The Malicious Member Has Returned! Episode 203
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As if they had known ToZ would take first place.
[ToZ Repackage Album ‘Another Clover’ Offline Fan Sign Event: Gangnam Recordplay]
The offline fan sign event held right after ToZ’s first win had something extraordinary about it from the very start.
“Excuse me, maybe… how many copies did you buy?”
“Huh? So suddenly? …Do you know me?”
“Ah, no. I’m not a weird person. My bias is Jaeha. I thought you might be from Jaeha’s fan club….”
“Ah, ah! Yes, yes, that’s right. Go ahead.”
“It’s just, nothing else. It’s just that… me winning this feels a bit… strange! I couldn’t buy as many as the known cut-off, so I was wondering if the actual cut-off was different….”
“…Oh, I didn’t buy that many either. I bought just under ten copies.”
“Gasp, really!? Me too! I didn’t even buy ten…!”
“It’s just, I think they changed the selection method this time. …To one without lining up.”
First, Gangnam Recordplay, who had previously threatened Serenia fans with lawsuits and whatnot, had finally admitted to running a confirmed cut-off line, and introduced a classical yet certain lottery method for ToZ’s fan sign event.
“Ahem, hello. I am… Lee Dong-seok, the manager of Gangnam… Recordplay. Uh, the reason I’m appearing like this today is, uh. To celebrate the release of ToZ’s repackage album, and also. Uh… to put the previous, uh… unsavory incidents behind us, and make a fresh. Uh. Start! In that sense….”
“…Shin Wook. Edit this yourself later.”
“Huh? Hyung, if you edit this, people will say it’s manipulated again. It’s better to just put it out as is.”
“Argh, please! I even called a police officer over there, isn’t that enough?”
“What are you going to do if people say you just rented the uniform? Let’s just go.”
“Uh, and so. The fact that the horizons of Korean popular music have broadened like this, uh. Makes me very happy, and furthermore! The fact that Recordplay has influenced that, uh….”
The video uploaded to Recordplay’s Witube channel, where none other than an elderly manager stood beside a police officer with an awkward expression and drew lottery tickets one by one by hand, became an enormous topic.
[No way, they’re really drawing these by hand, they’re actually doing it]
[⎿Aren’t there like 200 winners this time? Is it okay to draw them one by one like that?]
[⎿Look at the video length… The manager says a word, draws, says a word, draws, and it took over 2 hours ;;]
[Live Serenia fan: No fucking way, so why didn’t they do that for us]
[⎿No no, look at the Gangnam Recordplay notice. They said Serenia’s last fansign was a public lottery? Looks like the manager stood in front of fans drawing for 2 hours again]
[⎿You mean I paid money to listen to the principal’s lecture for 2 hours? Please leave Serenia fans alone]
[The patrol officer oppa who appeared in the Recordplay lottery video is my type. Which precinct does he work at? Let me write a praise post on the board]
[⎿Stop talking nonsense and leave]
[Wow I bought 20 and got selected, crazy. 2:07:58 < the blurred Lee*hyun here, that’s me, it actually worked]
[⎿Someone said they bought exactly the safe zone cut-off and got selected… So it’s really random]
If forced to draw a comparison, was it like a lottery results announcement program that maintains steady ratings even though you know the results will eventually be posted online?
And so, it was certainly armed with buzzworthiness from the very beginning.
But that wasn’t the end.
[AG Trading Company @HARDWARE_store (video)
I had so many thoughts watching Jaeha cry with the members at the end after being so professional throughout the award speech. It must have been so hard since survival, and it finally feels like proper reward has found Jaeha…
I want to give this feeling as a gift many more times, not just once ㅠㅠ]
[Neulbom Mir @NBML__0412
Chunyong, you might not know, but I thought from the moment I first saw you that you would become like this. Because you are someone deserving of love.
I think I know why you didn’t cry when you got first place.
Because you’re that kind of person.
And I really like and support that kind of you.]
To think ToZ achieved their first win right before the fan sign event, as if timed perfectly.
