"Do you have a favorite boy group?" MC Yenin from Lovelyz asked.
She smiled shyly as she met the eyes of the renowned actor Kim Jiwoong.
"Hm," Jiwoong hummed thoughtfully, lips curving into a gentle smile. "There's a group that keeps popping up on my For You Page lately."
The crowd erupted instantly.
Backstage, idols leaned closer to their monitors.
"Oh—this is big," Jisung from LoverBoyZ muttered.
"Yeah," Hanbin agreed, resting his chin in his palm. "You can already tell."
Yenin laughed softly, gesturing toward the roaring audience.
"Are you okay with saying it here?"
Jiwoong smiled again—effortlessly charming.
"He's really charming," Jisung added, eyes glued to the screen.
Jiwoong glanced at the sea of light sticks.
"Do you really want to know?"
"YES!"
The response came in perfect unison.
Yenin's eyes widened. Jiwoong chuckled, clearly caught off guard, then lifted the microphone.
"These days…" He paused, licking his lips—just slightly nervous.
"…ARCADE."
The screams doubled.
Then tripled.
Backstage, the sound pierced through the walls.
"Whoa," Taki breathed, eyes wide. "You can hear that from here."
Hyun-woo mirrored his expression, mouth falling open.
Onstage, both Jiwoong and Yenin covered their ears, laughing in disbelief.
They're insanely popular, Yenin realized.
She scanned the crowd—over twenty thousand fans, light sticks waving wildly, bodies jumping, voices tearing the night apart.
Jiwoong waited for the noise to settle.
"Thank you for the overwhelming cheers. And now—let's introduce our next performers."
He glanced at Yenin.
She snapped out of her awe and bowed slightly.
"Yes! And for our final performance tonight—get ready to have fun and enjoy!"
Jiwoong inhaled deeply, then shouted—
"LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR ARRRR—CCCCAAAADDDEEE!!!"
The lights cut.
Total darkness.
The stadium seemed to inhale all at once—then freeze.
Silence crashed down, heavy and suffocating.
"Oh my gosh… oh my gosh… oh my gosh…" a fan whispered somewhere in the front rows, clutching her light stick so tightly her knuckles went white. Tears slid freely down her cheeks, unchecked.
Backstage, no one moved.
Idols stood frozen before their monitors, some with hands half-raised, others leaning unconsciously forward, as if pulled by something unseen.
A single piano note surfaced from the dark.
Clear. Lonely.
It echoed through the stadium like a drop of water in a cavern.
Blue light bled slowly across the stage, spreading outward like a tide, washing over the audience row by row. The massive screen flickered to life.
A voice emerged.
Low. Calm. Controlled.
"The legend of Narcissus," it murmured, unhurried,
"a man who loved only what he saw."
Seojun appeared onscreen—pale under the blue wash, posture immaculate, eyes steady and unblinking. He didn't look like he was performing.
He looked like he was confessing something ancient.
"So tell me," he continued, voice bare, unbacked, intimate,
"where did it go wrong?"
A low note rolled through the stadium, vibrating beneath the seats.
Several idols backstage exchanged glances.
"That tone…" someone whispered. "They're serious."
The stage began to lift.
Slowly.
Haejin and Daehyun rose beside Seojun, bathed in soft light, their voices blending seamlessly as they sang together—
"He was born of beauty,"
"praised before he could speak."
The visuals shifted: marble statues, mirrors cracking, hands reaching.
"Eyes like still water,"
"skin like porcelain,"
"a blessing sharp enough to cut."
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
Jaehyun stepped forward, his voice quieter, almost reverent.
"A prophet warned him," he sang.
"If you know yourself—"
The music pulled back, leaving space.
"—you will not survive."
The pause was intentional. Painful.
"So never look."
"So never ask."
"So never see."
Woojin emerged next, his smile soft in a way that unsettled rather than comforted. His tone was almost conversational.
"Many loved him," he said.
"Men. Women."
The camera zoomed in just enough to catch the flicker in his eyes.
"But love bored him."
The beat thinned, stripping away warmth.
"A girl named Echo spoke—"
"She vanished."
The group whispered together, voices overlapping like a haunting—
"Only her voice remained."
The beat snapped back—violent, sudden.
Rain exploded across the screen.
Crimson light flooded the stage.
