When I Opened My Eyes I Was a Superstar

The High Touch Event, a fan meeting, and an appearance, albeit a short one, on TV. The KK members were on their way to Fukuoka after finishing their planned events in Tokyo and Osaka.

Events similar to the ones they had in Tokyo were waiting for them in Fukuoka too.

A full-length album release celebration fan meeting and handshake event. The fan meeting was on the first day, and the second day was the handshake event at the Kitakyushu West Japan Exhibition Center.

Once their events in Fukuoka were done, they had events in Nagoya and Yokohama.

With the extensive list of events lasting over a week long, the members were struggling with fatigue. There were members who were starting to say they wanted to go back to Korea.

However, these were empty words. Once the events started, they gave their all into their performances.

“Guess what, I bought cup ramen for you guys~!”

Jung Yoon Ki said triumphantly, putting down his suitcase on the floor. When he undid the zipper and opened the suitcase, they could see the mountain of cup ramen.

The members had been sneaking in ramen, fish cakes, yakisoba bread, etc. as snacks from the convenience store at the bottom of the hotel, and were saying they wanted to eat Korean ramen now anyways.

Ahn Hyung Seo grimly muttered that for the next event he’d pack a tube of gochujang* and cup ramen instead of a face pack.

(TL Note: Hey, that’s my handle haha. Gochujang is a paste made with Korean chili.)

One of the coordinators had said that there should be a store that sold it, but they weren’t in a situation to go out and buy it.

“How many are there?”

“There’s so many of us, I have to bring at least this much.”

Do Wook agreed. Do Wook’s roommate for the Fukuoka hotel was Jung Yoon Ki.

As soon as the fan meeting had been over in the afternoon, Jung Yoon Ki had made a round trip with Manager Oh Baek Ho to Seoul.

Jung Yoon Ki had decided to appear on ‘Show Me the Honey’. There was a meeting with the production staff immediately after.

A meeting on top of a packed schedule. Jung Yoon Ki, who had survived through a fan meeting, a flight to Korea, a production staff meeting and a flight to Japan all in one day, had dark circles under his eyes.

As he looked at Jung Yoon Ki, who had taken the last evening plane to Fukuoka and had just arrived at the hotel and unpacked, Do Wook said,

“You must be very tired. How was the meeting?”

“Well, it wasn’t anything big. Basically the ‘let’s work hard together’ kind of thing, Huu…”

Jung Yook Ki replied as he rubbed his eyes. Do Wook nodded. Jung Yoon Ki was probably feeling a lot of pressure.

“Once the cup ramen are ready, call the others.”

“Ok.”

Do Wook laughed and grabbed his cell phone. On the group chat with the six KK members, he wrote for anyone who wanted to eat ramen before going to bed to come over. As soon as he had written it, notifications that his message was read started popping up immediately.

A little later.

In less than 5 minutes, the members started to come in one by one.

“Here~ This is the room our handsome Do Wook and just plain leader are using!”

Ahn Hyung Seo was holding the camcorder Do Ra Hee from the Fan Marketing Team had given him. They had been given the camcorder to record videos for the fans while in Japan whenever they wanted.

“Mr. Do Wook, please show the Key Ring members your face!”

Do Wook went in front of the camcorder and waved his hands. It was a little awkward to say hello like this when it was just the members without any staff, but Ahn Hyung Seo always went around everywhere saying hi on the camcorder very naturally without any embarrassment, so the other members had gotten used to it.

“As expected…even his bare face is dazzling!”

Since his face was a mess, Jung Yoon Ki avoided the camera and pulled down his hat. Not caring at all, Ahn Hyung Seo continued to push the camera onto him.

“Today, the leader finally did something leader-like!”

“What? If you keep that up I won’t give you even one scrap of the food.”

“Ah…! I take it back. Here is the ramen sir Jung Yoon Ki, the best leader ever, has bestowed upon me~ Tada!”

Excited, Ahn Hyung Seo showed the cup ramen on camera and explained it.

“Don’t we need to cover the brand?”

When Suk Ji Hoon said that, Ahn Hyung Seo yelled for someone to quickly cover the brand. Park Tae Hyung, who was next to it, covered the brand with his hand.

