Chapter 197

Do-hee’s guerrilla busking sparked a wave of slogan advertisements across Seoul.

[DEBONAIR, As Finkle As Fortune]

The slogan ads received massive attention on SNS, with countless posts featuring hashtags popping up everywhere.

─Samsung Station COEX Square!

─There’s an ad at Hongdae Station.

─Gentleman Intersection

▶[Do-hee Lee’s Sinchon U-Plex Square Guerrilla Busking]

Even though she filmed it on her phone with slightly disappointing quality, the busking video of Do-hee had already gone viral throughout communities and SNS.

Naturally, this news was the biggest topic of interest for Do-hee’s Home Mama at the moment.

Dol Ahyee @Dol_Ahyee

─(Photo) OMG, there’s an ad up at Yeouido The Hyundai too. Topist, are you guys spending some money this time? Looks like the Pastel Love seniors earned quite a bit for you.

Dol Ahyee @Dol_Ahyee

─Ah, my crazy piano princess, why aren’t you granting me any grace? Why are you guerrilla-ing where I’m not? Is my desperation insufficient? I worked so hard at the office today, you know? I even dreamt of playing the Chopsticks March with you! Ah, is it a lack of prayer? Starting tomorrow, I’ll go to early morning mass, I’ll do 108 bows, and I’ll go on a pilgrimage. Every morning, I’ll watch the top 10 views of the Do-hee Lee collection fancams!

Dol Ahyee @Dol_Ahyee

─The funniest review from live experiences, lol

‘Do-hee placed her hands on the keys to start playing, but she got so shocked because they were too cold that she rubbed a hot pack on the keys for a long time.’

Ah, such unexpectedly silly actions… It drives me crazy, silly princess!

The Home Mama kept writing all sorts of posts, continuously replaying the video.

The unbearable excitement.

Feeling like her heart was going to burst from not talking face to face with anyone, she adopted the motto “Tomorrow’s work is not today’s business” and headed to a nearby hof.

Ten minutes after ordering beer and eomuk soup and sitting down, a flushed-faced woman entered the hof.

“Hey!”

Do-hee’s other Home Mama and her close friend.

The friend, also flushed and eager, held out a beer glass first.

“It’s a beautiful day. Let’s have a drink.”

“Let’s drink.”

With the sound of clinking glasses and the ‘Kheuk’ noise following, the conversation finally turned to the bait topic thanks to her friend.

“It’s a definite debut.”

“Absolutely. Hey, first, let’s start with the video.”
She played the busking video she had watched countless times once again.

It started with the cute shining little star.

“Anyone can tell this is a promotion; it has to be a spoiler, right?”

“That sounds likely.”

“I thought about it, but no matter how I look at it, this title seems to sample shining little star.”

And Home Mama, overwhelmed by the fragment of a re-debut after almost a year, was attempting to assign multiple meanings to this simple promotional video.

Her friend, a passionate fan of Do-hee Lee, felt the same way.

“Totally makes sense. Classical sampling is in vogue these days.”

“Exactly. But then, what’s the next song?”

She moved the playback bar and played the second song.

“The Phantom of the Opera. Is this one sampled too?”

“Both songs? Thinking like that, it might not be sampling after all.”

Then a sudden thought flashed through her mind.

“Ah, wait…?”

“Do you have something in mind?”

If it was Do-hee, who was rubbing a heat pack on her cold piano keys, anything was possible.

“I do!”

“Yeah, what is it…?”

Home Mama, nodding her head quietly, spoke meaningfully to her friend.

“What if the first song was meant to indicate that she’s the shining little star? A true embodiment of self-love.”

“Oh… that’s surprisingly insightful. As expected from Do-hee’s Home Mama with 14,000 followers. Impressive insight.”

“I’m not joking; our girl is totally unpredictable, I really don’t know.”

As they chattered away, the second performance passed.

Then the last song began to play — an unnamed piece that no one online seemed to recognize.

And it was reasonable to consider this song as a release track.

“Honestly, this feels like a real spoiler… isn’t this the melody line for the title track?”

“This definitely has potential. Even if the front was just to grab attention, this is a song we’ve never heard before.”

“But it doesn’t really seem like an idol song… is it because it’s played on the piano?”

“That could be it. Mixing in classical pieces with tracks can actually sound good.”

Of course, pondering wouldn’t yield any answers.

In the end, they’d only find out when the song was released.

The thing that really needed interpretation was the wording on the advertisement.

“Debonair, as fickle as fortune. What does this even mean?”

“I heard the latter phrase is an idiom meaning capricious.”
“Apparently, it means something like being endearing.”

“I looked it up too. But I don’t get the first part.”