Magenta hair blazed like fire as Rain stepped forward, his rap cutting clean through the air.
"Cold heart, pretty face,"
"Never wrong, never late—never to blame."
The crowd screamed.
"You want devotion,"
"on demand."
"Mad," he snapped.
The lights strobed.
"Mad."
"Mad."
He laughed once—short, sharp, almost cruel.
The lights died.
Drip.
A single sound.
Water rippled across the screen, slow and deliberate.
Silver light trembled, barely illuminating the stage.
Then—
Rowan appeared.
Not stepping forward.
Not rising.
Just… existing.
The stadium forgot how to breathe.
Backstage, conversations died mid-sentence. Someone's mouth hung open. Someone else's hand trembled where it gripped a water bottle.
Rowan lifted his gaze.
The screen fractured with light, shards of reflection splintering outward.
"So quick to judge," he sang, voice low, unyielding, carrying weight rather than volume,
"yet blind to yourself."
He stepped forward.
Slow.
Heavy.
Each step landed like a verdict.
"You were not starved."
"Not abandoned."
"Not broken by the world."
The music thinned to a single pulse, syncing with heartbeats across the stadium.
"You were loved."
A pause.
Long enough to hurt.
"And still—"
Green eyes locked directly onto the camera, piercing, unflinching.
"You chose only your reflection."
Blackout.
No sound.
No breath.
And then—
The stadium exploded.
The scream that tore through the audience wasn't clean or coordinated—it was raw, fractured, almost panicked. Fans sobbed openly, gripping strangers' sleeves as if to anchor themselves. Light sticks shook violently in the air, colors blurring together as hands trembled.
"Oh my god—did you feel that?"
"I couldn't breathe—"
"ROWAN—ROWAN—ROWAN—"
The chant didn't start immediately.
It built—name by name, voice by voice—until it rolled across the stadium like thunder, relentless and consuming.
Backstage, idols stared at the monitors in stunned silence.
Jisung ran a hand through his hair, letting out a breathless laugh. "They barely danced. Barely moved." He shook his head. "And I still couldn't look away."
Junho clapped without thinking.
The sound snapped the others out of it, and soon the rest of the group followed, applause breaking out in uneven bursts.
"I still can't believe they sang that without a backtrack," Taki said, clapping harder now, half in disbelief.
"Guys…" their leader said quietly.
Everyone turned.
Hyun-woo stood still, lips pressed into a thin line, eyes fixed on the frozen image of ARCADE bowing on-screen.
"I think," he said slowly, choosing his words with care, "because we had a successful debut, we're letting it get into our heads." He glanced at each of them in turn. "We're still rookies. And we have a long way to go if we want to catch up to that."
No one argued.
They nodded—one by one—sobering realism settling in.
In another room, six-year veterans sat rigid, expressions unreadable.
Y2Y.
All five members remained quiet.
Too quiet.
Woochan broke it first, his voice barely above a breath. "Th…these rookies," he said slowly, eyes still locked on the screen, "they're getting better every year."
Keeho nodded, gaze distant. "How does a group barely a year into debut have that kind of presence?" he muttered. "They barely moved—and it still felt…" He searched for the word. "…overwhelming."
Taemin exhaled through his nose. "Being good-looking helps."
"Aish—don't even start," K.G. groaned, sinking deeper into the couch. "They're visual monsters. I want to accuse SW Entertainment of casting faces first, but…" He sighed, rubbing his temple. "They're talented too. I'm getting insecure."
Woochan chuckled lightly. "Relax, hyung. We're not exactly hurting in the looks department."
It was true.
Y2Y was a carefully constructed team—Jonathan, a commanding main vocalist with drama-level visuals; K.G., whose dancing carried swagger and ease; Keeho, sharp-featured and magnetic as the main rapper; Woochan, steady and versatile in every position. A group built to stand out.
Still—
Jonathan licked his lips, eyes narrowing as Rowan's final line replayed in his mind.
"We're going to have to pull together," he said quietly. "I can see them rivaling us sooner than we think."
No one disagreed.
The nods were silent.
Heavy.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Every idol snapped their heads back toward the screen.
The bass detonated through the stadium, vibrating straight through bone and muscle, rattling ribs like a second heartbeat.
"EVERYONE—MAKE SOME NOISE!" RAIN shouted.
