Kim Hayeon, an office worker with a freelance side hustle and a first-generation Muse who recently embraced all the members with Han Seungbeom as her favorite, had been awake for 30 hours since she started working. After barely finishing her work in a frenzy where she couldn’t even remember what she had just done, she finally took her hands off the keyboard and leaned back against the backrest.
“I’m scared I’m going to die from all this lack of sleep……”
Even though she was living a life where she couldn’t sleep, desperately begging the heavens to let her rest, there was still hope for her. She had won a spot for the pre-recording audience for Pantheion the day after tomorrow—number five in the regular standing section, no less.
‘Overwork can drive a person crazy. But with Pantheion, you can overcome anything.’
She had been brimming with enough aggression to bury anyone who dared speak to her, but it was those words, “
Standing No. 5
“, that had kept her going until now.
“Ugh…..”
After staring blankly at the ceiling, lost in a moment of existential crisis, she slowly got up from her seat and headed towards the bed.
‘Time to watch the self-content … I heard this week’s is ASMR.’
Her intention was to watch Pantheion’s self-produced content that was about to be uploaded on NeoTube.
Unlike reality shows that aired officially on TV, the self-produced content was uploaded to Pantheion’s official YouTube channel. Today was the day the video was being pre-released exclusively for those who signed up for membership.
“It’s also fun to watch while chatting…….”
Since the only people who signed up for the membership were Pantheion’s fans, the Muses, it became a space where fans can enjoy reacting and having fun together.
There was a saying, “
Do idols put food on your table?
“, but these days, idols would not only feed you but also put you to sleep. Thinking that way, she lay on her bed, turned on her tablet, and immediately opened NeoTube to play the video uploaded right on time.
[]
1
[]
[]
Then, the members of Pantheion sitting in the interview seats appeared on the split screen. Among them, Do Yuda’s footage was zoomed in, filling the screen completely.
[“…Seungbeom-hyung said I could go to sleep if I wanted to. But if I believed that and went to sleep for real, I would end up sleeping forever, right?”]
[]
[“I know my life is precious too.”]
[]
[“Not scary, not, not, sca, scary … I am not scared.”]
[]
[“Absolutely not scary. I love you, Seungbeom-hyung. Wow! As expected, you’re the best leader! Oh! You’ve completely transformed Pantheion, really!”]
[]
[“….Yes”]
At the production team’s words of encouragement, Do Yuda pretended to hold back tears by stuffing his fist into his mouth, causing the chat to be filled with “
HAHAHA
“.
— HAHAHA Yuda, you’re not crying, right?
— Oh, my poor baby ㅠㅠ But you have to do what the leader says, that’s how you guys will do well. Sorry…
..
└ You’re the worst hahahahaha
Before the noisy chat could even settle down, the screen switched to show Han Seungbeom’s face, eyes wide open and not blinking once.
[]
— Ah dammnnnnn the blinkingggg
— So scary, aak ㅠㅠ hahaha were you watching from behind that whole time? Ah, please just let them off this time, Captain? ㅜ
The surprised Muses quickly flooded the chat with reactions, and the screen switched back to an interview scene with Nagi Zen.
[]
[“I can’t sleep. Yu-chan’s
kuuku
2
is too loud. It sounds like a train. I’m also noisy when I sleep, but Yu-chan is just over.”]
[???>]
The sudden mention of Do Yuda, who had been talking like a victim just a moment ago, caused question marks to pop up in both the captions and the chat window. Then, Do Yuda’s smirking face appeared in black and white background, with the sound of a ringing bell, followed by the caption.
[
]
After that, there was a sound of a drumbeat, and with the caption “
Fast Progress
“, the scene showed Do Yuda, Han Seungbeom, Woo Kangwon, and Lee Danbi putting on headphones in the studio. It seemed that the focus was more on entertainment rather than the actual ASMR, as the members were divided into the recording side and the listening side.
[“Hyung, they said that the listening team can use our own earphones or headphones if we bring them.”]
[“Uh.”]
When Do Yuda, who had an expensive pair of wireless headphones resting around his neck, said that, Han Seungbeom immediately took out his wired earphones from his pocket. Do Yuda stared at them as if they were an ancient relic and muttered to himself in a small voice, “
Wow, this is the first time I’ve ever seen someone carrying ones with wires, other than my dad
“.
The person in question, seemingly unfazed by the comment, confidently walked into the soundproof room, and after that, the actual ASMR began.
[“Bang! Bang! Bang! Creak! Creak!”]
[“Oh, that’s amazing.”]
And as soon as she listened to Zen’s ASMR, which was first in the order, she felt her mind become instantly on alert.
It was a moment that made her thirty hours of sleeplessness felt like a lie.
‘…Huh?’
