Chapter 94
'A Grand Prize nominee...'
I recalled a goal I had yet to achieve.
-Win the Grand Prize at the award ceremony.
Reward: Stat Points 2 + ???
The goal I received around the time I finished activities for my debut album.
So it had already been about half a year.
When I first saw this goal, I thought it was impossible to achieve it this year.
Actually, it was uncertain whether I could achieve it within the contract period.
'That's how hard it is for an idol group to win the Grand Prize at an award ceremony.'
Currently, there were a total of three award ceremonies in South Korea that could be called authoritative music award ceremonies.
The first was the Korean Music Awards.
Sponsored by the government, although it was called a popular music award ceremony, it didn't consider commercial success and only judged musicality. In other words, it was a ceremony where it was extremely difficult for idols to win awards.
Since the ceremony itself was held in March, there was still time left, but naturally, the possibility of WeUs winning the Grand Prize at the Korean Music Awards was infinitely low.
Though we might be able to aim for the Rookie of the Year award.
The second was the Golden Disc Awards.
The oldest existing popular music award ceremony in Korea. With its long history, it was the most authoritative award ceremony.
Usually, when calling a singer a Grand Prize singer, it often referred to a singer who had won the Grand Prize at the Golden Disc Awards.
Of course, as times passed, the status of the Golden Disc Awards tended to gradually shrink, but anyway, it was still the most authoritative award ceremony, and unlike the Korean Music Awards, it also considered commercial success, making it an award ceremony where idol groups could also aim for the Grand Prize.
Lastly, the MusicNet Asian Music Awards, where WeUs was nominated for the Grand Prize this time.
As the name suggests, it was an award ceremony run through MusicNet, and although it was called the Asian Music Awards, it was actually correct to view it as a domestic award ceremony with just the name "Asian Awards."
The scale of the ceremony itself was the largest in Korea, but in reality, its authority was much lower than the two previously mentioned award ceremonies.
From the start, its history lagged behind other ceremonies, and since its inception, issues regarding its fairness had been consistently raised.
Although it was resolved now, there had been bleak times a few years ago when some large agencies boycotted the ceremony itself.
Still, it did have the title of being the largest scale award ceremony in Korea sponsored by the CL Group.
'If we were to win the Grand Prize, we'd probably get it at MusicNet.'
It was an obvious prediction.
First of all, the MusicNet Awards was a ceremony centered around K-pop idol groups.
And WeUs itself was a group with the symbolism of being born through MusicNet. They were bound to have an advantage in the judging process.
Of course, pushing WeUs overtly would mean MusicNet had to take risks as well.
Because the fandoms of other groups wouldn't just stand by and watch.
Just like right now.
-Among the Grand Prize nominees, WeUs is the only rookie... lol
-Has a rookie ever won the Grand Prize before?
-I know WeUs is doing well, but aren't they not quite at the Grand Prize level yet?
-Are they really going to give the Grand Prize to WeUs at this rate?
-There's a reason people say "don't jinx it," but still, not WeUs for the Grand Prize...?
-Well, if it's MusicNet, who knows lol. Since when did they ever have a conscience?
'The reactions are... not very good.'
Actually, we didn't have the slightest expectation of winning the Grand Prize right now.
And if MusicNet had any sense, they wouldn't give WeUs the Grand Prize now.
Still, I never expected that just being nominated for the Grand Prize would spark such pushback.
The people writing those comments probably didn't genuinely think WeUs had a high chance of winning the Grand Prize either.
They just had complaints about WeUs usually, or simply disliked WeUs.
To such people, this opportunity was one they couldn't miss.
They were employing a meticulous strategy of bashing MusicNet's bad image and cleverly lumping WeUs together with them to bash both at the same time.
Riding the public opinion regarding WeUs's Grand Prize nomination like that, the scope of criticism began to gradually widen,
and soon, talks about the Rookie of the Year award started to be brought up.
-Honestly, can WeUs just be lumped in as rookies?
-A group that debuted through an audition show is a bit of a foul.
-If you consider it from the audition, they've actually been active since late last year. This does seem unfair to other rookies.
As talks about it being unfair for a group born from an audition to win the Rookie of the Year award started to slowly emerge,
-Honestly, it's right for WeUs to yield the Rookie of the Year. That makes for a better picture.
-Right, WeUs has nothing to gain from winning the Rookie of the Year right now.
Now, posts saying it was right for WeUs to yield the Rookie of the Year were frequently seen.
'What kind of miraculous logic is this?'
WeUs's achievements aren't at the Grand Prize level, but they're not at the rookie level either, so let's not give them the Rookie of the Year either?
I didn't know where the idea of yielding an award came from in the first place.
This was far more malicious than the Grand Prize issue.
'It's inevitable that WeUs wins the Rookie of the Year, but they're saying we should get hated on while receiving it?'
Honestly, it was almost certain that WeUs would win the Rookie of the Year at this award ceremony.
Yet, for such talks to come out meant they were trying to fade the meaning of the award even if we won it.
'They're really out to get us this time.'
It had been a little over a year, but since WeUs debuted, there hadn't been a single failure.
Success after success.
Both popularity and career were on a high flight, showing an amazing progress.
Except for the friction with BlueRed in the early days of debut, there had been no real trials.
There was nothing to attack in terms of skill, activity achievements, or member issues.
This award ceremony was the perfect opportunity to attack WeUs.
'If it's like this, the Grand Prize isn't the problem.'
There was a goal to win the Grand Prize, but right now, getting through the award ceremony safely was the priority.
It felt a bit unfair that these problems arose because of a Grand Prize we wouldn't even win this time.
'Things have been going too well until now.'
