Chapter 220: Stranger (1)
At the music video shoot.
The final produced version hadn’t come out yet, but filming had already begun early.
Because the MV team had their own envisioned scenes in mind, we were planning to shoot a few scenes in New York in advance.
“We’ll start filming!”
“Okay—.”
As the red light on the camera turned on, Seo Haim, dressed in pastel-toned clothes, bounced a basketball and dashed across the court.
He had no real talent for sports, but on screen, the scene looked pretty cool.
The video was shot in extreme slow motion, so it would look even more convincing once fast-forwarded.
The camera director nodded with a pleased smile.
“Oh, cut! We’ll go with this.”
“Was it okay?”
“Yeah, the shot came out great. The pose was nice too.”
“Heheh. Thank you…!”
It was a single album featuring the refreshing concept fans had been waiting for for quite a long time.
The members’ faces as they filmed were equally bright.
“Condition’s not bad today, huh?”
Seo Haim grinned and bounced the basketball a couple of times.
As expected, it flew off in a completely different direction than intended.
“Ahk!”
Seo Haim yelped as the ball hit his chin and rolled away, and he scurried after it.
In the end, it was Jin Sehyun who grabbed the basketball instead.
“Agh, you klutz….”
“You’re bad at basketball too!”
“Yeah, but I’m better than you.”
The maknae line bickered as usual.
Jin Sehyun smiled brightly and threw the basketball far.
A single shot… and it was in.
“Did you see that?”
“What the—are you a former athlete or something?”
“Just an average guy, I guess—.”
Meanwhile, Cha Seongbin, who was preparing for the next cut, had a serious expression.
This single, in particular, reflected a lot of Cha Seongbin’s input.
The company had fully set the stage, telling him to do whatever he wanted, and I’d hyped things up by mentioning Billboard and whatnot—so with his ocean sunfish-like personality, he was probably feeling pressured.
Normally, he’d be joking around with the maknae line, but today, he was fully focused on monitoring.
He probably wanted to finish the entire song production with the highest quality possible.
That was likely his biggest concern right now.
Of course….
I had my own dilemma to deal with.
What should I do about this?
I swallowed dryly, staring blankly up at the basketball court.
Right then—
A worried voice came from beside me.
“Seohan, what’s wrong…?”
“Ah.”
After sitting with a serious expression for quite a while, Ha Junseo approached with a surprised look.
He wore a kitschy basketball uniform with a pure white headband tied around his head.
Contrary to his bright and refreshing outfit, he was an angelic hyung whose face fell the moment a teammate looked troubled.
Honestly, it wasn’t that big of a deal.
But our variety PD, Do Seojun….
His vibe had changed a bit after filming <Met as Enemies>.
Then suddenly.
His words from last week popped into my head—words he’d said, hesitant but determined.
—“It’s a bit burdensome, but doing another appearance might not be so bad….”
Despite saying it was a burden, he was more enthusiastic than anyone about joining the shoot.
“Ah.”
—“If you have time, maybe we can do a livestream together sometime….”
Typical of a PD, he was already thinking about the next filming schedule.
Seeing that, I was sure of it.
“This hyung is serious.”
That Do Seojun.
The great Do Seojun… was a total attention-seeker.
To be honest, I’d been so shocked at first that I was speechless.
I thought he’d find it burdensome and hate it, but… this… this was something else.
I gulped and spoke.
“I think he really enjoys the attention.”
“Huh?”
“I didn’t expect him to enjoy it this much….”
He reopened his previously private SNS account…!!
He started doing Q&As again…!!
“Argh.”
I clutched my throbbing head and let out a deep sigh.
“Well, it’s not like he’s the type to cause a scandal or anything, so it’s fine. But still, still….”
Regardless of whether he was good at setting boundaries, it was just an instinctive sense of rejection.
How should I put this?
I just didn’t want to see my one and only blood relative basking in narcissism!
Shaking my head, I opened my mouth.
“I’m sure of this—he definitely thinks he’s really handsome.”
“Hmm… he kinda does.”
“People keep saying that around him, so he becomes that way!”
“Pfft.”
Ha Junseo bit his lower lip, trying to hold back a laugh.
“But hey, Seohan.”
“I’m serious. From what I can tell, he’s showing early signs of celebrity syndrome. Yesterday, he even pitched this idea for ‘Do PD’s Talk Show’... it’s seriously dizzying.”
Is this right?
Is this seriously happening?
“Sigh….”
Seeing how grave my face had become, Ha Junseo patted my shoulder and said—
Calmly, but with weight.
“…I think it might be in his genes.”
“What?”
No way.
I frowned reflexively at Ha Junseo’s blunt remark.
Because a certain memory resurfaced like an afterimage.
A sense of déjà vu surged up from deep in my chest.
Me, intoxicated by sexy concepts….
Maybe it’s not all that different?
I shook my head and waved my hands.
“No way.”
“Come on, think about it.”
“Yeah, no, there’s no way…”
The more I tried to deny it, the more it pulled me in.
With a reluctant expression, I carefully opened my mouth.
“…I think you’re right.”
This wasn’t the kind of brutal self-awareness I was hoping for….
Strangers aren’t always welcome, no matter the town.
