Actually, Ma Doun must be incredibly upset too. It’s just that seeing the members so deflated, he couldn’t show it.
‘Should I go in and try to talk to him? No. He’ll need time alone too.’
For this album, Ma Doun devoted more time to song work than the other members. However, the title song was at the very bottom of the charts. Ma Doun didn’t show it, but he must be very disappointed.
Honestly, I thought this gradual climb wasn’t bad either. If you work hard, you’ll suddenly realize you’re at the top, and you can cherish that moment.
‘But it won’t be easy.’
I can think this way because I’m experiencing this process for the second time, but it will be hard for the other members since it’s their first time. It would have been a bit better if the first album had completely flopped, but since the first album’s performance was actually better than now, they’ll feel a sense of loss.
“Good night.”
I greeted carefully and entered the room, picking up my phone.
“Whatever I say won’t be heard anyway.”
I know how hard the members worked. But knowing this is something they’ll have to experience someday, even though this process is very upsetting, I hoped the members would endure it well.
Lightly stretching my neck, I entered KakaoTalk and checked Yoon hyung’s message, tilting my head at the meaningful words.
<Yoon sunbae-nim>
– Yesterday –
[The song was good] >
[Juno liked it too] >
< [Thank you! Please promote it a lot!]
– Today –
[I’ll promote it. I got permission.] >
“Huh? What does getting permission mean?”
It seems like he just means promoting it to acquaintances, but from whom does he get permission? But Yoon hyung didn’t answer even when I contacted him after that.
“He’s not answering.”
And not only Yoon hyung, but strange messages had also come from Juno hyung and Retro’s Lee Yeonun (an idol who became rapidly close because we were in the same class at the arts high school).
<Juno sunbae-nim> – [Hohyeon-ah, you wrote the lyrics, right?] >
[I almost cried while singing it.] >
“……Why is hyung singing our song?”
I asked hyung what his message meant, but no answer came.
<(Retro) Lee Yeonun> – [Your dance is hard…] >
[Especially the highlight] >
< [Huh? What do you mean?]
[Don’t know, I’m annoyed ㅠㅠ] >
Yeonun also gave no further answer.
And I found out the meaning two days later.
[Entertainment News] – Go Yoon & Kang Juno <Nightmare> cover video real-time views #1
└[Entertainment News] Go Yoon and Kang Juno’s friendship, who is Crayfish?
[Entertainment News] – Yeonun did this?! <Nightmare> cover dance – Yeonun ver.
└[Entertainment News] – Retro Yeonun and Abyss Crayfish school sighting
└[Entertainment News] – Yeonun, Go Yoon, Kang Juno spotted at meat restaurant…… Close seniors and juniors
[Star News] – Abyss <Routine> stage re-examined
* * *
Last night too, without fail, after finishing practice and schedules, the exhausted Abyss members came home with eyes they couldn’t even open properly, looking like zombies. After showering as if being chased, they collapsed straight onto their beds, and fortunately today was afternoon practice so they could sleep in.
“……What time is it?”
It was a morning without an alarm for the first time in a while. Slowly opening my eyes, I fumbled and grabbed my phone at my bedside out of habit and unconsciously pressed refresh on the music chart ranking I had checked last night.
“Huh? Why is the ranking like this?”
After staring blankly at the ranking for a few seconds seeing Abyss’s title song <Nightmare> showing a tremendous rise, I bolted upright and refreshed again.
“What?”
In the time it took to refresh, the ranking had gone up one more level.
Last night it was definitely at the very end of the chart that I could only see by scrolling all the way down, but now it was barely hanging in the middle ranks.
“There’s no trigger.”
Just as I was about to open the search window wondering if something had happened while I was asleep, Director Gye’s call came in.
“Hello?”
[Oh my~ Our lucky charm!]
As soon as I answered the phone, Director Gye spoke in a pleasant voice. The area around Director Gye, whose mood seemed greatly lifted, was noisy, and because of that, I couldn’t hear well what Director Gye was saying.
“Director?”
Since I had just woken up and answered the phone in a daze, I answered in a somewhat stupid voice. But then I discovered Seon Hobeom still sleeping and lowered my voice.
“What do you mean?”
[Hello? Jerim-ah, I can’t hear your voice!]
Seeing Seon Hobeom deeply asleep without budging even at the sound of me talking, perhaps because yesterday’s practice was harsh, I eventually quietly opened the door and stealthily headed to the living room.
“What did you say earlier?”
[You know we’re reverse charting this time? That’s all thanks to you!]
“Ah, I just checked…… Why?”
[Don’t tell me you just woke up?]
Embarrassed for no reason, I awkwardly rubbed my cheek and belatedly answered.
“Yes.”
[No wonder, it was strange that you didn’t know.]
