translation by mourningmoor
The five members stood side by side in front of the gate, greeting with their official hand gesture.
In the official order, from the left: Ichan, Roa, Jaewon, Siu, Hanjoon.
Compared to their debut days, they had matured significantly and gained a lot more sophistication.
Even the maknae line seemed to have grown more dignified.
―Filament, we are now heading to board the plane to Paris.
―We’ll be careful and come back safely.
―You’ll cheer for us from Korea, right?
―We’ll do well and come back.
After each of them, from Hanjoon to Siu, said a word, Ichan gave the final greeting.
―Right after Paris K-KON, we have LA K-KON, so we’ll be heading to the U.S. We’ll finish our U.S. schedule well and return.
He paused for a moment, as if organizing his thoughts, then continued.
―Our schedule is tight, but I’m glad we can communicate like this. I’ll keep you updated through lives in between our tour schedule.
At Ichan’s words, the other members smiled brightly and nodded.
―Then, this was L.I.T for now.
Goodbye. The screen was filled with the sight of the boys waving their hands with bright smiles.
“Wow. What do I do? They’re all so pretty?”
Juhee, with a lump in her throat, left a comment under the video.
Our shining stars. Please come back safely without a single hair harmed. This noona will fly to LA and wait for you.
Then, replies started pouring in.
└Kyaaaak, it’s Mad Juhee-nim. You’re going to LA K-KON. Please bring back plenty of footage of the kids.
└I’m so jealousㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└Juhee-nim. Please make sure to get a fancam of our Ichan-nim. I’m going crazy. Seriously.
Yeah. Seriously, I’m going crazy.
“Our leader has really become a man, exuding manly charm. Right.”
With her heart pounding, Juhee carefully folded her feelings and put down her phone, quickly packing her bags.
Finally, tomorrow is the day of departure. Let’s go, to the U.S.
* * *
Juhee and Inyoung, who met through the <Kang Ichan Homepage Master> group, arrived at LA airport.
As the two, each carrying two large suitcases, exited the gate, they saw a sign with gray letters on a yellow background.
We are happy because of L.I.T. Welcome, Filament.
“Wow. Even the sign is in the official colors.”
Touched by the yellow background and gray letters, Inyoung also let out a sigh of admiration.
“I heard you haven’t been a fan for long, but you’re really dedicated.”
“Right. That’s what we Filaments have in common.”
Indeed, it was true.
Filaments had a clear common trait.
They fall in quickly, and once they fall in, they fall deep.
From one to ten, they think about L.I.T. and do their best for L.I.T.. There’s no such thing as half-heartedness.
“The person holding the sign must be Irene, right?”
“Yes. She looks like the person from the reaction videos.”
Irene in the reaction videos looked slightly different due to heavy makeup, but it was definitely her.
Juhee, with a bright smile, raised her hand.
“Irene?”
Then, the yellow sign shook noisily.
{Oh my god. Joo-yi.}
“It’s her. Irene.”
At Juhee’s words, Inyoung also smiled brightly, pulling up the corners of her mouth.
From now on, she had to use her major to interpret.
{Hi, Irene. This is Park Juhee, the representative of the L.I.T. Homepage Master group and the operator of the Mad Juhee channel, and I’m Inyoung, who will be interpreting this time.}
{Oh. Nice to meet you. I’ve been exchanging emails with Joo-yi. Inyoung?}
{No, no. It’s hard, so just call me Young.}
“Nice to meet you. Young. Joo-yi.”
Irene hugged us in turn and greeted us briefly in Korean.
Then, she led us to the parking lot, telling us to follow her.
“Now, to our Koreatown club… we’ll go straight.”
“Koreatown club? Is there an event there?”
“Yes.”
“But you speak Korean well?”
“I’m a Korean language student.”
With the recent Hallyu wave, the number of overseas fans learning Korean and Hangul has increased, and Irene was also quite good at speaking our language.
“Please take care of us a lot.”
Juhee and Inyoung, who gave Irene a thumbs up, got into her car with a proud heart.
* * *
The K-KON in Paris also ended successfully.
I didn’t know, but K-POP’s popularity in Europe was also enormous.
Having made our first appearance to European K-POP fans, we guessed our success by the huge increase in SNS followers that night.
“Wow. Our L.I.T. followers are almost at 2 million?”
“Really?”
At Roa’s words, Hanjoon checked the SNS.
Then, Gyuhyung added a word.
“Looking at the current rate, it seems like we’ll surpass 2 million by tonight, right?”
Roa nodded.
“Yes. We’ll definitely surpass it. Amazing.”
Roa, who had separately recorded the time and number of followers, sat down.
The time after finishing K-KON and returning to the dorm was 10 PM, and the members, still unable to remove their makeup, were changing clothes for self-produced content filming.
“Guys. We have to make sure the <ALT> sponsorship is clearly visible, so wear something with the logo prominently displayed.”
