Chapter 18
The members went up to the stage one by one at the staff's instructions.
"M8 will go up on stage~"
The set was built with a theme park concept.
Unlike the rehearsal, it was decorated with cute sky blue balloons.
"Hello, this is M8!"
"Wow!"
"Thank you so much for coming to our first debut stage today. Please take care of us!"
A mix of cheers and screams erupted from the audience at the members' greetings.
"Oh my~"
The audience responded immediately to each and every one of the members' actions.
Those reactions made me feel awkward but also a new sense of disconnect.
Perhaps it was because my anxiety had subsided a little after successfully completing the quest and filling up my lifespan, but it was a different experience from the showcase stage.
'I never thought I'd be on a real stage.'
I've been to concerts where the seats were filled to capacity, but it was different then.
No, it felt more unfamiliar than ever.
The audience filled the seats. Over a hundred people's eyes followed the slightest movement of the members.
'Did you wait until this early… no, late to see a stage that lasted less than 5 minutes?'
It was still the crack of dawn.
I felt it while doing security work, but it felt strange to see the eyes of fans looking at the artist as a third party.
As I looked around the audience, recalling those days, I suddenly made eye contact with an audience member.
The audience member, whose eyes were wide open, covered her mouth and waved her hands urgently.
I looked back.
The members were busy organizing their earphones.
'Oh, are you greeting me?'
I also bowed and greeted them.
"Kyaaaaah!"
There was a huge cheer.
While I was taken aback by the stronger reaction than I expected, I immediately fixed my expression and stood in line with the formation.
The standby sign came on.
Bright lights and a hundred pairs of eyes focused on us.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The intro began.
***
The college student went to the PC room early in the morning.
There was still time until the first train. In contrast to the spacious PC room, her condition was quite restless.
It was hard to tell if what she had just seen was a dream or reality.
'I have to write it quickly before it evaporates.'
The college student focused only on the smartphone keypad as if she didn't care about the large monitor and keyboard.
[2X0629 Music On Air M8 Pre-recording Review: The kids are really fresh, handsome, and cute. They are all tall and have great proportions. I was amazed the moment I saw them. Sungjun seemed to be the tallest and Yoohyun the shortest, but when I compared them to the staff, it seems like the average height of the members is just bigger, so they look small.]
She stared at the screen as if she was being sucked in, her fingers shaking slightly, but she didn't make a single typo.
[Sungjun has long arms and legs and a small face. He's 20 heads tall. Sehyun noticed at first but then winked and gave a refreshing and cute heart. Yeonwoo is just like on screen and just shines. Even from far away, his dimples are clear. ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Eden is so strange that he's leaning around the audience seats like a country puppy. ㅠㅠㅠㅠ he's just a puppy. Yoohyun is a legend in real life. He looks like 2D. Real beauty Legend!!!! His jawline is crazy (headache meme.jpg)]
She trembled as she recalled the moment that seemed like slow motion.
[No, I was just admiring his face and then I made eye contact with Yoo-hyun ㅠㅠㅠ I thought maybe it was me and greeted him ㅠㅠㅠ he bowed and greeted me ㅅㅂㅠㅠㅠ Our area was going crazy so he panicked and rolled his eyes but he was so cute that I laughed and then I burst out laughing: Then when the camera turned on, his expression completely changed and he just became a pro;;; What the gap is really?; If you keep doing this, I'm going to have a cold for the rest of my life]
The college student pressed the upload button.
She wiped her face with an excited expression and buried herself in her chair.
It already felt distant.
The time for the first train to run had already passed, but she blankly stared at the M8 music video playing on the monitor with her head down.
Just then, a solo shot of Yoo-hyun was passing by.
'F*ck, his beauty can't be captured by a camera.'
The college student who first saw M8's music video through a friend's sales ended up watching the showcase live.
It was a pure tremor that could no longer be felt to her former idol, who was stirring passionately and excited at the same time.
The next step naturally led to an application for the public broadcast.
—Hey, why are you getting it!!
She swallowed tears of joy after checking the results.
It was ironic that the friend who had shared to her failed and she passed.
The waiting time was getting longer, but it was only for a moment.
She couldn't be more thankful that she was a college student with nothing but time left during vacation.
Replies were quickly posted to her post.
—F*ckㅋㅋㅋㅋ What kind of idol bows at a 90 degree angle to a fan?
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋAh, seriously, the cuteness and out this world, the freshness of a rookie, that's it
—It's so cute how he's so flustered because of the fans cheering..
└Kwon Yoo-hyun, I should've given birth to him...
—With that face, you're the shortest member? I'm a sure fan LEGEND
—I'm so jealous that my stomach hurts of people who have been to the public broadcast, I want to die ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
She held her pounding heart and shared her overwhelming feelings to her heart's content.
Then suddenly she checked her bank account balance.
'Oh, I should have kept saving!!'
She felt angry at her past self who used to empty her fan account and drink alcohol, saying she had no use for it anymore.
'It's now. There's only now.'
The intuition built up from many years of fan experience was shouting. The next fan signing was out of the question with this amount of money.
'I won't be able to go to the monumental first fan signing, but next week....'
The college student gladly emptied her bank account.
***
The pre-recording was over in two sessions.
Although he missed the camera during the first recording and his lifespan was cut short once.
Thanks to the survival instinct, I desperately searched for red lights and finished the stage safely.
