24. Music Broadcast (1)

24. Music Broadcast (1)

This air, humidity, atmosphere.

I was glad to see the broadcasting station after a long time, but I was also tired of it. It was even worse when I arrived at the place called the waiting room, but it really was just a partitioned room.

'They increased the size of the individual waiting room, but it's back to square one.'

I guess I should say it's more vain than when I first got into Lime Entertainment. But the agency didn't openly discriminate by lining them up.

There is a lot of new music and artists, but the broadcasting station's space is limited. So, even on music broadcasts, the treatment had to change based on recognition and seniority. I'm doing that this year, but I can't help feeling bitter.

'It's better than when Planet was a mess. Back then, we couldn't even appear on a music broadcast.'

As I was mentally winning, the stylists appeared between the partitions. We had already gotten our makeup and hair done at the shop, so we just had to change clothes. Ji Young-heon said as he packed up a pile of albums.

"Change into your uniform and go greet the cast."

"This is the cast greeting I've only heard about...!"

Baek Han-gyul quickly changed his clothes with an expectant look on his face. Perhaps because it was something they had heard so often in the media, no one except Ryu Hyun-seung seemed that nervous.

Since I was always the one receiving greetings, it was a bit interesting to start going around saying hello.

"Before you leave the waiting room, do you remember the precautions you heard?"

The members paused for a moment and then nodded. They must remember it, since he said it so loudly that it stuck in the ears.

Hwang Bo-kyun whispered as a representative. He seemed like a child, confirming what he had learned.

"Be careful what you say wherever you go; greet people politely and be polite; don't make eye contact with women unless it's for work-related purposes; and always go through the manager for everything."

"Great."

I smiled and nodded with satisfaction. You should always be careful with your words, but you have to be even more careful with your mouth at a broadcasting station.

Above all, when it comes to relationships with the opposite sex, you can never be too careful. These guys don't seem to be that interested in romance, but they're still in their prime.

'Even guys who were normal often lose their sh*t when they start dating.'

I couldn't stand to see a relationship interfere with my work, even if it got dirt in my eyes. Whether it was real or out of curiosity, I was going to spray and tear it up as soon as it hit me.

Still, the endless education must have paid off because they all had determined expressions.

"Then let's move."

After the change of clothes, Ji Young-heon led the members out. I came to a conclusion while greeting them.

'As expected, the response is not bad.'

It's because Intro is rising, but it's also because the interaction between the cast members has increased since the challenge became popular.

In the past, I would stay in the waiting room during the waiting time and not go out to rest, so I didn't really have anything to do except meet people I was close with. And I only became close with people I saw often because they debuted around the same time.

But these days, there are a lot of things to worry about, like challenges and such. Of course, the tendency to ignore unknowns and losers hasn't disappeared.

'It's not like Intro is something that you can treat as someone who doesn't exist at all.'

There's a certain amount of buzz among idol fandoms under labels affiliated with large entertainment companies. So it was concluded that there's nothing to lose by becoming close.

Ji Young-heon took the lead, and we followed. We didn't forget to bow to anyone we saw passing by.

Ji Young-heon knocked on the door in front of the waiting room. Soon, a voice was heard from inside.

"Who is it?"

"This is the introduction of OM Music. We've come to say hello."

"......Please come in."

A whisper was heard from inside, and a small word of permission came out. With Ji Young-heon's greeting, we bowed and introduced ourselves.

It felt like we'd done this dozens of times in a short time.

"Hello, we are Intro!"

"Wow~ Hello, nice to meet you."

A male idol leader who was about the size of a second-tier group came forward and greeted us. Since he didn't even say his name, I could see his confidence that he thought we knew him without having to say it.

Ji Young-heon handed them a signed album, and Hwang Bo-kyun smiled brightly.

"It's an honor to meet you, seniors!"

"What's honor? You don't have to think so stiffly. Oh, do you want to do our challenge together? How about it?"

Ji Young-heon nodded without showing it when he looked at him.

It means you can do the challenge.

"Oh, I would appreciate it if you would do that."

"So who would like to do the challenge with us?"

At that moment, Ryu Hyun-seung walked ahead with a determined expression.

