Chapter 65
The reaction to the We:uS episode of 'My First Childcare' was truly explosive.
However, unfortunately, that explosive reaction wasn't towards We:uS, but towards the quintuplets.
The cute appearances of the quintuplets on the broadcast instantly captivated the viewers.
As a result, South Korea was currently in the midst of a full-blown quintuplet fever.
['My First Childcare' sees explosive popularity after broadcast! Quintuplets become the nation's quintuplets?]
['My First Childcare' regains its second golden age. Achieves peak viewership of 17%, the quintuplet effect!]
[Flood of requests for the quintuplets' reappearance on the viewer bulletin board. 'My First Childcare' production team falls into happy agony.]
[Viewers' reactions explode at the quintuplets' cute passionate singing of 'Our Spring': "They could be singers"]
An enormous number of articles began pouring in not long after the broadcast ended.
And the number of comments rapidly filling up each article was also explosive.
The production team of 'My First Childcare' couldn't come to their senses for a while due to the unexpectedly massive reaction.
They soon gathered their wits and began preparing to ride the momentum.
[My First Childcare] The We:uS uncles and the quintuplets' hearty mukbang!
Views: 1,234,862
The production team quickly edited the unreleased footage and started uploading it to video sites.
With this, posts praising the cuteness of the quintuplets poured out for every video uploaded.
-I just watched the kids' mukbang video, and their cheeks are so chubby...
-The unedited full version of them taking a nap is up!
└When I came to my senses, I was staring blankly at it for an hour.
└Now the trend is the full video of them napping instead of staring at fires...!
-The kids are so bright and cute that I watched them absentmindedly, and before I knew it, I had finished all the uploaded videos ㅠㅠ
-Since they're quintuplets, the cuteness is five times over!!! I can't be the only one seeing this. I'm diligently spreading it to my friends!
Soon after, fueled by netizens' favorable reactions, even the banned videos were released.
[My First Childcare] Yujin's grocery shopping mission, the fate of Uncle Sunwoo Rin and Uncle Yujin Kim is...?
Views: 2,321,135
Even the grocery shopping video with Yujin was revealed.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I think I know why they couldn't bear to air this on the main broadcast.
-Yujin's eyes changing the moment they enter the mart...!
-Ahhh the behind-the-scenes videos are all so fun too! Please upload more!
-The exhausted Sunwoo Rin and Yujin Kim... is the best scene of the year ㅋㅋ
-When you go grocery shopping with kids, you really need to prepare your mind... ㅎㅎ
Like that, the popularity of the quintuplets, who appeared in an instant and swept South Korea, grew day by day.
-When is the kids' next variety show coming out?
-'My First Childcare' aren't you filming again with We:uS ㅠ
-They say they're preparing a solo variety show for the quintuplets right now?
When netizens were anticipating and predicting the quintuplets' next move.
A long post was uploaded on SNS.
[Hello. I am the mother of the quintuplets.]
Thank you so much for the interest and love you have shown towards our children.
After appearing on the broadcast, seeing so many people recognizing and liking the children makes me very happy as a parent, but on the other hand, I was also worried that excessive attention might harm the children.
Therefore, we have decided to refrain from any further broadcast appearances until the children grow up more and can decide for themselves whether to appear on broadcasts.
Once again, thank you to the 'My First Childcare' production team and We:uS members for giving the children good memories!
At the suddenly uploaded statement on SNS, people were flustered but empathized with the quintuplets' situation.
-Right. It's a shame, but they're babies, not celebrities, so receiving such enormous attention must be burdensome.
-I think that's better for the kids ㅠㅠ Stay healthy and well, kids ㅠㅠㅠ
-ㅠㅠ We won't be able to see them on broadcast anymore, but I'll still look up the videos whenever I miss them and cheer them on!
-Kids, grow up quickly and grow up to be cool like the We:uS uncles...
***
Although the main characters of 'My First Childcare' had shifted from We:uS to the quintuplets, the program itself had become a massive topic of conversation, so there were many changes for We:uS as well.
