The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Idols fundamentally needed to be good singers and dancers. Depending on their visuals or balance of talent, their singing or dancing ability could be slightly inferior, but they needed to be fundamentally above a certain level. However, that was not everything about idols. No matter how good someone was at singing and dancing, there were numerous people who would not be caught on camera. It was not because they were lacking in skills. There was only one reason—

‘It’s because of people like Kang Hyun-Sung.’ No matter how good at singing or dancing or good-looking someone was, there was something you couldn’t have unless you were born with it. Some people called it star potential, show talent, or celebrity fate. There was someone who was the very embodiment of that innate star potential standing over there.

—We will TAKE OVER! HOOK!

—Match the beat of my footsteps!

Kang Hyun-Sung stepped on the members’ backs and jumped into the sky and landed on the floor with a superhero landing. At the same time, the hook of the song made the audience burst into cheers. The platinum-haired, former first-tier idol group member, scanned the stage and something similar to madness flashed in his eyes. The formation changed in perfect sequence, and the song rose in tension.

Each member of Only One stood in the way of Kang Hyun Sung, and movements that were difficult to distinguish as specific genres of dance came out. It felt more like storytelling through dance rather than basic dance moves. Kang Hyun-Sung performed a pair choreography with each of the members in front of him one by one, and the movements made it seem like they were fighting. He extended his fist, stretched out his feet, lay on the floor, and got back to his feet. When he reached the last member after passing through the three members—

—TAKE DOWN! HOOK!

—We will be the LAST ONE to break you down!

Once again, the chorus came out and the song reached its climax. With a heavy bass sound, creating tension, a pair choreography between Kang Hyun-Sung and the last member followed. It was only then did the sword that he had been wearing on his waist came out.

“What’s that?”

It was an object that instantly caught people’s eyes; a sword flashed fluorescent light everywhere.

‘I didn’t expect a lightsaber to come out in my past life.’ Someone with good sense would have expected that he would come out with a lightsaber from the very first moment he came out wearing a cyberpunk costume, but most people probably didn’t expect it. Dancing with a light sword could look very cringy or excessive as it was a strong concept on top of a strong concept.

However, Kang Hyun-Sung’s dance and expressions perfectly pulled it off. On the other hand, the members perhaps couldn’t pull it off as they were all wearing cloth-like masks. After knocking down the last member and the last outro of the song rang out, Hyun-Sung moved to the center of the stage as if he was stumbling.

Bang! The stage ended with the lightsaber on the floor. Only then did the fluorescent light of the lightsaber flick away. Kang Hyun-Sung also fell to the floor at the same time as when the sword fell to the floor. All that remained on stage was a broken lightsaber and the corpses of five handsome men. It was a composition that clearly conveyed a story.

‘It feels like I just watched a cyberpunk movie in a few minutes.’ It was a stage that reflected Kang Hyun-Sung’s taste. No, there was no way that was his taste as he was not the type of person to invest his time in movies or dramas.

‘He must have picked what he could do the best.’ Hyun-Sung was good at things like that—things that were conceptual and hard, and among the conceptual and difficult concepts, he probably did a genre that he had never done before.

“Wow, that was a stage that reminded me of a blockbuster movie!”

“Wowww!” Young-Jin said his lines and moved the progress along. As the lights returned to their original brightness, the Only One members, who had fallen on the stage, got up.

“I never imagined that you would perform this kind of stage. Whose idea was it?” Kim Young-Jin said and passed over the mike to Only One.

The one who took the mike was Kang Hyun-Sung, and it was probably the first time he talked during today’s shooting. Hyun-Sung steadied his breathing and wiped his sweat.

He scanned the audience once and said, “It was my idea.” Then he added, “And my members also helped out as well.”

Usually, people would say that they made it with the members first and then say that they were the ones who proposed the idea first. Well, I thought the order didn’t matter. Then Hyun-Sung’s eyes stopped in one place. Sadly, it was where I was.

‘What the?’ I had no idea why he was trying to make eye contact with me but—

‘Is he trying to pick a fight?’ However, I had no reason to run away if he wanted to fight. Kang Hyun-Sung slightly raised one of the corners of his mouth and shifted his eyes to the hosts.

