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Chapter 19
After Prove Rookies was revealed in mid-November, the official Twibble and YouTube accounts kept uploading content that the New Artist Development Team and Seo Jion had racked their brains to prepare in advance.
The RE:Prove series was released one at a time at 12 o’clock every day, starting with Joo Hyerin on Monday.
Lee Hanbyul, whose “Belated Steps” cover went up last on Saturday, closed out the series by leaving a comment from the official account: “Starting with this song, I’ll work hard so that the songs I sing can be remembered by all of you.”
The week right after the series ended, the members’ handwritten profiles went up.
Kim Yunju had suggested it, saying it would be good to release information interesting to people who were just starting to take notice before it got too late.
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[Summary of the Prove Rookies profiles that dropped]
Kang Sua, 20, born April 11, 164cm
Seo Jion, 20, born November 17, 165cm
Ko Hyunseo, 19, born January 24, 171cm
Hyun Jaei, 18, born October 15, 170cm
Joo Hyerin, 16, born March 9, 165cm
Lee Hanbyul, 16, born July 28, 163cm
There’s a more detailed profile on Twibble besides this, so look there if you’re interested
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- The girls are taller than I expected. I thought Hanbyul would be shorter since she’s so round
- The maknaes are real babies, they’re middle schoolers??
- Why is Hyerin so much taller, wtf, her profile said under 160 when she was skating
- Going by birthdays alone, Jion is closer to Hyunseo than to Sua lol. But the birth year differs so Jion became the unnie…
[Prove Rookies Seo Jion’s character is so funny]
Why is it so funny that her profile hobbies are playing guitar and singing
Are all practical music kids like this ㅠ?lol
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- Practical music is where music-crazed people gather who make music when they play and when they rest lol
- Real madness for music…
[Wow, Hyun Jaei is a Lotti fan?lol]
How did you end up watching Lotti baseball or anything…… (said as a Lotti fan myself)
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- Jaei’s hometown is Ulsan lol. She apparently watched a lot with her family as a kid
└ OP) Ahh, a born-and-raised Lotti fan lol. I hope she comes to throw the first pitch after debut
[Photo Hanbyul posted with her profile, so cute]
(photo)
It’s apparently from her elementary school children’s choir lol. Bright-eyed, so cuuute……
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- Wow, she’s still young now, she was a real baby then lol, so cute
- Her smile is seriously adorable lol
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The next week, they split into a dance line and a vocal line, each covering a song, and uploaded practice video content.
Ko Hyunseo, Hyun Jaei, and Joo Hyerin made up the dance line,
and Kang Sua, Seo Jion, and Lee Hanbyul the vocal line.
Following the trend, it was a way to set clear positions for each member without naming an official main even after debut.
At the same time, they began uploading vlog-style content under the name <Prove-Log>.
The first video had Hyun Jaei carrying a camera around the company, tracking down the members and making them introduce themselves.
After that, casually filmed footage, lightly edited, went up irregularly but frequently.
Then, in the first week of December, when college students were deep in finals studying, the Seojeong Arts-deuz’s makeshift midterm school vlog was uploaded to YouTube.
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[Prove Rookies’ Seojeong Arts-deuz school vlog is up, crazy lol]
[Fuck, the title of the Prove Rookies Seojeong Arts vlog is hilarious]
【[Prove-Log] End of Semester, End of Semester, Let’s Throw Stones… Seojeong Arts-deuz Exam Period V-LOG】
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- 4:12 Kang Sualol, messing up the lyrics and being unable to recover so she bangs her head down, so funny ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
- 6:31 “How did our Sua even get into Seojeong Arts” ← Jion dropping the truth bomb lol. It’s a composition major beating up a vocal major with harmony theory like it’s nothing……
└ I don’t know about practical music departments ㅠㅠ what does that mean ㅠㅠ?
└ Even vocal majors take a harmony theory exam at Seojeong Arts admissions lol - Jion plays piano really well, wow 8:49
[Prove Rookies’ Seojeong Arts-deuz is just like a college vlog of our lives, fuck]
An exam-period vlog came out, said to be filmed during midterms, and it’s hilarious, crazy
(video capture)
(Jion: So what’s the definition of a fifth-interval relationship?)
(Sua: …I forgot, ma’am.)
(Jion: How did you do your entrance exam?)
(Sua: Well.)
