Chapter 184

Chapter 184. Grab Your Gear

The day of the second planning meeting for the Super Bowl performance arrived.

All the singers scheduled to participate gathered in the hotel restaurant provided by the Super Bowl organizers.

It was mealtime.

Mary Wild sat at the same table as the other singers, speaking quietly with them, but her gaze kept drifting toward Do Jun-hyeok and the Blue Moon members.

Once again, not a single artist had brought a featured guest.

"What the hell are those people talking about? They're speaking Korean, so I can't understand a single thing."

Mary Wild complained.

Just as she said, the Blue Moon staff, including Do Jun-hyeok, were sitting together, laughing and chatting among themselves.

Mary Wild didn't particularly like them.

The other singers probably felt the same.

It wasn't as though they'd deliberately isolated the Koreans, however.

The table simply wasn't big enough.

And the Blue Moon group had already taken seats over there before Mary Wild even arrived.

"They're Korean, so of course they speak Korean. Isn't that more comfortable for them?"

Austin River replied indifferently while continuing to eat.

He made pop music for his own interests in the end, yet he always acted like he'd transcended every kind of social conflict.

As though he himself didn't discriminate based on race, gender, or anything else.

But was that even possible?

Even the most dedicated anti-discrimination activist probably carried some deeply rooted biases somewhere inside.

Mary Wild found Austin River irritating.

He tried too hard to look morally spotless.

"They could at least mix in with us a little. What is this? How many Korean planners are sitting over there? Is this New York or Seoul...?"

"You don't really want to talk to them anyway, do you?"

"..."

Forget it.

Mary Wild stared closely at the Blue Moon table.

The four Blue Moon members, who looked young enough to be high school students, were sitting across from their CEO, Do Jun-hyeok, laughing together.

Next to Do Jun-hyeok were several men she'd never seen before, as well as Moon Hee-jung from Dessault.

For people participating in a stage of this magnitude, they should've been visibly nervous.

Instead, they somehow looked more relaxed than Mary Wild herself.

As if this was exactly where they had always belonged.

She already hated the fact that they'd risen to this level.

Seeing them fit in so naturally made it even worse.

Of course, they wouldn't be able to stay relaxed for long.

Once they were thoroughly compared against the world's greatest artists and embarrassed on a global stage, those happy little girls would finally understand how frightening the American market could be.

They didn't even have a featured guest.

"They don't have a feature, right?"

At her question, Austin River, who had been focused solely on his food, glanced up at Mary Wild.

Of course, none of the American singers, Austin included, had revealed their own featured guests either.

"Probably not. They already have four members. It'd be difficult to bring in even more people as featured guests."

"Exactly."

Just then...

The restaurant doors opened, and a whole group of elderly men entered.

Had some senior citizens' club come here for a hotel vacation?

The moment the elderly men stepped in and waved, Moon Hee-jung and Do Jun-hyeok immediately stood up.

"You're here! Thank you for coming all this way."

"Oh, it's nothing. Even if we're only joining as featured performers, we're still part of the stage. Of course we had to come."

Featured performers?

The moment the word featured was spoken, the eyes of Mary Wild, every singer, and every Halftime Show planner instantly turned toward them.

Blue Moon had acted as though they absolutely wouldn't bring anyone.

Yet they'd done it after all.

Of course, nobody could criticize them.

Everyone else planned to do exactly the same thing.

If anything, everyone seemed surprised that Blue Moon was revealing theirs already.

After exchanging a few words with the elderly men, Do Jun-hyeok called out toward the singers and planners seated around the restaurant.

"Originally, we were planning to be ambitious and handle the whole stage by ourselves. But once we realized what incredible artists we'd be sharing the event with, we figured we needed to raise the level a little. So we pushed ourselves a bit. Hahaha."

"Oh..."

Lewis's eyes lit up.

Mary Wild quickly scanned the elderly men.

None of them looked particularly famous.

"What is this, a nursing home?"

Mary Wild muttered.

Several singers nearby suppressed their laughter.

If Blue Moon was going to bring featured performers, couldn't they at least find actual famous singers?

What was this?

There was no point in bringing them.

Did Do Jun-hyeok have such an obsessive attachment to Blue Moon that he couldn't tolerate anyone else taking attention away from them?

British Spearman carefully examined the group.

"Uh...?"

"What? Do you know one of those grandpas?"

"That man..."

Spearman pointed at one of them.

"Doesn't he look like John Parker...?"

"John Parker?"

"And that one... Reid Lesson?"

John Parker and Reid Lesson?

Mary Wild didn't recognize either name.

But the other singers' eyes widened as though they'd just heard the names of historical legends.

"John Parker and Reid Lesson? Those are really them?"

"Who are they?"

"They were members of Michael Jason's dedicated dance team. They're legends who left a mark on performance history."

Once she heard that explanation, Mary Wild understood a little.

They certainly were legendary figures.

But they were old now.

Could they even still dance?

No.

Maybe at that level of fame, their current ability didn't matter much.

Simply appearing onstage again would be enough to excite the audience.

Just as Mary Wild began viewing them with full caution, Do Jun-hyeok brought the group over toward their table.

