“Today’s 1st place goes to… Congratulations! NITY’s ‘Gradient!'”
I clapped sincerely as the senior girl group received the first-place trophy.
Thanks to them, KICKS didn’t win first place, which made me very satisfied.
NITY’s promotion ends this week, so starting next week, it will be a full-fledged showdown between REV and KICKS.
“Hyung, were you a fan of NITY sunbaenims?”
“No?”
“Then why are you clapping so enthusiastically? It feels like watching Dobin hyung meet Adora sunbaenim…”
“You might as well just insult me. That’s a harsh thing to say.”
“Eden hyung? I’m right next to you.”
Kim Dobin whined next to me, but I lightly ignored him.
Currently, we were standing in line in the hallway waiting for the CP greeting after the first-place announcement.
Opposite us stood KICKS, who were around the same age as us.
From the moment we were in the waiting room, talking in groups of two or three, it was clear that things were awkward between them.
The previously united atmosphere had vanished, probably due to that behind-the-scenes gossip.
Seeing them like this was very satisfying.
With time to kill until the PD arrived, I did some monitoring as part of my weekly search quest.
– Wow, Ha Jun’s opening part was amazing. There’s no one like him for a killing part
– Eden’s energy is unusually high today. Watching our little kitten running around the stage makes me feel proud and happy.
– I can’t believe fans think Yoon Eden is a cute kitten with that face. If there was a poll for the scariest male idol, he could definitely win against Kang Sehan.”
– I know, right? With how often they call him a kitten, I thought he was around 165 cm. I was shocked to learn he’s 180 cm.
– Feels like ‘Come Into My Universe’ was in another life… If I told my three-month-ago self who stanned them during ‘Come Into My Universe’ that I’d be praising their stylist and stage, I wouldn’t believe it.
– Wow, a true fan from the ‘Come Into My Universe’ days.
– Eden’s been considering the members’ vocal ranges, tones, and singing styles in his songwriting, and it’s obvious. The chorus part for Jaehee is perfect… It would have been a lot less impactful if it went to Ha Jun, like he said during the comeback live, because of the English pronunciation.
– And again, Ye-hyun hyung has created new choreography.
– Dobin was on fire today! Our puppy is so cute.
It seems Seo Yehyun made another choreography mistake. Since I had imagined this scenario in my ideal stage, it didn’t really bother me.
After the CP greeting, we had to continue filming a reality show. Since our semi-basement dorm wasn’t very photogenic, the filming took place in a nearby private café.
Luckily, the CEO found a good place, and we were moving soon, so we were told by our manager to start decluttering and packing.
We couldn’t fully trust the CEO’s taste, so every time we saw the manager, we asked if the new place was liveable, almost ready to storm the CEO’s office.
Finally, our manager showed us photos of the new place, which, fortunately, looked neat and decent.
The CEO’s peculiar taste seemed not to extend to real estate.
“Members of REVE, please write down any content ideas you’d like to try for the reality show after discussing it among yourselves. Two or three ideas would be good.”
We nodded as the production crew handed us a marker and a small whiteboard. Since I had been banned from caffeine, I sipped my lemon tea instead of iced Americano.
Gyeon Ha-jun had a café latte, Seo Ye-hyun had an Americano, Kim Dobin had a mint chocolate drink, and Ryu Jaehee had a green grape ade. These were their usual drinks.
Unlike the younger members, who occasionally tried different drinks, Hajun and Yehyun never deviated from their choices in the seven years before the reset.
“Does anyone have any ideas?”
“Me.”
“Oh, as expected of our leader. Always the first to come up with ideas! So, what kind of content does our REVE leader suggest for our reality show?”
“A thorough health check-up at a university hospital.”
Everyone’s faces soured at my suggestion. Ryu Jaehee sighed and held his forehead.
“Hyung, please.”
“Why? What’s more beneficial than that? We can take care of our health and create content at the same time.”
As I tried to write “thorough health check-up” on the whiteboard, Kim Dobin desperately stopped me.
“I’m scared of getting blood drawn!”
“Dobin, you’re eighteen, not eight.”
“Can’t we just do something simple, like a picnic or an amusement park?”
“Are you eight years old?”
“Please drop the prejudice that only eight-year-olds go to amusement parks.”
Ryu Jaehee quickly wrote “amusement park” on the board, having taken the marker from me.
“We should also write down the health check-up.”
“Let’s decide by a majority vote. Who’s in favor of the amusement park?”
Ryu Jaehee and Kim Dobin raised their hands.
“And who’s in favor of the health check-up?”
Only I raised my hand. I looked at the two who didn’t choose any option.
“Shouldn’t you be more concerned about health check-ups, considering your age?”
“…I’m the same age as you, Eden.”
“I’m only a year older than you.”
Gyeon Ha Jun and Seo Ye-hyun seemed a bit stung by the age comment, so I shrugged.
