LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 335
Chapter 335: First Strike Wins (2)
Due to the nightmare of the solo stans’ battle, the Destiny fandom faced a major threat of division for the first time since debut.
Currently, they were in a ceasefire disguised as a peace treaty.
– “Guys, at this rate, we’re all going to crash and burn; let’s just take it easy until the comeback, please.”
For some, it was self-purification, and for others, it was silence.
In the end, they buried their grievances and frustrations in the ground for the sake of their love for Kairos. The justification was that it wasn’t too late to talk again after the members released the comeback song they had painstakingly prepared.
However, it was inevitable that the once wounded hearts would still show signs of damage.
The fan community, once bustling with activity, had slowed down so much that it took a full day to push one page forward, and the SNS accounts that used to churn out endless content one by one locked themselves up and disappeared into underground bunkers.
The stated reasons were all the same.
One Daydream @haru_dream_
Taking a brief hiatus until the comeback, living my real life 🙂
~REST~
*(
*(
Students used exam season as an excuse, while office workers claimed they were in the pre-May holiday burning period, and a significant number of Destis disappeared online.
Among them, some secretly peeked into other idol fandoms from private accounts, trying out a taste. If they weren’t satisfied with the comeback activities, the locks on their accounts might never be lifted again.
‘Will we solidify our place as top rising stars, or will we falter?’
In this desperate situation, where the fate of the team hung in the balance, Kang Hajin chose to wait.
He didn’t offer any solutions to the fandom division or departures; he just waited for this silent April to end.
The reason was simple.
‘You think I’d let us falter?’
He was confident he could win the fans over with this album.
KIRUS Official @kirus_official
K:RUS 2ND Mini Album
‘The End of Youth 靑春終末’
Case 01. The Case of the Missing First Love
‘There Is No Spring’ M/V
§ itu.be/Kie3v_FPalss…
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The silent April passed, and the promised May arrived.
Kairos’s “There Is No Spring” music video and the tracks from *The End of Youth* album were released simultaneously.
This was Kang Hajin’s first strike.
* * *
Everyone had guessed that Kairos’s second mini-album title track, “There Is No Spring,” would be a wistful, refreshing easy-listening song based on a band sound.
From *Daylight*, the theme song of *Miro Maze*, to their debut song *Over the Night*, and even the huge hit *This Is Not a Christmas Carol*, while each song had a completely different vibe when analyzed closely, they all shared the commonality of being band sound tracks themed around real drums and electric guitar riffs.
Moreover, with the perfect success model of *This Is Not a Christmas Carol*, it was the industry standard to create another “T.I.N.A.C. 2” for a guaranteed hit, especially with an album that absolutely had to succeed.
‘But is that the best we can do?’
While success was the goal, he didn’t want to produce factory-line music that only aimed for success.
That would be disrespectful to Seo Taeil, who readily accepted the song request, to Lee Doha, who gave up the title track spot, to the members and company staff who trusted him with the album planning, and to the fans who would buy the album just because they made it.
So Hajin made a choice.
If he couldn’t change the genre of the song, he’d change the emotions and story within the song.
*The same sky, the same day*
*The world is just as ordinary today*
*Indifferently*
The music video and lyrics for “There Is No Spring” weren’t too different from what the Destis had deduced from the concept trailer.
*A never-ending treadmill*
*A world perfectly flawless in every way*
*Somehow, it’s just not fun,*
*Boringly so*
The story of Dan Haru waking up in a world where the people he loved had suddenly vanished, feeling confused about which world was real, and struggling to regain the truth, was presented in a more straightforward, drama-like manner.
The music video opened with the members sailing a boat by the river, enjoying a flower viewing, and running barefoot through fields, all beautifully color-graded. These scenes were meant to contrast starkly with the monochrome reality that followed.
*Am I wrong?*
*It feels like I’ve forgotten something*
*No matter how hard I hold on*
*It slips through my fingers like sand*
*Where am I?*
*In this world and I,*
*One of us must be mad*
*Dreaming of things I’ve never seen*
*Losing a hand I’ve never held*
*I’m going mad, I know, I’m right*
The song, initially just a simple tune from a time traveler who had lost ordinary memories, began to shift starting from the pre-chorus of the first verse.
Dan Haru, who initially appeared lively, gradually became indifferent, with the lyrics turning dark. The contrast between the bright and powerful tone of the song, reminiscent of an old anime opening OST, was ironic.
*Spring without you,*
*A spring where only you disappeared*
*Meaningless*
At the climax of the rising emotions, all the instruments suddenly disappeared, replaced by a dissonant xylophone sound and a low voice. It was Taehyun’s voice. In the music video, a hollow-eyed Dan Haru stared directly at the camera.
*If this world is one where I can never find you,*
*If that’s the case, then rather―*
Behind Dan Haru, the sunlight began to brighten. No, it was becoming too bright.
As if the world were coming to an end, the screen was flooded with light, and for the first time, Dan Haru sang along with the lyrics, wearing his original innocent smile.
*Let it all,*
*Be destroyed*
It was an order for the end of the world, delivered with the most lovable expression.
* * *
Strong Captain @strongjin
So, the end of youth…
They really ended the world…
These crazy romantics….
They actually destroyed the world because a world without you is meaningless…
The youth forcibly ended because…
No, these crazy people….
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[Kairos’s new song is lit]
Feels like listening to an old anime OST lolololol
– “At first, I was like, what’s with these lyrics, but now I’m just humming ‘Let it all be destroyed’ without even realizing it.”
