The Toxic Member Has Returned! Episode 149
Wiz was the idol group that Queens, a mid-sized idol agency, had ambitiously prepared in order to finally step up into the ranks of the major companies.
With the care of a dedicated team assembled after careful consideration, they took to their first live debut stage, and anyone watching would have found themselves exclaiming, “They’re good.”
- Welcome to TheDeep, Deep, Deepinside of My MONOCHROMEDeep, Deep, Deepinside of Your MONOCHROMEAt the end of it, your smile, I’mFinally Holding it!
Sharp, disciplined group choreography, vocals and rap with nothing lacking, and lyrics that lodged addictively in your ears.
“Queens really put some muscle into this one….”
“Hey, isn’t the final center An Myeonguk and Baek Yeonghyeon’s son? He inherited only the best parts from his mom and dad.”
“I mean, sure, everyone says individuality is the thing these days, but still. Coming out that textbook-perfect is one method too.”
In the current state of things, where the recent boy groups aside from TOZ had been underwhelming, their appearance delivered quite a fresh shock to boy group fans who had been waiting for new faces.
However, those who had only seen their polished stage could not know.
What kind of problem had occurred before that stage began.
“Guys! I think we did really well. Seriously, good wor—”
“Hey. Shut up and follow me.”
“…
Huh?”
Before he could even savor the joy of their first live stage, Han Danu grabbed An Taei by the wrist and dragged him to the waiting room. The moment the door shut, his face hardened fiercely.
At the same time, his hand went straight for the collar of An Taei, who had been smiling brightly from the joy of having just finished the stage.
“Are you seriously in your right mind, you bastard? Huh?”
“Huh… Danu, why are you doing this? Let go of this. We have to go back onstage later for the ranking announcement too, and if you do this, my outfit will wrinkle. You’re really worked up right now.”
“You little shit, seriously…!”
“Danu, we’re still at the broadcasting station. Huh? You can’t do this to him right now!”
The members, who had seen the sudden confrontation happen right in front of them, hurriedly tried to stop him, but their expressions were not exactly pleasant either.
After all, the bomb An Taei had set off right before their live stage was….
No ordinary bomb.
“What? Taei-ssi, what did you just say…?”
“Ah, it’s just that our members wouldn’t tell me anything no matter what. No matter how I look at it, it seems like Chunyong and our members fought when they were practicing togeth—”
- “Wiz! Team Wiz, are you here? You’re up soon, so please get ready for the stage!”
“Ah, no, wait. Even if it’s really brief, that’s fine! Could you maybe tell me—”
“Excuse us. We also need to prepare for our stage, so we’ll be heading back first.”
“Huh? I haven’t heard anything yet.”
“We need to go back. Do you not understand?”
“…
Mm, okay. Then let’s meet again next time, Chunyong!”
If the broadcast order had not come at such exquisitely perfect timing, An Taei looked as though he would have stood his ground in TOZ’s waiting room no matter what and tried to hear about what had happened between the Wiz members and Kim Chunyong.
Remembering the way that guy’s eyes had sparkled with curiosity at the time, Han Danu clenched his teeth and spat out each word.
“You’re saying you want to be an idol, but you couldn’t even think that saying something like that in that situation would affect our stage condition?”
Even at Han Danu’s anger-laced huffing, An Taei only blinked with an innocent expression.
“Uh… it would affect our stage condition? Why?”
“Taei, stop it. Are you seriously doing this on purpose to piss Danu and the rest of us off?”
When another member beside them vented his irritation in a strained voice, it completely scraped at Han Danu, who had already been worried about whether he had managed his expression properly onstage.
Han Danu tightened his grip on An Taei’s collar and growled.
“Hey, fuck. An Taei, haven’t I been going easy on you until now?”
“Mm… I see. So you were going easy on me.”
“Yeah, you bastard. But why the hell do you keep getting under people’s skin and dragging up bad things from the past—”
And the moment the thoroughly enraged Han Danu said that sentence with all his anger.
“…
Aha.”
An Taei smiled brightly and brushed off his own collar that Han Danu was gripping.
It happened in an instant, and even Han Danu, who had been confronting him right in front of his face, was startled.
“You little shit….”
“Come on, don’t be surprised. I was surprised too when you grabbed me by the collar.”
