─We’ve definitely taken your wishes into consideration, everyone! No matter what happens, the production team will do their absolute best to carry them out for your healing!
The place where we met the PD, who had been crying out for healing throughout the preliminary interview, was a luxury pension practically indistinguishable from a mansion.
"Wow."
"What the heck, Chiyo, did you really want to heal?"
"No, it’s just so pretty here..."
"Chiyo, come here! Big sis will give you a tight hug today!"
Chiyo unni had dashed out faster than anyone else and was rolling around on the broad front lawn covered in green grass.
"Enough with the trivial exclamations! Like me, enjoy this moment to your heart’s content and run around!"
‘A lawn...’
To be honest, I was the sort of person who maintained my dignity at all times, always gentle and gentlemanly.
But even I couldn’t resist a bit of romance like this.
"Ahh, this is it..."
What more could happiness be? On a spring day when the sunlight was still cool yet faintly wistful, lying on the grass and gazing up at the sky in leisure was more than enough.
"It’d be perfect if we just had some drinks─"
"Dohee!"
What the PD immediately brought over was a huge cooler.
"We know very well that you’re a beverage enthusiast, Dohee! Pick whatever you like!"
He did flash an irritating grin as he said it.
"Oh, right! Dohee, you’re a minor, so you can’t drink alcohol~? Hahahaha!"
Anyway, I found the same juice I’d advertised when I was five, so I took one out and drank it.
"Now, everyone, today is simply a day for you to enjoy and play to your heart’s content according to Chiyo’s wishes. Take your time and look around."
At the repeated urging, we left the lawn and entered the pension, whose interior was even more extravagant.
"Chiyo, what on earth did you write down?"
"Heehee! Enjoy yourselves to your heart’s content!"
The interior design was enough to put most five-star hotels to shame.
The fact that Kimchi hadn’t done anything outrageous alone made this impressively thoughtful.
Meanwhile, the production staff were busily setting something up in the yard.
"Don’t mind us here and go about your business comfortably! Comfortably!"
It was obvious that they were preparing for an outdoor shoot: lights had been installed, and large speakers, tables, grills, and so on had been set out.
"Isn’t this perfect barbecue weather? There’s no grocery-shopping game today, and of course, you don’t have to cook yourselves. You know, right? Healing!"
Could we really trust the healing the PD had been shouting about so incessantly, at least once?
"We’ll start filming in exactly one hour, so relax until then!"
And after exactly one hour, I, who had lain by the window watching the sunset—romance itself—and dozed off, was woken by the unni-deul’s voices, which were unusually kind today.
"Dohee, get up quickly. Come on~"
"That’s right, Dohee. Let’s hurry up and eat! Food!"
One look at the table set up in the yard made everything understandable.
"Where’s Chiyo unni?"
"Ah~ They said she’ll be out soon."
There were all kinds of meat and seafood, along with greens for wrapping.
The ingredients were incredibly plentiful.
"Oh, you came out at exactly the right time!"
The PD himself must have been delighted by the situation, because he proudly showed off the freshness of the bright-red meat and urged us over.
"Everyone, sit down! Sit down!"
"We’re sitting down right away? There’s no game?"
"Of course not! Today is all about eating delicious food! Hyeonsol, just clap the slate!"
"Yes! I’ll clap the slate!"
Though he appeared not to care, I couldn’t help worrying that he had perhaps suffered more inwardly than expected after receiving an unjust amount of abuse last time.
"Dohee, what should I grill first for you?"
"You’re going to grill it for us?"
"Of course! Back when I was a student, I worked at a barbecue restaurant for quite a while, you know..."
Still, we were grateful and happy with this development too.
So we decided to do our best to enjoy ourselves.
"We have to start with beef!"
"Yes! As today’s chef, I’ll grill it deliciously for you right now!"
The PD had been reciting his long history of grilling meat for quite some time.
Then, just as he finally took hold of a rack of meat like he was lifting a championship belt—
"You all know this, right? Tomahawk? We’ll start with the tomahawk─!"
─♫♬
A loud piece of music rang out through the yard, cutting off the PD.
"Huh? This song?"
The enormous amp sitting right in the middle of the yard had suddenly begun pouring out a familiar melody.
"It’s that song."
U-a unni smiled as though she knew exactly what it was.
"It has the same vibe as our dorm party last time. Chiyo loved it so much back then. Isn’t today’s healing concept supposed to be like that?"
She was only half right.
"No..."
Even the instrumental intro alone was exciting.
With its synthesizer, this iconic ’80s classic was indeed the same roller-rink vibe from the day we spun a disco ball at the dorm and I personally showed off my DJing skills.
"Ah, please..."
But this song could also be called an OST that had become even more famous after being featured in a certain superhero movie.
I pointed around us.
The PD stood frozen, meat still in his hands.
The cameraman stood motionless, camera in hand.
The youngest writer had stopped halfway through setting the slate down on the ground.
"Ah!"
Whether U-a unni was slow on the uptake or simply easygoing, I didn’t know, but she finally let out an exclamation as though she had realized it too.
As far as I could tell, the reason U-a unni’s personality had abruptly shifted so far toward the easygoing side was—
without a doubt, she had adapted to conserve her energy under the influence of the person she had been stuck with throughout her school years.
