# 140 In the program
Across the Sea (4),
a special corner called ‘Digging into KK’ was scheduled to be broadcast for about 20 minutes.
Just looking at the fact that the show decided to devote this much time to KK, rather than a native star, it was clear that KK’s popularity had increased to some extent in Japan as well.
Upon entering the studio, a male MC welcomed KK.
Shinichi Watanabe, the solo MC on today’s broadcast, was a former comedian and a famous Japanese MC loved by a wide range of people, from the younger generation to people in their 50s.
There were three programs he was in charge of, and the viewership ratings for all three were quite good.
Although he was a former comedian, he was popular with women due to his neat middle-aged appearance. He had a style that made people laugh with his wit rather than with body-breaking jokes, and when it came to entertainment, he was called the epitome of ‘ツッコミ (Tsukomi)’ and rose to the position of MC.
Originally, ‘Bokeh and Tsukomi’ were often used among Japanese comedians consisting of two groups. To put it simply, Boke had the role of being bullied and Tsukomi had the role of mistreating them.
The goal was to make people laugh through a relationship of mistreatment and abuse.
Although Watanabe does not work as a duo, he mainly shows off his ‘Tsukomi’ aspect to the guests while watching the MC, confusing the guests and creating fun in the program by making the guests feel embarrassed.
However, among Japanese entertainment MCs, there were those who regularly sexually harassed female contestants, so Watanabe’s hosting method was considered ‘gentlemanly’ by some.
It was a bit confusing to the guests, but it wasn’t at the level of making up words that didn’t exist.
Watanabe waved his hand with a mischievous smile at KK as he entered.
Even when we first greeted each other in the waiting room, Watanabe was very gentlemanly and shook hands with the KK members. When he entered the studio, he looked like a professional.
After greeting Watanabe again in the studio, the KK members began introducing themselves to the camera.
Since I had already introduced myself on the morning broadcast, I was able to introduce myself more naturally this time.
“Oh nice to meet you. nice to meet you! Here in Korea, the idol group KK is currently the most popular group in Korea. “Right?”
Watanabe asked the KK members lined up in a row.
Since it was the same as the question in the script, Jeong Yoon-gi quickly understood the question and answered with a vague smile.
“Uh…if you call me that…thank you.”
When Jeong Yoongi stammered his answer, Watanabe smiled and answered.
“As expected, the leader of KK who boasts that they are the best!”
When Jeong Yoon-gi looked a little embarrassed by Watanabe’s words, the camera in front of Jeong Yoon-gi took a close-up of Jeong Yoon-gi’s embarrassment.
“I will be the best!”
Kim Won ran out and shouted.
In response to the energetic shout, Watanabe also said, ‘Good, good! Let’s do our best!’ I passed the situation over.
Members whose Japanese was not perfect were wearing microphones and earphones through which they could hear the interpreter’s voice. Therefore, although there was no problem with important communication, I had no choice but to understand the question a step late.
Ahn Hyeong-seo, whose Japanese skills were weakest, and Park Tae-hyung, Jeong Yoon-ki, and Seok Ji-hoon, who still had trouble understanding everything the locals said, were wearing earphones.
After the MC and members sat on the chairs prepared in the studio, a full-scale interview continued.
“First of all, KK’s popularity in Korea! “Let’s find out!”
Along with Watanabe’s introduction, a prepared video was played on the VCR in the studio.
It was a video introducing the popularity of KK.
There were images of KK fans lining up in line to see KK at her concert, and images of her receiving trophies for winning first place on various music shows.
In addition, while introducing the activities of the KK members, it was revealed what fields each person is active in as an individual.
Adjectives such as ‘cool’, ‘great’, and ‘outstanding’ appeared in the huge Japanese subtitles.
KK members also focused on the video with the intention of organizing their activities.
Lastly, the video ended with the winner receiving the grand prize at the TBN awards ceremony just a week ago.
“and! Incredible! You won the top award in Korea! congratulations!”
“thank you.”
Jeong Yoon-gi greeted Watanabe’s praise as a representative.
“It appeared like a comet from the beginning, and now it feels like the sun!”
