Chapter 26: Actually, there were 6 people in the 2nd generation…

A month had flown by since the incident where Wooseo Woo cried her heart out in the middle of the amusement park.

And that meant the debut date for the 2nd generation trainees was rapidly approaching.

The prospective 2nd gen members, who had earned a reputation for being quite free-spirited through the 1st gen members’ broadcast anecdotes, had also lightly taken a trip to Japan under the pretext of bonding, though it was really one last ‘weeding out’ process.

Bringing back Mao, the gyaru girl living in Japan, was an added bonus.

Kim Kanghyun decided to move up the 2nd gen’s debut because Ari, the manager who had accompanied them, confirmed there were no disqualifying issues.

The confirmed debut date for the 2nd gen was October 3rd, National Foundation Day, a golden holiday period including a public holiday and a weekend.

Since it was now exactly the last day of September, there was really less than a week left.

The reason Kim Kanghyun was rushing the 2nd gen’s debut to this seemingly impatient extent was, of course, because fans were growing tired of the 1st gen members’ recently decreasing broadcast hours.

(Recommendation) [When are you coming… .jpg]

(1st Gen Crystal Member Group Fanart)

None of the gallery owners streamed again today.. I’m cold..

Honestly, I didn’t expect this ice age to come so suddenly, I feel like I’m going to freeze and get frostbite and die..

I wish at least one of them would stream, but no matter how busy they are with hospital visits and work, has our love cooled down? Our promise not to abandon us, where did that go, to abandon us like this, ugh, I think my horns are going to turn black, please don’t leave me, if I stay like this a little longer I’ll become a frozen cat and walk on the Han River, so please come back.. But where the hell is this? I’m cold.. Where is this? I’m cold.. Where is this? I’m cold.. Where is this? I’m cold.. Where is this? I’m cold.. Where is this? I’m cold.. Where is this? I’m cold.. Where is this? I’m cold.. Where is this? I’m cold.. Where is this? I’m cold.. Where is this? I’m cold.. Where is this? I’m cold.. Where is this? I’m cold..

Recommended: 50 Not Recommended: 13

• Sir.. If you’re cold, turn on the boiler..

• Hey, buddy, why are you turning black?

• LOL, he’s lost his mind.

• But seriously, the ice age has been too long lately..
  └ She’s sleeping next to me right now, sorry.
  └ I’ll wake her up and tell her to stream.
  └ Stop f*cking around and get lost.

• Is something wrong with the kids?
  └ Aren’t they all busy?
  └ No matter how busy they were, they always streamed and did Spaces regularly, but now even that is infrequent.
  └ Ugh.. Our love has cooled..

The gist was that, over the past month, many things had happened as the 2nd gen trainees bonded amongst themselves and with the 1st gen members.

During the same period, many things had also happened in the underbelly, though they didn’t exactly bond.

No matter how spectacularly Wooseo Woo returned as a moderator, she couldn’t control the growing discontent among the fans.

Posts lamenting the decrease in 1st gen members’ broadcast time appeared on the community forum almost daily.

The fact that such posts were appearing on a fan community that advocated for unconditional positivity indicated an unusual atmosphere.

Truthfully, Belus didn’t really need to worry about the opinions on these underground community forums, but since posts with similar content, albeit toned down, were now appearing on the official fan cafe, Belus was truly reaching its limit.

Still, the prospective 2nd gen members’ RP settings and avatars were perfectly prepared, and practice to get used to facial tracking and broadcasting was steadily progressing, so all that was really left was the debut, meaning there wasn’t much to worry about.

“Now… once the mixing for the cover song is done, the preparations will be perfect.”

The only remaining worry for CEO Kim Kanghyun was probably the 2nd gen’s group original debut song and individual cover song preparations.

Since the 2nd gen original song was their first group song, profitability wasn’t a major consideration.

It was more about introducing who our members were to the fans.

So, under Producer Kim Hyunmin’s guidance, the members were gathering, putting their heads together, and participating in all aspects, from composing to lyric writing.

For composition, Azusa and Sumire, who were former Utaites, took the lead, and for lyrics, Hoshino, a former idol trainee, led Miyuki and Mao, handling it smoothly.

On top of that, Kotori was drawing the illustrations for the music video, so this debut song would truly be a meaningful piece with the 2nd gen members directly involved from start to finish.

‘The Rainbows will probably like it too.’

And for the cover songs, they naturally selected pieces that would highlight each member’s individuality.

Among them, Kotori was preparing something special.

Something that would surely surprise all of Belus’s fandom, the Rainbows.

There had been a minor disagreement between Haruka and Kim Kanghyun regarding it midway, but eventually, she too conceded, and if things went as planned, he was confident that the 2nd gen’s debut would proceed smoothly and perfectly.

“Hmm… Still, overlapping with the AOL World Cup might have been a bit of a stretch.”