Laughter followed, loud and reckless. "Did you guys think we're done?" Haejin laughed.
Under the lights, his black-and-red hair and crooked smirk made him look sinfully sultry—like he knew exactly what he was doing to the crowd.
The response was immediate. Deafening.
"YYYYYAAAHHHHHHH!!"
"LET'S GO!" Jaehyun roared, arm slicing upward as he pointed skyward, head snapping cleanly to the beat.
ARCADE converged at center stage—one by one, fluid and precise—slipping into formation like pieces of a lethal machine.
Until only one spot remained empty.
Then—
Rowan stepped forward.
Not rushed.
Not hesitant.
He walked like the world was watching—
because it was.
The screams turned feral as he reached center stage, voices breaking, cracking, clawing for breath.
Rowan lifted his gaze.
Green eyes—sharp, luminous, hypnotic—locked onto the camera. A slow, dangerous smile curved his lips as he flicked his head back.
BOOM.
ARCADE exploded into choreography.
"Woah" Dana gasped, eyes wide, mouth hanging open.
Junho instinctively glanced sideways.
Taki looked just as stunned—eyes blown wide, lips parted, his face caught somewhere between awe and disbelief.
Onstage, ARCADE tore through the routine—powerful, punishing movements executed with ruthless precision. No hesitation. No lag. Every beat landed in perfect unison, sharp enough to cut.
Junho found himself nodding along without realizing it.
The sight dragged him backward in time.
HY-PE.
Trainee days.
Two names surfaced instantly.
Sihun.
The maknae who mastered facial expressions without ever crossing the line—never exaggerated, never cringeworthy. Every look intentional. Every glance measured.
And—
Rowan.
A natural.
No matter the concept. No matter the emotion. Everything he wore on his face worked. He didn't just perform the song.
He became it.
And watching him now—
Nothing had changed.
Fireworks erupted overhead, bursting into white and gold, washing the stadium in light.
Junho clapped—twice. Sharp. Decisive.
There was no denying it.
The best performance of the night belonged to ARCADE.
The camera cut back to them.
They bowed.
Not exaggerated.
Not triumphant.
Grateful. Controlled. Grounded.
Online, the reaction was instantaneous.
TRENDING #1: ARCADE Narcissus Stage
#2: ROWAN GREEN EYES
#4: "You Were Loved"
Clips flooded timelines—slow-motion edits, lyric breakdowns, side-by-side comparisons to classical art, fan cams zoomed shakily on Rowan's face during the final line.
Media headlines updated in real time:
"ARCADE Redefines Idol Performance"
"A Stage That Refused to Beg"
"Rowan's Gaze Stops a Stadium"
—
"Hello! We are ECLIPSE!" they said in unison.
"And today, we're doing a Q&A so you can get to know us a bit better," Minho said, shaking a bowl filled with folded slips of paper.
"Let's get started!" Diego cheered.
"Who's going first?" Minho asked, rattling the bowl aggressively.
"Oldest to youngest?" Seunghyun suggested.
"Youngest to oldest?" Jiwoo countered.
"Oldest to youngest it is," Minho decided. "Grab one, hyung."
He held the bowl out to Kai.
Kai dipped his hand in, deliberately swirling the papers around.
"I have to make sure I get a good one," he said with a grin.
Diego chuckled.
Kai finally pulled one out.
"'Who is the funniest member?'" he read.
"Ooooooh," the others chorused.
"This is hard," Taeyang said, resting his chin on his hand. "We have a lot of comedians in this group."
"Yeah, but there is one that stands out," Kai said confidently. "I think Diego is the funniest."
"Mmm… I don't know," Jiwoo said skeptically. "I think Diego laughs the most. The funniest is between Minho-hyung and Seunghyun-hyung."
"Me?!" Seunghyun exclaimed.
Kai burst out laughing. "These two—" he pointed between Minho and Seunghyun, "—they argue nonstop. Every argument turns into a roast battle. It's hilarious."
Jiwoo laughed and gave Kai a thumbs-up. "They get mad over the dumbest things, and somehow we're the ones suffering—because we can't stop laughing."
Diego suddenly cracked up. "Remember when Seunghyun was eating ramen and refused to share with Minho-hyung, and Minho-hyung said Seunghyun was big enough to be a stage platform?"
Kai cackled—full dolphin laugh—while Minho and Jiwoo collapsed.
