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“Vote?”
“Yes. Your fans need go into the website and vote.”
“But why didn’t you say that before?”
He separated with the two friends from ‘Spring’ play and An Daho, together with other employees, left for more work. They decided that he will go home with his uncle Chan today. Seo Eun-chan drove Seojun’s car and went home.
Seojun looked suspiciously toward Seo Eun-chan.
“If we announced it during the fan meeting, everyone would have been busy voting. In addition, it would look like a fan meeting that encouraged voting. Seojun, you held the fan meeting for your fans, so posting it on the fan cafe is enough.”
“I see.”
“Uncle did you already vote?”
“Of course.”
Seojun thought about it.
‘Should I ask about the voting status or not? I’m curious, but it would be disappointing if I was in last place.’
Ring ring.
At that time, the cell phone rang. It was Seo Eun-Hye’s text. Seojun read his mother’s text. Seo Eun-chan asked.
“What did she say?”
“Buy a cake to celebrate your nomination! Something you like! If there’s something you want to eat, buy it also!”
“Really? We need to go to a good bakery, hmm?”
“Uncle, uncle. Let’s buy chicken too!”
“Cake and chicken. Yes, eat as much as you want! Uncle will treat you today!”
While Seojun was excited by Seo Eun-chan’s words and went to buy chocolate cake, the Internet was busy voting.
-If you’re Korean, you have to vote! Lee Seojun!
– I didn’t know there was a film festival like this.
– Vote! Let’s vote!
-Shadowman also voted!
-No way. The site went down.
– Brown Black and Lee Ji-seok’s fan cafe are also going crazy.
-I don’t know anything else, but Brown Black fans are used to it because of the music program, so I think it’ll be very easy.
Above Seojun’s fan cafe, there was a large letter written.
[Our actor’s first nomination ever! Let’s take it with our hands!]
* * *
As the awards ceremony approached, everyone voted till the last day. In particular, Cocoa Entertainment’ s public relations team and Lee Seojun’s team 2 were extremely busy.
“It’s a private vote, so we don’t know how many votes at we are now. We worked really hard to promote it.… I think we’ll get it, right?”
“I know. If we get the award, we’ll be busier than this, right?”
The public relations team distributed promotional materials here and there to encourage voting, and team 2 was busy rejecting interviews and broadcast proposals.
Seojun may win the award, so he wanted to make a documentary by putting all the videos done at home by his parents and editing them. In addition, there were calls asking him to appear on variety shows. Most were interview requests.
First of all, the scheduled interview with the three public broadcasting stations, where Seojun decided to appear, was changed to after the awards ceremony. The rest were rejected.
(TL: Major Channels in Korea are KBS, SBS and MBC)
“Aren’t documentaries boring?”
“This depends on the topic. If you are interested it will be interesting, but Seojun’s documentary is no different from an interview.”
The employee who was scrolling through SNS saw a news that caught his eyes
“Hey, the reporters are at the airport.”
A photo taken by a person leaving the country today was posted on SNS. Reporters with large cameras were waiting at the airport’s international entrance.
“They don’t know when Seojun will go in America, so they are waiting.”
“But we shouldn’t announce the date of his flight.”
As Seojun was nominated, the enthusiasm to cover it heated up. If he did something wrong because of the heat… It would become a scandal. Cocoa Entertainment’s wishes to leave the country as secret as possible.
“I think this is going to be hard.”
Eun-chan sighed seeing the situation around the airport coming up here and there on the internet.
“Let’s try this on.”
Seo Eun-chan and An Daho took out hats, masks, and colorful clothes from their bags. Seojun stared at the accessories that the two took out.
He didn’t know anything about fashion, and he just wear exactly what his mom and dad would give him, but this was too much.
Seojun’s lips became pouty looking at the bright yellow and blue colors that hurt his eyes. This were clothes that even kindergartens would not wear.
“I don’t want to wear this.”
“No. Seojun, you have to wear this.”
Seojun thought it was a joke as always, but when Seo Eun-chan spoke with a serious face, Seojun was confused.
