Our second title track,
Wave
, immediately captured the public’s attention with its composition that not only showcased the vocal line’s abilities but also boasted an extremely high level of difficulty.
“First place, Pantheion! Congratulations!”
And although I didn’t particularly intend it,
Wave
became known as the new idol live execution song, following in the footsteps of Prism’s
Domination
.
[The ad-lib section is really breathless … I thought Heracles was challenging, but it’s nothing compared to this]
[Han Seungbeom has three main vocalists, and he’s really making full use of them. I mean, we know you lowered the choreography difficulty because of Do Yuda, but there’s no need to raise the vocal difficulty to this level, Captain ㅠㅠ hahaha]
[Boygroup songs banned from being covered: 1. Domination 2. Wave (new!)]
Domination
had a significant number of high notes concentrated on Seo Yuseong alone, whereas Pantheion had multiple members capable of handling the main vocalist position, so I could distribute the parts more evenly to prevent excessive burden on a single member.
I figured that if other idol groups were looking to showcase their vocal skills, someone would probably cover this song someday. However,
Wave
was composed to highlight our members’ strengths while masking their weaknesses, from pronunciation to rhythm and vocal range. Since other groups didn’t have as many strong vocalists as we did, there would likely never be a group that could pull it off as well as we did.
‘…I’ve always wanted to write a song that focuses on vocals like this at least once, so I guess I should consider it a goal achieved.’
Through this comeback, Pantheion’s vocal talents were officially recognized. We were already famous for singing well even before this, though.
After a busy two-week promotion, Pantheion’s second activity period came to an end. And now…….
“We’re in trouble.”
“Yeah…….”
“Who in our group is scared of ghosts? Who came up with this concept?”
“But it’s a national rule for idols to go to a haunted house, scream, and run away at least once.”
Right after finishing our last show recording, we headed to an abandoned house set up by our in-house production team to film some content. ‘
Content droughts are not allowed, even after the promotion season ends
‘. That was the motto of our agency’s bespectacled employee, and our schedule faithfully reflected it.
“Kiryang-hyung is probably the only one who could give a good reaction. He’s the only one on our team who would be scared of a ghost, right? We have one person who looks like he could fight off a ghost with his bare hands, one who’s full of himself
1
, one Han Seungbeom, one fool, one cute but brave Yuda, and one Princess.”
“Huh?”
Baek Kiryang, who had been looking up at the abandoned house, turned to us at the mention of his name with an innocent expression on his face, as if asking what that was supposed to mean. Seeing
that
Baek Kiryang react as though he wasn’t scared at all by the creepy, shabby building, Do Yuda paused for a moment, as if he was experiencing a glitch, and then asked.
“Hyung, are you okay? Aren’t you scared?”
“Yeah, I’m okay with ghosts. Usually it’s not ghosts that are mean to me, it’s humans ……. I’m more scared of humans.”
“Ah…….”
Baek Kiryang spoke those words with a bashful smile, but all the members became solemn.
Then Zen pretended to wipe away his tears and said, “Because of human sin, Bambi becomes tough. Nagi Zen is brought to tears.”
“…You just learned the word
tough
and wanted to use it, didn’t you?”
2
“Correct.”
Despite the content being somewhat foolish, the way it was spoken had the air of a great man.
Do Yuda, quietly observing that bamboo-like stance, pointed at Zen and said to me.
“…Hyung, I really can’t handle him. I’m serious.”
The words “
Who else can handle that fool if not you?
” were on the tip of my tongue, but a strong sense of foreboding told me the inevitable reply would be, “
You, hyung
“. So, I decided to steer the conversation in a different direction.
“Aren’t you scared of this sort of stuff?”
“I love horror movies. I watch them all the time with Zen and Danbi.”
‘…We’re screwed.’
Let’s stop filming.
Shouldn’t there be at least a couple of members who were genuinely scared to make it interesting? If everyone’s just going to walk in and out with a poker face, we might as well film at a nearby museum instead of building this set.
However, perhaps finding even this hopeless situation amusing, Do Yuda chuckled and teased Lee Danbi.
