Entertainment Life With A Camera

Chapter 76:

Chapter 76

You guys are doing great

The handshake event was divided into individual, group, and unit sessions.

The handshake event was also a short time where fans could exchange greetings and handshakes with the idols before moving on to the next person. 

Even so, fans were lining up outside the venue.

“Hi, you came again. Is this your fourth time?”

Ian folded his thumb and showed his palm. 

The Japanese fan nodded vigorously and bounced on her feet. 

She spoke in a high-pitched voice.

“See you next time.”

“Thank you.”

See you at the next session. Ian greeted the next fan in line.

Ian thought that fans who came to these events would be greatly rewarded by just being recognized by the idols.

Ian used Jin’s ability to help him remember the fans, and they liked it more than he expected. 

Ian also felt happy and couldn’t stop smiling.

‘This person is new, right? No, the face looks familiar… Is this the second time?’

[You came to the high-touch event once.]

He didn’t just rely on Jin’s ability, but he also tried his best to memorize the fans’ faces.

“You came to the high-touch event, right?”

“Wow! How did you know? Amazing!”

“Thank you for coming.”

The Korean fan who crossed the ocean resisted the staff’s guidance to move on with a reluctant expression. 

Eventually, when the staff pushed her slightly, she had to let go of Ian’s hand.

“I’ll come again!”

She actually couldn’t come to the next handshake event because of her flight schedule. But seeing Ian recognize her, she opened her SNS and posted that she would buy a ticket for the next handshake event. 

She also changed her flight to a later time and smiled happily.

***

“I’m so tired.”

Ian entered the hotel room and collapsed on the bed without changing his clothes.

“Hyung, my legs are swollen.”

Ian’s roommate for this time was Park Seodam. 

Park Seodam sat on the bed and massaged his calves.

“It must be because you stood for too long.”

“But hyung, you really remember the fans well. How do you remember them all?”

Ian smiled awkwardly. He was still getting a lot of help from Jin’s ability.

“I guess I’m good at memorizing people’s faces.”

“Is it your natural talent? The more I see it, the more amazing it is.”

Park Seodam looked at Ian with envious eyes.

“But did you see that male fan?”

“I saw him.”

“It was my first time seeing a male fan so close.”

“He spoke Korean very well.”

Ian and Park Seodam laughed together. 

Their bodies were tired, but their hearts were strong because there were many people who came to see them.

“Hyung, you go shower first.”

“Okay.”

While Ian went to the bathroom and washed up, Park Seodam turned on his phone. 

He skillfully browsed through the community he often visited and saw a post that said:

-Fans’ reviews of the handshake event (+mostly about maknae)

I’m Seodam’s fan so this is mostly about Seodam!

Actually I was hesitant to go because of the situation, but they’re going to do their world tour right after their Korean activitiesㅠㅠㅠ I can’t go to their fan signing or world tour because of my situation, but I miss themㅠㅠ So I tried not to spend money there and just did the handshake event and came out, now I’m at the airport!

Seodam was so cute and kind todayㅠㅠㅠ He asked me if I wore a pink knit hat before, and that was meㅠㅠㅠ He remembered meㅠㅠ

‘Ah, this person… Is it that person?’

He remembered a Korean who came to a fan event in another country better. Park Seodam scrolled down.

Actually I went there to cheer him up because he seemed down, but I didn’t need to worry! Seodam is popular in Japan! I felt proud when I saw the long line for him! What perfume does he use? He smelled good too!

└Really? That’s good! I was so stressed because some people kept saying that maknae has no popularity and there will be a shortage of ticketsㅠㅠㅠ

└I don’t know why they pressed the rage button for no reason

└They’re just jealousㅇㅇ

└Let’s just say nice things on a good review postㅠㅠㅠ Thank you for your review! I miss our boy tooㅠㅠㅠ

Park Seodam, who remembered one bad word more than ten good ones, felt his heart sink.

‘I guess fans feel like they’re being insulted too when idols are insulted?’

Even though he didn’t do anything wrong legally or morally, he was insulted for no reason.

That’s what being a celebrity was. 

There were people who were hurt by the insults that had no reason besides the person involved.

‘What should I do?’

Park Seodam looked at his right hand. He still felt the warmth of the people who came to see him, who held his hand with a shy expression and said they were really fans.

“Hyung, I’m done washing. Come in.”

Park Seodam got up quickly when he saw Ian come out of the shower.

“Hyung, can you teach me how to sing?”

“Huh?”

Ian stopped shaking the water from his head and sat on the bed.

“Suddenly? Now?”

“Or whenever you’re comfortable.”

“Why do you want to learn how to sing?”

Park Seodam hesitated.

“I told you at our graduation ceremony, hyung. You guys can show off your talents and I just need to make money from group activities…”

He thought that way because it was easier for him. But was it because he didn’t want to try hard and ran away?

Park Seodam suddenly thought of Kim Young-hyun, who had moved to another company recently.

“But I think that’s wrong. I was relieved when we debuted, but honestly, debut is not the end, right?”

Park Seodam wanted to be a singer who could be proud of his fans, not a singer who just made enough money.

“I think what I told you is the same as being lazy… I shouldn’t think like that.”

What would the fans who liked him, who was being lazy, become? Ian nodded and said it made sense.

“And actually… I don’t want to be like Young-hyun hyung. He might be upset if he hears this, but…”

Park Seodam wanted more people to come see him. 

