#kkocnet

△ TRACK BY TRACK.

1] WASABI

A smooth and sexy pop track oozes confidence and charisma. With the goal in mind of making listeners feel unstoppable, the girls delivered with sharp lyrics and a catchy chorus. For their debut song, they wanted a song that grabbed people’s attention, and they certainly succeeded.

Writing credits go to all three girls.

The line distribution for this song can be found here.

2] YEAH YEAH YEAH

Having been in the spotlight since before their debut, the girls have been receiving disapproving words from critics since their trainee days. This pop track is a direct response to those who don’t support them, basically saying that they aren’t listening.

Written by all three girls.

3] DOWN

With lyrics that are catchy and memorable, the S.O.T girls bring forward a dance track that would fit right into a club’s playlist. This song was created from Zim making up her own song on the fly while the three girls were dancing around their kitchen. The final product was polished up by producers and writers.

Writing credits go to Zim and Yen.

4] FUEGO

Another charismatic EDM track that focuses on being one’s own hype man. With fiery imagery in their lyrics, the girls instill listeners with confidence and hype.

Written by Yen and Nia.

5] WOMAN

One of the first controversial songs released by Triptych. This song takes a feminist perspective on their current society. The girls received a lot of backlash for putting out such a blunt song, but it remains a fan-favorite.

Written by all three girls.

6] PICTURE PERFECT

The last song on the mini album closes out with an upbeat poppy reflection on how far the girls have come since their predebut days and how they are finally seeing their dreams fold out right in front of them.

Written by all three girls.

△ THIS ERA.

First off, they had a good amount of hype surrounding their debut thanks to the highly successful HBH Trainees 2014 project that they were apart of. 

Nia was easily one of the most popular trainees, so her debut alone was enough to gather lots of attention from the general public.

Because of their dedicated pre-debut fanbase, they were able to score their first music show win just a week after their debut. 

Their debut music video gathered 3.5 million views within the first 24 hours, which was a lot for an HBH group at the time. 

Shortly after their debut, knets were quick to criticize the girls. One of the biggest things they got attacked for was being accused of copying EXID’s charismatic charm.

Even though S.O.T and EXID never had any personal beef, Leggos and Artychs used to not get along at all because of these accusations. 

However, the air was cleared greatly when S.O.T and EXID performed a collaboration stage together at MAMA 2015.

They went on Weekly Idol the day after they got their first win and it was very clear to viewers that Yen did not like Doni and Coni at all. A lot of reaction memes were birthed from that episode.

Speaking of episodes, their YouTube show, Triptych TV, kicked off this era! It showed fans a more relaxed and goofy side of the girls. 

Some episodes included the girls promoting their mini album at a cafe, designing each other’s dream rooms, and doing mundane activities like grocery shopping and cooking.

As far as individual popularity goes, Nia was easily the most popular, closely followed by Zim, then Yen. Yen was only not so popular because people thought she had a bad attitude(and she lowkey did oop)

Yen also wasn’t so popular because she seemed to hang around male idols quite a lot. People accused her of dating almost every male idol she was seen around. 

Zim also was also dealing with body-shaming comments around the time of her debut, as she gained quite a bit of weight since her brief hiatus during her trainee days.

On the surface, things looked pretty fine, but behind the scenes, the girls were not doing so well. All of them were taking a mental toll on the drama they got caught up in. 

Tensions were high between members for a while. There was a period of time where they straight up didn’t get along (and you can kind of tell by their earlier performances - their chemistry is totally off). 

But towards the end of this era, things started getting better. Their friendship strengthened, they got the recognition they deserved, and their fan base grew tremendously.

△ ERA FASHION.

Primary colors were a must. Each girl wore their representative color on stage all the time. There was a time where the company wanted them to wear their respected colors off stage (at variety shows, airport, etc.) but then they decided against it because that’s cheesy and controlling.

A lot of fake fur (”I would rather show up naked than wear real fur.” - Yen, 2015).

A lot of checkered prints.

Baggy cargo pants with boots.

As far as hair goes:

Nia had shoulder length black hair with bangs. They kept it really simple, yet recognizable for their leader and center.

