A week really went by in a flash. It was already comeback showcase day.
In other words, it was comeback day. There would be a press showcase and a fan showcase, and at the same time the music video and the audio track would be released.
Before meeting the fans, we were going to meet the press reporters first—do stage greetings, have a Q&A, and promote this comeback.
Could I get through an interview safely with these members in tow? I couldn’t even remember how the members had been doing interviews this whole time.
Honestly, as long as Pyo Jaeho didn’t say anything weird, it would probably be fine. Cheon Sayun was a pain in the ass, but in this kind of situation he was better than me, and Kyeon Inwoo was pretty harmless. Im Sebin didn’t talk much either… I’d have to fill in where I could.
If we could just get through today, that meant we’d “safely achieve a comeback,” so let’s drag it across the finish line somehow.
[ Condition 7│A kind idol leader does not spare words of encouragement for members. ]
How the hell do you even “encourage” people. Would these assholes even listen if I said something? They ignored me last time too. At this point it was basically like they were being stubborn on purpose, like, let’s see how long it takes you to answer, isn’t it?
[ Condition 2│A kind idol leader talks with members often, even if it’s brief. ]
“Wanna shout a cheer before we go in? Like, to get pumped.”
“Huh? Out of nowhere?”
“When have we ever done that kind of crap?”
Kyeon Inwoo looked dumbfounded and Cheon Sayun made a mood-killing remark, but at least this time they didn’t ignore me. Come to think of it, we really didn’t have a proper cheer. We had a greeting and all, but we didn’t use that as a “let’s do this” thing…
“Right. And Jaeho—during this interview, if you can, try to…”
“Hey.”
Im Sebin, who hadn’t said a word this whole time, glared at me. And his tone was insanely prickly.
“What’s with you lately. Cut it out.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Stop doing stuff that gets on my nerves.”
Im Sebin called out my behavior. Seriously—this kind of light conversation annoyed him too? How sensitive was he? The way he said it was like he genuinely couldn’t understand me, but it wasn’t like I was doing this because I wanted to, either.
And if we don’t even do this much, we’re really screwed. The future… yeah, there is one, but this run’s future ends right here.
“Like I said last time, I think we need change, even if it’s small.”
The group. The members. All of it.
This time, I really wanted to end everything for good. And to do that, the group had to change somehow, that’s what it was saying. Even if it was selfish, it couldn’t be helped. If you went through this shitty situation, you’d be talking differently too.
“I told you. Just do what we’ve been doing. Don’t start this ‘let’s fix it’ bullshit now.”
[ Condition 11│A kind idol leader treats members with broad understanding. ]
So you’re saying Im Sebin has a reason for acting like that. I knew even without him telling me, so in moments like this I really wished my sense of the room would kick in and I’d just shut up.
“…I’m sorry, but I can’t just let it slide anymore.”
“What?”
“It’s fine if it’s nothing impressive. I just mean I want to live normally, that’s all.”
Normal… is it? I mean, “normal” is usually talking to each other and stuff, so I guess it is.
Like something still wasn’t sitting right with him, a gloomy shadow fell across Im Sebin’s face again. He worked his lips with an irritated expression.
“I don’t want that.”
When Im Sebin was in a bad mood, his voice got way too low, to the point it felt downright ominous.
I never would’ve guessed that Im Sebin—the quietest one—would end up being the highest-difficulty wall.
‘Did I say something that stupid?’
Somehow, every time they talked to me, they all seemed to end up in a bad mood. If they didn’t even want to have this level of conversation, what the hell was I supposed to do here. This was driving me insane.
“I said I don’t want it.”
Since I wasn’t responding, Im Sebin even repeated himself clearly, like he was telling me to make sure I heard him. Wow. Thanks. I was touched to tears.
“Stop meddling, just fill out the rest of the contract term, and be done.”
“……”
“It’s already too late.”
The way he kept talking like that—
“Zero One! Let’s go in!”
That shout put an end to our pointless bickering. Do Sajin the manager yelled urgently. The second an outsider’s voice came in, everyone acted like nothing had happened, like we’d rehearsed it. What the hell is this skit.
‘Fuck… I should’ve just said we’ll talk later and moved on. I didn’t think it’d turn into this.’
It was a mistake. And on top of that, the so-called leader got into a fight with a member right before the showcase even started. Yeah—some urgent self-reflection was needed.
