translation by mourningmoor
Irene received an interview request from a famous broadcasting station in LA.
Recently, through NewTube and SNS, the Lit-up phenomenon has been spreading rapidly, and it was becoming quite a big deal.
The Lit-up phenomenon—basically, it refers to getting fired up by LIT. In our way of speaking, should we call it Lit-it up?
Anyway, as the Lit-up phenomenon spread quickly, LA radio stations were flooded with requests to play LIT’s music. And this wasn’t just happening in LA. Other regions, including New York, were showing a similar trend.
In the midst of this, LIT’s new song Hades managed to enter the upper ranks of Billboard’s global chart.
And now, LIT was doing a North American tour?
From the broadcasting station’s perspective, they were wondering if this was the birth of another superstar following in the footsteps of ARCHE. They judged that LIT was worth keeping an eye on.
So, before the North American tour, they wanted to cover them, even if only briefly.
That was roughly why they had requested an interview with Irene.
Since there was no reason to refuse, Irene immediately said okay.
It turned out that Irene wasn’t the only one who had received an interview request. It seemed that Simon & George had also been invited. And besides them, a few other reactors had been contacted as well.
That meant the broadcasting station had been looking up quite a lot of LIT-related content. Irene saw this as a positive sign.
Couldn’t this be an opportunity for LIT to rise even higher? That’s what she thought.
Without hesitation, Irene bought a huge stack of LIT albums. She carefully wrote heartfelt letters, wrapped the albums nicely, and sent them as gifts to famous American radio DJs.
She hoped that even just one more person would recognize LIT’s value and help pave the way for their future.
And little by little, Irene’s wish was coming true.
Because LIT’s music had finally started playing on the high-barrier American radio stations.
* * *
“An appearance on a broadcast?”
PD Pyo, who had visited the practice room for the first time in a while, brought news that a talk show from a New York broadcasting station had sent an invitation.
“Yeah. It’s not like, crazy popular or super famous, but it’s got a long history and a decent level of recognition.”
Getting invited to a show like that all of a sudden?
It was a bit bewildering.
“Our North American tour tickets sold out in the blink of an eye, right? I guess they found that interesting. So, they did some research on our fandom size in the U.S.”
There was a deep excitement in PD Pyo’s voice.
“Must have been huge.”
The fandom size in the U.S. … I could make a rough guess.
To be honest, I had been noticing it a lot lately—whenever I opened NewTube, there were an overwhelming number of videos about us. Especially content made by American creators. Tons of subscribers, tons of ‘likes.’
Well, considering the sheer population size, compared to Korea, everything was bound to be on a massive scale.
“They said yes, so start preparing for the interview. They’ll be sending over the questionnaire and script in advance, so study up a bit.”
It wasn’t something completely unexpected.
We hadn’t deliberately planned for a U.S. debut, but we knew things were falling into place naturally.
It was just that the timing had come a little sooner than expected, which left me feeling a bit dazed.
“And one more thing.”
Seeing how the corners of his mouth weren’t coming down, this must be another good piece of news.
“Siu got an offer to appear in a drama.”
A drama?
The members’ eyes widened in surprise.
We’d always joked among ourselves that Siu should act since he had such striking visuals, but none of us actually expected it to happen.
It was a great opportunity.
PD Pyo, as well as all the members, turned their gazes toward Siu.
But the person in question didn’t seem all that thrilled.
He was completely frozen, unable to hide his flustered expression.
“What? You don’t want to?”
PD Pyo asked with a chuckle.
“When you first interviewed as a trainee, you said you wanted to be an actor. That your ultimate goal was acting.”
Huh. I didn’t know that. I had no idea this guy had that kind of dream.
Judging by the “Ohhh!” sounds coming from the other members, they didn’t know either.
Siu’s face immediately turned red.
“N-no, it’s not that I don’t want to…”
Siu mumbled, keeping his head down, avoiding eye contact.
“I just… right now, I want to focus on the stage.”
Siu had been the most hesitant when it came to performing. But lately, he’d been going absolutely crazy for the stage.
“It’s true that acting is my ultimate dream… but not right now.”
Siu lifted his head, his expression now firm.
“Right now, I like being on stage. Acting… acting can wait.”
Ah, this guy—he really wants to take the drama offer, but he’s worried it’ll interfere with LIT’s activities.
“Hey, Yoon Siu. At least hear them out about the schedule and the role before you decide.”
I laughed, giving Siu a pat on the shoulder, then turned to the members.
“Let’s take a 30-minute break.”
Siu deserved that much time.
“Who wants ice cream?”
Roa, always quick to pick up on things, was the first to raise his hand.
“M-me!”
Naturally, Jaewon followed suit.
Then, without a word, he grabbed Hanjoon, who had been standing there blankly, and pulled up his hand too.
“Me and Jun-ie hyung too.”
And just like that, we all left the practice room together.
Mid-March.
