necnnights

[necnnights]

HANABIE OTAKU LOVELY DENSETSU

#╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ aesthetic.

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SICK ALEXA (2024)

#╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ eden.

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ZHAO LUSI for Tencent Video All Star Night 2023

#╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ qiuyun.

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ZHAO LUSI Tencent Vídeo All Star Night 2023

#╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ qiuyun.

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LUDA ♡ IT’S LIVE: SUPER YUPPERS!

#╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ hwajung.

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the prettiest girls (spoiler it’s all of them) 137/? ♡ lee luda

#╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ hwajung.

[necnnights]

EN PASSANT is the first US tour by fictional idol band NEON NIGHTS. Taking its name from the chess rule, the tour followed the release of the band’s first English-language album, LOOKING GLASS. It ran from February 18 to March 11, visiting nine cities. Along the way, they also filmed their first reality show. The special draw of the tour and of their show was a special cover of a hit (a generous term) song by another band from the same city.

SET LIST

[ LISTEN HERE. ] The tour’s set list showcased songs in all three languages the band promotes in, separated into different segments by language. Opening like their latest album, LOOKING GLASS, the set list begins with LIKE A VILLAIN and JABBERWOCK. The introduction is then followed by JEALOUSY, the second single off their debut Japanese album INTENTION, and PERFECT, another track off Looking Glass.

The second segment is a tiny selection of their greatest Japanese hits: debut single WE ARE, arguably their biggest hit DICE, and fan-favorite HIKIKOMORI ROCK. The next segment is also in English, including THAT WON’T SAVE US from INTENTION, and new tracks MONSTERS and I THOUGHT I SAW. In the interest of time, these songs were cut from a few of their shows. 

The longest section by far is a selection of the band’s favored and most popular Korean tracks. It opens with ROCK N ROLL and DIVE, two b-sides from their most recent Korean EP, MIDNIGHT. They’re followed by three songs from the band’s most beloved album, NEW ISLAND OF UTOPIA: (NO MORE) UTOPIA, MORE, and STAND UP! The segment concludes with their debut Korean song, FLY AWAY.

The final part of the show begins with both songs of 2020 single ORDINARY: the titular track and b-side ARE YOU SCARED OF ME YET? In a deliberate mirroring of the show’s opening, each performance ends with WONDERLAND and RUNNING OUT OF TIME, the last two tracks on Looking Glass.

THE COVERS

In addition to their original songs, Neon Nights revisited their cover band roots with a special cover performance at each show. They also brought back their usual rotation of covered songs and current popular kpop songs. The most popular of these are Paramore’s MISERY BUSINESS, Avril Lavigne’s WHAT THE HELL, IVE’s I AM, and (G)I-DLE’s QUEENCARD.

#srb :)

[necnnights]

EN PASSANT is the first US tour by fictional idol band NEON NIGHTS. Taking its name from the chess rule, the tour followed the release of the band’s first English-language album, LOOKING GLASS. It ran from February 18 to March 11, visiting nine cities. Along the way, they also filmed their first reality show. The special draw of the tour and of their show was a special cover of a hit (a generous term) song by another band from the same city.

SET LIST

[ LISTEN HERE. ] The tour’s set list showcased songs in all three languages the band promotes in, separated into different segments by language. Opening like their latest album, LOOKING GLASS, the set list begins with LIKE A VILLAIN and JABBERWOCK. The introduction is then followed by JEALOUSY, the second single off their debut Japanese album INTENTION, and PERFECT, another track off Looking Glass.

The second segment is a tiny selection of their greatest Japanese hits: debut single WE ARE, arguably their biggest hit DICE, and fan-favorite HIKIKOMORI ROCK. The next segment is also in English, including THAT WON’T SAVE US from INTENTION, and new tracks MONSTERS and I THOUGHT I SAW. In the interest of time, these songs were cut from a few of their shows. 

The longest section by far is a selection of the band’s favored and most popular Korean tracks. It opens with ROCK N ROLL and DIVE, two b-sides from their most recent Korean EP, MIDNIGHT. They’re followed by three songs from the band’s most beloved album, NEW ISLAND OF UTOPIA: (NO MORE) UTOPIA, MORE, and STAND UP! The segment concludes with their debut Korean song, FLY AWAY.

The final part of the show begins with both songs of 2020 single ORDINARY: the titular track and b-side ARE YOU SCARED OF ME YET? In a deliberate mirroring of the show’s opening, each performance ends with WONDERLAND and RUNNING OUT OF TIME, the last two tracks on Looking Glass.

