The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

The content of our gift to our fans was the following: the first item in the box was a sandwich. It wasn’t a sandwich one could commonly see on the streets like SubXXX but the premium kind that was only available in a handful of hottest chain stores in Cheondam Garosugil. It was the kind of place where a customer could freely decide the sauce ratio, bread type, number of inside and main ingredients, and even got ingredients not on the menu if they asked.

The key to this brand’s success was that it would make any sandwich the customer thought of and often trended on social media sites as people shared their own recipes.

“Wow…this is the place where I visited but had to return because the line was too long…”

“Siren is really feeding us.”

Siren members had prepared two hundred of these beforehand and handed them out to the fans who waited for them since morning recording.

“Is this Dong-Jun’s set? It’s a calorie bomb…?”

“This is Tae-Yoon’s set!”

“Wow…Look at Do-Seung’s…chicken breast is the main ingredient…?”

“Why is Yeon-Hoon’s sandwich the only one that’s pink…?”

Since it was a sandwich that each member ordered with their favorite ingredients, it was fun to look at too. Furthermore, the ingredients in the sandwiches even revealed the members’ personalities.

“Isn’t Don-Jun’s menu just a hamburger set instead of a sandwich?”

“But this is really tasty! There’s a sweet, spicy, and savory sauce on this chicken breast patty…coleslaw…fries on top…wow, this is amazing. I think they put fried shallots over it?”

As expected of Park Dong-Jun who had the biggest reputation for liking to eat, his menu was sold out the fastest.

“Siren’s food scientist is Dong-Jun.”

“This is the greatest sandwich of my life.”

But besides Dong-Jun, everyone else’s sandwiches received similar responses. Yet, there was one sandwich that even fans turned away from the most.

“No wonder Do-Seung’s chest is so big. It’s because he eats so much chicken breast…”

“Ah, but it’s not untasty! It’s tastiest among all dishes made with chicken breast…haha…”

Do-Seung’s sandwich had chicken breast softened with sous vide and filled with lettuce, a variety of vegetables, tomatoes, and pickles. Rather than exploding with exciting flavors, his sandwich tasted natural and healthy. Though some people didn’t like the sandwich, there were also those who liked it the best.

“This is perfectly my type of sandwich.”

“I think Do-Seung shares the same tastebuds as me.”

“You have to eat like this for breakfast to feel comfortable for the rest of the day.”

Woon’s sandwich acquired an adequate amount of popularity with its standard appearance and taste. Tae-Yoon’s sandwich was a heavy and meaty sandwich that had cheese, ham, strawberry jam, bacon, and a beef patty. Unlike the other members’ sandwiches, the sandwich was toasted after filling its insides once more so that its outside was crunchier, and its insides had a deeper flavor.

Yet, the sandwich that created the most talk was Yeon-Hoon’s sandwich.

“Why is this sandwich so pretty…?”

“Even if it was rolling on the ground, anyone could tell it’s Yeon-Hoon’s.”

“How did he think of making a bread pink?”

It was a sandwich that had bread made pink with artificial coloring. Only its color was different but its taste was similar to all the other breads. Furthermore, there was a toasted imprinting on the bun so that it made the face of a dog with eyes, nose, lips, ears, and all.

The sandwich was the standard kind with bacon, ham, cheese, a variety of vegetables, and tomato. The most unique point about its flavor profile was that it had a potato salad to add extra texture to it. Though the taste was normal, people reached for the sandwich because of its appearance. Yet, the presents didn’t end there.

“What’s that?”

“Is it coming towards us?”

“A snack car…?”

A snack car arrived at the site and began setting up a location.

—Sailors! Please eat your fill and quickly meet us!

There was a banner with these lines with the members’ faces. The most surprising part was the menu content of the snack car.

“There’s a cola fruit punch.”

“What?”

“Hahaha!”

There were common snacks and desserts like cookies, macarons, dacquoise, and Do-Seung’s favorite, the cola fruit punch. If one were a Siren fan, they would’ve tried a cola fruit punch at least once. Yet, there were probably not too many people who had made another attempt at the dish with a well-ripe watermelon from the middle of summer. People carried a sandwich in one hand and raised a large cola fruit punch in the other.

The cups they got were similar to the small-sized popcorn cups that they handed out in the movie theatres and were quite heavy with the cola fruit punch. People who finished their sandwiches quickly took a bite of their cola fruit punch.

“…Wow.”

“This is insane.”

“This is so tasty.”

“…It’s insane…”

This fruit punch also had cider in it and added another flavor. By the time people finished their meals and people’s hands felt lighter than before, the last present was revealed. Though fans thought they already received more than enough, Siren didn’t stop there. This was the highlight of today.

“…Is this real?”

It was a 20ml perfume with a handwritten letter. 200 perfume bottles and 200 handwritten letters were given to each of the fans who had been waiting for the prerecording. They doubted if the letters were really written by the members but then, they confirmed that the handwriting was the same as the members’ handwriting that had been released on broadcast before.

