After all the episodes of Debonair’s self-produced content series, “MT Edition,” had aired, clips from the show began appearing all over various online communities and social media at an alarming rate.
[Debonair’s leader Naeun, who no one knew could win every bet]
[The genuine reaction of a girl group idol downing gosam-cha in one shot lol]
[Chiyo bolts the instant she hears the taste described as “earthworm”]
.
.
[Debonair/Dohee, Seoyun | ESTP vs. ENFP]
[Seoyun/U-a─When a Confucian girl and an MZ girl end up on the same team]
Of course, Debonair had been appearing on various variety shows ever since their debut, invariably walking away with one or two clips and claiming their fair share of the spotlight. But this time, the response seemed even greater.
[Every single one of those kids is absolutely killing me lol]
[They nailed both the laughs and the feels... I seriously love this so much;]
[It’s been a while since we’ve had variety content this purely fun]
The timing when an idol group received the greatest amount of attention was immediately after a successful debut.
And right at that moment, instead of the healing-style self-produced variety content everyone had expected to flow along quietly, the members’ raw humor and unmistakable chemistry had been laid bare. That had played a major role in stirring up the response.
─4.14 million views
In just one week, the view count had already reached numbers far higher than those of most popular variety shows.
That buzz was already being felt firsthand, both at work and in society, by Dohee’s home-master fan, “Dorahui.”
“Did you see it too, Hayoung?”
“Ah, n-no!?”
Her social media account was named “Dorahui.”
She was one of the well-known home masters for Lee Dohee, with seventy thousand followers, who personally made and sold all kinds of Dohee-related merchandise, such as dolls and booklets.
Even so, it was ultimately a hobby rather than a means of making money. She, too, was no chaebol heiress.
In fact, unable to keep up with the expenses of following Dohee everywhere, she normally cosplayed as an ordinary person and spent her days at work criticizing the company as a small-time citizen named Bae Hayoung.
“Go watch it sometime. Those kids are just hilarious. They’re not celebrities for nothing. I think they’re going to become something big.”
“Ahaha, really...? I only caught a glimpse of it, but they did seem incredibly likable.”
Pretending she knew nothing, Bae Hayoung quietly took a step back and began listening to the conversations of her coworkers.
“Who was that one? Naeun, was it? She’s totally my type. She looks like my first love.”
“Oh, come on. Your first love, Assistant Manager...”
“Your first love, you punk! First loves get beautified in your memory!”
“Try saying that to your wife sometime... Anyway, I really liked that Chiyo girl. She has the kind of looks that really tug at an otaku’s heartstrings. And her personality is so bubbly.”
These ordinary people were showing all the telltale signs of being at the beginning of their descent into becoming fans.
“I saw on Instagram that I liked that U-a girl too. She has so much charm, seriously—”
Of course, Bae Hayoung, by far the most knowledgeable person there when it came to Debonair, was busy silently screaming inside while the corners of her mouth twitched ecstatically at the explosive spotlight being shone on her girls.
‘E-emergency... Emergency!!! Ordinary people are starting to know Debonair too!!! Just a little while ago, whenever Debonair came up, people would say, “Oh, that’s the group with Lee Dohee and that Kim Seoyun, right?” But now they already know all the other members’ names too! Shi...’
“Shit!!!”
“Hayoung?”
It seemed a little of her inner thoughts had leaked out.
“Ah. The person in charge at our client’s company kept pressuring me to finish it by today. I suddenly got angry.”
She managed to brush it off with some quick thinking.
“Ugh~ Those bastards again? They’re always claiming something’s urgent and trying to arbitrarily shorten the deadline, aren’t they? What a bunch of unethical assholes. So what happened?”
“I told them flat-out that it was absolutely impossible. Do they think we’re their subcontractors or something?”
“Good for you, good for you. You really know how to stand your ground.”
This time, the client really had been in the wrong, but since they usually behaved that way, Bae Hayoung decided they deserved the abuse and resumed eating her lunch.
Then she went back to eavesdropping on the conversation from time to time.
It seemed her coworkers were thoroughly enamored with the sides of the Debonair members they had shown in their self-produced content.
‘Dorahee and Seorahui are a given, and Kim Chisushi—no, Kim Jisu—is a newly emerging force that would make even those two recoil... U-a and Naeun have their eyes subtly spinning too... There’s no way they wouldn’t leave an impression.’
‘Exactly, exactly. Even if they didn’t show it openly, you could tell they were trying to make things fun because it was a variety show, because it was their own content, and I loved that so much... Plus, they were so kind to the staff in between takes! Sob... Such sharp, clever puppies...’
‘Agreed. They nailed it right from the very first thumbnail. What girl group puts themselves on their knees in repentance as their thumbnail? Dohee is the best... But why does it feel a little sad that the thumbnail seems to show the kids’ identities so clearly...?'
But whenever people gathered together, there was inevitably someone who voiced an opposing opinion.
A male colleague who looked completely uninterested in idols cut into the conversation, apparently finding the topic rather boring.
“But aren’t they singers? Then their songs should be good.”
“That’s true, but wasn’t their debut song good? I thought it was great.”
