Entertainment Life With A Camera

Chapter 81:

Chapter 81

We have our own waiting room?!

-Is it just me or do idols dominate the charts too much?

They line up every time someone makes a comeback. 

It’s disgusting, really.

└I also hate how idols take over the charts. It’s a problem with the chart system.

└Idol fans keep streaming all day long. How is that different from manipulating the sales?

└Honestly, I hate all the idols on the chart right now. Awi? What are they?

└└The chart system is trash, but why are you blaming the idols?

“Go catch some machines. Idols are not easy targets.”

Awi fan Kim Eunha snorted and replied to the comment. 

She wrote a long comment and pressed the submit button, but ‘This post has been deleted.’ popped up and her comment was gone.

“Damn it!”

Kim Eunha resisted throwing her phone. It was a new model with 14 months of installment left.

“Huh?”

Instead, she entered a community site she often visited, but it was so laggy as soon as she entered because of the high traffic.

[Exclusive] Pluto♥Pink Lady’s pink romance… The ‘love signal’ of the idol industry

[Exclusive] Idol hot♥couple, Pluto-Pink Lady’s group dating

“Really?”

The ‘story’ she had dismissed as a rumor turned out to be true. 

Kim Eunha checked the group chat of the people she met at the showcase.

(BD) I told you so, right? I was right, right? – 13:04

(Euna) Wow – 13:04

Blue Delight sent a message just then. 

As soon as Kim Eunha replied, the chat room was filled with messages from other people.

“Wow…”

Kim Eunha, who loved gossip, also received messages from her other muggle friends saying ‘Did you see this?’

(Euna) That? I knew it beforehand – 13:12

Her friends asked how she knew. Kim Eunha smiled smugly. She felt a thrill of knowing something before others.

(Euna) I know someone who’s an insider^^ – 13:15

‘You didn’t know, did you? How is it? I’m more knowledgeable about the entertainment industry than others.’

Kim Eunha, who was filled with a strange sense of superiority, finished chatting with her ‘muggle’ friends and opened the fan chat room again.

(Euna) Do you know anything else? – 13:21

(BD) Of course I do – 13:21

(BD) Do you know why GYH didn’t renew his contract with BRRS? – 13:22

(BD) He was bullied by the BRRS members and left – 13:23

Kim Eunha’s eyes sparkled. She was no longer the Kim Eunha who thought she wouldn’t believe rumors without evidence a few days ago.

***

On Thursday, after the showcase, Awi gathered in the conference room.

The video team staff of the agency were busy setting up cameras. 

Soon, the staff gave an okay sign.

Park Seodam and Jo Taewoong recited their prepared lines.

“What are we going to do today?”

“Today, we’re going to apply for our own reality show ourselves.”

The members exclaimed in awe.

Thursday at 8 p.m. was the time to apply for the pre-recording of K Company’s music show on Friday.

“Why are you looking at the server time?”

Park Seodam asked Park Jinyeok, who was staring at the server time alert on his laptop. 

Park Jinyeok answered with a serious expression.

“My sister told me that the time is slightly different for each site’s server.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, so they use it a lot when they do ticketing or course registration.”

To apply for Awi’s pre-recording, they had to leave a comment on the newly opened pre-recording application board on the official fan cafe.

Park Seodam leaned in to see Park Jinyeok’s laptop screen. 

Park Jinyeok blocked his screen and pushed her away.

Cho Taewoong, who was watching the situation, shook his head.

“That’s all unnecessary. This is purely luck.”

“What will the fans who can’t go do if we succeed?”

“The ones who got the backup numbers will go, right?”

Lee Juhyuk narrowed his eyes as he looked at the trio of same-aged friends who were already expecting to succeed.

“It won’t be that easy.”

“Let’s bet on this. The person who applies last will buy dinner or late-night snack today.”

“Hyung! Can you handle it?”

Kim Hyun, who had a strong competitive spirit, confidently proposed the bet. 

The members who had received their settlement and had a rich bank account gladly accepted his offer.

When he glanced at the server time on his laptop, it was 7:58 p.m. 

The numbers indicating the server time gradually changed from black to orange, and then to red as the time approached.

“Why am I so nervous?”

“My stomach is churning.”

Ian casually pressed the comment button at 59 minutes and 54 seconds.

Suddenly, there was a loud beep from the server time alert, along with a countdown sound effect that matched the seconds. Lee Juhyuk and Kim Juyeong were startled by the sound and missed their timing to write a comment.

[It crashed as expected.]

‘I’m screwed.’

As expected, nothing appeared on the white screen. 

The fan cafe had temporarily stopped because of too much traffic.

“Go!”

“Let’s go!”

The members who pressed at 8 o’clock sharp looked at their screens with bewildered expressions.

“Huh?”

“Am I the only one who got stuck?”

Kim Juyeong refreshed his page. Jin, who was watching him, scolded him [You shouldn’t refresh…]

“I got an error and went back, but this is ruined, right?”

Kim Hyun showed his screen to the members. Ian mocked him.

“Okay, today’s late-night snack is on Hyun hyung.”

“No way!”

“Hyung, you did that on purpose to buy us late-night snack, right? Hyung has a big heart. Like an ocean.”

“No!”

Kim Hyun screamed, but there was no sign of the fan cafe coming back. 

