When I Opened My Eyes I Was a Superstar

Everyone stopped in their tracks. Do Wook also turned around, surprised.

The female student with short hair still had her hand outstretched, and Suk Ji Hoon had an expression so stiff that it was scary. Suk Ji Hoon was looking at the ground. The female student with short hair, who was in pain and whose feelings were hurt, was frowning.

“Ahh, that hurts. Man…”

The short-haired girl’s friend, who had been clinging on to Park Tae Hyung, approached them and made a fuss as she asked if she was ok.

It was a touchy situation where they couldn’t just leave the site, but they couldn’t apologize to the stan either. It was the girl with short hair that grabbed onto Suk Ji Hoon’s wrist first. As soon as she touched his arm, Suk Ji Hoon yelled and shook it off.

Suk Ji Hoon was just staring at the ground. Jung Yoon Ki, who was standing behind him, lightly pushed him. Do Wook was about to head towards Suk Ji Hoon.

“Let’s hurry. We’re going to be late.”

Suk Ji Hoon pretended he couldn’t overcome Jung Yoon Ki pushing him and started walking forward.

Ahn Hyung Seo dealt with the agitated atmosphere by laughing awkwardly to the fans. Everyone started walking even faster than before.

Suk Ji Hoon could feel all the fans staring at him from behind, but he tried his best to pretend not to notice.

The fans were at fault too, but Suk Ji Hoon’s response was a little extreme. It was honestly upsetting when fans tried to touch them, but it was also a part of the business they had no choice but to accept.

Still there was nobody criticizing Suk Ji Hoon for yelling.

“He’s been hit by a fan before. Ji Hoon, I mean.”

“H…He got hit?”

Park Tae Hyung asked back, shocked by Ahn Hyung Seo’s explanation.

Actually, the reason for Suk Jo Hoon’s overly sensitive reaction was something that everyone knew of, except Park Tae Hyung and Do Wook who had entered the agency later on. Before the two of them had entered the agency, there had been an incident where one of the fans waiting for Suk Ji Hoon in front of the office had attacked him.

As a famous child actor with a kind demeanor, Suk Ji Hook had received the affection of quite a few people who are fans of trainees. Among them there had been a female student who had barely been in her first year of high school. The thin and slender girl had come looking for him every day, only quietly saying hi and leaving, so it had been a situation they hadn’t expected at all.

In general, Suk Ji Hoon normally was kind to his fans. His personality wasn’t on Ahn Hyung Seo’s level, who put himself out there and provided fan service, but he didn’t stop fans who were trying to approach him. He accepted all letters and gifts, and if they told him their name he would remember it and recognize them at a later instance.

One evening, Ahn Hyung Seo and Suk Ji Hoon had been leaving the hall after finishing rehearsal late at night.

It had been really late so there hadn’t been many fans, and only a few overzealous fans had been standing in front of the HIT Entertainment building. Ahn Hyung Seo had also told them to go home since it had been getting late.

They had turned at the alley to head to the bus stop. A backpack had suddenly come flying and had hit Suk Ji Hoon’s back.

“Ahh…!”

Suk Ji Hoon had swayed from getting hit in the back and Ahn Hyung Seo had been startled. Instantly the female student had slapped Suk Ji Hoon and had lunged at him, yelling about why he hadn’t accepted her greeting. Scratch marks had appeared on Suk Ji Hoon’s cheeks and it had bled a little.

Suk Ji Hoon and Ahn Hyung Seo couldn’t confront a fan, and had had no choice but to stand there and take it as the female student screamed her head off.

“How could…something like that…”

“He just couldn’t see since it was dark. She was a little…no, a very weird fan. She did apologize later, crying, but that was even scarier. Even I was shocked, so I'm sure Ji Hoon was even more surprised and hurt.”

Ahn Hung Seo added that it was a very famous incident among trainees.

“It’s definitely surprising.”

Park Tae Hyung also nodded his head at Do Wook’s words.

From a young age, Suk Ji Hoon had been hurt numerous times by the entertainment world that is known for being rough. Despite that, he thought fans were people who liked and cared about him so he treated them warmly. That incident made Suk Ji Hoon realize that wasn’t necessarily true just because someone is a fan.