In this kind of timing, anyone would think:
‘OMG, the fans who get to congratulate them first on the win are the ones who won the fansign, so…!’
Idols and fans are a partnership.
Moments where they promise to each other that they could achieve first place thanks to one another, that they’re happy about the win, and that they’ll work even harder going forward.
“Siu-hada nim. Did you write a post-it?”
“Ah, yes. But I’m not really hoping for a reply, I just wanted Siu to read it….”
“Hm? What in the world did you write—hak! It’s really long. Ah, you wrote a letter….”
“Yes. I was going to deliver the letter separately, but rather than talking with me, I was hoping you could read this during the fansign time.”
In this situation, what fan could hide their fluttering heart?
“Ah, I’m so jealous of the person going in first….”
“You’re a Yuchan fan, right? I saw you brought the Korea University varsity jacket again this time. And gifts are completely piled up.”
“If only I could go in a little earlier. I wanted to put puppy ears on Logan…!”
And so.
With all the Zenias gathered at the fan sign event venue excited to congratulate ToZ,
“…Those in line, I’ll hand these out in order! The contents are the same, so no need to push!”
There were those who made the first move in a different direction.
The very ones who made the Zenias prepare so, so much to say nice things today….
[To our always grateful partner Zenia, from ToZ♡ Thank you for becoming our fans! A 100-day gift given early♡]
Those very people.
“Wh-what? What are those shopping bags they’re handing out up front…?”
“It’s a reverse gift! Holy crap, what’s inside? This is from a department store!”
“Omg, amazing. Haven’t we been waiting here for 3 hours? When in the world did they prepare this?”
“Debut 100 days… There are still 3 days left. Oh my god.”
Sighs, exclamations, and excited voices poured out from everywhere.
Indeed, this was no ordinary fan sign event.
“Look at the packaging, so cute! This is a puppy, and is this a clover? But it has more leaves than a clover….”
“The repackage name is ‘Another Clover,’ right? So I think it’s seven leaves.”
“Doesn’t this mean Zenia? Crazy, my heart can’t take it. I just want to sit down and shed tears of extreme emotion….”
With fans bubbling over with desire to celebrate the first place win, who would have thought the idols would beat them to it, quickly handing out debut 100-day gifts?
To express gratitude to the fans before even being congratulated themselves.
“There are handwritten letter copies from the kids too… They must have been busy, when did they prepare this?”
“Ah, I should have bought better gifts. Ah, please!”
Thanks to all these circumstances, the hearts of the Zenias gathered at Gangnam Recordplay couldn’t help but swell to the brim.
Who am I?
A Zenia who won the first-ever Gangnam Recordplay manager-lottery fansign, received the debut 100-day reverse gift in advance, and could congratulate the first place win faster than any other fan.
“…We’ll begin after lining up! Non-winners, please move aside!”
And among those Zenias, there was someone who had done countless idol fan activities and attended fan signs constantly, but for whom this was the first time for ToZ.
“Um, Life on Mars nim? …Is that you?”
“Oh, yes. Are you perhaps a private account friend of mine? Who are you….”
Before the fan who had bought 3 additional albums every single day to see Jihwasung and finally won the lottery, the person who appeared fully equipped with a hat, sunglasses, and mask thrust out their phone.
[Bullasseoyobul @fireworksday
Hwaseong riding a dragon and leaving on a space travel♬]
And the SNS profile filling the screen.
The person who saw it up close—the eyes of “Life on Mars,” one of Jihwasung’s SNS name fans, grew wide.
“…You got selected!? Gasp, I heard you wouldn’t attend ToZ fan signs, so I, that is, I thought Fireworks…”
“Shh! J-just call me Yejin. Yes. Yejin is enough.”
Yejin—SNS nickname Bullasseoyobul—hurriedly covered Life on Mars’s mouth and whispered.
That’s what fan sign venues were like.
In the end, the main characters were the idols, but among fans who knew each other, whispers would circulate like “which named fan came,” or “that bastard who caused a scandal shamelessly went to see the kids’ faces.”
