Chapter 143. Jin Youngchae's Best Play
To the mayor and the PD, Dickdeez probably looked like the group that had worked hardest on the broadcast.
There were plenty of people making fun of them, but apparently the fact that they'd genuinely tried their best earned them some protection.
Their strategy had actually been decent too.
After securing two flags from the movie theater and supermarket, the Blue Moon members took a long route around and began approaching the Namgang outdoor stage.
The Dickdeez member guarding it instinctively sensed that something was wrong and suddenly shouted,
"Rise, Poseidon!"
That moment ended up becoming the most popular part of Friday's broadcast.
People even wondered whether someone had secretly tipped Dickdeez off.
But the mood quickly changed.
The drizzle that began on the night of June 30 developed into torrential rain.
The entire Namgang riverside and outdoor-stage area turned into one enormous lake, with no clear distinction between the river and the floodplain.
Even the stage that had been installed overnight was completely submerged.
Once the water drained, repairs would be unavoidable.
And naturally, what began circulating online at that exact moment?
Clips of the Dickdeez members shouting about a wall of water.
Normally, people might've just said, There was flood damage, and moved on.
But because of those damn clips, it felt like the flood itself was promoting them.
Of course, Dickdeez's dark history wasn't the real problem.
What were they supposed to do about rain like this?
For now, everyone involved had already been informed that the event would be postponed until flood recovery was complete, so there didn't seem to be an immediate issue.
The important question was how long the delay would last.
"What should we do about the teams that were scheduled to participate? Cancel everything, or postpone?"
The secretary asked.
"Postpone it! Their schedules are still open for the next week. There's no way this flood lasts an entire week, right? If we push everything hard from Friday through the weekend, it might actually be better. Even people who don't live in Gyeongsangnam-do will have time to travel here."
"Then I'll notify everyone accordingly."
The secretary then asked what they should do about the criticism from local merchants suffering because of the flood.
"We need to compensate them financially. We're already saving money on dismantling the stage anyway..."
Wait.
Stage dismantling costs?
It wasn't an enormous amount of money, but right now, Jinju City couldn't collect that cost from Universe.
Universe had clearly said they'd only cover the dismantling expenses if their performance was the final use of the stage.
But in order to make the festival happen, Jinju had pushed the entire stage schedule back.
There was no helping it.
Either the flooding continued for over a week and the entire event collapsed...
Or Blue Moon's performance would have to become the opening act or one of the middle performances.
Dickdeez had become a meme.
Apparently, they'd expected the whole thing to be edited dramatically like a movie.
But even the regular 〈Runner Runner〉 didn't give contestants that kind of treatment.
The reason those skill chants were usually popular was because comedians knew exactly how to play them for laughs.
Dickdeez, meanwhile, had shouted theirs with the stiff seriousness of actual wizards.
So this was the result.
And because the torrential rain hit while foreign reporters had gathered in Jinju, the story spread overseas too.
It was no longer merely a dark history.
It had become the history of Dickdeez itself.
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Why am I embarrassed watching this?]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ It's hard making money in this world.]
[The PD is definitely the worst person here ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
The rain stopped in the early hours of the 3rd.
They rushed to drain the water that same day, reopening the roads, but the stage had been heavily damaged and needed another full day of repairs.
[Song Aran's bullets must have magnets in them. If she shoots, you die.]
[I heard Blue Moon is also performing at the delayed World K-Pop stage. They almost lost the opportunity because of the flooding.]
[Even the god of water seems to be blessing Blue Moon.]
[I'm going to Jinju tomorrow.]
The World K-Pop schedule published by Jinju City was packed.
At least four idol teams were scheduled to perform each day.
Despite the festival being pushed back four days, there were barely any changes.
I guess that showed just how large-scale the event really was.
There were plenty of famous idols.
But there were also trot singers like Lee Woong-jae.
It really was true that artists from nearly every genre connected to Korean music culture were gathering there.
Of course, I was only interested in the idols.
The first performances began on the 4th.
Blue Moon was scheduled for 6 PM on the 5th.
Apparently, City Hall didn't want to push the end date any farther back, because they placed other performances both before and after Blue Moon's slot on the 5th.
At that point, our showcase was only technically a separate event.
It was happening right in the middle of World K-Pop.
It was practically the same as officially participating.
Blue Moon was even listed on the schedule.
I had expected the first day to have slightly less excitement.
Apparently, the organizers had thought the same thing.
They had deliberately scheduled several famous groups such as AEO and Big Brothers on the opening day.
Thanks to that, by the second day, public interest had already reached its peak.
"Next is Blue Moon's showcase stage. Please welcome them with a huge round of applause and cheers."
The announcer's straightforward voice, fitting for a government-run event, rang out.
Our Blue Moon members stepped onto the stage.
At that exact moment, the new song was released.
The members wore black leather skirts and fur jackets.
Different accessories and lace decorations had been added to each jacket and skirt.
According to Jin-hee, today's styling was dark luxury sexy.
It had been designed nicely for a live stage.
At this point, the flooding already felt like ancient history.
Just a few days ago, this entire area had been submerged under more than two meters of water.
Now, it was completely dry.
The members performed their songs one by one, starting from their first album and continuing all the way through the recently released 〈Homesick Girl〉.
Then came the long-awaited 〈Hippie〉.
Youngchae opened with a light rap.
Aran lifted the atmosphere.
Then Anna's bright, rapid-fire rap burst out.
Serin handled the highlight.
Even though most of the audience was hearing the song for the first time, they sang along and screamed.
People packed the area all the way across the road.
The choreography and vocals had been practiced relentlessly.
And just like that, Blue Moon delivered the best possible performance on the song's very first reveal.
Blue Moon's thirty-minute stage kept attracting more people because we'd promoted it in advance as the first reveal of their new song.
