Chapter 153 : No Conscience?
Chapter 153: No Conscience?
“Midday Music Live, we’re here with Stardust. This is DJ Junghoon.”
After a short round of commercials ended, the logo song flowed out.
I was shaking my shoulders while looking at the camera when DJ Junghoon pulled his chair and sat down.
“Yes, we’re back after the ads. Let’s continue from the third question.”
The question appeared on the monitor screen.
DJ Junghoon smiled and asked the members sitting in front.
“Among our Stardust members, who do you think would have been the easiest to raise as a child?”
The easiest to raise?
Awkward—
While everyone glanced around at each other, Seo Ian was the first to raise his hand.
Unexpectedly, my name came up there.
“I think it’s Seohan…?”
“I also think it’s Do Seohan.”
“I agree too.”
My image was very respectable, wasn’t it.
“Oh, the hyungs have picked our youngest, Seohan. What do you think, Do Seohan?”
I nodded with a satisfied smile.
Honestly, this was…
Something I couldn’t deny.
I was a very well-behaved kid when I was young.
“Yes, I think this is me.”
-Barun Saenghwal Do Seohan lololololololol
-If the members themselves vouch for it, just how well-behaved must he be
-But really, even just from baby photos, he looks like a kid who always listened, sitting quietly and smiling brightly lololol
-A baby hamster that listens well
-Ah, that proud face ㅠㅠ seriously makes me want to slam the wall
“I grew up without causing a single accident.”
At my words, the other hyungs nodded and added on.
“Ah, I can see that.”
“If Seohan didn’t try cooking when he was little, he probably never caused any trouble. He managed to pour his lifetime’s worth of accidents only into cooking.”
“Ahem.”
“But sorry, aren’t you still young even now?”
There were a few rebuttals, but they were minor.
I was picked as the answer to the third question almost unanimously.
Clap clap clap—
DJ Junghoon cheerfully chimed in.
“Congratulations on being the easiest to raise.”
Oh dear, thank you very much.
“I’ll keep living honestly from now on.”
-lolololololol the fact that he said that here lololol
-Hey Dustys, stop teasing him lolol it doesn’t faze Do Seohan anymore
-Such a shame, it was fun teasing him
-Do Seohan’s repentance broadcast
As fan service, I waved my hand at the camera.
Meanwhile, Do Seojun was leisurely listening to the radio at home.
Since he finally had a rare day off, he had slept in and then happened to turn the radio on.
Right on cue, a familiar voice flowed out of the speakers.
Stardust members appearing on radio.
Do Seojun murmured softly with a satisfied voice.
“They’re working hard.”
As a PD in the variety department, he was finding it more entertaining than expected.
Maybe it was right to say the kids had a good sense for this.
It wasn’t boring at all.
He had planned to listen for only a few minutes before turning it off, but somehow ended up continuing to listen.
Then, a question suddenly caught his ear.
‘Among the members, who would have been the easiest to raise as a child?’
Do Seojun nodded and immediately excluded one person.
“First of all, it’s not Do Seohan.”
As someone who had watched Seohan’s childhood closest, this was something he could say with certainty.
Do Seohan the easiest to raise?
That was the kind of nonsense that would make even a passing hamster faint.
Do Seojun recalled the few familiar faces in his mind and pondered.
“Could it be Seo Ian? Or maybe… Kang Siwoo?”
He thought those two were more suitable candidates for a question about ease of raising.
But then.
Why on earth.
‘I think it’s Seohan…?’
“I also think it’s Do Seohan.”
Others could say that.
“Yes, I think this is me.”
But shouldn’t you not be saying that yourself?
“Huh?”
Do Seojun straightened up in shock.
He almost doubted his ears at what he had just heard.
Do Seohan, the easiest to raise…?
“Who raised you?”
I did!
Because of the ten-year age gap, he had practically raised him like his own child.
Well, setting aside that opinions could be subjective… at that moment, their mother was right next to him sipping a cup of coffee.
“Mom, what do you think?”
“About what?”
“Do Seohan’s going around spouting nonsense.”
See, look.
‘I grew up without causing a single accident.’
Do Seojun frowned deeply as he listened to Seohan’s self-assertion.
No matter how he thought about it, it wasn’t convincing.
I mean.
It was only a little over ten years ago.
‘Seohan’s dream is to be a fire truck!’
He would go around the house spraying water from his mouth, pretending to be a fire truck. (The wallpaper had just been replaced.)
After being deeply inspired by Spy X Man, he jumped off the second floor of their apartment.
He once let go of both hands while riding a bike, rolled over, and ended up in the emergency room.
For Do Seojun, who remembered those glorious days, it was a completely absurd claim.
‘I grew up without causing a single accident.’
What?
Did his memories evaporate along the way?
‘I was a really quiet kid.’
Yeah, quiet while causing accidents.
A hollow laugh slipped out before I knew it.
Hey.
“…Do Seohan, don’t you have a conscience?”
[Congratulations to Universe Dust for 500,000 in first-week sales!]
Our kids hit 500,000 for their first full album in the first week lololol
Let’s stream hard, Dustys, so we can hand them a trophy next week!!!
-Congrats on Universe Dust’s first-week 500,000!
└Congrats to our babies for 500,000 first-week sales!!!
