We wrapped up the shoot by having everyone show the slip they drew in front of the camera.
As soon as the staff who had collected the slips cleared out of our cramped dorm, I collapsed onto the sofa.
While Ryu Jae-hee was eagerly wondering what he might receive, practically dying of curiosity, and Gyeon Ha-jun was quietly looking forward to his gift, the person whose name I’d drawn couldn’t have been more indifferent.
Wow, really not looking forward to picking out a gift for this guy.
“So, we have to keep who we picked a secret until the music video shoot, right? How much time do we have left until then…?”
“Our dear Do-bin asks the most obvious questions. Just so you know, we’ve got seven days until the shoot.”
“It’s tighter than I thought. Anyway, whoever drew me, please just give me cash. Ideally, two Shin Saimdang bills.”
While I clicked my tongue at Kim Do-bin, who was already specifying the amount of money he wanted, Ryu Jae-hee raised his hand and made a suggestion.
“Let’s make some rules! No asking the person what they want, no being too obvious with your observations, and no letting them guess what the gift is!”
“What if we order online? You can guess what it is from the shipping label.”
“Then let’s ban online shopping… How about we buy it in person?”
“What about overseas orders? Should we fly overseas to pick it up?”
“What if we have it shipped to the company?”
“Ugh, going all the way to the company to pick up a package is such a pain. It’s not even a 10-minute walk from our dorm anymore, so it’s just a hassle. I already have a ton of things to do, and now I have to waste time going to the company just for a package? Seriously, such a waste of time.”
“Okay, okay, let’s just do it at our discretion.”
Successfully shutting down Ryu Jae-hee’s unnecessary idea, I fell back into my thoughts.
Based on what Seo Ye-hyun had said during the shoot, I had a pretty good idea of what he’d like… but…
“Is it really okay to give him an envelope of cash as a gift…?”
It would certainly be easy for me—no need to think, just withdraw the money from an ATM.
I quickly ran through the possible outcomes if I gave Seo Ye-hyun an envelope of cash as a Christmas present. Since he’d mentioned wanting money, it wouldn’t be misunderstood as a thoughtless gift, but just to avoid any controversy, I decided not to go that route.
Lying on the sofa, I searched for “gifts for men in their 20s” online and scrolled through the results.
We’d been given a 50,000 won budget by the reality show, so I figured I could pick something decent in the 100,000 to 200,000 won range.
Being too frugal could easily lead to a negative image, and there wasn’t much worth buying for just 50,000 won anyway.
Even if the recipient was Seo Ye-hyun, if I’m going to give a gift, I might as well make it a good one.
I picked two items that seemed reasonable and fit within the budget, then noted them down in my phone.
Given that I’d said gifts should have thought behind them, I felt a bit sheepish that it had only taken me ten minutes to choose one.
Well, investing ten minutes of my time for that guy could still be considered a form of sincerity.
“Do-bin, have you finished revising the choreography for the special stage?”
“If you’re asking about that, of course I have. I’ve perfectly adjusted it so that it won’t look awkward when we perform, so you can rest easy.”
“What was the last audio file I sent you?”
“This one.”
“So what choreography do you think I’m asking about?”
“…That one.”
“Is the revision done?”
“I’m working on it right now.”
Does this guy not understand priorities? Shouldn’t it be obvious that the collab stage with Adora and the song change stage for KICKS should come first?
Especially when we have a group member who’s both the creator of the new choreography and a mistake machine?
“We need to start rehearsing within two days, so make sure it’s finished by then.”
“Of course, I’ll have it done by then.”
Kim Do-bin nodded.
With that conversation wrapped up, we all headed to bed early since we had a photo shoot scheduled for tomorrow.
Maybe it was because the song production was done, so I didn’t have to spend late nights in the studio anymore, but lying in bed in the dorm at this hour felt a bit strange.
“The year’s almost over.”
Seo Ye-hyun mumbled, lying with a face mask on.
“The award shows… ha. I wonder if we’ll manage to win at least one. It looks like we’re slightly behind in the WAMA voting.”
While I was catching up on my daily quests, I kindly responded to his dejected comment.
“WAMA doesn’t hold much influence anyway. The voting score is only around 20% or 30%, and the judging criteria are completely arbitrary. Even if we won the vote, we might not have won the award. Plus, the voting ended in the first week of our comeback.”
“Then why did you make it seem so important?”
“To motivate everyone to work hard. At the time, that was the only vote open.”
I replied while typing furiously on my phone, trying to complete my daily quest. Just one more line and I’d meet the minimum requirement.
“They say the Silver Disc and Nown Chart Music Awards are more reputable. I’m not sure if the voting is open for those yet, but we’ll have to wait and see how things go there.”
Even if we didn’t win the Rookie of the Year award, I had no intention of starting over. I mean, starting from scratch as an idol just because we didn’t win one rookie award? That would be insane.
It’s not like there aren’t groups out there who didn’t win Rookie of the Year but still went on to win big awards. Sure, it would be disappointing not to win it, but if that’s the case, we’ll just have to work harder and aim for the grand prize.
If you keep resetting every time you fail, it’ll become a habit.
Of course, if the system gave me a quest to win Rookie of the Year with a -99 starting score, I’d immediately leak Choi Hyun-min’s smoking photos online to eliminate the competition.
But it would be a waste to play that card right now.
However, what we didn’t know was just how terrifying a fandom with a grudge could be…
* * *
My rearrangement echoed through the practice room.
