Idol Hides His Military Service

“I had no idea a car like this existed. This is seriously nice.”

Going to the company felt different when I could just sit comfortably in a vehicle driven by a manager, like an actual celebrity.

Especially this vehicle—a passenger van, the kind everyone just calls a van. I’d only ever seen it on TV, so this was my first time riding one. Even with seven members and two managers on board, it still felt spacious, and I found myself thinking, so this is why celebrities ride around in these.

“That’s because you got the single seat, Captain! The back row is secretly cramped.”

“You still can’t accept defeat?”

“Who decides something that important with rock-paper-scissors!”

Before we got on the van, we played rock-paper-scissors to decide seats, and Yunkyung was grumbling about how she couldn’t accept the result and we had to pick another way.

From last night to this morning, I made her pay for betrayal, so Yunkyung was full of spite.

Every time I said anything, she grumbled like she was basically announcing, I’m mad at you.

If she was usually like a gentle little hamster, right now she was more like a starving hamster.

Her eyes had gotten vicious enough to rival Gahyeon’s, which made it seem like she was really upset about the public execution from earlier this morning.

“What is this! Don’t pat my head!”

“Heh heh. If you keep this up, you’ll turn into a nasty adult like Seo Ryujin.”

It felt like I should start soothing her now, so I lightly patted her head. Yunkyung rejected me in a sharp voice.

‘Was I a little too harsh?’

She’d gone through an Im Yunkyung humiliation on the level of the humiliation at Canossa, so it made sense she was sulking.

- “Captain! You’re not going to spread that photo somewhere, right?”

- “Don’t worry. I only sent it to my aunt.”

- “Captain!!!”

The photo of Yunkyung kneeling with both hands raised, I sent it to my aunt immediately.

If she was a ratings demon, there was no way she’d let an interesting photo like that pass her by.

And sure enough.

Not long after I sent it, she asked if she could use it, and I happily got Yunkyung’s consent and gave permission.

Thanks to that, I remembered Yunkyung tattling to the manager about what I did to her after the manager arrived, asking the manager to scold me, and the manager making a blank face like he had no idea what was going on.

“When we get back to the dorm today, I’ll make you something delicious.”

“Something delicious?”

“You’ll be shocked when you eat it.”

After soothing her a little more, Yunkyung finally seemed to be relaxing again, grinning like an idiot. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

And yet she still looked like she wanted to keep pretending she was mad, forcing her face into a frown again. She looked exactly like a middle schooler who got scolded and locked herself in her room, then gets told to come out because someone ordered fried chicken.

“Enough fooling around. Let’s start practice.”

“Yes!”

While I was calming Yunkyung down, it seemed like practice prep had already finished. Gahyeon called the members over.

Centered around Gahyeon, we sat in a circle in the practice room, each holding lyric sheets with our parts marked, and started running it together.

“I don’t think the pitch in the intro is lined up yet.”

“I’ll try again.”

Practicing a new song felt surprisingly familiar.

It was basically like Idol Ground 100, where we built a new stage every week.

But—

“Let’s mark this part. I’m not sure what kind of vibe the producer wants here.”

“I think she wants something a little shy! The theme running through the song is a first meeting, isn’t it?”

“During practice, let’s go with the direction Shinyu suggested, but we might have to change it after we get directing, so don’t lock it in too hard.”

“Yes, Ayeon!”

This time, we weren’t preparing a stage by using another singer’s song as a reference, so the members and I were analyzing the track in even finer detail.

- “For this song, we have to become bigger experts than anyone.”

That was what Seo Ryujin said last night, after gathering us in the dorm.

Up to now, because we were always preparing stages in a short timeframe, we focused on impact and locking in synchronization.

But Ryujin said this song was our song, so we couldn’t afford to miss even a single detail.

‘She’s right.’

I agreed with Ryujin.

“Wait, we didn’t even say anything, but everyone memorized the lyrics already?”

“Seriously! I was kind of proud because I thought I was the only one who’d already memorized everything.”

“Yuri stayed up all night memorizing while looking up pronunciation on a smartphone!”

Even though nobody said, you have to have the lyrics memorized by today, they’d memorized not only their own parts but everyone else’s parts too.

‘So I wasn’t the only one excited.’

