Chapter 84 The cherry blossoms say to you: Spring is great.
As newcomers who just debuted, 2NE1's promotional recording time was relatively late compared to other new groups. The artists after them debuted earlier than them. While they were waiting for the results, they were taken by their managers from time to time to say hello to their seniors.
At the end of the day, Ye-eun almost broke her waist. Do Koreans have to bow to show respect? Even though she complained in her heart, Ye-eun, who had been reminded many times by Kwon Ji-yong, still bowed a full 90 degrees every time. And so, by the time the staff announced a substitute, it was already early morning.
The recording time of Korean music shows is long. Some groups go to the TV station in the morning and it is already early morning when they start recording. As a new artist, 2NE1's promotion time is scheduled in the mid- to late-season. It can be said that in addition to the complexity of their recording session, the main reason is that they rely on the company to have Bigbang, which is currently on the rise.
However, getting a candidate spot depends entirely on your own strength. After all, it takes a comprehensive score of pre-submission points, sound source points, sales points and broadcast points. Only really good songs can get high scores.
CL leaned back on a chair backstage, rubbing her hands nervously, "Is it really a candidate? Didn't we just debut? Is it really a candidate? Oppa, did you hear it wrong!?"
Park Sandara said "Yeah" and asked with a smile: "Then the other one is Girls' Generation? Is YG really going to compete with S/M?"
Girls' Generation, who came from a big company, were arranged to promote their songs last. After they arrived, they went straight on stage. They haven't seen it yet.
The manager rolled his eyes. He was also shocked when the staff told him to let the members get ready, but he also felt it was natural.
They only got first place when they debuted, so it seems that it is not impossible for them to do so!
Because she was bored waiting, Ye-eun was wearing headphones and talking on the phone with Kwon Ji-yong. There is no time difference between Japan and South Korea, and the other party is a night owl. He even stayed in the hotel to watch the live broadcast of Inkigayo.
"A candidate?" Kwon Ji-yong curled his eyes, hugged the stuffed puppy he brought from Korea, and was very proud. "She's already a candidate right after her debut. She's worthy of being our Ye-eun."
Ye-eun's eyes curved, and unlike the other members who were still in disbelief, she was extremely confident, "I knew our debut song was great when I saw the number of views on the MV. I won't talk to you anymore, I have to get ready to go on stage."
"Come on... keep going." Quan Zhilong had just finished speaking when the call was immediately hung up. He shook his head helplessly. What a shame, after hearing that there was a possibility, this person didn't even say goodbye to him.
When all the artists finished performing and the audience had submitted their ratings, the two groups had one substitute artist standing at the front.
Ye-eun stood on the far right of 2NE1 on the stage, and next to her was Girls' Generation, who had won first place on Inkigayo last week with "Kissing You".
Although she had heard of Girls' Generation many times from everyone and had seen information about them from time to time on the Internet, and even their debut song last year, "The World We Meet Again", was a single on repeat in Ye-eun's music software for a while, this was the first time she had seen this nine-member girl group that debuted only a few months earlier than them.
The host was announcing the scores of both parties, but she curiously wanted to peek at Girls' Generation. A group of nine people, I can’t even imagine it. Do they also have to squeeze nine people into a small dormitory? They have to count their agents one by one when they wake up in the morning, right? And is their kitchen also very big? Normally, the staff have to buy a lot for meals, right?
If she had not chosen to leave S/M because of the disbandment of HOT, would she have had a high chance of debuting in this group? It's so cold, but S/M still lets them wear skirts?
Ye-eun's mind was full of thoughts, from Girls' Generation's dormitory arrangements to their food expenses, and in the end she couldn't help but keep turning her head to look at them.
The curious looks made the audience laugh. On music shows, idols would occasionally not be able to control themselves from looking at other artists, and even some eye contact interactions that fans found funny at the time were eventually revealed to be the result of a romantic relationship.
However, this is still a member of a girl group going to see another girl group so blatantly.
That burning look was as if I were some kind of magical creature. Several members of Girls' Generation couldn't help but lower their heads when being stared at, trying not to laugh out loud.
