A Different Kind of Signal

After the variety show segment wrapped up, a staff member's cheerful voice echoed across the set. "We'll take a short break and resume shooting in a bit!" The cameras stopped rolling, and the set fell into a temporary lull.

Harin looked over at Suyun, who was sitting completely drained and despondent. She looked so utterly defeated that Harin felt a sudden pang of guilt, wondering if she had gone a bit too far.

"Excuse me, PD-nim! What's the final penalty going to be?"

"We're still deciding, but we'll probably do something related to our channel's live stream."

Upon hearing the PD's answer, the members of Group Sound immediately huddled together and began whispering among themselves, completely excluding Suyun. They sneakily kept their distance so she wouldn't catch on, looking incredibly practiced at this sort of thing.

Suyun really has no allies... Well, she brought it on herself.

The sympathy rising in Harin's chest was quickly swept away by a wave of past memories. Even if Suyun hadn't meant any harm, remembering how they had been practically tortured back then... this was nothing but karma.

While Harin was lost in thought, instruments were brought onto the set. An acoustic guitar, a bass, an upright piano, and a drum kit. It was a completely different setup from the usual episodes of Silence Retreat.

"Um... is it okay to use those when there's a concept for the show?" Lee Yoon-seo, a member of Aurora, asked a passing staff member.

"We don't have much of a choice," the staff member replied casually. "We have a band here, so we have to sacrifice the concept a bit."

Harin nodded to herself. After all, variety shows were made by people, so a little flexibility was necessary.

"Check the tuning. See if anything slipped."

Where had the gloomy, depressed Suyun from a moment ago gone? The second the instruments arrived, she instantly brightened up and became active. Watching her, Harin lightly stretched her body. Seeing the instruments on set meant shooting would resume shortly.

"Alright, for tomorrow's performance... let's do one last practice before we sleep!"

Since the show operated under 'that kind of concept,' Harin delivered her line to the camera and stepped into their dance formation. The song they were performing today was Meteor. Naturally, they had memorized the choreography for the original version, and because Suyun had pushed them so relentlessly, they had also memorized the choreo for the live version. This went for every single member of Aurora, not just Harin.

However, the sound that suddenly drifted from the side made Aurora's opening movement stumble.

The song was slightly different.

What Harin and her members had expected—and briefly discussed the night before—was a simple acoustic rendition of Meteor.

But what Group Sound was playing now was a jazz-arranged version of Meteor, driven by intricate fingerstyle guitar. It wasn't the slightly melancholy original, nor was it the rock-infused live version that burned with energy. It was a rhythmic, toe-tapping rendition that made you want to shrug your shoulders and stomp your feet the moment you heard it.

"Is something wrong?"

While the Cream Entertainment staff and Aurora stood frozen in surprise at the altered song, Suyun, who had been happily strumming away, stopped her guitar and asked with a puzzled face.

"Ah, the version is a bit different."

"Hmm... since we had to go acoustic, I tweaked it a bit while playing with the girls yesterday. I didn't change much, so it shouldn't affect the choreography. Should we play it like the original?"

"No, it's fine."

Harin quickly gave an OK sign to the Cream Ent staff. It was just a brief surprise, not a real issue.

With that, Harin and Aurora rearranged themselves into formation.

Harin drew out her voice lazily, perfectly matching the relaxed mood of the song. As if they had anticipated it, the instruments followed her lead with absolute naturalness. She stepped to the rhythm, sang, and passed the parts to the other girls.

As they began to dance to the playful rhythm, Harin watched her members' movements. Their usually razor-sharp, perfectly synchronized lines were slightly loose today, shifting into something far more dynamic ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and improvisational.

And then came the dance break. Without any warning, Lee Yoon-seo, Aurora's main dancer, leaped forward. Siyeon, as if she had been holding back for too long, quickly joined her, and the two began to show off their improvised moves.

"Whoa, they're good."

Even though it was completely unplanned, Su-ryeon also stepped up, showing off her fluid and sophisticated dance lines. The rhythm section, piano, and guitar followed their movements perfectly without missing a single beat. Was the dance matching the guitar, or was the guitar matching the dance?

During this minute-long jam, Harin, while keeping track of when the dance break would end, unconsciously glanced toward the entrance where the 'Instructor' was supposed to barge in.

The Instructor was standing right there.

He looked incredibly awkward, but his ears were completely perked toward the set. With his eyes closed as if enjoying the music, he seemed to be debating whether he should actually ruin the moment and run out or not.

"The instructor is over there..."

"Oh, wow, he really is."

Harin whispered to Su-ryeon. It made sense. Where else could you hear this kind of music and see this kind of dance live? For the sake of the variety show, he should have cut them off, but as a human being, he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

This was the collaboration report card that Aurora and Group Sound received. A 30-minute runtime across two episodes. The time it took for each video to reach one million views: just two days.

"This is a massive hit!!"

