Chapter 43. High-Speed Driving
Despite the busy schedule, we made sure to rest properly the day before 〈Music Bang Bang〉.
It was our first proper performance on a major network, after all.
A music video could be replayed until it practically wore out.
But a fan's staple food was still the live stage.
A nationally broadcast stage that was far easier to access than searching for fancams filmed by people like me.
Armed with perfect condition and absurdly high spirits, the members confidently walked onto the 〈Music Bang Bang〉 set.
We weren't the Blue Moon people used to know anymore.
This time, PD Seo Hoe-dong had officially chosen us.
And we'd come to perform our own song.
"Yes. You're here."
Seo Hoe-dong noticed me while giving instructions to several staff members.
I sent the members into the waiting room and exchanged a few words with him.
"I watched 〈Idol of the Week〉. I saw the music video too. One of those streams was mine, so please keep that in mind."
"Hahaha. Thank you."
Seo Hoe-dong scratched his head with his pen while staring at the performer list.
"It was really good. The members' passion came through. And I could feel Team Leader Do Jun-hyeok's passion too."
"Ah, you could feel my passion in the music video?"
"Of course."
Seo Hoe-dong smiled as if he were the proud one.
"When people get a good song, they usually get complacent. You didn't. You had a good song, good choreography, music-video editing, design, costume concepts... Whose passion do you think that was? It impressed me."
"Hahaha. The fans waited a very long time for this stage. I had to give them at least this much of a gift."
Right then, a young PD walked past us, quietly muttering curses with an irritated expression.
"Hey, hey. Why do you look like you've got horns growing out of your head?"
"Ah, sorry. Something urgent came up."
"If you look that serious right before broadcast, you're going to make me nervous too. What's wrong?"
Apparently, he wasn't a PD assigned to 〈Music Bang Bang〉.
He was just an employee of the variety division who floated between different shows like a mercenary.
"It's not related to 〈Music Bang Bang〉. The new department head told us to replace every existing guest, so everything's on fire."
"Really? You're talking about 〈The Sixth Sense〉, right? Sounds like the new head said something correct. What's the problem?"
When Seo Hoe-dong defended the new department head, the younger PD snapped.
"After Director Kim Chang-bae resigned, how many experts disappeared with him? Of course everyone connected to sponsorship scandals has to be replaced. But the new head is going too far. Anyone can see we're not in a situation where normal work is possible right now."
"What did she say?"
"...'Do the idiots at KBC Variety Center only know how to work if a woman takes her clothes off for them?'"
Seo Hoe-dong's face instantly turned cold.
Then he looked at me.
"Let's talk after filming, Mr. Do Jun-hyeok. You. Follow me to the department head's office right now."
The two PDs left together.
It had already been three months since Kim Chang-bae went down.
Apparently, the bomb I'd detonated had been even bigger than I realized.
Then again, broadcasting stations planned things one or two years in advance.
If key employees and performers were all removed at once, the station would probably feel sick for at least a full year.
Seo Hoe-dong left the department head's office looking refreshed after his argument.
He didn't know much about the new head, Jung Hye-sun.
She was a senior employee transferred from a regional station after Kim Chang-bae left.
But what did Seo Hoe-dong care about the internal circumstances of Cheongsan Broadcasting Station?
Managers and field workers might have a hierarchy.
Still, there were lines nobody should cross.
The employees still working at KBC Variety Center were people who had stubbornly kept their principles even while watching coworkers rise through sponsorships, bribes, and other dirty methods.
Everyone else had already been removed.
They absolutely did not deserve to hear, You only work if women take their clothes off.
If anyone here had suspicious circumstances, it was Head Jung herself.
Nobody even knew exactly what method she'd used to transfer from Cheongsan all the way to Seoul.
When Seo Hoe-dong returned to the control room, rehearsal had already ended.
Even the short time spent dealing with Head Jung had ruined his mood.
The sound director and staff whispered among themselves after seeing his expression.
Apparently, word had already spread about why he'd gone to the department head's office.
"If the new head ever looks down on you or insults you again, tell me. People who throw their authority around need to be stepped on one by one."
"Yes, sir."
Seo Hoe-dong sank into his chair and breathed heavily.
Soon, the main broadcast began.
Blue Moon, who had just released a new song, took the first stage as usual.
They'd recently drawn plenty of attention.
But by the rules, they were still a comeback group with a newly released song.
Let's see what Do Jun-hyeok can really do.
The song was already available on Mango.
Apollo fans had listened to it hundreds of times by now.
It had also been revealed once on 〈Idol of the Week〉.
That had only been one national broadcast.
Still, there would be ordinary viewers who already knew the song.
But stages on 〈Music Bang Bang〉 had a special role.
Listeners paid attention to them.
Dreamlike piano accompaniment began.
Special sound effects filled out the rhythm.
The audience erupted in cheers.
The four members moved through their positions.
Then everyone except Anna turned their backs to the crowd.
Anna's opening rap began.
It showed off her skills without becoming too overwhelming.
On the screen behind the stage, a dolphin leaped once.
Then a crescent moon appeared and remained.
The stage had already been reviewed in advance.
As the song continued, the crescent moon would gradually grow fuller.
At first, the audience would simply think the effect was interesting.
But as the song built toward its peak and raced into the outro, the slowly filling moon would become a deliberate weapon aimed directly at fan emotions.
Apparently, choreographer Yang Seung-tae had suggested it.
Simple.
Clean.
Exactly like him.
"Wow... they really sharpened their knives for this. Just seeing backup dancers on a Blue Moon stage is shocking enough, but this quality? Isn't that song going to hit number one?"
The sound director sounded amazed.
Seo Hoe-dong had worked in broadcasting for a long time.
Highly polished, artistic stages didn't excite him so much as calm him.
Like Blue Moon themselves, gazing out at the night sea.
There wasn't a single element onstage that offended Seo Hoe-dong's eye.
Performances like this had become hard to find.
Then again, the era when stage quality alone gathered fandom hadn't lasted very long.
Fans usually cared more about the song or the members' looks than stage planning.
They didn't pay attention to tiny details.
And if fans didn't care, why would agencies spend money on them?
That was why agencies weren't necessarily wrong for not hiring proper stage directors.
But Do Jun-hyeok had.
Earlier, he'd called this quality a gift for the fans.
Was that really true?
Could someone who had worked at Pantheon really be that romantic?
"Who knows whether they'll reach number one."
There was no telling what kind of manipulation or dirty tricks might happen.
Without interference, 〈N.Dolphin〉 was strong enough to take first place.
"True. The idol scene is what it is these days. A good song and a great stage don't automatically mean number one."
"Exactly."
The sound director seemed to share Seo Hoe-dong's concern.
He probably didn't realize how highly Seo Hoe-dong actually rated 〈N.Dolphin〉's chances.
Passion.
Skill.
And even resistance to the entertainment industry's backroom games.
