Chapter 184. Welcome, It’s Your First Debut, Right? (1)
So after the crazy initiation… No, the entrance party, I’ve been stuck coming to the company every day, struggling through this never-ending lesson hell for several days now.
One particularly hot afternoon, Ji Suho suddenly appeared in the practice room where we were all lying around in various positions and made an abrupt announcement.
“Your debut date has been set.”
All of a sudden?
Of course, we’re going through all this grueling exercise, dancing, dieting, and practice to debut, but…
While everyone’s reactions were momentarily frozen by the sudden news, Seo Taehyun, who had been gulping down a bottle of water with his bangs tied up in a rubber band, barely managed to sit up and asked Ji Suho.
“When is it?”
“You have two options.”
What is this, some kind of game with choices for a debut date…?
“Actually, the company has already finalized about 80%, but we wanted to hear your opinions too.”
Ah, so it was a trap card.
With this obviously leading response, the members who were sprawled out everywhere started crawling or rolling together.
Don’t be surprised that we’re being so rude in front of the director. We’ve been here since 6 a.m., being pushed to our limits for 10 hours straight, so Ji Suho allowed us to relax.
…Not that it would’ve made a difference, because we didn’t have the energy to sit up anyway.
“The first option is November 20th. We’d push it back to the latter half of the year to target the year-end specials and next year’s rookie awards.”
Considering that most domestic awards close voting and judging around October to November, and albums or songs released after that are counted for the following year’s awards, it wasn’t a bad strategy.
Since it’s the end of July now, we’d have plenty of time to prepare, and we could release a debut song, promote it for two weeks, then release a year-end season song and hit the awards circuit.
‘Of course, that’s assuming we get invited to the awards.’
But with two regressors in our group, we probably wouldn’t fail so miserably that we couldn’t even get an invite, right?
Just as I was starting to get serious, thinking you never know what life might throw at you, I saw Jung Siwoo wiping sweat from his face with a towel.
‘Hmm. We’re not going to fail.’
I felt confident that the TV station PDs would want to see Jung Siwoo’s face enough to invite our group to the awards. What a relief.
Anyway, back to the point, November 20th seemed like a reasonable debut date. That is, if you ignore a few fatal drawbacks.
I raised my hand politely, obtained permission from Ji Suho to speak, and shared my thoughts.
“By then, the survival show’s buzz will have died down.”
“…Right. It’s the most standard plan, but that’s one reason it’s been pushed to Plan B.”
“Then when is the other date?”
Whoa, what’s with that voice?
I flinched at the voice of Joo Eunchan, who spoke right next to me. He has a nice voice to begin with, but when he spoke in a relaxed tone, it sounded like a line from a movie. It felt like I’d just seen a scene from a crime thriller.
As I watched Joo Eunchan, who had barely managed to crawl next to me and straighten his back, I felt reassured again.
‘Hmm. We definitely won’t fail.’
If we do, with these faces, it would mean the world had ended.
Just as I was lost in these unnecessary thoughts, Ji Suho presented the next plan.
“The plan that’s almost confirmed within the company is September 15th.”
“In two months?”
“It’s… no, it’s insanely tight.”
As soon as I heard Ji Suho’s words, I used the system window to display a three-month calendar above my head.
Since it was the end of July, by rough calculation, we had about one month and three weeks left.
Assuming we release a mini-album with two songs, including the title track…
We’d have to practice the debut song, record it, practice the additional song, record it, shoot concept photos, film the music video, shoot the album photos… and assuming we start revealing the timeline in the second or third week of August, then debut in September while also preparing the next album…
‘…We’d die from this schedule.’
Isn’t this a schedule where every single person involved would have to be ground to the bone? And what about the debut song? The group concept? The music video synopsis? Even if we shoot the concept photos in a studio, what about the music video locations? The director? The choreography?
Reading our faces, which were about to suffocate from the barrage of question marks in our heads, Ji Suho quickly added reassuringly.
“For reference, your debut song has already been narrowed down to about five candidates. The day after tomorrow, we’ll do a blind test, and of course, you’ll participate. The overall group concept was decided during your survival show.”
Ah. A bit of good news amidst the bad.
I straightened my back against the wall.
Even though the A&R framework has been set, September 15th is too busy, no matter how you look at it. The only benefit we can see from that date is squeezing out the last drops of Miro Maze’s buzz.
Miro must know this as well, so why are they pushing that date despite the rush?
“Is there a specific reason it has to be in September? Of course, we’d be happy to debut early… but it does seem a bit rushed.”
Seo Taehyun, the third reason our group would never fail, raised his hand and asked Ji Suho. He seemed to have had the same thought as me, being well-versed in the industry.
Sure enough, as soon as Ji Suho heard Seo Taehyun’s question, he nodded and answered.
“Right. Actually, we weren’t planning to rush the schedule like this… but we heard some huge news while you were on break.”
“Huge… news?”
“A new boy group from Renes is set to debut around November.”
“Oh, what the… sorry.”
