We had begun practicing some of our older routines. With our rising popularity, we had been able to earn some lives on T.V and stages to ourselves. We needed more than one song to perform. It was when we began such practice that it really hit us how popular we were actually getting.
"My sister just sent this to me." Mingyu laughed and showed us his phone. On it was the photo of a bus with Hanseol's picture on the side. "Hanseol Hyung's got a bus."
"That's… a very big picture… of just me." Hanseol narrowed his eyes at it. "Why is it only me?"
"You have fans. This is obviously sponsored by K-Soul fans." Jaehyeon said.
"They could have at least used a better picture…" He grumbled.
"Oh, come on. You look just fine here." Yeojun asserted.
Hanseol grumbled inaudibly again and then stood straight. "Well, as long as it helps us."
"He's secretly happy." Jaehyeon smirked.
"Yes, he is." I agreed.
"Shut it." Hanseol looked away.
We were taking a small break in between practice. Manager Park had not been with us the entire day. Since he was busy, Manager Kim was with us. At that moment, he was speaking to our stylist. We had only one day left for our next live performance on a popular T.V show that broadcasted live performances every now and then to keep their ratings up.
The practice session that we were having was also shorter than it usually would have been because Yeojun had a meeting with his former dance crew D2. They had apparently been called on as guests on a dance show but on the condition that Yeojun joined them for one last performance. While Manager Park was a little hesitant about allowing it because it would essentially end up cramming Yeojun's schedule, Kim PD-nim had left the choice to Yeojun and he our Maknae himself was more than happy to have gotten that chance to get together with his former team, especially since it would be their final performance together. Much as Changmin had left me behind, Yeojun had left D2. This was his way of making up for it.
Our schedules were pretty much packed for the next few weeks. This level of popularity pushed us to constantly stay on our feet. No matter how exhausted we got though, we had always been working for this. We had had no complaints.
"S.T.A.Y, are you here? Ah. You're here." Manager Park peeked into the room first and then stepped in.
"Oh! We finally get to see you, Manager-nim!" Mingyu perked up.
"Sorry about that. I had some work to attend to." He looked at Yeojun. "Manager Kim will go with you, Jun-ssi. The rest of you, please come with me once you are done here. We have a meeting with Kim PD-nim."
"Kim PD-nim?" Hanseol asked, surprised. "That wasn't on our agenda today."
"And the magazine photoshoot?" I enquired.
"The photoshoot has been pushed back by an hour. This is important." Manager Park said as he walked over to us. He already had all our attention so he just went ahead and said it. "You're going to Singapore."
"Singa…" I gawked.
"Us?" Mingyu blinked.
"Manager-nim, Singapore?" Jaehyeon slowly asked. "As in, to perform?"
He nodded, smiling. "It's a S.T.A.Y concert in Singapore. You've become really popular there. It's part of a big corporate's fund-raising efforts but it's still a S.T.A.Y concert."
"We're performing abroad…" Yeojun said what all of us were trying to come to terms with. "We're actually… performing abroad."
"Yes, we are." Mingyu broke out into a smile and addressed us. "S.T.A.Y's going abroad!"
"Congratulations." Manager Kim smiled from off to the side. Our stylist also clapped for us.
"We can meet international True too." Jaehyeon beamed.
"This is but a start." Manager Park spoke, watching our joy. "Since you have started making a name for yourselves, Thailand is not too far away either."
"They have always loved K-Pop. If I remember right, Thailand was 04:00 am's first international stage three years ago, right?" I remembered watching it on YouTube just a few days after S.T.A.Y debuted and wondering if we would ever get to go like that.
Manager Park nodded. "I'm looking into all possibilities. For now, we have Singapore happening next month. It'll be a 2-day concert. If all goes well, we might be looking at a South Korea tour as soon as we get back."
That meant that we would be out of Seoul for a while next month. I was excited.
"This is all the motivation that we need right now." Mingyu placed his hands on his hips and turned to us proudly. "Let's make it such that we will have a S.T.A.Y world tour within 2 years."
"Yeah!" That would be simply wonderful!
"I just came to deliver the good news. I will come by again as you finish practice. You have an hour left, right?" Manager Park asked. "And we haven't made it official yet so don't let it slip."
"Of course." Jaehyeon nodded and the five of us saw Manager Park off together.
Our popularity was the deciding factor but popularity was also a result of careful strategy. We owed a lot to Manager Park, Kim PD-nim and the rest of the team.
"Let's get back to practice." Hanseol made us all move again from where the weight of our future prospects had rooted us. All of us could feel the elevated spirits in the rest of the practice session as well.
Yeojun left with Manager Kim immediately after practice and the rest of us had our meeting with Kim PD-nim where he officially told us about the Singapore concert and congratulated us. This was a major break for us. Exposure to an international audience at this point only meant an upwards climb for us if done right. He went on to explain all that, appreciate us, advise us and warn us about the things that we needed to keep in mind.