I found that and grabbed his arm tightly. Ryu Hyun-seung suddenly turned his head in surprise at the sudden strength of my grip. I almost sighed at that innocent face.

'Do you have nothing to do but dishearten your seniors and get cursed at?'

As I said before, Ryu Hyun-seung's dancing skills are on the level of a professional dancer. In other words, except for a few famous dancers, most idols are no match for him.

'You're trying to steal your senior's song by dancing too hard. You're trying to be an ungrateful junior.'

Even if a junior is good, they should be good enough. If the gap is too big, the senior group will be ridiculed. The fans of the senior group who got cursed at like that will attack the junior group, and it's obvious that they'll get aggro.

However, if you dance without any strength, you'll get cursed at.

The challenge is about promoting each other's songs, not a battle. In this situation, sending Ryu Hyun-seung without notice is like asking for a fight.

'Ryu Hyun-seung should be paired with a female idol, not a male idol.'

That guy will definitely have a hellish choreography-stealing competition with a female idol, let alone something flirty. If he can't avoid doing challenges, we should open the floodgates to that side.

When I patted Hwang Bo-kyun on the back, he nodded reflexively. I don't know for sure, but it seemed like he was going to match the beat.

I opened my mouth before Ryu Hyun-seung could say anything.

"Me and Kyeon-i hyung will do it. I really wanted to try the challenge with our seniors."

"Haha, really?"

"Yes, whenever possible, I've practiced the dance in advance. Please let me do it."

Permission was granted as the acting of a rookie idol who admires his seniors worked.

This time, A-ram looked at me with an expression that said, "What are you thinking?" but quickly disappeared, perhaps because he was conscious of his surroundings.

"Then, in terms of time...... It seems like we should start filming right away. Is that okay?"

Like this all of a sudden? Normally, we should check each other's schedules and adjust the time, but this is inconsiderate.

Intro is just a rookie who just debuted, so there's nothing we can do about it, but they're still younger than me. I was dizzy at the tone of speech that seemed to look down on others.

'Ugh, but is this even the medieval time to act like a noble?'

There was no specific accident in the future, and even now, he just looks down at us but doesn't do it openly. Ji Young-heon smiled softly after checking the time.

"Yes, I'll leave it to you to take good care of our kids. Mr. Hwang Bo-kyun, Mr. Yoo Young, both of you, please return to the waiting room after filming. I have some work left, so I'll go."

Usually, the manager should check the video after filming the challenge, but Ji Young-heon took the remaining members out of the waiting room, as if he trusted us.

Hwang Bo-kyun stepped forward as if to fill the silence.

"Wow, you're really handsome."

"Thank you! The seniors are so handsome too."

"Isn't your face the only one that will be shown in the challenge video?"

"Ey, you're famous for having a small face. What if the senior says that?"

While the 2nd team leader and Hwang Bo-kyun were engaged in a war of nerves and defense using gold lacquer, I sighed in the back. It's comfortable to be with a guy who's good at socializing.

The other guys are good at one thing or another, but they lack humor. It was ambiguous to trust them and leave them alone.

The only one who was okay was Seol Yi-soo, but he was strangely anxious and couldn't be left alone.

The challenge filming took place in the hallway outside the waiting room. The leader and the visual member stepped forward.

'Only guys who are confident in their looks and skills came out.'

He's smart for a guy who looks down on people. He relaxed and glanced at Hwang Bo-kyun. I didn't feel anything because I was used to the situation, but Hwang Bo-kyun seemed quite nervous.

"You said you practiced, right? We'll teach you the choreography again. Watch carefully."

The leader came out and taught the choreography for the challenge section.

I had really memorized the choreography, so I just nodded, and Hwang Bo-kyun had a rare serious expression.

"You can do it, now that I've told you this much, right?"

"Of course! You taught me so kindly that it stuck in my head."

Hwang Bo-kyun, who had been repeating the movements a few times, smiled brightly. It seemed like he remembered everything even after only seeing it once. His ability to learn choreography was incredible.

'Hwang Bo-kyun, he's not bad either.'