I almost blurted out “What the hell,” but managed to stop myself. No matter how close I was with Ji Suho, I couldn’t go around cursing in front of the director like a crazy trainee.
‘So, that’s why it’s been so quiet!’
If it’s Renes, then we’re talking about Lanyone, the Greek god-idol group with the infamously nasty Cha Minseok!
They were the group that attracted all the attention in the idol scene before debuting, and after debut, their rapid growth eventually put them on par with their seniors, Enderway, who were three years ahead!
They were the monster rookies who emerged like a comet in the rookie boy group scene, which had been in a dark period, making all the idol fans turn their heads and wave light sticks, even if just for a moment!
They swept the rookie awards the year they debuted and dominated all the year-end stages!
I had no issues with them before, but now that I think all of this is Cha Minseok’s career, I suddenly have a huge issue with it. A massive issue.
It wasn’t just me, either. I could see the faces of the Seoju team across from me twisting as well.
Especially Dan Haru, who, upon hearing the word “Renes,” had entered max-level rabbit warrior mode, eyes blazing with defiance as if he were facing the recurring brain-dead king.
Even Seo Taehyun, who was usually like a cherry boy, looked ready to crush any cherries handed to him into juice, emitting a deadly aura beside him.
Seeing those two, I suddenly remembered what was said the first time we saw Cha Minseok at Renes.
“…Oh? But didn’t they say they’d debut in June?”
That damn Cha Minseok had clearly said it himself. He said their June debut was confirmed.
No matter how rude he is, he wouldn’t have lied about the debut schedule just to provoke Seo Taehyun, would he? I don’t remember the exact date, but in the previous timeline, I’m sure they debuted around the time spring was just ending.
I clearly remember how Cha Minseok’s various university festival fancams were trending in real-time.
Then Ji Suho, as if unsure whether he should say it, hummed a little while looking off into the distance. He then shrugged, as if there was no other choice, and spoke.
“That was the plan. But it seems like their schedule was pushed back. I think it’s because we’ve done too well.”
“By ‘we’… Oh. You mean Miro Maze?”
“Yeah. We got a great response from the first episode. If they had stuck with the June debut, they would have had to start planning in April or May, but they must have thought the buzz would be too overshadowed. Plus, the rivalry image would have been too strong.”
“Still, moving from June to suddenly November is a bit much.”
“Well… there’s also talk that one of their members went AWOL and they just barely managed to bring him back. But I heard that at a drinking party, so it’s not confirmed.”
Then it’s definitely true.
This Miro Maze has really messed with a lot of people’s lives.
Facing another unexpected butterfly effect made me realize that I needed to be more cautious when starting things in the future.
But the giant snowball Miro Maze had rolled wasn’t finished yet.
“It’s not just Renes. Early next year, Lime is also planning to debut a new boy
group, and there are rumors that the TV stations are gearing up to do another boy group survival show.”
“Seriously, these higher-ups have no creativity, just copy-pasting formats….”
“Hajin-hyung, what did you just say?”
“I said the idol scene is going to be a real battlefield next year.”
Fortunately, Joo Eunchan, who wasn’t suspicious, responded, “I know, right? It’s going to be tough,” as I patted his head a couple of times. With a face like his, it’s no wonder the gods gave him this personality to prevent him from getting scammed.
“Anyway, that’s why the company thinks it’s better to take a gamble and debut on September 15th, follow up with activities in late October to early November, and release a digital single as a season song around December to January. If we do it right, we might even have a shot at the Rookie of the Year award.”
It was a ridiculously tight and suffocating schedule just hearing about it, but no one dared to say they couldn’t do it.
Even we knew that trying to make a name for ourselves in a saturated idol scene was a hundred times better than doing nothing and risking fading into obscurity.
“I’m in favor.”
As expected, Seo Taehyun, who was quick with calculations, was the first to agree.
“I think it would be a waste to let the buzz from Miro Maze fade. Our fans have probably been running without fully enjoying it since the survival show, so I want to give them some good news as soon as possible.”
Translated, that meant, “Let’s drop some bait before the survival show buzz fades and people look elsewhere.”
Judging by his expression earlier, he might also have been slightly motivated by the thought of debuting in September and becoming two months senior to Cha Minseok, who was set to debut in November.
“I also like September 15th.”
“I think it’s okay too. We expected it to be tough anyway.”
Joo Eunchan and Jung Siwoo also agreed, backing the September 15th debut. I had no reason to oppose it, so I raised my hand to show my support without missing the timing.
“I’m in favor. During Miro Maze, we overturned a stage in just a day… Two months should be fine.”
Whatever the case, it was wise to avoid the Greek god-idols. Why risk debuting alongside them and splitting our buzz with them?
With four out of seven members already in favor, it seemed like our debut date was almost certainly going to be September 15th. However, Ji Suho still wanted to hear the opinions of the remaining members, so he waited calmly.
And then, someone spoke up.
“I’m against it.”
It was Lee Yugeon, who had been sitting quietly in a corner of the practice room, listening to our conversation the whole time.
“Oh, come on.”
Nothing ever goes smoothly…!