I was about to ask back with a tone assuming I would naturally know, but Director Gye beat me to it.
[At dawn, Go Yoon and Kang Juno uploaded a cover video of your title song, and their Fort labelmate junior…… was it your friend? Retro’s Lee Yeonun uploaded a choreography cover.]
“What?”
[Because of that, we got pushed out of the charts and then charted again!]
I froze mid-yawn. So the reverse charting I saw earlier was because of Yoon hyung, Juno hyung, and Lee Yeonun?
[Right now everyone’s going crazy saying the song is good. The response is really good—]
“So you’re saying the cause of our reverse charting is because of the sunbaes?”
[Right?]
“Director, I’ll call you back later.”
[Jer……]
I quickly hung up and blocked Director Gye’s call that came back. And through internet search, I saw the videos covered by the hyungs and Yeonun and related news and sighed.
“Why did hyung do this? Why is Yeonun dancing? And why are there so many articles?”
[Entertainment News] – Go Yoon & Kang Juno <Nightmare> cover video real-time views #1
└[Entertainment News] Go Yoon and Kang Juno’s friendship, who is Crayfish?
[Entertainment News] – Yeonun did this?! <Nightmare> cover dance – Yeonun ver.
└[Entertainment News] – Retro Yeonun and Abyss Crayfish school sighting
└[Entertainment News] – Yeonun, Go Yoon, Kang Juno spotted at meat restaurant…… Close seniors and juniors
[Star News] – Abyss <Routine> stage re-examined
Director Gye seemed to be continuously putting out articles as if rowing when the water comes in, and looking at the reactions, there weren’t any particularly offensive comments yet.
“It’s okay so far.”
Most were fan comments like ‘it was nice that Go Yoon and Kang Juno uploaded a cover song after a while, we support you,’ and besides that, responses thanking them for introducing a good song.
Of course, some people had comments wondering why they covered an idol song from another agency. To such people, replies were usually attached saying ‘Ka Jerim is from a different agency but it seems the cover was uploaded because Go Yoon, Kang Juno, and Lee Yeonun are close.’
“I’m worried.”
The more I read the comments, the more I worried whether I had caused trouble for the Abyss members. Because even though netizens might have favorable reactions now, I don’t know how the reaction might change later.
Why on earth did this commotion happen? I thought it would be better to hear the exact story from the person involved, so I tried to call Yoon hyung.
“Jerim-ah, what are you doing?”
“Uh, oh. Eden hyung.”
But I couldn’t call right away. Because Park Eden, who I didn’t know when he had gone to wash up, had just finished showering and came out, asking with a puzzled face while vigorously shaking his head dry.
“What’s going on that you’re trying to call with such a serious face?”
“It’s nothing.”
Seeing my serious expression, he asked back what was wrong, and I had no choice but to quickly put down the phone I was using to call Yoon hyung.
‘I let my guard down because I was too relaxed for a while. I’m crazy.’
Following that, Onseol and Ma Doun also came out of their rooms.
“Ah, I don’t want to go to afternoon practice.”
“Still, it’s fortunate that it’s at least in the afternoon.”
Both had faces that had just woken up.
“What’s everyone doing?”
“Why? What’s going on?”
Seon Hobeom, who had been sleeping soundly in the room, also appeared opening the door with a sleepy face yawning, perhaps woken by the sound of us chattering in front of the door.
When I didn’t answer and just stood still, the members tilted their heads but soon returned to their respective rooms, perhaps to wash and prepare to go to afternoon practice.
“I think I need to call hyung. What should I do?”
At that moment, all kinds of noisy sounds suddenly started coming from the hyungs’ room.
“What? Why did the ranking get so high?”
“We’ve climbed up to the third page!”
The members gathered in the living room holding their phones and shouting as if they had made a promise. Seon Hobeom and Ma Doun were making a fuss, and Onseol and Park Eden were also continuously searching the charts with surprised faces.
‘Won’t they be hurt if they find out that we didn’t climb up by our own power, but climbed up with someone’s help?’
While the members were too busy focusing on our song that was reverse charting to pay attention, I quietly left the dorm.
Thud—
As soon as the door closed, I moved my steps diligently to get away from the floor.
‘I should call from here.’
After confirming there was no one around, I immediately made a call, but there was no response from Yoon hyung. How many times did the voice saying it would go to voicemail repeat? Finally, the call connected.
“Hello?”
[Yeah. Why, Hohyeon-ah.]
Yoon hyung answered with a voice that had completely sunk. I briefly narrowed my eyes at Yoon hyung’s low voice, then immediately scolded him.
“Hyung. I told you not to call me by that name.”
[Ah…… Sorry. I just woke up.]
He mumbled and spoke in a voice still heavy with sleep.