“He’s usually ok but he’s been very tired lately so he probably became sensitive. You guys don’t have to worry too much either.”

Ahn Hyung Seo said to Park Tae Hyung and Do Wook, acting like the older brother for once.

If you considered their real age, Do Wook was a much older brother to the members, or maybe the youngest uncle. That might be the reason why, when he saw the members acting mentally mature, Do Wook would somehow feel proud.

It meant that he felt that attached to the members.

‘Suk Ji Hoon…I hope he won’t have any big issues with fans in the future.’

Do Wook looked around the rehearsal hall as he thought.

The members reached the rehearsal hall and spread out to do individual stretches as warm-up in preparation for the rehearsal. Suk Ji Hoon also silently stretched out his legs and focused on loosening up his body.

***

The day of the first music broadcast performance of ‘Very Sorry’.

With the Life Song broadcast ahead of them, the members went to the shop to get their hair done. Since they had rehearsal starting early in the morning, they had to get to the shop at dawn.

The members were half asleep and couldn’t open their eyes properly, so the shop staff started by putting a cold make-up sponge dipped in skin toner on their swollen eyes. They washed their hair one at a time, and the members couldn’t come to their senses for the most part until it was time for the styling.

Even Oh Baek Ho was dozing off at the table in the corner of the shop.

The shop staff were tired as well. Their hands were busier than usual.

The staff member with the yellow bleached hair who was responsible for Do Wook started talking to him as she dried his hair. They went to the same shop every time they had an event, so they were already close.

Furthermore, Do Wook put in a lot of effort to maintain a smooth and friendly relationship with the people involved, so he was known as someone with a good personality even among the staff.

“Do Wook, it looks like you’re going to be rich now.”

“Rich?”

“That’s right~ I heard that you wrote the title song. The royalties must be no joke~!”

“Ah…I wrote that with PD Brave Only Child.”

“Even if you split it, it's a hit. I saw the music video that was released and could tell right away that it’ll be a hit!”

Do Wook gave a vague smile in response to her compliment.

When the music video for ‘Very Sorry’ was released on the music stream, the positive response increased significantly. The well-produced music video got people looking forward to the performance. There were also many people who were saying they wanted to see the choreography version.

The beginning and ending scene of the music video was Do Wook’s face. Because of that, the thumbnail for the music video was also Do Wook, and people were wild about Do Wook’s face.

There were countless comments praising Do Wook, who made the composition and had a perfect face, while also calling him too good to be true at the same time.

“Anyways, congratulations! I heard you’re first place nominee today. Then it’s practically a hit already.”

Do Wook took one look at himself in the reflection, one look at the staff member behind him who was putting essence on him, and nodded his head.

A comeback and first place nominee at the same time.

None of the members had been able to believe it when they heard the news a few days ago. Even Oh Baek Ho, who had told them the news, had also been very surprised.

That was without the broadcast. They were nominated for first place by totaling just a few days of music stream, album sales, and votes.

“Ah, Thank you.”

“You know that you can’t pretend to not know me once you're a major star right?”

“Of course.”

“I get the feeling you won’t be like that but…if you work in this field long enough you learn you can’t tell when it comes to people.”

Do Wook consoled the mumbling staff member and said he would never do that. After finishing up his hair, the staff member apologized for complaining when he must be tired. Do Wook told her it was fine, but she apologized and said that the shop would provide snacks for them.

***

SVS Broadcast Station, Life Song Studio, Rehearsal Site.

The staff watching KK’s comeback performance had their mouths wide open.

Even the production director, who received the choreography video ahead of time and set up a plan for the shoot, clapped after the camera rehearsal.

“Amazing! It’ll be a total masterpiece today!”

When the production director, who rarely laughed on set because he was always exhausted, let out a loud laugh, the production team staff whispered.

It was only a rehearsal but the members’ clothes were drenched in sweat from giving it their all as if it were a live broadcast.

