When I Opened My Eyes I Was a Superstar - Chapter 52

# 52

One-Time Glory (2)

Within the community, fans of Monster and some fans of other groups who had animosity towards KK, who had suddenly gained a lot of popularity, were gathered together and active in an organized manner.

Among the candidates for the Rookie of the Year Award and the K-POP STAR Award, votes were deliberately being thrown to the group that had the least chance of winning.

“Wow, what time do you set for voting?”

“Iknow, right.”

“Looking at their nicknames, they are fans of Monster Brothers… why?”

Jeong Yoongi muttered as if he didn’t understand at all. Monster and KK were not competitive groups, and since they were under the same agency, it could be said that they had a bond.

However, there was a reason why Monster fans became the mainstay of KK’s anti-activism.

Monster fans have been growing dissatisfied with Hit Entertainment since KK’s debut. Fans claimed that Monster’s activities were being pushed back due to the new group KK, and that the agency only cared about KK, leaving Monster in the background.

It was true that Hit Entertainment, which had been taking care of two groups, Milky Way and Monster, became frantic as they had one more group to take care of. Also, after settling down to a certain extent, there was a part where I started focusing on KK rather than monsters that were more difficult to climb.

Even so, the reason Monster’s album plan was pushed back was because the members were unable to come up with songs that satisfied all members, and it wasn’t just that Hit Entertainment put Monster on the back burner.

However, monster fans’ arrows were already pointed at Hit Enter.

Adding fuel to the fire was an interview with the CEO of Hit Entertainment conducted by an economics magazine.

‘Hit Entertainment has been showing more amazing growth than ever recently. It’s also thanks to KK’s success. Of course, the goal is listing. In order to be listed, wouldn’t the singers have to do well?’

‘My mind is full of thoughts on raising KK into the best rookie. Complexity doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing; it’s a pleasant complexity. KK is possibility itself.’

Monster fans were outraged by the fact that there was no mention of monsters and that they would focus on raising KK in the future.

Before KK, the groups that led hit entertainment were Milky Way and Monster. KK was able to be produced thanks to the money Monster made, but public opinion was formed among Monster fans that they were being treated poorly like this.

In addition, some of the new products for which KK was recently modeled were advertisements in which Monster was the model, so Monster fans’ dissatisfaction with the agency spread to the group called KK.

“You mean you pushed away the monster brothers?!”

Jeong Yoon-gi touched his forehead as if he had a headache.

“There is also something like this.”

“This is really unfair!”

The screen Do-wook turned on was a rumor related to the relationship between Monster and K.K.

The KK members thought they were the best due to the sudden popularity they gained, and the company also asked them if they were coming, so they didn’t even properly greet their senior, Monster.

‘It’s definitely not the case that arrows will be focused on us to this extent. But…’

Monster’s popularity inevitably declined as the years since its debut increased. Idols were not the only ones who felt the feeling of going down. Fans felt the same. Rather, there were many times when fans felt sensitive.

The decline in Monster’s popularity was not anyone’s fault, but it became stronger as the target of fans’ anger, which had no place to go, was determined and the anger gathered in one place.

‘Even if you try to understand, it’s irrational anyway. It’s a question of how to solve it.’

Jeong Yoon-gi said with a crumpled expression on his face as if he was truly unfair.

“Don’t you have to tell Baekho and explain it somehow?”

“The fan-marketing team will monitor this, so you probably already know. “An explanation would only make matters worse.”

“Don’t say it.”

“yes. And it seems a bit odd for a company to get involved in this behind-the-scenes fight between fans.”

Jeong Yoon-gi also nodded as if he understood what Do-wook said. But his expression still did not relax.

It was true that I felt unfair and worried about voting. Even if it didn’t have much of an impact on the Rookie of the Year award, I didn’t know.

Also, I did not want the K-POP STAR Award to be criticized in this way, as it was not a proper fan vote.

‘It’s definitely not good to see celebrities or their agencies getting involved in fan fights. We have to hope that it will be resolved naturally…’

***

After arriving in Korea, the KK members first rested at their accommodation. Dowook visited the Hit Entertainment office while the members were resting at their dorm.

There were two large whiteboards hanging inside the office.

One was a whiteboard with the overall annual plan written on it. On a board with dates from January to December written on it, Milky Way Monster KK’s activity plan was marked with three colored pens: black, red, and blue.

Another whiteboard had a schedule for one month.

KK’s Japan schedule for three days was also carefully written in blue pen.

Dowook quickly checked the monster’s schedules written in red. There was a music broadcast today and tomorrow, and a radio schedule at 8pm the day after tomorrow. Other than that, there was no other schedule yet.

Dowook picked up his cell phone and checked the voting status again.

‘There is still voting period left and the difference is big enough to overturn.’

Naturally, KK fans, who expected a fight for first or second place with Man to Man, were pushed out by a coalition of monster fans and other fans, so they belatedly gathered their strength and were voting.

But it was still lagging. Regardless of the number, KK was a group with more popularity than fandom. Even though the number of fans is large, it is a new fandom.

It was not easy to overcome the unity of the monster fandom, which had been working together for several years and was filled with anger.

‘But for the sake of the future, we need to change the minds of monster fans to some extent… without going overboard. Naturally…’

A male employee who spotted Do-wook staring at the whiteboard said hello. Dowook also responded by greeting the employee.

“Do you need anything?”

“no. I just wanted to check something. “Then let’s go.”

***

two days later.

Monster headed to the broadcasting station for the radio schedule. Since it was a program mainly listened to by young people on the radio at 8 PM, the DJ was an idol DJ and the guests were mainly idols.

Today, Monster was scheduled to appear as a guest in a corner called ‘Intensive Exploration’.

