Prince From Another Dimension Becomes An Idol [EN]: Chapter 45

#45.

“Are you asking me for a favor? Tell me, tell me!”

Heungmin asked eagerly.

Kijun, who had neatly placed the trophies in the display case, chimed in, “What is it? Tell us anything.”

Woocheol, Gyuseong, Louis.

Every single one of them was looking at Dojae with shining eyes, as if they had been waiting for a chance to help him for a long time.

Dojae found it amusing and thanked them, smiling slightly as he spoke. The members’ expressions subtly changed at Dojae’s request.

It was a small but significant favor.

***

“Hello, PD-nim [PD-nim is a Korean title for a producer or director]!”

“Oh, you’ve come to greet me.”

PD Oh Jonghwan, who was passing through the hallway to get to the situation room, greeted the members of The Origin with a smile.

The Origin’s manager bowed deeply and quickly shook hands with PD Oh Jonghwan.

“It’s been a while, PD-nim.”

“Indeed. Is it because you’re doing well? You look better.”

Saying that, PD Oh Jonghwan scanned the members of The Origin. They all bowed their heads awkwardly.

When his eyes met Yoo Myungwoo’s, PD Oh Jonghwan put his hand on Yoo Myungwoo’s shoulder.

“Myungwoo, you look good too?”

“Is that so? It’s all thanks to you, PD-nim.”

Yoo Myungwoo replied with a grin, and PD Oh Jonghwan laughed heartily.

“Thanks to me! I heard you sold a tremendous amount of albums. You immediately became a candidate for first place. At this rate, becoming like HOH will be a piece of cake!”

“…….”

“Oh my. Thank you for seeing it that way, PD-nim!”

While Yoo Myungwoo, who hated being compared to anyone (even if it was a senior singer like HOH), paused, the manager quickly stepped in.

Thanks to that, PD Oh Jonghwan, who didn’t notice anything, asked Yoo Myungwoo as if showing off their friendship. “Is Director Jung doing well?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Okay. Give him my regards. I should see him soon too.”

“Actually, my uncle said he wanted to go for a round of golf with you, PD-nim.”

“Oh, really? I should really contact him.”

PD Oh Jonghwan, shrugging his shoulders and smiling happily, saw the assistant PD running from the other side and finished the conversation.

“Then do well, and let’s see each other next week.”

“Yes, PD-nim! But PD-nim… please pay attention to our sound…….”

“Ah, I know! I’ll tell the director to pay attention so that the AR [All Recorded] doesn’t stand out too much. You must have been busy preparing for your comeback, so live performances are too much. Then.”

“Thank you! Goodbye!”

***

After parting ways with PD Oh Jonghwan, Yoo Myungwoo irritably shrugged his shoulders and entered the waiting room.

After debuting, there were too many people he had to please, unlike when he was a trainee.

Even though it hadn’t been half a year since his debut, he was already tired of it.

“Hyung [A Korean term for older brother or male friend], hyung. Are we going to get first place today? When PD-nim left, he said let’s see each other after getting first place, right?”

Chaeyeon, the youngest member of The Origin, stuck close to Yoo Myungwoo and asked.

Chaeyeon, with his free-spirited personality, had no qualms about enjoying the power that Yoo Myungwoo possessed.

Unlike the other members who only watched Yoo Myungwoo’s every move after seeing Songhwan being kicked out.

“Of course, we’ll get it. Why are you asking?”

“Last time, you said we wouldn’t get MOST’s first place either, hyung. I believed you… but we did get MOST’s first place? So, I’m just confirming.”

“What?”

He was young and had a my-way attitude, so Songhwan tended to leave Chaeyeon alone, but at times like this, it was hard to tell if he was clueless or quick-witted.

Park Jinhyuk, with a ‘gasp’ expression, quickly avoided Yoo Myungwoo and headed to the stylists so that the sparks wouldn’t fly his way.

The stylists were busily organizing the costumes.

Yoo Myungwoo looked at Chaeyeon up and down with a displeased expression.

There were always guys like this who annoyed him when he left them alone because he was too lazy to bother.

But what he said wasn’t wrong.

Yoo Myungwoo recalled when MOST was first nominated for first place.

‘I called my uncle right away.’

It was to avoid seeing Kang Dojae soaked in happiness after getting first place.

At the time, his uncle, Director Jung, brushed off Yoo Myungwoo’s words.

―What? The kids from Kingdom? Ah…. If I worry about such insignificant kids, I’ll be too busy to live, Myungwoo. Geez. I thought you were magnanimous. Gathering money to release an album that looks good is just temporary, temporary. They are on a different level than you guys.

Director Jung made Yoo Myungwoo out to be someone who was worrying for nothing.

That made him angry again.

However, this was the reaction from about a month ago.

Now, MOST was a group that rivaled The Origin for the title of the best rookie of the year.

Should he say thanks to that?

Director Jung’s thoughts had now changed.

“That was then.”

“Today, we’re getting first place for sure?!”

Yoo Myungwoo raised one corner of his mouth as if he was dumbfounded and nodded.

Chaeyeon loosened his throat and said in between. “Ah, good, good! I didn’t like MOST for no reason either.”

“Why don’t you like them?”

“They seem like they’re pretending to be nice. Yuck.”

Yoo Myungwoo burst out laughing at Chaeyeon’s answer.

This was the reason why Yoo Myungwoo left Chaeyeon alone.

He thought similarly to him.

“And the hyungs hate them too? Because we’re on the same team!”

One of the members next to Chaeyeon, who was saying malicious things with a bright expression, chuckled.

“Then work hard. For today’s stage.”

Yoo Myungwoo said, looking around at the members.