“What should we do if our Danbi gets so spooked that he curses at the camera?”
“…I don’t curse in the presence of my hyungs.”
“Aha, so respecting your elders is more important than the camera?”
“It’s not that extreme, I’m just trying to keep my manners.”
At Lee Danbi’s response, Lee Hwayoung, who had once been on the receiving end of a “
you idiot
” smackdown, looked down at him with a dumbfounded look, but Lee Danbi, completely unfazed, simply tilted his head with a serene expression.
“Now, shall we decide on the teams?”
.
.
.
After that, the teams were decided by drawing lots: Zen & Do Yuda, Baek Kiryang & Lee Hwayoung, and Woo Kangwon & me. Lee Danbi, who had the worst luck with draws, ended up going in alone.
‘This is the quietest haunted house filming I’ve ever had in my life.’
Normally, someone would be making a scene about not wanting to go in alone, but we just quietly drew lots and accepted the teams without any drama.
“Ah, I’m going in alone.”
“Try saying you’re scared, Lee Danbi.”
“Awww, our maknae is going alone? Should Yuda-hyung go with you? I don’t mind going in twice.”
“No need, thanks.”
Watching the youngest member flatly refuse his clingy hyungs’ offers, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was really the dynamic we were going for.
Ironically, it was not the member going alone, but the team of Baek Kiryang and Lee Hwayoung, that brought out the fun element.
It was quite unfortunate that Baek Kiryang, who had finally shown his brave side by not being scared of ghosts, was once again plunged into terror due to his fear of Lee Hwayoung. He had claimed that humans were scarier than ghosts, should I call it fortunate that he was now able to personally prove what that meant?
“Do you really have to be that scared? If you look closely, you can still see the face he had when he was a baby. I thought his face was pretty cute back then.”
I attempted to console Baek Kiryang, who was looking ashen and shriveled like a dried radish as he stood next to Lee Hwayoung, but I was mercilessly shooed away by Do Yuda, who smiled like a bodhisattva.
“Ignore the troll.”
3
“Alright, Woo Kangwon and Han Seungbum’s team will enter now.”
And with that, I found myself stepping into the abandoned house with Woo Kangwon, who had been pretty quiet since earlier.
Sssshhh.
Spooky background music, the kind you’d hear in a horror movie, started playing from a speaker tucked away in the corner of the building.
‘The quality is better than I expected.’
I was immediately impressed as I boldly made my way inside. From the small props to the ghost staff placed for jumpscares, and even the devices that blast air, it was a haunted house that would truly scare most people who came in.
‘…What are we supposed to do with the content?’
But unfortunately, I didn’t feel anything.
Ghosts alone weren’t going to scare me … I had already been through too many storms in life. I wasn’t sure what would happen if they forced me to do bungee jumping, though.
As I reached the midpoint, lost in such meaningless thoughts, a staff member dressed as a ghost suddenly raised both arms and rushed at me, making strange noises.
“Woaaaahhhhh!”
When 0.2 seconds had passed, I thought to myself.
What kind of expression should I make?
“…….”
When 0.5 seconds had passed, I thought to myself.
Should I at least pretend to be startled to match the purpose of the filming?
“….Uh, huuhuuhuu.”
When 0.8 seconds had passed, I thought to myself.
It’s already too late to pretend to be startled. My expression has already given away my complete disinterest. Look, the staff has already lost confidence and is nervously glancing at me. Maybe I should just greet them instead.
As a second passed and I was about to awkwardly bow my head, my body was suddenly yanked forward like a dog owner being dragged along by a large dog on a leash.
“Ugh.”
At first, I didn’t recognize the identity of the large dog that was dragging me forward.
“Aaahhhh! This is impossible!”
But the raw scream was so unmistakably one of our members’ that pretending I didn’t recognize it was no longer an option.
“Please don’t follow me! I really don’t want to hu-hurt you, ghost-nim!”
Yeah, it was Woo Kangwon.
“Seungbeom-ah! I’ll definitely protect you!”