As it was the international competition for AOL, which firmly held its position as the world’s most popular game, public attention was bound to be focused in one direction.

Debuting amidst that certainly increased the likelihood of receiving less attention.

Still, there was also the advantage that there would be fewer trolls.

They had also adjusted the debut schedule to avoid overlapping with the Korean team’s match times.

Rather, debuting as quickly as possible before the competition truly intensified could be considered a relief.

However, just when CEO Kim Kanghyun, no, all of Belus’s staff, were feeling this confident, an unforeseen variable emerged-

“CEO! We have a big problem!”

“What… is it?”

Kim Kanghyun’s eyes trembled as he watched Manager Ari burst through the door in a hurry.

‘Somehow… déjà vu……’

The incident that occurred just before the 1st gen’s debut briefly flashed through his mind.

“Miyuki…! No! Eun Jihye-ssi!”

“……!”

Kim Kanghyun squeezed his eyes shut.

If I had to describe Miyuki (Eun Jihye) in one word… ‘insider’ would probably be the most fitting.

She had shown off her sociability by getting along well with everyone since the training camp.

From the start, her impression was amiable, and her way of speaking was gentle, so few people felt reluctant to approach her.

Honestly, I didn’t have any memories of interacting deeply with her, but she also wasn’t someone I felt distant from, like those who were eliminated early in the training camp.

So I thought we would naturally become closer during the debut preparation process.

Well, getting closer to Haruka was my top priority, but I love everyone in Belus, so if I could become friends with her, who would also be in the 2nd gen… Hehe.

…I think I was imagining something like that not too long ago, but an unexpected situation occurred.

The prospective 2nd gen members, including me, gathered in Kim Kanghyun’s office, couldn’t help but look bewildered.

Because Miyuki, no, Eun Jihye, was bowing her head deeply towards us right in front of our eyes.

Her face was hidden by her wavy, amber-colored bob hair, which usually exuded a lively charm, so her expression was not visible.

However, I could feel the moisture in her voice.

“Actually… I should have said something sooner. I didn’t want to miss this chance… I was so afraid that if I missed it now, an opportunity like this would never come again in my life.”

When her words trailed off, a heavy silence filled the room.

No one could easily open their mouth.

CEO Kim Kanghyun also silently stared at the floor, waiting for her story.

“My family… was in an accident. Their condition is more serious than I thought, so I need to be by their side for a while.”

She slowly finished her sentence.

Her voice trembled, and she bowed her head deeply again.

And at her words, everyone’s expression hardened.

No one could easily continue.

I, too, remembered her bright smile and how she got along with everyone during the training camp, so it was hard to immediately grasp what was happening.

“Miyuki… No, Jihye-ya…”

Beside me, Lee Nayeon (Sumire) cautiously spoke.

She called her by her real name, but no one pointed it out.

No one was tactless enough to bring up company rules in this atmosphere.

Eun Jihye looked at Lee Nayeon, bit her lip, and bowed her head once more.

“I want to apologize to Nayeon again. I’m really sorry. You contacted me so much… If I had been honest from the beginning, things wouldn’t have gotten this far……”

Her words made the air in the room even heavier.

Come to think of it, there were signs something was off even a month ago, when we went to the amusement park.

When she couldn’t make it that day due to family circumstances, everyone was puzzled but didn’t think too deeply about it.

But looking back now, it seems Nayeon Mamang had sensed something was wrong back then and had been trying to contact her continuously.

At the time, I also found it strange.

But I simply thought it was a scheduling issue.

For someone as lively and sociable as her to miss such a gathering was definitely unusual.

But back then, no one expected it to be this serious.

Honestly, it feels like being swept away by a natural disaster, like facing a giant typhoon.

I wasn’t particularly resentful that her dropping out midway would mess up the debut schedule.

This was like a natural disaster.

But that didn’t mean anyone could easily accept this sudden farewell.

“We respect Jihye-ssi’s decision.”

A heavy voice came from Kim Kanghyun, who seemed to have been organizing his thoughts while staring at the floor.

“We will not charge a penalty fee. We will also leave the avatar as it is. And… while there isn’t much we can do to help, we will not ask for the contract deposit back, so that it can be even a small help towards your parents’ treatment.”

“…Yes?”

Eun Jihye, who had been bowing her head, looked up and asked back in a trembling voice.

Her face was already a mess from tears.

“Jihye-ssi is still under contract with Belus. So, I hope your parents’ treatment goes well, and we can see you again.”

CEO Kim Kanghyun’s words slightly eased the tension in the room.

His meaning was clear.

Even if she left now, the door would not be closed to her.

“Ah……”

“So, I hope you all will welcome Jihye-ssi back when she returns later. Of course, you’ll be meeting her as a junior then, not a colleague.”

At his following words, Eun Jihye’s body quietly collapsed.

After Ari-nim took the sobbing Eun Jihye out, an awkward atmosphere lingered in Kim Kanghyun’s office.

