-63-
For the first time, they got to communicate with fans.
“Hello. This is BLACK.”
As recording started, a red light turned on. Ido, the leader who noticed it, gave a light greeting first. They all sat around the monitor together and waited for people to connect to the broadcast channel.
Lucy seemed worried as he carefully whispered to Duho beside him.
“…What if no one comes in? I’m worried.”
Whether he was having similar concerns in his head, Duho nodded without any particular response to those words. Reading the gloomy atmosphere, Chayeon clapped his hands to calm them down.
“Shh. Quiet. The broadcast started.”
Bunhong, who was actually the most nervous among them, clenched his palms tightly. This was because when doing live broadcasts like this, comments would come in and the popularity differences between members would naturally show.
‘Ugh.’
As Bunhong covered his eyes with his fingers and made a tearful face, Lucy began reading the comments clearly.
“Bunhong. They’re asking you to show your face.”
“Ah. Yes.”
Bunhong was startled and quickly lowered the palms that had been covering his face. Duho giggled watching such Bunhong, asking why he was so surprised when the fan wasn’t even scolding him. Glancing at him lightly, Bunhong said in a small voice.
“That’s because… I was nervous.”
His speech naturally trailed off. Along with Bunhong’s reaction, the viewer count that had only been in double digits suddenly increased to four digits at once. They checked the reactions by scanning through the quickly rising comments. Since articles must have come out, rumors about Jeong Ido had already spread and everyone was worried about Jeong Ido who had been hit by a raw egg at the music show.
To mediate them, Ido opened his mouth.
“Everyone. Don’t worry too much. We’re fine. That’s what legal procedures are for in times like this, right?”
At Ido’s extremely cool words, Chayeon’s face turned pale. Fortunately, the comment reactions weren’t too bad. Thinking it was a joke, it was filled with laughing indicators like ‘ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ’, but honestly Bunhong felt complicated.
‘…That hyung probably wasn’t trying to be funny.’
It was because he already knew the truth. What Ido said about legal procedures was probably somewhat sincere. Knowing that, even when only the other members laughed, it wasn’t really laughing. His forcibly raised lips twitched. Anyway, the first live broadcast ended relatively peacefully.
After the group broadcast ended, Kim Bunhong remained there alone under the excuse of practicing.
—-[BLACK] Thought it was over~?—-
He set the title himself and turned the broadcast back on. Bunhong whispered quietly toward the screen.
“Shh. I turned it back on secretly from the members. We should be careful since I don’t think I should get caught. This is our practice room.”
Since he could just do a little more then catch a taxi and go to the dorm, he could focus on the broadcast without worry because he was thinking positively.
ㄴYou’re wearing that favorite hoodie again??
While reading comments alone, there was a noticeable comment so he read it aloud. Bunhong tilted his head and asked.
“Hmm. Why are you saying this outfit is a favorite hoodie? Ah. Did it already air on broadcast? That’s fast.”
He figured it out after scratching his forehead. It seemed to be talking about that night when he was probably filled with sensitivity and filmed a video alone while looking at the glow-in-the-dark stars attached to the ceiling in the dorm.
‘Did I dress too carelessly?’
Bunhong, who was bothered, began biting his lips with his fingers.
‘Of all things, why did I wear this dull gray?’
Bunhong, who wanted to clear up the misunderstanding, hesitated for a while before speaking.
“I… actually dress much better than this. I have lots of cool clothes in my closet.”
He said it because he was genuinely worried, but looking at the comment reactions, everyone was laughing.
After reading a comment that flashed by saying ‘Make sure to come in cool clothes next time and show us!’, Bunhong nodded and smiled brightly. Then the comment window was flooded with words saying he was cute.
“Am I cute? Haha. Well, honestly I don’t really relate to that. But I’m touched that fans think so.”
He had never thought about it and had never heard such words from others, so he was just bewildered. He accepted it happily as an unexpected compliment. Even after a long time of communicating with the increased fans, he felt something familiar and his heart naturally fluttered.