THE COVERS

In addition to their original songs, Neon Nights revisited their cover band roots with a special cover performance at each show. They also brought back their usual rotation of covered songs and current popular kpop songs. The most popular of these are Paramore’s MISERY BUSINESS, Avril Lavigne’s WHAT THE HELL, IVE’s I AM, and (G)I-DLE’s QUEENCARD.

#╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ misc. #fictional idol community #ficnetfairy #fake kpop group #kpop oc #kpop fanfic #idol oc #fictional idol group #no psd on the video i tried and it was hell #i think 480p has character

[necnnights]

Song Jia photographed by Leslie Zhang for T Magazine China June 2019.

#╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ aesthetic.

[necnnights]

LOOKING GLASS is the first English-language album by fictional idol band NEON NIGHTS. It was released on FEBRUARY 12, 2024. The album’s release was preceded by the lead single, JABBERWOCK, released towards the end of last year, and followed by a short tour across the continental United States. Production of the album was led by EDEN for the first time, though most of the tracks continued to be written and composed primarily by HWAJUNG. Looking Glass takes most of its inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. Like the majority of their previous releases, its main themes concern appearances, dreams, reality, illusions, and deception.

TRACK LIST

01. LIKE A VILLAIN Written by Eden, Go Hwajung, Choi Eunbyul Composed by Go Hwajung, Choi Eunbyul, Eden

02. JABBERWOCK Written by Eden, Go Hwajung, Choi Eunbyul Composed by Go Hwajung, Choi Eunbyul, Eden

03. MONSTERS Written by Eden, Choi Eunbyul, Andrew Han Composed by Go Hwajung, Eden, Andrew Han

04. I THOUGHT I SAW Written by Eden, Go Hwajung, Choi Eunbyul, Yumi Composed by Go Hwajung, Yumi, Choi Eunbyul, Eden

05. PERFECT Written by Eden, Go Hwajung, Qiuyun Composed by Eden, Yumi, Go Hwajung

06. WONDERLAND Written by Eden, Choi Eunbyul, Go Hwajung, Andrew Han Composed by Choi Eunbyul, Eden, Andrew Han

07. RUNNING OUT OF TIME Written by Eden, Choi Eunbyul, Andrew Han Composed by Choi Eunbyul, Eden, Andrew Han

ERA HIGHLIGHTS

Their pop rock era. For real this time. Altogether the album was a little less thematically cohesive than their usual work, but it’s also their first release in about a year. It’s a small miracle it was released at all.

Also for real this time was their first independent, solo variety show! It only took five and a half years. Moonlight Mysteries, a spin-off of their sporadic series of music production vlogs, Moonlight Melodies, followed the band members as they explored various major American cities.

The episodes were filmed throughout their first US tour. Each city had a different scavenger hunt in which the girls found clues to a hit song by a band from that city. The great reveal of each episode was that they covered the song at their concert in the city, complete with a short preview of the cover itself.

It was all very obviously extremely scripted, but it passed the extremely low bar of the band finally having their own show.

The covers were initially locked behind a paywall on their fancafe, but a few were leaked almost immediately. The rest of them were leaked by Hwajung, and then publicly uploaded to YouTube after that.

In what could possibly be a completely unrelated event, Hwajung’s Instagram mysteriously vanished following the leaks.

In other news, the album saw Qiuyun’s writing debut. The production was, in Eden's words “a long and arduous experience” and in Qiuyun’s “could have been worse.”

STYLING

#╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ discography. #ficnetfairy #kpop oc #fictional idol group #fictional idol community #idol oc #kpop fanfic #=love my beloveds <333

[necnnights]

🌠 for yumi and eden!

🌠 ── a song they wish they wrote.

YUMI … “I could have written Kenshi Yonezu’s KICK BACK. Then we’d finally have a hit.”

EDEN … “Anything. I don’t write the songs; I’m the glorified English translator.”

#╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ answer.

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💸 for all !!

SONG ASSOCIATIONS ASKS

💸 ── their favorite song to perform.

EUNBYUL ... “My personal favorite is DEMIAN. We promoted it on music shows for a few weeks. I think I was the only one who enjoyed it.”

HWAJUNG ... “One of my favorites is LIE AGAIN. It’s from our debut album, and I made sure it was on our set lists for a long time after that.”