The outfit for the live show was a black suit. All male idols wore a suit at least once because the response from fans was so exceptionally good. However, even if it was the same outfit, it was important who was wearing it. The fit of the suit for KK members, who had been working on their bodies since the school uniform advertisement, was, as they say, a match made in heaven.

The Life Song PD, PD Hyun, watched the entire rehearsal, was satisfied and ordered the next team to go up.

While the set was being changed, the KK members came down and gave a deep bow to the staff.

“Thank you~!”

“Thank you for your hard work!”

The KK members’ boisterous voices brightened the staff’s faces.

“Do it like this during the live broadcast too guys!”

PD Hyun’s voice got higher. Everyone bowed to PD Hyun. Oh Baek Ho also approached PD Hyun and thanked him.

“Please take good care of them, PD-nim.”

“You sure are greedy, Manager Oh! How could I do more for them?”

Oh Baek Ho let out a loud laugh at PD Hyun jokingly scolding him.

There were 2two reasons KK chose Life Song for their comeback performance over all the many different stations that wanted them. One reason was so that they could repay the kindness they were shown when they were made the Special MC, even if it was only for one episode. The other reason was the performance slot PD Hyun gave them.

PD Hyun didn’t forget Do Wook’s role in preventing a huge accident during a live broadcast. Furthermore, he quickly realized KK’s popularity was not a passing fad.

Because of that, he proposed to give HIT Entertainment a generous 6-minute comeback performance. To be allotted 6 minutes out of a 50 or so minute long show, not counting the time for advertisement, was a big opportunity for a rookie. PD Hyun thought that KK was worth investing that much into.

Thanks to that, KK was able to sing two full songs without needing to arrange music for the broadcast.

The two songs were ‘Something’, which was close to the hip hop genre, and the pop dance title song ‘Very Sorry’.

“Haha. Of course I know you’re taking good care of us. One of these days, you know?!”

Oh Baek Ho gestured drinking out of a shot glass and smiled at PD Hyun. PD Hyun tapped Oh Baek Ho’s shoulder.

“Of course, of course. Don’t just say it, set a date~!”

Oh Baek Ho agreed and headed towards the waiting room with the members. The position of PD on a public music broadcast was a powerful position regardless of ratings. That was because there weren’t many decent places for singers to promote their songs. It was a position that enjoyed that much power.

Even when he was growing Monster he often rubbed elbows with PD Hyun. Oh Baek Ho was looking forward to the day KK would become huge and he wouldn’t have to schmooze PD Hyeon anymore.

He felt that it was achievable if it was KK.

The other members dropped to the ground as soon as they got to the waiting room. The rehearsal alone was enough to make them exhausted.

During that time, Do Wook left the waiting room to meet Kim Woo Yeon privately.

Today’s first place nominee was KK. And Kim Woo Yeon.

They exchanged pleasantries through messages, but Do Wook thought that it’d be good to meet with Kim Woo Yeon before the broadcast. Not only was he sharing the stage with his idol and role model Kim Woo Yeon, he was genuinely honored to be nominated for first place together.

‘He’ll probably only scold me if I tell him it’s an honor…’

Despite that, when Do Wook went to Kim Woo Yeon’s waiting room, Kim Woo Yeon had gone somewhere close by for lunch and was not there. There was no rush since they would be able to meet before the broadcast.

Rather than Kim Woo Yeon, Do Wook ended up finding some men in the hallway grumbling about Kim Woo Yeon.

“Why do you think he couldn’t become a star after all this time? It’s all because of his personality.”

“His personality is unbelievably terrible. Even earlier he was talking down to us and ordering us around out of nowhere.”

The people smoking in a non-smoking area and cussing out Kim Woo Yeon were members of a male idol group that still couldn’t get their name out there despite releasing three albums already.

Kim Woo Yeon was getting a lot of hate from some other idol group officials for his harsh criticism of talentless idols.

‘It must be people without any real skill who are offended by it.’

Do Wook turned around as he frowned. One of the men saw Do Wook doing that and called out to him.

“Look at this rude ass.”

His belittling way of speaking was no different than that of a thug’s.

—