The Maknae Has to Be an Idol-Chapter 171

Selling 500,000 albums was the main mission that put Woon’s life on the line. The system told me to solve this mission by this year as if it also knew it wasn’t an easy goal to achieve.

‘I think it’s possible with a debut album.’ If we pushed ourselves a bit, I thought it wasn’t impossible. Considering the size of our current fandom, 500,000 sales could sound like a bit too much and by the best estimations, our album sales should be about 400,000.

Yet, even if idol fans tended to only buy goods of the idols they stanned, they also bought another group’s album if there was a lot of interest associated with the other group. Moreover, there was a large consumer base from the public who bought albums from time to time even when they were not a fan of any particular group.

‘If we keep appealing to a wider range of twenty- to thirty-year-olds, we might be able to scrape past 500,000 sales,’ I thought. But this also meant that we had to keep raising issues that would make us appeal to the greater public. We would need to keep going viral on social media platforms and market our album well.

‘Then, I will be able to hit the 500,000 goal and clear Woon’s death flag mission...I should give it a try.” I reaffirmed my heart. I decided to bet my life and death on the album sales.

“Tae-Yoon~ What are you pondering so hard about again?” Dong-Jun approached me carefreely. “Are you nervous about the music video reveal tomorrow?”

I wasn’t that nervous, because I knew it would do well. What made me nervous was whether we would hit 500,000 sales.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure it will do well.” Dong-Jun interpreted my silence as agreement and tried to loosen up my tension. He pressed my shoulders and massaged them.

“Let’s practice.”

“Okay.”

I got up following Dong-Jun’s suggestion. We were in a practice room right now to practice for our debut show that we would perform after our music video reveal.

“Let’s do our title song just five more times and go over ‘Voyage’ once more.”

“All righty~”

“Let’s keep at it!”

“We can do it!”

We all pumped ourselves up and began to dance according to the music. We were almost starving because it was four days before our debut, but our movements began sharper and sharper with the intent to even use our life force to succeed if we had to.

***

On the day Siren’s music video was revealed, Siren’s fans were already getting riled up even when they knew the group’s music video would be uploaded exactly at 6 pm.

—Won-Dong~ Please upload it quicker by mistake~

—It’s the day the Men of the Sea would release their debut song...let’s continue to wait until 6

—I seriously can’t wait

Reply: If you hope for too much, you will be disappointed

Reply: What a downer. You can lower your expectations yourself

Because Siren had been doing more activities and marking their presence stronger in every activity, people were anticipating Siren’s debut more than ever before. And it wasn’t just Siren’s fans that were anticipating today.

—Only One and Siren are going to reveal their music video at once?

—Hahaha they sure are loyal to their concepts

—It has been a long time since a rivalry story was so blatantly made in the idol market

Reply: They know it’s more fun the more rivalry there is

Reply: Ah, my heart is beating in anticipation

People, who weren’t even fans of either group, waited to see the music videos to see Only One and Siren’s rivalry. There hadn’t been such a clear-cut rivalry story among male idols for a long time now, and a story that had been built for quite some time since before debut made more people immersed in the story.

Not just Bluebird but other social media platforms like Stargram and so on discussed Only One and Siren’s debut news.

—Fierce rivalry between idol groups who are debuting June 20

—Legendary new idol groups said to debut this June

—A collection of male idols who are said to have already gone viral. Zip

Even news sites released marketing articles to garner views. Among the countless social media commercials and posts, not even one-third of them were paid by AnotherOne or Next Wave. In other words, all these commercials and posts marketed the two groups for free to just attract views.

—Ah, the idol market has been really empty of male idols for the last couple of years...I’m glad that’s not the case this year

Reply: Yeah, it’s been a while since male idols gained this much attention

Reply: Please don’t give more attention to this muscly and cute black cat who is at the center of this male idol peak. He’s my husband...(Do-Seung’s selfie at the gym.jpg)

Reply: Wow who is this?

Reply: Siren’s Kang Do-Seung

As Tae-Yoon and Hyun-Sung expected, people paid great attention to the two groups’ rivalry and jumped into the idol scene.

—I just don’t want one group to bring something seriously sucky haha

—Ah, but why am I worried about Siren’s music video

Reply: Why? Their teaser looked fine

Reply: There are many instances when the teaser looks all right but the music video is a mess...

Reply: Won-Dong...I trust you

As people’s interests increased and the rivalry between the two groups hardened, more people became a bit too invested in the storyline and a flow that was advantageous for both groups’ activities circulated.

—It just came up

—What, it’s here

—I just came back after watching it

—My heart is trembling

Soon, it became 6 pm evening and Siren’s music video was revealed.

***

6 pm was Siren’s music video’s release date. Perhaps, it was because they had shown VFX effects and video quality that had been very impressive, numerous people were already in the waiting chatrooms and chatting with one another. Most idol music videos were usually filled with foreign comments, but because Siren didn’t have a solid overseas fandom yet, they were getting comparatively more Korean comments.

—Tae-Yooon!

—Ah, please, please, please

—I can’t wait in anticipation

—Ahhhhh

But it wasn’t like there was much of a difference between national and overseas’ responses. Everyone was just writing anything in the chatrooms in their nervousness, and one such example was a high school fan who was watching the music video while even foregoing dinner.

This high school fan had stanned Siren since The Showcase 2 and had been writing posts related to Siren on Bluebird without skipping a day. She was sort of a named account with quite a few followers; of course, it was still just a dozen people but that wasn’t the important part. After all, it wasn’t as if she began stanning Siren to become famous. She simply started the account because she wanted to.

She breathed in and out deeply while seeing the comments on the chat box. She wasn’t the one debuting but Siren was. Yet, she didn’t understand why her heart was beating this fast. Perhaps, it was because of the worry that she couldn’t be certain of anything yet or it was because she thought this would be the most pivotal moment of Siren’s career, but her heart beat so hard that even her head began to ache.