Li Cailin, who was standing next to Yien and watching the scores nervously, realized that Yien's mind was actually on another girl group. She curled the corners of her mouth, raised her hand and pinched Yien's neck from behind, preventing her from turning her head.
The controlled Ye-eun stood blankly on the stage, transformed from a curious little fox into a silly goose with its neck strangled.
The audience laughed again. Even the host who was announcing the final score noticed Ye-eun's stunned look. After several seconds of trying to hold back, he finally shouted out the words he had said countless times: "Who is the first place? Let's see the total score!"
When the above scores came out, the two girl groups actually already had an idea of their results. However, when 2NE1's total score bar stopped scrolling and stagnated at 9100, Li Cailin couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
They won first place right after their debut and were overwhelmed with great joy. Do I have to cry if I get one? Several people looked at each other, but no one could cry.
For example, Bigbang won the first place one year after their debut. The hard-earned first place only brought a smile to their faces. 2NE1, who won the first place less than a month after their debut, did not feel that the first place was hard-earned.
They smiled and waved to everyone. As the captain, CL coolly said "Thank you, we will continue to work hard" and then handed the flowers to the youngest member Minzy.
Just like Bigbang, the captain was too lazy to speak and handed all the trophies to the members, which made the audience familiar with YG cover their mouths and laugh. It turns out that both boy bands and girl bands are very YG-style.
In addition to the artists of 2NE1 starting to leave the stage, Lee Chae-rin, as the captain, bowed and squinted her eyes to receive the flowers from the host's hand. Then in the blink of an eye, she saw a member named Ye-eun mixed in with the members who shook hands and bowed with other artists.
She was pulling the sleeve of an unknown member of Girls' Generation and whispering something...
CL turned around helplessly, pretending to casually pull Ye Eun's coat sleeve, and led her to the center of the stage. How could this outgoing personality be fully displayed on the stage!
She sighed helplessly in her heart, but it was also because of Ye Eun's personality that she could talk to anyone she met that she was able to enter the gate of YG directly when she was waiting at the gate of YG.
"Hahahahahahahaha." The audience suddenly burst into laughter. CL was confused but was sure it was related to Ye Eun. She turned around and saw Ye Eun, whose hand she was holding, blushing and pulling at her sleeves that were hooked with Yoona.
It turned out that the metal decoration on Ye-eun's sleeve had gotten into the other person's lace. Two girls with completely different styles lowered their heads and hurriedly unbuttoned their sleeves. Because the encore music had already started, the two of them were extremely anxious.
In the end, Ye Eun simply took off her coat, stuffed it into Yoona's arms, and finally caught up with her part with the microphone.
"..." Hearing the audience's laughter, Ye Eun felt very aggrieved. Oh, if Cailin hadn't suddenly pulled her hand, how could her clothes have been tangled with Yoona's?
When Ye-eun came down from the encore stage, she looked dejected, and one could already imagine her dumbfounded face on today’s news. The other four people couldn't help but burst out laughing, "Ah, why are you talking to others on the stage?"
Ye-eun, however, said confidently, "What if they leave after our encore performance?"
"So, what exactly do you want to talk to them about?" Park Sandara curiously hugged Ye Eun's arm and asked curiously, "What's the hurry?"
"..." Yien pursed her lips, turned her head and whispered, "I asked how many people lived in the dormitory they were in."
They were so speechless that they didn't know what to say. Just when they were about to laugh, they saw Girls' Generation on the side. Lin Yuner walked over with Ye Eun's coat in her hand. She looked embarrassed as she handed the coat to Ye Eun: "Ye Eunxi, your coat..."
The other members behind her were all laughing. Ye-eun saw that her lace sleeve was torn and blushed for the first time. "Well, I'll leave you my contact information and I'll compensate you for the dress."
They are all newly debuted artists, and their costumes are basically borrowed by the company's stylists. If any of the costumes are damaged, the artists are required to compensate for the damage. Newly debuted artists at a company like YG, which has a relatively good profit-sharing ratio, are in financial difficulty, not to mention that Ye-eun knows that S/M's profit-sharing ratio is almost equivalent to a slave contract.
She looked apologetic, "I'm sorry, will this cause you to get scolded?"
