Free Web Novel“Girl groups these days really aren’t messing around.”
“What?”
“Did you see all the fans crowding outside the station today?”
“Oh, that?”
“Yes. At this level, most boy groups couldn’t even compare during a comeback.”
Jinhyuk, a PD for Music Core, just nodded at the staff member’s fussing.
‘Yeah, sure. How would a kid know what the scene was like seven years ago?’
Even though no so-called top-tier boy group was appearing at Music Core today, an unbelievable number of fans had still swarmed in—no, even more than that.
Because this was the first moment that the hottest girl groups right now—Iam, LYNX, and VYNNIA—were appearing on the same music show at the same time.
Jinhyuk briefly looked out the window toward the station entrance.
There, countless fans stood along both sides of the vehicle entrance lane, holding all kinds of pickets—and among them, three groups in particular looked especially huge.
‘Iam, VYNNIA, LYNX···.’
2016 was, in every sense, the year of the girl group boom.
Three rookie girl groups came out in a single year—groups that would’ve been called a smash hit even if just one debuted.
Iam, born from a survival program, now fueling a survival-show boom across South Korea.
LYNX, a girl group TSP launched with Korea and Japan in mind.
And finally, VYNNIA—launched by SY, an agency you couldn’t possibly call anything less than the home of idols, for the first time in seven years.
These three groups, grabbing both popularity and buzz to the point people called it the “girl group Three Kingdoms,” were showing fandom power so overwhelming it made you want to tell boy groups to move aside.
Just looking at the number of fans gathered at the station right now, it was hard to believe this was the fandom of girl groups—girl groups that were supposed to have weaker fandoms than boy groups.
But Jinhyuk had seen this kind of scene before.
The exact same thing had happened during the golden era of three girl groups back then, including G.G, seven years ago.
‘Thinking about it, there’s only one thing that’s different from then.’
If you swapped DSF’s Kira position with KJ’s Iam, even the agencies were the same.
Three groups that once dyed not just the music industry, but even the broadcast industry, in a girl group boom.
And what made those three groups amazing was that they were the first to prove you could go beyond the idea that girl groups were “for events” and build fandom the way boy groups did.
After that, people realized girl groups could sell to fandoms the way boy groups did, and for a while girl groups sprouted up like weeds—until that chain continued into today’s girl groups.
Back then, the final winner was SY’s G.G, and Jinhyuk found it a little interesting—who would it be this time?
“But those three must have a terrible relationship, right?”
“Probably.”
A staff member’s voice reached Jinhyuk as he was briefly reminiscing.
At the question of whether three rival groups wouldn’t be on bad terms, Jinhyuk thought for a moment.
‘Can they even be close?’
Sure, they wouldn’t show it on the surface, but as long as they were human, there was no way there wasn’t competitiveness between them. It would be hard for their relationship to be good.
Even Jinhyuk got jealous when a colleague hit a massive home run with a single program—so how much worse would it be for groups directly competing?
“Anyway, stop worrying about useless crap like that and check today’s stage one more time. You remember how the director blew up last time?”
“Views?”
“Yeah. They don’t yell about ratings anymore, but he was furious that Music Core’s YouTube views are the lowest.”
“If that’s the case, they should let us spend some money on the stage.”
“Who can’t get quality if you throw money at it?”
“···Yes.”
The public was sharp.
-Feels like Music Core’s quality is the worst these days
↳Seriously, every time I watch the kids’ Music Core stage I sigh. Is this an idol stage or Concert 8090?
↳Lighting, color tone, everything, this really isn’t it
↳Korean Pop Top Ten (Gayo Top Ten) and Music Count are the best, for real
↳Looking at the cameras and audio, the gear doesn’t seem bad, so why does the output look like this?
↳It shows they don’t spend money on stages because it’s public broadcasting
Just a few years ago, the terrestrial stations had been the absolute top dogs.
But at some point, idols were becoming the ones holding the power.
Once you got to the level of a big agency, you didn’t need to cling to music shows anymore, so if things didn’t go your way, it was now an era where you weren’t scared of burning bridges with stations.
To survive in that era, no matter how arrogant a music show was, it still had to match what consumers wanted.
And what the public wanted most right now was: who would show the best stage for the three hottest girl groups?
That was why Jinhyuk shoved 90% of the episode’s production budget into those three groups.
Still, the part that worried him was the waiting rooms.
‘A private waiting room is out of the question. Even if it’s old-fashioned, this is a rule.’
Music show waiting room assignment was a combination of popularity and seniority.
But one thing was absolute: no matter how popular you were, you never got a private waiting room in your first year.
Since that was an unbroken rule at Music Core, no matter how huge they were, Iam, LYNX, and VYNNIA weren’t given private waiting rooms.
At least VYNNIA got assigned a waiting room with a solo female singer whose seniority wasn’t that far off.
But LYNX and Iam, unavoidably stuck sharing the same waiting room—
-The three must have a terrible relationship, right?