—It's so refreshing. It's been a while since a male idol debuted with a legendary song.
└Is this the idol who debuted today? The stage is so fresh..?
—The kids are working so hard because it's their first time performing in front of fans ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└It's so cute because it shows everythingㅠㅠㅠㅠ It all goes into my pocket ㅠㅠㅠ
Fortunately, the first stage reaction wasn't bad.
The moment I was about to edit my search term to get more specific information, a lollipop suddenly popped out on my smartphone.
"Why are you so serious when you did so well?"
"Yeah, Yoohyun's interview was really good, right?"
Otherwise, the system would take away my life.
"...There's still the fan signing event left."
I answered while accepting the candy that Choi Sungjun offered. After the members safely finished the live interview that had made them very nervous, the car became cheerful as they talked about their next schedule.
M8's first fan signing event.
The youngest members in the backseat, who were doing a skit among themselves, saying they were practicing, joined in.
"Hyung hyung. In that sense, let's go practice aegyo. It'll be less embarrassing if we practice in advance."
"Why practice when I am not going to do it anyway?"
"Iingng, you really think so? No matter how much you hate it, hyung, it's your fate to be cute?"
What kind of fate is that?
"Honestly, it's me and my hyung who should do the aegyo~ How scary would it be if Sungjun hyung did aegyo? Even the fans wouldn't make him do it?"
A cushion flew into the backseat at Kim Eden's brave statement.
A scream mixed with laughter was loud.
'They made him do it.'
I've seen Choi Sungjun's aegyo from the Tighten days until I'm sick of it.
Well, since the other members wouldn't accept the aegyo request, Choi Sungjun had no choice but to do it alone.
I rolled the candy in my mouth and swallowed a sigh.
'I'm worried.'
My daily quest.
Today's daily quest arrived right after the music show ended
[Daily quest arrived!]
[Give 50 fans on site a gift of fan service!]
[0 people / 50 people]
I was speechless.
I checked it again just in case I remembered wrong.
—Yeah, yeah. There are 50 people today. Why?
....
You want me to impress everyone at a fan signing event with a capacity of 50 people?
It's ridiculous, it's absurd.
It was a quest that could be seen as easy since it was a place where fans came, but the reality was different.
'Because there are a lot of individual fans.'
Among those who participated in the fan signing event, there must have been many who thought well of me, but there must have been some who didn't like me.
The abstract expression of impressing someone was difficult to understand.
I had to draw on my past experiences.
I searched for a solution, but most of them were at a level that even I knew roughly.
'The only thing that comes to mind right now is reactions.'
I recalled the moment when I worked as security guard for Tighten's fan signing event.
It was a place where you invested time and money on the weekend to see the artist you support.
It was only right to return that much sincerity.
Nevertheless, the first thing that came to mind was reactions because there were quite a few members who didn't even do that.
'There's no way I can impress enough to be recognized by the system for doing something so obvious.'
I tried to bring up the fact that I had been denying.
'...Is it just hard to accept?'
Actually, I had expected it to some extent since the aegyo-related items came out.
I knew from my experience guarding fan signing events that fans would ask for aegyo.
However, what I knew and what I could do were different.
Just imagining myself puffing up my cheeks made my eyes close tightly.
'Should I use the item?'
I checked the item I wanted to forget.
[Path of the Aegyo Craftsman]
: Show off your freestyle aegyo for 1 minute. (Cooldown 24:00:00)
Sh*t.
Freestyle aegyo, just thinking about what kind of results it would bring made me dizzy.
I opened my mailbox with anticipation.
'Please give me something useful.'
I pressed the single-use item draw that I had been holding off on. A cheerful effect followed immediately. And.
[Congratulations! You have acquired the
[Fancam Craftsman's Path]
: 'Eyes for Fancams' + 'Increased Skill Stat' applied for about 30 minutes after using the item
'This is okay, it's usable.'
A nice-looking item appeared.
'It probably won't help with today's daily quest, though.'
I sighed.
... In the end, I have no choice but to do something with what I saw.
At the moment when I was racking my brain and recalling my memories, Kang Se-hyun suddenly stuck his face out.
"Hyung-hyung, I'll tell you what I learned in aegyo class when I was a trainee!"
"...What class?"
I doubted my ears.
"Do you really do that?"
Choi Sung-jun, a former UJ trainee, looked back at Kang Se-hyun with a hollow laugh.
Is this a class that only exists in TP?
"What do you learn there?"
Shin Yeon-woo, who was listening to the conversation, scratched his cheek with a blank expression.
"...To be exact, it's a personal skill class."
So aegyo classes really exist.... It was fortunate that my trainee period was short.
Kang Se-hyun began teaching with a serious expression.
"First, raise your index finger."
Who would be moved by my cuteness, but I have to do something.
I quietly followed Kang Se-hyun's movements.
"Put your index finger on your cheek."
"..... Oh."
My stomach was getting bloated. I reluctantly put my finger on my cheek.
"Oh, please."
Choi Sung-jun hardened his expression and became serious. Shut up. It's your past and future.
"And imagine if your tongue was half folded."
"? Then you can't talk."
"Ah~ Hyung, really. It's boring."
Kim Eun-deun jeered at Choi Sung-jun's argument.
"Okay, Student Kwon Yoo-hyun! Don't listen to that hyung and just look at me! And follow along well~"
Kang Se-hyun's lesson continued until the car arrived at the next destination.
—