When I opened my eyes I was a Superstar – Chapter 182: One in a Million (3)

Do Wook held out the cellphone in his hand. Park Tae Hyung looked at the screen.

A Mytube account was pulled up on the cellphone screen and a total of three videos were posted under the ID ‘dancing21’.

The videos were posted two weeks ago, one week ago, and three days ago, respectively.

The video wasn’t that old, but it had over 10,000 views and about 6,000 followers.

Of course, it was not comparable to the accounts of celebrities or people whose names were well-known, but if the trend continued, it looked like it could easily get 100,000 followers within a few months.

It was even more amazing if you considered how long it’d been, the number of videos as well as the quality of the videos.

The video was taken with a cell phone, and viewed at even the highest quality it was only 640px.

Inside the blurry screen that had a deserted parking lot as its background, there was one guy standing wearing a plain white shirt and gray sweatpants.

He was wearing a dark cap pressed down low to his face and had a hoodie over it, and was even wearing a mask, so it was difficult to recognize the face.

[Dance practice #1 – Jackson 3, Thrill (Practice)]

It was the title of the first posted video dated 2 weeks ago.

When he pressed the play button, the young man moved his feet brilliantly and started dancing to the music. He wasn’t doing a cover of the original choreography, it was original choreography. You could feel that he had a significant amount of experience through the choreography.

It was short, but it was perfect. You could feel both the smoothness of the dance as well as its power at the same time.

Below the video, there were a significant number of comments posted.

-Sick! A master has appeared *shaking of excitement*

-Of all the dance videos I’ve seen recently, this one is the GOAT

-Who is that asian boy? Wonderful!*
(TL Note: This was written in English)

-Please post more videos!

-What crew are you a part of? It’s original choreography, right??? Awesome AF

-So cool!!! But the parking lot in the background lol It would have been better if you had filmed it with a camera and uploaded it properly

-Please show us your face ^^ I get the feeling he’s handsome too^^***

-Fantastic! I’ve never seen before like that!*
(TL Note: This was also written in English)

-This dancing king, going viral in the community~!!

-The synchronization* caught my attention. The other videos are amazing too
(TL Note: They’re saying that his movements are perfectly timed to the music)

-There’s over 100 comments about the synchronization and the video is going viral…I’m not sure if you knew that lol

-If you’re asked to go on King Star, I hope you’ll do it hahaha. I want to see your face haha

-Seriously, with this much talent he should go on King Star lol

-What, why would he go on a tacky program like that? lolol

-Mr. 21* Do you do covers of dances? Please do KK’s choreography…for some reason you remind me of Tae Hyung so I want to see you do it!
(TL Note: Referring to his ID dancing21)

-This doesn’t feel like some amateur

-I smell a pro

The video was spreading through dance-related communities and the majority of opinions was that there was no way this person was an amateur. They didn’t think that it was actually Park Tae Hyung, but there were people who thought that he had a similar vibe as Park Tae Hyung.

It wasn’t that they had similar vibes.

The man in the video was Park Tae Hyung.

The timing of the video uploads also coincided with the time Park Tae Hyung had been in Uljin.

Do Wook had come across the video not too long ago. Park Tae Hyung wasn’t answering his cell phone and he couldn’t immediately go down to find him so, out of frustration, he thought about other methods.

He remembered that, unlike the other members who mainly used FaceNote, Park Tae Hyung often went on MyTube to watch videos.

Just in case, he looked up the ID that Park Tae Hyung often used for his personal stuff. He knew about the ID because in the past, they had shared the ID for a site Park Tae Hyung paid for.

He really hadn’t expected much, but there was an account ‘dancing21’ and it even had videos.

He would have been able to tell it was Park Tae Hyung even if he had seen the video without knowing the ID, so he was certain.

It was the movement of Park Tae Hyung whom he’d been practicing with for years.

