Chapter 50: The Price of a Moment

I thought that rank-ups could be connected in this way too.
If that was the case, Shim Eun-chan’s own status might also have been compensated and ranked up.

Shim Eun-chan quickly checked Ryu Seo-oh’s status window.

[Name: Ryu Seo-oh

Star Potential: B+

Vocal: A

Performance: A

Appearance: B+

Mental: B+

Traits: Focus On Me (Attention/B), If You Do It, I Do It Too (Specialized in Competition/A)]

It seemed his Mental had been C+ rank.
Just ranking up his Mental had caused two other stats to rise in succession, making it feel like he had obtained a bonus.
The reason Jung Min-yu, the first quest target, had only one stat rise might have been because the points or values hadn’t been filled.
There was no other way to explain it.

If Jung Min-yu could also raise another stat, it might have been possible to aim for a joint rank-up.
It was such a shame.
Shim Eun-chan’s gaze, which had been examining Ryu Seo-oh’s status window, stopped at the traits section.

It was unexpectedly understandable that he had a trait specialized in competition.
Looking back on the time they had spent together, Ryu Seo-oh definitely had a quiet but hate-to-lose temperament.
But he hadn’t known it was strong enough to be a trait.
He concluded his reasoning with the thought that the temperament might be stronger than he’d realized.

Suddenly, Shim Eun-chan realized the discomfort he had felt while looking at the other members’ status windows.
Unlike Shim Eun-chan’s status window, there were no separate pre-compensation entries—only the ranks of their current abilities were displayed.
It felt like there was some kind of difference.
What on earth could it be?

Before he could think deeper, Shim Eun-chan realized that Ryu Seo-oh’s hand, which had been stroking his head, had stopped.

“Eun-chan.”

He called Shim Eun-chan in a low voice.

“Get up now.”

“Yes.”

He could clearly feel the unspoken question of how long Shim Eun-chan intended to stay like this.
Shim Eun-chan immediately lifted his head from Ryu Seo-oh’s lap.

Whether by coincidence or not, his eyes met Hyun Woo-young’s, and he raised his eyebrows in a gesture asking what was going on, but Hyun Woo-young shook his head.
Seeing him drink water and turn his head, it seemed he really had no particular business.

Practice continued for a long while after that.

Tomorrow afternoon, a music show and fan signing event were scheduled.

Today marked the third day since album sales began.
B the 1’s 7th single album, Get Ambitious, had surpassed 100,000 copies in sales.

They had to rest briefly after the music show before proceeding with the fan signing event.

“Hyung, how many fan signing cuts do we have?”

Moon Se-byeol’s question to the manager reached his ears.
He could feel the ears of the members, who had been doing their own things, perk up.
The manager didn’t bother hiding his rising smile.

“90 in-person.”

“…90?”

Shim Eun-chan, who had been listening, asked back in surprise.

90 cuts.
He knew that the first fan signing event after a comeback usually had a high cut number because many people flocked to it, but 90 was ridiculous.
Shim Eun-chan quickly did the math.
The price per album was 14,500 won.
Even at 15,000 won, 90 copies would be…

Shim Eun-chan blinked.

Though it was called a fan signing event, each person could talk for about two minutes at most.

Calculated by the hour, it was an absurd amount.
No need to even go by the hour.
It came out to 620,000 won per minute.
They were paying 10,000 won per second.
Just to talk with them.
Just to see their faces, fans were paying such a huge sum.

The thought that they were paying without hesitation was also from an idol’s perspective.
It wasn’t as if money grew on trees, and there was no way that money wasn’t precious.
Nevertheless, fans were willingly spending large sums to come.

He had thought about it before, but fans were spending enormous amounts of money to see them.
It was a fact he had learned in his previous life when he had been holed up at home, but fans didn’t just casually attend fan signing events.
There were people who got their hair and makeup done, and even bought new clothes just for the fan signing event.
Not only that, but preparing personal gifts was a separate matter entirely.

During his active days in his previous life, he hadn’t known this well.
It wasn’t that he had been careless and didn’t pay attention—it was that he hadn’t realized fans would go to such lengths of effort and hard work.
That was how much fans waited for this time.

Of course, there would be fans who bought many albums every time and came often, but there were also fans who couldn’t.
To the idols, it might be a fan signing event that happened every time and was nothing special, but to the fans, it wasn’t like that.
There were cases where this one fan signing event was the last and only meeting.

He had always done his best while feeling grateful to the fans who attended the fan signing events, but now an additional sense of duty had formed on top of that.
And this time, the fan signing cuts were absurdly higher than before.

Shim Eun-chan looked at Hyun Woo-young.
It was Hyun Woo-young’s first fan signing event.
He thought it would be good to tell him something.
Though he would probably do well on his own anyway.

“Woo-young.”

“Yes?”

“Since it’s your first fan signing event, I have some things to tell you.”