He didn't have any flashy techniques that caught the eye, but he had a solid centering power, so he was good at using it in many ways.

We stood there brightly, while the others looked at us with suspicious faces. Soon, the manager on the other side smiled awkwardly while holding the cell phone.

"...I'll stand in the middle here and film it."

"Please take care of me!"

The song started, and we danced with the determination to finish filming without wasting time. It's not that I really clenched my teeth and danced, but I adjusted my expressions, dance lines, movements, and angles to make it look pretty. In Hwang Bo-kyun's case, since it was his first time dancing to the choreography, he was not used to it, so he was just a little awkward, but he danced well enough to show his skills.

"...."

After the song ended, silence flowed.

The manager who was checking the video called the seniors over and whispered something softly in their ears. The seniors frowned and continued to say that they were annoyed.

'I guess you just relaxed and did it roughly.'

If there's something going, there has to be something coming back. I smiled faintly and approached the manager on the other side. I even took a deep breath.

"....... Our manager isn't here. Can I ask you to film the video instead?"

To translate what I said directly, it was, 'We filmed the challenge according to your schedule and location, so you should do ours too?'

This kind of thing happens more often than you think, so the manager on the other side smiled without showing any displeasure and took the phone. By the way, it's not my personal phone, it's a company-owned phone used for filming videos.

"...Of course. Oh, would you like to check out the video I just shot?"

"Yes, thank you."

While checking the video, the choreography teacher role was given to Hwang Bo-kyun. It would be right for the performance director to come and teach, but since the challenge itself was suddenly requested by the other side, there was nothing they could do.

Since they had experienced some broadcasting, they also learned the choreography quickly. Considering that our choreography is relatively difficult, their skills themselves are not bad.

"Our video will be uploaded tomorrow afternoon."

"Thank you! You worked hard!"

"Yes~ Fighting for the first broadcast today."

"Yes, fighting to you too, seniors!"

After filming and checking, I walked down the waiting room hallway with Hwang Bo-kyun. Hwang Bo-kyun kept wiggling his eyebrows.

"It's really amazing........ I didn't know I'd be doing a challenge with my seniors like this."

You're not nervous, and you're good at it.

"I'm so nervous when I was dancing."

A person who's nervous dances so leisurely? I nodded, holding back my words. The current location wasn't very good for an honest conversation. In the end, all I could say was.

"Yeah, that's right."

That was all I could say.

Hwang Bo-kyun gave a vague answer while looking into the air, and he contacted Ji Young-heon while pouting. Judging from the lack of a reply on the message, Ji Young-heon seemed busy too.

"Didn't the manager tell us to go straight to the waiting room earlier?"

"Yes, I know the way, so just follow me."

"Huh...? It's complicated here, do you know?"

"....I've been here before."

At first, I thought about pretending not to know, but we have to start recording soon, and it was a place I was familiar enough to walk around with my eyes closed, so I thought it would be more awkward to act on purpose.

I walked through the maze-like hallways, searching my memory. I felt suspicious eyes behind me.

"......Hmm?"

After walking to the waiting room for a while like that, I saw a crowd of people in the distance.

As my pace gradually slowed down, Hwang Bo-kyun tilted his head to check in front of us. He soon muttered something mixed with exclamation.

"Oh my, it's Senior Woobin... Awesome."

Woobin is the main dancer and center of RE:BEL, a 7-year-old idol group from a large entertainment company called MH Entertainment. So, aside from Planet, he's a guy who has a unique position among the idols currently active.

He's also the original singer of the song 'BIack light' that I sang during the monthly evaluation at Lime Entertainment.

'It's been a while since I've seen that guy.'

I held back a sigh as I pushed Hwang Bo-kyun aside.

I had met Woobin a few times during my time at Han A-won. Come to think of it, he was the one who filmed the Black Light Challenge with the Planet members.

I was lost in thought, wondering how I would make my way through the crowd.

'...But why is he there?'

Currently, Rebel is inactive. I checked it several times while deciding on the debut date, so it is certain. I also carefully examined the memories of the regression just in case.

However, no matter how much I thought about it, there was nothing that Woobin could do himself during this time.

At that moment, Woobin's head slowly turned.

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