Chapter 34: The Platinum-Blond Rookie

“What do you think about going with a uniform concept this time?”

“A uniform?”

“Yeah.”
“There’s a pretty high chance that a suit concept will overlap with another group.”

Not a high chance.

It would overlap.

And when it did, they would get completely buried.

“But wouldn’t it be a little too similar to our previous styling?”

Ryu Seo-oh spoke up.

It wasn’t an unreasonable concern.

They had stuck with bright, refreshing concepts ever since their first single before changing directions in their most recent release.

The most successful one had been from.S.

Since the song had been inspired by Sherlock Holmes, they’d gone with a detective-and-English-gentleman aesthetic.

“That’s true, but back then it was more of a British gentleman mixed with detective vibes.”
“This time, I was thinking we could fully commit to an actual uniform concept.”
“Our song is about ambition and dreams anyway.”
“So maybe something like police uniforms could work.”

“Honestly, we can attach the symbolism afterward.”

“Ah, that kind of uniform…”
“I was imagining something completely different.”

Moon Se-byeol nodded thoughtfully.

“That sounds good too.”
“It might be nice if each member had unique accessories to give them some individuality.”

Hyun Woo-young, who had been listening quietly, added his opinion.

At that point, the group’s consensus naturally began leaning toward uniforms.

“Uniforms…”

The stylist, Kim Eun-chae, muttered under her breath while scribbling notes.

As the discussion progressed, her complexion seemed to grow steadily darker.

Eun-chan felt a little guilty.

But there was no changing course now.

He silently promised himself he’d do something nice for her later.

The finer details were settled quickly.

Once the uniform concept was approved, Eun-chan only occasionally spoke up to steer things away from overlapping too closely with other groups.

The members actively participated in the discussion, making the concept meeting proceed smoothly.

Watching them, the manager wore an oddly emotional and proud expression.

“That’s right.”
“Say everything you want.”
“I’ll do my best to make it happen.”

Although Kim Eun-chae still looked somewhat pale, she seemed to have accepted her fate and threw herself into the project enthusiastically.

“Then what about hairstyles?”
“If we’re doing this, we should go all out with the hair too.”

“The concept we’ve sketched out looks like this.”

She placed a tablet on the table.

“If we pair this with suits, it works.”
“But with uniforms, something feels a little lacking.”

She wasn’t wrong.

With suits, the concept felt complete.

With uniforms, however, there was a slight disconnect.

“Just tell me what hair colors you want.”

“I’ll think about the rest.”

“Since we’re doing uniforms, we could go with something really flashy.”

“Or we could keep things dark and intense.”

That was true.

But if the uniforms were already striking, overly flashy hair might feel like too much.

Eun-chan carefully recalled the hair colors of groups that had promoted around this period in his previous life.

Neon pink.

Bright blue.

Lime green.

Pastel pink.

There were countless groups sporting extravagant colors.

No matter what color they chose, it would be difficult to leave a lasting impression.

“I think it’d be better to go with something more subdued.”

“You think so too?”

Kim Eun-chae nodded.

“Honestly, I was thinking the same thing.”

“If we combine uniforms and bright dye jobs, it might feel excessive.”

In the end, everyone decided to stick with colors close to their natural hair.

Everyone except one person.

Hyun Woo-young.

His hair color was decided immediately.

Platinum blond.

The stylist declared it without hesitation.

“Woo-young’s debuting for the first time.”

“It’d be a waste not to do anything special, right?”

But Eun-chan knew the truth.

This was pure bias.

Not because she had any ulterior motives toward Woo-young.

Rather, it was because leaving that face completely untouched felt wasteful.

Eun-chan understood her feelings one hundred percent.

Woo-young already looked like someone carrying a tragic backstory even when he did absolutely nothing.

The stylist’s instincts simply couldn’t resist.

Fortunately, Woo-young didn’t seem opposed to dyeing his hair.

He accepted it without complaint.

Some idols rejected styling suggestions outright because they had strong personal tastes or stubborn preferences.

Compared to that, this was a relief.

The next morning, the members arrived at the salon before dawn.

Among them, Eun-chan was the first to finish.

Since everyone else was dyeing their hair brown while he alone was keeping his natural color, his styling hadn’t taken long.

“Thank you.”
“You worked hard.”

“Oh, not at all.”

The makeup artist smiled brightly.

“It was rewarding because you’re so handsome, Eun-chan.”

“This concept suits you perfectly too.”

“Hahaha.”
“Thank you.”

As he responded, Eun-chan gave himself one final look in the mirror.

To match the uniform concept, his makeup had been designed to strongly emphasize his eyes.

Under normal lighting, it almost felt too heavy.

But stage and camera lights would wash out half of it anyway.

