Entertainment Life With A Camera

Chapter 176

The song was already there.

As soon as Jo Tae-woong arrived, the members got up and approached him.

“Doesn’t he look better?”

[Maybe he does?]

Jo Tae-woong’s face looked brighter. It was not visible to the eye, but he felt like his mood was similar to before.

“You’re here. Didn’t you come too late?”

Ian smiled and said with his arms crossed.

“Hyung, I’m really glad you came.”

“Hey, you should have contacted us before you came. What if we were not here?”

“Right, if we knew you were coming, we would have cooked more ramen.”

Not only Ian, but the other members also sensed Jo Tae-woong’s changed atmosphere.

“Thank you for your hospitality.”

Jo Tae-woong smiled. The members surrounded him and said a word each, forgetting that the ramen was getting cold.

“You’re back. Are you staying for good?”

“Uh, is my room still there? You didn’t throw away my stuff, did you?”

“You’re busted.”

Jo Tae-woong walked briskly and opened the door.

“Hey, wait!”

Park Jin-hyuk shouted.

The messy room. Jo Tae-woong had shared a room with Kim Joo-young until he went back to his hometown, but it was not easy to make such a mess when he shared a room with Kim Joo-young.

Jo Tae-woong frowned.

“Ah, what? The room changed? Who am I sharing with?”

“Jin-hyuk. Joo-young became my roommate, you know?”

Kim Hyun said shamelessly, and Jo Tae-woong sighed.

“Why did you change? Ah, I want to share with Joo-young.”

“Kim Joo-young is a public good. He agreed to clean my room tomorrow.”

“When did I?!”

Kim Joo-young jumped up at Ian’s lie. Park Jin-hyuk quickly went into the room and put his stuff on the bed, making some space.

“I’ll sort out my stuff.”

“What do you want to eat?”

“I’m hungry.”

The members went out to the living room and looked at Jo Tae-woong’s back as he sorted out his stuff through the gap in the door.

Lee Joo-hyuk said quietly.

“He seems okay, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

Then, as if the tension that had been tight was loosened, the six members sighed with relief.

“Wow, thank goodness.”

“I was actually a bit scared.”

“Me too.”

No matter how much they did solo activities, they couldn’t beat group activities. They felt more and more impatient as the break period got longer.

“I thought we wouldn’t be able to release an album this year.”

“You too? Me too.”

Lee Joo-hyuk looked around the members with relieved expressions and added.

“Guys, it’s good that Tae-woong is back. But we don’t know if he’s fully recovered or not, so let’s not get too excited.”

The members nodded. Kim Joo-young nudged Ian with his elbow.

“Hey, but the ramen is all burnt.”

“What a waste… Tae-woong is here, let’s just order some chicken. How about that?”

“Good.”

***

The first thing Jo Tae-woong did when he came up to Seoul was to go to the hospital.

Jo Tae-woong’s parents and Awi’s managers looked anxiously at the closed consultation room door.

“What are you all doing here?”

Time passed, and the consultation room door opened. Jo Tae-woong looked at the people standing in the hallway with a relieved expression. He felt sorry and happy that they were worried about him.

“Are you done?”

“Yes. Hyung, come in.”

“Can I come in?”

“Uh, I want to start working right away, can you talk to the doctor for me?”

The counselor behind Jo Tae-woong smiled awkwardly.

Kim Myung-jin waited outside, and Park Dong-soo entered the consultation room with Jo Tae-woong’s parents.

“Teacher, can I work now?”

“Hey, you should ask how your progress is first.”

Jo Tae-woong’s mother, Lee Hye-eun, slapped his back. Jo Tae-woong whined as the guardians waited for the doctor’s words with anxious faces.

“First of all, the progress is very good. It seems that Mr. Tae-woong has recovered a lot positively.”

The guardians sighed in relief. Park Dong-soo glanced at Jo Tae-woong’s eager eyes and cautiously asked.

“Then, is it possible for Tae-woong to start his activities…?”

From the agency’s perspective, they also wanted Awi to return as soon as possible. The agency had to make profits somehow. The revenue from concerts had plummeted to zero due to the coronavirus outbreak last year, and they had to debut the next group, Fever, who would follow Awi’s footsteps.

