Idol Hides His Military Service

"So this is why adults go on and on about ‘Made in America’, huh?"

"Auuugh··· what are you rambling about with ‘Made in America’ first thing in the morning?"

A hotel bedroom with warm sunlight pouring in.

The instant that sunlight hit my eyes, I woke up sharp as a knife and blurted out in admiration, and Lee Gahyeon—my hotel roommate—must’ve woken up from the sound, because she stretched and grumbled at me.

I felt bad about waking her even though we still had a bit of time before the official wake-up time, but real ‘Made in America’ stuff was different.

The fact that I woke up in one shot, when normally I would’ve shouted, "Ten more minutes!" and crawled back under the blanket—

Meant my condition today was top-tier.

"Is it because the pillow and bed are high-end? I feel so refreshed."

"Or is it just because you ate a lot yesterday?"

"Gahyeon, do I look like someone that simple?"

"Yes."

Hmm.

It’s true I ate well yesterday after we arrived in New York.

-Please take a picture together!

I ate so well that the restaurant owner saw me tearing through everything, got shocked, and even asked to take a photo together.

First, the moment we got to New York, we ate brunch-as-breakfast-and-lunch with a ton of bacon, pancakes, and scrambled eggs, and then for dessert I wiped out a whole chocolate cake.

The other members were talking weak, saying there was no way they could finish it all, but to me, it felt like they’d just been raised too delicately.

'If they lived with Lady Sukja for just one month, they’d learn how precious food is.'

After we finished that first meal, the members and I stopped by Central Park, the New York landmark where we’d be filming the music video today, and we spent a fun time going around other famous tourist spots too.

It felt like those old middle school field trips to a historic city.

Just getting out of the place we lived was enough to get us hyped, so we ran around the streets of New York.

-That place smells like adventure.

-No! They said in New York you absolutely cannot go into sketchy back alleys!

But whenever a back alley gave off some kind of interesting smell, the members—starting with Yunkyung—absolutely refused to let me go, so I couldn’t.

Anyway, after we wandered around sightseeing for a long time, evening came, and Raon PD took us to a famous steakhouse.

-Is it really okay if we order everything?

-I’m telling you to eat as much as you want, right?

-Then first, this T-bone and this filet and···.

Raon told us to order whatever we wanted, so I ordered everything first, and then I remembered her face slowly hardening while asking if we could really eat it all.

Instead of answering, I just smiled and answered with empty plates, and Raon and the members stared at me in horror like they were looking at a monster.

-You all absolutely cannot eat like that!

-Lee Sion lives with cola in her mouth instead of water and eats like that too—how does she not gain weight?

-This is an unfair treaty! Yuri works out like crazy every day and still can’t lose weight!

-Boss, don’t tell me you can eat more?

Normally, this was the period where we’d be sprinting hard on weight control ahead of a comeback, so all the other members were adjusting their meals on their own, but I was the exception.

-Sion, just eat like usual.

-Aren’t you going to manage me or anything? No diet plan chart, no managers secretly watching to see if I eat?

-The test results show your muscle mass and body fat are both excellent. They said there’s no need to manage you.

The CEO of KJ Entertainment personally checked my examination data and declared, "Just leave Lee Sion alone," so I was still eating freely.

"Guuuurk."

"Why do you have to drink cola right in front of me?!"

"Because it’s funny?"

"Die!"

Sometimes it was fun to do an eating show right in front of Lee Gahyeon, who was especially serious about dieting among the members, but it was also a little disappointing.

'It tasted better when I was being oppressed and sneaking it.'

Back in the Agbaek days, when I avoided the cameras and staff eyes to eat in secret, or right after debut when I’d just entered KJ Entertainment and I’d break through managers and employees trying to block my food hunting to eat in secret—those were fun.

They even stationed undercover employees in every alley near the company to stop me, and when I discovered one hiding in a convenience store, how thrilling was that?

These days—

"Want some chocolate, Sion?"

Everyone was practically prepared, offering me snacks instead, so I couldn’t feel that thrill anymore, and it was seriously disappointing.

"I’m showering first?"

"Nope. I’m showering first."

"Whyyyy!!!"

While I stood on the hotel balcony looking at the New York scenery and briefly reminiscing about yesterday, Lee Gahyeon, who must’ve fully woken up, asked to shower first.

