Chapter 53
After the dia showcase was over, we returned to the waiting room.
We all looked exhausted, but our expressions were bright.
It was the feeling of relief that cos from finishing a task well. It felt like a weight was lifted off our chests.
Good job, everyone.
Good work, hyung.
We exchanged glances and patted each other.
It was a rare atmosphere of camaraderie, as if we had gone through a hard ordeal together.
Dont you think we did our best ever? We nailed the photo ti and the Q&A session.
Hey, did you do well? It was this ajusshi who carried us all by himself.
I intervened between the two, fanning myself with a mini fan.
Co on, Ri-hyuk. Ji-ho did well too.
What did we do? He handled the sound accident by himself, and we just reaped the benefits.
Hmm? Dont you get in trouble if you reap the benefits?
Jung-hyun hyung, please stick to the context.
The rapper was smiling non-stop, despite the main vocals scolding.
He looked more cheerful than usual, as if he was in a good mood.
Thank you, hyung.
I awkwardly received Jung-hyuns high five.
Smack!
Ouch, that hurts.
It felt like he hit softly, but it was like clapping hands with a volleyball player.
Jung-hyun smiled and said.
Thanks to you, hyung, my jinx is finally over.
Jinx? Oh.
I was so busy with the showcase that I forgot about it.
Every ti I say I have a good feeling, sothing weird happens. But thanks to you, hyung, its broken now. Ah, I feel so relieved.
See? I told you it was superstition, that thing.
You do know that right after you said that, the sound accident happened, right?
Honestly, it was thanks to Woojoo hyungs luck that we overca that. Thats what it was.
The two youngest ones retorted, but Jung-hyun just smiled contentedly.
He joked that he would say he had a good feeling once a day from now on.
Ri-hyuk suddenly asked, as if he rembered sothing.
By the way, what about the acapella you did earlier?
Huh, why?
When we asked you after the stage, you said you did it unconsciously.
Thats right.
I had brushed off the questions from my curious brothers with vague answers.
Did you really do it without thinking?
Sort of.
Co on, you always plan everything ticulously. You even locked us up to analyze our musical preferences when you composed Fireworks.
Hey, thats not locking up.
I said, looking around, but Ji-ho and Jung-hyun kindly nodded their heads.
Those useless fools.
I dont always think and act, okay? I was also shocked by the sound accident for the first ti.
Really? You seed so skilled. It looked so cool
Cool?
Ri-hyuk stumbled over his words.
Well, it looked cool to . I dont think I could have done that.
Just say it was cool, hyung.
Agreed. I was amazed, hyung. You were doing the acapella with the choreography, and it looked like you had a halo.
That was the lighting, Jung-hyun hyung.
Oh, was it?
Look at him. His mouth is curling up.
I tried to act nonchalant and control my expression, but I couldnt help but smile at their complints.
It was a mixed smile.
One was the pride I felt from their gratitude and praise.
The other was the embarrassnt I felt from knowing that this was not my skill, but my ability.
Well.
I cant tell them the truth, can I?
Its more natural to say that my body moved instinctively.
But I have a feeling now.
I guess I can call it an achievent of sorts.
This incident seed to have peeled off a layer of the secret behind my ability.
The essence of my ability.
I had always thought of this ability as a motion imitation ability, a kind of superpower.
But after experiencing what happened today, it didnt seem like a re superpower anymore.
When I first collected information about this ability, I ca across a post on an internet blog.
[There are two types of mory: declarative mory and procedural mory.]
Declarative mory is the conscious mory that is used when recalling the days events while writing a diary or morizing English words.
Procedural mory is the unconscious mory that is used for tasks like riding a bike or using chopsticks.
According to my theory, this ability was a phenonon that occurred when procedural mory was maximized.
The ability to unconsciously acquire the movents in the video just by watching them.
Thats how it had been until now.
But the two incidents that I experienced this ti were not procedural mory, but declarative mory that was maximized, as I ntioned earlier.
The ability to vividly recall the events that were dormant in my mory as if they were happening right now.
Looking back, it seed to have manifested whenever I was in a crisis.
Like a student who suddenly rembers a forgotten formula in his head and solves the problem when there are only five minutes left in the exam.
This ability also appeared when I was in a dire situation.
If I had to say, it was stimulated when I felt extre stress.
I was under a lot of stress at the university hospital because I had to solve Minjuns problem, and the sound accident just before was needless to say.
In that situation, my brain moved unconsciously.
It scanned the database in my mory on its own and showed it to , saying Look! You, the owner!
Of course, this is still just my hypothesis.
Anyway, when I put all this together, my ability was not limited to motion imitation ability, but spanned a wider range.
A mory ability that encompasses both procedural and declarative mory.
Isnt it quite logical to think that the act of imitating a movent starts from rembering that movent in the first place?
Hyung. What are you thinking?
Huh?
You were smiling by yourself.
Oh, I was just thinking about sothing else. Its nothing.
I was letting out a silly laugh, feeling like I had beco so kind of superhuman.
I ca to my senses and looked around.
By the way, where are the managers and Bi-ju?
Min-ki hyung said he was going to get sothing from the car with Director Yoon. Bi-ju hyung said he was going to wash his face in the bathroom.
Did he go alone?
Yes.
He wont get lost again, will he?
Ri-hyuk laughed.
Bi-ju hyung is not a kid. The bathroom is right outside. How can he get lost?
Its Bi-ju.
True. Bi-ju hyung sotis gets confused about the direction even in the dorm. I saw it last ti. He was holding the food waste and hesitated on his way to the veranda.
Dont worry, hyung. Hell co back soday.
I clicked my tongue as I watched my younger siblings act nonchalant.
