Chapter 154: I’m Sleeping (1)
The other person hadn’t said anything nice, and it was clearly a remark close to picking a fight.
In an instant, the atmosphere around us froze cold.
The lips of Jin Sehyun, who had been standing still, twitched slightly.
Kang Siwoo, who thought nothing pleasant would come out of his mouth, blocked him and bowed his head.
“Ah, if that’s how you felt, I apologize.”
Swoosh—
Kang Siwoo took a step forward, clearly intending to give a proper apology….
But his stiff face seemed to carry a very different meaning to the other person.
“…!”
Even we thought it looked scary, so how much scarier would it seem in his eyes.
Flinch.
Han Gabin visibly shrank back, coughed awkwardly, and averted his gaze.
Then, as if lowering his tail belatedly, he added words that were even more absurd.
“Well, I can understand to a certain extent, but not all seniors are like that.
If you don’t want people saying you’re running wild just because you’re a rising group, you should be careful.”
“Ah. Yes, I understand.”
Hm.
What the hell is he saying.
Rough words rose up my throat, but I barely held them back.
We were already in the hallway in front of the waiting room for a music broadcast, with plenty of people watching.
A rookie of only one year openly talking back to a senior of four years would be a huge breach of etiquette in this industry.
I didn’t want to make an irreversible mistake because I couldn’t control my temper.
I should just….
Think of it as a dog barking.
“You’re listening to what I’m saying, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct!”
And what a loud bark it was.
I forced myself to put on as apologetic an expression as possible and lowered my head slightly.
This angle should look reflective enough for a rookie, right?
“I’m busy, so I’ll get going now. Let’s meet again later.”
Han Gabin rolled his eyes for a moment, as if out of things to say, then walked away.
For someone who had been bluffing so much, he disappeared in an instant.
From the look of it, he was the typical type who bullies the weak and fears the strong.
If Kang Siwoo hadn’t been here, I felt he would have scolded us at length.
Our reliable leader.
Just how many villains had he chased away with his face alone?
Only after Han Gabin’s back had disappeared from sight did Kang Siwoo tilt his head and turn around.
“At this level… it should be considered quietly resolved, right?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Do you think my apology reached him properly?”
“Your expression looked sincere.”
So sincere that the other side seemed a little scared, but in any case, I was satisfied that things ended at this point.
Kang Siwoo had cut in at the right time and smoothed it over.
Of course, there was one person who seemed to think a little differently.
“……”
That nonsense about rookies needing to be put in their place with flimsy excuses.
Even if it was the custom in this industry, it still made me angry.
As the members, ready to leave, began moving out, Jin Sehyun suddenly stopped in his tracks.
“Ah, I take back what I said about not running the imagination circuit.”
“Huh?”
“Seongbin-hyung, just run it at full power.”
Cha Seongbin blinked in surprise and turned to look at Jin Sehyun.
Jin Sehyun clenched his teeth and said,
“We can’t lose, can we?”
“We’re just moments away from announcing the 1st place for the fifth week of November!”
Gulp—
I swallowed and glanced back at the cheering fans.
I couldn’t see them clearly under the intense stage lights, but the silhouettes holding light sticks overlapped everywhere.
I had come here telling myself to let go, but it wasn’t easy.
Public music broadcasts were always tough.
Standing beside us, BK waited with excited faces for their name to be called as the 1st place winner.
Hadn’t they also had very few public broadcast wins?
It seemed their matchups over the past four years had been particularly unlucky.
Facing rookies like us must have made them hopeful this time.
I tried to act like nothing was wrong, smiling as I stood slightly to the side where the cameras wouldn’t catch me.
But just then, I met the eyes of BK’s Han Gabin.
“……”
I thought it was my imagination, but his sharp gaze swept me up and down.
Han Gabin sneered, then turned to the camera with a bright smile, as if nothing had happened.
What’s his problem.
Did he eat something wrong?
I didn’t have the time to worry about that, because the two MCs smoothly continued the show.
“Yes! We will now announce the final 1st place for the last week of November on Music Bank!”
“Drumroll please!”
“After tallying digital scores, album sales, broadcast points, and live text votes, the winner of this week’s 1st place is….”
Bang—
The sound of fireworks rang out.
And then.
“Congratulations to Stardust with ‘Mayday’!”
“……!”
The result was unexpected.
[Universe Dust are 1st place winners?]
Our boys are “public broadcast music show” 1st place winners?
In their first year, they already became “triple crown music show winners”?
Rookies who just debuted sold “500,000 albums in the first week”?
You really are the future of K-pop….
Do I look like the fan of a group who’s a 1-year rookie, triple music show winners, and first-week sales of 500,000?
└ Ah hahahahahahahahahaha
└ Yeah, kind of looks like it!
└ Ah, being the fan of a 1st place group~ feels so thrilling~
Our boys achieved that career in their first year already ㅠㅠ I’m so proud I want to punch the wall out of excitement
└ Dusties really worked so hard ㅠㅠ On the last day, we bought so many albums to push for 500,000, and everyone streamed so hard too ㅠㅠ
└You could really see how grateful the boys were for that.
└Let’s just keep going like this! Keep our boys’ spirits high.
└I’m going to stream more after reading this post, bb.
└Let’s aim for a long chart-in.
[Stardust Public Music Show 1st Place Speech Summary]
Bang—
As soon as the fireworks went off, Kang Siwoo tilted his head.
He hadn’t yet grasped the situation.
When the MC handed him the trophy, he received it blankly.
