Chapter 66:
Chapter 66
NMA in Vietnam. (2)
Awi had to unpack his luggage in the hotel room and go out again.
It was because he had a rehearsal for NMA tomorrow.
Awi, who had tied his name tag on his upper body, put on a microphone backstage. Ian, who felt strange, asked Jin.
“Isn’t it too much to have a rehearsal? Are they going to clap for us?”
[It’s better not to be complacent until the end.]
Ian was annoyed by Jin’s sarcastic remark and swung his arm in the air, breaking Jin’s figure.
“What?”
“There was a bug.”
[Hey! Am I a bug?]
“Awi, let’s go to the rehearsal.”
Awi had prepared various versions of the stage for each award ceremony, but he did not perform a different version for every award ceremony he participated in.
The criterion was to perform the basic version of the stage when he only performed one title song on stage. He decided to show a different stage only for the award ceremonies that gave him more time than the title song, such as intro+title song.
NMA did not give him any extra time besides the title song.
“Thank you!”
Awi finished the stage and greeted loudly. Jeon Daehan PD, who was in charge of NMA Vietnam performance, crossed his arms with a meaningful expression.
[What are you thinking?]
‘Really?’
Ian tilted his head as he ordered Jin to read PD’s expression.
‘Are they really calling us for the main stage?’
He couldn’t help but feel anxious as he remembered Jin’s clap shuttle scenario.
***
After finishing the rehearsal, Awi went to a nearby downtown area with his agency staff. Awi got out of the car and headed straight for a restaurant.
“Vietnam is all about pho, right?”
“It’s banh mi.”
The members entered a suitable restaurant and sat down at an empty seat. Suddenly, the locals sitting at the next table buzzed.
“But can you all eat cilantro?”
At Ian’s words, Park Jinhyuk and Park Seodam hesitated.
“What is cilantro?”
“I’ve never eaten it before.”
But they had already ordered food.
“Cilantro is very polarizing.”
“Let’s just try it. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
When the food came out, Park Jinhyuk, who had shouted confidently, had to spit out the food after one bite.
“Ew! Gross!”
“Jinhyuk hyung, that’s rude to the cook.”
Cho Taewoong and Kim Juyeong frowned. Park Jinhyuk drank water gulp by gulp.
“Wow, I can’t eat this… Anyone want mine? Seodam, are you okay?”
“It’s edible.”
“Wow, she’s good at eating it for the first time.”
Park Seodam did not stop her chopsticks. Ian pushed the food without cilantro to Park Jinhyuk’s front.
“Hyung, this doesn’t have cilantro.”
“Thanks. Dongsoo hyung! Can we go get burgers before we go back to the hotel?”
Park Dongsoo, who had food in his mouth, nodded.
Ian also stuffed his mouth with food. When he was halfway through eating, there was a clicking sound and people buzzing nearby.
‘What?’
[Are they taking pictures of you?]
When Ian looked up at the people taking pictures, there was a small scream and camera shutter sounds from all directions.
“What are they doing?”
“Are they our local fans?”
The interpreter who was eating with Park Dongsoo at the next table asked them. Park Dongsoo translated the interpreter’s words.
“Guys, they’re local fans, so let’s just eat quietly and go.”
“Yes.”
“Wow, there are people taking pictures of us even here.”
The members were amazed but not uncomfortable. Maybe it was because they had experienced it at the airport, they continued their meal calmly.
[You say that, but they’re mostly taking pictures of you. You’re more popular than I thought.]
‘Did you hear that? Is that why Nnet invited us?’
[Well… think what you want.]
Jin chuckled. Ian couldn’t hide his uneasiness at that laugh.
“We’re done!”
“Kyak!”
After finishing their meal and leaving the restaurant, Korean fans who had seen Awi’s sighting news on SNS also held their phones and took pictures of Awi. The members bowed their heads and got into the car.
***
They finished their day at the hotel and it was NMA day. Awi had another stage scheduled before the main broadcast in the evening. It was a red carpet stage.
“Is that a stage…?”
It was nicely packaged as a red carpet stage, but it was just a shabby space with one platform set up next to the red carpet. It was hard to call it a stage. This stage was not even broadcasted, and Yapp did not even live stream it.
‘I don’t think I’ve seen those people on the plane?’
[There are many idols who only do the red carpet stage and can’t enter the main stage and go back.]
‘Really?’
Ian narrowed his eyes. He hoped that wouldn’t be our future. He doubted it, but he thought it wouldn’t happen since he had finished the main stage rehearsal.
“Thank you!”
The group that finished the stage hurriedly went down under the platform. Ian adjusted the angle of the microphone and stood on the stage with the members. The local fans who held Awi’s unofficial slogan shouted.
‘The stage is a bit shabby…’
Ian dragged his feet and checked the condition of the stage. The wooden floor creaked and seemed to collapse soon.
‘Is it okay to do this? What if there’s an accident?’
Ian tapped the floor anxiously and found his position.
And as expected, an accident occurred when he moved to the chorus. The sound of the stage suddenly cut off.
‘What?’
A singer can’t be dumbfounded on stage when there is no accompaniment as soon as he stands on stage. Ian, who was in his part at the moment, sang without accompaniment for now.
The members, who were momentarily startled, followed Ian’s song and danced.
“Thank you!”
Awi finished the stage professionally after singing half of the second verse without accompaniment. The members who came down from the platform sorted out their microphones and said.
“Wow, I was dizzy for a moment, but I came to my senses when Ian kept singing.”
“Wow, that was close.”
“Guys, good job!”
Park Dongsoo, who was watching from under the platform, cheered on the members.
“Are we going to be treated badly today?”
