“Alright, could each of you introduce the food you made?”
Then Yoonwoo pointed at the side dishes.
“First, we made this clam soup together with Sikyung hyung. And I did fried eggs. We don’t have to do kimchi, but we had time left, so I tried making fresh kimchi too.”
The freshly mixed kimchi, dressed red with seasoning, looked pretty tasty. Well-fermented kimchi was good too, but fresh, quickly mixed kimchi like that was also a real delicacy. When Cheonghyeon lifted his thumb in approval, Yoonwoo grinned.
“I made stir-fried dried squid strips, soy braised beef, seasoned spinach, seasoned bean sprouts, and also the clam soup with Yoonwoo.”
They had almost perfectly recreated the side dish types. Even Hando, like he could not believe they pulled it off, smiled at Sikyung with his eyes wide.
“Doing this, I was seriously surprised. How did Hando set all of this up alone for breakfast? I was honestly impressed.”
At Sikyung’s words, Hando scratched the back of his head awkwardly and added,
“But I only did the main dishes, and for these side dishes, I just took out what I’d made earlier and plated them…”
“Still, that means you kept making them steadily before. From now on, if hyung tells me to come out and eat breakfast, I’ll dash out within thirty seconds.”
At Yoonwoo’s words, Hando snorted a laugh and smacked Yoonwoo on the back with, “Just try not coming out.”
Yoonwoo overdid his reaction, bowing down dramatically. It was a warm, lively scene.
And now it was Cheonghyeon’s turn, and Cheonghyeon’s cheeks flushed red as he pointed to the braised ribs placed in the center.
“I, no, I made braised ribs and rice.”
The glossy rice and braised ribs, appetizing and pretty, were captured on camera. Cheonghyeon looked at it with satisfaction and continued.
“Actually, in the morning I wasn’t confident about cooking, so I only ate plain rice, but thanks to Nakseokgol Housewife Master, I got courage. And, and… the members fed me a lot of tasty things too, so I wanted to do one nice thing for them too.”
When the members looked at him with moved expressions, Cheonghyeon, embarrassed, kept clearing his throat. Seeing that, the PD and the writer smiled without meaning to.
If you really thought about it, Cheonghyeon had even gone to the military, so he should have more experience with society than the other East members, but for some reason, the members and their manager treated Cheonghyeon like a little kid.
Even now, just because he succeeded at one braised ribs dish, they were making faces like parents moved because their son brought home a carnation from school.
Still, the PD, excited by the heartwarming atmosphere clapped and said,
“Alright, alright, everyone, you worked hard making dinner. Then eat well!”
After everyone finished eating and was sitting quietly, Changsik came over and spoke to Cheonghyeon.
“You’re not going to see Nakseokgol Housewife Master anymore, right?”
Cheonghyeon looked resentfully at the hand held out to him, but Changsik did not withdraw it. He even glared like, hurry up and give it, what are you doing.
It was completely different from how he usually tiptoed around Cheonghyeon. With a trembling hand, Cheonghyeon held out the phone, and Changsik swiftly snatched it away.
He wanted to see the fans’ witness accounts today! When he had secretly checked earlier during a quick bathroom break, every community was on fire.
Countless photos, with him and the members captured discretely, were being uploaded everywhere. Thinking he could not watch it in real time, Cheonghyeon cursed this country without a class system once again.
“You’ll be tired after filming ends later anyway. So sleep early, and tomorrow I’ll let you use your phone again for a bit.”
When Changsik said that and left the room, Cheonghyeon drooped his head helplessly.
In the corner of Cheonghyeon’s room, the unmanned camera made a zziing sound and quietly captured him like that.
After dinner, and even after finishing the games the production crew had prepared, just as Changsik said, his body was extremely tired.
Maybe inspired by how they had played random games earlier, the PD suggested various games that brought out the members’ competitive spirits.
Cheonghyeon also got absorbed in the unfamiliar games without even realizing it, and as a result, he fell asleep right away without even having time to think about using his phone.
The next day, after lightly finishing breakfast with salad, and putting their heads together with the members to think over what they would do on the filming day scheduled for a week later, the first shoot ended.
When the staff collected the last camera that had been in Cheonghyeon’s room and left, the members and the manager all sprawled out on the bed with relief.
“It was really exhausting…”
“Seriously. It’s nothing special, but it’s kind of intense. I guess having a bunch of people watch us at home and filming every little move is pretty stressful.”
“Yeah. It’s not like we’ve never done a daily life-type reality show, but having cameras all over the dorm is different.”
Cheonghyeon closed his eyes and did not say anything. For him, the burden of someone watching all his daily life was less than it was for the members, but he was exhausted because the PD kept making them do things. Of course, Changsik did not let Cheonghyeon be.