One of the hosts said, “I was really surprised when the lightsaber came out.”

“That’s a relief. I added that to surprise everyone.”

“Then you’ve really done your job well.” After that, the conversation between Only One and the hosts continued a little longer. Strangely, it gave the impression that they were paying a bit more attention and care to Only One. After all their lines were over, it was finally our turn.

“Siren, who will perform next! Please come up to the stage!” We were called.

I looked at my members one by one. Was it because we just watched Only One’s performance?

“Wow?”

“Why are we doing the ending?”

“Pwehh.”

Everyone’s spirits were dampened and discouraged. Only One really had done a great performance as not only our group but the other group’s spirits were strongly dampened. Only One’s stage made those who have worked hard on their performance to feel like a gigantic wall was standing in front of them. Even though we were all also from a small agency and they wore the same black outfit and gave off the same vibe, how could their performance be so different from the others?

There was actually no good way to say this—the only difference Only One and the others had was the center members. It was just the difference between who was at the center. Except for Kang Hyun-Sung, there was no one in Only One who danced super well, and they were also lacking in their ability to pull off a concept. Since the song lyrics only consisted of two lines, it was hard to judge their singing, but it didn’t sound like they were that good at singing either.

However, Kang Hyun-Sung stood at the center and carried the concept and pulled the whole bus by himself. He had carried all four members by himself, and perhaps there was a reason why the stage was composed only of one-on-one pair choreography.

“Let’s go.” I pulled my members back to their senses. Only One pulled off their performance by using a star center member. But...

I said, “Yeon-Hoon, don’t be scared.”

“Yeah! I’m not scared.”

Our center didn’t lose to them either. No, with our current concept, there was probably almost no one who could be a better fit for the center position than Yeon-Hoon. I gently massaged Yeon-Hoon’s shoulder to encourage him.

“We can do it!”

“That’s right.”

“We practiced so hard~”

Woon, Do-Seung, and Dong-Jun also lifted up the energy by their encouragement. No matter how good the previous stage was, they couldn’t be scared as a frightened dog with their tail tucked between their legs never won a battle. Even if they thought they were going to lose, they needed to put their tail up straight.

‘And I also don’t think we’re going to lose.’ Frankly, I wasn’t afraid of Only One. We stood on the stage in a prearranged formation. I took a deep breath and played a simulation of the choreography inside our mind once and then—

Ding-ding-ding—

The accompaniment began. The electronic piano sound of the major scale resonated on the stage. After that, kitsch-sounding samples echoed repeatedly, and the song slowly sped up. When we reached an exciting BPM where all Koreans would shake their hips, we moved our shoulders and legs slightly to the beat.

Currently, Do-Seung and I were standing in the front and covering the members behind, and it was right before the song’s hook came out. Soon, Do-Seung and I quickly moved to both sides, and the members popped out between us. Among them, the first to come forward was Yeon-Hoon, who stood at the center. The camera approached Yeon-Hoon, and Yeon-Hoon smiled brightly in front of the camera and sang the first line.

-LET’S GO SAILING!

-Get out to the sea

-AND KEEP SMILING~

-Forget about your fears

As soon as his clear and beautiful voice rang out clearly on the stage, I understood why Park Soo-Chul made us take the ending performance.

‘It’s done.’ He must have felt that the atmosphere was very down because only very conceptual and dark songs were coming out. That was also the very reason why I chose this bright outfit and song.

‘But it feels different experiencing it directly.’ The atmosphere at the scene must have been darker than I expected. As soon as Yeon-Hoon was caught on camera, I could see the production crews break into a grin.

* * *

Park Soo-Chul clenched his fist intuitively as soon as Woo Yeon-Hoon’s first line rang out. It seemed as if he had muttered to himself, ‘We got it’ over ten times. He wanted to kiss himself for switching the order and making them go last.

As soon as Woo Yeon-Hoon’s face appeared on the monitor screen, some of the staff even exclaimed ‘wow!’ in admiration. Yeon-Hoon’s good looks was only half of the reason for their reaction. All the production crew were tired of dark songs, dark lightning, and hard-to-understand lyrics. However, Yeon-Hoon’s refreshing visual was enough to burst that dark atmosphere in an instant so that was why they reacted even stronger.

