Chapter 113: Fan Signing Event (1)
[Onair From what I can see, Do Seohan is enjoying himself]
Suddenly shouted “Hey” and tried to run away, but got caught.
Look at him being dragged back while giggling.
When you set the stage for him in front of the hyungs while acting more Confucian Hamster than anyone else, he suddenly goes full throttle lololol.
— Is this seriously Tom and Jerry?
└ A gray cat and a baby hamster
└ Like the saying, “A day-old hamster doesn’t know to fear the tiger”
└ …Wait, is that even a real saying?
└ lolololololololololololololololol
— When Choco Haim Jin Sehyun talks nonsense, he immediately cuts him off, but when the youngest Seohan tries to climb up, he ends up patting his head twice… that’s killing me.
└ Jin Sehyun is the real deal….
└ He loves the maknae more than anyone.
└ Probably second only to Kang Siwoo.
└ Ah lol our leader can’t be beaten.
└ Stardust’s group maknae-raising….
“‘Hey,’ was something I never expected.”
“…I ended up being dragged here.”
“I knew it.”
While the fans’ excitement soared at the youngest’s straight-up rebellion, MC Dodo naturally moved on to the next segment.
“Save the peaceful conversation for when you’re back at the dorm, and let’s move on to the next corner.”
Dodo’s gaze quickly scanned the script up and down.
Then, with maximum high tension, she drew a reaction from the fans.
“Yes, the next corner is! Shouting in the Silence!”
“Waaaaaa!”
“This is your first time trying this at a showcase, right? Fans have been leaving lots of comments saying they really wanted to see this once.”
“Kyaaaa!”
Lightsticks swayed violently up and down.
Jin Sehyun gave a thumbs-up in response to the cheers.
“We’ll split into teams for this. Since our Stardust has seven members, we’ll go with teams of two, two, and three!”
“Yeeep!”
The teams were decided as they sat.
MC Dodo’s eyes sparkled as she asked leader Kang Siwoo,
“Leader, what do you think? Would you say the Stardust members are generally competitive, or are they pretty easygoing about games like this?”
“Competitive… very much so.”
Kang Siwoo nodded and pointed at the two sitting side by side.
“Especially those two in the maknae line—they’re overflowing with competitiveness.”
“Me?”
Jin Sehyun and Do Seohan peeked their heads out.
“Sehyun is the type to go all in once he gets hooked on something….”
Overall, along with Cha Seongbin, he was in the genius category of the team, but that didn’t mean he lacked passion.
Once he was into something, Jin Sehyun would dig deep and stick with it.
And the one next to him, Do Seohan…
“Well, you saw during Weekly Pocket Idol.”
“Ah.”
MC Dodo couldn’t hold back her laughter and covered her mouth with the script.
“Pfft.”
— lololololololololololol you’ve seen Do Hamjji’s competitiveness now
— Ah, that incident where he almost lost Stardust’s center position?
— Just to win that one thing… he went so seriously….
└ Do Seohan’s ears are red right now
└ Ah lololololololol
└ Dangling hamster
“The combat ability to climb up a pull-up bar….”
“Stop.”
“Seohan is pretty intense too.”
“No need to bring that up, hyung.”
— Do Seohan’s heart is overflowing with a desire to shout “Hey” right now lololololololol
└ How can someone’s emotions be so plainly visible in their eyes?
└ He’s cursing with his eyes lololololol
└ That’s the face of ‘Hyung, please just shut up’ lololololol
Seohan urged MC Dodo in a hurried voice.
“L-let’s just start the game.”
“Would you like to go first, Seohan?”
“I’ll go out right now.”
And so, the first turn was decided.
Doom-chit, doom-chit—
As soon as the music started playing through the headset, Seohan returned to his usual tension, as if he had never been upset.
“Yee-eh”
— Why is Seohan so excited lololol
— What is he listening to ㅠㅠ
Shouting in the Silence.
Thanks to Do Seohan volunteering, the first challengers were the Jin Sehyun–Do Seohan team.
With the headset completely blocking out external sound, they had to guess what the other person was saying just by reading their lips.
MC Dodo calmly explained the rules of the game.
“Sehyun will give the question, and Seohan will guess it. You just have to guess the sentence Sehyun says by reading his lips. The time limit is… five minutes, right?”
Sway, sway—
While Sehyun nodded, Seohan tapped his foot, lost in the music.
“Mmhmm—”
In his ears, the latest song from Tipple—one of Seohan’s favorites—was playing.
“Seohan, we’re starting.”
“……”
“I said we’re starting!”
Only after Jin Sehyun suddenly shouted did Seohan startle and give an okay sign.
The theme was proverbs.
Beep—
As soon as the whistle blew, the sketchbook flipped to the first page.
Youcan’tcatchanymeat,onlyminnows
— That’s hard
— Hard???
— Can you even guess that just from lip reading?
Faced with a longer sentence than expected, Jin Sehyun was momentarily flustered, but soon began shouting the first word.
“Meat!”
“…?”
“Meat!”
