The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Chapter 109

[Record a higher number of retweets than OnlyOne on Bluebird on today’s live.]

[Upon success, control of Insight will increase.]

[Upon failure, control of Insight will be retrieved.]

I listened to the system’s explanation of the new surprise mission again. It was to reach a higher number of retweets than Only One.

‘This is driving me crazy.’ I didn’t know what kind of standard the system used to trigger a mission, but sometimes, it gave me a simple mission to hide inside a bathroom or gave me a very difficult one like this one to record a higher number of retweets than Only One. On days when The Showcase 2 aired, there were times when Only One and Siren reached Bluebird’s trending feeds thanks to the influence that the program held.

‘But has there ever been a time when we beat Only One in retweets?’ Only One was always ahead of us in that regard. There were some points of the program airing time when we filled up the social media pages more than them, but those times had only been momentary. As time passed, Only One always advanced ahead in the count of retweets and feeds talking about them. This was because of the difference between how well-known we were compared to Only One, regardless of who the show was backing.

Though there was a lot of protests and drama about him, Kang Hyun-Sung had been a cast of the show, Select Your Idol, and one of the main members of the top-tier idol group, Yours. Though Yours had only been a one-year term group, the influence they had on the idol market was nothing to scoff at.

‘It’s only expected we will be losing to Only One.’ It was already a miracle that we had closed our gaps to this extent. Of course, this wasn’t the important point, but this:

‘It was to record a higher number of retweets than Only One.’

“Hm...” I raised my phone, and after getting into the V-Live app, I checked The Showcase channel. The announcement on the channel was simple.

[Only One and Siren members visit the Pepcola shooting site?!]

[Ask Only One and Siren questions you are curious about!]

[#Curious_About_OnlyOne]

[#Ask_What_You_Are_Curious_About_to_Siren]

The announcements simply stated that Only One and Siren would be coming to a commercial shooting site and asked viewers to come up with questions they were curious about. That was all besides some information about the expected live time and sponsors that weren’t important to me.

‘They say to ask what you are curious about but don’t tell us the main content.’

Perhaps, the main content could be just us reading the audience’s questions and answering them, but I highly doubted that would be all there was to it. This was an event funded and supported by Pepcola. I knew there was no way this job would be as convenient as answering questions.

‘This is complicated.’ I didn’t know what I could do to record a higher number of retweets than Only One.

‘Do I just have to wait until then?’ However, for some strange reason, I felt confident about this mission. We were both going to come out on a live show and after experiencing both our team’s atmosphere and Only One’s team’s, I was certain that our group would do better.

‘I don’t know how to say this, but our members are a bit...more interesting.’ Only One was funny too but our members had more character to them. And in a live show where having memorable character traits and quick reflexes mattered the most, we had the advantage.

‘We could be in the lead then.’

It was then, we arrived in front of the salon and got off the car.

“Ahhhh.”

“Urgggh!”

“I’m so tired.”

“Haaa.”

My members groaned as they walked up to the salon. It was then my phone vibrated.

‘What?’ I wondered who was contacting me so early in the morning and saw that it was Kang Hyun-Sung.

—Let’s do well in today’s shooting.

“...?” I was so perplexed by his message that I placed my phone back into my pocket and didn’t answer. If I met him in person later, I supposed I could say that I was too busy to read his message in the morning.

***

Only One was getting their hair and makeup done at the salon. Perhaps, it was because they had been working hard the last week but everyone was dozing off while receiving their treatments.

“Ah! I’m sorry!”

Gasp! "I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize I was sleeping.”

The Only One members apologized, thinking the work wasn’t going well because of them, but all the salon staff responded to them kindly.

“It’s fine~”

“We all know how tired you all are~”

“It’s easy to feel sleepy when someone is touching your hair.”

The only one who didn’t fall asleep and was checking his phone was Kang Hyun-Sung.

“Are you waiting to hear back from someone?” His personal makeup artist asked, and Kang Hyun-Sung replied succinctly, “No.”