“I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
Ian muttered to himself as he handed the microphone to the staff. Lee Joo-hyuk nodded in agreement. The rest of the members also looked grim.
“Let’s not get our hopes up today.”
Awi arrived at the main stage after walking the red carpet and sat down on the seats marked with their name tags. The seat next to them was for I-One.
“Hello.”
Awi greeted everyone who entered the singer seats. They also exchanged friendly greetings with I-One and settled in their seats.
‘Huh?’
And their bad hunch was right. Before the broadcast, Awi did not appear in the VCR that introduced the singers. Kim Hyun whispered to Ian from the next seat.
“Was it just me who didn’t see it?”
“You didn’t see it either, hyung? Why are we not there?”
As the presenter came out, Ian clapped mechanically and asked Park Seo-dam.
“Seo-dam, did you see us in the VCR?”
“No, we weren’t there, hyung. I have a bad feeling about this.”
Park Seo-dam’s voice trembled slightly with anxiety. Ian frowned.
Some unknown local singers performed on stage, and awards with strange names were given out for show. Ian noticed that there was no camera focusing on Awi.
‘They keep filming I-One next to us, right?’
[Yeah. I-One’s face keeps appearing in between the segments. Do you know what’s funny? They cleverly manipulate the angle so that your faces don’t show up at all, even though you’re right next to them.]
As time passed, Awi stiffened their expression and sat still as I-One left their seats to prepare for their stage.
They’re going to perform now, the most popular group among the singers invited to this show? That means the show is almost over.
[See? I was right.]
‘Damn it.’
[I went to see what the PD was doing before the show started.]
Jin showed a video. A man talking on the phone, Jeon Dae-han PD, the person in charge of NMA Vietnam. He was discussing how to treat Awi with someone who seemed to be from the headquarters.
Ian clenched his fist as he heard the conversation. Jin’s scenario was spot on. They invited them on purpose to screw them over.
‘Ah… That’s so dirty. They even prepared our plane tickets themselves to screw us over?’
[They got them from a scalper, so the plane tickets are nothing.]
Even so, considering the cost of bringing and sending back the staff, Awi was no different from losing money.
‘They paid for the red carpet stage too? That crappy quality stage?’
[Of course they did. Do you think NNet is crazy to give them a free stage? They’re all doing it for money.]
Ian’s one-man show had caused a craze in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam.
And NNet, who wanted to sell tickets and boost their pride in NMA Vietnam, where sales were already low, decided to have some fun with the red carpet tickets and hit Awi in the back of their head with their main stage.
“NNet Music Awards! World Best of Next!”
“Congratulations! It’s I-One!”
Awi didn’t even clap out of courtesy anymore. They were prepared for it, but it was still infuriating to be treated so blatantly like this. Their head cooled down.
They couldn’t even go up on the ending stage where all the singers who participated in the show were supposed to go up together. They had to follow the instructions of the staff and leave the venue.
“What are you trying to do now!”
Park Dong-soo was arguing with a staff member. Ian sighed deeply.
“It’s over already. Let’s go back to Korea quickly.”
“Wait for me, guys, manager.”
The staff who followed Awi tried to calm down Park Dong-soo, who was angry. Park Dong-soo was about to say something else but let out a big sigh. It was no use getting angry at a low-level staff member.
The car heading to the airport was filled with silence. Awi just watched as the venue disappeared beyond their sight. Lee Joo-hyuk, who had been looking out of the window, spoke to his members.
“Let’s become famous.”
“Yeah!”
Park Dong-soo shouted excitedly. Ian added.
“Let’s make NNet come to us first and apologize.”
“Yeah!”
Park Dong-soo shouted again. The members who had been silent opened their mouths. Jo Tae-woong bounced his body and said.
“And then we pretend we’re busy and say ‘Oh, we’re so busy…’ and blow them off.”
“Then they’ll beg us to go on stage, right? Then we’ll sing ‘Phoenix’. We won’t go unless we sing ‘Phoenix’, you know.”
“Yeol~ Hyun-hyung, your scenario is awesome, right?”
Jo Tae-woong snapped his fingers. Park Seo-dam raised his hand.
“We’ll go to other shows, but not NNet! Well, it would be better if NNet goes bankrupt before that!”
“And let’s make Phoenix 2. This time as a group song.”
Park Jin-hyuk said seriously. Kim Joo-young also chimed in enthusiastically.
“And if we ever have to go on NNet’s show, we’ll ask them bluntly ‘Why did you do that to us?’”
“Yeah!”
Park Dong-soo said cheerfully. Awi smiled faintly as their mood improved a bit with the conversation.
-Awi summarizes how they were treated by NNet
They were deliberately or accidentally cut off from the singer introduction VCR. Their backing track was cut off in the middle of their red carpet stage, but they finished the performance without it.
They had rehearsed for the main stage the day before, but they didn’t have a stage (not a lie, there’s a post on their fan cafe saying they rehearsed).
If they don’t have a main stage, they shouldn’t have let them in. They just went there and clapped like shuttlecocks. Of course they didn’t get any awards.
└I waited for them until the end, but they didn’t show up.
└They were used by the scalpers for real.
└I saw the worst of NNet today.
└But why did they invite them? They could have just done the red carpet stage and left. But they made them sit in the singer seats and didn’t give them a stage?
└I went to see their stage and bought tickets with my own money, but I couldn’t see their stage and I’m crying on my way to the airport.
The fans were sad and complained, but of course there were not only positive reactions to Awi. As Awi’s popularity increased and their fans increased, so did the so-called ‘haters’.
└I don’t even know who they are. Isn’t getting a red carpet stage enough of a treatment?
└Who told them to mess with NNet? They’re so arrogant for rookies.
└Huh? But are they worthy of a main stage? I’ve never seen them before.
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