The Malicious Member Has Returned! Episode 213
* * *
Once this week's final music show ended, the promotions for the repackage album 'W.o.W' that we had poured so much effort into would be over, too.
We had even taken first place on Music Music Days, and been nominated for first on other broadcasts.
Along with the thought of *how did we really do all this,* it was endlessly moving.
Personally, should I say the chorus of 'W.o.W' lingered in my head even when I slept?
It hadn't even been like this during Arrows.
"Hmm, guys. Want to do a fighting cheer together before we go up? As a sign that we'll work hard until the end...."
"Huh! That's totally great? C'mon, everyone gather up!"
Of course, back then, there hadn't been issues we needed to worry about like this, either.
I quietly placed my hand on Hwaseong's, and with a nonchalant expression, I quickly swept my eyes over the problematic members who had huddled together.
"Huh? Siu, your hand is cold. Is it because it's cold?"
"Uh... no. I'm, fine."
"Aigoo, look at Yuchan hyung's face... I told you to sleep early starting today. It's the last week of promotions—you can't let your skin get rough!"
"Ugh, alright, alright. Sorry, Hwaseong!"
Yuchan hyung, and Siu.
Their problem wasn't something that could be solved by pushing them somehow right now.
It was something that needed time, little by little, and something the two of them needed to realize.
Regarding this opinion of mine, one of the two people I could currently discuss this incident with had opposed it vehemently.
- X: Kim Chunyong, do you have any fucking time to spare?
- X: Do you even know how much you have to do going forward?
- X: You have to prepare for the year-end stage too! And win the Rookie Award while you're at it!
- X: You think it's over if you win the Rookie Award? The next goal is completely waiting for you too.
- X: Your mindset has gotten loose lately—
- X: Do you want to go back to when you got arrested? Huh?
- X: Aren't you thinking of your family?!
It was only natural, if one could call it that.
X was someone who had been saying things like, *Taking members differently to suit your own taste is also a method,* since
However, unexpectedly, the other guy's opinion was the same as mine.
[Bomb (Defused): Chunyong, Chunyong]
[Bomb (Defused): I felt something while practicing today]
[Bomb (Defused): I don't think this is something that can be solved immediately right now?]
[Bomb (Defused): I think you'll need to spend some time on it...]
[Bomb (Defused): Of course I'll help you until the end! We promised, and I have something to receive from you too ♬]
[Bomb (Defused): I had some fun today? Your advice was super helpful?]
I don't know how my advice to *keep your mouth shut as much as possible and fight with just your face* helped, but anyway.
The part about *it will take some time* was the same opinion as An Taei's.
I had a lot to do.
I had to properly prepare for the year-end stage, see if I could draw out 'the other guys' from An Taei, and furthermore, I had to work hard to restore the relationship between Yuchan hyung and Siu right now.
The reason I had to do the year-end stage properly was to win the Rookie Award and avoid having to return to the police station. The reason I wanted to draw out 'the other guys' was because I needed to know the truth about the accident that had befallen our family.
And Yuchan hyung and Siu.
This was atonement toward the members who had worked hard for me in the past.
In the end, everything converged into one.
Because it was something that happened because of me alone, I had to take responsibility.
There was much to do, but only one body.
So what should I do?
"Then one, two...."
The members' hands gathered in one place, and the hands that had swiftly gone down rose up at the same time.
I set a firm resolve on my face and raised my hand high.
"—T.O.J, fighting!"
...
I just need to set the board so I can handle everything at once, that's all.
I waved my hand in the air and took each of the cheering members into my eyes one by one.
Last time, I had been wallowing in self-pity and couldn't do a single thing properly, but this time was different.
I had to do everything that needed to be done, carefully and well.
"T.O.J, you're going on stage now! Please standby!"
"Yes!"
And, the silver lining in all this was....
- X: Look at you, so great, so great. You need to trip up big sometime to come to your senses.
- X: So what... what are you going to do?
- X: Have you ever seen kids with that kind of relationship? Have you ever solved one?
- X: You didn't have friends, you only went around drinking all the time.
- X: Wouldn't it be better to just leave them alone rather than you stepping in?
- Kim Chunyong: Who said I didn't have friends?
- X: ?
- Kim Chunyong: Do you drink alone?
The point was that I roughly knew how to coordinate this situation.
No matter how much I lived like trash after the accident, I had gone to every single schedule placed in front of me.
In the midst of that, I drank right after they ended, passed out, and worked the next day too.
Even when I was holed up in my room like a dead mouse with no schedules, if Manager hyung called, I sprang up.
I lived busier than I thought, indeed.
"...Let's go!"
I threw my arms over the members' shoulders and strode out of the waiting room.
No matter how densely woven or complicated the matters before me were, it didn't matter.
...
I can do it all.
* * *
As always, as the year-end stage season approached, fans' reactions split into every which way.
Those who liked it, those who hated it.
Those who were pleased, those who cursed the agency.
If we subdivided further from there, it roughly broke into three categories.
[Why watch year-end stages that only ever catch aerial cams and don't even properly show the kids' faces? Wouldn't it be better for them to hold their own concert then...]
