"Oh my... ··· what kind of thing is this?"
"Grandma, I’m telling you, I never sent anything. Did you check the name?"
"But the name is weird, you know."
"What is it, then?"
"Lee Sion. This is the older sister you keep talking about, right, Shinyu?"
Shinyu got a sudden call from her grandmother on Jeju Island.
A call came out of nowhere from an unknown number, asking when they could come by to install an air conditioner because it needed to be installed, and since Grandma hadn’t bought an air conditioner, she got scared and hung up—then called Shinyu.
At first, Shinyu thought it might be one of those voice-phishing scams people said were popular these days, but the moment the name Lee Sion came out of Grandma’s mouth, Shinyu went speechless.
So Shinyu told Grandma she would call back later, hung up, and then immediately called Lee Sion.
They were usually together all the time, but for some reason, Sion had gotten leave yesterday and gone home, so now Shinyu had no choice but to call.
But—
"Our Shinyu, you missed me that much already?"
"Sion!"
The instant Shinyu made the call, it was Lee Sion, opening the dorm door and showing up.
"Nothing happened while I was gone, right?"
"Yes, nothing happened! But Sion, did something happen? You suddenly took leave."
"Something happened that was worth it."
Lee Sion walked into the dorm as lightly as if she’d just been out for a neighborhood stroll.
She had her hands full of bags—so much it looked pretty heavy—and as soon as she got inside, she flung the load onto the living room sofa, then with her hands freed, she patted Shinyu’s head.
Even though the age gap was only two years, when she dealt with the members—especially Shinyu and Yunkyung—this was Lee Sion’s trademark move, treating them like kids.
In Yunkyung’s case, she said it felt like she was getting treated like a little kid, so every time Lee Sion patted her head, Yunkyung made a sulky face, but...
'It’s weirdly comforting.'
Shinyu really liked Lee Sion’s touch.
While Shinyu was getting patted without even realizing it, Shinyu remembered the original reason she’d called.
"Ah! Sion, I just got a call from Grandma, and something weird happened."
"What happened?"
"Grandma said she got a call about installing an air conditioner at her place under your name. I told her not to accept anything for now, but who would use your name for···"
"That was me."
"Yes?"
"Call Grandma and tell Grandma it’s true that I sent it, and Grandma can pick a comfortable date to get it installed."
"What do you mean···"
"The details later!"
Before Shinyu could even ask what was going on, Lee Sion, wearing an excited expression, ran around to the members’ rooms in the dorm, yelling at them to hurry up and come out.
"What is it? You’re back?"
"Where did you go, Sion-chan!"
"Yeah! So unfair. You ditched evening practice and went alone."
"Nothing happened, right?"
Then the rest of the members—who had been resting before heading to the company—gathered in the dorm living room.
"Do you know what happened to me yesterday, this body?"
"What happened?"
"I got paid out."
"What?!"
At Lee Sion’s words, every member—including Shinyu—had no choice but to be shocked.
And that was because a payout meant something different to an idol.
The minimum amount an agency invested per month to raise one idol was one million won.
In the case of big agencies, that ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) cost could go up into the hundreds of millions, and considering that even the shortest training period before debut was over a year, it wasn’t a lie to say raising one idol cost at least several thousand million won, and at most, hundreds of millions of won.
And then the debut album production cost.
"Our debut album? Just the total production cost this time went over 500 million won. We spent a lot, but compared to a major label, it’s actually on the cheaper side. LYNX or VYNNIA probably spent around a billion won, right?"
Money spent to raise and debut an idol ran into hundreds of millions of won even for a mid-sized agency, and for a well-known agency, you had to expect at least a billion won.
And that money became the idol’s debt as well.
"We really didn’t make much money."
Once, an interview after disbandment by a member of a fairly well-known girl group became a hot topic.
It wasn’t a mega-hit group, but it still had its own recognition, and it was a group whose songs people had heard at least somewhat. So when a member went on a variety show and said the money earned during girl-group activities wasn’t much, nobody believed it at first.
Because most people thought celebrities—especially idols—were all raking in money by the truckload.
But it was true.
With the now-standard seven-year contract, unless you had a truly massive success, it was extremely common to spend your entire active period paying back trainee costs and album production costs, and then end.
'And we have two contracts on top of that···'
Especially for Iam’s members, since they had two companies affiliated with them, a payout was still a far-off dream.
Of course, because they had achieved surprising results that were hard to believe for a girl group that had just debuted, the company people told them they would be able to get paid out soon, but even so, it was impossible not to think there was still a lot of debt.
In that situation, it was only natural for the members to be shocked when Lee Sion said she had already gotten paid out.
"So with the amount I got paid out this time, I picked out gifts for our members."
"You bought us gifts with your payout?"
