EPISODE 24

The comeback date has been confirmed for August.

It felt a little strange to be in the conference room for the first time since Baekya signed the contract.

"It's been a while. Things must have been hectic these days."

As the conference room door opened, members of the planning team entered.

The woman, naturally making her way to the seat at the head of the conference table, was Lee Marie. Being one of the most influential figures, she was known as the Midas touch in the entertainment industry, responsible for the album, concept, and art direction of the artists under ID Entertainment.

From Korea's top idols, AIM, to the albums of the nation's girl group Rose Day, and of course, even the concepts and vision of the rookie group DASE, everything was born from Marie's fingertips.

"Baekya-ssi, I believe this is our first meeting. We haven't had a chance to meet before, have we? I have been quite busy, so I apologize for not paying attention. I'm sorry."

"N-no, it's all right. And nice to meet you."

Baekya bowed from his seat. The greeting felt a little odd, but it was the best he could manage. As his eyes met with Marie's, Baekya's eyes shifted away in awkwardness.

'I feel suffocated…!'

Baekya, who had joined DASE belatedly, was attending his first concept meeting. In such a situation, the sunfish's fingers fidgeted on the table, not knowing what would be talked about in a meeting like this.

Looking at him, Marie smiled and made jokes with the other members and staff to lighten the tense atmosphere.

A few moments later, the meeting began as her subordinate announced that the preparations were complete.

"DASE's next comeback will be a mini-album. You've heard of it, right?"

"Yes. We have heard of it."

The leader Minsung replied calmly.

"As you members also know, worldbuilding is one of the things we've been working on the most with this rookie group."

'Worldbuilding?'

Naturally, this was the first time he has heard of it. Baekya looked at the screen in the middle of the conference room.

[DASE UNIVERSE]

"If the debut song 'No Games' serves as the introduction to DASE's universe, then starting from this album, we plan to properly throw in the worldbuilding elements as hints."

The PPT slide transitioned to the next one.

"To put it simply, it's like a Mafia game."

On the screen, images of Trump cards appeared.

These cards consisted of four suits - Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs - along with the alphabet letters J (Jack), Q (Queen), K (King), and the Joker, totaling 54 cards. Marie explained that through the music video for 'No Games,' she had already assigned a role to each member.

'Now that I think about it, cards kept appearing in the music video.'

Baekya had only thought that the game of cards was due to the title song 'No Games', but it seems like ID had bigger plans all along.

"We intend to incorporate this intriguing universe into each album using suitable elements according to the concept."

Little by little. So that the fans could gradually immerse themselves into the world of DASE, allowing them to engage and deduce on their own.

And for the first mini-album that will bring this universe to life, the concept is…

"Playing with dolls."

Depending on the interpretation, it could also be seen as an extension of their debut song 'No Games'. On the next PPT slide, various princess dolls were presented as references.

'…Huh?'

If a facial expression analyzer was run, it would show that their faces had a 100% 'No thoughts' reading. Not only Baekya but also all of DASE, except for the planning team members, had that reaction.

"…Princess?"

Chung muttered with his eyes slightly out of focus.

"You might have seen them at least once before, those toy dolls that little girls play with. That's the concept for DASE's upcoming album."

Marie was the only one speaking.

The staff had no reason to interrupt their superior's words while the DASE members and Namkyung had a lot they wanted to say, but their faces showed hesitation in finding the right words. Marie seemed to know this and quickly supplemented her explanation.

"But that doesn't mean we're going to dress you in princess outfits, so there's no need to feel so down."

The PPT transitioned to the next slide.

This time, the materials were similar to before, but the gender was male. The proportions were also upgraded from 3:1 to 8:1. Fortunately.

"There are articulated dolls that resemble real people."

When the members were told that they could refer to the current material if they weren't fond of the earlier one, relief washed over their faces.

But was it really true?

For the title track's music video this time, she had plans to turn the members into dolls.

She was going to put the members in colorful boxes and dress them in the same clothes and hairstyles. Of course, there was one more hidden element that she hadn't told the members about.

* * *

▷ Current Star Points: 4 Points

Staring at the air and contemplating if he should make a draw, Baekya eventually decided to give up.

Their debut activities were ending this week, and for the time being, DASE would be busy with reality show filming and comeback preparations.

'I don't think I need to level up my skills right now.'

Rather, it seemed better to save resources, considering he couldn't predict what might happen during the comeback preparations.

'But why isn't the quest appearing?'

Even if it didn't appear immediately, it never took more than a day for a new quest to appear after completing the previous one. Somehow, after his debut, the quests seemed to be getting more and more unpredictable.

Baekya, holding a signed CD in one hand, walked down the corridor absentmindedly.

[Rookie Development Team]

His stop was the place Baekya visited the most often after the practice room. Baekya knocked and peeked his head through the slightly ajar 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.

'Let's just leave this here and go.'

After opening the door a bit more, Baekya looked around. His round eyes found Dongman's nameplate.

[Manager Kim Dongman]

It was a little further back but not too far from the door.

Baekya, swiftly moving his feet, quickly left the CD on the desk.

In truth, he had been thinking about giving it to him for a while, but due to his schedule, he had completely forgotten. The sudden realization today was prompted by a few words he had heard during the concept meeting with the planning team a little while ago.

