Second Try Idol

Chapter 324: Break (20)

Just after waking up, the room was buzzing with activity as the disheveled members tidied up their outfits in a bit of a frenzy. They washed up one by one, slipped into fresh clothes, styled their hair, and slapped on some skincare products.

Back in their trainee days, it used to take just five minutes to jump out of bed and put on some shoes. But now, prepping could drag on for thirty to forty minutes as celebrities.

Joo-Han and Jin-Sung, who had finished grooming earlier, were lounging on the couch while fiddling with their phones and muttering under their breath.

“That should be enough. Come over here, guys. How much more do you need to primp?"

“Others would think you guys are getting ready for a concert or something.”

Goh Yoo-Joon was diligently applying sunscreen to his face. “When you are about to face hundreds of thousands on the Q-app, you've got to look sharp."

I took the tube from him and set down the comb, thinking to myself how right he was. I knew Joo-Han hated waiting, but Goh Yoo-Joon’s point was valid. Any minor skin issue and the Rings would flood social media and post concerned messages like, ‘Looks like Hyun-Woo is really worn out these days ??.’

“Hyun-Woo hyung, sorry to bother, but can I borrow some lotion?" Yoon-Chan asked as he came out from the bathroom, vigorously drying his hair with a towel.

“...Ha.” Just then, a deep sigh from Joo-Han cut through the chatter. He gave us a look of utter boredom before showing us the phone with the Q-app ready to go. “You've got one minute."

“What? Seriously?" The room became filled with a mix of confusion and urgency.

But Joo-Han was firm. “Finish up and sit down. We are starting in a minute whether you are ready or not. Alright, go!"

His sudden command threw us off, but we snapped into motion. Though we were used to Joo-Han’s ways, the rush still felt chaotic.

“Ten, nine—" he began counting down, and the scramble intensified.

“Aaak! Just getting my shirt on!"

“Eight—"

Admittedly, forty minutes to get ready did seem excessive. I hurriedly slathered on the rest of my sunscreen and buttoned up my jacket.

“Seven, six, five—" The countdown continued, and I fumbled with my shirt buttons in panic.

“Hang on, just a sec. I can't go on live looking like this!" I protested as I tried to smooth out my stretched-out t-shirt.

“Wait, hyung. Wait! I can’t wear a t-shirt with holes on live streaming, right?” Goh Yoo-Joon was half-dressed and frantically shouting.

“You could've just dressed up instead of messing around with sunscreen indoors. One, zero!"

And just like that, the Q-app live ruthlessly began with Joo-Han’s final countdown.

Ding! Ding!

Alerts from the Q-app buzzed on every phone around, signaling the start of the live session.

Goh Yoo-Joon was still half-buttoned, froze and stared incredulously at Joo-Han. “Wow, did you really just start it?"

Only Joo-Han and Jin-Sung were fully visible on the Q-app's screen.

“Dude, seriously. What a leader, ugh. What a character." Goh Yoo-Joon muttered, finishing doing his buttons.

Joo-Han flashed a mischievous grin and waved at the camera.

“Good morning, everyone! Yes, welcome!" Joo-Han greeted cheerfully.

“Hyung, it’s more like lunchtime, isn’t it?"

“We are still technically on vacation, but I turned this on because I saw so many messages from Rings saying they missed us. Oh, what about the other members?" Joo-Han read the chat and turned his attention back to us.

The response was immediate and mixed, with some playful banter and genuine annoyance.

“Hyung is so mean. Not considerate at all," Goh Yoo-Joon grumbled as he walked to the couch and pressed down on Joo-Han's shoulder. “He started live streaming, saying that our preparations took ages. Rings, that's our leader. This is a total dictatorship. Is this even fair?"

“Yeah, all we wanted was to look a bit nicer since it’s been a while," I added with a playful tone, joining in the pressure on Joo-Han's shoulder. Soon, Yoon-Chan rushed over and sat next to me.

- 😂😂😂😂 Even during vacation, they are still under the Republic of Joo-Han

- Republic of Joo-Han lol 😂😂

- I missed you so much ??

- How’s your vacation going?

- ?? On vacation but still thinking of us? Thank you guys ??

- Dang, I didn’t even expect a live stream today...

“It's fine to spend time getting ready. But why does it take forty minutes to prepare? I really don't get it," Joo-Han said.

“Come on. It’s much better than showing up looking like we just rolled out of bed. Don't you all want to see us at our best after such a long time?" Goh Yoo-Joon countered.

