Second Try Idol

Chapter 407: Red Rouge (26)

Chapter 407: Red Rouge (26)

"Ah! You-" The nickname almost slipped out, but I stopped myself quickly. He might be trying to keep it a secret, so saying it out loud might not be the best idea. "Nice to see you. I thought your face looked familiar."

I decided to just act friendly and acknowledge him. But that made the trainee, who was already teary-eyed, start crying even more.

"You... you remember me..." He could barely speak through his tears, but it seemed he was overwhelmed with emotion because I remembered him. He was crying so much that I started to feel a bit awkward. The other members must have known he was a Chronos fan. They probably didn’t know his nickname, though.

"Do you know his nickname, Senior?"

"Something like 'I will be Hyun-Woo hyung’s Peach Drink,' right?"

Oh, so everyone knew. I thought I had stumbled upon a big secret. With that cleared up, I felt more at ease talking with them.

"Of course, I know the nickname. It's pretty memorable." The unexpected situation made my gestures exaggerated. "I thought he was good-looking, but I had no idea he was a trainee."

"He said he became a trainee because he admired you, Senior."

"Thank you for saying that. Do you have any questions or anything you want to ask?" I wanted to shift the conversation back to useful questions and away from the fan talk. Meeting a fan here was nice, but I didn’t want it to overshadow the valuable counseling time.

Now that I thought about it, what was this kid's name? I only knew his nickname. I glanced at his name tag: Oh Do-Hyun

"Do-Hyun."

But Oh Do-Hyun was still too choked up with emotion to speak properly.

"Take a moment to calm down. Can someone get him some water? We will talk more later, but let's continue the Q&A session for now." Just as I was about to resume, another trainee raised his hand eagerly. "Yes! Uh, your name is..."

"Senior! I am San Yoo-Hwa" He said with an enthusiastic greeting, but his face looked troubled. "This might not be the right time to ask this, but... it’s not about performing on stage," he started hesitantly.

"What is it?"

"How do you deal with hate comments, Senior?"

"Well..." I paused, unsure how to answer.

It was a tough question. Honestly, I had never really overcome hate comments. Life had been harder than any hate comments. Although it could be frustrating when people were spreading false rumors around, I usually just brushed them off.

Plus, Joo-Han and Goh Yoo-Joon didn’t get too affected by them, and the rest of us in Chronos had learned to handle it similarly. San Yoo-Hwa probably asked because our recent song "Red Rouge" was about standing up to hate comments. But that song wasn’t about overcoming them. It was more like Joo-Han's way of getting back at the haters.

However, since San Yoo-Hwa seemed deeply affected by hate comments, he asked me for advice. Thinking back to the hate and criticism we received during Pick We Up, I understood why he might be struggling.

I pondered for a minute before answering. "To get to a point where hate comments don’t bother you, you have to go through a period where they do hurt."

"Ah..."

He got smacked on the back by Joo-Han. How embarrassing, especially in front of the trainees.

"Ah~ everyone worked so hard. You all gave such good advice. I’m really grateful," Lee Won-Jae said in a cheerful voice as he made his way through the trainees to where we were chatting.

The exhaustion and boredom from earlier were nowhere to be seen on his face. It seemed that Director Lee treated trainees and debuted artists quite differently.

"It was fun, Director."

"I’m glad to hear that. I overheard you have another schedule after this?"

"Yes."

"Good luck. We will wrap up with a closing greeting, and then you can go. I will let your manager know when this will be aired," he said warmly before hurrying to the next room.

The trainees continued practicing regardless of whether the broadcast had ended. We, the Chronos members, gathered to take a short break. Just then, the trainees, who had been half-heartedly practicing while watching us, suddenly rushed over.

"Seniors! Sorry to interrupt, but could we get your autographs?" one of the groups’ leaders asked cautiously.

"Sure! We can take pictures too!" Goh Yoo-Joon answered cheerfully.

With Goh Yoo-Joon's cheerful response, the trainees’ faces lightened up and started approaching us one by one.

"Uh?"

"Senior, my name is Barrier! Could we take a photo together?"

"Sure."

At first, I thought they wanted a group photo, but it turned out each of them had personal requests. They took turns getting autographs and photos with us. Later, we took a group photo before the trainees returned to their practice at the staff’s request.

As soon as they left, other groups lined up to get their autographs and photos. It felt like a mini fan signing event or a fan meeting just for the trainees.

After the break, we stood in front of the camera once again.

"Anyway, I hope today was really helpful. You all did so well, and we’re looking forward to your performances. Keep up the good work and do your best!"

"Yes! Thank you!"

The filming after the break was very short. We left with some encouraging words and received their thanks as we exited the practice room, wrapping up today's shoot for Pick We Up Two.

"We need to leave immediately. We are on a tight schedule, so staff, pack up quickly. And Chronos, get in the van."

As soon as the filming ended, we hurried to the parking lot. We jumped into the van, heading straight to our first event performance schedule since the comeback.