“What kind of shooting did you say today was?”

“It was the Pepcola commercial.”

“Didn’t you also do that last year when you were part of ‘Yours’?”

“Yes.”

“That was so nice. It was so vibrant and felt just like the summer.”

“Did it?”

“My friend bought a whole box of Pepcola to gather all the Yours’ photo cards.”

“Please thank her for me,” Kang Hyun-Sung said and smiled blandly. Then, he thought to himself about how there were more people who still thought of him as part of Yours member rather than Only One. The topic of the conversation kept going in that direction too.

‘Yours...’ But for Kang Hyun-Sung, he didn’t have much of a pleasant memory surrounding the Yours. Personally, he wanted Only One to establish itself as fast as possible so that he didn’t have to hear that group’s name mentioned again.

It was then, Kang Hyun-Sung’s phone vibrated. He raised his phone and checked the message.

“Ha.” For the first time, his lips curved upwards, and he smiled.

“Did something happen?” his makeup artist asked.

“No,” Kang Hyun-Sung asked and placed his phone down again. His phone screen had Tae-Yoon’s brief and blunt reply.

—Yes.

Tae-Yoon's message was rude and unfriendly, but it made his expectations rise for the upcoming shooting. Then, he told the makeup artist, “This commercial will be better than when I was at Yours.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

***

After getting our hair and makeup done, we changed into our shooting outfits. We had to change on the spot because the shooting staff warned us that there would be no suitable place for us to change our clothes, as today’s shooting would take place outdoors and using the public bathroom brought up major concerns.

I looked at the outfits we were given.

“Wow, it has been a while since I wore school uniforms!”

“It makes me feel kind of awkward.”

“Come on~ It hasn’t been that long~”

They were high school uniforms that had a warm beige color. It also seemed to be custom-made by the mark embedded on top of the shirt.

“Does it say, ‘Siren High School?’”

“Yes.”

“How cute.”

“Did everyone put on their name tags?”

“Yes~”

We stuck the plastic name tags on our chests. It felt strange for all of us to get in the car while wearing school uniforms. Though I never went to the same high school as them, it almost felt like we were going on a school field trip altogether. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who got this feeling because Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna also remarked after seeing us, “Wow! You all look like high schoolers like this.”

“Don’t you think it makes us look like their parents?”

“Hahaha! Yes, it feels like we are sending our kids to school.”

Yeon-Hoon seemed to be in a good mood because he liked his uniform and kept taking selfies. Dong-Jun also seemed to have gotten mentally younger with his clothes and suddenly started playing a phone game he usually didn’t play. Woon calmly sat and looked outside the car window and Do-Seung also placed his chin over his hand and looked outside.

‘I can imagine what they were like in high school,’ I thought. There was a saying that when people saw an item filled with memories, they momentarily returned to that time. Though this was clearly not the school uniforms they had worn while they were in high school, it must have been enough to make them recall those days. But for me, I didn’t have many memories of high school. I rarely went to high school though I passed my GED.

“Doesn’t it feel like we are going on a trip to play rather than to shoot a commercial?” Yeon-Hoon asked excitedly.

“Yes.”

“It feels like we are going on a picnic.”

“The shooting scene makes it even more like it,” the others responded.

Finally, Ms. Seung-Yeon announced our arrival. “Here it is~ We have arrived!”

We all got out of the car. Our commercial shooting site was an amusement park located in Gyeonggi-do: Everland.

“Wow, it has been so long since I came to Everland.”

“Wow!”

“This is really ‘The Land of Fantasy’.”

After we got out of the car, we saw the shooting staff gathered at the center. In the middle, there were the Only One members including Kang Hyun-Sung.

“Welcome everyone!” One of the staff who came to meet us greeted us. “You can join Only One there! Here are your mikes!”

“Thank you~”

We followed the producers’ instructions and moved to the shooting site with our mikes attached to our clothes. Ms. Seung-Yeong and Ms. Hyuna slowly waved their hands like parents sending their kids to school.