-Do you know this group?

They are a K-pop group called AWY, and their songs and performances are awesome.

Ironically, in this situation, Awi had exploded in popularity in the English-speaking countries.

-I already knew them. I’m already an Awi-dom.

-Their songs and performances are really good.

-If you are interested in Awi, how about this video?

└They are good at live performances. Their vocals are very attractive. The fans’ screams are also amazing.

Midea, who had already achieved great success overseas, had not lost their popularity even though they were in the military service, and the global interest in K-pop idols had increased with the success of Luna Girls’ entry into the US. As a result, the mentions of Awi also increased.

-Who is that handsome guy?

└Ian, he’s American.

└└Oh, then there won’t be any language barriers.

The common criticism of foreigners about Korean idols was that they lacked musical sense, such as composing skills. They said that idols were groups created by the agency’s planning.

-Look at the songwriting credits. They are all members of the group.

-Have you heard the mashup?

-It’s fresh, right? They have a sense of writing songs.

-Listen to the whole album. The members made it themselves.

-When will their new song come out?

└One of the members stopped his activities because of cyberbullying. So I don’t know when the new song will come out.

└└They are victims of the monstrous K-pop system.

└There are haters like that everywhere.

But Awi was different. They created not only the songs and lyrics, but also the choreography, and they also performed with high difficulty. They attracted the attention of people who were looking for something new.

-Do you want to see the members improvise songs?

-If you are interested in Awi, please watch this video.

-I hope Awi will go more international.

The overseas Awi-doms moved quickly to respond to the interest in Awi. They translated and shared the links to Awi’s own content and Y-app broadcasts.

The agency could not be unaware of these reactions. That’s why the staff were looking forward to the day when Jo Tae-woong would recover.

“To be honest, I want to stop you.”

“Why! I’m really fine!”

Jo Tae-woong protested, and Lee Hye-eun quietly grabbed his arm and told him to be quiet.

“I’m afraid that external factors might… cause some trouble if you resume your activities.”

The doctor trailed off. He was in charge of counseling not only Awi, but also other celebrities. Those who said they were fine and asked for medicine only came back crying after a while.

Suing the malicious commenters would not make them disappear. They would only pause for a moment, but the celebrities had to endure the hate comments anyway. If they got hurt again in the process.

“Even if you are fine, you might not be fine in some cases.”

Didn’t Jo Tae-woong look fine and then collapse all of a sudden? There was no guarantee that it wouldn’t happen again.

Park Dong-soo sensed what the doctor was trying to say.

“We will also arrange regular counseling for him from the company. Not only for Tae-woong, but for the other kids as well.”

“Then…”

The doctor sighed softly, as if he couldn’t stop them, seeing Jo Tae-woong and Park Dong-soo’s desperate expressions.

“Since Mr. Tae-woong is determined, I can’t help it. But I’ll prescribe you some medicine.”

Jo Tae-woong’s face brightened.

***

Jo Tae-woong’s second schedule was the salon. He had come up to Seoul from his grandmother’s house because of the hospital, so he looked unkempt without any care.

As soon as Jo Tae-woong entered the salon, the staff greeted him. He was a mood maker at the company, and he was no different at the salon. They were eager to give him more snacks and drinks, even though they didn’t have to.

“Wow, you don’t have to do this for me…”

He received a coffee in one hand and a snack package in the other. The hair director in charge of him approached him.

“Tae-woong, how are you? Long time no see?”

“Yes, noona, it’s been a while.”

“Are you okay now?”

“Yes, I’m going to start working now.”

“Oh, that’s good.”

The hair director was happy to see him bouncing his feet as if he had started working.

There were so many people who welcomed him like this. What about the fans? Jo Tae-woong felt proud.

“Tae-woong, your hair has improved.”

He had always had dry and damaged hair due to frequent bleaching and curling during his activities, but his hair had improved after eating well and resting at his grandmother’s house without any special treatment.

“What should we do with your hair? How about a two-block cut like last time?”

Kim Myung-jin looked closely at Jo Tae-woong, who was sitting on the chair. He called the hair salon manager who was bringing the tools for Jo Tae-woong.

