translation by mourningmoor
MID-FEBRUARY, SATURDAY EVENING.
Filaments were busy securing their spots in front of the TV.
“Hey, go watch it on the computer.”
“Shut up. This is only airing on public broadcast, so I have to watch it on TV.”
Inyoung, a high school senior—no, now a soon-to-be college freshman—was also frantically trying to secure the living room TV from her older brother.
“Incheol, just give in. Inyoung has worked so hard studying until now.”
Who would’ve thought that the youngest daughter, who was so deeply immersed in idol fandom that everyone thought she was wasting her time, would get accepted into the best university in the country, and into the English Literature department at that? So, Inyoung’s mom was quick to side with her daughter.
“And L.I.T is going to be on.”
L.I.T. They were the saviors who helped Inyoung focus on her studies.
Inyoung, who was naturally smart but never put in any effort, had completely transformed because of L.I.T.
Her dad had promised to allow her to become a home master if she improved her grades, and her hard work paid off with her college acceptance.
“So, everyone, be quiet and let’s just watch L.I.T.”
At their mom’s words, the whole family sat down in front of the TV.
Saturday evening, 6 PM.
The long-awaited Idol Olympics finally premiered in the golden time slot.
At the start of the program, national MC Oh Jiseok introduced the participants. Then, the screen filled with the album concept photos of the idols, accompanied by loud sound effects.
When L.I.T’s photo flashed by, Inyoung let out a loud scream.
There were ten teams in total—five Korean idol groups and five Japanese idol groups.
It seemed the show was filmed simultaneously in Seoul and Tokyo.
Oh Jiseok and the Japanese MC exchanged a few words in their respective languages before enthusiastically announcing, “Athletes, enter!”
—Athletes, enter.
Then, the participants began to appear on the stage one by one.
“Huh?”
Inyoung blinked rapidly.
When Oh Jiseok called out “Colpis,” the members of Colpis appeared, dressed in somewhat strange outfits, dancing energetically.
It wasn’t until the second team was introduced that it became clear just how bizarre the concept of this show was.
“Why did they make them cosplay?”
The seven members of Colpis were imitating characters from Marvel comics. Of course, they weren’t fully dressed up. They were wearing items symbolic of each character.
After a brief greeting at the mic, Colpis mimicked the abilities of their respective characters before taking their seats.
The next team, Sweet Chu, came out in a magical girl concept. Dressed in adorable dresses and holding magic wands, they looked exactly like magical girls.
Another team was dressed in uniforms.
Firefighters, police officers, doctors, and so on. They appeared in quite dashing outfits, saluted, and then took their seats.
The last team was L.I.T.
When L.I.T appeared, Inyoung couldn’t help but scream.
Oh my god, the first member to appear on stage, Jaewon… was dressed as a bunny. Long ears and a round tail included.
“Ahhhhh! What do I do?”
He’s just too cute.
Next, Roa appeared dressed as a squirrel. Holding the long, thickly curled squirrel tail in both hands, Roa was smiling bashfully.
Then, a tall dog appeared.
Hanjoon, dressed in a yellow dog costume with droopy ears, looked as sullen as his droopy ears.
Next, Siu appeared with fluttering wings.
From the antennae-like things on his head, it seemed he was a butterfly.
“Ugh… Our Siu is a fairy, but today he’s a butterfly.”
At Inyoung’s words, her brother gave her a look.
Normally, he would’ve snapped, “What?!” and kicked her, but he was in too good a mood from L.I.T’s cuteness to bother.
Inyoung quickly shifted her gaze from her brother back to the screen, waiting for the last member.
And then she screamed loud enough to rupture her eardrums.
“KYAAAAAAAH!”
Because Kang Ichan appeared with pointy ears on a headband and a long black tail attached to his costume.
* * *
MID-FEBRUARY.
The fan cafe was buzzing.
After finishing their variety show filming at the end of January, L.I.T had been quiet, but they recently announced a digital single, and the variety show they filmed was finally airing.
First, Over the Mountain, By the Fishing Village was released.
It was a show where Hanjoon and Roa went to a fishing village on Geoje Island and, along with other celebrities, went fishing and cooked meals together.
Filaments were busy raving about the two’s charm after seeing Hanjoon catching fish with his bare hands and Roa skillfully preparing fish while chatting softly.
