The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Among the audience, there was a girl who had come to this place to find a new group to stan. She scanned her surroundings warily. The distribution of the fandoms was so biased towards one group that it was hard to tell if she was at Kang Hyun-Sung’s fan meeting or The Showcase.

‘Maybe I’m just wasting my time,’ she thought. Her mood had already reached the lowest point after shivering in the cold outside for hours and because of how aggressive Kang Hyun-Sung’s fans were. Though she had expected this to happen, it was a completely different matter to experience it in real life.

Eventually, she sat at her designated spot and stared at the stage blankly. Though the shooting was going to start soon, nothing was happening, and the stage was quiet. There were hardly any staff moving about as well. She was wondering if it was normal for a show to be this quiet when—click!—all the studio’s lights turned off.

“Ahh?”

“What happened?”

Gasp!

“I think they are going to start!”

Only the camera’s lights shone in the dark room with no natural light. A strange energy and a sense of anticipation began to rise in her heart. Simultaneously, the lights returned, and the show’s two hosts appeared on the stage.

—Hello to all our viewers and the audience who came to see this performance!

—And I’m singer Nahyun! Welcome!

“Ahhhhhh!”

Though the hosts appeared in a classic way with flickering lights, the cheer that came from the audience was bigger than the girl expected; perhaps it was because the show used high-tech equipment, but it made her gasp.

— Okay, so this is The Showcase 2 First Chance! After finishing our introductory performances, we are about to start our first round. What did you think about the performances last time, Ms. Nahyun?

—Seeing all the five groups work so passionately, I was reminded of my rookie days.

Nahyun and Kim Jin-Young exchanged a couple of lines that might or might not be broadcasted on television but filled up content for the show. The majority of the audience knew that their lines were 90% false. Many had to swallow back their laugh when they heard Nahyun say that she was reminded of her rookie days while seeing these no-name or doomed idols. It was a well-known fact that Nahyun debuted at a big agency and worked without a period of anonymity. The difference between her and these idols’ beginnings was far too big.

Yet, since the audience was also aware that these weren’t Nahyun’s personal thoughts but what the scriptwriters had written for her, no one blamed her for her insincerity. And after a couple more formalities, the hosts announced:

—Should we now introduce the first group who created their performance around the first round’s theme, ‘The Color of Showcase’?

—This is a group known for their skills and where every member is the main vocalist and dancer. They decorated their entire stage in black. Let’s see Bleshu’s performance, ‘Hide’!

They finally introduced the next performance, and the audience cheered even louder than before to greet Bleshu. The lights turned off, and when it came again, five men were standing on top of the stage.

“Ohh.”

All the group members were wearing black from head to toe—black leather pants and rider jackets. The girl who came to find a new group to stan looked at the stage hopefully. It couldn’t be helped that she was unfamiliar with most of their faces. She tried to memorize the members in different groups by the preview, but all their faces were mixed up inside her head because there were so many of them. The only one she could properly remember was Bleshu’s leader, and he was the guy who was glaring at the camera with a serious look on his face.

Screeeeech. The girl wondered what kind of song they chose when a scratching sound rang as if an electric guitar was plugged into the wrong code.

—EVERYBODY!

—HOLD ON.

With the group’s leader’s yell, the group began with a dance break.

“Oh?”

“Ohhh!”

This was the moment when the girl realized that the hosts hadn’t been joking when they introduced this group as skilled artists. All the members of this group were said to be the main dancers and main vocalists. They were amassing all their efforts to dance in perfect synchronization, and even while dancing roughly, they didn’t go off-pitch while singing. The girl felt her weariness and bad mood lessen partly.

‘Yes, there’s no way I could take a break from this,’ she thought. This was in her DNA.

‘Ah, um…’ But about a minute later, something about the stage began to feel a bit dull. They seemed to show the same familiar dance moves and even the song they chose was a well-known one— a cliché that people would think of first when thinking of the color black. There were no wow moments or creativity in this performance. The only thing that was noticeable about them was the insane amount of practice they clearly poured in for this performance.

“Oh my….” But rather than looking cool, they began to look pitiful, and instead of shining brightly on stage, they looked as if they were struggling with all their might. Besides their cliché production, the biggest problem was that none of the group’s members had the ‘it’ factor that made them stand out. Though they were good at dancing, idols who danced well were common.

There were plenty of other idols who sang as well as them, and though they were good-looking, it wasn’t enough to make people’s gazes fix on them. Furthermore, they didn’t have a center that knew how to act and draw people’s attention towards them. In the end, the girl’s assessment of the group was this: Bleshu was a hardworking and talented group, but unfortunately, one that didn’t make a lasting impression.

It seemed many people thought the same as her. Though the audience’s responses had been good in the beginning, they began to become distracted as the performance continued. The hands that energetically shook the cheering batons slowed, and the audience’s response noticeably cooled. Finally, Bleshu’s performance came to an end.

—What did you think about Bleshu’s passionate performance?

—I could instantly sense that they practiced a great amount.

The hosts came out again to say their commentaries. These were comments that didn’t possess an inkling of creativity and were only said to progress the show. The girl knew that in programs like this, the hosts weren’t supposed to do much and were just decorations on the wall; yet, perhaps, because she didn’t feel any interest in the upcoming performances, even these manual-like comments began to feel a bit grating. Still, as part of the audience, she reacted and cheered when she was asked to.

—Why don’t we welcome our next performance?

