[Who made the choreography? Which team?]
I seriously couldn't take my eyes off it the whole time I was watching the choreography...
The girls' charms are insane this time.
—To me, it feels like Teacher Yoonjeong's style. Since they're her students, maybe she keeps making their choreo for them.
└ Oh, now that you mention it, the choreography does feel kind of like hers.
└ Agreed. The point choreography is just so good. People are going to do the challenge like crazy, especially Seoyoon's part—the catharsis from the song all the way through the choreography is insane.
At Mulbit Cultural Park, where SAVEN's mini fan meeting was being held.
After finishing the prerecording, Dohui's fansite master, who had attended the mini fan meeting with another fellow fansite master, was quickly checking the reactions on the community.
[This comeback's stages are seriously... fucking good.]
[How do they bring a different concept every time and still make every song so good?]
Clearly, she wasn't the only one riding high after watching the performance.
Everyone around her was busy typing on their phones, presumably posting reviews on the community or social media,
and even those who weren't were excitedly chattering with the people beside them about the stage.
—Oh!
The murmuring stopped in an instant and turned into cheers.
“Have you waited long~?”
The SAVEN members entered under the guidance of their bodyguards.
‘Wow... this is what welfare looks like.’
The members' strange and provocative expressions under the dazzling lights, perfectly suited to the song, had certainly been captivating.
“Shabennu~ Thank you for coming to the prerecording today!”
But their bright, smiling faces in the natural light were just as enchanting.
Even more so because they were wearing the title track outfits as-is.
Once the members formed a straight line, Hana led the greeting.
“Let’s say hello! Two! Three!”
—I'm in seventh heaven! Hello! We are SAVEN!
Wooooo!
“It’s been a really long time since we held a fan meeting outdoors like this, right? We’re back to celebrate our comeback! But it’s so hot out that I’m wondering if we should wrap things up early.”
—Noooo!
The fans answered at the top of their lungs.
Hana grinned, apparently satisfied, and continued.
“Great. Now, we’re going to officially start the fan meeting, but Chaerin! Before that, there’s something we should celebrate first, right?”
“Yes, as you all know, we reached number one on the Watermelon daily chart again yesterday. We really think it’s all thanks to Shabennu, so we always want to say how grateful we are...”
While Chaerin spoke gently and sweetly to the fans, the fansite master was too busy staring intently at the members’ faces to hear her soft voice.
‘I have to take pictures too!’
She immediately lifted her telephoto camera and began capturing the members.
First was Seoyoon, who stood out the most today.
Outlining double eyelids and clear, wide-set eyes.
A round face and a slender nose.
She had always thought Seoyoon had a cute, puppy-like face, but—
‘Wow...’
The eye makeup that lifted the corners of her eyes.
The tasteful lip piercing above her red lips.
The striking visuals accented by her glamorous pastel-pink hair.
And finally, the killing-part performance she had shown onstage.
‘No matter how I look at it, this title track is Seoyoon herself...’
With the feeling that Seoyoon’s individual fanbase was about to grow enormously,
she turned the camera lens elsewhere.
‘Unexpectedly, Ye-eun seems to suit this concept too, or should I say...’
Ye-eun, whose platinum-blonde hair brought out an aristocratic air.
Now, all that remained was the sparkle in her eyes under the sunlight and her impish smile, but onstage, her chicness had clearly stood out.
‘I was worried she might end up looking like a girl from the Alps.’
Still, she was the older sister after all, maybe?
Although opinions on the fan community mostly favored Ye-eun as the maknae and Dohui as the older sister, when it came to the atmosphere created by the platinum-blonde dye job, even she found herself nodding along with the idea that Ye-eun was the unnie.
‘Dohui is...’
The maknae was waving and greeting everyone warmly, just like usual.
‘But Dohui is still more of an unnie than Ye-eun, right?’
Of course, she still had plenty of a little-girl feel to her.
You only had to look at how she kept smoothing down the hem of her skirt with her free hand, as though she wasn’t used to the short dress.
Even though she was wearing safety shorts underneath, she still seemed unfamiliar with the sensation.
‘But... she really can get even prettier than this... I thought it was impossible...’
She seemed to be blossoming more and more as she approached twenty, the age when most celebrities reached their peak.
And she was only sixteen right now.
It was the period when growth came fastest.
Would you call it maturing by the day?
‘How beautiful are you going to be once you’re an adult...? Dohui, if you keep this up, you won’t be able to do anything but be an idol!’
Just as she was muttering her usual over-the-top fangirl nonsense,
a loud voice suddenly rang out across the park.
“Dohui noonaaa!!”
The fans turned their heads toward the source of the sound.
It was a male student who had shouted.
‘Noona.’
An appellation that didn’t suit Dohui at all.
“Yes? Me?”
As expected, Dohui pointed at herself with her fingertips, as though asking if he really meant her.
“Yeeees!!!”
The momentary blank look disappeared at the fan’s answer,
and Dohui broke into a bashful smile.
—Click click
The fansite master quickly captured the sight with her camera.
‘This picture is definitely going to sell.’
But another photo worthy of her affection soon appeared.
Sera, hugging Dohui tightly as if to protect her.
“She’s our maknae...! Who called our maknae noona...?!”
Everyone burst out laughing at Sera, who hugged Dohui—who was taller than her—and glared toward the fan section.
“It was me!”
The student beside her waved his hand and shouted.
He was unmistakably closer to a university student.
“You’re a middle schooler...?”
“No! I’m a high school senior!”
“What...? You! You’re older than her...!”
Sera was incredibly cute too.