Next, the re-filmed Jukebox Saturday aired.
It was a show where they solved song-related quizzes, sang songs, and played games.
Siu, now free of his cast, appeared with Jaewon and showed off his hidden talents.
And then, the third variety show.
Idol Olympics began.
The sight of the soft, squishy, adorable kids in animal costumes caused an absolute uproar.
Moreover, their performance in animal costumes was the highlight.
They modified their usual sexy and dreamy performance to fit the costumes, incorporating the characteristics of each animal, and it was impossible to look away.
Hmmㅠㅠㅠ Siu, our fairy-like butterfly, what kind of rap is that? So coolㅋㅋㅋㅋ I replayed it twelve times.
Noㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Did you see Kang Ichan’s face? His default expression with an extra cross pattern on his foreheadㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└He looked so pissedㅋㅋㅋ I was dying laughing while watching.
I thought he’d throw off the cat costume midway, but him keeping it on until the end was even funnier. Plus, he eventually became one with itㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└Yeah, he totally became one with itㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ He was just a straight-up Arctic catㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Whoever came up with this concept nailed it.
└SBN’s sense is on pointㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Jaewon and Roa were justㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ There was zero awkwardnessㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└True, Hanjoon was just a dogㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└Noㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ He’s not a dog, he’s a godㅋㅋㅋㅋ Don’t be so harshㅋㅋㅋ
└He was a glorious godㅋㅋㅋㅋ
My siblings looked like they were about to jump into a game consoleㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I’ve never seen kids so determined to winㅋㅋㅋㅋ But they beat Japan, so national pride is soaringㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└Right. Our kids were the only ones who beat Japan.
└Actually, that game was originally from Japan, so it was advantageous for them.
└Whatever, they won, so it’s all goodㅋㅋㅋㅋ
L.I.T is the best!!!1
As I read the reactions, I closed my laptop.
There was one slight, very slight concern.
From their first music show performance on November 7th to the Golden Disc Awards on January 11th.
They had been promoting their mini-album Leap for about two months.
Music shows, various award ceremonies, and guest appearances at Dinaple concerts.
L.I.T, who had firmly established themselves as a performance-focused group, were set to release a digital single on March 14th.
In the meantime, they had appeared on a few variety shows, and as a result, their image as cute, squishy animals seemed to have overshadowed their intense performance image.
They needed to balance both images, but it felt like they were leaning too much toward one side.
Of course, it wasn’t a bad thing. But thinking about the future, it didn’t seem ideal for their image to solidify like this.
“A performance-centered stage?”
When I brought up my concerns, Director Gong Seokho stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“Yes. I think we need to revisit our original image at least once.”
Director Gong nodded.
“Right. That makes sense. L.I.T’s original image was intense on stage but almost comically pure off stage.”
But now, their “adorable clumsiness” combined with each member’s “cuteness” had led to a strong moe image.
While moe is incredibly important for drawing fan love, having the image solidify like this could limit their future activities.
“This digital single is a sweet, soft song, so the performance won’t be intense, and the two CFs tied to it are also very cute.”
“Yes.”
That was true.
The original version of Leap was fresh and sweet, but it had a retro-classic vibe that didn’t stray too far from their usual flashy performances.
But this single was definitely sweet and soft.
The choreography was also light and breezy, like a spring breeze.
The music video was bright and pretty.
It perfectly matched the image L.I.T had built—cute, lovable, and biteable.
“But if the image solidifies like this, it won’t be beneficial in the long run.”
“That’s why I’m suggesting this. Is there a stage that could maximize our original image?”
Before their intense performance image faded, I wanted to plant something powerful.
After thinking for a while, Director Gong finally nodded.
“There is. There’s something that could create an incredible stage, not with our existing songs, but with another song.”
* * *
Third week of February, Sunday.
At the end of Eternal Legend, a show where legendary songs are remade by top-tier singers to determine rankings, a preview for the next week’s performers played.
Since my mom is a hardcore fan of Eternal Legend, the channel is always fixed at this time on Sundays, and Inyoung saw something incredible.
Five men moving dazzlingly across a stage bathed in red.
A man in a sexy black suit with a black choker around his neck winking at the camera.
It was definitely L.I.T.