When Watanabe expressed it in an awkward way, Dowook smiled and responded.
“That’s too much praise. Not even the sun…”
“The moon?”
“Trying to become the sun….”
“Baby sun?”
“Haha yes. That would be good enough. “There is still a long way to go and there is a lot of music I want to make.”
Watanabe nodded to Dowook’s answer.
“As expected, these are words worthy of a main member and producer of KK.”
“thank you.”
“I still have a ton of questions for Mr. Dowook. please wait for a moment. First of all, I want to ask a question to all of KK… What is the secret to their popularity?”
Kim Won answered Watanabe’s question in fluent Japanese.
“We don’t make music that the company tells us to do, but we make the music we want to make at the time, with Do-wook at the center. So you can quickly follow trends or truly enjoy them.”
“Oh… it looks good.”
“We also try hard to communicate with the fans. “By using SNS.”
“okay. So, who is the member who uses social media the best?”
“I guess it’s Hyungseo.”
“Hyungseo?”
Watanabe asked, looking around at the members as if asking who his ‘brother-in-law’ was.
Although the interpreter had not finished interpreting yet, Ahn Hyeong-seo raised her hand, waving the name tag on her chest when her name was heard.
Next, I found out that the question was about the member who uses SNS best with earphones.
“Oh, did you say you are the member in charge of vocals?”
“yes!”
‘Hi!’ Tension oozed out of Ahn Hyeong-seo’s tone as he answered. In Korea, Ahn Hyeong-seo was the most active talker on entertainment shows, but the language barrier was very big.
“How do you use social media?”
Ahn Hyeong-seo answered Watanabe’s question using all the Japanese words he knew.
“Photo… Video… Reply…”
It was only three words, but fortunately, Watanabe seemed to understand what it meant.
“Do you answer fans’ questions and talk to them often?”
“yes!”
Hyungseo Ahn answered again. Watanabe asked with a grin.
“Do you tend to reply more to fans with pretty profile pictures?”
“no! at all!”
“Eh… you’re embarrassed now, aren’t you? “Your face is red?”
Ahn Hyeong-seo was very embarrassed because he was unable to properly refute Watanabe’s mischievous questions. Watanabe seemed to have decided to make fun of Ahn Hyeong-seo after hearing his poor Japanese.
“Our fans create more profiles with our faces rather than their own. So, it is not possible to know the faces of fans on social media.”
Do-wook answered skillfully on behalf of Hyeong-seo Ahn.
Watanabe shrugged his shoulders as if he had cooled off a bit and moved on to the next question.
“I heard that Do-wook is also a producer, composer, and vocalist… he is always into dancing and acting.”
Dowook expressed his gratitude with a humble expression in response to Watanabe’s complimentary comment.
“I even went to Cannes!”
“yes. “It was a very honorable occasion.”
“Actually, one of my acquaintances said he saw ‘Blue Sky’ in which Do-wook appeared. “He said he was very impressed.”
“Wow… thank you.”
“Do you have any desire to act more? “I think it would be better to work solo rather than as a team, right?”
“yes?”
“If you do it alone, you don’t have to share the profits, right?!”
Dowook’s expression hardened for a moment after hearing Watanabe’s question. However, it was only as hard as a passing glance.
“no. Because the team is so important to me… I want to do well both with the team and with my solo activities.”
“Eh… I feel sorry for everything.”
“haha.”
Dowook laughed awkwardly at Watanabe’s words.
“I can’t do it without Do-wook~!”
Kim Won lightened the mood in the studio by adding comments at the right time. Watanabe looked at Kim Won and smiled.
Watanabe also knew that it would be difficult to embarrass professional singers like KK with questions like these anyway. It was something that was passed off as a light joke.
“Then I would like to ask Jihoon, the youngest. “Is Dowook an indispensable member of the team?”
“of course! of course!”
Seok Ji-hoon answered confidently. Then Watanabe asked back.
“Then, who is the member who doesn’t seem to need to be on the team?”
“yes?”
