I’m a Genius Idol but my Passive is Sunfish Chapter 24

The comeback date was confirmed for August.

 

Baekya, who was in the meeting room for the first time since signing the contract, felt a little strange.

 

“It’s been a while. You’ve been busy lately, right?”

 

The meeting room door opened, and the planning team staff came in.

 

Naturally taking the seat of honor was a woman named Lee Mari. Known as the Midas touch of the entertainment industry, she was a true powerhouse, overseeing albums, concepts, and art direction for ID’s artists.

 

From Korea’s top idol group AIM to the nation’s girl group Rose Day’s albums, and of course, the concept and worldview of DASE, who had risen as a rookie upon their debut, all of it was born from Mari’s fingertips.

 

“I don’t think I’ve met Mr. Baekya before. We haven’t had a chance to see each other, have we? I was too busy, so I couldn’t pay attention. I’m sorry.”

 

“Ah, no. It’s okay. And hello.”

 

Baekya bowed his head from his seat. His greeting was a little strange, but it was the best he could do. As he made eye contact with Mari, Baekya’s eyes rolled in embarrassment.

 

‘I can’t breathe…!’

 

Having joined DASE later than the others, this was Baekya’s first concept meeting. Not knowing what usually got discussed in a place like this, the sunfish’s fingers squirmed on the tabletop.

 

Seeing him, Mari chuckled softly and cracked a few jokes with the other members and staff to ease the stiff atmosphere.

 

Soon after, when an assistant said everything was ready, the meeting began.

 

“DASE’s next comeback will be a mini-album. You’ve heard, right?”

 

“Yes. We’ve heard.”

 

Leader Minseong answered calmly.

 

“As the members also know, the part we put the most effort into for this new group is the worldview.”

 

‘Worldview?’

 

Of course, it was the first time he had heard of it. Baekya looked at the screen in the middle of the meeting room.

 

[DASE UNIVERSE]

 

“If the debut song ‘No Games’ is the intro to the DASE worldview, from this album, we’re planning to really throw out some clues.”

 

The PPT moved to the next page.

 

“To put it simply, a mafia game.”

 

An image of trump cards was on the screen.

 

These cards, also commonly known as standard deck, were composed of a total of 54 cards, with four suits such as spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs, the letters Jack (J), Queen (Q), and King (K), and a joker.

 

Mari said that through the ‘No Games’ music video, each member had already been assigned a role.

 

‘Come to think of it, cards kept appearing in the music video.’

 

He had just thought that they were playing a card game because the title was ‘No Games,’ but ID had it all planned out.

 

“We’re going to melt this interesting worldview into each album using devices that fit the concept.”

 

Little by little. So that the fans can become interested in DASE’s worldview, make their own deductions, and get drawn in.

 

And the concept of the first mini-album that would melt that worldview was—

 

“Doll play.”

 

Depending on how you looked at it, it could be seen as an extension of the debut song ‘No Games.’ On the next PPT screen, various princess dolls were shown as reference materials.

 

‘…Huh?’

 

If you ran a facial-expression analyzer, it would come back 100% ‘no thoughts at all.’

 

It wasn’t just Baekya; all of DASE, except for the planning team staff, were like that.

 

“…Princess?”

 

Cheong muttered with slightly unfocused eyes.

 

“You’ve probably seen them before. They’re toy dolls that little girls play with, and that’s the concept for DASE this time.”

 

Only Mari was talking.

 

The staff had no reason to cut in on their superior’s words in the first place, and the DASE members and Namkyung had a lot they wanted to say, but their faces were hesitant, unable to find the right words.

 

Mari, who was not unaware of it, quickly supplemented her lacking explanation.

 

“But we’re not going to dress you in princess clothes, so there’s no need to be so depressed.”

 

The PPT moved to the next page.

 

This time, the materials were similar to before, but the gender was male. The proportions had also been upgraded from 3 heads to 8 heads. It was a relief.

 

“There’s a type of doll called a ball-jointed doll that looks similar to a real person.”

 

She said that if they didn’t like the previous materials, they could just refer to this one, and a sense of relief appeared on the members’ faces.

 

But would that really be the end of it?

 

For the title track’s music video, she was planning to turn the members into dolls.

 

She was thinking of putting them in a colorful box with the same hair and the same clothes and presenting them to the public. Of course, there was one more trick she had hidden from the members.

 

***

 

▷ Current Star Points: 4

 

Baekya, who had been looking at the empty air, debating whether to do a draw, soon decided to stop.

 

The debut activities were also ending this week, and for the time being, DASE was scheduled to be busy with reality show filming and comeback preparations.

 

‘I don’t think I need to level up my skills.’

 

On the contrary, he didn’t know what would happen during the comeback preparations, so it seemed better to save them.

 

‘But why isn’t a quest popping up?’

 

After completing a quest, it had never taken more than a day for a new one to appear, even if it didn’t pop up right away. For some reason, it felt like the quests after his debut were becoming more and more unpredictable.

 

Baekya, holding an autographed CD in one hand, walked blankly down the hallway.

 

[New Artist Development Team]

 

He stopped in front of the place he’d visited most often after the practice rooms. Knocking, Baekya peeked through the slightly open door.

 

“Excuse me… Is anyone here?”

 

Perhaps because it was lunchtime, the office was empty. There was no answer to his question of whether anyone was there.

 

‘I’ll just leave this here quickly.’

 

Baekya, who had opened the door a little more, looked around. His round eyes searched for Dongman’s name tag.

 

[Manager Kim Dongman]

 

The desk was a little farther in, but not far from the door. Baekya hurried over, placed the CD neatly on top of it, and slipped back out.