“Huh?”
Seohan tilted his head, clearly not getting it, and stared at Jin Sehyun.
“I can’t hear you!”
— Of course you can’t lololololololololol
— Why do you think they gave you a headset ㅠㅠ ah lololol
It turned out to be even harder to hear than they expected, leaving them both thrown off.
How are we supposed to guess this?
Seohan stared seriously at Jin Sehyun’s lips and tried to figure it out. The “reasonable” conclusion he came to was…
“Duck?”
“Meat!”
“Duck!”
“I said meat!”
“Uh… what proverbs start with duck?”
They were doomed from the start.
“Ah, this song is so good.”
Seohan bobbed along to the beat while waiting for Jin Sehyun’s explanation.
Jin Sehyun once again gathered all his strength and shouted:
“Meat! You can’t catch, only minnows! You catch!”
“Huh?”
Seohan’s eyes went wide in surprise.
This time, it sounded like he actually heard something.
“Duck… bracken?”
— Ah lol okay that does sound similar lolololol
— Only the vowels match lolololololol
— What’s going to happen to this team lololololol
“Is that even a menu?”
“Ahhh! It’s a proverb!”
“Even if it’s a proverb, that doesn’t make sense.”
“Why can you hear that?!”
While Jin Sehyun was about to burst a blood vessel, the hyungs, thinking it wasn’t their problem, were doubled over.
“Ah hah hah hah! Ah hah hah!”
“Hey, even laughing can be a hint.”
“Do you really think he’ll be able to guess it if we give hints?”
“Five minutes are almost up~.”
And indeed, it really was hard.
If it had been a proverb that could be guessed from one or two words, maybe, but this wasn’t.
This was just too difficult.
“Duck… bracken…”
While Seohan held his head in frustration, Jin Sehyun, having essentially given up, shouted:
“Seohan, you idiot?”
“Huh?”
At those words, Seohan’s eyes went round.
That, he heard perfectly.
“Seohan! Seohan!”
— lolololololololololololol
— Why is he managing to guess that lololololol
— Ah Do Hamjji is so happy ㅠㅠ
Seohan bounced up and down and turned to Jin Sehyun.
“I heard it! Seohan!”
“…?”
— Why is he happy
— I want to put Do Hamjji in my pocket
— Ah ㅠㅠ the kids are so cute lololol
Jin Sehyun, looking dumbfounded, repeated the same words.
“Seohan, you idiot?”
“Seohan, you i—huh?”
Seohan blinked.
This was the question?
— That made no sense.
“What are you talking about!”
Seohan clenched his fist tightly.
@dustybeo
The showcase is over.
Dustys, stream!!
└ Let’s get our boys a trophy ㅠㅠ
└ Let’s definitely get them a public broadcast trophy this promotion!!
└ Stream like crazy
└ The whole time I was watching the showcase, the corners of my mouth never went down. Kids, you absolutely… have to succeed.
Hamdi @wkdfn_22
The preorder trend looks so good?
We might hit our career high in first-week sales?
└ CherryChering @bekjmyaad
As soon as the offline stock drops, I’m sweeping it all.
└ Let’s get them 300,000 in first-week sales.
└ Just wait.
Cloud @gurem3301
The only thought I had while watching today’s showcase….
Do Seohan, I should’ve given birth to you.
└ Kang Seoul @seoul_writer1
Do Seohan, it’s like I gave birth to you.
└ ?
└ ??
└ What, why.
.
.
.
.
The morning after the showcase.
In front of the stairs at Hot Tracks in Gwanghwamun, Dustys had gathered everywhere to buy albums.
A chaotic alley with barely any space to step.
Among them, college student Dusty Lee Harang was chatting away with her Twitter mutuals.
Next to her were stacks of albums piled high—two different versions of Stardust’s 2nd mini album Starline.
“We hit 10th in real-time?”
“Crazy good results, right?”
The Dustys were delighted to see Stardust doing well on the Melon chart.
Keeping the ranking up was the challenge, but they had hit a higher rank than expected.
Lee Harang exclaimed in excitement.
“Now we just have to do well in first-week sales.”
“Isn’t Universe Dust getting too famous?”
“No way, then I won’t have a concert seat.”
It was true they’d hit a career high compared to the last album, but the real question was whether they could reach 300,000 in first-week sales.
“Our Rookie Award at year’s end is basically a lock, right?”
“Up until now, we were neck and neck with The Core… but then Kang Ji-hyuk’s scandal blew up.”
“Honestly, I think we’ll beat The Core. Rey suddenly decided to go on an audition program, and their fandom went nuts.”
“They were poking at us back during Weekly Pocket Idol, but right now doesn’t seem like the time for that.”
Twitter mutual Cloud @gurem3301 spoke with her arms crossed.
“But I heard HDN is debuting a boy group.”
“Ah, it’s gonna be tough this year.”
With the big agencies launching boy groups one after another, they still didn’t have a solid enough career to secure the Rookie Award.
That’s why the Dustys were so hung up on this album’s numbers.
