Chapter 71: Chronos History (15)

“I came here just to tell you all this. I worked hard to launch the channel as soon as possible, so stop bothering me from now on, okay? See you.” After saying this, the manager rummaged through his pockets, took out his phone, and left the dorm.

Lee Jin-Sung trailed after the manager with the phone in his hand and asked, “Hyung, can we go live now?”

“Right now...? Sure, but remember to tell me or Mr. Seong first. Someone needs to keep an eye on things.”

“Yay! Okay.”

“See you.”

Once the manager had left, the excited Lee Jin-Sung bolted into the kitchen with his phone. “Hyungs, is it okay to start the live broadcast?"

“Now? With all of us looking this exhausted?" Joo-Han firmly shook his head. Despite being close to wrapping up recording, our live practice sessions had become more frequent. Our dance routines were changing whenever we got used to the previous choreography, and our live vocals were still shaky. Therefore, we always practiced until late at night. On top of this, the recent music video shoot, reality show filming, and meetings had added to our fatigue.

We were pushed to our limits, to the point where the bags under our eyes got darker each day. The skin breakouts and stretched t-shirts further contributed to our ragged appearance. Thus, launching Chronos’s first livestream in such a state seemed not only overly ambitious but also risky.

Park Yoon-Chan was the first to voice his concerns. “Hyung, the app just announced our channel launch on a huge banner. Aren’t the fans expecting us to go live soon?”

Goh Yoo-Joon nodded in agreement. “Exactly. Did you hear about High Tension? They started broadcasting the same day they opened their channel. It’s like an industry standard now.”

I nodded at their points and suggested, “Maybe if we freshen up and apply a bit of makeup, we can pull it off, right?”

As Lee Jin-Sung got support from us, he latched onto Joo-Han with a whiny attitude. “It’s the norm, hyung. I really want to do it...”

“If that’s the norm...” Joo-Han looked thoughtfully at Lee Jin-Sung’s now-cold pancakes on the table, and then a sly smile crept onto his face. “Sure, let’s do it. Jin-Sung, you are up for the shower first.”

“Awesome!”

“Good job.” Joo-Han chuckled and pointed at the pancakes. “This gives us the perfect opportunity to have a meaningful chat with our fans about our youngest’s special pancakes.”

“...Wow, fantastic,” I cheered, eager to celebrate the moment, so I enthusiastically patted Lee Jin-Sung on the back.

“You were looking forward to showing off your pancake-making skills, right? Now everyone can witness Jin-Sung's debut in the kitchen."

“Argh, so annoying! I'm off to shower!" Lee Jin-Sung stormed into the bathroom in a huff.

The rest of us giggled and temporarily set aside the pancakes to focus on editing Goh Yoo-Joon's praise-filled video about Jin-Sung’s pancakes.

“Let's make a quick edit for a teaser on

BlueBird

to preview our upcoming Q-app debut."

“I've got this. Watch me whip up a snappy thirty-second clip."

Once I had changed my clothes and tidied up, I watched Goh Yoo-Joon's editing process with amusement. “What's this? So ridiculous!" Just a glance of it was enough to make me laugh.

Goh Yoo-Joon sped up the scene where we carefully moved the pancakes to the kitchen and cleverly overlaid it with the trendy coffin meme. The similarity between our reverent pancake procession and the meme was hilariously uncanny.

While brushing his teeth at the sink, Joo-Han burst into laughter at the sound of the meme, spitting out water in a fit of amusement. After casually fixing his hair, Park Yoon-Chan also got out of the room, glanced at the video, and couldn’t help but snicker.

“Looks like everyone's had their laugh. Time to share this gem."

“Right on. Upload it now."

With a mischievous grin, Goh Yoo-Joon's fingers flew over the phone. As I sat beside him, he handed the phone over to me, displaying the freshly posted update.

Chronos @Officialchronos · 2 minutes ago

Trailer Alert!

What could we possibly be hinting at?

