Chapter 246. Why Are You Coming Out From There? (4)
Now, as we moved into the formation we could arrange even with our eyes closed, a sense of determination unlike anything before emanated from the members.
The intro started with a deep, ominous bass, followed by a rushing victory anthem.
As his slightly grown-out hair, which had grown during the break period, fell over his eyes, Siwoo casually swept his bangs to the side with a gentle hand, squinting one eye as he began the first verse.
**Raise your voice, One, Two, Three!!**
Although our condition was a bit weaker than usual, due to performing two songs back to back, Siwoo’s sharp and husky high notes were more than enough to heat up the atmosphere in the concert hall.
The track from Kairos’s first mini-album, written and composed by Lee Doha, resonated in front of the 14,000-strong audience.
**‘Even though it’s our song, it’s freaking awesome.’**
Choosing *Not You* instead of the title track *New Wave* as the final song was purely an act of defiance.
**‘I may have taken on the role of a clown without a soul, but it still hurts my pride to fill the stage entirely with Seo Taeil’s songs.’**
To be honest, preparing for the performance made me admit that Utopia’s songs… were undeniably good.
But still.
**Don’t be afraid**
**Take my hand**
**The unfolding New Wave**
**Just enjoy it**
Even so, *New Wave* was the song I liked the most.
**We could get it all!**
As the chorus burst out, the lightsticks filled the concert hall, swaying in unison.
Watching that panorama, childish emotions I thought I had forgotten as I grew up began to stir within me.
**‘…Someday, we too…’**
With our name, with our songs, with fans chanting for us.
I wanted to show our stage.
“Let’s go―!!”
Just before entering the dance break on the protruding stage, feeling that tingling emotion rise to my throat, I involuntarily shouted out loud.
Some of the members seemed momentarily startled, but most of them, sharing a similar sentiment, soon smiled and added shouts to each move, just like we did in the practice room. The unified shouts lifted the excitement even higher.
The dance break, which we had practiced countless times, felt especially intense and exhilarating today.
“……?”
As we returned to the main stage, each of us gave a light greeting to the fans in the audience.
It was then that I made eye contact with someone among the audience on the first-floor standing area. They seemed familiar, but with all the people I’ve met during our activities, I couldn’t clearly remember.
I smiled and waved, but then I saw the person urgently holding up a tablet toward me. The words scribbled hastily with a highlighter on a black notebook caught my eye.
**<My pride, Kang Hajin. You’re amazing, the best. Praised.>**
**<Lucky to have followed a friend and hit the jackpot as a Destined>**
**‘Destined…?’**
Unconsciously, my hand lifted at the familiar word. As I greeted warmly, I could see the person shaking the tablet wildly, though I couldn’t clearly see their face due to the lights.
**‘…What a strange occurrence.’**
Whether what they said was true or not, I didn’t know….
**We could take it all!**
But just knowing that there was even one fan in this vast concert hall made my heart feel like it was about to burst.
* * *
“Did he see it? Did he see it?”
“Hey, he totally saw it. He smiled while looking at you!”
As Kairos’s **<Bonus Time>** ended and the opening VCR for the second part played,
Jaehee, who had borrowed a friend’s tablet to quickly scribble down a support message, was already on the verge of tears.
“Hey, Eunseo. I’m seriously going to buy the snacks tonight. I’ll even cover the hotel bill. I have no regrets now…. I’ve been so busy I couldn’t make it to any of their events….”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I joined Utopia because of you, so we’re even. But was that Hajin? Your favorite? Wow…. I can see why you became a fan.”
Jaehee couldn’t hide her pride at her friend’s approval.
She had anticipated that they might appear as guests, and had worried that the atmosphere might not be entirely favorable if they did….
Jaehee’s prediction was half right and half wrong.
Online, the reaction might be different, but at least for those who attended today’s concert, it seemed unlikely that anyone could easily criticize Kairos’s stage.
**‘See? My eyes were spot on.’**
For Jaehee, who remembered the moment Hajin had first entered the audition room at Rena, this moment felt like a dream come true. She thought that securing the position of Hajin’s first fan had been the best decision in her fan life.