“Yes…he bought us spicy ramen and comfort ramen! In that case, I’ll go with the ramen that makes men cry! Since I’m a man…”

While he was doing that, Kim Won was rustling through the suitcase to see if there was any other ramen. Jung Yoon Ki stopped Kim Won, saying that was where his underwear was.

Ahn Hyung Seo fixed the camcorder onto the television.

“What if our face gets very puffy tomorrow?”

Suk Ji Hoon worried as he opened the soup packet and poured it in.

“If you enjoy it as you eat it, it won’t get swollen~!”

Ahn Hyung Seo replied without logic.

At that moment, the hotel room doorbell rang. Since all the members were there, there was nobody they were expecting. The members had a confused look on their faces.

Park Tae Hyung, who had gone to the door to see who it was, said to the members with a very flustered expression,

“Baek…It’s Baek Ho.”

The members’ expressions hardened. It wasn’t as if they could hide the cup ramen they had already started making.

“Our manager came. It’s very scary. Then that’s it for now…”

Even in this situation Ahn Hyung Seo said goodbye to the camcorder then turned the power off.

Jung Yoon Ki got up and opened the door instead of Park Tae Hyung. He opened the door just enough to see one eye and asked what was going on. Oh Baek Ho answered mysteriously,

“I have something to tell you guys…”

Suspicious, Oh Baek Ho looked through the door opening and said,

“Open the door more. Is everybody here?”

“Yes, we’re all here and strengthening our bond.”

“What’s this smell…?!

There was no way Jung Yoon Ki could win against Oh Baek Ho’s strength. Oh Baek Ho opened the door wide.

He looked at what was going on in the room and frowned, stopping in his tracks.

“You guys! You have a performance tomorrow, what are you doing so late at night?!”

At Oh Baek Ho’s scolding, Park Tae Hyung, who was up against the wall, started to tear up. Kim Won ran to him and stopped Oh Baek Ho.

“Baek Ho, we did it because we were so hungry. And we miss Korea…”

“You’re always going on about Canada, what do you mean you miss Korea?!”

Since Kim Won’s words weren’t working at all, Ahn Hyung Seo gathered his courage.

“Don’t you even feel sorry for us? Let's just eat one cup noodle. Baek Ho, come join us too. We’ll give you one!”

Oh Baek Ho shook his head as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“We’ll just eat the noodles, only noodles. Won’t it be ok if we just don’t drink the soup?”

“Yes, Baek Ho. Let it go just this once.”

“You too Do Wook….Wait, where did you get all this ramen?”

Feeling guilty, Jung Yoon Ki feigned ignorance and avoided his gaze. When Suk Ji Hoon and even Do Wook stepped in, Oh Baek Ho seemed to have realized he couldn’t stop them.

“It’ll get soggy, just eat,”

Oh Baek Ho said as he sighed. Excited, the members yelled,

“Ohhh, yes! Thank you for the food!”

The members got comfortable and made slurping noises as they ate the ramen.

Oh Baek Ho had his arms crossed as he watched them eat. Not minding Baek Ho at all, Ahn Hyung Seo said he thought he’d get indigestion.

Honestly, if the members were eating ramen before their debut or during the debut album activities, he would have poured the ramen down the toilet as soon as he caught them.

Oh Baek Ho had actually thrown the bread Kim Won had been eating into the trashcan before. Traumatized from that event, Kim Won said he didn’t want to eat custard bread anymore.

However, Oh Baek Ho felt that you had to be lenient at times. A lot more idols than expected had a hard time when doing activities overseas and got stressed.

They had staff waiting on them hand and foot, but there was still a large language barrier. Even if it were the same concert or fan event, the fatigue was much higher.

“You said you have something to tell us…slurp, what is it?”

“Hyung Seo, finish eating before you speak.”

“Still, I’m curious.”

Ahn Hyung Seo replied, muttering.

“The Japanese music video views were very high and…the album sales were very good. It looks like it’s being well received, so I was going to tell you guys to keep up the good work.”

Oh Baek Ho Had a wry smile as he looked at the members who were eating ramen. He meant that it didn’t seem like he had to particularly encourage them.

***

The KK fan community was abuzz over the video that was uploaded in the morning.

-Tae Hyung is super cute even when eating ramen…T.T

-From now on I’m only eating spicy ramen too! Since I’m a fan of manly Hyung Seo!”

