Chapter 466: What Should We Do From Now On (30)

I snapped back to reality and focused on the rehearsal. I couldn't afford to show any signs of fatigue while practicing with Kun-Ho. The great thing about joint concerts organized by our agency was that you got to see performances you normally wouldn't, and performing with Kun-Ho was one of those rare treats.

For this concert, we were set to sing "Goodbye Snow." It was a solo song Kun-Ho had released back when he was a member of an idol group. I had covered this song during the Ring inauguration ceremony, and the Rings often mentioned they wanted to see it performed again.

Thanks to Kun-Ho’s suggestion, we were now performing it as a duet. After finishing the rehearsal, he smiled warmly and said, "Your voice always sounds like a gem, Hyun-Woo. Take good care of it so we can hear it for a long time."

"Thank you, Senior."

As we descended from the stage, the members of Chronos, who had been waiting behind the curtain, greeted Kun-Ho enthusiastically and then swarmed around me.

"Great job, great job, Suh Hyun-Woo."

"Hyung, it seems like you’ve improved a lot when it comes to expressing emotions with your voice, compared to before."

"Ah, really? I guess becoming Eden had a big impact on me."

Kun-Ho watched us chattering loudly and laughed. He turned and said to Supervisor Kim. "Ah, it’s nice hearing them make so much noise. They’re having a good time together. I used to be like that too."

"Back then, we used to tell you and your former group members that you were really enjoying yourselves," Supervisor Kim said. "Since this is a joint concert, do you want to try performing a choreographed song after a long time?"

I overheard their conversation while being patted by my members. This was quite an enticing proposal. The group Kun-Ho had been a part of used to be one I frequently followed and listened to. Since their disbandment, I hadn't seen them perform any of their old songs officially. With only one day left until the main concert, was this even possible?

It seemed Kun-Ho thought the same because he immediately shook his head. "Changing the setlist aside, how can I practice a choreographed song in just one day? It’s been so long since I last danced. And my members aren't even here."

At that moment, Goh Yoo-Joon grabbed my hand and raised it high, lifting both mine and Jin-Sung’s hands simultaneously. "Teacher, if you need members to perform with, please let us know."

"Let you guys know?"

Goh Yoo-Joon grinned and nodded. "Even if you just stand in the middle and sing, we can dance. We practiced your songs a lot when we were trainees, especially him."

Goh Yoo-Joon pointed at me. Since I was a huge fan of Kun-Ho's former group, I used to dance to their songs frequently during monthly evaluations or warm-ups. I often danced with Goh Yoo-Joon and Han Jun. Jin-Sung, who had covered almost every idol group’s dances, seemed to be dragged into this too.

As expected, Jin-Sung beamed and nodded in agreement. "Yes, that's right, Senior! If you need our help, please let us know!"

"My goodness." Kun-Ho laughed cheerfully. "How could I use the Chronos members as dancers? Seriously, thanks for the offer, but just focus on your own performance."

Supervisor Kim also chuckled and said, "But Kun-Ho, these guys really practiced your songs a lot. They’re serious about this, so if you ever want to dance briefly during the talk session or something, just do it. No worries about copyrights or anything."

"That's not an issue, hyung. I’ve been around long enough."

"Alright."

Kun-Ho chatted amicably with Supervisor Kim, then headed to the waiting room.

Goh Yoo-Joon whispered to me. "If Kun-Ho hyung will really sing one of his group songs later, let’s rush on stage. You, me, Jin-Sung, and Han Jun."

I shrugged and glanced at the stage where we were preparing for rehearsal. Since this concert had a strong event-like atmosphere, it felt much more relaxed than other concerts.

If it was just a brief dance during a talk segment and not during the main performance, no one would stop us from jumping up and acting as dancers. However, judging by what Kun-Ho said, it didn’t seem likely we’d see even a short dance performance from him.

"Chronos, you are going up for rehearsal."

"Alright!"

"We got this!"

Goh Yoo-Joon stopped whispering and headed to the stage at the staff’s call.

For this concert, we were performing "Blue Room Party," "Red Rouge," "Ario 愛," and "Joy." We also prepared a skit-like performance with the song "Winter is Ours" as a follow-up to the end-of-year performance "Christmas is Ours."

