episode_0188

After that, the fan signing event continued without any problems for about two hours.

Yoo Chang-seon, who was watching the fan signing event from his seat, was worried that there might be some fan signing scandals, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.

“Thank you so much for coming today!”

“I will continue to work hard in the future!”

“Waaa-!”

The fan signing event ended with such a warm atmosphere.

1.8 million won.

It was a huge expense for him, who had just been discharged from the military and was about to return to school… .

He could be sure that it was the most valuable 1.8 million won he had spent in his life.

“This hand is the hand that touched Yerin… . Heung… .”

Because I actually talked to Ha Ye-rin and even held her hand.

Still, he cherished the hand he held with Hayerin and was managing it separately.

I wasn’t planning on washing my hands until at least tonight.

“Ha… , I was happy… .”

Other people also had ecstatic expressions on their faces as if they were very satisfied with the Rookies’ first fan signing event.

Yoo Chang-seon left the Art Hall Center, where the autograph session was held, with people with such satisfied expressions on their faces.

But then it happened.

“Fuck… , fuck… .”

“Hmm… ?”

At the entrance of the Art Hall Center…, a man stood out with a discontented expression on his face, unlike everyone else.

He looked to be around the same age as Yoo Chang-seon, and was an ordinary man with a tall and thin build. But what was unusual about him was… .

‘What is a scar….’

There was a large scar on his face, probably from something that had happened in the past few months.

Even… .

‘Oh… that… .’

He was holding a pink ticket in his hand.

Yoo Chang-seon could immediately tell what it was.

‘Rookies fan signing event admission ticket…’

It looks like it hasn’t been used.

As soon as he saw that, Yoo Chang-seon felt that it was a waste.

Most of the people here spent anywhere from several hundred thousand won to several million won to come to the fan signing event.

I’m sure that person would be like that too.

‘But why aren’t you even attending the autograph session and are you just like that?’

The man was wandering around the Art Hall Center where people were pouring out, probably hoping to catch a glimpse of the Rookies… .

“Fuck… , fuck… !”

In the end, I couldn’t get in.

It seemed as if he was afraid of something, looking around and shaking his body.

“What did I do so wrong… , I just… , Ha Ye-rin… , … Fuck.”

So he left, hitting the wall and screaming.

Yoo Chang-seon looked at his back, wondering if he was just crazy… .

“But didn’t that person just say Ha Ye-rin? Is he a fan of Ye-rin?”

He tilted his head and went his way.

I just thought that there were some weird people among idol fans.

‘I don’t think he’d directly harm Yerin, would he?’

So Yoo Chang-seon immediately forgot about that strange fan and went home in a good mood, stroking the autographs he received that day.

**

“Ugh… , it’s finally over.”

“Fan signing events are also quite difficult.”

After the fan signing event, the faces of the Rookies members were soaked with fatigue.

But more than that… .

“Was that okay?”

“Yeah, everyone was really friendly.”

A greater sense of happiness settled on our faces.

It was the same for me.

‘Everyone was so kind… .’

It was really meaningful to meet and talk to fans from such a close distance, whom I had only seen from a considerable distance between the stage and the seats.

And among them, the most memorable fan was… .

“I didn’t know that our Rookies had such passionate Japanese fans.”

Of course, it was that Japanese fan.

I can’t believe that a Japanese person who doesn’t even speak the language likes our Rookies so much and came all the way to Korea to meet them.

I couldn’t be more grateful.

but….

“Huh? Japanese fan?”

“Was there anyone from Japan?”

The other members tilted their heads in confusion when they heard that he was a Japanese fan.

I also had doubts about this.

“Hmm? Haven’t you all met a Japanese person?”

“I don’t think we’ve met?”

“ in?”

“Ah…, Yerin. That person… .”

It seemed like only Yoo Seol knew about the Japanese man….

“No… . He must have his own circumstances… .”

He just shook his head with a look of sadness on his face.

The topic quickly changed to something else.

“By the way, our fan signing event is over, so now it’s really vacation, right?”

“That’s right, right? Because Director Jeong said he’d go on vacation as soon as he finished the Idol One Mind Sports Festival and fan signing schedule.”

