Idol Hides His Military Service

—What did I just watch? Was that really self-produced content?

↳lol are you kidding me? Why did a screening turn into a chicken-fight tournament?

↳I forgot it was a screening until the video ended

↳??: Self-produced content? Do we just do it like when we filmed Agbaek?

↳This is all because of Agbaek... they’re still in survival mode lol

↳You’re idols lol did you already give up on image management?

↳But honestly this was the funniest idol self-produced content I’ve seen lately. Feels like I could recommend it to regular people too

"The views are insane, aren’t they?"

Raon was watching the view count climb in real time on Iam’s first video on their channel, and was a little—no, a lot—shocked.

153,240.

Only a day after upload, and Iam’s screening video had already blown past 150,000 views.

Compared to popular channels that pull in millions or tens of millions of views, it might look like a small number, but this was a crazy record.

‘Even self-produced videos from idols who are fighting for the top right now take a few days just to break 100,000...’

Since these videos are basically for fans, the general public doesn’t flow in much. Idol channels usually put up numbers in the ten-thousands when they’re low, and even when they do well, it’s in the hundreds of thousands—if they’re truly popular, they hit a million.

But for a group that hadn’t even debuted yet, for Iam’s YouTube video to already be over 100,000... that was probably the kind of news that would make the big agencies hear it and drop dead in shock.

On top of that, their subscriber count had already passed 100,000 too, so the first thing the marketing team did the moment they came in to work today was apply for the YouTube Silver Button.

‘Picking the second version really was the right call.’

Raon thought the reason for this explosive popularity was the bold editing style you couldn’t find in existing idols.

—Why did you two have a staring contest here?

Lee Sion: Because I saw "Logic" written on Seo Ryujin’s name tag, and I had this feeling she was going to get famous, so I wanted to make sure she remembered me.

Seo Ryujin: Honestly, after the show went public, I first saw Sion in the contestants’ self-introduction videos, and for some reason she stood out, so I think I kept watching her.

The format—cutting in personal interviews with the members throughout the video to explain behind-the-scenes stories—was fresh and fun.

—Finally the forced hate is going to disappear

↳Where are those insane bitches who said Sion and Ryujin were “competing” with each other?

↳lol but if you only look at that staring contest from Episode 1, it did feel kinda brutal

↳For real, it’s so funny that neither of them realizes what their face does lol if you met them at school you’d end up slamming your face into a wall

↳Sure, Seo Ryujin, fine—but Sion tried to get close because she thought she’d get famous, and THAT was the face she made? lol

As the members themselves explained the behind-the-scenes for moments fans had been curious about, and directly cleared up what anti-fans had been quietly using as ammunition, the response got even better.

And then—

—This is wrong. Seo Ryujin only won because she fought dirty and teamed up on me. If it was one-on-one, I would’ve won.

—Don’t make me laugh! I beat you even when I’m alone, okay?

—Both of you, stop fighting. You’d have lost to me anyway.

—Yeah. Yuri is really good at chicken fights, so everyone would’ve lost to me.

In the middle of the screening, they started arguing while watching their own footage—then a chicken-fight tournament kicked off like it had been planned.

Lee Sion, Seo Ryujin, Ryu Ayeon, and Kurosawa Yuri—those four didn’t even need to be told. They made their own bracket and started a tournament.

—Defeated the enemy commander!!!

In the first match, Lee Sion hopped forward on one leg and slammed Yuri in the side, taking the win—

—Hey! How can you step on her!!!

—Yuri, are you okay?!

—What kind of confidence does a scrub even have, coming out like this?

—Yuri, look at this. How many fingers is this?

The video captured it all: Lee Sion planting one foot on Yuri’s butt as she lay sprawled on the practice room floor, declaring victory. It delivered pure shock to everyone watching.

—???: Are you watching, Teacher Kim Gu?

↳Seventy years later in Korea, a Korean beats up a Japanese person

↳It’s revenge for the Imjin War!

↳Five hundred years ago is a bit much lol

↳Lee Sion, that crazy bitch—she’s actually striking a victory pose there?

Then came the match between Seo Ryujin and Ryu Ayeon.

The two had already, in subtle ways, been set up as rivals—not just among fans but among the general public too—and even if no one said it out loud, it was one of the moments everyone wanted to see.