She counted her heartbeat. It was 147 bpm.

“...Seriously?”

Though she was lying on the bed, her heartbeat was as fast as a person running.

—10

—9

—8

“Gasp!” It was then there were ten seconds before the video release. She settled her excitement and looked at the screen. Yet, the more she tried to calm herself, she felt like her heart would burst. In the end, the countdown ended and a black screen popped up.

Click. Below, the Next Wave’s company logo popped up.

‘This is the beginning...!’ This was the start of the official music video.

***

Siren’s music video started with the clips that had already been released as teasers. The first scene that came out was Tae-Yoon staring out the window. The scene looked peaceful and carefree. Then, after a momentary flash, there was a huge explosion.

Boom! The school burst into flames and the next scene followed with Dong-Jun’s teaser. Dong-Jun was enjoying a picnic with his family in the park, playing with his dog, and eating from a packed lunchbox when— freew(e)bnovel.(c)om

Boom! The same explosion rang again. Woon’s scene flowed in the same format. He heard an explosion while dancing in the practice room, and Do-Seung heard the explosion while walking on the streets with a guitar hanging from his back. Then, the screen filled with a close-up shot of Yeon-Hoon’s eyes.

His eyes reflected an enormous mushroom cloud shooting up into the air. Ashes and dust scattered across the air.

Click. The scenery changed and their debut title song finally began to flow out. The beat started with a light whistle. An acoustic guitar streamed in afterward, followed by a clear, bass riff. A bouncy percussion sound rang and an exciting tempo that could make anyone shake their shoulders flowed out.

The tone of the video changed from the foreboding opening scenes. The school that Tae-Yoon was attending came to view again. Tae-Yoon who had been looking out of the window from the back was staring at the camera now. Then, as if he had simply found a lost item, he grasped the camera.

—This is a new story between you and me

—That we will complete together

—SO GOOD, I already get a feeling

With a slight angle and smile, Tae-Yoon began the song.

—This is a moment that can’t be replaced

—A drama that can’t be seen again

—Right now, there’s only us

Soon afterward, Dong-Jun pulled the camera towards him and sang. It was then people realized the concept of this music video. It was a homemade video that Siren personally made. Of course, the video didn’t progress with just the camera in the Siren members’ hands, and videos shot by professional camera directors were mixed in to maintain the quality of the music 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

Woon sang his lines softly and ticklishly until Dong-Jun stole the camera for him. In the end, they placed the camera at the center of the classroom and Yeon-Hoon and Do-Seung came to the center of the classroom.

—BLUE SUMMER NIGHT

—This is our night

—This blue sparkling summer is ours—ooh—

—BLUE SUMMER NIGHT

—A blazing passionate, summer night

—chillingly spreads

—Look at the end of this world

While singing the title song’s chorus, the choreography began. The song’s mood was bright and refreshing, and the choreography itself wasn’t too complicated. The difficulty level was one that a high school dance group could dance to for fun during rest time.

After the refrain was over, the Siren members walked out of the classroom while surrounding Yeon-Hoon. The scene changed again from a classroom to a recreational room. After changing into their practice uniforms, Siren members danced and sang again in front of the mirror. There were festival posters all around them which indicated that they were practicing for a school festival.

—BLUE SUMMER NIGHT

—The night I had been waiting for

—It came to me without notice

—BLUE SUMMER NIGHT

—This is our dream

—I will never wake up from it

Yeon-Hoon and Tae-Yoon played jokingly on the sofa and they dashed to eat the school lunch. Then, there were scenes of them going to a stream and playing in it; scenes of them making a bonfire and staring at it; scenes of them returning home with rice cake skewers and cup tteokbokki in their hands and the orangish sun setting behind them. [1]

Each scene boasted visuals close to a movie cover. It was as if this was a collection of movie scenes from a teen drama, but their moods were hard to find in this decade’s Korean movies. The highlight of the song was when they went up to the school rooftop and completed the third verse bridge part and danced the choreography that they prepared for the school festival.

As these two separate scenes alternated on screen, it killed the monotonous feeling of the video and diversified the moods and scenes.

—BLUE SUMMER NIGHT

—That comforting embrace

—You are my dream now

Yet, the world behind the rooftop they were on was bursting into flames. The school festival stage’s lights cracked and curtains ripped. The bright and comforting music video’s mood darkened as the video continued. Eventually, all their activities were over and Siren members closed the recreational room’s doors and escaped out of the school.

—BLUE SUMMER NIGHT

—This is the sparkling story of you and me

Tae-Yoon sang the outro nonchalantly. Though the song was over, the music video was continuing. Tae-Yoon clutched the camcorder and rushed out of the school entrance with his members. Everyone chatted happily with a huge smile on their faces.

Boooom—! Then, there was a sudden explosion and Tae-Yoon froze on the spot. He turned around and saw that the school was burning in flames.

Crackle. Tae-Yoon quickly looked forward again but all the rest of the members’ expressions were the same as before.

—Tae-Yoon! What are you doing?

—Come quickly.

Yeon-Hoon grabbed Tae-Yoon’s wrist and pulled him forward.

<Blue Summer Night>

The screen flashed and the title of Siren’s debut video came up and the video ended. Though the beginning had been bright, the music video ended with an apocalypse again and there had been foreboding and ominous scenes in between.

—Crazy, I just came from watching Siren’s music video!!! The quality is crazy

—Damn, please anyone interpret the music video for me please, please

—Wow, so what happens to them?

Perhaps, it was because the music video kept hinting that there was a hidden, deep storyline in the music video, fans waited desperately for someone else to interpret the music video for them.

1. spicy rice cake inside a cup ☜

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