I thought art colleges would be different but they have harmony theory as a theory course too ㅠㅠlol. Composition major Seo Jion is eternally exasperated and vocal major Kang Sua is truly eternally clueless ㅠㅠ
(Jion: If you don’t know even this, you’re really not human.)
(Sua: I wouldn’t go as far as not human…)
(Jion: Don’t tell me you don’t know?)
(Sua: …Probably?)
(Jion: Our Sua… how on earth did you get into Seojeong Arts.)
(Sua: I’m strong at practical exams.)
(Jion: I can’t tell anymore if you’re my friend or my nemesis.)
(Sua: But you love me, right?)
(Jion: Did you not consider that I might say no here?)
(Sua: Then rumors of a feud will start before Prove Rookies even debuts.)
(Jion: Ah… hand over the camera.)
And then it cuts to the next scene lol
It’s like an ordinary college vlog with a spoonful of comedy, so funny ㅠㅠㅠㅠ College students feeling down while studying for exams, go watch the Prove Rookies Seojeong Arts-deuz vlog……
www.etube……
【[Prove-Log] End of Semester, End of Semester, Let’s Throw Stones…… 】
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- I figured the content team might cut the part below in case of negative reactions, but they just uploaded it lol. But that’s why it feels even more like a regular college vlog lol
└ Fr lol. I like that you can see the Seojeong-deuz bickering relationship well - Ugh, I just watched it and cracked up the moment it started with Kang Sua going “end of semester… end of semester…” Why are they so funny ㅠlol
[Prove Rookies’ Seoye-deuz both have timetables packed with first period lol]
(video capture)
(Jion: I voluntarily have first period Monday through Thursday and Fridays off. Because I have a lot to do for debut prep, I dropped all the ensemble classes, and so first period…)
(Sua: As for me…)
(Sua: I forgot to register for classes, so it’s first period all five days.)
(Sua: Seo Jion is so mean, how can you register for classes by yourself?)
(Jion: Normally you’d remember the registration date. I thought you were normal…)
(Sua: …)
Kang Sua’s expression is so funny ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Sua forgetting registration and having first period all day is hilarious enough, but Seo Jion giving herself Fridays off and first period all four other days feels like some kind of madness, fuck. Madness for a Friday off
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- The more I watch, the more Seo Jion is a comedy character. Sua is openly funny but Jion just sits quietly and then strikes, which is hilarious
- Sua’s expression looks genuinely hurt, though ㅠlol
- Fuck, I forgot to register this semester too and almost got totally screwed so this doesn’t feel like someone else’s problem
└ Same……
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The editor of this video was none other than Kim Yunju.
Ten years of fandom experience, and she knew exactly what fans liked and what they wanted to see.
A little bickering, scolding laced with affection, an atmosphere where rumors of a feud could be mentioned as a joke, none of it was a problem. You could force it into a problem if you wanted, but most fans actually liked getting to see everyday dynamics.
Of course, keeping to the line was important, but with a ten-year fan like Kim Yunju as editor, there was nothing to worry about.
Idols have always been treated like people from a different world.
But if they’re too detached from reality, they easily get sneered at as “nouveau riche nobles” who know nothing. The public lives ordinary lives and tends to feel more affection for idols who are “no different from us.”
That was precisely why Seo Jion had said she wanted to film a college vlog.
Jion’s and Sua’s school lives weren’t much different from ordinary college students’, and through that, they could make their peers feel a sense of kinship and affection.
The Seojeong Arts-deuz exam-period vlog spread by word of mouth, its views creeping up, and in mid-December, when college students were free house-elves, it even reached everyday-life communities and the Anytime board where people don’t care much about idols, and the view count skyrocketed.
Of course, that was for an idol team that hadn’t even debuted yet.
Compared to first-tier idols the numbers were nothing, but the fandom trickling in bit by bit, and the public slowly remembering “those idols who go to Seojeong Arts,” was already a major achievement.
“Everyone, attention. There’s a major announcement, so gather round.”
Prove Rookies’ debut preparations were going smoothly.
More than expected.
“We need to pick a leader.”
“Wasn’t unnie the leader?”
“…? What are you talking about. Why would I be?”
Though unexpected obstacles did appear now and then.
Like this!
Mid-December, Music Prove’s dance practice room.
“…So what you’re saying is, since I’ve been deciding things like the team’s direction lately, you thought I’d just automatically become the leader?”
