Chapter 70. A Blessing in Disguise
I wondered if the members might feel pressured because the documentary filming had been arranged so suddenly.
But maybe because they were already nervous about 〈Rebooting〉 and the new song reveal, none of them seemed particularly shaken.
The honor of opening the 〈Homesick Girl〉 challenge went to Youngchae.
After reviewing things for several days, we decided to release the members' challenge videos in the order of Youngchae, Aran, Anna, and Serin.
As for the platform, we chose Ttoktak, since posts there mixed easily with overseas content.
Before releasing the new song, we'd upload Youngchae's version first and try to get it trending on Ttoktak.
The Nutube Shorts version would come afterward.
Prime Film's crew filmed the members chatting while recording the 〈Homesick Girl〉 challenge.
I hadn't originally planned to preserve this historic moment for actual history.
But somehow, circumstances had worked out that way.
I thought watching them record short-form videos from the side might feel a little embarrassing.
But our members were beautiful and charming no matter where or how you looked at them.
"You called me?"
Youngchae was helping Anna with her movements when Kim Min-jun rushed into the practice room.
Not only the members' eyes, but even the Prime Film cameras immediately turned toward him.
"Go learn the 〈Homesick Girl〉 choreography from Youngchae and film a video."
"What? Why do I have to do it too?"
"Because you're part of Universe now, Min-jun."
He wasn't an idol, but he was still an actor.
If I told him to learn something, he'd probably pick it up quickly.
I just didn't know exactly how long it would take.
I planned to ask every famous person around us to participate in the challenge too.
Yeo Eun-joo, Hong Young-hye, everyone.
I'd already sent Youngchae's pre-recorded version to them earlier.
As for Min-jun's video, he was from the same company, so I planned to upload it after the challenge had gained some momentum.
"Please take care of me, Youngchae."
Min-jun looked bewildered at first, but the moment he walked over to Jin Youngchae, his expression stiffened and he began learning seriously.
He even looked a little scared.
"Min-jun oppa, your arms and legs are too long. If you're bad at dancing, it'll be really obvious."
"Ah... is that so?"
"But if it looks hopeless, I'll find you an outfit that hides it well. So don't feel pressured."
Youngchae had already finished filming before Min-jun arrived.
She was still in full makeup, wearing high-waisted jeans, a black crop top, and crescent-moon earrings.
Youngchae only dressed this intensely for performances.
Normally, she dressed much more simply in the practice room.
Meaning this dazzling version of Youngchae could usually only be seen through a television screen or from some faraway audience seat where she looked the size of a grain of rice.
"You should consider it an honor."
"It is an honor, Youngchae."
At my prompting, Min-jun shamelessly played along.
Youngchae let out a quiet laugh.
While the members practiced, I created a Ttoktak account and uploaded Youngchae's video.
Apparently, the platform had its own trendy filters and beauty effects.
Filters?
They wanted me to put some sacrilegious blur effect over the sacred faces of our members?
Universe would never permit image correction other than black-and-white processing.
I uploaded it as it was.
The moment it went up, the number of reactions began rising surprisingly quickly.
People of all nationalities were seeing Youngchae's video.
But the numbers were still small enough that I couldn't tell how significant it was.
I think I simply assumed it was some sort of bonus exposure given to new users.
And although I didn't know exactly how the causal chain would work, Austin River's challenge video would appear at some point.
Since I'd uploaded Youngchae's clip before the official release, maybe that future would arrive even sooner.
"President Do Jun-hyeok~? I uploaded the video. My stomach gave me trouble, though. The dance was fun."
A few days passed, and the day of the opening live broadcast arrived.
It was a clear day, and Do Jun-hyeok had been receiving DMs from Hong Young-hye since noon.
"Thank you. If I like it right away, it'll look too much like a neighborhood soccer club helping each other out, so I'll press 'Like' once it gets some attention."
Jun-hyeok replied politely, then entered the studio with the members.
Tak Hyun-mo had been murmuring with the staff, but the moment the Universe people arrived, he hurried over.
"Youngchae! I saw the video. Is that the song? That's the new song?"
"Yes, that's right."
The video only revealed fifteen seconds of the highlight.
That was appropriate for a challenge, but for fans, it was probably painfully short.
It was the same for Tak Hyun-mo.
Up through 〈N.Dolphin〉, Blue Moon had felt like they were somewhat holding back in order to avoid major competition.
But 〈Homesick Girl〉 was powerful in a very modern K-pop way.
The sound was full, the melody addictive.
They had finally become what felt like a proper famous Korean idol group.
Though, when had they ever not been?
Some people even guessed that Blue Moon was covering a famous foreign song because they couldn't believe the members would release something this aggressively mainstream.
Our members really were good at everything.
Before, they'd had a strong Japanese subculture vibe.
Now they were challenging the mainstream head-on.
What should we try next?
The performance portion would be broadcast live, while the judging portion would be pre-recorded.
Today's footage would become Episode 1.
Episode 2, containing the judging, would be filmed sometime next week.
The trainee voting would happen today after the mentor performances, but the results wouldn't be revealed immediately.
The representatives of all nine agencies would gather in one room and evaluate all ninety-nine trainees.
It sounded like the kind of schedule that would require two all-nighters.
Only after the judging ended would they reveal which trainees had applied to which agency.
That was when trainee placement would truly begin.
From the explanation alone, it sounded exhausting.
But with Shin Hyung-geol there, they couldn't work everyone to death.
In any case, the live broadcast was what mattered right now.
Youngchae's Ttoktak video had already been watched by two hundred thousand people around the world.
Starting with Apollo, the clip was spreading everywhere domestically as well.
Just imagining the audience erupting together when the highlight came on made Tak Hyun-mo's heart race.
"Ah, those must be the people filming the documentary... Oh, they're from Prime Film!"
When Tak Hyun-mo recognized them, the Prime Film crew smiled slightly and nodded.
"Then I don't need to worry. You all know what you're doing, right? If possible, just stand behind our cameras."
"Of course. We know."
Tak Hyun-mo gave them only that simple instruction before hurrying away.
Completely unaware of what was about to happen.
Jun-hyeok headed to the producer waiting room where the agency representatives were gathered.
The members went to the mentor waiting room where the performers were staying.
"Wow! This is a waiting room?!"
Aran shouted before she'd even fully opened the door.
The waiting room was actually a lecture hall large enough to hold around a hundred people.
When she pulled open the heavy door, the enormous space inside was packed with famous idols.
"Seo Myung-tak! Please head to makeup now!"
"Okay~."
The members had entered through the right-side door in the back row.
At the exact same moment, a PD came through the left-side door and called for Seo Myung-tak.
"Gasp! S-Seo... Seo..."
Serin stammered in shock.
Seo Myung-tak.
A vocalist who had firmly held her place as one of Korea's top female rockers since the late 1990s.
Her signature songs included 〈Friendship That Never Withers〉 and 〈Sok Mi-in-gok〉.
Recently, videos of her belting idol songs live, even songs with huge member counts and sections made mostly of humming, had become a major topic online and made her popular with younger audiences too.
"I thought all the mentors would be idols... I guess not!"
"Apparently Myung-tak sunbae's agency wants to create a rock idol group."
Youngchae explained.
She had heard it from Jun-hyeok.
These days, vocal expectations for idols were getting higher.
So even if someone lacked a little in natural variety talent, as long as they were attractive and had excellent singing skills, the company planned to train them properly and debut them.
After all, was there really such a thing as a person with no charm whatsoever?
Put them on television the right way and fans would gather sooner or later.
So they wanted to start with idols whose vocals were already complete.
