Idol Hides His Military Service

Midnight.

It was late enough that, overseas, there weren’t even any stores open, let alone people walking around, so it was a quiet time slot, but Korea was a little different.

'This is a rational choice.'

Office workers got off work, and if they even grabbed drinks, it was common for it to be midnight before they were done.

College students weren’t any different, since it was also common for them to drink and hang out until dawn.

Even students weren’t that different.

Especially for third-year high # Nоvеlight # school seniors, maybe because the CSAT was coming up, even at midnight the study rooms were packed with students trying to study.

And in one corner of such a study room, Lee Jiyeon—a former Sionism operator and a third-year high school girl with the CSAT ahead of her—was sunk in anguish.

- Jackpot! Jiyeon, that New York video of them was insane. People are making a fuss saying they’re entering America this time...

- Are you seriously out of your mind? I cut off all fan communities and even cut off all my SNS because I was going to binge everything after the CSAT, and you’re spoiling me right now?!

- Sorry...

Right now, she was desperately realizing the mindset of a monk who had left the world behind.

Don’t people always say it?

That if you endure just one year of senior year, your life changes.

- Jiyeon, if you want to fangirl, just get into college. Then whether you stan Iam or dig up dirt, we won’t touch you at all.

In front of her parents, who were so firm about focusing on studying for just one year, Jiyeon couldn’t bring herself to say that in a year, Iam would be gone and disappear.

On top of that, she had spent her entire winter break on Agbaek and Lee Sion, so she didn’t even have room to make excuses.

At first, Jiyeon wanted to ask why Iam had to debut during her senior year and make her suffer this sadness, but she still decided to endure it.

Honestly, her parents putting up with her unlimited fangirling up to now was already them compromising a lot in their own way, so she thought it wasn’t right for her to throw a tantrum no matter what, either.

So lately, Jiyeon had been living a life away from Iam, like other test-takers—going to cram school diligently, and even after coming home, listening to online lectures.

But—

- This is crazy. They’re saying the Iam Myeongdong fan signing event got attacked by some weirdo?

- What?

- But they said Lee Sion put the person down with a shoulder throw.

- What?!

Jiyeon wanted to write a thesis on why, every time she took a break from fangirling, fun things always started happening.

Agbaek’s popularity had been so high, and the members were so popular, that she figured they’d get a music show first-place, but didn’t they go and achieve a grand slam with their debut song out of nowhere?

Then they held a cosplay fan signing event in Myeongdong because they’d achieved a grand slam, then they got attacked by some weirdo, and then they subdued the person in an instant again.

Even friends who hadn’t been interested in Iam, let alone idols in general, were talking about Iam at school, and Jiyeon felt like she was going insane.

Starting with everyone saying Iam’s YouTube that kept circulating among friends was so fun, and that the recent airport departure photos were legendary-pretty.

And today, when she heard that their guerrilla performance in New York was a huge hot topic lately—

- 'We’re doing another year!'

A famous meme about repeating a year flashed through her head before she even realized it.

But Jiyeon overcame all that temptation with superhuman patience, sat back down in the study room, and started studying again.

However, this time, she couldn’t endure it.

[IAM 'DON'T BLINK' official MV]

Because Iam’s new song music video, which they had announced as their July comeback after their first promotion, was finally released.

Iam’s music video, released exactly at midnight.

Honestly, Jiyeon agonized for a long time about whether to watch it.

Because if she watched it, she wasn’t confident she could really be satisfied after watching it just once.

'No! Lee Jiyeon, you can watch it only once!'

The members’ handwritten signatures that her enemy-like older brother, Hakyeon, had gotten at the Myeongdong fan signing event that turned into chaos because of the weirdo incident.

- From now on, you’re going to bring me water on time, every time.

- Thanks, but I won’t take it right now.

- Huh?

- If you get accepted into college, give it to me as a gift then.

Normally, Jiyeon would’ve immediately dropped to the floor and taken it.

But hadn’t she declared, solemnly, that she would take the signatures later, like Guan Yu saying he’d go cut off the enemy general’s head and come back before the wine cooled?

If it was her, she was sure she could watch the music video exactly once and then focus on studying again.

Tap.

Jiyeon put in her earbuds and clicked the play button on her smartphone screen with her finger.

Soon, the music video started playing.

***

♬

A melody that started with an extremely upbeat rhythm rang out, and the first thing that appeared on screen was a skateboard.

Rrrk.

Along with the wheels of the skateboard rolling, the camera’s gaze rose higher and higher.

Soon, on screen, there was one girl riding the skateboard with a pretty skilled look.

A girl wearing a short tennis skirt and a white collared T-shirt with striking tricolor lines.

