LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 104
Chapter 104
Not long after, Orca’s profile pictures were proudly uploaded on Orca’s official SNS account and the Seed official website.
Now, when you searched for Orca or its members’ names on portal sites, you could find their personal information.
Along with Breaker, Orca, a rookie male idol group that recently attracted the most attention, received quite a heated response, even though they hadn’t debuted yet.
[Just released Seed rookie male idol Orca (ORCA) member profile pictures]
– Wow, they really nailed it.
– They didn’t put them in stiff shirts with vests but kept it clean with just ties. Love it! Our kids’ photos and videos smell like soap.
– It really seems like the profiles were made just to focus on their looks.
┗ 2222 Feels like a head-to-head competition. LOL
┗ 333 But I want to see them overdo it too.
– Overall, it has a Juyeoreum vibe, but it doesn’t feel as concept-heavy as CY.
┗ Yeah, it seems like they matched it as much as possible to the kids or the group color. It’s actually better that they didn’t stick to the old style, and I’m looking forward to it.
┗ Honestly, the old vibe was a bit burdensome.
– Wow, Seed didn’t gather seeds but gems. I don’t think even a major company could gather visuals like this on purpose.
– Even though some of them are from Pick Heart, they’re rookies but already look like they’ve been camera massaged for years. So handsome.
– Are they really rookies?
┗ They haven’t debuted yet, so of course, they’re rookies.
– Visually, they’re much better than AJ rookies. If the songs are good and they do their job well, they could really hit it big. I hope they debut soon.
– The behind-the-scenes profile shoot is up on YouTube!
┗ Seong-ha can’t look at the camera properly. LOL You can tell he’s a rookie, and he seems so gentle and cute.
– (Portal site profile capture) Wait, Seo Moon-gyeol’s birthday is February 29th???
┗ The name and the combination make it so sad.
– Born in ’97, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, so the average age is 19.8. If you divide by this year’s adult standard, ’97-’98 are the hyung line, and ’99-’00 are the younger line.
– Oh no, On Raon is the youngest. T.T
– Raon graduated high school with Gyeol, but Seong-ha hasn’t yet. I don’t know; it’s confusing, so let’s just make On-raon the youngest.
– Their positions haven’t been revealed yet, right? Nor the leader? Nor the debut schedule?
┗ Yeah, they just told us the group name and showed their faces! -> That’s the current situation.
– Better than rushing and ruining the planning, resulting in a group failure.
┗ True, true. We’ve seen Pick Heart derivative groups rush out and fail more than once. I hope they prepare thoroughly and come out well.
* * *
Mid-August.
We finally started shooting our reality show.
A VJ did come during the profile photo shoot, but that was just to capture the shooting itself, and this was our first time really doing something.
“Hello! We are Orca! Please take care of us!”
“Please take care of us!”
We greeted the production crew as we started our first reality shoot.
Kang Ji-woo took the lead.
It wasn’t something decided by the company or among ourselves, but it happened naturally.
The members, dressed comfortably yet uniformly, were guided by the staff to sit in front of a ‘ㄷ’-shaped desk.
Next to me was Ban Yo-han, opposite were Kang Ji-woo, Seo Moon-gyeol, and Gyun Seong-ha, and the seat in the center, considered the head seat, was empty.
“We previously asked if there was anything you wanted to do.”
We all responded eagerly to the production crew’s question.
In my case, the reaction came more naturally compared to when I was with Pick Heart.
“Well, we had a meeting, and what you wanted to do is….”
“What we wanted to do…?”
The production crew, who had been dragging it out unnecessarily, finally made a bold announcement.
“We decided to let you do everything you wanted. You can do whatever you wanted!”
“Wow!”
“Really?!”
“I should have said I wanted to travel abroad….”
While everyone was happy, Gyun Seong-ha muttered sincerely.
“Then you would have been the only one unable to do what you wanted….”
Ban Yo-han’s cold remark, not forgetting the budget constraints, made everyone laugh, agreeing that it made sense.
“But!”
Just as I suspected they wouldn’t give us something good without strings attached, there was a condition.
“You can do what you want, but you have to complete the missions given by the production crew. If you fail the missions, there will be a terrifying penalty, so stay alert!”
Of course, the only one really tense here was Gyun Seong-ha.
“Yes!”
Shortly after, the production crew displayed a video on the screen in front of us.
“It’s Ji-woo hyung.”
“It’s Ji-woo.”
A video with Kang Ji-woo’s frontal image as the thumbnail started playing.
[……I want to talk about our members and the future of our group.]
“Ah, Ji-woo hyung, what are you doing from day one?”
“Already boring.”
“Talking about the group’s future. Can’t even focus on the present, now….”
“Why! It’s nice!”
The cold reactions of the members, except for Seo Moon-gyeol, momentarily subsided as Kang Ji-woo received a cylinder containing five rolled-up papers from the production crew.
“What is this?”
“What’s this?”
“This contains today’s mission, and there is no right of refusal. Everyone, please draw one.”
Kang Ji-woo, who had been called by the production crew before the shoot started to get some instructions, took charge of the proceedings.
