Entertainment Life With A Camera

Chapter 112:

I’m a licensed teacher now.😊 Thanks to galaxytl, translator community and readers for your support.🙏 You helped me pass my exam with confidence. As a token of gratitude, I’ll give 5 chapters each for my novels today. Enjoy😍!

Chapter 112

That’s not enough.

That day, as the reviews of the video call fan signing event started to pop up, other idol fans also became interested.

-Is this how it feels to video call with my boyfriend?

-They did well to avoid any awkward moments. They’ve improved a lot in their responsesㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-Ah, I can’t take it anymore. I’m buying the album. How many cuts are there?

-My idol also announced a video call fan signing event.

The fans who saw the reviews increased their bids for the next round of fan signing events, and other idols also started to introduce video call fan signing events. 

Of course, not all reactions were positive.

-They raised the cut because of the foreigners. If this is how it is, I should have waited for the face-to-face fan signing event ㅅㅂ

-Ah, my idol’s fan signing event was a mess because of the bad network connectionㅠㅠ

-I had nothing to say because it wasn’t my bias. I ended up saying 

“Really?”ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Usually, the fans who attended the fan signing events were the same people who always went, the so-called ‘regulars’. 

The video call fan signing event was no different, and Ian’s home master Ironheart also attended every video call fan signing event.

(Ian, look at this.)

“Yes? Hey, this is our album.”

(Don’t you think something is missing here?)

“…Huh?”

The album she showed him only had ‘To. Ironheart’ written on it, and nothing else.

“I didn’t sign it…?”

Ironheart laughed at Ian’s reaction.

Ian soon made a serious face. 

How could he not sign it at a fan signing event?

“Wow, really, I’m so sorry, sis. I’ll send you a new one with a sign.”

Unlike the face-to-face fan signing event where he handed over the signed album directly, the video call fan signing event was a method where he signed the album prepared by the agency and sent it by courier, so he sometimes forgot to sign it.

Ironheart waved her hand at Ian’s serious expression. She didn’t mean to make him feel bad.

(No, no! You know I have a lot of signed albums at home. I just thought you were cute for sending it without a sign, and I wanted to tell you that this happened.)

“No, but still, how could I not sign it at a fan signing event… Why didn’t I?”

Ian groaned. The fan manager made a gesture to end the call.

“I’ll definitely send it to you. Thank you for calling me every day. Good night.”

(Bye! See you tomorrow!)

With Ironheart as the last one, today’s fan signing event was over. Ian spoke to the fan manager.

“Sis, you heard that, right? Can I have that album?”

“Uh, here.”

“I need to check if I signed them well from now on….”

The fan manager brought an album and placed it in front of Ian. Ian wrote a long message along with his sign.

“Please send this one too.”

The fan manager put the album in the delivery box to be sent to Ironheart. Ian got up from his seat and stretched.

The advantage of the video call fan signing event was that it was less constrained by space and time. 

The fan signing event that started at 10 p.m. due to schedule issues ended at 11:30 p.m.

“Ian, good job.”

“Yes, I’ll go ahead.”

Today was not a group fan signing event but an individual one. 

Awi each went to an empty conference room or practice room for their fan signing event.

As Ian left the conference room, he ran into Kim Joo-young who was standing in front of him. He showed him his phone screen and said.

“Dong-soo hyung said he’s coming out from the parking lot.”

Ian nodded.

“I forgot to sign an album at the previous fan signing event. Did you do that too?”

“Wow, you too? Me too. Two fans said they didn’t have a sign so I wrote them and sent them.”

“We need to be careful not to forget.”

As soon as Park Jin-hyuk finished his fan signing event and came up from the practice room, he came next to Ian.

“Guys, I messed up earlier.”

“What?”

“I told them we did a magazine shoot and Dong-soo hyung glared at me.”

“Ah hyung, really.”

Spoiler fairy Jin-hyuk was already branded as a person of interest, so Park Dong-soo always watched his fan signing event.

“But what does it matter… It’s not a Korean magazine so I thought it would be okay.”

“Don’t you think the Japanese fans are spreading the rumor by now?”

“When did you get here? Ouch.”

Park Seo-dam, who was following him, pinched Park Jin-hyuk’s arm.

“You said it was a secret, but you keep spoiling it, hyung?”

“I’m sorry.”

Awi’s popularity kept growing not only in Korea but also overseas. 

They had a schedule for a photo shoot besides the music show, and it was supposed to be published in a Japanese magazine.

“Did Ian say anything over there?”

“No, he’s busy with his own house on fire. How would he think of me?”

“Wow, what a waste.”

Ian became popular in China after his collaboration with Woo-sang Yooni. He received offers for photo shoots and commercials, but they were postponed indefinitely due to COVID-19.

The members of Awi opened the van door as usual. Kim Myung-jin was already waiting for them in the van.

“Guys, you worked hard until the last broadcast.”

“You too, hyung.”

Awi wrapped up their album promotion with four weeks of music shows. And they never missed the first place.

“Ian, our stage cam is out. Do you want to watch it?”

“Sure.”

Ian fixed his eyes on the phone screen of Park Jin-hyuk.

At the climax of the song, where the beat surged, Ian on the screen sang with a grimace.

“Wow, your expression here is awesome. Did you plan to make this face?”

“I didn’t mean to, but I guess it came out naturally.”

“Oh.”

Park Jin-hyuk uttered a short admiration. 

Lee Joo-hyuk was looking at something with a serious face, but Kim Hyun glanced at his screen and changed the topic.

“Did you see it earlier? When they announced the first place?”

“Oh, you were holding hands in the back?”

“Wow, how can you hold hands so openly when there are no fans?”

“Hyun-ah, if you’re jealous, just say it.”