Wow. You guys are so heartless. How co Im the only one whos worried?
You didnt even notice when he went to the bathroom.
Just then, the waiting room door opened and three people ca in.
Bi-ju and two managers.
They each carried a large box in their arms and put them on the floor of the waiting room.
The boxes were so heavy that they made a thud sound.
Huh? What are these?
As I tilted my head, looking at the contents of the boxes.
Bi-ju said with a smile.
These are gifts for our fans.
***
Fan showcase.
It was the last event for us today.
If the dia showcase was a business eting with reporters, the fan showcase was a kind of fan eting.
It was rare to have a fan showcase from the debut.
The fan showcase was literally a showcase for the fans, but where would the fans be for a rookie who just debuted?
Of course, there were so teams that had fandoms before their debut, but that was not the usual case.
On the other hand, we were a case that made our na known to the public through music shows, events, etc. before our debut.
We also had a decent number of mbers in our fan cafe.
Thats why the company decided to open a showcase to repay the fans support.
Of course.
Street Boys did it too, so we have to do it too. We cant lose to them in this kind of thing.
I wondered if that was our managers true intention.
Wow. What are all these?
Your photo cards, snacks, and so keychains and stuff.
Wow.
We gathered around the boxes like a bunch of erkats.
The boxes looked pretty heavy.
I felt sorry for Seok-hwan hyung, who was rubbing his back.
He has a herniated disc, can he carry these? Let or Jung-hyun do it.
I was going to, but your little brother here texted that he got lost.
Im sorry
We all laughed at Bi-jus embarrassed expression.
Did you get lost again?
Ah, I was going to buy so drinks for everyone after washing up, because they were having a hard ti. But I couldnt find the vending machine
He was wandering around the equipnt alone, I barely found him.
Yoon Seok-hwan shook his head as if he couldnt help it.
Bi-ju handed out the drinks he got from the vending machine with a shy look.
They were all a thousand won each, but mine was twelve hundred won. I felt a warm feeling as I sat around the boxes.
We knew what to do without having to say it.
We wrote signatures and greetings on the photo cards for the fans, and packed the other gifts diligently.
The waiting room turned into a cottage industry site in no ti.
Jiho, who was putting a handful of chocolate in a plastic bag, burst into laughter.
Wow, theres so much. But how many people are coming, manager? There are so many photo cards too.
Dont you know? We did ticketing a while ago.
We were busy practicing, we didnt see it. Every ti we tried to rest, soone would co down and nag us to practice.
At my words, Seok-hwan hyung coughed and changed the subject.
What do you think, how many people do you think will co?
Well
, ! I counted all the photo cards, and there are about 50 of our individual cuts. So isnt it 250 people?
What kind of miraculous calculation is that. Thats.
As I blinked, Jiho explained.
If we give one each, its 250, right? Then 250 people.
Oh. That sounds plausible.
Whats plausible, Jung-hyun hyung.
Ri-hyuk snapped at the two who were giggling like fools. And I agreed with Ri-hyuks opinion.
250 is too much, no matter how you look at it.
Hyung, you have to dream big.
Right. My dad said that if youre a leader, you have to aim high.
There seed to be a strange word in the middle, but lets ignore it.
Honestly, I wonder if 50 people will co.
Why?
No, its a weekday. To be honest, I cant imagine that 200 people would co to see our faces.
Didnt Street Boys have more than 100 people too?
Thats true.
I heard that almost 100 fans ca to Street Boys fan showcase a week ago.
For a while, we talked about how many people would co.
I joined the conversation, but soon I felt sothing was wrong and shook my head.
Honestly, it doesnt matter how many fans co. We should be grateful that they co at all.
Thats right.
Bi-ju, who was writing a ssage on a post-it with care, said.
I think its a success that there are people who co here to see our faces and listen to our songs. Whether one person or a hundred, they are all the sa fans.
Wow
The youngest, who was admiring, said.
Usually, that kind of cheesy line is Woojoo hyungs part, but today Bi-ju hyung did it instead. Amazing.
Hey.
He got it from that old man. Whatever.
I guess the saying is true that you beco like the ones you love.
What a waste. If only Kim Bi-ju had grown as tall as him. Ouch!
Shut up, Kim Jung-hyun.
Jung-hyun said a word and got pinched in the side by Bi-ju.
I smiled as I watched my brothers and wrote Thank you for waiting! Well do our best! on the post-it.
Really, it didnt matter how many people ca.
I would be overjoyed even if there was only one person in the audience.
The reason I beca an idol was because I wanted to see the expressions of the people who liked and watched my stage.
In that sense, it was a aningful thing to et the people who would like my stage and share my songs with them.
It was a thrilling and heartwarming thing to imagine.
I want to see the fans soon.
I thought that and smiled.
***
7 p.m.
We changed into new outfits and waited backstage.
We were excited to et the fans, but at the sa ti we looked around nervously.
Why is it so quiet?
I know, right?
Its not like only one person ca, right?
I wanted to see the audience, but the lights were off and I couldnt see.
I could feel the presence of people, but I had no idea how many there were.
Lets go up.
We followed the signal of the staff and went up to the stage.
I was nervous.
If the dia showcase was an event to introduce us to the entertainnt industry, this fan showcase was an event to introduce us to the fans.
In so ways, it was a much more important event than the dia showcase.
I swallowed and stood on the stage.
Darkness that I couldnt see an inch ahead.
The silent silence tornted .
As I tried to adjust to the darkness and gauge the audience, there was a loud bang and the lights ca on brightly.
I squinted at the sudden light for a mont.
As soon as I saw the audience, I was stunned.
What?
An unexpected situation unfolded before my eyes.
-Wow!
We were literally petrified by the sight we never imagined.
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