However, they couldn’t afford to worry about things like that.

The KK members got their makeup done in the hotel room by the stylist team they had always worked with about 2 hours before the award ceremony.

“Ah…is this what they mean by time flies…”

Ahn Hyung Seo, who had finished getting his makeup done, said as he leaned against the hotel bed headboard. He muttered like an old soul, different from his usual self.

“You’re not nervous, Hyung Seo?”

“It doesn’t feel real. At all.”

Ahn Hyung Seo responded to Suk Ji Hoon’s question.

Do Wook, fiddling with his tie in front of the mirror, laughed as he watched Ahn Hyung Seo in the back, muttering with a blank expression.

Before the Billboard Music Awards ceremony, KK had been working hard on U.S. activities since a month before the nominations were announced.

The amount of requests from local American programs pouring in after << Michelle's Night >> was to the point that they couldn’t respond to each one, but it wasn’t just America. Programs in Canada, South America, and Europe were also interested.

However, because they even got a request for a special performance at the Billboard Music Awards, KK’s schedule became even tighter to prepare for the performance.

Since they expected to get more requests after the award ceremony, KK put in all their effort into preparing the performance for the award ceremony for now. The few program requests they received that worked with their schedule were scheduled for after the award ceremony.

In the meantime, the members were busy without a moment to rest because there were Korean and Chinese advertisements and programs that had been initially scheduled.

They took it one day at a time and before they knew it, it was the day of the award ceremony.

“I saw Reina will be there today too…”

Park Tae Hyung said to Do Wook. Do Wook, who had already checked, nodded his head. Among the leading pop stars they’d see today, she was the one Do Wook was most looking forward to seeing too.

As a world-renowned pop star, Reina was beloved in Korea too, but he she had never visited Korea. It was an incredible honor to share a stage with her.

“Autograph, can I get Reina’s autograph if I see her?”

“Man, you’ll ruin the mood. You’re a fellow star, act like it! Shake her hand!”

Jung Yoon Ki said, full of bravado, in response to Ahn Hyung Seo.

“You think Reina would know who we are?!”

Ahn Hyung Seo yelled. Kim Won playfully said,

“Do you know KK?”

“Dude…”

Jung Yoon Ki shrugged his shoulders. The members eased their anxiety by conversing with each other. Of course, there was too much anxiety to be eased just by that.

“We really might win the award today. The Billboard award ceremony…it’s like a dream, I’m speechless.”

The nominees for Rookie of the Year this time was dancer/singer Ariana, TOT from the hip hop genre, and KK.

“We might win. Looking at the nominees, compared to last year’s, it’s…possible that we’ll win,”

Suk Ji Hoon said calmly in response to Jung Yoon Ki.

The majority of experts had also made that kind of analysis. If it were last year, it probably would have been hard to have a fully positive outlook.

Last year, the boy band ‘Four Direction’ had the honor of winning the Rookie of the Year Award.

Four direction was an incredible boy band that had captivated female fans all across America as soon as they had debuted, and had achieved an unrivaled performance last year.

American boy bands swept the ‘BOY OR MAN’ world* with enormous popularity from the late 90s to the early 2000s, but seemed to have lost their glory since then. As successors of that American boy band history, they were one of the few successful ones nowadays.
(PR + TL note: ‘BOY OR MAN’ was written in English. We don’t know what it is either.)

Currently, the status has become higher, and not only the entire group but also individual member’s albums have made it to the top of the Billboard chart without difficulty.

If KK won the Rookie of the Year Award, it would be proof that KK could establish themselves as a world-renowned star just as much as Four Direction.

You could tell the weight of it just by looking at the names of past winners: LIL, Justin Bob, Taylor Sweet, and Lady NANA.

***

“Do you know KK?”

And on the set of the award ceremony, the question Kim Won had jokingly asked was actually being said by the host.

The question was asked to stars of whom KK had previously said in an interview that they’d like to see them perform or, inversely, stars who had mentioned they wanted to see KK perform.

Some stars even mentioned KK first to the interviewer while having their pictures taken on the red carpet.

It was because countless KK fans had situated themselves behind the guardline of the 100-or-so-meters-long red carpet.

A considerable number of fans flew from Korea to share this historical moment. On top of that, local fans, as well as fans living in surrounding cities and countries, had gathered so they wouldn’t miss this rare opportunity to see KK in person.

KK fans used various cheering tools to express themselves as fans of KK. This kind of fervent expression was not a common sight on the red carpet, even at the Billboard Music Awards.

Fans of Four Direction were passionate too, but KK fans went beyond passion, when you can feel a kind of unity.

The artists, who were surprised by the sight, brought up KK first.

The replies weren’t simply whether they knew KK or not. There were, of course, no artists who didn’t know of KK, and they knew them beyond just having heard KK’s name in passing.

Most artists had heard KK’s songs or seen their performance. Also, they responded that they felt an incredibly strong energy from them.

They also said it seemed like that energy was passed on to the fans too and that they didn’t know the fans would be this overflowing with energy.

They said they also knew KK’s MyTube account had a really high number of subscribers and there were artists who had messaged them on FaceNote asking KK to follow them.

Additionally, there was a female artist who said member Do Wook was so handsome and jokingly said she wanted to contact him on a personal level.

It was a surprising remark for the people watching the live broadcast in Korea, but in America that has a very straightforward culture, much like her straightforward clothing style, the joke wasn’t a big deal.

Even TOT, who was nominated for the same Rookie of the Year Award, said they were really looking forward to seeing KK’s performance and that it was an honor to be nominated alongside them.

They weren’t nominated for the top artist award, just the rookie of the year award, but the hottest stars at the Billboard Music Awards this year was undeniably KK.

