Idol Hides His Military Service

Starting with Ryu Ayeon and Esther, who were facing off while creating this strange atmosphere, not only our members but even the LYNX members were focusing their attention on me, so it was definitely a little burdensome, but.

Still, I didn’t think I could just watch this and let it pass.

Tap.

I walked up to Ryu Ayeon, who was standing there like a criminal, and set my hand on her shoulder.

"Lee Sion···."

Ryu Ayeon looked at me and slightly shook her head like she was telling me not to step in, but unfortunately, it seemed like I had to step in.

Honestly, as an outsider, I couldn’t know exactly what had happened in the past between Ryu Ayeon and the LYNX members.

But,

'It was probably because of the accidents the Black Flame Dragon version of Ryu Ayeon caused.'

Ryu Ayeon’s current version was the result of me and the members making a lot of sacrifices to educate her. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

If I thought about the Ryu Ayeon from when we first met on Idol Ground 100, she’d changed to the point it was practically a complete upheaval.

Even so, even after changing this much, in the practice room, the old Ryu Ayeon would sometimes pop out and dig into the members’ mental state, so how bad must it have been back then, when Ryu Ayeon was in her pure, untouched state?

At least our members all knew that side of Ryu Ayeon helped with practice, and anything that piled up got released right after practice ended, so it was fine.

But if it was back in the TSP trainee days, when that wasn’t possible, then even if I didn’t know for sure, I felt like the emotions that piled up couldn’t have been small.

"Did Ayeon maybe spit out words at you that can’t be forgiven?"

"Huh?···No, but why are you suddenly saying that···."

Esther looked flustered, like my question was unexpected.

"We’re the same age, and we already said hello, so I figured we could talk casually."

"···Yeah, sure, fine, but what is the point of that question? Words that can’t be forgiven?"

Maybe the question was too hard.

"You know, things like. Asking how someone’s parents are doing, or digging into someone’s personal family business, or a person’s···."

"That’s enough! You can stop explaining! Are you insane?"

I asked just # Nоvеlight # in case, and thankfully, it seemed like Ryu Ayeon hadn’t gone that far off the rails.

If she really had gone that far, brainwashing or whatever, I would’ve distanced myself from Ryu Ayeon a long time ago, so I didn’t think that was possible, but just in case, a confirmation step was necessary.

"Then how about you accept it to a reasonable degree?"

"What?"

If so, now it was the main point.

"Look, even if someone has bad feelings from the past, if the other person greeted you first and talked to you, it’s only right to answer, isn’t it?"

"···."

Human relationships.

Even grown adults struggled with them.

It wasn’t like it would be easy for people who lived differently to maintain close relationships with each other.

But even among that, human relationships in school days, when emotions still weren’t under control, really did grow distant over the most trivial things.

For example, during the semester you were really close with a friend, then after break ended you saw each other again after a month, and for some reason it felt awkward, so you drifted apart with no particular reason. That happened a lot.

Especially,

'Girls were even worse about that.'

Since I’d experienced school days twice, from a boy’s perspective and from a girl’s perspective, I could tell that girls’ relationships were a bit more complicated.

Maybe because they were so sensitive, it wasn’t hard to see friendships where someone got hurt by a single word and the two drifted apart.

'It wasn’t easy accepting middle school girls’ overflowing flirt energy.'

Of course, boys at that age were emotionally intense too, so there were a lot of problems, but at least over there, there was a solution.

Fists.

Not violence, just a simple exchange of physical “conversation,” and after that, most problems would get resolved, and sometimes they’d even become closer than before.

But among girls, choosing that method wasn’t easy, so most of the time, without any real conversation, the relationship would just grow distant, and later, it was common for both sides to end up holding bad feelings.

To keep it from becoming that, conversation was necessary.

"Don’t talk so carelessly when you don’t even know the details."

"Even if I’ve known Ryu Ayeon for less time than you all have, I’ve seen her a little more intensely, so I’m basically a Ryu Ayeon expert."