It was such an incredible achievement that Team Leader Jung Yuyoung literally threw papers into the air in her office upon hearing the view count. Moreover, those views weren't just empty numbers. From the moment the video was released, the influx of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠new fans joining Group Sound's fandom was visibly growing by the day.

Seeing this phenomenon, the employees of Label Echo Sound immediately began preparing to "row when the tide is in." They started preparing content for the new EP and setting up promotional campaigns, making sure everything was ready to launch the moment the ship was set to sail.

However, the preparation period was stretching on. It wasn't because the ship wasn't ready, or because the crew was in bad shape.

Harin and the other Aurora members brought up Group Sound on every single variety show they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠appeared on. This relentless, indiscriminate scattering of TMI made even the general public, who previously had no interest in music, think, Wait, who on earth is Group Sound?

And when those curious people looked up albums like Plastic Nostalgia or Becoming a Star, a very high percentage of them instantly became potential fans of Group Sound.

Comments like "I'm definitely listening to their album when it drops" or "I'm saving their track the second it's out," and even "I'm buying the physical album no matter what" began to flood the internet.

Just like that, the anticipation for Group Sound's new EP was slowly boiling over.

"Alright, I'll play it."

With those words, Suyun hit play. Iseor sat quietly and listened.

The intro guitar had a incredibly crisp, tight pick attack. The bass rolled in with a bumpy, textured presence. The drums tapped along rhythmically, and the piano played beautifully in the background. It was a song that perfectly matched their expectations.

"This is... seriously... so..."

"I worked my butt off for this."

Hyun-ah, the original composer of the song, was staring in awe, while Suyun complained about how much effort she had put into it. And she had every right to. The song Hyun-ah had first brought to the table was on a completely different level than this. In fact, Iseor thought the only thing this version shared with the original was the melody. Actually, even the melody felt slightly different now.

"I touched up the other songs in a similar way."

"Then didn't you basically do everything?"

"Not really. In the end, what matters most isn't the main melody... it's the vibe and emotion the song is aiming for."

Suyun's voice carried no trace of empty consolation. Feeling her absolute sincerity, Iseor felt a small sense of relief. She's not lying.

Plastic Nostalgia was an album entirely created by Suyun. Iseor had helped with the lyrics, but other than that, Suyun had done everything except some of the arrangements.

For Becoming a Star, Suyun had initially said she would let the members participate in composing. And they did participate, but looking back, it still felt like Suyun had done all the heavy lifting. To put it bluntly, it felt like the members were just eating food that Suyun had spoon-fed them.

But for Paid Wi-Fi...

Can we finally say we participated a little bit now?

In Becoming a Star, Suyun had a hand in everything from start to finish, including the melody and basic emotion. But for the three songs the members wrote for Paid Wi-Fi—at least for the one Iseor made—Suyun didn't interfere with the emotion, melody, or lyrics. She only touched the other parts.

"For now, we'll send this to the mastering studio. Next... Team Leader Jung said regarding the EP release schedule... um, the physical album will drop early next year. And you remember we're doing a small-scale concert at the end of the year, right?"

"Is it a premium limited edition again?"

"Who knows. I'm not sure about that. Anyway, I'm working on the setlist for it now. The pre-release track will come out before that, and the EP tracks... will be revealed for the first time at the end-of-year concert, so don't go playing this to anyone."

"Tell that to Seoha-eonni. She's been having a blast chatting with viewers on her live streams lately."

At those words, Suyun frowned slightly and glared at Seoha.

"I didn't do anything."

"I didn't say anything either," came the silly exchange.

"Anyway, another album is coming out." Iseor muttered.

Though it was an EP, it was already their third album. The day she had met Suyun in the hallway of Nakwon Music Mall, she never would have imagined things would come this far.

"We have to keep releasing them in the future too."

"I suppose so."

Iseor grinned at Suyun's murmur.

Ever since hearing the news of Group Sound's new EP, Paid Wi-Fi, she had cut back on dopamine and lived the life of a monk.

Back when she was lounging in a cafe with nothing to do, browsing the charts, and heard Hanging Gardens for the first time... she wanted to feel that exact same emotion again. And she wasn't the only one; her friend had joined her in this "zero-dopamine life."

They stayed away from Reels and Shorts, avoided spicy or stimulating food, and even when kids at school said, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠"Those two have lost their minds," they just laughed it off.

And now, the day to end that lifestyle had finally arrived.

"It's out!!"

The endless refreshing stopped the moment the words Paid Wi-Fi appeared on the screen. She took a deep breath, reverently put in her earphones, and stared straight ahead. Her friend did the same, locking eyes with her in solemn anticipation.

Play.

What she heard through her earphones... wasn't Iseor's voice, as it had always been.

It was a voice she had occasionally heard in live settings, but almost never on an official studio track...

"Holy crap, Suyun sang this."

The high school girl muttered in disbelief.

Of course, Ha Suyun was older than her.