The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

I saw the album sales count on the chat room screen. I thought if we did a good job until the end of today, we would ideally have about 400,000 sales. Yet, the number that came up on screen far surpassed my expectations.

—469,833

“…?”

It was about 470k; a number that I didn’t expect at all. Did I underestimate my group’s potential or was the current idol market so great that anyone could make a hit with an album release? It didn’t matter what was the reason.

“Is this…real?”

“Yes…!”

“The company has been monitoring the sales count because it kept going up, but at this rate, I think we would be able to reach half a million!”

Whatever happened, our sales count exceeded expectations and as long we didn’t make some huge mistake, it appeared that we could reach 500k comfortably.

“Wooow!”

“Half a million? In just a debut?”

“Ahhhh!”

My members all shouted in happiness and cheered. Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna looked like they wanted to jump out of the car this instance and dance.

“Good work you all.”

“It’s really thanks to all your hard work.”

“If it weren’t for Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve this.”

“Thank you, you two.”

“No, it’s all Siren’s work.”

“No~ it’s you guys~”

My members and our managers smiled brightly at each other. I also wanted to join them and chat, but there was something that I couldn’t understand.

‘How does it make sense?’ Of course, this was very good news since now since I didn’t have to worry about Woon’s potential death anymore. Now, if we just sold 10k a day, we could reach half a million in no time.

‘But how…did it sell by so much?’ It was time for me to think about the timeline again.

‘Even from the first day, the numbers were unbelievable.’ We recorded 300k in the pre-order and 100k in the on-site sales. Thus, it was 400k sales just on the first day. I thought at most, we could expect to sell 350k, but my expectations were proven wrong.

‘Furthermore, we sold 70k more from this morning to now.’ If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have been so worried on our first day. I hadn’t been checking the sales count every day because I thought it would stress me out too much and I planned to check tomorrow. Regardless, I quickly searched through Bluebird and community forums.

I read a couple of posts and the responses that had been going off my radar. I also dug a bit deeper to scan responses that didn’t usually come up to the surface, and my conclusion was this.

‘Our rivalry with Only One is working really well.’

It was all thanks to this rivalry storyline. The reason why we were able to sell 100k more than I predicted from the first day was because there was a strong sentiment in our fandom to not lose to Only One. Knowing that it was likely that Only One could have more album sales since they had Kang Hyun-Sung, our fans bought the albums more rigorously than before.

Kang Hyun-Sung made quite a name for himself overseas during his time at his previous group, ‘Yours’ and it was said that his popularity in China was enormous. Thus, in this rivalry storyline, we were at a comparative disadvantage in album sales count which pushed our fans to try harder. At this point, I also checked Only One’s album sales count.

—481,009

Only One was recording a sales count that was slightly higher than ours. Furthermore, it was a number that was much higher than the sales they recorded with their debut album in my past life. I had felt some guilt that Only One might not do as well because of us, but now, I didn’t have to worry about that.

‘I can be confident now.’ Whatever happened, they also did better thanks to us.

“Seeing the sales number really pumps me up.”

“Let’s continue to do a good job.”

It seemed the sales numbers invigorated my members and they wanted to do better in the next shooting. I also determined myself and looked outside the window.

‘I am just moments away from clearing Woon’s death flag.’ Then, all there was left to do was to get more views on our music video and choreography video. I racked my head to see how I could win over this system and how I could save my members—not just my members from this world but other worlds. Though I heard good news, I still couldn’t stop thinking.

***

At a studio in Gangnam, Siren came to film a web-variety show. A web variety show was what could be considered a gateway to idol activities. Of course, not all idols could participate in it, and only idols with some name could appear on the show. At the same time, it wasn’t like it was that difficult to appear, and as long as one was backed by an adequate company or had some connections in the industry, they could be one of the casts.

In that sense, Siren was a group that gave quite a headache to the people in the industry.

“Haa…It’s my first time feeling this anxious about a team’s schedule change.”

“It’s not like it’s those guys’ fault. It’s their company that fixed their debut date.”

“But how come their schedule had to overlap with Only One out of everyone?”

“Don’t keep being angry about something that’s already been decided.”

“…All right.”

Only One’s ‘AnotherOne’ and Siren’s ‘Next Wave’ were two companies that were making the most buzz in the entertainment business right now. Though AnotherOne was smaller than Next Wave in terms of company size, the influence and power they had in the entertainment industry was huge. In contrast, it was difficult to say that Next Wave had many connections in the entertainment business. Yet, they had core tires with the Jaeil company, which had the nation’s cultural scene in their clutches.

