[Did you guys hear what those numbers meant...
It was YES I LOVE YOU AS ALWAYS..........]
Even though hardly any time had passed since the release of Level S2’s music video, fans were already drowning in interpretations and theories.
[Holy shit I just did a pilgrimage watch, I’m losing it, this is so fucking good]
[So the “bad boy” speculation from the teaser was right.
But if you dig into the ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) meaning of the numbers, it was actually real love...
└ Kyaaaaaa
└└ Kyaaaaaaaa]
The lyrics were about tossing aside complicated thoughts and useless words, just enjoying this dawn together. But at the very end, dropping that cryptic numerical code revealed that the truth was something else.
[I’m gonna cling to Kim Sunghyun’s pant leg like a dog and demand he take responsibility.
└ He’d actually take responsibility though....
└└ True, but Seo Hoyun would throw water on me from the side telling me to snap out of it.
└└ Getting drenched by Seo Hoyun would also be the pride of my family.
└└ I’m putting that on my tombstone LOL ‘Got splashed by Seo Hoyun.’
└└ Fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk]
[Mission complete only if Sung Jiwon gives a troubled smile and says, ‘Sorry if I confused you.’]
With a song that hit Noeul’s hearts dead-on and set their love blazing, good news kept rolling in.
[Congrats on entering US Chart 200 ♡]
[Daesang artist, let’s go]
[The Dawn ranked #4 in brand reputation index. Our artists ♡]
Of course, negativity followed naturally.
[Isn’t that just the place every K-pop fandom sneaks into?]
[These days literally anyone who drops an album gets in.]
[Every time I check with my friend, they’ve never even heard of half the groups on there LOL. But sure, celebrate your entry.]
The Dawn’s “Connected,” their collab with Caris Games, was still popular among IRIX fans. Thanks to that, overseas radio still played it by request, and every album The Dawn had released this year had broken into the US charts.
Domestically, the digital performance was just as strong.
[Title: The current Level 2 domestic chart ranking isn’t just fandom power?
Streaming seems normal, but something about the numbers feels way too strong. I thought it was just fan influx, but... apparently not.
Shockingly, it seems normies are actually listening right now.
└ Are you serious??..
└└ You believe that?
└ Oh here we go again, mainstream-chasing boy group clown. Reminder: this is a fan zone.
└└ I swear it’s true T_T Even I can’t believe it.
└ The OP is definitely running happiness circuits full power.
└ No lie, normies are listening... my regular friend even texted me that the song is good.
└ So many gullible fans are gonna fall for this... you can’t lie to fans, it’s cruel.
My eyes are tearing up.....]
[Title: LOL the chart right now is ridiculous.
The Dawn, a digital monster??
This sounds like Black Call-level talk, not mangdol talk.
└ Are you Noeul...
Don’t even worry about it, just enjoy it.
└└ (OP) Sorry... I just... can’t believe it...
└ LOLLLLL I came in ready to flame but left wheezing.
└└ LOL for real, why do fake-neutral posts checking reactions feel so relatable.
└ Honestly I support it. Boy group songs have been good lately but their digital ranks are so low... I love that things feel like the old days again.]
Unless it was Black Call—beloved worldwide—male idols in the new generation had generally weak digital scores. The Dawn’s result stunned not only their own fans, but K-POP watchers across the board.
[Title: The MV is surprisingly straightforward.
If the concept is too heavy-handed, only hardcore fans dig deep. But the overall delivery was simple enough to grasp, which was nice.
I’ve loved The Dawn forever, but their early concepts were way too niche (obviously I, a filthy deep-core fan, loved it). I thought they’d never manage mainstream appeal.
Yeah, nope.
Once the tide came in, they strapped on a motor.
└ 3rd year groups can really do this, whoa
WH money + member skills + Daepaseong planning, gotta admit.
└└ Never thought I’d see anyone praising Mangpaseong.
└└ Excuse me, Dawn are 4th-year now.
└└ Glow era, forgotten by all.
└└ What do you take our memories for!!
└└ True, fans themselves keep calling them 3rd-year.
Idols live and die by youth, not seniority...]
Even more, the chorus choreography from Level S2 that they showed at the comeback showcase went viral on Tick-Tock like a flash flood.
[Title: Reason the ‘keep it under level S2’ challenge blew up on Tick-Tock
There’s the version where you smile prettily and split a heart,
And the version where you draw an S with your finger, then open it into a V and thrust it forward.
It’s so cute!! ♡
└ Plus, the lyrics about not loving easily—
The vibe of just enjoying the now—
Perfectly fits today’s mood.
└ The song’s addictive as hell LOL. Can’t wait to see Jung Dajun do the challenge, he’ll kill it.
└ Kang Ichae is stupidly cute too, and he raps so well.
└└ LOL the hip-hop scene sometimes disses boy groups en masse led by Ichae, but Kang Ichae doesn’t even twitch. Too funny.]
The song was sleek, the response was red-hot, and Daesang already shimmered in the distance. Noeul’s hearts soared higher and higher.
[Fansign cut-offs are gonna skyrocket, huhㅎ]
[I’m about to empty my savings. Worked like a dog for this moment.]
And then—
[Holy shit, mini fanmeeting pre-announcement is out]
[What?!?!]
The Dawn’s official tweet went up.
〔THE DAWN @DPS_THE_DAWN
We will hold a mini fanmeeting this Saturday at YuYu Bank. Participation will be possible with entry numbers distributed on-site.〕
A mini fanmeeting—something usually only rookies do.
Their high spirits crashed straight to the ground.
Noeul felt dizzy.
[I’ll just die now..............]
***
“Wow, it’s been forever since I came here at dawn.”