YUMI ... “Mine is KICKASS! It’s fun and almost everyone likes it.”

EDEN ... “FORWARD. It's one of the only songs with a keyboard solo. No one else likes it. Can’t imagine why.”

QIUYUN ... “I really liked BAD GIRLFRIEND when we used to perform it. It’s a shame it was never released.”

#╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ answer. #they would all be sooo much happier if they weren't shady af all the time

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🎶 + hwajung!

SONG ASSOCIATIONS ASKS

🎶 ── what type of music they want to make.

“DICE was the first time I was fully in control. It's one of my favorites for that reason. Outside of our own music, I've always admired Maximum the Hormone. I want to do something like their older work—namely HEISEI STRAWBERRY VIBE—one day.”

#╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ hwajung. #ask tbt

[necnnights]

★ ⁄ SONG ASSOCIATIONS ASK GAME!

send in a muse and symbol to get a corresponding song for the prompts! these were made for creators in the fictional idol community, but can be enjoyed by anyone! if your oc does not write music, change them to fit however you please. will be updated if i think of anymore prompts!

🎼 ── a song that reminds me of my muse vibe.

⭐️ ── a theme song.

❤️ ── a song for a ship.

🎤 ── a song to describe their career.

💕 ── their current favorite song.

🎶 ── what type of music they want to make.

⚡ ── a spoiler for their next comeback.

🖊️ ── a song used in a writing piece.

🔊 ── a song they would sing at karaoke.

🌠 ── a song they wish they wrote.

☀️ ── a song from their childhood.

💼 ── songs they listen to on a long drive.

💸 ── their favorite song to perform.

💋 ── a song to describe how they love.

🎧 ── a random song from their playlist.

#<333

[necnnights]

In the years of their careers, NEON NIGHTS has built up a repository of unreleased songs, unarchived performances, and other lost media. The following are a few of the most popular examples.

PRE-ZENITH ENTERTAINMENT MUSIC VIDEOS (2016-2017). It is a well-known fact that the band had a past with a few songs released prior to Zenith Entertainment, namely their debut song YOU and follow-up single ASPHALT. While the songs are still available on streaming services, their music videos have been wiped from all official channels. It is rumored that Hwajung and her brother, former member Sungjae, both have their own copies of all of their early work. Neither of them have ever confirmed or denied the rumors.

INCHEON PENTAPORT ROCK FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE (2018). The performance that started it all, given that it led directly to their signing with Zenith Entertainment. Their set list was short and consisted mostly of pop punk covers, though they did manage to slide their own two songs in. As they were unpopular at the time, the recordings of their performance have been lost to time. 

PRE-DEBUT VARIETY SHOW (2019). Prior to their debut in Japan, the band filmed a variety show focused on the production of their album. A teaser for the show was released officially on their social media, but the rest of the show never followed. It was instead edited down into a half-hour documentary released with the deluxe version of the album. Qiuyun has been the most forward when asked about it, saying it “didn’t turn out as planned” and it’s “really regretful that it had to be that way.”

DEMOS, DEMOS, AND MORE DEMOS (2020). Their second Japanese EP, ALIGHT, released in three editions: a typical CD and booklet only offering, a deluxe edition with further behind-the-scenes content, and a collector’s edition with an extra CD full of demo versions of most of their discography thus far. The collector’s edition sold horribly, as it was for sale only in Japan for a short period of time. None of the demos were ever released digitally, and are generally known only the most dedicated of fans.

POP ROCK ALBUM (2021). Before Neon Nights’ official Korean debut, they performed at many small clubs and bars around Seoul. In addition to covering a number of other popular rock songs—fan favorites include Paramore’s “Misery Business,” Scandal’s “Shunkan Sentimental,” and Halestorm’s “Love Bites (So Do I)”—they also teased their own music. The most notable of these is the song “BAD GIRLFRIEND,” which was officially teased as a single on their Instagram before being quickly deleted. A studio version of the song was leaked shortly after their debut. It is highly suspected that the song and album were both of Eunbyul’s creation, but forgone in favor of Hwajung’s EP that aligned more closely with their Japanese discography.

SECOND HALF OF DEBUT PROMOTIONS (2021). Their debut title track, “FLY AWAY,” was meant to be promoted for four weeks. They had the shows booked. They had the schedules posted on their fancafe. In the first two weeks, everything went well. In the second two weeks, everything fell apart and nothing that was planned was ever released. It is presumed that they took the time to record everything, and the lack of official releases came from factors outside of their control. The band is surprisingly mum about the issue. They simply disappeared after their debut and reappeared months later.

