Chapter 114:

Chapter 114:

“...”

The elevator that carried Yu-geon made a small mechanical sound as it descended to the lower floor.

I awkwardly closed my eyes and covered my face with my hand, staring at the tightly shut elevator door.

I thought we had some kind of unpleasant relationship because of his unnecessarily sensitive attitude.

But it turned out to be more innocent than I expected.

‘Well... there’s only half a year left in our activity period. It’s probably time to start preparing for the next step.’

I didn’t know exactly how the contract was set up, since I was a third party. But from what I heard in the community, the trainees from the affiliated agencies would go back to their original agencies as soon as the two years were over.

In the case of our senior group, Winirand, some of the trainees didn’t go back to their original agencies. They stayed with ‘White Sand Music’, which was the project management agency.

It was a business secret, so unless you were involved, you couldn’t know what the conditions were.

‘In the end... they all went down the same path of failure. It wasn’t a good choice.’

The Floss members must have had a lot on their minds.

It was none of my business, anyway. I was just a little curious.

Even if they collapsed as miserably as Winirand, it had nothing to do with us.

‘I wonder if this will make our agency push us more. That would be nice.’

But I didn’t want to wish for their downfall for our sake. And neither did the other members.

They weren’t so vicious that they would hope for their own success at the expense of others. If they were, they wouldn’t have stayed in this mess in the first place.

I suddenly remembered a few sentences I saw on SNS.

[- Isn’t it amazing that Climax got into the Muggle Pick for their latest single?]

When I looked at the word cloud of the public’s evaluation and association with Climax, there were a few prominent words.

[Desperation] [Urgency] [Support] [Hope] [Comeback]

Maybe it was because of their long obscure life and the attacks they received from the big fandoms. They were praised as idols that made you want to cheer for them.

‘In other words... they looked pitiful.’

It wasn’t an image that would benefit them in the long run. But for now, it was a huge help.

Also, I didn’t notice it when I was preparing, but when I released the single, I realized something.

‘This... was not a popular concept.’

It was too heavy for the masses, and there was no hook section that would make it addictive.

It was cool, but it was something that only the people who liked us would rave about. It was a hard concept to catch the attention of the public.

What saved us from the cold and dark 100th rank was the ‘desperate stone’ image.

We received the sympathy of the public as the unfair treatment we received from the popular group of the same agency was exposed. They said they wanted to support us to reach higher places.

And the busking live that we did without a single staff member also became a hot topic when it was revealed that the minivan was a rental car.

[- They’re not lacking in skills or visuals, but how can they not make it? ᅲᅲᅲᅲᅲᅲ]

[- I was sad that Ise was good at driving, but when I saw him breaking through that crowd and getting out, I don’t know if I should be relieved or not ᅲᅲᅲᅲᅲ]

We were grateful that we could stay in the 30th rank thanks to them.Cheêck out latest novels at novelhall.com

‘But we can’t rely on this alone.’

As the leader and the son of a chaebol family, I couldn’t afford to be seen as ‘idols who do it as a hobby’. It would be over as soon as they said, ‘Oh, I thought they were poor, but they’re not.’

The public could change their minds at any moment.

So we had to... quickly secure a solid fandom that wouldn’t collapse.

Anyway, I couldn’t afford to miss the present situation by worrying about the future. Right now, the priority was to calm down the members who were still dumbfounded.

I opened the door to the room again and went inside.

“...”

The members were staring at me with piercing eyes. My face was not just stinging, but burning.

“I’m sorry about what happened today.”

As I apologized without avoiding the awkward atmosphere, hmm, Kyunghwa pursed his lips.

“You could have at least texted us.”

I knew it was an excuse, but I thought it was better than saying nothing.

“It wasn’t the right mood for that. It’s hard to explain in detail.”

Shh, I looked around at the other guys’ expressions and saw that everyone except Seon-woo had a pretty stiff face.

̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄

Except for Playground, who debuted last month, all the other groups had higher popularity than Climax.

As boy groups with high album sales, they were all strangers to me when I was living as Lim Hyun-seong. They each had at least 300,000 copies sold in their first week.

Did we really belong in this lineup? I couldn’t contain my curiosity and checked the other groups’ first-week sales. I lost my appetite.

[Best first-week sales by group]

Floss 1.45 million

Climax (none)

AtoX 570,000

Vesper 430,000

P2CK 310,000

Playground (none)

The complaint that Floss should be the judge was understandable.

Not to mention, Floss’s leader Hwijin had participated as a supporter teacher in the Playground’s performance stage.

‘Are they trying to get all the attention by getting hated?’

I couldn’t figure out what they were thinking. I racked my brain for a while and came to a conclusion.

‘They’re the kind of people who would do anything for money.’

They didn’t care how the contestants’ mental health would be shattered, broken, and tormented, as long as the show was a hit.

Anyway, this was the general reaction of the boy group community.

And the Rises were on a roller coaster that couldn’t laugh or cry.

[- I’m going crazyᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ How do we deal with this supply that no one wants? No one asked for this combinationᅲᅲᅲᅲᅲᅲᅲ]

[They don’t seem to want this combination at allᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ]

First of all, the awkward jacuzzi experience of Seong-won and Kyunghwa became a huge topic.

Well, I expected it a little bit.

Seong-won and Kyunghwa, who only wore swimsuits, entered the water without any thought and sat face to face, then turned around without saying anything. The scene was made into a clip and circulated around the internet.

It would have been better if they had worn something like rash guards.

Both of them brought only shorts swimsuits because of the strong persuasion of the PD, and it was a disaster.

They were properly dressed below, but only part of their upper body was sticking out of the water, and the picture looked very strange.

They felt that something was wrong while filming with their self-cam, but they didn’t say anything.

[Two people looking at the sunset of Seoul without a word]

[(Faint pink effect)]

[...(Crow flying effect)]

[The two spent an intimate time like this for an hour. (Night view)]

The editing also highlighted the awkward atmosphere of the two, which was painful to watch, and the viewers were all suffering from empathy.

But the more the cast suffered, the more the viewers enjoyed it.

[- A combination that rejects chemistry with their whole body]

[- A supply with no demand that will never happen again in K-dol history]

[ᄂ Kyunghwa, I know it’s hard to make a living, but this is not it]

[ᄂ Ryu Kyunghwa and Son Seong-won probably think the same as you]

[- ᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏPlease save me, I’m going to die from suffocation watching this]

[- I think I’ve watched this 100 times, but every time I’m drawn to his suffocating expression, I just realized that Seong-won has abs on his stomachᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ큐ᅲᅲᅲᅲᅲᅲ]

[ᄂ Yeah, it’s funny and cute how he compares with Kyunghwa]

[ᄂ If you compare it with when they went to the indoor pool as a group during the day, it’s more clear]

[ᄂ Seon-woo and Kyunghwa are the only ones who are bland, it’s so cuteᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ]

The vacation special itself was well-received as it was.

Thanks to the fans of idols and general viewers who watched it a lot, it also got a boost from the algorithm.

The comment section was a mess again, but there was something more important than that.

It was the reaction to the appearance of ‘Boys Be Ambitious’.