Chapter 66
That evening when Weus took their first music show 1st place with 'Our Spring'.
A post with a few photos was uploaded to Weus's official SNS.
[With the Genius Composer (Photos)]
In the first photo, the Weus members, wearing comfortable clothes in their dorm, were seen smiling brightly in front of a cake.
The next photo captured a dynamic scene where Sim Seong-ha had grabbed a handful of cake and was bringing it right to Kim Yoo-jin's face.
-Seong-ha, what's with that wicked laugh ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Look at Yoo-jin's expression ㅋㅋ It's been a while since I saw that flustered face ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Congratulations on 1st place, everyone!
-For 'Our Spring' to reverse on the charts and even achieve 1st place! Yoo-jin really must be a genius composer!
-Since this happened, let's promote for a few more weeks ㅠㅠ
-I'm curious about what happens next... thump thump...
As soon as the post went up on SNS, countless comments started appearing.
Not long after, another post was uploaded.
[We love you, Wish! (Photos)]
The newly uploaded post showed a photo that completely revealed the chaotic state of the dorm.
In the photo, the Weus members had whipped cream smeared on one corner of their faces and were looking at the camera, making finger hearts.
-You guys really loved it fiercely ㅋㅋ
-Our Yoo-jin's face was completely devastated by whipped cream... ㄷㄷ
-What on earth happened in such a short time ㅋㅋ We love you too, Weus!!
-And in the midst of that, our Leader-rin's face is completely clean without a single whipped cream mark... Is this the dignity of a leader...?
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Only Sunwoo-rin's face is really clean
└The dignity of a leader (Physical)!!!
-Let's be together forever, Weus...!
***
After a commotion broke out in the dorm, the cleanup and aftermath were, of course, our responsibility.
Of course, my role was management and supervision.
We were a group that loved a strict division of labor system.
"Seong-ha, the whipped cream here hasn't been wiped off yet."
"No...! It's only this muuuch, you could wipe that much, hyung..."
"Who started it first?"
"Ugh..."
"Seong-ha, look, Jung-woo is still wiping diligently. If Jung-woo is working hard and you're the only one slacking off, what am I supposed to do?"
At my words, Sim Seong-ha looked at Woo Jung-woo, who was diligently wiping with a rag in the distance, and muttered as if he felt unjustly treated.
"No, he was playing around until just a minute ago..."
Woo Jung-woo ignored Sim Seong-ha's words and showed me a display of diligently wiping the sweat flowing down his forehead right in front of my eyes.
"Alright. Private Sim Seong-ha, executing properly. Execute!"
"E-execute..."
While I was keeping a dedicated mark on Sim Seong-ha and roasting him like this, the dorm gradually began to regain its normal appearance.
"It's clean now..."
Perhaps it couldn't be resolved by just washing his face, Kim Yoo-jin was seen coming out of the room drying his hair after taking a shower.
"Yoo-jin hyung, since you're out, please help quickly...!"
"..."
At Seong-ha's request for help, Kim Yoo-jin sent a stinging glare.
But eventually, after letting out a sigh, he started helping Seong-ha.
With even Kim Yoo-jin, who came out last, joining in, all the members combined their efforts to clean up, and the dorm cleanup was quickly finished.
"Wow! All cleaned up!"
"Hooray!"
"Seong-ha, you don't get to be happy."
"Hmph..."
With Park Han-hwi's words, the dorm cleanup came to an end.
Although bickering sounds could still be heard, it was nonetheless a long-awaited free time.
At that moment, Sim Seong-ha suddenly drew everyone's attention and cautiously spit out his words.
"Everyone, we even achieved 1st place with 'Our Spring' today... by any chance, could we order that for delivery...?"
"That?"
When Kang A-jin asked back in puzzlement at Seong-ha's words, Seong-ha grinned and answered again.
"Chimaek!"
"What? Chimaek?"
"That's a bit..."
At the bold word that popped out of Seong-ha's mouth, the members were startled and began to check my mood.
'No, why are they checking my mood? I'm a member too...'
Actually, except for the 19-year-old Baek Si-hyun, all the Weus members were adults, so I thought the topic of alcohol would come up someday.
'And, well, it's just chimaek.'
The promotions were almost at the finishing stage, and we got 1st place today too...
I nodded and answered as if in response to the six pairs of eyes staring intently at me.
"I think it's fine."
"Woah!"
"Chimaek!!"
"Party! Party!"
