Chapter 24: Pre-Meeting Analysis

“Everyone. Hello, ha…”

In the video, Woohyeong paused mid-greeting as if hit by reality and let out a sigh.

[It was embarrassing since it was my first time]

He had even added subtitles in the meantime.

Jemin wondered if Woohyeong hadn’t joined the members because he was editing the video.

“They say PPP seniors have arrived?”

“We should grab our signed CDs and go greet them.”

Audio could be heard, and Woohyeong stood up from his seat.

The screen shook violently.

[On our way to greet PPP seniors]

The scene suddenly shifted, showing someone knocking on PPP’s waiting room door.

Woohyeong was capturing the members’ figures from the very back.

“Jeong Woohyeong was filming the whole time back then?”

Rather than filming on purpose, the angle looked like it was caught by chance.

That was because, unlike other idols’ videos that focused on faces, the screen was filled only with the floor and lower bodies like a current affairs program.

[Heartwarming seniors and juniors politely exchanging greetings]

Woohyeong had cheekily inserted a subtitle like that.

While 4ever’s greeting words came through clearly, PPP’s nasty comments were cleverly covered up by other sounds, making them hard to hear.

On the other hand, Jemin and James offering bright greetings could be heard distinctly.

[Ryu Seong-Senior’s warm advice]

Ryu Seong’s scoffing words asking if they thought they’d do well were covered with upbeat music.

The door closed, and with a static sound effect, the screen transitioned.

“Hello. I just arrived at the dorm and washed up. I wanted to upload a little behind-the-scenes video of today’s stage before sleeping.”

With wet hair and a bare face, Woohyeong spoke in a tired voice.

“I accidentally deleted the video our members shot together in the waiting room. Instead, I thought it’d be good to show you at least the video of us greeting the seniors, so I edited it.”

Woohyeong’s words were highly likely a lie.

The members had never filmed a video together in the waiting room.

Even if there was a video Jemin shot alone in selfie mode.

“Looking on the internet, it seems there was a junior who spoke rudely to the seniors. I don’t know who it is though? I really hope the seniors receive an apology from that person.”

Jemin covered his mouth.

Jeong Woohyeong—this was a video completely throwing shade at Ryu Seong.

It was close to a warning, subtly implying that he had evidence.

“I think we performed today’s stage generally satisfactorily. Please look forward to our next stage as well. Thank you.”

Even after the video ended, Jemin stood dazed for a few seconds.

He had resented Woohyeong for uploading a video without reading the room at a time like this, but to think it was this.

“Woohyeong-ah! What did you upload?”

“Why?”

Woohyeong walked into the room wearing an expression as if nothing had happened.

“The CEO just got a call from PPP’s agency asking to take down the video.”

They wouldn’t answer earlier no matter how much they called.

Less than 5 minutes after Woohyeong uploaded the video, PPP’s agency contacted them immediately.

“A post came up!”

Ryu Seong posted a statement regarding this incident on SNS.

Eunhan shared the post link in the team group chat.

[From. Ryu Seong]

3Ps, thank you for giving me 1st place today

You are the only ones who always make me the best

I will continue to trust only you in the future

You’ll keep walking with me, right?

Ah, and it seems a junior I cherish was getting unnecessary misunderstandings

What I mentioned today was something from the past, and it has nothing to do with 4ever’s Jemin-gun

It was a different friend, but I got in touch separately and worked it out well~

I know it was all because you were thinking of me

You don’t need to feel sorry~

Thank you~ It’s late, so good night

“Seeing that there’s a video, he seems to be acting like that belatedly.”

Yoonbin looked disgusted.

Feeling turned off because he hadn’t seen him that way, he didn’t feel good.

Truly, the cause-and-effect couldn’t be explained without calling it pure rivalry and gatekeeping.

“Woohyeong, did you upload that on purpose?”

James asked, rewatching Woohyeong’s video for the third time.

“It was just fan service.”

Even if he spoke like that, he was resolving Jemin’s problem in Woohyeong’s own way.

Turning on the camera by mistake made the situation in the waiting room captured as it was—a masterstroke.