– “The lyrics are super dark and tragic, but the song is oddly cheerful and it’s driving me nuts lolololol”
– “It’s like…a song that lies somewhere between the sensibilities of casual fans and hardcore fans lolololol”
Jung Chouxcream @ice_ciu
Kairos always fills up their songs over 3 minutes with lots of lyrics. I love it.
It’s kind of like an old third-gen boy group song.
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‘The response is good.’
After pressing Alt+Tab to check the fan response monitoring screen, the system automatically switched to the music site monitoring screen. It felt like I was using a futuristic AI smartphone, and I liked it.
34th (▲) This Is Not a Christmas Carol
K:RUS
(…)
70th (NEW!) There Is No Spring
K:RUS
“Debuting at 70th place? That’s insane.”
Moreover, the ranking of *This Is Not a Christmas Carol*, which had stagnated for a while after winter, had shot up again, perhaps due to the streaming buff from the comeback.
As expected, easy-listening songs were the answer to the charts. Although it was the outcome I had anticipated, I was still a little surprised.
“There’s probably some opening-week buff, but….”
Even so, it was a satisfying start. No, to be honest, it exceeded my expectations. Just seeing how the previously quiet SNS timeline had become noisy again was enough to tell.
Well, regardless of anything else, just knowing that people were enjoying the song we worked so hard to prepare made me feel good.
‘Since it’s a music video that was practically made for story interpretation, it seems like a lot of analysis posts are popping up too….’
It was worth all the effort we put into the music video during the A&R and planning meetings.
I was especially pleased with how the story, which started with Dan Haru in the first verse, then revealed that the other members were also waking up in different worlds and searching for each other from the second verse onwards, was visually well-expressed. The scene where the mysterious figure they thought was their first love turned out to be the other members was also artistically done.
‘Who would have thought that Ji Suho finding the music video director ahead of time would be so helpful?’
If nothing else happened, I thought it might be good to work on a few more projects with this director in the future.
After pressing Alt+Tab again to pull up the
character database, I ticked the profile of the music video director that was saved in the most recent list. Immediately, a new message popped up in the bottom right corner, something flashing.
[System Notification: …What the heck…?]
[System Notification: The system is protesting, asking what you did to it while it was gone!!!]
[System Notification: ᕕ(ꐦ°᷄д°᷅)ᕗ]
[System Notification: How can there be a function in the system that the system doesn’t know about!!! It’s furious!!!]
[System Notification: (ʘ言ʘ╬)]
It was Thirteen, who had finally returned.
I lazily scratched my ear with my pinky, feigning ignorance.
“Well, well~? Who told you to leave your spot for so long, anyway….”
[System Notification: How shameless can you be…?]
[System Notification: The system is speechless at the shameless attitude of the fixed regressor…!]
Shameless, what…? Seems like its vocabulary has improved while it was away.
“Hey, calm down. If you keep that up, you might turn human again.”
[System Notification: This… This…! This is a slander against a dimensional being!]
“What does that even mean?”
[System Notification: A slander against the personality of a time manager!]
“How do you even do that?”
[System Notification: Grrr…! Do you know how much effort I put into resolving Ji Suho’s situation?]
“And didn’t you vent all that frustration and thank me with tears when you first came back? Should I make you cry again?”
[System Notification: …The system shuts its mouth and closes the shutters.]
[System Notification: s(・｀ヘ´・；)]
Seeing the system window turn purple, I figured I should stop teasing it. Watching the system window actually close with a click, like shutters being drawn, I let out a dry laugh. Seems like it got a bit more whiny after taking some time off.
“Hey, Kim Thirteen.”
[System Notification: No response]
“Thirteen, I still have monitoring to do.”
[System Notification: The system grumbles about whether you’ll make soup with just a phone and laptop.]
“Come on, you’re way more convenient, smart, and accurate.”
[System Notification: …….]
Look at that transparent reaction.
“Oh, it’s almost 8 PM…. It’s about to start…. This is fun…. Really, you’ll totally freak out when you see this, it’s so exciting, what is this, it’s super fun, oh, I guess I’ll just have to watch it alone on my phone.”
[System Notification: …….]
“This was filmed when you weren’t here, so you don’t even know the content, tch, I have to go to my schedule soon, so I can only watch it with you now. It’s much more vivid and fun to watch on the system than on a phone or tablet, oh….”
[System Notification: ……….]
Seeing the shutters tremble despite knowing it was a blatant trick, I made a few more exaggerated glances at my watch and dropped lines like, ‘Should I just watch alone on my phone with earphones…?’ Eventually, the system shutters fully opened, and Thirteen’s grumbling message popped up.
[System Notification: The system installs a timer, insisting it will only stay open until this is over.]
[System Notification: The system stresses that it is only doing its duty and is not appeased!]
“Yeah, yeah. Kim Thirteen is the best. Now, hurry and pull up our group’s iTube. It’s already 8 PM.”
With some coaxing, a crystal-clear iTube screen appeared in mid-air like a 60-inch display. I couldn’t help but worry that I’d miss it too much once I got used to it and couldn’t use the system anymore.
Even with that thought, my hands were already faithfully logging into the Kairos iTube official account. The time was exactly 8 PM. Right on cue, a new video was uploaded to iTube.
[System Notification: What’s this?]
[System Notification: The system expresses curiosity about the suspicious thumbnail and title.]
[System Notification: (｡・ω・｡)?]
“Oh, this? What this is….”
A missile-level bombshell that would blow the solo stan war to smithereens.
It was my second strike.