The members were seen cheering at my answer.
'No. Si-hyun... why are you happy along with them? You're just happy about the chicken, right...?'
Baek Si-hyun was seen expressing his inner joy wordlessly, just like Kang A-jin.
I shouted at the members whose tension had risen as if a party had already started.
"Wait a minute!"
At my words, the dorm fell silent once again.
"Still, we need to get permission from the manager hyung."
"Ah..."
"No way..."
The members looked as if they had instantly lost their vitality.
But soon, as if they had found hope again, Woo Jung-woo looked at me with sparkling eyes and said.
"I will only trust you, Rin-i hyung!"
"Our leader! Leader-rin!"
"I purposely didn't get whipped cream on you earlier...! Show us the dignity of a leader!"
'It's not that you didn't get it on me, it's that you couldn't.'
Seeing the members looking for the leader's dignity only at times like this, I let out a sigh and spoke to them.
"Shh! I'm making the call."
At my words, the dorm immediately fell into silence.
Looking at the faces of the members with tense expressions, I called the manager on my phone.
"Yes, hello. Yes, hyung, by any chance today, if we order delivery at the dorm... Ah... Yes..."
After hanging up, I looked at the members in silence for a moment.
"Re-result...?"
"By any chance, is it... a failure?"
Looking at the members who now seemed anxious beyond just nervous, I spoke in a low voice.
"Mission clear."
"Woooooah!"
"Yes!"
At my words, the members let out cheers.
I communicated with Kim Yoo-jin, who was smiling wordlessly, with our eyes for the first time in a while, and stood up from my seat.
-Sometimes, things like this...
-aren't so bad.
***
Relaxing comfortably in the dorm felt quite different from the atmosphere we had talked about at the company after W App ended.
'Actually, we've only been running forward all this time.'
Starting late last year with the audition program.
Starting to prepare for the debut album right after the audition ended. Until now, entering the 4th week of promotions.
We only ran without resting, and looking back, we've been through quite a lot together, but.
Even though we were always together, it felt like we rarely had time to talk as comfortably as this.
Of course, that comfortable conversation time wasn't very long.
'Everyone's out cold.'
"Ughhh... I'm getting drunk..."
Sim Seong-ha, sprawled on the floor, muttered with a flushed face.
Anyone looking would think he had poured a whole crate of alcohol down his throat, but.
The amount of beer Seong-ha drank was barely a glass and a half.
"So harsh, so harsh..."
Why did he cry out for chimaek so much when he can't even drink...
I gently picked up the collapsed Seong-ha and
Clank-
"Urk."
Gently tossed him onto Seong-ha's bed spot.
In the room, Kang A-jin was already seen fast asleep, breathing softly.
This was the moment it was confirmed that the two 20-year-old members of Weus were definitely alcohol trash.
After dealing with those two lumps and coming back out to the living room.
"Hey! Freeze."
"Ah!"
I caught Baek Si-hyun slowly reaching his hand toward the beer Seong-ha had left behind.
"Alright, it's time for the minor to go in and sleep."
"Yeess..."
"Let's drink together next year."
At my words, Baek Si-hyun nodded weakly and went into the room.
Excluding Park Han-hwi, who had earlier said he was tired and went to sleep, there were now only three people left in the living room.
"Rin-i hyung, come this way..."
Although not as bad as Sim Seong-ha and Kang A-jin, Woo Jung-woo didn't look in very good condition, perhaps because he was tired.
In front of such Woo Jung-woo was Kim Yoo-jin, who had been caught by Jung-woo from the start and subjected to a 'Too Much Talk', sending me a look for help in a mentally dazed state.
"Aah. So, about the time I first debuted before becoming the Nation's Son. I was a total rookie who knew nothing back then, so..."
Woo Jung-woo's words, which had started running his mouth off again, were heard. I looked at Kim Yoo-jin because it felt like I had just heard him say the exact same thing a moment ago.
-This is the fifth time I've heard this story...
I saw Kim Yoo-jin's eyes looking at me full of resentment.
-No, it's not like I left Jung-woo in your care.
I sent a look of excuse to Kim Yoo-jin, but with Jung-woo's story heading further and further towards its climax, Yoo-jin's pupils were seen fading.
I looked at Jung-woo, wondering if I should chop him in the neck to knock him out.
"Umm. And so... you see..."
I don't know if he felt my gaze, but.
Even without laying a hand on him, Jung-woo headed off to dreamland on his own.
