“Hyung! You’re here early!”
When I arrived at the company with some time to spare before the meeting, I spotted Do Yuda in a top with a rather deep neckline and sleeves that looked like they could shed fur with the slightest movement, like a Samoyed. No, at that point, calling it a Samoyed was an understatement. It was more like a walking fur factory. The other members were nearby too, but because he just had to wear something that hijacked everyone’s attention like that, my gaze naturally gravitated toward Do Yuda.
Eventually, when I saw Woo Kangwon beside me, sticking his tongue out slightly as he picked out the fur that had gotten into his mouth, I felt a sudden wave of embarrassment and instinctively took a step away from them. Of course, given our line of work, it wasn’t exactly a big deal. Just then, Nagi Zen stepped in behind me, cutting off my escape, and rested his chin on my shoulder as he spoke to Do Yuda.
“Are you shedding?”1
“It’s insane, right? Super fashionable. Hyung wore this in a photoshoot, so I wanted to try it on too.”
‘Ah.’
It wasn’t until I heard the word photoshoot that I finally remembered; that outfit was one of the ones I wore in the Dicoon photoshoot.
If someone asked how I could completely forget an outfit I’d worn before, the biggest reason would be that I’ve never been the type to pay much attention to things once they’re over. Still, the fact that it gave off such a different vibe compared to when I wore it definitely played a part too.
‘How does he manage to look so wholesome?’
—How could you show off your collarbones in front of everyone like this? We promised not to do this, darling
—Oh, come on! Our boy is still a baby! Even at the Water Festival, he had his little tummy all wrapped up, so you can’t put him in clothes like this yet, Stylist-nim!
└ There’s no official schedule today, so it looks like he’s in his own clothes
“Hehe, I posted a selfie in today’s outfit, and the fans are loving it! Take a look!”
Though to be fair, even that level of exposure seemed pretty shocking to Do Yuda’s fans, who are used to zero skin showing.
—Turn into a beast
…Wait, was it not shocking but just too provocative?
As I scrolled through the social media reactions Do Yuda showed me, I felt overwhelmed by the fans going wild like runaway horses and swallowed hard.
“…Don’t they not like it? Everyone seems angry.”
“Goodness, our innocent hyung! You’ve been an idol for more than just a day or two, so how can you still be so clueless about fans’ hearts! This is what you call fake hate!”
Ah, was this an extension of that ‘fake hype‘ thing he mentioned last time?
Fans’ hearts really are impossible to figure out.
Feeling a little self-conscious after Do Yuda’s pointed remark, I kept scrolling down the screen and noticed that my name had come up.
—Wait, isn’t that THE legendary outfit? (Han Seungbeom photoshoot.jpg)
—CRAZY. It looks like he borrowed Seungbeom’s clothes. It’s so fascinating how different the vibe is even though they’re wearing the same outfit. Seungbeom looks like a drenched, dangerously seductive pretty boy, while Yuda gives off an innocent, powerfully pure vibe that somehow makes even super revealing outfits look wholesome;
—So who the hell left that lipstick mark on Seungbeom’s chin back then? Confess before before I flip the entire company upside down
└ I asked at the fansign, and apparently the makeup staff thought Danbi’s lips would look best for it, so they asked him to do it. I mean, if the agency had any sense, they wouldn’t have just made anyone do it, right
└ OMG, didn’t see that coming. As expected, our maknae’s lips really are the most beautiful
—What?! How could P7’s ultimate alpha male2 do something that sly? Please release the behind-the-scenes video! There was such an exciting situation going on, and the fact that only you guys know about it is grounds for a lawsuit
└ I heard he just said, “Go ahead”, and did it right away. Yup
— Haa… my head’s about to explode. A true alpha male doesn’t get his pride get hurt over something like kissing his hyung
└ For real, I wonder if it’s because this kid grew up watching Han Seungbeom, but his alpha energy keeps increasing with each passing year. This noona is really looking forward to seeing how you turn out
— The fact that Sseungbeom, the one getting the kiss, didn’t even think much of it is honestly the worst part. P7 is such a hilarious group. The gym-addicted muscularhyungs are delicate maidens at heart, but the curly-haired Eros maknae, who still has all his baby fat, and a 40kg super skinny guy are the ‘alpha males’
└ Ah f**k, 40kg? That’s insane lolololol
— It was good, but kind of a shame. If Nihwalee had been the one chosen, his face would’ve turned bright red, and he would’ve been like, “Why do I have to do something like that?” and fiercely resisted. That would’ve been comedy gold
└ As expected, Nicky really is a prickly, shy, pretty guy type……
└ But you won’t know unless you actually try it. That guy might secretly be pretty happy about it. If that turns out to be the case, he gets +1 alpha male points
— I don’t care about any of that. I want to do it too
└ Same
As our activities were nearing the end, it felt like the fans had gotten a lot more comfortable with us too. There were quite a few teasing comments aimed at the members. To be honest, I couldn’t fully understand about half of what the fans were saying, but … well, as long as everyone’s having fun, that’s what matters most.
