The Goal is the Ending Fairy

The day the teaser was released. The reaction across different communities was far more heated than the trainees had expected.

⇨Real-time Interest Up!

«Hey, did you hear? HON is making a new girl group»

They’ve only been debuting boy groups, what’s with the sudden change?

↳ But why can’t we see many trainees in the teaser? What are we supposed to be looking at?

↳ They’ve only released teaser 1, so more videos should be coming soon?

↳ I’m just laughing at how they went from only doing peaceful fan meetings to suddenly dropping a debut survival show

↳ If it’s HON, I’ll trust and watch

↳ Since it’s HON, they’ll definitely be skilled, hope there are some interesting ones

While there were supportive opinions like these, on the other hand:

«Seriously, HON needs to stop making new groups»

Take care of your existing artists and let them make comebacks, you jerks ㅠㅠㅠ

↳ fr fr

↳ Hi-Attack is gonna suffer, these crazy people

↳ Why am I crying…?

↳ Our kids can perform too ㅠㅠㅠ!!!

↳ (crying beaver meme.gif)

↳ LOLㅋㅋㅋㅋ what are Earlies doing here ㅠㅠ

This was how fans of the company’s existing idols were facepalming.

Of course, since it wasn’t the trainees’ fault, there weren’t any outright hate posts about the program.

However, there were quite a few posts criticizing the company itself.

Meanwhile, on anonymous boards, there were people deliberately stirring up conflict, and rival fans taking the opportunity to disparage competing artists.

↳ HON’s making it so obvious they only want to push new artists ㅠㅠㅠㅠ what about the fossils

↳ If you’re not interested, stop posting on dolge (idol board);;

↳ Yeah whatever, your flop group from HON is already dried up

↳ Our kids who went to Big Board are flops?;;

↳ You’re crossing the lineㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ Earlies should shut up

And separately on another SNS.

There, people immediately recognized the familiar trainees from the teaser. Even though the trainees only appeared for a few seconds.

@tim1∗∗∗∗

‖…? Isn’t this unnie the famous backup dancer from Dohwan’s Loverless promotions?? (gif of a trainee making a V-sign at the practice room camera)‖

↳ She had short hair then and long hair now so I didn’t recognize her at first but I think you’re right…? (YouTube link| Dohwan vertical fancam ‘Loverless’) Right side during the chorus

↳ How did you recognize someone who only appeared for 2 seconds in the teaserㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ Wowㅠㅠ she’s so pretty who is she???

↳ I’m a hardcore HON fan so I know, she’s trainee ‘Yoon Hee-jo’ who just turned 20 this yearㅠㅠ!!

@Mu3i∗∗∗∗∗

‖Doratman I’m going crazy who is this give us the next teaser please ㅃㄹㅃㄹ (screenshot of trainee from teaser.jpg)‖

↳ Isn’t that Won Chaeseo?

↳ Where is she from?

↳ Let me answer – she appeared in an audition program called ‘Dream Challenge’ before!

↳ Ah thank youㅎㅎ!

↳ Haven’t heard from her in a while… so she became a HON trainee… gonna watch for Won Chaeseo

While many people were showing interest in the show.

There was one trainee watching all these community reactions….

“Hmm.”

It was Seo Dan-ah, a 6-month trainee at HON Entertainment.

She was browsing the internet, scanning public opinion about the show she would appear in.

For a while, she scrolled down with her chin propped up showing little emotion, then soon curved up the corners of her mouth.

Though it was quite an ambiguous smile, it was clearly one of satisfaction.

‘For a hastily released teaser, the company played their cards well. Instead of just random practice room cuts, they carefully selected trainees who already had some recognition.’

Dan-ah nodded, impressed that her company seemed to understand marketing effects better than expected.

It was quite a capitalistic insight for a nineteen-year-old.

Moreover, she appeared quite professional about it, as if she had experience planning idol groups before.

And that evening.

