* * *
The two people confirmed that it was the ambitious project of Planning Team 2.
“…Are they really doing this by voting?”
Lee Jeongmi mumbled blankly after reading the entire announcement.
Her friend, who understood the system first, let out a sound of admiration.
“This looks good. Kingdom is really doing some work, huh?”
“Right?”
The gist of the announcement was that every weekend, the songs “I’m Different” and “Dynamic” would be put to a vote, and the song with the higher number of votes would be performed on the next week’s music show.
This system was devised while they were pondering how to make the most effective use of the dual-title concept.
“The concepts of the two songs are quite different. The part allocations are different too…”
Fans each had their preferred song, which could spark quite a competition.
This competition itself would draw attention to MOST.
Of course, if the participation rate was low, the project might be worse than doing nothing at all, but for now, it didn’t seem like participation would be an issue.
“Vocal fans will definitely vote for ‘Dynamic’. That includes you, right?”
Her friend, knowing that Lee Jeongmi had been captivated by Dojae during the teaser, asked.
But Jeongmi couldn’t answer right away.
“Ah… ‘Dynamic’ has a lot more parts for oppa, and I really want to see him perform it a lot, but…”
“But?”
“I really love oppa in a school uniform too. You saw him in the school uniform in ‘I’m Different’.”
“Ah, he did look amazing.”
It wasn’t that she disliked the outfits in “Dynamic” though.
“And what if his voice gets strained from singing ‘Dynamic’ too much? Looks like they’ll be performing live.”
“Wow. You’re already worrying about that.”
MOST had just completed their first broadcast performance.
Her friend shook her head at Jeongmi’s fussiness.
“Ugh.”
But Jeongmi continued to agonize, clutching her head, regardless of her friend’s finger-pointing.
She hurriedly played both music videos alternately.
“What do I do? Which one do I vote for?”
“Hey, how about this: I’ll vote for ‘Dynamic’ and you vote for ‘I’m Different’.”
“If it’s 1:1, isn’t that the same as not voting at all?!”
“Wow, Jeongmi. You’ve gotten smarter.”
“Ugh. I guess I’ll vote for ‘I’m Different’ since I watched ‘Dynamic’ today. I’ll also ask the others to vote.”
Having made her decision, Jeongmi quickly sent a message to a group chat where many friends were gathered.
Jeongmi wasn’t the only one excited about the voting news.
All the fans of MOST were buzzing.
Hoping their favorite song would be the next music show performance, fans asked people around them to vote.
This naturally led to more promotion.
The strategy of Planning Team 2 was working perfectly.
***
The first week after debut passed in a blur.
MOST took the stage twice each with “Dynamic” and “I’m Different.”
The reaction to MOST’s performances continued to be positive, just like their first broadcast.
Within a week of debuting, they even earned the moniker “trustworthy performers.”
Although the audience for music shows is small, making it hard to appeal to the general public, MOST’s stage videos garnered high view counts on MyTube, spreading their fame.
As a result, their song rankings skyrocketed.
Both songs, previously in the 90s, climbed into the 60s.
To maintain the positive momentum, Kingdom chose ON TV for their first schedule outside music shows.
“I really wanted to do ON TV.”
Woochul said excitedly.
ON TV is an internet broadcasting platform where stars run their own channels and interact with fans in real-time, making it popular among both stars and fans.
Recently, live viewer counts on ON TV, along with album sales and MyTube music video views, have become barometers of a star’s popularity.
Not only Woochul, but also Louis, excitedly spoke up.
“Me too, me too! I always watched Candiz and HOH seniors on ON TV before bed… I can’t believe I get to do it too, gosh!”
Louis was as interested in senior idols as he was in dramas.
“Calm down a bit, Louis.”
Heungmin mimicked Louis’s tone, making Kyuseong laugh.
Thanks to this, Kyuseong seemed to relax and started warming up his voice in front of the mirror.
Next to him, Dojae was getting his outfit adjusted by the stylist.
When he first became “Kang Dojae,” he felt uncomfortable living without the attendants.
‘I thought I had finally gotten used to it…’
With debut, it felt like he had attendants again.
Quietly receiving the stylist’s touch, Dojae spoke up.
“Noona…”
“Gosh. Noona? Just speak comfortably.”
“Ah. Noo… na…”
He was used to calling his members “hyung,” but “noona” still felt awkward.
The stylist laughed lightly at his awkward address and asked, “What?”
“I was thinking, what if we fold the hem of the pants once?”
“Fold it? It’ll get shorter.”
“I just think… it might look better.”
Dojae was recalling a fashion he saw on MyStagram a few days ago.
“Really? Wait a second.”
The stylist quickly bent down and folded Dojae’s pant hem a bit.
Preparing for debut, Dojae had diligently observed the internet and SNS.
He thought he should understand Korean culture well if he was going to be a singer in Korea.
Even with the memories of “Kang Dojae,” they were too limited.
