Idol Hides His Military Service

The quiet night comes down

When I close my eyes, I see you

Starting with Nayeon’s voice, who took the intro, the choreography began—mine included.

‘Less sexy, a little sharper.’

Unlike the group battle mission, for this Final Round Lucid Dive stage, we decided to preserve more of the original song’s feel.

Before, thanks to Shinyu rearranging it to bring out everyone’s individuality, the outfits were all different, and the choreography emphasized a looser feel rather than precision.

In that smile when I look at you

Your heart sinks again

Now, more than anything, it was important to hit the moves at the exact timing along with the song.

‘Kim Nayeon is definitely good.’

Unlike when twenty-five of us did the stage, now it was just the five of us in Lucid Dive, and we had to fill the stage completely.

We knew that too, so during practice we adjusted the choreography so it would still read well even on a concert stage, but practice and the real thing were different. Being nervous wasn’t strange.

But even in that tense situation, Nayeon, who had the song’s opening, finished her role beautifully and passed the baton to the next in line, Yoo Jihye.

As a first runner, it couldn’t have been more perfect.

In my scent that brushes past you

Hold your breath and follow me

After Nayeon, Yoo Jihye also sang her part steadily, even showing composure—throwing gestures toward the crowd.

It was the kind of poise that clearly came from having actually debuted and promoted as an idol.

Even Seo Ryujin, the strongest in skill on our team, didn’t find it easy to look as relaxed as Yoo Jihye did once the stage started.

Still—

Beyond the shining waves

I reached out my hand to you

Seo Ryujin was Seo Ryujin.

-This part is really difficult!

Back when Shinyu explained Lucid Dive, there was a part emphasized as especially hard—a part we were warned about—and Seo Ryujin pulled it off perfectly.

Since it was the section right before the highlight, the point was to gradually raise the mood without letting it hit the peak yet.

Is this a dream or is it real

My heart beats faster

Seo Ryujin handled that subtle line beautifully.

-Seo Ryujin is just an all-rounder, I swear

↳She can be main vocal and main dancer, that’s cheating

↳If Seo Ryujin is in a team, that team just survives

↳The stability is different, no wonder she’s Seo-leader

↳Fine, so what if she’s boring···variety is Sion anyway

Making the hard part look easy.

It wasn’t just skill. Without perfect understanding of the part and the practice to back it up, it was impossible—and Seo Ryujin did it on every stage, so the evaluations couldn’t be anything but high.

Even now, just listening to the cheers in the stands swelling louder than they had for the two before, it felt like people knew exactly how impressive Seo Ryujin was.

Lucid dive, I’ll take you

To you inside that deep dream

In this moment where time stops

I’ll stay with you

And thanks to the way Seo Ryujin linked the flow, Yuri’s vocal—who had the prelude to the highlight—could shine even more.

-Yuri’s part kinda sticks in your ear, doesn’t it?

↳When she talks normally she’s cute, so I thought the stage would be like that, but not at all

↳Yeah, I don’t usually expect much skill from the Japanese member, but Yuri is better than most Korean trainees

↳That foreigner-style Korean pronunciation is charming

Kurosawa Yuri was honestly an impossible character to understand.

In daily life, she was a playful Japanese girl. In practice and on stage, she focused so hard it was almost scary.

So much so that she overlapped with Ryu Ayeon—the top in that field.

‘For this Lucid Dive, Yuri’s voice fits the best.’

Since we’d kept the original song’s feel, Yuri’s voice matched the original artist Boyvicious’s concept—fresh and dreamy—so well it felt like if you personified that concept, it would be Yuri.

Because of that, the stage and the crowd’s atmosphere ripened to the point it couldn’t possibly get any hotter.

‘Operation: Yun Bong-gil—time to blow it up.’***

Now it was my timing to blow up the atmosphere the Japanese member had heated up.

[Those are G‧G outfits, right?]

[Wow, it’s been forever since I’ve seen those]

[Did Hyeryeong lend them?]

[They look good. Different vibe from G‧G though]

If you asked people to name the most popular girl group right now, most would list three—maybe as many as five—depending on who you asked.

Rather than one group being overwhelmingly dominant, the current girl group scene was holding a tight balance of popularity, like that old era of warring states.

But if you’d asked that question three years ago, nobody would’ve had any disagreement. Everyone would’ve named a single group.

Golden Girls.

As a girl group under SY—and the group Hyeryeong, an Idol Ground 100 judge, belonged to—second-generation girl group G‧G being number one was something that might’ve drawn complaints, but nobody would’ve argued against.