It was because the situation was similar to when he used to turn on the radio alone at his grandmother’s house as a child. Constantly tuning the frequency. Actually, Bunhong was aware that it was a meaningless act. Because he felt it was just his own desperate struggle.
He considered them friends, but they were just people in the radio after all. An unreachable distance – he knew that the stories he couldn’t tell anyone and kept to himself were his alone, and no one would listen to them, so he didn’t expect anything at all.
But now it was different. Everyone was concentrating and waiting for something, anything, to flow from Bunhong’s mouth.
“You’re asking me to recommend a song?”
How did they know to ask such a question? Bunhong smiled softly.
Kim Bunhong had his own collected playlist. For him, who couldn’t even pick out beans from rice, it was the only thing where he could remove all the things he disliked and select only the good things. He had already played it for Hangeul in the past, but excluding him, this was the first time bringing it out in front of others, so he was nervous.
“Hmm… What would be good?”
What was this that made his heart race?
“How about this song? I think you all might know it. I always listen to this song before sleeping. It makes my heart feel much more at ease. It’s like a lullaby too, so if I fall asleep while listening, I can sleep deeply, which is nice.”
“You hope I’ll only have good dreams from now on? Haha. I’m already doing that plenty. You’re kind. Thank you for worrying about me~.”
After that, Bunhong chatted alone for a while before belatedly checking the time and hurriedly grabbing his wallet and phone to stand up. It was a time when even taxis wouldn’t be available if he was a little later. The manager was also calling him. He waved lightly toward the screen to say goodbye, hesitated briefly, then pressed the button to end the live.
“It’s a shame, but goodbye.”
In the taxi, he lost track of time choosing selfies to post on BLACK’s official SNS account.
When he arrived at the dorm, Duho put him in a headlock and shouted.
“You went and had fun by yourself!”
Bunhong made a crying sound and gently loosened his arm that was placed on his neck.
“Hyung. It hurts.”
* * *
After finishing the solo internet broadcast, what remained for Bunhong was emptiness. During the broadcast, even though it was just comments, the warmth of real-time communication filled the space, but after turning off the broadcast, he felt a sense of disconnect as if all the words he had said became soliloquies.
[#KimBunhong
Thanks to the fans, I think I was able to spend a really fun time today ㅎㅎ Thank you so much!!
Posting a selfie in pretty clothes~~]
After finishing writing the carefully considered post, he carefully selected from the selfies he had taken during the concept photo shoot. It was taken in front of a full-length mirror after putting on the full outfit and finishing makeup, and although he confidently wrote “pretty clothes,” it was a bit awkward since it wasn’t casual wear but an outfit worn at the shooting location. Still, he strongly hoped they would like it.
After posting on SNS and waiting a bit, reactions really started coming quickly.
Among the comments that started flowing, the first comment he happened to see was a reaction saying “cute.” He’d heard it several times so he should have some immunity by now, but he couldn’t help feeling ticklish somewhere every time he saw it.
‘Haha. Where exactly am I cute?’
Bunhong pondered while looking at his reflection in a small hand mirror. His lips drooped, making him look a bit sad, to say his appearance was like that. That’s why he always tried to smile consciously. To say his personality was cute, compared to Lucy he seemed rather blunt.
ㄴBoth the clothes and Bunhong are so pretty!!
ㄴIt’s past 12. Let’s work hard today too
ㄴA selfie ㅜㅜ Thanks to you I’ll sleep happily
ㄴ…….
It continued endlessly below the post even when he woke up the next morning. The reaction was quite good, with no end in sight no matter how much he scrolled down. He didn’t see any bad words. Even if there were any, they were quickly buried before Bunhong could see them in the endless parade of good words that kept coming up. They were all posts of support and praise.
He seemed to stare at them for a long time because he couldn’t believe the unexpected sincere feelings that flowed in like waves and reached him.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
