There was a group that created a dance craze in the Idol world. Four-member idol group, Potato Pancakes. There were rumors here and there that the representative debuted after eating potato pancakes.

Popular cultural critics cited ‘Idol group with the theme of peace between nature and humanity’ as the secret to the survival of Potato Pancakes in the hard-to-sustain Idol world, but their secret to success definitely depended on their faces. They were good at dancing, but their faces were the cream on top. They were very popular, and even before their debut, they had a big fandom.

There was a slogan following Potato Pancakes since their debut, which was ‘4-1=0’. It meant that even if one member went missing, it would ruin their good combination. The fans came up with a new fad, and all the members of the Potato Pancakes were handed over an alias that went well with their group’s name and the slogan. Potato Kwon Seong-jun, Salt Baek In-hyuk, Cooking Oil Woo Hyun-seong, Soy Sauce Seo Yoon-jae. As a joke, they also kept Frying Pan as the name of the company.

The crisis occurred after two years of their debut. After working with their two mini-album and first regular album, they were about to release their second regular album. That was when rumors of a 5th member joining the group started to fill the ears of the fans.

[F**k, are you kidding me? 4-1=0, so why make it 4+1 now? Do you want to see the Earth blow up? Geun-soo?]

Kang Geun-soo was the name of the group’s representative.  Various communities fired comments and cursed Kang Geun-soo to the point that the comment section was overflowing. Chats like ‘If this is true, I’ll die after killing you’ were seen everywhere. Then one day at midnight, the second regular album of Potato Pancakes was released. And a picture was posted on the homepage of Potato Pancakes. There was one more person in the picture besides Potato, Salt, Cooking Oil, and Soy Sauce.

A shining, handsome face with large, mesmerizing eyes and fine lines that defined his face.

The new member joining the group had been formally introduced. The problem was in the second regular album. As soon as the new member joined the group, the Potato Pancakes’ production style had completely changed. The fans’ replies to their music videos were full of abusive abbreviations, question marks, swear words, and feigned laughter. The title song was a calming ballad with a theme of fresh love, coupled with an intro of epic piano performance. It had a completely contradictory atmosphere compared to the title song of the first album, where the intro had Vuvuzela being played in it, strong and fierce music notes included.

Words like ‘What the?!’ rapidly escalated in their Twitter page. The Potato Pancakes fan club Potato Legend was against the joining of the new group member. They even changed their name to ‘Potato Battle’ and ‘Potato War’. There were reasonable reactions like how their Oppas, who were dancing together, came to them and whispered while singing the song, ‘Love me, my beautiful angel’. They loved the unique group dance of their Oppas.

‘The Potato Pancakes will become an experimental idol group. In the previous album, they showed a passionate group dance. This time, I wanted to portray a boy band that can sing perfectly with their heavenly voices. I’m thinking of adding more hip-hop tones to their next album.’

Like a prosperous businessman, Kang Geun-soo, who appeared on the program, stated those words. On the screen, Kang Geun-soo raised his thumb and even smiled.  His expression looked like it was going as he planned. Only Ryu Seon-jae’s back was being continuously hit because of Kang Geun-soo’s plan.

[Seon-jae, if you have any conscience, get out, you b*stard ㅜㅜ]

“… How outrageous. Who are you cursing at?!”

I dragged the mouse cursor to the bottom right of the comment and clicked on the spam button. Even though I knew it would be counted only once, I clicked on it many times. My face crumpled while staring at the monitor, my mind was upset after seeing comments like these.

To the Potato Legend, the abrupt announcement of Ryu Seon-jae was like a fire that never died, hoping for the extinction of Potato Pancakes. Fans sweared and cried, saying that they couldn’t survive in the tough idol world while singing ordinary ballads and that the Potato Pancakes would burn out. They cursed Seon-jae; he’d ruined their Oppas’ future by enrolling as a member in the group.

“If you’re going to blame, blame Kang Geun-soo, the representative. What’s wrong with my Seon-jae?”

I turned my head and made eye contact with the person on the poster stuck to my wall. He had a bright smile, dressed neatly in a beige knitted sweater.

If it was true that people live longer because they were cursed, Ryu Seon-jae, the 5th member of Potato Pancakes, would live until the demise of the world.

But, I will always be his biggest fan and he’ll be my number one.