Of course, that didn’t mean she wanted to become someone special to Hajin, nor did she expect him to remember her after all this time….
But even so, just going through the growth journey of someone she supported made Jaehee’s everyday life a bit more fulfilling and enjoyable.
“Hey, but you should’ve written ‘first fan.’ He might have recognized you.”
“I haven’t been to any events since then, so would he even remember me? And even if he did, what good would it do? That’s just like an idol’s Instagram girlfriend behavior. No, I just wanted the boys to know they had a fan here.”
Jaehee firmly shook her head at her friend’s suggestion.
Working in the entertainment industry had taught her that a fan’s excessive obsession and delusion would eventually eat away at both the fan and the artist.
Fans should remain as fans. Reminding herself of her fan philosophy, Jaehee once again held up Utopia’s slogan. It seemed the second part would begin soon.
“And….”
“Yeah?”
“That’s the kind of slogan we should use at our boys’ concerts. Doing it here at someone else’s event would just make us look clueless.”
“You’re so particular…. Oh, hey. It’s starting! It’s starting!”
Someday, in this concert hall.
Looking forward to the day she could wave the slogan and lightstick as a Destined fan of Kairos,
Jaehee shouted with all her might for Utopia, who had created this precious moment.
* * *
“Alright! Let’s give a big round of applause to our hardworking Utopia members, all the staff, and the guest performers who filled **<Bonus Time>** with such excitement! Everyone, great job! All together now! Wanna be?”
**“Let it be―!!”**
In the lively atmosphere, several glasses clinked together in the air.
The after-party for Utopia’s concert, held at a two-story barbecue restaurant, started at a whopping 11 PM.
The concert had started at 4 PM, and these crazy guys had blasted through a 2-hour first part, a 2-hour second part, and then a 2-hour encore.
**‘Are they collectively on drugs or something? Otherwise, how can these guys in their 30s keep going non-stop for 6 hours….’**
The problem started after **<Bonus Time>** ended, when we decided to stay and watch the concert till the end since we were already there.
Even though I figured I could learn a lot from these guys who’ve maintained their top status in the industry for 13 years, such as stage manners and other things,
Who would’ve thought.
That I’d end up standing for 4 hours and even get dragged to the after-party.
Even after saying multiple times that we had minors with us and needed to leave early, Nam Tijoo, drunk on the emotional high, refused to let us go.
“Haru. Eat slowly, slowly.”
“Hyung, this meat is so dewishus.”
“Yeah. Finish eating before you talk. I won’t steal it.”
“This is the first time I’ve eaten meat this dewishus.”
Seo Taehyun barely managed to stop Dan Haru from stuffing another huge mouthful of meat into his mouth. I silently pulled out a tissue and handed it to Dan Haru, who nodded with a muffled “Thank you~”.
“Dan Haru.”
“Yes?”
“Is it tasty?”
“Yes!”
“Eat a lot. It’s not our money, after all.”
“Yes!!”
It seemed like the time was approaching to settle things with that bright, innocent kid….
Honestly, ever since that conversation with ‘the Existence,’ I had been consciously avoiding thinking too deeply about the Chosen Regressor.
**‘I still don’t have a clear idea of what to do….’**
One of my bad habits was to postpone things without a plan until a solution came to mind.
Well, they said to win the Rookie Award first, so maybe something will come to mind once I win it.
Thinking that, I decided to check the reaction to today’s concert through the system.
As soon as I thought about it, the system automatically displayed the search results, filtered by relevance to the topic.
Convenient, but I still missed Thirteen, who was sloppy enough to be fun to boss around.