"We've really declined. This is only our second time coming to a Halftime Show, yet the younger generation doesn't even recognize us anymore."

"What did you expect? It's all glory from the past."

The elderly men chatted among themselves, deliberately sounding frail and pitiful.

British Spearman immediately stood.

"Not recognize you? We're simply late in introducing ourselves. I'm British Spearman."

The other singers also rose and greeted them politely.

Everyone except Mary Wild.

"Ms. Wild. It's your turn."

Austin River quietly nudged her.

Mary Wild shook her head.

"I don't know them. Why should I go out of my way to greet people I don't know?"

At those words, the elderly men burst into laughter.

"Hahaha. She's got a point. How cute."

"Adorable."

"Yes. Very cute."

Mary Wild couldn't understand what exactly they found so cute.

The old men simply laughed and made noise with complete ease.

"By the way, none of you have featured singers?"

"No."

"Really? Well, we joined at the last minute, so that's one thing. But you young stars are all doing well for yourselves. Surely you won't suddenly add anyone now, right? And I can't imagine you'd do something cowardly like hiding them."

The elderly men asked in deliberately casual voices.

No one at the table could answer.

Mary Wild certainly had quite the personality.

There were several people there who clearly didn't want much conversation, so the exchange didn't last long.

I moved the legends Moon Hee-jung had recruited to a separate table and treated them properly.

"We're dancing today, right? We got together and practiced after receiving the offer."

"You did? How was it? Still manageable?"

"Fortunately."

These people had practically learned to dance the moment they learned to walk.

Until the day they ended up back in wheelchairs, they would probably still be capable of dancing.

After the meal, we headed to the specially prepared rehearsal space.

They called it a rehearsal room, but it was enormous.

The planners rotated through each singer's room, coordinating and evaluating their stage concepts.

Austin River.

British Spearman.

Doctor Andre.

Mary Wild.

Everyone had apparently worked hard enough to deliver their preview performances live.

I hadn't watched them personally.

Naturally, however, none of the planners were satisfied.

Because nobody had revealed their featured performers.

"All right, then. Let's see Blue Moon's stage. Looks like we'll finally see the only completed performance. All your dancers are here too. Hahaha."

Lewis laughed as though gossiping behind everyone else's backs.

You should say that in front of the other singers too.

Then they'd all start getting nervous.

The members first performed 〈Hippie〉 from beginning to end.

We needed to make a strong impression during this rehearsal so there would be no chance of being pushed into the opening show.

We were still hiding Michael Jason and Kerins.

Today's objective was to protect Blue Moon's Halftime Show slot without revealing them.

That was why we had no choice but to reveal the dance team.

Once 〈Hippie〉 ended, Anna strapped an electric guitar across herself.

Then the instrumental for Kerins's legendary song, 〈People's Rain〉, began.

It had once been performed on a Halftime Show stage before.

Anna sang the opening line.

The planners hid their surprise and focused on her voice.

Our members were already top-level performers.

If these people simply watched without prejudice, the entire stadium would end up in tears.

"Wow... This song creates impact through restraint. It's extremely difficult for anyone below master level to pull off. Impressive. Especially with a female vocalist."

Lewis praised her.

Even while speaking, he kept his voice low, almost like a whisper.

He didn't want to interfere with the performance.

"If you invited us here, then of course we had to prepare a master-level stage."

Lewis, if you were going to support us, I at least wouldn't let us embarrass you.

After Anna finished 〈People's Rain〉, Youngchae and Aran simultaneously took over for Michael Jason's 〈Ori Jean〉.

It was one of Michael Jason's signature songs.

Like 〈People's Rain〉, it was known for demanding both extremely difficult vocals and choreography.

But were our members ordinary idols?

Not only could they handle dance covers, their vocal ability kept reaching a new peak every time.

You guys always told me, get out from where I am.

And don't go around breaking people's hearts.

Youngchae and Aran's lead vocals clung to the melody with a thick, sticky groove.

Between their lines, Serin filled the climactic passages with her thin yet densely packed high notes.

Lewis's hand, which had been writing on a clipboard, stopped.

Serin had two highlight sections in total.

After being deeply impressed by the first one, Lewis silently waited for the second.

Then we had to meet his expectations.

As Serin entered the second highlight, the dancers came out.

Just as they had during Michael Jason's performances, they wore fedoras low over their heads and launched into perfectly synchronized choreography.

The actual Halftime Show would contain much more.

But that was the end of today's preview.

The planners stood and applauded.

"Unbelievable. Truly incredible. Honestly, when I heard you were covering those legendary songs, I was worried. But instead of inviting comparison, you turned them into distinctly Blue Moon performances while still reminding me of the originals. You captured some extremely subtle details!"

Of course we did.

We had tried this kind of planning once already with 〈I Love You So Much〉.

And it had succeeded.

With that, every artist's stage preview was complete.

John Parker and the dancers themselves looked deeply moved.

Lewis gave them enthusiastic applause.

"The stage isn't over yet."

"Really? There's more?"

Lewis, who had looked slightly disappointed that it was ending, immediately brightened again.

We could show him everything.

That way, if anyone later suggested moving Blue Moon to the opening show, he could oppose it even more strongly.

"Girls. Get the equipment ready."