“Has anything happened? Have you been paying attention? What is the point of you being taller than me, what a waste!”
“Some agency people were walking around. I think they’re having technical issues.”
“Huh. Here, get online and do some digging. I saw news vans around the corner. Maybe they’ve got something.”
“Right. We need intel.” Jooney dutifully begins searching on his phone. Meanwhile, Freddie tows him along beside her, steadily getting closer to the stage through an effective mix of pointy elbows and shouting, “Look! It's Jaehwan from Apollo!” at the top of her lungs. The latter method never fails to get people moving.
Freddie’s slash and burn strategy wins them a spot with a downright decent view. “Much better,” she says. “Okay, Chun. It’s tea time.”
The footage goes black, then cuts to Jooney facing the camera. His khakis are hopelessly wrinkled and the sunglasses have relocated to the top of his head. He waits for Freddie’s signal, clears his throat, and then begins.
“Folks, we’re here at the Apollo event that’s blowing up the Internet and possibly half the universe. As you’re probably aware — because how could you miss it? — posts about a surprise event in LA started going up on the group’s socials not too long ago. Barely any details, of course, except for the address to a noraebang in the shopping center behind me.”
Jooney points to the karaoke bar’s neon sign. “I’m glad we decided not to bring Ma ‘cause this place is insane right now. The Apollo members themselves posted a video where they said a lot of things that I justreallywant to dig into. Now, I know tons of people online are already saying Apollo might disband —”
“They’re not disbanding!” a woman shouts at him. Freddie tells her in no uncertain terms to back off and quit obstructing quality journalism.
Jooney continues. “I definitely don’t have the whole story at this point in time, but my interpretation of their livestream was that they want to clear things up with fans, make sure people are aware of some shady things happening behind the scenes at Emerald Entertainment. So I wouldn’t panic just yet and start freaking out about a disbandment —”
The woman from earlier squawks at him again. “Apollo hasn’t disbanded!”
“And I just said to back off, Sharon!”
“Hold on, is her name really Sharon…?”
“The rest of it, Jooney,” Freddie redirects him urgently.
“Oh!” He produces his phone. The screen is already unlocked, and when Freddie zooms in, we can see that Jooney has pulled up an Instagram account. Almost tripping over his own words, he says, “Aside from what is apparently a fight between Apollo and their agency, we’ve got another twist to this story. It’s the fact that the group posted from the account of Emma Han — yes,thatEmma Han, the hairstylist, content creator, and influencer — initially as a livestream and then reposted as a recording with all of Apollo’s socials tagged.”
“You know who we’re talking about,” Freddie puts in, breathless with excitement. “We had her on the show last year when we went to Seoul Fashion Week. She’s @jiye_unnie on all her social media channels. You’ve probably seen her super popular haircut videos and K-beauty recommendations. A ton of them went viral. And if you missed those, here’s a reminder that Emma Han had some pretty big names as clients. We’re talking A-listers like Chloe Janssen and Riley Mendoza, just to name two.”
“I’ll have to watch all of this again before we talk about it on tomorrow’s bonus episode, but here’s the gist: this is going down as one of the biggest, most dramatic events in K-pop. Like, never mind that the group is openly facing off against the agency that houses them, that’s crazy enough. But why are they posting from someone else’s account? Where did they post this from? Looks like someone’s house? What’s the story here?”
“We did notice that all of the members’ personal accounts are currently featuring the same graphic. You’ve gotta wonder if the agency took over.”
“It’s a plausible theory. Anyway, according to a tweet from some very detail-oriented individual out there, Emma had 1.3 million followers on the platform at the time this video streamed from her account. As of right now, that number has blown up to around two million and still counting. Before this, she hadn’t posted in well over six months.”
Freddie sighs. “Unnie, if you’re watching, I’ve missed you. Come back and tell me which lipstick to buy. I need so much guidance. I’m an only child! You were the only big sister I ever had!”
“Are you processing this?” Jooney exclaims, pocketing his phone. “I have so many questions. I won't be the only one, not by a long shot. How is Apollo linked to Emma Han? Could she potentially tell us anything about what went down between the group and Emerald Entertainment? And why did she choose to come back to social media now after writing in her last post that she was done with it forever?”
He points at the camera. “Don’t worry, folks. We'll find out.”
42
Eunjaehadnoideahow Jiyeon contrived to find parking, but she did. They got out and navigated the rest of the way on foot, weaving through the crowd at a jog whenever possible.
“Where are the others?” Jiyeon called to him.
“Not sure. I got Max for a minute but then the signal cut out.”
“Let’s just keep going. I have a key, maybe the back door? We can take this street all the way there. Then you could just cut through the shop.”
It was worth a try. They certainly wouldn’t make much headway from any other direction. Wanna Waffle’s front door was beyond their reach, cordoned off behind a veritable wall of Emerald Entertainment security guards, barriers, and bright green tape.
In the shopping center parking lot, Eunjae sighted a temporary stage that had been built for the event. This, too, was on the other side of the barrier. Apollo songs thumped from the speakers:Blame it on Me,Win/Win,Trickster. The first wave of fans had been rewarded for showing up so early. Their prize was being allowed to vie for space in the audience, standing room only. Strangely, there wasn’t much of a festive air to the proceedings. If anything, there was an air of confusion.Did you see it? The boys posted a video. Do you think they’ll really show up?And then:Do you think they’ve been kidnapped???
Even from one street removed, Eunjae knew it when the event began in earnest. There was a perceptible shift in energy, an electric thrill that seemed to brighten the night by degrees. Namgyu’s verse inNever Too Latefaded out midway through, ceding the airwaves to a song that didn’t belong to Apollo. Eunjae recognized it asSecret Garden— a song by Jewell.
