The office worker felt like they were going insane.
Today, it wasn’t even because of Manager Kim.
“Those media scum should just throw Manager Kim into a blender. Ugh…”
It was because reporters were carelessly writing sensational articles.
[“Seven’s Comeback with Coral Blue… A Major Clash of Girl Groups This Fall”]
[“The Early Summer Music Scene, Battle for the Throne Between 3rd and 4th Generation Girl Groups”]
[“Clash of Two Music Powerhouses: ‘Who Will Be This Year’s Summer Queen?’… Summer Girl Group Wars Begin”]
[“Once Again, Seven’s Do-hee Surpasses Coral Blue’s Lira… Girl Group Individual Brand Reputation”]
On Monday, June 26, Seven makes their comeback.
A week later, on Monday, July 3, Coral Blue is back.
Articles comparing the two girl groups were enough to spark intense reactions.
Of course, mostly with Seven getting the burnt end of the stick.
– A major clash? Lol, Coral Blue is going to dominate anyway.
– It’s a group that’s going to disband next year, yet they’re still dragging it out. Even if they don’t disband, they’ll never catch up to Coral Blue, haha.
– If only these mayflies could at least chart on Billboard before going home, hehe.
– I just don’t get Hara Entertainment. Why did Jeon Ha-rang go to Seven? Should’ve just debuted peacefully as a Coral Blue junior group.
It must be because Coral Blue’s fandom was overwhelmingly large.
– It’s undeniable that Coral Blue is the representative of the 3rd generation, but why is Seven the representative of the 4th generation?
– This is why Seven gets hate, lol. Their fandom is ridiculously loud.
More importantly, the 4th generation fans from groups like ‘3M’, ‘Pure Girls’, ‘NavyA’, and ‘Catch One’, who were previously overshadowed by Seven, were also jumping into the fray.
“Of all times for schedules to overlap…”
The office worker sighed as they checked the sensational posts on the Kpop community.
It seemed like it was going to be a tiring promotional period for both the fans and members.
“This is all Shock Ent’s fault. They should give the kids a break instead of being money-hungry.”
But when faced with the music video, the office worker couldn’t help but wiggle in joy, a hopeless fan at heart.
[SAVEN (세이븐) ‘음(Melody)’ Official M/V]
“Wow, they’re already so pretty.”
The thumbnail.
As seen in the teaser, the members dressed in urban, sophisticated outfits, alluring concept shots.
There was certainly one advantage to being a project group.
Since the narrative and image were crafted through survival, there were no restrictions on song concepts.
However, worrying couldn’t be avoided.
The outfits in the thumbnail looked a bit too sexy.
With four underage members, it was perfectly set up to attract backlash for sexualization.
“Moreover, Do-hee is only 16. Ugh.”
Though they thought Shock Ent would usually pick the right song and concept, it felt like their sense had dulled.
Still, they pressed play on the music video.
“Well, in the end, I have to watch to understand. Phew.”
The music video began with a bustling plaza in front of a Grecian-style building.
The members are standing in formation, flaunting their cute yet pure outfits instead of the ones in the thumbnail.
“Oh, so this is why they had a concept photo.”
Just as they realized that the outfits from the concept photo were right here.
Intro.
A dreamy synth sound flowed down the scales, like pearls rolling.
And with each drop in the scale, more and more bass sounds were added in.
It was the disco retro beat heard in the teaser.
The vibe wasn’t too overwhelming; it felt sophisticated.
“Definitely, the Zy composer has talent.”
Meanwhile, the members, who had been gazing meaningfully at the front, finally moved.
One by one, they extended their hands towards the center, reaching for Do-hee, who was once again playing the center role.
Now, the screen was filled with flower-shaped hands.
-Dnn↘Dnn↘Dnn↘Dnn↘
Once again, the bass dropped like steps, and the members lowered their hands.
When their hands finally disappeared from the screen,
the background changed to the quaint streets of London.
Do-hee, standing at the center of the flowers, provocatively walked out, brushing her hands against the walls of the street.
「Ay, I can’t fill it up at all
I hope you write down your heart」
Furthermore, the outfit from the concept photo they had just seen
was gone.
The pure white shirt and black corset belt vanished,
replaced by a red knit dress, accentuating her rational charm.
「ad lib lib lib I am just beat.(lips lips)」
The office worker felt an explosion of emotions like exclamation marks in their head, silently gasping,
“Seriously…! How can she get prettier every time I see her…!?”
「I can clearly see where you are
But I’m scared, maybe it’s something else
Probably a little bit indecisive」
However, there was no time to marvel.
This time, Hana, with her black hair and white cloth covering her eyes,
and Ye-eun with her blonde hair, who one would think couldn’t be chic,
were framed against the backdrop of paintings, looking at each other as if facing a mirror.
“……!”
Once again, the office worker almost expressed their awe at the continuous bombardment of picturesque visuals,
but they swallowed their voice.
Right now, they didn’t want to miss the buildup of this melody.
‘Buildup…? Now that I think about it, it seems like the instrumentation changes slightly with each part of the song too?’
Thinking they would check again later, they focused back on the video.
「Pretending to have noticed」
This time, there were three members.
Sara. Chae-rin. Ha-rang.
「In the end, the answer lies within you」
The three were walking through the hallway of an elegant old mansion, with sunlight trickling through the windows.
However, their stylish outfits in red and black made even the dark and heavy background look trendy.
