Seckoya is a fictional universe and home to Seoul 2.0, the alternate universe version of Seoul, South Korea featured in music videos and shorts of hysteria entertainments artists and official media content.
BACKGROUND:
Digital Cat (the CEOs of Hysteria Entertainment) had expressed in recent years that they wanted to differentiate themselves from other entertainment companies in the industry and as a result, the fictional universe was born. They promoted it as an interactive world for fans and a "digital playland" for their clients, who often don alter-egos within the world.
TIMELINE
Seckoya was first teased in early 2018 with Hysteria's first-ever idol group "girlsRus". In their last comeback before their hiatus, their music video "All Night" ended with the girls stepping out of a computer screen and into a purple-hued Seoul, 2.0, their images flickering as if they were not human but holograms coming to life. Beyond them were foundations of a building in its early stages.
In early late 2020, there was a short video on the company's official youtube featuring Alina Howell, a well-known model, and social media influencer under Hysteria depicting her documenting her "vacation" in Seoul 2.0 with various quick shots of social media posts and "vlog" clips, ending with her entering the resort and being met with a lively atmosphere
The building from the end of the "All Night" music video was confirmed to be "The Great Palms Casino and Resort", fully featured in HEROES music video for "Gambler", released in early 2021.
CLIENT ROLES WITHIN SECKOYA
In Seoul 2.0, the group is represented as holograms often seen throughout the city in advertisements and commercials, along with being models for top fashion lines. They are sentient holograms although portray themselves to the public as your typical A.I program with human-like quirks. They’re not straight evil nor good, just neutral. They have the power of mind control that their creator programmed to help brainwash the public into being interested in what ever it is they’re advertising or to buy things, which is why they’ve become so popular.
They operate as apart of a crime fighting unit for the police. They are protectors of Seoul 2.0's citizens and double as security at the resort. They go after some truly heinous criminals and have have enhanced human abilities such as looks/charisma to lure and mesmerize people, strength, resilience and eyesight. They are humans but were each specifically chosen as a part of an experimental drug trial in hopes of creating superhumans for the military. They keep things lowkey and are often seen as mysterious in their matching black suits and quiet but suave demeanors, almost as if they were apart of the mafia.
Street kids. They come from different but broken backgrounds. They’re often taking on petty criminals and protecting other street kids and run their own little compound as a safe haven for homeless youth. They see law enforcement as an enemy since they are always trying to break them up and take them in and are never nice if one of the kids is caught stealing (for survival). The girls are gifted in martial arts and kick butt left and right.
Staff within the company that tech company that rules over Seoul 2.0 and created girlsrus holograms. They are avengers, as well. A sort of...coven, perhaps? They use their powers for good. They go after those who have wronged vulnerable people. They can have dark tendencies. Sometimes their craving for revenge consumes them and can lead to them going “dark”, also known as self-destructing (engaging in behaviors that could be considered harmful to themselves). It may also lead to blackouts in the city as they often give off a sort of...electrical current if they don’t control their emotions well.
The kpop world was shook by bombshell announcement from leader of the former Starpunch girl group DIVIN3 when Sora announced on her newly created personal instagram that she was pregnant. The announcement came in the form of a heartfelt caption with a photo of her heavily pregnant stomach:
The caption reading:
Equisite.Sora It has been a long time, hasn’t it? This must come as a surprise to all of you but I hope you will understand and support us with this new chapter of life. We’ve been through a lot together and our story has been amazing but very hard on all of us. I’ve struggled these past few months with intense anxiety and fear of the unknown and just leaving the house became a terrifying thought for me. What got me through it all were my amazing husband and members who all understood the extent of ill treatment we had been put through for so long and never gave up on me or each other, my family, and our fans, who I hope will appreciate their special song.
Despite the intense loneliness and worry, I pushed through it all for us. And now we are to welcome two beautiful souls into this world and I have so much love to give them. I believe everything happens for a reason and the most important things will happen when we most need the guidance.
We must trust our hearts and take things in stride.
Soon after, a special video titled “To Infinity and Beyond” was linked on Soras instagram story and lead to her new youtube account simply called “SORA.” It featured video clips of the girls practicing, some very upbeat and some emotional and showing their exasperation, along with many interactions with fans and goofy moments between the members. The song featured was written and produced by Sora and Yua with the official title “Still With Me”.
Sora then went on to make a video announcing that she would be stepping down from idol life but would stay signed with Hysteria. The comments were turned off but the video itself reached nearly 10 million views in 24 hours.
Many fans were shocked but very supportive. With the recent drama regarding the girls former company, a lot seemed to understand her course of action and hold no ill will against her.
The hashtag “#ToInfinityAndBeyond” is currently trending on social media along with fans creating teary reaction videos to the song.
I am proud to announce that I have four nominations! Thank you so, so much to everyone that voted~ it really means a lot. Without further ado, the nominations are as follows:
- FAVORITE COLLAB: "Not Friends" by FUNFACTORY x Lovemonth
- FAVORITE OC FANDOM: aelife
- FAVORITE OC RISING STAR: Lovemonth
- FAVORITE OC SHOW: THE FUN FACTORY
Thanks again to everyone who nominated me and please consider voting for me in these categories! Voting form in the source link. Voting ends December 13th!
