Chapter 28: The Technique of an Idol Who Never Fails

khgif_1228 was running the only fan account dedicated to Jeong Hae-won, which was noted for its focus solely on his face. Even after all of Jeong Hae-won's fans from Kukseon-a had left, khgif_1228 remained. The 'kh' in the account name was to prevent attacks from trolls and to try to make this face a bit more known.

During the Kukseon-a era, khgif_1228 and a friend, who was a fan of C-team, also known as Firstlight, waited for the recording to start in the rain. In the meantime, khgif_1228 heard a warning from the friend.

"Firstlight might seem a bit aloof outside of performances. They just have strong individualistic tendencies, but they're not bad with each other..."

Usually, when someone says this, it means they don't get along. As khgif_1228 was thinking this, the Firstlight members took the stage.

'Wow, the real-life aura is something else...'

All seven members were in school uniforms, each styled to match their individual images, but they were all from the same school. The base was a gray jacket and black tie, but Jung Hyeok-seok had his tie tightly knotted, while Min Ji-ho had it loosely undone.

Since most of them were students, the concept fit them much better than the previous tuxedo concept.

"But where's Jeong Hae-won?"

"Why isn't he here?"

As they were talking, Jeong Hae-won arrived on stage a bit late and stood at the back. From the moment he stepped on stage, he seemed to have trouble breathing. When the recording was slightly delayed, he clutched his neck with his hand, which was visibly trembling. He looked worse than the members had mentioned.

"Looks like he has a serious case of stage fright."

"What, he's shaking so much..."

The fans started murmuring, and whenever the members asked if he was okay, Jeong Hae-won only nodded. To distract himself, he looked around and noticed khgif_1228's light stick. He then approached it.

What is it? Is it a light? Ow, my eyes hurt.

While khgif_1228 was thinking, Jeong Hae-won, still with a stiff expression, walked closer and pointed to the name tag on the light stick.

"Are you selling this?"

The tone from his usually cold and distant face was unexpectedly soft. khgif_1228 replied.

"No! I had it custom-made. They haven't officially released it yet."

Jeong Hae-won nodded and smiled.

"Then I'm even more grateful."

After saying that, he stood up. Seeing his still trembling hand, khgif_1228 called out.

"Hae-won! No TMI today?"

"Yes, I have TMI."

Jeong Hae-won quickly crouched down again, as if he had been waiting to be called.

"I really saved this TMI to share when someone asks."

The audience sighed. No one had ever asked him...

Jeong Hae-won continued.

"I was a 'jun-hwe-won' (junior member) in elementary school because my name is Jeong Hae-won."

"Oh..."

"...Not funny? I thought it would be."

Looking at your face, I can't help but laugh...

"Funny! Wow, a 'jun-hwe-won.' Hahaha."

Jeong Hae-won laughed along, finding it amusing that khgif_1228 was reacting awkwardly.

"Your laughter helps me relax."

He then returned to his position, showing a side and tone that khgif_1228 had never seen during the Kukseon-a era.

khgif_1228, still in shock, finally spoke to the friend.

"Did you see that?"

"Y-Yeah, yeah."

"Friend, say something."

"He looks the coldest I've ever seen... But he's so pretty and cute..."

"I see the same thing."

"No, what is he really?"

Looking around, everyone else was in a similar state, almost in a panic.

"This is really Jeong Hae-won's fault, right? He's messing with us even though he won't date us..."

Fortunately, the stage began, solving the problem.

From the first intro, the deep, heart-pounding low notes. Hwang Saegil started the choreography by expressing flames with his fingertips, and the intense intro began with vigorous choreography.

'They really went all out this time!'

The choreography mixed in pair formations without wasting any movement, making it clear to anyone watching that this was a team.

Most notably, the expressions had completely changed. The facial acting, maintained even when they moved to the back of the stage, showed the amount of practice they had put in, matching the angles of the choreography.

In a different sense, it was also very "my way." On stage, every member was clearly showing their individuality.

"I'll become a flame and burn this stage."

"Burn!"

"Throw us into the flames, it only makes us wilder."

"Do it!"

"Press down like gravity, and explode like a volcano."

Despite the complex lyrics, the fans felt their hearts pounding with the intense stage.

And the repeated part.

For the first time, Jeong Hae-won came to the front.

"Third, second, first, Firstlight."

"I love you!"

Jeong Hae-won, who didn't know there was a cheering method for his part, flinched slightly during the choreography. After finishing his part, he turned back with a clearly happy smile, showing no sign of the fear he had before the stage.

'Is he really crazy?'

After Jeong Hae-won joined, Firstlight's first stage was successfully completed.

* * *

The stage ended.

As soon as I stepped off the stage, I sat down on the stairs. Strangely, I didn't feel any anxiety after the stage started. The fans didn't separate their cheers for me and Firstlight. I'm grateful for their support of the stage.

However, the absurd part is that I hardly cried during the two years I was in Kukseon-a, but now I was crying. As expected, the members started teasing me.