The oldest member and the leader were both acting like this, and yet the others didn’t seem bothered at all, like they weren’t the kind of people to get shaken by something like this. Their mentality was disgustingly strong. Should I call that a good thing, at least in moments like this?
For now, I pushed the noise out of my head and decided to think only about the showcase in front of me. I kept repeating the script in my hand.
***
I rubbed my hand over my knees once, like I was wiping them off. It wasn’t so much nerves about the interview as it was the memory of the last press showcase I’d done before I died.
As the years went by, I’d dealt with every kind of question you could imagine. Reporters were always camped out in front of my house, so even going outside had been torture—enough said.
And in that state, the last showcase I’d held was really—
Now that I think about it, back then I’d even thought it would be better if some kind of curse fell and everything went to hell. Like, if nobody cared. If nobody paid attention at all. But as if that would happen. It was the first time in my life I’d been asked such a wide variety of questions, in such huge numbers.
And I didn’t even know that would become my everyday life. Ha…
I remembered that at the last showcase, Pyo Jaeho had dropped some kind of massive bomb with what he said. What was it again. Whatever it was, there was no guarantee that the Pyo Jaeho of now wouldn’t do the same thing.
[ Condition 9│A kind idol leader gives members appropriate advice. ]
Appropriate advice my ass—could you at least pretend to listen. What advice is there in the first place. Don’t run your mouth carelessly?
[ Condition 9│A kind idol leader gives members appropriate advice. ]
Can’t even joke around. This time, Zero One’s album had something that, for the first time among the songs Zero One had released, was directly composed by a member. There was no way questions about it wouldn’t go to Pyo Jaeho.
The image of an idol who could compose—who had a “producer” vibe—did give off a good impression of being competent at their main job. But it was also a double-edged sword.
Especially with Pyo Jaeho, it was a huge gamble all on its own. Because later on, this bastard would end up wearing the title of “plagiarism idol.” I didn’t know exactly how it happened, so I couldn’t be sure, but publicly, that’s how it had been.
But we’d already decided it as the title track, so it wasn’t like we could change the song just because it was Pyo Jaeho’s. The plagiarism controversy hadn’t happened yet, either. Maybe, because the future had changed, it would never happen at all.
But then again, if we let it slide and it turned into one of those situations where what you could’ve stopped with a hoe ends up needing a rake to fix, what then?
All kinds of thoughts ran through my head, but the conclusion was this situation right now. If something was going to happen, it would happen whether we used the song or not, and if it wasn’t, then it wasn’t. And if it was going to happen anyway, then of course writing the better song was the right call.
With that in mind, I was planning to say, please—just do something about that mouth of yours first.
“Jaeho, you’re probably going to get questions about the title track, so when you answer…”
“I’ll handle it.”
Pyo Jaeho replied dryly. Still the same quiet voice with no rise and fall.
“Mm. Okay.”
[ Condition 7│A kind idol leader does not spare words of encouragement for members. ]
“It’s not meddling. I’m just worried.”
‘Worried about my mental health.’
“Yes. So you don’t have to worry about it.”
Yeah… you’ll handle it… I added quietly. Fuck, how many times has my words just been chewed up and spit out today. One day I’m going to cuss these bastards out right to their faces.
***
The press showcase went smoothly. Since we hadn’t done anything yet, was that only natural? We got through the stage greeting and the performance without mistakes, too.
Even during the Q&A, maybe the agency had pulled some strings, because there were barely any reporters asking rude questions. And the MC did a good job controlling the flow, too.
That didn’t mean there were none at all, though.
“I’m reporter Jeong Seonin from Perfect Daily. I’d like to ask Pyo Jaeho a question. With this ‘SUMMER BLUE’ album, you’ve now properly earned the modifier ‘composer idol.’ In that sense, I’m curious how you feel about being listed as a co-composer on the title track.”
It was a really subtle question. He went out of his way to say “co-composer.” Of course, teamwork was extremely common.
Pyo Jaeho was absolutely the type who could do a solo composition and arrangement, and build the beat too. But not everyone knew that. This was his first time showing it to the public, so of course.
If I exaggerated a bit, the fact that he went out of his way to remind everyone it was “co-composer” could be taken as him indirectly fishing: So did you just put your spoon on it, or did you actually participate properly?
Honestly, in this day and age, who’s dumb enough to “just put a spoon on it” and get caught. Co-composing was common now. More and more idols were becoming capable enough to do solo composition, too—so the intent behind that kind of question was obvious.
