The Malicious Member Has Returned! Chapter 223* * *Immediately after the rehearsal for ‘W.
o.
W’ had completely ended.<'Six
-Leaf Clover' - Hide&Seek>Along with stylish italic letters, a brown map tinged with pink unfolded lengthwise across the Sound Stage Live Hall LED, and T.O.J’s main stage promptly began.
- On such a dazzling day, one step closer to finding you
Hi, Hi. But Hide tightly
Unlike the rehearsal, where many processes had been simplified solely to test cameras, audio, and lighting, this time full stage effects were thrown into the mix.
As the main stage began, a frenzied pandemonium unfolded, as if to prove that “this is what the audience at an end-of-year stage looks like.”
“Argh, crazy! It’s hot!”
“What, the stage fire effects reach all the way here…! Ah, there wasn’t anything like this earlier?”
“Fans, please step back further! Don’t push forward anymore!”
Pushing forward to see their singer even a little more, while security guards pushed them back behind the fence with expressions that looked like death.
“Cannon in row 4. Cannon in row 4. We will collect the memory cards.”
“Hey, dammit. Security. Get down…!”
“Come out! I said come out!”
“Crazy, that bastard’s voice is probably louder than our Hwasung’s!”
On top of that, like the singers performing ‘Hide & Seek’ up front, there were fans evading security to hide, and security guards sweating bullets trying to catch such elusive cannons.
But that wasn’t all.
Idol communities and SNS were being flooded with posts from Zenias enjoying the year-end stage in their own ways.
[AG Mulsan Company @HARDWARE_store (photo)(photo)
Jehwa, your face really is a national treasure, the future, and the present.
Who’s the idol leaving a legendary stage even on a BNS camera trembling without a gimbal?
“T.O.J Son Jehwa.”
#SonJehwa #SoundStageTheFinal]
[SiuHada @singsingull_ll11 (photo)(photo)
Our Siu said he showed new pair choreography with Yuchan hyung starting from rehearsal and finally ㅠ
Please look at Siu high-fiving hyung and being shy….]
[BelieveInBangYuchanAndGoToCollege @BangbangYourchan
Yuchan-Siu, what? What are those two? What wind blew today?
They even wore matching berets just the two of them, and even did new pair choreography… I’m struggling… ]
[What the fuck, T.O.J is already out? Damn, I postponed my year-end plans to see them, fuck, should I just go out now]
[⎿They said there’s a collaboration stage with Wiz later too]
[⎿Okay. Plans? Those don’t exist for me. I’ll live as a forever alone who only watches T.O.J forever, yes yes]
At the emotion of having watched idols since the survival show not only debut safely but stand on an end-of-year stage, the Zenias’ rambling had an especially more sentimental side today.
This was true for the Zenias watching the year-end stage sitting in their living rooms, and the same for the Zenias meeting T.O.J in person, sweating profusely at the fence in front of the thrust stage.
[Hwasung’s blond hair shines like the sun today too… I can’t tell if it’s day or night in the Sound Stage Live Hall… ]
[⎿It’s indoors!]
[Today Logan held Chunyong’s hand? They changed the choreography again? The kids really decided to go all out for the year-end stage]
[⎿Wow Kim Chunyong acts so well I thought he really fell over]
“Chunyong!”
“What do I do, I really want to sew Yuchan’s beret onto his head… *gasp*, h-he just high-fived Siu again. Huh?”
A drop of tears on a face handsome as usual. Two drops of tears at the pair choreography with a member hyung.
They did so even without knowing the moving story of Bang Yuchan and Jang Siu’s reconciliation epic, and of Kim Chunyong who had worked himself to death in the midst of that, and of the other members taking care of Kim Chunyong who had been sick with a severe cold.
No, it was precisely because they didn’t know.
In the end, the place where fans see idols the most is the stage.
If a stage is good, they are moved, and they evaluate the idol by that stage.
Fans must not know about the troubles they have had.
Because it causes needless worry.
Fans also must not know which member was sick.
Because this too causes worry.
If they learn of that fact, too many problems spread outward.
How the agency side manages the team, what the leader does, why they don’t take care of sick members, and so on.
This was a natural reaction that the fans who cherished my idol the most could show, and the staff had no complaints either.