As introduction videos of the trainees were released one after another, public attention on the show and trainees surged dramatically.

»2. Hi.Light (Trending in South Korea)

»3. Highlight (Real-time trend)

»4. Female Trainees (K-POP · Real-time trend)

»8. HON Enter (Trending)

»9. HON making girl group (Trending)

Dan-ah, who was in the middle of dance practice, also took out her phone among other trainees.

News that immediately caught her eye upon entering a popular SNS.

There were already people discussing their picks after watching the trainees’ introduction videos.

However, that reaction could wait. There was something else she needed to check first.

Dan-ah first accessed the company’s official website.

A sophisticated webpage with the company building as its background.

There was a large banner taking up almost the entire top bar greeting visitors.

‖ Highlight, ‘Hi.Light’! ‖

Clicking on the prominently designed headline, the page finally showed what she was looking for.

Trainees who already had quite a bit of recognition or some fame were positioned at the top.

Still, Dan-ah breathed a sigh of relief that her video wasn’t placed at the bottom.

One notable point was that view counts and likes weren’t displayed on each video.

The company seemed to want to hide these metrics until the results were announced.

Additionally, it was wise of the company not to give unnecessary hints to viewers.

If they had revealed missions early while mentioning like counts, it would have obviously advantaged trainees who already had fan bases.

Dan-ah agreed with the company’s judgment on this point.

Nevertheless, it remained true that trainees favored by the company still had an advantage.

But people tend to look for YouTube videos more than website videos advertised in teasers.

Since fewer people check here, it’s impossible to gauge how things will turn out.

In other words, how things will play out with the website videos remains to be seen.

Coming to this conclusion helped ease Dan-ah’s heavy mind.

She also didn’t forget to check her own video that was uploaded to the website.

– “Hello. I’m Seo Dan-ah, a 6-month trainee at HON Entertainment.”

Dan-ah cringed at her rather cheerful greeting in a polite tone.

It didn’t even feel real that she had filmed this herself.

As if she wasn’t looking at her own face…. In the end, she just watched the video with the mindset of a third party.

‘I was worried about the singing, but it came out well. The song sounds pretty good, almost like it was rearranged.’

Dan-ah was grateful that the parts she had worried about didn’t show as much as expected, and after watching it about five times, she closed the video.

Now that she had properly watched her own video, it was time to check people’s reactions.

For that, she needed to head somewhere other than the website. Specifically, to YouTube where the promotional videos were uploaded.

– Hi.Light | Ep.0 [ENG sub] Trainee Seo Dan-ah Self PR Video | HON In-house Debut Survival @First broadcast October 13

Dan-ah clicked on the video without hesitation. The same video she had just watched on the website started playing.

But there was one clear difference.

Although the company channel had hidden the like count, here the view count was visible.

’39K views.’

Dan-ah was a bit surprised that her view count was higher than expected. It had only been up for a short while, yet….

At this rate, considering the week-long counting period, the YouTube views alone would easily surpass 100K.

‘I underestimated the company’s popularity.’

Dan-ah readily admitted this point.

However, she didn’t rest on her laurels. Several other trainees had view counts far exceeding her own.

They seemed poised to hit ‘Trending’ with just their introduction videos.

She thought her video might gradually get buried as attention focused on them.

Though she had such concerns, there wasn’t time now to keep tabs on other trainees.

With barely a week – no, less than a week until the first mission, she needed to focus on practice.

So she decided to concentrate only on the reactions to herself for now.

She scrolled down to look at the comments on her video.

@DoMyHomeworkLikeProfessor…….

‖What’s with this vocal tone, it’s insane…. Probably the most distinctive voice among the trainees‖

↳ agreed agreed

↳ Honestly her singing skill itself is just like “oh she’s good”… nodding level, but her tone is so dreamy it sounds really good

↳ 222

↳ 33333

This was the top comment with the most likes.

Below it continued various feedback and praise that reassured Dan-ah.

