Chapter 252: Double Million-seller (2)
The weather had suddenly turned chilly. It wasn’t cold enough for breath to fog in the air yet, but because I had only come out wearing a thin layer, my legs felt like they were about to freeze.
Dusty Minha let out a sigh and muttered quietly.
“Phew… What kind of suffering is this.”
A line of people stood neatly outside Hottracks at Gwanghwamun.
It wasn’t even the first day of the album release, yet fans had gathered to buy Stardust’s album.
It wasn’t because there was a shortage of stock that required people to line up like this all the time.
“Ah. We have to make our boys a double million-seller.”
“Right, right.”
Today was the final day for first-week sales counting. Over the past week, the sales trend had been better than expected, so fans had started to grow greedy about this album’s results.
A double million-seller was right within reach. Considering it was a mini album, that made the record even more incredible.
If each person bought just a few more copies, the possibility of a double million-seller would become visible in the trend.
Once a goal appeared, the Dusties clenched their teeth.
Everyone standing out here in the cold had similar thoughts.
Of course, it really was suffering.
Honestly, they would have preferred ordering online, but they were worried the purchase might somehow be excluded from the first-week sales count.
Offline purchases felt safer.
Dusty Minha grumbled.
“At this point, Doubles should give us an award.”
“They do. The fansign event award.”
“Ah….”
It felt like she had poured this month’s entire paycheck into the boys’ comeback, so at this rate, the chances of winning a fansign event slot were extremely high.
Dusty Minha couldn’t recover from her Deokchin’s heavy hit of reality.
“How many fansign events have you gone to again, Minha~.”
“Not that many.”
“Jin Sehyun memorized your name though.”
“Our Sehyun just has a good memory. If he sees fans once or twice, he remembers them all.”
Minha’s Deokchin had Jin Sehyun as her favorite. Hearing someone praise her favorite’s intelligence naturally made the corners of her lips lift like she was hearing praise for her own child.
Dusty Minha let out a dumbfounded laugh.
“…Why are you the one who likes that.”
“It feels like I gave birth to Jin Sehyun.”
“Huh? If you gave birth to him, that face wouldn’t exist.”
“Be quiet.”
Even while scolding her, a smile lingered around the Deokchin’s lips.
“Ah. I’m already nervous for the fansign event.”
“You’re going to see the face of the one you gave birth to?”
“Yeah. My child born through my bank account….”
They had bought so many albums during this promotion that getting into the fansign cutoff seemed easy.
Just thinking about seeing Jin Sehyun’s face up close after so long already made her heart pound.
Her Deokchin spoke excitedly.
“I should prepare some solid delulu puns.”
“Gasp. Share some with me too.”
“Ah, no duplicates allowed.”
“You throw puns at Jin Sehyun. I’ll tease Seohan.”
“Sehyun doesn’t fall for normal stuff. He already knows them beforehand.”
“Ah….”
Before they knew it, the line had shortened a lot. It was almost their turn to enter.
Dusty Minha walked in while scanning the albums placed on the shelves.
The albums had already been swept away by earlier customers, so the half-empty shelves were being refilled.
Minha unconsciously chuckled.
‘Everyone’s thinking the same thing.’
Double million-seller….
For some reason, the feeling was good.
---
First-week sales: 2.03 million.
That was the result we received one week after the album release.
After practicing all night and finishing two YouTube content shoots, I had basically passed out asleep in the van, so I first heard the news while half-asleep.
“You guys became a double… million… seller….”
“Mm….”
My whole body throbbed like I’d been beaten with a hammer. With my head leaned against the seatback, I was nodding off.
Then someone tapped my shoulder.
“Hm?”
“Seohan, we’re million-sellers. Ah! Double million!”
“Kyaaaaaaaaa!”
“Seohan’s happy, he’s happy. Hey, this is insane!!”
“…Huh?”
Cha Seongbin made a huge fuss and suddenly screamed. The inside of the car instantly turned into a festival atmosphere.
“A first-week double million-seller is kind of legendary.”
“Isn’t that almost double the last album’s performance?”
“I feel like I might faint from happiness….”
“Hurry and take a selfie for proof! The Dusties are waiting!”
I rolled my eyes while quickly filtering through the flood of information.
It didn’t take long to reach a conclusion.
“Wait.”
My sleepiness vanished instantly.
“Do… double million-seller?”
“Yeah! Feels good…!”
Seo Ian clenched his fists and smiled brightly. Looking at that expression, it slowly began to feel real.
Cha Seongbin added with a grin.
“Seohan kept chanting million-seller~.”
“That’s right!”
“……?”
I shouted so loudly that even I startled myself.
In other words, this was sincerity rising straight from the depths of my heart.
“Waaaaaaaah!”
“S-Seohan?”
“Double! Million-seller! This isn’t a dream, right?!”
I got a bit too excited.
Seo Ian blinked and answered my question.
“Yeah, it’s not a dream.”
“I just died and came back to life!”
“You did…?”
“I put my life on the line for this album!”
“You put your life on the line…!”
It actually happened.
Honestly, even when I named it as the goal for this album, I was pretty doubtful.
“Hah… hah….”
A laugh escaped my mouth without me realizing.
Seo Haim, who had been glancing at me, added.
“Do Seohan’s voice feels unfamiliar today.”
