Chapter 290
Chapter 290. Winter of the Boy (1)
The aftermath of the music festival that Kairos had ignited lasted quite a while.
This was because someone kept shoving logs and pouring oil into the house that had already caught fire.
– “No, so we turned around the moment we heard that voice.”
– “That’s seriously incredible, isn’t it? Hearing a live voice cutting through the noise like that?”
– “Wow, this is it. We need to find this person and get them to do something in our next project….”
– “And when Taeil hyung and I turned around, guess what? It was our own group member?”
– “Honestly, from that moment on, I couldn’t stop laughing. They were enjoying it so much.”
It all started with Nam Daun from Utopia’s Ivers live broadcast.
The lively retelling of that day, delivered with the same flair that had captivated every talk show, quickly spread everywhere through Aidea and Destis, who thought it was too amusing to keep to themselves.
**Kairos.zip @kiroszip**
**The Scene of Kairos’ Collective Madness**
*(Kairos going wild, locking arms, and swaying madly from side to side during the ending stage.mp4)*
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**[So what was up with Kairos at the ending? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]**
I don’t really know, but do the members usually act like that?
It sounds strange, but you know what I mean, right?
– “They’ve always been like this tlqkfㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
– “If you follow Kairos, that’s just everyday life.”
└ “What kind of life do they lead….”
└ “These are the kids who did both trot and breakdancing to win some neighborhood festival prize, haha.”
└ “Ah, are you serious? For real?”
People quickly reacted to this amusing topic.
Thanks to the overwhelmingly positive response to the main stage, Kairos had become a group guaranteed to receive a certain level of reaction within the community.
Thrilled by this heated attention, Destis began to glow even brighter.
**Rossy Day @rossy_1017**
**The kids were having so much fun talking during the ending**
**I wondered what they were saying…**
**How can someone talk about a sauna fight with a mafia boss face like that? Kairos too?**
*(Fan cam of Kairos’ ending stage.mp4)*
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**[HOT! ‖ Rookie boy group seems to have enjoyed their first year-end stage 2000%.kiros (499)]**
**Youngest group in the maze, Kairos**
*(Group photo of Kairos.JPG)*
**These kids debuted in September after starting the company’s survival show Maze Maze this March.**
**It seems like they really made the most out of this year’s music festival, so I’m writing this post, lol.**
*(Gif of Kairos on the red carpet.gif)*
**It started lightly with an amazing suit fit.**
**Even though most of the members are minors, they look great in suits because of their physiques and proportions…**
*(Black and white gif of Kang Hajin adjusting his watch.gif)*
**This is just my preference, so I added it in, haha.**
**Anyway, during the interview, the MC asked Kairos why they chose that cover song.**
*(Kairos covered Chung Wol-seonyeo’s *More More*. Yes, the *More More* you know.)*
**So what was the response from the leader of this rookie boy group, just three months into their debut?**
**Kang HD @kang_HD**
**As expected, a man who is cute but not apologetic.**
*(Hajin saying, “After all, the cutest men are the best.”.mp4)*
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**By the way, here’s their usual stage presenceㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ**
*(Photo of them performing *Kick Off* in uniforms.jpg)*
….
– “I seriously almost passed out laughing when Kang Hajin did that cute spin while wearing the angora hat ㅠㅠㅋㅋㅋ.”
– “The fact that all this happened in one day.”
– “(Gif of Eunchan awkwardly shrugging his shoulder.gif)”
**Who wants to see my baby king fluffball shrug his shoulders?**
└ “Mom, isn’t this just a shoulder bump?”
└ “Hush, be quiet.”
– “How did my idol end up being a former mountain-climbing grandpa in disguise as a cute but fierce boss…”
– “The most absurd thing was seeing Lee Doha on Ivers, saying he wants to make an epic rock ballad for the next album after watching that ending stage. Dude, we get it, you’re a genius composer;;;;.”
– “The fact that the three of them were spacing out and enjoying themselves too much is driving me nuts,ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ. Hang in there, Taehyun.”
└ “Hang in there, Taehyun222.”
└ “Hang in there, Taehyun…333333.”
‘This wasn’t exactly the picture I had in mind…’
Is it okay as long as we find Mr. Kim, no matter the route?
I felt like two proverbs were getting mixed up, but as long as the meaning was clear, it didn’t matter.
With a carefree thought, I lay down and pulled a warm, cozy blanket over myself. Next to me, Lee Doha had already fallen asleep, worn out from the intense practice.
“I can hear the sound of our stock price rising…”
We would secure our image as an unstoppable rookie idol and sweep the rookie awards.
