Chapter 94: Musicss
“Wow. That’s amazing.”
On the way to KPOP Center.
It’s a broadcasting station I practically lived in every day, but it can be so different depending on the time of day.
Muyoung kept looking out the window of the car. There were crowds of people at the entrance.
“Aaaah!”
“Oppaaaa!”
“Get out of the way! Come out here!”
“Philaine! I love you! Raina!”
Idols arriving one after another. Most of them are people I don’t know. It’s not just that Muyoung isn’t interested, but most of them are new groups, and there are a lot more unknown idols than you’d think.
“Are you all ready?”
“Um. Just a moment. Junho’s clothes—”
Muyoung rummaged through a paper bag in the back seat. Today was the day of the event stage at KPOP Center itself. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say it was a commercial shoot for Musicss.
“I told Junho to wear this when he goes in and that when he comes out. Please take care of it.”
“Okay. Let’s see. How handsome is our Muyoung?”
“Haha. What do you mean?”
So, like other idols, he ended up going to work at a music show.
The heat was intense from the morning. Not only the reporters but also the fans who were pouring out their support in the cold wind.
“Just once here—!”
Each person had a telephoto camera in their hand, hot packs all over their body, and a mini ladder to climb up high was also essential. Seen from a distance, the atmosphere resembled a battlefield.
“Should I go out slowly too?”
“Ah. Wait a moment. The rest said they’d come later, so I think we just need to coordinate with Romin and go in. Huh? Is that the car? 3526?”
Gyeongmin spotted Romin’s van and drove slowly. Romin stuck his face out the window and waved hello toward Muyoung’s car.
“Come on. Get off. Be careful.”
Squeak!
Muyoung and Romin got out of the car at the same time and greeted each other.
As the mermaid prince, he mostly appeared in a simple outfit in the drama. Unlike Doha, who styled himself harshly every day, his clothes were always a shirt and jeans.
But today……
“Wow. What’s up, Romin? That’s awesome.”
“You’re a total idol today, Hyung.”
“Cool, cool. Awesome.”
Indeed, he is the golden maknae of the most popular group, Zero Term. His shading makeup is sophisticated and sexy. And his outfit? He’s draped in the finest luxury brands like C and G.
“This isn’t mine. It’s sponsored. Sponsored.”
“Oh? Really? Me too, me too.”
Muyoung also pointed to his T-shirt and pants. All the clothes, even the shoes, were from BornToRe, which Junho had brought because the company was in a festive mood since Muyoung was doing well.
“BornToRe? Oh, right. You modeled for that, Hyung, didn’t you?”
“Only on SNS. The real one was Enbin.”
“This place is good. The clothes are pretty. And the cost-performance ratio is good too.”
Cost-performance? Hmm. I don’t know. If a single T-shirt costs hundreds of thousands of won, I’m not sure that’s a good deal. Muyoung just smiled and ran his hand through his hair.
“You live and you do all sorts of things, huh?”
“Why? I think it’s a good experience. If I really perform on stage here, it’ll help me act better too.”
If you know the real taste of the stage, your depth of expression will increase. Muyoung nodded with that expectation. It was time to really go to work now. The two men looked at each other and smiled with satisfaction.
“You look so good, our Hyung!”
“The sponsors will love it, won’t they? Huh?”
Standing on the photo line on the way to work was the advertiser’s suggestion. To maximize buzz and interest. And then the clothing sponsor jumped on board, saying, “Great!”
“I’ll go in now. Follow me carefully.”
“Yes. Let’s go!”
Muyoung followed the bodyguard. The two men were gradually coming into people’s view. A sudden silence fell.
“Uh……?”
“Ro……”
“It’s Romin aaaah!”
“Aaaah! Romin! Romin!”
It must have been the calm before the storm. The fans’ thunderous cheers pierced his ears and seemed to burrow into his brain.
The two men had to push their way through the suddenly surging crowd.
“Uh, oops.”
Romin is amazing, as always!
He bowed his head as if accustomed to it and walked toward the photo line. Only Muyoung was staggering around, completely bewildered.
“Muyoung aaaah!”