Sumire and Mao had reddened eyes, and Azusa, who had been particularly close to her, had such swollen eyes that her old raccoon eyes had reappeared.

However, Hoshino’s reaction was unexpected.

She showed absolutely no expression, to a chilling degree.

Her blank face revealed no emotion, like an empty shell devoid of a soul.

Sensing something was off, I cautiously shook her shoulder.

“Hoshino, are you okay?”

She glanced at me once and answered briefly.

“……Yeah.”

Her response was, as usual, somewhat cold.

But it was also clearly different from usual.

“……”

I continued to look at her.

But Hoshino still showed no reaction.

She just sat there silently with a blank face.

She showed no emotion, as if this whole situation had nothing to do with her.

I sensed something was strange, but I couldn’t pinpoint the reason.

The only thing that came to mind right now was that she had mentioned being an idol trainee and having her debut fall through right before it happened.

I hadn’t heard the details back then.

But thinking about it now, the story of her past that I heard at the pajama party on the last day of the training camp and the current situation were quite similar.

‘Could there be a hidden story behind it?’

While I was quietly pondering, Kim Kanghyun, who had been observing our reactions for a while, clapped his hands to gather our attention.

Clap-

“Now! I know everyone’s mind is complicated due to this sudden situation, but the debut is really just around the corner.”

After confirming that the members were slowly emerging from the gloomy atmosphere, he spoke with a serious face.

“Other things aren’t a problem, but the original debut song is the biggest issue.”

“Ah…!”

“What do we do… We were just about to finish it.”

Sighs were heard from various places at his words.

It was just as he said.

The original debut lineup was six members, so the parts were naturally assigned accordingly.

Furthermore, they had already finished recording and mixing and were in the final stages of production.

If this happened, they would have to scrap Miyuki’s parts entirely and re-record.

“The PV will be uploaded on National Foundation Day, so we only have four days left. First, I think I need to talk to Producer Kim Hyunmin…”

Kim Kanghyun trailed off, stroking his chin.

Then, Sumire, who was the leader among us, spoke up first.

“Won’t we run out of time if we re-record?”

“I’ll have to ask him to know for sure… but yes, we probably will.”

“Ah…”

As he shook his head, Sumire let out a sigh.

The original song, being our debut song, was something we had poured everything into.

Not only was it meticulously divided from the intro to the high-note parts, but it was also a difficult song with few sections lacking harmonies.

In other words, it meant it was harder to find parts that didn’t include Miyuki’s voice.

‘…It’ll take more than four days to fix that.’

Moreover, I also have to revise all the illustrations.

Fortunately, revising digitally drawn illustrations is easy, so I could just remove Miyuki, but then there would definitely be awkward parts.

If things went wrong, an illustration where one of the members is ‘looking at a place where no one should be’ could be released as is.

If that happened, someone with a good eye would post something like ‘[Who is she looking at right now?.jpg]’, and we would hear things like ‘The 2nd gen actually had 6 members…’ right from our debut.

Just as my mind was about to get tangled up, Mao, the gyaru girl who had found a studio apartment in Korea, stepped forward.

“What about a cover song!”

“A cover song…?”

This time, I was the one who asked back.

If it was a cover song, the difficulty could actually skyrocket.

We had spent the past month focusing on the original song, distributing parts, and practicing.

So, if we switched to a cover song, it meant we would have to redistribute parts and practice the song all over again.

Unless we chose a song with a very low difficulty, a cover song couldn’t just be whipped up easily.

But even if we chose a low-difficulty song, problems still remained.

The Rainbows have very high standards because of Haruka.

To satisfy them, we’d either have to blow them away with vocal prowess or do a cutesy song where vocals don’t really matter, and finding such a group song isn’t easy.

Besides, even if it’s a cover song, we’d need to include a few illustrations to ensure the quality doesn’t suffer, and even if I worked on it for four days straight, it would be hard to produce several high-quality illustrations.

Well, unless we could find a cute song that is easy, showcases the members’ charms, and doesn’t require complex and pretty illustrations right now.

No matter how much I thought about it, nothing really came to mind……

“Huh?”

‘…There is one, isn’t there!’

‘With this, we can produce a high-quality song even in four days…!’

I clenched my cute little fist and let out a silent cheer.

“What’s wrong, Kotori?”

I looked at Sumire’s face, who asked with a puzzled expression upon hearing my gasp, and smiled brightly.

She then tilted her head.

Hehehe… Mamang, with her eyes reddened from tears, is quite alluring.

“Kotori?”

Ah. I almost got sidetracked again.

Well, anyway, I thought of a cute song that is easy, can showcase the members’ charms, and doesn’t require complex and pretty illustrations.

…That is.

“Ochame Kinou (Mischievous Function)!”

It’s a legendary (?) song that once dominated a significant portion of Mtube video BGM with its incredible addictiveness.