The biting cold of winter had passed, but the air was still chilly.
Bundled up in thick jackets, with masks and hats on, we stepped out of the company building.
At some point, outings like this had stopped feeling burdensome.
Thanks to Filament.
A culture had taken root within the fandom—one where they pretended not to notice when we were out on personal business.
That’s why we could go on a simple convenience store run like this without any trouble.
Filament also liked it.
Since we were handling things ourselves instead of going through the manager, it seemed they liked getting to see our faces one more time.
As we trudged along to the convenience store, Hanjoon spoke up.
“It’s 2 degrees today. 2 degrees. We’re gonna freeze to death, what do you mean ice cream?”
“Then Hyung-ah, you can have coffee at the convenience store. I’m gonna eat ice cream.”
Hanjoon had been sulking for a while.
It was probably because Siu got an acting offer.
So I asked.
“Why? Hyung, do you want to act too?”
“Are you crazy? Me, acting?”
“Then why do you look like that?”
At that, Hanjoon, who wasn’t one to hide his feelings, spoke calmly.
“We’re already in our third year, and I feel like we’ve achieved a lot so far.”
Honestly, time had been flying by since we were so busy.
Turn around, and it’s a comeback. Turn around again, and it’s another shoot. At this rate, the year-end would come in no time.
“Even though it’s a seven-year contract, it’ll pass quickly, and if we end up receiving a big award at the end of this year, I feel like I wouldn’t know what to do next.”
That made sense.
An idol’s lifespan is incredibly short, and right now, the members were in their early twenties, but soon enough, they’d be in their mid-to-late twenties. That’s just how life works.
Maybe for Siu, ‘getting a drama offer’ was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for his future.
Hanjoon thought the same.
“I didn’t know Siu had that kind of dream, but is it really right to cut it off just because of our current situation?”
That’s exactly why I told him to listen more carefully and stepped aside to give him space.
“You and Jaewon will probably end up as producers. You’re never gonna let go of music.”
After about two years of being in LIT, things were becoming clearer. What the futures of these kids would look like.
And it seemed like I wasn’t the only one seeing it.
“Roa is gonna be the best choreographer out there, probably even threatening Director Gong Seokho’s position.”
Even though we were walking sluggishly, everyone was listening to Hanjoon’s words, nodding along. In the end, our thoughts were pretty similar.
“As for me… well, thanks to you, I’ve gotten into writing lyrics, and later on, I was thinking of starting a business, maybe opening a space that’s a mix between a PC bang (Korean internet cafe) and a comic book cafe.”
At that, Jaewon immediately scolded him harshly.
“What the hell is Hyung-ah even saying?”
Jaewon jumped up, absolutely refusing to accept it.
“Hyung, you’re not leaving this industry either, you know that, right?”
“Yeah, maybe. It’s the future, who can say for sure?”
A few years from now, when it’s time to decide whether to renew our contract with Blade Entertainment or not, that’s when we’ll have to think about it again.
“But since we don’t know what will happen, I just hope we keep all possibilities open.”
Still, maybe because he’s a few years older, this guy does think things through deeply.
“Siu, his face itself is already an incredible talent.”
If he could just fix that bookish side of his and stop being so timid, he had the kind of face that could make it big. That level of looks wasn’t something just anyone could have.
“I feel like he wants to turn it down because of us, because he doesn’t want to cause trouble for the team. But honestly, it feels like we’re the ones holding him back, and that doesn’t sit right with me.”
I understood exactly what he meant.
Roa, who had been nodding along seriously to Hanjoon’s words this whole time, seemed to feel the same. Jaewon wasn’t any different either.
“Then, should we do this?”
* * *
Actually, concert practice didn’t take up a big portion of our schedule.
We had already done nine live performances, and if you included all the rehearsals, we had about thirty concert stage experiences.
Right now, what’s keeping us busy is producing and the digital singles that are set to be released in a series.
We’re not exactly free, but it’s not like we have no time at all.
There’s plenty of room to meet with the drama staff, discuss schedules, attend auditions—there’s a lot we can do.
It’s a good chance to get a taste of that world.
That was the reason.
In the evening, we set aside some time and gathered at the dorm to cook a meal for the first time in a while.
We did the piled-up laundry and scrubbed the bathroom so clean that it made a squeaky sound.
At this point, people even say that we do a better job cleaning and doing laundry ourselves than leaving it to the cleaning lady.
These guys have grown a lot, too.
“Let’s eat.”
We piled up a generous serving of stir-fried pork on the table and set down a freshly made rolled omelet.
The kids, who had each finished their assigned chores, gathered around the dining table.
Lately, we had been so busy that we didn’t even have time to sit down for a proper meal together.
We had achieved a lot, but maybe we had lost just as much.
Like having honest conversations, for example.
“Siu-ya.”
As the eldest, Hanjoon was the first to speak.
“You should do the drama. That’s the only fair thing.”