An October Sunday, with summer drawing to a close.
It had already been over three months since I’d taken on the role of MC for Trending Music, and the schedule itself had become familiar and comfortable.
After finishing the basic reading with Ju Seungbin in front of the staff, we returned to the waiting room.
I flopped down onto the sofa as if I were diving into it.
“Ha, I’m tired~”
Then I picked up the bottled strawberry latte I’d bought earlier from the Trending Music snack bar.
I shook it, then tried to open the cap.
But it wouldn’t budge at all.
Was it because the hand cream made my hands slippery?
Honestly, even a guy would probably have trouble with this.
Seriously, why did they seal it so tightly?
I held the bottle out to Ju Seungbin, who was fiddling with his phone right beside me.
“Seungbin, open this for me.”
Without a word, Ju Seungbin took the bottle and quickly opened the cap.
Then he held it out with a slightly proud smile.
“Oh, you’re pretty strong~”
As soon as I took a sip of the strawberry latte, sweetness filled my mouth.
As expected, sweet things were the best.
Suddenly curious, I asked Ju Seungbin, who had put his earphones back in and was poking at his phone again.
“Seungbin, what’s your grip strength?”
“Dunno? I think I got around 55 before.”
“Wow, I hate flexers.”
“It’s true.”
“So what.”
As expected, maybe because male idols worked out so intensely, their grip strength was pretty strong.
I wondered what mine would be.
About 20? 25?
Playing piano didn’t make your grip stronger, after all.
It wasn’t like my hands were especially big, either...
With nothing else to do, I put in my earphones too and started fiddling with my phone, watching YouTube Shorts.
Trending memes, music, classical, idols, games, comedy.
While I was poking around on my phone like that—
“Hey.”
A slightly aggrieved voice came from beside me.
“Whaddya want.”
“I mean, casual speech is fine, but... I’m the older one, Seungbin is.”
There he goes again.
That whole seniority obsession.
Maybe because he was still nineteen, at the age where he’d normally be in school.
It was the age to get hung up on stuff like that.
“Hey, a two-year age gap means you’re friends in society. Manager Yeongho, you agree, right?”
Manager Yeongho, who was sitting beside us, nodded.
“Yeah, I’m fifteen years older than Dohui, but we’ve known each other for seven years, so we decided to speak casually now. Right?”
“Oh, did I give permission?”
“Of course. Call me Yeongho from now on.”
“I’m sorry, actually, people in their thirties are still a bit hard for me...”
“That’s sad...”
Looking at Seungbin, who was chuckling at us, I gave him a see? kind of expression and said,
“Anyway, Seungbin, ‘senior’ and ‘Seungbin’ both start with the same consonant, so just let it slide now~”
“No, I’m fine with it, but I’m worried other people might say something.”
Excuses.
“Sure, sure~”
Because it had been so unbearably awkward, I’d gradually started speaking more comfortably to get closer to him, and before I knew it, I was using casual speech with Ju Seungbin.
But honestly, I had a much older mental age anyway, so wasn’t it fine?
Just then, an alert popped up on my phone.
Since I was bored, I checked it right away.
[Coral Blue Rira: What are you doing?]
‘Ah, Rira.’
These days, even when it wasn’t about work, I sometimes chatted with Rira.
[Coral Blue Rira: I know you read the alert]
But this felt like she was about to give me work.
Didn’t she say she’d had a song camp recently?
This person’s passion really never ran out.
Of course, even though I was bored and fiddling with my phone, I replied as if I were extremely busy.
[Me: I am driving]
[Coral Blue Rira: ?]
[Me: Please contact me again later]
[Coral Blue Rira: This is KakaoTalk, don’t pretend it’s an away message]
[Me: lol;]
If we’d gotten this close...
Couldn’t I start speaking casually to her too?
—Ding
Another alert popped up.
Ha, so busy, so busy.
Even just touching my phone made me bu—
Oh, so the unnies were finally debuting first.
* * *
It had already been two months since Dohui dropped out of school, and everyone had been full of anticipation, expecting Top East to soon unveil a new girl group centered around Seoyun and Dohui.
People’s attention had already shifted to the groups currently promoting.
But a little while ago, a post went up on a K-pop community.
[Is this a spoiler for JS’s new girl group?]
—(Photo)
｢—They’re debuting
I knew our manager’s daughter was an aspiring singer,
but apparently she’s debuting soon
I didn’t really know which company it was, but it turns out it’s JS, which even I’ve heard of
The team name is Ailli, a five-member girl group,
and the members haven’t been revealed yet,
but they’re debuting next month
—If this is true, it looks like she’ll be debuting with three Seven members
└I’ve heard of Seven, but I don’t really know girl groups ㅠㅠ
—The fandom was maybe hoping for a reunion, but I guess everyone’s going into individual battles now...
—Get her autograph in advance. With Eun Sera there and Yeeun joining too, there’s no way they won’t make it big
└Looks like another member is famous. I was thinking to myself that she was taking a hard road @.@—｣
It was a post containing a screenshot from a community mainly used by middle-aged and older people.