“I’m thankful, but next time, consult me first before uploading.”

“Jemin-hyung is acting prickly for no reason.”

“Anyway, the matter seems to be resolved well, and since we have a music show tomorrow morning, let’s get a good sleep now.”

The members who had gathered together in Woohyeong and Jemin’s room scattered one by one.

For tomorrow’s schedule, they had to calm their startled minds and go to sleep.

Leaving the room, Yoonbin kindly turned off the fluorescent light.

“Aren’t you going to sleep?”

“Just a moment, doing something first.”

However, naturally, there was no way sleep would come after all that chaos.

Jemin accessed the internet again to check public sentiment after Woohyeong’s video and Ryu Seong’s statement were uploaded.

Because of the phone light, only Jemin’s face floated in the dark room.

• It wasn’t Yu Jemin, I knew it | Upvotes 3402 Downvotes 102

• Thank goodness ….. I hope things don’t get awkward for no reason because of this! I like both of them though ……Our Jemin even picked Ryu Seong as a role model and covered his song briefly, total successful fan, but people went on a witch hunt for nothing …… Ryu Seong Jemin fighting! | Upvotes 1204 Downvotes 501

• Anyway, that fandom’s fuss is legendary | Upvotes 2301 Downvotes 1403

Fortunately, the public was taking it as a mere happening caused by talking without naming names.

The public’s interest quickly shifted elsewhere.

While the general public paid more attention to another celebrity’s dating rumor, a secondary war was breaking out between fandoms.

South Korea Popular Trends

1st #RyuSeong_We_Will_Protect_You

2nd #RyuSeong_I_Love_You

3rd #3P_Apologize

4th #YuJemin_Did_Nothing_Wrong

Because people tended to only care about scandals and not read clarification posts, the fans’ activities were just starting now.

Jemin’s fans were working hard to remove the ‘character controversy’ keyword attached next to Jemin’s name.

PureStanJeminPFP @jemindonotworry

Jem-stans, let’s clean up related search terms

Jemin 4ever

Jemin fancam

Jemin photo

Jemin vocal tone

Jemin aegyo

Jemin rabbit

Jemin I love you

Feeling bothered by Jemin constantly clinging to his phone, Woohyeong—unable to watch any longer—got up from his bed.

“Turn off the light when you sleep.”

After turning on the room light, Woohyeong returned to his bed, pulled the blanket over his head, and lay down.

• Did you see Jeong Woohyeong going full no-brakes?lol Uploaded explicitly to throw shade lol So thrilling, crazy bastard…. Look at him disregarding seniority

  └ This is why I stan Jeong Woohyeong

  JeongLeftHand @jungwoohyungisleft

  Living revolving door

  Living rollercoaster

  Sweet potato-flavored cider

  Unfilial son performing filial piety

  That is precisely our hyung

  Retweets 3500 Quotes 6854 Likes 7824

Whether Woohyeong’s move satisfied his existing fans, Woohyeong’s fandom was playing around exchanging jokes amidst this.

Jemin took his eyes off his phone for a moment, looked at Woohyeong, and spoke casually.

“Hey, thanks.”

Expecting him to ignore it and sleep, Woohyeong answered from inside the blanket.

“I didn’t upload it because of you.”

“I know.”

“…Because we’re in the same team.”

Even if he hated his guts every single day, they really were in the same team.

Jemin thought that way.

“In the future, when someone says thank you, just shut up and take it.”

“I’m sleeping.”

“…Good night.”

Jemin closed his phone screen, thinking that maybe a day would come when he could get along better with Woohyeong.

“A standalone variety show?”

They were cast in a reality idol variety show scheduled to air next month.

The members looked at each other as if they couldn’t believe it.

“We’re definitely doing it!”

A reality program was great content to prevent fandom churn before the next album dropped.

On top of that, since it was broadcast on TV, it had the potential to draw in new fans—a program where you could feel the power of capital.

“Of course I said we’d do it~ There’s a production team meeting in two days, and shooting starts next week.”

Though every day was breathlessly busy, no matter how packed the schedule was, it couldn’t crush Jemin’s ambition.

