Season 2: Chapter 2. Again (2)
He possessed an inexplicable calmness. Normally, the presence of a senior in the industry would make anyone slightly nervous.
'Huh...'
In-Ho stared at Sang-Hyeon for a while, but he showed no response.
Then, another presence shattered this strange silence.
"Hello~~~!"
It was Lil Grass. She had light green hair and wore a fluorescent tank top with large white ski pants. Her dazzling colors made it seem like she would never get hit by a car while walking at night.
"Hello!"
Almond stood up to greet her first.
In-Ho excitedly ran over and clung to her.
"Lil! It's been a while!"
"Wow, In-Ho! It's been a while~!"
After accepting In-Ho's greeting, she turned to Almond.
"Oh, hello! I’m the rapper Lil Grass."
"I’m streamer Almond─"
"What? Ohhh!" Lil Grass suddenly screamed at him. "Almond! I know you! Wow! Damn! You really look hot! I almost didn't recognize you with makeup on!"
"... Oh, you know him?"
In-Ho stood beside her and looked bewildered.
"Hey, In-Ho. Don't you watch the news these days?"
"I don't really watch anything other than the entertainment section."
"Ah. Such a pure boy~ Pure as shit~"
Lil Grass grabbed Almond's hand while saying something incomprehensible.
"Nice to meet you!!"
"Ah, thanks."
Lil Grass started talking about the tournament as if she actually knew Almond.
"Wait, I should say this when we go on air instead!”
She stopped herself from talking too much.
"Weren't you playing a game? Did you die because of me?"
"Ah, it's automatic so I won't die. It's just a raising game."
"Raising? Oh! Is it Raising a Lazy Soldier? Wow, you actually play that too. Hahahaha!" Lil Grass burst out laughing.
In-Ho didn’t understand why. He had no idea what was going on.
"You're really serious about the ad! Wow! I thought it was just a concept!"
She laughed because Almond was acting the same as on his streams.
'He did a mobile game advertisement?'
In-Ho focused on a different thing.
[I don't need a private waiting room anymore.]
In-Ho hastily messaged his manager. It seemed like he wouldn't fit in during the show if he left this room.
“Hehe.”
A smile appeared on his face.
"Wow. Did you advertise for that? Only the real trendsetters do that," In-Ho casually approached and spoke to Almond.
"Ah... Well, I just got lucky. Jae-Hoon, you also did a lot of ads, right?"
"... What?"
In-Ho's expression suddenly hardened.
Jae-Hoon was the leader of Blossom. He danced and sang well as an idol and was also a singer-songwriter.
Since In-Ho was the center because of his good looks, it was clear how he felt toward Jae-Hoon.
"Oh no! This is In-Ho! Jae-Hoon is someone else! Puhahaha! You're just like what I saw on the streams."
"Ah... I'm sorry," Almond expressed his shock and quickly apologized. "I must have been mistaken. I only heard Blossom when you introduced yourself."
"Ahaha! It can happen!"
Lil Grass laughed as if his mistake was funny, but In-Ho couldn't laugh.
'What the...?'
First, Almond said that he mistook him for Jae-Hoon because In-Ho only mentioned Blossom earlier. That hurt his pride...
'I didn't introduce myself.'
In-Ho hadn’t introduced himself, but Almond said he did.
'Who is this guy?'
He was on another level.
In-Ho hated himself for underestimating his opponent so easily. He thought he made a name for himself in this field, but was still too naive.
Meanwhile, the main PD entered the waiting room.
"Did everyone introduce yourselves? You shouldn't relax too much in the waiting room. We'll start with Lil Grass. Let's go."
"Wow. Am I the first one? Okay!"
Lil Grass quickly left and the waiting room became quiet again.
It felt as if a storm just passed.
Almond sat down again and started the game.
In-Ho stared at him for a long time. He seemed to have much to say, but couldn't as he was called out next.
"Next, Mr. In-Ho. Come on in!"
In-Ho quietly stood up and went to the set. Sang-Hyeon could hear the hosts making a fuss outside.
Sang-Hyeon remained alone in the waiting room and turned off the ridiculous soldier raising game he had been playing. Then he looked up at the ceiling and bitterly smiled.
"It's not easy at all."
Shortly afterward, they called for Almond.