“Muyoung! Ha Muyoung!”
“Huh?”
And then, from somewhere, Muyoung heard his name. His mind snapped back, and he burst out laughing.
“Ha Muyoung? Where?”
“That’s Ha Muyoung back there! Crazy!”
“What? Is he hosting today? Wow! What does he look like in real life?”
“Kyaaaah!”
As Muyoung hesitated and tried to wave his hand, Gyeongmin grabbed him and stopped him, just like at the last screening. He couldn’t spend endless time giving autographs and saying hello.
“No. You brat. I’m busy today.”
“Aww. Too bad.”
“Muyoung aaaah~!”
Like the cowherd and the weaver girl, the fans and Muyoung grew farther apart. He smiled and stood on the photo line. It wasn’t really a photo line—it was just the bare floor. The reporters were just sitting in front of them with cameras.
“Left, front, right. Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
Muyoung followed Romin’s words and turned his face.
Click! Click!
Whoosh—! Boom!
The flashes were pouring out like crazy. Not only the sound of the reporters’ cameras but also the sound of the telephoto camera shutters pressing in like waves. It’s not a metaphor. It really felt like standing by the sea, with the small clicking sounds hitting his ears.
“Mr. Ha Muyoung!”
“Yes?”
Then one reporter called out to Muyoung. Whoosh! As soon as their eyes met, he snapped away fiercely.
“You’ve entered the top 10 of the monthly brand reputation rankings for the first time. How do you feel?”
“Huh. Me? I did?”
“Huh? Didn’t you know?”
Of course, he couldn’t have known. It was just announced. Unless it’s a big company, he couldn’t check the news feed every hour. Gyeongmin flinched as he listened to the reporter’s words.
“Whoa!”
He wanted to shout with joy, but there were too many cameras and microphones in front of him. Muyoung posed naturally and smiled.
“It’s such an honor. Thank you very much.”
Not knowing what impact brand reputation has, he was just grateful. He kept bowing and saying thank you. Since the main purpose was to shoot a commercial for Musicss, he was going to do it moderately and go in, but……
“Uh? Wait a minute! Mr. Ha Muyoung! You Are a Star, I Am a Star was number one this week. How do you feel?”
“Congratulations on The Plague reaching 4 million!”
“What if the viewership rating exceeds 30%? Any promises?”
The reporters kept asking questions and holding him back. That’s because the You Are a Star, I Am a Star team had never done a formal individual interview before.
“A promise?”
He’d been burned by a reporter before, and he didn’t have the time or felt the need to do it. The viewership ratings were good, so the broadcasting station was releasing articles well on its own.
“Muyoung! Dress up as a woman for meee!”
Then a voice came from somewhere.
It was loud and clear, as if he were wearing a microphone by himself. Everyone burst into laughter at the sudden words.
“Dressing up as a woman is good. Should I do that and hold a fan meeting?”
“Muyoung. Let’s go now. Thank you!”
“Good work! Thank you!”
Muyoung’s playful response. It was a real joke. There were about two weeks, or about four episodes, left until the finale, and it was at about 23%. Judging from the increasing trend, it seemed like it would end well in the high twenties.
“Kyaaaah!”
“Doha! Doha!”
Muyoung waved to the fans until the end and entered the broadcasting station.
The managers guarding the two men finally caught their breath and sighed.
“It’s more intense today, really.”
“Are you okay? Romin. You don’t look good.”
At the manager’s words, Muyoung turned around. It was true. His expression was stiff, and he looked quite flustered. He covered his face and sighed.
“I saw Naejang Ttangttang.”
“Huh? Naejang Ttangttang? What’s that?”
Muyoung and Gyeongmin didn’t know what it was. But as soon as Romin’s manager heard the words, he hesitated.
“Naejang Ttangttang? Is there such a thing?”
“He’s a male Homma who takes pictures of every celebrity he meets on his way to work. But he uploads the pictures so bluntly without any editing or selection……”
He has a main group, but he takes pictures of every celebrity he meets on his way to work. That’s fine. But when he uploads the pictures, he doesn’t even select them, let alone edit them, so they’re really blunt.
