[National Idol Iam, All Members Renew Contracts!]

"Girl group Iam, which has recently been enjoying immense popularity, is drawing attention after announcing yesterday that all members have renewed their contracts for three years and extended group activities.

Iam debuted through MPlay's variety program Idol Ground 100 as a project group with a fixed one-year promotion period, so news of this latest contract renewal···."

⤷ The we're-doing-one-more-year meta is actually real?

⤷ More precisely, three more years!

⤷ That's insane. Wait, doesn't that mean all the members' original agencies agreed?

⤷ Yeah. Every agency posted official notices saying all the members extended their Iam activity contracts

⤷ Geum Shinyu straight-up transferred to KJ Entertainment

⤷ How are the antis who've been holding memorial rites for Iam to fail supposed to cope now ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

⤷ They were waiting more eagerly for Iam's disbandment date than their own parents' birthdays ㅋㅋ so damn satisfying

Click.

'Was it this big?'

Seyon stared at the monitor and clicked back.

Then the screen filled with articles related to Iam's contract renewals.

Not just the entertainment news section—even outside that, no matter where one went online, there were posts about Iam's contract renewals.

Seyon had known Iam's public popularity was high, but hadn't expected something as simple as contract-renewal news to provoke such a heated response.

And while watching the public's interest in Iam and the reaction to it, an old memory suddenly came to mind.

The first boy group SY had ever created, a group that could be called Korea's first idol group.

When that boy group disbanded, the public reaction had been similar to this.

Students had skipped school and come out to stage protests not only in front of the company but even outside the members' homes, and it had been a shocking sight when not only newspapers but even TV news reported on the group's disbandment.

Seyon still couldn't forget that time.

Which made sense. It had been a miracle possible only because idols were appearing in Korea for the first time, and Seyon had thought it was something that could never be experienced again.

But that prediction had been wrong.

'I might've been wrong.'

When MPlay first said it was making Idol Ground 100, Seyon had inwardly scoffed.

The idea of an idol, to Seyon, was that of a perfect being.

Dance, singing, looks.

And on top of that, irresistible star quality.

That was what made the public admire idols, long for them, and pour out passionate support toward them—or so Seyon had believed.

And Idol Ground 100's planning had stood at the exact opposite point from that ideal.

Gathering trainees who hadn't even debuted and saying they were going to make a girl group out of them—it had seemed absurd.

But watching Iam shatter that expectation and go beyond simple variety to trigger a real tremor in the idol industry itself, Seyon couldn't help feeling conflicted.

At first, Seyon couldn't understand why people were cheering for Iam this much, to the point of replaying broadcasts and content Iam had appeared in over and over.

And only then did the reason become clear.

[For some reason, I get attached to the Iam girls]

"I used to stan boy groups, then I got disillusioned and quit, but after I happened to watch Agbaek, the girls kept catching my eye for some reason.

At first I thought it was just because they were funny, but it wasn't.

Now I just keep finding myself rooting for Iam without even realizing it and hoping they do even better.

This is driving me crazy. I really thought I was done with stanning for good this time."

⤷ I wasn't interested in idols at all before, but I got into them because of Iam

⤷ Since we got to see them go from trainees to debuting and growing all at once, it seriously feels like I became a producer myself

⤷ Back during Agbaek, the fandoms for each member fought so viciously I thought they'd never unite, but the second it ended they instantly became one

⤷ I still rewatch Agbaek these days. Comparing the girls then to how they are now is so much fun

⤷ fr who would've guessed Lee Sion and Lee Gahyeon would become besties ㅋㅋ

⤷ If you went back to Agbaek days and told people Ryu Ayeon would end up this wrecked, nobody would believe you

Unlike existing idols, Iam was a special case, with all the growth and narrative up to debut vividly preserved.

The people who had watched everything—from starting out as nobodies in trainee status to debuting as a girl group known nationwide—had, before they realized it, become fans of Iam.

From fans who rooted for them lightly to fans who supported them with real passion.

Then Kaella, VYNNIA's leader, whom Seyon had run into at the company earlier that day, suddenly came to mind.

Kaella had been smiling brightly at a smartphone as if something wonderful had happened.

And what Kaella had been looking at was none other than the contract-renewal announcement uploaded to Iam's YouTube channel.