As the name of the corner suggests, it was a corner with the purpose of conducting intensive research on guests, and was in the form of answering a large number of questions that guests were curious about.

Although it was not a corner with a high listenership rate because it promoted albums and contained little information that non-fans would not want to know, it was the radio program and corner most preferred by idol fans.

Monster members were sitting outside the booth waiting for the corner to start at 8:30.

“Take care of your cell phones, brothers. “Don’t make an accident during the live broadcast.”

Monster’s road manager was a new manager who was now 21 years old. As if Kwon Ji-hyung also remembered the manager’s words, he took out his cell phone from his pocket.

Fortunately, the phone was in vibrate mode. I was about to check and put it back when a message rang.

[Hyung, it’s been a while. [This is the list of songs you mentioned last time]

It was a message from ‘Junior Do-wook Kang.’ When Kwon Ji-hyung met Do-wook at Yong Soo-cheol’s studio some time ago, he asked Do-wook for a song recommendation. This was because Do-wook knew many foreign songs that Kwon Ji-hyung did not know.

Links to a dozen recommended songs appeared below the message.

It was something that even Kwon Ji-hyung had forgotten after asking for lightly, but he felt grateful to Do-wook for not forgetting and finding it.

‘Even if he is successful, he is always polite and lacks nothing.’

Jihyung Kwon looked at the links and wrote a reply.

[You must be busy too, so thank you for looking! I will contact you after my schedule is over]

[Your brother! Good schedule!]

At that moment, the radio staff called the Monster members into the booth. Kwon Ji-hyung sat down happily.

The full-fledged corner began with the introduction of the monster members.

There were many questions about the members’ current status and many questions about future activity plans. Monster members answered each question in detail. Since they were a monster that had now become a mid-sized group among idols, I felt a sense of leeway with each answer.

“You also asked me this question. ‘Moonlight Love’ has a completely different vibe from previous promotional songs… What was it like when you were active?”

“We were also worried because it was a new attempt, but we received positive responses and had fun working. But since there was no dancing, my body was itching.”

One of the Monster members jokingly answered the DJ’s question. Jihyung Kwon took over the microphone.

“I’m talking about ‘moonlight love’. Fans liked the lyrics a lot. It was Dowook who introduced me to the lyricist Kim Sum.”

“You mean Kang Do-wook?”

“yes. He helped me a lot with the song ‘Moonlight Love’. “It’s the same when working on an album.”

“ah! KK and Monster were from the same agency, right? “I guess you’re close with Kang Do-wook.”

“We became friends because we met often at the studio. “I have a lot to learn from Hubande, and he is a very good friend.”

Because of the message he had just received from Do-wook, Do-wook’s name was engraved in Kwon Ji-hyeong’s mind. The things I thought about before going live that I needed to express my gratitude came out of my mouth.

Naturally, KK’s story came out.

Another member of Monster came forward and spoke about KK. He was a member known for his blunt and rough personality and speaking style.

“Everyone is so nice! “Sometimes when we meet, we say hello so many times that it’s not enough… No, I’m saying he’s nice.”

“haha! “That means you’re good at greeting people, right?”

“There might be at least one bad boy with a dirty personality. “I don’t have any friends like that.”

When I was a rookie, I was a member who was not allowed by the company to even open my mouth. But now he was in his mid-twenties. It could be packaged as a hot choice of words, and fans simply understood it as a code of humor.

“okay. “Actually, I met them last time too, and they all seemed to be easy-going.”

“that’s right!”

KK’s story ended in such a friendly atmosphere and the story moved on to the next topic.

Monster fans who were listening to the broadcast were confused.

There were opinions that the company forced him to praise KK, but he knew the Monster members’ personalities better than that.

I don’t know about Kwon Ji-hyung, but he was never one of the members who would say something like that just because the company told them to. Also, the atmosphere was very natural. Since it was a ‘viewing radio’, all the facial expressions were being broadcast live, and it was clear that the facial expressions were sincere.

There was an opinion that rather than doing this to KK, perhaps we should protest against the company.

Monster fans, who were trying to vent their anger by ruining KK’s vote, began to divide.

***

At that time, Dowook and KK members were at the concert hosted by L Duty Free Shop.

Jamsil Main Stadium. It was the largest venue for concerts in the country.

It was the same when I went to the dome during the Japanese concert, but this time it was in Korea. The KK members could not help but be overwhelmed as they saw the various lights twinkling all over the place.

KK’s performance order was no longer at the front. It was the second front from the ending.

The order was KK Man to Man and Sabang Shinhwa.

The sound was so loud that the sound of the performance on the stage outside could be heard in the waiting room. My heart raced as I heard the loud bass sound.

‘also. Kwon Ji-hyung spoke up. Monster fans’ opinions are divided and they won’t be able to vote like they do now. The power of hating someone ends there. From now on, you have to have a lot of fans to win the vote.’

Dowook thought as he checked his phone. Since two days ago, whenever Do-wook had time, he went to the radio program bulletin board and posted questions about ‘Moonlight Love.’

When the story about ‘Moonlight Love’ came up, I planned to have Kwon Ji-hyung mention Do-wook.

In fact, there was a second plan that did not need to be mentioned on this radio. However, it was a good thing that Monster fans had second thoughts about KK before going to the second part.

Standing in the hallway, Do-wook began to relax his neck for today’s live. Other members also used their own methods to relieve neck and tension in the waiting room.

It was soon the stage. A shout for KK was waiting.

At that time, a group of back dancers passed through the hallway. Judging by their costumes, it was a group of man-to-man back dancers. And in the group was Jo Jung-min.

Jo Jung-min stopped when he saw Do-wook.

“long time no see?”