***
Around thirty minutes ago, Ju-Hyeok nervously looked at the set.
'I hope he can get a lot of screen time.'
Obviously, Almond’s screen time in the edited version would be determined depending by how well he did in this live show. The edited version was much more important than the live one because its impact was overwhelmingly higher.
The more screen time they had in the edited version, the more rewarding appearing on a major channel would be. However, the standard for screen time was determined by how well the chat responded during the live show.
— Finally!!
— It's starting.
— Let's go~!
Major channels also had chats like on streams. How these chats reacted and how many viewers participated was key.
The PD edited the footage based on that. These days, they looked at the reaction to the live version and went according to that. Their marketability became much better this way.
However, one blind spot existed. They could call it a market reaction, but it could also become a fandom battle. This tendency was particularly noticeable when idols came on the show.
Today, quite a famous idol was among the guests.
Almond, neither a celebrity nor an idol, would only be at a disadvantage in this fight.
'Best of luck to him.'
Bang!
The slate echoed out.
'It's starting.'
The main MC, Han Min-Gu, opened his mouth.
"Hello, everyone. This is Evening Wide."
Despite the simple greeting, it contained a certain power to it.
Ju-Hyeok could feel he was a real broadcaster from his pronunciation and vocalization while looking at him.
There was no need to forcibly raise the tension or create an exciting atmosphere for the show. The set was already filled with excitement.
"Seo-Rin, how have you been?"
He naturally greeted the other hosts.
Evening Wide consisted of four hosts and three to four guests.
Among them, Seo-Rin was a female idol and one of the hosts.
"Yes! I've been fine~! Hello everyone! I'm Seo-Rin of SugarSugar!"
— HiHi!
— Hello!
— Seo-Rin! I'm dying!
— Hello, I'm Seo-Rin's boyfriend.
Even though she wasn’t that famous, the chat reacted differently.
As Ju-Hyeok predicted, idol fandom had a basic firepower.
"Do you have any news, Min-Gu?" Seo-Rin asked Han Min-Gu.
"Me? Not much, haha."
"Hey, Min-Gu. You got divorced recently~ Isn’t that something, heh?" a host named Kim-True intervened.
He was a former reporter and now an entertainer. True to his journalist roots, his main task was to tease people based on facts.
— Kim-True, damn funny, lol
— It's spicy from the start
— lolololololol
— ??? You say you don't have a wife~
Seo-Rin panicked and looked around after her question was distorted.
The last host, an entertainer and former idol named Hyeon-Min, began to speak. He was once an idol too, but now worked as an entertainer.
"True bro! You have to be careful too! Didn't you see Spouses are Three?"
"?!"
— Lololol!
— Kim-True's expression, lol
— How did he live as an idol? lol.
Contrary to his graceful appearance, Hyeon-Min had quite a vulgar voice and spoke excitedly. His words always had the effect of lifting the atmosphere.
"Now, our program is... Well, not a talking to ourselves program, right?"
— Naturally catching the edit point Han Min-Gu, lol
— It's absurd lol with this number of lol, the divorce joke is a hit in the real-time broadcast.
— As if nothing happened, Min-Gu!
The viewers didn’t just let it pass while Han Min-Gu slowly tried to call the guests. They were also aware that their reactions determined the edited version.
"Ah, bro! It's too awkward! The broadcast isn’t done like that these days! StoptheNonsense Han Min-Gu is saying that this is a forced editing point!"
Hyeon-Min picked on Han Min-Gu.
— LOL, I thought he really said to stop the nonsense to Min-Gu.
— Was it a username? Lol!
The username sounded like he really scolded Han Min-Gu.
Han Min-Gu asked suspiciously, "Hey, did you just make up that username?"
— I feel like he just made it up too, don't y'all think?
— There was no such username, lol
— Change the username, quickly!
"Ah, no! It was there!"
"I'm gonna look for it! Right now!"
Even the production team laughed when Han Min-Gu moved his face closer to the monitor. Of course, they didn’t really waste time looking for the username.
He adjusted his jacket and continued hosting, "Hmm. Anyway, we have to call over the guests to properly start, right?"
Whoosh.
Ju-Hyeok could see the PD's gesture.
Finally, it seemed the first guest would appear.
"Today, we have gathered various guests of various types. What will be the overall concept?"
