Second Try Idol-Chapter 446: What Should We Do From Now On (10)

A quick meeting sparked up right in the middle of the rehearsal about getting Goh Yoo-Joon on board.

"I really think it's a solid idea, but what do you all think?" Reina asked.

The production team responded positively.

"We can swap out a ten-minute talk session for a duet and some chat time with Yoo-Joon. It will shorten the encore a bit, though."

Thankfully, the vibe was more accommodating to my input compared to the old Chronos days, so the spontaneous idea to include Goh Yoo-Joon was warmly accepted. Reina backing me up really tipped the scales in my favor.

"Eden, you need to figure out what song you will perform with Yoo-Joon and how you will structure the talk session. Make sure you loop in the director and me, alright?"

"Yes, thanks a lot!"

"We gotta let our Eden have his way on his first concert~" Reina added with a supportive pat on my back and a cheeky smile.

"I really appreciate it." I meant every word of that.

After wrapping up the meeting, I stepped out to find the younger members' eyes twinkling as they awaited my return. My lips naturally curled into a wry smile.

"Hyung!"

"Hyung, what did they say?"

"Are any of us invited?"

There was an exaggerated amount of anticipation in their eyes. It looked like Goh Yoo-Joon had been busy hyping up the younger members while I was away.

I shot Goh Yoo-Joon a stern look. "What exactly did you tell them?"

He shrugged nonchalantly and flashed a mischievous grin. "I didn’t say anything, really."

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

"What would you have done if we hadn’t gotten the green light? You would've let them down, dude."

"Ah!"

I playfully kicked Goh Yoo-Joon, who dramatically pretended to be in pain and made a bigger scene knowing the cameras were rolling. Always the performer, he exaggerated every gesture.

Yoon-Chan and Jin-Sung were already used to Goh Yoo-Joon's dramatics, so they just rolled their eyes and looked on amused.

"Did they say yes?"

"Really? They did?"

I nodded in the direction of Yoon-Chan and Jin-Sung, then grabbed Goh Yoo-Joon by the shoulder. "We will cut corners so we can have some time for a duet and some chatting with Goh Yoo-Joon on stage..."

It should have felt off since only one of them got to perform, but neither Yoon-Chan nor Jin-Sung seemed bothered. Instead, they were thrilled.

"Holy, what are you guys going to perform?"

"I will tell Joo-Han hyung that Yoo-Joon hyung is going on stage!"

"Wow! What an honor, Mr. Eden! To think I'd be invited as a guest to the hot star Eden's concert!"

Goh Yoo-Joon began to ham it up, matching the younger members' excitement. But I wasn’t having any of his antics and instead pulled him aside.

"Stop joking around. You don’t have much time even though you’re invited." I waved at Yoon-Chan and Jin-Sung, who were busy talking to the camera. "You guys are staying for the concert, right?"

"Yes!"

"Of course."

"Then hang out in my waiting room for a bit. There’s plenty of snacks."

"Will do!"

I steered Goh Yoo-Joon toward a makeshift lounge near the concert hall's waiting rooms. Now that he was scheduled to go on stage, there was a lot to coordinate and prepare.

As I pulled him along, Goh Yoo-Joon asked, "So, which song are we performing?"

"Umm."

I nodded. Goh Yoo-Joon rolled his eyes and smirked playfully. "What do you want to sing?"

"We need to decide that now. Nothing specific comes to mind right now. Got any songs you want to do?"

Goh Yoo-Joon laughed in an even more playful manner. It was clear he had a song in mind. "Aren’t you supposed to be deciding on the song and topics for the chatting sessions right now? And you have to do all this while rushing off to get ready for the concert?"

"Yeah."

"So there won't be much time to practice, right?" Goh Yoo-Joon briskly walked ahead into the lounge. "Then, shouldn’t we go with a song we've already practiced? Let’s not try to show off anything fancy."

"Which song?" I followed him in while eyeing him skeptically. That mischievous expression always spelled trouble.

Goh Yoo-Joon said with gusto, "How about ‘Christmas is Ours?’"

I instantly shot it down. "No way, man."

"Why not?"

I just shook my head. The song was great, but I didn’t like the thought of Goh Yoo-Joon turning it into a theatrical spectacle. Besides, it wasn’t even Christmas, and we had already revisited this song at the fan club inauguration.

Sure, it would be perfect for lifting the mood since Goh Yoo-Joon's part was supposed to be light and fun, but I didn't want to overdo it. I had planned to save that song until the Chronos tenth-anniversary concert.

"It would be fun!" Goh Yoo-Joon grumbled, genuinely disappointed. I ignored him and considered a suitable song.

While "Christmas is Ours" was out of the list of candidates, I agreed with Goh Yoo-Joon that we didn’t have time to practice new material. Therefore, we had to choose from the songs we had already rehearsed.

What would be a good choice? Which song had we sung together?

While thinking about a song that we could harmonize well and also lift the mood, it suddenly dawned on me. Goh Yoo-Joon and I had performed multiple songs together since debut, like those from our senior group Tenten or tracks from the album Again After Rainfall.