Apparently she wasn’t the only one who felt like she was being hit on the head with a frying pan, as if someone were saying, “
How dare you try to sleep?
“, because the chat window exploded with reactions.
— Zen … could you please do it a little more gently? This Grandma’s ears are about to tear……
— Zen is raising strong Muses
— Rotten water-exclusive ASMR
3
— It’s okay, as long as Zen is happy, Myumyu will gladly spill blood from their ears
The ASMR, which was gradually spiraling into chaos with Zen creating all kinds of noises with a completely indifferent expression, continued for several more minutes. The screen then switched to Do Yuda, who was suffering in the soundproof room while listening to all of it. Do Yuda, with a bewildered look in his eyes, covered his ears and stared at the camera before asking.
[“…Is there a demand for this?”]
[]
[]
After the production team answered through the captions, The next segment was Baek Kiryang recording the ASMR while Woo Kangwon and Lee Danbi listened in. As Baek Kiryang’s ASMR started, she almost lost consciousness without even realizing it.
‘Oh my, I almost fell asleep.’
The quality of his ASMR was better than most professional channels.
He definitely said he didn’t usually listen to ASMR, but the sounds he made were nowhere near those of a beginner.
As the exhaustion from long hours of work quickly faded from her mind, she felt sleep gently creeping in. With her eyes half-open, she read the chat.
— Wow, why is Cheongki so good at this? He must be super sensitive to sounds, he doesn’t miss even the tiniest ones.
— Usually, I watch idol asmr for the fun of seeing their clumsy attempts and their faces, but Bambi sounds even better than professional asmr channels. Amazing….
— Maybe because he used to play the piano, his hands are insanely pretty
└ Ah, after seeing this, I can’t focus on the sound at all hahaha now I can’t sleep because I keep staring at his hands
“Hands…….”
While she was zoning out, mesmerized by Baek Kiryang’s long, pale fingers, his ASMR came to an end, and a scream suddenly rang out.
[“Aaaaaah!”]
The screen shook with an applied effect, showing Han Seungbeom screaming with his entire body stiffened as if he were being tortured. Above him appeared a caption that completely mismatched the situation.
[]
[]
The reason
that
Han Seungbeom screamed like that was simple.
It was because he clearly heard the cheeky Nicholas Hwayoung Lee make kissing sounds in his ear.
The chat window went up again at a rapid pace, as the rare sight of Han Seungbeom being genuinely disgusted and hating it was really comical.
— Han Seungbeom getting exorcised
— Oh, that startled me LOLOLOLOL The Captain looks so disgusted, he must really hate it
— I thought our Captain was a god, but is he actually a demon or something?
— ♥How to Defeat Han Seungbeom♥
Undergo intense secluded training and challenge him fair and square: Lost.
Attacking with cowardly tricks: Three generations perished.
Play Lee Hwayoung’s asmr on repeat for 24 hours: Worth a shot.
└ Ah, you’re crazy hahahahaha
└ LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
And on the other side, some people went wild at Nicholas’ sudden goodnight kiss.
— What is this … This is too provocative for a Confucian girl. Are you trying to put me to sleep, or are you trying to awaken something inside me? Just pick one, Nicholas Hwayoung Lee.
— I quite liked Western culture. Starting today, I’ll do flunkyism D+1
4
— Nicky’s mother, how on earth did you raise your son? Please give him to me.
└ Why is it so funny when you go from asking a question to suddenly saying
give him to me
— Did you just kiss my ear? Take responsibility for it with marriage, Nicholas Hwayoung Lee.
└ Come to your senses, dummy head
└ Do you not understand the situation right now? Before I barge into the filming set, smash that bald microphone, and shove my head in instead, get a clue.
└
bald microphone
Nicholas, who was watching Han Seungbeom through the screen with displeased eyes as he writhed in disgust, not knowing or caring about the fans’ hearts, scowled and whispered bluntly to the dummy head.
[“What’s wrong with a Goodnight Kiss? It’s an expression of love. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about”]
Han Seungbeom, who heard that in real-time, frowned again and shivered. He wrote the words “
It’s not just the Muses who’s listening, I’m listening too
” on a piece of paper and held it up to the camera.
“Even when he’s angry, he’s handsome….”
Unconcerned with what was written on the paper, she looked at Han Seungbeom’s face and muttered, lost in mesmerization.
“…It’s ASMR, but I ended up not being able to sleep at all because I kept looking at the kids’ faces.”
After watching the long ASMR with her eyes wide open, she looked up at the ceiling with a pale face, then closed her eyes and smiled sheepishly.
“But I have no regrets.”
***
Time passed and the day of the pre-recording finally arrived.
She arrived at the station with a bag full of required items, including her album and music download purchase receipts, as well as her identification card. After enduring a long wait, she was finally able to enter the fan club section.
