Chapter 199
“You are against malaxianguo...?” Dong-Jun stared at me like he was going to kill me this instance while Do-Seung looked relieved. I felt bad for ruining the team’s great atmosphere like this, but I thought I would have no other chance but now. We needed to get first place in tomorrow’s music show, so it didn’t make sense for us to have malaxianguo.
Even if the number of people doing text voting decreased a lot compared to before, there were enough people to decide between first and second place. This was especially the case when Only One and I were maintaining almost equal ranks in terms of streaming counts, album sales, music video views, and so on. In cases like this, the result could be decided on how many of our fans decided to vote by text on that day; and on such a day, we couldn’t go out with our faces puffy from eating malaxianguo.
Of course, some people could say that I was going overboard, but I was on a mission with Insight on the line. I couldn’t ignore even the smallest worries.
“Yes, I’m against it,” I repeated. Folloow current novÊls on nov/3lb((in).(co/m)
“Yeon-Hoon, please park the car. I want to get out and ‘educate’ our maknae a bit.” Dong-Jun said angrily.
“Yeon-Hoon, please park the car on the streets fast. I would also like to educate Dong-Jun hyung.” I also didn’t back down. In terms of who was more desperate, it was me. Dong-Jun just needed to hold back from eating what he wanted once while this mission had my team’s destiny on the line. I had no confidence in accomplishing all these future missions without Insight.
“What did you say!”
“I said, ‘You can’t have malaxianguo’!”
“Both of you calm down.” Instead of Yeon-Hoon who was driving, Woon tried to mediate between me and Dong-Jun. Though there was no need to calm me, Dong-Jun was genuinely heaving. It seemed he really wanted to eat that malaxianguo. Considering that he was the type to relieve his stress by eating, it was understandable why he was reacting this way. Thus, I thought I needed to appease him instead of punishing him at a time like this.
“Dong-Jun, I’m sorry for shutting you down like that with no explanation,” I said.
“...”
“But I also have my reasons.”
My members didn’t know that I was aiming for first place in tomorrow’s music show, so I thought I should share my goal with them first.
“You know that this is our second week of activities now. It’s the time when we could go up as possible candidates for first place.”
“...Yes.”
With the words, ‘first place’ the other members besides Dong-Jun focused their attention on me. Some people got first place on a music show every time, but for a newly debuted group like us, it was different. It would be a sort of proof that we had finally established our positions as idols. In a market where tens and hundreds of groups debuted and disappeared without a trace, this was especially significant.
“Though it’s not confirmed yet, what if we go up as candidates as first place? Then, wouldn’t we all come up on the camera at the end of the show? Do you want all of us to come out with puffy faces then?”
I didn’t tell them that we needed to get first place at all costs since that kind of pressure might do more harm than good. But it was important to make them think.
“If we stand next to Only One looking worse than usual, will Sailors want to vote for us?”
“...”
“We don’t have to get first place for sure, but we need to make Sailors want to keep seeing the screen.”
“...I was persuaded.” Dong-Jun sighed and declared, “I won’t eat malaxianguo.”
“Oh.”
“Really?”
“Yes...”
It was such a fast declaration of defeat that Do-Seung and Woon appeared surprised.
“It really hit me to hear this from our maknae. I’m sorry Taeyoon. I was childish.”
“No, it’s fine.” That was how our malaxianguo commotion came to an end. Now, there was only one issue remaining.
“But will we really reach first place?”
“Hmm.”
“First place...”
It was the question of whether we could really get first place in the music show tomorrow.
“Will it be possible for us to be considered as candidates for first place?” Yeon-Hoon said unconfidently.
Yet, I was sure. ‘We would definitely be able to be...candidates for first place.’ It wasn’t a problem for us to be candidates. In terms of our album sales, music rankings, music video view count, and so on which were all important standards to become candidates for first place, there was almost no group above us right now.
Furthermore, ‘Surprise Missions’ never tended to be the completely impossible types. The system threw out missions that considered the general situation and one that was within our reach. In other words, it was completely possible for us to be first-place candidates.
“I think it’s very plausible,” I said.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Then...can somebody find the score breakdown for tomorrow’s music show?” The music show that was going to air tomorrow was GBS’s ‘The Music Show’.
“Give me a moment~”
With Yeon-Hoon’s request, Dong-Jun found the breakdown of the scores and told Yeon-Hoon. This was how it was: Song Ranking-40%, Album Sales-10%, Music Video Views- 20%, On-site Voting-15%, and Text Voting-15%.
“I am going to do a needle felt. Who wants to do it with me?”
“Oh! You ended up buying it?”
“It came in a package yesterday.”
“Let’s do it together. It looks fun.”
As Park Young-Ho took out a lamb needle felt package, Kim Ju-Hyun sat in front of the table and helped him set the place up. Like that, the Only One members had perfectly adjusted to the rule that Kang Hyun-Sung made. Furthermore, this setup showcased its greatest advantages when they had to share information.
“Uh? What?’
“What is it?”
“Did something happen?”
Only One member Kim Si-Woon gasped while looking at his phone. He made a sort of the sound one would when they saw something they didn’t expect. Only One members stopped what they were doing and looked towards him. Kang Hyun-Sung also closed his book and looked at Kim Si-Woon.
“Um...A post about Siren popped into my feed while I was doing social media...but what’s this?”
“Siren?”
“What did they do?”
Hearing the name ‘Siren’ piqued all the members’ interest. For them, Siren was the rival whom they needed to beat but also a comrade whom they felt a sense of companionship with. In a way, they felt like strangely close relatives one would sometimes meet only for the holidays. Thus, they all couldn’t but crane their ears to the news.
—Please spare me (Bong Tae-Yoon)
“...?”
“Spare me?”
“What does this mean...?”
“Did Mr. Tae-Yoon lose in a game or something?”
They couldn’t guess what was happening at all.
“Hyun-Sung, do you still keep in contact with Mr. Tae-Yoon?”
“Not too often.”
“Can you ask him what this is about?”
“Hm.” Kang Hyun-Sung took the phone from Kim Si-Woon’s hand and stared intently at the screen. Tae-Yoon was telling the camera to save him.
“It’s not really my business,” Kang Hyun-Sung said and gave Si-Woon’s phone back.
Simultaneously, he thought to himself, ‘Are they doing this for the music show tomorrow?’
But even Kang Hyun-Sung didn’t predict all the fuss that Siren would make that night to beat them in a music show.
***
I returned to the dorm with my members. I didn’t think I was a funny person but I couldn’t change my members’ thoughts.
“Tae-Yoon, you have to come out from the front.”
“The person who people expect the least needs to come out.”
“Then, you have to at least give me a rough idea of what I should do or a script. How would it be funny for me to just come out on a video?”
“I’m telling you it could. It could just be funny for you to come out.”
“What do you mean, Dong-Jun?”
“I don’t know either, but I just got a feeling.”
It seemed all my members wanted to sacrifice me for a comedic effect. At this point, it seemed the purpose of making a funny video was in the back corner of their minds and they just wanted to offer me as a sacrifice. The goal was long missing in their minds and they only strived to fulfill their heinous hopes and desires. Thankfully, we reached one conclusion after going back and forth in the meeting.
“Ah...I really can’t do this. I really don’t think this is it.” The problem was that I still couldn’t accept it.
“We don’t have time.”
“We have to upload this by tonight.”
“Sacrifice yourself for the greater cause, Tae-Yoon.”
“...”
This was probably the only team that enforced such a sacrifice on their maknae.