'This is insane! Why is Lee Sion so pretty?'

Jiyeon thought she’d seen Lee Sion so much by now that she wouldn’t feel anything, but Lee Sion’s blue eyes, matched with the outfit, were creating a mysterious mood.

And Lee Sion riding a skateboard and speeding down a park road with dazzlingly clear sunlight mixing in looked so much like an ion drink commercial scene that it was almost ridiculous.

Screeeech.

Lee Sion came to a stop at one spot in the park.

At the same time, the camera started showing somewhere else.

Geum Shinyu with short bobbed hair, riding over on a bicycle with a basket as if she had come out for a picnic.

Lee Gahyeon, hair tied in a ponytail, wearing sleek training clothes and running with headphones on, like she had been jogging.

Im Yunkyung getting off a bus like she was waving goodbye to foreign students.

Kurosawa Yuri playing guitar and singing in one corner of the park.

Seo Ryujin sitting on a bench, drinking coffee.

Ryu Ayeon lying on the grass, holding a sketchbook in one hand and a pencil in the other, drawing something.

'Jackpot!'

Jiyeon couldn’t take her eyes off the members like that.

Iam’s members were pretty to begin with.

But this album had them dressed up in outfits and hairstyles that suited each of them like they were deliberately doing a photoshoot, so their visuals weren’t just alive—they were flying.

It stood out even more in clear contrast to their debut song, "Something Feels Like It's About to Start," where their outfits had been school uniforms and their makeup had been held back as much as possible to show the members’ fresh youthfulness.

Jiyeon was busily admiring the members’ faces like she’d lost her mind.

Then, on the music video screen, the members who had been scattered in different places started gathering one by one around Lee Sion.

Finally, all seven of them were gathered, standing in a circle.

- Don't blink.

The camera’s gaze went into the center of that circle and filmed upward from below. Lee Sion’s face was caught, and she quietly said, "Don’t blink," and the screen went dark for a moment.

Tap.

Then the screen came back on.

Now all the members had changed into sporty, cheerleader-like outfits and were gathered in the park plaza.

The moment our eyes meet

I think it's already too late

If I pause for one beat

I feel like I'll lose it all

As Yunkyung’s intro began, the members started dancing together in sync.

'What is this dance?'

Jiyeon was a little flustered watching Iam’s choreography, because it somehow felt like motions—something like calisthenics—rather than what you’d call idol choreography up to now.

No, rather than choreography, it was more accurate to say it was the kind of dance you’d see at a neighborhood aerobics class.

But before Jiyeon could even express her bewilderment at the choreography, the music video kept going.

Step too fast

Heart too loud

This feeling right now

With words, no doubt

This time, Geum Shinyu came out and poured out the lyrics almost like rap, and it fit the rhythm of the song so well that without realizing it, Jiyeon was riding the beat along with it.

And around those Iam members, people started gathering one by one.

Black, white, East Asian—it didn’t matter. People crowded in behind Iam’s members and started dancing the choreography together.

'What? It’s definitely the same choreography as before, but it feels completely different.'

When not only the members but a bunch of people danced it together, Jiyeon noticed that along with a strange sense of unity, the motion-like quality of it started to feel rhythmic.

DON'T BLINK, DON'T BLINK

If you miss it now, it's over

DON'T BLINK, DON'T BLINK

It's a moment, this hit

The screen flickered again, and this time it changed to Iam members sitting and dancing while singing on a bus, not in the park.

Just like the park, the inside of the bus was also packed with people dancing together with Iam.

DON'T BLINK, DON'T BLINK

My feet move first

There's no time to stop

We go, we go—yeah

Before she knew it, Jiyeon’s head, listening to the song while watching the music video, started bobbing and nodding with the music.

A fast, intense beat.

And yet, without any heavy, harsh sound, the song felt upbeat and light, and when choreography that was closer to motions was mixed in, her heart started pounding for some reason.

'It’s unusual. The song isn’t all flashy, but it’s easy to listen to, and it’s really addictive.'

Usually, when you said idol music, big, grand sounds and complexity were the default, but this felt so simple it was almost empty—like it was cleared out.

There were no parts showing off high notes, no parts where they belted, and Iam’s members were singing thinly, like they were whispering.

The lyrics were also short and repetitive, so it felt like the members were repeating a confession of unrequited love to Jiyeon.

Bright, but not excessive

Bubbly, but holding the tension back

And yet the feeling the members had was light and transparent, like pastel paint, reflecting through the video.

She didn’t know why, but it felt like they were saying that even without speaking loudly, you could convey the feeling a song carried.

Tap.

"Huh?"

