Chapter 271: Nagoya’s Mudflats (3)
“No way, you already caught them this fast?”
Yuito’s excited voice echoed across Nagoya’s mudflats.
Even under the disadvantageous condition of receiving the salt late, the members had quickly managed to catch thirty razor clams.
Yuito smiled warmly as he asked,
“In Korea, did everyone try catching razor clams when they were little?”
“It was actually my first time catching them in my life….”
“Maybe it just suits us naturally?”
Jin Sehyun answered confidently in somewhat clumsy Japanese.
Yuito’s smooth hosting and witty responses.
Maybe because he was still a rookie, even during the outdoor shoot his eyes were overflowing with energy.
There was nothing in particular to criticize—it was simply a harmonious filming atmosphere.
“Hmm.”
The corner of Producer Ryuhei’s mouth twitched subtly.
There was absolutely no reason for him to feel unpleasant emotions, yet something indescribable welled up from deep inside his chest.
‘…They’re actually enjoying this?’
After rummaging around the mudflats for so long, the clothes they had prepared beforehand were now covered in mud.
In a place where one wrong step could sink a person waist-deep into the mud, no matter how young the members were, there was no way they wouldn’t be physically exhausted.
Considering the original concept had been a healing reality show, this schedule had clearly been designed to give those arrogant outsiders a hard time.
But then, why—
Maybe they were simply highly skilled at managing their expressions, but why did they look like they were genuinely enjoying themselves…?
Producer Ryuhei simply could not understand.
“Hyung, I’ll take a picture for you!”
Especially that one boy who had been bouncing around everywhere since earlier.
Seo Haim from Stardust pushed his way through the mudflats and held up the camera.
Kang Siwoo awkwardly raised one hand and made a V-sign.
“Click together with the razor clam! The angle’s good. Should we upload it to our Universe?”
“Did it come out well?”
“Hyung’s personal color looks like mudflats.”
“…Was that really a compliment?”
“But it’s still praise!”
“Nope, I think I need to delete that picture.”
He couldn’t understand one hundred percent of what they were saying, but at least he could tell they were happily joking around.
It was a short break while the tape was being changed.
Even when the cameras weren’t rolling, they still had that much energy.
Maybe they were genuinely enjoying the filming, Producer Ryuhei thought.
“Hah.”
On the other hand, there was the tall manager from Doubles with the tired-looking face.
The man had been looking around the filming site with a stiff expression since earlier. Whether that was just his personality or whether he was dissatisfied about something, there was no way to know.
Still, the fact that he was a man from that annoying Doubles agency bothered Producer Ryuhei.
Ryuhei withdrew his gaze again and slowly crossed his arms.
“Hoo….”
The staff busily prepared for the next part of filming.
Part two would resume shortly at the restaurant.
Let’s see if they were still smiling there too.
“We should start getting ready to move.”
Producer Ryuhei shoved the cigarette he had been about to take out back into his pocket and left his spot.
---
“This is Nagoya’s famous restaurant! I come here often myself, so you can look forward to it.”
“Wow! The atmosphere is completely Eastern-style….”
“I think I saw this place on TV once.”
“Ah, it’s posted over there! Isn’t that Senior Jang Juwon’s autograph?”
Overall, it looked closer to an izakaya-style pub.
A Japanese-style restaurant with slightly reddish lights and cute cat dolls sitting here and there on the tables.
But they only admired the atmosphere briefly before focusing on choosing the menu.
Kang Siwoo checked the menu and stroked his chin with one hand as he asked,
“What’s the popular menu here?”
“Octopus hotpot? That sounds good.”
“Seohan, want a beer?”
“Mm. Ah, no, I’m okay.”
“First, one hotpot….”
While the five victorious members picked their menu items, Yuito delivered unfortunate news.
At the table right beside them.
Cha Seongbin and Jin Sehyun sat facing each other at a two-person table.
“Unfortunately, there are two people who caught the fewest razor clams, right?”
“Yes….”
Cha Seongbin and Jin Sehyun.
Both had received the salt late.
“As I mentioned earlier, unfortunately, the two of you will not be able to join the luxurious seafood feast…!”
Yuito added awkwardly,
“Instead, the production team has prepared another menu item… so you’ll have no choice but to eat that.”
Usually in variety shows like this, they tended to secretly provide meals behind the scenes or allow the cast to share food.
Sometimes they even differentiated the meals entirely.
They’d probably give them something reasonable at least.
Without thinking much about it, Seohan waited for the menu at the neighboring table.
Since it would take some time for the octopus hotpot to boil, the other table’s food would likely arrive first.
Right then, an employee hired by the production team walked inside with a smile.
A mysterious menu item tightly wrapped in cloth.
