Dohee’s lips curled up ever so slightly, in a way that made it easy to tell.
[Dohee: Y-yeah...? It’s got kind of a pop-ballad feel, you know? Ahem... Is it okay?]
While their guard was down like that,
Chiyo picked up Dohee’s notebook.
[Chiyo: Let’s have a look-see~]
[Dohee: Ah, don’t read it!]
Dohee panicked.
[Don't dilly dally
우린 엊그제와 또 달리
유달리 또 새로운 느낌
오늘 내일이 매일이 Daily]
Yet Chiyo, supposedly the main rapper, read it with such tasty rhymes.
[Seoyun: Wait, this is actually pretty good? What the heck?]
[Uah: Exactly. It’s good, isn’t it?]
Thanks to Naeun chiming in and giving it a thumbs-up as well,
[Dohee: ...Really? Actually, I’m also trying to challenge myself by making something with a bit of a girl-crush hip-hop vibe for class.]
Dohee smiled demurely again.
Very obviously.
[Seoyun: But what does “dilly dally” mean?]
[Dohee: It’s English slang. It means don’t dawdle. The song’s kind of supposed to mean “don’t fall behind the trends,” or something like that...]
Perhaps Dohee was growing a little more confident now.
[Chiyo: ...What’s this? “Raspberry wine on the eve of the storm”?]
Having forgotten that this was an embarrassing secret, Dohee now stepped forward boldly.
[Dohee: Oh, that? When the 05z unnies from Saven became adults, Harang unnie and Hana unnie bought some raspberry wine. That’s the overwhelmed feeling I had at the time.]
[Seoyun: You really write just about anything into lyrics.]
[Chiyo: You even drew musical notes?]
[Dohee: That’s the sound Seoyun unnie makes when she gets drunk.]
[Seoyun: Ah, you’re habitually lying again.]
[Dohee: Sorry. Don’t misunderstand, everyone. Our Seoyun unnie is perfectly well-behaved without alcohol.]
[Uah: Huh...? But I know that’s not true...?]
[Seoyun: You stop lying, too.]
[Uah: Hehe, I’m sorry~]
Of course, she did get caught with some truly embarrassing lyrics after that.
[Chiyo: Beautiful... all in down... (flustered) Wow, this is really, really, extremely awful. Wow, incredible...]
[Dohee: (firmly) Hey, stop reading.]
And so Dohee took her notebook back.
The conversation about the fan club name had completely vanished, and they continued on with other topics.
[Naeun: Come to think of it, Dohee used to take rap lessons, right?]
[Uah: Yeah. I think Dohee took lessons from Teacher J.O.]
[Chiyo: JO? You mean... that rapper senior? The one who appeared on Show Me the Money?]
[Seoyun: Right, him. He quit right when he filmed that. That was about a year before you joined, Chiyo.]
[Dohee: Teacher Bongsik was really nice. He was incredibly kind and polite, and he taught really well.]
[Chiyo: ...But why can’t Dohee rap? He’s good at it...]
[Dohee: No, (aggrieved) I can’t do it right off the cuff, but I’m good if I practice, okay? What, wanna have a rap battle with me?]
[Chiyo: No way... I don’t battle people who can’t do it...]
It was quite a lot of TMI, but still.
[Seoyun: Do you still greet Senior J.O. these days?]
[Dohee: No, actually, I haven’t run into Teacher Bongsik since debut. I do hear about the songs he releases, though.]
[Naeun: Do you keep in touch?]
[Dohee: Of course. I send him a text at New Year’s to wish him a happy new year.]
Naturally, the fans reacted extremely well.
─Whoa, apparently J.O. was Dohee’s rap teacher lololol insane
─Apparently underground rappers often work as one-day rap instructors for agencies. Guess that was the case here
─So J.O. personally saw Dohee when she was twelve or thirteen? I suddenly hate him...?
─Anyone wanna petition for this JO bastard’s execution? (1/9999)
But the members’ idle chatter came to an end when they were interrupted.
As the door opened, the members all stood up with delighted faces.
What followed was the voice of a fairly stern-sounding woman in her thirties, though her face was not visible.
[Jung Sohyeon (Debonair’s Executive Director): Girls, have you come up with any fan club name candidates?]
[...]
After a brief silence, the screen changed.
The members appeared seated around a round table, holding a meeting with a whiteboard set up in front of them.
The member holding the whiteboard marker was Chiyo.
[Chiyo/General Secretary(?): I shall now accept proposals for fan club names.]
Dohee raised her hand again while rummaging through the notebook from earlier.
[Uah: That’s right. Dohee said she had something prepared, didn’t she?]
[Dohee: Yes. First of all, I thought the sound of the fan club name should be important, since it’s connected to our group name, Debonair, don’t you think?]
[Naeun: Right, right~]
[Dohee: The strongest sound in Debonair is “debo,” after all. So if we look for rhymes that go with “debo”...]
Since her songwriting rhymes from earlier had been rather impressive, all the members watched with expectant expressions.
[Dohee: First, De-bore...]
Sighs erupted from every direction.
[Dohee: ...Obviously, I’m joking. “Dvo” makes you think of Dvořák, right? Humoresque and From the New World. Doesn’t it suit us? It’s so classy.]
Seoyun waved her hand dismissively.
[Dohee: Wow... this one is truly my ambitious masterpiece. “Dyeobo,” a portmanteau combining “yeobo” and “Debonair.” What do you think? Good, right?]