He sat down next to Hyun Woo-young and opened his mouth.
It was a bench-style seat, but it was a bit narrow for two adult men to sit on.
Their thighs touched, and the warm body heat could be felt through the fabric.
Hyun Woo-young looked at the touching part as if uncomfortable, but Shim Eun-chan pretended not to notice and spoke.

It’ll be over soon, so bear with it a little.

“We’re about to do the in-person fan signing event, and there are things you need to keep in mind.”

“Go ahead.”

“First, when fans say something, don’t say ‘Oh, really?’ or ‘Ah, really?'”

“Ah.”

Hyun Woo-young said one word and then promptly shut his mouth.

“You were about to say ‘Ah, really?’ just now, weren’t you.”

Shim Eun-chan narrowed his eyes and stared at Hyun Woo-young.
He continued, emphasizing once more, “You absolutely can’t do that.”

“That response is the most insincere thing you can say. It’s become a meme, so you really shouldn’t do it. If anything, you can repeat what the fan said back to them as a question. That’s also not great, but it’s better than ‘Oh, really?'”

Shim Eun-chan, who had been speaking with his index finger extended for emphasis, lowered his hand.
Because the seat was narrow, there was nowhere good to put his hand, so he rested it lightly on Hyun Woo-young’s thigh.
He felt Hyun Woo-young’s leg twitch through his pants but pretended not to notice.

It didn’t seem like Hyun Woo-young particularly hated skinship.
But if he disliked contact like this, Shim Eun-chan worried about how he would handle the fan signing event, though now wasn’t the time to bring it up.
Surely he wouldn’t make a straight face and refuse if fans asked to link pinkies.

“There will be many fans taking videos or photos. So never stay expressionless. Even if your facial muscles twitch, smile. You can be expressionless after the fan signing event is over, but not in spaces where fans are present.”

“Yes.”

Hyun Woo-young nodded obediently.
He was so obedient that Shim Eun-chan doubted whether he had really understood.

“…You heard what I said properly, right?”

“Yes.”

The Hyun Woo-young in front of him seemed to have suddenly become a yes-bot.

Shim Eun-chan quietly stared into his eyes.
Originally, he had planned to say just that and get up, but since he wasn’t sure Hyun Woo-young had understood, he added something that hadn’t been in his plan.

“Um, when it doesn’t feel real, think of it like this. You heard our fan signing cuts, right? In terms of money, it’s an enormous amount. It’s 10,000 won per second. So think, ‘I should give them their money’s worth.'”

“Yes.”

“Did you really understand?”

“Yes.”

“…Oh, seriously.”

It wasn’t that he was wrong—Hyun Woo-young really had become a yes-bot.
Before getting up, Shim Eun-chan held up his index and middle fingers as if to say he was watching, alternating them between his own eyes and Hyun Woo-young’s eyes.

“Everyone, let’s move.”

At Jung Min-yu’s words, the members got up and headed to the fan signing venue.
The location was a 20-minute drive away.

Many fans could be seen waiting from the parking lot.
Every time they got out of the car and moved, shutter sounds could be heard.
When they waved at the fans, suppressed sounds and the members’ names being called could be heard simultaneously.

Finally, they arrived at the fan signing event venue.

Fans could be seen sitting in rows in order of their turn.

They wore animal-shaped headbands that fans had prepared, and answered the questions fans asked.
Shim Eun-chan, wearing a headband with puppy ears and flowers, had a chain draped around his face.
When a fan gave him a money gun as a gift and he operated it, fake bills with Shim Eun-chan’s photo on them shot out.
Though he accidentally hit Do Jun-seo with it.

“Oh, sorry. You know it wasn’t on purpose, right?”

“Yes. I know very well. Everyone, you saw it. This is how I live.”

The fans burst into laughter at Do Jun-seo’s shameless remark.

He opened the sections marked with index tabs to sign, and there were no names written—usually nicknames were written instead.
Among them, there was one marked “Princess,” and wondering who it was, he opened it to find Hyun Woo-young’s photo.

“Woo-young is the princess?”

“Yes? Ah, yes, yes!”

“Wow. I’m jealous of Woo-young. Woo-young, look at this.”

When Shim Eun-chan called Hyun Woo-young and pointed at the memo, Hyun Woo-young’s mouth fell open for a moment before he laughed.
The shutter sounds that exploded in that instant sounded almost like applause or a waterfall.

Shim Eun-chan immediately turned his attention to the fan in front of him.

“Please make a cool nickname for me too. Noona.”

“Eun-chan already has so many from fans.”

“But Noona is the only one of you.”

When he smiled while making eye contact, the fan in front of him swallowed and covered her mouth with her hand.
Around the time he told the fan, who was groaning about not being able to think of a nickname and asking what to do, that it was okay not to tell him right now, the time was up and it was the next fan’s turn.