Within The Origin, Yoo Myungwoo was like absolute power.

It wasn’t just a matter of his family background.

He was the most skilled and the most popular among the fans.

Everything from song part distribution to entertainment show appearances was in Yoo Myungwoo’s hands.

At Yoo Myungwoo’s words, the members except for Chaeyeon nodded stiffly.

In the meantime, the manager, who was watching their every move, carefully brought up the topic.

“Guys. Are you hungry? Today, the fans supported you with lunch boxes because of your comeback…….”

The members exchanged stories in a relaxed atmosphere.

“What is it? The last lunch box we received didn’t taste very good.”

“I know. I hate salmon, but there was a salmon salad in it.”

“It’s lobster and steak today.”

“Oh…. Did everyone spend some money?”

“Good.”

“I was hungry anyway, so that’s good. Give it to me quickly!”

The manager quickly brought the support lunch boxes with the other staff.

Yoo Myungwoo, who was in the middle of managing himself, took a picture of the lunch box, opened the lid, and uploaded it to SNS [Social Networking Service], then turned his back with his headphones on.

***

“Wow! What is this?”

“Support, support! Your fans supported you!”

“Heol [A Korean expression of surprise or disbelief]…….”

At Jung Giljoo’s explanation, the members stared blankly at the piled-up lunch boxes and snacks.

As MOST gained popularity, there were quite a few fans who wanted to support them, but Kingdom had repeatedly rejected the offers.

This was because the company was considering prohibiting artists from receiving gifts from fans internally.

However, since it had not yet been decided, they allowed the fans’ support for today, the last music show.

The amount of support from the fans who had been waiting for this was enormous.

Not only the staff lunch boxes and snacks for , but also lunch boxes were delivered to the MOST staff and even the Kingdom Entertainment employees in the company.

The members were moved to tears by the support they were receiving for the first time.

“You guys are really fun to surprise! Are you that happy?”

“Of course!”

Woocheol replied in a loud voice.

The members, who had been nagging since dawn to go to the shop and buy kimbap [Korean seaweed rice rolls] from the snack bar because they were hungry, were now busy admiring the lunch boxes.

Dojae admired the colorful California rolls in the lunch box.

It was the first time Dojae had seen the food, and it looked delicious, pleasing to the eye like royal court cuisine.

Gyuseong was already admiring the lunch box bag. “Look at the packaging. It’s so elaborate.”

“Wow. I saw this lunch box on Tweety [A reference to Twitter]! I saw the Candies seniors taking 인증 [Proof/authentication] shots!”

“Should we take 인증 shots of this and upload it too?”

Kijun asked Lee Jungyeon, who was on one side.

“I was thinking of only uploading a group photo in front of this cake.”

“That’s a fantastic idea!”

Louis shouted excitedly.

The cake that Lee Jungyeon was talking about was a three-tiered sugar cake with the characters of the six members on it.

“This is almost a work of art.”

“How can we eat it because it’s too precious…. Can we even eat it?”

“Hey, why are you thinking about eating first?”

Woocheol and Heungmin went to the cake and bickered.

Lee Jungyeon, who was used to the two, didn’t care and picked up the camera.

At that time, a huge shout came from outside the waiting room.

You didn’t even have to ask whose pre-recording time it was.

The fandom that received the most audience seats today was The Origin’s fandom, ‘Genie.’

The fandom that received the next most seats was ‘Best.’

“…Annoying.”

Woocheol frowned and muttered in a small voice.

Heungmin poked Woocheol in the side.

However, even Louis, who had been smiling brightly, had hardened his expression.

The Origin’s new song had a structure similar to the hook songs that were popular in the past, and the repeating melody was easy and impressive.

It was a song that clearly showed their intention to appeal to the public by continuing the popularity of their debut album.

“It’ll be hard to forget once you hear it.”

Kijun coldly evaluated The Origin’s new song.

You could clearly feel that they had received a good song from a good composer again.

Dojae nodded as if agreeing with Kijun’s evaluation.

Lee Jungyeon tilted her head, not knowing why the members’ expressions had hardened unlike usual.

‘Are they worried because they’re rivals?’

It was really unexpected.

It was because she thought the members would focus only on themselves rather than other groups.

Anyway, a little bit of competitiveness helps with development.

Lee Jungyeon didn’t think deeply and turned on the camera app.

“Then I’ll take it!”

At Lee Jungyeon’s words, the members posed with smiling faces in front of the cake.

The Origin’s song was heard humming from outside, but seeing the cake that the fans had sent made them feel better.

***

Shortly after.

The MOST members finished all preparations and went on stage for the live broadcast.

“Aaaaaah! Oppaaaaaa [A Korean term used by females to refer to older brothers or male friends]!”

“MOST!”

While the MCs were introducing MOST, the MOST fans in the audience shouted MOST loudly.

Even though there were 50 fewer people than The Origin’s fans, they were not inferior in terms of the size of the shout.

No, rather, an even louder voice surprised the officials under the stage.

Dojae closed his eyes for a moment on the darkened stage and calmed his mind.

He usually wasn’t the type to get nervous, but today’s stage had its own burden.

‘Because it’s the last stage of this activity…….’

He wouldn’t be on stage for about a month.

The grueling schedule of being on stage almost every other day was exhausting, but he received love and energy from the fans.

He realized more and more every day how fun and happy it was to be on stage.

‘Let’s do well so we don’t have any regrets.’

Dojae, who repeated that to himself, readjusted the microphone and stared at the camera.

“Kyaaaa—!”

The prelude flowed, and soon Dojae and the members’ voices echoed vividly on the stage.

It was the stage just before the announcement of the first place, where this year’s two rookies, MOST and The Origin, were facing off.