Mini 1st and 2nd albums. And from the summer concert to the Asia tour.
As we continued our triumphant march, I felt like the tension had dropped a bit lately.
It didn't seem like this award ceremony would pass easily.
***
"It feels like it's been a while since we all gathered in the practice room."
"Right? Isn't it too hard to see Yoojin Kim and Hanhui's faces lately?"
"Yeah, do they live in the studio now instead of the dorm?"
"Have they forgotten about us? Sob sob..."
"Keep this up and we'll forget what they look like!"
As soon as we gathered in one place, the attack on Yoojin Kim and Park Hanhui, who hadn't been coming out of the studio lately, began.
It's a bit much to say it's been a long time, but well, it was true that Yoojin Kim and Park Hanhui hadn't been out of the studio much lately...
This level of diss was just cute banter among the members.
After finishing the Asia tour, we enjoyed the leisure of our inactive period for a while, spending a peaceful album preparation period.
The album we were preparing right now was our 1st full album.
The company wanted us to release a mini or single album every 2-3 months and promote,
but unable to break the will of the members including Yoojin Kim, they eventually allowed the 1st full album.
Actually, the company had reflected our opinions a lot since our debut, but now I could feel our influence within the company had grown compared to back then.
Of course, once the promotion period started, we'd be working like dogs again.
Anyway, we had been focusing on preparing the 1st full album and our individual activities for a while,
and the reason we all gathered in the practice room like this was...
"Alright, alright, everyone's here, so let's get started quickly. Does anyone have any personal opinions about the award ceremony stage?"
To save Yoojin Kim and Park Hanhui, who were getting roasted, I quickly brought up the main topic.
"Hmm, the award ceremony stage..."
"I did think about it."
"If we consider the arrangement, it would be good to decide now."
The members, who had been pondering my words, started to speak one by one.
"But the scale of this award ceremony is huge, did you all see it?"
"Isn't it at the Olympic Stadium?"
"Wow... how many seats is it if they fill it up?"
"About 40,000 seats."
'40,000 seats.'
I felt it was more appropriate to see it as a festival rather than an award ceremony.
I wasn't sure if they could fill all those seats, but anyway, just hearing the number of seats showed it was an enormous scale.
"It's much more than our concert..."
"Almost double."
I thought the concert at Gocheok Dome was a really huge scale too.
What would it feel like to stand on a 40,000-seat stage.
"But how many songs do we need to prepare?"
"Time is about 10 minutes, in terms of songs, 2 or at most 3?"
"3 songs seems like too many, considering the performance time, wouldn't 2 songs be neater?"
"Even with just 2 songs, 10 minutes seems like we can show pretty much everything."
Actually, there was plenty of time to construct the stage.
Compared to other rookie groups who were allotted about 5 minutes, we were probably receiving the best treatment.
Of course, that much more pressure came with it, though.
"How about doing the stages that got good reactions during the concert again?"
"Well, wouldn't it be better to prepare a new stage rather than doing something we've already done?"
"That would be nice, but considering the preparation time..."
"Since it's our first award ceremony, going safely might be good too."
Listening to the conversation, the atmosphere seemed to flow toward the opinion of safely preparing a slightly modified version of the concert stage for this award ceremony.
I just watched the other members speak before finally opening my mouth.
"Everyone. You know we're Grand Prize nominees, right?"
"Yes, I saw it. But won't the Grand Prize be a bit difficult?"
When I suddenly brought up the Grand Prize, Woo Jungwoo answered carefully.
"Of course the Grand Prize is difficult. There are posts cursing about why a rookie group is a Grand Prize nominee. Didn't you all see them?"
"Hmm..."
Seeing the members become a bit subdued by what I brought up, I quickly continued speaking.
"Concert stages are basically made to show to fans who like us. Of course we prepared hard, but at the award ceremony stage, there won't only be favorable reactions toward us like at the concert."
Actually, by my prediction, the reaction towards WeUs at this award ceremony would definitely not be good.
I wasn't saying that just from seeing the criticism of some anti-fans in internet articles.
"To be more honest, excluding our fans, would other fandoms bother sending us their support? Probably the majority of singers there didn't make it as Grand Prize nominees. For us, in our debut year, to be nominated for the Grand Prize probably doesn't feel great from the perspective of other groups' fans."
I finished speaking and observed the members' reactions.
The practice room atmosphere became a bit serious.
I could see the members lost in their own thoughts without a word.
"In the end, there's no answer other than showing it on stage."
Yoojin Kim spoke the words I wanted to say, his eyes shining.
"But how? No matter how much it's the MusicNet Awards, an award ceremony is an award ceremony. They won't prepare everything tailored to us like a concert."
"Of course there will be limits."
I nodded at Yoojin Kim's words and answered, then added.
"Still, I didn't say this without any countermeasures. If you all agree, I have something in mind."
"What is it?"
"First, take a look at this year's MusicNet Awards lineup."
"Yes?"
"The lineup?"
The members looked puzzled at my words but took out their phones to check the lineup.
"When I saw it last time, it was similar to last year's."
"Didn't they say they were inviting a band from Japan?"
"I heard a Chinese singer is coming too."
Since the MusicNet Asian Music Awards carried the title of Asian Music Awards anyway, they usually invited several famous overseas singers to the ceremony every year, at least nominally.
And what I saw was the newly announced news this time.
That news was none other than...
"Huh?"
"Yeah, what's up?"
"A new article came out yesterday..."
"What is it?"
"It says James Blake is coming to the MusicNet Awards this time."
"James Blake?"
News of a famous pop star visiting Korea.
To be exact, it was the news that James Blake would be participating in this award ceremony.