Prince From Another Dimension Becomes An Idol [EN]: Chapter 68

#68.

They were faces I’d seen even at MOST’s first fan signing event.

“Oh. What do you know. Looks like they’re into this, too.”

“They might have traveled from afar. Ugh… competitors.”

We had seen each other’s faces several times, knowing only that we were MOST’s fans, but we weren’t exactly on bad terms.

But still, competitors were competitors.

I was already nervous about competing with unknown fans for a spot at the fan meeting, but seeing competitors right in front of me made me feel even more tense.

“Let’s hurry and grab our seats and start practicing.”

“Okay.”

Sunmi and Heera, who had paid for an hour of access at the PC bang [Korean internet cafe], quickly sat down and opened the reservation site.

After logging in and preparing various things, it was soon three minutes before the reservation time.

To refresh the site precisely without missing even a single second, the two had also opened a server time website, said to be the most accurate, on one side of the screen.

56 seconds, 57 seconds, 58 seconds…

Sunmi and Heera stared at the server time without blinking.

Their hands gripping the mouse were damp with sweat.

59 seconds…

The two clicked rapidly, barely breathing.

I could see thousands of small square boxes disappearing in white in an instant, indicating available seats.

In less than a minute, Sunmi took a deep breath.

“Heera. Did you get it?!”

“Uh… I gave up on standing and succeeded in getting a seat right in the middle of the seating area. What about you?”

“I’m in the 30s for standing!”

“Crazy!”

Heera looked at Sunmi with envious eyes.

In any case, both of them had succeeded in getting good seats.

The two glanced at the familiar faces sitting across from them, for no particular reason.

Somehow, the atmosphere over there didn’t seem good.

***

Sold out in 7 minutes with 3,000 seats.

It was a super-fast sell-out that no one had expected.

Since the first fan club pre-sale was only available to fan club members, it was even more surprising.

However, considering that it was MOST’s first fan meeting and that a new song would be premiered, the fans’ desire to attend was bound to be intense.

As many fans had joined after the fan club recruitment period ended, fans who were aiming for the general sale were clamoring for the number of performances to be increased.

Of course, Kingdom Entertainment, which had anticipated that demand would be overflowing to some extent, even if it didn’t sell out in 7 minutes, immediately added a performance the next day.

The second performance was also completely sold out.

“Both performances are completely sold out!”

The members were happy to hear the news, but at the same time, they felt a bit of pressure.

We had to prepare properly and stand in front of the fans…

And after a while.

The morning of MOST’s comeback day, which the fans had been waiting for so eagerly, dawned.

***

Inside the van heading from the salon to the concert hall.

Usually, there would be the sound of someone talking or playing games, but the inside of the van was surprisingly quiet.

It wasn’t like there were any members sleeping either.

As usual, Gijun was listening to the songs to be performed today in order with his earphones plugged in.

But honestly, the song wasn’t really registering.

“You guys… why are you so quiet? It’s scary.”

When the traffic light turned red, Jeong Gilju stepped on the brake and glanced at the back seat through the rearview mirror.

The members were sitting still, just blinking their eyes.

“Why are you all doing that? You were excited even at the salon!”

No one seemed to be able to answer Jeong Gilju.

Dojae opened his mouth on behalf of the other members.

“I think it’s because we’re nervous.”

“Dojae, you too?”

“Of course. I’m nervous too.”

Dojae, who never gets nervous, was considered a natural strong heart among the members.

The reason why Dojae was able to remain calm before important stages, unlike the other members, was not only because of his naturally calm personality, but also because he had a lot of experience standing in front of people.

‘It was nothing to stand in front of thousands of people at every Empire event…’

There was also a desperate desire to stand on stage.

‘I didn’t even have the energy to be nervous.’

It was a desperation that transcended dimensions.

Dojae felt that even the time to be nervous was a waste.

Even Dojae felt a little nervous on a day like today.

It was the first time in a long time that I was standing in front of fans, and it was the day I was unveiling new songs and stages.

I was so curious about the reaction.

What kind of evaluation will be given.

I had prepared to the best of my ability, so I was more excited than worried.

A pleasant sense of tension enveloped Dojae’s whole body.

“Hyung [older brother or male friend]! How can you be nervous? We’re counting on you.”

Dojae chuckled at Woocheol’s exaggerated whining.

“Ha… I hope I don’t mess up the lyrics.”

Heungmin was worried about that all the time.

It was the main cause of Gijun and Heungmin’s tension.

‘Rappers definitely have a lot of lyrics.’

It was quite a burden to have to memorize all those lyrics without missing a single letter.

Dojae looked out the window.

As if it had never been cold, the streets were teeming with the energy of spring.

“I don’t think you have to worry about anything.”

The members listened to Dojae’s quiet mutter.

They were gazes that seemed to want some definite reassurance.

Dojae smiled awkwardly, unable to resist the gazes staring at him.

“I just have a good feeling.”

The members burst into laughter as if they were dumbfounded at Dojae’s words.

But was it because it was what Dojae said?

I somehow felt like that was the case.

I had a good feeling.

***

A long line stretched around the large stadium with three thousand seats.

It was a line to exchange tickets and a line to buy MOST-related merchandise.

“All items are sold out!”