As Jiyeon was watching the music video and listening to the song like that, someone tapped her shoulder, and she startled and pulled out her earbud.

'Was I being too loud?'

Thinking maybe sound was leaking out of her earbuds, or that she’d blurted something out without realizing it, Jiyeon hurriedly put away her smartphone and thought she should turn around and apologize.

But—

"It’s closing time for the study room. Pack up and leave."

"What?"

Behind Jiyeon was the study room manager.

And when the manager said it was closing time, Jiyeon couldn’t believe it, like it was some ridiculous statement, so she took her smartphone out again and checked the time.

1:57.

Jiyeon, who had been watching the music video that was released at midnight, had unknowingly time-slipped.

***

"How far is this going to climb?"

"I don’t know. Isn’t this kind of number the first among girl groups, really?" 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

A music video release was one of an agency’s biggest events.

- Just looking at the reaction to the music video and the audio release, you can tell if it’s a success or a failure.

The music video release, said to be far more important than the first music show stage, was usually done together with the audio release, and people even said the success or failure of the promotions got decided by these results, so everyone couldn’t help but be on edge.

So, on Wednesday—no, now that the date had changed, today, Thursday—KJ Entertainment was also extremely tense as Iam’s comeback approached.

As for the members, because it might interfere with the music show recording that would start early this morning, they started by confiscating their smartphones, and in case they tried to check reactions on a computer, they even dispatched Manager Jiu along with them so they would fall asleep early.

As for the rest of the staff, they gathered at the company and waited only for the music video release time.

Not only CEO Sanghyeok and producer Raon, but every single employee at KJ Entertainment stayed in place, staring holes into the computer monitor.

And finally, after the music video was released, everyone checked anxiously whether the video uploaded without issues, and they were in the middle of checking the view trend and comment reactions.

"It entered the real-time audio chart at 14th!"

And the result was shocking.

"Does this make any sense? Last debut, it was 27th because we got the Agbaek halo, but this time it’s 14th even without that···."

"The music video hit 800,000 in just one hour. Last time it took ten hours to hit a million. What even is this···."

"This isn’t some kind of glitch, right?"

Real-time audio chart entry at 14th.

And this wasn’t some small site—it was a ranking recorded on Lemon, the music streaming site most used in Korea right now.

Even more surprising was the YouTube music video view count.

"Is the best record lately WTX?"

"Yes··· they hit 1.1 million in one hour after release."

Iam’s new song DON'T BLINK achieved the massive record of 800,000 views in one hour after release.

Of course, top-tier boy idol groups—like WTX or Exy—put up records like that all the time when they released a new song.

But that was only possible because they had absurdly huge fandoms, and in general, even 100,000 views in the first hour was evaluated as a very good result.

This record Iam set was the top record among girl groups.

"I thought something felt off starting from album sales."

"Right. This really feels like something’s about to blow up."

Iam’s second mini album, whose preorders had run through exactly yesterday, was also showing an unusual pace.

- I think you’re going to need to print more stock.

They wouldn’t get the exact tally until this morning, but separate from that, distributors were sending meaningful messages that they needed to prepare more stock, and how excited had that made Sanghyeok and Raon?

"It’s the kind of performance that makes you wonder if it’s a glitch, just like the staff said."

Sanghyeok wondered if he was dreaming right now.

He had believed Iam would show good results this comeback too, after finishing their first promotions well, but he hadn’t expected them to show growth this sudden, to this extent.

"Of course, I can’t tell you exactly what caused it, but if you think about it, it might be natural."

"Natural?"

Raon said it might be a natural result and continued explaining.

"First, from before debut until now, our kids never once dropped out of the top three on the buzz rankings."

"That’s true."

Sanghyeok nodded at Raon’s words.

Because the Iam members had been making headlines day after day with incidents or accidents, no matter the day.

"Since they never got far from people’s attention, didn’t that naturally lead to fandom expansion before we knew it?"

"Mass appeal···."

Raon’s explanation—that Iam’s mass appeal, which was their strength and, in a way, their weakness, had turned into fandom before they knew it—sounded plausible.

- Iam was such a mess that I wondered why they were so popular, so I checked YouTube out of curiosity, and before I knew it I stanned them.

Even if you just looked at the top comment on Iam’s content, it wasn’t hard to find people who came out of curiosity and became fans before they knew it.

"And from the last debut song to this new song, we poured our hearts into making it a song that both non-fans and fans could enjoy listening to."

"Then right now, these results are really···."

As he listened to Raon’s explanation, Sanghyeok’s eyes widened.

"We might really hit it huge this time."

There was a smile on Raon’s face as she finished the last line.