‘He’s not answering calls, but he’s practicing dancing by himself and posting videos…’

Park Tae Hyung’s feelings reached Do Wook.

Park Tae Hyung had a surprised expression after checking the screen.

The video became more popular than Park Tae Hyung had expected, but it wasn’t popular enough for his fellow member Do Wook to find it.

“You already know it too. The talent you possess…isn’t that why you posted these?”

“That’s…”

Park Tae Hyung wasn’t just blaming himself for not having a presence within KK. He was also looking for solutions to the problem in his own way.

And he came to the conclusion by himself that the answer was, of course, dancing.

Thus Park Tae Hyung thought about what he could do with dancing, and decided that he’d start by posting original choreography online.

He felt that if he was skilled enough to be acknowledged as an unnamed person instead of a member of KK, he would have more self-confidence to achieve SOMETHING.

And so, Park Tae Hyung was gradually getting his confidence back.

“Park Tae Hyung. You’re pulling your weight just fine.”

“Do Wook…”

“You could have accomplished more, it’s just that people didn’t know that.”

Do Wook’s words made Park Tae Hyung hang his head.

“You can do even greater things.”

Even the chilly winter wind couldn’t extinguish the fire in Park Tae Hyung’s eyes.

To be honest, those were the words he had wanted to hear. ‘You can do greater things too’. It wasn’t enough to hear that he was doing well enough. Park Tae Hyung wanted to advance just like Do Wook and the other members.

Do Wook patted Park Tae Hyung.

People have diverse inclinations. Not just anyone could find their own path with their talents and excel in it like Do Wook and the other members did.

There are some people who have to be discovered by someone else for their talent to blossom.

Do Wook was reminded of himself when he was ‘Kim Bo Myung’. When he first saw Park Tae Hyung when the latter was a trainee, Do Wook thought that Park Tae Hyung was similar to Kim Bo Myung.

Therefore, people could berate Park Tae Hyung while saying he was being stupid worrying about others reaching their peak popularity, but not Do Wook.

He lost his confidence and his self-esteem probably went down significantly too. The members were like brothers, but when you’re constantly around people whom you’re being compared to, it was inevitable.

Park Tae Hyung was frustrated about the situation, but he wasn’t simply waiting around to be discovered. He was putting in the work to find himself and become a better person than he was yesterday. That’s what the videos he had posted were saying.

“I’m still mad at you for making us worry though.”

“I’m sorry…to you…and to the hyungs too…that wasn’t my intention…”

“I guess you’re not sorry to Ji Hoon?”

“Ah…to Ji Hoon too!”

Park Tae Hyung added, saying he made a mistake. Do Wook shook his head and laughed.

Do Wook then took out the paper he had neatly folded up from his pocket and handed it to Park Tae Hyung.

“This is…”

“I thought this might be helpful to you.”

Park Tae Hyung opened up the paper. When he opened it, the rather large paper was a poster.

《Recruiting contestants for Dancing Dancing! Season 1!》

“Dancing Dancing…?”

Park Tae Hyung read the contents of the poster.

< Dancing Dancing > was originally a popular U.S. audition program. < Dancing Dancing >, along with < American Singer >, were the top two popular and viral programs. < American Singer > was a singing competition, whereas < Dancing Dancing > was a dancing competition.

The format of < Dancing Dancing > was to perform missions with dancers of any genre or experience. They were divided into two teams, and participants were eliminated based on jury scores as well as online and live voting.

It was such a popular program that they bought the format of < Dancing Dancing > and launched it in Korea too.

Considering that < Dancing Dancing > , which followed the format of < American Singer >, became a big hit and produced popular stars, it guaranteed a certain level of success.

“Not as a participant, as a judge.”

“Ju…Judge?”

Park Tae Hyung opened his eyes wide as if what he just heard was ridiculous.

Judges on < Dancing Dancing > played an important role in addition to judging. They also guided teams during competitions. They also had a significant influence on the choreography composition. There were even times when the ranking of the performers was determined by the competence of the judges.