[⎿Yeah, Sledix doesn't hold concerts and doesn't appear on many year-end stages either. Happy?]
[⎿Screw off, seriously.]
Starting from fans who were sick and tired of the countless year-end stage issues up until now....
[Neulbom Mireu @NBML__0412 Last week for KPCA Rookie Award text voting ♡ To gift Chunyong a shining Rookie Award, everyone please vote for #T.O.J one more time!]
[⎿You can only create one account per email, how do you vote one more time?]
[⎿Make lots of emails!]
[Always Yeonwoo @Yeonwoojung___ We can't leave out the award just because it's a ceremony we don't attend, right? Please don't forget to vote for Sledix's Bonsang ♬ Gifts will be sent through a lottery only to those who certify their votes!]
Fans who did their best to give their idol even one more award at the award ceremonies that naturally followed the year-end stages.
And....
"I think I voted here? No? Didn't I...? No, this is my first time doing this kind of thing!"
"Right, it would have been nice if you liked Leopold from the start like me."
"Right, even though I'm not interested in such conceptual kids."
"Ah, you really talk like a T.O.J fan!"
"Yeah, yeah. At first it was only Chunyong, but now thanks to Chunyong I like them all...."
Fans for whom this flow itself was new, so much so that it was overwhelming to keep up.
In other words, people like Kim Jieun, who—thanks to Kim Chunyong appearing like fate at the Hanmae Individual Practice Room—was living a proper idol fan life for the first time.
"You have to return to school next year, and you're quitting your part-time job... how did you get hooked on T.O.J, really."
"Tell me about it...."
They say late winds are scary for anything.
Having only dabbled when she should have been crazy about idols as a high schooler, the limits were lifted after she became an adult, and Kim Jieun couldn't come to her senses before the flood of stimuli poured before her.
What? Live broadcast application?
If I can go see Chunyong... should I go?
What? I have to pull an all-nighter?
Then... should I do just a little?
What? Attending a year-end stage is more fun than just a music show attendance?
Then... should I apply?
*Should I try just once* soon became *this is really fun, I have to come again,* and crossing the line next was a predetermined sequence.
And so, Kim Jieun, who had always prided herself on being an idol light fan, had become a heavy Jenia.
"Haha... I've gone crazy with love, really...."
A faint, hollow laugh escaped Kim Jieun's lips as she reflected on her recent trajectory.
Minji, a Leopold fan who had watched everything from beside her, clicked her tongue at her friend's typhoon-level late wind.
"Right, KPCA voting is tough, you know? Wiz is super hot this time too. I heard they have separate judge evaluations, so it's not like you win just by voting."
"Still! Hey, you know how good the kids' debut album quality was? This repack? But imagine if they couldn't win the Rookie Award because I didn't vote. How aggrieved would that be?"
"That's the point. Leopold couldn't win the Rookie Award at KPCA either. The judges there are damn picky. So I'm saying don't waste time on useless things."
"How is this useless...."
Minji, patting Jieun's back and sighing, carefully whispered into her ear the words she had been debating whether to say since earlier.
"Then is this something useful? You missed T.O.J's last music show broadcast today too...."
"Crazy! Why are you telling me that now!"
Anyway, that's how it was.
Just as idols were busy at year-end, fans were busy too.
Actually, perhaps fans might have been even busier.
For idols, these year-end stages were their job, and they earned money through these days, but....
Fans, without anyone paying them, poured out their affection hoping for someone's success and joy.
To others, that looked strange, and that boundless affection was peculiar too.
*Why do they pour out a heart that might never be rewarded like that?* they would say.
But what if someone was trying to repay them?
What if they wanted to carry out what they had to do and wanted to do, very appropriately mixed with repayment, in real time?
"Ah, s***. I missed Chunyong's last broadcast too because of this damn vote, agh!"
At a time when the music show had long since passed, when Kim Jieun was letting out a scream of agony loud enough to make the quiet Hanmae Individual Practice Room counter ring out.
Ding—
On her tablet that had been silent for a while, a notification arrived.
"Ah, I forgot to put this on silent again. If it's a useless ad notification I'll kill—huh?"
Kim Jieun's eyes, which had been tapping the tablet irritably, soon widened round.
"Hey, hey, Minji. Turn on your laptop. Quick, quick!"
"What, what is it?"
On Jieun's face as she urged her friend urgently, the despair from earlier was rising up strangely mixed with happiness.
"...T.O.J went live. With Wiz this time, commemorating the year-end collab stage practice!"
Of course, at times like these, fans feel that their hardships are being rewarded.
They come to think that perhaps the emotions exchanged between idol and fan might really be mutual.
Even if it's not real, at least for that moment.
- "...Wow! So many of you have joined! Hello Jenia, hello! It's been a while since the live, right? I missed you! It's Chunyong!"
And, for someone, it was real.
Someone who had a lot to do, was busy, and out of it, but thought they must repay this love at least this time.
- "Today I asked Jaeha hyung, so I'm doing a live with the Wiz members. Haha, you were probably surprised...."
- "...Jenia, hello. This is Wiz!"
Moreover, thinking it would be nice to handle work alongside it as well.