Siwoo: “Uh… we… we’re first place?”
Yes, you guys are first place.
At least he managed to pull himself together enough to give a speech, hahaha.
After that, chaos unfolded.
Sehyun: “Thanks to Dusties’ support, we were able to reach 1st place, and we’re so grateful.” (Normal)
Seongbin: “We thank the CEO and everyone at the company~” (Normal)
Junseo: “I love you, everyone… sniff!” (Normal)
Ian: “……” (Crying hard)
Haim: “Huh… sob… uh… sob… love… sob…” (Crying harder)
Seohan: Fainted.
The maknae Hamjji fainted hahahahahahahahaha.
└I thought he collapsed from crying, hahaha.
└The rabbit, hamster, and chick trio are always the ones who cry the most.
└The Small Animalz are too harmless, it’s killing me, hahahaha.
└Do Seohan accepted the mic from Seongbin, who picked it up for him, and waved it with a smile. Did he mistake the mic for the trophy?
└That’s totally possible….
└Yeah, he looked a little out of it, hahaha.
Today’s stage was legendary, and winning 1st place on top of it made it even better.
└Anyone want to see soft Sundubu winking (gif).
└Ah holy crap, thank you teacher.
└Ha… paradise.
└Ian… Ian… when did you learn how to do something like that….
While Stardust basked in the joy of their first public music show win, the fandom was in full festival mode.
The members also rushed to the fan community as soon as their schedule ended.
The one who started it was Haim, who used more exclamation marks than usual today.
[Everyone! This is Haim!!!!]
Thanks to the Dusties, we were able to win 1st place on Music Bank for the first time!!!
I had so many things I wanted to say, but I cried too much during the speech!!!!
So I came here now to tell you instead!!!
You know I always love you lots and lots and seriously sooo much, right?
Why does Haim sound like an excited Maltese running to us, hahaha.
Seo Haim’s way of speaking is so much like a real high schooler, “love you sooo much” hahaha.
└But a real high schooler wouldn’t say it so harmlessly like Haim does.
└Hahaha but an idol can’t exactly say “I fucking love you so much.”
└Ah hahahahahahaha omg “I fucking love you so much” hahaha.
└If they did, it would be a new paradigm.
└Yeah, but it definitely hits harder that way.
The chirping chick is too cute ㅠㅠ.
└Seriously too cute, I want to kidnap him into my pocket ㅠㅠ.
└He was so excited today he added five exclamation marks.
└Hahahahahahahaha agreed.
Soon after, the other members also posted one by one.
Since the 1st place was so sudden, they hadn’t prepared speeches, so they poured out everything they hadn’t managed to say on stage.
[Hello, this is Kang Siwoo]
Today, being able to hold the 1st place trophy from Music Bank,
and being able to express my gratitude to the Dusties as the leader,
I felt so very thankful.
We’ll continue to show you lots of even better sides of us!!
So please always stay with Stardust.
Hehe, from Kang Siwoo.
Beneath the serious post came an unserious afterthought.
Everything’s fine, but what’s with “Hehe, from Kang Siwoo.”
└Hahahahahahahahaha no idea.
└Feels like he giggled while typing.
└Oh Siwoo, hahaha.
For reference, Kang Siwoo rewrote the post about five times before posting it.
While the leader agonized, Seohan posted something as simple as possible.
[I love you, Dusties!]
To everyone who came to cheer for us today, and to all the Dusties who sent us their hearts from afar, thank you so much.
There’s still so much more I need to show you.
I’ll work even harder as Universe Dust’s maknae, Do Seohan~
Seohan, did you wipe your tears?
Why didn’t Do Seohan mention his crying?
└His post sounds dry as hell.
└But his sniffling hamster self has already been immortalized, right?
“Hm. I don’t know anything about that.”
Seohan tilted his head as he read the comments.
He had no idea what they were talking about, but he certainly hadn’t cried.
Just.
Maybe a little.
He had gotten caught up in the mood.
“I think I gave a proper speech.”
Nonsense was cut off by Cha Seongbin’s retort.
“Seohan, was it really that moving~?”
“……”
Damn it.
Caught red-handed, Seohan grimaced and hid his face with a cushion.
Watching from the kitchen, Ha Junseo smirked.
“Ah, why are you teasing him again~.”
His hyungs had already spent the entire car ride teasing him nonstop.
Originally, he hadn’t planned on crying at all, but when the others around him started sobbing, at some point… it just happened.
Seohan cooled his flushed ears with his hand and stood up.
“Alright, let’s all get ready.”
“For the company dinner?”
“No, something else.”
On the day of their glorious first public broadcast win.
Of course, they couldn’t just let it pass as if nothing happened.
They planned to burn the late night away.
However, there were two who couldn’t fully enjoy this hot night….
That was.
Seo Haim and Jin Sehyun.
Our seniors in their third year of high school, with the CSAT tomorrow.
The members, having wrapped up live prep, hurriedly finished setting up the camera.
And ten minutes later.
Ha Junseo clapped his hands with a grin.
[Secret Lunchbox Packing with Stardust]
“We’re going to pack lunchboxes for our third-year high schoolers.”
“A lunchbox live broadcast, no less!”
It was a live broadcast secretly turned on while the two were fast asleep.
Of course…
Since he was a minor, Do Seohan couldn’t appear on live after 10 p.m….
“I’m sleeping!”
“…Hey! How can you talk if you’re sleeping!”
Anyway, he was sleeping.