(Coffin meme with pancakes.avi)

#ForReal #JustALittleLonger #PatiencePays

98 comments 366 retweets 700 likes

As he uploaded the post, people reacted to it unbelievably fast. I rubbed my eyes and refreshed the page only to find the likes had crossed a thousand. Recognizing our subtle hint about the impending Q-app broadcast, our fans flooded us with enthusiastic replies filled with anticipation.

“Umm... This is getting serious, hyung. The fans are really looking forward to this since we already uploaded the teaser.”

“Oh, yeah? Send a text to manager hyung. Ask him what's a good length for the broadcast.”

“Okay.”

The manager gave us a thirty-minute time limit, and then staff from the agency arrived at our dorm with an extra smartphone for monitoring the chat during the livestream. Once we were all set, we gathered in the living room to set up the phone.

“How should we arrange the seating? Just keep it like this?”

“If we sit side by side, two of us will be out of the frame. Hmm, Hyun-Woo, Yoo-Joon, Jin-Sung, sit down in front,” instructed Joo-Han.

We followed Joo-Han’s instructions, and my central position in the front row felt like a heavy responsibility to me.

“What if I press the wrong button? There are so many settings.”

“Just do your best. Let’s start.”

“Okay, I am going to start it.” Communicating with fans through a livestream was a distinct experience from mini fan meetings or stages. I pressed the start button, and the screen stuttered momentarily before the recording icon changed color, indicating that we were live.

“Has it started?”

“Yes, we are live now.”

“How do we know if fans have joined?” Goh Yoo-Joon checked the chat on the monitoring phone. Then, Park Yoon-Chan pointed at a section on the phone screen. “See, this number shows how many people are watching.”

“Oh, really? Wow, two hundred people have already joined.”

— OMG, it’s real.

— What the heck!!! I just rushed in after seeing the BlueBird post. I am so excited!!!

— First livestream whoo whoo!!!

— How have you guys been?

— <3

“Shall we begin?” Joo-Han looked around at us. “Hello, everyone. Let’s start with our greetings. One, two, three!”

“Hello, we are Chronos. Nice to meet you again!”

— Awww, it’s my first time in a livestream and I am so happy that it’s Chronos! You guys are amazing!

— Hey guys!!!

— I have been waiting for this my whole life!

— I missed you so much ??

— Hyun-Woo!!! Yoo-Joon!!!

— Came here after watching the teaser. What’s going on?

As we greeted, the viewer count quickly rose to five hundred. While it was nothing compared to Allure’s instant millions, the fact that five hundred people rushed to join our Q-app livestream right away was overwhelmingly heartwarming. “We just found out about our channel today. Did you all know?”

— We just learned about it as well! The fans on

BlueBird

were discussing it.

— It was announced on the official page!

— Dang, can’t believe it’s Chronos’s livestream. When did this start?

— What the... Typical YMM, informing even the members on the day...

— Good thing I didn’t put my phone away during lunch.

— Found out because of the main banner today, haha.

— How can they all look so handsome just sitting at home? Seriously losing my mind here.

— <3

“Anyway, we just found out and thought we should give it a try. Thanks for joining.”

“We are really nervous. Can you tell?”

— LMAO! I can hear your heart beating from here.

— It’s my birthday today. Could you please wish me a happy birthday, oppa?

— Ahahahaha... such freshness, something we can’t find in Allure. So adorable.

— Why do you have to mention another idol group?

— Yeah, stop. Just focus on Chronos. Don’t compare our kids.

— What’s the teaser on

BlueBird

?

— Can’t believe the chat is so active for a group that hasn’t even debuted yet.

— Yeah, right. What’s with the teaser?

— The teaser LMAOOOO! That’s hilarious.

— Whoa... who made that teaser? I am impressed.

“Oh, that was Yoo-Joon’s work...” The chat messages flew up faster than we could read them. Reading them on time before they disappeared wasn’t easy at all.

“Yoo-Joon is really good at editing stuff like that.”

“Oh about that... It was... umm, can you bring it over, Yoon-Chan?” asked Joo-Han.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Ah, hyung!” shouted Jin-Sung.

Joo-Han pointed at the pancakes as if he had been eagerly waiting for this moment.