I really appreciated the sentiment, but even if he didn’t go to such lengths to protect me, I could manage just fine on my own. No matter how I looked at it, the one who would be in real trouble without someone by his side wasn’t me—it was Woo Kangwon.
‘Save me, someone.’
After dragging me around at an alarming speed for quite some time, Woo Kangwon finally reached a section where the staff were no longer trailing us. His legs shook and trembled before he collapsed on the spot.
‘Don’t tell me… the reason he was just folding laundry to death while the kids were watching a horror movie…….’
After watching him for about fifteen minutes, as his strange behavior finally started to make sense, I decided to ask him a quick question.
“Hyung, are you scared of ghosts?”
At that, Woo Kangwon flinched.
And then, he hesitantly replied in a barely audible voice.
“…Yeah, honestly, I already hit my limit from the entrance. You thought it wasn’t fitting for someone of my size, didn’t you?”
“No, I didn’t.”
I did.
I’m so sorry for lying.
“Yuda said I looked like I could fight off a ghost with my bare hands…….”
“….He was just joking. Everyone’s scared of something. It’s not something to be embarrassed about.”
Actually, that’s what I thought too.
I’m sorry.
But we couldn’t just stay here forever, could we?
We have to find a way out of here, even if it means I have to sweet-talk our way through.
‘…It’s my fate.’
I let out a light sigh as I watched Woo Kangwon, who was sitting on the floor without any intention to move, and then held out my hand to him.
“Take my hand. We can’t just sit here forever.”
“Seungbeom-ah…….”
“If a ghost comes, I’ll protect you. Let’s go.”
If they edit this scene in a weird way, I’ll assassinate the production team.
I kept that thought in my mind as I tried my best to pretend I didn’t see Woo Kangwon’s eyes glistening with emotion.
.
.
.
After struggling to carry a two-meter-tall lump almost the entire way, we finally finished the remaining course. When we came out, Do Yuda welcomed me.
“Hyung! The quality was way better than I expected! Zen was trying to play it cool, but he actually got a bit startled and made a sound like ‘
Eeh
‘. It’s a dark history moment, straight to the archive! Hahahaha! How was your team?”
At Do Yuda’s question, I crossed my arms to hide my throbbing forearm, which Woo Kangwon had been holding onto the whole time, and stared into the air. Then, I quietly opened my mouth.
“…Nothing happened.”
Don’t be curious.
We have to respect Woo Kangwon’s human rights.
All I could say was that I never want to repeat the experience of escorting a nearly 2-meter-tall man like a lady.
***
“Thank you for your hard work!”
“Thank you for your hard work!”
After we finished the filming, I said my goodbyes to the production staff and walked back to the van where the members were waiting for me. But on the way, I felt something ominous. I lifted my head and looked around, then I saw a vehicle that was all too familiar parked nearby.
“…Dammit!”
It was a white sports car with a custom design, unique in the world, so there was no way I could mistake it for someone else’s. As soon as I spotted it, I immediately jumped up and ran to get into the van.
‘F*ck, how the hell did you find out I was here!’
But before I could even try to escape, a hand, noticeably larger than Han Seungbeom’s, grabbed my wrist.
And then, my body, as stiff as a skewer, was dragged backwards.
And at the place where I was forced to turn to…….
“…Han Seungbeom.”
There stood Nam Yihwon.
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Translator’s Corner:
The term that Yuda used for Nicholas is
유아독존
. In literal way, the world means something like “I am the only one who is noble/worthy of respect” It’s originated from Buddha ” “In heaven above and on earth below, I am the most honored one”, but in modern, slang-way, it is a term to call people who’s … hmm, arrogant, self-centered, and thinks too highly of themselves. If you wonder why Yuda get away with it … well, Nicholas probably doesn’t understand (and doesn’t care) ↩︎
Tough here is actually
억척스럽다
. It’s to describe a personality that’s persistent and tenacious and never back down despite the difficulties. It’s not a common word, that’s why it’s being pointed out that Zen is saying that because he just learned the word. ↩︎
Yuda said
먹금
, literally meant “feeding ban”. A slang that means something like “
Don’t give any reaction to strange people
“. It’s taken from “don’t feed the troll”. ↩︎
#LeaveHanSeungbeomAlone
I guess most unrealistic about Seungbeom idol life is he’s only being chased around by crazy, big male seniors … like, with that kind of face, I just know he got a lot of sandwiches filled with female idols number everytime Pantheion visited music show…..