The employee at the merchandise store came out and shouted loudly.

Following that, the staff put a paper printed with the words ‘Sold Out’ on the store.

“Sold out! Sold out!”

“Huh.”

“Hure [exclamation of joy]!”

“No!”

The fans stirred for a moment.

They were the ones who had been waiting with bated breath for the line to shrink, hoping to buy the merchandise even one second faster, even one more item.

Moreover, the line was still so long that the end was not in sight.

Only the fans who had been waiting since dawn had barely seen the merchandise.

“Is this the end? Won’t there be more coming in?”

“Can I buy it if I come tomorrow?”

“What about tomorrow?”

When a big commotion broke out, the store employee quickly explained to the people in the front.

The expressions of the fans who had been sold out of all items right in front of their eyes were as if they would devour the employee.

So I had no choice but to hurry.

“You can come again tomorrow. And you’ll be able to buy all items online soon.”

The fans knew that they could buy it online because the notice had been posted.

However, I had to wait about two more weeks to buy it online.

“Ah… they should have printed a lot of them.”

“An older sister I know works at Kingdom, and they said they printed enough…”

“I waited for three hours and still couldn’t buy it. Heuh [sigh]. I thought I could at least get a tumbler!”

“Is it real that even the hoodies with the kids’ faces on them are all sold out?”

“Yeah. It’s real!”

The scattering fans raised their voices of dissatisfaction here and there.

However, the dissatisfaction was mixed with a sense of pride in the fact that the merchandise of their favorite singer was selling like hotcakes.

“But even that hoodie with the kids’ faces on it was pretty. The merchandise seems to have been really well made this time… I think I would have wanted to buy it even if I wasn’t a fan.”

“What are you talking about? Why would you buy merchandise with a member’s face on it if you’re not a fan?”

“Ah. That’s what I mean.”

The big disappointment of not being able to buy the merchandise right away was because of the quality of the merchandise that came out this time.

It not only properly stimulated the fans’ desire to buy, but the design was so good that I would have wanted to have it even if it was just a general sales item.

The plan was to officially release various types of merchandise from this album, thanks to the fact that Team 2 of Planning hired one more visual director.

Within Kingdom, a visual director is a position that connects the concept by participating in everything from the overall album art to music videos, photo artwork, and stage costume work.

Even with the same concept, the result could be tacky or sensuous depending on how the visuals are directed, so the visual director’s capabilities were very important.

The newly added visual director was scheduled to assist the existing VD and participate in expanded business areas at the same time.

That was the merchandise business.

At the point when the concept was decided and the rough album art was extracted, the newly arrived visual director contacted a famous product designer to produce the merchandise.

Thanks to this, the quality of the merchandise was on par with that of most famous select shop items.

“Let’s come again tomorrow.”

“Ha… I’m coming even earlier tomorrow!”

The fans who scattered from the line gathered in groups of three or five and waited for the concert hall entrance time.

The focus of the gathered people was, of course, the music news of MOST’s second album and first full-length album, , which would be released soon.

The music release time was 6 p.m.

It was 30 minutes before the first performance started.

The fans attending today’s performance were about to see the stage as soon as the music was released.

Everyone was excited about listening to and learning the song as soon as the music was released and then watching the stage.

The fans watching the performance tomorrow had no choice but to lose that fresh experience, but there were also good points.

The time to learn the music and cheering methods was relatively longer, and they could also watch the music video, which would be released at midnight today, and know the choreography.

“Ah! It’s 6 o’clock!”

Before someone shouted loudly, the fans standing in the long line were already accessing the music site with their cell phones and checking the updated new song by MOST.

The track list was as follows.

00. intro 2

01. before sunrise

02. Yours

03. give me, give you

04. Umbrella Shade

05. Confession

06. First date

07. Be amazing

08. this is MOST

09. outro 1/1

It was a number of songs worthy of the first full-length album.

“I’m so nervous!”

“I hope it’s as good as .”

“If it’s about , I’ll be buried in MOST.”

“It doesn’t look like there are any bones left to bury.”

“Ah, come on.”

Although a 30-second teaser was released, it was difficult to predict the atmosphere of the title song.

The only song I could hear in the short video was just one verse.

Even that one verse that Dojae sang was so good that the expectations for the song were only high.

The fans started listening to the album in their own way with excited faces.

Some people listened from the first track, Intro, while others couldn’t stand it and played the title song, .

“Ah… amazing…”

The person who played it exclaimed in surprise.

This was because the one verse in the teaser was the first verse.

And the song had a completely different atmosphere than the fans had expected.

“Please enter!”

The staff at the entrance shouted at the point when the fans had listened to all the songs on the album.

The fans who had gathered in a crowd poured into the entrance in excitement.

***

When the fans finished entering, the lights went out one by one.

It was the most tense moment.

“It’s starting!”

The fan seats, which had anticipated the stage to start, stirred greatly.

Complete darkness fell on the large concert hall, and soon a calm like the eve of a storm came.

The five members stood in formation around the grand piano that was placed alone.

Just before the lights came on, that moment of silence felt like a very long time to the members.

And behind the stage.

Dojae waited for the song to start, holding a heavy wooden bat tightly in both hands.

Dojae waited for the song to start, holding a heavy wooden bat tightly in both hands.