Chapter 97
Before they knew it, December had approached, and the music industry began to exude a thick year-end atmosphere.
Especially now, with the Musicnet Asian Music Awards—boasting the most massive scale among domestic pop music award ceremonies—just around the corner.
Various communities had already been heating up with predictions about who would take home the Grand Award this year.
[Cross and Next Meet After a Year, Who Will Be the Victor of This Award Ceremony?]
Among the Grand Award nominees for this Musicnet Awards, the two teams actually predicted to win were Cross and Next.
Based on their popularity in Korea, these two groups successfully expanded overseas and are leading K-pop. Cross and Next.
The two groups, which had shown almost similar trajectories until last year, started down thoroughly different paths starting this year.
Cross, which declared its advance into the US market and is focusing on US activities.
And Next, which is focusing more on Asian activities, taking advantage of Cross's US activities.
Because of these diverging paths of the two groups, this award ceremony became the first stage where the two groups faced off this year.
As a result, the fandoms of both groups were currently engaged in a fierce public opinion war online over the Grand Award.
And although they were also nominated for the same Grand Award, there was one fandom with a completely different atmosphere from the two groups above.
-Ah, I want to see our kids' faces soon ㅠ
-They aren't even doing Wapp much lately... I know they're busy preparing for the year-end stages, but it's been so hard to see their faces since the last Asia tour... ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-Still, to think we can see their faces in person at the Musicnet Awards tomorrow! How long has it been since the summer concert!
-Tomorrow, during their stage, I'm going to explode all the energy I've been saving up...!
That was none other than Wish, the fandom of Wyth.
From the end of their mini 2nd album promotions to the immediately following Asia tour, and now this hiatus.
Having not seen Wyth properly for a while, Wyth's fans were thrilled just to meet them at this award ceremony and were waiting anxiously for it.
Although Wyth was nominated for the Grand Award, since there was practically no chance of them winning it, Wyth's fans didn't bother caring about public opinion.
Of course, that also included their belief that Wyth would unconditionally receive the Rookie Award.
So, rather than questioning who would win which award tomorrow, posts anticipating Wyth's stage and preparing for attending the award ceremony in person were constantly being uploaded to the Wyth fan community when...
[Musicnet Asian Music Awards D-1 (Photos)]
Photos of Wyth practicing for their award ceremony stage were uploaded to Wyth's official SNS account.
And soon, a few additional photos were uploaded.
-Heol! It's been a while since I saw photos of them practicing in the practice room.
-The kids lying flat on the practice room floor rolling around is so cute ㅠㅠ
-It looks like Yujin's hair has grown a lot? I wonder what hairstyle they'll have tomorrow...?
As Wyth's fans were rejoicing over the long-awaited sight of Wyth's practice room...
Following the photos, a short video of a few seconds was additionally uploaded to SNS.
There was no sound, but it was a video showing the members dancing in formation in the practice room.
As soon as the video was uploaded, the fan community started heating up.
-Crazy! The video that just went up... is it a spoiler for tomorrow's stage?
└It seems like it, but I have no idea what song it is...
-Was there a choreography like that in their songs?
└The video is short so I'm not sure exactly, but it's definitely not the choreography for their existing title tracks?
└Since it's an award ceremony, maybe they made new choreography?
As soon as the short choreography video was uploaded, Wyth's fans started earnestly predicting what song Wyth would sing at the award ceremony stage, but it was impossible to know the correct answer with just one short video.
-That's similar to that dance... I mean the choreography of that famous pop song from before. Does anyone know?
Occasionally, posts that came quite close to the correct answer would appear, but they were soon buried by the enormous number of posts being uploaded in an instant.
***
At the Seoul World Cup Stadium where the Musicnet Asian Music Awards were being held, about 30,000 spectators were currently waiting for the stage and award wins of the singers they supported.
"Wow... it's really amazing."
Wyth's lightsticks, visible as dots in the distance.
And the festival of lights like a blue tsunami created by those gathered lightsticks.
Not only in the seats where Wyth's fans were gathered, but also throughout the stadium, clusters of lights sparkling in various colors were formed.
In this scene, which felt more like a massive joint concert than an award ceremony.
Right now, the members and I were sitting in the singer seats placed on a small stage next to the main stage, waiting for the award ceremony to begin.
"It's starting now."
Starting with the greeting of actor Song Joong-ki, today's main MC, the award ceremony was finally about to begin.
On the stage right now, 99 girls, whose nervousness was evident even from a distance, were waiting.
"Then, I will now open the curtain of this glamorous award ceremony that will mark the end of the year."
Along with the MC's final comment, the dark stage lighting brightened.
Dun-dun-
-SHINING STAR!
The intro to "SHINING STAR", the theme song of this season's National Idol Season 3, echoed through the stadium.
The trainees on stage, who had been wearing extremely nervous expressions, soon began their choreography with confident faces, as if they had given themselves extreme auto-suggestion.
"It kind of looks like our past selves."
"If you stood there, you would have been trembling."
And a familiar voice from beside me.
"Actually, the one who was trembling during the audition was Lin."
"Come to think of it, it does seem like that?"
"Shut up. Don't naturally distort my memory!"
The owners of the familiar voices were the Bu brothers.
Zeus, the group the Bu brothers belonged to, was occupying the seat right next to our Wyth in the singer seats.
"Lin hyung is just the same, even after a long time."
Wei Qianyu, who was in the same group as the Bu brothers and whom I hadn't seen in a while, was seated right next to me.
"Qianyu hyung, it seems your Korean has improved a lot?"
"A little? It's been a while for you too, Sihyun."
As the two people sitting next to me exchanged greetings, I felt a little awkward and looked at the ongoing stage.
-Sparkling and shining SHINING★STAR!