└God Stardust
-So like the 3rd gen rising stars…. 500,000 in the first week during their debut year? I’m proud lololol
-Doubles, we trust you, right? Please take good care of the kids
└Well, at this level, they are treating them decently lol
└As for hair-makeup-coordi… well… at least it’s not a total mess….
└True, just think about Tiple. They only changed salons after being cursed at nonstop lolol
-The reactions to the full album are great. These kids will probably do even better with the next one.
└At this rate, Rookie Award possible this year?
└Yeah, definitely.
└Honestly, besides Universe Dust, there’s no one else to win it, right?
└The Core?
└Wouldn’t The Core have a hard time though?
└Still, with this album’s response, they might end up sharing the prize if it goes well.
-Dustys, everyone’s streaming, right?
└Of course we are
└22222
“Congrats on hitting 500,000 first-week sales.”
I heard the news in the waiting room at Music Bank.
Lee Jaeyoon manager, who had come with the good news early in the morning, smiled brightly and offered his congratulations.
Seo Haim jumped up from her seat with a shocked face.
“Really? We’re at 500,000 first-week sales?”
“Wow…. That’s insane. Crazy….”
Ha Junseo kept exclaiming in admiration while grinning.
Judging from their expressions, everyone looked like they were about to explode with joy.
Honestly, I was thrilled too.
We were still only in our debut year.
500,000 first-week sales?
That was the record we had aimed for.
Before preparing this album, there had been plenty of sneers that all the Stardust hype would die down.
Search King Jin Sehyun hadn’t gone out of his way to show us, but I had sometimes seen those posts in passing.
[What do you think Stardust’s 1st album results will be?]
Will it do better than the mini?
It’s about time for all the Stardust hype to die down.
-Their fans say their goal is 500,000 first-week sales lol honestly no way.
└Yeah, aren’t they dreaming way too big lol
└Since they came in through an audition program, maybe they don’t realize how big 500,000 is. Do they think just anyone can hit that?
└Our kids aren’t just anyone, so they’ll definitely hit it ^^
└Seeing posts like this means they’re getting targeted lolol it’s obvious which fandom it’s from.
└Whatever else, if they don’t surpass their last first-week sales, it’s downhill for sure.
└Enjoy your downhill ride^^ lolol
└Yeah, that was about your group~
At least now, no one would say the bubble had burst.
Anyway, hitting the 500,000 mark we had aimed for made me think that aiming for first place in the second week’s music shows was realistic.
Cha Seongbin seemed to think the same, smiling warmly as he put a hand on my shoulder.
“Are we going to win first on a music show? Can I run my imagination circuit a little?”
“No, hyung.”
It was Jin Sehyun who immediately shook his head.
Both Cha Seongbin and I widened our eyes at the same time.
Cha Seongbin frowned and grumbled.
“Why not~.”
“Because today’s show is Music Bank. It’s on a public channel…. Did you see who the other nominees are?”
“…….”
Damn professional truth-bomber.
There wasn’t a single lie in Jin Sehyun’s words.
If it were a cable music show, maybe.
But once it came to public broadcast music shows, the difficulty skyrocketed.
We couldn’t expect anything like TBN giving special treatment to its own idols.
And to make things worse, the other nominee was a fourth-year senior group.
“The nominee we’re up against is BK. They came back one week earlier than us…. Their first-week sales were higher than ours.”
“I’m about to cry~.”
“Why are you crushing Seongbin hyung’s spirit?”
“Ah, sorry. I was just worried you’d get hurt if you got your hopes up too much….”
Honestly, Jin Sehyun would probably have his gravestone engraved in the shape of a capital T.
What were we supposed to do with such a power-T human?
“Anyway, let’s not just run the imagination circuit—let’s wait positively.”
“I’m already plenty negative…!”
“No, hey, the sky might even split in half.”
“That’s even harsher to say.”
“I think a third-week win is realistically possible. Can’t be sure since it’s public broadcast, but still.”
“Ah… really?”
While the two of them bickered, I thought about the name BK.
A group from a major company label.
They had aimed for overseas expansion from debut, so their core was pretty strong.
They had done decently even years later….
Though there had been a slight lineup change midway.
Other than that, their musical style wasn’t my taste.
I had never properly listened to a BK song.
If the timing of their comeback overlapped around this time, then Stardust and BK would have competed for first place.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember the details that clearly.
How was I supposed to remember the first-place nominees of the last week of November eight years ago?
Still, it looked like a fight worth having.
“Let’s get ready to go on stage.”
We were just leaving the waiting room with nervous hearts.
But then.
I hadn’t expected to meet our first-place rival here.
.
.
.
.
“Hello, I’m Han Gabin of BK.”
Since we suddenly ran into them in the hallway, it caught us off guard.
Kang Siwoo immediately bowed his head to receive Han Gabin’s greeting.
The other members followed up with loud voices.
“Hello, we’re Stardust!”
“I’m Kang Siwoo of Stardust, please take care of us, sunbaenim!”
Slightly curving eyes.
Han Gabin’s brows twitched up and down as if something was a bit uncomfortable.
Running his hand through his neatly styled hair, Han Gabin let out a faint laugh.
“Ah, back in our day, we used to bow 90 degrees.”
“…….”
“As expected of a rising group, you all hold your heads pretty stiffly.”
The first-place nominee we had coincidentally run into….
In other words.
He was the very definition of a young old-fashioned senior.