As Joo-Han and Goh Yoo-Joon bickered, the chat window filled up rapidly. I turned on the Q-app on my phone to check the chat, and found a mix of messages saying any appearance was fine, along with various questions.

I glanced at the chat filled with Rings expressing confusion over the sudden live broadcast during our vacation, and gently nudged Joo-Han's shoulder. “Let’s stop arguing and start with some greetings."

“Ah, right. It's been a while, so let's greet everyone. On three! Two, three!"

“Hello, we are Chronos!"

“We didn't turn on the Q-app because of work. Don’t worry. We really just missed you all," Jin-Sung quickly said after receiving the phone from me.

Since Chronos' schedule was released, the amount of swearing about YMM among the Rings had become almost a meme these days. Because of that, even our vacation photos, which had been posted out of goodwill, were accused of being orchestrated by the company. I also saw some comments being suspicious whether YMM had forced us to start this live session.

Goh Yoo-Joon playfully reassured the Rings and dispelled their concerns. “That’s right. Just like you all missed us, we missed you and started this livestream. It wasn’t the company’s doing, so don’t worry!"

Even though this Q-app session was sudden, there was a lot to talk about because it had been a while since we last communicated as a group. The atmosphere was relaxed and casual with no special announcements to make. Since we were on vacation, the members were also at ease. This allowed the live session to proceed naturally.

“Who made the samgyetang?"

“It was manager hyung, Joo-Han hyung, and Yoon-Chan."

“Joo-Han hyung and Yoon-Chan seem to be getting better at cooking. It was really tasty."

“Most of the work was done by manager hyung, but ah, Yoon-Chan was in charge of the seasoning."

“Someone is asking why only the three of you are wet in the photo."

It seemed there was a lot the Rings wanted to ask, just as much as we wanted to say. A lot of photos and videos had been uploaded to BlueBird. Since we were doing a live to communicate and weren’t pressed for time, we tried to integrate most visible questions into our conversation.

Jin-Sung raised his hand when he saw a question come up. “There’s a question." All eyes turned to him, and he looked at me. “Hyung, did you know that the preview video for Newbie Crew was released?"

“Oh, really? I had no idea." I looked at Su-Hwan. He seemed unaware but not particularly surprised, since the pre-release of videos must have been included in the contract.

“Ah, here it is. It’s up. Whoa, a preview video that’s thirty minutes long?" I reached out my hand and Goh Yoo-Joon handed me his phone. I just saw my face prominently displayed on the thumbnail of the thirty-minute video and asked the Rings. “How was it, everyone? Did you enjoy it?"

I asked without much thought, just out of curiosity because the edited version of the broadcast I appeared in had been released. I hadn’t considered that there might be any issue with the editing. However, the Rings' reactions were somewhat odd.

- ??Hyun-Woo’s screen time was so little

- Just hang in there! I’m going to smash the broadcast station ??

- It was fun hehe

- The screen time was a bit short, but it was good to see Hyun-Woo’s face!

“Uh, what’s wrong with it?" Goh Yoo-Joon was so flustered that he responded in a teasing manner to lighten up the mood. However, the Rings’ reactions were still very negative.

What was going on? I took the situation a bit more seriously. I had been bustling around in the game, and since only my face was in the thumbnail, I thought I had a decent amount of screentime. However, the truth was the exact opposite.

“If you all enjoyed it, that's what matters. Ha ha!" I quickly laughed to diffuse the negative atmosphere and moved on.

After a while, I decided to monitor the video alone slowly and analyze why everyone was so dissatisfied with my short screen time. And I had to figure out how to appear more often somehow.

Afterward, the members deliberately skipped any topics or questions about Newbie Crew as the conversation continued. We spent nearly an hour and a half live, and Joo-Han eventually wrapped up our chat. “We will visit often during our vacation so you don’t feel bored or lonely. We will keep uploading photos and videos like now."

“Is there anything you want to see in our next live session, Rings?" I asked, and a surge of suggestions came in. I fixed the chat and slowly scrolled down to read the messages.

- If there is a karaoke machine at the lodge, how about taking song requests? hehe

- Just turning the livestream on and chatting would be good!

- I want to see you guys cooking live again!

- If you’re in the countryside, how about a courage test like going to an abandoned building at night? I want to see Jin-Sung get scared ??

I read out all the feasible suggestions among the visible messages. The members repeated 'Shall we? That sounds good,' positively responding to each of the Rings' suggestions.

One suggestion caught Joo-Han’s interest. “A courage test sounds good. We could combine it with a treasure hunt and do it live at night."

Jin-Sung turned ghastly pale.