Finally a vacation.

It was good to have a schedule while working, but honestly, I couldn’t help but feel tired from working continuously.

So we got in the car and chatted about where we were going on vacation and what we were going to do there.

however….

“Guys, I’ll stop by the company first instead of the dorm.”

“… … Yes?”

Even though all schedules were over, my manager turned the car towards the company instead of the dorm.

“… Huh?”

“Isn’t our schedule finished yet?”

When the members, including me, tilted our heads in confusion at the sudden company visit… .

“… Haha, why did you suddenly ask me to come to the company? I don’t know why either… .”

“… … .”

My manager just smiled awkwardly.

My manager brother is not good at acting.

As soon as we saw that our manager was hiding something, we couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

And that anxiety became reality.

As we entered the NAS Enter headquarters Rookies office… a group of cameras reminiscent of the Naa era were waiting for us.

“Huh? Haha… .”

“Suddenly the camera… . What could be happening… .”

Although we were flustered by the sudden appearance of the camera, we were used to Naaah and managed to smile skillfully.

In the middle of the camera group, Director Jeong was smiling slightly with an apologetic expression.

“Rookies, please unfold the folded banner on the desk.”

“Is that a banner?”

“Is this it?”

We unrolled the banner that was rolled up in the middle of the office desk at Director Jeong’s words.

And I flinched when I saw the words written inside.

“Rookies who worked hard… .”

“Go to the countryside… ?”

“Didn’t I say I’d give you a vacation?”

“Surely that vacation… .”

“Yes.”

At that moment, I couldn’t help but find Director Jeong so annoying.

“Everyone. Have you ever heard of farming?”

Of course, Director Jeong did not break his promise to give him a vacation.

It’s just that the vacation was a reality show with cameras.

**

The next day.

The place we arrived was a rural village in Gangwon-do.

“Wow.”

“I really like you.”

It was a long time since I had been away from the hustle and bustle of Seoul and was in the countryside. The air was good, the scenery was nice, and my mind was at ease.

Crowd, crowd.

Of course, it would have been better if there weren’t dozens of cameras filming us.

“Now, this is where you, the Rookies, will be staying.”

“Oh… , … huh?”

Director Jeong… no, today the lying old man who transformed into PD Jeong led us to a house that looked like it was falling apart, saying it was our dorm.

There was a cauldron in the kitchen, tiles on the roof, and it was questionable whether there was electricity… Anyone could tell that it was an old country house.

“… … .”

“… … .”

Most of the members of Rookies were natives of Seoul.

Among them, only Na Hanna came from Daejeon… Daejeon is also a metropolitan city.

We’re all from the city.

Seo Yu-jin, who grew up in a wealthy family, asked Director Jeong as if she couldn’t believe the current reality.

“This is where we sleep…?”

“Yes, you will be self-sufficient here for 2 nights and 3 days.”

“So, are you self-sufficient?”

In fact, we didn’t know the details other than that he lived in the countryside for a few days.

But self-sufficiency?

Yu Seol, who was the first to realize that the situation was serious, raised her hand and asked Director Jeong.

“Then do we have to take care of eating ourselves?”

Shh.

In response to Yoo Seol’s question, Director Jeong smiled evilly and pointed to a place.

There was a huge field there.

“There are a lot of sweet potatoes planted in that field. Since I asked for your understanding in advance, feel free to dig them up.”

“… Sweet potatoes? Surely I shouldn’t be eating only sweet potatoes for 2 nights and 3 days… .”

“Of course not. Here you can trade sweet potatoes for various things! Let’s take a look together!”

As he said this, Director Jeong took out a piece of paper he had prepared in advance and showed it to us.

There were food and goods there that could be exchanged for a kg of sweet potatoes.

For example, it was like this.

“You can exchange 3kg of sweet potatoes for 1 serving of rice!”

“Toothpaste, toothbrush, 1kg of sweet potatoes… . They don’t even give toothpaste and toothbrush for free? This is deadly… !”

“5kg of sweet potatoes, a can of kimchi, 1kg of sweet potatoes and mosquito coils… . Huh? There’s no mosquito coils here?”

The members grumbled at the saltier prices than expected.

