Entertainment Life With A Camera

Chapter 59:

Chapter 59

What’s wrong with liking idols…

There are some fans who like the whole group, but most of them are individual fans.

Most of them go to offline music stores to get the photos of their favorite members in different versions. 

Especially, they look for the stores that start the raffle for the fansign event.

“I’m looking for Choi Ian’s blue version A-type! I have all the members!”

“I want Lee Joo-hyuk’s black version postcard! I can trade it with Hyun’s black version!”

“Oh! I have Hyun!”

The first week after the album release is the initial period when most of the album sales are determined. 

That’s why they all gather during the initial period and exchange their album components. 

Awidom was no different.

“Oh? I have Tae-woong, but… do you have Ian?”

“I don’t have Ian.”

Kim Eun-ha visited K-Mungo in Gwanghwamun on her holiday. 

Maybe because the fandom had grown a lot, K-Mungo had set up a temporary sales booth at the entrance where they could sell albums separately, and they had put up a fence in the corner and even laid out a sign saying to exchange here.

“Wow, what? Ian’s photo card is so rare, right?”

“There’s no postcard either.”

“Is this place unlucky…”

Kim Eun-ha was with her online friend who she met through SNS. 

They had already bought 10 albums at K-Mungo. But they were in a situation where they couldn’t get the photo cards and postcards they wanted.

“I heard that Ian’s photo cards came out in bundles in Busan?”

“Ah, by the time we go to Busan, it will be all over and gone, right?”

“Should we check out the secondhand site?”

They waited there for two hours to get Choi Ian’s album goods, but it was a waste of time.

“Wow… on the secondhand site, Ian’s photo card is up for 60,000 won. The blue A version.”

“Crazy, that’s three times the price of an album. That must be a dealer, right?”

“Probably. But it seems like even dealers have a hard time making a full set. Only photo cards are up.”

“Ha… why does it have to go to dealers when there are fans who really want it.”

Dealers were people who bought albums in bulk and sold them at high prices by making full sets of popular members’ versions.

Then, someone who was opening an album screamed. It was Jang Min-hee. The people around her flocked to her.

“Wow, crazy! It’s Ian’s black version B-type!”

“Huh!”

“That’s totally a legendary item, I’m so jealous.”

It was the photo card that was said to be Choi Ian’s legendary photo card after it was revealed by the fans’ album unboxing posts on the community. 

Kim Eun-ha quickly pushed her way through.

“Who…! Who is your favorite member?”

“I like Ian.”

“Oh… congratulations…”

The fans around them sighed. 

Kim Eun-ha drooped her shoulders and turned around. 

She said to her friend.

“If we buy an album now, won’t we get the same photo card?”

“You want to buy more? You said you have no money.”

“Next month’s me will take care of it. I have a feeling now. I’ll be back.”

Kim Eun-ha went to buy an album. 

Kim Eun-ha’s SNS friend, Lee Da-sol sighed.

“What are you doing here?”

“Huh?”

A strange lady approached Lee Da-sol, who was standing blankly, and asked. Lee Da-sol answered with a nervous expression.

“It’s Awidom… related to idol albums…”

“Awidom? I know that. Aren’t they the ones who appeared on ‘With the Legend’? Oh my, so you all came here to buy their albums?”

The lady acted like she knew everything and was very annoying. 

Lee Da-sol’s expression brightened up a bit.

“No, that’s right… I wondered what you were doing blocking the way here for just idols… You live interesting lives.”

The lady shook her head and went her own way. 

Lee Da-sol frowned. Just before, some old man had yelled and spat at them…

‘What’s wrong with liking idols…’

Lee Da-sol had started idol fandom as Awidom for the first time. 

She was still not immune to such meddling. 

She pursed her lips and turned around.

“I bought it!”

“Did you? Hurry up and open it.”

Kim Eun-ha came back with three albums and sat down on her seat. 

The other people around them glanced at her albums and wondered who came out.

“Please… please…!”

What greeted Kim Eun-ha as she opened the album with a desperate wish was not the photo card of the member she wanted.

“Ah, why Park Seo-dam of all people! I can’t even trade it!”

“Hey… lower your voice.”

Kim Eun-ha’s scream made some people frown at them. Lee Da-sol was embarrassed and lowered her head.

“No, did they really print Choi Ian’s photo cards so little? I can’t even see a glimpse of him!”

“Be quiet, please…”

Despite Lee Da-sol’s dissuasion, Kim Eun-ha shrieked. 

Lee Da-sol wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

-I can’t forget the Choi Ian fan who was annoyed by Seo-dam’s photo card at Gwanghwamun

-Oh, I heard that too. It was really too much.

-If you’re a solo fan, don’t show it off. It’s really ridiculousㅋㅋㅋㅋ

***

The next week after the album release, Awidom prepared to go to the music show as usual.

“Is it the first week of counting?”

“We’ll get first place this time, right?”

The members’ faces were full of anticipation from the morning.

Awidom had kept the first place for four days after the album release.

And then, Lee Hyun-ah, a strong digital music artist who released a song after them, took the first place with an overwhelming number of users.

But Awidom didn’t fall down in the rankings and continued to cruise in second place.

“We’ll get a lot of calls when we get our phones back, right?”