After moving even Jung-woo, who had collapsed on his own, into the room like that.
"Let's clean up now, Yoo-jin..."
"Yeess..."
Along with the last survivor, Kim Yoo-jin, I started cleaning up the living room that had become a mess again.
"Phew, let's just do about this much. Let's make the kids clean up the rest tomorrow."
At my words, I took a seat next to Kim Yoo-jin, who nodded and lay his body down on the sofa.
Left alone with Kim Yoo-jin, memories of the old audition days vividly came to mind.
"It turned out just as you said, Yoo-jin."
"Pardon?"
"We got 1st place with 'Our Spring', and the debut results are a record-breaking achievement just like you said."
"That's true."
If it were Kim Yoo-jin, I thought he would say something like, 'It's still not enough.' Seeing him answer obediently felt somewhat new.
"Still, it's not enough yet."
'As expected...'
Even for a moment, he never deviated from my expectations.
"The debut album is just the beginning. Still, I'm glad we buttoned the first button well."
"So the ultimate goal is the Billboard chart after all?"
At my words, Kim Yoo-jin looked at me and answered.
"Rather than a goal... it's a dream I definitely want to achieve."
"Aren't they the same thing?"
"I guess so."
We smiled at each other.
I've been feeling it frequently these days, but Kim Yoo-jin seemed to have softened a lot since the audition ended.
If somehow during the audition he always seemed to have a strong sense of being alone, should I say he's now become a little more accustomed to the concept of a team?
"Are the songs coming along well?"
"Well. I'm working hard at it, but the results aren't coming out well yet."
Even while busy with promotions, Kim Yoo-jin never let go of composing in his spare moments.
Seeing him like that, I thought it was amazing, but.
"You looked too exhausted, you know? Couldn't you take your time preparing after the promotions are over?"
I was sometimes worried seeing Kim Yoo-jin working as if he were being chased by something.
Kim Yoo-jin, who seemed to be thinking about something at my words, soon spoke cautiously.
"For the next album... I'd like to go in the direction of self-production."
"Self-production?"
"Yes, the debut album did well, but in order to maintain the group's musical color, we eventually have to become a group that can pull out a title track through self-production someday."
Hearing Kim Yoo-jin's words, various thoughts crossed my mind.
I still have a lot of things I don't know compared to Kim Yoo-jin and the other members when it comes to the musical aspects, but.
I at least knew that famous groups had their own colors and did their musical activities.
So I roughly understood what Kim Yoo-jin was worried about.
'It's true that our company is part of a large corporation, but since it's a new agency, there are no in-house composers...'
In the end, we have no choice but to get songs from famous composers belonging to other large agencies.
'It's going to be hard to keep doing only that forever...'
"Other than me, Han-hwi hyung is also interested in composing and producing. Si-hyun and Jung-woo are interested in writing lyrics."
"Was that so?"
"Yes, so if we just prepare step by step well. A self-produced album doesn't seem like it would be that difficult compared to what I thought. Of course, how to persuade the company is still an unknown, though."
Saying that, Kim Yoo-jin stood up from his seat.
"Yaaawn. I'll go in now too."
"Yeah, got it."
Kim Yoo-jin went into the room.
Left alone in the living room, I fell into thought for a moment.
'A self-produced album...'
I thought I was working hard for the group as the leader, but I ended up thinking that maybe Kim Yoo-jin was thinking further into the future than I was.
'Well, if I don't know, I just have to learn.'
It couldn't be helped that I lacked in some areas. I had no choice but to make an effort and learn slowly.
It felt like I had gained one more goal, though it wasn't visible to the eye.
'Hey, at times like this, shouldn't you at least throw me a goal?'
-A new goal has been created.
-Win the Daesang at an award ceremony.
Reward: Stat Points 2 + ???
'No, Daesang...?'
How many times has an idol singer ever received a Daesang at a music award ceremony?
I protested inwardly at the goal that had suddenly become an absurd difficulty, but.
The system just threw one goal at me and went into hiding again.
'It seems impossible within this year...'
It was definitely a gateway I had to go through somehow, but there was nothing I could do about the goal suddenly looking too high.
I looked at the goal called Daesang again and recalled the words I had just heard from Kim Yoo-jin.
'Self-production...'
Could the answer possibly be here?
Then what I can do right now is.
'Trait Shop'
I opened the Trait Shop that I hadn't paid attention to for a while.