She had sworn off K-POP entirely, vowing never to glance back. She ignored The Dawn despite them popping up everywhere and annoying her... until the end of last year. She tried them out lightly—and fell instantly, like it was fate.
Now, their new album was out.
Her heart pounded waiting for music show promotions, when she saw the prerecording audience application on SNS. With a mini fanmeeting included.
Even just the prerecording was like finding a needle in a desert. Adding a fanmeeting made competition astronomical.
But somehow, like destiny, she won.
Everything lined up as if her falling for The Dawn was inevitable.
[Jungmin: You still haven’t escaped K?
If you go, the idols are gonna call you auntie.]
[Me: Yeah, tell them to call me auntie ♡]
[Jungmin: They’ll ask when you’re giving them allowance.]
[Me: Yeah, take all my money ♡]
[Jungmin: This bitch is insane.]
[Juyoung: Dude, she even used vacation time just to attend prerec, check-in at 4am.]
[Jungmin: For a working adult born in nn year, that’s real love...]
Mini fanmeetings were usually for rookies to promote and spread their name.
This might be The Dawn’s last one ever. That thought made her heart hammer even harder.
For a moment, her friends’ words echoed—“You’re a K-pop grandma now, everything you know is ancient history”—but she shook it off.
‘I’ll lock his handsome face in my eyes....’
Though the entry method had changed and she got lost, she managed to find the waiting area with other Noeul.
She searched SNS with terms like ‘YuBank,’ ‘The Dawn,’ ‘MiFan.’
[I didn’t wanna learn about harsh competition society here...]
[Are you fucking kidding me, a mini fanmeet? They’re not rookies. I’m dying of stomach pain.]
[How does a Daesang candidate boy group do a mini fanmeet? Guess they’re really gonna do it all this time.]
[If weather’s bad they’ll move indoors? Are you kidding? Show us a natural light fanmeet.
└ It’s forecast to rain, what natural light?
└└ I wanna see wet handsome boys..]
It was almost like WH Entertainment had completely changed: uploading previously unreleased workshop videos to YouTube, frequent self-made content and lives...
Suspicious.
‘Did they finally get their shit together?’
No way, she thought, yet secretly she felt expectation bubbling up.
After the long wait, she entered the venue. The stage setup lifted her mood.
‘Oh, looks like they made real money.’
Scanning the flashy decorations, she overheard whispers from nearby fans.
“They said Seo Hoyun was really sick during the MV shoot...”
“Even now he doesn’t look well.”
“I couldn’t really tell. He hides it too well...”
She remembered hearing those rumors. Anxiety crept in—
But just then, the members took the stage.
“KYAAAAAAAH!!”
Before performing the prerecording of the title track, they appeared in the exact MV outfits: gleaming black walkers, black latex pants, black turtlenecks cut at the sides, and racing jackets with different color accents.
‘Damn, stylist nailed it....’
She scanned upward—and lost words when her eyes hit Seo Hoyun’s face.
“Hello!”
“Hello, Noeul.”
Handsome. Too handsome.
More than anything, the pale, fragile man from the MV was nowhere. His skin was white enough to show veins, but not sickly—radiant, alive, vibrant.
“Holy fuck...”
The low curse from beside her said everything.
After greeting together, Hoyun casually draped his arm over Jung Dajun’s shoulder, smiling with his eyes as he whispered to Kim Sunghyun.
‘Idols are faces....’
Muttering the absolute truth, she stared blankly—until the intro began.
【Stop buzzing off my head!】
The shiver shot up her spine.
【Blow away complicated worries
This dawn, leave everything to me】
She locked eyes with Dajun on the screen. His faint smirk radiated maturity unseen before.
Then Sung Jiwon, holding Kang Ichae’s hand, circled forward.
【But let’s keep it under level S2
So we can break the letters before it gets too deep】
Jiwon’s voice deepened the track further.
The hall erupted in cheers.
【Don’t ask, just dance with me Babe
Tomorrow I’ll say I love you, maybe】
She forced herself to stay alert, not faint.
Then—Hoyun stepped center.
【Let’s keep it under Level S2
Before I find meaning in numbers】
Shielding his eyes as if from light, he snapped his hips to the beat.
【Let’s not call it love
Before I drown in tired words】
The red jacket flared, flashing glimpses of bare skin.
Fans screamed in mad ecstasy.
‘What the fuck is this, who treats a comeback like a survival deathmatch?!’
She swore to watch the official YuYu Bank fancam at home, over and over, frame by frame, licking the screen if she had to.
Why don’t human eyes have a recording function? She cursed fate, straining to miss nothing.
As Hoyun stepped back, Sunghyun mirrored him. Opposite, Jiwon and Ichae struck symmetrical poses.
【Don’t ask, just dance with me Babe
Like it’s our last
Dawn belongs to us alone】
Sunghyun’s powerful, sharp stops paired perfectly with Hoyun’s feather-light fluidity.
At center, Dajun spun three turns in place, beaming.
【Forget everything and just grab my waist
Just remember—】
Crash!
Silver confetti burst down.
【—keep it under level S2】
At the climax, in the final chorus, they all spun, drew an S with their fingers, spread into a V, and thrust forward.
【Let’s keep it under level S2!
Dawn belongs to us alone】
The final shot landed on Sunghyun.
Chest heaving, but as soon as the cut was called, he bowed at a right angle.
“Thank you!”
Gone was the fierce glare from moments before.
They repeated the stage a few more times. After about 40 minutes, prerecording for the title track ended.
Arm in arm, the members headed off to change.
“I love you....”
“I fucking love you too... please take responsibility....”
Everyone muttered delirious confessions. Then The Dawn returned.
This time in thin navy sprite suits, with belts strapped over jackets—
And nothing underneath.
She squeezed her eyes shut against the shock.
‘Deathbed....’
The next track was ‘Candies.’
