The Price of Slacking Off
"Are they really... not going to let us sleep...?"
"No way. They'll let us sleep eventually once we do enough. Let's just do our best, and if we can't, we'll whine and beg. Then Suyun will give in."
But contrary to their hopes, Suyun really didn't let them sleep. Well, she did—but long after their expected bedtime.
"Where do you think you're going to sleep when you haven't even written a song?"
"Suyun-ah... I'm seriously so sleepy..."
"Sleepy? Then let me wake you up. Excuse me, could someone bring me a glass of water? I need to pour it over her head."
"N-No! I'm not sleepy!"
Iseor held her hands out to stop Suyun, who was marching over with a cup as if she was actually going to do it, then slammed her head back onto her laptop. Seeing this, the other girls, pretending they never had any intention of resisting, also slammed their heads onto their laptops.
"Why do we have to..."
"I told you I wasn't going to let you sleep."
"But I'm seriously exhausted!!"
"Sure, go to sleep. Sleep, and then starve tomorrow. Iseor, didn't you say you were on a diet lately? Starving for a day will probably make the weight slide right off, don't you think?"
"...I'll just do it."
But despite their efforts, songs didn't just pop out. That was something only someone like Suyun could do. Besides, there was no way these girls, shriveled up under the pressure of squeezing out a song, could produce anything decent.
And the result... the trio, who only got a few hours of sleep, faced a tragedy the next day.
"Start!!"
"Aaaaargh!"
As soon as they woke up, just like in those old variety shows like 2 Days & 1 Night... they were running around, doing physical games under the staff's direction, throwing themselves into utter chaos.
"Seriously!! Do we have to go this far just to eat?!"
Someone—mostly Yoo Seoha—raised a fundamental question.
But even as she complained, once left to her own devices... her competitive streak flared up, and before long, she was fully immersed in the game.
The members desperately played the games, and the staff filmed them, laughing.
And there was one person watching this whole spectacle with absolute leisure... Ha Suyun.
"Ah, this ice cream is sweet."
"She is seriously evil."
"Didn't I tell you last night? If you guys slept without finishing your work, you'd suffer big time today. But you went to sleep anyway, saying 'whatever.' Everything in life comes with a price."
The trio glared at Suyun, grinding their teeth. But Suyun casually peeled open another ice cream and took a bite.
Right, this ice cream had quite a history. Back in the day, it was a real luxury ice cream, the kind you couldn't eat without making a big decision...
"Inhale... gasp... ugh..."
"Unni!! How could you drop it again?!"
The game was 'passing paper with your mouth'—a classic staple of these shows. Whether it was due to poor lung capacity, embarrassment, or some other factor, Hyun-ah kept dropping the paper halfway.
In that situation, Iseor was shouting, "We barely slept, we can't miss out on food too!" as she swapped positions and coached Hyun-ah, but things didn't go as planned. It was an absolute disaster.
"Hyun-ah must be on a diet lately. Seeing how she's making such an effort to show she doesn't want lunch. As her friends, shouldn't you guys help her out?"
"I seriously... want to kill her..." Hyun-ah muttered darkly.
Suyun laughed gleefully at Hyun-ah's ominous muttering.
Well, hadn't she warned them?
"I knew it the moment you guys set up a board game because you said you had too much free time after the meeting. If you hadn't played that, you might not have run out of time..."
"Who can resist playing board games at a place like this?"
"True, it's irresistible."
Their banter was practiced and smooth.
Suyun chuckled. "Right, keep suffering until you learn your lesson."
She turned to head back into the lodging, planning to lie down for a bit and come back out at lunchtime.
A camera followed her, likely wanting to capture the contrast between the suffering girls and Suyun for comedic effect.
"Wait!!"
"Huh?"
But what stopped Suyun in her tracks was a shout from Iseor.
"Let's negotiate."
"Negotiate? What negotiation?"
"The cosplay... we'll make it mild. In exchange, let the three of us eat."
Suyun raised an eyebrow. It was a rather tempting offer.
No matter how much Suyun had accepted that she was now 'Ha Suyun' and so on... she hadn't immediately thought, 'Oh, I'm a high school girl now, so I should show off my looks, post selfies on social media, wear revealing clothes, and live like that!'
Suyun was still a person with a sense of shame, so the offer itself was quite appealing.
But...
"Hmm... it's a tempting offer, but..."
Just as the other girls' faces lit up with hope, Suyun continued.
"But even if I agree to it here, you'll just say 'Sucker!' and try to make me wear something else anyway, won't you, Iseor?"
"No, absolutely not...!"
"I have a brain, too. I'm not falling for that again. The probability of you betraying me is over a hundred percent. Since you're definitely going to treat me like a dress-up doll anyway, I might as well sit back and enjoy this show."
Saying so, Suyun sat back down and took another bite of her ice cream.
Leaning her chin on her hand, crossing her legs as if sitting in a first-class premium seat, she pulled out a pair of sunglasses from who-knows-where, put them on, and began watching the trio's comedy act.
I'm seriously going to get revenge, just you wait...!
Iseor ground her teeth as she watched. She resolved to completely shatter every ounce of shame Suyun possessed.
— Ah, the kids are seriously so cute T_T
— Lmao Iseor trying to run away after seeing the placard was hilarious lol
— Goddess Suyun looks gorgeous even with sunglasses on
— Suyun's beauty is seriously a national treasure lol. One-top visual.
— Our girls are so pretty even with light makeup, they look like an idol group. Why haven't they debuted yet...?
They did debut. As a band.
— 14:53 It's like she has a beauty filter permanently installed on her face. How can she look this pretty even in a video?