“Our maknae rarely speaks that loudly….”
“How should I say it… He’s desperately happy….”
“Y-Yeah.”
So anyway.
“Can I celebrate one more time?”
“Uh… sure.”
“WAAAAAAAH!”
Without a doubt, I screamed the loudest.
“Do Seohan, calm down….”
“I CAN’T CALM DOWN!!!”
…That’s how it happened.
---
The day of the fansign event.
We couldn’t even hold a celebration party for the double million-seller and had stayed up all night rushing through schedules.
Compared to our debut days it was better, but our stamina management was still lacking, so from the morning we were all half out of it.
Still, it was fascinating—right before a fansign event, we somehow entered an awakened state like we had just chugged caffeine.
Ah.
Actually, we did chug caffeine.
“Mmm~.”
Instead of Ha Junseo’s six-shot coffee, Cha Seongbin passed around the “normal coffee” he personally made.
Seo Haim was the exception, maintaining bright, alert eyes even without caffeine.
Even though none of us had slept more than two hours last night, exhaustion was exhaustion and the fansign event was a separate matter.
We knew the short moment the fans saw us would become an important first impression, so we simply did our best.
And honestly, the awakened state left behind by becoming a double million-seller hadn’t ended yet.
It should have been time to feel tired, but strangely, I could endure it.
Humming quietly, I picked up a pen to start signing.
At that moment, Ha Junseo suddenly asked,
“Seohan, did you master the latest puns?”
“No…?”
“Sehyun memorized them all….”
“You’re supposed to just pretend not to know the fans’ puns.”
“He even practiced pretending not to know.”
“Crazy.”
Search King Jin Sehyun.
That guy’s talent had to be acknowledged.
Jin Sehyun grinned and added,
“Seohan falls for everything that gets thrown at him.”
“Every time we do a fansign event, I auto-learn, so I don’t fall for the same ones again.”
Still, I decided I would pretend not to know and fall for them appropriately.
“I polished my reactions for today.”
Let’s fall for them with all my effort.
.
.
.
.
Even though she had followed quite a few fansign events since debut, every single one still made her nervous.
When she entered the fansign venue after receiving an earlier number than expected, Dusty Minha took a deep breath.
“Phew….”
Right in front of her was her ultimate favorite, the soft hamster Do Seohan. And she was the first turn of this fansign event.
Minha forced down her nervousness and sat down with a bright smile.
“Hello.”
Seohan waved and asked,
“Hello! What’s your name?”
“Lee Minha!”
The moment the conversation properly began was always the most nerve-wracking.
The given time wasn’t long, so she had to use it efficiently, yet she always ended up rambling nonsense until time ran out.
She couldn’t make the same mistake today.
With that worry in mind, Dusty Minha opened her mouth.
“I’m twenty-four.”
But then—
Seohan paused while writing her name.
“Huh? You came during the last comeback… right?”
“Gasp! Yes!”
Last time she could only attend once because her bank account wasn’t in great shape, and yet the admirable maknae remembered her.
“You remember me?”
“Yeah. You took a leave of absence to prepare for studying abroad the next semester…?”
“Yes! That’s right! But I went to graduate school.”
“…How did that happen.”
You’re nineteen.
The soft hamster who hadn’t even gone to college yet turned serious at the mention of graduate school.
“Dusties shouldn’t go to places like that….”
“I’ll come back alive!”
“And last time we promised to speak casually, Noona.”
Noona?
Noona?
Hearing Do Seohan call her Noona was a crime.
Dusty Minha clutched her pounding heart and spoke.
“Right, Seohan’s memory is amazing.”
He looked proud. Even the slight lift of his shoulders was so cute she wanted to cover her mouth.
But at a fansign event, even admiring him was a luxury.
She wanted to analyze every single action of Do Seohan down to the nanosecond and fangirl over it, but she could do that later by watching the footage.
Today was the day she had finally prepared her decisive delulu pun for the first time in her fansign life.
Everyone else did it—she had always wanted to try it once.
Inhale.
Dusty Minha took a deep breath and smiled brightly.
“But Seohan.”
Seohan, wearing a hamster fur hat, nodded.
It seemed like a gift from a fan, and it perfectly matched today’s styling.
“Seohan looks like a hamster.”
“Yes!”
“I actually used to raise a hamster before….”
Honestly, his behavior really did resemble one.
Putting that aside, Dusty Minha continued.
“That little guy could never stay still even for a moment.”
“Did it run around a lot?”
“Yeah, but since Seohan is half human, half hamster, you can stay still for a moment—”
“I’m a hamster.”
“…?”
Huh?
Is this right?
She missed the timing for the pun.
“S-So, stay still.”
Her Deokchin was better at these things.
She should’ve brought a safer pun. It already felt like it was going wrong.
“Anyway, stay still.”
“Yes, yes.”
Still persisting, Dusty Minha delivered the line she had prepared.
“So my arrow of love won’t miss.”
“…King.”
It failed.
Exactly three seconds later, Seohan clutched his chest and collapsed forward.
It was the best choice he could make to salvage the failed pun.
“Argh.”
“…….”
Dusty Minha’s eyelids trembled.
Seohan blinked and asked,
“Wasn’t that it…?”
Sorry, Seohan.