Seunghyun stared straight into the camera, completely deadpan.
"Okay. Final vote. Who's the funniest?"
"For me, it's Diego," Seunghyun said firmly.
Taeyang sighed. "Honestly… we all have our days."
Seunghyun snatched the bowl. "Your turn, Taeyang-hyung."
Taeyang pulled out a slip.
"'Who is most likely to start a fight?'" He didn't even hesitate. "Minho."
Minho froze mid-laugh. "Wait—what?"
"I agree with Taeyang–hyung," Seunghyun nodding fiercely. "Minho always starts arguments."
"I think it's you," Diego shot back at Seunghyun.
Seunghyun made a face.
"It's Minho," Kai said immediately.
"Either Minho-hyung or Seunghyun-hyung," Jiwoo added.
"Minho-hyung, you're next," Diego said, handing him the bowl.
Minho reached in and read aloud,
"'Who would survive a zombie apocalypse?'"
"Ooooooo."
"I volunteer," Diego said, raising his hand.
"Same," Seunghyun nodded.
Minho snorted. "Seunghyun, you'd die first."
"The first to die would be you," Seunghyun snapped. "Your mouth is so big the zombies would get annoyed and take you out first."
Minho frowned. "Says the one who eats everything. You'd finish all our supplies."
Seunghyun scoffed. "Out of all of us, Kai-hyung and Diego eat the most. My appetite is tiny compared to theirs."
Minho pressed his lips together. "And yet… despite all that food, I'm still taller than you."
"Oooooo," Jiwoo and Diego exchanged a glance
Kai grinned.
"This is why I said that Minho starts the arguments," Taeyang said calmly.
Seunghyun doubled over laughing.
While MInho flashed an indignant look.
They all laughed.
"I think Diego or Kai would survive," Taeyang said. "They do a lot of stupid things that should get them injured—but somehow they're always fine."
Jiwoo wiped tears from his eyes. "I think Taeyang-hyung would survive."
"Same," Kai nodded. "You're the smartest and most logical."
Taeyang's eyes widened. "Seriously?"
"Yeah," Jiwoo said. "You're the only one in this group who has good grades and has the most common sense."
"Okay, hyung—you're next," Jiwoo said.
Seunghyun pulled a slip and and read it before immediately burst out laughing.
"'Who is the shortest member?'"
Everyone laughed—except Diego.
Diego crossed his arms. "I already know where this is going."
"I'll just say this," Seunghyun said smugly. "It's not me."
"We literally talked about this during our debut stage," Taeyang added, trying not to laugh.
"I used to be one of the shortest," Jiwoo said. "When I joined, I was like 166 to 168 cm. Now I'm 179—and still growing. I'm aiming for 183. I want to be taller than Taeyang-hyung."
"Ooooohhh I remember!" Minho said, his eyes lighting up. "Diego used to be taller than Jiwoo. Back then they were only 12 or 13 years old and Diego was already 171cm, he was only 3 cm shorter than me back then"
Jiwoo nodded. "Diego has not grown since then,"
Diego shook his head in defeat. "I peaked in elementary school."
"Tell them your height," Minho urged.
"I'm 171 cm," Diego admitted. "But I'm still growing! I drink a lot of milk."
The members immediately burst into laughter.
"Don't laugh—he's still growing," Kai said, casually wrapping an arm around Diego's shoulders.
He leaned in, lowering his voice so only Diego could hear.
"You're going to grow taller."
Diego turned his head slightly.
Kai was close—too close. Close enough that Diego caught the curve of his smile, the familiar sharpness of his features softened by warmth. He'd grown used to seeing Kai like this every day, yet every once in a while, it still caught him off guard.
"You think so?" Diego asked quietly.
"I do," Kai said. "I've never told you this, but I had my growth spurt later than most people. My first one hit when I was sixteen, then barely anything… and at eighteen, I suddenly grew again." He nudged Diego lightly. "Just keep eating a lot."
Diego huffed a laugh. "That part, I can do."
"That's enough laughing," Taeyang cut in, saving Diego from further teasing.
"My turn!" Jiwoo announced eagerly.
He reached into the bowl and unfolded a slip of paper.
"'Who has had the most girlfriends in the group?'" Jiwoo read aloud.
The room went silent.
Then—
"Ooooooo."