The Toxic Member Has Returned! Chapter 224
* * *
The stage for BNS Sound Stage: The Final, which had begun around eight in the evening, grew richer and more heated as time went on.
Year-end stages usually had more care poured into them the later they were in the lineup, and as time passed, the staff and singers’ nerves loosened, causing small mistakes to pop up here and there.
[ㅇㅇ @dhsmfwjsurehsrktm
Did the outdoor hall camera director seriously just fall over? I thought the TV shelf in my house had collapsed]
[WalkingAllTheWayToShowbiz @Workingcl_ass
Choi Gaon is seriously a pro, how did he see that and not laugh and just keep singing… If it were me, the moment the camera director flung the gimbal, I would’ve caused an even bigger broadcast accident]
Among them, there were roughly three things that had driven the most buzz on communities and social media in real time so far.
One was the broadcast accident during Choi Gaon’s stage caused by the outdoor hall camera director earlier, and the next was…
- “The mermaids who won three crowns at this year’s BNS Sound Stage! Serenia’s special stage is being prepared on the rooftop! The rooftop of BNS headquarters!”
- “Yes, but before that, the lovely girls LilyJ have prepared a special stage just for Sound Stage: The Final, so let’s meet them right away!”
The difference between the stages of Serenia and LilyJ, both digital chart powerhouses.
This was one of the topics that always took up a large share of the boards whenever year-end stage season came around.
One of the two groups tied together as rivals had a stage with lower quality than the other?
It was the perfect structure to give one fandom a sense of victory, and to feed the other side a grudge.
Sure enough.
Thanks to the coincidence of their concepts and comeback periods overlapping again, the mutual rage between the two fandoms had reached its peak. The moment Serenia’s stage ended, posts tagged “Serenia” and “LilyJ” began flooding the boards explosively.
Normally, it never would have happened.
But unfortunately, the overall completeness of Serenia’s stage in this Sound Stage: The Final had been far too lacking.
[Wow, what is LilyJ? Yoon Young’s suit is actually insane. Is this a year-end stage? Is this LilyJ?]
[⎿Yoon Young Hyeyoung < these two were seriously no joke, how did they think to show both a prince and a princess within one group]
[So Serenia showed up as the Little Mermaid again, but LilyJ did both prince and princess and pulled a “we don’t need a prince,” right? Isn’t this basically throwing down the glove?]
[⎿It is a glove, but lolololol I think we have to say Serenia lost this one…]
[Again, again, again, LilyJ fans have nothing to brag about so they’re dragging our kids into it; what are you going to do when you have so little confidence in your own idols? Treat your own unnies well, kids, we’re perfectly happy among ourselves]
[⎿Wipe your tears and be honest, you cried watching your stage, didn’t you?]
[⎿Fuck off]
[No but the kids’ outfits are seriously… I just saw the photos the stylist uploaded and it’s just showing off that they got luxury sponsorships, I don’t feel any agony or consideration in it at all;; With clothes like that, there’s no way the kids could dance properly…]
[⎿Ah seriously I hate seeing that bastard tie their hair up every day too, they need to shave it all off and peel off their scalp]
[They dressed the kids like that on such a cold day and made them perform on a rooftop? Fuck, of course they couldn’t dance properly because of the wind lol ;; They bragged like hell about using helicopters for lighting and whatever, but they can’t even do the most important thing and protect the artists at all]
[I’m a Serenia fan and I’m seriously getting hit with reality… I just mindlessly chanted that it was fine as long as our kids were happy, but were those outfits really the best they could do? Clothes they can’t even dance properly in? On top of that, Siyeon’s tone clash was so bad I almost cried watching it]
[⎿Take this post down. Don’t you know posts like this just make trolls more excited? Go run your negative posting on your secret SNS account]
[⎿We’ve seen Serenia fans’ tearful flailing, and it looks like the girl group getting the spotlight at this year’s year-end stages is LilyJ]
Serenia’s fandom, which usually held the upper hand over LilyJ’s fandom in both firepower and fandom size, was collectively devastated by Serenia’s stage ending so modestly because of those awful outfits. LilyJ’s fans, on the other hand, were busy mocking them.
