Ju Jaha didn't believe in the concept of a state of ecstasy.
When his older brothers said they couldn't see anything while performing on stage, he just thought it meant they were that immersed.
He himself often said so in interviews.
To appeal just how hard he was working on stage.
But what was this?
This feeling.
Moving his body as the Heavenly Demon instructed.
Taking the steps.
Even though it wasn't a long sequence of movements, the movements didn't end.
No, it felt like if he were told to keep dancing, he could.
The next movement, which the Heavenly Demon hadn't taught him, came to mind naturally.
'I want to dance a little more… I feel like I'll realize something if I dance a little more.'
A feeling of something flowing through his veins.
As if something hot was coiling in his stomach....
'Is this Mount Hua?'
The faint scent of plum blossoms from somewhere.
Because of the Mount Hua Sect concept, photoshoots and outfits were all plum blossoms.
Even though he was sick and tired of plum blossoms, this was fragrant.
Yes. The Myori of Mount Hua is, in other words—
"Ju Jaha! Stop!"
"Heok!"
Jaha, who had been dancing mindlessly, was startled by the loud noise and collapsed right where he stood.
The CEO, who had suddenly burst into the practice room and stopped Jaha's dance, let out a small sigh.
I heard the Heavenly Demon click his tongue from the side.
"Why do you suddenly appear and make me king-bat?"
"…Pardon?"
"Tsk. Why did you interfere."
"Interfere, you say."
The CEO, a smile on his face, approached the Heavenly Demon.
"I only came because I acquired what you were looking for."
What the CEO held out was the latest model smartphone.
The Heavenly Demon's displeased expression brightened immediately.
The smartphone in the CEO's hand flew through the air and into the Heavenly Demon's grasp.
Damn, he's using Void Grasp again.
Whether it was fortunate or not, Jaha didn't seem to see it.
This was a kid who would normally be fawning all over the CEO as soon as he appeared, but for some reason, he was just holding his head, looking dazed.
He danced as if possessed, to the point of breaking his body; the after-effects must have hit him.
"Your work is fast, I like it."
As the Heavenly Demon put the smartphone into his pocket, satisfied, the CEO stared at him blankly for a moment, then asked.
"Are you not satisfied with Jaha?"
What is he talking about all of a sudden?
Just a moment ago, the Heavenly Demon had been watching Jaha's dance with a pleased face, as if watching his own child.
Jaha, as he himself said, is not a member who dances well.
But the Jaha just now was different.
It was to the point where I even saw an illusion of dark, blood-red plum blossoms blooming.
And he's not satisfied?
The reason the CEO suddenly appeared and told him to stop... was it because it didn't look good in his eyes?
It seems that in the CEO bastard's eyes, Jaha's dance registered, but the shattered practice room did not.
The Heavenly Demon replied nonchalantly.
"Not at all."
"If that's the case, why..."
"I was just finding him amusing for a moment."
The Heavenly Demon answered nonchalantly, and the CEO, after seeming to ponder for a bit, nodded.
"Lord Heavenly Demon must also know that it is difficult to debut without Jaha."
"I know. He is the wretch with twice as many parts as the Alliance Leader wretch."
"Understood. Do you know how to use the smartphone?"
"Roughly. If there is something I don't know, I will resolve it by asking this administrator wretch here."
"Good."
The CEO looked at me as he replied, so I nodded to show I understood.
I guess I have to make a KakaoTalk ID for the Heavenly Demon.
"Oh? CEO-nim."
Just in time, the members who had gone out to the bathroom returned in a group.
As they entered the practice room and spotted the CEO, they all habitually bowed 90 degrees.
The Alliance Leader stepped forward and said.
"CEO-nim, we decided to use the choreography that Lord Heavenly Demon revised."
"I see."
The Alliance Leader stared fixedly at the CEO and added.
"There was an earthquake just now, were you okay, CEO-nim?"
"An earthquake? Ah. So this is what happened to this place..."
Hearing the Alliance Leader's meaningful question, the CEO seemed to have a rough idea of what had caused this mess.
The CEO looked back at me and asked.
"Mr. So-ui, is there an empty practice room?"
"Ah, yes. I think we can move now."
"Good. Everyone, it must be hard changing the choreography right before the last broadcast, and I'm sure you have not a few complaints. But I hope you all work hard and help Lord Heavenly Demon's debut."
The CEO smiled and added.
"Because he will be a great help in expanding Gupailbang's worldview in the future."
A 3rd-year Beggar, WeTaxi nickname 'JahaYaHoninhaja' (JahaLetsMarry).
Hereafter, JahaHonin was a malicious solo stan of malicious solo stans for the Mount Hua Sect.
Although a Beggar, she was always nitpicking other members' posts, saying they seemed to have gained weight or seemed to be meeting girls.