An Taei patted down his stage outfit, now wrinkled from having been grabbed by the collar, and continued in a soft, gentle voice.
“You finally told me one thing. Whew, getting that one thing out of you was so hard, Danu, guys….”
“…….”
“And I’m sorry. For trying to drag up the bad thing that happened to you guys right before our debut live stage.”
An Taei’s expression as he said that was as bright and neat as ever, to the point that someone who did not know the situation might have thought he was talking about words of praise for having finished the stage well.
An Taei, nodding repeatedly as if he understood, showed no sign of stopping.
“Right, I shouldn’t have done that. I’m thinking of apologizing to Chunyong later too. I didn’t mean to make him feel flustered. Ah, I did that to you guys too, though. Mm.”
And the longer An Taei spoke, the colder Wiz’s waiting room became.
So much so that it was hard to believe this was the waiting room of a team that had just come down after completing an excellent debut stage.
“…
Haha.”
And after taking in the sight, An Taei continued speaking in the same low, gentle voice.
“But, well. There’s something I felt after watching a few times.”
“…….”
“People really never say what they need to say unless they’re put in an extreme situation.”
After patting the dust off the leather jacket of Han Danu, who was glaring at him, An Taei walked past the members, who had frozen and were only gauging one another’s reactions, and turned on the TV in the waiting room.
- “Yes, it’s now time to meet the next stage!”
- “Jiye-ssi, Jiye-ssi. Would you like to play hide-and-seek with me? I’ll be it first!”
- “Ah, I’d like to play hide-and-seek with people other than you, Jinho-ssi! With the hottest people these days!”
Their turn, which had just marked their debut as rookies, had passed, and the introduction for the stage of those who came after them was playing.
- “Hide well, or your hair will show! Then let’s meet them right away! Target of Xenon, TOZ’s ‘Hide-and-Seek’!”
“That fucking bastard….”
“Danu, hold it in. So are you going to fight him right now? We just did our first stage today….”
“Yeah, fuck. If I followed my heart, I’d fight like hell. That bastard An Taei, and Kim Chunyong, both of them! Did you see that bastard laughing because he was flustered earlier? Fuck, what the hell is he laughing for, what gives him the right….”
“No, but that’s true too. Hawon-hyung, what does that make us if Kim Chunyong-hyung laughs there? Is he seriously trying to pick a fight…?”
Whether curses, anger, concern, and worry poured out from the members behind him or not, An Taei’s gaze remained fixed on the TV.
“Mm, fighting. Fighting, huh… If idols are fighting, then that probably means….”
Muttering the last word that had lodged in his ear, An Taei quietly laughed once more and murmured to himself.
Because he knew that if the members heard him, they would only get angrier, he spoke softly, just loudly enough for only his own ears to hear.
“…
They fight through the stage and results.”
And at the same time.
On the TV screen, six men wearing gakuran uniforms reformed in the way that suited each of them best appeared, and—
- On a day this dazzlingI take one step to find youHi, Hi. But Hide tightly
The fight in the way An Taei had thought of it began properly.
* * *
TOZ’s stage received a better response in the second week than in the first.
There was a reason people said the first week of promotions was an adjustment period, and that things really began after that.
Now that they had tested the waters, it was time to properly chew, tear into, taste, and enjoy.
“Bang Yuchan! Son Jaeha! Kim Chunyong! Lee Logan! Ji Hwaseong! Jang Siu! TOZ!”
Although AG committed the outrageous act of releasing the fan chant two days before their second week of promotions after deciding, “Shouldn’t we have a fan chant too?” the voices of the fans who attended the live broadcast stage were nothing if not thunderous.
On top of that….
- Hi, Hi. Hide and SeekSee, See. I can only see your handHi, How was your day?
At the end of this maze….
With bright red hair that slightly covered the nape of his neck, and the buttons of his gakuran thrown wide open according to Moon Yunha’s warning that, “If I catch you buttoning even one button because you’re cold, I won’t let you off.”
- I hold, hold you. I caught you!
And after the experience from the previous showcase, Kim Chunyong caught Logan, who was playfully pretending to half-fall, then smiled at the camera in a slightly arrogant and magnificent way….
“Kim Chunyong! Kim Chunyong! Loganaaaak!”
“Aaaagh! Kim Chunyong, take all my money! The gakuran is seriously insane!”
