259 – Entering the Terrestrial Broadcasting System
Final exams for the 2nd semester of the 2nd year.
I think this was probably the most difficult test I took this year.
The midterm exam came out easier than I thought, so I didn’t have much discernment, but it was because I didn’t have much time to study because I took the final exam just two weeks after the cultural festival.
If you are not a person who has been studying steadily, you have no choice but to cram naturally, and the result is disastrous.
“Oops! A failing grade!”
Satoru screams while holding a rain-covered math test paper.
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I, who was sitting right behind me, was dumbfounded when I heard that.
“Didn’t you study at all this time? No matter how much you fail…”
“Shut up! Don’t pretend to understand my pain when you’re number one in school!”
“…….”
He’s still not worth worrying about.
“Ah ah ah ah! Sorry for messing around!”
After lightly massaging Satoru’s scalp with the palm of my hand, I also asked Rika, who was completely exhausted from studying for the exam.
“So how about you, Rika? Did you avoid failing?”
Then Rika, who had her face buried in her desk, raised her right thumb up without a word.
“Hmm. I’m glad. It’s worth studying together on the weekend.”
“What?! The two of you studied together on the weekend?!”
Satoru suddenly hangs around holding onto his pod with something strange.
“What about studying?”
“How promiscuous! You guys haven’t been dating for less than a month!”
“…Isn’t it your brain that starts imagining things like that that’s promiscuous?”
Just because there are two men and women dating in a small space, it doesn’t mean that they do only lewd things.
Of course, I already did that with Rika at the internet cafe, but I really didn’t touch it when I was studying.
And, perhaps responding to Satoru’s speculation, Rika raised her head and said.
“…Low quality.”
“Quaaagh!”
Satoru is shot down by a word of subtle contempt.
Anyway, I didn’t want to go along with the pointless skit anymore, so I got up with my book bag.
“Then I go first today.”
“Where are you?!”
“The test isn’t over yet, so I should go home and study.”
“Tomorrow is the last day of the exam anyway, let’s play with me today!”
“Am I crazy?”
I single-handedly overpowered Satoru, who was suddenly trying to launch a water demon strategy, and asked Rika, who was still lying face down on the desk.
“Rika, aren’t you going home?”
Then Rika raised her head slightly and answered.
“Yes. I have a girls’ meeting today, so I’m going home late.”
“Women’s meeting?”
“There is such a thing.”
As if it was too much trouble to explain, Rika waved her palms and evaded her words.
Well, it seemed strange that I was interfering with the girls, so I said yes.
“Then see you tomorrow.”
“Yes, bye bye~”
That’s how I got out of the classroom while receiving Rika’s bewildered farewell.
***
After the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, the streets of Tokyo are lined with trees with bare branches.
When I think that just a short while ago, there were maple leaves dyed in vermilion on that branch, I feel that time flies so quickly.
The moment I was about to go down to the subway station with my collar adjusted in the rather chilly weather, I was stopped by a sudden phone call.
Trrr
‘What is it?’
There was no one place to call at this hour.
I took out my smartphone from my pocket, wondering if it was the chairman or Rika, and hesitated for a moment when I saw a number I had never seen before floating on the screen.
Should I take this or not?
If this were Korea, I wouldn’t normally answer unknown numbers, but in Japan, few people knew my phone number in the first place.
Apart from your parents, how many friends do you have?
‘Someone I know might have called.’
After a little thought, I answered the phone.
Then, what came over the receiver was the voice of a stranger.
「Hello. Is Kim Yoo-seong’s number correct?”
“Oh, yes. What’s going on?”
「Ah, it’s nothing else, this time NHK is doing a year-end special broadcast. I wanted you to appear there.”
Anyway, it seems to be the same business as the e-mails sent by various magazines and broadcasting stations recently.
“I’m sorry, but I have no intention of doing an interview or anything like that.”
「Yes? No, no, I’m not trying to do an interview, just like a special guest. Why did Yuseong Kim appear there? ~The Blue~ Academy Youth Apocalypse. It was quite popular, so production of the 2nd season was confirmed this time. That’s why I’m going to invite Kim Yu-seong, who was selected as a hot topic, as a guest, as well as a talk about the actors’ current status. 」
“A guest?”
I was dumbfounded by a business I never thought of.
Rather than that, am I a hot topic?
There were many keywords that took many things, but I started by asking the most curious.
“Who did you get my number from?”