About Wave, I tried to find if there’s any irl boygroup song that vocal part so hard it was impossible to cover. So, I spent the whole day watching color coded video of 4th and 5th gen boygroups on youtube and omg … the 4th gen are obsessed with rapping and the 5th gen are just debuted they’re not singing that well yet. So, I turned to 3rd gen (since 2nd gen is more … karaoke friendly), and I guess the only well-known group (I’m sorry if I somehow missed the nugu) that aren’t vocal groups but have too many vocalists for their own good is just … EXO? Wanna One has strong vocal line too, but their songs are karaoke friendly. Anyway, yeah EXO won this vocal category.
(Anyway, among my 4th 5th gen title tracks run, Enhypen really made a lot of good, easy-listening title tracks … I’m actually ??? baffled why they’re not popular with Koreans, like not charting at all when their songs are what GP usually like, but then I went to check their debut song … and yeah … their agency has no sense … I mean, it’s a good beautiful song, but it’s too … not for the public, lore-centric. Like, imagine Heracles. The only reason Pantheion could pull that off was because they debuted from a survival show that was on PD101 S2 popularity level. Debut song is really really important, because it will imprint the image of what kind of music a group have. No matter how good the future comeback songs are, if your debut song is considered as “not interesting” or even worse, “bad”, public wouldn’t really give your next comeback a chance because they already though “I didn’t like this group’s song”. This is what happened to groups like NMIXX, Weki Meki, Kep1er …. even LOONA who has a very deep lore went with a public-friendly song for their debut. The only reason aespa could safely pull off Black Mamba was because they’re practically the most highly anticipated debut of this decade … On the contrary, there’s a not-so-popular group like CIX whose debut song “Movie Star” is really good, that when people heard them, they would think “oh they make good music” even though they only know Movie Star …. sigh, CIX deserves better than getting the Post-Wanna One curse…..)
Anyway, among EXO’s song, there’s MAMA that’s hard to sing and has cult-like energy, but I don’t think it’s that hard … I mean, if you have multiple good vocalists with strong vocals, you could somewhat cover that song. So, if you want to compare “Wave” to an irl song … I’m 100% suggesting
Tempo
. If you listened to it, it sounds really easy … like, so effortlessly calm, not like song with explosive AAAAAAAAAAAA high notes. But if you actually tried to sing it … that song is 100% fraud. It was released in 2018, but there’s only two cover performances of other group. Like, every year, there was at least 10 groups covering Growl or Love Me Right or Love Shot, and even the b-sides, BUT EVERYONE IS RUNNING AWAY FROM TEMPO T_T and even the only two who covered it? both of them skipped the hardest part, the bridge. I just watched the cover today and I’m actually shocked that even the combination of WAYV and RIIZE, both EXO’s juniors, weren’t brave enough to fully cover that song …..
And I ended up watching that one legendary Kai’s tempo fancam … and sigh, I guess that’s what the netizens here felt when watching Seo Yutae/
Han Seungbeom
. That dancing skill is really a scam … like every move is beautiful and grabbing your attention …. watching older groups’ perfomance really made you understand why they’re famous……
I really started to sound like an old grandma from the meme let’s get you back to bed, but really, I think up until the 3rd gen, idols are still … idol-ing. Like, even if you don’t stan them, you will know them if they’re famous, and you know their songs. Legendary moments, photos, stages will be known not only to the fans, but to the general public too. But today … fansite photos don’t even hit the same anymore???? It’s like the only content everyone hyping up nowadays are the tiktoks. What was even the last legendary fancam … Winter Step Back ??? and that’s from 2022 …… and we’re in 2025…..