Chapter Thirty-Six: Terrible Social Skills

d it in advance. I'll go talk to the company now and have them communicate with the organizers to see if they can reschedule. While you guys are waiting for your rehearsal time, the staff will come an...You should know that today's signing event is not an open signing event. The spots are all drawn from coupons in purchased albums, and there aren't many.

Most fans below don't have signing slots. They are here just to support their idols and catch a glimpse of them.

Before this, Chi Jingyuan had been worried, but now all his worries vanished. He felt touched and moved, yet there was a hint of bitterness mixed in as well.

The members maintained bright smiles and high enthusiasm throughout the event. They performed a stage piece, then chatted intimately with fans, perfectly completing the signing session. Even fans who didn't have signing privileges left satisfied after seeing them up close.

The Busan signing event officially began at 2 pm. After it ended, they immediately got into a nanny car and headed to Daejeon. At 7 pm, they held another signing event.

This time, the fans were only a little more than the afternoon show. The lively atmosphere swept away all the fatigue of every member.

Especially Chi Jingyuan, he was the most tired one. Even though his hand ached from signing so many autographs, he didn't seem to mind at all. Instead, he had a unique sense of happiness in his heart and continued to treat every fan who liked him with enthusiasm.

This feeling is also one of the important factors that allow him to persist in his idol career.

Today's two signing events also proved the heat of this comeback, which is completely incomparable to the debut period last year.

After the event ended, the members didn't even have time to eat before they got straight back on the bus and headed to Seoul. They still had a radio program recording of Shin Dong's Deep Break scheduled for that night.

"Bro, when can we eat I'm starving."

12 people were divided into two vans, K and M sat separately. After Park Chan-wook got on the van, he wailed and asked a question after a while.

Several members of Team K also agreed. They hadn't felt it before because they weren't paying attention during the signing session, but as soon as they got in the car, hunger hit them all at once.

"There are some snacks in the car, you guys can order them first. When we arrive in Seoul, we'll go eat something first."

Lee Seung-hwan handed over a plastic bag filled with snacks and offered a word of comfort.

"Oh my, this comeback performance is really pleasing, the signing event's popularity is also exciting, but suddenly there are so many schedules, it feels a bit unfamiliar."

"All artists return like this, it's just the beginning."

"Oh, I'm so hungry..."

…………

Today is the 7th. It's been several days since the album was officially released on June 3rd, and EXO's momentum is very good. Their fame has gradually spread.

Although the results are pleasing, both good and bad news exist.

The good news is that the album sales are very encouraging. Pre-orders were already doing very well, and on the first day of release, sales exceeded over 10,000 copies. In the following days, sales not only didn't drop but continued to rise.

A single day's sales figure already surpasses the annual album sales of many indie bands.

Since the regular one album was released, EXO has topped the sales real-time chart with the top two spots and a significant gap from the third place.

The first and second respectively are the Korean and Chinese versions of their albums, which is 《XOXO (Kiss)》and 《XOXO(Hug)》.

"kiss is a kiss, hug is a hug, this name expresses the feelings towards fans."

Over the past few days, with pre-orders included, both versions of the album have already sold almost 200,000 copies. It's estimated that EXO's first studio album will surpass the sales of their debut mini-album "MAMA" which accumulated over a year ago, before this week ends.

The same group's album, with two different versions, directly occupied the top two spots on the sales chart. Their position was extremely stable, with a very steady daily sales curve, which shocked countless people. Even industry insiders, including idols from other groups, were astonished by EXO's sales explosion this comeback.

According to M's statistics, in the past week and a half, EXO's two versions of albums combined accounted for nearly 70% of the entire album market on the peninsula.

Of course, that's largely due to the absence of major group comebacks in recent days.

Kim Taeyeon called me specifically to complain that if this keeps up, the sales of one of Girls' Generation's best-selling albums, their 3rd full-length album "The Boys" released in 2012, will be surpassed by EXO. She said it would be embarrassing for her as a senior artist.

As of last month, 《The Boys》 had sold over 400,000 albums, a significant margin ahead of other girl groups.

The second place girl group is Girls' Generation, with their song "I Gotta Boy" released earlier this year.

But at this growth rate, it's possible that in less than a month, what Taeyeon said could come true.

EXO's comeback this time exceeded everyone's expectations in terms of sales, making the company feel that their investment was worthwhile and reaping substantial profits. However, the trend of their digital music performance is somewhat disappointing.

The results on the day of the audio source release were astonishing, with the title track debuting at number one and achieving a chart sweep across several platforms. Melon also performed well, with 《Wolf》 landing at number two, dethroning the highly popular Lee Hyo-ri.

It was a huge hit thanks to the fervent support of fans, but as time passed and more casual listeners joined in, the pure dance track nature of "Wolf" started to show its limitations.

Without the stage performance, just listening to the song, this title track's lyrics are a bit off, and the melody is also a little strange. It's not a song that conforms to mainstream aesthetics.

Many people saw that the ranking was so high and naturally clicked in to listen. However, after listening, they found that it didn't match their taste at all. Comments began to criticize it, while EXO's fans and those who liked this style or had seen the stage performance naturally supported their idol and said all good things.

As a result, the reviews for 《Wolf》 began to polarize.

"Wow, this main song is really good this time, much better than last year."

"I love the concept of a werewolf boy, the stage for the song is amazing too, the Tree of Life is so cool, EXOfightg!"

"This song is alright, but it's not what I really want to hear. I want to hear the one Yuan wrote about in the news. When can we hear the recording"

"What is this song It's terrible!"

"Fans are really good at brushing, even such a bad song ranks so high kkkkkk. The peninsula music scene is over."

"What on earth are they singing about Why is the chorus just constant howling 'ah-ooh, ah-ooh' Did you guys get rabies Can you please sing properly"

“kkkkk, I like your comment, but remember to close your private messages.”

“…………”

Negative reviews outnumbered the positive ones.

Actually, there's no way around it. After all, the target audiences are different, and the main song is still a pure dance track.

All male groups on the peninsula besides BigBang have achieved average results in terms of digital sound source rankings. To be on the charts is already considered good, and EXO's performance this time around is quite impressive.

The explosive power of a sound source's performance relies on fans, but its longevity depends on the support of passersby. If passersby don't like it much, the effect of fans brushing alone will diminish over time.

A few days later, the album's songs all began to drop in rankings across various charts. On the Melon chart, the main track "Wolf," which had reached number two at its peak, fell to 24th place. While there were occasional spikes upwards a few positions, the overall trend was definitely downwards, and it was happening quite quickly.

However, overall, EXO's comeback this time has exceeded both the company's and fans' expectations. They successfully put their name out there and are no longer like last year, a small transparent figure. It can be considered a successful comeback.

Now it's just a matter of time before they snag their first music chart number one.

This novel is first published on, with massive headlines and fans showering them with praise, making it seem like they're global superstars. In reality, most of their concerts are small venues holding only a few thousand people, and...