DayBreak Entertainment was doing fairly well at the moment but we were not on the list of top entertainment agencies like BYTE, JP Entertainment, MS Entertainment or XG Entertainment. 04:00 am was our first big success and with how things were going, S.T.A.Y may very well be the next. We had a lot of responsibility to shoulder, in that sense.
I split from the other three and Manager Park after the meeting with Kim PD-nim because I wanted to use the washroom. Promising to meet them at the van in the basement parking lot, I went to the nearest washroom. When I was on the way to the basement after finishing my business, I ran into a 04:00 am member all by himself in the hallway.
"Baekjae Sunbae." I bowed in greeting.
"Jeongwoo." He smiled. In between this rush to get to places on time, his warmth seemed to be a welcome pit-stop. He was this loved for a solid reason. "You're on your own?"
"I'm on my way to meet the others. We have a magazine photoshoot." I informed. "What about you, Baekjae Sunbae?"
"I just got back from an audition."
"Oh. Movie?"
"Drama." He replied. "It was for the lead role."
"I see. How did it go?" Baekjae Sunbae had quite the acting experience but I believe that he had played the lead roles only in movies before. A lead role in a drama was a huge deal but it also meant that a huge load of work would come his way. He was as hard working as ever.
"I've done my best. I should get to know by tonight or tomorrow morning." He did not seem too worried about it at least. "I heard from our Manager that S.T.A.Y's going to Singapore. It's your first international stage, right? You've done good."
"Thank you." I beamed. "We've been working so hard all this while. This news about Singapore was enough to make us feel that it was all worth it."
"That's what it's all about." He nodded. "And this is just going to be the beginning. I wish you luck."
"Thank you." I bowed again. "Where are the rest of the 04:00 am members?"
"Hyeonwoo Hyung and Beomseok Hyung are recording their solo tracks. The others have gone for a variety show."
So busy… "Hm. Well, I hope you get the lead role. I'll have to go now as the others are waiting for me."
"Oh, yes. Go ahead. Convey my regards to them as well." He nodded.
"Yes. I will." I bowed again, beamed, waved and jogged down the hallway.
Min Baekjae Sunbae was my role model. Running into him like this and having been wished and complimented by him, I felt more confident about myself and S.T.A.Y.
And it seemed as though Hyeonwoo Sunbae and Beomseok Sunbae were working on solo tracks. It had been a few months already since their previous album, Maelstrom, released so it's natural that they would be looking to release a couple more tracks in the mean time as they worked on their upcoming album.
We still had time but maybe we should consider doing something like that too.
We had found a private corner table for ourselves. This restaurant regularly got trainees and Idols from DayBreak dropping by and so were used to our need for privacy and was good at ensuring it. It wasn't that noisy either. It was the perfect place to do a Live."Is it recording yet?" Jaehyeon asked and looked into the mobile I had placed precariously in front of us to film. He had his round-framed glasses on as well. He tended not to wear it much but the lighting in the place was a little weak and so, he had to use it."Not yet." I told him. "You good?""Yeah. I'm ready." He threw an arm over the back of my chair and sat back."Are we early?""It's been 10 minutes since we placed the order. They should be bringing us the food soon. We should start now if we have enough people online.""Okay, then. I'll start now." I began our live video and sat back. "There we go. We're on.""Oh. That's a good number." Jaehyeon smiled on seeing the number of people online. It had jumped to around 25
"Jeongwoo? Choi Jeongwoo?" The man who had previously asked us to wait in the room came to find me. We were at a major media house. We had been asked to come in for a photoshoot for one of their popular entertainment magazines. We had already finished our group photoshoot and they had begun the individual shoot with our leader Mingyu while the rest of us were asked to wait in the adjacent room after getting our outfits and make-up fixed. They had said that they would call us in one by one."Yes. Coming." I turned to Jaehyeon and handed my phone over to him. "Hold on to this for me, won't you?""Sure. Go." He took it from me.I followed the man into the studio. Yeojun had just finished. As I entered, he was leaving. "Good work.""Hyung, best luck." He patted my shoulder.They were waiting for me.I gave them my best smile and bowed. "I am Choi Jeongwoo. I look forward to working with you!""As are we." The man wearing black-framed rectangular glasses with his jacket thrown over his sho
"Ah. I feel like I was whipped around in a tornado and dropped to the ground just now." Jaehyeon let out an exhausted breath as he plopped onto his bed in the hotel room that we were sharing.I was already lying on my bed, arms outstretched, staring hard at the ceiling. Physically, I could feel the fatigue but mentally, I was wide awake. "Hyung, did you see how full the venue was?" Like recalling images from a dream, I could still see it- the dancing lights, the sea full of faces before us shouting for us, the unfamiliar stage, the noise, the adrenaline rush.Our first international live…"I saw it." He looked at me seriously. "We were sold-out, Jeongwoo."Our first international live and we were already sold-out. "'To You' is 17 on the Top 100 list. 'Yeongweonhi Norae' is 24th. 'Kkeum Eh Seo' and 'Where We Are' have also made it onto the list." I stated the facts we had been informed of immediately after day one of our concert. "Is this what a good break feels like? Ah. I can't feel