But—

—I won!!!

—...

Unexpectedly, Seo Ryujin won far too easily, leaving everyone staring blankly.

—Huh... how did she even make it into the Top 20 last time?

—Ayeon just looks like she’d be good, so I think she got lucky!

—What? Ryu Ayeon is actually insanely bad.

—I’ve heard that even among animals, there are ones that puff themselves up to disguise themselves so they don’t get eaten by predators!

The other members kept firing off merciless mockery at the loser.

—Ryu Ayeon was a klutz too? She looks like the all-around sports character.

↳If you rewatch the Agbaek video, the other contestants got scared of Ryu Ayeon and avoided her, so no one even fought her, and she got into the Top 20

↳So she thought she was strong? But she’s actually a scrub?

↳I’m dying—why is Ryu Ayeon making that shocked face after losing to Seo Ryujin? lol

↳How does this team have nobody whose looks match who they really are lol

↳Ayeon... you weren’t supposed to be this kind of character ㅜㅜ

Watching the whole process, it was hard to tell if this was an idol self-produced video or a sketch show starring veteran entertainers.

And the final match—Lee Sion versus Seo Ryujin—was the crowning moment of the video.

—So today we finally settle it, Ryujin-scrub.

—Once a scrub, forever a scrub, Sion-scrub.

From the start, the two were trading intense trash talk.

Unlike the limp match between Seo Ryujin and Ryu Ayeon earlier, these two were evenly matched, going at each other blow for blow.

Both of them had such good athletic reflexes that neither gave the other an opening, even as they kept hopping around on one leg, continuing their attacks.

Maybe because their skill level was so close, it wouldn’t end easily.

But—

—Liu ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) Bei is a loser of his era!

—W-what...?!

In that tense standoff, Seo Ryujin suddenly threw out that completely random line, and Lee Sion immediately collapsed.

Lee Sion went blank from Seo Ryujin’s shocking remark.

Of course, she couldn’t even defend against the follow-up attack and rolled around the practice room floor with a shriek—and the video even left in, uncut, the part where the other members had to hold Lee Sion back while she came to and started howling, completely losing it.

—I’m dying, Sion—was that really THAT unfair?

↳Why is “Take that back” so funny lol

↳She lets everyone else tease her and just moves on, so why is she dead serious about someone trashing Liu Bei?

↳Seo Ryujin is seriously so obnoxious lol

↳For real, the moment she said “take it back,” Lee Sion lost her mind right there lol

↳I didn’t watch Agbaek, so why is this on my algorithm? But it was funny so I watched the whole thing

‘Not bad.’

Reading the reaction posts on YouTube and the community boards, Raon thought this was a good sign.

The marketing team worried that it might make the group’s image look too cheap, but Raon didn’t think so.

After all, Iam was a group that debuted through a variety show called Idol Ground 100, so they already felt familiar and approachable to the public.

In that situation, if they tried clumsily to give the group some mysterious, untouchable image like the Big 3 agencies, it could easily backfire.

Raon’s goal was to secure their public appeal—the biggest advantage a girl group could have—while also building a fandom.

‘If we upload the version that has what fans will like later, it’ll be perfect.’

The first version that Content Team Lead Hakyoon had made was too good to throw away, so Raon had no intention of scrapping it.

First, upload the video focused on fun and buzz to pull attention—then later, upload fandom-focused videos to bring fans in.

Honestly, this approach was new in the idol industry, so Raon couldn’t be sure it would succeed, but Raon decided to bet on the potential of Iam’s members.

Because Raon believed that with seven members who each had strong personalities, led by Lee Sion, they had the power to turn curious viewers into fans.

‘Then... I should do my job now too.’

Raon closed the laptop and stood up.

It was time to work as a producer.

***

"Do not come closer, you wicked minion of that Cao bastard."

"You’re being dramatic again. You’re still sulking because I mentioned Liu Bei once?"

I couldn’t hide my shock at Seo Ryujin’s shameless attitude.

How could she insult Liu Bei—the protagonist of the Three Kingdoms, the romance of an era—and act like nothing happened?

Seo Ryujin clearly had a level of brazenness that proved she deserved to be called the reincarnation of that Cao bastard.

