“But why isn’t anyone questioning it?”
“Questioning what? You were explaining it all excitedly by yourself.”
“Psychopath.”
Phew. This is why I’m so necessary to this group.
“Look. Songs that feel eerie, or spooky, like ghosts and stuff. When do people usually release those?”
“Obviously on Halloween...”
“Oh, right.”
“Yeah, now that I think about it, the season’s not right for a Jekyll and Hyde concept.”
That’s exactly what I’m saying.
No matter how good a concept you come up with, timing matters in music.
“Why do you think seasonal songs exist? Because every season and time has a natural rhythm that easily harmonizes with people’s emotions and sensibilities. Even if a song is amazing, if the situation feels artificial, people sense that dissonance and go, ughhh—like, they reject it, you know?”
To put it simply, it was like this.
“Even if it’s the same song, when someone recommends it to you, you’re like, eh, it’s not that great. But then if you happen to hear it on the radio or while walking down the street, suddenly you’re like, huh? Is this a masterpiece? It’s the same principle. Right or wrong?”
“Why does she get mad all by herself after talking all by herself?”
“Nooo... Unnie, I’m not mad right now.”
“Whatever. So what are you going to do about it?”
I was just about to explain that...
“Unnie, why are you like that? Our Dohee’s excited for the first time in ages.”
“No, but she looks kind of dumb. Her expression too.”
“That is acknowledg-ed. Rabbit triangle idiot mouth.”
“Baby, come here. Don’t sulk.”
Sigh. Even if I try to explain things in a fun and easy way, it’s useless. Totally useless.
“Anyway, okay. So, no, Miss Dohee, what exactly are you going to do! The season doesn’t fit! Huh!?”
“Ah, she’s not ending the skit today.”
“Dohee’s really excited today, so just let her be.”
“But don’t you think it’s been a really long time since we’ve seen Dohee get this excited? Now I’m worried she was getting this excited at song camp too...”
“In my view, she is drunk on herself being a genius. One hundred percent.”
Haah, honestly. A presentation is supposed to have an introduction, development, turn, and conclusion, so why do they keep nitpicking?
First, I cleared my throat. Ahem.
“That’s why I said earlier.”
“Mm, which part, Dohee?”
“We should do what we’re good at, but find a conceptual angle that Americans would like.”
“You did say that.”
“Now, that means we have to find a conceptual season where the Jekyll and Hyde concept fits, in a way Americans would like.”
First, we needed one light premise.
“Now, everyone. What percentage of Americans are Christian?”
“A lot.”
“Most.”
“A crazy lot.”
“The majority.”
Couldn’t they answer with just a little more sincerity...?
“...Correct.”
“Girls, Dohee’s sulking again.”
“What are you saying? You did it too, unnie.”
“No, I just unconsciously went with the flow...”
This really takes all the fun out of teaching them.
“Anyway, according to statistics from the 2020s, the Christian population in the U.S. is about 64 percent, atheists are 30 percent, and Buddhism, Islam, including Judaism, are around 6 percent.”
“...That’s lower than I thought. Honestly, I figured it’d be like 90 percent.”
Exactly. They needed to ask questions like this so I could catch them right away, answer, and enjoy the conversation.
“Seoyun unnie is right. Apparently, up until the ’90s, the percentage of Christians in the U.S. was close to 90 percent. It’s just been steadily decreasing.”
“Mm, yeah, sure. Confirmed.”
“...Phew.”
Ah, the mood’s dead.
“But from Christians to atheists... Ah, this is annoying. I don’t feel like talking. Someone order a late-night snack. I’m hungry.”
* * *
We decided to talk while eating the late-night snack we’d ordered lightly, jokbal.
Meat is protein, so it doesn’t make you gain weight.
“But look. The roughly 23 percent of people who changed from Christian to atheist between the ’90s and now. Can we really assert that Christian culture no longer has any influence on their values and ideology?”
“Of course not. Not when the culture around them is like that.”
“That’s what I mean. To begin with, there’s a high chance they learned Christian doctrine from their parents’ generation while growing up.”
“Hss... It’s been a while since I had spicy jokbal, so this is kind of spicy... hss.”
“So my premise is that, practically speaking, if you’re American, regardless of whether you faithfully believe in and follow religious doctrine, you’ll still commonly share these Christian ideas. Which means the percentage of people familiar with Christianity probably isn’t that different from the ’90s.”
“Hss... Hah. Is there no milk?”
“At the very least, even atheists would have been in an environment where they naturally came into contact with the Bible or doctrine.”
“Here, Coolpis.”
“Hss, thank you.”
“...You are listening, right?”
“Yes, yes.”
“...Let’s just talk after you all finish eating.”
* * *
“Now, going back to what I was saying.”
“Sensei, you are not explaining more!?”
You weren’t even listening because you were eating...
“Anyway, going back. Let’s think about how Halloween also started as a Catholic holiday in the end.”
“Yesh!”
“The Solemnity of All Saints. It’s a day commemorating the day before All Saints’ Day.”
“Mm-hm, right?”
As expected, once everyone’s stomachs were full, their focus improved...
Well... even the army needs to be full before it advances...