And despite being a hardcore individual fan, she was a fan who treated members who left Gupailbang as sworn enemies.
That JahaHonin held the remote tightly, having changed the channel to match the time the music show was about to end.
Today is XX/XX.
Her bias, Ju Jaha's, last broadcast for this promotion.
And the day the crazy CEO bastard announced the Heavenly Demon's debut.
'How can he shove a "who-dat" nobody into the last broadcast of the kids who feed his company....'
No matter how much she thought about it, it was an infuriating situation.
In fact, when the Heavenly Demon's debut date was first decided, JahaHonin had posted, instigating a boycott.
But the period remaining until the last broadcast was too short.
Although there were some Beggars who sympathized with the boycott, after seeing the Heavenly Demon's teaser photo, they were completely won over and posted things like, 'His face is the best after the Alliance Leader, no? Mount Hua malicious stans scared their popularity ranking will drop? lol'.
Being treated as a malicious stan like that was annoying, but what she hated most were the "neutrals."
The fans who would put on neutral gear at every little thing and say, "let's wait and see."
It was mostly the Shaolin fandom that did that.
Just as she was grumbling about why people stan a fake-ass monk like Baek Nahan, the stage of an idol group that, while not Gupailbang, was still considered 1st-tier, ended.
When the camera caught the familiar color of the lights, JahaHonin straightened up from where she was leaning on the sofa.
"Ah, f-ck."
When the camera, which had been on the lights, panned to the full stage, she couldn't help but spit out a curse.
Creepily, that Heavenly Demon or whatever was the center.
The Heavenly Demon stared at the camera with arrogant eyes, then opened a folding fan and covered his mouth.
– Be grateful that you can witness this with your own two eyes.
JahaHonin's eyes widened.
It wasn't because of the line, speaking informally to the viewers, having gone mad with the concept act.
Until now, the Alliance Leader opening Gupailbang's song was an unspoken, solidified part.
She wasn't a Jeilgeom fan, but he was the group's leader and was often caught on camera taking care of Jaha, so she liked him more than the other members.
But a guy debuting today snatched a part like that?
JahaHonin was boiling inside.
'If he gnawed away at my kid's parts, I'm going to kill him.'
She watched Gupailbang's stage with fierce eyes.
Whether they put in extra effort because it was the last broadcast, or if they refined it while changing to a 6-person formation, the stage was several times more tightly structured than usual.
"Heol… my kid is flying today."
Her bias was a member who couldn't be called a good dancer, even with empty words.
Jaha doesn't need to dance well.
Because he sings well. Because his vocal tone is insane.
Although she used to say that, seeing her bias dance well made her so happy she felt she had to vent it somewhere.
JahaHonin hurriedly opened Twarara-tta and tapped the keyboard.
[It's like a thousand-year-old Mount Hua plum tree is dancing, Jaha, How can you still be filming a growth story alone after 6 years, you are really …see more]
The other Beggars on her timeline had similar reactions.
[What is it today, did someone feed Jaha a magic pill or something?]
[Beggars, are my eyes weird? I think I see plum blossoms around Jaha]
[I saw it too, anyway, I saw it]
[No, I really see it; is it a special effect?]
So it wasn't just me seeing the plum blossoms around Jaha.
Seeing as there were no special effects around the other kids, it seemed they added it just for Jaha.
'Ha, truly a plum blossom fairy himself....'
Watching with her mouth covered, she could tell that a significant portion had been revised to change to a 6-person formation.
How much must they have practiced? She was proud of Jaha, who must be dancing with clenched teeth.
In the middle, when the Heavenly Demon showed a performance as if sitting in mid-air for a moment, even she, a Mount Hua malicious stan, couldn't help but stare with her mouth open for a moment.
Just as she was feeling relieved that they hadn't recruited a stiff, like with Namgung Jun, and watching the stage come to an end.
"...Uh?"
JahaHonin realized.
The Heavenly Demon's part was that opening at the very beginning.
That was it.
The week preparing for the Heavenly Demon's debut stage.
I was so busy I couldn't even catch my breath.
The members were busy handling their individual schedules and memorizing the changed choreography.
I was busy fitting the Heavenly Demon's stage outfit, asking the broadcast stations for their understanding, and requesting staff reinforcement.
Gupailbang, already 1st-tier idols, had their broadcast schedules packed tightly, so we needed dedicated staff like a coordinator and hair designer for the Heavenly Demon.
The dorm was also a problem. Gupailbang had a dorm, but it's rare for 1st-tier idols to live in a dorm into their 6th year.
The members were each living on their own, leaving the dorm abandoned. Namgung Jun, who joined recently, was the only member who at least went in and out of the dorm.