"What···?"

It was definitely different.

"Even if I don’t know what happened between you and Ryu Ayeon, she isn’t the type to say things just to hurt people. She does make you mad sometimes, but she doesn’t say things that are wrong. More than anything, I’ve been helped by Ryu Ayeon a lot."

"···."

"Wouldn’t you have some good memories with Ryu Ayeon too, more than you think?"

I finished speaking, then quietly signaled with my eyes to our members and the managers.

'With this many people watching, it’s kind of awkward.'

It was the timing where the people involved needed time to themselves, so outsiders, including me, needed to step back.

"Hey, Ryu. The rest is on you."

"Lee Sion···."

As I slipped out of the waiting room and said it casually, I saw Ryu Ayeon’s eyes change, and I felt a bit relieved.

Even if the conversation failed, what was the worst, a group beating?

Looking at the other side, it seemed like only about six people had deep feelings toward Ryu Ayeon, and at that level, even if there was a fight, she could win and come back.

***

-This week’s Music Count number one is LYNX’s Sparkle Me!

Clap clap clap.

The number one announcement you could call the highlight of a music show.

That scene was still lingering in my mind.

After every participating singer finished performing, everyone gathered back on stage and congratulated the singer who took number one that week. That was a tradition of Korean music shows.

Because of that, the broadcast would often catch the other singers’ faces on camera too as they congratulated the number one singer.

Sometimes, if a singer’s expression didn’t look good, it would get captured right away, spread around the internet, and mocked.

And when I saw that, I used to think it wasn’t professional.

No matter what was really going on inside, they should at least act like they were congratulating the number one singer so a controversy wouldn’t happen, and I thought not even being able to manage an expression like that meant the basics weren’t there.

But,

'Maybe it wasn’t because they didn’t get number one. Maybe they were just tired.'

Now that I’d stood there myself today, I thought there could’ve been other reasons their expressions looked bad.

The debut day we’d waited for so long with the members.

But debut, unlike what you imagine, wasn’t romantic.

Waking up at 4 a.m., stopping by the salon for makeup, then going straight to the broadcast station for prerecording, and greeting seniors while watching other singers’ rehearsals.

By the time all that was over, it was well past 7 p.m.

Being trapped in a broadcast station for over twelve hours wasn’t the kind of thing that didn’t wear you out.

If I’d practiced during that time instead, I probably wouldn’t have been this tired, but since most of the time was used waiting and going around to greet other singers, it felt mentally exhausting.

Only now did I understand why other singers sometimes made a spaced-out expression during the final ranking announcement.

Of course, it wasn’t like I was spaced out.

'That’s impressive.'

Watching LYNX and the members take number one on a music show the very next week after debut, I honestly felt a bit of admiration.

-Over-the-air might be hard, but even just getting first place on Music Count is really huge for rookies!

It was because of what Im Yunkyung said while making a fuss about how huge it was for a rookie to get number one with a debut song in just one week.

No matter how Music Count was considered easier than over-the-air shows for winning number one, a rookie with a weak fandom absolutely didn’t have it easy to win.

And,

-This···like this?

-A little more with a gentler swaying feeling.

Ryu Ayeon quickly taught me and the members the choreography for LYNX’s song "Sparkle Me," and suggested we dance it along as congratulations.

Thanks to that, during LYNX’s encore stage, we could dance along behind them and congratulate them.

The LYNX members looked shocked, like they didn’t expect we’d dance along.

'Their expressions looked pretty good, right?'

Ryu Ayeon didn’t tell me what happened with the LYNX members in the waiting room, but thinking about how she congratulated them with a bright expression during the number one announcement, it seemed like it wrapped up fairly well.

"Everyone, good work. But let’s stop by the company, practice one more time, and then go home! Tomorrow is our first over-the-air music show, so we need to make sure we’re prepared."

The first debut stage that felt long and long.

Normally, the members would’ve been scrolling on their phones, curious about people’s reactions, but the moment they got into the van, they were sprawled out.