“Damn it, what are they even saying? Their audience disruption is even crazier…!”
Later, it would even draw hot screams intense enough to be immortalized in a post titled,
[Mumu Day TOZ legendary audience disruption lololol fuck, TOZ live broadcast audience numbers are gonna get restricted at this rate]
And that was not limited to Kim Chunyong.
The other members were the same.
- Run, Run, this is a game you suggestedA game that won’t end even if I say I don’t like it
- In this moment, End is comingOwl, Nightingale, Mockingbird
“Whoa, damn, Jaeha and Hwaseong switched parts!”
“Shh, shh! Hey, but Son Jaeha’s face is seriously insane today….”
Since they had already become thoroughly used to the stage through the survival show, they had the seasoned skill to satisfy fans’ needs by switching one of the pair parts.
- Hi, Hi. Hide and SeekSee, See. In my eyes, I can only see youHi, How was your day?
Jang Siu showed a still-shy appearance that made people keenly realize, “So this is the freshness of a rookie.”
At the end of this game of hiding and seekingI Found you, I caught you in the end!
And the first second-week “Hide-and-Seek” stage, in which Bang Yuchan—who shone as the top student of Hanguk University’s practical music department and had even earned the title “fansign entrance-exam tutor”—finally hit the peak of the high note, was….
[How was TOZ on the live broadcast today? Was the response good?]
[⎿The results speak for themselves. “3rd place”]
[⎿Wtf, a boy group? A rookie? No, this is seriously insane; Xenians were joking that they might seriously get 1st this week, but aren’t they actually going to get 1st on other music shows??]
It ended so well that no more words were needed.
“…
Hoo.”
After the stage, once Kim Chunyong finally arrived in the waiting room, he wiped away the sweat dampening the back of his neck and let out a sigh mixed with satisfaction.
The “Hide-and-Seek” promotions were receiving a far better response than during his Arrows days, when he had already won the rookie award.
The reaction that improved day by day was an indicator that if Kim Chunyong tried just a little harder, he could achieve his newly updated goal of “winning the rookie award.”
So, of course, he could not help but feel good.
“Haha… I really have to work harder….”
However, there was something Kim Chunyong, who was smiling happily with satisfaction in a way that did not match his sharp features, had briefly forgotten.
“Um, Chunyong?”
“Ah. Yes, Jaeha-hyung! What is it? Do you need water or—”
“No, no. Come here.”
Son Jaeha, with his usual soft smile, guided Kim Chunyong to the chair in the middle of the waiting room.
“Huh? What is this right now…?”
“Haha, you’ll know if you come. Yeah. There’s something we need to do.”
“Hyung… That’s right. For now… please sit.”
And the moment Kim Chunyong, wearing a puzzled expression, sat in that chair, six grown men, including their manager Yoo Hobin, surrounded him.
With solemn expressions that said, “Even if you try to run, let’s see whether you can break through these people.”
“…
Ah.”
Only then did Kim Chunyong remember what he had briefly forgotten in the joy of having successfully finished the stage today.
“Wait. I’d like to make a deal. This is—”
“Hey now, hey now.”
“Sit, mate.”
The moment Kim Chunyong tried to spring up from his seat, four hands rushed in and made him sit back down.
“Hey now, Yongyong-hyung. Is it because you’ve been playing too many card games with Logan? Whenever something happens, you try to make a deal!”
“Right. You only use that when you’re in a more advantageous position, or when you have a sure way to break through.”
“…
Logan, where on earth did you learn the word ‘break through’!”
“Haha! It’s a word Chunyong-hyung uses often!”
For a very brief moment, the waiting room became a sea of laughter because of Logan’s impressively grown vocabulary, and after that, silence returned.
Kim Chunyong had to admit that the sweat running down the back of his neck was no longer sweat from the heat of the stage, but cold sweat.
“Chunyong. You know what we’re about to ask, don’t you?”
Among the members, Bang Yuchan, who along with Son Jaeha was wearing the most standard gakuran, approached Kim Chunyong with a grin as clear as the pronunciation of his name.
However, Kim Chunyong felt more pressure from his hearty older member than he ever had before.
“…
What happened between you and the kids who debuted under Queens?”
“Haa….”
Letting out a deep sigh, Kim Chunyong rubbed his face roughly with his hands and thought to himself.
…
He was completely screwed.