Starting from early dawn, Days was dragged by the manager’s hand and thrown into the shop. There were many members, so after polishing them up in order of age, before they knew it, it was well past 8 o’clock.
Namkyung hurriedly put them in the car and pressed the accelerator again.
Where to?
“…Imjingak Haneulnuri Park?”
Minsung, just waking up, looked out the window to see where they were. Then he spotted a sign and read it aloud.
“…It’s Paju, huh?”
It was a place he had visited with his parents when he was young.
Meanwhile, the members who got in the car quickly fell asleep. Everyone seemed to have had restless sleep and dozed off whenever there was a chance. So far, only Minsung sensed something uneasy.
“Hyung. Namkyung hyung.”
“Yeah, Minsung. You’re awake? We’re almost there. Wake the others up and get ready to get off.”
The staff who left earlier had already contacted that they arrived ten minutes ago. Namkyung entered the parking lot and called another team.
[Manager, have you arrived?]
“Yes. We’re parking now. Where should we go?”
[Do you see several tents set up? That’s the waiting room.]
“Oh! I think I know where that is. We’ll go there.”
‘…Am I the only one who feels weird right now?’
Unlike the confused Minsung, Namkyung’s call sounded natural. Minsung hesitated for a moment. But soon, an urgent voice followed.
“Hyung, isn’t this Paju? Isn’t this supposed to be at company M’s place?”
Namkyung was the one caught off guard by that question.
“Huh? Yeah, it’s company M. Your debut sta—”
Suddenly, Namkyung felt a chill. With a bad premonition, he slowly trailed off.
“Here? Why?”
“Yeah… didn’t you hear?”
“What?”
“…No way.”
Namkyung finished parking, pulled the handbrake, and looked back. As the car stopped, the members began waking one by one.
“…Are we here already? That was really quick.”
Yunyeon said with a voice still thick with sleep. It had actually taken more than two hours because of the year-end and the snow early in the morning, but Namkyung wasn’t in a mood to tell them that calmly.
Minsung’s face looked a little serious.
“Your debut stage is at Imjingak… Damn. Nobody told you anything?”
Days only had the guilt of trusting the company’s words: ‘You guys just focus on practicing! We’ll handle the rest!’
The members had been unintentionally caught in a hidden camera situation even before debut. Minsung stared blankly out the window.
Did you see a white country? Filled with dreams and love…
Members gradually waking up also began reacting to the word ‘Imjingak.’
“Imjingak means it’s an outdoor stage, right?”
The first to stammer was the broken Baekya.
“Today’s a record-breaking cold wave…”
Yunyeon muttered while looking at the weather app. White snow reflected on the window, making even the tinted glass look pale.
“Why are they telling us this only now?”
Jihan grit his teeth, smiled at the manager, and said,
“We’re performing outside? I like it!”
Cheongman was the only one genuinely enjoying the situation. A true California boy. People who grew up with lots of sunshine really are different.
Namkyung, who assumed the company would have told them all this as a matter of course, was embarrassed.
It’s their debut stage, after all!
Of course, as a manager, he couldn’t say he had no responsibility at all.
‘I should have reminded them again even this morning.’
But what’s done is done. Namkyung decided to soothe the members with some good words for now.
“Uh… guys. Isn’t it high risk, high return? Although the weather is cold, and it’s an outdoor stage with a live broadcast…”
But every word he spoke was full of negatives.
Freezing weather fatal to a singer who must perform live. An outdoor stage where unpredictable incidents could happen. A live broadcast sent nationwide without any editing.
The worst conditions for rookies with no stage experience.
‘I was definitely trying to mention only the advantages, so why did it turn out like this…!’
The only advantage was being scheduled pretty late in the lineup for rookies?
Or that the live broadcast at Imjingak before the New Year countdown would show them on screen for about ten minutes? That was it.
Namkyung, looking pale, glanced at Days. He felt like a criminal with no words left, but he had to fix the situation.
He had the duty to manage Days’ condition.
“Come on, you’ll do well, guys. Y-You can do it!”
Namkyung clenched his fist and shouted with a trembling voice.
Contrary to the manager’s worry, Days quickly accepted reality. Except for the extreme cold, they admitted it was a pretty good opportunity.
The stage order was fairly late, and the live broadcast at Imjingak before the New Year countdown would show them for about ten minutes.
Although they would mostly just stand still, it was a perfect chance for Days to get their faces known.
“Wow~ I almost broke a finger hitting the zipper during rehearsal earlier.”
“Korea is cold…”
Yulmu and Cheong, not moving away from the heater, were watched silently by Minsung.
‘Once the sun sets, the temperature will drop even more.’
There wasn’t even a heater on the stage.
