After finishing the entire Fashion Week schedule, Do-hee headed straight to the airport that night for her flight to Korea.
[Do-hee, you worked hard! Rest well!]
However, Baek Ha-young was not as lucky.
She was utterly dumbfounded.
“What is this?”
It was because articles she never expected started flooding in.
[(Midnight Entertainment) Chanel Head Abeline Cassel… ‘Kpop Holic?’ Mentioning Lira and Do-hee together is causing a stir!]
[Chanel’s chief designer Abeline Cassel said, ‘The ideal of Chanel was to become a dignified woman. I’m delighted to meet such girls today…’]
[Irreplaceable Chanel muse Lira and the new muse, Do-hee?]
There were even rumors that Cassel had sent separate gifts to the two.
Baek Ha-young and, of course, the fans could only be bewildered.
─What is this? Is it real?
─I’m shocked too, LOL.
This was before Debonaire even attempted a genuine global expansion.
“Topist doesn’t even have an overseas base like the ‘Big Four’ agencies!”
But the bigger buzz started just a few hours later when a local article reporting on a video was uploaded.
[(Video) Afterparty, Do-hee’s fluent English, after Japanese, and now French “Proving she’s a brainy girl with 4 languages!”]
[Do-hee showing off her cute French skills in her meeting with Chanel head Cassel]
[Do-hee, who learned French in her first year of arts high school, proving once again she’s the top student… Going viral]
“This is insane, what the heck…”
The original video was flooding with numerous English comments in real time.
─Her French is definitely learned in school! So textbook-like and sweet 🙂
─Do-hee’s cute gestures while speaking French are so lovable ❤️
─The two-shot of Lira and Do-hee looks like a meeting of a queen and a princess!
─I had no idea their names translate to ‘De bon air’ in French! Like their group name, it must be good air!
─She’s definitely an icon of the 4th generation.
─The way Cassel looks at her is filled with affection.
If you’re a fan, how could you not feel ecstatic? Baek Ha-young couldn’t hold back either and flooded her homepage with posts.
Dol Ahyee @Dol_Ahyee
─I’m going crazy from her sexy French language skills since morning… How can my idol be a genius in everything?
She also mentioned the message she got when Do-hee ranked first in her last year of high school.
Dol Ahyee @Dol_Ahyee
─(Photo) Looking back at when she scored 100 in French and sent French bubbles all day long, petite Do-hee!
Little Do-hee, sending French bubble messages all day long
└Meanwhile, the fan girls couldn’t understand it, so they were diligently searching and translating, but it turned out to be all about her bragging, LOL!
└Her method of studying French: First, she tries to brag about herself in that language.
Moreover, it wasn’t just the fans who were pleased with this situation.
Chocolate Cola @Docacola
─(Video) Ah, fk, LOL! The national pride wreckers are going wild with Lira and our kid right now, this is insane!
Right off the bat, it’s national pride YouTubers.
This issue was top-notch gossip for them.
The thumbnails were all pretty similar.
After party.
There was a two-shot of Lira and Do-hee.
With the subtitle “Chanel Head,” there’s Abeline Cassel, complete with a speech bubble saying, “What kind of country is Korea?”
Surrounding her were Westerners, shocked and clutching their heads, saying, “Lira and Do-hee?” and “This mysterious appearance… is she really Korean?”
The titles were also…
[The reason why the Paris Chanel show was bewitched by Do-hee’s spontaneous actions, causing chaos among overseas netizens]
[Chanel and Westerners knew it. The head of Chanel recognized Korean genius]
[The reason why the chief designer was shocked by one word from a Korean at the European luxury fashion show, OMG]
[Lira? Do-hee? Chill, they’re Korean! One word that made Westerners tremble in shock]
It was a breath-stealing national pride outrage.
Thanks to that, the view count was… at its peak.
[ (Subtitle News) “Superstar” shaking France… brands jump in the competition / TTN ]
So much so that even broadcasting networks were putting up videos with similar titles.
Because of this, it took no time for people who weren’t interested in idols and middle-aged YouTube users to learn about it.
─My top pick from Seven’s military days was a bit mixed, but these days, it’s definitely her! Wow, she’s getting prettier!
─I’m someone who became a fan late, admiring Do-hee’s elegant piano performances. With her elegance, kindness, and beauty, she’s a wonderful Chanel ambassador. Always supporting Do-hee and Lira, fighting~^^
─The long-awaited era of the Eastern Doctors and the kids is coming… for me, peace like a river.
─Wow… the quiet, refined beauty of South Korea is making people around the world excited and moved! My heart is burning and overflowing!
─I think I understand what kind of woman Chanel is pursuing. Lira and Do-hee have that vibe.
