The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

All kinds of speculations began to pour out on social media, beginning from Bluebird to the cryptic message posted by Siren.

—Going to confes???

—What are our babies…planning?

—Ha…already smells like a full course meal…

—BTW Tae-Yoon looks sooo good in uniform

—Park Dong-Jun’s eyes while wearing uniform is too much; I’m sweating

—What do I do when Yeon-Hoon is staring at me like that? I’m in tears.

—Who gave our back cat a uniform a size too small for him? Thank you so very much…

—It’s so cute that only Woon buttoned his uniform to the very top

People wondered what Siren meant by confessing while feasting their eyes on the uniform selfies posted by Siren. Surprise events like these were always popular with fans.

—Wait, since this outfit hasn’t appeared in any of the unofficial footage and the album photo book or photo cards, they must have worn it for today’s outfit

—Yep I think ur right. It’s the same makeup as the members’ pre-recording today

—What are they planning fr???

People, who planned to click briefly and leave, began to slowly match the puzzle pieces. Fans automatically eliminated the original speculation that Siren would wear a uniform on stage tomorrow. If Siren was going to wear it on stage tomorrow, they wouldn’t have taken pictures of them in uniforms and uploaded them today. If so, there were two possible theories. One was that they could be doing a show where they had to wear a school uniform, and second was that they were going to wear a uniform at the fan signing event. Either of these was plausible, but strangely, the opinions of the fans flocked to the fan signing event.

—Ah, this looks like a fan signing outfit

—yeah 100% fan signing event

—Wow…a school uniform fan signing event…

—Why can’t I go to fan signing event today? Why am I broke? My fucking wallet…

—I need to store some data today for sure today…fuck…even if I can’t go, I need to save photos and videos

While the fans were geared towards the fan signing theory, a piece of evidence that finalized this theory appeared.

—What is this???

—crazy that they were building up for this?

During dinner time, an information board stood at the entrance of a live hall where Siren’s fan signing event would begin. The sign said the following:

—What kind of confession do you want to hear?

It was a sign linked to the message posted by Siren this afternoon. At this point, people had no choice but to catch on.

—Are they planning to confess at the fan signing event while wearing school uniform?

—Ah fuck noooo even if I have to work part-time, I’m going to the next fan signing event or I might die from jealousy

—Is that real? FR?

—It’s fr. They verified it.

—Wow our babies…they proved again that they’re fantasy male leads

—Are you saying I’ll be able to hear the confession of Kang Do-Seung’s boyfriend and my boyfriend, Princess Woon…?

Reply: What kind of relationship are you in?

The event Siren prepared was a confession line event, and it was an event that blatantly stimulated a sense of fantasy relationship between idols and their fans. Furthermore, that wasn’t all there was to it.

—It’s not a raffle event but for everyone.

Reply: ???

—What, it’s not going to end with just one or two confession lines??

Reply: I asked the staff and they said I can write what I want on a post-it and hold onto it. Then if I give it to the members, they say the lines.

Reply: Fuck…Please don’t do this kind of event when I can’t go. Seriously…

It was not an event that ended with a few raffles picked out from a box but for everyone who participated in the fan signing event. The fandom began to get noisy again about deciding on what confession lines they wanted to write down. Of course, some people really wanted to hear a heart-thumping comment, but some people wanted to laugh and hear funny remarks from their idols.

—Do you want to eat with me or die? Do you want to go out with me or die?* [1] I want to ask Do-Seung to do this…

Reply: But would our babies…know that drama?

Reply: Fuck pls don’t stab this old granny’s heart

—I went classic and did ‘do I like you?’* lol [2]

Reply: Pls tell me ur review after I beg u

—What about nuna, please don’t go to company dinner. Your boss is also a man.

Reply: You’re seriously crazy ahahahahha

Before the start of Siren’s first fan signing event, people already begun to enjoy the few bits of information given out as appetizers to the fullest.

***

The fan signing event would begin soon. After finishing the music broadcast, we moved directly to the live hall where the fan signing event would take place.

“Ahhhh. Why am I so nervous?” Yeon-Hoon shuddered and clung to me. Even though he didn’t get nervous on stage, he was especially nervous in situations like this.

He said, “Do you think the concept is too much? I’m getting so nervous now that I have to actually do it.”

“No, it’s fine. Why are you nervous? Honestly, I think you’ll do the best once we get going.”

“…Really?”

“Yes.”

Yeon-Hoon seemed to relax a little from my compliment. I was surprised that a person could be so simple.

Sigh… “But are you sure that the fans would really like this? This wouldn’t end with us just creating meaningless dark chapters in our idol history, right?” Do-Seung said while pressing his brows with his fingers. Seeing that he was saying this right before going up to the fan signing event hall in his school uniform, he seemed genuinely concerned.

“I think they would like it…as long as we do well.” Woon dissuaded Do-Seung’s concerns and continued, “If we get embarrassed and not do a proper job, I think it would really become a shameful memory then. So isn’t it just up to us whether this would become a dark chapter in our history or not?”

Do-Seung replied, “If you say it like that…I have nothing to say…”

Woon was right. In the end, we had to be fully immersed in our acting and do a proper job.

“I want to quickly go up. It’s no fun to just stay here like this. I can’t wait to see everyone’s shocked faces.” Dong-Jun didn’t seem nervous about this event at all and just wanted to quickly go up. Considering his personality, I didn’t think he would get nervous about something like this.

Just in time, an event staff approached us and said, “All the fans are seated in line with their number ticket. You can now go up and say hello and start the signing event.” They were telling us to go up now that the event setting was over.

“Let’s not make a mistake to the fans and do as we planned!”

“Yes!”

“Alrighty!”

“Let’s hurry up!”

