Tie-Up
After the tweet was posted.
Following a brief one-hour wait, Group Sound's original variety content, Group Sound in Gangneung, finally premiered.
Even during the brief moments when the program's logo spun on screen, the chat scrolled at a breakneck speed, filled with the fans' mounting anticipation. However, what they encountered next was something entirely unexpected.
"Alright! We've arrived at Suyun's house! Now, we're going to go in and wake her up..."
"Yes! We're here to pick up Suyun! Should we wait outside for a bit?"
"Suyun just woke up, so she needs some time to get ready. Iseor, you haven't had breakfast yet, right? You should have some breakfast first."
"Huh?"
Iseor and the production crew had been practically dragged into Suyun's house by sheer, polite force. Laid out before them was a breakfast spread that, despite clearly being put together in a hurry, was incredibly lavish.
"All work must be done on a full stomach."
"Uh... yes, that's true..."
"You guys should eat too. You're working so hard since early morning. You shouldn't be skipping breakfast like this. I should have a word with Manager [Beep]..."
"No, it's fine!! It's really fine!!"
Having been dragged in out of nowhere, the production crew desperately walked on eggshells, stuffing the food into their mouths. While Suyun finally emerged, rubbing the back of her neck, Hye-in—like a doting grandmother—kept offering more food to the crew, whose faces were blurred out.
"You're eating so well. Have some more."
"Oh, no, we're..."
"Uh-uh. This is a direct order from the CEO. You need the power of rice to work. Neither Suyun nor I ever work on an empty stomach."
The crew continued to stuff their faces, holding back tears of both gratitude and pressure. A subtitle appeared at the bottom of the screen.
The camera kept rolling after that. It captured the mutually assured destruction of the members, ranging from Suyun's red ginseng candy to Iseor's wild reaction to the fish sauce penalty game, and even their introduction of Gyeongpo Lake after meeting up with the rest of the crew.
"Gyeongpo Lake is beautiful in all four seasons... but they say if you go in early summer when the lotuses bloom, it's so beautiful you'll lose yourself staring at it."
"Boo~ Your acting in the intro video is terrible~"
"Then you do it."
"Watch and learn. Gyeongpo Laaaake..."
"Ah, please edit this out. Why am I like this today? My tongue keeps getting twisted. Ah, oo, eh... Okay. Gyeongpo Lake is beautiful in all four seasssons, especially!"
"What are you doing?"
And then came the Q&A segment, where Suyun made a shocking confession.
"What it was... basically, someone made a fictional character story using Iseor and me. So Iseor and I have conflicts over band activities, emotional fights..."
[Narration/Hyun-ah: "I, I was... really... so freaked out back then..."]
"Su-Suyun! You shouldn't read things like that!!"
"Why? It was fun."
"No, no... there's, how should I put it... an implicit... rule about these things...!"
[Narration: "An implicit rule?"]
[Narration/Hyun-ah: "F-first of all, the doujin community is a gray zone... and the reason it's called a gray zone is... because secondary creations are mostly done without the original creator's permission, so in that sense, secondary creations are based on the premise of not being read by the original creators, and the author probably didn't write it thinking it would be read like that, and actually, if you look at it, search-proofing, ah, search-proofing is... anyway, if you talk about it in real life like that, it's a public execution, and what a public execution means is..."]
As Hyun-ah's voice grew faster and lost its usual stutter, her audio began to fade out, replaced by a subtitle.
[Narration/Hyun-ah: "In conclusion, those who write fanfiction on Twitter, beware because Suyun might catch you! Write them on private accounts, or delete them...!"]
The entire video was packed with content that was pure gold for Group Sound fans.
"I told you, I don't like cute things."
"Animals are honestly a bit smelly."
The video wrapped up with a final post-credits scene showcasing Seoha, who tried so hard to act indifferent but clearly loved cute things.
Free of the artificial, forced setups typical of sponsored content, the video captured their genuine enjoyment, turning what was essentially an advertisement into pure entertainment. It achieved a rare feat, surpassing 300,000 views within 24 hours.
Furthermore, it trended across various online communities, even causing a temporary surge in lodging reservations in Gangneung.
Seeing this massive success, various local governments and corporations began aggressively sending offers to Group Sound, hoping to secure them at a bargain. They wanted to jump on the bandwagon early, aiming for high advertising efficiency at a low cost before the band's image became overexposed.
However, their hopes were dashed.
For Group Sound, there was an agenda far more important than any commercial deal.
"I have something to tell you all."
"What is it?"
"We've received an offer to perform an anime theme song. As a tie-up."
"An anime??!"
Before Suyun could even process the word "anime," a near-screaming voice erupted from beside her. She didn't even need to identify the voice to know who it belonged to.
