Chapter 64
Music shows.
In the broadest sense, the term could mean different things, but in Korea, it refers to shows where idols and singers perform their comeback stages.
There are three terrestrial ones, and so many cable music shows that you can't count them on one hand. There are even music shows on channels like Arirang TV, so that tells you everything you need to know.
Idols usually appear on four or five music shows when they make a comeback.
Because in this era, music shows still had considerable promotional power, and the broadcasting networks were still extremely influential, there was no reason to avoid appearing on them.
The idols themselves found it physically exhausting, of course, but it wasn't as if they had anything in particular to do if they weren't making the rounds of music shows, so everyone worked hard at it.
But that only applied to idols and some solo singers.
Bands were a little different.
Well, even considering the incident when a band once pulled down their pants on a music show, enough time had passed that music shows no longer deliberately excluded bands.
If they had a certain level of popularity and name recognition, bands could appear on music shows too.
Even so, bands didn't appear on music shows because of the shows' setup and scheduling problems.
On music programs run by professional musicians, band instruments were already set up, but music shows centered on idols had nothing of the sort.
The bands had to pay out of pocket to transport and install all their instruments.
The instruments then had to be set up and the sound adjusted, but music shows that had to put on stages for twenty groups a day had no time for that.
To secure enough time, they had to prerecord—in other words, arrive before the actual broadcast, film only their stage, and leave—but the music shows couldn't offer that to every Tom, Dick, and Harry.
The staff's time was limited, so prerecording slots were assigned only to groups with a certain level of popularity. But a band at that level had no reason to spend its own money coming to a music show to perform live just for publicity.
“…After thinking it over, though… it seemed worth going at least once.”
Blooming was a little different, though. They were a group straddling the boundary between idols and bands.
All of them were young and pretty. And considering their backgrounds, they had a strange aura of mystery as well, giving them plenty of ways to appeal to idol fans.
Going on music shows frequently was terrible value for money… but Lee Ha-jun decided it was probably worth going once and immediately started calling the producers he knew.
He was the man who had created a fairly top-tier idol group, after all. Regardless of his poor taste in songs, his connections were nothing to sneeze at.
That was how he found a terrestrial music-show producer who agreed to cover half the setup fee and let them prerecord.
“How did he even manage that…?”
Considering the music-show producers in my previous life, who had been so rigid, what Lee Ha-jun had done really was remarkable.
Especially since music shows hadn't fallen from grace yet, so they were even more unyielding…
“Anyway, have a good time.”
I was at the café beneath our company building, sipping coffee with Blooming during my first visit to the office in a week.
They didn't seem to have any particular thoughts about appearing on a music show.
Anyone who had ever followed idols would have at least a rough idea of how incredible this situation was…
A band releasing its first album was being given a prerecording slot, with half its setup costs covered.
Considering that music shows usually meant waiting around all day from before dawn to perform for three minutes and have 100,000 won tossed your way, this was truly bizarre.
“Siyeon, you're coming too, right?”
“…If it's a prerecording, don't we have to get ready and leave from dawn?”
“S-still, I think it's doable if we come right before the prerecording starts…”
At Choi Yeon-ah's words, the members nodded as if they agreed to some extent.
The Blooming members would have to wake up at three in the morning, wash, go to the salon for makeup, and go through all sorts of hell, but I could wake up around six-thirty, wash, and go straight to the studio.
“And if you sleep in Seoul, you can cut down even more time!”
“…I'm a second-grader. You want me to spend the night away from home by myself?”
“All the members are coming to sleep at our house. That day, our manager would have a hard time driving around and picking everyone up one by one.”
It was Park Heesu who said that.
Her parents were still active musicians, so their house was probably empty often. Even so, I was reluctant.
‘Sleeping in a house with only girls is a little…’
Neulneul Orphanage had been full of kids anyway, so I hadn't thought twice about it, but Blooming was different.