I went up to the stage of the live hall with my members.

***

Siren’s fans sat in the audience at the fan signing and watched the members come up on stage. From Yeon-Hoon, Kang Do-Seung, Lee Woon, Park Dong-Jun, and Bong Tae-Yoon came out in order.

Gasp!

“Crazy.”

“Wow…Yeon-Hoon’s face…”

“Tae-Yoon’s proportion is insane…”

Since it was the fans' first time seeing Siren at a fan signing event, not at the stage, there were exclamations from all over the place. In particular, people responded well to the school uniform outfits they wore. They wore outfits that real students might wear in a school and not customized school uniforms for the stage. It was also the same outfit they wore in their music video.

Usually, handsome and pretty people looked even more noticeable when wearing ordinary clothes than wearing bright, colorful outfits. This was because they were even more conspicuous while wearing the same clothes as everyone else, and their faces and proportions stood out from the rest. Furthermore, the uniform itself was an outfit that gave off a refreshing but sentimental feel- all reasons wwhy it was often chosen as an idol’s outfit.

“We’ll officially start by saying our official greeting!” Just in time, Woo Yeon-Hoon took the mike and started talking. People pressed their camera shutters even more enthusiastically and captured Woo Yeon-Hoon on camera.

“SAY YES! Hello, it’s Siren!” After Siren said their official greeting, cheers naturally erupted.

Were they not used to hearing cheers outside the stage? All of the Siren members smiled shyly. Only Bong Tae-Yoon stood upright without a change in his expression and made eye contact with the fans.

“Before we proceed with the fan signing event, we have one piece of news to announce to Sailors.” People carefully listened to Woo Yeon-Hoon ‘s next lines.

“As you all predicted, we decided on a concept for today’s signing event. It was to have a fan signing event wearing a school uniform…” Woo Yeon-Hoon said and slightly trailed off.

“You all wrote a confession line in front, right…! We’re going to read those lines one by one…! So please bring your post-it note when you come up.” Woo Yeon-Hoon bowed his head shyly as he finished. His pale face burned up like a red radish.

“Crazy…!”

“Wow…so cute…”

“Yeon-Hoon!”

At his reaction, fans of Yeon-Hoon looked at Yeon-Hoon with cheers and shouts, and the camera shutter sound got even more intense. Woo Yeon-Hoon raised his head again at their reactions. In that short time, his face got redder than before. Happy cheers came from the audience.

Woo Yeon-Hoon calmed his expression for a bit and then shouted, “…We will not start the fan signing event!”

Woo Yeon-Hoon officially announced the start of Siren’s fan signing event.

***

I didn’t know why but the fan signing event started with me. I discussed the order with my members before, and the members said I had to go first. The reason was obvious at the time.

‘If the first member to go becomes Yeon-Hoon, everyone would pale in comparison….’ Thus, we had planned out the intensity of our interactions. I was not much of a reaction person; it wasn’t that I was emotionless, but I was not good at expressing emotions by nature, and unlike me, Yeon-Hoon was a very expressive person. Thus, the order started with me and ended with Yeon-Hoon.

However, the order was not by reaction strength as it was 1. Me 2. Dong-Jun 3. Do-Seung 4. Woon 5. Yeon-Hoon. The overall feeling was weak-strong-weak-strong-strongest, and if I compared it to food, it was like having a salty and then sweet combination order. I took a quick look at the older members lined up in a row.

Yeah, now that I saw them like this, I thought we systematically ordered our group members in the most logical order.

‘…They’re here…!’ Our first fan approached me.

“Hello…!” I said hello with a little nervousness. However, my nervousness only lasted a brief moment.

“Tae-Yoon, what did you have for dinner today?”

“What song do you listen to these days?”

“What’s your favorite song in this album?”

“What’s your favorite food?”

My nerves melted at the fan’s natural lead to questions. Although I felt taken aback that the fan was so comfortable and seemed experienced in fan signing events, my heart felt lighter that they took the initiative to ask questions. I answered their questions one by one while signing a photo book page with my face on it.

“I had tuna kimbap for dinner tonight. What about you, nuna?”

“The song I listen to most often is our title song, but other than that, the song I often listen to is Troy’s ‘Young’.”

“My personal favorite song in this album is ‘Blue Ocean’. I think it’s a song that highlights Yeon-Hoon’s clear voice.”

“My favorite food is…hmm…I like all types of food…mostly steamed meat?”

After answering the questions like that, I asked questions back. “Did it take long for you to come here?”

“Have you eaten yet?”

“What’s your favorite part of this album?”

Frankly, I didn’t know that I was so talkative. However, when I actually faced a Sailor in front of my eyes, various questions kept popping up. Just in time, the event host gave a sign that there was not much time left.

“That…post-it note…can you give it to me now?” I received the confession line with a trembling heart.

“Oh…this…! Don’t be surprised! Okay?”

“…Yes!” I received the note the fan gave me. “…!” Even though she told me not to be surprised, I couldn’t hide my surprise.

“Hahahaha!” My expression must have been strange as the fan in front of me burst into laughter first.

“Hahahaha!”

“What is it?”

“What’s with Tae-Yoon’s expression?”

Then the members sitting next to me reacted next, and lastly, the Sailors in the audience seat burst out laughing. However, I paid no heed to their reactions and could only focus on the lines written in the Post-it note. My heart felt conflicted, and anyone who saw this would feel the same way.

—Ha…I’m going crazy, nuna…Do you like me that much…? (Do it while slightly tilting your head with a deep stare.)

This was a new kind of social death.

1. Famous lines from a 2004 k-drama, I’m Sorry, I Love You. ☜

2. Another famous line from a 2013 k-drama, The Heirs. Both of these lines are famous for being cringy. ☜