At the end of January, high school student Yeon-ah, who is about to become a senior, fills her winter break with nothing but attending extra classes.
“Sigh, I really don’t want to study.”
It’s definitely a boring and torturous routine.
“Hey hey, Baeyeon-ah, did you see that? It’s a jackpot!”
Even so, the time spent with friends of the same age makes it bearable.
“Huh? Why? Why?”
“Apparently, Teacher Han got a wig.”
“Really?”
“For real, legit. I mean, there are exactly 300 days left until the SAT today. The kids are calling it the 300-day miracle hair show!”
As they banter about such trivial things, Yeon-ah’s stomach starts to growl.
“Shall we go eat some mala tang later?”
“Okay, let’s go!”
After class, munching on snacks like this with friends is a student-only pleasure.
“Oh, but this song is pretty good. Who is it by?”
While heading to a place to eat mala tang with her friend, Yeon-ah listened closely to the music playing around her.
─ Enjoy it, whatever the answer is
It’s a catchy dance song mixed with addictive EDM and topped with rap.
In other words, it gives off a girl-gangster vibe of G-house.
“What? You don’t know this?”
“Who is it?”
“It’s them, the Coral Blue’s follow-up group. Jeon Ha-rang is in it.”
Since she was forcefully switched to a 2G phone by her parents as she prepared to become a senior, Yeon-ah was completely out of the loop about what was currently trending.
“Whoa, did Jeon Ha-rang debut?”
“They debuted last week, how do you not know this?”
“Well, I was fighting with my mom over my phone all last week.”
“Yeah, your mother is pretty strict.”
Her friend sat down and quietly handed her the phone.
[BEAT-LYN]
[Jeon Ha-rang] [Seol] [Chloe] [Ina]
─ Genre: Rap/Hip-Hop, K-POP, Dance/Pop, EDM/House
It was a wiki.
“Oh… Beatlin? Beetlin?”
“It’s Beatlin, but Beetlin might be accurate too? But it feels like Beatlin sounds better.”
[Group Name]
[The group name combines ‘BEAT,’ emphasizing the rhythmic and beat-centric nature of hip-hop music, with the feminine suffix ‘-lyn,’ which gives a friendly image like a girl next door, meaning ‘girls doing hip-hop.’]
Additionally, ‘BEAT-LYN,’ which reads as ‘Beetlin’ in Korean, embodies the pursuit of avoiding rigid traditional styles and musical approaches, expressing music in new and creative ways.]
“It’s definitely a trend nowadays to put a lot of meaning into names with compound words. It doesn’t look bad at all like this.”
“3rd generation did that too, but nowadays it feels a bit more complicated and sophisticated. Starting from Seven, all 4th generation girl groups are like that.”
As Yeon-ah chatted with her friend, enjoyed mala tang, and listened to music, she felt in a really good mood.
“But this song is nice. It’s not the usual style, but it totally sticks in your ear.”
“That’s not it, but it really sticks in your ear.”
In fact, another source of vitality for the high school seniors during this period was music, especially K-pop idols.
“Right?”
“Yeah, I heard it for the first time, but the song is good, right?”
When you went to the class, whether it was boys or girls, it was normal to see them watching idol music videos on tablets, and some weren’t just collecting photo cards but also joining fan clubs.
“This is already ranked second for Watermelon in just a week, right? They say it’s going to hit first place this week.”
“Really?”
“This group is Coral Blue’s junior, and the producer is the same, so it should be good.”
“But isn’t Coral Blue’s song different since Lira has participated all along?”
“No, they said Lira contributed to this title too.”
“Oh really? Somehow.”
“So that’s why everyone’s listening to it. They’re definitely getting the Rookie of the Year award this year, right? Their overseas streaming numbers have surpassed Debonaire and Ailee.”
“Wow… as expected, Coral Blue’s splash is no joke.”
“The song’s pretty good, right?”
“Well, whenever Seven comes out, it’s always Rookie of the Year.”
“Exactly. I heard Gong Chae-rin is finally going solo, but isn’t that going to be shared again this year?”
A friend munching on tofu suddenly asked.
“But Yeon-ah, Do-hee Lee is turning 19 now; do you think she’ll take the college entrance exam?”
About Do-hee Lee.
Earlier, Jeon Ha-rang’s group ‘BEAT-LYN’ had surpassed Debonaire in overseas streaming numbers, but it was a clear fact that Do-hee was still the most popular idol among high school students.
“Come on, what kind of idol takes the entrance exam?”
“Is that so? But Do-hee studies really well.”
Just by going to the class, you’d see at least a couple of kids who had caught the Do-hee disease.
“I don’t know; she did well before.”
By the way, the friend in front was also a bit affected.
When Do-hee styled her bangs, the friend would style theirs similarly, and when she got a full fringe, they followed along.
“But if Do-hee only focused on studying, she would definitely have gone to Korea University, right? She was top of the class.”
“Well, that could be the case.”
Still, it was a relief that it wasn’t a serious case; they just followed trends.
When you think about that notorious kid from the adjacent class who had the late-stage Do-hee disease.
They would edit their profile picture to resemble Do-hee as much as possible and would say, “A senior I know keeps saying I look like Do-hee. It’s seriously annoying…”
“Yeon-ah, do you think I resemble Do-hee? Ha…”
They were spouting nonsense everywhere like a mental illness.
“Ugh.”
Yeon-ah shivered and rubbed her goosebumps arms.
Meanwhile, her friend, who was giggling while looking at her phone, excitedly called out.
“Hey, Yeon-ah, jackpot! Look at this.”
“What is it?”
“No, Do-hee and Jeon Ha-rang appeared together on a variety show!”
“…Really?”
Yeon-ah quickly leaned in.
“Oh my.”
