Chapter 1367

<Chapter 1367> 1367. Spirit’s Atlantis

The waiting room door opened, and Pink Love confidently strode in.

There were seven women. As the current top idol girl group of Zone 6700, they all had outstanding visuals. Of course, their looks weren’t as overwhelmingly stunning as those of Pobitz members.

In a way that made their name “Pink Love” somewhat ironic, their outfits weren’t pink at all – it was a combination of black and white. Unlike their soft image, the outfits were chic.

“Hello! We’re Pink Love!”

Upon entering the waiting room, they greeted everyone enthusiastically. They were so well-practiced that their greetings synchronized perfectly. I felt a slight warmth from receiving their greeting.

“Pobitz here!”

“…Pobitz.”

“…We’re called Pobitz.”

“……”

On the other hand, our Pobitz members were full of character. While Miling spoke with some enthusiasm, Elena didn’t even open her mouth and just stared at Pink Love with a bored expression.

I approached the side of Pink Love, specifically toward their center – a confident woman with long black hair and an impressive cat-like face. She was Yen Yuri, the leader of Pink Love.

“Why has Pink Love come to see us?”

“There’s no grand reason. We’re fans of Pobitz. We wanted to meet you all. But… it seems Pobitz isn’t very glad to see us.”

“It’s because Pobitz’s debut stage is right around the corner… Everyone’s stiff with tension.”

“Aha ha… That’s true. You get tense when your debut is near. We couldn’t even eat properly on that day too. Still, we went around the entire broadcasting station’s waiting room to greet our seniors.”

Yen Yuri’s words subtly carried a bone of criticism: Why don’t rookies like Pobitz greet their seniors? Of course, I casually ignored Yen Yuri’s remark and looked back at my members.

“Is there anyone who has any questions for Senior Pink Love?”

“……”

All the members remained silent. Their reactions seemed like they didn’t even know who Pink Love was. It was an expected reaction since they hadn’t become idols out of a desire to be one.

“……”

A crack appeared in Yen Yuri’s smile. The atmosphere around Pink Love grew cold. It seemed they came hoping to receive respectful treatment from Pobitz, but our kids inadvertently offended them by not knowing better.

In this awkward atmosphere, I stepped forward.

“Since Pobitz will debut soon… Could you give us one piece of advice as a senior who has already debuted and is active?”

Yen Yuri recomposed her expression. Reinstalling her smile, she responded to my question.

“Advice? You guys probably don’t need it… Just perform as well as you did during practice. You’ve practiced thousands of times for this day, right? If I must give advice, it would be to greet people often. It may seem trivial, but surprisingly, it helps a lot in the entertainment industry.”

Thousands of times in practice…

I recalled how much Pobitz had practiced. Not even a thousand times, not even hundreds. There wasn’t enough time. At most, maybe eighty times?

Compared to other girl groups, our practice volume was dangerously insufficient, but…


, wasn’t the least bit nervous.

“They’re not ordinary girls. They were perfect during the last practice, so they’ll be perfect on stage too.”

And greetings? I had no intention of wasting time on trivial matters.

Knock knock knock.

Someone knocked on the door.

“It’s Chocolatz. We’ve come to greet Povitz. Is everything alright?”

David’s voice rang out. I nodded at Samara, and she opened the door.

A group of women dressed in chic dresses stormed in. The seven members of Chocolatz completely ignored Pink Love, who was sitting on the couch, and bowed deeply—90 degrees—to Povitz. It was a world apart from Pink Love’s casual head nod.

“Hello there! It’s Chocolatz! We’re honored to meet Povitz!”

For your information, Chocolatz was a third-year idol group.

I glanced at David standing behind them. David Kim, the director of Nar Entertainment, bowed deeply to me—another perfect 90-degree bow.

“It’s David. Congratulations on Povitz’s debut.”

“Eh, you didn’t have to do that.”

“No, it’s an honor to greet PD Sung and Povitz. Though I didn’t expect Pink Love would already be here…”

“Hmph. The rehearsal is coming up soon anyway. We got the greetings, so you can leave now. It’s getting crowded.”

“Yes. I’ve already arranged everything with the producers and staff of Music Kingdom.”

“Ah, good job.”

David left with Chocolatz, maintaining impeccable politeness until the end. As they departed, Chocolatz’s faces were stiff as rocks. Whatever David had whispered, fear lingered in their eyes when they looked at me and Povitz.

Pink Love could only stare blankly at the scene.

“Ch-Chocolatz seniors actually greeted like this… This can’t be real…”

Especially Yurina seemed to think it was all a dream, pinching her own hand.

Just as I found Pink Love’s reaction odd, Samara approached me quietly.

“Pink Love and Chocolatz have a notorious rivalry. Outsiders don’t know much about it… but Pink Love didn’t properly greet anyone when they debuted, which led to a fight with Chocolatz.”

“So there was some verbal sparring?”

“No, it was physical. They were pulling each other’s hair, no joke.”

I chuckled imagining that day.

With a shocked expression, Pink Love left the waiting room.