The comment the junior staff member made just now brushed past Jinhyuk’s mind again.
But—
‘Come on··· they won’t actually fight, right?’
No matter how bad their relationship was, they were rookies. Would they really fight without reading the room?
Jinhyuk figured nothing would happen.
***
Bang!
“A pack of heretics!”
“Aren’t you being way too emotional?”
In despair, I had no choice but to slam the waiting room table with my palm.
“The true protagonist of Three Kingdoms is Cao Cao? Take that back!”
“Cao Cao is the protagonist. You’re the one who overpraises Liu Bei. No matter what, Liu Bei was just a regional warlord.”
“What?”
“Cao Cao, however the process went, is an emperor who received a legitimate abdication. Liu Bei climbed onto the throne however he pleased in Shu.”
“Th-that’s!”
I was flustered.
I never expected there to be someone in LYNX who actually knew the content of Three Kingdoms.
LYNX.
They were idol peers who debuted a week before us.
Ever since the last debut, our promotion periods overlapped, so there were a lot of cases where we ended up sharing the same waiting room, whether we wanted to or not.
-“They’re rookies, and their seniority is the same, so it can’t be helped.”
Since we debuted around the same time, stations often assigned us to the same waiting room.
Thanks to that, we and LYNX had gotten friendly in ways we didn’t really notice.
“Look! They say this is the bestselling lip balm at Olive Young these days.”
“Whoa! I saw this on Instagram too! How did you even get this?”
“Last time, Sion got it for me.”
“Huh? We’re promoting right now, when did you do that?”
“The Captain sneaks out at night even during promotions!”
“That’s insane! You really have no fear.”
“The Captain has no conscience.”
Even now, Yunkyung was chattering nonstop with Lee Jia, LYNX’s youngest, like she was excited to see a younger friend.
Yunkyung threw in some slander about me along the way, but people usually bond by talking about someone else, so I could let it slide.
“I listened to the song you composed on this mini album, Shinyu.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I was jealous. We’re studying composition too, but we’re not at the level where we can put something on an album yet.”
“No! I’m absolutely not that good either. I think it was only possible because Lucas and PD Raon, who handled the album production, looked at it kindly.”
“No, the song was good. But this new producer of yours, Lucas—where did you even recruit him? I was shocked when I heard your new title track.”
“I don’t know the details either, but I understand PD Raon recruited him. He came from Sweden, and you can definitely tell what’s trending in Northern Europe—”
Off to the side, Shinyu’s eyes sparkled as she talked music with Sohyeon.
“You must have it tough too.”
“Huh?”
“I watched that. Extreme Part-Time Job.”
“Why would you watch that!”
“Honestly, it was fun.”
“···Really?”
Gahyeon was talking with Hyojin, a member in LYNX who was the same age, like there was an endless amount to say.
Even Ayeon, who I’d been most worried about, seemed like she’d finally untangled everything that had built up with the LYNX members during the last promotions—Ayeon was even sitting on the sofa with them now, watching stage videos on a phone and chatting.
The waiting room atmosphere was great.
Except for Esther, LYNX’s leader, sitting at the table with me.
The trigger was Lee Jia.
-“Seriously, what kind of drama are you recommending?”
-“Starting a fight the moment you arrive? That’s a new move. Want to go to the restroom together?”
-“No··· you said if I don’t watch this Chinese drama I’m losing half my life, so you made me curious.”
-“Huh?”
-“Zhuge Liang Three Kingdoms!”
When we arrived at the waiting room for Music Core, LYNX was already there.
They said they came early because they had a prerecording today, and the moment I walked in, Lee Jia picked a fight with me.
Jia suddenly demanded what kind of drama I was recommending, so while I was seriously considering whether I needed to go to the restroom together, the words “Zhuge Liang Three Kingdoms” came out of Jia’s mouth, and I couldn’t hold back my cheer.
-“You finally watched humanity’s last treasure!”
-“What treasure? I saw people praising it on NamuWiki, so I looked it up, and it wasn’t fun··· it’s just old guys the whole time.”
-“How dare you! Those old guys are the most romantic old guys in human history!”
-“Excuse me?”
I was disappointed that Jia still didn’t have enough life experience to properly watch a masterpiece like Zhuge Liang Three Kingdoms, when—
-“I agree. Zhuge Liang Three Kingdoms isn’t a bad show to watch.”
-“Es-Esther!”
-“There’s always a reason classics get passed down.”
Amazingly, Esther responded to me and acknowledged Zhuge Liang Three Kingdoms.
Of course—
“I think Zhuge Liang is an overrated figure.”
“What?!”
“Zhang Liang and Xiao He helped Liu Bang unify the realm. But Zhuge Liang started with the succession issue, then wasted Shu’s national strength and growth momentum with an unreasonable Northern Campaign.”
“Y-you!”
Esther was a shameless Wei fanboy who didn’t know benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, or the Way.
