Prince From Another Dimension Becomes An Idol [EN]: Chapter 127

#127.

Returning to the dorm, Ben found himself stuck in gridlock on Gangbyeonbuk-ro [a major riverside expressway in Seoul].

Unlike other times when they’d all be asleep, the members were wide awake, buzzing with excitement from their comeback stage and glued to their phones, checking the online reactions to their performance.

The response was overwhelmingly positive.

Most comments raved about how they couldn’t take their eyes off the TV or monitor while MOST was on stage.

They were now a group burdened with high expectations, and there were concerns about whether they could consistently meet them. However, a comment stating that they always exceeded expectations and never disappointed particularly resonated with the members.

It made all the hard work worthwhile—the countless hours of practice, the gritted teeth, and the sweat and tears shed in unison.

“Kim Louie must be completely wiped out.”

“Well, he earned it. Between the comeback and his MC [Master of Ceremonies, a host] debut.”

The only member sound asleep was the youngest, Louie.

He didn’t even stir, curled up in his corner, oblivious to Woo-cheol and Heung-min’s conversation.

“Actually, Do-jae *hyung* [older brother or male friend] is in the same boat.”

Woo-cheol said, gesturing towards Do-jae, who was sitting in the front row.

Hong-min replied as if it were obvious.

“Do-jae is… an exception.”

Do-jae glanced back and chuckled, seeing Louie passed out without a care in the world.

“Since Louie’s asleep, I’ll say this: it looks like he’ll likely become a regular MC. That’s the vibe I’m getting.”

Jung Gil-joo, who hadn’t been on stage but had been driving around since dawn, was also feeling the fatigue.

While gripping the steering wheel and chewing gum to stave off sleepiness, Jung Gil-joo chimed in on the members’ conversation to break the monotony.

“Oh, oh! Right? Louie did really well!”

“I even had to stop them from using Do-jae, saying, ‘How can you use two people from the same group?!’”

Jung Gil-joo joked cheerfully.

Woo-cheol said it would be nice if Do-jae *hyung* could do it too, expressing his disappointment.

That’s how impressive Do-jae had been as an MC, but Do-jae’s own thoughts were different.

He felt he could handle serious and formal hosting in the future, but doing a music show MC gig like today every week would be difficult.

Even for a short comment, he had to artificially raise his tone to energize the atmosphere, which required a lot of effort for Do-jae.

‘It’s better for someone who is naturally suited for it to do it.’

Do-jae thought calmly.

Someone like Louie.

Of course, Hwang Ji-eum hadn’t stepped down, and there was only one spot available in the first place, so Jung Gil-joo’s words were partly a compliment.

“What happened to the person who collapsed?”

Gyu-sung asked, sounding concerned.

Jung Gil-joo shook his head, saying he only knew that she had been taken to the hospital.

Instead, Woo-cheol shared news he had seen online.

“The article says she was hospitalized due to overwork, but many people suspect it’s more than just that. On Tweety [Korean slang for Twitter], there are a lot of hashtags demanding an explanation from the agency.”

“If it’s not just overwork, then what is it?”

“They’re saying she didn’t have any schedules lately, so how could it be overwork…? They say the company put her on a very strict diet…”

“Really? How strict was it?”

Gyu-sung tilted his head as he listened.

It was already common knowledge that entertainment companies strictly managed idols’ weight.

Regardless of whether it was ethically right or wrong, it was a visual profession, and that was the demand, so it couldn’t be helped.

Thanks to that, Gyu-sung had to subsist on chicken breast alone every day when he was preparing for activities.

Many idol fans sympathized with the idols’ hardships, but they also framed ‘body management’ as a professional necessity, just like singers practicing their songs.

Since that was the reality, he didn’t readily understand why people were angry at the company for putting her on a diet.

“Isn’t it… because of that incident? The manager snatched food away from her on the broadcast, right?”

“I think they said he didn’t just snatch it, he threw it.”

“Huh? Really?!”

Jung Gil-joo, who was driving, was surprised and asked at Heung-min and Woo-cheol’s words.

Gyu-sung, Do-jae, and Gi-jun were also taken aback.

“It was caught in a behind-the-scenes video. One of the members was eating something, and the manager threw it away. They say he scolds her a lot usually… The fans seem to know everything.”

“Ha! Seriously… We’re all doing this to make a living, but that’s too much!”

Jung Gil-joo clicked his tongue, dumbfounded.

The members frowned, feeling uncomfortable.

No matter how important body management was, that kind of treatment of an artist was unacceptable.

‘I thought it was too much.’

Do-jae shook his head inwardly, thinking of Hwang Ji-eum, who had collapsed.

He didn’t feel good as a fellow singer.

There was also a singer who was making a comeback next week, and even if they weren’t in the same group, it was undeniable that misfortunes had piled up.

Negative issues could easily spread.

Jung Gil-joo mused aloud.

“Why is that company always like that? Is there some kind of bad energy there? They should do a cleansing ritual or something.”

Gi-jun, who had been silent all along, responded seriously to the casually spoken words.

“Maybe the company itself is rotten.”

The members knew about Do-jae’s past situation with D.Origin [the company’s name].

All the members nodded slightly.

It seemed that the problem wasn’t just with D.Origin, but with the entire company.

“Anyway, I hope she recovers quickly.”

The others looked as if they agreed with Do-jae’s words.

He hadn’t even formally met Hwang Ji-eum, but he felt concerned, thinking that she would be Louie’s MC partner in the future.

“Oh, oh! Our stage is #1 on ON TV ranking!”

At that moment, Woo-cheol, who was checking his phone, exclaimed.

