After the team’s performance ended, countless posts poured into the ‘Jeodol3’ community at a speed no one could keep up with.
Among them were also posts laced with hostility from other fandoms, particularly the two largest fandoms, commonly known as the ‘Dohee Dan’ and ‘Sera Dan.’ But most were positive reactions from people delighted by the high-quality performance.
-Dohee Dan is defending this? LOL She’s greedy enough to want both main vocal and centerㅋㅋ What a bottomless pot of greedㅋㅋ
-Goo Eun-hee: Lee Dohee can’t hit the high notesㅋㅋㅋ Just legendary
-The song is damn goodㅋㅋ It’s kind of sad at the end tooㅠㅠ
-Wow, I watched it drooling all over myself. Now I understand why my Poppy drools in front of a dog treatㅋㅋㅋ
-Sera’s high notes are insaneㅋㅋㅋ Her live vocals are breaking through the ARㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-The moment Chaerin said “trust me,” I just believed her. I’ll trust only you for the rest of my life, unni, so take responsibility
-These girls’ specialty is being pretty… These girls’ specialty is being pretty… These girls’ specialty is being pretty… These girls’ specialty is being pretty…
-That was seriously the most breathtaking moment everㅠㅠ So thrilling
-Isn’t Dohee a genius onstage??? The composure to clap before her part + the wink, every single expression… Dohee is totally an idol born for the stage. She must have been born under an idol treeㅠㅠ
-Look at Hana’s dance linesㅋㅋㅋ It’s art
-I was worried because Seoyoon had so few parts, but I still can’t get her out of my headㅠㅠ She’s insane.
-Sera is crazy even if she isn’t the main vocalㅋㅋㅋ That face, that power, that tone—it’s a cheatㅋㅋㅋ
While the viewers were still immersed in the lingering emotions of the team’s performance, the other team’s performance began.
Like the team, their rehearsal process had been nothing special, but the reactions to their stage were markedly different.
The song was dance pop with a funky rhythm.
-Harang tore it up! Tore her crotch apart! Tore my mouth apart too!
└Seriously unfunny
-Naeun suits a pure image betterㅠㅠ
└It’s a shame she got pushed asideㅠ But from what I saw, it was decent enough. It’s just that her image is too fixed.
-Aside from Jeon Harang, the images in this group don’t really match. All the casual viewers watching the live broadcast for the first time are probably going to vote for Team Hwalju. I’m voting for Naeun, at least.
-Isn’t Hwang Yeonha twenty-five? Why does she seem so childlike and cute? Fascinating. Is it because she’s short?
-Yeeun surprisingly suits it pretty well, doesn’t she? You can feel the fierce determination of someone who climbed up from Tier 5.
└Agreed. Yeeun’s awakened mode. She looks like she went and smoked a cigarette in the bathroom first.
A funky rhythm.
It meant a strong, unconventional beat and an intense sense of cool.
That was why, aside from songs that were sometimes combined with retro or high-teen concepts to create an atmosphere of lighthearted rebellion, most funky-rhythm songs tended to fall somewhere between girl crush and sexy.
This song, too, had a typical girl-crush concept.
The choreography’s kitschy and intense girl-crush concept clearly separated the members who stood out from those who did not.
Still, the team’s performance ended with viewers praising the song.
As the participants descended from the stage to resume the live broadcast, MC Jin Taeseop came up onstage, crossing paths with them.
“This truly was a ‘debut evaluation’ worthy of the final stage. Did everyone enjoy it? …Yes! It seems everyone enjoyed it!”
The participants were preparing the final fan-song performance.
The MC bought time by interviewing the trainers.
Then, as he shifted the mood, he opened with a serious tone.
“All right! Now for a truly important announcement. We have a major announcement to make! Do you know what it is?”
A sound like screams rose from the audience.
-The name!!!
-The group naaame!!!
“Yes! That’s right! The group name! So many Chusers submitted countless suggestions through the Jeodol3 website!”
Like other survival programs, ‘Jeodol3’ had held a contest to decide the name of the debut group.
There had been one problem with the selection process, however.
There had not been a single ordinary group name.
‘Jeotdol3,’ ‘Daedeul Girl’—short for ‘Korea’s Swaying Girl Group.’
‘Nusoddal’—short for ‘Someone’s Precious Daughters.’
‘Hongik Ingan’—‘the spirit is good.’
‘Face’—‘the contestants are pretty,’ ‘Pokachip’—‘because they’re delicious,’ and so on.
In the end, the production crew decided to commit the only act of manipulation.
The group name was selected through an internal meeting, excluding the viewers’ opinions.
“I hear there’s an idiom like this in the English-speaking world.”
The MC pointed toward the screen.
White lettering rose against the black screen, accompanied by feathers.
“The group name also contains hints from the two songs used in the debut evaluation.”
“‘ ’ and ‘ ’.”
“The moment the girls who have run toward their debut take flight.”
