The Malicious Member Has Returned! Episode 225
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‘Sound Stage The Final’ was, strictly speaking, not an awards ceremony.
More precisely, should I say it used to be one in the past, but no longer was?
[BNS Sound Award, Controversy Over Unfair Awards… 'Judges' Decision Ratio is 70 Percent']
['What criteria do they even use to give awards?' Netizens in an Uproar Over the Dubious Sound Award Grand Prize]
[
For one reason or another, because of many such issues.
The ‘Sound Award,’ which had been held as an extension of BNS’s in-house music program Sound Stage, received much criticism for reasons such as not giving awards that singers deserved if they didn’t frequently appear on other BNS broadcasts, or fabricating awards that didn’t even exist.
[No, but a variety show star is receiving the main award, is this right? LOL Ha Yebin, who had a huge hit with the OST this time, just sat there clapping?]
[⎿Ha Yebin doesn't appear on BNS programs and acts like she's exclusive to MuDe, so they don't want to give her anything]
[What the hell is the 'Again Generation' award? Damn, there's an award I've never seen in my life]
[Siyeon said she's doing a show @Sereeeslover]
[Serenia swept the Rookie Awards at all the major pop music awards ceremonies but couldn't win at the Sound Awards, right? It's obvious what the problem is. Haha]
[Yeah @qorhvmek]
[I'm watching the Sound Awards… OMG this is like their own neighborhood festival, the level is so cringeworthy I'd rather my idol just turned on a livestream and celebrated the New Year with us ㅠㅠ #Sound_Award #Sound_Award_VoteCertification #BNS]
Its authority gradually declined, and those who received awards became targets of ridicule instead.
From the time people said it was ‘worse than Music Days, a broadcast station specialized in music,’ there had been some kind of movement inside the BNS Entertainment Bureau.
It was a movement born from anxiety and tension—that if things kept going this way, their image would really plummet to rock bottom.
And so, after the head of BNS's Entertainment Bureau was replaced, on the day the notice for the ‘Sound Award’ was posted:
[BNS Sound Award Disappears into History… Reborn as Year-End Music Stage ‘Sound Stage The Final,’ an Extension of In-House Music Program]
[Removing Awards, Doubling the Stage Enjoyment! ‘Sound Stage The Final’ ▷ Preview]
The Sound Award changed its name to Sound Stage The Final and attempted a fresh start of its own.
Thus, it had been three years since the Sound Award transformed into Sound Stage The Final.
Since it was already Sound Stage The Final after I debuted, even if my memory was off, it would be roughly similar.
So, why did I dredge up this long, old memory?
“But this time, the second-half Song Award is being received by Sledix sunbaenim, right? My friend came to present the award to them. He’s an actor!”
…Because of what Antae had said earlier.
Unlike the Sound Award, which had been an awards ceremony, Sound Stage The Final officially had no awards.
Yes, officially.
However, BNS, which remained attached to the fact that they had previously hosted their own awards ceremony, employed a bit of a loophole.
Since it’s Sound Stage The Final, can’t they give awards just like Sound Stage? That was their thinking.
And so, BNS prepared two trophies for the year-end stage.
[Which Group Will Earn the Honor of the Two Digital Song Awards at Sound Stage The Final? Show Us the Sounders' Choice!]
First-half and second-half Song Awards.
The problem was that, as Antae had said, the team receiving the second-half award was Sledix.
Overwhelming album sales, music streaming numbers, BNS broadcast scores, music video trends.
There wasn't a single thing that wasn't the best this year, so one could say it was obvious.
My worry regarding this fact was…
If it came to that, Yeonwoo hyung might come here.
If it were him visiting on an ordinary occasion, it wouldn't be a problem.
I could tactfully decline by saying I was with the members, or make a quick escape when the conversation topic ran out.
But now, Yeonwoo hyung had a reason to grab me and chat away at length.
“Then, do you have a moment? It’s just that the higher-ups scheduled something. It’s a schedule for Chunyong-ssi, Jaeha-ssi, and Logan-ssi… I thought it’d be good to let you know in advance.”
“Huh? Just the three of us? What kind of schedule is it… is it urgent?”
“Yes. It’s a survival program that will follow
A very stifling reason, one that made my stomach churn just thinking about it.
“…Damn.”
“Hm? Chunyong, what’s wrong? Want some water?”
“Ah, no. Just… a little.”
I lightly shook my head at Jaeha hyung, who was offering me water with a face that had finally cooled down from our stage’s heat, and tried to shift my focus.
Because if I didn't, I felt like I would bite my nails from the tension.
- “Yes, the atmosphere here at Sound Stage The Final is truly fiery. I heard that those taking the stage next will take this heat to its peak?”
- “What? Even more than now?”
- “The Leopold members said this isn’t enough yet! I heard they've prepared something special for this stage…”
- “Ahh! It’s so hard to wait? Let's meet them right away. Music, cue!”
The TV mounted in the waiting room was fixed on the BNS channel, showing the stage live.
Now that the Leopold sunbaenim had appeared on stage, it meant Sound Stage The Final was nearly at its end.
TIOJ's first year-end stage was also almost finished, and now the day was racing toward its end.
At this important moment when I needed to check whether two members of our team had resolved the emotional rift between them, I had to worry about a sudden ambush that might appear.
What the hell kind of situation was this?
Messages that seemed to either want to laugh at my predicament or snap at me poured down from the cellphone placed on the waiting room table.
“Ying? Yongyong hyung. Shouldn't you check your phone? It’s been blinking since earlier…”
“It’s spam, spam.”
