The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Yoon Seung-Yeon, who was Siren’s road manager, stared at Bong Tae-Yoon while he was busily setting up his camera. Even though she didn’t have much experience in this field, she had heard a lot of stories while walking around like who had a messy personal life from so and so group or who caused a lot of trouble in another group. In severe cases, she heard about someone who habitually took drugs or got pregnant before marriage. She heard all kinds of dirty rumors that she didn’t want to hear.

Yoon Seung-Yeon had no choice but to hear these stories even though she didn’t want to hear them. This was an industry that was extremely difficult to stay clean and pure, and at the same time, it was a place that enjoyed another person’s downfall the most. It was a place where even if a person debuted with their innocence, all their innocence disappeared in two—no, just one year. The entertainment industry conducted this type of environment.

Celebrities started at a young age, and it was a place where extremely good-looking people frequently met. Furthermore, it was possible to acquire astronomical sums of money every quarter, and there was a guaranteed leisure time as celebrities worked between active and inactive periods. Yoon Seung-Yeon wondered how many people could keep their innocence with all these conditions.

Yoon Seung-Yeon was not criticizing those who were in a relationship as dating was only natural for young people. However, if they fell astray into crime or committed acts that were difficult to accept by societal standards, they crossed a river of no return from then on. Committing those acts was not the only problem, as in a way, it felt like the passion and innocence of when those idols first debuted were gone as soon as they committed those immoral actions.

While walking in corridors, parking lots, and smoking lots, Yoon Seung-Yeon had encountered a couple of idols, who had a few years of experience under their belt, with soulless, dead eyes. For a hundred percent of them, rumors about them began to spread around in the broadcasting industry in less than 11 months.

‘I wondered what would happen if there was someone like that among Siren.’ That was what Yoon Seung-Yeon was most wary of. She wondered if there would be anyone among Siren who would cross that line. They were okay now, but after experiencing such steep success, she wondered if they wouldn’t be led astray even once.

Siren became the hottest new boy idol group in the idol industry in about half a year. She didn’t know if it was God’s help or the back-breaking efforts of each member, but their entire situation changed dramatically. They washed away the image of struggling idols in the beginning, and even changed their small, corrupt agency to a large, successful agency. They were now a group that sold 500,000 initial copies and had more than tens of millions of views on their music videos.

In terms of potential value, Siren’s value exceeded tens of billions of wons, and if they maintained this form for a few years, they may reach hundreds of billions of wons. During this process, she thought that there might be one person who may be led astray, and she wondered who this person may be. Since Yoon Seung-Yeon didn’t have supernatural fortune-telling powers, she couldn’t know the future. Since she also wasn’t that shrewd at reading people, she couldn’t predict it either.

However, if she were to pick the most unstable-looking person in Siren, one person stood out to her the most.

“Ms. Seung-Yeon, would you be able to turn on the light switch?”

“Oh, yes.”

It was the maknae, Bong Tae-Yoon. By unstable, she didn’t mean that she thought him likely to commit crimes or create a negative image for the group. Instead, he had a precarious atmosphere as if he was always walking on a thin line somewhere. It was impossible for her to even imagine how much struggle and suffering a 19-year-old had to experience to be like this.

Flick.

While turning on the lights, Yoon Seung-Yeon sincerely wished that this group would shine brightly forever.

***

We finished setting up the camera and lighting without external personnel. An actual camera and lighting director would be shocked by our skills, as in an instant, we set them according to how professionals would make them.

‘If I lose Insight, I wouldn’t be able to do stuff like this anymore.’ I wouldn’t be able to perform these miracles after losing Insight, and another reason not to lose Insight was engraved into my heart. I looked at the finished screen and called out to my members.

“Look at the screen. What do you think?”

“...Bong Tae-Yoon?”

“What are you really?”

“What...”

“As expected of a Bong, you’re good with the cameras...”

Even my members were shocked by the camera set-up as the angel and color of the lighting were all professional level.

“Yeon-Hoon, go and sit down.”

“Ah, yep! I got it.” Yeon-Hoon sat on a stool chair in the center of the studio. I set the camera again so that Yeon-Hoon’s body could fill up the camera screen. After fine-tuning the lighting again, the final setting was completed in about 20 minutes.

“But Tae-Yoon, is it really okay if I sing by myself?”

“Yes.”

“What about the others?”

“We’ll reveal it later on. We can’t reveal everyone at once. We still have 5 more music shows and 3 weeks of promotions.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

The video that we shot today at the studio was Yeon-Hoon singing our title track by himself. <Blue Summer Night> was a seasonal song that matched the summer season and was a great song to listen to on a drive. In fact, Do-Seung said he wrote it with this in mind while writing the song and hoped that this song would ring out in the vehicles of vacationers. The top line was made to feel cool and refreshing, and the tempo was set to medium so that people could sing along easily.

