We Make Them All Jump
"This place looks nice, doesn't it?"
"Looks like there are quite a few people inside."
In a quiet residential neighborhood near Hongdae and Hapjeong, a couple, suffocating under the sweltering midday heat, spotted a meticulously decorated building with a chic cafe on the first floor. Peering through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, they saw that while there were still open tables, the place was quite lively.
"You're right... but babe, it's way too hot to go anywhere else."
"Let's just go in here, then."
The moment they opened the door, a blast of icy air washed over them. Letting out involuntary groans of relief, they quickly claimed a table. Perhaps because of its location near Hongdae, the cafe was beautifully decorated with a band theme, packed with various band merchandise.
"Wow. They even sell CDs here. That's so cool..."
The girl looked around the cafe, her eyes wide with curiosity. It wasn't themed around some ancient, dusty rock bands; instead, the walls were lined with posters, vinyl records, and CDs of currently trending bands. The merchandise, neatly arranged on clean beige walls and meticulously maintained wooden shelves, practically begged to be bought.
"What do you want to drink?"
"Let's go order together. Oh, I've been wanting to buy this album! It was sold out everywhere online..."
After cooling off for a moment, she had wandered over to browse the merchandise and picked up a CD. It was the Japanese edition of the first full-length Japanese album by **Group Sound**, the band she had recently fallen head over heels for. Finding an item that was completely sold out online, she quickly grabbed it, terrified someone else in the cafe might snatch it first, and hurried to the counter with her boyfriend.
"An album? Whose is it?"
"**Group Sound**. You don't know them, babe?"
"Ah... those guys. Yeah, I know them. That song **Kingdom**? The Japanese anime opening? That one was really good. Is it that album?"
"No, that one came out after this. This is the one before it, but the music on this one is amazing too..."
Chatting happily, they waited in a rather long queue. For some reason, the line was barely moving. The conversations at the register seemed unusually long for simple orders. Strangely, the person at the counter was writing things down and even taking photos, which explained why the short line was taking forever to clear.
"What's going on? Is the part-timer new?"
"Must be."
While they were wondering about the delay, the people ahead of them finally finished, and it was their turn. The girl took a deep breath and looked up at the part-timer to place her order. Then, she froze, her eyes widening in sheer shock.
"Uh... Uh!! Uh!!"
"What? What's wrong?"
"Suyun, Ha Suyun! From **Group Sound**! It's—it's really you, right?!"
"Did you not know before coming here?"
It was a face one could never forget. A faint smile, paired with a slightly detached, dry tone. Although the girl wasn't a hardcore fan who watched every single piece of content, she had seen Suyun countless times on social media and short-form videos. The person standing before her was identical to the girl in those clips.
"Huh?? No! What do you mean?"
"Ah, you didn't know. This is our agency's building. I'm working as a part-timer for the day... fan service? Yeah, something like that."
Would you like a photo? Or an autograph? Suyun asked as she took their order and scanned the album. Only after taking a photo with Suyun did the couple finally understand why the line had been moving so agonizingly slow.
"A lot of people came today."
"Yeah. I didn't expect this many."
"Aren't you underestimating your own popularity, Suyun-nim?"
This was all happening after her seminar with Asano Shohei. To appease the fans who had playfully complained about not being able to see her, she had agreed to work a one-day part-time shift at the agency's cafe. The massive morning rush, which had seen lines stretching dozens of meters down the street despite the scorching heat, had finally subsided into a quiet afternoon lull. Suyun massaged her stiff neck as she chatted with the regular cafe staff.
Underestimating my popularity, huh?
"Since I've been spending so much time in Japan, it hasn't really sunk in yet. Even though some people recognize me over there, I can still walk around without a mask without much trouble."
"What about in Korea?"
"In Korea... well, that's impossible now. If I go out alone, someone always recognizes me."
Suyun recalled an incident from a few days ago. After the seminar, she had gone out for dinner with some company staff. Half the restaurant had stood up the moment they recognized her, crowding around her table to beg for autographs and photos.
"Too many people recognize me. I thought I wouldn't care, but it's actually a bit distracting."
"Still, it's better than being ignored. It means you're incredibly popular."
"I suppose..."
As Suyun spoke, another customer approached the counter. Trembling with a mix of excitement and nervousness, the fan asked for an autograph and a photo. Suyun asked for their name, signed the paper, and posed for the camera. After the routine was finished, the customer hesitated before asking a question.
"U-um, by the way, do you have any upcoming performances?"
"Ah, we do."
