The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Chapter 10

“We’re shooting tomorrow...?” I struggled to grapple with the reality of our situation and asked the two employees in front of us.

“Ah, yes.”

“Uh, Mr. Tae-Yoon, are you angry?”

I must have looked angry even though I was just pondering what to do. Since I also knew that I had an intimidating appearance, I relaxed my expression a little.

I replied, “I was just thinking.”

Frankly, I was also a little angry since they agreed to tomorrow’s shooting without any questions and were pushed around by the broadcasting program’s request.

‘I’m glad we at least got accepted to The Showcase.’ It was a huge relief that Plan A had succeeded. I had been constantly clicking in and out of the production company’s website to win the right to appear in ‘that drama' for Plan B, but now, there was no need for that. Although we could just focus on The Showcase, there was something that bothered me.

‘Will we be able to shoot tomorrow?’ Although the time frame to upload the application video for The Showcase was closed, it had only been about a day since we uploaded our application video. Of course, thanks to Kang Hyun-Sung’s video, we were able to instantly rise to second place in total views, but frankly, there was no need to progress so quickly.

‘Is there something else they’re scheming?’ The production team for The Showcase must be moving fast because they wanted something from us. Please visit 𝓃𝑜vel-𝒏𝑒xt.𝒸𝑜𝔪 website to read fastest update

‘Perhaps, they must have sniffed out that we were truly struggling, no-name idols.’

They might have approached us after researching our environment and situation. I carefully looked around our practice room. Since we filmed the video in this practice room, the production team must have realized that our practice room was also dreary and poor. Though every scene in our application video was close-up shots, the production team must have noticed our humid, moldy mess of a practice room right away.

Even the practice room of TH Entertainment, another small-sized agency, was not at this level. Although their practice room was small, it had a modern aesthetic. In contrast, our practice room had a run-down aesthetic, let alone a modern one. Thus, the reason why the production team must have wanted to shoot this early was because they wanted to catch the footage of struggling idols when they were most struggling.

‘Are they planning to rush in without giving us time to prepare to get things as raw as possible?’

Usually, even for struggling idols, if they managed to snag a big deal, the agency began managing them more heavily, and there were times when they even quickly moved their dorms. Since both the agency and idols knew that their lives could completely change if they took advantage of this opportunity, they were willing to go to great lengths.

Of course, if they went too far, their efforts could backfire and earn the disfavor of the public. Anyway, it seemed as if the production team was planning to invade our living and work spaces before we got a chance to change their appearance for filming. If that was the case—

‘It’s actually better.’ I thought this wouldn’t be a bad idea for us as well.

“Won’t shooting tomorrow be a bit tight?”

“We haven’t even cleaned our dorm yet.”

“I think we should also clean the entire practice room thoroughly.”

The members began expressing concerns about tomorrow’s filming schedule. It wasn't completely fixed on whether we could shoot tomorrow.

“Personally, I think shooting tomorrow would be a great idea.” In this case, if one person took the lead, other people’s opinions would naturally follow.

“Tae-Yoon, you want to shoot tomorrow?” Yeon-Hoon asked to make sure.

“Yes, I prefer it that way. Since it’s a shoot that we need to do anyway, I think doing it quicker will help my nerves.” I said that and took a deep breath to pretend that I was nervous.

“...Yeah. It would be better for our nerves if we get it done quickly.” Yeon-Hoon must have sympathized with my anxiety in that short time frame as there was pity in his eyes while looking at me.

I added, “Also, if we shoot quickly, we can get the first stage hint quicker.”

Do-Seung and Woon reacted positively to my second point.

“That’s true.”

“After listening to Tae-Yoon, I think there’s also an advantage in getting the shoot done quickly.”

“Let’s do it quickly~.” Last but not least, Dong-Jun, sounded like he didn’t have much thought on the topic as always. Dong-Jun was not really a thoughtless person, but strangely, he rarely participated in important discussions like this.

“Yes. Then, I’ll confirm tomorrow’s shooting schedule with the production team!” The two people from the company said and left the practice room to contact the broadcasting crew of The Showcase.

“Ahhhh. We’re really going to be filming now.” Yeon-Hoon rolled his feet with slight fear after the two from the company left the room.

