“M2M’s status has definitely skyrocketed.”
“Yes. KK…The gap in sales compared to them has narrowed and they’ve undeniably established themselves as a top idol.”
Ara Entertainment’s Head of Strategic Planning responded to Director Seo Joong Won. Even the Department Head couldn’t help but choose his words carefully when mentioning KK because it was a topic Director Seo Joong Won was extremely sensitive about.
Even the Department Head understood why Director Seo Joong Won was sensitive. Every group he touched had risen to the top, but M2M was always second place to KK.
“Ok, well, that’s fine. This is enough. If it’s difficult with M2M alone, we can just make a new group to get to the top. Preparations are going well, right?”
The “preparations” Director Seo Joong Won was referring to was Ara Entertainment’s female idol group ‘Valentine’ whose debut was just around the corner.
The Department Head replied immediately.
“Yes. It’s proceeding without a hitch.”
Director Seo Joong Won replied, “Good.” As long as he could raise the celebrities of a powerful agency and keep his influence over broadcast stations, it was all good.
Until now, it was a bit of a struggle because M2M didn’t go as he planned, but M2M had recently risen to the top status and if Valentine became successful on top of that, there wouldn’t be any problems.
‘With that power, I’ll make sure my son gets a comeback…’
Director Seo Joong Won’s snake-like eyes glowed.
***
Performances cancelled due to death threat.
Feeling miserable, the KK members were gathered in their hotel room.
The hotel left the whole floor vacant for KK. In front of the hotel room, including the elevator of the floor KK was staying at, there were security guards from the private security company stationed per Manager Oh Baek Ho’s request. There were several policemen too.
“We won’t…end up having to go back to Korea because of this, right?…”
Ahn Hyung Seo, who was sitting on the bed, asked with a dark expression.
“Man, don’t jinx us like that.”
“Maybe. We really might have to go back…”
Jung Yoon Ki shook his head, but, unexpectedly, Kim Won was also having negative thoughts.
While living abroad, Kim Won also experienced racism so he felt more realistic fear.
“The culprit…they’ll be able to catch him soon.”
Even Do Wook, who had always spoken with certainty, found it hard to be certain in this situation. He was even more frustrated because there was nothing he could do.
Still, he thought that the culprit would get caught soon because the New York Police and the press wouldn’t take this situation lightly.
It was crazy in Korea too, but the press in America was also in a state of chaos.
It was classified as an entertainment piece in Korea, but it became a social issue in America.
It made sense, since the motive of the person who threatened a terrorist attack at the concert hall to kill KK was racism-based.
Of course, there are a lot of racist people in America, as well as many people who were subtly racist.
However, internally, the values America holds as a country is completely different from racism, and externally, Americans were very sensitive about the fact that an incident had happened that portrays their people as having low civil awareness.
When one is a victim of racism, they don’t just get upset. They call the person out and ask, “Are you discriminating against me?” and either the other person says, “Absolutely not,” or the people around them start criticizing them too.
However, America couldn’t help but be up in arms that a singer, one who had won at the Billboard awards and had fans all over the world, received a death threat and even had to cancel their performance just because they were from the East.
As soon as the word of the incident got out, KK’s name was constantly getting mentioned on the news.
Anchors, one and all, repeatedly stated with a serious expression that this kind of discrimination should not happen and said over and over that racism absolutely couldn’t be allowed.
Police were using a lot of manpower to quickly track down the person who had sent the message.
‘When the culprit is identified, we’ll probably only be able to proceed with the concert again after that…I hope this kind of thing won’t happen again.’
That thought in mind, Do Wook lowered the TV volume a little. The new channel, CNM, was playing on the TV in the hotel room. They had turned it on in the slight chance that they might hear updates about the culprit quicker.
“Even if the culprit is caught and we do the concert…I think it will be scary. We don’t know when a bullet might come flying. Maybe I’ve watched too many movies,”
Suk Ji Hoon said, trying hard to smile.
“…Well, if we die on stage, we can think of it as an honor.”
Jung Yoon Ki hit Ahn Hyung Seo’s shoulder, appalled by his reply.
“Man, don’t say such macabre things.”
“What. I’m serious. We’re going to keep performing on stage anyways… Just walking down the street, dead! While eating jello, dead…! You never know how and when you’ll die…if you die on stage, it’s meaningful…”
Jung Yoon Ki said, “nobody is going to die, stop saying such horrendous things” while covering his ears. It was a conversation that had a little bit of silliness to lighten the heavy mood.
However, with everything going on, they could feel Ahn Hyung Seo’s sincerity about performing.
“That won’t happen.”
Do Wook said as he patted Suk Ji Hoon, who had turned pale, on the shoulder.
At that moment, Manager Oh Baek Ho, who had returned from checking on the situation at Lincoln Center, opened the door and entered.
“Oh, Baek Ho!”
“What about the fans…?”
The members asked as soon as Manager Oh Baek Ho came in.
“There’s a minimal number of policemen in front of Lincoln Center, the rest of them left. Since you guys aren’t there, there’s no reason for the person to show up…But, some fans didn’t leave even after they were told to leave and stayed around.”