“Yeah……”
“Unnie does pretty much everything these days. That’s why you’re busy…”
“That’s because I’m the producer, and a producer and a leader are different. I naturally thought Hyunseo would do it, since Hyunseo’s the long-time resident of MuP and the boss of the practice room.”
“Even so, unnie leads most of practice lately too, doesn’t she?”
After finishing, Ko Hyunseo stared straight at me.
With an expression like, Isn’t it obvious you should be leader?
…This is awkward.
It’s true I take on a lot of roles in the team, but going as far as leader seems a bit much?
“You all just naturally left me out of consideration…?”
“I don’t think the fans would think of Sua unnie as leader material either? Maybe if it were Jaei.”
“Me? I’m basically on the younger side!”
“If anything.”
“…I agree with that.”
Leaving Kang Sua crumpled sulkily in a corner, saying she’d only been sad about being left out and didn’t actually want to do it, we went into a fairly serious meeting.
Perhaps because of the weight the title “leader” carries, even a trivial topic felt serious.
“I’m genuinely curious, do I look like decent leader material? Honestly, I don’t think I have any talent for leading.”
“Why is Jion unnie so bad at self-awareness in such weird places… You’re already doing everything a leader does, so saying that now isn’t convincing at all!”
“We’re having a serious talk, so no joking.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“…Didn’t she just wrap up the whole situation in one go?”
“Oh no, true. See!”
Hyun Jaei cheekily played up my (relatively) serious question while Lee Hanbyul added a word. I looked at the pair of them, then turned my gaze to Ko Hyunseo.
“Hyunseo, do you not want to be leader?”
“Um… If I’m told to, I’m willing.”
“But?”
“But I’d like it to be you, unnie.”
At my questioning look, Ko Hyunseo shrugged once and went on in her usual unruffled expression.
“You’re the main producer, so even if there were a separate leader it seems like it wouldn’t mean much, and splitting power would probably just make things complicated.”
“That’s convincing…… If Hyunseo were leader, then when Hyunseo and Jion disagree later, whose opinion takes priority?!”
“We’d go through a democratic voting process and decide by majority, I guess?”
“I seeee……”
Kang Sua, who’d jumped into the conversation with sparkling eyes, heard my answer and sulked again.
Hold on. We’re in a serious discussion…
“If there’s someone who can do it better than me, do I really have to be the leader… is what I’m thinking. In age and in position, I think you’re better than me in a lot of ways, unnie.”
“Hmm……”
Am I really leader material? I thought for a moment, then looked at the members sitting in a circle in the middle of the practice room and spoke.
“Does anyone want to be leader, or want to recommend someone other than me?”
Silence fell over the practice room.
“……Unanimous?”
“We thought it was already decided that you’d be leader, unnie!”
“Is this because I worked too hard?”
“Probably? If you say ‘Help me, Jion unnie!’ inside the company, I think you’d come help.”
“I’m not a superhero, what is that…”
At my unimpressed reaction, Hyun Jaei turned her head away and started laughing. Honestly… It doesn’t seem to be meant badly, so I’ll let it go this once.
“We’re short on time, so I’ll take the leader role. …For now. If you have more opinions later, tell me anytime.”
“Yes~”
They’re all so good at answering…
I let out a light sigh and went on.
“Anyway, the major announcement.”
“Wasn’t that the leader thing?”
“That wasn’t an announcement, that was something we had to decide.”
“Ahh.”
“Our team name has been decided.”
Gasp.
The maknaes’ shocked expressions made me laugh a little.
We’d filmed content and posted quite a few Twibble posts ourselves, yet only now did it seem to sink in that they were going to debut.
I dragged the mini whiteboard pushed into a corner of the practice room to the center. I’d used it a lot for a while and then shoved it back in the corner when I had nothing left to explain.
[EVERGREET]
I wrote the group name in big letters on the whiteboard.
For the record, I’d barely been involved. The name was Team Lead Lee Subin’s idea, decided with Kim Yunju’s wholehearted support.
Whenever the group name came up, I kept my mouth shut in case something got tangled, so thank goodness.
“It’s read ‘Evergreet.’ ‘Ever,’ meaning forever, and ‘greet,’ meaning to meet. Put them together and you get Evergreet. The exact debut date will be decided soon.”
Do they like it…?
I don’t think I need to ask. Everyone looks excited.
“I said it was a major announcement, right? The real major announcement is over. I’ll take questions.”
I grinned at the members.
Take care of me, my party members in a team project lasting at least seven years, with my survival at stake.