Embarrassed, Seok Ji-hoon spat out Korean. This kind of question was unheard of in Korean entertainment and was not even in the script.
Seok Ji-hoon spoke again in Japanese.
“Oh no!”
“It’s so boring to broadcast like this. Is KK going to be a boring group?”
Watanabe provoked him, but Seok Ji-hoon actually had experience surviving among mischievous professional entertainers through ’48 Hours Camping’.
“It’s not fun, but it’s a friendly group.”
At Seok Ji-hoon’s answer, Watanabe exclaimed ‘ooh’ and was amazed.
“Teamwork is great. Truly the best idol group in Korea! Then, one by one, ‘You cannot be left out of this team!’ “I would be grateful if you could show such personal skills.”
Watanabe passed the corner by naturally showing off his individual skills.
As the corner passed, filming stopped for a moment and the set was rearranged.
The rearranged set had a small stage-like platform in the center and terraced chairs at the back.
The first to stand on the podium were Kim Won and Jeong Yoon-gi.
Kim Won and Jung Yoon-gi have been preparing the first verse of American rap star AMINEM’s hit song ‘Standing’.
The accompaniment played and Kim Won and Jeong Yoon-gi were shown performing ‘Standing’ perfectly. It was one of the repertoires I had prepared when I was a trainee, and I practiced it again while preparing for this Japanese entertainment show.
Although they could have performed their individual skills as they did in Korea, the members had a desire to continue to show new things on any broadcast.
Moreover, it was difficult for Korean songs to receive a great response in Japan.
When Kim Won and Jeong Yoon-gi’s rap performance ended, Watanabe clapped as if he was satisfied. In particular, Kim Won’s fast rapping and good English pronunciation were evaluated as impressive.
Afterwards, there was a dance break prepared by Taehyung Park and Jihoon Seok.
In particular, when Park Tae-hyung came down to the bottom of the podium and performed a mid-air rotation, even the camera crew was filled with admiration.
Next was Ahn Hyeong-seo. Hyungseo Ahn sang the Japanese original version of the song, better known as ‘Star Flower’ in Korea. Because it was a sad ballad, the atmosphere felt a little dull, but it was not a bad way to show off Ahn Hyeong-seo’s excellent vocal skills.
The last one was Dowook. Dowook was currently practicing the lines of Naoki, the main character in the drama ‘Naoki Hanjo’, which is considered a national drama in Japan.
‘Naoki Hanjo’ is about an ordinary banker who dreams of becoming a bank president and takes revenge on his parents’ enemies.
Actually, I was planning to prepare a song, but the program asked Do-wook to prepare an act, saying that they wanted to highlight the fact that he was from the Cannes Film Festival.
Do-wook was horribly focused and acted out Naoki’s angry lines like the real Naoki. Watanabe shook his head and made a gesture that said he was truly amazing at the sight of Naoki showing off the whites of his eyes, a characteristic feature of Naoki’s acting.
“Wow… I really wish I could call him Korea’s Naoki. “No, should I say Naoki’s son?”
When Dowook came down from the stage in response to Watanabe’s praise, he became a shy young man again and expressed his gratitude.
“Of course from Cannes! But… Hyungseo’s Star Flower… I wonder if he may have practiced too little.”
In an instant, the faces of all KK members stiffened.
It was true that Ahn Hyeong-seo’s Japanese was not good, but Ahn Hyeong-seo singing was flawless. As much as I’ve always prepared hard and am good at it, it was the first time I’d heard such a reaction after doing something, so everyone didn’t know what to say.
“I worked hard…”
Hyungseo Ahn answered, looking a little intimidated.
“…… well.”
Watanabe muttered skeptically. The expression on his face made it better that he didn’t need an interpreter.
‘If the recording ends like this, Hyungseo’s image will be… Fans will be angry, but for people in Japan who didn’t know KK well…’ It
was at that time that Dowook quickly came to his senses.
Ahn Hyeong-seo also thought that he couldn’t finish filming like this while being labeled as the most incompetent member among the KK members.
Hyungseo Ahn suddenly raised his hand.
“I am……! I’ll do something else! Something else… let’s try it!”