LIVE-STREAMED PRACTICES (2020-2022). In attempt to market the band to young, always online kpop fans or create some sort of viral moment, Neon Nights live-streamed at least one band practice a week. This did not achieve of either of their goals, but rather provided the fuel for Twitter speculation along the lines of “why do hwajung and yumi always look at eden like she killed their dog 😭😭” and YouTube compilations of “eunbyul playing qiuyun’s parts for fifteen minutes straight.” The practice lived and died with Vlive, and the majority of the recordings in their entirety have been lost.

NEW ISLAND OF UTOPIA DELETED TRACKS (2022). The band’s first full-length Korean album, NEW ISLAND OF UTOPIA, contains nine tracks. According to an Instagram live hosted by Hwajung, the album was originally supposed to have twelve tracks. She even went as far as to play bits and pieces of the deleted tracks. The one that drew the most attention was "ILLUSION," though the general consensus is that it was better to keep that one in the drafts. 

ACOUSTIC REPACKAGE (2022). Hwajung and Eunbyul made no secret of the fact that they and their management wanted to milk New Island of Utopia for all its worth. This meant that in addition to the album’s promotions and its four versions, they were also planning on releasing a repackage with acoustic versions of a few of their songs. While the songs have all been performed live and unofficially released in YouTube videos, there appears to be no official studio recordings of any of the songs.

I KNOW I LOVE YOU — NEON NIGHTS VER (2023). The controversial title track of their most recent Korean release features Fable’s Andrew and Mingeun, an arrangement none of them seem to be very happy with. Eden, most notably, has voiced her disapproval of her lack of lines. She also revealed that a version of the song without the features does exist, but will probably never be officially released, for the simple and succinct reason that “Taein-nim said no.”

#╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ misc. #ficnetfairy #fictional idol community #idol oc #fake kpop group #kpop oc #drafts live on this blog for like 6 months not even exaggerating

[necnnights]

In which Yumi has an overdue conversation.

FEATURING: Kikuchi Yumi, Go Sungjae, Go Hwajung, Choi Eunbyul

SETTING: November 2023

WORD COUNT: 3.2k

NOTES: A direct sequel (very direct) to their last piece.

SUNGJAE, 2:42 PM: thanks? SUNGJAE, 2:42 PM: what is this abt lol

Yumi stares at the two texts on Hwajung’s phone. 

“I knew he wouldn’t admit it,” Hwajung says. She leaves her phone on the marble countertop and leans back in her bar stool as far as the chair will let her.

“He could be telling the truth,” Eunbyul says cautiously, tucking her hair behind her ear and leaning forward to further scrutinize the message.

“He’s always on his phone. He wouldn’t take two days to respond to me.”

“You haven’t said anything to him for over a week,” Yumi says.

Hwajung throws her hands up in the air. “I have nothing to say! What the fuck is he expecting from me?”

“A conversation,” comes Eunbyul’s response. She’s scrolling up through the history of their text messages, which are sparse with days and weeks between them. “You text each other like almost estranged friends. Nothing other than happy birthday.”

Hwajung turns to Yumi. “You need to talk to him. In person.”

“Me?” Yumi asks, shocked. He’s Hwajung’s brother. And Yumi never really liked him.

“You never liked him,” Hwajung says, as if she’s read Yumi’s mind, “so you have to do it. Out of the three of us, you’re the most neutral.”

She really doesn’t want to do that. “What if I ask Myunghoon to do it?” she asks. She knows their ex-keyboardist is on better terms with him than any of the three of them.

Now Eunbyul is staring at her too. “You’re dating him again?”

Yumi nods. Their activities have been stagnant for a few months now, and so she reached back out to him and asked if he wanted to get a drink. One thing led to another, and now they’ve settled somewhat uneasily into their years old routine of girlfriend and boyfriend. She knows he deserves someone better than her, someone who isn’t constantly jet-setting across the Sea of Japan every few months. It’s hard for someone as consistent as him to date someone as inconsistent as her.

“He’s a coward,” Hwajung says with a scoff. “Sungjae would deny it, and Myunghoon would believe him. Yumi won’t let him do that.”

She says the last part with pride, and now the last thing Yumi wants is to let her down.

“Anyway, I don’t see what you see in him at all. He’s like a wet piece of cardboard.”