"First, these are our group training sweatsuits!"
And while everyone was still shocked, what Lee Sion said next was even more shocking.
Saying she had bought gifts for the members with her payout, Lee Sion wore a proud smile.
"Boss! You bought these for every member?"
"Of course. Wouldn’t it be nice if we all wore these together when we practice?"
"It must’ve been expensive to buy all of these···"
"I couldn’t resist the group outfit. If we practice wearing this, it’ll remind us of Agbaek and it’s nice, right?"
The tracksuit Lee Sion held up proudly—comfortable and perfect for practice.
They were even from a brand Shinyu had heard of, fitted and bought for each member.
But it didn’t end there.
"Gahyeon, take this and bring it to your parents."
"What is this?"
"You said your dad had surgery, right? They said this is a good nutritional supplement patients take while recovering."
"Hey··· you remembered that?"
"What else would I remember. And Shinyu—tell Grandma it’s an air conditioner you bought with your own money."
"Sion···"
Gifts prepared to match each member’s tastes, to the point Shinyu wondered when Lee Sion had even prepared all of this.
"Ryu Ayeon, this is your mom’s phone. I told them I wanted the latest phone, but one that’s good for adults to use, and they recommended this."
"How am I supposed to accept this···"
"Hm?"
"It’s money you earned by working hard, and if we take it···"
"Tsk tsk."
Ryu Ayeon shook her head, saying she couldn’t accept the gift Lee Sion offered.
Seeing that, Lee Sion clicked her tongue.
"This is a gift I’m giving because I want to. What, were we actually in a pure business relationship?"
"That’s not it!"
"I’m the type who’ll say thank you if our members do something for me, and if I did something wrong, I’ll apologize and say I’m sorry, and that’s enough. That’s what a team is, right?"
"Lee Sion···"
"Alright, alright, this isn’t Lee Sion Santa that comes every day! Everyone, line up!"
At Lee Sion’s words, none of the members could argue back.
Because for all of them, Iam wasn’t just a simple group.
'She remembered it all.'
Also, the gifts for the members—at a glance, it looked like she had just picked things randomly with price differences big enough to stand out, but Shinyu could tell that wasn’t the case.
Shinyu and Ryu Ayeon had received more expensive gifts than the others.
"If I make a lot of money, the first thing I want to do is put an air conditioner in Grandma’s house."
"Mom said Mom’s phone broke. I couldn’t reach Mom so I wondered what happened··· I need to replace it fast···"
In fact, unlike the other members, their family situations weren’t great.
Shinyu, living with Grandma, and Ryu Ayeon, who had said she was from a single-mother household.
Of course, they didn’t go around showing it, but once you lived together in the dorm, it was impossible not to find out naturally.
And Lee Sion, remembering something Shinyu and Ayeon had said offhandedly at some point, had given each of them what they desperately needed.
The other members knew the reason too, so even though there were differences compared to what they received, they didn’t feel slighted at all—instead, they smiled broadly, looking even happier.
After every member received the gift Lee Sion handed out, it was time to go to the company.
Lee Sion was excited, saying they should break in the group outfit today, and the members were slightly embarrassed, asking if they really had to wear the group outfit.
"This is a team."
But when Lee Sion stared at them with sharp eyes, there was no way they could endure that and refuse to wear it.
In the end, when Lee Sion saw every member wearing the group outfit she had bought, she smiled in satisfaction, and seeing that, Shinyu and the other members ended up smiling too.
***
-I recommend you keep the payout a secret from the other members.
After arriving at the practice room and getting basic training like always with the members.
After finishing today’s scheduled dance training, during a short break, I leaned back against the wall, watching the members, and then suddenly remembered the advice CEO Kim Sanghyeok had given me.
If the members found out I was the only one who got paid out, even if I didn’t intend it, it could create awkwardness—so he had been worried and gave me that advice.
So at first, I hesitated.
'But I’m not hiding it.'
Of course, I could have hidden the fact that I alone got a large payout and lived like normal, but was that really a good way?
I didn’t think so.
I didn’t have the confidence to hide that fact and act like everything was normal.
"Senior, isn’t that card the platoon leader discretionary fund card?"
"Yeah. It’s pretty nice as pocket money. Don’t you have one too? If you don’t use it outside and only use it at the PX, you won’t get caught."
"···"
Back when I was a brand-new platoon leader, my senior officer—who had been my senior platoon leader—used the platoon discretionary fund card for personal spending, even though it was money that came out to interview or support the soldiers.
A few tens of thousands of won per quarter.
In a way it was a small amount, so some officers used it privately to buy cigarettes and things like that.
But I didn’t want to do that.
"This is support money that came out to support your welfare. I thought about how to use it, and every quarter, we’re going to hold a chicken party!"
"Wooooah!!!"
