Chapter 124:
Chapter 124
You’re awesome.
The office of BHL Entertainment was still bright, even though it was long past the closing time.
“Are our kids still not out?”
“They came out a little bit for the VCR, but they haven’t been on stage yet.”
The staff and Director Seo Suryeon were eating delivery food in the conference room for the live broadcast of K-pop CON.
“Doesn’t the N-net logo look awkward?”
“I can’t believe N-net reached out to us so easily.”
The staff looked at the broadcaster’s logo on the top left corner of the screen with unfamiliar eyes. Seo Suryeon was the same.
“Oh, that’s not our kids.”
“Are they really coming out at the end?”
K-pop CON was an online concert that lasted for more than two hours. But there were less than 30 minutes left in the broadcast, and AWY’s stage hadn’t started yet.
The later you come out in the broadcast order, the more popular you feel.
“I really didn’t expect them to rise so fast.”
That was one of Seo Suryeon’s recent catchphrases.
“Doesn’t this place overlap with another group from before?”
“Isn’t that called a western concept?”
“It’s steady, but it happened to overlap.”
Seo Suryeon and the staff analyzed the stages of other groups before AWY came out. At the end of a few teams’ stages, AWY’s pre-stage VCR was finally broadcasted.
They showed the world tour footage and overseas fans that they requested from the agency, and added the modifier of global boy group.
[NEXT Stage : AWY]
“…This is really the end.”
It was still amazing that N-net was the first to make peace with us, let alone take out the order to the last.
Ian’s face filled the screen. Ian held the microphone with his eyes downcast.
“Wow…”
“His face is crazy. It’s frozen. It’s frozen.”
As Ian stared at the camera and sang the intro, the staff let out a small sigh of admiration.
“I sometimes think he’s not a real person.”
“Me too.”
“How did Jumin bring such a kid?”
Park Jumin, who brought Ian, was the team leader of the rookie development team. He had been roaming around the country for months, doing street casting. These days, he was taking a break as it was time to form the debut group for the next group.
“Jinhyuk is flying around.”
Park Jinhyuk, who had taken off his cast, was running around with his members and dominating the stage. Seo Suryeon smiled happily.
“It’s a good thing it wasn’t a serious injury, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Ahh!”
Seo Suryeon screamed. She didn’t hear the sound of opening the door, but suddenly Lee Byunghun, the CEO, was right behind her. The staff sitting across from Seo Suryeon giggled.
“Ah, you scared me!”
“Did you come, CEO?”
Lee Byunghun, the CEO, visited the office for the first time in a long time. He had been busy meeting investors for launching the next group.
“Do I have food too?”
“Here you go. I prepared a special beef rib soup for you.”
“Thank you.”
Lee Byung-hun sat down with a tired expression. He had to meet with the investors. And the meal was accompanied by alcohol.
“How are the investors?”
“They are doing well thanks to the kids. They all want to give us money. But I’m dying because of the alcohol. My liver feels soaked in it.”
He slurped the soup as soon as he tore the beef rib. On the TV screen, the broadcast ended with Awi’s last song. It switched to an advertisement, which was Awi’s cosmetic ad.
“Geez, I get full just by looking at them.”
He said that, but he finished the beef rib soup in no time. The staff laughed at his sight. The relaxed CEO took out a paper from his pocket.
“Let’s do this much for our investors for now.”
Awi’s earnings were reinvested in their activities without hesitation, and launching a new idol group cost more money than expected. Investment was essential.
Seo Su-ryeon looked at the investor list that Lee Byung-hun handed over with a doubtful face.
“Didn’t Yewenli say he would invest too?”
“I’m wary of Chinese capital.”
The CEO shook his head. Yewenli had pushed Ian as a trainer for ‘Idol Uni’ and had been sending BHL Entertainment cooperation proposals and investment intentions ever since.
“N-net also seems to have Yewenli’s influence.”
“Really?”
“It’s not certain yet, but it looks like it.”
Yewenli was the sole heir of China’s media conglomerate, Xinhua Media Group. As Chinese companies often did, they couldn’t control their overflowing money and were spreading it to Korea as well. They were also in a partnership with N-net’s headquarters, C-company.
No wonder N-net, who fought with their agency every now and then, forgave the ‘rigging’ incident so easily.
“He says he’s a fan of our kids… I wonder if he’ll get suspected of sponsoring them.”
“No way. I heard from Hee-jin that he’s not that kind of guy.”
“You never know the evaluation of a close person.”
Seo Su-ryeon closed her mouth. He was right. The vocal trainer Lee Hee-jin, who was close friends with Yewenli, was not even exclusive to the company yet.
“…We have enough people who want to invest, so we don’t need to include Yewenli.”
She handed back the investor list to the CEO.
“By the way, what are the kids doing these days? Did you hear anything from Team Leader Park?”
He asked with a playful look on his face. Seo Su-ryeon’s ears turned slightly red.
“Games.”
“Games?”
“Yes, I didn’t need to hear it from Dong-su. The kids’ PC room sightings are often posted online.”
She showed him the group PC room raid photo of Awi that was posted on an internet community.
-Met Awi while working part-time.jpg
(Photo) Proof shot??