Kim-True answered Han Min-Gu's question, "Oh, it's a special feature on transformation."
"... Transformation? What's that?"
"Ah~~~ You don't know about this?!"
As Hyeon-Min began to scold him again for not knowing the trend, Han Min-Gu quickly proceeded to host.
"Ah, anyway. A transformation special! The first guest, please come out. A rebel of Confucianism from the Department of Eastern Philosophy, Lil Grass!"
— The rebellion of a Confucian girl, lol
— The script is a hit, lol
— Move aside, Confucius! Now Lil Grass is the true Confucianism!
"Helloooooo!"
Bang!
Lil Grass made a lively entrance and the hosts clapped ecstatically.
"Wow~! Her fashion is really messy~!" Han Min-Gu exclaimed.
"Uh, uh, wow. It's dazzling, Lil! Really, just dazzling..."
— Her fashion is just light... really light... lolololol
— For real lol
— Shot! Shot! Eye Gunshot!
— Ahaha, lol. This is real hip-hop. Gang, right?
Hyeon-Min made a fuss and turned to Lil Grass, who wore very flashy colors.
The female idol host, Seo-Rin, warmly greeted her. She seemed acquainted with Lil Grass and gladly stood up to hug her.
"Grass! You're so pretty! Especially this fluorescent color!"
"Right? I knew that Seo-Rin had a discerning eye~!"
Han Min-Gu lowered his head as if he didn’t know where to look and proceeded to host again.
"But what transformation was it about with Lil Grass?"
Kim-True recited the script beside him, "From a prestigious university's eastern philosophy department, suddenly turned anti-Christian, the anti-government and lyrical hip-hop artist Lil-Grass. This is what you call a transformation!"
"Oh~"
Only then did Han Min-Gu understand.
— LOL, philosophy department?
— Why does she have a good educational background?
— No one expected this
— O.M.G.
"Wow~ No wonder. Her lyrics were quite philosophical, huh?"
Han Min-Gu chuckled and Kim-True strongly blew it off.
"Right? My ass is the best~. When the boys in our neighborhood see me, their words get cut off~."
“Pffft.”
Even Seo-Rin, who hugged Lil Grass, couldn't hide her laughter.
— Aren't they getting cut off because that outfit is too dazzling?
— WTF, lol
— Ridiculous.
— Ohhhh were the boys in our neighborhood cutting off their words?? I thought they were asking her out.
The set atmosphere was good because Lil Grass was funny and made everyone laugh.
'She's too good...'
Even Ju-Hyeok, who watched with a serious face, laughed at Lil Grass.
Afterward, the talk about Lil Grass proceeded for about ten minutes. Then, they called the next guest.
This time, they explained the reason in the beginning.
"This person is also from a prestigious university, right? He was an engineering student and suddenly became an idol. Now, he transformed again into an actor! Blossom's In-Ho!"
The chat's reaction went crazy. It was incomparable to Lil Grass.
— Wowwww
— In-Hooo!
— Wow, handsome again today
— Really cool
— It's In-Ho
— My baby
The idol fandom chats endlessly came up.
'... Amazing.'
Ju-Hyeok tightly bit his lip.
"Hello! I am In-Ho from Blossom!"
The reaction was good not only when he entered, but also during the talk.
He was quite the talker.
— Of course, my baby has great talking skills
— Why does my baby talk so well?
— Everyone, we have to support him by chatting here!
First of all, responses in the chats increased because of his big fandom. In addition, the drama he featured in this time was also a hot topic, so the reactions to that were good.
— In-Ho!!
— You must've struggled because of malicious comments
— In-Ho is the best actor ever!! Why do people target him with their inferiority complex?
— Stop looking down on idol actors!
— I wish I could be in the opposite role. I want to be In-Ho's girlfriend for a day...
The on-site reactions were good. The chat reaction was also overwhelming.
"Shall we call the next guest now?"
"Yes, there may be quite a few people who don't know this person."
"But there was really a lot of buzz. Even an article came out about this guest, right?"
"That's right. He has been trending recently."
The introduction began for the last guest, Sang-Hyeon.
"From archery prodigy to a regular employee at Ah-Sung corporation, and now a game streamer! A genius of transformation! Streamer Amond!"
Ju-Hyeok watched the chat window with a pounding heart.