| Episode 98. Event Promotion (3)
Although it was past ten at night, most of us still hadn’t gone to bed.
Jeong Seongbin and Lee Cheonghyeon were busy checking the music charts in real time, while Gang Giyeon had shut himself in the dressing room, attempting to meditate in preparation for the premiere and claiming that he needed to practice some mind control.
After only Choi Jeho and Park Juwoo, who almost never got nervous, had gone off to dreamland first.
I distanced myself from the two idiots seriously analyzing the charts with their foreheads pressed together and turned on my laptop.
If the influx rate hadn’t hit rock bottom, there should have been a decent amount of buzz surrounding the self-produced content by now.
And fortunately, the MiTube video had quite a lot of comments.
The first one that caught my eye was rather impressive.
≫ The thumbnail is seriously scary and hilarious
I think I’d believe it if you told me a bunch of gangsters had hidden out in the mountains to avoid arrest
└ Why are you doing this to our boysㅠㅠㅠ
└ But…… it was such a reasonable suspicion
└ The number-one group you can’t believe is more than half underage
Hmm. The group’s actual ages really were a bit much.
Rather than saying they had high face values, it would be more fitting to say they all looked like they had quite a temper. But it amounted to the same thing.
The thumbnail had been a bit much, too. Even I thought they looked like a bunch of tough-looking older guys who had gone back to the countryside to help their big brother’s family with the farm work.
This was all Choi Jeho’s fault. If not for that guy, we might somehow have been able to appeal as a group of fresh-faced young men.
≫ The two oldest hyungs are a legendary two-headed carriage
└ At least we don’t have to worry about not being able to get a refund somewhere
Maybe? Or maybe not.
A whole bunch of new posts had gone up below that, too.
The unusual thing was that quite a few of them were related to me this time.
≫ What do you think of the guy whose veins pop out on his arm while he’s scrubbing a cast-iron lid?
The title says it all
└ Iwol, if you have those vicious veins under such an innocent-looking face, you’ll get sued under some law or another
└ Let’s just admit it alreadyㅠ Honestly, his face isn’t innocent eitherㅠ
└ What are you talking about?? Our Iwol is literally a freaking baby kitten
└ He’s exactly 0.3 seconds away from hissingㅋㅋㅋ
≫ Spark Iwol, who tolerates any nonsense for the sake of cuteness, but not a single image exists for the nonsense
When another member told him to bring back green onions and he brought back onions instead:
Jeho, have you ever bought green onions at a supermarket? Have you been eating onions with your eyes closed all this time?
When his younger brother said he wanted to make jeon shaped like rabbits:
He asked, “Do you really have to make jeon that way?” but immediately agreed after Cheonghyeon told him, “They say food that looks good tastes good, too!”
He looks so cool and has such a high aesthetic sense. It’s ridiculous and hilariousㅋㅋ
└ Our boy likes pretty and cute things…… He takes a hundred pictures of the members every time they go to a schedule……
≫ I was wondering why all the members were sitting there wearing arm sleeves
Turns out Iwol put them on them because he didn’t want oil splashing on them
But then he ended up cooking all the jeon himselfㅋㅋㅋ
If that was how it was going to be, why did he make the kids wear arm sleevesㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ For realㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ He gave the kids an ironclad defense and then wouldn’t let anyone come near the stove
└ Seriously, the overprotective big brother of this era……
└ Overprotective big brotherㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ That fits perfectly
≫ I heard Iwol got scolded by Seongbinㅋㅋ
I’m curious what he got scolded for
└ Do you know that feeling when you can’t imagine it at all, but somehow you can?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Yeahㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
≫ Ah, watching the kids read their rolling papers is too stimulating
If UA has any sense, scan them and upload the full text
└ Please
└ Please
└ Please
≫ An idol who helps clear away the cameras after filming ends
Spark Iwol (21 years old / eldest brother / vocalist)
He says it’s because it’s not time to sleep yet, but he stayed until the staff had finished putting away all their equipment
└ The fact that he still didn’t go in right away after all the cameras had been put away, and the writer took a picture of him with her phone…… I was so moved because it really showed what a good person he is
└ And the fact that he only came out after seeing all the members asleep…… Seriously…… It was too much. He said he couldn’t come out alone because then all the members would come out to help himㅠㅠ He said the kids were still young and needed to sleep wellㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Spark is truly an angel
└ XXㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Iwol, you’re still a baby tooㅠㅠㅠ
The other members did have their good sides, but I wasn’t like that.
I simply had a menial worker’s spirit ingrained in me down to the bone.
I was the kind of person who couldn’t fall asleep if I lay down alone while everyone else was working. How was I supposed to clear up this misunderstanding?
Ah, there were occasionally reactions of a rather unique variety, too.
≫ The eldest line’s physiques are insane
Can you really look handsome wearing nothing but a T-shirt and floral-print pants? Even if you’re an idol?
└ The kids were laughing their heads off at each other’s appearances, but I was the only one freaking out in amazement. Their legs are so damn long. The camera just kept moving upward
└ It’s absurd that they still look good in pants like those;;
I mean posts complimenting my appearance.
Perhaps being among handsome guys had somehow improved my looks by association. Fortunately, I couldn’t find any sharp-tongued posts like, “The group’s average looks have plummeted because of that ugly-faced guy.”
‘Should I be grateful for this or not?’
Still, they had kept me from getting cursed at, so I decided to be grateful. May your shining looks last forever.
But I did wonder whether I should simply leave things like this alone.
Of course, people were free to post whatever they wanted, but I felt uncomfortable thinking that the attention that should have been directed toward the other five might be getting diverted because of me.
Hoping, at the very least, that these people’s biases would be a member other than me, I shut off my laptop and herded every member who still hadn’t gone to bed into their rooms.
