Idol Hides His Military Service

[Agbaek locks in the long-awaited Final Round’s seven debut members!]

[Ratings break 23%! Agbaek writes a new chapter in cable TV history]

[Agbaek reveals the project group name! The fandom name for Iam is Yours]

[Can the project group keep the show’s momentum going?]

[KJ establishes an in-house management company to fully support Iam’s activities···A conglomerate expanding into the idol agency business?]

A 23% rating.

It used to be a number you could see plenty of times on broadcast TV, but with cable channels increasing and the TV-watching population shrinking, it had become the kind of sky-high rating you might see once a year, if that.

Of course, that was by broadcast standards, and on cable, even a single-digit rating counted as a success.

In a situation where hitting double digits would be evaluated as a massive hit, Mplay’s variety program Idol Ground 100 (Agbaek) didn’t just reach 10%—it shot well past 20% and renewed the all-time highest ratings record, a feat that couldn’t be fully expressed in words.

Especially when you consider that there were as many people watching through various methods like the internet as there were watching on TV, to the point that people were saying the “real-feel” viewer count was equivalent to over 40%.

Idol Ground 100 had more than enough grounds to be called the hottest program in South Korea.

[Iam Yours~]

“Jason Mraz, you watching? Your successor just showed up in Korea.”

↳It’s a girl group picked by the public’s votes, so why are they naming the group however they want?

↳??: lol Did you really think it was yours?

↳FYI) One week before the Final Round, KJ once floated the group name in an article

↳For real? What was it?

↳Bulletproof Girl Scouts

↳Wow! Now that I’m seeing it, Iam feels like a good name

Idol Ground 100, [N O V E L I G H T] which had especially passionate support from teens and people in their twenties, was still stirring up a ton of buzz online even after the broadcast ended.

[Do you like all the debut members?]

“I still can’t get over Nayeon getting eliminated. My heart’s in pieces. This makes no sense. No matter how I look at it, it’s obvious the production team intentionally cut Nayeon’s screentime to make Nayeon get eliminated.”

↳To begin with, Im Yunkyung, Geum Shinyu, and Lee Gahyeon only climbed because of Lee Sion. There are tons of trainees better than them, seriously. It was ridiculous

↳Why are you dragging Shinyu when Shinyu was just sitting there? If you’re going to talk like that, Kim Nayeon also got popular because of Lee Sion

↳It was rigged from the start. How does it make sense that the main PD is Lee Sion’s aunt?

↳You’re still clinging to that? It’s already been revealed Lee Sion was the victim. It’s exhausting, seriously

Among all that, there was an enormous amount of talk about the members selected as the final seven.

[The DubDub lineup is so good]

“The fact that Lee Sion, Seo Ryujin, and Ryu Ayeon are on the same team is totally unfair, isn’t it?”

↳Come to think of it, those three have never been on the same team at the same time even once, have they?

↳Mplay, you lunatics. You only show us that combo after debut?

↳Their combined visuals are insane···Honestly, all three could debut separately and still become the ace of that team

↳For real. If just one person was on a team, the team would get popular, but they put in three

↳The boss has lost it!

↳Actually the boss hasn’t lost it. What’s losing it is my wallet, buying albums to collect their photocards

[Lee Gahyeon is seriously a human victory]

“I’ve had Gahyeon as my top pick from the start so I kept cheering, but I never imagined Gahyeon would actually make debut··· But when Gahyeon got called as 7th and came out crying, I started crying too, and then Mom and Dad yelled at me to study like that”

↳When Gahyeon first became leader in Class F, Gahyeon was kind of unlikeable, but the more you watch, the more you realize Gahyeon is the real deal

↳Yeah! Looks like the type to steal the older boys’ allowance money, but the way Gahyeon acts is so loose and sloppy, it’s great

↳Come to think of it, three people from Class F made the debut group, didn’t they?

↳That’s because the Class F people got attention from the start thanks to Lee Sion

↳Honestly, early Agbaek was basically carried by Class F

“Hm···you saw that, Gahyeon?”