— 24:35 I don't think this song has ever been released, is it really a new song?
Yeah, seems like it. I've watched all of Suyun's streams from before the band's debut, and she's never played this.
That's kind of goosebumps-inducing...
Wow, if that's true, she literally made it the moment inspiration struck. What a genius.
— Hohoho, this auntie is just waiting for the concert. Please hold one before I grow old and die.
Boomer.
I'm not a boomer -_-
Suyun sat at a table in a corner of the company office, which had practically become her designated spot, looking at her laptop. These were the reactions to the self-produced content they had filmed recently. They had fun filming it, but she had wondered if people would actually like it... It seemed those worries were unfounded.
— 24:20 The song starting from here must really be a new song.
— Suyun making a song on the spot while listening to the girls' stories... thinking about it makes me cry T_T It has this sad, yearning, yet hopeful feeling...
— Enough talk, just release the song please.
— I already recorded this and am using it as my morning alarm. Seriously amazing, I wake up so refreshed.
Oh dear... you're going to hate that music soon.
'I guess the song itself... is considered good.'
Of course, these were the opinions of fans who would only praise Group Sound, so they lacked strict objectivity. Still, there were no passive-aggressive comments like "Oh, it's a bit unique lol" or "Is it a bit difficult?? I'm still listening to it," which were polite ways of saying "This music is kind of bad." So that was a relief.
'More importantly...'
Suyun looked at her phone. A KakaoTalk message from Harin, the leader of Aurora.
Suyun still vividly remembered Harin crying and begging for her contact info on the last day of recording, saying she wanted to message her.
Aurora's EP, Love Dance DIVE.
The pre-release track of the 5-song EP was "Meteor", the collaboration song Suyun had written.
At Cream Entertainment's request, it was a track composed without removing a single drop of Group Sound's distinct color. In fact, it was to the point where Suyun had asked, "Is it really okay to do it like this?"
'I guess she's nervous because it's someone else's song...' Suyun thought.
Aurora was a three-year-old idol group that had debuted slightly earlier than Group Sound. As such, making a comeback and standing on stage shouldn't be something that made them nervous. Was she really so tense and stiff that she felt the need to text an external composer like Suyun?
Resting her chin on her hand, Suyun thought for a moment, then chuckled and sent a reply.
Because in Suyun's eyes, it was a song fully capable of succeeding.
And Suyun's prediction hit the bullseye.
"The rankings changed!"
Although public popularity had largely shifted to Spotify and YouTube, Melon still functioned as a symbolic indicator.
Melon has various charts: HOT 100, TOP 100, Daily, Monthly, etc. There are complex metrics, but to put it simply, the further right you go, the harder it gets.
For most mid-to-low-tier idols, just entering the TOP 100 chart is a dream.
And the career high of the three-year-old idol group Aurora was... 3rd place on the Melon Daily Chart. While they had hit 1st on the TOP 100 or HOT 100 before, they had never breached the high, lofty wall of the Daily or Monthly charts, even at their peak.
And the staff at Cream Entertainment expected the same this time. Aside from their faith in the song, they knew just how difficult it was to break through to 1st on the Daily Chart.
But this time, the Melon chart granted them...
"W-What rank is it?!"
"D-Daily..."
[ 1 | NEW | Meteor (Ft. Group Sound) | Aurora | Love Dance DIVE ]
"Daily!"
"Daily Number 1!!"
"Aaaaaaaah!!"
It granted them the lofty throne of 1st place on the Daily Chart. It was a day of absolute chaos, enough to tear down the offices of the Aurora team at Cream Entertainment.
In hindsight, there were various reasons. Aurora's fandom had sharpened their knives, determined to get them a 1st place this time; the news of a collaboration with a band had drawn everyone's attention; rumors that the band was Group Sound had brought in Group Sound's fans as well...
If you looked for them, there were countless reasons.
But the people at Cream Entertainment could pinpoint the biggest reason immediately.
"Who is it! Where is Chul-won! Where did Chul-won go!"
"Assistant Manager Kim? He's probably with his team...?"
"Hey! Chul-won has a massive stake in this! If he hadn't brought this song in, this would never have happened!"
The song was just that good.
Group Sound, a band already recognized by rock listeners. Their unique color blended into a K-pop melody, creating a distinct vibe rarely found in typical idol songs. And the public showered that unique vibe with immense praise.
— Aurora's new song is seriously good holy crap.
— There are only a few girl group songs I've actually liked, but this one is amazing.
— Who is Group Sound in the featuring credits?
It's the name of a band.
— It's slightly different from typical K-pop, so it's really nice to listen to~ It's not too loud either.
What was particularly encouraging was that it ranked high not just on Melon, which was a battleground for core fans, but also on YouTube, Genie, Flo, Vibe, Spotify, and other music streaming apps. This was proof that the number one spot wasn't just manufactured by core fans.
"Thank you!! Thank you!!"
As a result, Aurora clinched their very first terrestrial music broadcast 1st place win since their debut with "Meteor". Harin shed tears as if she couldn't believe this future had come, and the other girls comforted her.
"We really prepared hard for this song... Thank you to CEO Park Jung-hyun, Project Manager Lee Ui-min, Team Leader Kim Jung-wook, and our manager oppa Lee Dae-hyun, who believed in us... And we are truly grateful to Ha Suyun, the leader of Group Sound, who gave us this song."
And along with Aurora's rapid rise, the name of Group Sound spread far and wide.
"Suyun-nim! We just got a call from Cream Entertainment."
"What is it about?"
"They asked if you'd be interested in performing on the year-end awards stage with Aurora. On a live broadcast. Not hand-syncing, but fully live."