Lee Joo-hyuk turned off his phone screen and snapped at Kim Hyun. Kim Hyun closed his mouth tightly and made a walnut-like chin. Jo Tae-woong laughed and teased Kim Hyun.

‘What was that hyung looking at?’

[Part distribution controversy.]

‘Still?’

Regardless of popularity, whenever a new song comes out, someone summarizes who sang which part and how many seconds they got.

Awi had noticeably fewer parts for some members in this promotion song. 

It was because they gave priority to the people who could convey the mood of the song well.

-Is this all Tae-woong’s part?

-I can’t even say anythingㅋㅋ It’s a problem when the same member composesㅋㅋ

-How bad do you have to be to get fewer parts?

└You’re so mean

-But they have more parts in other songs?

└So what? The title is the main thing

There are many malicious individual fans or trolls who use this as an excuse to bash them. 

And part distribution controversy was a common thing that other idols also experienced. 

It was just that Awi members were too good at web surfing that they couldn’t ignore these trivial controversies.

“I don’t care… Let’s go to our dorm and have some late-night snacks.”

Jo Tae-woong shrugged his shoulders. Kim Myung-jin, who overheard their conversation, raised his right hand.

“No way. Late-night snacks are forbidden.”

“Why!”

Kim Myung-jin said firmly.

“You guys don’t exercise these days because we don’t manage you? I saw you on TV and your faces were very puffy. Especially Joo-young.”

“Oh no!”

Kim Joo-young screamed while washing his face.

“You’re going on a diet from tomorrow.”

“Ah, hyung. Our promotion is over.”

“It’s better to manage early.”

“Hyung, you’re in trouble. You’re becoming more like Dong-soo hyung.”

The members who were suddenly struck by lightning groaned in pain. 

Kim Myung-jin, who was not used to being a male idol manager yet, learned to ignore the members’ pleas quite well.

“If we eat late-night snacks today, it’ll be the last time.”

“No way. If you eat secretly, he’ll increase the intensity of your exercise. And it’s not today anymore, it’s yesterday.”

Kim Myung-jin pointed at the clock that passed 12 o’clock and smiled.

***

“Did you boil everything?”

“Yeah, give me some spoons.”

Of course, it wasn’t the members who heard that. 

The members who arrived at the dorm went straight to the kitchen. 

Kim Joo-young boiled ramen, and the members put plates and spoons on the table.

“Is there any milk? Milk is good for reducing swelling.”

“There’s none… But what can we do if our faces are swollen? We already ate it.”

Park Seo-dam blew on the noodles and slurped them into his mouth.

“Wow, crazy, Joo-young hyung should open a restaurant later.”

“I’m thinking about it too.”

The members who preferred eating over high-intensity exercise happily finished ten packs of ramen.

Lee Joo-hyuk, who had been nibbling on ramen and thinking about something, slammed his chopsticks down and said.

“Guys, do you want to do a unit activity?”

“Huh?”

“Or how about releasing solo songs? As dissing. The project name would be ‘Weekly Awi’.”

Bak Seodam brought some water and said,

“We upload a lot of cover songs on our YouTube channel, right?”

“No, that’s not enough. I’ll make a song that suits you guys.”

“Hey, hyung, that’s my water!”

Bak Jinhyuk snatched the water from Bak Seodam and drank it all. While they were bickering, Jo Taewoong shrugged his shoulders.

“If you want to do that, go ahead. It’s not like we have anything else to do because of COVID-19.”

“To be honest, I wanted to try releasing a solo song at least once.”

Ian said that while staring at Lee Juhyuk’s eyes. He saw a fierce determination in his gaze. Was he not feeling discouraged by the part distribution controversy, but rather grinding his teeth?

In fact, Lee Juhyuk had smiled even though the other members had said they didn’t want to do it. He had pushed them to do it anyway.

“Then I’ll talk to Dongsoo hyung tomorrow.”

Lee Juhyuk got up from his seat. He had to go to his room and start working right away.

Ian stretched his neck and watched Lee Juhyuk’s back as he went into his room.

“Don’t push yourself too hard, hyung.”

“I’m fine.”

Lee Juhyuk was smiling, but his eyes were not. He thought that the part distribution dispute was something that could happen.

But he couldn’t stand the reactions that belittled the efforts of his younger brothers for this activity.

‘I’ll make sure they never say we have no talent again.’

Lee Juhyuk closed his door and Ian sighed. It wasn’t good to be swayed by the haters, but at least he was being swayed in a positive direction. He couldn’t say anything about that.

“We appreciate you taking care of us, but aren’t you going to get sick if you do that?”

“Just let him do what he wants. That hyung doesn’t see anything else when he gets obsessed with something.”

Kim Hyun shook his head and threw some rice into the remaining soup. 

The members’ spoons moved busily.

[What a busybody.]

Jin couldn’t understand Lee Juhyuk. 

He had enough trouble taking care of his own bowl, let alone writing songs for his brothers.

***

As public masks were sold by day of the week and COVID-19 transmission gradually subsided, drama and movie filming resumed.

Awi had two photo shoots and Ian had two more personal photo shoots.

And there was still an ad shoot left. 

As the contract expired for an ad with Media as the model, who would soon enlist in the army together, many of them offered to the cast of ‘The Man of Trot’, and Awi.

“Hello!”

Awi arrived at the cosmetics ad shoot site and bowed his waist to greet them.

He arrived at the powder room with the staff’s guidance and looked at the ad script with a troubled expression.

“How do you make a fresh expression?”

“Like this?”

“Ugh, don’t look at me.”

Jo Taewoong smiled brightly and Kim Hyun frowned.

“Can’t we just do it like we did for our fan song?”

“That was more… melancholic than fresh, wasn’t it?”

“What does it mean to smile moistly?”

The members looked at each other and smiled awkwardly. Could they do this ad well?