[Seoyun: Next... No, forget it. Just keep going for now.]
[Dohee: Okay...]
Meanwhile, Chiyo, the General Secretary(?), was writing down every single one.
[Chiyo: De-bore... Dvo... Dyeobo...]
Dohee turned another page of her notebook and cautiously gauged everyone’s reactions.
[Dohee: For now, Dubo.]
[Seoyun: ...Wait, what’s Dubo?]
In an instant, Dohee’s eyes curved into crescents.
[Dohee: Don’t tell me... Unnie, you don’t know Du Fu, considered one of the greatest poets in the history of China along with Li Bai, the Tang poet...?
[Seoyun: (flustered) Ah, I know him.]
[Dohee: You should study your general knowledge...]
[Seoyun: Be quiet.]
In any case, Dohee had seized control, and her pointless list of suggestions began.
[Dohee: Next up, Dalbo.]
[Naeun: Huh? Dalbo? That’s cute. What’s that?]
[Dohee: Sweet Voice. Cute, right?]
Uah waved her hand dismissively on Seoyun’s behalf.
[Dohee: This one’s cute, too. Dumbo the elephant.]
[Uah: Oh, this one’s kind of my style.]
[Dohee: Right?]
Of course, there was no way any of them would be accepted.
[Seoyun: Hey, just give up. Do it properly now.]
[Dohee: No, I have one really good one left. This one’s for real...]
Naeun cautiously raised her lowered head.
[Naeun: ...Really?]
[Dohee: Yes.]
There was a chance that all the nonsensical buildup had been for this one final proposal.
[Dohee: Robot Tobbo.]
[Seoyun: Hey, I said give up.]
Not long afterward, the whiteboard was covered with a variety of candidates, thanks to the members’ numerous suggestions.
However, none of them were satisfactory.
[Dohee: I have another one.]
Dohee glanced around before speaking up quietly.
Rummaging through her notebook.
[Seoyun: Just leave it in there.]
[Dohee: (pitifully) No, this time I really mean it, I really do...]
Soft-hearted Naeun patted her and told her to give it another shot, so Dohee opened her mouth.
[Dohee: We do put a lot of meaning into our group name, after all.]
[Seoyun: Ah, if you come out with something like Dalbo again, you’re really putting your life on the line.]
[Chiyo: Oh, Seoyun unnie, that was a good rhyme.]
Dohee continued her presentation undaunted.
[Dohee: Actually, the etymology of “Debonair” is French. Why am I bringing this up? Is it because I recently got a perfect score on my French test, my second foreign language? No, it’s not particularly because of that. Of course, you can applaud me if you want.]
Uah calmly stood up from her seat.
[Uah: We have to go practice now.]
Only then did Dohee stop joking and put on a serious expression as she wrote on the whiteboard.
[Dohee: “De bon air” is French for “of good air, of a good atmosphere, of a good realm.” The important word in the phrase is “air.”]
[So what I’m saying is... let’s go with Air. It’s a little simple and embarrassing, but our fans are like oxygen to us... Air. It sounds nice, too. Yeah.]
The buildup had been pointlessly long,
but the fan club name was ultimately decided to be Air.
* * *
Although the latter half had turned into a talk show, today’s first piece of original content had been a reality documentary, so during its forty-minute runtime, countless tidbits and TMI were revealed.
And the fan accounts for each member were busy compiling their bias’s information at every opportunity.
[Saven 05z’s raspberry wine on the eve of the storm to celebrate becoming adults lol]
[Naeun’s story about the final ranking announcement ceremony (warning: tears)]
[Compiling the rhymes written in Dohee’s songwriting notebook]
[Chiyo: Uah was the biggest source of strength for me while living away from homeㅠㅠㅠ]
[(Dance practice video.Avi) This is the choreography draft uploaded to Zeta Crew’s YouTube, and apparently the members led most of the revisions]
[Dohee, who took rap lessons from JO from ages twelve to thirteen]
[The fact that DEB means “the girls who will debut” gave me actual chills for a second ㄹㅇ The more you learn about the group name, the classier it gets]
[Why does Chiyo only pronounce everything so clearly when she’s doing solo interviews? For a moment I genuinely thought she was Korean.]
[Seoyun not knowing the Tang poet Du Fu]
[Killing point) Jisu holding the whiteboard marker (General Secretary = leader of the Communist Party)]
[But honestly, listening to Dohee talk, she seems to know so much even though she speaks so casually. Of course, she’s always ranked first in her entire school, so it makes sense... she’s seriously a genius]
Naturally, countless people also celebrated the fan club name finally being decided.
[Was I the only one who wanted the fan club name to be Dyeobo? Upvote if you agree]
[Hello, all you Airs who are wasting oxygen~]
[Dohee said we’re precious to her hehe]
* * *
Meanwhile, Dohee’s former rap instructor, JO.
“What is this?”
─Hey, let’s throw down
─Bongsik, did you hide this on purpose?
─First, upload a photo of yourself with Dohee. I’ll give you three hours
─I could tell from his face. He’s absolutely crawling with wickedness...
─Let’s start by having this bastard audited by the tax authorities
─Don’t even think about appearing on broadcasts from now on^^
His real name, Jo Bongsik, was being subjected to an inexplicable barrage of attacks on his personal Instagram.