While I was nodding to myself, lost in those thoughts, Zen spoke in a slightly mocking tone.
“I didn’t realize it was the same outfit.”
“Is that some kind of high-level provocation?”
“And if it is?”
Seeing that they were already about to start bickering again not long after making eye contact, I calmly pressed down on both of their heads with each hand. Then, Do Yuda’s attention suddenly shifted to me, and after scanning my outfit thoroughly, he gave a thumbs up and spoke.
“Hyung, your combat power is high today.”
‘It’s not me who has high combat power, it’s you.’
It was probably because I was wearing suit pants, a white shirt, and even dress shoes—an outfit we rarely get to wear, considering the nature of our work. If it had been a meeting with the A&R team, where the atmosphere is a bit more relaxed, I might have gone with something more casual, like most celebrities do. But unfortunately, this time we had to meet with a different team, and since I expected it to be pretty tough, I intentionally dressed this formally.
“Yeah, I’m going to finish everything off.”
“Digeut digeut.”3
…What’s wrong with kids these days?
Wasn’t ‘DD‘ originally just a shortened version of ‘deoldeol‘ because typing out the whole thing was a hassle?4
But I really didn’t get why anyone would feel the need to spell it out in four characters again. Still, if I pointed it out every time I felt such a generational gap with these kids, it would never end, so I just shut my mouth.
“Yuda-hyung, please don’t say things like that in public.”
Lee Danbi, seemingly unable to stand the sight of my blank expression, finally gave Do Yuda a cold dose of honesty. Do Yuda, in turn, grabbed Lee Danbi’s cheeks with both hands, squishing them until his mouth looked like a crucian carp’s, and started arguing with all his might.
“Are you embarrassed of me? Answer me. Are you embarrassed of me!”
“Yes.”
But Lee Danbi was a cold-hearted crucian carp.
“Okay…….”
At the brutally firm reply, Do Yuda instantly lost all the combat power he’d had just moments ago. He grew sullen and folded in on himself like a crumpled piece of paper.
‘Why does he keep charging in every time when he’s not going to win anyway?’
Even as I was thinking that, I poked Do Yuda in the side with my elbow and said in a blunt voice.
“If it looks like I’m going to lose, just start flapping your arms. All that fur will suffocate them.”
“…Hyung, you’re saying you’d lose? On the contrary, we’d be the ones who’d have to stop you, wouldn’t we? If we don’t want the staff ending up in tears.”
I could hear him whining about something or other, but I ignored it completely and walked into the meeting room.
.
.
.
“How did you decide to handle identity verification at the concert entrance? I recall you mentioned during the last meeting that you’d discuss it and let us know in advance, but we haven’t heard anything from you yet.”
“Ah, we decided to proceed with identity verification as originally planned. I was going to inform you today.”
At the employee’s deliberately feigned calm expression and tone, I quietly set the documents I’d been holding down on the table. Then, without a word, I leaned back in my chair and simply stared at them in silence.
“……”
“…….”
With that, the atmosphere in the meeting room turned cold in an instant, and awkwardness and tension spread across the faces of all the members except Lee Hwayoung. They were blinking so rapidly that I even had the absurd thought it might start making noise.
However, I was at the brink of my patience and in no state to respond to that, so I opened my mouth again without taking my eyes off the employee. ‘No matter how annoyed I am, I have to hold it in’, ‘Woo Kangwon 98%, Choi Jeokhyeon 2%’, I kept repeating that to myself over and over.
“…So you’re saying it’s going ahead as originally planned? Show the ticket before entering, then verify identity with an ID on a specific app?”
I had already heard it clearly, so the reason I was asking again wasn’t because I was expecting the same answer.
It was to make them explain.
Why the matter had been handled this sloppily.
Then all the gazes that had been fixed on me shifted back to the employee.
“The higher-ups made it clear they had no plans to change it…….”
“Then why are you informing us this late?”
“Pantheion’s members have been so incredibly busy with their schedules that … I couldn’t find a good time to convey the information to you.”
‘F***, they must have purposely not told us because they were afraid we’d find fault with it again.’
What are we, cavemen? Do we have to be face-to-face to be able to discuss anything?
That ridiculous excuse was really starting to raise my blood pressure.
“Didn’t I clearly tell you last time? There were people who couldn’t enter the venue even though they had tickets that were rightfully theirs, because of that ID verification process. I asked for it to be fixed.”
“If we simplify the identity verification process like Seungbeom-ssi suggested, the ticket scalping problem will get much worse. We have no choice.”5
In the entertainment industry, more than half of the problems typically arise from conflicts between the agency and its artists, or between the agency and the fans.