Since the actual performance would be live, there was no need for an AR, so this was just a demo version with Gyeon Ha-jun’s guide vocals and my rap over the MR.
“Maybe we should’ve started practicing earlier.”
I watched Seo Ye-hyun moving around, wondering if he was doing choreography or just flailing about, and sank into deep contemplation.
I was almost in awe of my foresight, having asked the reality show crew to give us another week before installing cameras in the practice room, knowing this might happen.
Once this is caught on camera, there’s no turning back.
KICKS’ performances were known for their sharp, synchronized choreography.
Kim Do-bin’s revised choreography preserved this characteristic, which hit Seo Ye-hyun, who had been coasting through the relatively easy choreography of REVE, like a bolt out of the blue.
The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. Some people get an easy song and medium-level choreography and have it easy.
Meanwhile, I’m stuck rearranging a lousy song and have to drag a guy with terrible dance skills through challenging choreography.
Shouldn’t we get some merit points, or should KICKS get penalized or something?
I glanced at Kim Do-bin, who was correcting Seo Ye-hyun’s posture, in the mirror as I took a drink of water.
I’d asked him to help Seo Ye-hyun get the basics down, knowing that if I left it all to Gyeon Ha-jun from the start, he’d probably have a stroke from the stress.
Gyeon Ha-jun walked over to me, I spoke up.
“What do you think? Do you think we can get him to catch up by the year-end music festival?”
“To be honest, I’m not confident, Eden.”
Gyeon Ha-jun answered, letting out a small sigh so Seo Ye-hyun wouldn’t hear.
“I think we can get him to follow the choreography, but the issue is whether he can keep up with the group’s synchronization.”
“What choice do we have? We need to drill the choreography into him as quickly as possible and keep practicing until it’s perfect.”
“I’m not sure… Can he really pick it up that quickly?”
There wasn’t a hint of optimism in Gyeon Ha-jun’s voice.
“He has to, or we’re going to lose to KICKS. You don’t want that, do you?”
At my mention of losing to KICKS, a magical phrase that transformed Gyeon Ha-jun’s attitude, his previously indifferent gaze toward Seo Ye-hyun sharpened.
“Yeah, you’re right. I was being too soft. This is a matter of pride—we have to succeed no matter what.”
While we exchanged words, Ryu Jae-hee quietly moved over to Kim Do-bin’s side to help Seo Ye-hyun with the choreography.
“No, hyung. That’s not it. You need to lead with your left foot.”
Hearing Kim Do-bin’s exasperated voice, I threw in some motivational words.
“Hyung, even KICKS’ newbie can do this choreography. You don’t want to be worse than him, do you?”
“This is harder than KICKS’ choreography, isn’t it?”
Seo Ye-hyun’s question made Kim Do-bin, who had been listening nearby, look absolutely indignant as he retorted.
“What? Are you kidding me? I made this choreography easier than the original, so you wouldn’t struggle as much. Are you really dismissing all my hard work?”
“I didn’t mean it like that—”
“Do you know how many snacks and drinks I had to bribe my tight-lipped friends with just to film this in secret at school?”
“Sorry….”
Apologizing, Seo Ye-hyun started practicing again under Kim Do-bin’s guidance.
“Oh, my package arrived.”
I breathed a sigh of relief at the message notifying me of a missed call and a completed delivery.
It seemed like the last of the Christmas gifts I’d ordered online had finally arrived.
With just a day left before the music video shoot, the delay had been stressing me out.
As Ryu Jae-hee handed a water bottle to the exhausted Seo Ye-hyun, he beamed with excitement.
“Now that I think about it, tomorrow we’ll reveal our gifts and who got whom.”
“Wait, does that mean we won’t have any presents on Christmas? I always wanted to set up a tree and put gifts under it…”
“Do-bin, think before you speak. How are we supposed to set up a tree in this tiny dorm? We’ll do that after we move to a bigger place.”
“Speaking of which, when are we moving?”
“I don’t know. Apparently, we have to wait until next month because our CEO is suddenly into fortunetelling and wants to pick an auspicious date.”
As I shook my head, thinking about our hopeless CEO’s obsession with yet another new trend, Ryu Jae-hee asked cautiously.
“Isn’t it because of you?”
“Are you saying I’m the instigator?”
“No, it’s just that when you were picking our comeback date, you mentioned something about the luck of the month…”
Shit, is it really my fault?
When we returned to the dorm after practice, there was a new file from the manager waiting on my phone.
“It’s the light stick design draft.”
I blinked at the strange symbol that appeared as soon as I opened the file.
Oh, right. I almost forgot about this.
“Is this supposed to be a crowbar?”
“Wow, our agency is unbelievable. Did they really just submit a glow stick with two bent ends as our light stick design?”
I recalled the last time they tried to release a crowbar-shaped light stick, which the fans had heavily criticized before they eventually redesigned it.
The new design wasn’t much better and had made it into the top three worst light stick designs ever.
I couldn’t let our fans wave around such a hideous light stick again. Taking out a notebook, I made a suggestion.
“Hey, let’s design it ourselves. It’ll be better than this.”
***
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Though Eden has some attitude issues, he’s still quite a good guy, and originally he does care a lot for his fans and his group. Honestly, I think it’s the agency that contributed the most to the ruined relationships among REVE members (mostly revolving around Eden, unfortunately). As Eden said before, in the original timeline, the group’s future was so uncertain that the members had no time to care for each other. Moreover, Eden didn’t have the chance to save the group with his music. But I guess regression is still necessary. A more mature and experienced Eden would be able to handle things much better.