I will be the protagonist of tonight
An addictive chorus, not much different from Season 2, could be heard.
I looked at one trainee in the farthest corner among the 99 trainees dancing in group formation on stage.
'I wonder if she's doing well.'
I could see Kang Sohee, the individual trainee who had flustered me during the filming of the first episode of National Idol Season 3 last time.
Kang Sohee's limbs were still a bit clumsy, but compared to the first stage I had seen, her dancing now had made great strides.
Of course, because of the enormous number of 99 people, the results of her efforts were mostly hidden, but I could still clearly see how hard she had worked.
'Of course, I said she worked hard, not that she's good at it.'
The first broadcast of National Idol Season 3 aired last week.
Since I appeared in episode 1 anyway, I made sure to watch the broadcast.
'It wasn't bad.'
If I were to evaluate the first broadcast strictly based on my own screen time, I could give it a pretty good score.
The screen time was one thing, but the scene of Kang Sohee crying, which I had been worried about, was smoothly changed through editing.
I'm not sure if it was thanks to me, but Kang Sohee also benefited from the power of editing and was shown in a quite positive light on the broadcast.
Anyway, since I was in a position where I had no choice but to support Kang Sohee to receive the system's reward, the good reactions to Kang Sohee were also a pleasant thing for me.
'Well, I don't know if Kang Sohee can really debut, though.'
As I was appreciating the stage while thinking about National Idol Season 3.
The trainees' stage was almost over before I knew it.
-I am your SHINING★STAR!
The trainees struck an ending pose along with the final measure.
A few high-ranked selected trainees were caught on screen.
When I was watching the stage and clapping.
Kyaaaaah-
A sudden scream.
It was such a loud noise that even I, who was now confident I wouldn't be startled by most sounds, was slightly surprised.
'Did Cross appear on screen or something?'
The cause of the scream was obvious.
If the idol they support appears on screen, it's a principle for fans to respond with cheers, right?
With this level of cheers, it was probably Cross or Next...
'Huh? It's me?'
The moment I turned my head, curious about whose face was on the large screen.
I saw my own face captured largely on the screen.
But it wasn't just my face on the screen; I could see Wei Qianyu next to me caught on camera together.
Only then did I understand why such a loud noise erupted, as our fans and Zeus's fans cheered together.
'But why are they keeping us on screen for so long?'
Even though I was from National Idol, the stage just now wasn't even mine.
Well, it wasn't like I was getting a one-shot, so I lightly waved my hand to the fans.
Kyaaah-
Instantly, I heard screams erupting from Wyth's fans.
Next to me, I saw Wei Qianyu also lightly waving his hand.
Wei Qianyu's face caught on screen exuded a sharper vibe than during his trainee days.
Like a cold senior who might reply if you send him about 100 direct messages.
'He really is handsome.'
In the past, I would have avoided being caught alongside Wei Qianyu's face, but now I didn't feel the need to avoid it.
'Of course, I mean me.'
This was the confidence of an S-rank in appearance.
***
In the first part of the award ceremony, mainly rookie singers' stages and the awarding of relatively less prominent awards continued.
Like that, the first part of the Musicnet Asian Music Awards, which consisted of a total of three parts, ended.
What the Wyth members, including myself, were waiting for now was the Rookie Award presentation in the second part.
Actually, since Wyth was such a strong candidate, the tension was a bit low.
Still, the Rookie Award is an award you can only receive once in a lifetime, isn't it?
After the second part started, we felt a little tension and watched the ceremony progress.
Soon after the second part began, the Rookie Award presentation started.
"This is an award given to the rookie who showed the most outstanding activities this year."
The voice of the young actor in charge of presenting the award was heard.
On the large screen, the appearances of the five teams nominated for the Rookie Award, including Wyth, were already visible.
"Rookie Award. The winner is... Wyth."
Waaaaaah-
With passionate cheers, we all stood up from our seats together.
"Congratulations!"
"Hyung, congratulations!"
We received congratulations from the Zeus members, who were fellow Rookie Award nominees, and moved to receive the award.
While we were moving absentmindedly, receiving congratulations from those around us, a hand suddenly popped out in front of me.
"Congratulations on the Rookie Award."
In my dazed state, I shook hands first and then looked at the face.
'Cross?'
A face familiar even at a glance, the person shaking hands with me right now was Jinhyuk, the leader of Cross.
"Yes. Thank you, Sunbaenim."
I answered quickly and followed the members to the stage.
Thinking about it while moving, I recalled that Jinhyuk had mentioned my name in an interview before, but...
Anyway, that fact wasn't important right now.
'Rookie Award...'
I had expected to receive it, but actually receiving the award felt a little strange.
Like that, after going up on stage and receiving the small trophy, we stood side by side in front of the microphone and greeted.
"Hello, we are Wyth!"
Then, the sound of cheers grew even louder.
Because of the screams at the venue, for a moment, I couldn't hear any other sound.
"We are so thankful for giving us the honorable Rookie Award..."
At that moment, Park Hanhui's gentle voice pierced through the screams and echoed inside the award ceremony venue. The fans instantly quieted down.
I watched Park Hanhui calmly continue his acceptance speech, and when Park Hanhui's speech ended, I slowly walked up to the microphone and delivered the final remark.
"We will repay you with an even cooler stage. Thank you!"
"Thank you!"
"We love you, Wish!"
After finishing the final greeting and coming down from the stage, the members and I hurried to the waiting room to prepare for Wyth's stage, which was now not far away.
"Is it really going to be a cool stage?"
While moving, Kim Yujin came up next to me and said it like a joke. However, contrary to her words, I could see a bit of nervousness on Kim Yujin's face.
I smiled slightly at Kim Yujin's appearance and answered.
"You'll see when the time comes."
The highlight of the award ceremony had not yet begun.