* * *
“And the first place goes to… Congratulations! MOST! ‘I’m Different!'”
As the MCs announced the winner, fireworks erupted on stage. The crowd’s cheers shook the entire venue.
“MOST!”
“MOST!!!”
“MOST!!!”
The fans chanted the team’s name, their voices filled with excitement.
The MCs handed over the trophy and a bouquet of flowers.
Kyuseong received the trophy, and Dojae, who stood next to him, took the bouquet. Kyuseong’s hand, holding the trophy, trembled slightly.
Dojae patted him on the shoulder.
‘We really… made it to first place.’
Dojae, too, was overwhelmed with emotion.
He felt his heart pounding in his chest.
When he lived as a prince, he often forgot he even had a heart, his days so monotonous.
But here, pursuing his dream, he could hear his heart racing more than ever.
Candiz members and other singers congratulated MOST and left the stage.
“MOST, congratulations on your first win! Can we hear your thoughts?”
The male MC handed the microphone to the members. The leader, Kijoon, stepped forward to speak.
“…Ah.”
For a moment, Kijoon was uncharacteristically frozen, something swelling within him.
“Hyung, don’t cry.”
Hungmin, standing behind Kijoon, whispered just out of microphone range. Kijoon then cleared his throat and brought the microphone closer to his lips.
“Ah… First, thank you.”
Kijoon, his voice trembling, cautiously opened his palm, revealing words smudged with sweat.
“Thank you to President of Kingdom, Vice President, Manager Kim Seokchul , Team Leader Jung Heeyoung, and the staff of Planning Team 2… Director Lee Jungyeop who wrote our song…”
He had written down the names of those he needed to thank in the waiting room. As he mentioned each name, Kijoon’s brow furrowed.
At a glance, it might look like he was angry, but he was just trying to hold back his tears.
“…To Manager Giljoo, who went through thick and thin with us, thank you. And most importantly… to our parents, who helped us get here. Thank you. And to our fans…”
Witnessing someone’s first major achievement is always special.
Even those who usually had no interest in MOST watched the six members with warm attention, their eyes red with emotion.
The members were genuinely surprised and delighted by their win, more moved than they had ever imagined.
The audience felt the members’ emotions deeply, and MOST’s fans felt their hard work in voting was rewarded.
“Thank you!”
“Thank you so much!”
“We love you!!!”
“Love you so much!”
Starting with Woochul, the members eagerly shouted into Kijoon’s microphone, addressing their fans. Another wave of loud cheers erupted from the fan section.
As the MCs gave their closing remarks and left the stage, the intro of “I’m Different” began to play. This encore stage, rarely aired, was essentially fan service.
However, the members performed the choreography as if it were their main stage performance.
Among the exiting audience, they bowed deeply to their remaining fans.
They had just taken their first step toward the peak.
Though the road ahead would be long and arduous, the members felt a strong conviction that their path would be an uphill journey.
As the instrumental part began, Dojae handed the trophy to the other members, who gathered around it.
“Ha, our first trophy!”
“Wow, it’s heavier than I thought.”
MOST’s amazed expressions as they examined the trophy left a lasting impression on their fans.
***
“Congratulations!”
“Congrats on your first win!!!”
As they returned to the waiting room, the staff showered them with congratulations.
“Thank you, hyung!”
“Thank you so much.”
Their voices were still high with excitement.
“Unbelievable! We’re number one!”
“Aaaah! So exciting!”
The younger members, in particular, couldn’t contain their excitement and were quite loud. Amid the celebration, Manager Kim Seokchul , standing before Dojae, spoke.
“Congratulations. You’ve worked hard.”
“Thank you. You’ve worked hard too, Team Leader.”
“Well, this is my job after all.”
Despite his modest words, Manager Kim couldn’t hide the smile on his face. Seeing him so happy was new to Dojae, who watched him with curiosity.
‘The palace was peaceful… but it had to be rigid to maintain that peace.’
Therefore, seeing Manager Kim from the palace genuinely happy was rare. But here, Dojae could see Manager Kim, who looked and acted just like Manager Kim, laughing freely. Dojae felt the same way.
‘I’m glad we can laugh together here.’
Dojae had always felt guilty toward Manager Kim, who had to take care of the troublesome third prince.
“Give me the bouquet. I’ll take care of it.”
“Sure.”
Dojae handed over the bouquet with a happy smile and wiped his sweat with a tissue from the stylist.
“You guys must be hungry. I’ll buy dinner while you change. What do you want to eat?”
Jung Giljoo asked in an unusually high-pitched voice.
After music shows, the members usually took their meals to go and ate in the car.
It was dinner time, and restaurants were crowded, and it took too long to go back to their dorm to eat.
At Giljoo’s question, Woochul raised his hand enthusiastically.
“Ribs! Let’s have ribs since we’re in a good mood!”
“Uh… do they even do takeout ribs these days? Do they grill them for you?”
“Hyung, don’t listen to him. How can we eat ribs in the car?”
Hungmin immediately scolded Woochul, who turned away with a pout.
‘Ribs… I’d like to have them too.’