"Hey, Jeong Hae-won, what are you doing?"

"Crying? Really?"

I waved my hand to shoo them away, but no one listened. Since we couldn't block the hallway like this, I got up.

Not just me, but the members were also drained from the stage. As soon as we returned to the waiting room, everyone collapsed.

"Wow, Firstlight's stage is amazing! The stage is so fun!"

"I think today's stage is the best so far."

As the members talked, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep as soon as I sat on the sofa. Park Jung-un, the manager who has become close to me recently, woke me up.

"Hae-won! Take a photo and then sleep!"

"Okay, I'll sleep."

"Stop being cute and get up."

I didn't mean to be cute.

I thought, but I had to force myself to open my eyes again.

TRV, instead of providing lunch support at music shows, organizes events for fans within the company. This shows that they are clueless but have their moments.

Today, they prepared cookies with the Firstlight members drawn as characters. I was so sleepy, but seeing the seven cookies woke me up. I have pink hair, so I was easy to recognize, but even without that, they captured the features well.

"I can't eat them; they're too precious."

The other members were already taking photos with the cookies, so I took a quick photo. Min Ji-ho, who was watching, came over and said.

"Bro, what's with the selfie... Is this your face?"

"Of course, it's my face. What do you mean?"

Min Ji-ho, the selfie master who boosts the value of photocards, adjusted the angle.

"Bro, if looking at the lens is hard, look at the cookie. You don't have to look straight. It actually adds to the feel."

"Okay, I'll remember that."

"We need to take good selfies. Fans open their albums. If you can't take good selfies, the photocards won't be good. How would that make you feel?"

"Not good."

Min Ji-ho, about to explain more, stopped and asked.

"Did you think they would just dislike you because you're you?"

"No, by the time the next album comes out, they'll like me. Why?"

My brazen response made Min Ji-ho chuckle and laugh contentedly.

After that, I fell asleep immediately. I almost fell asleep as soon as I lay down, but Park Jung-un woke me up for the ending.

I couldn't sleep deeply even after a short nap. After a good rest, I headed to the stage for the ending.

The idols were bustling on the stage. Both candidates for today's number one were strong soloists in the music charts.

While waiting for the ending, a familiar voice spoke to me.

"Hae-won."

It was Woo Ha-jeong, who was from the same agency.

I thought we wouldn't meet today, but he spoke during the ending. I wanted to punch him when I saw his face, but I'll have to do it later because of the cameras.

"It's been a while."

When I replied, Woo Ha-jeong came over. The members also looked over.

"Hey, Ha-jeong, it's been a while."

"Ha-jeong, we rarely overlap in activities."

I was grateful the members interrupted the conversation.

The members of MII, Woo Ha-jeong's group, were two years older than the Firstlight members, both the leader and the maknae. Just two years, but compared to MII, the Firstlight members seemed less mature and more raw.

Meanwhile, the number one announcement began. After the announcement, we greeted the senior artists and left the stage.

As soon as we stepped off the stage, Woo Ha-jeong smiled and spoke to me again.

"Let's greet each other, did we fight or something?"

"No, I just felt a bit hurt."

As I tried to leave, Woo Ha-jeong followed.

"It's not my fault, you know."

"Of course, it's not. I just got mad on my own, okay?"

We were the same age and from the same agency. I was sure that if I debuted, I would be in the same group as Woo Ha-jeong. He was a friend to me, so I didn't expect him to use me to climb the ladder when he got the chance in Kukseon-a.

Fortunately, there were many people around, so we couldn't talk more. Plus, we had to move to a radio schedule right away.

In the car, the members were noisy. The atmosphere suggested that the reaction was good. Sitting in the passenger seat, I fiddled with my phone and opened Xbus. I wrote a message under my name.

"Hello, Haeil! Did you enjoy today's stage? I heard your cheers. Thank you."

I wrote this but couldn't upload it immediately and just stared at my phone.

* * *

The reaction to Firstlight's first music show comeback was热烈.

After Kukseon-a, people's interest in Firstlight, which had been gradually waning, quickly returned.

[The MV for 'Light On' is so good, ddd. What do you think?]

[↳Yeah]

[↳Totally]

[↳But I noticed a lot of new fans before the music show]

[Did Firstlight's new fans come from an external source?]

[↳No, the quality suddenly improved]

[↳↳The employee who brought this project should be promoted. They really saved TRV lol]

Following this, photos of the members holding the cookies were uploaded to the official Firstlight account.

[TRV is incompetent but does well]

[The members looked so cool on stage but are so cute in the waiting room lol]

[If Ji-ho's selfies were photocards, they'd be worth a fortune]

[↳Thanks for thinking of my wallet, Ji-ho...]

After the broadcast ended, the only fan account dedicated to Jeong Hae-won, 'khgif_1228,' changed its name.

[@regular_1228

Members only]

GIF files of Jeong Hae-won's short appearance on the broadcast were uploaded.

In addition to this account, several others began posting reviews of the broadcast.