And G‧G’s full album, their second studio album Wish, which announced to the world that they’d reached the top, was legendary in every way.

Up to then, girl groups had prioritized mainstream appeal above all else, so it was common to come out with concepts like pure, dreamy, sexy, or retro.

G‧G came out and refuted that head-on.

All the members came out in navy uniforms as stage outfits, grabbed the public and the fandom alike with a fierce concept that matched boy groups, and declared that their era had arrived.

The navy-uniform stage outfits that became G‧G’s legendary look—the proof that girl groups could also build fandom popularity around a strong concept, just like boy groups.

Now that those uniforms had been revived on Idol Ground 100’s Final Round stage, the venue and the internet both went wild.

-Ah, I’m going crazy. I swore I’d never stan girl groups again after G‧G···

↳I thought I’d lost it watching the stage. Those kids know how to charm people

↳That silver hair is Lee Sion, right? People were making such a fuss I didn’t watch out of spite, but yeah, it deserved the fuss

↳The one with the ponytail totally hits my type. I voted without even realizing it

↳Why am I only seeing this now? I should’ve seen it sooner

In particular, the reaction from female fans—the core of idol fandom—was scorching.

Saying it brought back old memories, even people who hadn’t cared about Idol Ground 100 started reacting one by one, and Lucid Dive’s stage began spreading fast through every internet community.

-Lee Sion is coming up!

↳I knew it since she wore that prince outfit before. She’s just a fox spirit that charms people

↳Who’s the coordinator and stylist? Give them a bonus right now

↳First time I’ve seen someone pull off silver hair that perfectly

↳On a concert stage, going that bold is the right call

Then the moment came when Lee Sion, who took the song’s highlight, slowly moved to the edge of the stage and turned toward the crowd.

A vivid scream spilled out from the stands.

Lucid dive, close your eyes

Until I reach your arms

And Lee Sion’s voice—so clean it sounded like it had been recorded in a studio—pierced straight through those screams and rang through the Gymnastics Arena.

-Wow···I’m so jealous of the people on-site

↳Just take first place and eat everything up

↳Why did her skill improve this much? She’s even better than last time

↳How does someone who wasn’t even a trainee not shake on stage? Is this like a second run at life or what?

↳That scene is coming soon!!!

As if it had been promised, the stands went quiet like a library.

Because everyone remembered the scene Lee Sion had shown at Lucid Dive’s ending during the earlier group battle mission.

Back then, she’d walked toward the audience, dropped to one knee, and sang the last part while reaching out her hand.

That moment was talked about as one of the best scenes in Idol Ground 100.

[How idols charm people these days]

(Lee Sion reaching her hand out toward the audience, and the audience, dazed, reaching out their hands)

↳I’m a fox spirit, and Lee Sion stole my liver

↳If you reached out your hand too while watching the broadcast, upvote

↳This never gets old no matter how many times I see it. She’s a monster

↳I was there on-site then. For real, when Lee Sion came closer, people froze and didn’t even breathe lol

That Lucid Dive ending left such a strong impression that a community post with just that segment clipped out hit over a million views.

So maybe that was why.

To not miss even a single breath in Lee Sion’s final ending part, ten thousand people held even their breathing and stared only at Lee Sion.

Grin.

As if enjoying their reaction, Lee Sion ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) stopped for a moment and lifted the corner of her mouth into a slight smile.

Then, with only the ending part left, Lee Sion began to walk slowly.

At the same time, the rest of the team members, who’d been holding the formation, also started moving toward the edge of the stage in different directions.

Then, at the exact same timing, Lucid Dive’s members dropped to one knee and reached their hands out toward the audience.

Even if I wake up, I won’t forget

Dive into this night

“Waaaaaah!!!!!”

Only then, as the final part flowed from Lee Sion’s mouth, people snapped back to their senses and answered Lee Sion and the team members’ outstretched hands with a roar that felt like it could rip the stage loose.

-That was insane

↳Doing it with the whole team makes it five times better

↳Camera director has taste. Holding the close-up on Lee Sion’s face in the ending scene without even shaking, praise that

↳With the stage lights on her, Lee Sion even looks holy

↳Can’t they just debut these five exactly as they are?

An ending that even people watching on broadcast couldn’t stop praising.

But it wasn’t over.

After the stage ended, Lee Sion straightened the knee she’d knelt on and stood, then looked toward one section of the stands.

Step.

Then, facing that direction, Lee Sion made a salute gesture.

In sync with that, the camera began to catch where Lee Sion’s gaze was headed.

