SWNOVELXO Chapter 134
Chapter 134
Signing 100 times made my shoulders ache.
It seemed like I was using too much strength in my arm while signing.
Anyway, it wasn’t in vain that I had worked so hard to prepare for the fan signing event. We successfully wrapped it up and continued our promotional activities.
Although we were nominated for first place on music shows several times, we repeatedly ended up in second place, losing to a female solo artist with overwhelming popularity.
The staff regretted that if the timing had been better, we might have secured the top spot.
It was already mid-December, and the year was nearly over.
Year-end is the busiest season for idols due to various year-end special music programs and award ceremonies from the broadcasting stations.
However, since our debut was almost in December, we managed to avoid that frenzy.
While it was a bit disappointing not to perform on big stages instead of music shows, we were also relieved as we didn’t have the energy or time to prepare for year-end stages.
‘We can go there next year.’
I was confident we could make it.
The issue was what we would achieve once we got there.
Even though we didn’t have year-end stages, we weren’t idling around.
Our promotional activities for ‘Hae-bang’ would continue until next week, and we still had three more fan signings scheduled, including one added yesterday.
Either way, it wasn’t easy on our stamina.
Moreover, we were also preparing a new song.
Of course, it wasn’t for the next album yet.
The new song we mentioned was a carol to be released for the Christmas season. We had recently finished recording it.
If you’re wondering why we suddenly decided to release a carol in the middle of ‘Hae-bang’ activities, here’s the reason.
Since 2010, Seed has been releasing a digital single carol every Christmas season.
It was always a collaboration involving all the affiliated artists.
Although it was my first Christmas here, according to the native Kang Ji-woo-
These days, many agencies release carols featuring their artists, but Seed has proudly earned the prestigious title of a carol powerhouse, thanks to its consistently high-quality songs and a strong lineup of talented artists like Kwon Gyeo-ul and Bae Se-il.
This carol series, now in its eighth year, had become so popular that the public sought it out, saying, “This is the place for carols.”
Especially Kwon Gyeo-ul’s first participation in ‘Christmas Confession’ was a huge hit. Even after four years since its release, it was still in the top ranks of the charts.
‘Christmas Confession’ ranked significantly higher than ‘Hae-bang,’ hovering between 50th and 90th place, depending on the time.
It was practically like a Christmas pension.
I wondered how much Ban Ga-eul, who composed and wrote it alone, earned from the royalties.
Anyway, this year, we were also proudly participating in the carol as artists under Seed.
Not only the mega-hit ‘Christmas Confession,’ but even ’12,’ released two years ago, had decent performance, ranking in the top 20 of the monthly streaming chart, so there was some pressure.
Due to the prejudice that idols can’t sing, the public, who had been enjoying Seed’s carols, was unlikely to welcome us, who were new.
And we had to overcome the comments about our skills on our own.
Knowing that, the other members and I dedicated ourselves to practice whenever we had time.
Yesterday, we filmed a casual music video.
There was no choreography, so it wasn’t too burdensome, but we couldn’t just shoot it carelessly.
If it came out awkward or weird even once, it would surely haunt us on the internet forever.
During the music video shoot, I got to meet the senior artists from our agency properly for the first time.
There were quite a few people when gathered in one place.
There were Kwon Gyeo-ul and Bae Se-il, the representative ballad singers of our agency, R&B singers Jang-go and Hong Seo-ram, singer-songwriter Yoo Si-won, the two-member male band Tomorrow, and us. A total of 12 people.
I decided not to mind that we made up almost half of them.
Except for Bae Se-il, whom I met at the showcase, I had only seen the seniors briefly in passing, so I was a bit nervous, but they all treated us nicely as the youngest in the company.
There were already many fans anticipating the release of our song, even though no official announcement had been made.
As I mentioned earlier, Seed had been consistently releasing carols every year, so everyone was almost certain and eagerly waiting for this year’s carol.
Some fans directly asked about it at the fan signing event, and many were speculating on SNS about when the carol would be released.
Oh, I recently started searching SNS following Kang Ji-woo’s lead.
Of course, I didn’t go out of my way to look for posts with altered spellings to avoid detection, which contained unpleasant content for the person involved.
I only checked posts that I could look at and feel good about for a while.
Occasionally, I saw posts directly mentioning my name with some unsavory comments, but that was nothing.
– (Video) On Raon’s CD Eating Compilation
– (Video) Wow, On Raon and Lee Hae-shi-win are legendary
The genius of creating an elegant look by momentarily shaking his tie loose during a live performance, plus his genius face is a bonus.
