The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Producer Park Soo-Chul surveyed the practice room and the hotel. Since the practice room wasn’t sponsored, he didn’t need to mind it much, but the hotel was part of a PPL deal. Thus, he needed to pay more attention to the location of the camera and the lights. Truthfully, he wasn’t the type to put more care into shooting just because something was sponsored. He just did what he usually did and pretended to check up on the composition and whatnot for show.

“Please put great care into this hotel shooting~ The investment made in this hotel is no joke.” Yet, the manager in charge of sponsorship deals for the production of the program had been clinging to his side and pestering him all day long on how he needed to do a good job.

He would’ve done a good job anyway if left alone, and this pestering only made him unwilling to shoot the product placement. But Park Soo-Chul knew he couldn’t do a shoddy job since this was his work, and it was true that the program’s budget significantly widened thanks to this hotel commercial.

‘I should just go along with him.’ Thus, it was worth listening to all the manager’s badgering.

“I think the bed sheets are slightly tilted here. Could you hold onto this~?” The commercial manager went around the room wondering if there was any nook and canny he could nitpick about. Everything was fine up to this point, and all the manager’s actions could be excused as a man very passionate about his job. Yet, when this passion went overboard, a person could easily become a nuisance.

“But are you really sure you can’t show the hotel’s logo for a bit when Siren and Only One do their live broadcast? That’s so disappointing,” the commercial manager asked and continued, “When idols do their live broadcast, they usually have ten and hundred-thousands of comments rushing in from social media sites. I think it will have a really good commercial effect if they also show the hotel logo…”

“I already said we can’t,” Park Soo-Chul said firmly like he didn’t want to hear more. It was common for commercial managers to ask for their products to be shown more, so he explained calmly, “I told you we couldn’t do that because it could put the cast members at risk. If people can pinpoint which hotel they are at and trespass into the site, are you going to take responsibility? The day before the final performance?”

“…All right. I just wanted to ask.”

“I will show what hotel they stayed at and what they did while they were here in another special episode. I guarantee that you will be satisfied with the results so that you will think it’s money well spent.” After Park Soo-Chul explained further, the commercial manager backed away a bit.

“Okay. You will send us the special episode so that we can confirm it before it airs, right?”

“Yes. Don’t worry.”

Park Soo-Chul thought the conversation was over at this point when the commercial manager spoke again, “Ah, there is something else that I also want to ask, but this is a personal question rather than a work-related one.”

“Yes, what is it this time?”

“Who do you think will win this show?”

“…” Park Soo-Chul didn’t answer and kept his lips sealed. It wasn’t because it was a difficult question to answer but because he had heard it so many times.

“I think I heard someone ask me that question already a hundred times today.”

“So, what did you answer every time?”

“Are you curious?”

“Are you confident that you will get it right?”

“I am. This is the program I made.”

“Ohh~” The commercial manager approached closer to hear him with eager eyes when Park Soo-Chul answered blandly, “Only One.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Why Only One?”

“Why? Are you a fan of Siren or something?” Park Soo-Chul asked.

“No, that’s not it. I was just wondering why you sounded so certain.”

“Ah, it’s not for some big reason.”

“Then, for what reason?”

“I usually place my vote on the losing team in bets like this.”

“Doesn’t that mean you think Siren has a higher possibility of winning?”

“That’s true.”

The commercial manager made a surprised face upon hearing this. The main producer’s choice was Only One, but the winning team was Siren.

In the end, Park Soo-Chul’s words could be interpreted like this:

“Aren’t you just saying that you don’t know who will win in the end?”

“Hahaha!” Park Soo-Chul simply laughed in response and gave no other answer.

***

In the morning, at 9 am, we arrived at the hotel where our live broadcast and MP would begin. Perhaps, because it was a benefit of winning MVP for the last round’s performance, they didn’t give us just any cheap prize.

‘No wonder they call this a special benefit.’ Though it wasn’t one of the most famous hotels in the nation, it was still a five-star hotel increasing in popularity among the young generation; and the exterior of the place was much trendier and more artistic than other hotels. Yet, our minds were occupied by other matters.

“How far is this place from the practice room?”

“About 10 minutes by walking.”

“Haa. That’s good.”

“What a relief.”

“That’s enough for us to go back and forth.”

The only thing on our minds was practicing. Our current situation was the same as a family going on a vacation right before the entrance exams; no, in some ways, it was worse since this event was bigger than the entrance exams– it was the final performance of The Showcase 2.

“Haaa.” I sighed while looking up at the hotel. If I couldn’t escape this, I thought I should enjoy it. But it was true that this event was more bothersome than not. As we stood in the lobby, waiting for The Showcase 2 staff, the camera director and writer approached us at the perfect time.

“We are attaching your mikes now!”

“You guys came here earlier than we expected.”

Then, with our mikes on, we waited for the staff. The youngest writer walked towards the hotel lobby and brought us the card keys.

“This is the card key. We will send you information about using subsidiary facilities through text later.”

We didn’t have to go to the front desk to get more information and moved right to the 24th floor. I had been anxious and annoyed when I first came to the hotel, but now that I was finally on the elevator, I began to look forward to how the hotel’s suite room would look like.

