“Are you OK?”

Kim Won, who was walking in the back, asked the female fan who had fallen.

He stopped, bent down on his knees, and held out his hand. The private security guard yelled something at him, but Kim Won waited for the fan to grab his hand. The fan, whose hair had become messed up, didn’t really know what to do and took his hand.

Behind them, the fans continued to scream and push each other, but there was less pushing around Kim Won and the fan who had fallen.

Once the female fan grabbed Kim Won’s hand, he helped her up.

Kim Won was famous for always being good about remembering fans’ names, making eye contact without fail, and having a kind personality.

As such, he couldn’t just leave it be and simply pass by when a fan was on the ground in front of him.

After grabbing her hand and raising her up, he asked her again if she was ok. Even amid the chaos, the fan nodded her head when he asked. Relieved, he smiled.

After checking how the fan was doing, he quickly started walking again.

It was clear that there would be more ruckus if they delayed even a little.

They couldn’t say it was a relief considering the situation, but now that a fan had fallen, there was less pushing and pulling in the chaos.

After forcing their way through the crowd, the members made it safely to the van that was parked in front of the airport.

“Wow.”

“Whew…”

As soon as they got into the van, the members, who escaped from the airport with difficulty, kept sighing without saying a word. They felt as if all the energy had been sapped from them.

“That was the worst mess ever…”

“I almost died,”

Suk Ji Hoon muttered as if talking to himself, and Jung Yoon Ki let out a groan.

Manager Oh Baek Ho asked the interpreter to have the driver start the car quickly. Fans who had followed them all the way stuck to the car and were pestering them to open the windows.

They were overflowing with a different level of passion from Korean fans. Feeling as if their souls had left their bodies, the members watched through the windows as the fans faded away in the distance.

“We’re going to head straight to the press conference site. It’ll take about 2 hours to get there. Once we get there, you’re going to get your makeup done and do the press conference.”

Manager Oh Baek Ho was also exhausted so he left it at that. The members nodded their heads. They had to quickly replenish their strength on the way there.

“The situation almost got really bad earlier. Are you ok?”

Jung Yoon Ki. asked Kim Won who was sitting next to him.

“Ah. Well. I’m not hurt,”

Kim Won answered lightly.

“Still. Something bad could have happened to you while unnecessarily helping the fan. Next time, leave it to the security guards and just move on. Got it?”

Oh Baek Ho said sternly. Kim Won nodded his head.

Do Wook’s thoughts weren’t that different from Manager Oh Baek Ho’s. The fan was able to get up safely thanks to Kim Won, and the fans did calm down a little, but it could have gotten out of hand.

However, Kim Won’s body moved on its own when he saw the fan that fell from being pushed by the security guard.

“Did the security guard push you?”

When Suk Ji Hoon asked, Kim Won shook his head.

When he heard that the fan fell because of the security guard KK hired instead of from fans pushing from behind, Do Wook thought that the issue might blow up.

In the past, there were many cases where popular celebrities got backlash because their security guard was trying to protect the artist and pushed a fan.

Security guards also had a professional obligation to block fans who were charging head-first, which is probably why they did that, but once in a while even Do Wook felt it was unreasonably excessive.

Because of that, if a controversy over a security guard came to light, the associated celebrity’s image was also tainted even if they weren’t directly involved.

“Take a look at this, Won,”

Ahn Hyung Seo, who was frustrated because the internet was slow, held out the cell phone towards Kim Won.

“What is it?”

“A video of Won was posted!”

Ahn Hyung Seo answered when Jung Yoon ki asked out of curiosity. When he heard that a video of Kim Won was posted, Oh Baek Ho, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned around.

“What? What video is it?”

“A video from just now at the airport.”

“Man, they even filmed that.”

Kim Won and Jung Yoon Ki took turns watching on the cell phone, then gave the cell phone to Oh Baek Ho.

The video was of KK as they arrived at Beijing airport. It was taken on a cell phone so the quality wasn’t good, but you could at least tell who was who.

All the chaos at the airport was also captured.

The screaming back and forth, a private security guard KK hired in China pushing a fan, the fan falling onto the floor, and even Kim Won extending a hand to that fan.

The edited video that contained the series of events was quickly getting shared around KK’s Chinese fans through Aibo.

“Looking at it again, it really was super chaotic.”

Suk Ji Hoon, who was the last to be passed the phone, saw it and shook his head.

Since it was spreading in Aibo, it would quickly spread in Korea too. Do Wook wanted to look into what Chinese fans were currently saying, but he could only really tell the general vibe of fans with his lacking Chinese skills.

Do Wook copied the words that repeatedly appeared on the Aibo comments and looked them up on a translator.

He was able to tell that words like ‘What a relief, security guard, I’m angry, discipline, good manners, cool.’ were being used together.

The general consensus was Chinese fans expressing concern about the chaotic state of the airport. At the same time, there was anger about the security guard pushing the fan.

There were also a lot of fans who admired Kim Won for helping the fan in that situation

Considering that the word ‘sweet’ showed up a lot, Kim Won’s image in China would probably be captured as such.

‘Thanks to Kim Won’s response, it smoothed over well. What a relief.’

Do Wook held his hand over his chest.

***

The press conference site at a hotel in the middle of downtown Beijing.

The KK members, who finished getting ready, entered the press conference area wearing outfits that matched the ‘Howl’ concept. Their stage costume had a loose school uniform vibe, but for today’s press conference they were dressed neatly as was appropriate for the formal event.