Lin Yoona shook her head. That’s not the case. Just now when they got off the stage, their agent actually laughed. After all, they didn't get the first place, but they did create a spark with the first-place girl group, which can be considered a small topic of discussion.
Yien felt relieved and said to them, "Then please write down my contact information."
They hesitated, glanced at their agent in the distance, and whispered, "Our phones are not in our hands."
"Ah?" Ye-eun was shocked by S/M again. Except for Dara's phone which was confiscated because of Zhilong's talkativeness, everyone else's phone was not only in their own hands, but even the company never checked it.
Only the captain, Kwon Ji-yong, who has two mobile phones of his own, would occasionally check the members' messages, for fear that they would make mistakes.
"Then wait for me!" Ye Eun trotted to the lounge, tore off a few pieces of paper, wrote her phone number on them, and then fairly gave small notes to each member of Girls' Generation.
2NE1 members held their foreheads helplessly, and Ye-eun sent them one by one. When she sent the last one to Jessica, she even told her that she liked her very much...
Like a gangster teasing little girls! Even Girls' Generation's manager almost came over to stop his artists from receiving the notes out of habit.
All of my artists are pretty girls. I have received notes from so many male artists backstage during my performances, but this is the first time I have received a note from a girl. He complained in his heart.
After stuffing the note into her pocket, Ye-eun followed the other members out contentedly. She had to ask about their dormitory and if it was better than theirs, she would go to the president and cry to him.
On that day, the search results of Naver's entertainment section were almost dominated by 2NE1. From the five-member special singing stage to winning the first place in less than a month after their debut, the LG commercial song that they collaborated with their senior group before their debut was also mentioned.
Even the interaction between Ye-eun and Yoona was on the search box.
[2NE1 first place]
[2NE1 One Snap]
[2NE1 Elevator]
[Lee Ye-eun and Im Yoona]
All the trending searches eventually turned into the number one search term - [2NE1 Monster Rookie].
In the following days, 2NE1 started working non-stop, promoting songs, shooting Samsung commercials, and various matters related to the planned first mini album. The five members were almost busy like spinning tops.
The only thing to be thankful for is that in order to help 2NE1 maintain their image, the president rarely lets them participate in variety shows. Although this reduces their exposure, it also gives them some breathing space.
When Ye-eun heard her agent tell them to go for a mysterious style, she seriously suspected that he made this decision for her sake. After all, he has said more than once that with his personality, he would probably be scolded to death if he appeared on variety shows.
She and Quan Zhilong complained about this, and Quan Zhilong actually laughed: "Didn't someone also scold you for riding on the popularity of your relationship with Girls' Generation? To those who hate us, even if we just breathe, it's wrong."
"That's right." Ye-eun nodded, not taking the messy news on the Internet to heart, and even found it a little funny. "Didn't I tell you before that I had an anti-site, but it disappeared within a few days? Then I saw that your anti-site also disappeared that day. Oh my god, I immediately guessed that it was Uncle Jin who did it."
Ye-eun's eyes curved: "When I asked, he actually made a program that can capture all the insults to us at once and report them all at once."
Quan Zhilong raised his eyebrows and turned over, "Oh no, but they won't do anything if I report it, right?" Of course, being able to delete it is already the best outcome.
Although he debuted for only two years but has been in the circle for so many years, Kwon Ji-yong is well aware of the morbid psychology of some people. The senior executives of those social software actually don’t care whether the artists are scolded or not. Even a lot of public opinion is guided by themselves. After all, it seems that we have entered the era of traffic monetization.
This kind of popularity has squeezed the living space of artists even more. Almost every move of their lives is watched. Although they know that this is what they should bear, Quan Zhilong is still a little helpless about the various gazes. After all, he recently discovered that someone seems to have started to follow him...
Quan Zhilong sighed, hoping it was just his illusion.
Ye-eun heard his sigh and spoke sharply, "What's wrong? What happened?"
"No..." He dared to brush it off, and then he thought of what Yi Eun had said to him before, hoping that he could tell her everything. He whispered, "It seems that there are some illegitimate fans following me recently, but I will be back in China soon, so it should be fine."
Ye-eun nodded solemnly: "Then be careful in Japan, and remember to bring your agent with you when you go out."
