Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 265

The mini-album, ‘are you A or B?’, contains a total of 7 songs.

Since the overall flow of the songs was determined with reference to a story written by one person, my name is listed in the songwriting credits for all of them.

I heard that the initial sales were booming, but I wasn’t that surprised.

I’m doing a W app live broadcast with Ryu Ideun, Chae Hamin, and me—the so-called hyung line [older brother/senior line]—to unbox the album. Looking at the album in front of me now, I’m really not surprised.

“Wow, Donghwa, I finally got your photo!”

…Finally? Well, Chae Hamin does have an album he personally bought in our dorm. Seeing Chae Hamin so excited while holding my photo, I guess he’s been collecting them for some reason.

“Ah, I’m jealous. I was going to frame Donghwa’s photo and hang it in the dorm if I got it.”

You crazy bastard.

Apparently, there are things called photo cards. They made our photos into cards like ID pictures.

In the A album, there’s one photo of each member smiling kindly, and in the B album, there’s one photo of each member wearing a suit with a noir concept.

Also, both A and B albums have one additional photo card of a different type.

So, if you collect them all, the total number of photo cards is 15 in this album alone.

So, if you want all the members’ photos, you have to buy this expensive album…….

Moreover, since there isn’t just one type of photo for each member, even if you want to collect all the photos of one member, how many of these expensive albums do you have to buy?

I tore open the vinyl packaging of the album with a box cutter and moved my fingers under the desk to tap on a calculator.

Even if you buy five of each album, considering that tearing open each album is an independent event, the probability of collecting all the photo cards of one member is about 40.3%.

Since the money to buy a total of 10 albums isn’t just pocket change, it’s a pretty low probability.

As an aside, if you buy a little more, the probability is about 78.7% when you buy 10 of each album, about 97.6% when you buy 20 of each album, and about 99.9% when you buy 50 of each album.

In conclusion, you need to buy about 15 of each album, a total of about 30 albums, to collect all the photos of the member you want.

But this damn probability is the ‘probability of collecting all the photos of one person,’ so if you collect other members in addition, or if you decide to collect ‘all members,’ it will be even lower.

And if the number of people increases, the probability will go crazy again. I heard that some groups have more than ten members, and it’s suffocating just imagining it.

If there are ten people, when photo cards are included in the same way, even if you buy 10 of each album, the probability is only 37.2%, and you have to buy 20 of each to get 76%.

‘…Maybe, some improvement is needed.’

Even though they’re buying it because they want to, shouldn’t it be normal to supply it at a cheaper price?

However, according to Lee Hyunjae, it’s fortunate that you can exchange duplicate photos for other photos thanks to the ‘exchange’ system.

Besides, even if you don’t dream of collecting all the photo cards, the album types are divided into A and B, so you have to buy two to have all the basic components, which is practically a forced sale.

It’s like saying, buy at least two albums.

Wow, maybe you can collect all the photos of the member you want with a 7.6% probability.

I had a vague idea of it from hearing about it, but it seems that vaguely knowing something doesn’t get you close to the truth.

Even though it’s a business I’m involved in, my conscience hurts.

At least I can try my best to do anything at fan signing events, but photo cards are not something I can do anything about, so it hurts even more.

…How capitalist this is.

I tried to smile without sighing as I peeled off the vinyl. I can’t show a dark face to the people who took the time to come.

I tore open all the albums and carefully opened them. Let’s get rid of the useless stuff and see who’s on the photo card in question.

And, Ryu Ideun’s face greeted me.

I happened to open the B album, so Ryu Ideun was wearing a suit and trying to look cool.

What should I do? I can’t throw away someone else’s photo. I need a brick cushion right now [something to prop up a monitor], but it’s a shame that it’s during a W app live broadcast.

“…Ha, I’m Ryu Ideun.”

“Wow, you see how our Donghwa can’t help but admire my suit photo, everyone.”

How can you misunderstand my deep sigh like that?

―Ideun, that’s not it ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

―Anyone can see it’s disgust.

―It’s my birthday today!!!

―Ji Donghwa’s expression of boredom is the best ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅌㅋㅋ

“Who’s photo did you get, hyung?”

“I currently have Hyunjae’s album photo card.”

“Let’s trade.”

“…I don’t even want my own photo card, Donghwa.”

“Hamin.”

I immediately turned my head to Chae Hamin.

It’s more rational to receive my photo and throw it away than Ryu Ideun’s photo.

“Sorry! Absolutely not, Donghwa. I’ve already collected Ideun hyung’s photos.”

Curiosity arises. How much did Chae Hamin collect? It wouldn’t be easy to exchange them anywhere.

“…How many of our photo cards did you collect, Hamin?”

“Me? I’ve collected all the types!”

Chae Hamin got up from his seat and cheered.

The comment window stopped for a moment at the loud noise and then surged like an explosion.

“You, collected them all?”

