SWNOVELXO Chapter 231
Chapter 231
—
Honestly, seeing Airy fans with their modest and flat temporary cheering sticks always made my heart ache, especially compared to other groups’ fans waving their fancy, sparkling cheering wands like magical wands.
Of course, the temporary cheering sticks were pretty too, glowing white and blue.
But still, it felt like our Airies were wielding beginner’s weapons while other group fans held flashy, premium items.
So, whenever I met Director Ju Yeoleum’s eyes, I persistently asked when our cheering sticks would come out. I didn’t know if my persistence paid off.
Fortunately, the official cheering sticks would be released before the important third album promotions.
Starting from the next activity, we would finally see fans waving beautiful cheering sticks during performances.
When was it?
Previously, the company filmed content where the members designed the cheering sticks themselves.
—
During a meeting with the agenda “How Should Orca’s Official Cheering Stick Be Born?” we started by discussing the functional aspects.
Everyone commonly agreed that it would be great if the lights were bright, the batteries lasted long, and the cheering stick was sturdy enough to break a car window in an emergency but not too heavy.
“Is that even possible?”
“I think it would be a success if it met at least two of those criteria.”
“I don’t know. Let’s just say all the good things. The creators will make it well.”
Meanwhile, outside the meeting room, Director Ju Yeoleum watched us like we were naïve kids.
Besides that.
Although we hadn’t officially decided on a group color, we thought it would be nice if the basic lighting color was blue to evoke the ocean, which could be considered the foundation of the group.
Gyun Seong-ha also had the grand dream of making the cheering stick easy to carry around even in daily life.
Gyun Seong-ha’s dream ended before it could properly take off, thanks to the former ordinary person Ban Yo-han, who once heard the term “godly fan” directly in front of him, kindly saying that such a cheering stick didn’t exist in the world.
“When would you ever carry that around outside?”
Ban Yo-han asked, and Gyun Seong-ha’s expression was genuinely funny.
About three seconds later, he answered with an unsure expression, “A birthday party…?”
After barely controlling our burst of laughter, Kang Ji-woo continued the meeting.
“Now, please design Orca’s first official cheering stick on the paper we’ve handed out.”
At Kang Ji-woo’s words, Ban Yo-han raised his hand.
“I have a question. If my design is chosen for the cheering stick, is there a prize?”
“That’s a great question! Although there’s no chance your design will be chosen, the selected person will receive the official cheering stick and a slogan!”
For a while, the only sounds were of people drawing and writing on paper.
“Don’t look.”
“You don’t look either.”
While everyone was intensely burning with artistic passion, Ban Yo-han asked Seo Moon-gyeol for help.
“Geol, help me with this.”
“What?”
Of course, the other members, including me, quickly stopped Ban Yo-han’s cheating.
“Hey, don’t disturb Geol hyung when he’s working hard!”
“Hey, do you think we don’t call Geol because we can’t?”
“Hyung, if you’re going to help him, help me instead.”
“That is…”
“Geol, if you feel even a little sorry towards me, help me this time.”
“No, why would he feel sorry towards you? If anything, it should be the other way around.”
“Exactly! A person should have a conscience!”
“Don’t fight because of me…”
“Wow. I’ve never seen anyone actually say that line.”
“…”
“It’s okay, hyung. Don’t be embarrassed.”
“Right now, On Raon, you’re making him more embarrassed.”
“But you did say this before. You’d rather die than lose your memory of Airy…”
“Aaah!”
Hearing Gyun Seong-ha sneakily replace the Pick Heart CEO’s cringe-inducing lines with ones for Orca’s Airy, I screamed as if I had found a frog on my hand.
“Look only at me during the month I’m allowed…”
“Argh! Aaah! Aaaaah! Why do you have that memorized?”
“Let’s take this opportunity to do it once more in the Airy version.”
“If you say one more word, I will not only do it alone but also request the company to make all our members do it.”
“Sorry.”
Gyun Seong-ha quickly apologized.
We ended up debating over who would get to use the Seo Moon-gyeol chance, and we eventually settled it with the universal decision-making tool, rock-paper-scissors.
“Hahaha! I’ll take Seo Moon-gyeol!”
Ban Yo-han, who won with a villainous laugh, stood triumphant.
“…Does he have some habit we don’t know about when playing rock-paper-scissors that he uses to his advantage?”
“No, he just has incredibly, ridiculously good luck. I can count on one hand the times I’ve won against him in rock-paper-scissors.”
“But hyung, you always lose to me in rock-paper-scissors too.”
“I think you just really, really suck at rock-paper-scissors.”
“Everyone, raising a younger sibling well is completely pointless.”
Fifteen minutes later.
“Okay, everyone, put down what you’re holding on your desks. If you touch it any further, you’ll be disqualified for cheating.”
