Debuting by Riding the Returnee’s Bus Chapter 127

Overnight, the NewTube views surpassed 30 million. No matter how I thought about it, ithat number was absurd. My eyes went wide, and my jaw practically dropped at the unbelievable view count.

 

Furthemore, they were still rising visibly. Today was different from yesterday. Every time I refreshed the page, the views jumped by 100,000, 200,000, even 300,000 at a time.

 

‘What is this? They didn’t buy views, did they? There’s no way, right?’

 

No, this wasn’t a number that could be achieved simply by running bots. Furthermore….

 

‘There are already review videos?’

 

In just one day, MV review videos were already appearing. They weren’t just videos made in Korea, either. Foreigners with stunned expressions on their thumbnails were flooding the site with videos titled things like “K-POP Group Fantasia MV Reaction.”

 

As expected, it wasn’t just K-pop fans; it seemed to include those who focused on other types of content. Among them, I even saw Western nerd-type NewTubers wearing medieval armor, which made me wonder exactly how the algorithm was working.

 

‘What on earth is happening?’

 

“…….”

 

‘And what’s with the Shorts?’

 

“…….”

 

‘No, seriously, what’s with these view counts?’

 

A Short showing a close-up of my eyes, with the uploader screaming in amazement at the scene, had already surpassed 60 million views. We were riding a strange momentum.

 

The music video quality—which had been shocking even to me—was eliciting a more positive response than I had imagined.

 

‘Is this a dream? A real dream?’

 

To put it with a bit of exaggeration, it felt as unrealistic as seeing actual magic. The things happening before my eyes were far more surreal than flames flying around, souls talking, or skeletons moving.

 

The music charts were the same.

 

‘3rd place?’

 

I woke up to find us at #3. Whether it would climb higher or not was still unknown, but…. We had successfully contributed to pushing [Kingdom]’s song—which had already plummeted from #5 to outside the top 10—one step further down. And there wasn’t even the slightest sign that we were about to fall.

 

‘Is it because of the mass-streaming? Did it reach this high because the Aethers are streaming it?’

 

“…….”

 

‘No, wait… do boy groups even reach fourth place on the charts these days?’

 

Even with a coordinated streaming campaign, the fact that we were still holding on felt incredible. I could understand the rank rising momentarily due to the fandom, but in the end, the only songs that survived on the charts were those chosen by the general public. Only songs chosen by the public stayed on the charts for a long time and climbed back up after dropping.

 

If this were a long time ago, PARADISE being at #4 wouldn’t have felt so out of place, but now, it was baffling. It felt even more so because the current music market was in the golden age of girl groups.

 

Perhaps it was due to recent trends. At some point, male fans stopped consuming boy group music and only consumed girl group music, while women consumed both. Naturally, that created a chart environment where boy groups struggled to compete.

 

Of course, that wasn’t true for everyone. There were still boy groups with an iron grip on fans of both genders. Whenever they released a song, they swept the charts and refused to leave the No. 1 spot. But those groups were exceptions. They were different from <Fantasia>, who were just rookies.

 

Yes. <Fantasia> were rookies. Our music didn’t even feel particularly mainstream. It was unique and unconventional enough to make you question whether it could even be called pop music. The biggest reason was how far removed it was from current trends. It wasn’t a sound people were used to hearing, so it shouldn’t have been easy for the general public to accept…

 

“3rd… we’re 3rd…?”

 

Yet despite all of that, we were sitting in third place. There was no guarantee we wouldn’t end up like [Kingdom]—who held at #5 for a moment before sliding all the way down—but the corners of my mouth lifted nonetheless. Part of me wanted to jump up and down on the bed. The other members were probably…

 

“Unhaaaa!!!!!”

 

“Uwoooo!! F*ck!!! F*ck!!!!”

 

“AAAAAAH! You scared me!!! Ah, you really startled me, Taeeyeol hyung!”

 

“Ah… sorry, Suhyeon. B-but there’s a reason! Did you see our rank? Did you see the NewTube views?”

 

“Ah… what? Ah… what… what! What?! Whaaaat!!!!”

 

“AAAAAAHHHH!!!!”

 

“Whaaat!!! Jegal hyung!!! Jegal hyuuuuung!!!”

 

They kicked the door open and started screaming. My ears were literally ringing. Jegal Hwi had apparently expected something like this and was already wearing earplugs, but even he looked flustered as the noise blasted straight through them.

 

We had hugged and celebrated together last night after the showcase ended, but realizing we had truly boarded the train to success, and seeing the surreal become reality, we couldn’t help but feel overjoyed.

 

“Those Kingdom bastards!!!!! Hell yeah!!! You see this?! You see this?! This is Fantasia!!!!!”

 

‘Taeyeol, shut up already. I mean, it does feel satisfying, but still…’

 

“You Kingdom bastards!!! This is Fantasiaaaaa!!!! We sent Kingdom to rock bottom in a single dayyyy!!!”

 

‘Baek Suhyeon, you shut up too. Don’t let his bad habits rub off on you.’

 

Enough already. You’re too loud.

 

I glared at them to shut them up, but it was impossible to stop late-teen boys who had already lost their minds with excitement. In the end, they even dragged poor Jegal Hwi—who had been trying to stay out of it—into the celebration, and before long they were all dancing around in a giant circle together.

 

‘Why on earth are we doing this?’