'Yesterday, the hot water took a while to come out.'

But I cut her off, rushed into the bathroom, and lightly claimed first turn, ignoring her grumbling behind me about wanting to shower first and take time getting ready.

I’m someone who showers in cold water even in winter, but it was obvious Gahyeon would wait a long time for the cold water to stop before coming out, so it was better if I went first and warmed it up.

***

"Okay, let’s line it up one more time. Interpreter, please tell the foreign dancers to make their expressions a little more energetic."

"Yes."

Raon paused the music video shoot and, at the filming director’s call to go again, looked around the set.

'The girls are dropping like flies.'

High temperature: 86°F.

It was hot enough to hold its own even compared to summer in Korea.

Because of that, sweat was pouring down the staff’s faces like rain, and—

"Cola··· if anyone gives me an iced cola, I’ll give you a treasure···."

"Boss, what treasure?"

"Bitcoin··· I’ll make a special exception and give you half a bitcoin—no, a whole one!"

"What is that?"

"Something like that exists."

Watching Lee Sion spout nonsense again, Raon could tell the members were exhausted too.

'It makes sense.'

Unlike staff, who moved less, the members had to dance intensely under the blazing sun and act too, so there was no choice but for them to be dying.

"First wipe the sweat and fix the makeup again! Youngest, why didn’t you bring more ice packs?"

"We ran out, so I rushed out to get ice."

"You should’ve prepared in advance!"

So every time one take ended, the stylists brought from Korea clung to the members, wiping sweat and fixing makeup in a frenzy.

They did everything—reapplying sunscreen so their skin wouldn’t flare red, cooling the backs of their necks with ice packs to bring down their overheated bodies.

"Outdoor shooting in this season is definitely not easy."

"Still, the view is art."

"That’s true. I took a quick look at what we’ve shot so far, and it came out really pretty."

Right after completing Iam’s new song "DON’T BLINK," the first thing they dove into was the music video work.

"Music videos these days are the most important means of defining an album’s impression and expanding the fandom."

As their importance kept increasing, music videos no longer worked if you just rented one studio and danced choreography in it.

So even for Iam’s debut-song music video, KJ Entertainment made a big investment that was no worse than other major agencies.

For this comeback, they ultimately decided to spend even more money on the music video than they did back then.

And that was because—

[Iam’s music video was seriously made well.]

"Just the seasonal vibe is captured perfectly, so even now, when I watch the music video that feels like something’s about to start, it gives me that feeling of a new semester starting, and I love it so much.

It brings back old memories, and when you watch the girls, they’re surprisingly good at acting too, so it feels like you’re watching a youth drama.

I still replay it whenever it crosses my mind."

↳They captured that feeling only rookie groups can pull off really well

↳Putting them in school uniforms was a god-tier move

↳Yeah, once you build seniority, even if you want to wear it, you can’t, so I don’t get why other idols don’t do it

↳First of all, the music video polish just screams money—why does the video have movie-level color grading?

↳I heard they actually spent a ton. Articles said they invested without holding back, from the production company to the equipment

Music videos for idols from major agencies like SY, TSP, and YH hit a million views in a day if they were fast, and later they could reach tens of millions.

It was because not only domestic fans watched, but also fans in Japan, China, Southeast Asia, and now gradually increasing K-pop fans in South America and Europe.

[Iam’s "It Feels Like Something’s About to Start" music video surpasses 20 million views!]

Amazingly, Iam started with absolutely no inherited overseas fandom and still achieved the shocking record of 20 million views, becoming a hot topic.

That was a record you couldn’t achieve with domestic popularity alone.

It was also a sign that overseas K-pop fandom was now flowing in to Iam too.

"The budget can be as much as it needs to be. We will entrust full authority over the music video to Raon PD."

KJ Entertainment—and even KJ Group, the parent company—had no choice but to recognize that this music video popularity played a major role in Iam achieving a grand slam.

Because of that, for this new song’s music video, Raon received the shocking benefit of an unlimited budget.

So she collaborated again with the same production company that filmed the previous music video, and she made countless efforts to shoot an even more upgraded music video this time.

"This time too, it’s a song that fits the season well."

