The Malicious Member Is Back! Chapter 180
* * *
Contrary to the alarm that had gone off—“An old fogey is about to arrive and ruin the mood on set”—the atmosphere on set revived as soon as Sin Giho exchanged a few brief words with the members and left.
Especially for the person who had been interested in that conversation.
“What on earth did you say this time to make that man leave so obediently? Huh?”
“Haha, it really wasn’t anything much…”
“That’s what you said during the repackage album meeting too! You liar!”
“Ah, Director. I’m getting my makeup fixed. Please, go…!”
“Oh my? Oh my? Look at these kids. Hey, let go. Let go! Have you gotten this comfortable with me? Hey!”
No sooner had Kim Chunyong finished his first shoot than Mun Yunha came over and started grilling him, only to be dragged away by her own team members in a scene that felt like déjà vu.
And it went without saying that a trace of relief appeared on Kim Chunyong’s sharp face as he watched her go with a sour look.
A frank conversation with an aesthetics maniac right after an old fogey?
Ah, that was a bit much.
Kim Chunyong lightly clicked his tongue and slowly walked toward the makeup staff waiting for him, his eyes shifting.
‘…
Well, anyway. He didn’t look angry.’
Kim Chunyong knew what expression Sin Giho made when he was truly furious, and how he acted.
There was no need to go all the way back to when he had lived as Lex-trash. It was enough to remember how he had looked when Logan’s withdrawal had been canceled.
“What kind of trainee are you, and what are you doing here?”
“Uh, well, I…”
“First, you’d better return to the waiting room immediately. …As for what you’ve done, I’ll verify it slowly.”
He had glared as if he were about to kill someone and made a threatening remark along the lines of, “I’ll find out who you are later.”
A person capable of showing that side had quietly left the set this time, so to some extent, that counted as a success.
“Chunyong, please close your eyes for a moment. We’re going a little heavier with the makeup this time…”
“Ah, yes.”
“Maybe because your features are sharp? I think a stronger look definitely suits you better. You’re standing in the center quite a lot this time too, right? I’ll have to pay attention…”
“Haha, thank you. …Really.”
Following the staff member’s words, Kim Chunyong lightly closed his eyes and let out a soft hum as he felt the brush tickling his cheek.
Only now did it feel real that things were finally moving properly.
‘Of course, Director Sin dislikes me… and he’s not the type to make a deal that loses him money. No matter how much I blabbed about indicators or whatever, he’ll probably try to verify things in his own way.’
For ToZ, even that alone was enough for now.
ToZ had certainly debuted on the rise, carrying the tremendous advantage of being from a survival show, but apart from that, they had not had many opportunities to receive that kind of “verification.”
“Mm, it would be nice if ToZ could shoot an ad or something…”
“Huh? An ad?”
“Yes, well. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a commercial. There are print ads, and these days there are also things released only on WeTube without being broadcast. But… ah, I’ll tell you once the situation is sorted out.”
No matter how hard they were trying, AG’s idol management was still on the inexperienced side.
“Yes? Ah, then that meeting has been canceled… Yes, I understand. Yes.”
“Hobin hyung, what was that call just now?”
“Ah, it’s… nothing. It was only in the coordination stage to begin with. Yes. …
Let’s go. Don’t worry too much about it, Chunyong.”
They needed to strike a reasonable compromise and go in right away, but more often than not, the meeting itself would be canceled after they were lowballed under the guise of “coordination.”
Manager Yu Hobin kept quiet about those matters, so the members didn’t know, but there was no way Kim Chunyong wouldn’t.
- “POP your boring everyday! Popping Zero!”
Ah, back with Arrows, they had already shot a beverage ad around this time.
Of course, behind that had been Sin Giho’s efforts to somehow boost the group Liu Wei was in before he went to China.
‘Whether mentioning indicators worked, or whether the coffee worked, good is good. And if he gets us a real ad while he’s at it, that’s even better.’
Anyway, that was how it was.
“Um, noona. Can I open my eyes now?”
“Ah, yes. We’re almost done anyway. Once Siu’s shoot is over, please wait next to him again.”
“Yes.”