‘The world is going crazy…….’
What kind of place summons people at three in the morning?
She shook her head and muttered to herself, wondering why all these pre-recordings were done at such insane hours.
‘No, I know the reason but I’m still thinking about it because it’s annoying.’
To think that they would throw their health to the ground like this just so that they could finish pre-recording in time for the live broadcast. It was really the worst.
The Pantheion members must have had to wake up even earlier since they had to get their makeup done and prepare from the morning. While she was worrying about how tired the members might be, they started walking in one by one from the side of the stage.
“Myumyu, hello!”
“Everyone has worked so hard since the morning. Thank you for coming.”
Seeing the members, all smiling brightly with no signs of fatigue, and looking incredibly stunning despite it being dawn, she felt as if all her accumulated fatigue had melted away.
“Wow … amazing.”
And when Han Seungbeom finally stepped onto the stage, the fans started to murmur.
Normally, when the members appear, fans scream or become noisy, but without even having time to be puzzled by the unusual silence, she was left speechless, her mouth agape as she watched Han Seungbeom.
‘Oh my God.’
Han Seungbeom’s platinum-blond hair had been dyed silver. On top of his head, there were cat ears that matched the color of his hair perfectly.
‘How could he wear such a corrupt outfit?’
Originally, Han Seungbeom was a man like a cut piece of bamboo
5
, wearing only black clothes that revealed his body lines, sexcept for his stage outfits. But what was this look? Those crazy stylists dressed him in a huge, fluffy white oversized hoodie that was almost big enough to swallow him whole.
Even more, there was a tail attached to the back of the outfit.
He was also wearing clear blue contact lenses in his eyes.
“…….”
Han Seungbeom, had been watching the Muses who had become as quiet as mice due to his crazy beauty, bowed his waist towards the Muses while the members turned their gaze away for a moment to prepare the microphones. As if he was having a secret conversation.
He then flicked the bell attached to his choker with his fingertips, making it jingle, and with a playful smile, he made a small sound.
“Meow.”
Then, from the fan club section, a raw scream like a flock of crows erupted wildly.
“KKYAAAAAAAAAA!”
“AAAAAH!”
“Crazy, crazy, crazy!”
That’s right.
Han Seungbeom was the God of Taming.
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Translator’s Corner:
The word used here is 코코낸내” (Coconaennae). I wrote Coconana because it looks cuter, but anyway. It’s a phrase that basically means “Good night”. It’s said to children you know, like saying good night in childish way to match baby’s speech. Kinda like a lullaby but it’s not a song, just a babyish saying (Literally fighting my urge to write it as Cocomelon). ↩︎
Snoring sound. It’s nomatopoeia for loud, repeated snoring sound. ↩︎
Rotten water (썩은물).
In gaming term, in positive way, it kinda used to refer an oldby who’s already mastered the game (usually, an extremely difficult game). In the kinda negative/joking way, it is used to refer to die-hard users of a game that is far removed from the current mainstream. We’re on the latter. Since, you know, only the die-hard can survive that Zen’s asmr…
Anyway this expression at first came from the idiom
“고인 물은 썩는다”
Stagnant water is bound to rot
. You know a water that has been stagnant for a long time becomes polluted over time right, like green algae appeared on it, the smell became bad, etc. It means that when a group, organization, or community rejects change or legitimate criticism, it eventually falls out of touch with the times, is forgotten, collapses, or becomes full of corruption ↩︎
The word used is
사대주의
, refers to the ideology of submitting to or blindly accepting a country or force stronger than one’s own country.
It has a lot of historical context actually … but it’s too long, so anyway, in today’s slang, it means “an attitude of following and serving a more powerful country or person without one’s own opinion or idea.”, basically in this simple term, thinking other country is better than yours. But when you took the historical context of the word, it’s more like “
lowering oneself to a small country and voluntarily serving a big country
“. ↩︎
A cut of piece of bamboo (대쪽), basically he’s someone who’s inflexible, and unwilling to compromise.
You know how bamboo trees are very hard and tough. There is almost no flexibility in the bamboo branches. Therefore, under heavy winds, while most other plants would bend to the wind, bamboos tend to come out with the most amount of damage, due to their inflexibility. So, if someone is described akin to a bamboo, it means that they
have very strict standards
, and they are unwilling to bend their standards even when there is external pressure. ↩︎
A grown 20 year old man meowing … sign me up
I really think proper lifestyle didnt suit me … lately I’ve been eating properly, like having a breakfast then have a dinner too, but it just makes me …. drowsy …. no energy …. I keep dozing off somehow …. it’s not even funny anymore … what is this … is my body confused after eating once a day for so long …. shouldn’t I have more energy if I eat twice???????