—If Ailli is real, the name is pretty. It totally feels like a girl group name
—Among Seven, are the JS girls debuting first??
Of course, since the authenticity of the post couldn’t be confirmed, it was somewhat buried.
But it was enough to spark talk about the Seven members people had forgotten.
And the much-rumored re-debut of the JS Seven members.
The truth was revealed only a few days after that spoiler post went up, when a new playlist appeared on JS’s YouTube channel.
JS Entertainment
@JS Entertainment 32 million subscribers 2,000 videos
illli! ▶ Play all
—PROLOUGE FILM: Ailli? illli!
As expected of a video from JS Entertainment, which had 32 million subscribers, and as expected of the highly buzzworthy Seven members, the video shot up to No. 1 on trending videos in an instant.
And Dohui’s fansite master, whose overwhelming bias was Dohui, was no exception.
Her room was still full of Seven goods.
Since she was a fan who loved the Seven members—a Shavenue—
she couldn’t hide her pounding heart.
As soon as she got home from work, she put on her headset and sat down in front of her computer.
On her way home,
she had seen a few spoiler posts.
But in order to feel the deep thrill properly, she had held back.
‘Starting with the group name, Ailli... It sounds nice...’
And she couldn’t hold back any longer.
She had to watch it now...!
When she went to JS’s YouTube channel,
the video was on the main page.
The logo illli! filled the thumbnail.
The pure white logo, which somehow looked like a barcode pattern, appeared in the center of a dark background along with quiet music.
A screen full of achromatic colors.
A single ray of light appeared on the screen.
A red line.
A red laser.
The barcode scan line struck the logo with a beep.
But at the same time, an error sound spread out.
The beeping sound continued to repeat,
but only errors appeared.
Then the logo slowly began to glow.
Each line of the achromatic white logo—
i, l, l, l, i—filled with different chromatic colors.
‘Are these colors symbolizing the members?’
At that moment, the red laser appeared again.
The barcode scan line swept past.
The screen captured the moment it passed over each part of the logo in slow motion.
Then the screen zoomed in, and the logo popped out of the frame, drawing closer.
A guitar riff rang out.
The previously quiet background music changed into something cheerful.
And the logo illli, while keeping the shape of its letters,
changed into a formation where five members stood.
Then the faces of the five Ailli members, each with different expressions, were shown one by one in close-up.
One had one corner of her mouth lifted.
One raised an eyebrow as if asking, Why?
One had a finger to her lips, going Shh.
One bit her lip.
One looked upward.
—Dududung, dududung
And with six beats of a drum announcing the true beginning, the one-shot introductions of each member began.
Along with lettering art, Sera appeared first, standing in the center of speakers while holding a megaphone.
She posed provocatively, as if firing a gun with the megaphone.
“Wow.”
Dohui’s fansite master naturally let out an exclamation.
Before she was a fan, as a K-pop otaku, she had to admit that Sera’s visuals were worthy of representing the fourth generation.
If you were a face-stan and a Seven fan,
it was true that you had been divided between Dohui and Sera.
With the second piece of lettering, an unfamiliar member appeared.
Wearing a hairpin, she lay sideways on a chair, boredly tossing a glass cup up and catching it, while looking charmingly at the camera.
“Miho? Gumiho? But she really looks Japanese. Is she Japanese?”
Third.
Hana walked out through chains hanging from the ceiling in contrasting complementary colors of purple and yellow, roughly pushing them aside with a playful, casual smile.
“As expected... there’s only one leader of Seven.”
Fourth.
A maknae-material member wearing a flower crown.
Something about her chubby cheeks looked so babyish that she seemed really young.
“Dohui had plump cheeks at first too... These days they’re slimming down, so she’s becoming an unnie...”
Then came not a flower crown, but a pink cap and layers of necklaces, looking quite...
“Our Yeeun is seriously a total pro, isn’t she?”
So much so that, despite coming off like a third-year professional, she looked younger than nineteen.
Then various effects were added to the video.
When Yeeun fired a gun, the screen shattered.
When the girl named Miho dropped the glass, the sound of breaking glass rang out.
When Sera spoke into the megaphone, a sharp blare burst from the speakers behind her.
When the maknae-like Bomi took off and put on her flower crown, the screen brightened again.
With the chains Hana shook, the colors of the screen changed drastically.
Amid those chaotic screen effects and transitions,
the drumbeat went dududung, dududung again.
The members’ faces crossfaded one by one.
Finally, against a background of five colors, the members stood side by side again.
And in the shape of the members, they changed back into the logo.
illli
The voices of the Ailli members began to play.
[i will] X 5
Then the members’ refreshing laughter spread out.
[Laugh Infectiously!]
It was the meaning behind Ailli’s group name.
I will laugh infectiously.
[Everyone will catch my laughter, won’t they?]
[I’LL L I]
I’ll, L, I.
Ailli.
As the screen gradually darkened,
Ailli’s logo and scheduled debut date appeared simply.
And after watching that intense trailer, Dohui’s fansite master found her heart trembling without realizing it.
“Damn, the planning... JS really hasn’t gone anywhere.”
JS’s debut was already being anticipated.