The paper I drew had ‘First Mission: Decide the Group Leader’ written on it.
Since the leader’s position wasn’t something we could decide on our own, this content must have been discussed between the company and the production crew beforehand.
“There are five missions prepared, and we will proceed in order from the first one.”
“Who drew the first mission?”
“I did.”
When I showed my mission paper to everyone, they all responded with “Oh…” and nodded.
“It’s time to choose a leader.”
“Yo-han, it’s not a team leader, it’s a group leader. Using ‘team leader’ makes it sound really tough.”
It felt like a seven-year group project.
But then…
“Why are you all suddenly speaking formally?”
“You started it.”
“Oh, I see.”
Without thinking, I said something that made everyone sarcastically echo, “Oh, I seeee.”
I immediately used the toy hammer on Ban Yo-han, who was right next to me, and then sequentially on the three who were sitting farther away.
After that, we returned to the main topic.
“Anyway, we don’t have a leader yet.”
The company didn’t particularly appoint one, nor did they tell us to choose one.
“But even if we don’t have a leader, there’s someone who’s been doing the leader’s work.”
All eyes turned to one person.
“Ji-woo, would you like to be the leader?”
“If I say no, will you not make me do it?”
“No. We’ll suggest to the company to make you the leader.”
“Well, then… I guess I have to….”
Seo Moon-gyeol received a leader name tag from the production crew and pinned it on Kang Ji-woo’s chest.
We briefly wondered if it was okay to decide such an important position as the leader like this, but we didn’t really have any other options for a leader.
Kang Ji-woo, laughing awkwardly, probably thought, ‘It’s better if I do it than leave it to you guys.’
The company must have anticipated this and left it to us.
The person who drew the second mission moved to the middle seat: Kang Ji-woo.
“Decide the group’s greeting?”
“For now, we haven’t decided on anything yet. Oh… it’s not that we haven’t decided! Of course, there are things we’ve decided and prepared!”
Stumbling over his words, it seemed that Kang Ji-woo was more nervous than he appeared.
“Anyway, we’re real rookies right now…. We just said, ‘Hello, we are Orca.’ earlier.”
“Oh, you mean deciding our greeting?”
“Yes! I really wanted to do this when we debut. Every time I saw our seniors’ group greetings, they looked so cool.”
Kang Ji-woo’s eyes sparkled.
Some groups greet simply with ‘Hello, we are ○○.’, but many groups have unique and distinctive greetings.
“Alright. Let’s decide on one then.”
Once we decided, we couldn’t change it, and we had to do it consistently wherever we went, so we naturally became serious about it.
I was a bit worried that it might turn out to be boring.
But anyway, this debut reality show wasn’t intended to be as funny as a terrestrial variety show.
Thanks to Kwak Sang-hyun’s advice to just relax, since it was mainly for fans who would mostly be favorable towards us, I felt more at ease.
And then…
‘Just looking at our faces should be entertaining enough….’
Anyway, after heated discussions, we decided on a greeting.
“The cool and meaningful greeting we worked hard to decide on is….”
“Please check it out on the broadcast!”
I thought this part might be used as a teaser.
The third mission that followed was to decide an emoji representing each member.
At this time, the person concerned had no decision-making power; the remaining four members would choose something suitable.
The production crew brought several boards with a bunch of printed emojis.
“Let’s start with Ji-woo hyung!”
“Guys, I’m counting on you. I trust you. Choose something cute.”
Kang Ji-woo moved to a separate seat and made a wistful request.
It seemed like no one was really paying attention.
“Usually, these are chosen to resemble or be reminiscent of the person.”
When you think of Kang Ji-woo… it’s food.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one thinking that.
“How about a chef emoji?”
“Kang Ji-woo always cooked for us.”
“He was a good hyung….”
We had stopped speaking formally and, as if on cue, we all looked up.
Seo Moon-gyeol, a beat late, followed us.
It was a perfect composition to have Kang Ji-woo’s face faintly superimposed on the blue sky.
“Guys, I’m right here.”
No one paid him any attention.
“But still, his main job is as an idol. A chef feels too much like a career change, don’t you think?”
“He asked for something cute. Something cute!”
“Then, since it’s a symbol, let’s rule out all human emojis… how about rice, rice?”
“Ah, Yo-han hyung. That’s totally lame.”
“Rice is cute….”
Seong-ha quietly mumbled, prompting Gyun Seong-ha to switch his stance.
“Now that I think about it, rice grains and bowls are quite cute. Should we just go with rice?”
“Seong-ha, can you step outside for a moment?”
While Gyun Seong-ha and Ban Yo-han were bickering, Kang Ji-woo didn’t stay quiet either.
“……Guys, if you keep this up, I’ll only cook delicious food for the youngest next time.”
Everyone froze.
“Will you cook for me?”
“Of course, I’ll cook for our precious youngest who joined our team.”
“Ji-woo hyung….”
“Youngest…!”
I hugged Kang Ji-woo from a distance and made a firm resolution.
I would forever keep the fact that this body actually contained the soul of a 23-year-old, military-service-completed adult male a secret.