Chapter 1367 – 1367. God’S Atlantis
The door to the waiting room opened, and Pink Love entered with a flourish.
There were seven women. As the top idol girl group in District 6,700, they all had outstanding visuals. Of course, their visuals weren’t as overwhelmingly superior as the members of Phobitz.
Despite their name, “Pink Love,” their outfits weren’t pink. They wore a combination of black and white. Contrary to their soft image, their outfits were chic.
“Hello! We’re Pink Love!”
They greeted everyone in the waiting room energetically. They were so well-coordinated in their greetings that it was clear they had practiced a lot. I felt a slight sense of satisfaction at their greeting.
“We’re Phobitz!”
“…Phobitz.”
“…We’re Phobitz.”
“……”
On the other hand, our Phobitz members were unique. Mireyong spoke in a relatively lively tone, but Elena didn’t even open her mouth and just stared at Pink Love with a sullen expression.
I approached Pink Love. More specifically, I approached the center of Pink Love, a confident woman with long black hair and a cat-like face. She was the leader of Pink Love, Yeon Yuri.
“What brings Pink Love to us?”
“There’s no grand reason. We’re fans of Phobitz. We wanted to say hello. But… it seems like Phobitz isn’t happy to see us.”
“Phobitz’s debut stage is just around the corner… they’re probably just stiff with nerves.”
“Ahaha… I see. It’s nerve-wracking when your debut is so close. We couldn’t even eat properly that day. But we still went around the entire broadcasting station’s waiting rooms to greet our seniors.”
There was a subtle barb in Yeon Yuri’s words. It was as if she was criticizing the rookie group Phobitz for not greeting their seniors. Of course, I mostly ignored Yeon Yuri’s words and turned to look at our members.
“Anyone have any questions for our seniors from Pink Love?”
“……”
All the members kept their mouths shut. They seemed to have no idea who Pink Love was. It was a natural reaction, considering they didn’t exactly become idols because they wanted to.
“……”
The smile on Yeon Yuri’s face cracked. The atmosphere around Pink Love became chilly. They seemed to have come to receive the respect of their juniors from Phobitz… but since our girls weren’t good at that, it seemed they had offended Pink Love.
In the awkward atmosphere, I stepped forward.
“Phobitz is about to debut… as seniors who have already debuted and are active in the entertainment industry, could you give us some advice?”
Yeon Yuri composed herself. She put on her smile again and answered my question.
“Advice? I don’t think you guys really need any… just do as well as you did in practice. You guys practiced thousands of times for this day, right? Hmm, if I had to give advice, it would be to greet people a lot? It’s not a big deal, but… it’s surprisingly helpful in the entertainment industry.”
Practiced thousands of times…
I thought about Phobitz’s practice sessions. They hadn’t practiced thousands of times, not even hundreds. There wasn’t time for that. At most, about 80 times?
Their practice was far less than other girl groups, but I wasn’t worried at all.
‘Because they’re not ordinary girls. They were perfect in the last practice, so they’ll be perfect on stage too.’
And greetings? I had no intention of wasting time on unnecessary things.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the door.
“This is Chocolates. We’ve come to greet Phobitz. Is it alright?”
David’s voice was heard. I nodded to Samara. Samara opened the door.
Women in elegant dresses poured in. The seven of them, the same number as Pink Love, didn’t even glance at Pink Love and bowed 90 degrees to Phobitz, who were sitting on the sofa. It was a world apart from Pink Love’s casual greeting.
“Hello, we’re Chocolates! It’s an honor to meet Phobitz!”
For reference, Chocolates was a three-year-old idol group.
I looked at David, who was standing behind them. David, the manager of Nar Entertainment, bowed to me. 90 degrees. A perfect perpendicular bow.
“This is David. Congratulations on Phobitz’s debut.”
“Oh, Manager David. You don’t have to do this.”
“No, it’s my pleasure. I wanted to greet PD Sung and Phobitz. I didn’t expect Pink Love to be here first, though…”
“Hmm. We have rehearsal soon, right? We’ve received your greetings, so please leave. It’s getting crowded.”
“Yes. I’ve already spoken to the PD and staff of Music Kingdom.”
“Oh, really? Thanks for your hard work.”
David led Chocolates away, maintaining his politeness until the end. The faces of Chocolates as they left were stiff. Whatever David had said, there was fear in their eyes as they looked at me and Phobitz.
Pink Love watched the situation with dumbfounded expressions.
“For Chocolates to greet like that… it’s unbelievable…”
Yeon Yuri, in particular, pinched the back of her hand as if she thought it was a dream.
I was feeling puzzled by Pink Love’s reaction when Samara came to my side and quietly said,
“The bad blood between Pink Love and Chocolates is quite famous. Outsiders don’t know it well, but… when Pink Love debuted, they didn’t greet properly, so they fought with Chocolates.”
“There was a verbal fight, I guess…”
“No. It was a physical fight. They grabbed each other’s hair, it was a mess.”
I chuckled, imagining that day.
Pink Love left the waiting room with shocked faces.
***
“Phobitz! Phobitz! Phobitz!”
Phobitz’s fans, filling the audience seats below the stage, shouted.
