Chapter 127:


    Trantor: MarcTempest


    Editor: Rxel


    Chapter 127


    Lemon Entertainment’s PR Team.


    Deputy Hong Seoyoung was sitting in her office, clicking her mouse.


    She was checking if the press releases had gone out properly.


    -New ck, first solo reality show confirmed, airing on October 3rd


    -‘Trendy rookies’ New ck, debut reality show to be revealed on November 3rd (official)


    -Exclusive reality show ‘It’s the New ck’, premieres on the 3rd [official statement]She scrolled through dozens of articles with simr titles, making sure there was nothing weird in the content.


    The content was all the same.


    The rookie boy group New ck, who had gained attention through variety shows, was going to present an eight-episode solo reality show starting from October 3rd.


    It was an article that most people wouldn’t click on, except for the fans, but she checked it thoroughly.


    Then she slightly raised her eyes.


    ‘Our boys have gained a lot of fans.’


    Whether they came from the fan cafe link or not, there were already a fewments on the article within 10 minutes of its posting.


    -New ck fighting…!


    -Wow, a reality show @[email protected] I’m looking forward to it!!!


    -I hope our cuties do well…^^


    It was an article that would have been buried without a singlement in the past, but this small change caught her eye.


    Of course, not all changes were good.


    Lately, there were malicious posts that became articles, or other fandoms that attacked them on SNS.


    It wasn’t something she had to see only negatively.


    As there was shadow where there was light, it was a natural bacsh that came from New ck suddenly bing a hot topic through variety shows.


    On the other hand, it meant that there were more people who liked New ck as well as those who hated them.


    The visible indicators proved that.


    ‘YouTube views also skyrocketed.’


    The videos in the New ck category of Lemon Entertainment’s ount all showed a drastic increase in views.


    And there were Englishments too.


    No wonder.


    On the site where overseas K-pop fans gathered, there were posts with links to New ck’s videos.


    -Who are these guys? I’ve never seen them before.


    -Their dance lines are so beautiful. And the penguin is so cute.


    -Are they a performance team? What’s their name?


    -They’re New ck. It’s written in the title.


    -Oh, sorry. I thought it was just a catchphrase.


    ‘How did they find out about our boys?’


    It was a strange thing.


    It was also brought up as an agenda at thest PR team meeting.


    Why did the foreignments suddenly increase?


    She didn’t know the exact cause.


    She just guessed that it was because of Girls on Top.


    Usually, overseas K-pop fandoms also watched Korean variety shows that idols appeared on, and they spected that New ck caught their attention by appearing on the show with Girls on Top, who had a lot of overseas fans.


    Whatever the case, the views of their own reality show and performance videos increased, and Englishments like ‘OMG’ started to appear, and the English subtitles shone.


    ‘Subtitling was a godsend.’


    As the videos supported English subtitles, the influx of foreigners became visible.


    And it wasn’t just the overseas fans who showed interest in New ck.


    -Why didn’t I know about these guys?


    -???? Their voices are my type


    -I searched after watching Around the World With Dice and I’m hooked on their reality show


    After watching the variety show, they searched for rted videos on YouTube and ended up watching all kinds of practice videos, fancams, and reality videos that New ck had piled up like a mountain.


    Naturally, this interest also affected the fan cafe membership.


    ‘I can’t get used to it, I can’t.’


    She stuck out her tongue as she looked at the fan cafe membership.


    It was slowing down now, but it was amazing right after the broadcast.


    Before, it was like a neighborhood gathering where the Soufflés gathered and cheered. Now it was like a neighborhood festival with a lot of people.


    She was also worried.


    ‘Will they be okay?’


    It was the most careful time when the fandom suddenly grew.


    The members’ behavior that was allowed when the fandom was small suddenly became like a clique and caused controversy, or the fandom was shaken by a single post that the members wrote casually on the fan cafe.


    ‘It was like that with Scarlet too.’


    But strangely, she wasn’t worried.


    That was probably because the member who was the most thoughtful in interacting with the fans was leading New ck.


    “The problem is us.”


    “What?”