 

“Uwoooo!!! Aaaah!!”

 

“Fantasia! Fantasia! Fantasia!!!”

 

“Fantasia!!! We are Fantasia!!! We’re No. 3 on the charts!!!”

 

“AAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!”

 

‘How long are you guys going to keep this up? How long are you going to keep spinning around?’

 

Joo Wooyoung and Kim Haejun, who had rushed into my room thinking a war had broken out, naturally joined the circle dance. Everyone except Jegal Hwi was grinning from ear to ear.

 

Even Joo Wooyoung was smiling brightly. I could see him laughing like a child, awkwardly shouting ‘Waaaaah!’. He even let out a booming, ‘Hahahahaha!!!’.

 

‘Wooyoung hyung… why are you so happy over something like this?’

 

“Hahahahahaha!”

 

‘I don’t know how you felt when you killed the Demon King, but you look happier now than you did then.’

 

“Hahaha! Hahahahahaha!”

 

Was he simply enjoying being buried among his teammates, shouting like a carefree child? Or was he happy because he’d taken another step toward his dream?

 

‘Maybe it’s both?’

 

Regardless, it was the best smile I’d seen on him lately. The problem was that I was starting to get dizzy. If a sudden uninvited guest—or savior—hadn’t appeared, I would have gotten motion sickness.

 

“…….”

 

“Excellent!! Absolutely excellent!!! My Fantasia!!!”

 

“…….”

 

“Ahem… ahem….”

 

“…….”

 

Of course, I wasn’t exactly happy to see him. Because standing before us was someone I really didn’t get along with.

 

“…….”

 

Seriously, Director Oh….

 

“…….”

 

Why did you suddenly come to the dorm so early in the morning?

 

Turning toward the familiar voice, I found Director Oh standing there. Naturally, Road Manager Hong Dukwang was with him.

 

“I knew our Fantasia would pull it off!! Didn’t I?!”

 

“Yes! Yes, Director!”

 

No, seriously—why are you even inside our dorm? Can someone really have this little sense of timing? As if barging in wasn’t enough, he was now in the middle of a grand speech.

 

“It’s great that you’re celebrating! But don’t forget this is only the beginning!!! Don’t let your guard down!!!”

 

Is this what politics looks like?

 

“I always knew our Fantasia would make it! Unha! Wooyoung! Hwi! Taeyeol! Taehee! Suhyeon! Every single one of you!!!”

 

The way he casually inserted himself into the success story was something else. I thought someone at the level of a director would prioritize maintaining dignity, but this ahjussi clearly wanted to solidify the idea that he was the one behind Fantasia’s success. As though they were performing a rehearsed play, Road Manager Hong Dukwang opened his mouth dramatically.

 

“All right, everyone. It’s great that you’re happy, but like Director Oh said, this is only the beginning. Get ready and head to the company. Director Oh will be accompanying you for some schedules from time to time, so hurry up. Got it?”

 

“Ahem… ahem….”

 

Even Director Oh himself seemed embarrassed, judging by the awkward cough. But what could we do? We had no choice but to nod. Then, encouraged by our loud response, he continued talking.

 

“Yes! Yes!”

 

“Ahem… well, it’s not that I’m trying to make things hard for you, but since it’s a critical time, I’ll be tagging along occasionally. So don’t feel too uncomfortable….”

 

‘How are we not supposed to feel uncomfortable?’

 

“The album is selling like hotcakes too!!! Everyone, don’t worry about anything else and just focus on the next schedule, got it?!! What’s the next schedule?”

 

“Yes! Yes, Director!”

 

“We won’t know the exact numbers for another three days, but there are a lot of positive signs. A lot of good news. And… you, Artist Lee Unha over there!!!”

 

“Yes?!”

 

“After seeing the music video, there’s a whole truckload of people wanting to cast Artist Lee Unha! A truckload!”

 

“Ah! Thank you….”

 

“Where did you learn to act?! Director Park says that performance was—”

 

“Ah. I’ve never learned acting… and….”

 

“I know! I know! You have to focus on group activities for the time being!!! I’m not saying this to give you a big head! Ahem… definitely not!”

 

‘Seriously, this ahjussi is a total mess. Telling a rookie something like that… how can I not get a big head? What if I was actually interested in acting?’

 

“Anyway, for-forget what I said.”

 

Realizing his own mistake, he hurriedly changed the subject. Well, considering he was the type with connections everywhere and a tendency to speak before thinking…

 

‘And who is Director Park? He probably got one personal call from some director he knew and turned it into ‘a truckload’.’

 

What director or production company would be desperate to cast the leader of an idol group that just started promotions? I decided it was best to let it go in one ear and out the other. I wasn’t interested anyway.

 

Honestly, I couldn’t even spare the attention. To be precise, I didn’t have the luxury to. I briefly considered getting rid of the annoying Director Oh and Manager Hong, but I didn’t even have time for those thoughts. Honestly, I didn’t want to focus on anything other than crushing Kingdom and staying on the train to success.

 

I thought everyone should feel the same way…. I thought we should all move forward with the same mindset….

 

I never imagined something would blow up so soon.

 

Or rather, it was something that was bound to happen eventually.

 

“…….”

 

In that short amount of time, Joo Wooyoung, who had been re-watching the showcase footage….

 

“…….”

 

Looked like he had noticed that the rank of my Succubus’ Eye had increased.