Chapter 212

Chapter 212

It was the day of Siren’s pre-recording. People who came to observe as audience members gathered in front of the broadcasting station and were keeping order. Among those who got closer after seeing each other in several events together, they all spoke about the same topic.

“Dong-Jun and Tae-Yoon are okay, right?”

“Yeah, I hope so...”

“A person I know is a reporter who wrote an article about that and they said Dong-Jun and Tae-Yoon weren’t hurt. I heard the criminal just pretended to threaten them and ran away.”

“Oh, I’m so glad then.”

“When I first saw the article, I was like what in the world...And I thought my heart was going to drop.”

The topic of their conversation by far was Bong Tae-Yoon and Park Dong-Jun’s attack by an unidentified assailant. Someone had made a nonsensical post that Siren’s fortune was filled with bad luck on social media in the past, but considering recent events, it felt as if there was some credibility to those words. It was crazy that Siren’s win on a music show and a mysterious attack happened on the same day.

The Siren fan knew that Siren was walking a different path from other idols, but she felt anxious because this seemed true in both good and bad ways.

“Well, let’s think of it as the worst being over.”

“Yeah, true.”

“I think their recognition increased after they came out on the news and stuff...”

“What if they’re labeled as ambushed idols now?”

“Ah, that’s going too far.”

People tried to interpret this issue in the best possible way.

“When something good happens, something bad happens, and the opposite is true vice versa.”

“At this rate, what if they really get the Grand Prize at the end of this year?”

“Then, that will be amazing.”

While people busily conversed to endure the boring waiting time, they saw Siren’s fan manager dragging a large box on a wheelbarrow. Judging by how the fan manager came back after doing an attendance check, it meant only one thing. It was even more evident by the box behind them.

“Everyone! I’ll be passing the gifts prepared by the members! Please stay in order!”

“Wow.”

Gasp!

“Awesome!”

Siren was doing a “return” gift. It was obvious that they prepared these gifts during the one-day off they had yesterday. The fans couldn’t believe they prepared a gift for fans on the one day they had a day off. Their hearts already started beating fiercely even before they received it. At the same time, they began to imagine what kind of item it may be. Was it an expensive sandwich that they gave out before? Or a lunch box?

Whatever it was, they were overjoyed as they were not happy about getting a gift but just the fact that they were ‘getting’ something. But...

“What?”

“Huh?”

“Ah?”

“Hahaha!”

An item that no one expected was placed one by one in the hands of fans.

–Siren’s signature soybean stew-paste!

–A premium soybean stew paste meal kit that contains Do-Seung’s secret recipe that you can’t taste anywhere else!

It was a soybean paste stew meal kit that was meticulously packaged with a sealing machine. The content of the meal kit contained broth, beef brisket, packet of vegetables, and a sauce that appeared to be soybean paste. The amount looked to be about 2-3 servings. But above all, the picture on the meal kit was by far the best.

“Are they ambassadors for soybean paste stew meal kit?”

“The recipe! It’s mine!”

We each boasted to our fans about our roles in making the soybean paste stew meal kit. The fans poured out various reactions every time we said something, but it was hard to exactly what they said. I could only infer what they said through the shape of their mouth and the muffled sounds. After we finished our greeting, our performance began in earnest.

The song, “Blue Summer Night, which we had now become very familiar with, rang out. We continued the choreography that we had done on stage and practiced many times. Whenever the fan’s cheering chant reached through my in-ear, I had to force myself to hold back my laughter. However, unlike me who held back my laughter, Yeon-Hoon looked at the fans with a big smile. In the end, I stopped repressing my laugh and followed Yeon-Hoon by looking at the fans while praying hard that only happy days like these would continue.

***

After the pre-recording, we had no choice but to busily move again. We had to do the filming that was delayed from yesterday, and of course, we also had to fulfill the schedule planned for today. After the pre-recording we finished the morning radio schedule without having time to eat breakfast and then moved back to the next entertainment schedule. There wasn’t enough time to eat lunch, so we ended up eating kimbap in the car.

After that, we went to a music show again. We did the performance one more time on a live show, and we saw Only One on today’s show. Since both of our groups were first-place candidates, we’ve been called to all kinds of events. The Only One members rushed towards us and worriedly asked whether Dong-Jun and I were hurt by the madman who ambushed us. Whenever that happened, we had to say several times that we were okay and were not hurt.

In particular, Kang Hyun-Sung sneaked over to me and secretly asked me if I was really okay. I wondered what in the world was wrong with this guy, but I ended the conversation by saying I really was okay. After that, we competed with Only One for first place until the end of the show, and the first place today went to Only One, not us.

–This week’s first place is Only One’s <First One>! Congratulations!

Only One members’ eyes widened in surprise as they hadn’t expected to win first place. Even Kang Hyun-Sung, who seemed indifferent, looked at me with surprise. The question was, why did he look at me at that moment? Well...I didn’t think too much about this as people just looked at anyone when they were surprised. We left the stage to give way for Only to enjoy their victory. Although it was a shame that we couldn’t win first place that day, there was no time for us to feel disappointed.

“Tae-Yoon! Look over here!”

“Dong-Juuuun!”

“Yeon-! Hoon-! Here-!”

“Woooon!”

“Do-Seuuuung!”

On that day, we had a fan signing event and communicated with the fans. It was nice to win first place, but I like communicating with the fans a bit more.

“I ate soybean paste stew today!”

“Really? Then did you also come to the pre-recording today?”

“Of course! That soybean paste stew was delicious.”

“Yeah, Do-Seung is really good at cooking.”

“Tae-Yoon, what other food do you like besides soybean paste stew?”

“Hmm...I like braised short ribs made by Yeon-Hoon’s mom.”

“...That’s very detailed.”

“What about you, nuna?”

“Hmm...I...”

After a few fan signings, I felt like I was getting better and better. I still felt the excitement and tingles, but it felt like only unnecessary anxiety disappeared. After that, we performed our side-tracks in front of the fans. The fan signing event concluded by taking pictures together.

“Ahhhhh!”

“We worked extremely hard today, roger-”

“Where did you pick up that weird way to speak, Park Dong-Jun?”

“It’s my choice, roger-”

“...How aggravating.”

We returned to our dorm and fell on the floor or on the sofa to destress at the end of the day. A very ordinary period of activity that was nothing special was coming to an end.

***

The next day, we gathered together and kept our promise to the fans before we did our pre-recording. I uploaded the deleted part of Siren’s humorous video and part 2 of Yeon-Hoon’s cover of “Blue Summer Night”.