“Excuse me, can I ask you something?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t you think Tae-woong looks good with long hair?”

The hair salon manager looked at the mirror that reflected Jo Tae-woong. His hair was messy now, but if they tidied it up a bit… She sparkled her eyes.

“Now that you mention it…”

“What do you think of keeping it this way?”

It was too early to decide on the next album concept, but it was also a pity to cut it off hastily. There were not many celebrities who had attracted attention with a long hair style change.

“Tae-woong, are you uncomfortable with your hair right now?”

“My bangs are a bit annoying.”

“Let’s grow them out too. I’ll give you a headband later.”

A drastic style change for the long-awaited comeback. He felt good just imagining it. Kim Myung-jin had a feeling that his eyes were not wrong.

“So, we’re not going to touch the length and just trim it?”

“You’re not cutting your hair?”

He thought he would cut it short like last time… Jo Tae-woong asked with a question mark. Kim Myung-jin answered.

“You look good with long hair.”

“Really?”

“It’s your comeback after a long time. It’s good to change your image too.”

-Tae-woong spotted at the salon

He was cutting his hair at the salon, maybe he’s preparing for his comeback

└Don’t feed us with false hopeㅡㅡ

└No proof no talkㅇㅇ Don’t give him bait

└└It’s trueㅜㅜ I saw him passing byㅠㅠ I didn’t take a picture because I thought it would be rude

***

Jo Tae-woong left the salon and headed straight to the basement of the company. The other members were already gathered in the studio of Lee Ju-hyuk and Park Jin-hyuk, discussing the next album.

Jo Tae-woong opened the door of the studio with a bang and shouted.

“I can do activities now!”

“We already got a call from Dong-soo hyung earlier.”

“Aw, come on.”

He thought they would be happy, but they were lukewarm. Jo Tae-woong slumped his shoulders and sat down in an empty seat.

Jo Tae-woong, who had stopped by the salon, looked no different except for his neat hair. Ian looked at Jo Tae-woong’s hair, which was half-tied.

“You didn’t cut your hair?”

“Myung-jin hyung said the next concept would be long hair, so I came here for now.”

“That’s… not bad, right?”

He thought it wouldn’t suit him, but it looked surprisingly good after a little trimming.

“But I’m in trouble. I have to lose a lot of weight to prepare for the activities.”

“Hey, me too. I have to work out hard.”

“Why? You look the same.”

“I lost a lot of weight filming ‘Z-Day’. I became too skinny. I lost my muscles.”

“You liar. Where are you skinny?”

Jo Tae-woong frowned and poked Ian’s arm. Ian had a good bone structure, so he didn’t look thin even if he lost weight.

“Actually, I have to lose weight too. I let myself go too much.”

“Me too.”

“Me too…”

The other members, who had been listening to their conversation, looked at each other with dull eyes. They could see the hell of fitness ahead of them.

Lee Ju-hyuk clapped his hands to lighten the mood.

“Now that Tae-woong has recovered, we have to do our work too.”

“Then are we recording from today? What about the songs?”

Kim Hyun asked, and Park Jin-hyuk, Kim Joo-young, and Lee Ju-hyuk answered in turn.

“Our album work is important, of course…”

“But there’s one more important thing. The wedding of Dong-soo hyung and the director, which is coming soon.”

“A wedding song to sing as a congratulatory song.”

The trio of composers spoke with authority, and the other members quickly became serious.

They couldn’t start their activities right away even if they recorded today. And they couldn’t miss the wedding of Park Dong-soo and Seo Su-ryeon.

‘Wait, a wedding song?’

Ian felt a sense of incongruity and asked.

“Are you planning to compose the wedding song yourself?”

“What are you talking about?”

Lee Ju-hyuk made a confident expression and clicked the mouse. The file he opened had a list of wedding song candidates they had worked on, and another file had a bunch of demo songs for the next album. With that number of songs, they could do not only a regular album but also a repackaged album.

“We already have the songs.”

“Crazy.”

He had a face that seemed to say, ‘A congratulatory song? A comeback performance? That’s nothing to fuss about.’