Either way, even if that reporter hadn’t meant it, depending on the answer, it was the kind of topic that could spawn a ridiculous number of nitpicks.
‘As if there are any questions that aren’t like that.’
Sure enough, it was aimed specifically at Pyo Jaeho. It was awkward for me to step in. There was no way Pyo Jaeho would do something stupid in front of reporters, right? Watching with a nervous stomach, I waited.
He said he’d handle it, but you have to be able to trust him for that. Try doing something trustworthy for once. Then I wouldn’t have to burn through all of today’s tension right here.
“Officially, it says I also participated in arrangement.”
Pyo Jaeho calmly corrected the facts first. Shaking, whatever—he was peaceful on his own.
At this point, it was exhausting even to say what the problem was. Fuck, trust what.
And on top of that, all he did was state a fact, but the meaning underneath was: I can do composition and arrangement, so doing a solo track wouldn’t be a problem. He even ended up dunking on them by accident.
“Then did you participate in both composition and arrangement? How important of a role do you think you played in the track? If you had to score your contribution to this album production, what would you give yourself?”
“From the beginning, it was work that proceeded using a track I’d already made. Doing it alone was inefficient, so I simply chose to work as a team. During the finishing process, we were short on time, so we outsourced some of it. It wasn’t because I couldn’t do it.”
Judging by that reporter’s expression, it felt like a headline along the lines of “cocky” was about to pop up, and I really wanted someone to tell me that was just my imagination.
“I’m reporter Jeong Seonghye from Starbon News. You’re challenging a new concept you hadn’t tried before—were you conscious of DTD, who debuted around a similar time? When people think of the leading ‘refreshing’ group, they basically think of them first.”
This is the one thing that can never be answered out of Pyo Jaeho’s mouth. We’d be truly, completely fucked. I flipped through the notes I’d taken and naturally brought the microphone out of Pyo Jaeho’s hand.
“Hello, reporter Jeong Seonghye. First, thank you for the question. Regarding what you mentioned…”
…….
Stuff like that happened, but it wasn’t enough to become a major problem. Of course, if we were brand-new rookies, we probably would’ve been shredded to dust as “cocky rookies.”
I was worried, so I skimmed the articles as they went up, and overall, they were pretty positive. Did mostly friendly outlets come because the agency had connections?
[ [Photo] Zero One, ‘Cool visuals returning with summer’ ]
[ “I did both composition and arrangement”… Zero One’s Jaeho, a bold cry with no such thing as musical limits ]
[ Zero One’s Youngin: “We want to show you how we’ve grown through a new attempt”—our original intention remains the same ]
[ ‘First refreshing concept since debut’ Zero One, ‘A stage overflowing with refreshing charm’ [KM Photo] ]
Even the questionable line got packaged up somehow. I’m glad that “bold cry” didn’t turn into “cocky cry,” but the nuance is like I hogged all the credit myself.
‘Still, it’s been a while since the audio dropped and the MV went up.’
Why am I nervous. Maybe because it changed from the past, I couldn’t predict the result. What were the numbers back then again. It has to do better than that.
After the chart reform, it became even harder for boy groups—whose audio performance is relatively weak—to enter the “HOT Chart.”
It had something to do with being less broadly palatable, too. Not just entering, but holding rank was the same story. And the so-called “lining up the entire album on the chart” like in the old days—now that was hard too.
We were heading back to the waiting room anyway, so it was something we could check there, but I couldn’t help being curious. Since Do Sajin the manager was walking next to me, I asked casually.
“Manager, how long has it been since one hour passed for us?”
“Huh? Since what?”
“……”
“Since what,” my ass. Is he serious.
If it weren’t for the Status Window, my expression would’ve been really, really nasty. Are you even a manager? Ever since I came back, I couldn’t remember a single time I’d seen this guy do his job properly.
I got one more thing to jot down about the manager.
-He doesn’t seem very good at his job. Is that why the manager got changed?
“I mean, I’m asking whether it’s been an hour since the audio release. Because of the chart ranking…”
“Ohhh… right. Let’s see… It’s… past 7:30.”
Do Sajin hurriedly checked the time on his phone. Why does it keep getting worse… I stopped thinking because I was afraid I’d start having disrespectful thoughts if I went any further.
The fan showcase was at 8, so it was something we had to check quickly and then go straight back in.