**Toewol @u_top_world**
**Spill the tea on how I went to a concert and ended up becoming an aunt to rookie idols**
**#Utopia #EurekaEncore**
**#Kairos #BonusTime**
**(Video of Kairos’s family talk)**
**Shared 7,001 times Quoted 352 times Liked 10,000+**
**LetitBe @iluvupia0331**
**Eureka encore with the rookie nephews**
**They were seriously hilarious, I think I’m gonna lose it. Their talk game was insane**
**The Dea girls in our section were losing it, cackling like crazy**
**Now I get why Taeil said Hajin feels like his son**
**And they were freaking amazing on stage. Seriously. Even though they’re rookies, their live performance was crazy**
**I was bursting with pride for Miro’s family right now**
**#EurekaEncoreReview**
**[Today’s Eureka was seriously so good lol The encore]**
**Part 1 was awesome, but Part 2 was insanely fun**
**I wasn’t expecting much from the bonus time since they were rookies (and I was so satisfied with Sarin unnie’s concert the day before), but they were funnier and cuter than I thought**
**Hearing Picnic and Emergency after so long made me go wild, doing group chants with the people next to me lolololol The last song was by those rookies, and that song was great too!**
**I was curious on the way home, so I checked out the audio track, but the live version was so much more exciting lolololol The recorded one felt a bit plain**
**And in Part 2, when the boys came out, people screamed so loud ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ**
**Dauni was straight-up jealous of how much the Utopia boys loved the rookies. How cute is it when 13-year-olds get jealous of rookies who’ve only been in the industry for 3 months…**
**Hansol seemed motivated, saying he had to do even better, and I seriously thought he was possessed… His 7-octave high note in Coup d’Etat was insane! He’s nuts! Lately, he hadn’t been doing that because of vocal management, which was a bummer lolol**
**Anyway, today’s encore was the best of all the concerts I’ve attended this time.**
**- Me too!!! Those rookies? Nephews? Uncles? Sons? I read on the Bluebird forum that they stayed until the end of the concert, watching from the 3rd-floor seats, and I find them even more likable lololol Let’s see them often in the future~^^**
**└ I was in 36th section of the 3rd floor, and it’s true. They even looked up the cheering methods and joined in with us. They were behind me, and shared snacks generously with the fans on both sides.**
**└ LOL this is hilarious lolololol**
**‘As expected…. The reaction is good.’**
The Utopia concert reviews could be endless if I intentionally looked for them, but it seemed the system had filtered out only those related to us. I did see some negative comments here and there, but they weren’t significant enough to worry about.
This time, I searched for the reactions from our fans who had seen the news.
**[Oh my God, Lee Doha’s abs at the SBN concert!!!!!!!!!!!]**
**(A photo taken with a phone of Lee Doha’s abs exposed as he wiped sweat from his forehead with his short-sleeved shirt)**
**Doha,!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What about us!?!??!?????????**
**- P… Please calm down…**
**- Kang Hajin too………..(A preview photo of Hajin’s sweat-soaked back as he took off his varsity jacket)**
**- I’m proud of the boys for doing well, but I’m so jealous of the senior members of Utopia… Is this normal?**
**└ Beep. This is normal.**
**[Hajin seems to be doing a great job as the leader]**
**The way he led the chants and hyped up the crowd at the seniors’ concert today…**
**I watched the full stage video someone posted on Bluebird,**
**and when Hajin shouted “Let’s go!!!” during the kick-off dance break,**
**the members all joined in with shouts, and it really touched my heart…**
**Someday, we’ll also be cheering at the gymnastics stadium, right?**
**Seeing the boys shouting with determination and performing with all their might…**
**- Jini seems really good at that kind of on-the-spot guidance? He’s witty and quick on his feet, so he’s a good fit for broadcast variety shows that need a bit of structure? But for this kind of spontaneous stuff, Hajin’s the perfect fit.**
**- 100% agree. Hajin was so impressive and reliable today.**
**[I… I’m already excited for the year-end stage…]**
**Seeing them perform at such a big venue…ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅜㅜㅜ**
**I’m so, so, so excited for this year’s year-end stage. What do I do?**
**I hope they go all out with a remixed version of Order and Kickoff with an insane performance…**
**- Seeing as how they performed today, I’m betting the new kids will take the stage by storm!!! I’m looking forward to year-end too!!!!**
**- If I can’t attend the show, I might as well die…**
**- The boys will nail the year-end stage, and we’ll get them the Rookie Award. Everyone’s collecting votes, right?**
“…Ah. Year-end stage.”
Now that I thought about it, it was time to start preparing for that.
I closed the system window and thought about it while wrapping well-cooked meat and grilled kimchi in a lettuce wrap.
**‘What should we do…?’**
So much to do, damn it….