So Fireworksday, Yejin, who had received all kinds of abuse going between communities and SNS, knew well that she had to be careful.
“I bought 20 more copies intending to organize a bulk order for the kids, and luckily got selected. Ugh, I almost didn’t come. But I thought I’d regret not seeing Hwaseong and Chunyong together…!”
Many emotions were mixed in Yejin’s eyes, slightly revealed along with the sunglasses that had slid down to the tip of her nose.
She was someone who had thought only of Jihwasung, acted selfishly, and was duly hammered by the internet for it, but….
“…Not many people remember what you did on SNS now. You know that. It was during the survival show.”
Jihwasung, Kim Chunyong.
Debuting as ToZ, promoting with “Hide and Seek.”
Making a comeback with “W.o.W,” and taking first place.
“…Even so. It’s just, I’m ashamed. That I acted that way.”
And yet, there was definitely a part of her that had changed.
While Life on Mars looked at her with round eyes, Yejin bit her lips tightly and turned her head away to change the subject.
“Ah! What’s important is celebrating the kids’ win today, hearing about their year-end music festival preparations, things like that. Right?”
“Aah, yes. Right, you said you have an invitation to one of the year-end music festivals? Are you going to ask in advance what kind of stage they’ll do?”
“Yes. Hmm, they probably won’t tell me… but still, if I can get an answer and post it on SNS, I think others would like it too.”
“My, you’ve really changed a lot….”
This fan sign event was extraordinary in its start, the gifts poured out, and the lineup.
While new idols debuted every day like sand grains scattering in a desert, until ToZ became a giant awl popping out of it.
Ah, well.
“Please move one by one in order! If you go over time, we’ll move to the next person immediately!”
ToZ, Zenia, and those around them.
“Yuchan, hi. Long time no see, right? You don’t have to remember me. I just really wanted to congratulate you on this first place win….”
“Huh? Why wouldn’t I remember! Aren’t you the noona who said you were preparing to switch from piano to practical music? You must have done well on the CSAT! The practical exam is soon, right? Then I’ll have to cheer you on again….”
If they had gone that far, this much was only natural.
“Siu, you don’t have to say anything to me. Just, if you could read this….”
“Ah, it’s you. This… I can read it while talking. Noona… and the cat snacks you gave me before. I… finished them all.”
“R-really? You remember what I gave you?”
“Yes. That thing noona asked me to do back then… the challenge. I practiced that too….”
“Siuuu! Sh-show me! Please!”
And so, one by one, fans conveyed congratulations filled with love to ToZ members, and ToZ received, showed, and carried out as much of what they had prepared as possible.
At that moment when every instant was an exchange of affection.
“Hm…? Wh-what?”
“Ah, I think we’ll be collaborating with our Wiz sunbaenims for that. The members are decided too… Shall I tell you?”
“Wait! You, won’t you get scolded for saying that? Are you sure it’s okay!?”
“Haha, I might get scolded a bit. But well… it should be okay, right?”
Relying on that trust, there was someone who was also smoothly executing their own plan.
“Ah, the manager hyung said I can mention the collaboration with Wiz sunbaenims itself. It’s okay, noona.”
Someone who wanted to inform many people of this fact to gain buzz, while simultaneously satisfying fans’ desire to know.
“Chunyong…! I’m really moved. I-I’m not exaggerating when I say I came to see you and Hwaseong….”
“Noona, have you talked to Logan? If you hear him talk, I think you’d really like it!”
A fan sign event with an extraordinary start, extraordinary contents, and extraordinary attendees.
“…If you ask him, he might give you a more detailed answer, probably.”
Ah, then the words exchanged there had to be special too.
Kim Chunyong flashed his canines in a grin toward Yejin, who was on the verge of screaming in panic mixed with joy.
If he was going to be different from before and do something else, the preparation for it had to be perfect.
“Ah, noona. Please pass what you brought under this table. Then I’ll wear the hat.”
This extraordinary fan sign event was the splendid prologue to the project Kim Chunyong was steadily preparing for the year-end music festival.