So I added my own paycheck money and held a party of one chicken per person every quarter, and even though it cost me way more than the support money, my heart felt at ease.
It was the same now.
This was money I earned while promoting as Iam, and if I hid it and used it alone just because it might create awkwardness, my heart would have felt uncomfortable and I wouldn’t have been able to do anything.
And that choice seemed to have been excellent.
I had already used almost all of the money for my family and the members, but right now, my heart was more at ease than ever.
Tap.
While I was watching the members resting in the group outfits I bought them, the practice-room door opened and someone came in.
"Hello!"
"Yeah, did practice end well?"
"Yes!"
That person was none other than PD Raon, who had been hard to see these days.
'It’s been a while.'
Lately she had been holed up in her studio preparing our follow-up album, and I hadn’t seen her face, so I’d wondered if she had been scouted somewhere else, but luckily, that didn’t seem to be the case.
"Today I have two pieces of news to tell you."
"What is it?"
Two pieces of news?
At a story that sounded like it would be fun, I sprang up and headed toward PD Raon.
The other members also got up and prepared to listen, and PD Raon, as if trying to burn our nerves, just smiled and dragged it out.
Then maybe she noticed our expressions gradually turning nastier, because she finally opened her mouth.
"First, your follow-up album is finally finished!"
"Wow!!!"
At PD Raon’s first news, we shouted in excitement.
Because after finishing promotions, the members and I had been feeling thirsty for something.
"These days something feels empty."
"Seriously. Maybe Agbaek messed up our brains. Since we’re not learning anything new, I keep getting anxious for no reason."
"Now resting feels more awkward."
"Ah, I want to hurry and prepare the follow-up album."
Even thinking about it again, Agbaek really was a crazy program.
Preparing a stage every week with survival on the line had brought us to the point where we got anxious if we weren’t doing something.
"Can we start practicing today right away?"
"Today I’m only going to let you hear it, and full-scale practice starts tomorrow. The choreography is already basically complete, so we’ll go into vocal and choreography training together."
Since our comeback was scheduled for late July, we had to go into practice diligently starting now.
Luckily, we had more time than we did for the debut album.
Of course, considering learning the song, recording, and music video work and all that, it wasn’t a ton of time.
But still, since our skills—including mine—had grown compared to then, I thought maybe it would feel a bit more relaxed.
"And today’s second piece of news."
While we were exchanging excited looks among ourselves at PD Raon’s words that practice would start tomorrow, this time she delivered the second news without dragging it out.
"I’ll introduce the new producer Lucas, who worked on your follow-up album with me."
Step.
The moment Raon finished speaking, a man appeared through the open practice-room door.
"Hello, Iam! I’m Yours!!! I missed you!"
"Huh?"
At the white man who suddenly appeared, we couldn’t help but let out a dumb sound of confusion.
***
-Welcome to arriving at KJ Entertainment, stranger.
Pfft.
Lucas remembered Lee Sion, who had stared blankly at him for a moment earlier, then before he knew it came up friendly and greeted him, and he burst into laughter without realizing it.
When she greeted him shamelessly in Korean, that was one thing, but after that, she was stammering in English, asking him about Lucas.
"Where are you from?"
"Oh, I’m from Sverige."
"Siberia? So you were Russian? Spasiba (Thank you)?"
"Sion, do you know Russian too?"
"Seriously, Lee Sion’s kind of good at foreign languages?"
"I thought he kind of looked Russian!"
"I heard from Yuri you have to be careful with Russians."
She heard the official name of Sweden, Sverige, and misunderstood it as Siberia, then arbitrarily changed Lucas’s nationality to Russian.
After that, the Iam members kept showing interest in Lucas, but—
"Wait. Lucas, let’s finish the welcome party later."
The moment it was time to listen to the new song, they had already shoved him to the side and were so frighteningly focused, burying themselves in analyzing the music.
'Even if they’re young, pros are still pros.'
The Iam members, listening to Iam’s follow-up title track, "DON’T BLINK," which he and Raon made together, and exchanging opinions with each other.
"It’s really addictive."
"It sounds easy when you listen, but when you actually sing it, won’t it be hard to keep the rhythm alive?"
"Compared to the previous song, the rap parts increased a lot."
"In this part just now, it changes from falsetto to chest voice—Yuri, can you do this?"
"I think I’ll have to sing it once to know."
The playful side they’d had earlier was nowhere to be found, and with the Iam members focused only on the music, they looked almost scary.
"Raon, I’m glad I came to Korea."
"Seeing them in person, it feels like there’s something there?"
"Some people call K-pop an industry baby, but if they see something like this, they won’t be able to say that."
In Lucas’s eyes, the image was already being drawn: the members standing on stage, singing the song he made, "DON’T BLINK."