“···.”

“I think about half of the credit for you getting picked belongs to me.”

“Captain! Then don’t I have like twenty percent too?”

“Right. Your calculations are getting sharper by the day, Lieutenant Yoon. I’m already scared to see how much sharper you’ll get once you turn into a high schooler.”

“Why am I a lieutenant?! Last time you clearly promoted me to captain!”

It didn’t seem like it was only the calculations, either.

Yunkyung, whose memory also seemed pretty good, argued that I had definitely promoted Yunkyung to captain last time, but—

“You betrayed me in the middle, so you got demoted one rank back to lieutenant.”

“How can you do that?!”

“Like this.”

I still hadn’t forgotten Yunkyung ditching me during the concept evaluation and going to another team, so Yunkyung was back to being a lieutenant.

“Anyway. The point is, I find it so sad that there exists a villain in this world who keeps calling the person who dragged you all the way to debut ‘shameless’ and ‘vicious,’ and saying the person doesn’t understand feelings.”

“W-When did I ever say it that badly?”

At my words, Gahyeon protested like it was unfair, and I stared into Gahyeon’s eyes in silence.

“Could it be that there truly exists someone in this world who doesn’t understand that a nineteen-year-old girl’s sensitivity, unlike a twenty-two-year-old adult’s, can be hurt by small words like that?”

“···So what do you want!! Just say it straight!”

“I think today, a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal could heal this wound.”

At that, Gahyeon let out a shriek and charged, and then pinned me to the floor.

“It’s already been three days! How long are you going to milk this?!”

“Ghk!!”

Gahyeon climbed onto my back and smacked my back without mercy, so I frantically slapped the practice room floor, asking for help.

But,

“Lee Sion’s face is red. Shouldn’t we help?”

“Leave it. That’s deserved.”

“Gahyeon’s basically a saint. Gahyeon endured Lee Sion’s mocking for three whole days.”

“If I were a captain, I’d help, but I’m a lieutenant, so I can’t.”

“Sion, the way you’re flailing is like a fish! Kyahaha!”

The villain gang, excluding Shinyu, was just standing there as if nothing was happening, watching Gahyeon’s rampage like people watching a lion at a zoo.

When it felt like expecting outside help was hopeless, I had no choice but to decide to defend myself.

“Hey.”

In an instant, my finger flick struck Gahyeon in the side.

“Aaaah!!!”

“Violence can’t solve anything, Gahyeon.”

“Y-You—! You just solved it with violence!”

Ignoring Gahyeon’s indignant howl while rolling around on the practice room floor, I headed toward Shinyu—the only one who had taken my side.

“See? It’s only Shinyu for me.”

“Hehe···is that so?”

“It sure is.”

I lightly pulled Shinyu into a hug and ruffled Shinyu’s hair, and the hair being especially shorter caught my eye.

It was because styling had already started for future activities, and—

[The fans who voted for Geum Shinyu are seriously going to be blessed]

(A photo of Shinyu after finishing a stage, breathing roughly)

“Seriously, it’s hard to find a girl idol with a character like Shinyu these days. Thanks to Shinyu, I’ve been excited every day lately”

↳Before the Final Round, the promotion grind was actually insane

↳I can’t resist this kind of boyish vibe

↳That photo is insane. This is gourmet

↳Someone like this is even good at producing? How do you not vote for Shinyu, lmao

↳Even doing a Jeju accent for the acceptance speech was exactly my type

Maybe because of that, I could relate to the Shinyu fan posts I kept seeing on communities these days.

‘It definitely feels like this is better than the old hairstyle.’

The fact that the fans had already known Shinyu’s appeal—before I even did—made me once again realize how sharp fans’ eyes were.

“Ah···I want to go home and just rot.”

“I wanted debut, but I didn’t know it’d be this brutal.”

“Is this whining? But seriously, it feels kind of cruel not giving us any days off.”

