Prince From Another Dimension Becomes An Idol [EN]: Chapter 224

#224.

On the red carpet.

“Aaaagh!”

“Dojae! Me too! Hand!!!”

“Here, here!!!”

“God! He is super cool!”

“I love you!!!”

“Louis, look over here!”

“Woocheol oppaaaa!”

“MIN!!!”

Despite the bitter cold that caused breath to puff out in white clouds, a huge crowd had gathered to see the performers participating in the N TV FESTA.

As the MOST members stepped out of the van and onto the red carpet, shouts calling out their names erupted from everywhere.

Since MOST, along with many other singers, had fans not only domestically but also overseas, a significant number of the audience who came to see the red carpet were foreigners as well as Koreans.

The members confidently walked down the red carpet, receiving both the calls of their fans and a barrage of camera flashes.

They waved to the fans with relaxed expressions, making eye contact and smiling.

The large-bodied security guards protected the members with tense expressions.

MOST had the most fans among the performers who had walked the red carpet so far, so they couldn’t help but be even more nervous.

Whether they knew the security guards’ feelings or not, the members were trying to greet the fans from closer and for longer as much as possible.

“Uh, uh, be careful! Watch out!”

Of course, they were also mindful of the fans’ safety.

One fan who received a word of concern from Louis in that short moment felt rewarded for flying all the way from Australia, on the opposite side of the world.

Moreover, the members’ condition was at its best today.

First of all, they were in a very good mood because they were meeting fans face-to-face for the first time in almost two months since the fan meeting.

In addition, their faces, with perfectly applied makeup, were radiant.

Dressed in black suits, they looked so dashing that it seemed even the cold and wind were avoiding the MOST members.

Of course, their fingertips were frozen red.

The members’ outfits consisted of black suit jackets and white shirts that brightened their faces.

However, each member added a personal touch to match their individual style and taste.

Heungmin, Woocheol, and Gyuseong wore neat bow ties, Gijun wore a black necktie, and Louis tied a thin string into a large ribbon shape.

Dojae had a thin black scarf-like string tied to the side of his neck, hanging down long.

His long neck stood out, and it looked quite stylish whenever the wind blew.

“Wow, MOST has finally arrived!!!”

As they passed the audience and stood at the photo line, the MC [Master of Ceremonies] on site shouted.

The members stood in their designated formation.

From left to right, it was ‘Gijun-Gyuseong-Woocheol-Louis-Dojae-Heungmin.’

The members skillfully struck poses.

The reporters clicked their shutters with satisfied faces at the poses ranging from cool expressions to cute ‘V’ signs.

“Wave your hands this way, please!”

“Over here too!”

“Look, please!”

The members didn’t panic at the various requests and waved their hands as if they had practiced, smiled, and even made various kinds of K-hearts [a hand gesture where you cross your thumb and index finger to make a heart shape, popular in Korean pop culture].

Then, they unveiled their ‘ambitious creation.’

“Kyaaaaaaak!”

Woocheol and Dojae lifted Louis, who was standing in the center, high up.

Then, Louis soared up like a butterfly and spread his arms.

The remaining members knelt on one knee and struck a pose like statues.

Because it was quite a childish pose, Gijun looked down at the ground to endure the embarrassment before looking up.

“Euhahaha!”

“Ah! What is it!!!”

“Surprised!!!”

Exclamations, cheers, and laughter erupted from everywhere.

At the same time, camera flashes went off like crazy.

Woocheol and Dojae, thinking that all the cameras had captured enough photos, lowered Louis to the ground.

“Haa…….”

Even though he was the lightest member, Louis was still an adult male.

Woocheol let out a breath he had been holding in as soon as he put Louis down.

Dojae’s face also seemed to have flushed slightly, making him look more vibrant.

Having finished the photo time with such a great pose, MOST had a short interview with the MC on the red carpet.

“Was that pose something you prepared? It’s so cool?! Is it perhaps a stage spoiler?!!”

“Yes, that’s right! Please look forward to our performance later!!!”

Heungmin replied in a cheerful voice.

With MOST’s appearance and the short event they had prepared, the heat of the red carpet event was gradually rising.

As the members finished their interview, another burst of hot cheers that could blow away the cold poured out into the venue.

HOH had just arrived.

***

“Ah, still, I’m glad the reaction was good!”

“It was our first time preparing something like this, so I was nervous that the atmosphere would suddenly turn cold.”

On the way to the waiting room after the red carpet event.

The members were proud that the ‘butterfly pose’ they had prepared had received a pretty good response.

“Oh!”

Just then, Heungmin stopped.

Juyuri was walking towards them from the opposite side with her manager.

“Yuri noona!” [Noona is a Korean term used by males to address older sisters or close female friends/acquaintances]

Louis called out to Juyuri in a friendly manner.

Juyuri found the members and greeted them happily.

“It’s been a while, everyone!”

“Hello!”

“Hi, noona!”

“It’s been a while.”

The members also greeted Juyuri in their own comfortable ways, happy to see her.

Juyuri had become quite close to the members after working on a song with Gyuseong.

“Gyuseong, thank you. I heard you said it was okay to perform together at the KVS. I heard about it.”

Gyuseong was scheduled to perform the stage with Juyuri at the KVS Awards.