Seeing that, Seyon hadn't understood what was so delightful about a powerful rival renewing their contracts, and so had asked.

-"They're rivals, but they're still friends···. I want to keep promoting alongside Iam and keep competing with them. And we lost at Three Kingdoms last time, right? If Iam disbands, then we'd be ending while still having lost. Next time, we'll definitely win."

At Kaella's smiling words—that next time VYNNIA would definitely win—Seyon felt as if struck across the head.

"Right. We're SY."

Thinking that a powerful rival like Iam would disappear on its own anyway, so SY only had to hold out while sidestepping them for a while and would become the winner in the end—that had been cowardice.

Since when had SY ever approached anything with that kind of loser's mindset?

Until now, Seyon hadn't been able to understand Park Taesu, who had not only let Ryu Ayeon join Iam but had even agreed to the contract renewal, but not anymore.

Iam renewing its contracts? If anything, that was something to welcome.

Click.

-Yes, sir.

-Please call Producer Yoo Hyunsoo.

-Yes, understood.

After telling the secretary to call Producer Yoo Hyunsoo, Seyon rose and looked out the window.

And on the monitor behind that figure was the headline of an article still glowing on the screen.

[Iam Fever! Album Preorders Surpass 300,000 Copies!]

Back in the era once called the golden age of girl groups, it had become a major topic when G.G, which had stood at the top in that era, sold 100,000 albums.

Of course, in today's idol industry, where album sales kept rising exponentially, there were already quite a few girl groups selling 100,000 albums.

And recently, VYNNIA had even set the highest girl-group album sales record with a total of 300,000 copies.

But 300,000 preorders was a different story.

That wasn't an easy number even for boy groups with especially powerful fandoms—let alone top-tier boy groups.

"From the beginning again. Next time, we'll stand at the top."

It was time for SY, which at some point had grown used to always occupying the summit, to once more bare its teeth at an opponent from the position of challenger.

***

"If we're wearing these outfits, I guess we really have to be careful about eating anything before going on stage."

Yunkyung grumbled while fiddling with the stage outfit.

A corset cinched tight around the waist, and on top of that, long boots that rose all the way up the thighs.

If the stage outfits we'd worn up until now had been more natural and comfortable clothes, then this one was close to an outfit made solely for the stage, with practicality near zero.

Only now did I understand why Raon had been managing the members' diets so tightly.

'If the original Lee Gahyeon had worn this, it would've been cutting it close.'

Our outfits, supposedly a modern reinterpretation of medieval pirate clothing, didn't reveal much skin, but there were plenty of clingy pieces like corsets and leather pants, so if things had still been how they used to be, I probably wouldn't have carried it off quite like this.

Still—

"I'm more bothered by this dangly thing."

"It's not a dangly thing. It's an epaulet, Captain."

The dangling ornament on the shoulder.

That reminded me of the stylist explaining earlier, while showing us the costumes specially made for us, that it was epaulet decoration.

That epaulet looked just like the shoulder boards on the dress uniform from my old cadet days, which left me feeling a little strange.

But that wasn't what mattered right now.

"Sorry, Yunkyung. I grew up in an ordinary commoner's household, so I don't know difficult terms like that."

"Captain!"

"What? You're not about to call the bodyguards again, are you?"

"How long are you going to keep milking that!"

"Until I die."

I teased Yunkyung for a moment, and Yunkyung immediately puffed out those lips, went hmpf, and stormed off.

'Definitely a rich family's daughter.'

It reminded me of Yunkyung calling in bodyguards during the convenience-store battle a few days earlier.

I had thought I'd boxed everyone in for sure, but—

-"Y, Yunkyung! Who are these people?"

-"I had a feeling something was going to happen today, so I called the uncles in advance! Sirs, please hold the CEO and the Captain down!"

The four runaway ninjas had slipped away thanks to the young lady's bodyguards suddenly barging in.

In the end, before the members were caught in the park in front of the dorm, they had managed the remarkable feat of finishing every last snack they had bought.

'That was unexpected.'

Yunkyung normally hated drawing attention to anything related to family wealth, so I had let my guard down completely.

Who would've thought Yunkyung had even brought bodyguards in advance?