The standard sailor uniform with points in white and navy was a perfect fit for Woo Yeon-Hoon. The shorts, knee-high socks, and glitters on his eyes perfectly complemented him. But above all, his voice when he cleanly hit all the high notes was indescribably beautiful.

‘We got the hooking point.’ They had a thumbnail strong enough to pull the viewers. At first, Park Soo-Chul had Siren in mind as a simple card to use and throw away. However, from the very first shoot, Siren had continued to miss his expectations. It was a team that surprised him in the best way. Park Soo-Chul looked at the stage, moving his shoulders to the beat.

-SAILING, SAILING~

-KEEP DREAMING

-Embrace the wide, blue sea with open arms

-Run until you’re out of breath

-Towards the TREASURE at the end of the horizon

Woo Yeon-Hoon, who had been at the center the whole time, fell to the side and main dancer, Lee Woon, came forward. When Lee Woon came to the center, the entire group’s form seemed to have changed.

Soo-Chul heard quiet exclamations as Lee Woon began to extend his arms out as if he were swimming. They were movements that provided visual enjoyment to the viewers, and there were no gaps or flaws in his movements. In particular, the foot and pelvis movements that moved according to the half-beat between the large movements made the whole dance look more exciting.

-I won’t let go of your hands

-Hold on tightly tonight

-Let’s go to the deep sea together

-FULL DIVING

-CRUSHING

-I’M FALLING

-TO YOU

Kang Do-Seung’s rapping, which followed Lee Woon, was also cleverly made without damaging the bright and light atmosphere. In particular, despite the fast beat of the song, the rap maintained a uniquely slow beat like a laid-back style and made the song more complex. The next part of the song was a dance break time. It felt like they showed all the compositions that could be shown in 120 seconds.

Lee Woon came out to the center again, and the atmosphere of the accompaniment became heavier. In the midst of a strong bass sound, Lee Woon slid to the floor and spun round and round and then stood up again using only his core strength.

“Wow!”

“Is his back okay?”

Lee Woon showed such light body movements that it would have been believable if he said he majored in contemporary dance. The scale of his movements themselves were not large, but the flow was so smooth and light that it was easy to watch from the viewer’s perspective. Since he was also right on beat, everyone couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

After the dance break was over, the atmosphere of the song became bright again and the song began to get heavier and faster; anyone could tell that the song was reaching its high note. Kang Do-Seung and Bong Tae-Yoon approached the main vocalist Woo Yeon-Hoon and then lifted him into the air.

-We finally found the TREASURE──!

-My ending is with you—

-A FAIRY TALE for just us two-

-that we will never forget──!

Since both Kang Do-Seung and Bong Tae-Yoon were tall, it really felt like he had flown into the sky. Woo Yeon-Hoon, who had flown up into the sky with the help of the members, poured out even higher notes. People’s mouths dropped as he sang out high notes after high notes without breaking a sweat like a machine. When Woo Yeon-Hoon landed safely on the floor and the melody began to fade away, Park Dong-Jun said one line in a low and soft voice.

-KEEP SAILING

Dong-Jun’s beautiful voice resonated gently on the stage.

-KEEP DREAMING

Then Bong Tae-Yoon also uttered one line. There was something about his voice that pulled people’s heartstrings.

-At last, we’ve met our ocean.

The ending was, of course, sung by Woo Yeon-Hoon. Woo Yeon-Hoon stared at the camera, which had come right in front of him, with a sentimental gaze. Soon, the song slowly died down, and Woo-Yeon’s chest, which had been breathing hard, slowly began to subside.

The whole stage was over. Park Soo-Chul stared blankly at the stage and began to think about how to set the direction of this introductory performance. All kinds of ideas shot out of his head like fireworks. There were so many things he wanted to say, but if he cut out all the miscellaneous thoughts and summarized them together in just one sentence, it was, ‘while Kang Hyun-Sung leapt, Yeon-Hoon flew.’

This was how he could organize today’s event—as the difference between stepping on the members’ back and receiving support from every member.