“Sigh.”
“It’s okay. It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay, Hyung. That camera can see every pore, wrinkle, and hair on my skin. Waaah. Really.”
Thanks to that, if you search for “So-and-so in real life,” his picture comes up first. A picture that makes him look much uglier than he actually is. But what can he do? He’s already been photographed.
“Come on. Stop being sad and let’s go in.”
“You’ve been photographed too, Hyung, right?”
“Huh? Yeah.”
But it’s okay. The moment you stand in front of a camera, you accept all that. In fact, he’d seen some bizarre expressions of himself that he didn’t even know about in some drama captures.
“If there are good pictures, there are bad pictures too!”
“Anyway. He’s a positive person.”
Muyoung pushed him on the back and went up to the recording studio. The KPOP Center studio was darker than expected. The stage was full of decorations covered in glitter.
“Did they say we’d go first?”
“Yeah. Since it was arranged with Musicss for our convenience, we need to shoot quickly and go.”
It’s just like a drama set. There’s a truckload of idols waiting to go on stage. They had to spend anywhere from a few hours to all day in the waiting room, killing time.
“Mr. Ha Muyoung, Mr. Romin are up.”
“Song-a and Pyo Lai are coming up too.”
“Come here and say hello. This is the head of Musicss’s promotional planning team.”
“Hello!”
From the PD to the advertiser, there were too many people to greet.
“So, it’s three songs, right?”
“Yeah. Use one as the main and release the others one by one depending on the reaction. Everyone will have their own camera, so focus on eye contact mainly.”
The MerryKelly members checked the shooting setup again and went on stage.
Just like they always did, they held instruments and posed coolly—!
“We’ll start shooting!”
“Ready— Action!”
As the AR came on and the music started, everyone began lip-syncing enthusiastically. Since the visual aspect was more important than the song anyway, they focused on how they looked on screen.
“Song-a’s wink is good. How does one eye close like that?”
“Everyone’s expressions are good.”
“They said only Ha Muyoung is an actor, right? Haha. He’s good.”
“Yeah. He looks like an idol. He’s good at showing off.”
“Hmm. Good! Let’s go to the next song!”
Since they were just pretending to sing, it went smoothly, and they got the okay.
All in all, it took about an hour, including the individual member videos, and it ended without any problems.
“Good work—!”
“Yes. Now I’ll just get the scene where you greet the MC.”
“Call Seol-ah and Gyeongsu!”
It ends with the MCs and MerryKelly greeting each other like a real debut! Muyoung clicked his tongue at the filming, which ended so blandly. It seemed like shooting the way to work was more difficult and tougher than shooting a commercial.
“Hyung. How much is this worth?”
“Two per person, two thousand.”
It wasn’t an advertisement that came to Muyoung individually, but a collaborative advertisement between S Company and Musicss, so the price was set a bit lower.
In fact, for the other members, especially Romin, it was almost like they did it for free. It was like attending as part of drama promotion.
“Wow. One hour of work for two thousand?”
Muyoung shook his head in amazement. That’s why top stars don’t shoot the works they’re told to and only do CFs. That world moves in units of billions, doesn’t it?
“Muyoung Hyung!”
“Leader! Come quickly!”
And the members called out to him, who was blankly spacing out. After all, the group introduction should be done by the leader! Muyoung went up to the MC seat and grabbed the microphone.
“One, two, three! You fall for me—! MerryKelly!”
Even the idol-style greeting went smoothly!
Gyeongmin looked up from below with a pleased expression.
Is it because he’s young, or is that part of the acting too? Even as an idol, there’s no sense of discomfort.
‘He would have done well even if he debuted…… No. His singing is terrible…….’
He’s so good at acting that he forgets how bad his actual singing is. Then, a call came in for Gyeongmin from Na Geumdong.
“Yes. President. I’m shooting a commercial for Musicss right now. Yes, yes. Where? Cheongryong Confectionery? Huh? What company is the furniture? Wait, wait.”
A list of advertisements poured in all at once.
It was a call from Na Geumdong asking Muyoung for permission, saying it was time to start doing them now.