—It’s a group with a strong hip-hop base. Let’s enjoy OnebyOne’s red performance, ‘Blood’!

The girl thought, perhaps, this performance might be different. Since this song was based on another genre, hip hop, she thought OnebyOne would show something new and more colorful than the previously black-themed performance.

Yet, contrary to her expectations, she was shocked when a group of five men all walked up to the stage wearing black suits. They weren’t even wearing decorated suits but ordinary ones that a salaryman would wear; they didn't wear neckties and appeared to have just found any shirt to wear.

Yet, all this seemed to have been an intentional fashion choice rather than a lack of funds. The group’s concept appeared to be mafias from Korean movies, as evident by the gold necklace and bracelet they were also wearing. The girl predicted that there would be an acting scene before the music began. As expected, one of the group members walked to the center of the stage and took out a gun from his suit.

He shot toward his members.

“Ah!” A couple of people from the audience screamed at the suddenly loud noise. Eventually, the stage’s lights turned off and when it brightened again, some of the members had blood stains on their faces and shirts. It was laughable to call this a ‘red’ performance because there were some drops of blood stains here and there, but the audience supposed that they could make it up with a good performance.

—We are going to take over this place

—I’m going to make money in this zone

—I will not lose any of my bros

‘It’s super cringy,’ the girl thought. The group did a strange rap that didn’t even fit the melody of the song. It was so obvious that they jammed in rap here and there to make their performance more gangster-like, yet lines that suddenly talked about ‘money’ and ‘bros’ came out of the blue with no context. The audience’s responses were dreary. They had expected to see a high-quality performance even if these were coming from doomed idols, but this was too much.

‘Who in the world thought of this idea?’ the girl in the audience thought. If one of the group’s members had come up with the idea, that person should seriously think about dropping out of the idol scene altogether. Yet, in cases like this, it was unusual for idols to think of their own ideas and carry them out; it was more likely that the boss of their company meddled with their performance and pushed their own idea forward.

As expected of a boss of a small company with doomed idols, they had no sense, and this time, they basically ruined the futures of these young men with their own hands without knowing it. Even if this group did well later on, this performance was one that would haunt them, and it was too terrible to be considered even cute or funny.

‘Did their boss see a mafia movie last night or something?’ The girl wondered and other audiences watched OnebyOne’s performance pitifully. If they were going to give a bad performance, they should’ve just gone all out to make an impact. Yet, all the group members tried their best to liven up this terrible concept and worsened the damage.

Thus, now, they were even failing to make an impact and began to feel like the epitome of a ‘flopped idol group.’ The girl who had come to find a new group to stan clicked her tongue and soullessly stared at the stage. There had been two performances and both of them fell way below her expectations. All the interest she had for the upcoming performances completely disappeared.

‘Is this why people like idols from big companies?’ she wondered. She couldn’t imagine the past groups she supported coming out on broadcast and showing a performance like this. Finally, OnebyOne’s performance came to an end. Then, the hosts conversed again.

—It was as if I was seeing a scene from a movie.

Yes, but the problem was that this movie was nowhere a masterpiece but a lame domestic noir. However, nobody said anything about this and watched the stage with sealed lips.

—Now, it’s time for us to see the next performance. Ms. Nahyun, could you introduce what kind of performance it is?

—Yes, this performance is by a group that has gotten quite the attention recently because of their application video: the Sirens.

The girl and the audience’s interest rose again upon hearing this. The girl remembered most of the members in this group, unlike the others. It was not only because their visuals were generally good but because they became a hot issue for uploading the same video as Only One.

—They are going to show us a blue performance with a song they produced themselves!

The group even seemed to do some self-producing. It wasn’t clear how good they were yet, but this was something that set them apart from other groups.

—Then should we watch their performance? Let’s hear their song, ‘Walya’.

‘Walya?’ The girl reiterated the title in their minds again and looked towards the stage.

‘Huh?’ The stage went dark again and when the lights turned back on, only one person was standing on the stage. It was the main dancer, Lee Woon, posing under a bluish spotlight. But the most noticeable thing about him was the clothes he was wearing.

‘Isn’t that hanbok?’ It was a modernized stage hanbok, and the bluish overcoat over him was especially eye-catching.

Dang, Daaaang, dang.

“Ohhh!” A tune made from only gugak string instruments rang out; it gave a clearly different feel from a tune made up of Western string instruments’ sounds, and the main dancer, Woon smoothly extended out his arms and legs. His elegant dance moves looked like Korean modern dance and his outer coat flapped around and seemed to sweep the stage.

As the edge of his coat’s fabric touched the bluish lights and scattered them, it gave off a chilly atmosphere. Then, after the main dancer finished his dance, the stage became quiet again.

Thud. The silence continued and as people's hearts swelled in anticipation, a rush of sounds combined with not only gugak sounds but also Western instruments filled the room.

Tap.

The lights brightened again, and a giant moon rose on the giant LED screen at the back. The audience’s bodies trembled slightly from the cold and chilly energy it gave off, and the five members of Siren appeared. The Siren members stood straight without shifting the slightest amount and looked determined. As the gugak sound poured around them, the member in the center extended his hand and looked forward.

—On a deep dark night, I lay wide awake

—The boundless azure sky, bluish moonlight

—Softly envelops me and drives me to the streets once again

The main vocalist’s heart-wrenching voice dug into the audience’s ears. The girl who had come to find a new group to stan stared with her eyes wide open. She intuitively sensed it then… she found her group.