The school festival was bearable. Last year, Wooseok's club didn't do anything, so there wasn't much to do during the festival. The experiences were limited, but it was difficult to keep up all morning. The afternoon performances weren't particularly worth watching, either. This year's festival was a bit better than last year, when it was a blessing that the school didn't confiscate phones. Wooseok stayed in his club booth all morning. He wouldn't leave even when other club members asked him to look around.
“I really feel more comfortable here.”
"You always just sit around and die. During festivals, you walk around a bit... no."
After a relatively pleasant morning, the afternoon arrived, after lunch, with a performance to attend. Wooseok had never been more envious of his seniors, who, after the CSAT, could skip the afternoon performances and head home.
Complaints are complaints, but seeing a performance is something you have to see. I ended up sitting so close to the stage that it felt awkward to sneak away or do something else mid-performance. Wooseok, who was wondering if he should pretend to film the performance with his phone like everyone else, kept fiddling with his phone, which still had plenty of battery.
"This concludes the first part of the performance. The second part begins in 20 minutes. If you need to use the restroom or get a drink of water, please do so quickly."
"For your information, the opening of Part 2 will be performed by special guests. Please look forward to it."
Special guest? Wooseok picked up a pamphlet that was covered in the tread marks of someone else, hearing about the cast for the first time. No matter how much he scanned it, it was filled with the names of students from this school he'd likely heard of at least once. A special guest not even listed on the pamphlet? Wooseok wondered who it could be, and then a thought suddenly came to mind.
“If he’s coming… I guess it’s worth not including it in the pamphlet.”
Woo-seok was immediately convinced that his thoughts were correct. Even if they were special guests, there must have been a good reason why their presence wasn't even mentioned in the pamphlet.
"What special guest? There weren't any special guests in the performance order."
“It must be them.”
“They? Who are they?”
As expected, my friend, who was puzzled by the special guest, had no clue, unlike Wooseok. In fact, there was no need to bother. Wooseok had already noticed. Wooseok checked the remaining footage on his phone.
"Now, Part 2 has begun. The special guests who will open Part 2 are said to have arrived about two minutes ago."
"We're so honored that these people are participating in our school festival. They're the new idol group ***."
As Wooseok had expected, the special guest was a group that included Han-gyeol. He hadn't expected it, but Han-gyeol was actually performing on stage as an idol at the school festival. Wooseok, completely amazed, paused for a moment before following the crowd and taking out his phone to film. The curtain hadn't even opened yet, but it felt like he was already watching a performance.
“Then, shall we each introduce ourselves?”
"Yes, hello. I'm Lee Han-gyeol, in charge of the collarbone. Nice to meet you!"
It was a self-introduction that didn't quite fit the group concept, with the mention of "collarbone." He could have just introduced himself as the main dancer, but why did he mention "collarbone?" Despite his doubts, Wooseok continued filming with his phone.
"Actually, ever since my debut, I've been pestering the members and the CEO to come here. I did a good job, didn't I?"
Unlike the words he'd used in his self-introduction, Han-gyeol's cute speech and actions left Woo-seok's mouth wide open. Woo-seok continued filming the group, then quickly focused on Han-gyeol, pulling the camera closer so that only Han-gyeol was captured on screen.
“Please take good care of our Han-gyeol in the future...”
“Hankyeol? Just Hankyeol?”
“What if I’m the only one talking?”
“...Please take good care of Han-gyeol, and please take good care of us too.”
The way they bickered amongst themselves during their closing remarks drew a lot of cute responses from everyone. Perhaps because the group was comprised of minors except for the leader, they seemed like friends of the same age, yet also endearing. With these thoughts in mind, Wooseok couldn't help but accept that he was a fan of the group. More accurately, he was a fan of Lee Han-gyeol.
-
After finishing my late practice and returning to my dorm, the clock was already ticking towards 3. I should probably get about three hours of sleep. I don't have any plans tomorrow, but I still have to go to school.
“I need to go to bed soon, but I’m tired and can’t sleep.”
“Lee Han-gyeol will probably sleep at school tomorrow too.”
Hangyeol, rubbing his eyes and mumbling, chuckled at the teasing of a fellow member of his age and went into his room. Even though he was on the bed, sleep didn't come, so he jumped up and turned on his laptop. He'd been working on the laptop for so long that his eyes started to hurt, which made him sleepier... or rather, he'd just suddenly remembered a video he'd been wanting to watch.
“I wonder if there’s a video of the performance at the school festival uploaded.”
It was a thoroughly unofficial schedule, and the location was a regular school, so there was no way the homeroom teachers could have filmed it. If one of the homeroom teachers had filmed it, it would be creepy. Han-gyeol went into the fan account and looked through all the homeroom teachers' accounts. As expected, no one had filmed or taken any photos, and there was no sign of it. This time, he searched for the group name and the school festival date. Several videos taken by the school students popped up. Obviously taken on a phone, they were all videos, and Han-gyeol started watching them one by one.
“Oh, you took this with your phone? It’s a pretty good picture.”
Hangyul was amazed by the best video of the day, uploaded to the video site. They had two performances that day, with a comment time in between. A ten-minute video was uploaded, featuring only the most interesting parts of the performances and comments. Aside from the slightly lower quality, it looked like a video uploaded by Homma. Hangyul liked the video and briefly considered subscribing to the person. Judging by the support in the video introduction and the editing, he felt like they were at least somewhat interested in him or a fan, so he wanted to subscribe. However, judging by the fact that the account was under his real name, he seemed like a muggle, so he closed the laptop. Oh, before he closed it completely, he read the account name for no reason.
“Kim Woo-seok.”
-
A few days after uploading the video, Woo-seok was browsing through footage from the school festival and felt a surge of pride upon seeing that his own video had gotten the most attention. He had long since admitted he was a fan of Lee Han-gyeol.
-You go to the same school as Han-gyeol. Thank you for the great video!!
-It's a phone camera, but the image quality is pretty good.
-The kids' styling is okay today. They don't do it like this on official schedules.
As he was a rookie, there weren't many comments. While reading the few comments he could find and boldly deleting the malicious ones, Wooseok decided to share this video on the official fan cafe.
"You're crazy. I'm only a senior in high school. What are you thinking about? I really need to focus on my studies now..."
Despite his verbal refusal, Wooseok had already joined Han-gyeol's official fan cafe and completed the upgrade application. There were no particular upgrade issues, so it seemed he'd be up and running soon. After double-checking that the upgrade application had been completed, Wooseok sighed and logged out.
“Why did I have to fall for this at a time like this... sigh.”
Even though he had become a fan because he was drawn to her and no one forced him to, Wooseok wasn't happy about the situation. The timing was a factor, but he couldn't tell if he really liked her or if he hoped she'd become popular because they were both schoolmates. While he wondered if the trigger really mattered, he felt this was too sudden, so he just chuckled. He figured if it wasn't sincere, he'd probably fall for her soon, so he decided to watch Lee Han-gyeol a little longer.
-
I guess there was a character limit... Except for part 1, the end kept getting cut off. So I'm splitting it up and slowly reuploading it!!