Those songs had become not just favorites for Rings, but also for people who showed up mainly for Eden’s performances.

"How about we do it this way? For the first song, let's do Tenten's ‘You in Azure Sea,’ and ‘As Always’ for the second one."

I had last performed the first track with Yeong-Yee before, and it was sweet yet upbeat, perfect for Goh Yoo-Joon. Plus, it wasn’t pitched too high, so I could comfortably cover it.

The second song was featured in Again After Rainfall. It was a piece where Goh Yoo-Joon took the lead and I harmonized with him. We had only performed it once, so it would need a quick refresher, but I remembered how seamlessly we had meshed and carried the show that time.

Although its vibe was a bit gloomy, it would be just the time to showcase the rich vocals of a Chronos member following a lively track.

"Since you’re here, why not flaunt your voice a bit?"

"Ooh." Goh Yoo-Joon pondered for a moment before nodding in approval. "That sounds good. We can quickly run through ‘As Always’ later, and ‘You in Azure Sea...’ Are you planning to dance?"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe just some light choreography?"

It had been a while since I performed both of them, so I didn’t remember the exact steps. Maybe just a bit from the pre-chorus? That was why I opted for a lighter song that we could sort of freestyle to fit the vibe. We didn’t have much time to practice.

"Okay! Let’s settle on that." Goh Yoo-Joon readily agreed and started scrolling through his phone. "I will warm up my voice and go over the lyrics once we wrap this up."

"Alright, I will let Reina know about our choice. And then..."

With our limited time, indecision wasn’t an option. We swiftly decided on the songs, and planned a casual talk segment peppered with anecdotes from our days as trainees. Then, Goh Yoo-Joon headed to where the rest of the members were, while I went to brief Reina.

"Swing by my waiting room later. We need to sync up."

"Got it."

We parted ways coolly. It might seem like we had rushed the decision because Goh Yoo-Joon was a last-minute addition to the show, but honestly, there was no unease. We had solid trust in each other.

On stage, we’d surely nail it. Goh Yoo-Joon’s stage presence and vocal prowess were undeniable. After a quick rehearsal, we’d be ready to present a successful performance.

***

Two hours passed. There were only thirty minutes left until the concert. The members who had been in the waiting room had vanished into the audience. The waiting room buzzed even more with preparations. Even though my hair and makeup were already done, they were touched up several times as I began to feel the nerves kick in.

I could already hear the audience from here as the venue was filled, and staff bustled around in preparation. Today, I had to shoulder the burden alone on stage because I didn’t have my members with me. Practices and rehearsals had been flawless, so technically, I just needed to perform as rehearsed. But somehow, the anticipation of a big event always brought nerves.

I distractedly fiddled with my phone to calm my nerves when it started vibrating repeatedly. Notification after notification popped up. There were messages from members and updates on someone’s social media post.

[Sorry I can’t be there because of work 😭 But Yoo-Joon is letting me know what’s going on, so I kind of get the overall vibe haha. Good luck at the concert! Really proud of you, my child. - Joo-Han]

[Hyung, there are so many people here! Lots of fans too. So don’t be nervous and just take it easy 🙂 You got this!! - Yoon-Chan]

There were messages from Joo-Han, who couldn’t make it to the concert due to his next album work, and Yoon-Chan in the audience.

"Gosh."

I chuckled and closed the messaging app. Joo-Han couldn’t make it, so Goh Yoo-Joon had taken it upon himself to stream the show for him. As I cleared some unnecessary notifications, my eyes drifted to a High Tension social media alert.

[(Three High Tension members at the concert.jpg)

We came to watch Eden’s concert~]

It was a photo of Ji-Hyuk and other High Tension members sitting in the audience at my concert. A surprise, perhaps? He usually shared every little detail in our group chat, but he had come without announcing beforehand. He probably planned to surprise me.

I laughed incredulously and sent Ji-Hyuk a message before checking the next alert.

"Huh?"

It was a notification that a new post had been uploaded on Chronos' BlueBird. It couldn’t be an official announcement from Chronos about my concert, could it? Maybe it was already sharing news about the members' attendance?

Just as I was about to check, a staff member knocked on the waiting room door. "Eden, it’s time to head to the stage!"

"Right!" I responded with the staff and then stood up from my seat. Before putting down my phone, I checked the latest post on Chronos' BlueBird one last time.

I burst out laughing at the prominently displayed photo of Goh Yoo-Joon, Park Yoon-Chan, and Lee Jin-Sung.

[Eden's concert hasn't started yet 😭He debuted later than us, but I greatly respect Mr. Eden, and I'm about to listen to his songs live in just ten minutes! I’ll enjoy my time here and let you know how it was!! #Chronos #Eden_First_Concert #Fan #Surprise #YooJoon #YoonChan #JinSung]

It seemed that Goh Yoo-Joon was posting his life reactions on our BlueBird account too, and not just acting as Joo-Han's personal messenger.