– (Photo) All On Raon’s fans always support and cheer for every action of Seong-ha.
Although the last one, which included a selfie with Gyun Seong-ha, seemed to imply I couldn’t take selfies well.
Anyway.
‘I love compliments. It feels thrilling. It’s the best!’
Hearing good words is always pleasant, no matter how many times you hear them.
When I was recording the new song, I received praise from Ban Ga-eul. It felt fantastic.
“Raon, your voice is truly a treasure.”
“Thank you.”
Honestly, I thought calling it a treasure was a bit of an exaggeration, but as a human, I couldn’t help but feel pleased.
Considering the past when I was told my voice was annoying and that I shouldn’t expect any parts even after debuting, this was an incredible improvement.
Back then, I believed my voice was really unpleasant. But now I know those words weren’t worth listening to.
My voice hadn’t changed much from then to now, yet the perception of it was so different, which was a bit funny.
* * *
Orca fans had been waiting for the carol release since early December.
– When will Seed’s carol be releasedㅠㅠㅠ Will it come out this weekㅠㅡㅠ
– Do you think Orca will be included in the carol lineup this time? It’s during their Hae-bang promotion period?
┗ Seed would be foolish not to include them. Besides, carols don’t require music show promotions.
– Wow, was ‘Christmas Confession’ a Seed carol? I’ve listened to this song every winter but didn’t know it was from Seed.
┗ Even though ’12,’ which was released in 2015, wasn’t very well-known, last year’s ‘Winter Flower’ was great too!!
– Didn’t most of the carols except ‘Christmas Confession’ not do well? It seems like the public is getting tired of it, and its popularity is decreasing…
┗ ? With Kwon Gyeo-ul and Bae Se-il, it will never fail. They also have Jang-go, and the songs are consistently good.
– (Photo) The teaser photo for Seed’s carol is out!! Orca is included!!!!!
A teaser photo of Orca’s carol was posted on Seed’s official SNS.
The members of Orca, dressed in cozy winter clothes like sweaters and turtlenecks, were holding or embracing variously sized gift boxes and smiling comfortably.
Above the photo was the word ‘Present,’ which appeared to be the song title.
Teaser photos of senior artists like Kwon Gyeo-ul and Bae Se-il were also uploaded one after another.
Several related articles could be found.
– The never-ending reverse run of ‘Christmas Confession’… What kind of carol will Seed, the carol master, release this year?
– Seed, the carol powerhouse, to release a Christmas carol ‘Present’ on the 15th… What’s this year’s lineup?
– Seed to release a Christmas carol on the 15th featuring Kwon Gyeo-ul, Bae Se-il, Jang-go, and more… Including the talented rookie Orca
This was a significant change from last year when they only published a perfunctory article two days before the music release.
On the 14th, a day before the song release, the music video teaser for ‘Present’ was released.
The teaser video, featuring a warm and brilliant melody and scenes of artists decorating the company building with Christmas decorations, heightened fans’ anticipation.
– It’s cute how they proudly place the star on top of the tree clumsily
– Why do they climb on each other instead of using the perfectly good chair next to themㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
– Are those harmonies from our boys at the endㅠㅠ Or not..ㅜㅠㅠ??
– They look so happy, it’s warm and nice ㅠㅠㅠ
In the comments section of the teaser video on WiTube, not only Orca fans but also fans of Seed’s other artists, who usually enjoyed their music, could be seen.
Though not large in scale, Seed had a loyal fan base quietly formed around the company itself.
– Se-il hyung is so handsome, marry me
– Winter unnie is really beautiful.. I feel like crying.. I love you.. I love youㅜㅜ..
– I have high expectations for Seed’s carol again this year!! Go Seed!!!
– Does Seed select its artists based on looks?
┗ This used to be a joke until last year, but with the new members, the average looks have risen so much that it seems real.
– Ah, is the person at 00:15 On Raon? I don’t know much about idols, but he’s really handsomeㄷㄷㄷ
– From now on, we can’t even jokingly call Jang-go handsome…
┗ Why do you say that.. Our Jang-go is also uniquely handsome…
And as the song title ‘Present’ suggested, the artists prepared small gifts for their fans.
For example, Kwon Gyeo-ul prepared glowing bracelets to be used instead of light sticks at her upcoming concert, Bae Se-il prepared pear juice, Tomorrow prepared a guerilla busking performance, and Orca prepared something fans desired the most, like the fandom name.
They were diligently preparing for Christmas.