    Mr. Nam peeked his head out from the partition next to Hong Seoyoung.


    “What’s the problem now, Ms. Hong?”


    “It’s the fan meeting venue. If we go with this location…”


    “Then what?”


    “We’ll get cursed out, right?”


    “Where is it?”


    “It’s Art in Hongdae, a small theater near Sinchon. I booked it three months ago…”


    “Let me see. Maximum capacity 300 people?”


    Mr. Nam chuckled and sipped his coffee.


    “Go ahead and announce the venue. It’ll be fun. They’ll say thepany is crazy, how can they fit 300 people when the showcase was 200, right?”


    “That’s what they’ll say, right?”


    Right now, they were preparing for their first official fan meeting. Originally, they nned to do it on a small scale.


    They were going to gather at a small theater to celebrate their 100th day since debut, blow out some candles on a cake, and p lightly.


    That was what they thought would happen back then.


    ‘Who would have known the fans would increase so much…’


    She remembered the ce they had booked before, but then she imagined himself being crushed by angry Soufflés and decided to call and cancel.


    “But it’s a happy problem. If you go somewhere and say our fandom grew and that’s a problem, they’ll curse you out.”


    “Unless you’re going to make the call for me, be quiet.”


    “Yes, sir.”


    Ms. Hong red at his colleague, but soon smiled.


    He wasn’t wrong. It was a happy problem, in a way.


    As she picked up the phone, she thought of someone who had caused all this.


    ***


    “That’s why we had to postpone the fan meeting we nned for the end of September. The earliest we can book a ce is mid-October.”


    Lemon Entertainment conference room.


    Hong Seoyoung exined to New ck, who were sitting around.


    “This is the ce we’re trying to fix now.”


    A picture of the venue appeared on the tablet PC. A live hall operated by an online bookstore.


    Woojoo asked, “How many people can it hold?”


    “About a thousand?”


    “Wow…”


    They looked at each other in shock.


    “Did you hear? A thousand.”


    “A, a thousand? A thousand people areing to see us?”


    “Ms. Hong, are we really having a fan meeting there?”


    As they raised their voices one by one, Rihyuk pinched his thigh next to Woojoo.


    He nced around and smiled warmly when their eyes met.


    His sneakers stepped on Woojoo’s shoes.


    Ouch.


    It wasn’t a dream.


    A thousand people…


    Why couldn’t he believe it? A thousand people came to see them?


    Director Jo Gyuhwanughed.


    “Why, don’t you believe it?”


    “I feel a bit nervous. A thousand people… I wouldn’te to see myself if I were them.”


    “That’s true.”


    Woojoo hit Rihyuk, and the youngest got his foot stomped in return.


    Director Jo said with a smile, “You might not believe it, but that might not be enough. The fan cafe membership has increased more than you think.”


    That was true.


    “Anyway, do you want to check the date? It’s an official fan meeting, so the preparation will be pretty tight, but I want to give you a choice.”


    The brothers immediately picked up the tablet PC and looked at the calendar.


    Bijoo asked, “Hyung, when do you think it would be appropriate?”


    “Just a moment.”


    Woojoo turned on his phone, and Junghyun leaned in.


    “What are you looking at?”


    “Just a moment, Junghyun.”


    “Okay.”


    Woojoo checked the date on his phone’s background and counted the days on the tablet PC.


    And he stopped at the 25th.


    “This day. Saturday the 25th.”


    The staff across from Woojoo tilted their heads.


    “I have an anniversary app on my background. The 25th is exactly the 100th day since Soufflé was born.”


    The staff startedughing at the app that said ‘63 days with our Soufflé!’ on his phone screen.


    Seokhwan Hyung clicked his tongue and said, “I’ve never seen anyone use a dating app like that.”


    “It’s really weird.”


    It wasn’t weird. He was serious.


    …That was what he wanted to argue, but he quietly put down his phone after seeing the words ‘269 days until Mrs. Kim Deoksoon’s birthday’ or ‘92 days since our debut’ on the screen.


    Then Woojoo said what came to his mind.


    “I just thought of something. How about something like Soufflé Day or Soufflé 100th Day Party for the fan meeting title?”