“Okay, let’s go~”

“Let’s shoot this commercial~”

“Okay~”

My members and I lightly walked to the site.

“Hello!”

“Hello~”

“Hello.”

We bowed and greeted each of the staff. And among them, we saw producer Park Soo-Chul and another middle-aged man, who was the director of today’s commercial. It appeared many people in management roles gathered because this was a collaboration commercial with Pepcola and The Showcase.

“You guys have a beige uniform,” Kang Hyun-Sung said as he abruptly approached us I was surprised to see him suddenly comment on our clothes without a greeting.

Thus, I first created a distance between us and replied. “Ah, yes. Ours are a beige color. I see that yours is navy.”

“Yes, we are all navy.” Then, I saw the rest of the Only One members who were wearing navy uniforms join us.

“Mr. Tae-Yoon! As expected, the school uniform suits you!” Park Young-Ho approached us and looked delighted to see me.

“As expected of a current high schooler.”

“I don’t go to high school though.”

“Ah, how awkward...heehee.”

Only One’s Kim Ju-Hyun also approached us and acted friendly with me. Other members of Only One named Lee Chul-Woon and Kim Si-Woon also appeared happy to see me and greeted me.

“I guess there are some clothes that fit certain ages better.”

“Rather than our uniform, beige color feels more like spring.”

I soon found myself surrounded by Only One members. I thought this whenever I saw them but, ‘...Why in the world do these guys like me?’

I didn’t understand why Only One always treated me so well though I didn’t do anything much for them.

“Tae-Yoon, were you saying ‘hi’ to Only One?” Dong-Jun smiled at me and walked closer to my side.

“Ah, hello!”

“Hello~”

And following Dong-Jun, Yeon-Hoon, Do-Seung, and Woon all gathered at my side.

“Tae-Yoon!”

“Bong Tae-Yoon.”

“Tae-Yoon?”

‘What why is everyone gathering around me?’ I thought. It felt like I was the bridge between the two groups. There hadn’t been much interaction between Only One and Siren so far. On media sites, they always placed us two groups as rivals so it had been hard for us to develop a proper relationship.

Yeon-Hoon said, “Hello senior!”

Kang Hyun-Sung replied, “There’s no need for you to be so formal.”

“But... you are my senior.”

“We are the same age though.”

“Yes, we are.”

“Let’s just be friends.”

“Really?”

Yet, from today onwards, they seemed to be developing a friendship. Still, I didn’t know why they were conversing with me in the center.

“Wow, Mr. Do-Seung, your pecs are insane.”

“Heh, you noticed?”

“What exercises do you do and how many sets?”

“Ah, I usually do a lot of bench press but I alternate between heavy dumbbells and barbells. I have this program...”

Only One Kim Ju-Hyun and Do-Seung were building their bond as gym bros.

“Huh? We are the same age?”

“Ohh~ Samesies~”

Only One’s Park Young-Ho and Dong-Jun were quickly becoming closer because they were the same age. I liked how they were all becoming closer but still, ‘Why are they placing me at the center...!’

It felt as if I had become a totem pole. Did a site of friendship form if I was placed at the center? Whatever the reason was, I wanted it to stop when the commercial director shouted in a bright voice.

—Ah, ah. Mike test. Can everyone hear me?

“Oh, looks like the shooting will start.”

“Let’s talk again later.”

I felt like I could finally breathe again after the friendship hangout ended, and then the producer continued.

—Ah, it’s good to see you all developing bonds by talking to each other.

—Today’s shooting was supposed to show two groups of high schoolers playing around in the amusement park, but I think we can make a change now.

Hearing this, I began to feel a foreboding feeling.

—How about we mix the two groups, Only One and Siren for this shooting?

“Wow!”

“That sounds so fun!”

And that was how the entire place changed to a site of friendship.

“Haaaa.” I felt a wave of weariness flood over me but in contrast, everyone else smiled brightly.

“Yes!”

“Sounds good!”

“Oh yaay!”