Besides, the music show they were appearing on today was S cable music show, which didn’t have many big groups that performed well. 

It was one of the music shows where they could relatively take advantage of an empty house.

The van that carried them passed by N-net center and headed to S building.

‘When can we go to N-net?’

[Unless the investigation is over and the top brass changes, it will be hard to come out for about two years?]

‘I see…’

[The broadcasting station guys are mean.]

‘What about reporters? They’re all the same.’

If they happened to pass by without looking at the camera, they would immediately make a sarcastic headline in their articles. Ian put down the neck pillow he had around his neck and got out of the van.

***

“Let’s add more dates for next year’s world tour.”

The director, Seo Su-ryeon, who entered the meeting room, looked at the overseas major community reactions prepared by the planning team and said.

“I’ll try to get more agents.”

Awidom didn’t know it, but they were frequently appearing and disappearing on overseas communities and their overseas fandom was growing rapidly.

First of all, the fans who came in through Ian’s short play ‘I Want to Hear Your Sound’. 

And then, the fans who came in after listening to Park Jin-hyuk’s ‘Jujak’ liked their fighting spirit against a large broadcasting company and said they were spirited.

‘Jujak’ was ironically very popular in China.

“We have Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan confirmed for now…”

“Sir, we have confirmed the contract for Southeast Asia as well.”

The decisive blow was the ‘Water Bomber Music Festival’.

They were a group that followed the legacy of the second-generation ‘beast idols’, who had dieted regardless of gender to look slim on camera. 

They had received reactions from not only China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, but also Europe.

“Let’s add Europe, Australia, and America too. The response is not normal. But let’s go small-scale there.”

“Yes.”

The staff quickly wrote down the instructions.

“Is it time for ‘Music The Show’ to end? Turn on the TV.”

Another staff picked up the remote and turned on the TV. 

It was just when the ending song was about to finish.

(Yes! Live Music The Show! Here are the candidates for the first place of the last week of September!)

(These are the scores for digital and physical sales.)

The score tally for Awi went up fast.

“Geez… I thought it would take more than a year.”

Seo Suryeon leaned back on her chair with a nostalgic expression.

She had expected Awi’s first place on music shows to be more than a year after their debut, because they might be buried by other ‘Project Idol’ alumni.

The agency had prepared a two-year schedule to push Awi hard.

(These are the scores for real-time text voting.)

“The text voting is good too?”

But they had to scrap the two-year plan and make a new one for the world tour because of their rapid growth.

(The first place is… Awi! Congratulations!)

“Wow!”

The staff exclaimed. Even if it was a cable music show, first place was first place. And judging by the overwhelming score gap, they could expect to win first place on public broadcast music shows as well.

“I guess we have to give them their phones…”

Seo Suryeon sighed among her favorite staff. She was happy that her group won first place, but she felt more anxious and worried.

Getting their phones meant that they would be easily exposed to hate comments.

“…I need to educate them a bit.”

She needed to take care of their mental health, since half of the group members were minors. Seo Suryeon got up quickly.

***

“Guys, congratulations on your first place.”

“Thank you!”

She looked at the faces of the kids who came to get their phones at the company and entered the conference room with a basket of phones. 

The members reached out their hands, but Seo Suryeon pulled the basket back.

“Can you sit down first?”

Awi obediently sat down. Seo Suryeon turned on the beam projector.

“There’s something you guys have to promise me before you get your phones.”

She opened an image file.

(No SNS for 5 years. No private accounts. Use group SNS only.)

“I hope you guys keep this.”

“But sir, isn’t it better for our group to be active on SNS?”

“You can do that on group SNS. Look at this.”

Seo Suryeon opened another image file.

“This is a direct message I received.”

“Huh…”

“Are you okay, sir?”

The direct message she received started with cursing her parents. 

Then it followed by unspeakable insults and sexual harassment.

“I’m not even a celebrity and I get these messages. How do you think celebrities get them?”

‘If you don’t make Black Rush come back right now, I’ll kill you’ was a threat and ‘Why don’t you do ads for Awi? Are you discriminating them from senior groups?’ was a mild complaint compared to the harsh criticism that Awi members frowned upon.

“And this is a direct message that Sejun actually received.”

“Holy crap…”

“That’s too much.”

Black Rush’s Jeong Sejun had a god-like mental strength, so he sent Seo Suryeon a screenshot of the humiliating message he received.

Double curses were basic and pad rips were also basic. 

The level of criticism was so high that all members of Awi felt angry.

“Mystagram doesn’t have an option to block all direct messages. They’re taking advantage of that.”

And Mystagram was a company based in the US, so it was complicated to sue them.

“And this is what will happen to you guys when you open your personal SNS accounts. Can you handle it?”

“…No.”

“Then I trust you guys will keep it. And no private accounts either. Private accounts can be easily hacked by people.”

It wasn’t called netizen detective for nothing. 

There were many cases of idols who had their private accounts hacked. 

And they all ended up on bad news because of that.

“This is not from our company’s standpoint, but for your sake. You guys got it?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Congratulations on your first place, guys.”

Seo Suryeon handed out the basket of phones. 

The members quickly grabbed their phones.

‘I hope they’ll be okay…’

Seo Suryeon looked at Awi members with a worried and anxious face as she gave them their phones.