BE MYSELF(C1K) - MUSIQ SERIES PART 1

35. THE KIM FAMILY

Just as with almost everything else they seemed to do, their episode in Seniors and Juniors was a tremendous success when it aired. They got to show their chemistry as a group but, also, the most extroverted members, Joontae, Jax and Kiwoo, caught the attention of many viewers. Several parts of the program went viral, but Haeil and Dara were the top solo artists in the industry at that moment, so the portions in which they interacted with them were the most viewed ones and, therefore, Axel and Joontae got a lot of exposure once again.

Some people started shipping Joontae and Dara together, which the C1K members found funny, but some others did so with Axel, and he was not too happy about it because Joontae kept messing with him. Although it was only shipping them together, he kept thinking about Heejin and how he had not yet been able to see her because of their busy schedule. At the end of the day, his mind always went back to the same person. Even if he spent the days going on music shows and recording television programs or radio shows, he always thought of her.

Despite their comeback's success and high number of sales and views, they still had not won any music show awards, primarily because they were going against big renown artists and they were just rookies. They were not worried about that at all because they had just debuted and they were not expecting to win right away, but their CEOs decided to hold a meeting with the marketing manager about it less than a week after the debut, the day when the «Lay Back» music video was released.

"It's just doesn't make any sense," Mika said to the other CEOs. "Their album sales were exceedingly high, their following in social media is remarkably high too for a rookie group, every program they go to goes viral... Why aren't they winning?"

"I know that there are far more important things than music show wins, but it's true that in some of them it didn't make sense that they didn't win. They were going against the latest JYP group in the only program in which you have to perform live to win, sure, but their comeback was weeks ago and even so, it was less well received and successful than C1K's one," Leah commented. "Something's off."

"I've been looking further into it and that program mainly bases their result on the votes groups received, which means that they can easily be manipulated," Yeongjae, the marketing manager, said. "I don't think this has anything to do with JYP, however, since they normally let the groups that have reality shows or promotional content aired on that channel. It's likely that they do so to promote the programs they do with them even further."

"Let's take them off that show, then," Alix said. "It's useless to have them work for hours in a program that's rigged when they could be resting or promoting elsewhere. They are already going on enough shows."

"I think so too. Let's make sure to not schedule anything for them in that tv channel," Soojin joined. "Instead, let's tell their managers to schedule their interviews for foreign news channels on those days."

"I'll text them about it now," Lin said taking out her phone. "When are they done with today's schedule?"

"They should be back at the dorm at around eleven, most likely," Mika answered, checking the time. "They must have watched their new music video on the waiting room before going on stage."

"At least tomorrow they have a day off," Leah pointed out. "Not fully, but they won't have to work until the afternoon. That's better than nothing."

"I'm immensely proud of how well they are handling their first promotions. They are naturals at it," Lin said.

"You've been training them for every possible scenario, they are just showing the results of their hard training," Yeongjae told them. "Anyway, I'll leave now to call the show producers."