Once the members came on stage, several camera flashes went off everywhere at the same time

The members, who had heard that there would be ‘quite a few’ reporters, couldn’t help but be surprised at how many reporters there were.

Over a hundred, closer to two hundred, reporters had their cameras ready and were looking intensely at KK.

‘This many…?’

Do Wook was also feeling bewildered. Do Wook, who had been looking around, found a familiar face.

In the audience area a little away from the reporters, Production Director Kwon Heung Jo, who had come to China first and finished his business meeting-filled itinerary, was sitting down.

Through Hong Un Yeung, the branch manager for the Korean branch of Tae Hwa Group that had invested in HIT Entertainment, Director Kwon Heung Jo was introduced to Department Head Hwang Hun, who was in charge of entertainment investments in China.

They had received a lot of help from Department Head Hwang Hun with KK’s current entrance into the Chinese market, so Director Kwon Heung Jo felt he should at least arrange to meet him in person and say hello.

Kwon Heung Jo thought that it’d be good if he could also present KK to him at the same time. That was why he purposely arranged a meeting around the time of the press conference.

Director Kwon was also confident that Hwang Hun, who was in charge of investments in China, would see the charm of KK better if he saw the KK members in person.

Director Kwon and Department Head Hwang Hun, who had already finished their meeting at the restaurant located above the hotel, casually walked towards the press conference site.

Department Head Hwang Hun knew that he’d get to see KK in person at the press conference.

The new investee the Korean branch chose was HIT Entertainment. Branch Manager Hong Un Yeung excitedly spoke with Hwang Hun over the phone saying he thought it’d be a profitable investment.

Because of that, Department Head Hwang Hun had helped Branch Manager Hong Un Yeong with KK’s entrance to the Chinese market for the sake of the company’s profits.

It might be temporary, but now that they were in the same boat as investor and investee, it would obviously be a good thing for Tae Hwa Group if KK was successful.

Especially if they were successful in China, it would raise Tae Hwa Group’s reputation as the one who invested in them.

Department Head Hwang Hun said indirectly,

“We invited a few more reporters.”

Director Kwon Heung Jo, who was informed through an interpreter, had a shocked expression.

“The flashier you start, the better, don’t you think? Haha!”

Department Head Hwang Hun said as he laughed. Director Kwon Heung Jo bowed his head and thanked him.

Initially, there were over a hundred reporters who wanted to come to the press conference.

Of course there were some reporters from Korea mixed in, but those numbers alone showed that KK had already established itself as a rising star in China to a certain extent.

However, due to Department Head Hwang Hun’s influence, there were currently almost twice that number of reporters gathered. The number of reporters gathered was worthy of making headlines in Korea.

Thanks to that, KK’s first press conference in China was proceeding very extravagantly.

“How does it feel to be in Beijing?”

As expected, the first question was easy.

The members were sitting in chairs with a red carpet underneath that was hard to come across in Korea. Next to them was an interpreter.

Jung Yoon Ki grabbed the microphone as the representative and talked about his feelings of coming to China. He didn’t forget to say his thanks for welcoming them to China.

Later on, there were questions regarding KK’s music style. Jung Yoon Ki, who was always in charge of explaining their albums, answered that question as well.

“…especially when it comes to the current album Howl, there’s a lot of choreography that’s fun to watch, so I hope people in China will also give it lots of love.”

When Jung Yoon Ki finished answering, there were requests to show them the choreography. The KK members were momentarily overwhelmed, but they quickly regained their composure and sent out Park Tae Hyung.

Park Tae Hyung placed his microphone down in his seat, got up, and demonstrated some of the choreography’s highlights. Behind him, the other members sang to the rhythm. It was a moment where their teamwork shone.

“We watched Run Man and it looks like your body is really flexible. Please show us other cool moves too.”

With this additional request from a reporter, Park Tae Hyung, who was about to sit back down, got up again.

His earlobes red, Park Tae Hyung danced freestyle, moving to the rhythm for 16 bars. It must have been a difficult task to dance in front of 200 reporters, but he focused on dancing.

Afterwards, there were requests saying that they wanted to hear Ahn Hyung Seo sing high notes.

Ahn Hyung Seo sang the high part of ‘Sorry but I Love You’ while he winked at the audience about 5 times in a row.

The reporters burst into laughter.

The press conference was heating up. Since there were a lot of reporters, there were a lot of varying requests, and there were some questions that were seemingly friendly but sharp.

And when it was time for questions about a specific individual, the questions were all aimed towards Do Wook.

As expected, Do Wook was popular in China too. There were a lot of compliments regarding Do Wook’s clear facial features, calling it a blessed face.

The shutters went off every time Do Wook smiled.

‘Get Ready 1999’ that Do Wook acted in wasn’t that huge a success in China. However, perhaps because they knew he was also doing acting gigs, there were requests for him to show them his acting in Chinese.

Of course he didn’t have ‘Chinese acting’ he had specifically prepared, but Do Wook managed with emotion acting and a script that basically said ‘I love you’.

And inevitably since he was a singer from abroad, lots of questions about what Chinese fans were like, what he thought about China, etc. were pouring in.

Do Wook said that China was a country that he always liked, and that he liked Chinese fans because they were passionate, but, at least to that part, the reporters did not respond to it positively.

“Please tell us what you like about China.”

The reporter dug into Do Wook as if trying to judge whether Do Wook was being sincere or not.

“Uh…I…”

Do Wook, who was picking his words carefully, replied.

—

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