After a brief exchange with the staff member, Kim Chunyong slowly swept his eyes over the bustling, heated set.
The materials were almost all ready now.
“Ah, Logan! I can’t access the cloud for this. Why won’t it download? Help me for a second.”
“What? Huh, Hwaseong. Obviously it’s because the download period is over… See? I told you to move it over quickly!”
“What, then I can’t listen to the song? Ack! Send me the file separately, then!”
“Ugh, Hwaseong. Come here. For now, listen with my headset. You’ll be able to stream it once the song is released anyway, but… ah, since I sang everything from the demo to the revised version, I’m really attached to this version.”
A song that had a similar nuance to their debut title track, “Hide-and-Seek,” while already having proven its commercial appeal.
“Sweetheart. Just stay still. Lower your eyes a little. That’s it. Let it show that you’re in a bad mood. Just really make it obvious that you’re uncomfortable with the current situation.”
“For the jacket pho, tos… then, um, shouldn’t I not…?”
“Who says? You can! Siu, being sensitive is your charm. Yes. Make sure the mole under your eye shows well, and glare at the camera a little. What, has anything been annoying you lately?”
“Uh, no, thing…”
“Ha, then… has your older brother ever annoyed you? Remember that moment. What did you want to do then?”
“……”
“…
That’s it! Hey, lighting. Make it harsher!”
And the concept the aesthetics maniac was once again pouring his life into directing, along with the image results supporting it.
The repackage album promotion that would begin tomorrow, the event targeting Xenia, and all the other minor things besides.
‘…
Now we just have to do well.’
When Kim Chunyong told Sin Giho, “Our team will do well,” it wasn’t something he said only to draw his attention in that moment.
ToZ would do well.
No, they had to do well.
Not merely fairly well, but enough to become synonymous with “K-pop idol” itself.
That was the reason Kim Chunyong had returned like this, and his one and only goal.
So, while Kim Chunyong stood there lost in thoughts about the approaching repackage album and looked over the set—
“Chunyong, are you done with makeup?”
“…
Ah. Jaeha hyung.”
Wearing an outfit similar to Kim Chunyong’s, and radiating an even more sparkling face and fairy-tale-like aura than usual, Son Jaeha approached him with a gentle voice.
The two casually put their arms around each other’s shoulders and continued talking in low voices as they looked at the other members chattering away and Jang Siu in the middle of his shoot.
“Then you’re done filming now, hyung?”
“Mm-hm. So I went to talk briefly with Hobin hyung about the schedule after this.”
“Ah, what did he say?”
“It was mostly about the repackage album schedule… but there were some other things too.”
After briefly cutting himself off, Son Jaeha opened his mouth again with a slightly expectant expression.
“…
He said we should slowly start preparing for the year-end stages and awards ceremony stages. Choose special stage songs, contact other groups, things like that.”
“Ah.”
Hearing those words, Kim Chunyong reflexively placed his hand over his pocket and let out a short exclamation.
Right.
Everything was ultimately for one goal.
“Year-end stages and awards ceremonies. …
Yes. That’s right.”
Winning first place even once through the repackage album, and making various deals with Sin Giho, whom he had no real desire to stay close to, in order to smooth out their relationship—
In the end, all of it was to fulfill the contract terms in the “Goal” section of the app with its childish UI.
Feeling the flat shape of his phone beneath his pocket for a moment, Kim Chunyong slowly blinked and chose his words.
“…
If we get first place even once with this repackage album, our chances of winning Rookie of the Year will go up too, right?”
“Hm? First place? Uh… I guess they would, but. Pfft, first place? I’ve never even imagined that. It’s difficult.”
“Come on. Why wouldn’t you even imagine it?”
Kim Chunyong tightened the arm he had around Son Jaeha’s shoulders, his sharp eyes flashing brighter as he looked out over the set.
“…
It won’t be imagination. It’ll become real.”
He murmured it like a promise to himself, while Son Jaeha would simply brush it off as, “This kid is saying something full of confidence again.”
* * *
The idol scene in the latter half of the year was already so heated it was about to explode.
There were more than a few artists making their comebacks in droves with the thought, “We have to avoid that period,” ahead of the year-end music stages, and major idol groups were mixed in among them too.
