Chapter 15: Ending Shot
12:40 PM.
KBS Television Station, Music Bank Studio Backstage, Public Lounge.
As K-pop's development was still in its early second-generation period, the television station's support in all aspects was far less than in the real world of the same period (2018), and the hardware facilities here were more like those from an earlier time.
Rookie groups and some unknown groups shared a lounge, and only those who had achieved a certain level of success and had their own names were entitled to independent, exclusive lounges.
Even rookie groups from the Three Greats had to dutifully come to the public lounge to prepare.
Although IVE debuted by landing in the top 100 of the Melon daily chart and had now climbed to fourth place, seemingly heading for the daily crown, IVE was ultimately a rookie group, and KBS Television Station, known for its rigid and stubborn nature, naturally wouldn't grant any special treatment.
When Jiang Shu led the IVE members and artist team to the Music Bank's public lounge, he was startled by the sheer number of people inside.
This was Jiang Shu's first time entering the backstage of a music show; the game only showed conquering female characters and managing a company, never the backstage of a music show.
Jiang Shu also hadn't had the opportunity to access these things before his transmigration, so seeing the 'lively' scene backstage with his own eyes was quite surprising.
“IVE's team, come this way.” A staff member raised his right hand high, his voice cutting through the noise, guiding Jiang Shu and his group.
Upon hearing the group name “IVE,” countless people in the public lounge looked over.
As insiders, the rookies and obscure veterans in the public lounge had more or less heard of this group, which had been promoted by internet trolls for over a month.
Some of them had also listened to IVE's debut song, and they had to admit, the song's quality was indeed strong enough.
“Children, come this way.” Jiang Shu held Liu Zhimin's slender wrist with one hand and beckoned to Zhang Yuanying and Lily behind him with the other.
The group followed the staff member through the crowded aisle and arrived at the area Music Bank had prepared for them.
The area wasn't large, only about twenty square meters, but it could still fit IVE's team if they squeezed in.
“Your rehearsal is in half an hour; please prepare as quickly as possible.” The staff member looked at the schedule in his hand and said to Jiang Shu, who clearly seemed to be in charge.
“Okay.” Jiang Shu nodded towards the staff member.
The busy staff member had no time to chat with rookies and turned to leave.
Seeing this, Jiang Shu clapped his hands.
“Everyone, line up to change into your stage outfits. Two people per group, and once one group is done, the next group goes.”
“Garam, Soo-jin, you two go first.”
“Yes.” Xu Suizhen and Kim Garam nodded, each taking their stage outfits to the changing room.
“When they return, Lily, Yunzhen, you two go.”
“Yes!” x2.
“Hey! IVE's manager, come here for a moment.” At this moment, a staff member suddenly poked his head out from the doorway and shouted in the direction of Jiang Shu and the others.
IVE's manager was about to get up but was held down by Jiang Shu.
“We'll go together.”
“Yes!”
Watching Jiang Shu's departing back, Zhang Yuanying looked at the somewhat silent Liu Zhimin beside her, raised an eyebrow, and poked Liu Zhimin with her elbow.
“What is it?” Liu Zhimin looked up at Zhang Yuanying.
“Are you nervous?”
“A little.” Liu Zhimin rubbed her small, palm-sized face, saying with some distress.
“I'm not nervous. As soon as I think about being able to dominate you on stage later, I'm not nervous anymore,” Zhang Yuanying said with a sweet smile.
Liu Zhimin: “?”
“Who gave you that confidence?” Liu Zhimin straightened up and glared at Zhang Yuanying, asking.
“I'm not nervous. Being nervous leads to mistakes, and mistakes lead to being suppressed by me,” Zhang Yuanying said, shaking her little head with a smile.
“Hmph! I'm not nervous either!” Liu Zhimin snorted coldly, saying seriously.
“Alright then, let's see who is better after the stage is over. The loser has to be dominated once by the winner!”
“No problem!”
Their eyes met, as if invisible lightning flashed between them.
Lily blinked, looking at the two 'Princesses' who were at loggerheads, and finally her gaze fell on Zhang Yuanying.
How did she feel like Xiao Yuan was doing it on purpose? After being provoked like this, Ouni Zhimin didn't seem nervous anymore.
As if sensing Lily's gaze, Zhang Yuanying turned to look at Lily, asking curiously.
“Lily Ouni, is something wrong?”
“No… nothing.” Lily stammered a little.
Towards this younger sister who was two years her junior, Lily instinctively felt a little intimidated.
This situation could generally be called…
Rank suppression.
On the other side.
This was a different staff member from before, a male one, who looked at Jiang Shu with surprise.
“Your DM Entertainment is quite impressive. Aren't you afraid of problems choosing such a handsome girl group manager?”
Managers who weren't particularly handsome often got involved with artists, so for Jiang Shu, with visuals that could debut on the spot, to be a girl group manager, wasn't that just pure impact?
“Uh, this is our DM Entertainment's Chairman.” The real IVE manager spoke from behind Jiang Shu, somewhat awkwardly.
The staff member silently looked at Jiang Shu's face, then at him.
Manager: “…”
He said nothing, but it seemed like he said everything.
“Your DM Entertainment is quite pitiful; even the Chairman came in person.” The staff member changed the subject to ease the awkwardness.
“It is quite pitiful; we're almost going bankrupt.” Jiang Shu smiled and asked, “What do you need us for?”
“There's been a slight change. The group before you withdrew from the music show, so your schedule has been moved up. You need to fill this time slot. As compensation, IVE can have two ending shots.” The staff member quickly explained the situation.
The ending shot mentioned here refers to the cover image posted online after the current episode of “Music Bank” concludes. Each group usually only gets one picture for each performance, while a few groups can have two.
“Can we choose the artists for the ending shots ourselves?” Jiang Shu asked.
“Yes.” The staff member nodded. Because the situation was sudden, the PD had given a lot of authority, and what Jiang Shu proposed was just a small matter.
“Our IVE has no problem; we can move up anytime.” Jiang Shu immediately said.
“Which two members will get the ending shots?” The staff member asked, holding a notebook.
“Karina and Yuan Ying.” Jiang Shu said.
“Okay, you'll be on stage in fifteen minutes.” The staff member closed his notebook and nodded towards Jiang Shu.
“Thank you for your hard work.” Jiang Shu also responded.
The staff member hurried away with his notebook.
When Jiang Shu returned with the manager, the girls had already changed into their stage outfits and were receiving touch-ups from the makeup artist.
The main makeup and styling were already complete; now it was just minor touch-ups.