“Mingeun,” Yumi reminds her, because if Myunghoon is a wet piece of cardboard, then Mingeun is a slightly damp one, at the very least. She knows it was her fault for pushing him to ask Hwajung out, but it was for her own sanity. She couldn’t stand seeing Hwajung giggling over her phone and waking up much too early to spend time with him and kicking her feet and twirling her hair in a way that was so much unlike her. To be honest, Yumi had expected them to date for a few months before breaking up, and then Hwajung would be back to the person she knows.

Yumi shifts uncomfortably under the force of Hwajung’s glare.

“Sungjae,” Eunbyul prompts, and that redirects both of their attentions.

“You have to talk to him,” Hwajung says squarely, suddenly unemotional and logical. “I’m his sister. Eunbyul-unnie is his ex-girlfriend. That leaves only you.” 

She remembers Eunbyul’s break up almost like it was yesterday: the utter silence that terrified high school Yumi and nearly fractured the band, Sungjae’s despondence and desperation to get Eunbyul back, and the cold shoulder she gave all of them for months until she finally told Hwajung and Yumi she was a lesbian. It’s an understatement to say Sungjae isn’t on good terms with her, so Yumi resigns herself to her fate.

It’s much, much harder to get hold of Sungjae than it should be. He reads her text asking if they can meet and catch up within the first five minutes. Then he goes four days without responding.

(“I told you so,” Hwajung says smugly when Yumi complains.)

They pick a date and a place. Then something comes up half an hour before, and Sungjae cancels just as Yumi finishes getting ready. 

(“Don’t dress up for him,” Hwajung says disapprovingly, but Yumi needs to intimidate him.)

Yumi goes out anyway, taking Eden with her. She regrets it a few hours later as she holds Eden’s hair back while she throws up in the parking lot outside of their apartment building.

Sungjae cancels a second time, and then a third.

Yumi suggests she visit the Go household instead.

Hwajung is horrified. “That’s his home territory. You can’t do that. And you know my parents would take his side.”

Yumi does know that, but Sungjae is pissing her off so much that by the time their meeting is finalized, she’s in such a foul mood she doesn’t want to go.

“I should make him wait,” she says as she curls her bangs into soft waves, staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

“He’ll leave if you aren’t there on time then blame it on you,” Hwajung says from right outside the doorway.

So Yumi goes, scowl fixed permanently to her face.

She beats him to the restaurant, and chooses the seat of their reserved table with the view of the entrance. Then she waits.

Sungjae doesn’t arrive until twenty minutes after their agreed upon time. By then, Yumi is almost finished with her first two plates, because she needs to eat to keep from grinding her teeth to shreds.

Sungjae offers no explanation. He doesn’t say hello. He just sits in the seat opposite her and picks up the menu. Then he says, "I thought you had higher standards than conveyor belt sushi."

In any other circumstance, she would. She watches Sungjae flag down a waiter and order a fuckton of sashimi. Surreptitiously, Yumi starts a voice recording on her Notes app. Then she places her phone face down on the table in front of her.

Sungjae looks up at her and says, "You're paying, right?"

She silently points out the individual plate slots on the side of the table closest to the conveyor belt.

"Separate checks," she says, reveling in the way Sungjae's face morphs with displeasure.

"I heard you're going out with Myunghoon again," he says suddenly. "Trying to two-time him again with me? You know that would destroy a guy like him."

Yumi cuts him off. "Shut up. I wouldn't fuck you, even if we were the last two people in the world."

She’s never cheated on him. She’s seen other people when they weren’t seeing each other. She figures Sungjae is projecting.

"Not for the future of humanity?" Sungjae asks jokingly, but in such a sleazy manner it makes her want to rip his throat out.

Yumi tells herself she’s doing this for Hwajung and sits on her hands. She doesn’t want to be here for any longer than she has to, and at the rate things are going, it’s already been too long. So she gets straight to the point when she states, factually, “You wrote Jaesun’s album.”

Sungjae looks at her with a calm expression. Then he picks a toro plate off the conveyor belt. Yumi expects him to lie, to ask who Jaesun is, to say he hasn’t written music for anyone she would know.

She watches him pick up one of the pieces and then chew for a few minutes. Eventually, he swallows, and says, “Actually, I wrote both of Jaesun-ssi’s albums.”

“Okay,” Yumi says, slightly stunned. She didn’t expect him to admit to it so easily. “Why?”

