X
Join our Discord server and get release updates for every novel you follow.
Join the Server“Are you preparing well for your debut?”
Kwak Jun-sung chose the easiest question to answer from the chat window now filled with talk about debut, put on a confident expression, and opened his mouth.
“We’re preparing so well that even we think it’s amazing, so please look forward to it!”
Right after Kwak Jun-sung answered, comments saying “[Please give us spoilers]” started streaming up.
At first, Yoon Ji-heon tried to skip all the spoiler-related comments and read others, but when those messages became too many, he finally seemed to make up his mind and spoke.
“Since so many of you want it, shall we give one spoiler?”
As he said that, the look he gave us carried a warning: ‘Everyone be careful with what you say.’
In the end, all of us kept our mouths shut for a long time.
“If we can say anything…”
Seo Jun-jae broke the silence and added, “Right now?”
Lee Woo-rim, who had been tilting his head not understanding, belatedly let out an “Ah,” as if he’d caught on.
“In English, ugh!”
Lee Woo-rim tried to speak naturally as he usually did when it was just us, but immediately realizing he shouldn’t, he startled and raised his hand to clamp his mouth shut.
What Seo Jun-jae meant by ‘right now’ was probably that right now all of them were ‘awake’ – a roundabout way of hinting at the title track ‘Awake.’
‘Right now?
English?
NOW?’
‘Is the title track called Now…?’
Thanks to Lee Woo-rim having said something completely impossible to guess and then freaking out, the chat window fell into rapid confusion.
Yoon Ji-heon, reading comments on the tablet PC, let out a low sigh of relief.
After spending a long time reading comments and communicating with fans, a staff member from the management team watching us announced that there was little time left for the live broadcast.
At the same time, checking the live broadcast time on the tablet PC, we were nearly at the pre-set 1 hour and 30 minutes.
“Everyone, it’s very unfortunate, but it’s time for us to end the live.”
At Yoon Ji-heon’s announcement on behalf of the group, comments like “[No!]” and “[Don’t go!]” poured out, then quickly subsided, replaced by comments asking for “[capture time].”
According to the compilation of senior idol live broadcasts Lee Woo-rim had shown us before, this meant pausing briefly to strike poses so fans could capture the screen and save it like photos.
“Okay, then let’s have capture time at the end, and then we’ll go practice.
What should our pose be?”
“Let’s do multiple!”
Among the members, Lee Woo-rim was the most enthusiastic about posing and making expressions while taking photos.
At his suggestion, the comments in the chat window started surging again, this time praising Lee Woo-rim.
“Then let’s follow whatever Woo-rim does.”
The moment Yoon Ji-heon finished speaking, Lee Woo-rim smoothly began posing.
From a peace sign next to the eye, to a peace sign under the chin, to a flower cup pose, to a hand heart, followed by all sorts of unusual hearts – I was busy moving my hands to keep up, when suddenly a staff member from the management team signaled that the broadcast time had passed.
Seeing that, Lee Woo-rim stopped changing poses, and only after all of us struck a final pose did Yoon Ji-heon speak.
“Let’s end capture time here and say our final goodbyes.
So far –”
“– we have been NUAVE!”
“See you again next time!
Bye!”
With our enthusiastic waving as the final image, the video soon stopped and the live broadcast ended completely.
After we uploaded a group photo we had taken together before the live along with a message saying “[We enjoyed our first live broadcast]” to the official SNS account, the number of people hitting ‘like’ began to swell rapidly.
Below our post, comments about things mentioned during the live or captured photos also appeared.
Lee Woo-rim, watching the steadily rising comments, was looking at the capture time screenshots someone had uploaded when he suddenly burst into loud laughter.
“Ahaha!
Jae-seo hyung, you kept wearing that the whole time?”
Only after glancing at where Lee Woo-rim’s finger pointed did I recognize the party hat still sticking up on my head.
I had thought at the beginning of the broadcast, ‘I’ll take this off later,’ but then forgot about it entirely at some point.
“Pfft, it’s even funnier in photos than in real life!”
Apparently having saved every photo he found, Lee Woo-rim immediately started scattering them like a barrage into the NUAVE group chat.
In all of those photos, the party hat perched on my head stuck out ridiculously.
“Oh, why didn’t I notice this when we were watching the broadcast?”
“Right!”
Lee Woo-rim was giggling, saying that I looked funny with the party hat in the photos, and when he looked up, I was still wearing it right in front of him.
Behind him, someone added, “But it’s cute.”
The source of that voice, as always, was Seo Jun-jae.
Now that I thought about it, whenever he saw me looking strange, he habitually said I was cute.
I was tugging at the elastic string of the party hat, suspecting he was deliberately trying to tease me, when another voice immediately followed, agreeing with Seo Jun-jae.
“Right, it is cute.”
“That’s right!
