Idol Hides His Military Service

"Sion, why did you suddenly get good all of a sudden?"

"Boss! Just now, you seriously looked totally convincing!"

"Sion, that’s insane!"

Countless compliments and gasps of admiration coming at me.

"Praise me even more."

I stood tall in the middle of the practice room with my arms spread wide, basking in the members’ praise.

A state of perfect unity where gay is me and I am gay.

Waacking?

Now that I’d seen the real thing, our choreography—stuck at the level of mere imitation—was nothing but kiddie play for amateurs.

"Senior, are you okay? How many fingers is this?"

"Uuugh···."

Meanwhile, unlike me, Yunsik was slumped on one side of the practice room like his soul had left his body, being supported by Jiu.

Of course, if you want to recognize the real thing, someone has to be sacrificed.

Thanks to Yunsik’s holy sacrifice, I was able to gain enlightenment about what being gay actually was.

"That’s really rude. Did you think gay people would have something different about them compared to ordinary people?"

"Ah! I’m sorry···that’s not what I meant."

"Being gay doesn’t mean you see a man and you like him so you pounce on him. We’re the same as ordinary straight people."

"Of course. We were really out of line."

Tap.

The restaurant owner from that neighborhood, clasping Yunsik’s hand with a deliberately angry expression.

"I only do that to someone I’m interested in."

"···."

A tour that almost ended in failure.

But the heavens don’t turn their backs on those who help themselves.

Because we happened to walk into a restaurant and meet a born-and-raised, local, real-deal gay owner.

After we found a real gay in the wild, Yunsik and I asked for an interview and got a chance to ask what being gay actually meant.

"Do we really have to do this? Can’t we just look it up online?"

There was a small sacrifice from Yunsik in the process, but Yunsik was also a member of the same company as us, so for the sake of the greater cause, Yunsik said that much sacrifice was worth bearing and volunteered without hesitation, so there was no problem at all.

And if we were lucky, it was that the owner wasn’t just gay—he was an all-purpose gay who could even dance waacking.

"It’s a dance people do a lot at clubs these days."

"Oh, so it really is trendy here too."

"At gay clubs."

"···."

Anyway, it was a meaningful time where we got taught a few key waacking points straight from someone who was actively gay right now.

It was a short time, but thanks to the owner pinpointing exactly what the core parts were, exactly where the points I was missing were, and even demonstrating the facial acting directly with Yunsik as the target, I was able to grasp the essence of waacking.

At this point, wouldn’t it be fair to call me Gay Sion?

Anyway, that’s how my tour with Yunsik came back with huge results, and the moment I returned to the practice room, I was able to show the members my evolved self.

"Is this the effect of on-site field training?"

"You’re actually really good. That waacking-specific feeling is alive."

"It’s so much more natural than before, so the choreography pops way more."

Honestly, it wasn’t just me—because this choreography was a different grain from what we’d learned up to now, the other members were struggling too.

But after watching me, it seemed like everyone found what they needed to fill in, because they each headed into their own corner of the practice room and started checking themselves by dancing the choreography.

"Yunsik, your sacrifice will not be forgotten."

"Sion! Senior Yunsik isn’t dead yet!"

Watching the members like that, I tried to comfort Yunsik—who was still out of it, maybe because the owner’s goodbye kiss was still burned into Yunsik’s cheek as an unforgettable memory.

But Yunsik looked like recovery was going to take a little more time.

There is no meaning to a lesson that doesn’t come with pain.

Because humans can’t gain anything without some kind of sacrifice.

A line said by the one-armed, one-legged alchemist I respect flashed through my mind.

Yunsik is definitely suffering right now, but once Yunsik endures that pain and makes it his own.

Yunsik would surely be able to become a gay of steel.

***

"You can’t wear lenses for a passport photo."

"I’m not wearing any."

"Your eyes are blue, though?"

"Kids these days have blue eyes too."

"Is that so? That’s amazing."

The old man at the photo studio saw my eye color and said you couldn’t wear glasses or lenses when taking a passport photo, but—

'It’s been a while since I got called out for my eye color.'

Unfortunately, these blue eyes were the eye color I was born with.

More precisely, I mean I was born with them in this life.

"That’s strange. Usually, this kind of blue eye color happens because there isn’t much melanin, so it almost never occurs in East Asians."

"It’s not an illness, right?"

"Yes, the test results all came back fine."

"Then that’s all I need."

When I was little, we even went to a university hospital and got checked to make sure it wasn’t some disease, but once the doctor said there was no health issue, Sukja didn’t do anything special about it.