“Why are we doing a production team meeting?”

“To grasp our tendencies, establish characters… and decide what kind of content to pull out, things like that.”

Overhearing the conversation between Eunhan and Yoonbin, Jemin quickly worked his brain.

‘Rather than showing my honest self, I should show what fans want to see.’

As someone who made searching a daily habit, Jemin knew inside out what fans wanted.

Not just about himself, but about the members as well.

The fan analysis of 4ever characters was generally as follows:

First, Yoonbin held the roles of leader, main vocalist, and sub-dancer in the team.

He was stanned as a muscular farmhand-type image.

As a reliable, upright man like a sturdy bodyguard who kept proper boundaries and had leadership, a parasocial romance-oriented fandom was formed.

Women who wanted to share a future with Yoonbin or wanted to become Yoonbin’s ball and chain were lined up.

RPS content wasn’t very large, but people who were crazy about bulky bottoms seemed to be attached.

His anthropomorphized animal was a bear, and fans were having minor debates over whether Yoonbin was a teddy bear or a brown bear.

Next, James held the roles of main rapper and lead dancer in the team.

His nationality was American, and he was the member with the most popularity not only in the US, but also across Europe and South America.

James was stanned as King Yama for making bombshell statements with a heavenly face.

On top of that, past photos released on the internet revealed that he was unexpectedly a nerd, which actually became a huge attraction point.

Judging by face alone, he was Romeo himself, but a sense of camaraderie was formed, realizing he was an otaku just like them.

The RPS fandom wasn’t large, and he occasionally appeared only as a friend or surrounding character for other pairings.

In short, he played the bartender role.

Instead, James’s fans stanned him as a quasi-cult leader.

It was almost a religion.

His anthropomorphized animal, as expected, was a unicorn.

Eunhan boasted the position of main visual as the team’s youngest member.

His fandom rivaled Jeong Woohyeong’s, and his RPS fandom was large enough to be counted on one hand among existing idols.

A unique point was that, while the “bias is bottom” rule was the general tendency to push one’s favorite as a bottom, those who took Eunhan as their bias consumed him heavily as a top.

Stanning tendencies frequently took various forms simultaneously, such as RPS, quasi-parenting, and quasi-pet ownership.

His anthropomorphized animal was a dog, and perhaps because of that, puppy younger-top or dog-shifter tropes occupied significant popularity.

Woohyeong was the member in charge of main dancer, lead vocalist, lead rapper, songwriting, composing, producing, and together with Eunhan, visual duties.

He was the core and immovable center of the team, representing the team’s image and color.

His fandom consisted of many cool-headed stans who showed “hate-love,” calling themselves “critic-stans.”

They wanted to consume RPS, but since nothing piqued their appetite yet, it was generally a non-pairing stance.

Ever since the last kiss statement, a small number of people were digging HyungJem, but because of that, friction with the HanJem fandom seemed frequent.

Woohyeong’s fandom had a strong isolated tendency, and their mentality was tough, so ordinary things couldn’t make them leave the fandom.

They were crazy about Woohyeong’s insane mad-scientist eyes and felt pride in Woohyeong’s stage performances.

Woohyeong’s anthropomorphized animal was a tiger.

Finally, looking at Jemin, it was like this:

What did Jemin hold in the team?

He wasn’t the oldest, nor the leader, main vocalist, main dancer, main rapper, or main visual.

He held something, but everything was prefixed with modifiers like “lead” or “sub.”

Still, it wasn’t that he lacked popularity.

It was thanks to the RPS fandom with Eunhan.

Even though the image there was far from Jemin’s actual personality, Jemin was being anthropomorphized into a harmless, aegyo-filled rabbit.

Fundamentally, Jemin’s fans felt proud that Jemin provided fan service well like a dutiful son.

‘Because I don’t know why you need to be in our team.’

Jemin recalled in his mind the words Woohyeong had said under the influence of alcohol last time.

Jemin clenched his fists tightly.

“The thing I can take 1st place in for the team is…”

Relationships—that was the only thing.