“Well, it wasn’t bad... I don’t know. There’s a lot of better music in foreign hip-hop and indie. Would you like me to recommend some?”
“Ah... Sure, whatever.”
Her colleague grew excited.
“For foreign hip-hop, these days it’s Will George or Jas. Ah, Jas is actually R&B. They won Best New Artist at the Grammys last year and swept the top spots on Apple Music, so you must have heard of them, right? Of course... Then, for people you might not know... Right! As far as Korean indie bands go, Akangs are really good these days. They perform in Hongdae all the time, you know? They started out in their high school band club!”
“Ah... Hongdae is nice.”
‘Ugh, did this bastard swallow all his social skills?’
Of course, Bae Hayoung understood perfectly well that people had different ears and different tastes.
Even songs that ranked number one for an entire year on the charts could be divisive.
Still, what was she supposed to do about this bastard who kept interrupting everyone while they were having a pleasant conversation and only talked about himself?
‘What kind of idiot in charge of hiring passed someone like this in an interview?’
Bae Hayoung silently added another tally to her list of complaints about the company. Eventually, unable to hold herself back any longer, she spoke up.
“I read in an article that idols’ songs have been getting better in quality because so much money is being invested in them these days. They bring in indie composers and famous composers from overseas too.”
“Hmm~ That’s true ever since NND took off. I heard Repro created that whole structure.”
‘What the hell is he talking about? That’s been around since the early 2010s.’
“But there are exceptions, and pouring money into something doesn’t automatically make it good, right? As for hyperpop... I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to let you listen to some next time. When are you free? Let’s go see a live performance together sometime.”
He was even making a subtle pass at her in the middle of it all.
“Obviously, the musicianship is better. Live performances are the bare minimum instead of lip-syncing, and they all play their own instruments too. There’s a certain ear-ringing emotion to it, you know? Unlike idols, they write their own music from the start. The truth is, since idols are judged by their looks, they’re usually just overhyped through viral marketing, aren’t they?”
Bae Hayoung had held back as long as she could and was just about to speak.
‘A high school band club? What a load of bullshit.’
Dohee was a hundred times better than those bastards.
She had been ranked first even at an arts high school.
But before she could say anything, the married assistant manager with a five-year-old daughter opened his mouth first.
“Kid, do you have no sense at all? What you know isn’t everything, so if you’re going to live with your eyes and ears shut, at least keep your mouth shut too, will you? Go look up a few articles, if nothing else. Even my daughter keeps saying she wants to play piano like Lee Dohee, and she’s asking us to buy her a several-million-won piano, so I’m getting a headache.”
“Hehe, Assistant Manager, send her to an academy first. Who knows? She might be a genius.”
“Exactly.”
The employees around them seemed to be trying to ease the tension in the spirit of letting bygones be bygones, so Hayoung decided to hold her tongue.
Debonair was still only at the beginning of their journey, after all.
And she believed that the members’ abilities in their actual profession would be proven through the albums and programs still to come.
Besides, from the very first time she had met Dohee until now, Dohee had never once disappointed her fans.
Just then, her phone began to buzz.
That particular alert meant she had received a message through Dohee’s communication app.
I wonder what it is. I’m excited.
Bae Hayoung lowered her head and pulled out her phone.
[GeniousProducerLeeDohee: Ahem]
The moment she saw the message, a delighted laugh burst out of her.
[GeniousProducerLeeDohee: The cherry blossoms are absolutely gorgeous today, huh?]
A nickname spoiler, for the first time in a while.
‘Is she writing another piano piece like the trailer? Or an actual b-side track...!?’
There was no doubt that Dohee had participated in this album too.
* * *
“...I can’t exactly take your phone away.”
Faced with the director’s reprimand, I imitated Chiyo unni’s way of speaking a little.
“I’m sowwy...”
“Speak properly.”
That hadn’t worked.
Chiyo unni always got away with it when she did that.
“I won’t do it again. I’m sorry... I was thinking about what message to send, but Seoyun unni was annoying me, so I lost my temper...”
Kim Chiyo, I envy you so much!
“Good grief... Since filming starts tomorrow, I won’t take your phone away. Go write a full page of an apology letter, and don’t upload any photos to Instagram for a few weeks.”
“But thirteen million followers are waiting for my photos...”
“Thirteen million?”
“Yes, it’s gone up a lot again lately!”
“...That’s a good thing.”
As if the breakup of our seniors, Pastel Love, weren’t enough.
With our seniors X10 about to enter their military hiatus.
And our album due to be released in two months.
It was the busiest time of the year.
The director’s dark circles seemed especially deep today, so this was hardly the time to play around.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Anyway, it doesn’t seem like the fans have guessed at all that it’s the title track, so I’m letting it slide this once. You’ve got filming again tomorrow, too.”
For the first time in a while, I felt like a student again, back in my trainee days.
“I can trust you, right, Dohee?”
“Of course. Since there’s no self-produced content this week, I was just giving them a little something to talk about. I didn’t want the fans to get bored. It was a very deliberate and meticulously planned piece of fandom management.”
“...Fine. I’ll trust you.”
I was telling the truth, but the director clearly didn’t believe me.