***
After the release of the music video for “Eum (melody),” the title track of SAVEN’s third single album, Dusk.
As one of the hottest girl groups, SAVEN could feel the extent of the public’s interest everywhere they went.
First, there were the album’s first-week sales.
[Sets a new personal best in just four days after release. ‘Is SAVEN going for a million seller?’]
[SAVEN ranks first on the Hanteo Chart for three consecutive days... Third place among girl groups in first-week sales confirmed]
Then there was the song playing wherever you went on the streets.
—Daily Ranking
▲ 1 【SAVEN — Eum】
Finally, the clips of SAVEN’s variety-show appearances, briefly edited and uploaded to YouTube by each network, appeared in the rising-popularity lists so often that several were included at once.
> (EN/JP) “I’m just beat”—If you’re tired, go to sleep quietly... | Bed of Idols | SAVEN ‘Eum (melody)’ — 1.21 million views
> [ENG][Fun Saturday Pre-release] ‘SAVEN’ shamelessly insists on the obvious in front of variety veterans; cute anyway ㅇㅇ... (Undeniable) KTBC — 1.04 million views
.
.
.
> [SUB] It’s obvious where you’ll be—‘Hide-and-Seek’ ☆ The colorful world of real variety [Bang Bang Idol] EP.1-1 SAVEN in Mokpo, Part 1 — 910,000 views
Of course, there had been similar reactions to their second album.
But from the posts appearing on the community, it was clear that SAVEN’s buzz had gained even more momentum.
Even trivial mini-fan-meeting anecdotes were being turned into posts.
[Idol flustered after being called noona]
(video link)
A high school fan called Lee Dohui “noona,” and Dohui’s flustered expression was so damn cute lol
—But she likes being called noona, doesn’t she? lol
└ If she’s pretty, she’s noona lol
—Not “protect the baby,” but Sera actually hugged Dohui to protect her? lol
└ Sera especially treats Dohui like a baby lol
└ Wow, but Dohui really is tall. You can compare them perfectly when Sera hugs her.
└ Her proportions are insane. I think she said she recently passed 170 cm.
—She really has everything...
└ She still hasn’t got you, though.
└ Don’t spoil the kid, you asshole. No.
—Does Dohui collect antiques by any chance?
└ Why?
└ Because I’m a little old.
└ Sir, antiques and junk are different things.
—I’ll say this prepared for downvotes: Dohui’s development lately is insane...
└ Honestly, agreed... Her face is still cute from the baby fat, but her body...
└ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzB7hB8E134aVU Today’s fancam is insane, you have to watch it.
└ She really is something.
└ For real, she’s insanely good at making expressions, so she doesn’t really look like a kid onstage. Normally she’s kind of a goofball, though.
└ Do you really want to talk like that about a sixteen-year-old kid?
└ Dohui was born in February, so technically she’s a high school student. Please take that into consideration... I heard she even passed the GED...
Of course, with all the attention focused on them, some people were bound to find the title track’s somewhat urban feel excessive for a group with an average age of 18.8.
But the hair, makeup, and styling that transformed the members’ usually cute images, combined with the chic choreography and sophisticated song,
meant that, in the end, SAVEN’s third album, Dusk, was cruising along without a single hitch.
Perhaps because of that, the fans naturally began to hope.
—If things go well, could they hold on to first place on the charts even after Coral Blue leaves?
—I love it so much I honestly don’t know...
—The summer vibes are insane. It’s the first seasonal song that feels refreshing even though neither the song nor the concept is refreshing...
Of course, this was the sort of conversation that could only happen in a chat room filled with fans. They were all being cautious, worried about a backlash.
But separate from that, they were convinced.
Depending on how this song performed, SAVEN could go beyond merely being a first-tier group in name value.
In other words, even if Coral Blue was the undisputed top girl group in terms of domestic and international recognition,
SAVEN could potentially take the crown when it came to domestic buzz alone.
—We should watch the girls’ reality show and the main broadcast tonight lol
—Apparently today’s episode is mostly about the music video behind-the-scenes. Sounds fun.
—Come to think of it, Idol Adventure 4 is on after the reality show too. Should we watch it?
And for a moment, the fans had no choice but to forget their rivalry with Coral Blue.
—Holy crap, what?
—Really?
***
Back at the dorm after finishing their music-show schedule.
Kim Seoyoon, sitting on the couch beside me and waiting her turn to shower, scratched her head and started spouting nonsense again.
“Did you maybe like that guy?”
The TV screen was playing—
“Go take a cold shower. And stop scratching your head.”
“Sera has to come out first. And I’m just asking~ He really was handsome, though. Like, seriously handsome.”
“Do you think I liked him?”
“If you don’t, you don’t. Why are you getting all defensive...?”
“Whatever. Hurry up and go take a cold shower. If you keep scratching, it’ll start oozing.”
Seoyoon unnie linked her arm through mine and rested her head on my shoulder.
“What’s gotten into you, being so sweet all of a sudden~? Is unnie a little touched by Dohui~?”
“Good grief...”
Then Kim Seoyoon scratched her head again.
“Ah, it’s itching again. I swear, I’m never bleaching my hair again.”
Unable to stand the itch, Seoyoon unnie got up and walked over to the bathroom, knocking on the door.
“Hey! Eun Sera! Stop washing and come out already!”
And through the sound of running water, Sera unnie’s voice could be heard faintly.
—Dohui told me to stall...!
Kim Seoyoon turned her head and looked at me.
“Isn’t that Dorahee, that little bitch?”
Who keeps calling me that?