“Let’s go for 300,000… 300,000….”
“Yeah, we’ll definitely hit it. Because I’m gonna buy 100,000 copies.”
“What are you, a chaebol?”
“But seriously, I’m buying a lot this time. Please, just let me get into the fan signing….”
Lee Harang clasped her hands tightly and shut her eyes. That’s how desperate she was to attend this fansign.
“I worked part-time all break just to go this time.”
“Yeah, if you’re going, now’s the time.”
“If our boys blow up even more later, you’ll have to go into debt to get in….”
“That’d mean I’d never see Do Seohan in person in my whole life.”
“Ah, no!!!”
Lee Harang, Kokyo, and Gureum.
The three had met on Twitter during their Starf days and had been close for six months.
Among them, Lee Harang and Gureum’s bias was Do Seohan.
“Whatever, the fansign’s too far out of reach, so I’m just praying for my bias photocard to come out.”
“Seohan, will you come out in the first try?”
“Even if he does, you’ll still buy more.”
“…Shut up.”
“If Kang Siwoo comes out, trade with me.”
“Let’s swap for Seohan.”
This was the charm of offline album unboxing.
When you pulled a photocard from the album, you could immediately trade it for your bias’s card.
“Should I open first?”
“Let’s go right away.”
“If he’s not here, we’re going to Gangnam Station. Open it without pressure~.”
“If you buy 100,000 copies, at least one has to be in there.”
“What are you saying, stop with the 100,000 copies already.”
There were exactly two national rules when it came to album unboxing.
First,
A box cutter to open the albums with ease.
Second,
A talisman specifically for album unboxing to gather good energy.
Rustle, rustle—
Lee Harang pulled the talisman out of her bag. It was a Do Seohan talisman in photocard size with a hamster illustration on it.
“What would happen if Seohan came out in both the Star version and the Line version at once?”
“I think that’d deserve sending you to the fansign.”
“Please!!!”
Lee Harang rubbed the talisman over the thin album and whispered quietly.
“Seohan, Seohan, Seohan.”
“Did you find your way home?”
“Knock knock, are you there?”
Gureum nodded with a crazed look as she pretended to knock on the album.
“He’s in there.”
“Alright, I’m counting on it.”
She’d been a little clumsy during her debut album unboxing, but after doing this a few times, you got used to it. Lee Harang sliced open the album in one smooth motion with the box cutter.
And then—
“Will the Do Seohan teddy bear photocard come out?”
“I heard the resale price for that one’s insane.”
The photocard she was most desperately hunting for—since her bias was Do Seohan—was the Star version’s Do Seohan teddy bear photocard.
With black hair, holding a fluffy white teddy bear, the angle perfectly captured—it was flawless.
From the moment the photocard scans were first revealed, it had been her one-pick.
“Please, on the first try!!!”
“Seohan, you’re in there, right?”
Lee Harang, feeling for the card with her fingertips, pulled it out.
“I’m checking… I’m checking….”
She swallowed hard and opened the album wide.
And right then—
Peek—
From the edge of the album, a bit of black hair peeked out.
It was Seohan.
“Waaaaaah!”
“Do Seohan! It’s the teddy bear one, right?!”
“Are you insane? You pulled your bias on the first try?”
This was crazy—was this even real life?
Lee Harang covered her mouth and admired the Do Seohan photocard.
Perfect lighting with not a single shadow.
Somehow posing in a way that would drive fans wild, holding the teddy bear and taking a cute selfie.
Gureum spoke in an excited voice.
“You’ve got good vibes today.”
“Hey, open the Line version quick.”
“What was the Line version photocard again?”
“The bed photocard.”
“That’s insane!!!”
She had to win that second photocard too.
Sure, she was going to collect all the Stardust members’ photocards in the end anyway, but pulling her bias on the very first unboxing still felt different.
With trembling hands, Lee Harang picked up the Line version album.
“Opening it….”
Slice—
She smoothly cut away the plastic wrap with the box cutter, then squeezed her eyes shut to locate the photocard.
“Doo-goo-doo-goo-doo-goo—”
“Got it.”
Slide—
The moment she carefully pulled out the card—
‘Hello!’
Ta-da—
Seohan appeared, leaning against the headboard of a bed, smiling brightly.
“Wah!”
Lee Harang screamed and jumped in place.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
“Aaaaaah!”
“Are you crazy? Go buy a lottery ticket!”
“Seohan! Why did you end up all in there?!”
That wasn’t even the important part right now.
“Hey, hey, you said it.”
“Huh? Said what?”
Lee Harang panted and blurted out,
“You said if Do Hamjji came out in both versions at once, you’d send me to the fansign.”
“Me?”
“No, Heaven did!”
Wait… could this be—
Was this Heaven’s help or something?
Lee Harang’s voice trembled as she spoke.
“Am I going to the fansign?”
“Give us a live review of Do Seohan in person.”
“If you hold hands with Siwoo, don’t ever wash them. Bluetooth me a handshake.”
“You lunatic.”
It was time to drink the kimchi broth.