“And the moment seven girls begin to shine.”
“We will now reveal the group name!”
At the MC’s words, the white lettering crackled with static.
The lettering distorted and changed.
It spread across the screen in a sky-blue glow.
The white word HEAVEN rose as though taking flight.
The E and A that formed its vowels disappeared, leaving behind the more brilliantly shining HVN.
The three consonants cleverly overlapped to form the shape of a crown.
Then seven resplendent, multicolored stars came together to draw an S and settled atop the crown.
-Seven girls like ‘seven guardian angels’ who will present their fans with ‘the highest happiness.’
-SEVEN + HEAVEN
-
“The group name of the seven girls who will be together with you, Chusers, is! SAVEN!”
-SAVEN…?
-Whaaat, that’s insanely lameㅋㅋㅋ
-Looks like the name of a MapleStory guild;;
-SAVEN isn’t bad, is it? SAVEN…
-The meaning is okay, but… hmm…
-SAVEN, seriouslyㅋㅋㅋ Please stop making us angry, M-Web, for realㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㅋㅋㅋ They already have a nickname. The “Shivens”ㅋㅋㅋ
-SAVEN SAVEN… It kind of gets better the more I read it?
-I like the logo because it looks like a crown
-They should’ve just gone with Nusoddal. At least they’d get less hate with “someone’s precious daughters.”
-But group names always grow familiar eventuallyㅋㅋㅋ
The viewers were confused by the unfamiliar group name and reacted in a variety of ways.
But thanks to the MC’s well-timed hosting, the topic of conversation quickly shifted.
“It is currently 9:18 p.m., and the live text votes have surpassed 800,000!”
-Insane, 800,000?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Didn’t Season 2 have 900,000 around this time?
Jeodol Season 2 had produced a boy idol group.
Since the primary viewership and consumer base of idol programs was generally female, the fact that this girl-group survival show had reached figures similar to those of Season 2, a male competition, demonstrated just how much of a sensation it had become.
-Daebakㅋㅋㅋ I thought it would flop quickly back in Episode 1, but the girls were just too legendary
-Seriouslyㅋㅋ I never imagined it would turn out like this. It started with the Big Four agencies stirring up controversy, then Doheeㅋㅋㅋ This is the most legendary season ever.
“Chusers who haven’t voted yet! If you want the trainee you support to debut, please vote carefully.”
The MC once again encouraged viewers to cast their text votes.
The special guests—idols who had debuted through Seasons 1 and 2, along with the trainers—pretended to vote as their images passed across the broadcast screen, building momentum toward the final debut-group announcement.
Then the MC continued.
“Before voting closes, I hear that all thirteen contestants have prepared a special performance to repay the love of you Chusers! Let’s meet them right now!”
As soon as the MC finished speaking, a VCR appeared on the screen.
A set hallway that looked exactly like the one they had passed through during the first recording.
And yet the view was strangely unfamiliar.
-Is this footage from the first recording?
-What is it?
-Whoa, did they film this on the first day?
The trainees stood in a line, looking toward the camera.
Just as during the first recording, they were all wearing the title uniforms.
Then the title of ‘I Fell for You,’ rearranged into a gentle arrangement, began to play.
[Hello. I’m Kim Naeun from Top East Entertainment!]
[I’m Park Yeeun from ALF!]
[Fighting! I’m Jeon Harang from Haru Entertainment!]
[Heh, hello! I’m Lee Dohee from Top East!]
The words the trainees had shouted as they entered on the day of the first recording.
They greeted the camera one after another before moving out of its view.
Their figures evoked a déjà vu of entering the first-recording set.
-Is it really ending nowㅠㅠㅠ
-Something about this…ㅠㅠ
One by one, the contestants disappeared from the screen as the background music played in a ballad arrangement.
It was an outpouring of excessive emotion rather than logic or narrative coherence.
But it was the live broadcast and the final stage.
The emotionally sensitive viewers felt their hearts tighten whenever their picks said goodbye.
After all the trainees had finished their greetings and disappeared,
the camera turned around.
What appeared on the broadcast screen was the backs of the trainees as they walked toward the stage after the screen behind it opened.
The cheering audience was also captured on-screen.
The contestants’ backs and faces alternated.
The broadcast returned to the stage from the front.
With Eun Sera standing at the center, the intro to a new ballad fan song began. The contestants lifted their microphones and started to sing.
[Even a single newly blossomed petal
makes me think of you
Listen to this song]
The contestants sang their lines while smiling brightly toward the audience.
[Even if the petals fall
the one and only touch of your hand
that will connect my heart
makes me move]
But as the lines went by, the contestants’ eyes began to glisten.
Several of them eventually began to shed tears.
All the while, Dohee continued to smile brightly and sing her part without a hitch, as though keeping a promise she had made with Kim Naeun not to cry. Perhaps she was smiling simply because she loved being onstage.