First, appearing on a public network variety show served as an opportunity to firmly imprint the name We:uS on people who hadn't known about them before.
One appearance on a variety show created a bigger ripple effect than taking 1st place on a music broadcast.
It didn't simply end with the broadcast; the short edited videos made by netizens after the broadcast ended, and the broadcast videos uploaded to video sites, were still steadily causing a stir and spreading the name We:uS.
And one of the biggest changes was.
The reverse chart run of 'Our Spring'.
We:uS's 'Our Spring' that the quintuplets sang in the final scene of the 'My First Childcare' broadcast.
'Our Spring', which was in the 30s on the music chart at the time the broadcast ended.
Riding the quintuplet buff, it started climbing the chart once again.
-We also filmed the We:uS Our Spring challenge with our kids!
The 'Our Spring' challenge, which was not intended by We:uS's side, started spreading like a trend on video sites.
The 'Our Spring' challenge started spreading from a video of children singing 'Our Spring' together at a kindergarten.
Along with the videos spreading under the name 'kindergarteners' group sing-along', singing 'Our Spring' somehow became a trend among elementary schoolers and kindergarteners.
Riding that trend, We:uS's two songs, 'HERO' and 'Our Spring', stood side by side at the top of the music chart.
-Breaking news: BlueRed's title track 'VILLAIN' pushed down in music chart rankings by We:uS's album track 'Our Spring' ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Unlike We:uS's rapid growth, BlueRed's music chart performance, which had peaked and was slowly dropping, showed no signs of rising again.
-We:uS dominating the charts with their title track and album track!
-Right now 'Our Spring' is almost about to take 1st place on the chart?
-The 'Our Spring' challenge is seriously crazy...ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I work at a kindergarten, and if one person sings Our Spring, everyone automatically follows along ㅋㅋㅋ
└My younger sibling is in elementary school, and they went to school, learned the song, and came back home passionately singing Our Spring ㅋㅋㅋ
-They say there's an idol group that takes 1st place on the music chart with an album track right after debut...?
└Right ㅋㅋ There have been cases of taking 1st place on the music chart right after debut, but a group taking 1st with an album track is really a first, isn't it?
Around the time K-pop related communities were heating up over the news of 'Our Spring's reverse chart run, which was quickly rising based on its mainstream popularity.
[We:uS - Our Spring FMV]
A fan-made music video for We:uS's 'Our Spring' was uploaded to a video site, not the agency's official channel.
-Wow... seriously daebak...
-Isn't this too high quality...?
-It's so touching ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
The fan MV consisted of edited videos from their national idol days, the debut preparation process revealed on the reality show, the showcase video, and various We:uS activity footage.
The natural editing of the videos and the touching process from the audition to debut came together to create a single story.
With a quality that made it hard to believe an individual made it, it instantly caused a massive stir among fans.
-A fan MV this well-made is really after a long time. I think it could really be used as an official video.
-We:uS's agency, just adopt this video as the official music video!
-Seriously, with this level of quality, shouldn't the agency bow deeply to the creator and take it? It's true love, really ㄷㄷ
-I pray for Our Spring's 1st place... Please let them get 1st place!
└Why are you doing this here ㅋㅋㅋ... If so, I also pray for 1st place! Please let them get 1st place!
Along with the fans' wishes, as the views of the fan MV rapidly increased, We:uS's first mini album track 'Our Spring' finally.
Achieved 1st place on the music chart.
***
The news of the quintuplets' hiatus(?) was immediately delivered to us as well.
"Hyung, did you see the post that went up earlier?"
At Kang A-jin's words as he looked at me, I nodded and answered.
"I didn't know it would become such a big topic... It must have been a huge burden for the parents."
"Still, it's a bit of a shame..."
"That's right, I thought we'd be able to do another broadcast with the quintuplets. Now we'll barely be able to see them..."
At my words, Kang A-jin and Baek Si-hyun expressed their disappointment.
