The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Chapter 138

I checked out other articles about Only One. However, most of them were just rephrasing the first article I saw: about how Only One terminated their exclusive contract with TH Entertainment right before their debut, that they were planning to find a new agency, and how all of them had left together. All of the articles did not contain any more information than that. Since I didn’t think additional searches would be helpful, I put my phone back.

‘...Should I call Kang Hyun-Sung?’ I wanted to ask him why he terminated his contract with TH Entertainment, what the inside story was, and which agency they were going to.

But above all, I wanted to ask, ‘When are they going to debut...?’

I wanted to ask when he planned to debut. Frankly, I didn’t feel good that these were my first thoughts as rather than blessing a person’s future, I was merely treating them as competition. However, it couldn’t be helped as a person’s life was at stake.

I wanted to call him and ask various questions, but I thought, ‘No, I really can’t.’

If I was human, I thought I shouldn’t do that. It was not easy to leave a company, and he probably received a lot of mental strain during this process. If I contacted him now for no reason, it would be like pouring oil on top of a burning house.

‘Since nothing is confirmed, I should stay still.’ I calmed myself and focused on the broadcast screen. Various other scenes appeared like when we checked out the room, when we all lay down and ate potatoes and sweet potatoes, and when we took a piece of tangerine and threw it into our mouths. The highlight of that last scene was when the piece of tangerine that Yeon-Hoon threw hit Dong-Jun’s nose, not his mouth.

“Oh! Hahaha! They included the scene when Dong-Jun got hit on his nose, not his mouth.”

“Ah, the producers should have cut that out.”

“I thought my stomach was going to rip when I saw that in real life.”

The members all laughed while seeing that scene, but I couldn’t help but feel conflicted. However, since I couldn’t make it obvious right now, I tried not to stand out by forcing myself to laugh.

“Ha, hahaha, how funny...”

***

During the afternoon, while Siren’s reality show was going on, the internet was noisy about Only One and Siren.

—Did Only One really terminate their exclusive contract with TH Entertainment?

—It worked out well. It was an agency that couldn’t even take care of Hyun-Sung

—It’s the first time I saw a group that terminated a contract before even debuting

—Kang Hyun-Sung, Park Young-Ho, Kim Si-Woon, Lee Chul-Woon, Kim Ju-Hyun I love you :*( Please just be happy

Reply: Yeah, my babies pls just walk on a rosy road; I’ll be waiting

—But I can understand Hyun-Sung. He must have seen how big agencies worked while doing Yours, and he must have had a huge headache trying to debut under TH Entertainment with his members who he practiced with for a long time.

People talked about the termination of Only One’s exclusive contract despite the fact that Siren’s reality show was in full swing. Even Siren’s fans were writing about the termination of Only One’s exclusive contract rather than Siren’s reality show.

—Did Kang Hyun-Sung terminate his contract, fr?

—Wow, he’s one crazy guy :0

—But he must seriously care about his members; what a guy...

—As a viewer of The Showcase...I wish both Only One and our guys do well fr...I really hope a troll doesn’t spread any weird rumors cause they had a rival storyline

Siren’s fandom brought up the termination of Only One’s exclusive contact from the perspective of Siren. Since both fandoms suffered from the two groups being portrayed as rivaling idols, they hoped that their rivalry storyline would discontinue. On the other hand, one Siren fan brought up a conspiracy theory.

—Isn’t it hella suspicious that they released this news on the very day our guys’ reality show is airing?

They found it problematic that an article about Only One’s termination of their exclusive contract with TH Entertainment broke out today.

—?? That’s complete nonsense?

—Shit, that’s reaching too far hah

—I emphasize once again that this is an individual opinion and not a general opinion of Siren’s fans

—Who the hell would write an article to keep check a reality show that’s fallen in popularity after the final is over? make it make sense

—The exclusive contract was terminated yesterday, so the article came out today. Isn’t it crazy to insult them for this?

People flocked to the post and cursed the commenter, and the account owner couldn’t handle the overflowing rush of criticism and deleted her post and even had to erase her account. However, one clear fact was that due to Only One’s contract termination article, the responses to Siren’s reality show’s first episode quickly disappeared from the feed. This was also reflected in Bluebird’s real-time ranking.

—1st place: Only One Exclusive Contract Termination (45,674 tweets)

—2nd place: Siren, Be Healthy! (35, 387!)

First place was Only One’s contract termination, and second was Siren’s reality show. However, there was a moment when this ranking switched, and it was—

—??? What are these guys doing when they’re supposed to be shooting a reality show?

—hahahhahahaha ackahhahhaha guys hahaha

—Tae-Yoon...his soulless eyes lacking any expectations...I love it...

It was the moment when they made the wooden bench after receiving the materials. Bong Tae-Yoon looked at the bench with dead eyes as if he lost faith in humanity while Woo Yeon-Hoon, Park Dong-Jun, and Lee Woon looked at it lovingly.

—Yeon-Hoon calling the wooden bench like a puppy is so cute lol

—Ah, our cutie pie wants to be friends with a bench aww

—(video of Dong-Jun running) Excuse me, but where is Dong-Jun in this? I can only see a puppy

—Our princess’ eyes look crazy hahaha pls don’t laugh like that

People burst out laughing at the complete contrast shown by the two groups in Siren. The two groups showed completely different reactions while engrossed in their work. The first group empathized with a wooden bench, and contrary to those overly emotional members, the second group was made up of realists through and through. Since this was a section with a lot of other high points, interest in Only One’s exclusive contract termination was quickly pushed back.