He didn’t want to move to another company like he was running away from his lack of ability, and he wanted his members to be by his side until he retired.

“Really?”

Ian crossed his arms.

‘You got greedy?’

Of course, in a good way. Ian smiled warmly.

“But you don’t have to learn from me, there’s a vocal trainer at the company anyway.”

“But you sing well.”

“Singing well doesn’t mean teaching well…”

“You’re better than me.”

The conversation was strangely off, and Ian raised one eyebrow. 

Park Seodam suddenly headed for the hotel room entrance.

[What’s up with him? He stopped talking and left?]

‘Let’s follow him for now.’

Ian chased after Park Seodam. T

here were always bodyguards waiting in the hallway because of the last incident. 

While Ian greeted the bodyguard, Park Seodam knocked on the door of the next room.

“Hyung hyung hyung! Hyungs! Open the door!”

That room was Kim Hyun and Kim Joo-young’s room. 

Kim Joo-young opened the door while humming a song.

“Byung byung byung! I’m Kungcheol~ What? What’s up?”

“Hyungs, please teach me how to dance! Hard!”

“What are you talking about?”

Kim Joo-young looked at Ian. Ian shrugged his shoulders.

‘He must have asked Taewoong to teach him how to act, and Jinhyuk hyung and Juhyuk hyung to teach him how to compose and write lyrics.’

[That sounds plausible.]

Ian politely called the other members.

“What? What’s going on?”

“Seodam has a big announcement.”

Jinhyuk yawned and opened his mouth wide.

“What is it? What about Seodam?”

“Actually…”

Park Seodam told them his feelings without holding back. 

Everyone flinched at his blunt words that he didn’t want to be like Kim Young-hyun.

“But do you really need to learn from us? There are trainers at the company too… If you ask them, they’ll probably agree.”

“But you guys are good at it.”

“That… is true, but.”

Taewoong nodded awkwardly. 

The members laughed quietly at his lack of modesty. It was better than having no self-esteem.

“We’re going to start our activities right away when we go back to Korea, and we have a world tour too. Then we won’t have much time…”

[Why do you need to learn from amateurs? You’ll naturally improve your skills when you go on a world tour, right?]

‘I don’t know, I’ve never done it before.’

Some people say they improved their singing or dancing skills after going on a world tour, but Ian thought the basics were important.

‘It’s dangerous if you pick up bad habits along the way. You have to fix them from the start… But that’s something the vocal trainer would know better, and can I teach well?’

[Why not? You have some talent. Just teach what you learned.]

‘That’s a bit vague.’

Ian hesitated. He had a lot of lessons under his belt since his Kim Yong-min days, but it was different when he had to teach someone else.

Even if he taught what he learned as Jin said, would that be the right method for Park Seodam? He had doubts about that.

“If you’re annoyed, I can’t help it…”

Park Seodam looked noticeably gloomy and Juhyuk waved his hand.

“No, no, it’s not that we’re annoyed… It’s just that we’re not skilled enough to teach someone seriously.”

“Me too, that’s what I think.”

Ian added, but Taewoong shrugged his shoulders and said.

“Not me?”

“Wow, look at Jo-tang being shameless.”

Joo-young threw a crumpled cleansing tissue at Taewoong. Taewoong fought back.

“Who are we going to teach?”

“Don’t we have a lot to learn ourselves?”

In the midst of the paper flying around, Juhyuk and Jinhyuk spoke seriously.

Park Seodam’s eyes looked desperate and he didn’t seem to give up easily. Juhyuk thought hard and exclaimed.

“We can do that!”

“What?”

“Study group.”

“Oh!”

The members clapped their hands.

“That’s a good idea, right? We learn the basics from the trainers and review with each other.”

“And sometimes we show our fans our study sessions on Y-app broadcasts.”

“We can also upload videos on MyTube once a week as study group assignments.”

“Dongsu hyung will probably agree too, right?”

The members chatted excitedly.

“Okay, what do you want to do? Jinhyuk and I will do composing and writing lyrics, Joo-young and Hyun will do dance duo… Taewoong will do acting. Ian will do vocal, Seodam will do…”

“Me too?”

“Of course you too, it’s a study group. You just want to steal our know-how?”

“Uh…? No? That’s not it…”

Park Seodam tilted his head. What can I teach the hyungs?

“Seodam is obviously the leader. You’re good at it.”

“If we learn from Seodam, can we also get music show MC jobs?”

“I actually wanted to try MCing.”

Ian, Taewoong, and Joo-young said casually. Park Seodam smiled brightly.

“Then when do you want to start?”

“Let’s start tomorrow before we lose our motivation.”

“Okay.”

Juhyuk brought his laptop and made a schedule. The plan was getting bigger and bigger.

***

“Study group? So that’s why you’re singing in the car?”

“Yes, is it noisy, hyung?”

“No. It’s a good idea, right?”

“We’ll also show our fans on Y-app broadcasts.”

Park Dongsu laughed as he listened to the members’ excited plans.

They made their own content and improved their teamwork. 

As a manager, he had to welcome it with both hands. 

It was easier for him to take care of them when they were close than when they fought.

‘I did well to take care of them.’

They were doing self-development on their own, so he couldn’t just suck his fingers as an adult. 

Park Dongsu opened his phone memo and wrote ‘Ask the company to assign more trainers for the kids’.

“Good! Go ahead!”