However, Kim Chunyong, who was currently sweating profusely on stage performing the dance break for ‘Hide & Seek’, knew exactly how far the aftereffects spread.
Because he had seen the members suffer because of him.
“Leave! Leave the group!”
“…We’ll step back! Security!”
“Fuck, what is Son Jehwa doing? You should tell the agency to kick that bastard out! Is it okay as long as you’re popular? What about the other members!”
“…….”
“How long does Hwasung have to clean up after Rex Trash!”
During the Rex Trash days, immediately after the dating rumors between Kim Chunyong and Billy broke out.
The clarification live regarding the dating rumors had been done not by Kim Chunyong himself, but by Ji Hwasung, who was quick-witted and got along closely with fans.
Because Kim Chunyong, who was greatly emotionally agitated, might not know what to say during an Outgram live.
“Hi, hi! Bous, have you been well? Ah, it’s really been a while. We’re coming back with a mini soon, right? So I turned on the live while I was at it! Have you eaten? Has everyone eaten?”
Ji Hwasung, who communicated naturally with fans as if doing his personal live, very briefly said, “That Rex hyung thing is completely a rumor,” and despite passing over it as if brushing past, the live chat at the time had exploded enormously.
Why did Ji Hwasung, not the person himself, have to say this?
Why was the person in question cooped up in a corner doing nothing?
Why did the leader dump this responsibility on a younger member?
Though Kim Chunyong was the one at fault, the stones were not thrown entirely at Kim Chunyong.
Toward the company staff, toward Son Jehwa, toward Ji Hwasung.
Ah, well.
So, it’s better to keep certain facts completely hidden from fans.
- Hi, Hi. Hide and Seek
See, See. I only see you in my eyes
Hi, How was your day?
At the end of this curiosity…
I found you, I saw you!
“T.O.J! T.O.J!”
Pop, confetti burst out, the main stage for ‘Hide & Seek’ ended, and darkness temporarily fell on stage for the immediately following performance of ‘W.
o.
W’.
‘…Phew.’
Feeling the VCR light subtly shining from behind, Kim Chunyong lightly touched his burning forehead.
Only today was Bang Yuchan and Jang Siu’s matter somehow concluded.
The collaboration stage with Wiz, coexisting with the pressure of performing alongside a rival group, would require no more worry once today passed.
If he met An Taei and An Taei’s friend after all these stages ended, he might be able to obtain even small hints about “the other guys.”
That’s right.
After today, many things would change.
‘…This much heat is nothing.’
Kim Chunyong repeated to himself several times.
He had taken painkillers late because he had gotten hair and makeup first earlier, so the medicine was just slow to take effect—this was really nothing.
When he thought of the other members doing their best for Arrows while taking undeserved hate because of him, he could endure this much.
“…….”
Readjusting his posture to stand by for ‘W.
o.
W’, Kim Chunyong properly put strength into his body that was threatening to sway slightly.
The day was not over yet.
The stage was not over yet.
Until he properly finished everything, Kim Chunyong must never fall.
And so, when the mechanic-style ‘W.
o.
W’ appeared on the LED, replacing the italicized ‘Hide & Seek’.
‘…Ugh!’
As Kim Chunyong’s body swayed once again from dizziness….
“Shhh, Chunyong hyung. You have to be careful….”
Logan, who was standing right behind him, caught him.
“…….”
Kim Chunyong looked at the guy with a dumb expression, at his beaming smile but eyes brimming with worry.
Come to think of it, unlike the family and the other Arrows members that Kim Chunyong had to focus on atoning to, Logan occupied a distinctly unique position in Kim Chunyong’s current life.
A person who had achieved his dream in a different direction because of the snowball Kim Chunyong had rolled.
Though he had no significant contact with Kim Chunyong before, this time he was someone who had to move forward together as a member of the same group.
Logan’s invisible tail, which usually spun busily, felt like it was wagging more calmly than usual today.
♬♩♬♪♩♪…
Matching the slowly flowing intro of ‘W.
o.
W’, matching steps with Kim Chunyong, Logan muttered in mouth shapes.
‘Let’s cheer up together, okay?’
And of all times, what was it that smiled brightly then.