* * *
On the day of our premiere, we visited a music show studio again, after nearly two months.
Having been there several times already, the broadcasting station felt at least a little familiar now.
Today, we had an early-morning pre-recording. At three in the morning, no less.
We had had several morning pre-recordings during our debut promotions, but this was the earliest we had ever done one.
Back when I was an office worker collecting photos of Spark on their way to and from work, this had left me with quite a few questions.
‘If it’s an early-morning pre-recording, what time do the broadcasting station employees and staff come to work?’
‘The pre-recording is at four in the morning, but they’re checking people in at two? Then where are the audience members supposed to go for two hours?’
‘They performed onstage twice that day? Then do fans coming from out of town leave the night before just to watch the stage twice?’
As someone who had struggled to drag himself to work at nine in the morning like a zombie, that level of passion was beyond my comprehension.
And now that I was an idol myself, as soon as our early-morning pre-recording was scheduled, I read through several fans’ accounts of their own early-morning pre-recordings.
The internet was full of affectionate accounts that couldn’t be read without tears.
The basic standard was an account from someone who had taken a night train and waited in an unmanned café until the pre-recording began.
There were people who had worked alternate shifts on the weekend so they could take time off for the pre-recording, and people whose family homes were so far away that they had booked accommodations altogether.
It wasn’t even a concert, just a few performances, yet people were willing to set aside this much time. It was something that couldn’t be described as mere determination.
‘So, about that—I’m thinking we should do reverse fan support this time.’
I hadn’t received my settlement yet, but I did have a few stocks that had been steadily rising. Selling only a few of them would be enough to buy some simple snacks.
‘For this pre-recording?’
‘Yeah. I feel so sorry about it being so early in the morning…….’
‘That’s true. Since our recording is at three, the fans will have to come even earlier.’
After hearing me out, the members gradually gathered, and our meeting about the gifts became fairly serious.
‘Actually, I think we should hand them out ourselves. Would that not be possible?’
‘We’d probably have to discuss that with the company and the fan managers. I heard there are procedures for preparing things on-site.’
The meeting mainly consisted of me giving my opinions and Jeong Seongbin determining whether they were feasible.
The other members contributed ideas as well.
‘How about macarons if we’re doing snacks? I feel like I’ve seen them a lot in various places!’
‘Your idea’s good too, Cheonghyeon, but I think those probably need to be refrigerated. For people who don’t eat them right away, they could actually become a burden.’
‘That’s true. Should we switch to sandwiches……?’
‘I think drinks would be nice. If they have to wait for a long time, they’ll definitely need water or something to drink…….’
‘There were a lot of accounts about people waiting in cafés, so I’m not sure whether giving them another drink would be a good idea. Seongbin, what do you think of Juwoo’s suggestion?’
‘Bottled drinks might work. There may be people who can’t have highly caffeinated drinks, so we could prepare one coffee and one juice and let them choose.’
In the middle of our heated discussion, Choi Jeho cut in.
‘How much are you thinking of spending?’
‘I’m still considering it. Why?’
‘Then can’t we give them personal-defense spray?’
‘Spray?’
It wasn’t an item on the list of things I had expected. I didn’t think I had seen it in any of the reverse fan support examples I’d looked up, either.
But I could fully understand why Choi Jeho had brought up this item. More than anything, that was important.
‘The fans have to wait outside all night, right? There aren’t even many stores with their lights on at that hour. It doesn’t feel right.’
‘You’re right. It is really dangerous.’
‘We can split the cost.’
How touching. Choi Jeho had said something so thoughtful. I was moved.
Furthermore, Choi Jeho even told us the name of the product he had once bought for his younger sibling.
Choi Jeho wasn’t the only admirable one.
The day after this conversation ended, Jeong Seongbin immediately suggested to our manager that we wanted to provide reverse fan support and asked him to make sure he obtained the company’s permission.
‘You’re going to pay for it yourselves? You haven’t even received your settlements yet.’
‘We’d feel so sorry if we didn’t do at least this much……!’
Of course we would.
The only people who would take a train through the night just to see our faces for barely an hour, then wait for hours somewhere without even a proper place to sit, were our fans. If we didn’t do at least this much, we would have to question our own humanity.
When we pleaded that we felt terrible because the fans apparently even slept in saunas while waiting to see us, UA generously agreed to cover the entire cost of this round of reverse fan support.
Instead, we wrote heartfelt letters with all the money we’d saved. Gang Giyeon carefully selected and bought the stationery on his way home from school.
Writing the letters didn’t go smoothly.
As we wrote with concern in our hearts, the letters ended up containing more nagging than expressions of gratitude.
My letter went……
【Hello, this is Iwol.
Thank you for coming to see us even though it’s so early.
But you know that your safety always comes first, right?
If anything happens, please be sure to use the spray!
The nearest police station is straight ahead from the waiting area, then turn right at the first intersection…….】
……It was basically a continuation of that.
‘Hyung, are you writing a public service announcement script?’
Lee Cheonghyeon was horrified when he saw my letter.
So, without a word, I pointed to Choi Jeho’s letter beside me.
That guy had gone even further than me.
【* How to Use the Spray *
Remove the cap and spray while maintaining a distance of approximately one arm’s length from the other person.
When the wind is blowing, be sure to stand with your back to the wind, and watch out for their eyes.
If someone nearby keeps wandering around or seems to be following you, pretend to be on the phone while moving toward a crowded area…….】
‘Hyung, what are you writing, an instruction manual?!’
‘I thought the writing on the product instructions might be hard to see at night. Things like this need to be written clearly.’
In the end, Choi Jeho and I had to rewrite our letters completely. Even so, we decided to print the police station’s location and instructions for using the spray in large letters and include them with the letters.
After all that preparation, the day of the recording finally arrived.