“Something like that, I…”

“If you enter as a contestant, it’s too obvious that you’d get first place.”

Park Tae Hyung shook his head that what Do Wook said was not the case at all, but Do Wook genuinely believed that. Park Tae Hyung was overflowing with talent when it came to dancing even back during his trainee days.

Additionally, Park Tae Hyung’s skills, having constantly practiced since his debut, were already one of the best in Korea.

Park Tae Hyung thought that he had benefitted by being under the KK name, but instead, his skills had been devalued due to the wall of being an idol and a part of a team.

If he became a judge for < Dancing Dancing >, it would be an opportunity to make known his outstanding skills that were hidden from the public as well as his choreography composition abilities that the fans don’t know much about.

Do Wook observed Park Tae Hyung’s expression. He wasn’t certain that the method he came up with was necessarily right for Park Tae Hyung.

“Me…a judge?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think I’d be able to do it?”

Park Tae Hyung definitely wanted to try it too. The sound of the waves hitting the rocks was very powerful.

Do Wook nodded his head.

“Of course. I asked Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung before I came here, he said that the Dancing Dancing staff would be dancing with joy if you said you’d want to come onto the program.”

The reason Park Tae Hyung didn’t have any individual projects wasn’t because he was not popular. It was because programs these days were mostly ones where you have to be well spoken.

It was just that he hadn’t had an opportunity to get himself well-known yet.

“All that’s left is for you to make a decision.”

Park Tae Hyung nodded his head slowly at what Do Wook said.

Do Wook felt he already knew what Park Tae Hyung would decide.

“First, we need to prepare for the U.S. broadcast.”

“Ah, yeah! Yup!”

Park Tae Hyung changed his determined expression and answered quickly.

“Let’s hurry back. I’m sure everyone is waiting.”

***

NVC Broadcast station in America.

The TV show KK was invited to was none other than < Michelle’s Night > .

Michelle was an outstanding actress who had won several awards in a landslide doing NVC dramas, but she was currently better known for her talk show than as an actress.

< Michelle's Night > that Michelle hosted was the highest-rated American talk show and featured world-renowned stars.

The people invited to < Michelle's Night > were stars that anyone could recognize by the name or were becoming a hot topic world-wide.

KK was now added to the list of guests on < Michelle’s Night >.

The number of views for the ‘Continue’ music video on Mytube had already broken all the records in Korea. Even among Mytube videos worldwide, it was in the top 10 and KK’s grandeur was rising day after day.

They continued to be on the Billboard chart as well.

KK’s fan count had risen to a tremendous amount because Do Wook had completely captivated people at the world’s most populous continents through < Sweetheart from the Universe >.

They were also popular enough in the U.S. for it to not be strange at all that they were invited to be on < Michelle’s Night >.

Michelle, the show’s host, introduced KK.

“Korea, Japan, China. They’ve conquered Asia, even the Middle East, and now America too…Wow…the cheering is already astounding. This might be the most fired up it’s gotten in the studio in the history of this show.”

There were numerous American KK fans at the studio set. Looking forward to seeing KK in person, the fans were cheering at every word Michelle said.

“Today’s guest is currently the world’s most popular boy band. I even heard that one of the young men is an alien? Maybe he captured these girls with his superpowers…”

Jokingly, Michelle laughed and brought out KK, saying she couldn’t delay it any longer.

“Let me introduce to you, KK!”

Cheers immediately erupted.

The KK members had already finished rehearsal, but the cheers filling the studio made them anxiously clasp their hands tightly.

A performance was planned before moving on to the talking portion. The prelude to ‘Continue’ started playing.

And in front of the stage, Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung, who was with the staff waiting for KK’s performance, was frozen in place, surprised by what the staff from < Michelle’s Night > had just told him.

Next chapter: KK gets a surprise while on < Michelle’s Night >

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