While I was ruffling Shinyu’s hair and falling into thought for a moment, I heard the other members’ whining voices.

‘Fair enough.’

After the Final Round ended, we, surprisingly, were meeting in the same practice room every single day to prepare for debut—without even a moment to breathe.

Some days we were called in because they said they were changing our styling, and some days someone brought a camera and shoved a random interview at us, and—

-Sorry, but I think we need to hurry your debut, so you’ll probably start dorm life as soon as everything’s ready, without a rest period.

It was because they had to rush debut.

Of course, for the members—including me—who had been hoping only for rest after the stage ended, it was an outrage we couldn’t possibly accept, so right when I was debating whether I needed to go going full Kim Duhan again—

After the main PD, Park Hyungsoo’s explanation that followed, we ultimately had no choice but to give up on the rest period.

-If we want to carry Idol Ground 100’s buzz forward as fast as possible, we don’t have a choice.

We were a project group with a fixed activity period of one year.

Because of that, the members had no choice but to accept the explanation that we needed to debut as quickly as possible while the program’s popularity was alive, and that we needed to promote quickly in order to keep the buzz going.

After all, people’s interest in us right now really was enormous.

[Mplay is going to take responsibility for making the self-produced content, right?]

“During the activity period, I’m not asking for much. Just give us, like, two 24-episode in-house variety series, a full album, and three mini albums”

↳Isn’t the OP way too modest?

↳Damn···At that rate, the members would have to promote like 378 days out of 365

↳Then we have no choice! Extend the contract to two years

↳Are you a genius?

↳If KJ has any sense, KJ needs to row when the water comes in. If you drag things out in the name of debut prep, I’ll kill you

These days, my hobby was community hopping.

-What the heck, places like this existed?!

-Don’t overdo it. I just told you those were for reference, so don’t go too deep. Just check the vibe and reactions.

Since most of our day was being called into the practice room, being made to do this and that, and then waiting around, staring at my phone during breaks had naturally become routine.

When I complained about having nothing to do, Seo Ryujin told me to look at these communities, and the communities were incredibly interesting.

‘So places like this really did exist.’

Seo Ryujin quietly sent me links to a few sites and social accounts that didn’t even show up in search results.

Here, raw, vivid reactions kept getting posted in real time, and once I started reading, I lost track of time.

Of course, it wasn’t only good things, and there were also some dark or malicious things, but—

‘My experience is too varied to get shocked by stuff like that.’

It would take more than that to break the mind of a former Army captain.

-Company Commander, I don’t know where I lost it···.

There was a time I sent someone out for guard duty and the person came back after losing not a spent casing, but an entire loaded magazine.

And there was someone who mixed up the return date from leave and kept me on standby all night because of an unintentional absence without leave.

And there was also someone who suddenly came to the company commander’s office and confessed a personal sexual preference.

My mind had already been shattered countless times back then and reborn into steel, so a few internet posts couldn’t break me.

“Hey, you community addict! I told you to check reactions sometimes, not stare at it all day. Did I teach you that?”

“Seo Ryujin, honestly, even 3rd feels high. Personally, thinking about you bullying Lee Sion, 99th seems more fitting···.”

“Someone posted that?!”

At my words, Seo Ryujin’s eyes lit up and Seo Ryujin snatched my phone.

Of course, there was no such post.

“What is this? You lied again?!”

“Hey now. Is it okay for an idol about to debut to use words like that?”

“Just die! Lee Sion!!!”

Looks like my back needed to do some work.

***

“The dorm is secured somewhere with solid security.”

“Not just security. The travel route matters too.”

At Raon’s words, the man replied like Raon didn’t need to worry.

“We locked it in near Jamsil, so there won’t be issues moving to schedules.”

At the mention of Jamsil, Raon nodded.

‘Maybe it really is because it’s a conglomerate. The support is solid.’

KJ Entertainment.

A brand-new agency founded just three weeks ago.