Only then did she relax her shoulders that had been tense with nervousness.

As she continued scrolling through the comments, more diverse and positive reactions poured in.

@DatingMinAndCheating…….

‖She gives off a cool chic vibe but when she smiles you can tell she’s cuteㅋㅋㅋ‖

@DontKnowMyNickname

‖Am I the only one who thinks she’s really pretty? Why are her views lower than the othersㅠㅠ‖

@WhatDoYouDo

‖Was scrolling through intro videos and clicked because her visuals are my style, but got hit hard by her vocal tone‖

@ParkMinjun

‖Your hobby is FPS games?? What’s your tier, noona I like games tooㅠㅠ‖

@LoveWinsumForever

‖Her visuals and vocal tone somehow match well total com-fort‖

@TteokbokkiLover

‖Among the ones without recognition, she seems the least awkward and most polished ㅇㅇ‖

‘For a while’ that is.

Of course, there were occasionally comments that weren’t favorable to her.

@lvsldkfj

‖Can’t sing at allㅋㅋㅋㅋ just riding on vocal tone, seriously how Korea always overhypes anyone with slightly pop-sounding voices‖

@YourPersonalityIsTrashed

‖That’s considered pretty…? Gets totally buried by other trainees…? And here she is highlighting her tone as a strengthㅋㅋㅋ vocals should be about skill not toneㄴㄴ‖

‘Hmm…. I can understand thinking that way.’

Dan-ah calmly nodded even at the hate comments directed at her.

She had somewhat expected to be criticized for highlighting her tone rather than skill as her vocal strength.

She even started to click like on these hate comments as she had been doing for all comments.

Because at this point, any attention, good or bad, was quite beneficial to her. Besides, she didn’t feel particularly affected.

But she suddenly stopped her thumb from liking the hate comments.

Instead, she scrolled down to read the replies to those hate comments.

↳ Huh? How is that level of skill considered bad at singing…??

↳ Maybe not main vocal level but definitely not bad ㅇㅇ

↳ Vocal toneㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ does anyone think good tone is easy to come by that’s a blessing and luck too can’t she show improvement in skill during the show? What more do you want from someone who’s still a trainee??

↳ Fr getting jealous of a minor lolㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ must have a trash voice herselfㅠㅠㅠ

↳ She already has enough skill to be a vocalist??

↳ She’s way better than most current idols’ live performancesㅋㅋㅋ

↳ Is your nickname perhaps self-introduction…? Why are you doing PR on trainees’ self PR?

↳ Crazyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ This person leaves hate comments on videos of trainees with lots of comments, ignore them

↳ This hate comment means this trainee’s gonna make itㅋㅋㅋㅋ

It was fascinating. She had only uploaded a not-even-2-minute self-introduction video….

Yet there were already people, if not fans, willing to stand up for her.

‘Right. Liking hate comments too? That would be stupid.’

Thanks to the commenters’ sharp responses, Dan-ah shook her head and liked each of her supportive comments under the hate ones.

‘Reminds me of my pro gamer days.’

Dan-ah seemed to be reminiscing about something.

She smiled while reading comments on her video, forgetting she had been in the middle of practice.

It was a moment when the tiring practice that had been exhausting until just now became strangely enjoyable.

Therefore, she couldn’t just keep looking at it.

After all, to keep the attention of people who had shown even a little interest in her, practice was the only thing she could do now.

Though the comments had lightened Dan-ah’s heart, they simultaneously made her resolve heavier.

She probably knew. How reassuring it was to have people on her side.

However, even she… didn’t seem to notice the ripples her video would create.

@CreamPuff

‖This seemed familiar and like I’d heard it before… Blue Travel Log…? I thought it was an original song and was thinking the composition is good but lyrics are terrible… was totally wrongㅋㅋㅋ‖

↳ OMG it really isㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋwhat rearrangementㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ Ah I thought it was some translated pop songㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ How did she turn that cutesy song into something like a drama OST.