If spring suited an emotional, fresh song, then summer suited a lively song you could dance to.

This new song, "DON’T BLINK," was a song drenched in that summer feeling.

So the production company in charge of the music video suggested that this time, it would be good to include a scene where Iam danced together outdoors, and Raon happily agreed—up to that point, it was fine.

"But if we shoot in Korea, unless it’s a studio format, it’ll stand out too much, and that free atmosphere won’t come through as well as we’d want."

They decided that to capture the feeling both the production company and Raon wanted, somewhere abroad would be better than Korea.

And in the end, the final chosen location was Central Park in New York.

A massive park, 0.5 miles wide and about 2.5 miles long, born from a design philosophy of "the fastest escape from the city to nature."

Raon had visited a few times too, so the moment she imagined filming a music video with that place as the background, she immediately felt like it would be exactly right, and after that, the New York trip moved forward at lightning speed.

Fortunately, as long as you got approval in advance, Central Park allowed commercial filming without any special fee, so that part wasn’t a big problem, and the schedule happened to be open, so the permit was easy to get.

Of course, there was no avoiding the enormous cost of filming a music video overseas at all, but—

'Still, it was the right call to film here.'

Watching Iam dancing with dozens of foreign dancers with Central Park as the background, Raon became sure her judgment wasn’t wrong.

The shoot wasn’t even finished yet, but just looking at Iam dancing to the music playing right now, she could tell.

The Iam members were wearing outfits Thom Browne personally made for this music video shoot.

Unlike the previous concept of school uniforms, this time the members wore a high-teen school look that reminded you of cheerleaders, and with some tying their hair into ponytails and some wearing long straight hair, the outfits suited them extremely well.

"Looking at the song and the music video plan, I think the base should be stable colors like white, gray, or navy, and the point should be something like socks or headbands."

'If we had to make that ourselves, the cost would’ve been insane too.'

Truly, Thom Browne lived up to the name of a high-end brand, making perfectly tailored outfits for each member, making Raon admire them.

And the result—Iam dancing in those outfits—was exactly the image Raon and the co-producer Lucas had imagined.

Lucas couldn’t come along because of album wrap-up work, but when he saw the finished music video, he would definitely be satisfied.

"We’ll move to film the next part."

After filming for about an hour, the filming director announced they were moving to the next location, since it seemed they’d gotten all the cuts they needed here.

Raon hurriedly grabbed a cold bottle of water and headed over to the Iam members.

"You worked hard, everyone."

"Haa··· haa. The schedule is really tight today."

"Sorry. But given our circumstances, we can’t help it."

Ryu Ayeon accepted the water bottle from her and breathed out roughly.

Even Ryu Ayeon, who normally had good stamina among the members, was struggling—it was that intense of a forced march schedule.

But there was no choice. This wasn’t domestic. Overseas filming meant time was money.

Fortunately, the weather today—the first day of filming—was very clear, but if the weather acted up, like if it rained, the schedule would be delayed as-is, and that would come back as a massive budget increase, so the filming team had no choice but to make the schedule tight.

Even if Raon had received an unlimited budget, if she spent it like it was truly unlimited, KJ headquarters might call her in.

"So is this why you fed us so much yesterday?"

"Exactly. I told you there’s no such thing as a free lunch."

"I already miss Korea."

"Korea’s weather is probably similar."

"Then let’s go to Hokkaido with Yuri! It’s cool there even in summer!"

"Sure, sure. I’ll suggest Hokkaido for the next music video. For now, let’s get ready quickly. We can’t be the reason the next shoot gets delayed."

Maybe because they were still young, even after powering through a forced march under the blazing sun, the Iam members still looked like they had energy left to chat.

'They think I let them loose yesterday because filming starts today.'

But looking at them, Raon felt a pang of guilt.

Yesterday, the filming equipment hadn’t all arrived yet, and it was a schedule booked early to prepare for any unexpected situations, so she let the members freely enjoy the extra time.

She let them eat whatever they wanted.

Since the members were already famous celebrities in Korea, they couldn’t freely walk around outside, so Raon wanted them to be able to move comfortably in New York, at least.

But hadn’t Yunkyung just said it personally?

There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

For now, the members were focusing on the music video shoot because it came first, but soon, the time to pay it back was coming.