'That makes sense.'

They barely finished the music show, then got made to wait in the hallway until the music show PD walked by, so they were completely exhausted.

Honestly, I wanted to go back to the dorm right away, shower, and sleep, but,

'They did well today, but it wasn’t like practice.'

Even on a debut broadcast stage I thought was good, there were regrets, so like Kim Yunsik said, it seemed better to practice before going.

I thought we’d practiced to the point of being sick of it, but then once you actually stand on a real stage, it was different.

Today, it was prerecording, and it was a music show at MPlay that could basically be called our home base, so we could do it reasonably well.

But starting tomorrow for three days, it would be our first time at a terrestrial-network music show, so it didn’t seem like putting our whole heart into it could be a bad thing.

"We’re here."

While I was thinking for a moment about what method we should practice with today to be more perfect on a real stage, the car carrying us arrived at the company before I knew it.

Tap.

The moment the door opened, the members, who had been sleeping like the dead the entire ride, got out of the car and stretched.

"Ugh···I never thought the company building would feel this welcoming."

"Seriously. I didn’t think I’d miss the practice room."

"Watching our stage today, I think we need to make our movements bigger than we think."

"Yeah. I think the stage outfits need to flutter more so the choreography···."

At the same time, seeing the members go into the company while chatting on their own without anyone telling them to, I felt satisfied inside.

'This is the minimum.'

Honestly, after seeing the earlier number one announcement, I was a bit stimulated.

Because seeing LYNX, who I thought of as a competitor in my own mind, take number one, and having to just clap and watch, didn’t sit well with me.

Of course, I also knew well that we’d just debuted so we couldn’t join the number one race yet, and that getting number one on a music show wasn’t easy.

But separate from that, wanting us to stand there too was unavoidable.

If you’re going to aim, isn’t it cool to aim for the top?

"Late-night snacks are impossible, right?"

"We have to endure it. We have a broadcast tomorrow too."

"Yeah, what late-night snacks. Let’s lose weight instead!"

I definitely saw Lee Gahyeon secretly inhaling the snacks I was eating earlier, but when she grumbled and opened the company door like she was still hungry,

Pop!

"Congratulations on Iam’s debut!!!"

"Iam, great job on your first debut stage."

"You were so cool!!!"

At the sudden sound of party poppers, we flinched, and in front of us we saw company people standing there holding a cake with seven candles stuck in it.

***

[Iam (Iam) - Music Count 2016.05.04. A stage that feels like something’s about to start.]

Views 1,200,241

↳What is this, I don’t really like girl groups but why do I keep watching this?

↳Who did the styling? Seriously, making it pants instead of an actual school-uniform skirt is a god-tier move, is this trying to kill me?

↳Guess I won’t need to turn on the AC this summer, I can just loop this stage video

↳This went past “fresh,” this is basically shoving Mentos straight into my throat

"I thought only the TSP side would matter, but they’re more threatening than I expected."

SY Entertainment’s CEO office.

Yoo Hyunsoo came in without hesitation and sat down on the sofa in a place where company staff would hesitate to even set foot, and he grumbled at Seyeon, who had been staring at the monitor since morning like she wanted to burn a hole through it.

SY’s head producer.

Because his status was so high that people even said, along with Tenji—no, even more than Tenji—Yoo Hyunsoo was basically SY, it was something he could do.

"I told you. You can’t think it’ll be easy just because they’re new."

At Seyeon’s words, Yoo Hyunsoo shrugged.

"Raon really pulled the song well."

"Only the song?"

"The concept too?"

Seyeon shook her head.

"When I first heard this song, it reminded me of when you were producing for TWXQ."

"···Back then, yeah."

"After watching the stage, without realizing it, I got kind of excited."

At Seyeon’s continued words, Yoo Hyunsoo looked a little surprised.

Since Seyeon was famous for evaluating coldly not only other agencies’ groups but even SY’s groups, saying that much was basically no different from high praise.

"It’s really youthful, and it makes your heart flutter, but these kids felt insanely refreshing."

