?"
"..."
The atmosphere had already become chaotic.
Honestly, Bae Min-seo thought he shouldn't say what he wanted to say, but he had a stronger urge to somehow release this shitty feeling that had built up inside him.
"I'm already annoyed, so don't make me even more upset. If you want to ask why you did this concept, go to the team leader and yell at him. Don't grab each other by the collars."
With those words, Bae Min-seo went back into his room and slammed the door shut.
He then let out a sigh full of annoyance and laid down hard on his bed.
The more I think about it, the angrier I get.
He suddenly recalled what was said during the comeback meeting.
Our timing overlaps with Seleste. If we stick to the style we've been doing so far, we might be overshadowed by Seleste, so I think it would be better to try something different.
At first, that sounded pretty plausible.
Bae Min-seo also knew that Seleste was taking a direction that would pursue both their own color and popularity starting with
So if we were to make a comeback with the same concept, there was a chance that Connex, which was two days later, would be overshadowed, so we had to find a different way to compete.
This opinion was agreed upon by all the members at the time.
Everyone was only aware of the situation in front of them.
They should have thought a little more deeply and remembered that people these days overwhelmingly prefer listening to popular images, so even if the concept overlaps somewhat, it's right to go in this direction.
They were simply obsessed with 'having to beat Seleste' and became blinded.
As a result, this harshly criticized handshake was left behind,
Bae Min-seo turned on his phone and unconsciously searched for Seleste's name on the Internet browser.
The first thing that came up was a thumbnail of their recent music show stage video.
'Why is this face showing up?'
Bae Min-seo stared at Chae Eun-gyu's face, which was smiling brightly, for a long time.
For some reason, he felt something lumpy inside his stomach.
He felt really bad.
There wasn't any particular pain, but why was it so hot inside?
'Am I jealous?'
Bae Min-seo realized the emotion he had been feeling without realizing it and stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment.
I never thought this day would come.
To feel jealousy toward Chae Eun-gyu, who was the only one who wasn't chosen and didn't join the Connex debut group.
'Ha.....'
Bae Min-seo washed his face once and laughed alone as if he was dumbfounded.
The situation that had been going on for the past few years had finally begun to tilt.
***
It was a situation close to what is commonly called 'self-destruction'.
Naturally, since Connex had a track record up until now, the initial speed was not bad.
In terms of album sales, they were slightly behind Seleste in the beginning, but they never felt like they were falling behind.
Surprisingly, after about 4 days since the release of
The biggest decline was none other than the music charts.
Seleste had shown tremendous growth in album sales since their debut, but they were evaluated as somewhat lacking in music charts.
However, from the moment they started releasing easy-to-listen-to and popular songs, such negative evaluations gradually began to creep in.
The title song right before,
And as if adding a finishing touch,
On the other hand, Connex failed to gain popularity due to the song development that was divisive. They proved for themselves why they were evaluated as having a high barrier to entry.
A miserable report card that didn't even make it into the top 10 of the weekly music charts.
In fact, it was safe to say that the game was already decided here.
While the perception is strong that album sales are something that only fans can buy diligently, music chart rankings are literally something that the public has to listen to together to move up.
The two groups continued this similar atmosphere throughout June.
Seleste easily achieved the triple crown they had achieved for the first time with
Connex had to settle for second place every time, overshadowed by them.
Contrary to the public's pessimistic expectations, Seleste's
Connex only added 80,000 copies on the last day of the initial sales period, when figures usually increase significantly, ending with 1.78 million copies.
It was Seleste's perfect victory without a doubt.
'I feel a little relieved now.'
Karis was enjoying the joy of this victory in many ways.
He smiled as he completed the linked quest that would determine the fate of the second grand quest.
[You have completed the linked quest, 'Win the Connex'.]
[The reward will be paid.]
What Karis needed the most was the System Recovery Gauge.
While working as Seleste, he had to fill the Recovery Gauge to 100% in order to repair the damaged system, and also to be free from the grand quest that had bound him for 10 years.
Karis, who had obtained the precious 14%, checked that the gauge had already reached 84%.
'I can still work as Seleste for another year, so I think I've almost passed the 7th ridge line.'
I've filled 84% so far, so it doesn't make sense that I can't fill 16% within the remaining time.
Just looking at this quest, I was given 14% at once.
Karis opened and closed the system window, trying to guess what would happen if he completed this grand quest.
'If the system damaged by the Demon King's Seed is completely restored, will I be able to see that foolish god again?'
The god of
The image of him, his white beard fluttering and his hands waving frantically, still remained vivid in Karis's mind.
In the end, the god's system will be completely restored and be reunited....
'Then what happens?'
The reason he came to the real world in the body of this crown prince in the first place was because he couldn't use his original body called 'Han Ji-hyeok'.
So does that mean that after restoring the system, he can return to being Han Ji-hyeok and live?
Karis pondered this thought and felt strangely uneasy.
Why on earth was he feeling this way?
I wanted to complete the Grand Quest and restore the system so badly, but why is this....
'Do I not want to go back?'
A thought suddenly crossed Karis' mind.
It felt like he had been hit on the head by something.
I had been running while wondering when I would be able to escape this crown prince's body.
Now that I think back, I can't quite remember when I last thought of this.
'Then.......... What do I want to do?'
Go back to my original body.
Or use Karis von Walden's body as is.
If this crossroads of choice were to come before my eyes, what decision would be right?
As the end of the Grand Quest that he had vaguely thought of was now really right before my eyes, things that Karis had never felt before began to float through his mind.
Thinking about it in imagination and reality are two completely different things.
As complicated emotions were clashing in his head, new news was delivered through Sigma Entertainment.
"Hey, isn't this just telling us to win again?"
"Hyung, hyung! What do you think? What do you think of my big picture that looks into the future? It's awesome!"
"We seem to have done our pre-study really well."
"Ha.......... This, this, I think we need to adjust our skills a little during the competition. If we win too cruelly, it's a bit much."
Last summer, the
And this year, we just heard that an idol game competition will be held to commemorate the world-class game World Cup held in Seoul.
It's truly a festival for us.
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