“Why are you bringing that up!?” Lee Jin-Sung started to grumble as he followed Yoon-Chan. Seeing Jin-Sung trying to snatch the pancakes from Yoon-Chan, Yoo-Joon handed me the phone and rushed to the kitchen.

Joo-Han and I simply watched the scene in the kitchen, laughing. Then, we started to explain to clarify for the curious fans. “Actually, Jin-Sung made pancakes today.”

Parrying Jin-Sung’s hands, Yoo-Joon raised the plate and started dancing as if he were worshiping the cake. “Pan~ pancakes~ Jin-Sung’s pancakes~”

“Oh yeah, let’s go! Jin-Sung made pancakes for us~ Boom, boom, boom!” Yoon-Chan soon joined Yoo-Joon. Their hips and shoulders swayed with such infectious energy, and their faces were beaming with unrestrained joy. It was as if they were channeling the spirit of Red Riding Hood Cha-Cha, infusing the room with an electric buzz of excitement.

“Ah, hyung, seriously!” It was hard not to laugh at the usually-timid Park Yoon-Chan dancing and teasing Jin-Sung like this.

“Ahahahahaha.” I couldn’t help but laugh and was unable to continue my words.

—What the heck AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Hyun-Woo LMAOOO!

— Pancakes hahahahhaha!

— What is going on off-screen????

— This is so funny!!!

“Pancakes... Whoo!” As Joo-Han and I laughed uncontrollably, Park Yoon-Chan and Goh Yoo-Joon soon came into view. “Stop laughing, Hyun-Woo! The fans are... haha, bewildered!”

“Seriously... ah, have you gone mad? This is too hilarious!”

“Phew...” While I struggled to control my laughter and got scolded by Yoo-Joon, Joo-Han finally managed to stop laughing and pointed at the pancakes. “Our beloved youngest, Jin-Sung, made these fantastic pancakes for the first time in his seventeen years.”

“Wow!”

“That’s amazing!”

— ??? What’s up with the members’ energy? LOL

— I knew they were funny guys, but hahaha. Hilarious from the get-go on Q-app!

“So, what’s going on here is...” We couldn’t give a proper explanation because of the laughter. Then, Yoo-Joon, who had calmed down early, started describing why we were so excited about a single pancake. “Earlier, Suh Hyun-Woo and I, umm...”

“Played the water balloon game,” I chimed in.

“Oh, right. We were playing the water balloon game. Then, Jin-Sung came to our room, waiting to show off his first-ever cooking effort.”

— AHAHAHAHAHAHHA!

— He went in to show off? Lmao, he must have wanted the attention.

— What is the water balloon game?

— Do you guys share a room? Roommates, I guess?

— Yeah, they mentioned it at the fan meeting.

— Water balloon game is from the Crazy Arcade.

— Roommates! I wondered what they did in their downtime, but really? Crazy Arcade to chill? HAHAHA!

“But we couldn’t give him much attention as we were playing the game. Then, he got upset.”

“So, we decided to give more love toward the pancakes later on.”

“I am not going to cook ever again,” Lee Jin-Sung said. It took us forty minutes after he cooked the pancakes to finally taste them.

“Huh? It’s actually good.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty good. Well done.” Jin-Sung’s pancakes tasted like ordinary pancakes, which was impressive. I hadn't anticipated them being delicious, but the members' chopsticks moved so swiftly, emptying the plate in a matter of minutes. Jin-Sung, who had been sulking after an hour of teasing, seemed to let go of his grudges after hearing our praise and seeing the empty plate.

After that, we moved on to lightly spoil our debut song, shared some behind-the-scenes stories from the music video shoot, and talked about the reality show.

As we gradually got more relaxed into the livestream, Joo-Han spoke up. “Also, I noticed in the chat that many people were asking when we are going to decide on a fan name for Chronos.”

“Fan nickname? We haven’t discussed that yet, have we?”

Joo-Han nodded at Goh Yoo-Joon’s words. “So, since it was brought up at the moment, how about we decide now?”