Furthermore, each of the letters didn’t have overlapping content. Some letters talked about the daily incidents that happened to the members, and some talked about the members' childhood memories. Others had promises of what they would make together.

Fans began to read each of the letters the Siren members wrote for them on the spot. Some people even became a bit teary because they were so touched. Then, they turned to the perfumes they also received. Inside a small shopping bag, there was a card with one line that the members wrote.

—This is a perfume that I use. I hope you can feel as if you are always with me. (Tae-Yoon)

—I use this perfume often! I hope you will also like it too. (Dong-Jun)

—This is my favorite perfume. Why don’t you try using it when you want to have a change of mood? (Woon)

—If you smell this same scent nearby, I could be there, so be on the lookout! Please? (Yeon-Hoon)

—I hope with this, we have one more similarity. (Do-Seung)

There were different perfumes inside the shopping bag and with the card, one could tell which perfume belonged to whom. Fans stood frozen on the spot and counted the gifts they received from Siren. For gifts given to the fans, it was usually the members who bore the expenses.

‘Those guys must not even have made much money yet….’

‘Haa…what are with these guys…?’

‘Not like these are cheap either.’

Every gift they received cost quite a bit. Even the handwritten letter they got was made with luxurious paper and had a special texture. Even if they tried not to think about money, they couldn’t help it. Each of the gifts made them think Siren wanted only to give them the very best, and it made their hearts ache that they prepared this when they must not have even gotten proper pay yet.

The only thing they could do was to return as much as they received. People took pictures of each of the gifts they received and began to post them on social media. They wanted to promote Siren as much as they could and boast to everyone that their guys loved them this much. Before the official recording even began, Siren’s fans raged with passion.

***

Before going up for the official recording and after changing our clothes, my members and I searched social media sites with our phones.

“Wow…! Some people already uploaded pictures!”

“Thank goodness that they all seem to like it.”

“I think this will be a meaningful present to them.”

“It was worth it to write those letters all night long.”

Fans were already posting pictures about the gifts they received from Siren. The responses were quite explosive. Though many people were still asleep since it was early in the morning. I thought news of it would spread further around lunchtime. I reach each of the fan posts that popped onto the phone screen.

‘…This isn’t bad…’ Truthfully, I did push my members to try harder to complete the system’s missions. Of course, I only gave them suggestions, and they readily agreed to follow my list of events. They also gave up their own money and searched for businesses to contact. Yet, for me, I had my own… ulterior motives to succeed in the missions.

‘It really is good…really…’ Seeing the fans’ responses, I felt so touched that I became a bit embarrassed about my own motives.

“What? Is Tae-Yoon crying?”

“…No.”

“Tae-Yoon is crying?”

“He isn’t.”

“He looks teary though.”

“…I don’t think so.”

Perhaps, it was because it was early in the morning, I couldn’t control my emotions well. Seeing how thankful and excited the fans felt on the social media feeds made me feel proud. Perhaps, this was the feeling of pride gotten from paying back what you received. I didn’t have much resistance to this emotion because I didn’t experience it often in my life. I quickly settled my heart.

“Siren, please be on stand-by~” The producing director told us.

“Yes!”

“I understand!”

“Let’s go!”

We prepared to get up on the recording stage.

“We can do it, Siren!”

“We can do it!”

“Let’s go do a good job!”

We shouted our familiar cheer and got on top of the stage.

***

The recording progressed stably. There were three recordings in total and we also communicated with fans in between. However, we kept having communication errors while trying to talk to fans who were quite a distance away with in-ear earphones.

—Did you eat food yet?

“Did I wash my foot yet?”

—Food!

“Room?”

“Did! You! Eat!”

“Ahh, no I didn’t eat yet.”

Though we couldn’t make our own commentaries, it didn’t seem like a bad idea to have a short conversation. Soon afterward, we performed our title song, ‘Blue Summer Night’ and went down the stage. Since it had been a while since we performed with fans cheering for us below the stage, we were able to perform a bit more excitedly than before. Fortunately, the song we were performing was bright and refreshing so it became better the more excited we were.

Since this was our first recording, we gave it our all and tried our hardest to make room for no errors. Thanks to that, we were able to come down after finishing a performance that everyone was satisfied with.

“Good work, everyone!”

“Be careful on your way back!”

“Let’s see each other again!”

Though all we did was a recording show, it felt as if we had used up a whole day’s worth of energy.

“Hello everyone! Let’s move on to the next schedule after finishing our breakfast!”

As it was for all idols, a recording was just the beginning of a schedule. The real thing started from now on.

***

While we worked busily to finish Siren’s schedule, all sorts of posts about Siren began to pour out on social media. From their debut show to this morning’s recording—Siren had been taking all sorts of attention and dominating internet communities. Siren seemed to remain on people’s minds more than Only One, but as if Only One also planned to put up a fight, they began to release issues that could draw in a lot of attention.

Around lunch on Tuesday at Only One’s media showcase, Kang Hyun-Sung’s legendary clip blew up.

—…Wait, hold on, Hyun-Sung! Damn it!