That’s One Thing, This Is Another
[JJOKBIT "Library" MV Teaser 2]
[JJOKBIT "Library" MV Teaser 3]
The protagonists of the second and third teasers, released the next day, were the youngest members.
In the second teaser, Lee Gal-chae sat at a computer like a library staffer, lending books to people and helping them check returns.
Someone returned a book to him, handed him a short note with a piece of candy, and disappeared.
I am □□.
The part where the name should have been was so badly blurred that it couldn’t be read.
With the candy still in his mouth, Lee Gal-chae picked up the book the person had returned. The title printed on it zoomed in, and the video ended on a shot of his hand scanning the barcode.
In the third teaser, Woo Cheong appeared asleep in a corner between the shelves of the school library, lying on a blanket with a book and his bag set on top of him like a comforter. A sticky note was pasted to Woo Cheong’s cheek as well.
If you sleep here, your mouth will droop!
As the bell rang to signal class time, Woo Cheong jolted awake and sat up, and the sticky note fluttered to the floor.
Just like in the first teaser, faint chime-like sounds could be heard, with the sun catcher swaying in the wind.
As the second and third teasers also came out as individual member teasers, the fans began to anticipate more.
Whoa. Looks like they made all seven teasers for each member.
The first comment to get the most "likes" said what everyone had been thinking.
But what came next wasn’t the fourth teaser for JJOKBIT. It was a teaser video for another song.
[JJOKBIT "Prologue" MV Teaser 1]
Inside an old, timeworn bookshop with a nostalgic sign that evoked the 1950s.
Yeo Do-bin, wearing thin-framed glasses, was reading a book. A white shirt, dark-brown tie, suit pants, and suspenders gave his outfit a strong vintage feel.
As he slowly turned a page, a sheet of paper tucked between the shelves slipped down to the floor.
When he unfolded it, he found a blueprint. At the top, in English cursive, it read, "How to Make a Magic Ladder."
Yeo Do-bin removed his glasses and set them aside before carefully picking up the blueprint.
The instant he touched it, a brief melody rang out. Startled, Yeo Do-bin dropped the blueprint, and the melody cut off at once.
[JJOKBIT "Prologue" MV Teaser 2]
This time, Ha On-ha appeared standing in front of the bookshop’s swinging door. He wasn’t wearing glasses, but he had on clothes similar to Yeo Do-bin’s.
Unlike Yeo Do-bin, who had buttoned his shirt all the way to the top and tied his necktie neatly, Ha On-ha had no tie at all, had undone a couple of shirt buttons, and was standing with one leg crossed over the other like a loafer while keeping watch.
It was a pitch-black night. One light inside the bookshop and another mounted on the building’s exterior were keeping the darkness at bay.
The wall lamp lighting Ha On-ha’s face flickered as if it had broken, then went dark with a pop. Ha On-ha jumped, then, looking terrified, hurried inside and slammed the door shut.
Prologue
Prologue
[Pre-release, 20XX.11.20]
The album title appeared in small letters at the top of the screen, and the song title in large letters below. They seemed to have named the album Prologue as well.
As in the other teasers, a blue chalk line ran across the screen and wrote out the group name.
Whoa, is this a double title track?
They're debuting only a month after the survival show ends, and now a double title track too? Isn’t that pushing it?
I’m ridiculously excited lol
Ugh, it’s so frustrating T_T I don’t want teasers anymore, I just want the MV already T_T
Huh? But why are both title tracks pre-releases?
Fans thought the unreleased teasers for Baek Yuri and Baek Gi-yeom would be uploaded as Prologue, the same as Ha On-ha and Yeo Do-bin. But what went up the next day was another teaser.
* * *
[JJOKBIT "Library" MV Teaser 4]
Sea Witch, sprawled across Won Hasin’s executive office sofa as if it were the master bedroom in her own house, played the teaser that had just gone up.
"What is it this time? A university?"
At the university library, where only students with IDs were allowed to enter, Baek Yuri, wearing a varsity jacket, was absorbed in his work as he searched for and selected the books he needed.
But the books he had found had titles like "What Is Possession," "Mystery Phenomena," and "Supernatural Events."
They were the sort of books occult club members might look for.
[JJOKBIT "Library" MV Teaser 5]
Then came the final teaser. Baek Gi-yeom, who was in the school library just like Baek Yuri, bent down to take a book from a low shelf and discovered a smartphone someone had left tucked between the volumes.
He glanced around, looking for the phone’s owner. Then his own phone rang, the bell sound loud and clear. It was the highlight melody from the other teasers.
Startled, Baek Gi-yeom looked around nervously and hurriedly answered. Since the person who had lost the phone might have borrowed someone else’s phone to call it, he picked up first.
Right then.
Hello—
It was Neoul’s singing voice. And then the final teaser ended.
That symmetry is insane.
Whoa, the MV isn’t even out yet and my heart already feels like it’s been thrashed to pieces?
Ah, I’m so nervous T_T I feel like I’m going to die from anticipation T_T
W-what is this? Did the phone’s owner give Neoul coffee and his number, then lose the phone at the library, and Gi-yeom picked it up?
┗ So the phone owner goes to high school and university at the same time..?
┗ Uhhh...?
┗ But they’re both set in the same timeframe, right?
The library teaser feels like it’s shot from the point of view of a secret crush, which I love. Baek Yuri really nails that first-love upperclassman image.
┗ Seriously, lol. The image is so clear, but slightly hazy too, like it’s messing with your memory.
Are the books Baek Yuri’s looking for and the magic ladder Yeo Do-bin found connected somehow?
I’m glad they set Yuri up as a university student too T_T Yuri actually being a university student makes it feel so immersive. Why isn’t there a Yuri sunbae at my school...?