This time, we decided to recreate the music videos for "Ario 愛" and "Joy" because we wanted to give the Rings everything they wanted. Yeah, we worked really hard to prepare these recreations, as well as the "Winter is Ours" performance for the joint concert. It was no wonder people said we lost weight.

Staying up all night while working on an album or getting ready for a concert was normal, but this time, we had absolutely no time to rest. This was really tough. Even Joo-Han, who was addicted to producing songs, had to pause his tasks because of the concert workload.

On stage, the five of us exchanged brief words with exhausted expressions.

"We just have to endure today and tomorrow..."

"Then, we can rest..."

"Really...?"

"Actually, just kidding... we can’t rest... we have to prepare for the next album..."

My fellow group members were conversing with exhausted voices. I shook my head and said, "Listen, you workaholics. Let’s actually take a break for two days, like real people do."

"Ha! Workaholics? And who exactly are you calling workaholics here?"

"It’s funny hearing that from someone who pretends he is not one."

Yeah, I admit it, I’m a workaholic too...

All of us looked drained. We faced forward to greet our director and the staff energetically.

"One, two, three! Hello, we are Chronos. Thanks for having us!"

"Thank you for your hard work. Alright, let’s get started with the rehearsal. Uh, we will kick off with ‘Blue Room Party.’"

"Got it!"

***

After wrapping up the rehearsal early in the morning, Allure and Sequence came back from their packed schedules.

"How come every single one of you looks completely wiped? Su-Hwan, are the members really being looked after...?"

Before heading home, Kun-Ho had bought drinks for us. He started teasing Su-Hwan about our exhaustion but then cut himself off because Su-Hwan himself looked just as spent. It made sense, given he was simultaneously juggling two team album promotions, prepping for a Chronos album, and organizing a joint concert.

Now that Su-Hwan had taken over as label head, Allure sped up their comeback cycle and ramped up activities.

At the same time, Chronos was already making waves domestically and expanding their global outreach with aggressive marketing. Sequence had only just debuted but had already started rolling out their own content and making frequent variety show appearances for album promotions, just like Chronos had done in the past.

With the much-awaited joint concert finally happening, the fans were thrilled, but it was clearly a grind for Su-Hwan and the staff from our label. And for us too...

In times like these, it was hard to blame anyone because managing our health seemed nearly impossible.

"Su-Hwan, have you eaten anything yet?" Kun-Ho asked with concern, to which Su-Hwan simply shook his head while looking like he had lost his willpower.

"Not yet, but I’m fine."

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"No, hyung, you definitely don’t seem fine," I said.

Seeing Su-Hwan so exhausted after such a long time was truly disheartening. Despite this, he offered a gentle smile at my remark.

Kun-Ho, however, wasn’t having it, and shook his head, insisting. He guided Su-Hwan away. "Su-Hwan, this isn’t working. You need to eat. I’m about to grab some food with the staff, so come join us."

"No, I..."

"I get that you want to oversee every rehearsal, but you’re going to collapse at this rate. Let’s go."

Without waiting for Su-Hwan’s approval, Kun-Ho took the lead. Right before they stepped offstage, Kun-Ho handed me a camera. "This was given to me by a YMM employee who went to get your drinks, and they asked me to get backstage footage. But since you get along better with the juniors, you should do it."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you are the one who connects best with them. I will let the staff know."

"Alright, I will take care of it."

"Yeah, just film it selfie-style while you go around interviewing everyone."

As Kun-Ho walked away with Su-Hwan, I switched on the camera he'd handed to me. Kun-Ho had gotten used to running various shows since his

Graduating

days, so the staff seemed to have entrusted him with this task.

Unfortunately, I was not as great at hosting as him. Therefore, I was planning to just casually walk around and chat with people. Plus, I was actually the best member for this kind of task because I had the most connections among the members of this label group. I had come to this realization while preparing for the joint performance.

I first went to film Goh Yoo-Joon, who was closest to me. I told the camera, "Hello, everyone. I’m Suh Hyun-Woo from Chronos."

"Uh? Oh! A camera! When did you start carrying that around? Are you filming?" Goh Yoo-Joon noticed the camera a bit late, but immediately waved his hand.

"Yes, I’m filming. This is the rehearsal site for our YMM family joint concert. From now on, I, Suh Hyun-Woo, will be walking around to capture on camera what’s really going on during rehearsal."

Despite being rather pushed into filming this segment, I was talking quite smoothly.