This had happened before too, and back then, it had all died down not long afterward thanks to “Entergate,” the leading tabloid of the Korean entertainment industry, breaking the news that LilyJ’s Billy and Sledix’s Joo Young were dating, but…
[Billy’s stage was good today too… Was she always the type to dance that powerfully? I thought she was more of a fluttery member]
[⎿I don’t know what change of heart she had, but she chopped her hair into a bob too, seriously ㄷㄷ Did she get dumped or something]
Thanks to the snowball Kim Chunyong had started rolling by returning, no one knew yet how that matter would turn out.
But if only those two fandoms were fighting, biting, and tearing at each other like this, then it couldn’t be called a year-end stage.
Because year-end stages were all about, “Ah, we were fighting to the death in this room, but in the room next door, people were lying down together watching soccer.”
- “Yes, Gaon’s surprise carol stage has unfolded again this year! Thinking of it as a prelude to the main stage coming up next makes it truly wonderful. Gaon, before you go to perform your main stage, could you give us a little hint about the special stage coming up next?”
- “Oh, of course! Haha, it was this summer that I stood here as an MC, wasn’t it? A huge rookie group that brings back those memories!”
- “Oh my, TioJ?”
- “…A group that debuted around the same time and showed off the charm of cold men!”
- “Aah, Wiz!”
- “…will be performing together!”
- “Aah! I’m looking forward to it so much! But don’t tease us any more, Gaon!”
- “Haha, it’s written like this on the cue sheet…!”
In this BNS Sound Stage: The Final, the ones responsible for the second topic of buzz, along with a kind of “harmony” comparable to soccer in the next room, were TioJ and Wiz, who, like Serenia and LilyJ, were tied together as rivals and kept their fans’ nerves taut.
A positive response had been predicted to some extent thanks to the previous live broadcast, the spoilers from the TioJ members, and the fairly decent-looking relationship between the two groups, but…
[??
Wow, they’re doing it like this]
[⎿Please use the subject when year-end stages are going on]
[⎿If you watch it yourself, this is the only reaction you can have. Watch it yourself]
It exceeded expectations.
[This song is good, what is it? Is it a TioJ B-side?]
[⎿Yeah, I think it’s Borderline, but it’s a bit different]
[⎿Hey hey, the lyrics and main melody are that, but the bass is a B-side from Wiz’s debut album, holy shit, they mixed them]
[This side is Monochrome… But the bass is a B-side from TioJ’s debut album again]
[⎿Fucking sweet. This is what a year-end collaboration stage is]
On the collaboration stage, TioJ and Wiz each performed choreography from opposite sides to remixes of their songs, and at the end, they presented the same song as if in a battle structure.
- Woah, Woah, Our Borderline
Beyond the Borderline
The universe beyond, the sea, the cliff’s edge too
If I’m with you
If, in the end, we’re together
The side that emphasized TioJ’s relative casualness included Kim Chunyong, Jang Siwoo, and Bang Yuchan. And Han Danwoo, Park Hawon, and An Taei.
- Welcome to The
Deep, Deep, Deep
inside of My MONOCHROME
Deep, Deep, Deep
inside of Your MONOCHROME
And the side that emphasized Wiz’s cold, sophisticated feeling included Son Jaeha, Logan, and Ji Hwasung. And Jo Eun, Jayden, and Lee Seonho.
But the important thing was not how the two teams’ matchups were arranged.
It was what song they would perform last, alternating their choreography as if facing off.
“Mm, so the stage song has already been decided, then? I thought TioJ and Wiz would all discuss it together and choose…”
“Yes, since the goal is to drive buzz, after all. For now, we’ll include one B-side from each of the two groups, and for the finale, I think we’ll use this song. CEO Do strongly recommended it, saying it’s extremely popular on short-form platforms these days.”
“…Th-this song? Huh?”
“Huh, Jaeha hyung. What’s wrong?”
“Ah, Hwasung. This, the final song for our collaboration stage…”
Because that song, of all things, was…
“…This is the song Chunyong performed for the mentor evaluation stage on
“What? No, back then that song wasn’t even famous!”
“It must have gone viral in the meantime. Mm, if that’s the case, Chunyong is going to work everyone to death. I don’t know if that team can handle it…”
“Ugh, we can’t be compared unfavorably either, so we’ll have to work hard.”