After 'My First Childcare' was broadcast, thanks to the quintuplets' popularity, benefits returned to We:uS as well.
Perhaps this was the power of variety shows, the number of people recognizing each individual member began to increase.
"Ah, next time I should properly show off my childcare skills instead of my cooking skills... What a shame."
Because Shim Seong-ha became the quintuplets' exclusive chef after the broadcast and had little screen time, he always regretted not being able to properly show his real childcare skills.
"In the end, the biggest beneficiary was Han-hwi hyung."
Woo Jung-woo grumbled.
Just as Woo Jung-woo said, Park Han-hwi earned the nickname Angel Uncle from the children and received a lot of love from the viewers.
"Then Jung-woo, why don't you try changing that unfriendly impression of yours."
"..."
At my words, Woo Jung-woo and the members looked at my face and made expressions that seemed to say, 'You're not one to talk...' but.
"What? What about me?"
"Ah... It's nothing."
Perhaps due to the leader's dignity, the members quickly backed down.
It definitely wasn't because my impression was fierce.
Really...
In the car that instantly became quiet, Kang A-jin opened his mouth again.
"But, what about the 1st place candidates today?"
Right now we were on our way to Music Station.
It was the first music broadcast activity since 'My First Childcare' was aired.
And.
'It's also the first time since 'Our Spring's reverse run.'
At Kang A-jin's question, the members also put on curious expressions.
We all looked at the manager together, but the manager only wore a subtle smile and didn't say anything.
"Anyway, we don't have much left of our album activities now, so let's work hard until the very end."
"Yes!"
"Fighting!"
The Music Station broadcast started with such spirited determination.
For our stage today, we newly prepared an 'Our Spring' stage in response to Music Station's request to perform 'Our Spring'.
Since we hadn't performed the Our Spring stage for a while after the first week of debut, it felt a bit strange to perform it after such a long time.
'Now our activities are really coming to an end.'
Of course, we would release countless albums and make comebacks under the name We:uS in the future.
Still, feeling that our first debut activity was slowly entering its closing phase brought different emotions.
-Forget all the difficult and lonely times
Start anew
Now let's be together forever.
The 'Our Spring' stage with added simple choreography ended.
The reaction to the stage was hotter than any other stage before.
Waaaaaaaah-
It felt like they were cheering for the stage itself, even if they weren't fans of We:uS.
Standing on the stage like this, I somewhat realized just how popular 'Our Spring' was right now.
We came down from the stage and leisurely waited for the 1st place announcement.
Since BlueRed wasn't appearing on Music Station this week, we had no worries at all about not being able to take 1st place.
"With this level of popularity, shouldn't we be active for a few more weeks with our follow-up song?"
"I know. The popularity of Our Spring right now seems seriously no joke."
"Did you see the audience all singing along during the stage just now? I thought we were holding a concert."
When the members who came down from the stage were talking, surprised by the unusual reaction.
Soon the last senior group's stage ended.
And the 1st place announcement began.
Naturally taking our spots at the very front of the stage, we greeted the Wishes and waited for the 1st place candidate announcement.
"Broadcasting live, Music Station, we will now announce this week's 1st place candidates."
At the words announcing the 1st place candidates, the screen split into two.
"The first 1st place candidate is We:uS's 'HERO'."
As we had experienced so far, the cover photo of 'HERO' appeared on the screen.
Then, the second 1st place candidate was announced.
"The second 1st place candidate is... We:uS's 'Our Spring'."
'Wow...'
We had some expectations since BlueRed wasn't appearing, but.
Actually seeing this screen right before my eyes felt so unrealistic.
Two of We:uS's songs side by side as 1st place candidates.
'HERO' and 'Our Spring'.
Which meant.
1st place was unconditionally ours.
"This week's Music Station 1st place is... We:uS's 'Our Spring'! Congratulations!"
At the same time as those words.
-Achieve results that overwhelm BlueRed in this activity. Goal achieved.
-As a reward, you acquire 2 trait points.
Finally, one month after debut, the goal was achieved.