┗ I was hoping the oldest-line members would wear school uniforms too, so I’m a little disappointed T_T
Seeing the twenty-something line in uniforms is great, but I want the varsity jackets too T_T I’m staying patient for the university festival.
Before long, fans were already combing through the seven short teasers, picking out every hint and trying to guess what kind of music video it would be. After replaying all the teasers and watching the comments fly, the corner of Sea Witch’s mouth curled upward.
"Interesting. Good. Not bad at all."
"You seem to be in a good mood."
Won Hasin grumbled.
"Hah. Seriously? Why are you acting proud? I thought you wanted the kids to fail?"
If the group didn’t succeed, then they’d be compared with more popular groups and treated unfairly.
If there weren’t many places calling them in, then instead of group schedules they’d end up sending out the more popular members for solo work. That would widen the popularity gap between the members even more... and that would naturally lead to friction among them.
Inside the fandom too, solo fans would be tearing each other apart, and fans worn down by the constant chaos would leave. Everything would fall apart.
So that Gal Neoul would grow completely sick of humans. So that he would drift farther and farther away from them...
That had been Sea Witch’s plan from the start.
"That’s that, and this is this!"
Sea Witch played Neoul’s teaser again and said softly,
"When they’re working this hard and doing this well, how could I not be proud?"
"Say that in front of the person himself, not to me."
When Won Hasin snapped at her, Sea Witch simply lifted one corner of her mouth in a crooked smile without bothering to answer. It looked like she would never, under any circumstances, say something like that in person.
Won Hasin thought back to an earlier day.
The day he had barely managed to hold her back when she had been stamping her feet and raging that she would not let Kim Woohwan get away with bringing up Neoul’s father in such a vile way.
Won Hasin, Sea Witch, and Secretary Song sat together on the carpet spread across the floor, ignoring the perfectly good sofa and watching Neoul on a single tablet.
They watched Gal Neoul make the bet he wanted, all on his own, without anyone’s help, and get what he wanted.
He had looked calm and resolute. No matter how badly someone treated him or tried to bully him, he didn’t seem like the type to break or give in easily.
Which also meant they would need to send an even stronger villain his way. Otherwise, his heart would never bend.
That day, Sea Witch quietly watched Neoul finish what he had to say and leave the executive office. As she watched, she seemed to settle down a little and no longer tried to storm out of the room.
Ha.... This is hard.
Instead, she swept her bangs back and let out a dry laugh.
I don't want to hurt the prince's heart.
Then couldn't you stop now, even at this point?
But his lifespan is going to keep getting shaved away little by little. I’m worried he’ll just die all of a sudden one day. I really hate hurting him, but I hate the thought of him dying even more.
Seeing the bitter look on her face, Won Hasin didn’t dare say any more.
Still, today I need to say something!
Won Hasin didn’t like scheming from behind the scenes and obstructing people like this. If he was going to tease and bully someone, he preferred to do it openly in front of them.
He fixed his eyes on her, stood in front of Sea Witch with rather insolent confidence, and spoke up.
"Why don’t you just tell Gal Neoul the truth?!"
"What was that, you little brat?"
Sea Witch frowned and shot him a sharp look, as if asking what on earth he was talking about.
"You want me to tell a kid who just debuted and is already busy that if he stays on land he’ll die young? A kid whose mind is already full just worrying about his father?"
At her rebuking stare, Won Hasin broke into a cold sweat down his back and quickly bent his knees, lowering his gaze.
Whenever he looked Sea Witch straight in the eye, he couldn’t help feeling as though he were gazing up at something impossibly far above him, even when she was the one standing below him.
It felt like facing a huge monster wearing the skin of a beautiful, mesmerizing woman.
Won Hasin had never even seen Sea Witch’s true form, and yet that was how it felt. No, because he had never seen it, his imagination only made her presence swell larger and more frightening.
Right. It’s easier on the nerves to flatten myself out and look up from below.
Won Hasin muttered to himself and plopped down beside the sofa. Then, with a voice full of hurt and frustration, he went on.
"I mean... as far as I can see, no matter what trials Gal Neoul goes through, I don’t think he’d ever get sick of people."
Won Hasin hadn’t known Neoul for very long. Compared with Sea Witch, who had watched him since he was a baby, the time was nothing. And yet...
There are a few humans I want to cheer for. I want to watch where they go and climb toward the goal alongside them.
If I debut together with them, I think the future will be even more fun. That’s the feeling I get.
That was Gal Neoul, who had said he wanted to be with others, not alone.
That was Gal Neoul, who had carefully penned his reply onto hundreds of sticky notes fans had pasted across a subway billboard, pouring his sincerity into every word.
Thank you for allowing me to look forward to what comes next, and for giving me a gift far greater than I deserve.
Neoul had said he had hope. The "next" he spoke of wasn’t simply the next stage. He was shaping a future together with the people called fans, and together with the people called teammates.
And then there was Baek Yuri, that angel—no, that fool who looked so gentle he almost seemed stupid for it, readily offering to give up his liver so others wouldn’t have to suffer the sorrow of only watching sick family members from the sidelines.... That was the kind of teammate Neoul had now.
People naturally gathered with their own kind, so it was easy enough to guess what sort of person Baek Gi-yeom, Yuri’s longtime friend and cousin, must be.
Yeo Do-bin, who had stayed at his house for days at a time, was also polite, and goodness seemed to seep from his words and actions alike.
There were good people around Neoul like this. No matter how much he might dislike a small number of vile humans like Kim Ji-rok, Neoul would never abandon his faith in humanity.
"It’s already too late, Mademoiselle."
Won Hasin could say it with certainty.
"Gal Neoul isn’t going to leave the land because he comes to hate people."
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