Just like the others, I memorized the lyrics, and I also stayed up listening to the guide track while thinking back on what Producer Raon explained about the song.

It had been a while.

That feeling where you’re so excited you can’t sleep, so you feel like you have to do something—anything.

In my previous life, when I was little, my parents once bought me a book called The Chronicles of Narnia as a Christmas present.

That book was so thick it was terrifying—if you hit someone with it, you’d have no argument if it got classified as a weapon.

I remembered how excited I was, reading it every night for a whole week without even realizing the nights were passing.

That was what my mood felt like right now.

‘A song that’s ours....’

Like getting an unexpected gift that I didn’t even realize I wanted most.

From the moment Producer Raon first played our debut song for us, it was hard to hide how thrilled I was.

It wasn’t a song made for another group, and it wasn’t a song made for competition. It was a song made only for us, and that was more exciting than I expected.

What kind of reaction would people have when we sang this onstage?

What would a music video that fits this song look like?

I hope the choreography is like this, and like that—ever since the day I first heard it, my head had been packed with thoughts about the song.

To the point that I’d originally planned to binge-watch Chu-Han Contention on the living room TV at dawn last night, but I skipped it, put my earbuds in, and listened to our debut song, “Something Like Something’s About to Start,” until I fell asleep.

Maybe because Raon recorded the guide herself, the concept came through so cleanly it felt perfect. When I closed my eyes and listened, images formed on their own, so no matter how many times I replayed it, it didn’t get old.

“Gahyeon, from now on, turn the light on when you memorize lyrics.”

“What... you saw me?”

“Of course I saw you. You’re not that young anymore. You can’t memorize lyrics by smartphone glow.”

“I’m not that old!”

It wasn’t just me.

It seemed like Gahyeon was trying not to bother me and Yuri since we were roommates, so she memorized lyrics with the blanket over her head, but it was right in front of me. It was obvious.

And from the top bunk, I could hear Yuri repeating “ah, eh, ee, oh, oo” as she practiced pronunciation.

“Okay, let’s sing it again.”

“Okay.”

The members laughed for a moment while watching me and Gahyeon talk.

But then, even though nobody told them to, they returned to practice.

‘This isn’t bad either.’

While singing my part, I looked at the members.

Each of them was so focused on the lyric sheet it looked like they were about to bury their noses into it, completely immersed.

Six members besides me.

Instead of only sticking together for each mission like during Agbaek, I liked that we’d keep promoting together with these members from now on.

Not competition for survival anymore—now it was time for all of us to run toward the same goal.

I was enjoying this so much it was almost insane.

***

Even the brief silence is crystal clear

My heart speaks first

An unfamiliar tone

That’s what you’ll remember more

Singing echoed through the practice room.

‘They’re good.’

Raon thought that as she looked into the practice room through the small window set in the door.

Back when she was a trainee, she hated that practice room doors had windows, but now that she was a producer, she understood.

Are they practicing hard? Or are they fooling around? She’d worry for no reason, and before she realized it, her feet would carry her to the practice room.

But if she barged in too often, she worried the members would get nervous and practice poorly, so she only peeked through the window.

Still, as if to wash away Raon’s anxiety, Iam was completely absorbed in practice.

“Were you here?”

“Oh. Sir.”

At a familiar voice, Raon turned around, and a man had already come up behind her.

KJ Entertainment’s CEO, Kim Sanghyeok.

His face looked thinner than before, like he’d been through a lot lately. Sanghyeok spoke to Raon.

“Is practice going well for the members?”

“Listen.”

At his question, Raon carefully lifted her index finger to her lips in a gesture to be quiet. Sanghyeok did as she indicated and listened without speaking.

Then, faintly, the sound from inside the practice room came through.

The moment we first met, stay there

It feels like time slowed down

Like something’s about to start

This feeling, I like that

“Is that... Miss Sion’s voice?”

“Yes.”

Sanghyeok surprised himself with his own words.

He wasn’t someone connected to idols—no, more accurately, he wasn’t someone who listened to much music—but even so, he could feel that this singing was different.

“It fits together well.”

“Right? Honestly, from the first time I met the members, I thought it would suit them, but they’re pulling it off beyond my expectations.”

Raon looked at Sanghyeok listening with a dazed expression and thought it made sense.

When she made this song, what she pictured was high school.