“Because it’s a job,” Sungjae says, like it’s obvious. “I owed a favor to one of my friends who knows one of his friends. It’s mutually beneficial. Symbiotic.”

It makes sense, but she doesn’t like it. 

“Did you know he was part of our company?”

Sungjae’s expression contorts into an ugly grimace, but his words are smooth and pleasant. “I didn’t. It's a coincidence. Small world, isn't it? Does this have anything to do with my sister? Is that why you wanted to talk?"

"Yes," Yumi says, because unlike him, she doesn't see the point in lying. She also sees how he tried to change the subject. “How could you not know he was a Zenith artist?”

She could think of a number of plausible reasons. It’s possible they never talked about it. It could be Jaesun’s fault. Sungjae could have forgotten the transgressions Taein supposedly committed against him. Yumi finds the last reason extremely unlikely. She doesn’t say any of them out loud so as to not give him any ideas.

“We have a strictly professional relationship. He never mentioned his company,” Sungjae says. He gives her a pointed look, and adds, “Something you’re clearly unfamiliar with. Fucking Myunghoon-ah and all.”

Yumi clenches her teeth and chews furiously. She refuses to let him get a rise out of her. “We’re talking about Jaesun,” she says, teeth still clenched.

“We talked about Jaesun-ssi,” Sungjae says. He tilts in head in what must be faux innocence. “There’s nothing else to say.”

There is. There has to be. Yumi searches for anything else she can ask, though she briefly wonders if she should cut her losses and leave. Sungjae can gorge himself on as much sashimi as he can afford. She doesn’t fucking care.

“Why did you write a rock album?” she asks.

“Jaesun-ssi is the first person who’s commissioned me who let me do what I want,” he says. “I suppose I was a little like Icarus.” He grins. “Get it? Because his name is Jason, like the Greek hero—”

“I get it,” Yumi interrupts. She doesn’t find him funny.

“I miss it,” Sungjae continues, staring down at his plate. He suddenly looks like the young man he is, having lost most of the bravado he walked in with. “We had something special.”

She won’t feel bad for him, no matter how much he tries to gain sympathy from her. “You could start another band.”

“I can’t,” he snaps quickly. “I don’t get along with Hwajung anymore but she’s—”he swallows hard—”she’s a really talented musician. And Eunbyul-noona? You’ll never find anyone else willing to give up a professional symphony career to be in an indie band with their high school friends.”

Hwajung is going to love that. She’ll probably hold it over her brother for the rest of their lives, and then Sungjae will also hate Yumi for luring him here under not quite honest pretenses and recording their conversation. She waits to hear her name.

A beat later, Sungjae belatedly adds, “I’m sure your bass-playing has improved.”

He never mentions Myunghoon. Yumi makes a mental note to let him know later, because it seems like the polite thing to do. 

“You know too, don’t you?” he asks. “It was different when it was the five of us.”

Yumi nods hesitantly, because she does know. It was different. She also knows she has different reasons for thinking that. Her reasons start and end with Eden and Qiuyun, and have absolutely nothing to do with Sungjae and Myunghoon.

Sungjae leans back in his seat. “Fucking Lee Taein.”

“Fucking Lee Taein,” she echoes, though again, for different reasons. She knows he has a grudge against Taein. She just needs to connect it back to Jaesun and his new work.

“So what else are you up to now? Other than writing music for my company’s newest artist?” Yumi asks.

Sungjae’s eyes narrow, and all of the earlier camaraderie from minutes ago disappears in an instant. His sashimi is barely touched. “I write music,” he says slowly, “for other people who hire me. I’m the ghost writer for a pretty popular indie rock band that sounds almost like the way we used to. I would say you might like them, if Neon Nights didn’t sound the way it does.”

“I like Hwajung’s music better than yours.” She knew it was the wrong thing to say, but she wanted to say it anyway. 

He glowers. “Fine. See if I fucking care when the band fucking falls apart.” He starts shoveling the remnants of his meal into his mouth. 

They’re already falling apart, threatening to tear at the seams. There’s no way Sungjae can know what’s going on internally. In public, they’re the picture of poise and friendship, once you look past Yumi’s forced smiles and the way Hwajung has never stood next to Eden or Qiuyun for five years.

“If we were going to fall apart without you, it would have already happened,” Yumi says.

“Oh, it won’t be because of you,” Sungjae says with a half-smile, seemingly to himself, and seemingly shark-like. “It’ll be because of fucking Taein.”