MOST’s “Remember” performance, which had been broadcast on 〈Music Story〉 a little while ago, was topping the main page of the portal site’s TV category.

The reaction was, of course, tremendous.

Half of the comments were exaggerating that MOST had surpassed themselves, and the other half praised the stage and song as better than expected.

Of course, some people still preferred more popular and lyrical songs like 〈Yours〉, and were disappointed that 〈Remember〉 was a powerful song, despite its title.

It was realistically impossible to satisfy everyone.

“Umm… #1, #1? Did we get #1?”

Louie, who hadn’t moved at all during their conversation, reacted to the words ‘#1’ and blinked his eyes.

Woo-cheol burst out laughing at Louie, who was mumbling in a daze.

“Well… it’s different from the #1 you’re thinking of, so go back to sleep. You must be tired.”

“Um… What?”

“Go to sleep, sleep well. Sleep well.”

“OK, bye…”

Louie, who had briefly woken up, said goodbye and promptly fell asleep again by the window.

“You… you studied hard, and your English has improved?”

“Ah, geez. I could always do this much!”

Woo-cheol glared at Heung-min’s teasing.

Heung-min pretended not to notice and checked the music site after looking at his phone.

“Shall we check our music rankings?”

The mini-album 〈MUST〉 had been released yesterday at 6 PM.

As a result, the initial rankings on three major music sites were within the top 5, which was a promising start.

A significant number of album tracks also entered the top 100.

MOST had broadened their appeal through the collaboration song ‘D.Hiphop’ and the OST [Original Soundtrack] 〈Sunshine on me〉 after releasing the regular album title 〈Yours〉.

Furthermore, they had been steadily building their fanbase.

It was, in a way, natural that the chart entries were better than before.

The challenge was maintaining and improving their position.

Not to mention GOjin, who had taken first place today, the male indie duo Blue Adolescence, and the female ballad singer Yeonjo, often called the OST queen.

The singers and songs positioned at the top of the music charts were formidable competition.

In addition, HOH had released a repackaged album the day before yesterday.

They were currently on an overseas tour, so they weren’t doing separate music broadcast activities, but they were already in the top ranks of the music charts solely based on their fans’ streaming efforts.

Achieving first place on the music charts with their own song was the ultimate goal and dream of the members for this comeback.

They had prepared extensively for this.

However, it was undeniable that the external circumstances were not as favorable as they had been during 〈Yours〉.

“What rank are we?”

Gi-jun, who couldn’t fall asleep due to the lingering excitement of the stage, asked Heung-min, his eyes still closed.

“Ah… 4th! The ranking went up by one after the broadcast!”

Gi-jun closed his eyes as if relieved at Heung-min’s answer.

The other members felt the same.

It was their fervent wish to reach #1 on the music charts, but it was too early to be discouraged.

Besides, the overwhelmingly positive reaction to their comeback stage was enough for today.

Do-jae checked the video uploaded on the ON TV channel and continued brainstorming about tomorrow’s stage.

‘I think it would be better to subtly change the ending each time rather than sticking to the same thing…’

While some members eventually drifted off to sleep and others stayed awake, contemplating the future, the van finally arrived in front of the dorm.

***

“Haaah.”

1 PM.

It was a time when most people were wide awake, but Seon-mi stretched languidly and groggily woke up.

Friday, the day MOST’s music was released, and the weekend when MOST made their comeback stage on music broadcasts, had been an all-nighter for Seon-mi, as if she were a member of the group herself.

She couldn’t help it.

This “Remember” stage was truly legendary.

There wasn’t a single moment that could be skipped.

The overall choreography was stunning, the members had clearly poured their hearts into preparing, resulting in diverse and captivating individual expressions, and the live performance was unbelievably polished.

Because of that, yesterday (or rather, until this morning), Seon-mi had been glued to the 4K quality individual fancams [fan-recorded videos] uploaded by the cable music broadcast, obsessing over MOST in online communities, and barely managed to fall asleep after the sun had already risen.

Groping around, Seon-mi, who had placed her smartphone on her pillow, turned it on without even thinking about getting up.

“Ugh. Overheating…”

The phone, which had been streaming all night, was noticeably hot.

She had already been streaming on her desktop and her brother’s laptop as well.

“What? It’s back to 6th place.”

However, the music ranking wasn’t climbing as she had hoped.

It was already a respectable ranking, but just like MOST, the goal of the BESTies [MOST’s fandom name] was to reach #1 on the music charts.

But it wasn’t easy, given the current competition.

It seemed that the song’s complexity was also a factor, compared to “Yours,” which had reached 3rd place on the music charts.

Anyway, it all came down to results.

“Ah, come on. Rise! The stage is so much better… Actually, so is the song, but anyway, Muggles [slang for non-fans], they really don’t know good songs.”

She desperately wanted it to climb quickly, since the first week of a comeback was the most crucial…

She felt inexplicably anxious.

Of course, it hadn’t even been four days since the comeback…

Seon-mi frowned and opened MyTube [parody of YouTube] to lift her spirits.

She wanted to watch the music video.

The music video was also legendary.

The scenes of elite agents and space thieves chasing each other across the desert, and the MOST members performing intricate group dances against the backdrop of a sci-fi setting were absolutely thrilling.

“Ugh… *Oppa* [term used by females to address older male friends or brothers]. Crazy.”

After replaying the music video, which she felt like she had already watched a hundred times, while making sounds of utter fascination, Seon-mi glanced at the videos that were popping up as recommended videos.

They were all MOST-related videos.

However, they were videos that didn’t actually feature MOST themselves.

“What are all these…?”

Seon-mi rubbed her eyes and checked the videos again.