They had long since passed beyond the age of children, and all of them had bodies and faces appropriate for girls their age.
And, to begin with, sleeping under the same roof as high school girls was… strangely burdensome. It wasn't as if I'd insisted on a private room in Japan for no reason.
‘But once the plague really starts spreading, doing things like this will be difficult too.’
If I got photographed while staying over like this, I'd be finished.
So maybe once would be okay?
“J-just this once… I won't go later.”
“Great! That's our producer!”
Seeing them smile so brightly made my chest tickle strangely. I really must have grown quite attached to Blooming.
* * *
And so, back at the music-show studio.
I went over to the side with a direct view of the stage and stood there.
Several idols also came swarming over to watch Blooming's stage and stood near me.
A few familiar faces were among them, too. But I only knew of them, so I didn't bother speaking to them.
It wasn't as if we were going to become friends, and there was no need to network here, was there?
All I had to do today was watch Blooming's live stage, praise them if they did well, and tell them honestly if they didn't.
I was a little tired, but skipping school because of this wasn't so bad.
Coming to watch a music show first thing in the morning was definitely better than going to school.
‘Starlight are having their comeback today too.’
There were less than two weeks left until their contract ended. Once this comeback was over, Starlight would probably split up and go their separate ways.
The Korean members already had affiliations, but the Japanese members would be completely without an agency.
The moment they signed with this agency, they had graduated from their original groups, after all.
There would be plenty of talk about what they did next.
‘I wonder if we could get in on that too?’
Blue Sky Entertainment currently had three trainees. Obviously, that was nowhere near enough for a debut.
They planned to recruit two more, so if one of them was from Starlight, it seemed like it could work out well in many ways.
To make that happen, we'd better build a relationship with them starting now.
And just as I turned my head and started toward Starlight's members…
“Hello?”
Someone spoke to me.
The voice sounded familiar, so I looked up at her face, wondering if it could really be…
“…H-Haruka.”
“Yes! You know me! I'm glad.”
“I'm a fan…!”
It was Haruka, after all, who had consistently shouted me out since the early days of Singerstar. Thanks to that, there had even been conflict between some Starlight fans who disliked me and Haruka's fandom…
Anyway, from my perspective, she was one of the people I was quite grateful to.
At the same time, I thought she was an exceptionally good person as an idol.
“Really! My older sister is a Siyeon fan too.”
“Wow.”
I covered my mouth, pretending to be slightly surprised. She giggled, then pulled out the unofficial photocard of me and a marker she'd hidden behind her back.
“Good thing I brought them, just in case, after hearing Blooming would be appearing.”
“Ah…”
I awkwardly scribbled my signature and handed it to her.
At the same time, I felt a twinge of regret.
‘If I'd known this would happen, I should've brought one of the albums I picked up at Tower Records.’
At home, I had a solo album she'd released back when she'd been a member of AKB in Japan, as well as Starlight's previous album.
It would have been nice to bring one and get her autograph.
Perhaps reading my regret, Haruka handed me an album bearing her signature.
It was only then that I remembered that, on music shows like these, artists usually handed out their own albums.
“Ah. Thank you.”
“Hehe.”
While doing so, she stroked my head for a moment, then stood up, muttering something incomprehensible.
“We'll be seeing each other soon enough.”
“What?”
“Nothing. We have to get ready for our next stage now. See you later!”
Distracted by my encounter with Haruka, I couldn't properly watch Blooming's ensuing stage.
In any case, the drum solo Kim Seol had worked herself to the bone on came out pretty well.
Well, I suppose that's enough.
As soon as Blooming's stage ended, I returned to the company and made up for my lack of sleep amid the Blooming members, who were endlessly refreshing the music charts.
And when I woke up…
“Look at this, Siyeon.”
Beside me was Yu Seol-ha, holding out a smartphone screen displaying Watermelon's music chart.
“…Unni, I only just woke up, so my eyes aren't working yet.”
“Oops, sorry.”