From the pile of clothes Hyerim had laid out, we each picked comfortable training clothes and sat down next to Roa.
Filming self-produced content at this hour was slightly annoying, but all the members accepted the sudden schedule without complaint.
We had to secure footage for the self-produced content released once a week, and our reserves were almost depleted.
“But is it okay to do something so trivial?”
The content being filmed so haphazardly had a weak script and structure.
No, it wasn’t just weak—it was practically non-existent.
At Roa’s worried question, PD Jeon, in charge of L.I.T.’s self-produced content, smiled brightly.
“Don’t worry. Fans will love it even if we just film you sleeping.”
No, is this for real?
Of course, they would, but we shouldn’t make content with that mindset.
I was about to say something, but Hanjoon stepped in first.
“We don’t intend to make self-produced content like that. It’s disrespectful to the fans.”
Truly a remark befitting the eldest hyung.
“If we’re going to do it, we should show our best and work hard.”
At Hanjoon’s words, the kids nodded.
“Right. We said we should properly repay the fans.”
Jaewon added, looking at me.
So, that means I said that.
For a moment, PD Jeon and the filming staff looked embarrassed.
It seemed that as our popularity rose, it wasn’t just the members who were losing their initial mindset.
No. The members quickly realized the reality and were harshly disciplining themselves, while the staff were becoming lax.
“Well, we’re overseas, and we don’t have much time to prepare, so we were just going to do a simple game……”
I had a hunch when I saw ‘Halli Galli’ appearing as a prop.
Filming just their sleeping selves would be too shameless, so they were planning to have them play a board game or something.
“What should we do?”
At PD Jeon’s words, the kids’ expressions turned serious.
They were seriously thinking about what would make the fans happier.
I thought about peeking into their thoughts, but I didn’t. I just hoped they wouldn’t dig their own graves.
But my wish didn’t come true.
Jaewon ended up digging the first shovel into the grave.
“Should we set a penalty?”
At Jaewon’s words, Roa’s eyes widened with curiosity.
“A penalty?”
“Yes. The person who comes in last in the game and the member they choose will perform the penalty together.”
“What kind of penalty?”
Siu also seemed interested.
“For example…”
Jaewon, who had been looking around, suddenly brightened up.
Then, he pointed at PD Pyo, who was watching the filming from behind the staff.
“That thing PD Pyo bought today. Wear that and enter the U.S.”
Ha, that guy. He ended up making things like this.
* * *
A K-POP event was held for three days at a club in Koreatown.
Juhee, invited as a lecturer for American K-POP fans, gave passionate lectures about K-POP over three days with Inyoung as her interpreter.
Naturally, she centered it around her favorite group, L.I.T., and the response was enthusiastic.
{I was originally a fan of T-ara, but now L.I.T. is my favorite.}
Fans like Irene, who switched their favorites, emerged one after another, and there were many newbies who attended the event with friends and fell for L.I.T..
While Juhee and Inyoung worked hard to spread L.I.T., L.I.T. itself had a strange charm that captivated people’s hearts.
First of all, L.I.T.’s music itself was highly addictive.
People were amazed that one of the members of L.I.T. was the person who created that music, and they easily opened their hearts.
It was a short time, but it was enough to fall for each member’s charm.
Their sophisticated faces, charming voices, and the skills to back up that charm.
Juhee, filled with pride, headed to LA airport.
L.I.T., who had left Paris, would arrive at LA airport soon.
Juhee, who had made slogans with gray letters on a yellow background with American fans, entered the airport holding a light stick.
There were three slogans in total.
The light has descended. Lit up the L.I.T
Kang Ichan, Han Junyoung, Yoon Siu, Park Roa, Kim Jaewon, L.I.T.
Our light, our L.I.T.
With these three slogans, she planned to cheer for L.I.T. until tomorrow’s K-KON.
In addition, fans’ handmade signs with their favorite members’ names were occasionally seen.
At this rate, L.I.T. wouldn’t be discouraged when entering the country.
It seemed that the number of Filaments was greater than that of the fan clubs of senior groups like DAS 17 or Colpis.
Barricades were already set up in front of the airport.
Filaments, who had taken their places here and there, approached the barricades closely.
“They must have gotten off the plane by now. They’ll come out soon.”
Welcoming L.I.T. in a foreign country felt strange.
The depth of fandom had definitely changed since the days of serving Graphstar.
This time, let’s make it last long. Let’s make it last a lifetime.
That’s how I felt.
About 30 minutes passed.
The inside of the airport became noisy. Cheers and shutter sounds erupted.
“They must be here.”
Juhee adjusted the angle while looking at the camera viewfinder on the tripod. The first to appear was Möbius. Then K-MAX, followed by Yoon Ahyeon…
“They’re coming. Here they come.”
At Inyoung’s voice, Juhee, who was tense, focused her attention to get the best photo.
“Huh?”
Then she was surprised. Very surprised.
And then she burst out laughing.