“What’s wrong? Is there something wrong?”
Seo Eun-chan frowned, and An Daho sighed without realizing it.
“All the reporters are at the airport. Seojun, we need to take a plane to go to the film festival in the United States, so I think they had find out every flight scheduled to America around the time of the awards ceremony.”
“I think they would wait there till the day of the ceremony.”
Seojun and his parents were speechless. In that appearance, Seo Eun-chan took out his cell phone. He showed them photos and comments screenshots on the smartphone screen.
“SNS is a mess too. If Seojun gets hurt, he’ll be in big trouble. Also Cocoa Entertainment’s reputation would be damaged if he has no bodyguards.”
“We already hired someone as bodyguard.”
The couple and Seojun, who were happy to go to the U.S., closed their mouths and listened to Seo Eun-chan and An Daho’s explanation. Seo Eun-chan rubbed his head as if he was in trouble.
“I think we should go to the U.S. as soon as possible because I see some signs of people crowding the airport few days before the award ceremony. If Seojun wear something like this, people won’t think it’s Seojun.”
“What kid would wear that?”
“Reporters are blending with the crowd while covering their faces and taking pictures of any kids the size of Seojun. If he wear something like this, it will not catch their eye.”
“That’s a big problem.”
“Then can you just let me know when we are leaving?”
Four people look Seojun at his question.
“Then the airport guests would not become uncomfortable because of the reporters and there would be no other children to be pictured. Wouldn’t it be okay if we prepare now and go?”
Seo Eun-chan and An Daho were lost in thought at Seojun’s words. Then they sighed.
“But… I’m just worried because Seojun has never encountered reporters and fans that close.”
“More than the fan meeting?”
“It may be less than then that, but in the fan meetings all people like you. In addition, everyone was sitting down so it was safe. But there would be now boundary at the airport, so I’m worried that you will be mobbed and pushed because you are small and easily hurt by others.”
Was it an illusion that his uncle specifically pointed out the word small? Seojun, the tallest in his class, said.
“I’m fine. There will be a lot of reporters at the film festival anyway, and when I return from the U.S., there will be more reporters! I’ll think of it as a pre-experience!”
Seo Eun-chan’s eyes turned towards the couple. Seo Eun-hye and Lee Min-joon were in conflict.
“What about Seojun’s safety?”
“We’ll hire a lot of bodyguards, and I think it’ll be okay if we cooperate with the airport and make a separate photo zone.”
“EUN-CHAN, which one do you think is better?”
“If you say you can control it, you’d better just say it. If we go in secretly, there will be fewer bodyguards, so if anyone notices, it will be more dangerous.”
“Then let’s just reveal it.”
With the permission of the couple and Seojun, Seojun’s departure date and time were uploaded at Seojun’s fan cafe.
The announcement was immediately published, and reporters waiting at the airport also left one by one.
There were also reporters who doubted it, but everyone withdrew because they know they would never deceive their fans.
The airport became peaceful again.
* * *
It was now the day to leave the country to attend the WTV Film Festival. Seo Eun-chan and An Daho came to Seojun’s house early.
“My sister and brother-in-law will go to the airport first.”
Lee Min-Joon, who was checking whether there was anything missing also whether the gas was properly turned off, tilted his head at Seo Eun-chan’s words.
“Do you want us to go first?”
“Yes, they don’t know the faces of my sister and brother-in-law, so it’ll be okay. However, if you go with Seojun, your face will be photographed, and it will become harder to focus on protecting three people at once.”
“Oh, you’re right.”
The couple nodded. Seo Eun-chan sighed with his arms folded.
“I’m a little relieved because the fans are telling us to be careful… But I’m still worried.”
“It’s okay!”
Seojun said with a big smile.
“Fans are so nice!”
“Well, even if you meet them one by one, they’ll be nice, but we don’t know what will happen when they are banded together.”
It was clear that if anyone moved a little, there would just follow. This is called crowd psychology, and it was a very scary.
Seo Eun-chan recalled Brown Black’s first flight and shuddered.