Furthermore, that scene didn’t stop there; it was edited into shorts and reels, frequently showing up, keeping Do-hee’s name buzzing across various communities and social networking services for days on end.
It heated up the SNS.
It’s like you could compare them to Lira and acknowledge it.
─I think I understand why Cassell said that, Lira and Do-hee Lee, haha.
─Wow, can she even speak French? Is there really an idol like this in the entertainment industry?
─The fact that she’s eighteen…
But as the saying goes, the moment you win is often the most dangerous.
The moment when everyone is watching, and the market value soars to the sky, is also the moment when fans feel the most proud yet are the most vulnerable.
Out of nowhere, suspicious claims popped up as if planned.
[(Information/News) Do-hee Lee – Topist Contract Leak]
Of course, at first, it was impossible to know the truth.
It was no different from mere passing gossip.
─Wow, they made a really friendly contract, Topist treats Do-hee really well, haha.
─But is this for real?
─Who’s letting their delusions run wild again, haha?
Most opinions suggested that if Do-hee had conditions better than expected, it made sense.
[There must have been a lot of talk about how the members were treated differently in their contracts.]
[Do-hee was already guaranteed to debut from when she was a trainee.]
However, gradually, posts that seemed to borrow the words of insiders were being written on anonymous sites.
To avoid lawsuits, it appeared they were even using overseas IPs.
─What does that even mean? Are you saying the contract between Do-hee and the other members is different?
─What does it mean that they paid Do-hee when she was a trainee? Monthly?
Nevertheless, it was merely community posts.
People couldn’t believe it.
[These kinds of posts hadn’t just popped up for a day or two, haha.]
Logically, there’s no way only Do-hee would have a different settlement ratio. If it’s true, Kim Seo-yoon would be the same.
Can you just leave Do-hee alone, you psychos, haha.
─They say there’s a sliding contract where the ratio adjusts every year, so it’s probably the same for Seo-yoon since both debuted as Seven.
└Yeah, the two probably renegotiated their group contract when they debuted as Debonaire.
─Do you really believe that? It looks so fake. Who gives money since the trainee days?
└For real, I’ve heard that major companies give a few hundred thousand won to upper-tier trainees for maintenance fees, but giving them hundreds every month? Does that even make sense, haha?
However, contrary to the community 분위기, the speed at which the news articles were coming out was unusual.
It seemed to be confirming the truth.
[Was Topist wise? The idol’s settlement ratios viewed through past agency and singer disputes.]
[Right after debut, a 70-30 contract, “an unusual case,” Topist recognized Do-hee Lee’s star potential.]
[Splitting N ways? Individual settlements?… Different payments for each member, “Differentiation based on popularity.”]
[An ex-executive from T Company vented to a colleague over drinks, “It’s not good to have differentiation among members.”]
It was blatant and intentional.
But since all these events unfolded in just a few hours, regardless of the truth, the issue spread and ignited rapidly.
Moreover, Do-hee was riding the highest wave.
The Debonaire members were on a steep upward trajectory.
It was even gossip that the public would naturally enjoy.
And adding fuel to this fire were the trolls who, having never found fault with Do-hee, were now boiling with anger.
[Wow, if that’s true, the members would feel so betrayed…]
[Breaking news) The mood among Debonaire fans is seriously bad right now lol It looks like fans are about to start fighting.]
[As expected, the reason companies fail is that they’re companies… Ailee is about to become the new three major pillars again lolololololol.]
[Do-hee is just someone used to special treatment. Since childhood, she has always been spoiled, and you can see that celebrity disease is hitting her hard.]
Finally, the first issue that the public seems likely to empathize with!
Trolls began to piece together one by one issues that the public had forgotten.
[Now I finally get why the production staff on Debonaire had Do-hee spend money… They must’ve known she had a different contract and was getting paid a lot more…].
[Wow, isn’t it weird that no one saw Do-hee at the Hanseong Arts High School entrance exam? With that appearance and figure? Definitely special admission, right?]
Of course, the fans weren’t sitting idly by.
They quickly sprang into action to refute.
[The PD was just being funny; you wouldn’t go to a hospital knowing doctors make a lot of money and ask them to waive your medical bills, right?]
[Hanseong Arts entrance was based on middle school grades and awards; didn’t I mention that multiple times? Even Hanseong verified it with their selection criteria lol? Oh, you don’t want to accept that?]
It was indeed effective.
Though it couldn’t cover the articles, it was enough to prevent trolls from creating baseless rumors.
However, the situation tilted when an incident occurred that evening.
▶They came for an overseas tour!!! Is everyone in Destiny asleep…?
It was a live broadcast by Ian from Destroy Six, who had recently been rejected by Do-hee when he tried to get her number.
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