Suyun reached over and handed them a flyer resting on the counter. It was a promotional flyer with **Summer Sonic 2027** boldly printed across it.
"I-I'm actually going to Japan during that time...!"
"Really? If you can make it, please come see our show~"
"I absolutely will!!"
Watching the ecstatic fan sit down at a table and immediately begin furiously tapping on their phone, Suyun took off her part-timer hunting cap and ran a hand through her hair. While the remaining customers in the cafe watched her in silent admiration, Suyun stared down at the flyer.
**Summer Sonic 2027**, scheduled for mid-August. There was less than a month left.
"How are the festival preparations going?"
"Well..."
At the staff member's question, Suyun looked up at the ceiling. How are the preparations going, indeed.
"I heard the others are doing a site inspection today."
"Shouldn't you have gone with them?"
"There's no need for all of us to go. Besides, Seoha usually handles the stage design anyway. They'll take plenty of photos and videos."
With that, Suyun gathered her hair into a neat ponytail and put the hunting cap back on.
"I'll talk to them tomorrow and see how it looks."
The Pentaport Rock Festival, held at Songdo Moonlight Festival Park in Incheon, is the largest rock festival in South Korea, taking over the entire park. The park itself spans a massive 170,543 square meters—roughly the size of six or seven large apartment complexes. Since Pentaport utilizes almost the entire space, its scale is considered gargantuan.
But that is only by Korean standards.
The Fuji Rock Festival, widely considered the most compact of Japan's "Big Four" festivals, boasts a venue size of approximately 230,000 square meters, taking over the entire Naeba Ski Resort in Niigata Prefecture. The largest of them all, the Rising Sun Rock Festival, covers over 600,000 square meters, a scale so colossal that "gargantuan" barely does it justice.
Summer Sonic, which ranks third in terms of sheer size, spans about 400,000 square meters. Utilizing **Makuhari Messe**—a convention center that is about 70% the size of KINTEX—along with the 30,000-seat **Zozo Marine Stadium** (home of the Chiba Lotte Marines) and the nearby beach, the festival grounds are so vast that shuttle buses are required just to move between stages.
Yet, despite the overwhelming scale of Summer Sonic, the actual stage assigned to **Group Sound** was small. This was because the **Sonic Stage** was merely a partitioned indoor space inside **Makuhari Messe**.
"Huh? Is this really the place we saw before? It wasn't here."
"Y-yeah...?"
"The one Yeonsoo showed us before looked way bigger..."
"Right. Did we look at the wrong thing?"
"Is there a problem?"
"No, not really."
Answering the accompanying Summer Sonic staff member, Iseor quickly checked her phone. No matter how many times she looked, the venue before her eyes was completely different from the one Suyun had described. That one was supposed to be much larger.
"Excuse me, I was under the impression that our stage was over there... Did the location change by any chance?"
Unable to make sense of the situation, Iseor showed her phone screen to the staff member. The man stared at it for a moment before letting out an understanding "Ah."
"Ah~ What you're showing me here is Osaka."
"Pardon?"
"Summer Sonic is held in Osaka as well. This is the **Sonic Stage** in Osaka."
"Osaka? ...So since we're performing in Tokyo, the Tokyo **Sonic Stage** is this one right here?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"Oh..."
Hearing the conversation, Seoha clutched her head in despair.
"Ha Suyun, you absolute motherf—!"
Leaving Seoha to mutter curses under her breath, Iseor and Hyun-ah stared blankly at the stage. It was small. In fact, it was far smaller than they had ever anticipated.
"Um... by the way, how much are we allowed to customize the stage setup?"
"The stage setup? Hmm... I can't give you a definitive answer on that right now."
"We were planning something like this."
Iseor snatched the phone from the still-groaning Seoha and showed the screen to the staff member. It was a stage decoration plan they had spent days meticulously designing while Suyun was away—a setup designed to yield maximum visual impact with minimal equipment. Of course, it had been designed entirely with the Osaka **Sonic Stage** in mind.
"Ah, I'd have to check with the production office, but... this looks like it'll be difficult. It's too large, and I don't think we can install something of this scale here in Tokyo. It might have been possible in Osaka, but... I'm not sure."
The staff member scratched his head apologetically. For **Group Sound**, this was incredibly disappointing news.
After finishing their tour of the venue, they gathered in a nearby cafe.
"What do we do?"
The venue size was completely different from what they had prepared for, rendering all their hard work useless. In the heavy, sinking silence, Iseor muttered under her breath.