Thanks to that, back when I was in school—

"Kyaaaah!!!"

"Sorry! So you really weren’t wearing lenses···."

No matter how much I insisted I wasn’t wearing lenses, teachers would suspect I was lying, so every admission season there was the disaster of me getting my eyeballs inspected.

Anyway, after seeing them for nineteen years, I got used to it, but for people seeing me for the first time, these blue eyes were bound to feel unfamiliar.

[Where are Lee Sion’s circle lenses from?]

"That looks so natural. Does anyone know which ones those are?"

↳ mom

↳ mom? There’s a brand called that?

↳ Those aren’t lenses. That’s the real color.

↳ ???

↳ Didn’t Lee Sion say those eyes have never worn lenses at all? Born with blue eyes.

↳ For real? Those are bare eyes with no lenses? Not lying?

↳ Ever since Idol Ground 100, trainees and people around Lee Sion all testified Lee Sion wasn’t wearing lenses.

To the point that even now, there were still people online who firmly believed I had to be wearing lenses—it really did look that unnatural in Korea.

But that was going to end now.

"Five people’s worth, so you’ll probably have to pick them up tomorrow."

"Thank you!"

"Come around lunchtime tomorrow."

After I took my ID photo last, the photographer grandpa told us to come back tomorrow to pick them up, which meant the shoot was finished.

"First time since graduation photos."

"I didn’t know you couldn’t use passport ID photos for a company profile photo."

"Yuri already had a passport! If you’re idols, you all need to be as thoroughly prepared as Yuri and Yunkyung."

"If you don’t have one, isn’t that even more dangerous for you?"

As we left the studio, the members and I talked about impressions from taking the ID photos.

Because we needed passports in a hurry, everyone except Yuri and Yunkyung—who already had passports—took the ID photos required for passports, and that was because of our music video shoot.

"All of you, get your passports ready."

"Passports?"

"We’re filming this new song’s music video in the United States."

"The United States?!"

Once the choreography progress that had been dragging because of me normalized, and our proficiency climbed to the point where we only needed to polish details, Raon told us the music video plan like Raon had been waiting for exactly that moment.

And not just any music video shoot—one happening in the United States, not Korea.

"The U.S.··· I still can’t believe it."

"If it’s an overseas music video shoot, it’ll cost more than the last shoot."

"I thought only huge agencies did stuff like this!"

"When you think about it, we are a huge agency."

Because ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ of that, we were all completely hyped up.

'So I’m finally going abroad.'

Honestly, I’d never gone abroad even once.

It made sense—because I went to a military academy, I couldn’t do overseas trips like other people did during college, and after graduating, I had to be commissioned and serve, so traveling abroad wasn’t easy.

'I thought China would be my first overseas trip.'

So in this life, I’d even made a tourist plan to travel as much as I wanted later once Bitcoin exploded upward, to make up for the overseas trips I couldn’t do in my past life.

The first one on that list—my Three Kingdoms culture pilgrimage—would have to be pushed to the next opportunity, but I liked the idea of America a lot too.

[Sitting down under an umbrella and bawling]

"Today, I was going to lunch with my team lead, and then it started raining.

It reminded me of the time I walked around New York in the rain without an umbrella.

(Fans might not know this, but in New York, unless it’s a serious downpour, people don’t use umbrellas.)

I remembered walking freely through New York streets while getting rained on, and I sat down on the street and bawled my eyes out.

New York being this missed must mean I love New York that much."

↳ Team lead got caught in the crossfire trying to go eat.

↳ Please delete this before someone screenshots and reposts it somewhere else!

↳ TT I remembered sprinting to a restaurant for lunch back in high school and I started bawling too.

↳ Why are you bawling too?

↳ These days my knees hurt so I can’t sprint.

↳ This is New York’s fault.

Because the place we were shooting our music video was none other than New York—the city people call the heart of the United States.

"New York isn’t that special."

"You disgusting bourgeois! Are you trying to crush the common people’s dreams?"

"No, seriously, it’s not that special. There are so many people it’s hard to even walk around, and if you go somewhere quiet it gets too dangerous, so it’s rough···."

Yunkyung, the only one of us with U.S. experience, trashed New York like it wasn’t that great, but that couldn’t be true.

How could a city that even has a song called "New York, New York" be bad?

It might be a bit worse than Gwangmyeong City, Korea’s spiritual capital, but it would still definitely be charming enough.

Talking about New York like that, we returned to the company.

We were about to head to the practice room to make up for the morning practice we missed because of the ID photos, when we saw manager Jiu spot us from the end of the hallway and run over.