As a result, many people wanted an acoustic version of this song as soon as it was released as many people also drove at night, not just during the day. However, this song was too lively to listen to at night. Thus, a lot of acoustic arrangements with a slightly lowered tempo were released on Utube. However, they were not official but versions made by fans.

And fortunately, Kang Do-Seung, an all-around genius, also made an acoustic version of this song as well. We were going to record and release an acoustic version of “Blue Summer Night,” which had been floating around unofficially so far.

“Dong-Jun, can you come here and press the camera button?”

“Okie.”

“I’ll go over there and play the piano.” I went in front of the piano installed the score and activated Insight. It felt like I was using a cheat key every time I used Insight.

‘Should I rather use this to take the college scholastic ability test and enter medical school?’ In about five seconds, the information on how to play this song on the piano entered my brain.

“Then we’ll start recording!” Dong-Jun pressed the camera recording button, and Do-Seung and I started playing.

The prelude to the acoustic version of “Blue Summer Night” rang out in the studio. Yeon-Hoon, who was sitting on the stool, quickly grasped the appropriate emotion for this song. Even though we had never recorded the acoustic version before, he was already grooving with the song like he had sung it many times before. Yeon-Hoon was a genius in quickly understanding and immersing himself in any song.

When the song started after the prelude, I thought, ‘I’m glad we’re filming this.’ It had been a hassle to set everything up, but I was glad that I went ahead with my idea.

***

A video as posted on Siren’s official Utube, Newstagram, Bluebird, and so on just past lunchtime at 1 pm—a leisurely time after lunch whether someone was at school or work. It was a time when anyone, whether they were working or students, could watch a video leisurely. People naturally checked the video posted by Siren.

Last night, they posted a comedic video that confused viewers whether they were comedians or idols, but this time, they posted a video that was quite reminiscent of singers.

–<Blue Summer Night> Acoustic ver. (Woo Yeon-Hoon)

It was an acoustic version of “Blue Summer Night,” and Yeon-Hoon’s face filled up the thumbnail. Although it wasn’t a close-up shot of his face, it was a pretty tight bust shot. The creator seemed to have wanted to openly show Yeon-Hoon’s face, but since it would have been awkward if there was just a close-up face, he made a compromise to do a bust shot.

–Fuck what’s with Yeon-Hoon’s face (shocked)

–Wow. Haha As soon as I saw the thumbnail, I screamed

–His face is a gift from god

–I almost screamed while working at my job

–Our cutie peach pie...fight me if he’s not the cutest, brightest angel...?

People began sharing the video and posting on their feeds from the thumbnail alone. Every time Yeon-Hoon came out on a show, people said it was legendary, but the extent of his legendary visuals was off the charts this time.

–I think he looks handsome in a different way every time he comes out on camera

–They say you lose your memory when you see a handsome man... They say you lose your memory when you see a handsome man... They say you lose your memory when you see a handsome man... They say you lose your memory when you see a handsome man...

–His face is number one in the 4th generation of male idols.

This was the result of Bong Tae-Yoon setting up the camera and adjusting the lighting to make only Yeon-Hoon shine. While the thumbnail provided primary shock to viewers, the next wave of shock was waiting for them once they clicked on the thumbnail.

After starting the video, the first melody they heard was the prelude to the acoustic version of “Blue Summer Night.” It was originally a bright and cheerful summer song that reminded listeners of the peak of summer, but after being rearranged, it gave off a coolness like the early summer night. The tempo was also changed to a slower tempo, and the prelude seemed to give a relaxed impression as much as possible.

—This is a new story between you and me

—That we will complete together

—SO GOOD, I already get a feeling

—This is a moment that can’t be replaced

—A drama that can’t be seen again

—Right now, there’s only us

The moment the piano was added on top of the acoustic guitar sound—Woo Yeon’s voice resonated in the ears of the people who watched the video or used earphones.

—Wow, his voice...

—I’m speechless fr

—Wow...seriously...Yeon-Hoon is too crazy

His voice was on a different level from the unofficial acoustic sounds that were previously released on Utube. As soon as listeners heard the first verse, the emotional lines conveyed by Yeon-Hoon in the acoustic accompaniment resonated in people’s ears. It was a voice that raised people’s immersion to the peak from the very first verse, and people’s attention was completely focused on the song from the very first verse until the end of the video.

—This summer night, TONIGHT~

—Let us gather the ends of this night

—SO GOOD, TONIGHT~

—This was the day I had been waiting for

Woo Yeon-Hoon’s emotional delivery began to draw an increasingly clear and specific image.

—This blue sparkling summer is ours—ooh—

—BLUE SUMMER NIGHT

—A blazing passionate, summer night

—chillingly spreads

—Look at the end of this world

Woo Yeon-Hoom seemed to spout out each line of lyrics so that listeners could come up with the same image as him. During their leisure, the image of a cool summer night naturally formed in the minds of all listeners. However, before he moved on to the second verse—

Click. The video abruptly cut off.

—The second verse will be released if we get 1st place on today’s music show.

The world’s most evil words came up on screen.

—WTF

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