“…”

“…”

“…This is kind of exciting, isn’t it?” Dong-Jun’s words broke all of the tenseness we were feeling, and my members’ expressions instantly relaxed. Their minds had been full of thoughts about practice, but it seemed they thought this could be a great breath of fresh air.

“It really makes you excited now that we are here.”

“It’s my first time using a suite room.”

“Yes, we should try to enjoy ourselves now that we are here.”

Eventually, the elevator stopped at the 24th floor, and we went inside the room written on the card key. I opened the door and went inside, and everyone couldn’t close their mouths.

“…?”

“…What?”

“…Oh my gosh.”

“…Wow.”

Even a born-rich person like Dong-Jun stiffened for a bit at the sight. I didn’t know whether it was for the show, but the curtain was wide open when we entered, and the overwhelming view of downtown Seoul greeted us.

“The view is insane!”

Furthermore, there was a giant living room, a spacious king-size bed, and two single beds for two more people to sleep on. Continuing on, there was a giant tub, sofa, and tables that looked very high quality, and every other piece of furniture seemed to show the peak of capitalism. I was aware that a suite room included a living room and bedroom, but this was way above my expectations.

‘But this is why money is so great…’ Not all hotels were the same.

“This is a really nice suite room among hotel suite rooms…” Even Dong-Jun reaffirmed the fact that this was one of the nicest hotel suite rooms. It was amazing that our first suite room experience would be so high standard.

‘It just unnecessarily raised our standards,’ I thought about how we would be disappointed when going to other hotels from now on.

“This place is great for taking selfies!” Yeon-Hoon had already gotten in front of the window to take selfies.

“The bed is so soft.” Do-Seung checked the softness of the bed.

“The smell is so nice!” Woon sniffed the faint fragrance wafting across the room.

“What's there for room service?” As expected, Dong-Jun was interested in food the most.

“Hey!”

“Ah! I didn’t order anything! I just want to see what's on it!” Yet, Dong-Jun was soon scolded by Do-Seung. And while we all admired the hotel room in our own ways, all five of our cell phones rang. This meant that there was a notice that we all needed to check. Thus, we all stopped what we were doing to check the phone and saw that there wasn’t much to the message’s content.

“We have to do MP from 3 p.m. in individual order, and our live broadcast at 7 p.m.”

“Each team only does MP for 1 hour?”

“How long were you planning to do the MP?”

“I thought around five hours sounded good.”

“Oh…”

Today’s 'mention party' took place in The Showcase 2’s Bluebird account. OnebyOne would do their MP from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., Only One from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., and we would do ours from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. After 7 p.m., we would begin our live broadcast.

We had already gone over potential issues, language choice, and other factors we should be careful about in MP or live broadcasts from Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna. It seemed like we wouldn’t have any problems if we kept those rules.

“Then, should we head to the practice room after unloading our stuff?”

“Yes~”

“Let’s go~”

“Let’s practice~”

It seemed everyone’s excitement died down after seeing the messages. Thus, we quickly organized our area and moved to go to the practice room. I also unloaded my belongings and followed my members outside. Since the live broadcast started from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., we still had seven more hours to practice.

‘I suppose it will be all right,’ I thought. It was a good amount of practice since we couldn’t go too overboard right before the final performance. I was rehearsing the movements inside my head when we met Only One in the hallway.

“Oh?”

“Wow!”

“Hello!”

“Did you just come in?”

My members shared a friendly greeting with Only One.

“Ah, yes, we just arrived.”

“Did you all finish your room tour?”

“Yes! We are going to practice now.”

“I see. Good luck with your practice!”

“Good luck!”

Perhaps, it was because they had quickly gotten close to Only One from the last commercial shooting, but my members and Only One all exchanged greetings very naturally. I was the one who felt out of place.

‘I didn’t reply to the text message.’ I felt especially uncomfortable because I still hadn’t replied to Kang Hyun-Sung’s text. And as expected, Kang Hyun-Sung kept staring at me, but it wasn’t like I didn’t reply on purpose. I just missed my chance after reading it. At this point, I regretted seeing the message in the first place.

“Reply, Mr. Tae-Yoon.”

“…?”

“Reply?”

“…What is he talking about?”

And to my surprise, this crazy guy brought it up in front of other people.

“…Yes, I will do that,” I replied. Then, the Only One members said, “Let’s see each other at night time then,” and moved to their rooms. Then, my group members asked me out of curiosity.

“What ‘reply’?”

“Did you talk about something with Senior Hyun-Sung?”

“It’s nothing. We just say hi sometimes,” I replied quickly and looked around. My group members accepted the response, and I planned to send my reply while waiting in the elevator. I planned to say ‘no’ to his invitation to meet up later since I had to go to practice and manage my condition. As a result, I had no time to meet up with him.

‘…What?’ But it was then I noticed that I got another message from Kang Hyun-Sung. It seemed he sent it while I wasn’t looking at my phone.

—I have something to tell you, so come out tonight.

‘…What does he mean?’

This was suspicious. I didn’t know whether he was trying to trick me or really had something to tell me. I felt conflicted, but the only answer I could type was:

—Okay. I will be there.