Zim had black hair that faded into yellow. Her hair was so fried from having to re-dye it every other week that during TROMME’s debut period and S.O.T’s rest period, she had to cut her hair. 

Yen had long dark brown hair that was ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS either in dutch braids or pigtails. They tried to give her like the ‘bratty maknae’ look to match her bratty maknae personality.

△ FANDOM BEHAVIORS.

During fansigns, fans proved to be just as funny in person as they are online. 

S.O.T would always die laughing at every fansign, which gave some great photos for fansites. 

Artych’s formed a really great bond with the girls because they were always so respectful?

Like they would hold up red ribbons together at airports to prevent the girls from getting mobbed.

The only downside of Artychs this era was the beef that they had with Leggos online. It got pretty out-of-hand sometimes, giving Artychs a bit of a bad rep. 

To prevent any unwanted press and publicity, HBH hired their own personal investigator, Detective Min. Hak Bonghwa as well as Vice’s manager accompanied the detective to the apartment. After taking a quick sweep for evidence, the only thing collected was Seokyu’s cellphone.

“Well, I can take this in for finger printing and searching. Maybe there will be some evidence on his device.” Detective Min reported, although he sounded bored. “Unfortunately, there’s not much I can do.” “What do you mean?” Minho asked, not believing the words he was hearing. “I mean,” Detective Min addressed Minho. “If there’s no sign of struggle, which there clearly wasn’t, and there’s nothing that might suggest a break in, then right now I’m forced to believe that Seokyu ran away by sheer will. In that case, there’s not much I can do for a runaway adult.” “Ran away?” Kane asked. “Why would Seokyu run away?”  Detective Min shrugged, reaching into his suit pocket. “My guess is as good as yours. Hopefully, the testing we do on his phone might give us some answers. Until then, if you fellas have any further evidence that comes up, give me a call.” He handed out his own personal business cards before seeing himself out.

JANUARY 4TH, 2020

“They’re calling off the case?” Minho exclaimed, a look of anger and disbelief etched over his face. Hak Bonghwa sighed, tenting his fingers together in front of him.

“Detective Min couldn’t find anything on Seokyu’s phone other than train schedules to Suwon and photos of his grandmother. There are no convincing leads and they wont dispatch anyone to search for Seokyu without a strong lead.” Hak Bonghwa explained. “I’m sorry boys, but Seokyu must have just ran away.” 

“And you’re just going to let him? You’re going to let one of your best vocalists just get up and walk away?” Cyth asked furiously.

“Legally, he’s not under my concern anymore,” Hak Bonghwa reminded them gently. “He never resigned his contract, and by the looks of it, he’s not going to make the deadline on the tenth. For now, Vice will have to continue as six members. I hope you understand.” 

Anger and frustration radiated off the Vice members, each of them trying to get themselves under control before they said something offensive to their boss. Realizing that there was nothing more to be said, Minho thanked Bonghwa for his time and got his group out of his office.

“Now what? Are we just supposed to carry on without Seokyu?” Joongji asked, his voice tight. The members stayed silent as they made their way to the elevator and down to the garage. 

“There has to be something in his apartment.” Woodam pondered out loud as they walked across the garage to their respected cars. “I’m gonna swing by his place one last time, if anyone wants to join.” 

After hours of searching through Seokyu’s whole apartment, Kane emerged from his bedroom with a piece of paper in his hands.

“Guys! Check this out!” He called his groupmates over. The boy group gathered around the flyer in Kane’s hand. It was an advertisement for an open mic event at a bar in Suwon. The date, January 3rd, was circled. “Didn’t Bonghwa say that the police found train schedules to Suwon in his search history?” Kane asked excitedly. “The open mic was yesterday, he must have gone!” Geonwu snapped his fingers. “Everyone check twitter. Our fans must have seen him there!”  Everyone pulled out their cellphones and sneaked onto their fake stan accounts, searching their timelines to see if anyone had spotted their groupmate, but nothing was reported.