The scene of standing on the field during the entrance ceremony, then stepping into an unfamiliar classroom.

The feeling of meeting new friends in a strange place and environment—that was what she poured into “Something Like Something’s About to Start.”

So the image Raon imagined while making the song was Iam members walking up to a friend they’d just met for the first time and greeting them first.

A song made to capture emotions that can only exist at that age, where excitement and anxiety coexist.

‘I was worried at first, but I was stupid.’

Before she played the song for the members, Raon agonized over whether it would fit Iam, and now that worry felt pointless.

It didn’t feel awkward. It felt natural—so natural it wouldn’t have been strange to say she’d picked the most fitting members out of countless trainees just for this song.

Especially when she heard Lee Sion’s voice on the highlight section, even Raon was shocked.

‘This was a song that only becomes complete when Iam sings it.’

Back in her active days, there were songs like that.

Songs that make you feel like it has to be this person.

Raon had a strong premonition that the true owners of “Something Like Something’s About to Start” were Iam members, and nobody else.

“Sir, how much did you say we can go up to for the music video budget?”

“The cost? Considering the budget we received from upstairs, I don’t think we can go over 200 million won.”

Raon fell into thought after hearing his answer.

Making an idol group was really a never-ending series of things that cost money.

Spending tens of millions of won just to get one song was considered cheap.

And choreography usually meant commissioning at least three drafts, so that alone cost at least several million.

And that wasn’t all.

Once the song and choreography were set, they had to produce outfits to match, and they had to make the music video.

At least KJ Entertainment could save some cost because Raon made the song herself and asked a choreographer she knew personally.

But there were still endless expenses ahead, and if you considered the budget, it wasn’t easy to just pour money into one place.

But—

‘Two hundred million isn’t a small amount, but I want to raise the quality a little more.’

Raon realized she genuinely wanted to make a proper music video.

She’d already found someone to direct it.

The director still wasn’t very famous, but the skill was unquestionable. Raon kept in contact, building the concept together.

- “If we just had a little more money, it’d be great, but with what we have, the locations are limited.”

The director’s words—saying it could be better with more budget—kept circling in Raon’s head.

For an idol group, a music video wasn’t just a video. It was a powerful tool to draw fans in, so as a producer, she wanted to raise the completeness as much as possible.

“Do you need more budget for the music video?”

“···Yes. With the current budget, the director says the best option is filming certain scenes in a studio, but if we had about 100 million won more, we could add outdoor location scenes too. I think that would be better for the overall quality.”

Maybe because he sensed it, Sanghyeok asked about adding budget, and Raon answered in a voice that shrank without meaning to.

Two hundred million was already not a small investment for the company, and she worried she might be burdening him for no reason.

“I’ll go to headquarters tomorrow and try to secure additional investment.”

“What?”

The answer that came back was unexpected.

Sanghyeok said he’d go to headquarters and get more budget.

It sounded easy to say, but Raon knew it was absolutely not easy, and she blurted out a stunned question.

“If we’re doing this, we do it properly. This is KJ Entertainment’s first beginning, and I °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° don’t want to leave regrets.”

Sanghyeok’s expression held resolve as he spoke like it was no big deal.

“I told you before. I didn’t come here to take the CEO position lightly. I analyzed the ad offers coming in for Iam, the YouTube views, and the volume of article mentions, and I judged there’s a real chance of success. That’s why I’m supporting this.”

“···Yes!”

Raon thought, once again, that it was a relief Kim Sanghyeok was KJ Entertainment’s CEO.

“Oh, and there’s good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?”

“Good news and bad news?”

“Yes.”

Sanghyeok was about to leave after finishing the conversation, but as if he remembered something, he turned back to Raon.

“I’ll hear the good news first.”

“Iam’s advertising schedule has been set. Three ads total. Two are group ads, and one is a solo ad for Miss Sion.”

“That’s a reasonable number.”

“Yes. We set it within a range that won’t overload the schedule.”

“Then what’s the bad news?”

At Raon’s question, Sanghyeok made a slightly pained expression for the first time today.

“There are rumors that SY and TSP are debuting new girl groups.”

“Ah···.”

What came from Sanghyeok’s mouth was truly bad news.

SY, the leader of Korean idols. TSP, the famous girl group powerhouse.

The giants of the industry were about to move.