After all, 50% of these awards were made by fans who cut their bones and flesh for us. The least we could do in return was to endlessly provide them with content so entertaining that they wouldn’t regret their immense financial and labor investment.
It would be best if that could be achieved on the stage, which was our main job.
“Ah, damn it. My eyes…”
I absentmindedly scrolled into iTube and accidentally locked eyes with myself in the thumbnail of our cover song stage.
Feeling queasy, I immediately closed the app and tried to calm my mind.
“…….”
About ten more stages remained for the year-end, including two on national TV.
We had to stand out overwhelmingly among rookie idols like Lanion on every stage and win every possible award. That wasn’t our mission, but we needed to achieve that to make it easier to take the next step in my plan.
– “But I’m a bit worried that the group’s image is being consumed too much.”
– “Did we really have to go this far on a national TV stageㅠㅠㅜ? We should’ve saved it for something bigger like GolDi or ReMuㅠㅜㅜㅠ.”
– “It’s nerve-wracking because we hit a home run with the first pitch. I’m worried the next one might not land, and the year-end is really important.”
Among the comments, some people were already expressing concerns about the rest of our year-end stages. Worrying about Kairos’ stage seemed unnecessary, but I could understand their feelings.
It also meant that our QBS stage was that successful, so without much hesitation, I pushed my phone aside and lay flat on the bed. After a moment of contemplation, I picked up my phone again, logged into Kairos’ official SNS, and posted a short message.
**Kairos @Daily_KIRUS**
**[Hajin] Hello, Destis :)**
**Did you enjoy the QBS Music Festival?**
**There are still a lot of stages left to show you all,**
**so let’s spend the rest of the year-end together with us~**
*(Selfie taken in More More outfit.jpg)*
*(Photo taken by a fan in More More outfit.jpg)*
*(Selfie taken in Over the Night outfit.jpg)*
*(Photo taken by a fan in Over the Night outfit.jpg)*
I was glad I had taken a lot of photos during our busy schedule.
Satisfied with how well the photos had turned out, I smiled faintly and was about to finally put my phone away for real when it lit up again.
“……?”
**
**
“……Ah, this guy, seriously.”
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****
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…Geez, seriously.
Here I am trying to get serious about this idol business, but the people who are supposed to help me aren’t very reliable.
With a small sigh, I soon fell into a deep sleep.
* * *
Kairos’ year-end performances were nothing short of a runaway train.
Kang Hajin poured all the ideas he had seen, heard, and wanted to plan in his past life into shaping the year-end stages.
Although it wasn’t possible to prepare every stage with the same intensity as the QBS one due to budget and time constraints, Hajin knew
well that the impact of a stage didn’t necessarily come from grand performances or large-scale dancers.
He was the kind of person who knew when to hold back and when to go all out, making the most out of each approach.
**Sunset University @SS_university**
**XX1208 Lemon Music Awards**
**The hand warmers and cocoa the kids handed out because it’s cold on the outdoor stage♥**
**It’s freezing, but the photos turned out so well that I’m in a good mood.**
*(Kairos’ fan service certification photo)*
*(High-definition photo of Hajin exhaling in the cold as he looks straight into the camera.jpg)*
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**Strong Jin @strongjin**
**XX1216 SBC Music Festa**
**This is not a carol (BAD SANTA VER.)**
**The kids sang the whole time while looking only at the fans, not the cameras… these sweethearts ㅠ**
*(Video of their intense rock version of This Is Not a Carol performance.mp4)*
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**Reason Gun @2uuu_gunn2**
**Kickoff in racing suits is insane; what are you doing, Kairos, come back home;;;**
*(Screenshot of Kairos performing Kickoff in racing outfits.mp4)*
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The simpler the song selection, the more they focused on stage manners and events. For songs with larger scales and intense performances, they made diverse costume and outfit choices.
With so many award shows now, Hajin knew better than anyone that no matter how good a song was, listeners could become fatigued and bored from hearing the same songs repeatedly.
Although he knew Kairos’ songs weren’t so commonplace that people would get tired of them easily, it was still their responsibility to make those songs even more visually and audibly appealing.
‘We’re not aiming for easy-listening songs like Lanion that people can stream repeatedly, so we have to put in extra effort.’
Since they didn’t have many songs yet, they had no choice but to reuse and rework their tracks.
The more they did that, the more Hajin strove to add countless arrangement elements and various storytelling techniques to make people want to revisit the original song at least once. Selecting
– “Kairos really prepared hard for the year-end.”
The more these reactions came in, the brighter Hajin’s eyes shone.
He was confident.
Confident that the stage they had prepared would resonate with people.
“And now, for the Rookie of the Year award. We will now announce the winner.”
And it didn’t take long for that confidence to turn into certainty.