"Guys, you all got the photos done?"

"Yes."

"Then hurry and come this way—let’s try on some outfits!"

"Outfits? Our stage outfits are already out?"

Manager Jiu, panting like something was urgent, told us to put clothes on and try them.

"Stage outfits will probably only come out on your departure day. Today it’s a different outfit!"

"What outfit?"

"Airport outfits!"

Jiu’s face as Jiu answered looked unbelievably excited.

***

"They really are outfits that match the members well."

"If you dress them up like this, they’re idols by birth, you know."

Raon was talking with Sanghyeok while watching the members, who had changed into seriously stylish outfits.

Instead of the usual matching training suits, the members were wearing Thom Browne, a high-end brand, and they looked like actual celebrities, making the employees watching once again realize the Iam members really were idols.

"How much is this supposed to cost?"

"The price still isn’t finalized since it hasn’t launched yet, but roughly this much? I think."

"Hiiiii!"

Of course, even in the middle of that, when Raon saw Lee Sion gushing at the Thom Browne representative, Raon’s head started to ache a little, but even so, the smile didn’t leave Raon’s lips.

Thom Browne.

A U.S. high-end fashion brand with a strong fan base thanks to its refined designs, famous for its signature four-stripe pattern, and its excellent quality.

"We at Thom Browne would like to sponsor Iam."

And when Thom Browne approached KJ Entertainment a few days ago and suggested they wanted to sponsor Iam, how shocked had everyone been?

'It’s not an impossible thing.'

Recently, it had been happening more and more often that famous idol groups received sponsorships from various apparel brands, starting with luxury brands.

It made sense—because in Asia, there weren’t really any celebrities with as much influence over young people as K-pop idols.

And among Asia, Korea, China, and Japan—those three countries were the most important markets for apparel brands, especially luxury brands. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

So if you wanted a celebrity who worked across all three of Korea, China, and Japan, of course it would be Korea’s idols.

But luxury brands didn’t sponsor just any idols with their products.

'It’s a benefit only top idols can receive.'

Because if someone was going to be their model, that person had to be someone others admired enough to raise the value of "luxury" that the brand carried, sponsorships from luxury brands were limited to top idols.

And for a high-end brand like Thom Browne to propose not just sponsorship for Iam, but even a future collaboration for stage outfits, was truly huge.

"There were probably several reasons. First, the contract period is short, so it’ll be less of a burden."

"And in terms of buzz, they’re top-tier in Korea."

Of course, Thom Browne didn’t propose it because Iam was truly a top idol group.

Because Iam was a project group, the contract period wasn’t long, so it wasn’t a burden, while Iam’s recognition and buzz were comparable to top idols, so they seemed to find that part attractive.

But regardless of those circumstances, from Iam and KJ Entertainment’s perspective, the single fact that a rookie girl group received a luxury brand sponsorship would obviously be a huge boost to their image.

How many celebrities buy Thom Browne with their own money and wear it to official events?

The fact that Thom Browne proposed sponsorship to Iam made people think that Iam’s status might be higher than KJ Entertainment even assumed.

As Raon traded words with Sanghyeok and briefly thought about Iam’s standing—

"I’m glad our clothes seem to suit the members well."

"That’s because the clothes are good."

"If Raon had still been active, we would’ve offered Raon an ambassador deal."

"Thank you for saying that."

While the members went to change into yet another new set of outfits, a marketing manager from Thom Browne Korea approached Raon and Sanghyeok and spoke.

"We’re adjusting things so the article comes out when the members depart in a week."

"Thank you for being considerate of the schedule."

"Not at all. We also think releasing it then will be most effective. This summer is too late, but for Fashion Week in the fall, we’re proposing to headquarters that we invite Iam’s members."

The fact that Iam had become partners with Thom Browne was, for now, top-level confidential.

"It would be best to reveal it on the day Iam’s members depart for the U.S. to film the music video."

With Iam’s comeback less than a month away, they wanted to reveal that the music video included an overseas location to boost fans’ expectations.

Then reveal the partnership with Thom Browne to boost expectations a second time—Sanghyeok’s proposal.

'We need to do at least that to compete with SY and TSP.'

KJ Entertainment was putting in plenty of effort for Iam’s comeback in its own way, but the opponent was the opponent, so a normal approach wasn’t enough.

Something even a little more inventive.

Ways to show Iam’s charm even a little more.

"This is definitely going to blow up."

Things only Iam could do—like what the content team prepared through this New York shoot.