While Minsung was briefly pondering, the tent for the temporary waiting room was folded back, and the manager and Baekya returned. Both were carrying cafe luggage.
“Guys, drink this and warm yourselves up.”
Yulmu and Cheong ran over eagerly and grabbed the warm cups.
“Hyung, thanks a lot!”
“I’m coming too. But why are you drinking iced? …Aren’t you cold?”
The iced Americano in Baekya’s hand was intense. Yulmu said he heard Baekya was sensitive to cold, but Baekya shrugged.
“I still prefer iced. Once I start drinking, I don’t feel that cold.”
“What a tough guy.”
He had two hot packs in his pocket but was drinking iced Americano.
‘Do hot packs even work…?’
Yulmu made a slightly shocked face, and Namkyung chimed in.
“He’s an 얼죽아 (ice-cold death lover). Something like that.”
Just as Namkyung was about to nag again about taking care of his throat, Minsung clapped his hands and brightly exclaimed.
“Right! Guys, instead of just sitting here, let’s go out!”
“Go out? Go out where in this cold?”
Namkyung looked at Minsung, asking why even he was acting like that.
Regardless, Minsung pushed Yulmu, Cheong, and Baekya out of the waiting room, then led the remaining members toward the parking lot.
“You’re really cool.”
“…Me?”
Minsung gave Baekya a thumbs-up. Baekya gave him a strange look, but Minsung, deeply impressed by the 얼죽아 spirit, quickly divided the members into groups of three.
The members in rooms 1 and 2 faced each other in an instant standoff.
“What are you doing? I’m cold…”
Cheong whined, but the leader paid no attention.
“There’s no heater on stage, Cheong. Do you want to shiver while singing? Warm up your body first.”
Jihan also caught on to Minsung’s intention. They weren’t going to practice choreography here. Then there was only one thing to do here.
‘They want to fight.’
The quiet crazy switch was turned on. He quickly bent his knees and started making snowballs faster than anyone else.
“…What are you doing?”
Baekya stared at the action. Jihan held up the completed snowball with a big grin on one side of his mouth.
“Watch closely, Han Baekya.”
Baekya tilted his head for a moment, confused by the meaningless act. Then, when the snowball mercilessly hit Cheong, Baekya was horrified.
“What the…!”
“What are you doing now?!”
The snowball fight, starting with Jihan’s first shot, quickly spread by a fan home.
└ I’m freezing just watching lol
└ Wow… real 얼죽아
└ Official 얼죽아 association appearance
└ These guys are amazing lol who are they?
└ Even Cheong isn’t wearing a padded jacket;
└ This is DASE debuting at Imjingak today!
└ Must be because they’re young, different for sure...
With the New Year approaching, Jaehyun and Yugyeong sat in front of the living room TV waiting for their friend’s stage.
Since they were rookies, they expected them to appear early, but after more than ten teams passed without a single mention, they were about to lose their voices.
[Kim Yugyeong: Did Baekya pass by without us noticing?]
[Shin Jaehyun: Maybe the group’s name isn’t Days…]
They didn’t use SNS, so they obviously hadn’t seen the cue sheet.
They just endlessly waited for the MC to mention them. Finally, the monotonous flow started to change.
“M Gayo Daejeon! The atmosphere is intense. We are live broadcasting simultaneously from Ilsan M Center and Imjingak Haneulnuri Park.”
“That’s right. Despite the cold weather, Yeong-eun is currently at Imjingak Haneulnuri Park for the New Year celebration. Shall we call her? Yeong-eun~”
[Yes, hello! This is MC Yoo Yeong-eun.]
“Nice to meet you! How’s the atmosphere over there?”
[Yes, are you curious? Despite the sudden cold wave, many people have gathered here to celebrate the M Gayo Daejeon. Can you hear the sounds?]
“Wow~ it looks really lively there too!”
[Exactly. And to chase away the cold even more, four very special teams are here at Imjingak Haneulnuri Park.]
Then the two mixed-gender teams of the Cheong team and Baek team were introduced: Cheong team’s BB9 and Blossom, Baek team’s Days and Flower Moon.
[We brought together the four hottest teams expected to make the New Year’s Eve blazing. Among them, there is a very special team today: DASE, the boy group from ID that has come out after eight years!]
Finally mentioned, Jaehyun and Yugyeong shouted and threw their phones down.
“Mom mom mom! Dad! Now my friend is on!”
Jaehyun woke up his dozing family on the sofa, turned up the volume.
“Crazy. I’m so nervous. I feel like I’m gonna throw up.”
“Your friend’s on stage, so why are you acting like this? Shut up for a bit.”
Yugyeong was so nervous that she couldn’t even hear the harsh insults from her roommate.
[Hot debut! Meet Days’ ‘Play’ right now!]