Managing and supervising Phobitz’s fans was Samara’s role. I was watching Samara’s struggles to calm the excited fans from behind the stage.
‘Fortunately, the gender ratio of the fans is half male and half female. No, maybe there are a few more women?’
The worst case would be if only male fans were clinging to them… thankfully, that wasn’t the case.
‘Phobitz’s visuals are outstanding enough to attract the attention of women. Honestly, even if I were a woman, I would have to acknowledge their visuals.’
I took out my smartphone and checked the internet’s public opinion.
As Lilith had decided to push them properly, the internet articles were plastered with news of Phobitz’s debut. The phrase “Phobitz Debut” was also at the top of real-time search rankings.
‘Even so, they haven’t even started their debut stage yet, and they’re already number one in real-time searches…?’
It smelled like manipulation.
‘Well, it’s not bad.’
Time continued to flow, heading towards 5 PM, the start time of the music show. The assistant director shouted at me.
“Phobitz! Please go up on stage! Two minutes before the broadcast starts!”
I gestured to the members to go to the stage. Phobitz headed to the stage. They were full of nervousness, with their debut just around the corner. Even Yuri’s expression was subtly stiff.
“Waaaaaaaah! Phobitz!!”
The fans cheered. The cheers continued for quite a while.
“The broadcast is starting!!”
With the assistant director’s shout, music began to flow from the large speakers. It was the instrumental of Phobitz’s debut song, ‘Date.’
‘Finally, it’s starting.’
They began to dance on stage. Even though they were wearing outdated stage costumes, their beauty didn’t falter at all. The four fairies were dominating the stage.
I couldn’t take my eyes off them.
I was gradually drawn into their voices and movements.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
I snapped back to reality upon hearing the fans’ shouts.
They came down from the stage. They were obviously not tired. They hadn’t even broken a sweat. However, their faces were more flushed than usual.
I asked Elena, who was the first to come down from the stage.
“How do you feel?”
“Not bad.”
Elena replied. Her slightly flushed expression turned cold.
We watched the music show together in the waiting room. The last performance of the music show was by Pink Love, who was number one on the show. I heard they had been number one for three weeks in a row.
‘We have to surpass Pink Love next week. If we can’t surpass Pink Love next week, I’ll have to give up on the plan.’
***
Super rookie, Phobitz.
The girl group that had been the subject of much talk even before their debut had finally debuted.
All the citizens living in District 6,700 watched Phobitz’s debut stage live on the music show. The viewership rating for ‘Music Kingdom’ was usually around 50%, but for Phobitz’s debut stage, it reached 65%.
“Phobitz… they’re amazing… they’re going to change the landscape of the entertainment industry.”
“Phobitz! Phobitz! Phobitz!”
“Unnies, you’re beautiful…”
“At first, I thought their outfits were just outdated… but they’re like real fairies who descended onto the stage.”
“What is this? The song itself is light and easy… but the melody… the melody won’t leave my head!”
Along with their debut stage, the music video was also released online.
“It’s a light music video. It’s perfect for watching without thinking.”
“Wow… their visuals are truly legendary.”
“Their visuals are good, their choreography is good, their song is good, and their agency is the large Lilith Entertainment… Phobitz is definitely going to be a hit.”
“Phobitz… why is there so little information about them? Even if I want to be a fan, there’s no content.”
“Will they perform at events? If they do, I have to see them live!”
The views of the released music video began to rise rapidly. It reached 100,000 in less than 10 minutes, and by the time the music show ended, the views had reached a whopping 500,000.
Lilith, who was checking the views in real-time, let out a happy scream.
“Kyaaaaa! It’s a hit! It’s a hit!”
Her fingers kept clicking the mouse, checking the internet’s public opinion.
The reporters she had paid were pouring out favorable articles about Phobitz, and the fan cafe that had been set up in advance was rapidly gaining members.
‘500,000 views in one hour after the music video release! At this rate, they’ll reach 1 million views in 3 hours?!’
1 million views.
In District 6,700, with a population of 10 million, it was by no means a small number.
‘Phobitz is bound to be a hit!’
She reaffirmed what she already knew.
Brrrrr.
The smartphone next to the laptop vibrated. Lilith, recognizing the caller, smiled and picked up the phone.
“Oh my, Director. The viewership rating for Music Kingdom went up to 65%? That’s amazing. Ah, of course, I know. It’s impossible to dominate the entertainment industry with just this much impact.”
Phobitz’s presence was definitely known in District 6,700.
And the next step was to appeal the charm of the Phobitz members to the public.
“Program proposals, you say? Don’t worry. Phobitz will actively participate in programs. Appearance fees? We’ll take a reasonable amount. Conscientiously.”
She would push Phobitz into broadcast programs.
If they appeared on TV often, the public would have no choice but to see Phobitz, even if they didn’t like them. It was up to Phobitz to capture the public’s attention, but considering the members’ personalities and charms, it wouldn’t be difficult.
Lilith recalled Sung Yujin’s words.
‘To gain control of District 6,700 within a month… At first, I thought it was impossible…’
Lilith’s gaze turned to the laptop monitor. The Phobitz members in the music video were dazzlingly beautiful.
‘It might be possible.’