The two mentioned the private matter briefly and then paid no more attention to it. On February 26, when Ye-eun and CL finished work and were about to return to the dormitory, they were startled by a huge salute as soon as they opened the door.
The fluttering streamers were mixed with gas that smelled like plastic. My hair was blown up and my ears were blinded by the sound of the salutes. The two of them screamed and covered their ears. When they saw the other three members hiding the cake behind them, they raised their hands with smiles to grab the air pumps and firecrackers from them: "Although we guessed that you would prepare birthdays, we didn't expect you to set off firecrackers."
Kong Minzhi held the air pump in one hand, avoiding Ye Eun's snatch, and said proudly: "On my birthday last month, the unnies told me ghost stories all day long, and then suddenly turned off the lights to 'celebrate' me when I went to the bathroom. Come on, blow up some air for you unnie!"
CL waved off the tattered ribbons on her head and immediately revealed the culprit: "It was Ye-eun's idea. She said that this would be a surprise."
Park Sandara fired another salute towards Ye-eun, and seeing Ye-eun with her hair and face covered with ribbons, she laughed out loud, "Che, you are more surprised than happy, right? You can't do this on my birthday."
She took out another salute and said threateningly, "Especially you, Ye-en, you are not allowed to do any of this mess on my birthday."
Park Chun smiled helplessly and shook her head, then looked at her noisy sisters with a gentle smile.
"...Okay." With her face sprayed with ribbons, Ye Eun pursed her lips aggrievedly. Why did they all come to attack her? Only Park Chun loved her the most. In the future, she will help her fold the quilt and make the bed sheets!
The five of them celebrated their birthday together that day. They divided the small cake into five equal-sized portions. The five of them chatted quietly while eating their first birthday cake as members after their debut.
Kong Minzhi folded her hands, lay on the bed obediently, and looked sideways at Ye-eun, "Is this the first time that you didn't spend your birthday with GD Oppa?"
Ye-eun sat cross-legged on her bed, nodded and shook her head, holding up three fingers, "I didn't spend time with him before I was three years old. Although I'm a little uncomfortable, I'm happy to celebrate my birthday with you guys."
Park Chun turned over and looked at Ye Eun with gentle eyes: "When I first came to the company, you took me to meet Zhilong and the others. At that time, I envied them for being able to debut. Now I didn't expect that we would debut too."
Park Sandara listened in silence, but Lee Chae-rin suddenly raised her hand and swore, "I will be responsible for you till the end! No matter what happens in the future, we will always be 2NE1!"
Just like GD Oppa leads Bigbang, she also wants to be a very good captain and the eternal leader of 2NE1!
The other few people were a little moved. They knew Cai Lin's character and knew he would do what he said. For a moment, they were all choked with tears.
Ye-eun smiled and jumped towards CL, lying on top of her. "Hey, Cailin, you have to be responsible for me, so let's sleep together tonight!"
“Hey, ah!” Li Cailin saw several members standing up and said in panic, “Don’t accompany Ye Eun to make trouble! I can’t sleep!”
There were five beds, but in the end five people were squeezed on three mattresses put together, one person's feet were resting on another, one person's hands were on another person's waist.
The next day, Yien held her aching waist with her hands, her face full of pain. Who hit her in her sleep? I guess I got punched in the lower back.
When she finished her work for the day and went to the company as usual, she suddenly stopped at the door, forgetting that he was still in Japan today.
She smiled and shook her head, turning around to leave, but the security guard waved at her and said, "Ye-en, why don't you come in? Come in."
Yien blinked, and walked into the door in confusion at the uncle's greeting. Just as she was about to tell him that he could sleep peacefully today, she looked down and saw the candy wrapper on his desk.
He looked so familiar that she suddenly laughed and trotted into the company.
As she was getting closer to the emergency passage, she ran faster and faster. Thinking that the person was in the same place as every year, her heart seemed to fly as she ran.
However, when she approached the safety passage, she slowed down again, her eyes narrowed, and carefully pushed open the door of the safety passage in order to scare the other party.
Unexpectedly, the door just opened a crack, and a few cherry blossoms fell on the branches and poked out from the small gap.
That familiar voice squeezed out from the crack of the door, and he said, "The cherry blossoms tell you: Spring is great."
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