“So, hyung, what do you and Jun hyung want to do?”
“How about a farming experience or something like that?”
I would usually be open to anything, but that’s a no-go, Jun. A farming experience is not a lose-lose content; it’s neither fun for us nor the viewers.
Kim Dobin, with his country dog spirit, seemed thrilled at the idea, but the rest of the members weren’t enthusiastic.
Seo Yehyun, who had been sipping his Americano like he was in a photo shoot, finally spoke up.
“Let’s go to the beach.”
“Oh, that sounds good.”
“I agree with the beach idea.”
“But we can’t swim in the winter. Can’t we just go in the summer?”
“We can just dip our feet this time and go again in the summer.”
The beach idea was quickly written on the board, gaining a majority vote.
“How about a cooking competition?”
“Wow, Jun’s pulling out the cheat codes.”
“Yes, yes! Ha Jun will definitely win.”
“Win?”
“Of course, it’s going to be Gyeon Ha Jun. It’s like having Gordon Ramsay in an amateur competition if Ha Jun hyung is participating.”
Even if Ha Jun was a judge, the entries would likely be grilled chicken breast vs. tornado omelet vs. ramen vs. soy sauce egg rice. My tornado omelet might be the only contender.
Other suggestions like extreme sports, bungee jumping, climbing, hiking, hospital health check-up experiences, horror movie viewing, songwriting and producing experiences, and rock band experiences also came up but failed to get more than two votes.
“Wow, we’ve only come up with one idea in 30 minutes?”
“Yeah, we need at least two.”
“I’m telling you, let’s just do the health check-up. It’s beneficial and creates content, a win-win.”
“Eden hyung, you’re still not giving up?”
[A lack of consideration for other members’ opinions has been detected.]
[Initial Intention –1]
I winced at the sharp pain that seemed to pierce me.
“Okay, fine, dear maknae and beloved members. I’ll give up the health check-up, so come up with a good idea.”
I felt quite slighted. I hadn’t even insisted on the health check-up that much.
“What could possibly capture both entertainment and emotional impact?”
“You can’t catch two birds with one stone. You have to give up one.”
“My dream is to star in a YouTube video with ten million views, so I can’t give up.”
“That’s so like you, Dobin.”
As the meeting dragged on, the production crew extended our time limit, and in the end, we wrote down:
[Beach, Cooking (?)]
“What’s the question mark after ‘Cooking’?”
“It’s a cooking concept, but we haven’t decided what exactly… Haha…”
It’s likely going to be a very amateur cooking competition.
With that, the filming wrapped up, and the main writer called us over.
“It would be great if the characters were a bit more distinct and noticeable. While the REVE members are charming, none of your on-camera personas stand out at the moment.”
In other words, we needed to define our variety show personas.
REVE was never known for being particularly funny on variety shows, so my past experience wouldn’t be much help here.
With the expectation of more defined characters in the next shoot, we left, exhausted. The filming location being close to our dorm was a relief.
[Surprise QUEST★]
[▶Define Your Concept!
-Details: Instead of showing your true self, create a persona to present to your fans! Why not use the search function to find out what fans want to see and build a persona accordingly?
-Rewards: Initial Intention +10, Random Ticket
-Time Limit: 3 days
※Failure to establish a suitable persona within the time limit will result in a penalty!]
After briefly raising my eyebrows at the quest being exactly the same as before, I panicked upon seeing the changed deadline.
I had only three days to establish a concept, or else I’d face penalties. The nightmare of coughing up blood and dealing with the aftermath flashed in my mind.
However, I couldn’t come up with a concept that would appeal to the fans on my own—after all, I had given up last time because of this—so I decided to enlist the help of the other members.
Given how much I’ve contributed to the group, it’s only fair that we help each other out. Besides, we needed to decide on our variety show personas anyway.
Now was the perfect time, as the cameras in our dorm were not yet rolling.
Without hesitation, I tossed aside my plans for a Christmas special song, pulled out the notebook we use for meetings, and shouted, “Guys, let’s have a meeting!”
I crossed out the number “11” and replaced it with “12.”
“But what have we done to reach our 12th meeting already?”
“I don’t know. The last meeting I remember was about which brand of chicken to order.”
“So, what’s today’s meeting about? Pizza brands?”
“Dobin, are you serious? You’re thinking about eating pizza during our promotion period? Pizza, which is a bomb of carbs and fats? Do you want people to say you don’t take care of yourself?”
“Yehyun, calm down… You sound exactly like Eden right now…”
“Hey, isn’t that a bit too harsh? What’s wrong with wanting to eat pizza?”
“What’s harsh is you saying that right to my face, and Dobin associating me with you.”
Clap! The sound of Gyeon Ha-jun’s hands clapping brought an end to the petty argument. He cleared his throat and officially started the meeting.
“Today’s meeting topic is about setting our concept.”
***
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