Just looking at this year’s lineup, it was incredibly formidable.
First, there was Serenia, who had been called Ju Cheolyeong’s masterpiece before ToZ.
- Long sea, Another time
The bitterly melted Mint
This sea is your teacup
I know I know I know
I’ve never been curious
I’ve never tried to know
Returning with their unique freshness mixed with a slight eeriness, they spectacularly shattered the superstition that “girl idols who return in the second half of the year don’t do well.”
They set a new first-week sales record for female idols and hit number one on every music site immediately upon release.
Just from that, it seemed like one digital music award at the year-end ceremonies was already in the bag, but no one could say that carelessly.
Ah, Serenia was only the beginning.
- “Ah, today, we’re told a very special person is making a comeback on our MusicMusicDays!”
- “Yes! You have no idea how much I love this person. The very symbol of solo idols! The oppa of noonas, the dongsaeng of younger fans!”
- “Would you believe me if I said I replayed the song ten times as soon as it came out?”
- “Oh my, shall we meet the star first? Yes, let us introduce him! Returning as the most charming man of the night, it’s senior Choe Gaon!”
- “Haha, hello! I’m Gaon! I’m back with my single, ‘Night Crawler’!”
A powerhouse in physical sales regardless of timing, AG’s new pillar after Min Siyeong, the pride of a company famous for solo singers: Choe Gaon.
Making his comeback at a time that did not overlap too much with ToZ’s promotions, Choe Gaon engaged in a bloody back-and-forth stage showdown with Serenia, alternately taking first place.
Yesterday you take it, today I take it.
Tomorrow’s? Tomorrow’s decided by rock-paper-scissors.
Preferably in a way that lets me win, though.
That alone was enough to make ordinary idols feel like their backs were being crushed, but the world was not so easy.
If it was going to explode, it had to explode all at once.
- “Really, there’s so much to listen to these days! I have to listen to Serenia’s song, I have to listen to Gaon’s song…”
- “Oh! You’re listening to the repackage title track from Wiz too, one of the hottest rookies these days, right?”
- “Of course! But still, there’s one song I’ve been listening to the most lately. And today is exactly! The first promotion day for that song!”
- “Ah, I think I know who it is. Could it be that team called the idols’ idol?”
- “Yes! Today, Sledix will reveal their first stage here on MusicMusicDays! Viewers, please stay tuned until the very end!”
Wiz, the super rookie idol group that had gained extraordinary fandom firepower by fighting tooth and nail with Xenia.
And on top of that, Sledix, who made everyone else step aside the moment they appeared.
“Ugh, those kinds of introduction lines are embarrassing no matter how many years I’ve been doing this…”
At the introduction flowing from the waiting room screen, Juyeong of Sledix, one of the people in question, rubbed his arms as he expressed his embarrassment.
However, the person sitting beside him did not so much as twitch an eyebrow.
A crazed workaholic, the leader of top-tier boy idols.
Jeong Yeonu, someone who could rightly be called the star at the center of those flashy introductions on TV.
“Hyung, don’t you think so? I seriously hate doing that kind of thing. Even if someone told me to be an MC, I don’t think I’d do it.”
“Juyeong, you should say it properly. It’s not that you don’t want to do it or that you won’t. You can’t.”
“Ah, Yeonu hyung!”
At the venomous words pouring down on him, Juyeong raised his voice with a whine.
“Why does that matter, huh? As long as we do well on stage! As long as we get first place!”
“Haha, that’s your problem. It’s not like you’ve got first place reserved somewhere…”
“Don’t say stuff like that, hyung. Then should we pretend to be humble now of all times? Once we go on stage, of course we’re going to take first place. I feel bad for the ones after us.”
“Well…”
Jeong Yeonu smiled lightly at Juyeong’s confident words, glanced once at his phone, and briefly finished speaking.
“…
You never know.”
In Jeong Yeonu’s opinion, the idol industry in the latter half of the year, which had already been set to become a bloodbath…
[ToZ - 1st mini album ‘Six-leaf Clover’ repackage album ‘Another Clover’ promo]
…was about to become even more interesting.