Mac Fred, who had never left New York since the day he was born, believed that.
At least, he thought New York’s music market wasn’t a warm place for outsiders.
Maybe it was prejudice, or maybe it was just an excuse—but Mac Fred frowned deeply as he repeated those words to himself.
“K-pop, huh?”
Lately, K-pop idols had been appearing more frequently on his talk show.
<Mac Fred’s Music Talk Show>, hosted by the NBN Broadcasting Station.
It was a popular music program boasting the highest ratings in its time slot, so only carefully selected guests had been accepted so far.
Yet for some reason, the production team had increased their recruitment of K-pop artists since last year.
To him, it was not a welcome development.
“Sigh…”
Mac Fred let out a long sigh and shook his head.
His stylist, Emily, smiled brightly as she observed his mood.
“Who’s coming today?”
“Some group I’ve never even heard of.”
He was almost offended that the prestige of the Fred Show had dropped to the point of inviting such low-level singers.
“I told you before, K-pop idols aren’t musicians. It’s a market that debuts a string of young nobodies who can’t even perform properly, relying 100% on lip-syncing.”
“…But they said they’re doing it live today?”
“Ha, Emily. And then they’ll whine afterward asking for post-editing. It’s not like we haven’t seen it before.”
As if he’d seen that scenario more than once, Mac Fred clicked his tongue in disgust.
‘Didn’t seem that bad to me, though….’
The guests she’d seen so far had impressive pinpoint-sync group choreography and could manage live vocals to a decent extent.
Of course, they couldn’t be compared to musicians who only sang without dancing, but still.
Though Emily thought that, she didn’t want to upset Mac Fred, so she kept quiet.
Instead, she looked at the clock hanging on the waiting room wall.
8 p.m.
It was almost time for the guests to arrive.
It was also time for Mac Fred to head to the studio.
As she expected, Fred immediately began getting ready.
“Time to go. See you in a bit.”
Fred got up with a sweet voice, as if he hadn’t been grumbling just moments before. Emily returned the gesture with a gentle smile.
Just as he was about to head to the studio—
“……?”
Clack—.
As he opened the door, unfamiliar faces stood in front of the waiting room.
‘I really want to meet Mr. Mac Fred before the broadcast.’
He’s someone I personally respect.
It had been exhausting trying to add ridiculous excuses like how I always watched his show.
New York wasn’t a place where visiting waiting rooms was common, which made it all the more awkward.
With a smile on his lips, Seohan walked toward Mac Fred’s waiting room.
The reason for initiating such an obviously awkward meeting was simple.
‘I need to secure some kind of insurance.’
Seohan didn’t like high-risk broadcasts.
But things don’t always go the way you want.
During the scheduling process, Doubles hadn’t especially asked the members for input… but there probably weren’t any other options.
Among the music talk shows that occasionally featured K-pop artists, Mac Fred’s was the most well-known.
It was a place where they could prove their live skills, and with its high ratings, the buzz would be substantial too.
No one expected that one performance here would shoot them straight to Billboard, but in terms of recognition, it was better than not appearing at all.
But that’s where the problems began.
First, the host Mac Fred was a notorious racist who hated K-pop.
He attached all kinds of excuses—K-pop is childish, etc.—but fundamentally, he just didn’t like East Asians.
There were a few famous quotes of his….
And many more scandals came out later on.
Second, the talk show was live.
If Mac Fred were to grit his teeth and throw out some hostile questions, there was a high chance someone would get caught off guard.
The kind of questions anyone would recognize as bait.
Sure, brushing them off with wit was Hollywood flair—but would our soft-hearted members be able to handle that?
Like I said, I’m really not the type to take risks.
“Shall we go in?”
I came here to deliver a warning shot.
.
.
.
“Hello, I’m Do Seohan from Stardust.”
Mac Fred looked up at us with a noticeably flustered expression.
After blinking a few times, he gave a stiff smile and opened his mouth.
“Oh. This kind of greeting feels unfamiliar. Is it Chinese style?”
He’s doing this knowing we’re K-pop idols.
Seo Haim cheerfully responded with a sunny smile.
“Korean style!”
“…….”
“Nice to meet you!”
That side responded innocently, but the faces of the two fluent English speakers had darkened—Kang Siwoo and Cha Seongbin.
Because clearly, that was a passive-aggressive jab.
Kang Siwoo calmly seemed to be figuring out how to smooth over the situation, while I was standing next to him thinking about how to screw Fred over.
“…….”
In the future I knew, Mac Fred was quite the celebrity.
To be precise, he was famous for being embroiled in all kinds of scandals.
Sorry to say this… but Lee Dokyung couldn’t hold a candle to him.
How many partners was it again?
He was practically octopus-level with all his affairs.
So.
The stylist standing behind him was probably one of his mistresses.
No—she definitely was.
I stepped forward and offered my hand to Mac Fred.
“I came because I really wanted to meet you. I’m a huge fan.”
“Ah….”
“I used to watch the Fred Show almost every day back in Korea. And…”
I approached the young stylist who had quietly come up beside Mac Fred.
Emily. I glanced at her name tag and smiled gently.
“You two really suit each other well. Like a married couple.”
“……!”
For the record, Mr. Mac Fred is already married.
He probably… even has kids.