    “Wow, 100th Day Party sounds really good.”


    Bijoo agreed enthusiastically. He has the same sensibility as Woojoo.


    Assistant Hong rolled her pen and muttered, “100th Day Party sounds a bit old-fashioned…”


    “…”


    “Soufflé Day. This is good. I’ll reflect it when I make the proposal.”


    Assistant Hong wrote a note in her notebook.


    After some trivial talk about the fan meeting, Director Jo changed the topic.


    “Now let’s talk about the album. Theeback date is set for November 20th, so keep that in mind.”


    He continued, “It could be a week earlier, but then we’d have to do the showcase the day before the college entrance exam. And start the music show on the exam day. That’s kind of…”


    “Right, the fans have to study for the exam.”


    Woojoo nodded, and the brothers agreed.


    “Right. We can’t disturb the fans’ studies with our showcase or music show.”


    “That’s true.”


    “They need time to study.”


    But as they said that, the adults on the other side dropped their pens andughed.


    One staff member scratched his neck and said, “Well, kids. We said that because of the revenue aspect. If we release it on the exam day, the buzz will drop and it won’t be good.”


    “Oh, right. I wanted to talk about that too.”


    Theyughed again at their follow-up.


    It felt like a meeting to pamper them rather than a meeting.


    Maybe it was because their recent activities went well.


    But as Director Jo continued with a calm face, the meeting atmosphere became thick again.


    “Theeback gap is five months, so it might feel long, but I think it’ll be fine. We’ll show you the album preparation process and your appearance through the reality show, and by the time the eighth episode ends, it’ll be exactly 21 days.”


    “Oh, we’ll start the music show around the time the reality show ends.”


    “That’s right. And a month before that, we’ll have the fan meeting.”


    He timed it well.


    Actually, it was a result of coincidence.


    Scarlet said it was because they ran a music show in October.


    It was a rule that idols from the samepany didn’t ovep their music shows.


    The A&R team leader said, “By the way, the title song is pretty much done. Stay after this is over. I’ll let you hear it.”


    Director Jo turned his head to them.


    “You know that Woojoo is participating in the album producing this time, right? I’m going to see him a lot with me. So help him out a lot too.”


    “Yes. We will.”


    “And Woojoo, you said you have something to show us?”


    “Ah, yes.”


    Woojoo got up from his seat.


    Then he took the USB and turned on theptop connected to the beam projector.


    At the same time, Bijoo and Rihyuk started to distribute the prints from Woojoo’s bag.


    The staffughed at the sight of a smallpany.


    Assistant Hong said in a cheerful voice, “Did you prepare a presentation too?”


    “Yes, I was preparing the materials and…”


    Woojoo smiled and stood in front of the staff and members.


    Soon, everyone chuckled at the PPT title ‘2nd Album Proposal’ that appeared on the screen.


    Meanwhile, the male staff looked somewhere ufortable and asked, “What is that? It’s a very familiar font. What is it?”


    “Oh, I’m a former administrative soldier, so I used the same font as I used in the army…”


    “It was the smell of a familiar spam. No wonder, the official document that the copyright association sent a few days ago was exactly the same.”


    One of the staff touched the post-it that was pressed like a belt where the stapler was stamped andughed.


    “You learned how to do your job properly.”


    “That’s right. He’s much better than our intern.”


    They joked that they should call the reality camera and film this too, and Woojooughed and started the presentation.


    It was the ideas he came up with since he was in charge of the album producing.


    He wanted to do it with a determination to break his bones.


    Maybe that was why, the staff who were listening jokingly at first became quiet as the content went on.


    The younger ones also listened to his words seriously.


    Woojoo didn’t know how much of his opinion would be reflected, but it seemed sessful from the staff’s reaction.


    As soon as the exnation was over, questions flew in from all over.


    ***


    “Two, three.”


    “Hello, we are New ck!”


    “Wow…!”


    In the car going to HBS Broadcasting Station.


    Woojoo waved his hand at the phone for SNS attached to the selfie stick.


    It was a live broadcast after a long time.