To be honest, compared to RH Entertainment, everywhere else seemed relatively decent. I knew from experience that when someone who hadn’t actually done the on-the-ground work interfered too much, it could make things even more complicated, so I didn’t want to complain or get frustrated over every little thing. However, in the end, I felt a heavy sense of frustration in my chest as I thought, ‘Here we go again.’
“Even with those measures in place, scalping will still happen. And right now, there’s no proper countermeasure against people transferring their IDs, is there? In my opinion, the bigger problem isn’t the scalping, but the fact that people who bought tickets through legitimate means can’t get into the venue just because of an identity verification issue. I don’t want to see empty seats at my concert.”
“Yes, yes, that’s right. But the problem is, scalping happens…….”
Seeing that the employee still hadn’t come to their senses and was harping on about scalping again, I immediately cut them off.
“Of course, it’d be great if we could stop scalping. I don’t like seeing fans burdened with extra costs either. But the agency completely neglects going after the resellers and instead takes the easy route, tightening control on the fans as if it’s the only natural course of action … How can I not be angry about that? Some fans are already exhausted just from traveling a long distance to the venue, and if entry is delayed on top of that, it’s only going to make things worse for them.”
“Oh, for that, if we just instruct everyone to have their IDs out and ready so we can verify them right away while they’re waiting, it’ll go a bit faster…….”
“No. Even if we do that, it’ll still be slow. Especially with the large capacity of this venue, it’ll be even slower. It’s not us who are simply ‘showing‘ them a concert. It’s the fans who are making the effort to ‘come and watch‘ the concert. I don’t think this kind of treatment is appropriate for consumers who paid fair and square for their tickets. And it’s not like the ticket prices are cheap, either.”
“…….”
Far from suggesting any improvements, the employee had clammed up entirely, like a mute with a mouthful of honey6. I turned my gaze away from them and let out a soundless sigh. Then, after checking the cameras installed throughout the meeting room, I pressed my fingers firmly between my brows.
‘With the mood this bleak, there’s no way we can salvage this meeting scene.’
Negative things about the company kept coming up, so how on earth were they going to turn this into behind-the-scenes content? Woo Kangwon and Baek Kiryang looked like they couldn’t even breathe, and Do Yuda was weakly fluttering his neatly folded elbows like wings, as if trying to say something.
I pretended not to notice the fur floating through the air and looked back down at the documents as I began to speak again.
“Let’s set aside the identity verification issue for now. What was the reason for designating an app-based certificate as the form of ID?”
“It’s because that method has the lowest risk of forgery or proxy use … from what I understand.”
“There are just too many day-of variables if we don’t use physical IDs. Did you not take that into consideration?”
“…….”
The employee exchanged glances with their colleagues, letting out a subtle smile that seemed to say, ‘We’ve run into someone annoying‘ or ‘Why nitpick over something like this?‘. Then, they put their ‘professional face‘ back on and spoke,
“Seungbeom-ssi, we truly understand how much you care about the fans. However, the notice about identity verification was already posted 20 minutes ago, and reversing it now could cause even more confusion, so it seems that any further changes simply aren’t possible.”
In that moment, I was so dumbfounded that I let out a dry laugh with a short “Ha.”
…Ah, okay.
F**k, so you’re really asking for it, huh?
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Translator’s Corner:
So, 덜덜 is an onomatopoeic word representing trembling or shivering, often from fear or cold. But when typing, people are too lazy to write the whole thing so they shortened it toㄷㄷ. But somehow there’s also 디귿디귿 which means the same thing. So Yutae was confused why it transformed into something longer.. ↩︎
I never attended a concert before (now that I think about it, I also never attended a local one? not even my university’s concert too), but everytime I heard stories about ID checks and tickets waiting-in-line, it sounds pretty tiring tbh
The timing of this chapter is kinda good because there’s an ongoing controversy about ID verification happening since last week. DAY6 had a fanmeeting last week, and the verification process crossed the line that so many fans were furious. They asked for resident registration number, school report card, even asked the fan to answer the name of her elementary school’s teacher …. others said they were asked to open their banking app … and they shared people’s ID photos and personal info on group chat too … someone even called the police to help verifying their identity, but they still got their entry denied … whole thing is a mess, JYP even posted apology notice twice. I’m actually impressed about this matter because the members not saying anything at all. Like, seriously radio silent. This is the 10th year in their career, and it was just last year they achieved their golden age. Normally, when celebrities reached that level of seniority, they already have a say in their activities, so it kinda … shows that you’re lacking care about your fans? Well, but maybe they want to be loved solely because of their music, nothing else. But it’s ironic. Their music is popular now because fans did their best promoting their songs for years…..
Anyway, see. That’s a real life, often-happening, problem. I’m actually surprised the author included this issue. Author-nim really knows idol industry well…..
I got sidetracked by Boys 2 Planet, and if you haven’t watched it, just don’t. Mnet 100%, obviously, rigging this show and they’re not hiding it at all. Watching it will make your blood pressure rise.
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