It’s cute in photos and in person too.”
…That was Yeo Hyun-tae and Chae Han-ul.
That was not comforting at all.
***
I skillfully tied a beige apron over an ivory shirt and black slacks.
My reflection in the mirror wore an outfit that felt familiar for the first time in a long while.
“I deliberately looked for something as close as possible to your self-introduction video.
It’s not exactly the same, is it?”
The stylist, who had come over, adjusted my outfit and spoke.
My gaze involuntarily turned to the table beside us.
More precisely, to the only unfamiliar item placed on it – a beige beret.
The stylist, fixing a pin at the back of my waist, opened her mouth as if asking why I was questioning something so obvious.
“It has to be realistic, but looking pretty comes first.
Besides, fans love berets so much!”
So this is popular, I thought.
She added advice to take lots of photos, and I nodded gratefully.
After the outfit prep was finished, I was sent off with the hat to the hair staff.
Various hair styling tools came and went over my head, then the hat was placed unsteadily on my now curled hair.
After fixing it with pins to keep it from slipping down the back of my head, the hair styling was done.
I had already finished my makeup in the earlier slot, so I left the waiting room immediately and headed to the set.
The music video set for NUAVE’s debut album title track ‘Awake’ was decorated like a world inside a toy.
A gray roadway crossed the middle of the floor, with a fake police car parked on it, and on the sidewalks on either side, square fake shops were decorated in various colors.
Among them, on a yellow building, a familiar name caught my eye.
‘Cafe Sim Jae-seo’
They had apparently taken the name I used in my Please Take Care of My Idol self-introduction video exactly as it was.
Even the lettering on the sign looked very familiar, as if they had copied the ‘Cafe Sim Jae-seo’ I had written on the chalkboard back then.
“Hyung, can I go inside that set and take pictures?”
At the manager’s answer of “Go ahead,” I opened the door of ‘Cafe Sim Jae-seo’ and stepped inside.
Entering the small but nicely decorated cafe counter, I saw the cafe fixtures, which also looked like toys.
“I’ll have one warm iced Americano, please!”
Remembering what the stylist had said, I was taking photos making sure the beret showed well, when suddenly a creak sound came from the door opening, and Lee Woo-rim walked in yelling.
“…That’ll be 4,300 won.”
“Is that you accepting the order or not?”
Woo-rim asked, scrunching his nose, then turned away as if my answer didn’t matter.
Walking around the narrow cafe and looking at this and that, he soon picked up a fake teacup placed on the table and started taking selfies.
“Jae-seo hyung!”
At the sudden call of my name, I turned my head and saw myself on the screen of Lee Woo-rim’s phone.
He wants to take a picture together, I thought, and raised my fingers in a V.
Immediately, the click of the shutter sounded.
“I’ll take pictures of you too, hyung!”
He suggested I try acting like I was actually working at a real cafe, so I started fiddling with a toy decorated to look like an espresso machine.
Lee Woo-rim moved around with his phone, taking pictures of me from different angles, then suddenly let out a “Wow!” of admiration.
“Hyung, did you see this?”
On the counter in front of where he was pointing, cafe loyalty cards with the same lettering as the sign were neatly arranged.
“Our names are written on them too!
I’m going to take mine after we finish.”
Finding the loyalty card with his name, Lee Woo-rim took a photo, then put the papers back and looked up.
“Hyung, let’s go look at other places too!”
I had taken selfies as the stylist advised, and I had photos Lee Woo-rim took for me, so this was probably fine.
I said okay and stepped out from behind the counter.
When I opened the cafe door and came out, Kwak Jun-sung, who had been standing in front of the mint-colored building across the fake roadway, spotted us and raised his hand.
“Guys, look at this.”
Following Kwak Jun-sung’s finger, I looked down and saw toy dogs circling at his feet with woof woof sounds.
Lee Woo-rim, seeing this, burst into loud laughter and raised his phone toward Kwak Jun-sung.
“Ahaha!
Hyung, are you taking them for a walk?”
“I’m a veterinarian right now.”
Kwak Jun-sung picked up one of the dog plushies and pretended to put the stethoscope around his neck to it, speaking as he did so.
Along with giggling from beside me, the shutter sound clicked.
“This one is ‘Jae-seo’ and that one is ‘Woo-rim.’”
As I crossed the roadway and got closer, Kwak Jun-sung handed each of us one of the dog plushies.
“Aw, hyung!
How can you name dog plushies after us?”
“I didn’t name them.
Your names are written on them.”
At Kwak Jun-sung’s words, I checked the white plushie in my hand – it really had a name tag that said ‘Jae-seo.’
You think this chapter was thrilling? Wait until you read How a Reincarnated Villain Wins the Audition! Click here to discover the next big twist!
Read : How a Reincarnated Villain Wins the Audition