"Haah..."
Either way, even though I didn’t want to face it, I slowly turned my head.
Toward the entrance of the pension, which seemed to be the source of this whole mess.
─Sweet Dreams are made of this ♫
A black leather biker jacket.
Goggles with maximum Gen Z energy.
Even earphones connected to a cassette player.
Chiyo unni was standing there.
"Grin."
Fucking hell.
* * *
[Idol Group Trend Index No. 1, ‘DEBONAIR’...]
[“Unni has caught Dohee Syndrome”—sympathetic posts ‘running wild’... What exactly are Dohee Syndrome and Dohkki Syndrome?]
[DEBONAIR’s ‘Same’ ranks No. 7 on the Billboard Global chart... Setting another new personal best]
The public’s impressions of DEBONAIR were incredibly varied,
and there was no avoiding the many keywords that came to be associated with its members.
[DEBONAIR just feels like an army of super-beauties and super-weirdos]
[Seoyun, who gets teased for being the smallest, is 165 cm lol... ㅠ]
But if you had to choose the two most contrasting nicknames among them, these were without question the ones.
One was a title born from their overwhelming visuals and long, shapely heights.
And the other was—
[At today’s DEBONAIR fansign lol. Someone asked who seemed the most normal, and they all said they were number one lol]
[Is this group’s atmosphere innate or acquired? Seriously, I want the members to have a debate about it at least once lol]
[I’ve been feeling this lately, but U-a is genuinely subtly crazy in the purest way]
[Even if Naeun had been the youngest, this is a group where she should’ve been the leader...]
An unofficial nickname given to them because their utterly unpredictable, chaotic atmosphere was so adorable.
The proof was readily apparent just by watching the videos uploaded to DEBONAIR’s official channel so far.
[DEB:ON AIR Season 4 Preview #Shorts #Debonair...]
Even in a short video of around thirty seconds, this atmosphere was easy to read.
─Wow, Season 4 is finally here ㅠㅠㅠ
The Shorts video uploaded as a preview was unmistakably healing content.
A table piled high with meat.
The members smiling together in a cozy gathering.
It was a thumbnail featuring meat and super-beauties, after all.
─What is this lol
But as was always the case with DEBONAIR,
the moment the video started playing, the story took a radical turn.
─What’s with the tone and facial acting from those two lol
─Lol why do they both laugh so nastily even when they smile?
─No, seriously, who told them to do this? Lol
[Mm! So deliciousss]
[Did you go to the mart? Kyakyakya]
The incident began with a single piece of meat.
Dohee swiftly snatched away the precious piece Chiyo had picked up and swallowed it spitefully, while Seoyun laughed beside her like a demon.
The first-person protagonist, appearing as an innocent victim, sighed as though the two of them were hopelessly immature, then clicked the button on the cassette player below.
And then—
[♫♬]
When the world came back into view, everyone was frozen like mannequins.
[♬♫]
Everyone except the free-moving protagonist in the first-person perspective, that was.
─Ah, I know this one. It’s Quicksilver lol
└What kind of self-produced content did they make? lol
└Why are even the production staff frozen? Lol
└How did they leave a fork floating in midair? Did they use CG too? The cinematography is insane lol
The protagonist first calmly rose from their seat and approached U-a and Naeun, who had been taking a cozy selfie together while making V-signs.
[Sweet Dreams are made of this ♫]
─But they were just taking a nice, peaceful selfie?
─What are they doing? Lol
Then the protagonist began changing the finger positions of the two girls who were making V-signs.
Their index fingers folded down...
─Why are you making someone else’s hand flip them off? Lol
─Kimchi, are you a girl group? LOOOOOL
Of course, their hands were pointed toward Dohee and Seoyun.
But they were safe thanks to the mosaic censoring!
However, the protagonist still had work left to do.
[Who am I to disagree? ♫]
The protagonist in the first-person perspective moved to the side once again.
After looking around, the protagonist nodded, then grabbed a huge handful of garlic with their hands.
[I travel the world and the seven seas ♬]
Then they pried open the mouths of the two who had been grinning so obnoxiously that their lips were practically cramping, and shoved their fists straight inside.
─LOL Why are you putting garlic in there?
─This is seriously ridiculous lol
─Are you a demon?
After stuffing Dohee and Seoyun’s mouths full of garlic, the protagonist seemed to become bothered by the garlic scent on their own hands.
[Everybody's looking for something]
They washed their hands once with water from a cup, then even flicked the water droplets clinging to their hands at Dohee and Seoyun.
─LOL Chiyo, you little punk, right to the very end
─Seoyun’s eyes are absolutely furious lol
─The details are insane. Give this an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay lol
Somehow, it also felt as though Chiyo’s screams could be heard afterward.
─Dohee only stole one piece of meat ㅠㅠㅠ
└Seoyun just laughed beside her, that’s all lol
The preview could only end after the song stopped and the screen faded to black.
─This is so funny because I never could’ve imagined a video like this
─I’m definitely watching the full episode lol
It was the beginning of the Quicksilver Challenge, which became a huge trend from that day on.