“Still?”
It was about 2 hours past the concert time now.
Originally, It would have been time for them to finish the concert and head to the next concert venue.
However, hearing that fans stayed in front of the venue when the performance was already cancelled, they couldn’t help but feel confused.
“Uh…they looked like they might start a protest…Anyways, the police said they’ll take care of the rest so don’t worry too much.”
“Ok…”
The members replied in a deflated voice.
They were concerned about the fans, but they couldn’t even go to Lincoln Center to console the angry fans.
Of course it wasn’t KK the fans were mad at, but the person who gave the death threat.
As for the Korean fans, they said there was no reason for them to deal with such threats to do activities in America and implored them to come back to Korea.
Not just Korea, but Asia, including China and Japan, the Middle East, South America, etc. Fans in what can be called a non-Western Bloc were furious as if they themselves had been victims of racism.
Like Kim Won, there were many people who had been subjected to racism, big or small, at least once. They knew that sorrow better than anyone, and hearing that even idols whom they admire suffered such an incident made them angry enough to commit an act of terrorism themselves right now.
There were also many people who weren’t necessarily KK fans but still left the KK members supportive messages.
It was true for Western fans too. They posted that they were ashamed that this kind of stuff happened in this day and age. They were very concerned about how hurt the KK members must have been.
They definitely focused on different aspects, but ultimately they felt the same.
The local fans were feeling concern, frustration, and shame all at the same time.
Fans who were waiting for KK in front of the venue were feeling that even more. Therefore, they gathered near the venue and hoped for the culprit to get caught and to receive news of KK resuming their performances.
Even after V TV announced their position that they would make safety their top priority so that KK could do events safely, protests out of anger towards the blackmailer showed no signs of decreasing.
Online, local fans were already unifying to protest against racism. It was truly an incredible butterfly effect.
American media, which captured this movement, also said, ‘A single line of warning to a boyband loved worldwide made everyone upset,’ and added, ‘It’s a relief that they quickly cancelled the performance and made sure they were safe, but the hearts of the hurt KK members and fans should also be kept safe.”
Listening to the remarks from the CNM anchors, Do Wook let go of the remote he was holding.
“…I think it’d be good to post a message that we’re ok.”
The members nodded their heads to what Do Wook said.
***
[We’re okay. We’re sorry we inevitably couldn’t keep our promise about the concert. We came back, got things taken care of, and are resting well. Don’t worry too much. We honestly were surprised, but we weren’t hurt. Nothing happened. So don’t be too angry, even if you want to be mad at someone. There isn’t enough time to love each other these days! Let’s love one another. We’ll sing until more love spreads throughout the world. Please wait a little.]
The message Do Wook posted on KK’s official FaceNote account spread throughout the world within seconds.
KK had become a symbol of love and peace overnight.
The guerilla concert in America, which was like a festival only for fans who like KK, now became a concert that people all over the world were paying attention to.
It was as if the success of KK’s concert had become the symbol of peace.
Furthermore, some New York citizens and officials felt responsible and simply hoped that KK’s performance would be successful. They didn’t just wish it in their hearts, they wanted to actually help KK’s concert.
A famous bottled water company based in New York stepped up to sponsor KK.
They said they would provide all the water and drinks for people to drink at the venue.
The ‘COME HERE’ program already had multinational companies from Korea and companies where KK worked as a model that were already providing a lot of production support as sponsors.
Not only bottled water companies but also various companies contacted them, so they couldn’t accept any more sponsorships.
V TV representatives didn’t know whether they should cry or laugh about this situation and acted reluctant.
They were grateful for the other sponsorships, but above all, they were relieved that the issue of renting a venue was resolved.
When the concert schedule was postponed, the venues they had rented all cancelled. However, the government said if it was for a KK concert they’d have a stage available no matter what.
Thanks to that, KK was able to post an announcement the day after the culprit was caught that the concerts would resume.
The culprit was caught within 2 days.
The high school student had joined a secret organization that wanted to exterminate people of color from America. It was a mysterious club-like online society.
Everyone exchanged messages like keyboard warriors, saying they would slaughter people of color only on the Internet, but were actually ordinary office workers, fast food restaurant managers, graduate students, etc.
Only this high school student, who usually had delusions of grandeur, tried to carry out the online conversation they had exchanged.
In fact, a year ago, there was a previous attempt to install a handmade bomb in a Chinese supermarket. Of course, back then, he was suspected as a thief trying to steal stuff before he could even install the bomb, which was a relief.
Then, Saturday, one week after getting the death threat message.
6:59 pm. KK was standing on a special outdoor stage set up in the middle of Central Park.
All 6 members of KK were holding hands. It was hard to control the emotions swelling up.
The second hand of the huge digital clock above the stage was heading towards 50.
In one voice, the fans started a countdown.
“10!!!”
“9!!!”
.
.
.
At exactly 7 o’clock, the crowd who gathered at Central Park yelled.
“Kyaaaaa―!!!”
“!!!”
“!!!”
Boom―! Boom―!
Along with the tremendous cheering, different color fireworks exploded in the sky.
The American guerilla performance started.
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