She feels like she’s missed some big reveal, and waits for him to say more. It doesn’t make much sense to her. He hates Taein, understandably, but he works with Jaesun. In fact, he’s instrumental to Jaesun’s continued success.

“If you hate Taein-nim so much, then why would you choose to work with Jaesun?” she asks carefully.

Sungjae’s shark-esque smile doesn’t leave his face. “Yumi-ah, you can’t seriously think I enjoy working for him. He’s insufferable.” He slams his now empty plate down the chute. “How the fuck do I pay?”

Two days later, Yumi kneels outside the door to Fable’s practice room and picks the lock with two hairpins. Eunbyul and Hwajung stand on either side of her, keeping watch, though it’s unlikely any of the room’s true occupants will have a need for it at three in the morning. 

“I don’t see why we couldn’t have met in our own room,” Eunbyul complains softly.

“What if Eden has a sudden burst of inspiration and decides she needs to be there?” Hwajung whispers back.

A pin clicks. “She wouldn’t do that,” Yumi says. She roots around for the next one.

A few tense minutes later, the last pin moves into place, and she rotates the lock with her second hairpin. Hwajung tries the handle and the door opens smoothly and silently.

They can’t risk turning the light on and having it visible from the outside, so they use the light of their phone flashlights instead. It casts the room and each other in an eerie light, illuminating only circles at a time.

“They don’t need all of this space,” Hwajung says.

“There are eight of them,” is Eunbyul’s response. “No. Seven? Six? Five?”

Yumi has no idea how many people are in Fable, and she couldn’t care less.

Hwajung tries to prop a broom under the door handle. Yumi takes one look at it and says, “That only works in the movies.”

She tries it with a folding chair next, and that looks only slightly more sturdy.

They sit in a circle in the middle of the room, using Eunbyul’s phone for light. Yumi can’t help but think that if anyone comes in, they’re unequivocally and irrevocably fucked.

She finds her voice recording and skips over the first couple of minutes Sungjae spent shitting on her and Myunghoon. When she hears herself say, “You wrote Jaesun’s album” she lets it play.

They sit in silence until the end of the recording. Yumi watches the subtle shifts in expression in her friends’ faces: Hwajung’s half-smile in delight at hearing Sungjae recognize her, Eunbyul’s frown deepening more with every question Yumi poses and answer she receives.

When it’s over, Eunbyul speaks first. “I hate to say it, but he’s right about some things. It was so much different when we were in high school.”

“Yumi wasn’t there to talk about that,” Hwajung says. “She was there to learn if Sungjae is weirdly and creepily obsessed with us. And she did."

She beams, though Yumi doesn't feel like she learned anything new.

“He admitted to it,” she continues, clearly on a roll. She taps her fingers against the hardwood floor. “At the end here”—she reaches for Yumi’s phone and rewinds a few minutes back—”he blamed our future disbandment on Taein-nim. Then he clearly acknowledges that he doesn’t like working with Jaesun. It’s obvious.”

From the look on Eunbyul’s face, it isn’t obvious to her either. Hwajung’s conclusions are far-fetched, reading much too far into Sungjae’s words. Or it’s some innate connection the two of them have where they do understand each other, no matter how much she says they never have and they never will. 

“You were thinking about that when you asked him the question,” Hwajung says to Yumi.

It’s undeniable. Yumi nods.

Hwajung drives her train of thought forward. “He slipped up. He first said he worked with Jaesun as a favor. If he hates it so much and there was nothing else to it, he’d quit. I know he would.”

Yumi has never thought of Sungjae as a person who’d quit so easily. She stays quiet, because what does she know about him compared to Hwajung?

“It makes sense,” Hwajung insists.

Except it doesn’t. Not really.

Eunbyul voices the same thought as Yumi. “He could do it for other reasons,” she suggests. “Money, or connections.”

“The connection to us,” Hwajung retorts. “He isn’t doing it for the money. He cares too much about artistic integrity.”

“Sellout,” Eunbyul reminds her, and she falls silent. “And he’s ghostwriting. That’s not the behavior of someone who cares about artistic integrity.”

She takes control of the conversation in Hwajung’s brooding silence. “It has nothing to do with us,” she says, clearly exasperated at all the straws Hwajung is trying to grasp. “If anything, he hates Taein-nim and he’s trying to get back at him somehow.”

“By indirectly working for him?” Yumi finally asks. They both look at her like they forgot she was there.

Hwajung throws her arms around her neck. “I knew you’d see it too.”