"Listen carefully, Seo Ryujin. You didn’t just criticize one person. In this world, there is such a thing as righteousness and chival—"

Click.

"Guys, how have you been?"

"Oh? Producer Raon! Hello!"

Just as I was about to lecture that wicked Seo Ryujin on the existence of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom, I heard the sound of the practice room door opening.

My words cut off, and our eyes all turned toward the door—since no one but us was supposed to come in.

The person who walked in, greeting us warmly, was none other than Raon.

Ever since the first day after Iam was formed—when she’d shown up and dropped the bombshell that she’d be our producer—we hadn’t seen Raon again, so we were startled by her sudden appearance.

"Have you been waiting a long time? Your debut song is finally finished."

Raon told us that the debut song was complete.

And at those words, we finally thought, At last, and let out a sigh of relief inside.

‘There’s only a month left until debut. We need the song to even start practicing, for real.’

Our debut date had already been set before the song even came out, so even if we didn’t say it, we’d been anxious.

Because it wasn’t like the song coming out was the end—we needed time to master it. And since all we’d heard was “it’ll be out soon,” with no news after that, it would’ve been weird not to be worried.

After gathering us together, Raon started explaining the debut song.

"What month is it right now?"

"March!"

"Right. March. And when you debut, it’ll be April."

When she finished speaking, Raon began writing on the whiteboard in the practice room.

"So for your debut album, I set the concept as excitement and freshness. It’s a song that captures the new semester excitement that our target—teens and people in their twenties—can relate to."

—Girl Meets New World

A girl meets a new world?

Using my forty-nine years of English experience, I translated what Raon had written, but I still didn’t quite get what it meant.

It wasn’t just me—none of the other members seemed to fully understand the concept either, but as if she expected that, Raon kept explaining.

"Does anyone know what ‘boy meets girl’ means?"

"Isn’t it a boy meets a girl?"

"Literally, yes, and the meaning is similar. In creative works like movies or novels, it usually means the story begins when a boy meets a girl, and events start and the plot moves forward."

Listening to Raon’s explanation, I nodded.

‘So basically you need a trigger, like how nothing really happens until Zhuge Liang meets Liu Bei?’

Raon’s next explanation lined up with what I was thinking.

"For a story to begin, you need an inciting event. And the most commonly used inciting event is a ‘new meeting.’ It doesn’t just mean a man and a woman meeting. It means something that becomes a ‘trigger for the start.’ That’s what ‘boy meets girl’ is. Got it?"

At Raon’s question, everyone nodded.

It wasn’t that difficult. Even our sassy middle-schooler, Yunkyung, could understand this.

"So the concept of this debut album is ‘a girl meets a new world.’ It means you hatch out of the egg called Idol Ground 100 and experience the outside world for the first time."

"Demian...?"

"Oh! Sion, you know that?"

How could I not?

—A bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever would be born must destroy a world.

A famous line that represents the novel Demian.

Only now did I clearly get what Raon meant by our concept.

Our egg was Idol Ground 100.

Up until now, we were trapped inside the egg called Idol Ground 100. While the show ran, we tried to break that egg—and in the end, we were selected as the final seven, broke the egg, and came out into the world.

In that case—

"Now that you’ve broken out of the egg, you have to face a new world, right? This debut album is your declaration of war toward the world, and it becomes the trigger for a new meeting!"

"Wow..."

"I’m moved!"

"Yuri doesn’t totally understand it all, but Yuri knows it’s something moving!"

"It’s really good!"

As Raon finished explaining, all the members’ eyes sparkled—they must have liked the debut album concept—and each of them kept chanting the debut album title, Girl Meets New World, like it was some kind of spell.

"That was the concept of the debut album. Now I’m going to explain the actual debut song."

Raon connected the speaker in the practice room to the laptop she brought.

"The song title is ‘Feels Like Something’s About to Start.’"

"Huh?"

"That’s the title? ‘Feels Like Something’s About to Start’?"

At Raon’s words—introducing the title before playing it—we all froze.

For an idol song, the title is usually short and punchy, mostly English words, but the title that came out of Raon’s mouth sounded like something that belonged on a movie.

But Raon just smiled, unfazed by our reactions.

"Yeah. Let’s listen first."

Just like Raon said, we had no choice but to listen first.