Dae-Eyo Fever at the Festival and a Church Gig Request
Suddenly, [For early activities, just check out http://you~ this and http://you~ that, and for the rest, http://you~ this one]
[Made a playlist just for our girls]
[Watch this and you're all set—perfect summary]
She hit enter, and the blinking cursor appeared. Then an icon showed the other person typing. The three dots pulsed, growing and shrinking in sequence, before the chat finally popped up.
The person who had DM'd Ayoon's personal account not long ago. She'd thought, Who the hell is this sending me a random DM? But once she heard the story, it was a total delight. 'JongnoHonoraryCitizen'... a new Group Sound fan who couldn't find any fanning content, so Ayoon had gone full sales pitch, practically digging a well instead of just handing over a bucket.
'Being the fan cafe president means I don't have anyone to fangirl with.'
Looking at the fan cafe or official account followers, Group Sound fans weren't a huge crowd, but they gathered on their own for meetups, listening parties, or goodie giveaways. Ayoon, though, couldn't join in. It wasn't that the other fans rejected her—her own conscience wouldn't allow it.
The title of 'Fan Cafe President' carried a heavy weight of responsibility, even if it wasn't much in reality.
'If I hang out with the others... it'd make me a big name or something. Gotta be careful.'
That's why she'd been isolated from the other fans back then, just running the cafe and unofficial accounts solo. But those days were gone now. Ayoon had a fanning mate.
A brutal cut from someone who'd only ever fanned major acts their whole life. Ayoon took a deep breath. Merch, huh. She could guess why they didn't make any. No demand base to sell to—how could they? The album sold over 3,000 copies, but that was albums, and considering the indie niche, you couldn't bank on those buyers grabbing merch. They might've just supported an indie band out of goodwill.
'But now with all the audition influx... shouldn't they make some merch? Aside from limited stuff at Paradox...'
Come to think of it, the official side had run a merch survey recently. When they asked what goodies fans wanted, Ayoon had said all of it. Maybe something was coming soon.
'Total baby.' Ayoon smiled warmly at the chat. Probably a first-year high schooler now. Thoughts of Group Sound's bright future mingled with warnings about not spilling personal info to internet strangers.
But the next messages hit like a bombshell, wiping those thoughts clean.
"What?!"
Ayoon yelled so loud her roommate yelled back—what the hell?! The follow-up chats and what looked like fan-recorded private YouTube clips left her mind reeling.
A few short 5-minute edits. Clips of mistakes or covers of other songs too, but what grabbed Ayoon's eyes and ears most was the Dae-Eyo High Schooler stuff.
The whole school screaming "Dae-eyo!" while Suyeon stubbornly plugged her ears through it all, yelling, "I did it already! What's the problem dae-eyo!" Her gleeful teasing made it impossible to believe she'd ever been accused of school violence.
'No embarrassed charm, but this version's cute in its own way...'
Ayoon downloaded the YouTube clips, planning to bundle them with the trending busking videos for some prime promo.
A knock on the door brought drumming chaos instead of a reply. Myeongjeon figured she wouldn't embarrass Seoha like last time and opened it. Drums leaked through the half-closed practice room door.
"Practicing today too?"
The intense pounding paused at her words. Seoha, looking a bit drained, just nodded.
"Coming in diligently these days."
Another nod. Myeongjeon wondered if something was wrong but didn't pry. She'd speak up if it was serious. Poking at someone looking off when they weren't talking? That was rude after decades of life wisdom.
"How was the broadcast?"
"Eh... it was alright, y'know."
After a break in practice, savoring fresh coffee, Myeongjeon answered Seoha's question.
"Views gonna be good?"
"Who knows. Checked recently—hit a few hundred thousand at least."
"Enough for street recognition?"
"Nah. Lots of chit-chat, but it's all number-hunting or agency stuff... driving me nuts."
Seoha peppered questions about the show. Myeongjeon answered, sensing her hemming and hawing. Like she had something to say but couldn't spit it out, circling around instead.
'That age, huh?'
Myeongjeon pondered. Yeah, that age. Unlike her fully formed, ancient-tree personality (recently uprooted a bit), the bandmates were peak high schoolers in mind and body. Even adults struggled to communicate—teens? Forget it. She'd let it slide.
"Hold up. Hello?"
A sudden buzz. Caller: 'Lee Yu-na'. She flashed a hand at Seoha and picked up.
The bright, light voice from before spilled out.
"Hello? Ha Suyeon's phone, right?"
"Yes, it is."
"Oh~ it's Lee Yu-na."
"Right, you gave me your number before."
Light chit-chat to start. But as it dragged, Myeongjeon wondered why the call. Business, probably—why not get to it? Celeb thing? Not valuing time? Some social gap?
"Anyway, singer-nim. Mind telling me the reason for the call? Got other stuff going on."
"Oh right. Sorry! Forgot to mention."
Ignoring Seoha's baffled stare, Myeongjeon listened. Lots of fluff, but boiled down: wanted to release an album, could she give some songs?
"Me? You must know composers. Why me... not saying no, though."
"Wanna collab with you specifically. You're blowing up lately."
"News to me."
"How if the star doesn't know? No offers coming your way?"
"First I've heard."
Yu-na muttered it was weird and shared some insider tea. Not the hot topic, but trend-sensitive PDs and producers always asked her, "Who's that kid? 'Dae-eyo'?" whenever they met.
"Figured you'd get offers."
"Not keen on that image sticking..."
"Weird. Anyway, you play guitar great. Kinda weird to say, but leverage your buzz. Duet with me, or you on guitar beside me. Make a track, drop a single... that vibe."
Myeongjeon got the gist. Mutual boost: Yu-na gets Suyeon's heat (if any), she gets Yu-na's name rec. Win-win.
"Sounds good for us. But... gotta talk to the band first. Solo stuff's tricky."
She'd consider it and hung up. Band wasn't mature enough for solos—could split them.
'Fine for me, but what about the others?'
Better avoid drama. Fame and cash come with time.
Then Seoha's slightly trembling voice:
"Solo activities?"
"Nah, just a project collab offer."
An oddly anxious look—not her usual overconfident self. Myeongjeon scratched her head, sighing inwardly. Gotta ask.
"Something up?"
"Uh... no, um... well. Yeah..."
Hesitant Seoha. Myeongjeon waited patiently. Fidgeting hands, wandering eyes. What could be so tough?
"Uh. Could you... session for us?"
"...Session? Uh..."
All that for this? Myeongjeon eyed her sternly, tempted to scold. But the anxiety lingered unsolved.
"That session, it's... not exactly. Sub-in, maybe. Uh..."
"What, something shady? Illegal underground drug-dealer band sub?"
"No, not that. Our church."
"Church?"
Before Myeongjeon could process the mismatch, Seoha spilled the rest.
"Church band. Guitarist's hurt... can you fill in? It's a CCM band."
...CCM?