Yumi gently disentangles herself. “He never said he chose to work with Jaesun on purpose. He behaved weirdly the whole night.” She tries to remember each detail of his body language and his expressions, though she’d rather purge the whole experience from her memory.

“He’s weird. And he did!” Hwajung launches into the same explanation she gave minutes ago.

This time, Eunbyul interrupts her. “Say he wants to sabotage us or Taein-nim somehow. What’s he done?”

They all fall silent, because none of them can think of a single time that Sungjae has ever done anything concrete against them. 

“Fuck,” Hwajung says eventually. For every conclusion she’s drawn, Eunbyul has matched her with something else that sounds much more plausible and mundane.

“It’s a coincidence,” Eunbyul insists with a yawn. “A strange coincidence, to you.” She pokes Hwajung in the arm. “I'd like to go back to sleep."

Yumi checks the time and is surprised to see that it's been nearly an hour. They've spent so much time talking about Sungjae—too much time, in her opinion—and have gotten nowhere closer to understanding his motives, or really, anything about him.

On their way out of the practice room, after rearranging the broom and the chair to their original positions, Hwajung suddenly asks, “Could you clip the part where he said I’m a talented musician and send it to me?”

Yumi obliges, right then and there.

#╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ writing. #╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ yumi. #ficnetfairy #fictional idol community #idolverse #idol oc #kpop oc

[necnnights]

ZENITH ENTERTAINMENT is a fictional South Korean entertainment company. It was founded in 2016 by former SM Entertainment executive LEE TAEIN, shortly after his supposedly amicable departure from the company. 

They are best known for their first and flagship group FABLE, who continues to be the only artist formed solely by the company. Zenith is also notable for the way CEO Taein notoriously inserts himself into the smallest of business decisions, and their refusal to take trainees since Fable’s debut.

BASICS

NAME: Zenith Entertainment

TYPE: Private

INDUSTRY: Music, entertainment

FOUNDED: 2016

FOUNDER: Lee Taein

HEADQUARTERS: Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

AREA SERVED: Worldwide

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 20+

ARTISTS

FABLE (2018 — present): eight seven member boy group

NEON NIGHTS (2021 — present): five member girl band

JAESUN (2023 — present): idol soloist

NOTABLE PEOPLE

LEE TAEIN (1969) … Founder, CEO, and Fable's creative director. Former SM Entertainment talent acquisition director. Played by Lee Byung-hun.

PARK SANGHYUN (1972) … COO and CFO. Has been trying to get a private office for the past seven years. Played by Lee Seo-jin.

CHEN YUXUAN (2002) … Taein and Sanghyun's executive assistant. Underpaid and overworked intern. Played by Liu Yu.

WOO HYEKYUNG (1997) … Social media & marketing manager. Has held the position since 2017. Rules the open office with an iron fist. Played by Park Soobin.

SHIN JUBIN (1985) … Neon Nights and Jaesun's creative director. Classics fan. Can conjugate ancient Greek. Played by Hwang Jung-eum.

KIM GAEUN (1981) … Fable's lead stylist. Co-founder of modern hanbok brand Shinbok. Played by Son Ye-jin.

HONG SHINUI (1975) … Historical consultant for Fable. Korea University adjunct professor. Historian specializing in the middle period of the Joseon dynasty. Played by Lee Tae-ran.

JEON DAEWOONG (1995) … Fable's manager. Former SM Entertainment trainee, 2014-2017. Always thinking about who he could have been. Played by Ahn Hyo-seop.

LEE AERIN (1990) … Neon Nights' manager. Not their first fan, but still their biggest one. Played by Tiffany Young.

NAM CHOHYUN (1998) … Jaesun's manager. Also his cousin. Otherwise unqualified for his job. Played by Han Gichan.

MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS

LEE TAEIN (1969) … 60%. Founder and CEO.

AHN █████ (197█) … 15%. ███████ Group ███. Played by ████ ███.

JUNG SEOBUM (1990) … 10%. Venture capitalist, representing Daehan Ventures. Played by Lee Junho.

████ █████████ (19██) … 7%. Lawyer, the eponymous ████ of law firm ████ & ███. Played by ███ ████████.

███ █████████ (1969) … 6%. Senior Superintendent in the █████ ████████████ ██████ ██████. Played by ███ ████████.

LEE JAESEOP (1995) … 2%. Idol, member of Fable. Played by Kim Doyoung.

#╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ connections.