It was that pop song, which Kim Chunyong had ambitiously chosen for his first
- I love your black shirt
Oh, A black shirt
There was a reason Kim Chunyong had not worried about the collaboration “stage” even amid the trouble between the members, amid the mountain of problems, and even while suffering from a body ache and cold.
- When you smile
I feel something, you know
That’s what you think, baby
He already had experience putting on an incredible stage with this song before, and even more than that, as soon as he returned with the intention of getting on broadcast with it, he had practiced to death.
- Don’t say anything, baby
We can Stay, Sleep, Dream
Together
So how could he possibly ruin the stage?
- Together.
It was the moment Kim Chunyong, for the first time in quite a while, was able to make proper use of the advantage of having returned to the past.
Thanks to that, while one pair of rival groups was fighting until their heads cracked open, this side burst open in a different direction.
[TeodorTAEiii @TeodorTAEiii
(photo) (photo)
It’s my first time seeing Taei smile like this… What have I been fighting alone for all this time]
[⎿Wow, holy shit, this person shadowboxed like crazy against KCY and finally came back]
[It’sOnFireFire @fireworksday
(photo) (photo)
I was a little sad that Chunyong and Hwasung weren’t in the same group, but they’re fooling around like crazy throughout the VCR. Mm-hmm, even if they’re far apart, they’re together]
[⎿Please avoid searchable names. You’re doing this again these days]
[They’re good? They must have practiced for ages… Especially that red-haired one and the short black-haired one, they seem like they’re in the same group]
[⎿The red-haired one and the short black-haired one are both TioJ and were originally in the same group!]
[Neulbom Mir @NBML__0412
(photo)(photo)
#SoundStageTheFinal #Chunyong #KimChunyong #Preview]
[⎿Neulbom-nim, you went to Sound Stage too? Hul ㅠㅠ I should’ve met you…]
[⎿ㅎㅎ I’m in the god seats on the 3rd floor ㅠ Let’s meet after all the stages are over~ Though I’ll probably be half-dead because of Chunyong…]
In a good direction.
“…Thank you for your hard work!”
“Everyone, you really worked hard! You’ve all suffered for a month!”
He had not yet checked communities or social media, but Kim Chunyong instinctively knew that the reactions from the cameras and fans aimed at him had been good.
His head was still throbbing, but the fever that had tormented him throughout the stage had also subsided.
So, did that mean almost everything had somehow wrapped up well?
“…Hoo.”
Immediately after coming down from the stage with Wiz, Kim Chunyong let out a breath mixed with satisfaction and smiled lightly.
Now, the only things left at Sound Stage: The Final today were the carol that all the performers would go up onstage to sing together, and one song from an elderly senior artist.
The long, long time of hardship was beginning to draw to a close.
‘Then, first I need to properly talk to Yuchan hyung and Siwoo about what happened….’
Just as Kim Chunyong’s now much lighter steps were about to head toward the two members standing together with him.
“Uh, Chunyong!”
An Taei, who had come down from the stage with him, stopped him in his tracks.
To remind Kim Chunyong of something he had forgotten.
“…Huh?”
“We said we’d hang out together after this. You remember, right?”
“Ah, damn… Right.”
“You! I knew this would happen, that’s why I brought it up. Huh?”
At Kim Chunyong’s dismayed expression, An Taei’s reddened face, not yet fully cooled from the heat of the stage, pushed out his lips in a pout.
Was that really the center of Wiz with the neat and cold face, or a seven-year-old boy?
After grumbling while smacking Kim Chunyong’s back, An Taei soon calmed down and continued in his usual lively voice.
“Well, fine. You haven’t said you’re not going yet. I’ll introduce you to that guy now!”
“That guy?”
“You know, the friend I said I was going to hang out with today.”
Whenever everything seemed to be over, a new wave always came crashing in as if to say, “There’s something after this.”
BNS Sound Stage: The Final was not yet over either…
“This time, Sledix sunbaenims are receiving the Song of the Second Half of the Year award, right? My friend came to present their award. He’s an actor!”
And there were still other topics left that would take up half the boards on social media and communities.