Chapter 104:

Chapter 104:

Chapter 104

I want to be like that.

As the lift in the center of the stage rose, a golden pharaoh’s crown revealed itself.

White smoke filled the stage floor to create a mysterious atmosphere.

“It’s Egypt, alright.”

Idasol, who muttered as soon as he saw the crown, closed his mouth and focused on the stage as the song started with a violin melody.

The pharaoh’s crown opened with a swoosh and a person came out of it. It was Ijuhyuk.

He grabbed the microphone after roughly tearing off the bandage wrapped around his head.

“The universe begins with you and me”

Then Ian, who was dressed like a priest, sang the next verse.

At the bridge part of the song, rich sounds echoed throughout the concert hall, and backup dancers rushed onto the stage.

“Let’s go...”

Lim No-eul, who had a bad stomach today, breathed hard and headed for the stage.

‘Here... like this...’

Lim No-eul usually doesn’t think about anything when he dances.

The fact that he had a lot of thoughts meant that his concentration was disrupted.

Moreover, by chance, Lim No-eul’s middle movement was a terrible one, from the far right to the front left.

‘...Huh?’

Lim No-eul’s body swayed as he followed the movement and he couldn’t balance himself properly.

‘No...!’

***

The first time Lim No-eul saw Awi was when Awi was a trainee, busking in front of Daehak-ro.

“Who is that? A celebrity?”

“The one in the middle is handsome.”

Lim No-eul, who was bored waiting for his late friend at the meeting place, watched someone’s performance at a place where people gathered.

Seven men, all of them had clean faces as if they had received care beforehand.

Lim No-eul, who had received a few business cards from entertainment companies after losing some weight, thought they were either trainees or unknown idols.

“Wow.”

A voice that didn’t falter even while dancing lightly.

He smiled casually and made eye contact with the people who came together.

“He’s cool...”

Lim No-eul was completely hooked on the busking at that moment.

At the end of the song, when Ian hit a high note, the surrounding people exclaimed and clapped at the reverberation.

“Thank you!”

“We’re debuting in December! We’re Awi! Please support us!”

After the busking ended, they bowed and greeted them.

The people lingered around with regretful expressions. Lim No-eul was one of them.

After that, Lim No-eul searched for Awi’s name for no reason and found out that they were accepting applications for their debut stage recording.

‘I sang well then... I want to hear it live...’

He moved his mouse cursor back and forth and agonized over it. He finally pressed the pre-recording application button.

“But aren’t all the people there women? It’s uncomfortable... Ah! I don’t care.”

Lim No-eul laughed bitterly. Looking at the explosively increasing number of comments, it was like drinking soup before getting rice cakes.

‘Maybe, I’ll get it?’

Whatever.

When he came to his senses, it was Thursday.

He skipped school and stood in line for Nnet’s recording at dawn. Among the people who gathered, Lim No-eul was the only man.

‘I’m glad it’s winter...’

Lim No-eul bowed his head as he shivered in his long padding, scarf, and hat.

“Oh, there’s a male fan too.”

“How did you get here?”

Since it was a joint recording with other groups, he felt the murmuring and gazes more intensely. Lim No-eul said quietly.

“I saw them at Daehak-ro... busking.”

“Busking fan? Lucky~ I couldn’t go.”

He chatted with the people who talked to him and entered the recording place while trying not to stick to other fans as much as possible.

‘Ah... I’m nervous. I shouldn’t come next time.’

Lim No-eul’s face relaxed as soon as Awi went up on stage.

“Hello. This is our first recording.”

They said that but they perfectly performed three stages.

[Is this Lim No-eul? He fell on stage.]

‘Really?’

[Yeah, he totally collapsed. The people in the venue must have noticed.]

‘But he wasn’t on camera?’

[No, you were on camera then.]

It was lucky that he wasn’t on camera, or everyone watching would have known.

A sob came from between their hunched bodies. Suddenly, Cho Tae-woong walked over to a staff member.

“Excuse me, can I have a bottle of water?”

The staff handed him a bottle of water blankly.

“Drink this first.”

Just like Kim Young-hyun did for Cho Tae-woong, Cho Tae-woong opened the bottle cap and handed it to Lim No-eul.

“Th... thank you.”

Lim No-eul lifted his head and took the water. His face was red and stained with tears and snot. He held his trembling hand and drank the water.

“Hey... anyone can make mistakes. It’s okay.”

Cho Tae-woong said, looking at him. He was serious, unlike his usual teasing and joking self. He remembered how he was when he was a trainee.

“Yeah, I almost sang with this thing instead of the mic earlier.”

Ian said. He had almost used a stage prop as a microphone.

He had instinctively raised his other hand to grab the mic, but it was a close call.

“I sprayed my shoes earlier, but they were still slippery.”

“The floor was made of slippery material. I could have fallen.”

Lim No-eul wiped his tears with his arm. He was the trainee who used the practice room the longest.

“But... you prepared a lot for the stage, didn’t you?”

Still, the lights in Awi’s practice room never went out. He had seen him working on his stage until late at night, even pulling all-nighters.

I ruined his stage. Lim No-eul sobbed and cried out loud.

“I’m sorry...”

Jo Tae-woong and Ian looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.

They had cared a lot about their performance.

They were sorry that the whole picture had collapsed, but it was okay.

They were strict with their own mistakes, but not with others’.

“Hey, it’s okay.”

“It happens.”

Ian and Jo Tae-woong patted his shoulder.

They would get scolded by the choreographer anyway, but he wouldn’t be too harsh on them.

The stage floor was slippery in the first place.

They decided to just comfort Lim No-eul.

“What? What’s going on?”

The other members who heard the commotion came and squatted in front of Lim No-eul.

“He fell on the stage.”

“Really? We didn’t even notice anyone falling while we were performing.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Everyone makes mistakes.”

“But you said you fell, are you hurt anywhere?”

Surrounded by seven members in an instant, Lim No-eul was touched and sorry for Awi who came to console him and burst into tears.

“What, what’s wrong? Why are you crying again?”

“I’m sorry...”

“Ugh... This is not helping.”

Jo Tae-woong started to laugh bitterly and the other members also joined him one by one.

***

The staff who handed water to Jo Tae-woong secretly took a picture.

-Awi comforting a backup dancer

I’ll prove that I was there.

He suddenly asked me for water and I thought he was going to drink it, but he gave it to a backup dancer who was crying because he messed up on stage. He looked like a trainee and he was so cute that I took a picture.

└What’s wrong with them?

└└It didn’t show up on YouTube, but a backup dancer fell

└Really?

└Aw, so cuteᄏᄏᄏᄏ It looks like they’re surrounded by bulliesᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ

└They’re sweet for taking care of the traineeᅲᅲᅲᅲ

└I was there too and they’re all nice. I saw them comforting the trainee from behind and they got dragged away by their manager after performing

└The crying trainee is cute and so are the ones being dragged away by their managerᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