"Hyung!" Yeojun clung to my arm. "I feel so blessed!""Blessed?" I chuckled. We had just gotten into our agency's black van after coming out of the airport."Yes, blessed." He nodded. "We can't expect our families to be at the airport to welcome us but we had so many True show up today!""I had considered the possibility when we were on the plane but to have actually been received like that…" I agreed. "A blessing, huh?""You could have lowered your hoodie, Jeongwoo. They were screaming for it. It wouldn't have hurt." Hanseol said."I… could have but…""Jeongwoo was too overwhelmed by it all to even react." Jaehyeon laughed. "Am I right?"Did being roommates allow him the ability to peek into my head? "Not really…" I looked away. "The hair's just too bright so early in the morning.""Was I the only one who saw that short-haired girl in a home-made 'To You' outfit with similar blue hair holding up a board with 'Jeongwoo Oppa' on it?" Mingyu enquired."I noticed that too." She was the f
It was rare to find myself alone at the dorm. Given that we were five of us and that we weren't the kind who had much going on individually, someone or the other was always around when I was.I checked the time in between playing the soccer game on my phone. It was about 07:24 pm.I was starting to get hungry.Yeojun and Mingyu were the only other ones who had been home initially. Jaehyeon and Hanseol had gone for a guest appearance on a game show. From what I knew, they would be late in returning. Mingyu had gone to meet his sister who had suddenly called and said that she was in the area and Yeojun had run down to the convenience store after losing at Rock-Paper-Scissor against me to buy something instant to cook for dinner since neither of us was really in the mood for cooking anything extensive. Manager Park had gone with Jaehyeon and Hanseol and so it was Manager Kim who had dropped us home by around 06:40 pm.I sighed and got comfortable on the couch in the living area again. I
Surely enough, the video of the incident at the convenience store turned up on the internet the next morning. What was infuriating was how it had been cut and edited to show only the parts where Yeojun was being a little aggressive, like when he shoved the man. Moreover, the guy's face had been conveniently censored out. By the time DayBreak could do anything about it, it had done the rounds on Twitter and other SNS platforms. It was really difficult for DayBreak to contain it and they couldn't quite pin the account from which it was first shared.'S.T.A.Y Jun's real personality?''Kim Yeojun- not so sweet anymore.''Yeojun vs. Jun.''The Evil Maknae.'"This is too much!" Jaehyeon huffed as he dropped heavily into the nearby chair. We were in one of the meeting rooms in DayBreak's building. "That video is hardly anything to go by!""No one knows what happened." I frowned and leaned against the big table in the middle of the room. "We should just release a statement clarifying what had
Thailand got confirmed.2 weeks after the scary run-in that Yeojun had had, things had died down quite a bit. Comments were still doing their rounds online but I had also consciously stopped following up on what everyone was saying on Twitter and other such platforms. I read what I needed to and then backed away.However, there was one thing that popped up in between that made even me pause and falter in my resolve to stay unaffected.'S.T.A.Y's popularity seems to have more to do with 04:00 am than S.T.A.Y themselves.'That was more of a personal attack for me though, given my history with 04:00 am and its members- or rather, member. Ever since debut, we were seen as 04:00 am's Hoobaes. We were always their little brothers, especially after they became so popular.Even though the extent to which our friendship goes has not quite been made public, people knew that we were closer than other groups within DayBreak itself. That made them pitch us together often.To say that S.T.A.Y becam
"15 minutes." Mingyu said, turning his attention to the food before him. We were in the recording studio on the first floor of DayBreak Entertainment's building. We had all gathered there for lunch since the room was empty.That was when I had gotten the text message."I'll buy you ice cream. 20 minutes." I smiled as sweetly as I could have."Manager-nim wants us to be ready to leave in 15 minutes." He shook his head. "You'll get 15 minutes.""That's hardly much." I thought about it for a moment. "You had said that your headphones were not working? I'll buy you a new pair.""This is bribe. Hyung, you're bribing me. Won't work." He shook his head yet again. "15 minutes.""17 minutes.""What sort of number is that even?" He gave me a weird look."It'll take you 3 minutes to actually go there and come back." Yeojun calculated. "Mingyu Hyung, just let him have his 20 minutes.""Yeah. I mean, what kind of a leader are you if you can't even buy me five more minutes?" I clicked my tongue at