    Woojoo thought there would be few people because they did it without notice, but there were quite a lot of fansing in real time.


    “Wow, there are so manyments. I can’t read some of them. Oh, I can read this one. This is, uh, nihao, right?”


    “There are more Englishments than before.”


    There were morements written in Korean, but it felt like the proportion of Englishments had increased.


    Amazing.


    Woojoo smiled and waved his hand again.


    “Yes, we are on our way to the broadcasting station for the first episode of the New ck reality show ‘It’s the New ck’.”


    “We usually announce it beforehand, but today we wanted to see you guys, so we turned it on.”


    “I also had a dream about Soufflé yesterday.”


    “Really?”


    “Yes, Hyung. I dreamed of shaking hands with Soufflé. My hand was made of bread, and every time I shook hands, bread crumbs fell off…”


    They burst intoughter, and the fans also wrote ‘????’ in the chat window,ughing for a long time.


    “Oh, right.”


    Woojoo pped his hands and said, “Do you know that? I went to the reserve army a while ago. I have some amazing episodes from then, and I’ve been saving them to tell you guys.”


    “Here we go again. Military stories. Everyone, cover your ears.”


    “Don’t you get tired of telling the same stories every time we eat?”


    Woojoo ignored the protests and continued.


    “It was me. It was me, I shot a full score for the first time. I’m really notorious for being clumsy, so it was the first time I ever hit anything on the target. I used to always hit other people’s targets…”


    Woojoo took out the shooting target from his bag and showed it off, and his brothers sneered.


    Wait, you guys.


    You won’t be able tough at me in a few years. Especially you, Rihyuk.


    “Is shooting a gun that hard? It’s easy.”


    “Where did you shoot a gun?”


    “Sudden Attack.”


    “Ah, ouch, my neck. I really…”


    As Woojoo grabbed his neck, Bijoo handed him a ginseng pouch.


    “Thank you.”


    Woojoo sucked on the ginseng and spread its greatness to the fans.


    “Ah, I feel alive. Everyone. Ever since I ate ginseng, I wake up really well in the morning. It’s great.”


    “Why are you suddenly advertising ginseng?”


    “Hyung, a fan justmented that you look like their grandfather when you eat ginseng.”


    “Who is it? Confess right now.”


    Woojoo shivered and the chat window popped up with ‘???’ again.


    They had a fun timemunicating with thements left by their Soufflés.


    “We’ll have some good news soon. See you again, byeong!”


    “Byeong!”


    …and they ended the live broadcast around the underground parking lot of HBS.


    Woojoo felt energized after meeting the fans for the first time in a while. That was why he looked a little brighter.


    When they arrived at the studio, the PD greeted them.


    “Hello. You guys are in a good mood today.”


    “Yes, we came fully charged.”


    “Good. Go inside the studio and get used to it. It will take some time to set up the equipment.”


    The set of HBS MTV’s ‘It’s the New ck’ was decorated with a very unique atmosphere.


    There was a three-seater sofa in the middle, and two one-seater sofas on the side.


    The table was filled with various snacks, and the set had props like bookshelves and vases.


    It was like looking at the living room of a luxury house with good lighting.


    “Wow, it feels like we’re home. It’s been a long time since we had this kind of atmosphere.”


    “The sofa is really soft. Hyung, should we buy one of these when we move?”


    “Shall we?”


    Bijoo and Woojoo looked at each other and searched for the product name of the sponsored sofa, and nodded as soon as they saw the price.


    Bijoo wrote down the item in his memo and saved the memo title as ‘Someday’.


    On the other hand, the more Woojoo looked at the set, the more familiar it felt.


    Something familiar.


    Woojoo asked Minki Hyung, who came back from talking with the staff on one side of the set, “Hyung, do you know what our reality show is? What did the PD say he used to do?”


    “He said he did Beauty Salon, a cable beauty program.”


    “Oh, a beauty program.”


    Woojoo nodded and gasped.


    “A beauty program?”


    “Yeah, why?”


    “No, nothing.”


    It might be just his feeling, but he had a feeling that the reality concept was not ordinary.