“We’ll do well.”

“Hello! This is Siren! Nice to meet you!” Five handsome young men greeted the camera loudly.

Then Min-Young said, “From now on, you can move freely and go on with your daily activities. The concept is like a reality show.”

“Ah, yes. I see.”

Kim Min-Young stepped back, and the filming team began to attach observation cameras all over the room. Then all the unnecessary personnel went out. It was to make the setting as realistic as possible, but it was also because the room was too small for many people to stay inside.

Min-Young ordered, “If you’re done installing, please leave right away.”

Soon after, everyone left, and the only person left from the filming crew was Kim Min-Young. She sat in the corner and watched how the Siren members lived. She had worked at broadcasting stations for many years and had met many idols, but it was the first time she saw five members living together in a dorm that was no different from a studio apartment.

‘I’ve never seen anything like this before.’ The room was small and the facilities were greatly lacking. Depending on how they filmed, the video could be mistaken for a grave documentary instead of a program about idols. The documentary topic would be about idols suffering in the dark spots of the idol industry. Then concerns began to arise in her head.

‘Won’t the public criticize us for exaggerating the situation?’

The filming crew had come here to garner sympathy and pity for struggling idols, but Min-Young had no idea Siren’s living conditions would be this poor. Since this was a house where people lived, Min-Young kept a calm face and didn’t show her surprise, but she was quite shocked.

It was to the extent that their show might get involved in a controversy for manipulating the environment and trying to garner fake sympathy if they aired the dorm as it was. While Min-Young was concerned about neutralizing their situation so that it could be easily consumable by the public—

“Okay! Get the table out! Ah, come on, set up the table!” The member who looked aloof and sharp, Kang Do-Seung, brought a pot of stew and called the other members.

“Yeahhh!”

Then the other members opened a round sitting table together. It looked like a tin table found at a grandma’s house. Min-Young watched the scene with interest.

“Egg rolls are coming out. Egg rolls!”

“Spam is coming out next, spam!”

Min-Young was worried that their daily life would also be extremely pitiful and sad because their living facilities were so poor, but they showed a scene in direct contrast to their environment.

‘They had a side like this as well.’ The members showed a scene of a family busily preparing breakfast and eating together.

“Park Dong-Jun, I told you that you can’t eat double portions of rice.”

“Come on! You said I can eat a lot for breakfast!”

“There’s still a limit.”

“But if there’s spam and egg rolls, you need to eat a lot of rice.”

“No, you should eat moderately.”

“Seriously.” Sigh.

“Do-Seung, don’t be too hard on Dong-Jun.”

While Kang Do-Seung and Park Dong-Jun quarreled with each other over food early in the morning, Lee Woon mediated between the two.

“Yum! The stew is so good! Did you make it, Tae-Yoon?”

“I just boiled the stew that I made yesterday again.”

“It’s good~ So good~ I’m starting to hum because of how good it is~”

Woo Yeon-Hoon and Bong Tae-Yoon were sharing a friendly conversation to the side, and when Woo Yeon-Hoon happily moved his shoulders up and down as he ate, Tae-Yoon stared at him with a smile.

Kim Min-Young captured the scene unfolding in front of her without missing a single detail. She stared at the soy-bean stew, egg rolls, and grilled spam on the tin table and the members talking amongst themselves—Min-Young had been racking her brain, trying to figure out how to make their situation look less sad, but the solution was right in front of her. Even in a piss-poor environment, the members didn’t seem to care at all, and they had a deep bond like a family. Although directing the video with this storyline was a bit cliché—

‘It’s a classic for a reason.’ There was a reason why clichés became cliché in the first place. With these members, Min-Young thought she could make an interesting story even with a cliché storyline.

Even though they were struggling idols who were expected to be in charge of the program’s tear-jerking scenes, Min-Young thought, ‘I think I can depict them as more complex characters.’

Rather than using them as characters for throwaway, heart-wrenching scenes, Min-Young decided that it would be better to use them as a more important group for the program.

1. Tae-Yoon is 19 years old in Korean age, so he would actually be 18 or 17. Under Korean law, anyone who is under 19 in international age is considered a minor. ?

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