So, he studied various things and now grasped trends as well as young Woochul or Louis.
‘Not that I’ll blindly follow trends without my own style, though.’
As someone whose job required the public’s attention and love, he needed to know how to appropriately embrace trends.
As a member of the Imperial Family, Dojae was highly sensitive to public opinion, so it was only natural and familiar for him to reflect the public’s preferences appropriately.
“People seem to like this style these days. I quite like it too.”
Looking at his slightly cropped pants, Dojae thought.
“You’re right! This looks much better. It makes your legs look longer. Well, not that they weren’t long already.”
Dojae smiled quietly at the stylist’s compliment.
“You’re all set!”
“Thank you.”
The stylist blushed slightly at Dojae’s polite thanks, despite being more than five years older than him.
His courteous and respectful demeanor had a way of making her feel shy.
“Don’t mention it. Do well on the broadcast today.”
“Yes.”
***
With their styling complete, the members stood in the center of the rehearsal room where the cameras were set up. The back wall was decorated with large balloons spelling out “MOST” and various cute props.
The familiar rehearsal room had been transformed into a shooting location, and the members looked around.
“The practice room from hell looks brightened up,” Woochul commented.
“Do you like it?” asked Assistant Manager Lee Jungyeon.
“Of course. But we won’t always broadcast with it decorated like this, right?”
“No. Since today is your first ON TV broadcast, it’s special. In the future, it’ll depend on the broadcast concept. Sometimes it’ll be decorated, sometimes it’ll just show the rehearsal room as it is.”
“Ah, okay.”
Woochul and the other members nodded in agreement. Unless they rented a separate studio, most ON TV shoots would take place in the meeting room, rehearsal room, or dorm.
Sometimes even in the car, with stars announcing their location on ON TV. MOST planned to get comfortable with ON TV and gradually broadcast more frequently.
“Just to remind you… Today’s broadcast is 30 minutes long. You’ll introduce yourselves and the song, as we practiced.”
“Yes.”
“After introducing the song, you’ll perform a light dance of the first verse. The key here is to be more relaxed than on music shows.”
The members listened attentively to Lee Jungyeon’s instructions.
“After that, I’ll give you a laptop. You can read the comments and respond, just chat casually.”
“I’ve seen a lot of this, I know how it goes!” Louis said confidently, making Lee Jungyeon smile.
“Yes. It’s good to keep the conversation lively and pick interesting questions to answer.”
“Trust me!”
“Alright, Louis, we’re counting on you.”
Heungmin patted Louis on the shoulder.
“Five minutes before the broadcast ends, I’ll signal you. That’s when you’ll give your closing remarks. Everyone remembers their lines, right?”
Though they didn’t have a full script, they had a rough outline. The members nodded one by one.
“Alright, let’s start the broadcast!”
Lee Jungyeon checked the time and announced. It was six o’clock, the time they had announced for the live ON TV broadcast.
The members, who had been looking around, quickly turned to face the camera.
“Hello!”
Eager Louis waved both hands energetically, deviating from the planned greeting.
The members looked at him, momentarily frozen, because it wasn’t the agreed-upon greeting.
Lowering his hands, Louis mumbled, “Oh, this isn’t it….”
However, the broadcast wasn’t one that needed to be overly stiff. Dojae smiled encouragingly at Louis, and Kijoon, standing on the far left, naturally took over the greeting.
“One, two, three.”
“Hello! We are MOST, aiming to be the best!”
The members greeted in unison. It finally felt like the broadcast was properly starting. Woochul and Kyuseong waved and added their greetings.
“It’s great to meet you on our first ON TV broadcast!”
Heungmin continued with the next part.
As the broadcast began, the number of viewers quickly rose by the thousands, reflecting the hot interest in them just a week after their debut.
The ‘likes’ button was also being pressed rapidly by fans.
-Cute youngest member hahaha
-He greeted alone hahaha
-☆☆☆MOST is awesome☆☆☆
-Handsome
-The clothes are nice haha, is this a dynamic concept? Looks like a school uniform
-Love you, Dojae oppa
-What are you doing today?!!
-I LOVE MIN~
-Woochul, show some aegyo
-Congrats on your debut, guys
-☆☆☆MOST is awesome☆☆☆
Lee Jungyeon monitored the flood of comments and quickly wrote a message on a sketchbook to show the members.
[1,000 likes surpassed]
Dojae, noticing it first, announced as if it was part of the script.
“Everyone, we’ve just reached 10,000 likes!”
“Gosh! Thank you! Oh my gosh!”
The members, who had been introducing themselves, couldn’t hide their joy and shouted.
“Wow!”
The sound of Heungmin and Woochul high-fiving was cheerful.
As their debut ON TV live broadcast was progressing smoothly, Manager Kim Seokchul , watching the members calmly from the side, pulled out his phone from his pocket as it vibrated.
After checking the message, he quickly left the rehearsal room with a serious expression.
* * *
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