Hearing about ribs made Dojae’s mouth water unconsciously.
The sweet ribs he had eaten in the Korean Empire came to mind.
‘Whenever I went to Suwon Hwaseong with my parents, we would eat ribs from a famous restaurant there.’
“I heard Suwon’s ribs are famous here too. Of course, it doesn’t have to be those exact ribs…”
Thinking back, he realized he hadn’t had a proper feast since coming to Korea.
The company’s meal allowance was limited, and although he had some money, he was saving as much as possible since he didn’t know when he’d get reimbursed.
“More than anything, I didn’t have time. Since joining Kingdom, I’ve been busy preparing for our debut.”
He regretted not going out for a meal with the members before, even if it was just once.
Anyway, ribs in the car were out of the question, so they settled on hamburgers.
Just before their debut, Dojae was craving hamburgers so much but had to manage his diet.
But after debuting, hamburgers became the most frequent meal.
They were so active that they didn’t have to worry about gaining weight from eating them.
“I’ll have the spicy chicken!”
“I’ll take the tomato deluxe!”
“Our orders are all different. Y’all are so picky.”
Jung Giljoo, who was jotting down the excited members’ orders, grumbled in dialect.
The last one to order was Dojae.
“Dojae, what about you?”
He hoped that Dojae will order the the same thing as someone else.
With that hope, Jung Giljoo looked at Dojae.
Dojae smiled and answered.
“I’ll have the bulgogi burger, please.”
“…Thank you.”
Just when Jung Giljoo’s shoulders drooped after writing down six different kinds of hamburgers.
“Wait a minute, Giljoo.”
Manager Kim Seokchul , who had just finished a short phone call, stopped Jung Giljoo as he was about to leave the waiting room.
He then spoke to Jung Giljoo and the members.
“Let’s go to a restaurant for dinner instead of eating in the car.”
“A restaurant?”
Heungmin asked expectantly.
Kim Seokchul nodded.
“Yes. I just got a call from the vice president. He’s treating us to celebrate our first place. How about ribs?”
“Whoa! Yes, that’s great!”
“Ribs!”
“Vice President, you’re the best.”
The members were as excited about the ribs as they were about their first-place win.
Dojae couldn’t hide his joy and exclaimed, “Sounds good!”
“Giljoo, please make a reservation at a rib restaurant.”
“Yes, sir!”
“And anyone from the choreography team or staff who’s free should join us.”
“Us too? Okay!”
Excited voices erupted from all around.
***
Jung Giljoo reserved a famous rib restaurant located between the broadcasting station and the dormitory.
Although the reservation was sudden, it was possible since it was a weekday.
As they sniffed the smell of ribs wafting from the entrance, Louis and Woochul even did a little dance.
As they sat down, Kyuseong hummed a tune.
“Dojae, your post on Twitty is the most popular again today.”
Heungmin, looking at his phone while waiting for their order, said.
“Really? I thought I might have written too much…”
“We couldn’t write like that even if we tried.”
Kijoon responded to Dojae’s question.
Dojae’s unique tone and writing style on Twitty were well-loved by fans.
“They say you sound like a scholar.”
“A scholar?”
“Yeah, you even talk like one sometimes. Makes me wonder if you truly came from the Joseon Dynasty.”
Dojae awkwardly laughed at Woochul’s playful remark.
He was trying to change his way of speaking, but his writing remained the same.
He had no intention of changing that.
“Oh, and the photo of you with the bouquet today is trending everywhere. More than Kyuseong holding the trophy.”
“Of course.”
Kyuseong responded as if he never even considered it a competition.
“Still, today’s biggest topic is Louis.”
Dojae said, checking the reactions on his phone in the car.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“He said the intro dance was hard but flew around when he got excited.”
“Did you see the article titled ‘Louis 19, doing flips’? The comments are crazy!”
“Many people are drawn in by Louis’ name.”
“His parents might as well have named him to be a celebrity.”
Louis proudly made a V sign with both hands.
“I actually thanked my parents. I used to hate it because of all the misunderstandings about my appearance and name. I got teased a lot.”
“But now, everyone says it’s a beautiful name.”
Kyuseong said, ruffling Louis’ fluffy blond hair, meaning he should forget the teasing.
At the mention of parents, Heungmin’s expression subtly hardened.
He had debuted against his parents’ wishes. He still contacted his mother occasionally but hadn’t spoken to his father in years.
“But Kijoon.”
Heungmin changed the topic, seemingly to avoid thinking about his parents.
Kijoon, who was picking at the side dishes, looked up.
“You said every stage is the same for us, whether we’re nominees or not… when did you write your acceptance speech on your palm?”
“Yeah! I saw that too!”
Woochul eagerly joined the conversation.
“Come on, you were secretly hoping, right?”
Kijoon’s expression hardened.
“Ah… why is the meat taking so long?”
Kijoon turned his head, his face quickly turning red.
The younger members found their blushing eldest brother adorable and burst into laughter.
Meanwhile, Dojae stepped out to call his mother, who had just gotten off work.
No one could have predicted the chaos that would soon unfold.
* * *
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