And then, on the stage screen, a middle-aged woman appeared.

-What is this? Who’s the person on screen right now?

↳Is she an actress? She’s beautiful

↳She kind of looks like Lee Sion, no way?

↳That’s probably Sion’s mom! The face is similar!!

↳That family is crazy. The aunt is pretty and the mom is pretty too

↳Ah···I’m mad. What was my mom doing? I’m going to wake my sleeping mom up

The middle-aged woman, watching the stage, stared at Lee Sion’s salute for a moment, then raised both hands above her head and made a heart. The stage ended.

[It’s the path I chose, so I want my parents to acknowledge it too···.]

“It was okay, right?”

“Yes, it feels just right. Korean variety really is best when it’s melodrama.”

The contestants’ video interview playing on the screen, and then the video letters from the contestants’ parents.

In survival programs, it was a predictable format, but also a sure-kill move that always worked.

The contestants calmly talked in interviews about how hard and painful trainee life was, and how much they’d struggled while doing this program.

Then the parents’ video letters played to comfort them, and before you knew it, a full-on melodrama movie got put together.

Proof was right there: not just the audience who’d come to see the Final Round, but even the contestants watching the parents’ video letters in the waiting room had damp eyes.

Except for one person.

“Hey, hurry and go tell Sion to try crying!”

“I already told her, but she says the tears won’t come out.”

“Then tell her to poke her eyes or something!”

“Yes!”

Tap-tap-tap.

‘Sion, you have to cry here!’

Hyungsoo was frustrated that Lee Sion—who was the key to this melodrama scenario—was watching the video letter from her mother and making an awkward expression.

-Sion’s mom must’ve given permission in the end

↳Don’t worry, ma’am. Sion was born to become an idol

↳Honestly, even now, wasn’t it a bit too much to bring in the aunt and tell them to cut her screentime just to make her drop out?

↳I teared up thinking of my parents who opposed me when I wanted to go pro gamer

↳What’s your tier?

↳Silver

↳Listen to your parents, you f***

Because of what happened with Lee Sion and Kim Miyoung, Kim Sukja’s image had taken a serious hit.

Starting from the entrance stage, there’d been an interview about wanting to break free from a mother’s control, and then at PD Kim Miyoung’s press conference, it was seen as trying to force her daughter to withdraw, so the image of an overly obsessive mom was unavoidable.

‘Is the aunt and niece both insane or what?’

At first Hyungsoo had really thought it was like that, and later, after hearing the full story from Miyoung, he remembered being shocked by what the two of them had pulled.

-So in the Final Round, do some laundry for my sister!

Miyoung said she’d do it herself, but since she got cut, she was asking for a favor, and Hyungsoo couldn’t refuse. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Either way, it was Miyoung who’d handed him this jackpot program, and Hyungsoo also thought this kind of scene was needed in the Final Round.

So Hyungsoo had invited the contestants’ parents to the Final Round.

And for the unfilial Lee Sion, Hyungsoo had given a special instruction: send a gesture toward the parents in the middle of the stage.

Hyungsoo had also asked Sion’s parents ahead of time to respond.

Thanks to that, the atmosphere around Kim Sukja had improved a lot.

-She was just hoping her daughter would do well, that’s why

↳From a parent’s standpoint, it’s true you’d worry if your kid said she wanted to be an idol

↳Yeah, watching today’s broadcast, it feels like she’s trying to support her now

↳Sion proves it herself, so the parents allow it

↳Sion, from now on, only walk the flower path!

‘At this point, I’ve done what I can, Senior Miyoung.’

The mood wasn’t bad.

The stages were going perfectly, even better than rehearsal, and people’s reactions were hot.

‘Live ratings: 21%.’

Idol Ground 100’s Final Round had already set the highest ratings in Korean cable network history.

“PD-nim, we need to start preparing for the next song.”

“Okay. Tell the vote-counting team again—since it’s ending soon, start counting right away.”

“Yes!”

Once the next stage—the new song stage—ended, the text voting was scheduled to close.

‘We’ll know soon who debuts.’

The tally for the online voting up to now was already perfectly complete, and once the millions of text votes counted today got added, the moment was coming when the final seven would finally be decided.

“Put up the current seventh place on broadcast!”

“Yes!”

The moment Hyungsoo spoke, the name of the contestant currently in seventh place got hurriedly inserted as a caption.

-Seventh place: Kim Nayeon-

Seventh place had changed again.

*** Yun Bong-gil is the name of a Korean independence activist, best known for carrying out a bombing attack targeting high-ranking Japanese officials (Shanghai, 1932).