"It’s impressive. Making you picture the stage image just from the song is only possible when the concept, the members’ image, and the song all match together. For that to happen, it has to be perfectly designed from the planning stage."

At Yoo Hyunsoo’s words, Seyeon nodded in agreement.

Since Raon, Iam’s producer, was someone Seyeon personally discovered and raised, Seyeon knew Raon had talent for composing, but.

Seyeon hadn’t expected Raon would be this good at producing too, so lately Seyeon had been getting shocked.

[Iam enters digital chart at number 5! Proving they’re the trending idols?]

[As a rookie girl group, Iam records unusual album sales, chasing rival LYNX’s sales right up to the edge of their chin]

[Now it’s the golden age of idol survival shows? Terrestrial networks also post recruitment notices for idol survival programs!]

Starting with MPlay’s Music Count last week, the reactions to Iam, who had started performing on music shows, were so hot they weren’t just hot, and they were stirring up buzz day after day.

"Is Iam impressive, or is Raon impressive."

"Both."

Rattle.

Even as Seyeon answered Yoo Hyunsoo’s mutter, Seyeon’s gaze stayed fixed on the monitor.

[I’m a girl, but I really like Iam]

"I just entered middle school, but I like Iam so much I’m going crazy. Even when I go to school, I keep thinking about the stage, and even just listening to the music makes Iam’s faces pop into my head, so I feel like I’m going insane···. Is this maybe an illness?"

↳It’s fine. This aunt is over thirty and I still go crazy with my heart fluttering whenever I see Iam^^

↳I’m in my late twenties, but let me call you Ayeon!

↳I felt it with the music video too, but why does Iam smell like my first love from my school days?

↳Look at Iam even seducing middle schoolers, I need to arrest them

↳Ugh···when did Iam attract this many walking bundles of desire?

↳You seduced them!!! How is a girl group this boy-group-coded!!!

Iam’s only weakness, people said, was a weak core fandom.

But seeing Iam succeed at increasing the core fandom in an instant as if mocking that prediction, Seyeon couldn’t help but feel tense.

'They targeted exactly what idol fans want, without losing mass appeal.'

[Shinyu looks like the male lead in a Taiwanese movie. Why are her eyes so wistful?]

[Lee Gahyeon definitely has good proportions. She has this cool model vibe]

[Seo Ryujin is really straight-laced. She’s like that chief of staff in dramas]

[Ryu Ayeon, are you insane? Why is she so cool? I got chills when I saw the lean muscles on her arms]

[Having Yunkyung is why this mood exists. The Youngest’s bright freshness is insane]

[Yuri’s vibe is good. She kind of feels like she’s in the library club. Such a noble vibe!]

From the music video to the stage outfits and the choreography.

As if directly rebutting the recent trend of intense concepts or songs with complicated structures, it strongly had a simple and intuitive feeling.

That part, instead, was targeting the hearts of idol fans who were exhausted by idol group songs that had been getting overly hard to grasp lately.

Of course, Iam didn’t succeed with only that kind of producing.

'Each member’s individual charm.'

If it weren’t for Iam’s members showing all sorts of different charms one by one, the concept that could’ve ended up feeling trite would’ve instead ended up feeling distinctive.

And because of that, the recent rapid influx of fans into Iam was, in a way, only natural.

"This isn’t the path we’re going to take."

"Right. We’re SY."

But even after seeing Iam’s success, Seyeon didn’t waver.

SY’s rookie girl group that was about to debut soon.

If Iam was a group whose charm came from sharply trimming down mass appeal, Seyeon planned to seize idol fans with an even more unique and complicated worldview and experimental music.

Even if the general public cursed at it for being hard to understand, Seyeon had succeeded with that, and she was confident she would succeed again.

But,

'Our kids can’t beat this, can they?'

[Iam announces an upcoming appearance on the popular variety show "The Guy Next Door"!]

An article about Iam appearing on a variety show entered Seyeon’s eyes.