In truth, it wasn't a catastrophic disaster. Generally, festival stage setups had to be completed within a very tight window alongside the soundcheck. Since soundcheck was always the absolute priority, any elements that could interfere with it were usually stripped away. Because of this, most festival stages were either incredibly simple or had no custom decorations at all. You just went up, performed, and came down.
But that didn't make the disappointment any less real. To them, a live performance was a form of total art. It had always been **Group Sound**'s philosophy—and especially Seoha's, as the head of stage design—that delivering visual pleasure was just as important as delivering great music.
"What are you going to do, Unni? Do we just go up with nothing?"
"Horang, under the circumstances, maybe we should just go with a bare stage..."
"Sigh..."
Seoha buried her face in her hands. Her head throbbed. She felt a surge of resentment toward Suyun for giving them the wrong information, but she resented herself even more for blindly trusting it without double-checking.
Just go up with nothing?
Of course, it wasn't like they had never done it before. They had performed on bare stages for Paradox, standard live clubs, Bi-Tailored, and even GGRF. There were plenty of times they had performed without any custom stage setups. Frankly, it was much easier that way.
But those were cases where a setup was physically impossible. They hadn't chosen to go bare-bones; they had been forced to.
Even on the cramped, hostile stage of EBS Amplifier Now, they had managed to pull off a stunning stage design. Seoha had practically built the stage setups for their Jangchung and Gymnastics Arena concerts from scratch, and she had even partially designed their stage for MMA 2025, which wasn't even their own solo concert. To someone like Seoha, going up with a bare stage when they actually had the option to do something felt wrong. The visual aesthetic of a stage undeniably played a massive role in audience satisfaction.
"If we just make sure the screen visuals are top-notch..."
"No matter how good the screen graphics are, the physical presence of actual stage props feels completely different. Unless we're talking about high-tech AR."
Seoha groaned, clutching her head. But the reality was that they had no other options. Even if they tried to force a setup, the cramped stage would only allow for a few boxes or some minor adjustments to the stage height. It was practically impossible to deliver any striking visual spectacle.
"Let's wait until Ha Suyun gets here and think about it again."
"Y-yeah. Since the stage is on the smaller side... we might need to change our musical arrangements too."
Seoha finally conceded. Hyun-ah was right. If the physical space was this confined, they would not only have to rethink the stage design, but they would also need to pivot the direction of their musical arrangements.
While **Kingdom** had already surpassed 20 million views on YouTube and was rapidly climbing toward 30 million, the songs that truly defined **Group Sound**'s identity in Japan were still I'll Wait and **Faintly, But Surely**.
There were several reasons for this. While **Kingdom** was an anime tie-up song that appealed heavily to a younger, high-energy demographic, I'll Wait and **Faintly, But Surely** were classic rock ballads that resonated with listeners of all ages. Furthermore, while they had never performed **Kingdom** live, they had performed I'll Wait and **Faintly, But Surely** on various radio shows and live gigs even before the official album release.
Because of this, **Group Sound**'s image in Japan was firmly established as a "band whose high-quality music you can sit back and thoroughly enjoy."
Of course, they were known for being incredible live performers. Their technical skills were flawless, their stage banter was charming, and they knew how to engage a crowd. Anyone attending their show was guaranteed a fantastic musical experience.
But were they a high-octane band that could whip a crowd into a sweaty frenzy, drawing out every ounce of their energy until they exploded? To the Japanese public, that seemed doubtful. Their established image was just too different.
Unless they had actively searched for videos of the band's Korean performances, most Japanese listeners shared this sentiment. It was only natural. Based on the performances they had seen on live broadcasts and radio, it would have been stranger to think otherwise.
This was precisely why **Group Sound** had been assigned to the smaller **Sonic Stage** rather than the massive Mountain Stage. The **Sonic Stage** was considered the absolute perfect venue for their style of performance.
In this manner, the majority of the Japanese audience looked forward to the upcoming **Summer Sonic 2027**. Since it was a festival, they figured they would drop by the **Sonic Stage** to catch a brief glimpse of the band's beautiful, melodic performance, and then quickly head off to other stages where they could actually jump around and party.
"This place is way too cramped. What do we do?"
"What do you mean, 'what do we do'?"
Suyun twirled a strand of her hair around her finger. A slightly cramped stage, an intimate crowd, a state-of-the-art sound system compared to Korea, and an all-standing audience. Combine all of that with the atmosphere of a festival, and there was only one logical conclusion.
"We make them all jump."
While the audience expected a quiet, peaceful afternoon, the band members themselves were already planning to take things in a completely different direction.