Yuito pointed at the neighboring table and asked,
“Oh, over here?”
“Yes, the meal for two!”
But the moment the cloth was removed—
“……?”
The members looked noticeably flustered.
Two tiny soy sauce dishes and bowls of rice that didn’t even seem filling enough.
Without any side dishes, only those sat on the tray.
“Oh, um. Soy sauce and rice.”
Even Yuito, who added the comment with an awkward expression, looked like he hadn’t expected this either.
It was obvious he was intentionally exaggerating his reaction.
“So the razor clam mission was really important. My goodness, soy sauce rice!”
It wasn’t even soy sauce egg rice.
It was literally just soy sauce and rice.
At least when it came to variety shows, Doubles had always seemed protective of their artists, so they’d mostly done comfortable programs until now.
But suddenly the direction had swerved so sharply that it was hard to adapt.
‘This is a little shocking.’
Was this the spicy taste of overseas variety shows?
For a brief moment, Jin Sehyun’s expression stiffened slightly.
Still, since both members were skilled at expression management, they quickly returned to playful expressions and played along….
But their chopsticks wandered aimlessly through the air for quite a while.
Yuito hurriedly changed the topic.
“Seohan, after touring Nagoya today, was there any place you personally liked?”
“Ah, yes….”
It still took some time for him to immediately understand the conversation.
“Personally, the Nagoya Castle we saw today was….”
While the interpreter relayed the conversation, the PD in front frantically crossed his arms into an X.
At the gesture telling him to move on to the next question, Yuito smiled awkwardly.
“Ah, was there any food you wanted to try in Nagoya? The seafood feast is nice, but there are quite a lot of famous dishes here!”
“Yes. Personally, I think….”
He abruptly stopped speaking at the sudden movement that looked like they were checking the filming setup.
The camera’s red light briefly turned on before returning to normal.
“Ramen… I think I wanted to try….”
Once again, he was interrupted.
Apparently the seafood feast had arrived at that exact moment….
But suddenly they were shooting food inserts.
“…….”
He smiled awkwardly and quietly closed his mouth.
Something about the atmosphere felt off.
---
“Good work.”
The day had been way too long.
After rolling around in the mudflats for so long, the moment they got into the car, his whole body ached as if he had been beaten up.
“Ugh, I’m dying.”
He thought he’d be fine during the day….
At this rate, he probably wouldn’t even be able to get up tomorrow morning.
Frowning, he fastened his seatbelt.
Sehyun bit down hard on his lower lip as he stared silently out the window.
It looked like he had barely held it in front of the cameras, but the moment filming ended, his emotions exploded belatedly.
The feelings he had been suppressing finally burst out.
“This pisses me off. They’re looking down on us.”
“They really crossed the line.”
Kang Siwoo frowned as he added,
“No matter how much it’s a variety show, is this really how you treat guests?”
It wasn’t that they had expected amazing treatment, but it was true they had felt dissatisfied with the overall filming atmosphere.
To begin with, this wasn’t even originally this kind of hardcore variety show concept.
“They said it was healing content. It’s not like I never watched previous episodes, but they didn’t do stuff like this before.”
“Seriously, why were they acting like that?”
“A mission’s a mission, fine. I can somewhat understand losing and having to eat soy sauce rice. But… at the very least, they should’ve given us something people can actually eat.”
Jin Sehyun’s voice trembled slightly as though he was worked up.
Gulp.
A single sentence escaped from his dry mouth.
“How do they even think of giving us vinegar soy sauce?”
“What?”
“It was vinegar soy sauce?”
Even Kang Siwoo apparently hadn’t realized that, because his expression instantly turned fierce.
Manager Lee Jaeyoon, gripping the steering wheel, pressed one hand against his temples before sighing.
“I already talked to the company. From now on we’ll mostly take talk show schedules, so something like this won’t happen again.”
Manager Lee Jaeyoon also looked considerably angry, even if he didn’t openly show it.
At the filming site and even afterward, he seemed to have argued with the PD several times.
They didn’t know the full details, but it was obvious some subtle tension had gone back and forth.
Filming was over.
If it had been a two-day-one-night schedule, or even longer, it probably would’ve felt even more like hell.
Thankfully, it was only a one-day schedule.
Taking comfort in that fact, Seohan leaned his exhausted body back.
Jin Sehyun also calmed down slightly as he muttered,
“Yeah, at least it’s over now.”
“Right.”
“This makes me want to succeed even more….”
“Yeah. Let’s crush the Oricon Chart.”
At that time, none of them knew yet.
What kind of treatment awaited them in that unfamiliar land, where they were nothing more than rookies and outsiders….
Maybe they had been thinking too naively.