It was still showing only a white screen.

“When will this come back?”

“How can there be so many people?”

“Is this site too weak?”

After refreshing the page for about three minutes, the fan cafe finally returned to normal and he was back on the home screen.

Ian went back to the fan meeting application board. 

The fan meeting application required personal information, so only private comments were allowed, but he could see how many comments there were.

“Wow… did you see this?”

“What? Oh? Wow…”

“Is this real?”

The members exclaimed as they saw the number of comments. 

It was a lottery for only 330 people, but about 7,000 people had commented in an instant.

“How can there be so many people?”

“We could even have a concert at our showcase venue, right?”

The members refreshed the page with nervous expressions. 

It was first-come-first-served, so the application was already over, but more comments were being added.

“When will we get the results?”

“It will be announced at 10 p.m.”

The video team staff answered. Ian frowned slightly.

“10 p.m.? The fan meeting is tomorrow morning.”

He thought it would be better to give some time for the fans to adjust their schedules, since there were fans of different ages, some who wanted to take a day off from work, and some who had other circumstances. He said:

***

“Isn’t this too tight for the working fans? Can we change the application time?”

“I’ll talk to them.”

Park Dong-soo, who was watching the recording with the video team, gave a thumbs up. 

The members cheered and praised Ian.

“By the way, how do we succeed in this? I’m sure none of us have succeeded.”

“The ones who get through this are amazing.”

With Park Jin-hyuk and Kim Joo-young’s words, the video team finished recording.

The video they filmed was a short self-made content that they applied for their own fan meeting, and it was supposed to be uploaded to the fan cafe as soon as they finished recording.

“The number of applications increased a lot from last time.”

“Really?”

Park Dong-soo smiled happily. 

This album was lucky from the start. 

The songs were well received on the charts, and the title song was gaining popularity by word of mouth.

“It was nice of you to care for the fans earlier. Just keep doing that. It would be nice if the public recognized us more, but idols can’t survive without fans. You guys know that, right?”

“Yes, hyung.”

As they saw their popularity rising, the members also smiled and nodded.

***

Awi ate dinner and stayed in the practice room to lightly practice the choreography. 

He headed to the dorm earlier than usual because he had to arrive earlier for K company’s music show, which had frequent rehearsals.

“Wow, Ian made it into the top 330?”

“Really?”

At exactly 10 p.m., Lee Joo-hyuk checked the rankings for a late-night snack and showed his phone screen.

What rank are our members in?

Ian 95th (golden hand!)

Seodam 2,407th

Jin-hyuk 3,874th

Tae-woong 4,971th

Joo-young 5,180th

Juhyuk ranked 6,829th

Current count unavailable (presumably no comments)

Ian made it to the top ranks and needs to arrive at the live broadcast site by standby 331!

“Wow, 95th place. That’s amazing.”

“How did you do it?”

“I had no hope, so I uploaded it in 54 seconds.”

Ian went to the fan cafe and posted a message titled ‘The honey tip from the 95th place of the comment olympics’.

The content was ‘Awi-dom! The honey tip of the comment olympics! Upload it in 54 seconds! See you all tomorrow. Awi-dom who didn’t make it in time, let’s meet next timeㅠㅠ’.

As soon as he posted the message, comments flooded in. Ian smiled and read each fan’s comment carefully.

“Then, Hyun-hyung is treating us to late-night snacks today?”

“Ah! Why did I make that bet?”

“Usually, the person who proposes this kind of bet loses.”

Everyone laughed out loud except for Kim Hyun, who had a deathly expression on his face.

***

There were a lot of people gathered on the way to K company’s music show as usual. Reporters and fans crowded together and flashed their cameras.

“Look over here!”

“Ian!”

“Left! One more time!”

Ian used Jin’s ability to recognize his fans as usual, but the other fans around him were amazed and opened their mouths.

‘So many… Were there this many before?’

And Jin’s mark was noticeably more visible than before. 

They had been inactive in Korea for a while due to their Japanese activities, but their fans didn’t decrease and rather increased.

[Pluto’s relationship broke out and a lot of their fans came over.]

‘So they finally broke up… But why did their fans come to us?’

[They overlap with you guys a bit. Their concept and debut time are similar… And usually, people who enter the K-pop scene go around. They can’t forget the taste of being a fan and soon leave for another singer. There is hiatus but no quitting.]

And popularity was not only felt by the fans.

“Awi, we’ll start the dry rehearsal.”

He felt it during the whole rehearsal too. 

He was right in the broadcast order. 

The order of the music show was assigned according to popularity, and Awi was the fourth from the end.

“Wow, he sings well live.”

The audio director admired his voice that didn’t falter even while dancing.

***

Awi finished the whole rehearsal and headed to the waiting room. 

He felt his back ache already as he thought of squeezing into the group partition waiting room again.

“Huh? Isn’t this way?”

Juhyuk tilted his head at the direction that led to the main building where they always went.

“Dongsu-hyung! Why are we going this way?”

“Oh, I didn’t tell you. You guys don’t use the shared waiting room anymore.”

“Huh… Then. Do we have our own waiting room?!”

Juhyuk raised his voice.

“Well, it’s a bit small but it’s much better than the partition.”

“Wow! Our own waiting room!”

“Awesome!”

The members jumped up.

Awi finally got their own waiting room.