-Do they not let them eat ramen often

-When I listened to them on the radio before, I heard Won only ate chicken breast before the comeback

-My heart feels full even when I just think about them!!!

-They’re in Japan for a long time this time…I’d like Korean singers to stay in Korea…

-Still, at least they give us direct photos and often release a treat like this …;; Inactive period is too hard T.T

-Their popularity is rising in Japan, maybe next time they’ll even do an arena tour

-How has the reception in Japan been? Is it good? I don’t know…they worked hard so I hope KK becomes popular in Japan too

-The reception is probably very good?

-The song and choreography is important in Japan. They’re good at live performances, and they’re exceptionally good to fans, so the reception can only be positive *nod nod*

-Speaking of, there’s a review posted! This person is a famous K-POP fan and it seems like this time they went to KK’s Fukuoka handshake event. (Please be understanding of the terrible translation)

KK fans who know how to speak Japanese looked all over for Japanese fans’ reactions. There were definitely positive reactions from Japan.

[Long time no see! ＼(^o^)／

Today is the handshake event for KK, the rising powerhouse in K-POP!!! I’m back with a review!!!

I was on D TV Mezamashi yesterday too! It’s nice to see you!

Friday, the day of the handshake event…The weather was gloomy…

I grabbed the new umbrella I bought and went on my way~☆

Advertisement of KK’s album in the subway!

(Picture)

The trip to get there was rough but I’m ok (｡･ˇ_ˇ･｡)

The thought that I’ll be able to shake Do Wook’s hand inevitably makes everything ok!

This is the Kitakyushu West Japan Exhibition Center!

(Picture)

People waiting in line…

It seems like KK’s popularity these days among Japanese people who like K-POP is really substantial~!

There was a group panel and individual member panel so I took a picture in front of it! ψ(｀∇´)ψ

With my heart racing, I bought Do Wook’s personal merchandise!

After waiting a long time…

I was finally able to meet Do Wook.

My thoughts are…Do Wook is definitely beautiful and shining ☆

This face is out of this world!

When I held Do Wook’s hands, they were very warm.

As rumored, he was very good at Japanese,

and for the final goodbye they sang a Japanese pop song

Somehow…I almost cried.

Ah, the other members all gave good answers!

Everyone was nice~~~~! Hyung Seo is really good at winking!

It was a precious time ♪ the best Friday ♪

I wanted to maintain my good mood after coming back from the handshake event so

when it was over I ate limited sushi]

Then the next day, KK’s first full length Japanese album climbed to first place on the Oricon weekly chart.

***

“A lot of people can get on the daily, but getting on the weekly is really amazing~ Thank you all for your hard work in Japan!”

The members, who had returned to Korea, were greeted by Do Ra Hee, who was in charge of KK.

At Do Ra Hee’s words, the members stood proud.

They had expected the response from Japan to be good. For starters, if a group is popular in Korea they’d obviously be popular among overseas K-POP fans too.

Furthermore, the type of sharp group choreography that KK demonstrated in their ‘Very Sorry’ performance was one Japanese fans preferred.

M2M was getting positive response with ‘Accelerator’ back in Korea, but the public understandably put more weight on overseas fame.

HIT Entertainment released a large-scale article about the incredible response they were getting in Japan.

“It’s a relief that we’re seeing results.”

Everyone agreed with what Do Wook said.

Now, for the time being, it was time to focus on preparing for the next album.

In the meantime, Jung Yoon Ki was scheduled to appear on Show Me the Honey. Do Wook had to follow the curriculum of KNUA that he’d be starting at shortly.

You could call it a break since it was their inactive period, but they didn’t have time to relax.

“By the way, Manager Oh.”

“Yes?”

Oh Baek Ho responded to Do Ra Hee in a tone that asked her if something was wrong.

“Team Leader Jo wants to see you. Do Wook too. She said she has news to tell you…”

“Ohh~ I bet Do Wook is filming another ad!”

Jung Yoon Ki said in response to Do Ra Hee’s words. Park Tae Hyung also asked if that was the case. Do Ra Hee lightly waved both her hands.

“It’s not an ad…”

Do Wook waited for Do Ra Hee to continue. There was an event Do Wook was waiting for.

“They said it’s a drama.”

At Do Ra Hee’s words, the members started to buzz. Do Wook gripped his fist tight.

‘It’s here!’

—