KK’s popularity couldn’t be dismissed as simply ‘very popular’.

Even locally in America, they were paying attention to the singers from a small Asian country who were capturing the hearts of local fans and enjoying global popularity.

As the energy on the red carpet was rising, a van stopped on the set.

The KK fans started to buzz.

The door opened and a long leg in a black suit stretched out.

As the members began to get out of the car one by one, starting with Do Wook, fans who had situated themselves by the red carpet cheered incredibly loudly.

“Kyaaaa―!!!”

“Do Wook!!!”

“Do Wook―!!!”

Confessions of love were said all over the place. As they saw the waving cheering sticks, the members couldn’t keep their eyes off them.

The red carpet laid in front of them felt very long.

Do Wook looked around at the fans then got out. Step. Step. Each time he stepped on the red carpet he felt like he wasn’t walking on Earth.

The blushing members were bombarded by flashes from reporters and paparazzi as they walked down the red carpet.

The members waved to both sides and had a bright smile.

And the future was no longer the future he knew since it had changed so much already, but Do Wook was certain.

This year’s Billboard Music Awards Rookie of the Year Award, the honor would be going to KK.

***

-What???????

-Really??

-Crazy T.T T.T T.T T.T

-*beep*, Korean singer on Billboard;;;

-T.T T.T T.T T.T Why am I getting all emotional

-K-pride, bottoms up

-Kyaaaa~~ Amazing~!!!

– Congrats congrats congrats lolololol

-T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T Insane

-Proud of you KK!!!

-They’ll be talked about in music textbooks

-T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T Congratulations

.

.

.

As soon as KK’s name was called, the community that was watching the Billboard Music Awards, which was being broadcast live, started flooding the chat room with hundreds of messages at once.

Nobody had the words to express how they were feeling and couldn’t write a long appreciation post. It was just overflowing with short congratulatory comments.

Not many people thought a group made in Korea composed of Koreans with Korean songs would be able to stand there.

However, KK had done just that.

KK was shown on screen, extremely emotional and at a loss for what to do.

The camera also captured Ahn Hyung Seo, whose knees gave out because he was so happy, briefly plopping to the ground and Do Wook grabbing his arm to help him up.

Seeing that made even non-fans choke up.

“KK!”

“KK―!”

The fans at the award ceremony venue yelled KK’s name. In those powerful chants, pop artists who had been watching the screens stood up and applauded, congratulating KK.

Members’ faces as they climbed onto the podium went through a lot of different expressions.

They were reminded of when they had won the Rookie of the Year Award in Korea. Back then, anxiety-fueled stray thoughts over ‘will we be able to debut?’ and the sweat they had poured into debuting had made the KK members cry.

KK had even won the grand prize in Korea. The anxiousness and emptiness they had felt at that moment wondering if it were all downhill from here, the rehearsals they had sacrificed sleep to do. The fans that had cheered them on. It* was beyond their wildest dreams so there were a lot of mixed feelings.
(TL comment: Up to this point, the paragraph was about winning the prize in Korea but this last sentence seems to be about the Billboard Awards)

After receiving the trophy, Jung Yoon Ki, the leader, gave his acceptance speech in Korean, his voice trembling.

“Uh…thank..I’m so grateful. I didn’t think that we would make it to here…it’s thanks to you all, our loving fans. Also, now we’re aiming for even higher places. Please continue to support us. Thank you once again and we love you!”

You could feel the great ambition in the acceptance speech. Seeing him proudly give his speech in Korean made the fans in Korea thrilled once again.

Continuing on, Kim Won gave a brief acceptance speech, then Do Wook also gave his acceptance speech in English.

Do Wook stood in front of the microphone and quietly smiled at the audience. When a closeup of that smile was shown on the screen, the fans swooned.

Do Wook’s appearance, which had become more refined and mature, was something that could captivate people worldwide.

He had come this far on his revenge against Seo Kang Jun and his small dream.

Along with words of appreciation, Do Wook quoted President Lincoln, whom Americans love.

“…I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.”

I go slowly, but I never walk backwards.*
(The first time was said in English, the second time was said in Korean)

Do Wook wanted to say it. That he didn’t know when it’d be, but he’d move forward until the end to achieve what he wanted.

Do Wook thought that if he did that, unbelievable things he never imagined would become reality.

Do Wook had started at a small-medium sized agency and made it to the Billboard award ceremony. The acceptance speech coming from someone with that background was engraved into many people’s hearts.

The wave of emotions intensified.

At the same time, concerned posts were getting uploaded in the community again.

The reason was Jung Yoon Ki and Do Wook’s acceptance speeches, which made it sound like, to become even bigger global stars, they were going to put all their efforts into American activities.

On top of that, there were articles reporting that Suk Ji Hoon’s departure from ‘Camping 48 Hours’ was confirmed and that he had already finished filming his last episode.

[I’m a fan of KK, I’m sorry for bringing down the festive mood, but…It seems like they’re not going to do activities in Korea…]

-Ah…seriously, what if they won’t release Korean albums anymore?

-Will we have to wait for them to come back to Korea…T.T

-Will they even come back to Korea?

-It’s already been half a year since their past performance in Korea

-I might have to jump ship to M2M

-Don’t make a fuss

-T.T T.T T.T I’m super happy, but they feel so far away now so I’m sad…

-It’s a time to celebrate, do you have to write such negative things?

-There’s nothing confirmed yet. It’s not like they said they’re not doing activities in Korea

-There’s nothing planned for their next album yet, right?

– *nod nod* even the plans they did have were cancelled

-At this rate, what if they become like One Man?

-If you’re a KK fan, you won’t post such a comment

—

Next chapter: After winning at the Billboard Music Awards, KK plans out their activities for the upcoming year but will their activities go smoothly?

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