Ryu Ideun’s dazed voice.

A reasonable suspicion: ‘The album hasn’t been released for many days, and they just received the delivery, so how?’

Even I couldn’t believe Chae Hamin’s words.

With suspicious eyes, Chae Hamin smiled slyly, took out his wallet, and showed us the photos one by one.

“…No way.”

It’s possible. It’s probabilistically possible.

Moreover, the probability increases as the number of albums increases.

Thinking rationally, I don’t know how many he bought, but he probably bought a huge number of albums.

I knew that Chae Hamin was a crazy rabbit [passionate fan], but I didn’t know it would be to this extent.

“Everyone! I really saved up my allowance to buy and collect them!”

I wonder how many albums he bought at once to collect them all. Curiosity arose, so I couldn’t help but ask.

“…How many did you buy?”

Chae Hamin turned his head. Seeing his smiling face, he must have had some good luck.

He covered his mouth and moved only his lips.

‘About… ten of each?’

Wow, it’s not just good.

As soon as I read his lip movements, my mouth opened on its own. It’s probably the most definite ‘surprise’ face I’ve ever made.

Because Chae Hamin was in the center, even Ryu Ideun, who didn’t know how many he bought, looked at my face and said to the fans, ‘It must be an unbelievable number…….’

First of all, I was surprised that this guy bought a total of twenty of our albums, but aside from that, I was shocked by the unbelievable probability that I could know without even calculating.

I was bored earlier and calculated the probability of collecting them all when I bought five of each, and it was an unbelievable probability, so buying ten of each wouldn’t change the fact that it’s unbelievable.

…Crazy, if you add some luck to that, you could win the lottery first or second prize, Hamin.

“Hamin, you can’t go around telling people that.”

You might die.

It’s natural to get your hair pulled if you brag about winning the lottery in front of people who apply for the lottery every week.

Chae Hamin laughed and clapped. He nodded vigorously as if he knew it too.

―What is it! How did you collect them all! I’m also waiting to trade!

―Hamin… would you like to exchange duplicates…?

“Wow, I really wanted to collect them all! The last one was in today’s album!”

―Hamin, please be quiet.

―We’re serious.

―Please don’t put my fan spirit to the test.

Comments in a strict tone rose in an instant.

I sighed with pity. Why don’t those people have the same luck as Chae Hamin?

* * *

W app ended and I sat on the sofa.

The album is selling well, but the more it sells, the more regret I feel.

‘Limited quantity of goods’ has caused various phenomena since before capitalism was born.

Because an object that you want but can’t have makes you feel deprived in itself.

Fans should be happy as much as they spend money, but wouldn’t they be a little stressed except for a few lucky people like Chae Hamin?

But that doesn’t mean you can do unscrupulous things like giving away things you worked hard to buy for free.

“Hyung, what are you thinking abou―t.”

Come to think of it, there was a beast here who is the pinnacle of 덕질 [deokjil – obsessive fandom].

“Jun, how do you feel if you can’t collect the goods you want?”

“…I don’t know because I’ve never experienced that.”

Um…, he’s amazing.

Seokjun sat next to me and groaned. He’s imagining things even though he’s never experienced it.

“But wouldn’t it be okay if there are― many other goods?”

That’s like a rich person saying what if they have a little less money, Jun. Is it because you’ve never experienced the absence of goods that you can say that?

“It’s sad to be missing one―, but it seems sadder to have none―.”

Um, that makes sense.

Historically, it makes sense. There is a difference between seeing someone putting caviar on a cake when you are starving and seeing someone eating it when you are also eating properly.

I nodded a few times and concluded.

“Jun, let’s take a picture.”

“…Yes?”

Perhaps because he is one of the people in the group who rarely says let’s take a picture first, Seokjun asked in surprise.

I took out my cell phone without saying a word.

Mokhwa bought me this cell phone as a birthday present, and I’m trying it out for the first time like this.

“Ah?”

Seokjun tilted his head almost at the same time as the shutter sound.

Yes, if there are so many photos that they overflow, the photos in the album are rare, but not something you desperately want.

It was the starting point of the event that fans would later name ‘Ji Donghwa’s Quantitative Easing.’

And a few days later.

[Our Donghwa has changed]

Our Donghwa, who used to greet us more often with writing than with photos, of course, he also uploaded photos often, but he wrote much more often than that.

But, our Donghwa started uploading really random photos with every article he wrote.

(Chae Hamin eating fried eggs)

This photo is attached to an article saying that you should be careful because the air is cold these days. There’s no reason.

(Ryu Ideun’s back exercising in the dorm)

This also has no context.

(Seokjun hugging a Wizney doll and looking happy as if he has the whole world)

This too.

(Lee Hyunjae spacing out)

This too!

There’s just no context!

Comments

―No ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ He just takes random pictures and uploads three of them every day ㅋㅌㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