「The director really wanted to invite Yuseong Kim to this year-end special broadcast, so I asked Minato-san. I’m sorry if I made you feel bad.”
Is that really what happened?
I feel like the mystery of how this person got my number has finally been solved.
But that’s it, and this is this.
“I’m sorry, but I’d like to decline that offer. I don’t want to sell my face on TV.”
「Ah… Are you afraid to be in front of a camera?”
“No. I mean it. I don’t like to put my face on TV and have my name go up and down among people.”
However, despite the euphemistic refusal, the caller was quite persistent.
「Still, there is still time, so I hope you think positively. If you appear on the air, it’s a small amount because you’re a normal person, but there’s an appearance fee.”
Appearance fee?
I was about to hang up the phone, but I hesitated for a moment after hearing something quite tempting.
“May I know how much the performance fee is?”
Then the other party on the phone also eagerly explained whether or not I felt cold.
「Originally, the fee for a regular person to appear is around 50,000 yen at most, but if I talk to the PD carefully, 100,000 yen will be possible.”
100,000 Yen?
With that money, it’s not enough to spend Christmas warmly, you can also give your parents pocket money in the new year.
“…I will.”
「Yes?」
“I’ll do it. Appear on TV.”
That’s how my second TV appearance was decided.
***
It was about a week later that I went to the NHK broadcasting station in Shibuya after being cast for a year-end special broadcast.
Normally, if I say I skip school on weekdays, I won’t get permission, but when I told them I was going to appear in a special year-end broadcast for a drama in which I had a minor role, Matsuda, my homeroom teacher, readily agreed to leave early.
Matsuda-sensei is usually strict, but she is a good person who always thinks from the student’s point of view.
“Whoa- let’s not be scared.”
I came straight to the NHK broadcasting station after finishing my morning classes and realized that the broadcasting station building was enormous.
Last time, I didn’t know because I came at dawn, but seeing it during the day, the gap is quite large.
As befits an NHK broadcasting station in the position of KBS in Korea, the clean design of the main building caught the attention of passers-by.
“Kyaaa! Oppa!”
Today must have been a recording day for a music show, and female students carrying school bags are flocking to the front door of the broadcasting station.
No school usually closes at this time unless it’s exam period, so he must have skipped school.
I was well aware that hanging out with kids like that would make me tired, so I sat down on a nearby bench waiting for the person I had promised over the phone to come out.
Current time 2pm.
The best time to bruise a person due to starvation.
It was when I was watching the people passing by on the street with such a blank look on my face.
“Are you Yuseong Kim?”
Someone talked to me next to me.
When I reflexively turned my head, a person who seemed to be involved in the broadcasting station was standing there with a long or empty expression.
“Are you the staff I spoke with yesterday?”
“Yes! That’s right!”
At that time, the station staff nodded with a brightened face.
Since the person I’ve been waiting for has arrived, I shake my seat and stand up to say hello.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Yuseong Kim.”
Then the employee waved both of his hands and said.
“Ah~ You don’t have to introduce yourself. I already know about Kim. You’re the disciple of national hero Kotaro Fuma, right?”
“Oh, yes.”
When will that damn modifier go away?
When I awkwardly smiled and nodded, the station staff chatted excitedly to themselves.
“Yeah~ I knew he was an unusual person from the first time I saw him in summer, but I never thought he’d be a student of such a celebrity, right? Thanks to him, I’m a huge fan now.”
Perhaps it was someone who was at the scene at the time, the station staff showered me with compliments from the first time they saw me on the set of the drama, saying that the cotyledon looked different.
It was burdensome to keep talking to me, but it was a breeze after that, probably thanks to the station staff’s free time.
Once I received a pass for outsiders in the lobby on the first floor, I followed his guidance to the studio where today’s special broadcast was to be filmed.
On the way, I could see posters related to various animations or dramas, probably made for people who came to visit the broadcasting station.
Anyway, maybe 10 minutes have passed since you started walking like that?
The station staff took me to the waiting room, not the studio.
“Wasn’t that the original decision to go to the studio?”
When I questioned that question, the station staff smiled and answered.
“Originally, it was planned to be like that, but because of the earnest request of the actor.”
“Actor?”
I hesitated to open the door, confused by what had suddenly happened, but the station employee who opened the door instead opened his arms wide and said.
“Surprise! Actually, this was Minato-san’s waiting room!”
“Senior!”
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Nao, who was sitting in front of the mirror, met his gaze as if he was in the midst of getting his makeup done, and he smiled and waved his hand.
… Why are you out there