Compared to previous albums, the eye makeup was dramatically bolder.

His eyes appeared larger than usual.

His hair had been swept halfway back, meaning he couldn’t hide behind his bangs like he used to.

He had wanted a sharper look.

Still…

Was this a little too much?

Feeling strangely self-conscious, Eun-chan blinked at his reflection.

“Whoa.”
“Shim Eun-chan’s no joke.”

Eun-chan straightened the head he’d been tilting toward the mirror.

Moon Se-byeol had apparently finished styling as well.

His ash red-brown hair had been neatly swept and fixed to one side.

The style suited him perfectly.

His makeup wasn’t as heavy as Eun-chan’s, but it enhanced Se-byeol’s naturally sharp features.

“Yeeah.”
“You’re no joke either, hyung.”

Eun-chan answered jokingly.

But Se-byeol immediately became serious.

“Thanks.”
“It’s my first time trying a hairstyle like this, but it looks pretty good.”

“No, seriously.”

“I’m not kidding.”

“This concept really suits you, Eun-chan.”

“It’s just…”
“I’ve never worn makeup this heavy before.”

“It feels weird.”

“Not at all.”
“Not at all.”

“It suits you perfectly.”

“You trust my judgment, right?”

Eun-chan glanced at the loudly enthusiastic Se-byeol.

The man was strict when it came to dancing.

Outside of that, however, he was usually easygoing and relaxed.

Still, after hearing him praise him this much, it felt wrong to dismiss it.

“Yeah.”
“I trust you.”

“…There’s absolutely no soul in that answer.”

“I’m serious.”

“Looks like you two are having fun.”

Ryu Seo-oh approached them.

He had dyed his hair ombré khaki.

Unlike the others, his hair wasn’t fixed with hairspray and moved naturally.

The slightly sensitive, aloof atmosphere suited him perfectly.

Next came Do Jun-seo.

His hair was a bright brown.

Jung Min-yu had gone with a darker brown.

Neither color was particularly flashy.

Yet the hairstyles suited them astonishingly well.

The makeup was equally impressive.

Changing salons at Eun-chan’s suggestion had definitely been the right choice.

This styling was better than anything B the 1 had ever worn before.

Jun-seo, in particular, was even wearing colored contact lenses.

The slight sense of unfamiliarity only made him stand out more.

The salon they’d switched to was destined to become one of the most famous idol salons in the industry thanks to a newly hired stylist.

At this point in time, however, word hadn’t spread yet.

Appointments were still relatively easy to get.

Its future reputation clearly wasn’t exaggerated.

Even with similar makeup, the staff somehow highlighted each member’s strengths perfectly.

“Woo-young’s taking the longest.”

“Wasn’t he the first one to start?”

“Yeah.”

“Was he?”

“Mm.”
“When I checked earlier, he looked almost finished.”

“Maybe they’re still working on something.”

While they chatted amongst themselves, a small commotion could be heard deeper inside the salon.

Curious, they looked over.

Hyun Woo-young was standing up.

Apparently, he was finally done.

“You’re all set.”

The stylist who emerged ahead of him looked utterly pleased with herself.

“It suits you so well.”

Then Woo-young followed.

The moment he walked into view, everyone froze.

Including Shim Eun-chan.

The salon staff were showering him with compliments too.

And every single one sounded completely sincere.

Eun-chan couldn’t take his eyes off him.

Seriously.

Wow.

This…

That face was doing all the work.

He wasn’t even sure an East Asian person could naturally pull off platinum blond this well.

With his makeup completed, Hyun Woo-young looked—

As embarrassing as the phrase was—

Like a literal god descending from heaven.

“Did all of you finish already?”

“…Whoa…”

“No way.”

“Holy…”

“…”

“Wow.”

Every single member stared at Woo-young.

Not one exception.

Moon Se-byeol even pulled out his phone.

Click.

A camera shutter sounded.

Woo-young was already wearing the main stage outfit.

And the result was terrifying.

How could someone pull it off this well?

His waist sat high.

His arms and legs were absurdly long.

Even the way he moved looked effortlessly graceful.

Now add a perfectly fitted uniform.

The result was a walking fashion photoshoot.

And on top of that—

His hair had been dyed platinum blond.

Somehow, the dry texture it used to have had vanished completely.

A perfect angel ring shimmered around it.

His soft hair had been cut at exactly the right length, fluffy and voluminous.

Every movement sent gentle waves through it.

“Are you wearing contacts?”

Eun-chan was the first to recover enough to speak.

“Yeah.”

Woo-young approached while answering.

“Gray.”

“Gray?”

“Not blue?”

Hearing the response, Eun-chan narrowed his eyes slightly and stared more closely into Woo-young’s eyes.