—Wow but our black cat is so good at cooking? Come to my cellar right now

—Do-Seung...I’m really your grandma...I want to eat your stir-fried spicy pork before I die...pls tell me the password to your dorm’s entrance...

—Look at the veins in his arms when he rolls up his sleeves while cooking. Damn it~I’m dead

Unlike Bong Tae-Yoon and Kang Do-Seung, who cooked skillfully, Lee Woon and Park Dong-Jun awkwardly made the wooden bench.

—Tae-Yoon’s dead-pan face is so fucking funny hahaha

—He looks like he’s thinking...I can’t believe they’re older than him

—It’s hilarious that even in this situation, Kang Do-Seung didn’t get on top of the bench lol

—Our black cat doesn’t do anything dangerous

—He didn’t go up because he was afraid of accidentally showing his cat landing when he falls down

Reply: Ah, 100% agree

After the wooden bench crash scene, the flow of posts clearly shifted towards Siren. Furthermore, it was acting as a means to attract more fans.

—I never thought my heart would thump by seeing guys roll on the floor after falling from a wooden bench

—I think he’s the most handsome person I’ve ever seen falling off a wooden bench

—How can that...child with soulless eyes and no faith towards humanity...be the 19-year old maknae...? Something is definitely wrong...this is really hard...

Viewers, who had a lingering attachment to The Showcase 2, were still watching the reality show. Yet, the wooden bench’s crash scene was being used as a pathway for undecided or casual viewers, who watched The Showcase but weren’t fans of Siren, to enter Siren’s fandom. After this, the following scenes passed without much surprise. There were heart-warming and cute scenes that usually came out in reality shows like Bong Tae-Yoon scolding his members, all of them lying down and sleeping after eating, and all of them exchanging jokes before going to bed.

—Ah, the five guys in daily hanbok were so cute

—I feel so happy because our guys look so happy...Siren, let’s only be happy

—Our guys look good in daily hanbok

—Let’s decide our puppy’s personal color as brown

—Then is Tae-Yoon’s personal color a smashed bench?

Reply: smashed bench lol

The reality show’s first episode was a well-made show that satisfied not only the fans but non-fans as well.

***

The broadcast ended.

“Ah, ahh, I laughed so hard that my stomach feels weak.”

“Wow...I didn’t know Tae-Yoon looked at me with such unforgiving eyes.”

“Tae-Yoon...why did you look at us with such hopeless eyes...”

“I thought I was Bong Tae-Yoon’s nephew.”

Yeon-Hoon, Woon, and Dong-Jun must have only realized how I looked at them now.

However, I had no fault in this case and said, “But it’s you guys’ fault for making the bench like that.” I didn’t do anything wrong as who in the world couldn’t match the legs of the bench to that extent? It was to the extent that I could tell the length was not right just by eye measurement.

And after seeing the broadcast just now, I saw that they had also done a shoddy job nailing the parts together. Anyone with common sense would have driven the nails in harder to give it a stronger base, but they did the construction so loosely, thinking it would be fine as long as they made the basic shape.

“You guys said you loved Benchy, but you three are the ones who killed it.”

“Whaaat!”

“Hey, take back your words!”

“Bong Tae-Yoon! You don’t deserve to talk about Benchy!”

Yeon-Hoon, Woon, and Dong-Jun reacted strongly, and in contrast, I grinned at their reaction and pretended ignorance. The three fumed in anger and seemed ready to build a monument for Benchy at any moment.

Sigh. “Guys, stop. Let’s just clear the table.” Do-Seung must have thought we looked pathetic as he said this while getting up and lifting the plates.

“No, no! We’ll clean it up! You and Tae-Yoon cooked, so we should clean up.”

Yeon-Hoon stopped Do-Seung and took the plates and bowls in his hand. Woon also followed Yeon-Hoon, and Dong-Jun stayed glued to his seat, refusing to budge from his seat.

“Park Dong-Jun!”

“Ah, I got caught.”

However, at Yeon-Hoon’s call, he had no choice but to head to the kitchen. The only ones left in the master bedroom were now Do-Seung and me.

I asked, “Are you going to exercise today?”

“Exercise? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll digest the food a little and come back after exercising lightly.” Do-Seung was exercising lightly in the evening, even when he came here. He held on to a strong branch and did chin-ups, ran around in the yard, or did push-ups. In many ways, he was dead serious about exercise, and I stared at him intently.

“Why are you staring? It’s gross.” Do-Seung turned away his gaze when I stared at him. Frankly, while monitoring the broadcast earlier, I thought that it could be dangerous if Only One got all the buzz early on with the termination of their exclusive contract, and things had stayed like that. Of course, I rooted for Only One’s success and happiness. Since I knew that being an idol was not an easy path, I respected them as a fellow comrade, but I couldn’t concede this year either as Woon’s life was at stake.

“Do-Seung, let’s write a fan song.”

“...?”

“Let’s write a fan song.”

“What...?”

“And let’s make a self-made music video with the mountain and background here and upload it.”

“...” Do-Seung looked at me with shock. “...What, are you my boss?”

Yeah, I thought this would likely be his reaction.