It was so unmanaged that there were more than one or two places that needed fixing.
Since Namgung Jun doesn't talk about it even if there's something inconvenient, the company had no idea about the poor state of the dorm.
Because of that, the dorm officially went under renovation, and Namgung Jun is temporarily living at his parents' house. The Heavenly Demon is staying with me in a temporary dorm in the company building.
The CEO wants me to manage the Heavenly Demon closely, so I also have to move into the dorm once the repairs are done.
In the meantime, my salary has tripled.
It was self-evident that my work had also tripled.
On top of that, I had to teach that Heavenly Demon bastard how to use a smartphone.
…Talking about the smartphone makes my chest feel tight.
The Heavenly Demon bastard, who had no need to practice (it was his own choreography), no schedule, and nothing to prepare, was…
"Smartphone wretch, show me N-tube."
Master, please call me Cherry, not wretch~
"Hmph, don't try to be cute."
Searching for Anyang Malatang.
"What?!"
…He's been like that for a week.
It was the same now, having come down from the debut stage.
"Cheonma-nim, aren't you looking at your phone too much?"
At my earnest advice, the Heavenly Demon looked at me with a bored expression.
"I am just curious about my debut reaction. Didn't you say I could look if I was curious about the reaction?"
He did monitor.
The reaction to the Heavenly Demon's debut stage was lukewarm, in a different sense.
A super rookie who had his debut stage on the last broadcast of Korea's undisputed 1st-tier idol, Gupailbang.
But his only part was the opening.
The majority reaction was confusion, unable to tell if he was a rookie with amazing connections or not.
Still, as a result, the Heavenly Demon's debut was a success.
The impact of the choreography, changed to a 6-person formation, was better than the original.
And thanks to the Heavenly Demon not taking any parts, the reaction to the sudden "inserted" member also turned favorable.
To be precise, it's a sympathetic public opinion, as if he was scammed into debuting.
Even so, the Heavenly Demon only watched one N-tube video titled, 'Joining the Heavenly Demon Cult today, Mamen.'
Anything idol-like had long been pushed off the Heavenly Demon's recent playlist.
What the Heavenly Demon was trying to watch, even playing a ridiculous push-and-pull with the smartphone AI, was none other than.
"You're only watching mukbang N-tubers."
"Are you not curious how much a human with not a speck of internal energy can eat?"
"I do have curiosities, like how much they would poop if they eat that much."
"...! ...!!!!"
It seemed a new and dirty curiosity had been added to the Heavenly Demon, but I ignored it and continued what I was saying.
"Cheonma-nim, you will have a schedule soon. If you want to go on broadcasts like the other members, you need to practice talking and think of topics to discuss. And learn some modern common sense."
"The CEO said so. That I am better for broadcast just as I am."
That CEO bastard?
"Th... at the very least, how about reading some expected interview answers?"
"Administrator wretch's nagging is getting worse. Right. Smartphone wre—no. Cherry, what do you call a person who nags a lot?"
Ok, kkondae~
"So it says, you kkondae wretch."
"..."
"Are you king-bat?"
Until now, it was a vague anxiety, but the possibility that the Heavenly Demon's speech might turn into student-slang became a reality.
I had already reported to the CEO that the Heavenly Demon might be addicted to his smartphone, but that demon-headed CEO bastard just gave an incomprehensible answer like, "So it works even on 'invulnerable to ten thousand poisons'...." and offered no solution.
"Cheonma-nim, there are many good aspects of modern civilization besides the smartphone."
"That Mount Hua wretch said the smartphone is the very essence of modern civilization."
That Jaha bastard?
"Hmph, but administrator wretch, if you want it that badly, I can play along."
"! Really?"
Just when I had resolved to do anything if it meant the Heavenly Demon would just put down the smartphone, the Heavenly Demon asked, feigning indifference.
"Ah, is that 'Anyang Malatang' delicious?"
"..."
Come to think of it.
The Heavenly Demon was also being given the same calorie-restricted diet as the other members, as if it were obvious.
Being confined to the company building, eating only things like grain-less pills, and practicing 'forms' in the name of dance, must have been nothing less than closed-door training for the Heavenly Demon.
If it were me, and I got a smartphone during closed-door training, I would have stared at my smartphone too.
"Cheonma-nim. Let's go."
"Are we going to Anyang Malatang?"
"No."
I heroically held up the Black Card I received from the CEO.
"I will let you taste the true essence of modern civilization. 'Molecular gastronomy'."
"This master knows that too. The stuff that goes in malatang."
That's bunmoja.
And exactly one and a half hours later.
At the French restaurant I took the Heavenly Demon to.
We ended up in a standoff with the former member who left, Shin Tae-eul of the Zhongnan Sect.
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