In fact, Yeon-ah was just like her peers; she was one of the girls who purely admired Do-hee, even if she didn’t show it on the outside.
This wasn’t a new thing. Perhaps it had started back when Seven was in middle school.
[#Star Mission Super Planet/The Hottest Girl Group Members’ Phone Mission!! Hyung Byeong-hoon: Jeon Ha-rang, did you set this up with Do-hee?]
Even though it was a phone mission, the fact that Jeon Ha-rang unexpectedly appeared made Yeon-ah’s heart flutter, especially since they had never overlapped with Ailee’s members in a variety show before.
And the reactions were as follows.
[LOL, seriously, Ha-rang is just playing with Do-hee all day (1.1k likes)]
└As soon as she answered the call, Ha-rang tried to act cute, and Do-hee sighed immediately… no, LOL.
└Honestly, I expected how Ha-rang would call the others anyway, LOL.
└Gong Chae-rin: Why didn’t you answer Ha-rang’s call? That girl just calls to sing whenever she’s bored, not for any specific reason.
└Did you really say that?
└When Ha-rang posted on Instagram to answer her call, she said that in the live stream, LOL.
[Wow, Do-hee gets all the quiz answers right as soon as she wakes up… isn’t this scripted? (9.6k likes)]
└Sounds like PD Choi Byeong-hoon wouldn’t use a script, LOL.
└Even if you know the answer, it’s tough to respond right away; that’s impressive.
└LOL, she’s really putting on a show; Do-hee’s image is going viral.
└Reading books isn’t all that impressive; it’s weird to see someone making a concept out of everything, UGH.
[Honestly, isn’t the difficulty level a bit much for a general knowledge quiz? (4.1k likes)]
└It really seems like questions were made to purposely get wrong, LOL. How did she even get the Persian run answer right, seriously, LOL.
└Even when guessing, she does it logically, which is surprising.
└I didn’t know any of the questions except the first one, honestly.
└From her looks to her smarts♡
[When I hear what the members say, Do-hee must read a lot of books (9.2k likes)]
└I hope she introduces some of the books she’s read later.
└Even with a packed schedule, managing that is amazing.
└This girl… seems like a superhuman; no one really knows her inner feelings, but she always appears perfect.
└LOL, just watching her fan interactions is entertaining; male idol fans can’t keep up, LOL.
└Just wait, she’ll slip up eventually.
[Honestly, her brain is sexy too (4.2k likes)]
└Do-hee would probably excel at non-fiction.
└Just look at her recent stages; she seems different somehow.
└But for real, her figure is amazing; she’s really good at hiding it, but when it’s revealed, it’s like a mid-move… Ah, for real, Do-hee’s a must-search, G.
└Seriously grew up well… her heart is spacious too.
└Ha, just once.
└Comments are just… I truly wonder what she looks like, LOL.
└You want to do that to a minor aged 08?
[Mbappe, LOL, it’s easy to mix that with ‘Umphemba’ effect (8.2k likes)]
└I didn’t even know that effect was called ‘Umphemba.’
└Even though Do-hee isn’t a die-hard fan, she seems to genuinely like it, LOL. She went to see Haaland at Manchester City before, LOL.
ㅋㅋㅋ
└I envy Mbappé for getting a shoutout from Do-hee
└The Umhol War caused by Lee Do-hee, oh my
[Ha-rang promoting Do-hee while opposing her because they’re rivals, but when it’s not overlapping, she quickly gives her permission, so cute]
└So does this mean Debonaire is making a comeback in mid-February?
└No articles or timetable yet, so no one knows. Just hoping for February ㅠㅠ
└Ha, Topist is slacking off, how can a rookie be stored away for over six months?
└Don’t you know about the high-end strategy? Lol
*
It’s definitely the right timing for a comeback.
The PR team mentioned that after the year-end stage, the traffic that was endlessly increasing started to decline, but it has risen again since the debut of ‘BEAT-LYN’.
“We’re helping each other out, right?”
It seems like the connections are beneficial since Ha-rang Unni from Seven is doing well after her debut.
“With this level of mentions, it should be fine to go without a teaser… My gut feeling is telling me it’s definitely okay.”
“Huh? Wasn’t it supposed to go that way anyway? Was there a standard?”
“Ah, why are you nitpicking?”
I was just talking to myself to sort my thoughts.
“…Do-hee? Unni…”
“Yeah?”
“Unni…”
“What, was that Na-eun Unni? I thought it was Seo-yoon Unni for a second.”
Usually, the ones to poke fun are Chiyo Unni or Seo-yoon Unni, so I ended up getting confused… Haha.
“I’m in such a brain overload state planning the music video images, I’m a bit out of it, heehee.”
“Right…”
Is this Unni really sulking?
“But you know I love Na-eun Unni a lot, right? Muah~ Um~”
“Why, why are you being so gross…”
It was a relief to see Na-eun Unni run away in horror.
Anyway, now that we’re about to wrap up the fourth music video shoot, we just need to finish up and it’s comeback time.
The comeback date is February 13th.
In about 3 weeks.
“Ah, wait, Seo-yoon.”
“Huh? Why?”
Seo-yoon Unni, who was standing behind me, finally looked over blankly.
“Come to think of it, didn’t they say Ha-rang Unni would do follow-up activities with a couple track this time?”
“Don’t you know? That should be right. Yesterday, Ha-rang Unni was bragging in the group chat about her performance, saying she’d line up for 1st and 2nd place.”
“Ah…”
This is an emergency. I could predict 20 missed calls from Ha-rang Unni.
“I told Ha-rang Unni that we wouldn’t overlap and promoted her on the show.”
But honestly, this is Ha-rang Unni’s fault.
Who suddenly asks for follow-up activities again?
They should just go for a title track like everyone else.
Or do it like us with 4 self-produced title tracks…
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