There was one that stood out to us.

“Oh…! There’s also pork belly…!”

“… … !”

Samgyeopsal, the soul food of Koreans.

Up until now, our rookies’ diets have included a fair amount of beef and chicken, but you’ll never see fatty meats like pork belly.

But there is pork belly here.

The members were instantly motivated by the fact that they could eat pork belly if they just dug up sweet potatoes.

but….

“What…! But for one pound of pork belly… , 40kg of sweet potatoes?”

“How much is 40kg?”

“This is about the size of two large boxes.”

“Oh my… , this is too much. When did you dig up that many sweet potatoes… !”

As expected, the pork belly was just a wishful thinking, as it required a huge amount of sweet potatoes.

When we were sad, Director Jeong said with an evil smile.

“But we still provide work clothes and hoes for free!”

“You’re saying that now… .”

“Okay, everyone! If you want to eat rice and kimchi for lunch, you have to move now! Let’s go!”

I guess Director Jeong wanted to broadcast the image of us struggling.

We had no choice but to change into work clothes and go out into the field with hoes in our hands.

Of course, the answer did not come out even in front of the field.

The six of us city girls sighed at the sight of the vast sweet potato fields before our eyes.

“… Sister, have you ever tried digging up sweet potatoes?”

“Of course not… .”

“But I know a little bit about how to dig sweet potatoes because I experienced farming when I was in elementary school.”

As we just stared blankly, Yu Seol took the lead and started digging up sweet potatoes little by little.

I watched her, then picked up a hoe, sat down next to her, and started digging sweet potatoes.

Bam-, bam.

I had a feeling that this shoot… might be the hardest shoot the Rookies have ever done.

**

Director Jeong was originally a terrestrial TV entertainment PD, but changed his job to the R&D business after joining NAS Entertainment.

That’s why he was able to take on PD work in times of emergency.

“Phew… , everything is ready.”

He looked happily at the games he had prepared himself after a long time.

I was so proud to be able to give life to an idea that had been abandoned after I quit my job as a PD.

“I need to call the members again.”

The weak rookie members, who had no experience in farming, could not have been accustomed to digging sweet potatoes.

The sweet potato field is actually fake.

In fact, the games on this stage were personally prepared by Director Jeong, and he intended to provide the members with the food and items they needed through this.

We’ve prepared a lot of different and fun games, so we’re sure we’ll be able to squeeze out a lot of content.

Director Jeong smiled brightly and headed towards the sweet potato field where the members were.

however….

“Um… … ?”

Director Jeong could see something happening in the sweet potato field in the distance.

To him, who had poor eyesight, the dirt flying in all directions looked like a giant mole digging the ground.

Director Jeong, who could not see the situation from afar, approached the field with a blank expression, and what he saw was….

Utada-.

“Wow-!!! Sister, daebak-!!! Here! Here too!!”

“Quickly put the sweet potatoes that Yerin sold in the box!!”

It was Ha Ye-rin, rolling around in the dirt with a hoe in her hand, performing a sweet potato mad movie.

“Hehe, where should I sell it again?”

Ha Ye-rin, who seemed to be happy about the compliments from the members, smiled brightly while holding the sweet potatoes she had dug up in her arms, her face covered in dirt.

“Here! Dig here!”

“Okay!”

Wow-.

Every time Hayerin moved her hand, a pile of dirt was dug up and sweet potatoes fell out one by one.

“Wow-!! Already 5 boxes!”

“Two and a half pounds of pork belly!”

“Yerin unnie is the best!”

“Hehe.”

Utada-.

Director Jeong looked at Ha Ye-rin’s activities with vain eyes.

‘Did you trick me, Miss Yerin…?’

He clearly said that his hometown is Seoul and that he is a native Seoul citizen who has never moved out of Seoul… .

How can someone like that be considered a Seoul native idol?

Even if they were armed guerrillas, the speed at which they were digging the ground would be believable… .

“Wow-!! 6 boxes!”

In the meantime, Hayerin was steadily digging sweet potatoes… and the Rookies’ rural life unexpectedly turned into a jackpot with sweet potato coins.

Director Jeong, who was watching this, could not help but laugh in vain.