 

He’d been meaning to give it to him for a while, but his schedule had made him forget completely. What reminded him today was something he’d heard earlier during the concept meeting with the planning team.

 

「Manager Dong was asking if there were any DASE CDs left. He said there’s a member he personally cast, so he’s really attached.」

 

「I told him I’d look into it, but… I don’t think it’ll be easy. There probably aren’t many people in the company who have one. It’s been such a craze since the Imjingak stage.」

 

Kim Dongman. It was a name Baekya also knew well. The number one contributor to his debut.

Dongman seemed to be close to Namkyung, as he would often hear about his recent activities from him.

 

‘He asks about me that much…’

 

Whether he was eating well. Whether he was sleeping well. Whether his schedule wasn’t too hard, and so on. It seemed a little excessive, but Baekya was grateful. Baekya was not a guy who didn’t know how to show gratitude.

 

‘He should like it.’

 

Baekya, who had gently closed the development team door, quickly ran to the front of the elevator. It was time to practice for a more perfect DASE.

 

***

 

===========================

[DASE_Official]

Hello, this is DASE! Our ‘No Games’ debut album activities have finally ended! Wooow~! But we’re so, so sadㅠㅠ

But we’ll be back soon, so please wait a little! To all our fans who are cheering for us, thank you, thank you, and we love you♡

#DASE #NoGames (Group photo with tissues under their eyes.jpg)

===========================

 

– They must have prepared for the debut song for a long time, can’t they promote for just one more month…

 

– No, not the final broadcast, I can’t let them goㅜㅜ

 

– Whose idea was it to put tissues on the kids’ faces, it’s so cute, really (crying pic)

 

– So when is that ‘soon’.. tell us before you go!

 

– Thank you for debuting, DASE♡

 

And with that, the one-month debut activities were over. After the 1st place announcement was over and they returned to the waiting room, at Namkyung’s words to just change their clothes and not remove their makeup, Jihan asked.

 

“Do we have any more schedules?”

 

“Not a schedule, but there’s something we need to film.”

 

Nearby, Cheong was about to remove his makeup, only to be stopped by a stylist.

 

“Hey, hey, you can’t remove your makeup!”

 

“Why? I don’t want to! I have to remove it~”

 

“Are you a contrarian or what!”

 

Namkyung stepped in to stop Cheong. But if you thought about it, something felt a little off.

 

That morning, when they’d asked about the schedule, they’d been told there was only the music show.

 

“Hyung, did you hear anything?”

 

Jihan looked at Minseong.

 

“I don’t know.”

 

Minseong shrugged. It seemed he hadn’t been informed of anything either.

 

The two waited for Namkyung to come back from dealing with Cheong. And just then, Baekya, who had been to the bathroom, appeared with a camera.

 

“Um… by any chance, Namkyung hyung, are we filming something more?”

 

“Uh, huh?”

 

As the flustered Namkyung stuttered, the cameraman took the opportunity and stepped up.

 

“We’re just filming a video to upload on the company account to commemorate the end of DASE’s first album activities. You don’t have to mind me, just be comfortable. I’ll be leaving soon.”

 

Only then did the situation make a little sense. Jihan and Minseong, reassured, went to change clothes.

 

“Oh~ so that’s why they told us not to remove our makeup?”

 

Yulmu, who had gone to change his clothes first, returned. He even waved at the camera with a relaxed air.

 

“They said they came to film a short video because it’s our last broadcast. I think they’re going to upload it on the company account.”

 

“Aha? Hello~”

 

Yulmu grabbed Baekya’s hand and waved it at the camera as if it were his own. At the 10 cm height difference, which made Baekya look like he was being hugged, Baekya quickly pulled away from his embrace, feeling creeped out.

 

“Move. I’m going to go change.”

 

Baekya said chicly. At that, Yulmu squinted. With a sly smile.

 

That face only came out when he was plotting something.

 

“W-what is it… what.”

 

Baekya’s feet hesitated, taking a step back. Yulmu was being Yulmu again.

 

“Should I help you get dressed?”

 

You crazy bastard.

 

Baekya’s jaw dropped.

 

“C-crazy! Get away, you pervert!”

 

“Ah, why~ I’ll help you get dressed!”

 

The sight of Baekya running away and Yulmu chasing after him was captured on camera.

 

***

 

“Guys, we’re here. Get out and go to sleep.”

 

The white Carnival van slowly came to a halt. Namkyung woke up the members who were sound asleep.

 

‘I feel like I actually slept well for once….’

 

Baekya woke up rubbing his eyes. The members, who had fallen asleep the moment they got in the car, also opened their eyes one by one.

 

At Namkyung’s urging to get out quickly, Baekya, who was the last to get in, opened the car door.

 

“……?”

 

However, it wasn’t a familiar scenery. The underground parking lot they always saw was nowhere to be found; instead, a desolate field stretched out before them.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

Yooyeon asked in confusion, seeing Baekya sitting blankly without getting out. He poked his head over Baekya’s shoulder to look outside. And he saw a crumbling, abandoned house.

 

“What? Hyung, where is this—”

 

Yooyeon, sensing something was off, hurriedly looked for Namkyung, but the driver’s seat was already empty.

 

‘He bolted…!’

 

In the meantime, Minseong finished getting ready to get out.

 

He, who was sitting in the passenger seat, got out of the car first without any suspicion. In that instant, a camera was shoved right in front of his face.

 

“Wh-wh-what is this?!”

 

Minseong shouted, his eyes widening like a startled rabbit.

 

—