Thus, if the broadcast didn’t cater to AnotherOne, their relationship with some of the top, influential people in their own industry could become awkward. But if they didn’t cater to Next Wave, they could lose favor from higher-ups not just in this industry but at a bigger platform. They couldn’t ignore either group.

In such a situation, the producer diplomatically decided to care for AnotherOne a bit more. The program they made was called ‘Idol Encyclopedia,’ which was usually filed a week before the idol or idols’ activity period and was aired according to it. Thus, they shot Only One’s episode last week and pushed off Siren’s to a later time.

Yet, in worry that they could fall off Jaeil Group’s good wishes if they pushed Siren’s schedule by too much, they got on their knees and begged the on-site staff to create an additional shooting schedule for Siren. With this, they could tell the Next Wave confidently that they also considered the company highly and did their best.

The only problem was that the producer had to receive a load of criticisms from his workers.

“Is there anything you all would like? I will pay with the company card!”

“I would like to go home, producer.”

“There’s a tasty restaurant outside the studio. Please order for there, sir.”

“Cup noodles eaten at home is tastier than a feast eaten at the workplace, producer.”

The executive producer of ‘Idol Encyclopedia’, Jang Chul-Soo forcefully put on a smile and tried to ease his team’s anger. Then, he made plans inside his mind while waiting for Siren to come. He thought he would be a terrible adult to take revenge on such young kids, but…

“Let’s make today’s broadcast really fun. It would be sad if this episode is boring when we went as far as to make an additional shooting.”

“Haa…what are you planning now, sir?”

“What do you mean? It’s good for the group if the show does well. Let’s just increase the difficulty level of our activities a bit.”

“You know at times like this, you look so damn mean and cheap?”

“What?”

“Huh? I think the Sirens came. I just got a call from the manager. I will guide them to the parking lot.”

Jang Chul-Soo clicked his tongue at the script writer’s smooth departure. He didn’t plan to really go as far as to torment Siren. He just planned to make the missions he gave them more difficult and trickier than usual. It was what everyone else did anyway. Jang Chul-Soo eagerly waited for Siren to come.

***

The program that my members and I were going to shoot today was called ‘Idol Encyclopedia’. Fitting its name, the show would gather information about us and register it into their encyclopedia. Yet, we couldn’t register just any information. They would do all sorts of variety games to do ‘precise examinations’ of us and retrieve information according to the results of the games.

Not only was the encyclopedia published at the end of the year, but goods that could be purchased were also released. As a result, it was a program that was quite popular among idol fans.

“Let’s do a good job.”

“Let’s each get S-rank.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

We all got out of the car and headed inside the studio. There were no hosts and it was a program where the producer personally gave out orders using a mechanical voice.

“What game should we do first?”

“Don’t they usually do a game like ‘Call in Silence’?”

“Isn’t Tae-Yoon an expert in these kinds of games?”

Soon afterward, we opened the studio and went inside.

Beeeeeep.

“Huh?”

“What?”

“Huuuh?”

We were baffled by the unexpected development. A siren began to ring out of nowhere instead of the usual producer’s mechanical voice giving the command, ‘Test subjects must go to their designated spots.’

‘Why is everyone so calm?’ At first, I thought the building’s fire alarm rang but seeing how all the staff appeared calm, we realized that this was part of the program.

—Warning! Warning! You are not permitted to approach! Warning! Warning! Please evacuate immediately.

My members looked baffled by the situation, but I grasped the situation then. Today wasn’t the team’s usual shooting day. They probably made an additional shooting day because Only One’s and our debut day overlapped. Thus, not only did the production team come up with their program’s schedule faster, they probably decided to follow a completely different format than usual.

If the other idols had come to the lab to register their information, we were trespassers who came to the lab uninvited. After realizing the situation, I moved.

—Warning! Warning! Please back away. The lab will soon explode.

“Explode?”

“What is this?”

“Wow, it’s so fun~”

While my members looked confused by the situation, the noisy Siren soon stopped.

—To stop the lab from exploding, idols named Siren have to register their information.

The program returned to its usual format and my members’ faces turned calmer. Yet, what had already gone off wouldn’t keep running the same way.

—This is a strength test. Knock down the sandbag installed in the center with a glove. You cannot clear the mission by movements like body slamming.

“…?”

“…What?”

I should’ve known from the moment the siren rang but it seemed this program’s producer had something against us. Why else would a sandbag appear out of the blue? I looked towards the producer who watched us from a corner with a snide smile.

Ziiiing. Then, I activated my Insight. Since they told us to knock down the sandbag, I planned to do exactly that.

‘Sure, no problem.’ Though they prepared an event out of my expectations, we just needed to leave data that also surpassed expectations.