“Debonair? It has several meanings. Even the name of a Japanese car came up… But is that the group name for Do-hee?”

She repeated “Debonair” while thinking, “No way!”

“Debonair, Debonair…”

“I wish my kid had a name like Ailee.”

“Right? They really do a great job over there.”

At that moment, her phone vibrated.

With 14,000 followers, she kept alarms for nearly everything off, so this vibration meant something urgent.

It was just a typical message from Do-hee.

An alert like Do-hee’s Instagram notification.

And this alert was also from Do-hee’s agency.

It was an alert from the Topist official YouTube channel.

▶[DEBONAIR, Formal greetings ‘Naeun’]

Rushing to click the video…

“Debonair suddenly sounds nice. It has a good ring to it! I like it.”

It seemed clear that ‘Debonair’ was confirmed as the group name.

*

When searching for Debonair in the community,

the reactions mostly fell into two categories.

First, evaluations of the divisive group name.

[Debonair? What’s that?]

Coral Blue makes sense, but honestly, Ailee and Seven are even more famous than Pure Girl 3M lol.

[No worries about searching for Debonair; it’s unique!]

Just searching for ‘Debo’ should bring it up.

[I thought Debonair sounded weird at first.]

Maybe I’m brainwashed, but it kind of sounds good now… Probably won’t shorten it though,

Debo, Denair… doesn’t flow well.

[Looked up Debonair in the English dictionary]

It has a ton of meanings: stylish, confident, personable, polite, cheerful, lively… but it’s considered old-fashioned and not used much.

It doesn’t sound like a girl group name and is hard to roll off the tongue, but it feels unique and sophisticated, so I think I’ll get used to it.

The other type of reaction was about Na-eun, the first of the members of Debonair, being revealed every day.

[Information/News) First member Na-eun of Debonair revealed]

─(Video) (Photos)…(Photos)

“The younger sister girl group of Pastellus, Debonair has revealed its first member. The star is the leader Na-eun. The video, which shot up to second place on the trending videos, shows Na-eun, the leader, showcasing her cheerful charm with props like balloons, dolls, and swings. Her diverse expressions and pure, clear visuals add to the anticipation for future broadcasts.

─Wow, she’s really pretty. Total first love vibes.

─Is this the Kim Na-eun I know?
Is that Kim Na-eun?

└Yeah, but she dropped to 8th place in final rankings.

─My last vote was for Na-eun too, ㅠㅠ Still so beautiful.

─Topist has actors too, but I thought she was going to work as an actress; turns out she’s debuting as an idol, congratulations ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

└I thought she might give up on idol stuff since she’s a bit older.

└If 22 is old, then I’m a grandma?

└Auntie.

└You little…

[News/Info] The second member of Debonair, Woo-ah.

─(Video) (Pictures)…(Pictures)

The second member of Debonair has been revealed. 19-year-old Woo-ah. The video showcases her confident walking and provocative gestures, contrasting her name.

─So young, 19.

─Wow, this friend’s visuals are totally my type.

─Is she a glassy-eyed beauty? Totally classy, seems like a dream for female fans.

─She looks completely different from Na-eun, more like an actress.

─Wow, 172… Looks like being tall is the trend these days.

└These days, all idols are models…

─She’s 1 cm taller than Do-hee.

─Just from the video, she kind of has a beastly vibe.

└Facts, she feels more like a wildcat than a cute cat.

[News/Info] The third member of Debonair, Chiyo.

The third member of Debonair has been revealed. 19-year-old Japanese member Kinoshita Chiyo. In the video, Chiyo displays a charismatic expression suited to her black mood outfit, showing off an honest chicness. As the only foreign member of Debonair, expectations rise for her performances with her confident and lively personality.

─She’s got that fan service vibe.

─Wait, this crazy girl is pretty too?

└We haven’t even seen Seo-yoon and Do-hee yet.

└Seriously, where do they find such people for Topist?

─Ailee is the same, no visual gaps here…

─She looks so typically Japanese (no misunderstanding, I mean she’s beautifully Japanese, I totally love this kind of face).

└Lol, the explanation could go on longer.

└If you don’t do it like this these days, you get criticized…

And after three undisclosed members comes the fourth, Do-hee.

[News/Info] The fourth member of Debonair, Do-hee.

Followed by the fifth, Seo-yoon.

[News/Info] The final member of Debonair, Seo-yoon.

An article went out revealing that all members have been unveiled, and people realized there are 5 members in Debonair.

Now, each video is trending rapidly, catching everyone’s attention.

▶[TRAILER: WHAT IS DEBONAIR?]

─Initial release in 23 hours and 59 minutes <Set a reminder>

Topist has scheduled another video for pre-release.

Just one month left until their debut.

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