He Liked Her Shoes

Chapter 21: Future Dates

In just two days they would finally be guests on one of South Korea's most popular daily variety show, and KPK's absolute favorite. They didn't miss a show if they were able.

They chose their group name, as was custom for guest, "Hope We Win It All" Academy, referring their nomination for Artist of the Year. The general theme of the show revolved around a classroom of students, who were the six hosts. They would interview transfer students, the guests, in a casual format to determine if they would accept them into the school. The format allowed for a more casual interview. They would joke and tease as they answered various questions.

KPK proved to be a big hit with the hosts. The banter, silliness and interaction was so smooth and on point that it was difficult to believe it was all unscripted. The men were able to take the teasing and playful insults, and give it back quite easily. The hosts asked about their nomination, and about the new song and video. They asked San-hoon about married life and still working with the group.

He praised Melody for how accommodating she was to his commitment to the group. "She was on board from the beginning. These men are just as important to her as they are to me. She's selfless with so many things. She does spend time with us, watching dance practice, on site when we shoot videos and such. She was a crew member during our last tour. But just being in the same room is enough for us both. She's here in the audience. This is her favorite show too." He looked past the camera and smiled. One of the hosts waves to her as the camera turned to show her sitting in the front row of the small seating section. The show did not film in front of an actual audience. Those in the chairs were people mostly associated with the show and guest of the guests.

They would play a game where the new students would give clues revealing an event from their lives. The six hosts would then attempt to discover the truth. They could come up with some wild answers, which was one of the best parts of the episodes, but were usually successful in figuring out the incident eventually.

Kang-dae would go first. He told the room about an incident that involved his first concert with KPK. It happened on stage. There were various guesses, his fly was open, he did a dance kick and his shoe flew off. Kang-dae excitedly told them that the shoe guess wasn't correct, but they were close. The youngest host stood with enthusiasm. "You were dancing, and a dance move ripped your pants."

"YES!" Kang-dae yelled with glee, "I was doing a sort of squat move and my pants ripped right down the middle. I had to finish the routine before I could run off stage to change." They all laughed but commended him for his commitment to finishing.

Each member took their turn. Gi-beom admitting that he had fallen asleep with his camera still active, so there was about 3 hours of a live broadcast of him asleep at his desk. There were comments about how cute he looked, how tired he must be, how he was working himself too hard. He apparently had even snored at some point.

Joon-suk's turn, he was ready. "My incident is actually a secret that I haven't even told the guys here." This had his four band members astonished. Joon-suk had kept a secret? "While my news affects all five of us, it will change one of us forever." It was vague, but the lead host, who was privy to the secret, played along innocently.

"So one of you is getting fired?" he asked.

Joon-suk laughed, "The news is good, not bad. It's actually really amazing news."

The guys started guessing, "You're getting married?", Kang-dae guessed.

"He's not evening dating anyone, who's he going to marry?" Ye-jun scolded, smacking Kang-dae on the shoulder.

Gi-beom asked the important question, "Which of us will be changed forever?"

"Oh," replied Joon-suk, indicating that was the best question. "It's not me, and it's not you." Which caused the other three to question if the secret was about them.