"Yes. An anime opening theme song."
"*Gasp*!! B-by any chance... which one is it...?"
"It's called... Train Trail..."
While Hyun-ah let out a shriek that sounded like a dying pterodactyl, Suyun rested her chin in her hand and looked at the other two. Unlike Seoha, who showed absolutely no reaction to the name, Iseor's eyes were sparkling with excitement, as if she had heard the title many times before.
"You mean that Tre-Tre serialized in the magazine, right?"
"No, it's Train Trail."
"Yeah, Tre-Tre. Tre-Tre is short for Train Trail."
Iseor quickly began explaining the plot and setting of the manga. It was set in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, half-destroyed by radioactive fallout from a nuclear war. In this world, teenagers who developed supernatural abilities fought for territory, clashing in subway stations and on train tracks.
"The action is amazing, and the story is really fun."
"And... and not only that...! The story is great, and the doujin scene is incredibly diverse with BL, Yuri, and straight pairings! Lately, people say that if you're an otaku, you absolutely have to watch Tre-Tre at least once..."
"What's BL, what's Yuri, and what's straight?"
At Suyun's indifferent question, Hyun-ah immediately shut her mouth tight. Iseor answered in her stead.
"BL is guy-on-guy, Yuri is girl-on-girl, and straight is guy-and-girl romance..."
"Stop!"
"Ah, I get it. You mean same-sex romance? I read some foreign articles recently saying PC—political correctness—is important in creative works. Is that what you're talking about?"
"No, it's not..."
"It's fine. I can be understanding of same-sex romance. Even if you have those kinds of preferences, Hyun-ah..."
"I said that's not it!"
"If it's not, then it's not. Why are you yelling?"
"This is a sensitive subject for Hyun-ah, so you need to be understanding, Suyun."
Suyun and Seoha whispered to each other. Hyun-ah couldn't understand why she was being treated like this. They say that if you go to an island of fools, a genius is treated like a fool. Was this that exact situation?
But in reality, since there were far more non-otaku in the world, Hyun-ah was indeed the odd one out.
"Anyway, what are the terms of the offer?"
"They're similar to before. Like with Love Can't Be Erased with an Eraser."
"Hmm."
Suyun twirled a strand of her hair. A contract like I'll Wait, where there was no separate monetary compensation. While it was good from a promotional standpoint, considering they had already released a full-length album and would have to compose a brand-new song, it didn't seem particularly appealing.
"Well, is there really anything to debate? I think we should do it. What do you guys think?"
"I think it's a good idea," Seoha said.
"I..."
"I-I-I love it!"
Hyun-ah shouted so loudly that she completely drowned out Seoha's voice. Suyun twirled her hair again, a faint smile playing on her lips. Since Hyun-ah loved it so much, there was no real reason to refuse. It wasn't like it would hurt their career, and even if it did, if her bandmates' dreams were on the line...
"Uh, actually, there is something we need to consider."
"...There is?"
However, Manager Jeong's response defied their expectations. As Suyun questioned him, Manager Jeong pulled out a document and presented it to her.
"Why hasn't there been a reply to our offer yet?"
The producer of Tre-Tre at Studio Red Rock muttered to himself, anxiously checking his inbox. They had confirmed that the offer was received, so it was about time for a response.
Are they testing the waters? Just because they had one big success?
As a band that had sold nearly 150,000 copies of a full-length album without even releasing a single, they certainly had the clout to do so. But as the saying goes, the boughs that bear most hang lowest. At least for now, they weren't in a position to be playing hardball.
Especially since Tre-Tre was one of the flagship titles of the magazine, and even if it wasn't the single most anticipated show of the season, it was still highly anticipated.
Isn't this a bit much...?
Although the producer had sent the offer to Group Sound at the director's request, he had been somewhat skeptical. And now this. If they were truly playing hard to get, the producer thought, scratching his head, it would be incredibly disappointing.
"Producer!"
"Ah, Director Mishima. What brings you here?"
After three sharp knocks, the door opened. The producer looked up at the entering director. Director Mishima's face bore a rare expression of sheer anxiety. What could have happened?
"By any chance, has there been a reply from Label Echo Sound regarding the offer?"
"Not yet. It seems like something might be holding them up, or..."
"Sigh... I heard something at a drinking gathering the other day."
As if relieved, or perhaps even more distressed, the director let out a deep sigh. He began to recount the story, mimicking the tone of the person he had heard it from to convey it perfectly.
"I was at a gathering, and you know that project currently assigned to B-2?"
"Yes. The one airing in the same season as us."
"Their producer said they really need to focus on the music this time... so they sent an offer to Group Sound. And apparently, under much better terms than ours..."