-This bastard only read Three Kingdoms as Romance, or what? Even in the official history, it’s a recorded fact that Cao Cao’s stats as a ruler are ahead of Liu Bei’s, you know?
↳shut up lol
↳What? You XX bastard, where do you live?
↳I live in Haan neighborhood, come if you’re mad
↳Just wait, I’m going right now
↳Before you come, write a waiver saying you’re fine with your jaw getting spun
It smelled like those vile bastards I used to clash with day after day back on the Three Kingdoms café.
“You’re defending Cao Cao, who killed hundreds of thousands in Xuzhou just to play at filial piety, and threatened the Son of Heaven while trampling the court however he pleased?!”
“First, to correct you, the number killed in the Xuzhou massacre was tens of thousands, and the second part also has room for debate. Even though war continued after Cao Cao seized power, statistics show commoners’ lives actually improved at the time—”
“Kkieeek!!! Those statistics don’t have a human heart inside them!”
“They do. If anything, there are records that after Liu Bei entered the Ba-Shu region that had been doing well, the people’s lives became far more grueling—”
This one was a tough opponent.
“So Liu Bei was a bad person?”
“Sion always said Cao Cao was the bad guy.”
“So you lied to us?”
“Lee Sion opens her mouth and lies.”
On top of Esther’s sly tongue, our members started looking at me with suspicious eyes, whispering among themselves.
This was bad.
-Sion Beep-Beep, right now the enemy’s momentum is strong. Rather than fighting head-on, it is the wise strategy to turn their gaze elsewhere.
Then, the tactical genius Zhuge Liang inside my head, as expected, gave me a clear answer.
“Oh! VYNNIA’s comeback stage is starting.”
“What?”
I quickly pointed at the waiting room monitor and turned the Iam members’ and LYNX members’ eyes away.
Unlike us, who came back and started promoting two weeks ago, and LYNX, who came back last week, SY’s VYNNIA was finally coming back today.
Since VYNNIA was the last group in this summer’s “girl group Three Kingdoms,” it was only natural that everyone was honestly curious what kind of stage VYNNIA brought.
Everyone’s eyes gathered on the waiting room monitor.
-“VYNNIA is honestly amazing. Beyond the music, you can feel heritage on their stage. Like the essence of what K-pop has built up.”
Our new producer, Lucas, liked VYNNIA’s songs especially much.
Lucas said there was nowhere in the world where singers made an album themed on the Twelve Labors of Hercules, and that this kind of attempt was only possible in Korea—only at SY—then he praised VYNNIA’s debut song “Nemea Roar” to the skies.
And—
“We present it! VYNNIA’s new song, ‘CUT IT CLEAN’!”
VYNNIA’s comeback stage was beginning.
“What is that stage··· they seriously must’ve spent tens of millions of won.”
VYNNIA’s comeback stage seemed to be prerecording, of course, but more than that, what grabbed our eyes was the backdrop behind where VYNNIA’s members stood.
Nine snake heads filled the back of the stage—not as graphics, but as real sculptures—so imposing it was ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) almost intimidating.
If the quality had been sloppy, it would’ve been an eyesore, but it had the quality of a famous classical artwork, and instead it overwhelmed the viewer with sheer presence.
The more you cut off words, the bigger the noise gets
A poison-like talk that spreads over silence fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
All that’s left in my hand is wounds
They say it only ends if you light it on fire
With those sculptures as the background, VYNNIA’s stage began with leader Kaella’s rap that sounded like an incantation, and it wasn’t just grand—it gave off a tragic, solemn resolve.
“···.”
At the same time, silence fell over the waiting room watching the stage.
In the past, I would’ve hated this kind of atmosphere and cracked a joke without even realizing it, but—
‘They’re good.’
For some reason, I didn’t feel like that now.
Cut it clean, no return anymore
A burn that rises again even if you erase it
Seal it with flames, leave my name behind
I don’t fear the venom now
Because VYNNIA’s stage right now was worth watching with focus.
-SY’s kids are different.
I remembered PD Raon casually mentioning VYNNIA once, back when we decided we’d appear on Three Kingdom.
SY, where they reshot if the angle of the original choreography was off by even one degree during a music video shoot, so the shoot period was several times longer than other idols.
When I first heard that, I thought, who would even notice that difference? Isn’t that being way too extra?
Cut it clean, I won’t waver
Even if you cut off my head, I’ll be reborn freeweɓnøvel.com
I know the rules of this fight
I’ll write the end
Only now did I understand what it meant.
‘If you do a stage without even an inch of error, it becomes this.’
Even through the waiting room monitor, the level of completion in VYNNIA’s stage was different.
There were only four members, but that huge stage didn’t look empty.
A machine. Someone might look at them and call them a soulless machine, but watching VYNNIA, I felt my heart pounding.
-“Idols are idols because beautiful, cool people dance in perfect unison and sing more perfectly than anyone!”
I remembered what Shinyu once told me about what “idol” meant.
Right now, in my eyes, VYNNIA looked more like idols than anyone else.