“Povitz! Povitz! Povitz!”

The audience filled with Povitz’s fans cheered loudly below the stage.

Managing and supervising Povitz’s fans was Samara’s responsibility. I watched as she worked hard calming down the excited fans backstage.

“Thankfully, the gender ratio among the fans is pretty balanced—half men, half women. Or maybe slightly more women?”

The worst-case scenario would be if only male fans swarmed around—but fortunately, that didn’t happen.

“Povitz’s visuals are good enough to attract female attention too. Honestly, even if I were a girl, I’d have to admit their looks are top-notch.”

I checked online reactions on my smartphone.

Thanks to Lilith’s support, Povitz’s debut news was plastered all over internet articles. They even topped the real-time search rankings.

“Still, how did they manage to hit number one before the debut performance even started?”

Smelled like manipulation.

“Meh, not bad.”

Time kept flowing toward the live broadcast start time—5 PM. The assistant director shouted at me.

“Povitz! Please take the stage! Two minutes until broadcast!”

I gestured for the members to head to the stage. Povitz made their way there, visibly tense as their debut loomed near. Even Yuria’s expression was subtly hardened.

“WAAAAH!!! Povitz!!”

The fans erupted in cheers, which lasted quite a while.

“The broadcast begins NOW!!”

As the assistant director yelled, music began playing through the giant speakers—it was the instrumental of Povitz’s debut song, “Date.”

“It’s finally starting.”

They began dancing on stage, wearing absurdly tacky costumes.


Even though they were performing, not a single strand of their beauty was out of place. Four fairies dominated the stage.

I couldn’t look away.

I found myself increasingly entranced by their voices and movements.

“WAAAAAAAAAAH!”

The cries of the fans snapped me back to reality.

They descended from the stage, not a trace of fatigue on their faces—not a drop of sweat. Yet their cheeks were slightly rosier than usual.

I asked Elena, who stepped down first, “How was it?”

“Not bad.”

Her expression, which had been slightly flushed, turned icy once more.

In the waiting room, I watched the music broadcast with Povitz. The final performance of the show was by Pink Love, the number one act in the music charts—apparently, they’ve held the top spot for three weeks straight.

‘We have to surpass Pink Love next week. If we can’t, we’ll need to scrap the whole strategy.’

Povitz, the ultra-super rookie.

The girl group that everyone’s been talking about since their debut announcement has finally arrived.

All citizens of District 6700 tuned in live to watch Povitz’s debut performance on ‘Music Kingdom,’ which usually hovers around a 50% viewership rate. But for Povitz’s debut, that number surged to an astonishing 65%.

“Povitz… incredible… this is going to change the entertainment industry.”

“Povitz! Povitz! Povitz!”

“Big sisters, you’re so beautiful…”

“At first, I thought their outfits were just country chic, but no… real fairies descended onto the stage.”

“What is this? The song itself is light and easy, but the melody… it won’t leave my head!”

Their debut performance coincided with the release of their music video online.

“This MV is so light, perfect for mindless viewing.”

“Wow… the visuals are insane.”

“Great visuals, great choreography, great song, and they’re under Lilith Entertainment, one of the big agencies… Povitz is definitely going to blow up.”

“There’s so little info on Povitz… how am I supposed to stan them if there’s no content?”

“Are they doing any events? If they do, I’m attending for sure!”

The views on the released music video skyrocketed. It hit 100,000 within 10 minutes, and by the time the music show ended, it had reached an impressive 500,000 views.

Lilith, monitoring the view count in real-time, let out a delighted scream.

“KYAAAAAAAK! Jackpot! This is insane!”

Her fingers furiously clicked the mouse as she checked the internet reactions.

Journalists bribed with money churned out positive articles about Povitz, and the fan cafe set up beforehand saw a rapid increase in memberships.

“500,000 views in an hour after the MV release?! At this rate, we’ll hit 1 million in less than 3 hours!”

In a region like District 6700, with a population of 10 million, 1 million views isn’t something to take lightly.

“Povitz has no choice but to blow up!”

She reaffirmed what she already knew deep down.

Rrrrrr.

Her smartphone, placed beside her laptop, began to vibrate. Lilith picked it up with a smile after checking the caller ID.

“Oh my goodness, Director! The Music Kingdom ratings went up to 65%? Incredible! Yes, I know… making such an impact alone isn’t enough to dominate the industry…”

Povitz had certainly made its presence known across District 6700.

Now it was time to showcase the charm of each member to the public.

“A program proposal? Don’t worry, Povitz will actively participate. As for appearance fees? We’ll keep it reasonable.”

Pushing Povitz into TV programs ensured that even if the public didn’t like them, they’d still be forced to see them. Capturing the hearts of the audience was Povitz’s responsibility, but given the members’ distinct personalities and charm, it wouldn’t be too difficult.

Lilith recalled Sung Yoojin’s words.

‘Securing dominance over District 6700 within a month… I thought it was impossible at first…’

Her gaze shifted to the laptop screen. The Povitz members in the music video shone radiantly.

‘Maybe… it’s possible.’