「Raise your hand and write it down」
Finally, as the three who had been walking reached the door and pushed it open,
Seo-yoon, with pink hair and a lip piercing, stood alone, exuding more sexiness than cuteness.
Seo-yoon, who emphasized more on sexiness than cuteness, stood alone.
And when she made a T-shape with her hand and brought it down.
A moment of drop.
The intense build-up melody and beat disappeared.
The restrained yet attractively emphasized chorus line came through.
“That’s in my score, mm─”
Seo-yoon lightly moved her fingers and placed them on her lip piercing.
In the end, the office worker gave up swallowing his admiration.
“Seriously…”
He just decided to watch it from the very beginning.
‘I’m probably going to watch it a hundred times today anyway.’
And it seemed everyone had the same thought.
This was revealed in the updating real-time reactions.
– Dodo dodo dodo, Dorahee!
– Wow, what a visual punch!
– It’s a triple hit, aaahhh!
You didn’t even need to look at the dance stage to know.
This wasn’t an excessive vibe like a sexy concept.
It was even more suited for summer, following the refreshing concept from their second album.
‘Enchanting freshness.’
They released a crazy title that captured refreshing, pure, and sexy all at once.
*
Today, the area in front of the LE Center in Sangam-dong was bustling.
Fans, having fought through fierce competition, were there for the recorded Mpulse public broadcast, a total of 180 of them.
The cheerful atmosphere was as refreshing as the cool early summer dawn.
People exchanging merchandise, cramming cheering methods recently posted, and bonding with each other.
Everyone looked filled with anticipation and excitement.
And again today, some Home Mamas, who for some reason won the competition.
The Home Mamas shared friendly interactions, recognizing familiar faces.
“Hey, you made it?”
A guy greeted a girl walking from afar.
He looked quite presentable for someone who followed celebrities every day.
“Yeah, when did you get here?”
“Me? 1 o’clock.”
“1 a.m.?”
“Yeah, just stayed up all night at an internet cafe, doing some editing.”
“Since there’s also a mini fan meeting after the pre-recording, is that okay?”
“Of course! That’s what kept me up all night. My heart was racing like I had a drink because of the sudden fan meeting announcement yesterday.”
The girl laughed at the guy’s exaggerated reaction.
“Right? Other stans were so jealous.”
“Probably. But what about Ji-hyun? I heard she didn’t make it? Doesn’t she usually come even if she doesn’t get in?”
The guy recalled the girl who became close by following Seven members around.
The girl seemed to have some knowledge.
“What’s going on? Spill it.”
“Well… you know the ‘Dojol’ season 4, right?”
“Oh, the boy version? Of course, I know. Why?”
“They had a production presentation on Monday.”
“Yeah? But so what?”
“Ji-hyun just went to take pictures thinking about making some money, but it seems a contestant is her ideal type, so she’s going to follow that side for a while…”
“Wait, what? Suddenly?”
“Not really suddenly, you know. She was originally a boy group stan.”
“It was because I was a fangirl.”
“Oh, is that so? Well, those who like boy groups eventually go back to boy groups.”
“Exactly! The pretty members of Seven are the best.”
“Ah, lost a friend to eat with.”
While the two fangirls were feeling regret.
“Oh, it’s Manager Da-hong!”
Seven’s manager, Joo Da-hong, approached the fans.
“Manager, you look pretty today too!”
Sometimes appearing in the members’ live streams, Joo Da-hong had gained recognition among the fans.
“Okay, that’s enough! Now everyone gather here!”
One by one, the fans gathered.
As a decent crowd formed, Joo Da-hong raised a hand and shouted loudly.
“Shabenyu, everyone knows their numbers, right!? From now on, to my left is numbers 1 to 60! The center is 61 to 120! To my right is 121 to 180! The rest waiting should temporarily step aside!”
Following Joo Da-hong’s instructions, the two fangirls chatted as they moved.
“But you can definitely feel it these days, right?”
“What do you mean? The hate?”
There were certainly more reactions than before welcoming them as cute rookies.
Lately, however, the communities were going crazy with comparisons.
“Yes, that.”
It’s been a daily occurrence for fandoms to fight, so they were somewhat enlightened.
On the contrary, they found this situation quite pleasant.
“After all, superstars drive the haters and fans mad.”
The reality was that they were rising up that much.
“Now I’ll check the numbers! Please bring out your ID and purchase history for albums and songs!”
The man recalled the past idol scene.
Coral Blue had won a rookie award in their debut period.
From their second comeback, they broke records set by previous girl groups.
And they were endlessly compared.
Especially with the project girl group that was enjoying enormous popularity at the time, [Passion Season 1].
Coincidentally, this time it was the [Passion 3] project group and Coral Blue.
“IDs and album, song purchase history!”
Before long, Joo Da-hong was approaching the man, extending a hand.
“Oh, yes.”
The man tried to rummage through the bag slung over his shoulder as usual.
“Huh…? Did I leave it at the PC bang?”
Pretending to be calm in front of the girl, the man hurriedly took out his phone and showed his homepage.
“Manager! It’s my homepage! You know me, right? You know!”
Tearing up, he added,
“Yes, I know. You’re Hana’s home mama. But rules are rules. I’ll wait until all 180 numbers are checked, so run back quickly. If you’re late, you’ll move to the waiting list.”
‘The PC bang is… really far from here…’
With the man’s tears, the second half of Seven’s activities began.
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