“But is Halloween the only good day to use a somewhat eerie concept like Jekyll and Hyde? Surely in Western Christian culture, Halloween isn’t the only day considered ominous.”
Seoyun unnie nodded and answered.
“You mean that, right? Friday the 13th.”
“Yeah. The date Christians generally consider ominous because Jesus died by crucifixion.”
And only now did the unnies begin naturally making inferences.
“Ah, so that’s why Dohee said a February comeback?”
“Looking at it, February 13th, 2026 is a Friday. I thought it was just a Friday release to aim for Billboard.”
Now I should sit down and plant my butt on the seat too.
“Right. Honestly, for us, even when we vaguely say Friday the 13th, Friday the 13th, it doesn’t really feel like anything, does it? But in Christian cultural spheres, it would hit much more strongly. They say some people even have a phobia of Friday the 13th.”
But even after hearing my explanation, the unnies still looked unconvinced.
“Hmm...”
“That’s true, but.”
I’d expected that much.
“Honestly, if this were the end of it, even you unnies would think it’s too bland and not that great, right?”
When I spoke self-deprecatingly first, the members finally nodded and gave their opinions.
“...Honestly, it feels a little weak. Like it doesn’t really hit home?”
“I Dohee, you said from the start that the feeling has to basically work in Korea too, but honestly, I’m still not sure.”
“Chiyo also massively agrees this time.”
Good. They needed at least that much sense and subjectivity.
“If I were to explain as objectively as possible why it feels deflating, first of all, Friday the 13th isn’t even that rare. Every year, there are at least one or two, and at most, even three.”
“That’s more than I expected.”
“Exactly.”
Then let’s think about it.
“If we go, ‘We released an eerie concept on Friday the 13th!’ then?”
“It doesn’t have style. It’s boring.”
“Right. Elements like that feel too artificial, so they easily create dissonance.”
How should I put it? Like cheap syrup-flavored orange juice that claims to be made with natural orange juice.
“I get what you mean, okay? So now just tell us the conclusion.”
“But like I said from the start, the concept we’re good at and the image we ultimately want to express is the dramatization of contrast, right?”
“Yeah, so you said it was a Jekyll and Hyde concept.”
“Exactly. So, to put it simply, it’s this. We’re going to release the first title on Friday the 13th to do the Jekyll and Hyde concept, but wouldn’t the emotional tone come alive harmoniously through contrast only if Friday the 13th is contrasted with something too?”
Of course, if I put it like this, they wouldn’t know unless they looked at the calendar.
If I first repeated the definition, they’d understand quickly.
“I said earlier, right? The definition of contrast is when things with different qualities are arranged in relation to each other.”
“...Ah, wait. Arranged? Ah, so that’s why the second title concept is listed as a love story right now?”
See? Kim Seoyun got it right away.
“Wow, are you a genius?”
Oh, come on, calling me a genius, heh heh.
“So what exactly is it!?”
“Ah? I get it too.”
“Wow, this is really good.”
“No, tell me what it is!”
Wow, it’s been ages since I saw Chiyo unnie pronounce things properly.
If she was that curious, she could have spent that time flipping through the calendar.
“Hey, Kimchi.”
“What.”
“What date is arranged next to the 13th?”
“The 12th... the 14th... Oh?!”
“Right. February 14th. The feast day of Saint Valentine. It’s Valentine’s Day, when lovers whisper love to each other.”
“Oh...!”
Yes. Jekyll and Hyde.
“That’s why I wrote it in the proposal.”
“The core of this album is ‘four titles with different themes being released one by one on different dates throughout one week.’”
“First, on February 13th, Hyde will reveal the eerie first title.”
“Then the next day, February 14th, Valentine’s Day, Jekyll will reveal a love song.”
“This is the concept of Debonair that we’ll present in this album. The first contrast within it.”
With that, I swept my eyes across the living room.
“I really acknowledge this one. You’re a genius, seriously.”
“Our baby, acknowledged, acknowledged!”
“Youngest is a little cool!?”
Hurry up and praise me!
“Hehe, that’s why I wrote it there. Four titles with different concepts, huh?!”
“But now we must stop praising. Bad habits will form.”
“Agreed. I’m scared she’ll get excited again.”
“Honestly, I do feel a little overwhelmed when Dohee gets like that... hehe.”
Those three are seriously too much.
Would it kill them to praise me a little?
Ua unnie and I even promised to cherish and comfort each other...
“So that’s why the album concept was fitting ourselves into this world? Like releasing our songs to match the symbolic image characteristic of each date.”
Really, I only have Naeun unnie. Truly.
“Right. If we wanted to dress it up with fancy words... Even if changes in emotion according to weather and season are a hormonal function common to all living things, the way people’s emotions can change so quickly simply because the date or day has changed might be an interesting feeling only humans can enjoy. So we wanted to express our relationship with the world through that?”
“Mm, I like it, Dohee. You’re cool.”
“Hehe, but honestly, I just attached fancy words to everything to make our concept work. Forcing it to fit.”
Anyway, now I had to explain the second contrast...
Ah, my throat’s dry.
“I’m going to drink some juice first.”