The night shift part-timer here likes Awi and said they come often so I doubted it but while I was working at night some big guys with bleached hair and hats came in and they looked like celebrities
They bowed their heads and greeted me and I recognized Choi Ian even though he wore a mask and a hat because he was handsome
└Wow crazy?? Any more stories?
└└Choi Ian is really good at games The other members kept saying Choi Ian is crazy at games and Choi-men Choi-men at first I thought what? Hypnosis? Ham Choi-how many? Something like that but it turned out to be Choi Ian+A-mem One of them suddenly prayed so I knew
└Aww???Choi-men?????????Cute?????
└Awesome????? I want to see them too???????
└└He doesn’t make loud noises or use shotguns or swear even when the game doesn’t go well so he seems to have a good personality
“Games? Like ‘Galaxy Craft’ or something?”
“Do you think kids these days play that? They said they were practicing for Idol Olympics, but I think they got hooked on it.”
There was nothing problematic in the sightings. Lee Byung-hun smiled contentedly.
“It’s better than going to rooms and getting caught for drunk driving.”
“Of course. It’s a healthy hobby.”
“Where did these kids come from?”
The company wanted to give them more when the singers did well on their own. Lee Byung-hun thought about giving Park Dong-su another card to feed them meat.
***
The members woke up early in the morning for the ‘Idol Game Olympics’ shooting and headed straight to the shop. As they chatted excitedly in the van for their first group schedule in a long time, Park Dong-su, who was sitting in the passenger seat, said.
“Guys, you should cut down on the PC room.”
“Why?”
The members who were noisy closed their mouths at the same time. In the silence that came, Kim Joo-young, who had a devastated expression, made Park Dong-su hold back his laughter.
“I think fans will flock. People are finding out where you guys go to the PC room.”
“Oh really?”
“I went to the PC room nearby yesterday and saw some people who looked like sasaengs…”
“Where did you find out and come from?”
The part-timer who became a fan of Awi swore that he would never reveal their location. Jin, who was sitting on Ian’s shoulder, said.
[It was the boss. He leaked it to boost the sales.]
‘Of course…’
He wondered why there were hardly any customers when Awi went to play games, but lately they seemed to increase. He remembered the boss who gave Awi a free drink.
He promised that he would never tell anyone, but he looked nice. There was no one to trust in this world.
“You should stop going to the same PC room. Go somewhere else. Or better yet, why don’t you buy a computer? I’ll help you find one.”
“Should I?”
The only person who listened to Park Dong-soo’s words was Lee Joo-hyuk. Jo Tae-woong and Park Jin-hyuk, who got off the van, murmured.
“But isn’t it more fun to play at the PC room?”
“Let’s go somewhere else then.”
“Hello!”
The members bowed to the shop staff and headed to their familiar seats.
“Ian, hello. Your skin condition is good today.”
“Hello, hyung.”
Lee Yong-joon, the makeup artist in charge of Ian, stood behind him.
“Are you going to the game competition today?”
“Yes, hyung. Why? Who came?”
“Min-ha just came and left, Miracle. You guys are close, right?”
They didn’t take care of only one singer at a shop. Sometimes they met celebrities who went to the same shop, and they became friends because of that.
“He said his contract with his previous shop ended and he came here.”
“Really? I’ll see him sometimes…”
“But do you know what he said?”
Lee Yong-joon chuckled.
“He asked me if I was good at games, if I would win. He said he was good, and Ian, you can beat him.”
Ian snorted in disbelief.
“What about you?”
“Ah, hyung. I’ll beat Min-ha. There’s no way I’ll lose to him.”
“You guys are really close.”
Kim Yong-joon thought it was a mind game between friends and let it go. Kim Hyun, who was listening to their conversation from the side, said.
“Hyung, Ian is awesome.”
“Really?”
“He said he didn’t play much games, so we all went to the PC room and we all lost to Ian.”
Kim Yong-joon exclaimed as he applied powder on Ian’s cheek.
Awi headed to the E-sports stadium in Sangam after finishing their hair and makeup. There was a photo zone with a red carpet from the entrance of the stadium, and the reporters were taking pictures of the singers who came first.
And another idol group followed them to the center of the photo zone. Suddenly, the photo zone became unusually bright.
“Oh wow, they did cosplay.”
“Awesome.”
They wondered why the camera flashes were so dazzling, and they looked at their clothes with regret compared to the game character costumes they prepared with care.
“Should we have prepared something too?”
“The stylist team would have liked it. They said they made cosplay costumes.”
“That would be fun.”
Awi watched the singers from inside the van. There was also an order for the red carpet that was broadcast live on Y app, and Awi was almost last.
“There will be a team match by group today, right? Who are the seven-member idol groups?”
“If there is one, we’ll win. We have Choi Ian.”
The members cheered for Ian. Ian shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t know he would be so good at games either.
“Guys, let’s get off.”
Park Dong-soo got off and opened the door of the van.
“Yes, the people who just got off the car… They are Awi, a male idol group!”
As Awi got off the van, the MC who was in charge of the pre-interview on the red carpet shouted loudly. The reporters changed the direction of their cameras and took pictures of Awi from the van.
At that sight, a group that was wearing cosplay costumes in front of the photo zone smiled awkwardly and went inside the stadium.
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