The other girls let out small chuckles at the pet name. Haeun’s cheeks turned slightly pink, but she answered clearly. “I think it’s a matter of timing. I notice that Yeseo seems to be half a beat behind, which throws off Bian and Seolhee behind her.”

Rushi nodded, understanding where the problem laid. “Okay, then can Yeseo, Bian, and Seolhee try the chorus for me one last time?” Rushi asked. The three trainee girls nodded, although none of them looked thrilled to be called out. Rushi rewound the music before pressing start again. 

While the girls danced, Rushi squatted down in front of them, keeping a careful eye on their movements. Right where they messed up last time, Rushi noticed that Yeseo’s foot balance was off, causing her to be behind.

“Ah-ha!” Rushi paused the music, rocketing herself up to her feet and striding over to Yeseo. The newer trainee flinched a little as Rushi got closer, but the Chinese trainee ignored her. 

“Yeseo, when you’re doing this move,” Rushi did the footwork. “Your balance needs to be on the balls of your feet. If you use all your weight on your heels, you wont be able to get to the next position in time.” 

“Oh!” Yeseo sighed in understanding. “Try it out for me, just by yourself.” Rushi requested. The girl obliged, trying the footwork while Rushi sang and clapped her hands to the beat of the song. Sure enough, Yeseo got it right.

“Fantastic! Now, you two join in, ready?” Rushi addressed the other two, who hurriedly got into position. Rushi sang again, completing the chorus. When the three girls danced through the whole chorus, Rushi let out a very loud round of applause. 

“My god, they’ve got it! I think that deserves a quick water break.” Rushi announced. The trainees eagerly split up into groups, taking sips of water and stretching around the practice room. 

Haeun came over with her water bottle in one hand and Rushi’s water bottle in the other. “Thank you, honey bunches of oats.” Rushi accepted the water bottle taking a sip. “You’re the only bitch I trust in this house.”  Haeun shushed her friend. “You shouldn’t say that. If they overhear you-”  “So what? It’s a joke.” Rushi rolled her eyes, trying not to get too annoyed. “They’d understand the joke if they actually talked to me.”  “Kotori and Bora talk to you.” Haeun reasons. “Yeah, barely.” Rushi frowned.

Haeun sighed, looking over at the clusters of female trainees. “I kinda understand where they’re coming from, though. You do have a resting bitch face.”  Rushi scoffed, taking another sip of water. “I’m not a terrible person, though.”  “No, not always.” Haeun smirked, bringing her water bottle to her lips. “What do you mean, ‘not always’?” Rushi gave an identical smirk, shoving Haeun with her hand.  “No comment.” Haeun chuckled. Rushi let out a laugh, rolling her eyes at her friend. “But I think they wanna talk to you,” Haeun finished her thought from earlier. “But you’re gonna have to make the first move.” 

Rushi clicked her tongue, surveying the girls in front of her, wondering how on Earth she was going to get these tightly-wound young women to be her friend. Then, an idea came to her mind that was so genius, she cursed herself for not thinking of it before. “Vodka.”

“Ru, it’s only eleven o’clock.” Haeun gave her friend a concerned look.

“No, Haeun. I mean why not throw a little mixer at our dorm? We used to do that all the time last year, but I’ve never once seen these girls with an ounce of alcohol in them.” Rushi realized. “Some of them are underage.”  “That law has literally never stopped anyone ever. Plus the youngest is what, seventeen? That’s only a year off from eighteen.” Rushi reasoned. “We could just have like, a sleepover or something? Do a little spa night?” Haeun offered the safe alternative. Rushi chewed on her lower lip, having a moment of dejavu. “You sound just like Nia.”  Haeun furrowed her eyebrows. “What, no I don’t!”  “Oh my god, you’re my Yerin, I’m your Jaehwa. How cute.” Rushi pouted. “Yeah, except we’re not fucking.” Haeun chuckled.  “Not yet, anyway.” Rushi winked sarcastically. Their impromptu mock-flirting almost sidetracked Rushi. “Oh, you distracted me. Hold on,”  “Wait, Ru-”  Rushi brought her hands together in a loud clap, gaining the attention from the other trainees, who all looked over at her with a frightened expression.