Gyuseong replied, feeling awkward at Juyuri’s greeting.

“It’s an honor for me. If we perform together…….”

“Hey, no need to be humble!”

Juyuri smiled mischievously.

Juyuri, still wearing her red carpet outfit, exuded a much more mature vibe than before.

With such a pleasant smile added, she was no less than a goddess.

Heungmin secretly (though the members couldn’t help but notice) clenched his fist, hoping that one day he too would have a joint performance with Juyuri.

While Jeong Gilju and Juyuri’s manager were talking about something, the members and Juyuri continued their conversation.

“Anyway, congratulations, everyone! I heard you were nominated for the Grand Prize?!”

At Juyuri’s words, the members momentarily ‘froze.’

There were three Grand Prize-level awards at the N TV FESTA.

‘Best Album of the Year’

‘Best Song of the Year’

‘Best Artist of the Year’

The Best Album of the Year was awarded to the album with the highest sales, as the name suggests.

Therefore, there was no room for disagreement, and it was easy to predict the winner.

The Best Song of the Year was based on the performance on music streaming sites, as well as the number of broadcasts, fan votes, and judges’ scores.

Since the performance on music streaming sites accounted for the largest portion, a song with popular appeal would receive the Best Song of the Year award.

Finally, the Best Artist of the Year award was virtually the closest award to the ‘Grand Prize’ of other broadcasting stations among the three categories.

This was because album sales, music streaming scores, fan votes, and judges’ scores were all evenly reflected.

Last year, HOH won both the album and artist categories without any disagreement.

The song category was won by Juyuri.

And Juyuri was nominated for the Best Song category again this year.

HOH was nominated in all three categories: album, song, and artist, and so was MOST.

was also nominated, but the album’s performance was truly enormous.

“Ah…….”

MOST had already received an award at the main awards last year.

The Top Excellence Award at other broadcasting stations went to Big Boyz.

That’s why the members still couldn’t believe that they were nominated for the Grand Prize.

They knew that their performance was sufficient, and the company was also expecting it.

Even though the members themselves had cautiously predicted it, they were dazed when the nominations were announced.

“What’s wrong? I congratulated you, but why are you all so stiff?”

When Juyuri asked, puzzled, Gijun, who was closest to Juyuri because they got along well musically, replied on behalf of the group.

“Thank you for the congratulations.”

“It’s because we still can’t believe that we’ve been nominated,” Dojae added, and Juyuri nodded as if she understood.

“I really don’t know who will receive it this year.”

“Isn’t Yuri noona going to receive the song award? Then it’s three consecutive wins. That’s really amazing…….”

At Woocheol’s words, Juyuri simply smiled.

To be honest, she thought that MOST was more likely to receive it than she was this year.

Juyuri was already a singer who was greatly loved by the public.

Her fandom was as strong as any group.

As Woocheol said, she had already received the Grand Prize twice, so there was no need to be attached to the award anymore.

Even if that wasn’t the case, MOST was a group with enough skill and performance to receive the song award.

She felt that she could sincerely congratulate MOST even if they received the song award instead of her.

Just then, Juyuri’s manager, who had finished talking, gestured to Juyuri as if to say it was time to go.

“Then see you later, everyone!”

After Juyuri left, the members soon entered their waiting room.

In the waiting room, the stylists were busy preparing the outfits.

Jeong Gilju quickly checked the cue sheet he had received and conveyed the progress to the members.

The members changed their outfits ahead of the rehearsal.

Even during that time, the members couldn’t get the thought of the award out of their heads.

They had barely managed to avoid thinking about it, but Juyuri had reminded them of the fact that they were nominated for the Grand Prize.

It would be a lie to say that they weren’t greedy for the award, apart from being dazed.

‘The album award will be difficult, but… the song award and the artist award…….’

Dojae thought as he took off the scarf he was wearing around his neck in front of the mirror.

The hand holding the smoothly loosened scarf tightened.

The Best Album of the Year award was highly likely to go to HOH once again.

MOST’s album had exceeded double million sales, but the HOH album that came out after that had achieved even higher sales.

The reaction to the songs on the new album, which was released in a slightly different style than before, was good, but it was also thanks to the HOH fandom uniting with MOST as their goal.

However, they didn’t know about the Song of the Year award.

In terms of music streaming scores alone, Juyuri was slightly higher, but the Song of the Year award wasn’t an award that was given solely based on music streaming scores.

‘It’s not like we have to receive it either…. Let’s not expect it.’

The Artist of the Year award was even more uncertain.

HOH was definitely a strong candidate, but you never knew.

He tried not to expect it, but he kept expecting it.

Dojae was only human, so he couldn’t help it.

Another nominee for the Album and Artist awards was the girl group REGINA.

They had debuted around the same time as MOST and had also grown exponentially.

The difference between MOST and them was that they had gained more popularity overseas than in Korea first.

Their overall performance was lower than HOH and MOST, but REGINA could be expected to some extent as N TV FESTA valued ‘global performance.’

‘It’s not easy to see ahead.’

Dojae, who had excellent sense and insight in predicting the future, found it difficult this time.

Dojae, who had been lost in such thoughts, hurriedly shook off his thoughts and opened the violin case that the staff had handed him.