-I’ll make sure the support is solid. You just need to deliver results.

As you’d expect from an ambitious project started by KJ—one of the top conglomerates in Korea—the support was solid.

They didn’t just rent a five-story building for a company with no track record. They also signed a lease for a luxury apartment in Jamsil—about 149 square meters—for the rookie group dorm.

‘This is better than a lot of top-tier girl groups.’

Considering there were flimsy small agencies where even fairly popular idol groups were still using a semi-basement as a dorm, it was definitely a huge investment.

“Regarding the stylists and managers you requested last time, Producer Raon, we’re going into contracts today.”

“Thank you. It might’ve been an unreasonable request.”

“No, not at all. I may be the CEO, but you’re the professional in this field, Producer Raon. I’m the one who should be grateful you’re gathering people like this for us.”

Raon bowed back to the man who was thanking Raon.

‘This is honestly unexpected.’

When Raon accepted the producer position at KJ Entertainment, Raon had been prepared to accept it even if the agency CEO was a parachute appointment from the KJ Group.

But the person appointed CEO was a young man in his late thirties, and that surprised Raon.

Kim Sanghyeok, thirty-eight, formerly a section chief at KJ Media, now appointed as CEO of KJ Entertainment.

Seeing such a young CEO, Raon initially suspected some kind of “royal family” connection inside the KJ Group, but after making inquiries, Raon learned Kim Sanghyeok was a rising young office worker with strong evaluations at KJ Media.

Raon didn’t know why someone like that had ended up as CEO of a brand-new agency, but judging by the efficient work processing being shown, Raon was satisfied.

“Hakyoon, what’s the situation like on the YouTube team right now?”

“Yes, right now we’ve finished booking all writers and filming staff, and first we’re planning to start filming simple content starting tomorrow.”

And as soon as Raon’s question ended, KJ Entertainment’s content team lead, Lee Hakyoon, handed out the prepared content scripts.

-You’re saying you’ll upload original content to YouTube? Hmm···Want to try using this person?

It was Park Hyungsoo, the Agbaek main PD, recommending Lee Hakyoon—someone who had handled YouTube content at Mplay—to Raon.

Remembering how good the reaction had been to the Agbaek YouTube videos uploaded on Mplay’s YouTube, Raon accepted the suggestion, proposed Lee Hakyoon as KJ Entertainment’s content team lead, and—

CEO Kim Sanghyeok gladly approved Raon’s proposal.

Thanks to that, Lee Hakyoon was already pouring out plans for self-produced YouTube content.

“The first shoot is an Agbaek watch party. Originally we were going to film choosing dorm roommates, but isn’t that something Mplay’s variety show is going to show?”

At Hakyoon’s words, the people gathered in the meeting room, including Raon, nodded.

And that was because Mplay was scheduled to film Iam’s reality variety show, so there couldn’t be overlapping content.

“So on YouTube, we’ll keep it simple. From the members’ point of view, we’ll watch major scenes from Episode 1 onward and talk about behind-the-scenes stories.”

“That’s good.”

“I think it’s good too.”

Recently, the trend for idols had been changing.

Like before, it was getting harder and harder to satisfy fans’ growing desires with just simple variety appearances or music show stages.

That was why there needed to be content fans could enjoy even more, through YouTube or live broadcasts through communication apps.

And among those, the most core thing was YouTube, and going forward, self-produced YouTube content for each group wasn’t a choice for idols—it was a necessity.

‘The debut song is soon, too.’

Raon had been preparing the debut song by collaborating with songwriter and engineer contacts even before the members were finalized.

Thanks to that, it seemed like the track could be ready quickly.

“Then today, we’ll create the Instagram account and post the debut date.”

“Yes. And to match that, have the promotion team check posting on communities too.”

At CEO Kim Sanghyeok’s words, Raon nodded and came out of the meeting room, moving busily toward the promotion staff.

From here on out, it was truly going to be nonstop.

D-33.

That was the time left until the project group Iam’s debut.