There was no need to check.
The content wouldn't be much different from what I'd seen before.
- X: Yongyongguri, you really can't just stay still, can you
- X: I was thinking I'd give you a guidebook reward since you did well on the year-end stage~
- X: Whaaaaat??
- X: That you might appear on!! A program!! That Jeong Yeonwoo is on!!
- X: You say that to me?? After I told you not to get involved?
- X: (hammer emoji) (hammer emoji)
- X: Hey, if you keep breaking the rules by getting involved with him
- X: It's bad for both of us
- X: H o w m a n y t i m e s d o I h a v e t o t e l l y o u ㅡㅡ
- X: Ugh, I'm so frustrated
The conversation about the new survival program I’d had while being held back by Hobin hyung earlier was ultimately unconstructive for me.
Because I'd been impatient to find Yuchan hyung and Siu, most of my answers had been consistent with “yes” and “that’s fine.”
I shouldn't have done that.
Thinking about how Yeonwoo hyung would gladly come to our waiting room and chatter to me about it, and how X would be furiously angry, I really shouldn't have!
“Haa…”
Sighs kept escaping on this fine day.
Why isn't there a single thing that resolves easily? Really.
“…….”
My gaze kept being drawn to the waiting room door.
Would it be a staff member knocking to gather all the performers now? Hobin hyung? Or Yeonwoo hyung, whom I wanted to avoid if at all possible?
Or Antae, who said he'd come back with his friend?
At this point, I was starting to wonder what that promise to hang out with Taei afterward even was.
From the beginning, the reason X had raged at me was that “you approached someone without a plan and got us both on the company's radar.”
The company X belonged to—Star Sirius or whatever—that I had a contract with.
The one I'd readily told X “then I won't approach” was Yeonwoo hyung.
It was awkward when we met, and I kept getting entangled in strange things like this.
Now that the possibility of Yeonwoo hyung being one of “those guys” had disappeared, there was no need to meet him more than necessary and create trouble like drinking and making merry.
But the reason I'd decided to meet Antae and his friend was that I still had the will to find “those other guys” and hold them responsible for the accident that happened to our family in the past.
In the end, when you looked at it closely, that was also something that would make X angry.
I'd resolved one thing, but it felt like something else was getting tangled up again.
Actually, I was also wondering if the thing I'd thought I'd resolved before had really been properly resolved.
As the night of the BNS Sound Stage The Final was drawing to a close.
My head was full of confusion.
What is it that I have to do? I repeated to myself, over and over.
“…….”
And so, just as I was quietly bowing my head and groaning.
“—Ack!”
A fist came crashing down on top of my head.
Who the hell—!
When I raised my head with an extremely aggrieved and dumbfounded expression, standing before me were Yuchan hyung and Siu.
“Chunyong, you. You… sent Taei-ssi earlier, didn't you?”
Along with Yuchan hyung's strangely snickering voice, my head went thump once more.
Before I could say a word, Siu’s laughter burst out like carbonated water going pop.
“Ah, ahaha… Chunyong hyung, your face…”
“This is revenge, punk. Sending people while we're talking, and coming to find us like that. You can't do that! We have privacy too!”
“That’s right, Chunyong hyung…”
The voices reaching me along with my tingling head.
I didn't even feel like retorting.
No, rather, this timing let me relax.
I'd been thinking I hadn't properly resolved a single thing.
But seeing the two of them standing side by side like that, laughing at my sorry state…
“…It seems you two had a good talk.”
“No, um. Well… it was a start.”
“The stage… I think it helped, maybe…”
“Is that so, well. Then that's good.”
The question of whether I'd actually resolved anything properly seemed to be somewhat resolved.
Yuchan hyung's flick to my head was probably something the two had planned from the start.
I don't know at what point, but anyway.
Still, seeing the two of them openly scheming—not quite scheming like this, I felt that what I'd done hadn't been entirely useless.
“…….”
I let out a light sigh, opened my eyes wide, and tried to fully take in the air of this year-end music stage.
If Yeonwoo hyung came?
I'd find a way to avoid him.
If a staff member came?
I'd just naturally go up on stage.
If Antae and his friend came?
Then I'd just greet them lightly and probe about “those other guys.”
Thinking simply actually made my head feel lighter.
I had ignored X's furious messages in the process, but whatever.
It didn't matter.
“…Do you know that from now on, I'll probably get nervous just seeing you two near a vending machine?”
“U-um… s-sorry, Chunyong hyung…”
“Oh-ho, you're saying that to us? Hey, the moment you call me out to the emergency stairs, Chunyong…!”
“Ing? Yongyong hyung, emergency stairs? What. During
“Hm? Hwaseong, you went there too?”
“Wow, Yongyong hyung is a repeat offender! You've really mastered threats, haven't you?”
“What? Chunyong hyung threatens people?”
“No, punk…”
“Haha, everyone sure is energetic…”
And so, as the atmosphere of “we safely finished our first year-end stage” filled the waiting room again, and we were chatting with the members about this and that.
Knock, knock—
“…Hm? Was that a knock just now?”
The voice of Jaeha hyung, who was looking at us with that kindly smile of his, seized my ankle firmly.
It wasn't his imagination.
Knock, knock—
Someone was knocking properly, after all.
“…I'll go check.”
I made the members who were trying to get up sit back down, and slowly moved my steps toward the door.
Because I had to be the one to face this.
One step.
And two steps.
—Click.
And so, in front of the door that opened with a slight creaking sound…
“…Um, hello.”
The first thing I could see was the jet-black hem of suit trousers that clung naturally to a tall frame.