At Kang Ji-woo’s words, who had finished drawing early and was peering around, the members put down their markers and colored pencils.
“Then, I’ll start. Let’s go clockwise, each presenting and explaining your designs.”
“Okay!”
Kang Ji-woo proudly showed off his design. To put it in one word, it was…
A literal killer whale.
He had definitely looked up a photo on his phone and drawn a long, slender killer whale.
Since it didn’t look like a cheering stick no matter how you saw it, we demanded an explanation.
“Could you explain why you drew a whole killer whale instead of designing a cheering stick?”
“It was a killer whale?!”
“Then what did you think it was?”
“Just… a rotten banana.”
“That’s harsh! It’s definitely a killer whale, and it’s definitely a cheering stick!”
“Okay, okay. Please explain.”
“You hold it here, under the dorsal fin, and the light comes out from this part, like our logo. I think the unique charm of my design is that it’s something you’ve never seen before.”
“It looks like you’re holding a freshly caught wild killer whale. You should seriously consider why such a design hasn’t been seen before. And you’re really bad at drawing.”
“Um… um… It’s innovative, I like it.”
“Geol hyung, you don’t have to force a compliment. I’m scared it’ll snap off at the dorsal fin and tail when I pull it out of my bag one day.”
“It’s like those pencil cases that look like fish, like sea bream or mackerel. Isn’t it a bit like that…?”
“You guys are really too much.”
The more productive opinions were that it was definitely unique and that the part emitting light connected to the part you hold the cheering stick, so it might make your hand hot if left on for a long time.
“Next, Seong-ha, please come forward and present.”
Gyun Seong-ha came forward nervously, holding his paper.
“I designed this with our group name Orca in mind.”
The cheering stick designed by Gyun Seong-ha had a rectangular pillar shape attached to the handle.
“I thought it would be nice to engrave O, R, C, and A on the sides of the rectangle, and on the top, we could engrave our logo or the word Airy in English. The light would come out from the entire rectangular part.”
Unlike with Kang Ji-woo, this simple yet stylish design received favorable reviews.
“It looks cool. It’s nice that you can immediately tell it’s our cheering stick.”
“I think a unique yet well-made design looks like this.”
“Why are you picking a fight with me, Yo-han?”
“I was just praising Seong-ha’s design. Why are you so defensive?”
“Just wait until it’s your turn.”
“The design is stable. It’s easy to imagine what it would look like.”
“Like Seong-ha said earlier, it looks sturdy enough to carry around for self-defense and break a window in an emergency.”
“Raon, why are you so fixated on breaking windows?”
“It’s my prerogative.”
“Got it.”
Now it was my turn.
My design was a spherical cheering stick, a shape that continually enjoys popularity in the idol cheering stick world.
In short, it was a sphere with a killer whale in the center.
“I’ve seen other idol groups’ cheering sticks, and many of them decorate the inside with flowers or jewels instead of sticking to the original form. So, I thought it would be nice to have a shape that allows for free customization. You could put waves, fairy figurines like Airy, coral reefs, and other small objects into the bottom hole to decorate it.”
“Oh…”
“And that’s not all. By designing the transparent bottom part to refract the light in a wave pattern, it could function as a sea mood lamp for Airies when not in use.”
“No wonder you’ve been playing that aquarium decorating game so much lately.”
“Hmm, Seong-ha, please stay quiet unless you’re joining in.”
“I think the sea mood lamp idea is great. I’d love to have one.”
My design, which wasn’t too far from the ordinary, received similar praise to Gyun Seong-ha’s.
Skipping over Seo Moon-gyeol, who didn’t get to work on his design because he was helping Ban Yo-han, it was finally Ban Yo-han’s turn.
He confidently walked forward with his assistant Seo Moon-gyeol and said,
“The protagonist always appears last.”
“Boo, how obnoxious. Boo.”
Ignoring Kang Ji-woo’s criticism, Ban Yo-han asked,
“Everyone, what does the name of our fandom, Airy, mean?”
Since it was an easy question, we answered in unison.
“A fairy of the air!”
“Correct. A fairy. And what do fairies hold in their hands?”
“Dewdrops.”
“Dreams and hopes.”
“Magic dust.”
“A fairy wand.”
Smiling as if asking ‘how long will you keep going?’, Ban Yo-han’s face lit up at the last answer.
“Exactly. And I believe Airies, who proudly claim a place in the fairy world, need a fairy wand as well.”
With the flourish of a showman, Ban Yo-han snapped his fingers, and Seo Moon-gyeol, who had been hiding a paper with the back facing us, finally revealed the front.
“!”
There, expertly drawn, was a sparkling princess-like fairy wand that looked like it came straight out of a toy store.