「Manager Dong was asking if there were any leftover DASE CDs. He said he has an attachment to the member he cast. 」

「I told him I'd look into it but… it seems a bit difficult. I don't think there are a lot of people in the company who have it. It has been quite hectic after the Imjingak stage. 」

Kim Dongman. It was a name Baekya was very familiar with. The first contributor to his debut.

Dongman was also close with Namkyung, and he would often hear news of Baekya's well-being from him.

'To ask about my well-being so much…'

Was Baekya eating well? Was he sleeping well? Has the schedule been too tough? It might have been a bit excessive, but Baekya was grateful in his own way. He wasn't someone who didn't appreciate kindness.

'He should like this.'

Closing the door to the development team, Baekya quickly headed for the elevator. It was time to practice for a more perfect DASE.

* * *

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

[DASE_Official]

Hello, this is DASE! Finally, our debut album promotion for 'No Games' has come to an end! Waah~! But we're so, so sad ㅠㅠ

Still, we will be back soon, so please wait a little longer! We will always be thankful for all the fans supporting us. Thank you, and I love you ♡

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

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

- If it's a debut song, you must have prepared it for a long time. Let's extend the promotions for another month…

- It can't be the last stage. I won't let you go ㅜㅜ

- Whose idea was it to put tissues on the kids? It's seriously so cute (sobbing)

- So, when is this 'soon' exactly… Please, tell us before you go!

- Thank you, DASE, for debuting ♡

As of today, a month-long debut promotion has come to an end. When the members returned to their waiting room after the first-place winner was announced, Namkyung asked Jihan to get changed without removing his makeup.

"Do we have another schedule?"

"It's not exactly a schedule, but there's still something left to shoot."

On the other side, Chung was seen attempting to remove his makeup as the stylist was trying to stop him.

"Hey, hey, you can't remove your makeup!"

"Why? No! I'm going to remove it~"

"Are you a tree frog?!"

//TN: There's a fable about a tree frog that always did the opposite of whatever its parents told it to do. So, sometimes people compare disobedient kids to that tree frog.

Namkyung stopped Chung. However, upon a little more reflection, there was something a little off about this.

Apparently, when asked this morning, Namkyung had clearly said that they only had music show schedules, and nothing else.

"Hyung, did you hear anything about it?"

Jihan looked at Minsung.

"Not really."

Minsung shrugged. He seemed to have received no information either. The two waited for Namkyung to return after stopping Chung. Just then, Baekya, who had just been to the bathroom, appeared with a camera following him.

"Um… Namkyung hyung, did we have something else to film?"

"Uh, huh?"

Namkyung, flustered, stumbled over his words, and the cameraman decided it was time to step in.

"We're just shooting a video to commemorate the end of DASE's first album promotion to be uploaded on the company's official account. Don't worry about me and just make yourself comfortable. I'll be gone in a minute."

The situation made a bit more sense now. After that, Jihan and Minsung also went to change their clothes without any suspicion.

"Oh~ So you told us not to remove the makeup because of this?"

Yulmu, who had left earlier to change his clothes first, returned. He casually waved toward the camera.

"They said it was because this is our last broadcast. They're going to post it on the company's account."

"Aha? Hello~"

Yulmu grabbed Baekya's hand and waved it toward the camera as if it was his own hand. Due to their height difference of 10cm, Baekya looked like he was being hugged, and he quickly pulled away with goosebumps.

"Move. I'm going to change my clothes."

Baekya said bluntly. In response, Yulmu opened his eyes wide, with an insidious smile as a bonus.

That was the kind of face you would see when someone was up to no good.

"Wh- wha… what?"

Baekya's feet faltered as he stepped back. Yulmu was up to his characteristic antics again.

"Should I help you get dressed?"

This crazy punk.

Baekya's jaw dropped open.

"You- you're crazy! Get away, you pervert!"

"Ah, whyyy~ Let me dress you!"

Baekya fled, and Yulmu chased after him as the camera captured the whole spectacle.

* * *

"Guys, we're here. Get inside and sleep."

The white Carnival came to a slow stop. Namkyung woke up the members who were sound asleep.

'Somehow, it feels like I slept so well…'

Baekya woke up rubbing his eyes. The members, who had fallen asleep terrifyingly fast after getting in the car, were opening their eyes one by one.

At Namkyung's urging to get out quickly, Baekya, the last to get on, opened the car door.

"…?"

However, the scene outside was unfamiliar. The underground parking lot he was accustomed to was nowhere to be seen. Instead, he was met with a chilly field.

"What's the matter?"

Yuyeon asked curiously as he noticed Baekya just dazedly sitting there without getting off. He leaned over Baekya's shoulder to look outside. An abandoned building on the verge of collapse came into view.

"What's going on? Hyung. Where is this-"

Yuyeon, sensing something odd, hurriedly looked for Namkyung, but the driver's seat was already empty.

'He bailed…!'

Meanwhile, Minsung was ready to get off the car. Seated in the front passenger seat, he was the first to disembark without any suspicion. In an instant, a camera was pushed in front of his face.

"Wh- wha- what's this?!"

Minsung exclaimed, his rabbit eyes widening in surprise.