And that wasn't all. Shinyu had also put to good use the restraint techniques, and the methods of opening and locking doors, that I'd taught just for fun.

-"Shouldn't we loosen things up for the girls a little now?"

-"That's true. The problem is when and how far. If they go too wild, it'll be a headache."

-"I have a plan."

In truth, this escape had been half-intended by Raon and me.

From the start, this round of training and diet management had been built on the premise that the members would go off the rails halfway through.

But surprisingly, the members had been enduring it well despite how difficult it was.

Of course, they were only enduring it well—they were still right on the edge, so they needed a moment to breathe in the middle.

So I deliberately recruited Yuri beforehand and left an opening, and just as expected, the members immediately attempted an escape.

We had even expected them to head straight for pork bone hangover soup, and we'd decided to allow that much, but when Raon requested that the convenience store had to be blocked, I went out myself.

But the capture operation failed thanks to Yunkyung's unexpected counterattack.

'The members have grown too.'

It felt like I'd been taking the members too lightly all this time.

Even if I hadn't gone all out, they had still slipped through my scheme.

If I was Zhuge Liang, then this was the incident that made me realize the members had finally grown to roughly Sima Yi's level.

"All right, we're going back into filming!"

"Yes."

While I briefly thought back on what had happened the other day—and separately wondered how to get revenge on the members who had dared think of locking me up just because I'd shown a little mercy and exploited them a little—the staff called out that filming was starting again.

"This time, get the water timing right!"

"Yes!"

Our contract-renewal video had gone up a few days earlier.

-Wow, when we were filming it, I was wondering why we were even shooting something like this, but seeing the finished video, it's insanely well made!

-That one was specially outsourced. You can tell right away the production quality is on another level.

-Really?

-It's that important of an announcement.

After all of us, me included, had finished renewing our contracts, the company called us in again to shoot a contract-renewal video.

Back then I'd thought, Wouldn't an article alone be enough? but the finished video turned out so good that everyone was surprised.

Maybe because of that?

After the renewal video went up, our album sales—which had seemed like they were done rising—started climbing again in a meaningful way,

and even the digital rankings began to reverse climb, making it obvious just how happy the fans were.

Even I, the first one to renew, hadn't expected all the members to renew, so in a way that reaction from the fans was only natural.

Anyway, that renewal video hadn't ended with merely announcing the renewals.

[11.29 COMEBACK - Black Pearl]

At the very end of the renewal video, there had been a brief teaser date announcing our comeback and the title of the title track.

Because of that, our fan community was currently in chaos with curiosity over the comeback.

And because of that, we were now working hard filming the music video to satisfy those expectations.

Raise the black flag, higher

Burn up like a flame

Even in the endless storm

I become the king in the end

In time with the music flowing through the set, the members and I began the choreography on the deck of a ship.

Not a modern ship, but a wooden sailing vessel.

Because there wasn't any tall ship in Korea suitable for the music video, we had actually come all the way to the Philippines to film.

Splash.

Right before we went into the choreography for the highlight part, a spray of water poured down over our heads.

They had said the background would be done with CG later, but being hit by waves couldn't be faked that way, so the staff had used equipment to artificially create spray like crashing surf.

"Cut!"

Apparently satisfied, the Camera Director called for a cut, and the moment that signal dropped, the stylists came running toward the members and me.

"Your eyes might sting a little."

I nodded to the stylist touching up my eyes with smoky makeup and glitter, giving it that slightly smeared look.

'This is no joke.'

For this title track, Black Pearl, it wasn't just the outfits and the ship that had been specially arranged.

The makeup too was meant to capture the feeling of pirates cutting through a storm, to the point where we were being styled like protagonists from a famous Disney movie.

-"The part where you do the highlight choreography with your makeup smeared after getting hit by the waves is the key point of this music video!"

When I first heard that explanation, it felt a little excessive, but Shinyu and Lucas, who had made the song, looked excited by the Camera Director's explanation, so I figured it must be good, and all the members gladly accepted the concept.

Not just for the music video—once promotions started, we would be performing on actual stages with this same makeup.

"All right, if makeup's done, we're going straight back into filming!"

With water-soaked costumes and faces painted in makeup smeared by water,

I felt a little excited, like I'd really become a pirate.