“Cheonghyeon. Starting today, you’re going into special training.”
“What?”
Even at Cheonghyeon’s frightened voice, like he could foresee his future, Changsik closed his eyes and made plans diligently. He thought it would be simple observation variety, but unexpectedly, the PD made them do quite a lot.
If they asked for fan service and told him to show dancing and choreography, Cheonghyeon would never be able to pull it off. He could not dodge it forever, either.
Changsik coordinated the schedules of the agency’s trainers and planned in detail. A single week was nowhere near enough to practice all those songs.
He needed to start training Cheonghyeon right away, starting today.
“Hhk, huff. Wait a second. Let’s rest a bit, rest, then do it. Okay?”
Cheonghyeon, whose pale skin had flushed red from the heat, caught his breath with rough breathing.
Seeing Cheonghyeon sprawled out on the practice room floor, not moving as if he could not do any more, the trainer smiled.
“But you’re learning really fast, you know? I guess since you learned it once. Your lines are a lot better too, so it’s nicer to watch. Now you finally look like a kid who knows how to use his muscles.”
Even while suffering, Cheonghyeon let out a hollow laugh at those words.
It did help that his body seemed to remember, like when he heard the music and could immediately string certain moves together, but if it had not been for the harsh ballroom dance training he had endured as a prince, he would never have achieved this.
Even if he was a forgotten prince who would never have had a chance to attend balls, as royalty, it was the minimum refinement he had to learn, so he had learned it, but he never dreamed it would help him like this.
The face of the unnamed noble who had taught only the basics of dance for four years, saying that fundamentals were everything, flickered faintly through his mind.
He also learned this time that every country had a basic rhythm, and the way you move your body according to it was similar.
When Cheonghyeon followed along smoothly in the first basic training, the trainer was overjoyed. Hearing he had lost his memory, the trainer worried how much he had lost, but at this level, it seemed he could learn quickly within a week.
Maybe not everything, but at least the title tracks seemed sufficiently possible.
And since he would not be standing on a real stage, even if he made small mistakes, most fans would find it cute.
He could also use the excuse that he was confused after the military. The trainer had thought it would be enough if he could imitate it roughly, but Cheonghyeon followed along quite well.
Looking at Cheonghyeon still lying on the floor, catching his breath, the trainer fell into thought.
There are many genres of dance, but people who dance well often pick up even unfamiliar genres quickly. Strangely, teaching Cheonghyeon made the trainer think that.
It felt like teaching idol dance to someone who had only done modern dance.
‘Did he do modern dance before?’
Tilting his head, the trainer pulled Cheonghyeon back up.
“Alright, today we’ll just do the second album title track one more time and end it. Get up!”
With a miserable face, Cheonghyeon staggered to his feet. The manager had given him his phone back, but since the special training began, Cheonghyeon had not looked at his phone even once.
Whenever he had time, he would doze off on the spot. Days repeated so harshly that he did not even know whether it was a weekday or weekend.
And in the blink of an eye, the first broadcast date approached.
The filming date and broadcast date were so close that it could almost be called near real time filming.
Unlike other groups’ realities, where they announced it a month in advance, leisurely filmed many scenes, then selected good parts to air, for East, last week Thursday’s footage aired today, Wednesday.
But the agency could not help it. The members had too many individual activities, so it was hard to match schedules.
And it was a schedule that required allocating an entire one night two day block, so they had no choice but to film quickly and edit tightly to air.
“At least we do put some effort into episode one. It’s a bit of a shame, right?”
But Cheonghyeon and the members shook their heads.
The schedule was exhausting, but it was better to film like this, intensely, and finish quickly.
If they scheduled it for months, it would be even more burdensome.
Also, since it was the first time the members had stayed this long with Cheonghyeon, something filmed in April could feel awkward by June.
In this reality, the most dangerous kind of comment was, “They looked awkward at first, but now they look more natural, right?”
They were not rookie idols but a group active for six years, and just by filming a few days of reality, they show a relationship that improves each episode?
That was something to absolutely avoid. That was why they needed to analyze fan reactions in detail and respond sensitively even to the smallest opinion.
And though they had already discussed last week what they would do at the next shoot, depending on the reaction to today’s broadcast, there was a strong chance tomorrow’s filming content would change.
Since it was a broadcast for fans, they needed to highlight the chemistry fans liked, and show more of the things fans responded positively to. To show “East, who get along well.”
“Huh? It’s starting.”
With a fluttering heart, Cheonghyeon took out the phone the manager had given him.
When he entered the community, as expected, everyone seemed to be waiting in front of their TVs for the broadcast to start, and the overall mood was excited.
Cheonghyeon knew most of what happened because he had filmed it, but even so, in this moment, he was very excited. And in everyone’s anticipation, East’s solo reality episode 1 aired.
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