Kim Chunyong had felt this way before, even on that day when they had ended up merely a candidate for first place on BNS Sound Stage.
It wasn’t just focusing solely on atonement….
A feeling of wanting to move forward beyond that.
Many things had changed.
From now on, there might be things that couldn’t be solved with the skill X had given and the information Kim Chunyong knew.
Even the immediate trouble between Bang Yuchan and Jang Siu had been insufficient to solve with what Kim Chunyong knew.
Such things. Such various thoughts.
“…….”
Kim Chunyong lightly rubbed the arm that Logan had grabbed and released, then gritted his teeth.
In his head, the first time he heard ‘W.
o.
W’ when it was still a demo, the conversation he had shared with Logan was passing by.
“This is good. But the title is W.O.W? Did you name it like this on purpose?”
“Oh, this! If I shorten the title I thought of, it becomes this, and the tentative title for the repackage album was also ‘W.
o.
W.’ Isn’t it fascinating?”
“Ah, I see. Then… Walk on Walk? So you shortened this.”
“Yes, yes. That’s part of it, but I also thought of something else… Ah, should I tell only Chunyong hyung? I’m a bit embarrassed!”
“Sigh, I don’t particularly want to know this kind of secret.”
“No, no. Listen. I’ve wanted to tell someone too.”
“Goodness….”
- Somewhere, where you choose
I already know that it will be good enough
Somewhere, where you talk
The intro starting from Son Jehwa’s falsetto was already underway.
Kim Chunyong’s body, hot with fever, very naturally performed the choreography that had already become second nature, and no one could sense anything strange.
Only his own heart was beating excessively.
- Oh, Oh, Oh, Walk on, Walk on!
Next episode too
Oh, Oh, Oh, Walk on, Walk on!
Perfectly until the epilogue
The song arranged to present two song stages consecutively quickly displayed its highlight, and T.O.J’s movements changed drastically to match.
“Haah….”
The light slowly returned to Kim Chunyong’s two hazy eyes.
The medicine he took late was finally taking effect.
After this highlight came the dance break where Kim Chunyong, a dance member, stood in the center.
Once again, the conversation with Logan flashed through Kim Chunyong’s head.
In this life, those muttered words of the genius big dog who had newly intervened in Kim Chunyong’s path.
“It’s Walk on Wonder. Cool, right?”
“…What is that? Sorry, but I always slept during English class.”
“Chunyong hyung! How can you not know this? No, that’s too much….”
“Ah, wait. I’ll run it through a translator. Why are you sulking over something like that….”
Kim Chunyong exactly recalled the sentence that had appeared on the translator then.
Walking on wonder.
Kim Chunyong had been terrified to death that this place of atonement might collapse, and yet, walking on wonder?
Moreover, the concept of the repackage album that Mun Yunha had pushed so hard was “wandering.”
How do you walk on wonder while wandering?
It wasn’t even funny.
But still….
♪♩♬♩♪♬―
Stepping as if flying on stage, doing large and refreshing arm movements.
While controlling the tempo so it wasn’t too excessive, and holding that center.
Using the joints of his whole body flexibly, yet not forgetting the beat, stopping his body at the exact moment.
Grabbing his steaming hot head, Kim Chunyong tossed his dark wine-colored hair as if nothing was wrong, and looked just like….
He looked like such a person.
- Oh, Oh, Oh, Walk on, Walk on!
Nexus that will continue until the end
Next, Next, Walk on, Walk on!
Bang Yuchan’s perfect high note hit the ceiling of the BNS Live Hall, and flames that made Zenias scream with each burst decorated the front of the stage once more.
“Chunyong!!”
Into Kim Chunyong’s vision, which had become clearer rather than worse after an intense dance break, came Kim Jieun, the part-timer at Hanmaeum Private Practice Room, who had used all her might to finally attend the year-end stage.
The first fan Kim Chunyong had met since coming back like this.
And reflected in those eyes, that he was an idol who had to walk on wonder even while wandering to atone.
“…Haha.”
Kim Chunyong smiled so widely that his canine showed without him realizing, drew a V with his fingers toward that Kim Jieun, and darkness fell on the stage again.
Now certain events, stages, and the resolutions of relationships had concluded.
The things to be concluded were also soon.