Solo artist Lee Jieun announced today on social media (via. screenshot of a notes app) that she will not be renewing her contract with Starpunch Entertainment. The post read:
"To my beautiful, loving and supportive Bebes all over the world, this is a difficult time for Mama Jie and I admit I have let you all down greatly. You've been very patient with me after being teased endlessly. Far too patient considering all the goodies I was giving you. I feel like a bad Mama taking advantage of your kindness and patience! hahaha!
But there are reasons I have chosen to delay my comebacks and one of them being my contract, which I have chosen not to resign. I will no longer be under Starpunch and that is a good thing, believe it or not!
I'm not leaving for good...I am actually working on furthering my career. While I love making music and performing, I also love the managing side of it as well. The creating of others like me...Of an empire. The idea that I can help young, talented artists grow and achieve their dreams is something I've wanted to do for a long time.
So please...wait just a bit longer, yes? Mama loves her Bebes very much and I promise, promise, promise everything will be fine!"
It came as a surprise to many fans, who have been eagerly awaiting new music for nearly 9 months after the idol posted a brief video teaser on her twitter account. Many were concerned after she appeared to disappear from SNS all together, being that she has always been very interactive with fans on all social media accounts.
UPDATE:
Lee Jieun surprised fans just three weeks after her original tweet by posting the following pictures with best friend and former idol, Cho Hyeonju of GIRLSRUS, who is now currently a vocal trainer at Hysteria Entertainment:
The caption reading: "I missed my good juju."
The two trained together at another company and nearly debuted in a different group before said company went bankrupt. Fans of both idols posted many excited responses and began speculating whether the two would collaborate together or not.
With all the recent news and mysterious comments from an anonymous user on videos of Starpunch artists, it is a wonder whether the company will last much longer.
Loona Atlantis (also known as Atlantis) is the fourth and final sub-unit of LOONA. They take part in LOONA's lore by being the missing fourth of the group, they are stuck in Atlanticy, a universe between Middle Earth and Edenism. The girls appear as cute, helpful, and nice to the other girls but only exist to keep them away from each other and that is shown throughout music videos, a more detailed explanation can be found here!! The girl's each had their solo debuts before debuting as three on August 18, 2018. The girls were not apart of Hi High and debut with the group with the release [X X].
» warnings :: mentions of alcohol and a drunk conversation about dealing with sexuality as an idol.
» word count :: 2.6k
» summary :: how louie became part of 'knowing bros'.
December 5, 2015.
Park Jinyoung PD said that all members were helping to promote the group individually, except Louie. He really didn't participate in anything that could help the group to become more famous, whether it was entertainment shows or other types of activities like being a radio mc, actor, and so on.
“Don't mind him, he didn't say that to call you out.” At least that was Nichkhun's words.
“Yeah, I know that.”
Louie was an introvert, everyone knew that. And on top of that a homebody who stayed home whenever he didn't have promotions. He loved staying home. But still, If he was the only one in the group who enjoyed his free time doing nothing, didn't that mean he was lazy? Maybe Nichkhun said that so as not to upset him, when in fact he thought otherwise.
Minjun spent most of his time in his studio composing songs for JYP artists. Taecyeon, Junho, and Chansung became actors and rarely stayed home on recording days. Nichkhun and Wooyoung sometimes participated in variety shows. But he was not doing anything. That's why those words bothered him so much.
It was when he was watching television in the dorm, feeling bored, that something caught his eye. He turned up the volume with the remote. The show was called Knowing Bros, it was its pilot episode. He barely recognized a face or two, as he was not used to variety shows.
“They need to answer questions?” He murmured, tilting his head. “I could do that.”
“What?” Asked the manager walking into the living room.
“Hyung, I want to be part of this show.”
The manager took a look at the television for some minutes. He folded his arms, looking to Louie. "Do you even know who are these people?”
“They're famous?”
“See, this is the problem.” He sighed, shaking his head. “This is a variety show. Like every other show, the hosts need to be funny and spontaneous. All of them have experience in this field.”
“But I appeared on some shows before, with the members.”
“Right, I remember the hard time you gave the hosts because you were too quiet. Your fans were angry thinking they cut your time on-screen on purpose.”
“My Korean was not good back then, that's why.”
“Louie, you need to talk and be funny. Are you able to do that?”
He understood what the man meant so he did not take any offense by his clear lack of trust. Louie knew he was not a bright and friendly person, being the most serious in the group, to the point that even staff and other employees in the company kept a distance from him. If there's a person perfect for this show, that would be Taecyeon or Wooyoung, not him.
But there was something else that most people didn't know about him, not even his fans: Louie was the type who hated being in his comfort zone, however comfortable it was. That's why he became an idol, in the first place. It seemed challenging enough to make him leave the Royal Academy of Music and move to South Korea.
“I know, okay? But you saw the way Jinyoung hyung spoke some days ago. If I don't change, I'm sure he'll be disappointed in me.”
“I'll talk with the PDs of Running Man and other shows where you can appear as a guest. Being a host is too much for you.”
“Hyung, if you don't help me I'll go see the PDs of this show myself and even beg on my knees.”
“Yah do you want to embarrass the whole JYPE? You punk!” He screamed pointing at him, “how can a JYPE artist beg on his knees, do we look like beggars to you?”
“So help me out.”
The man sighed again, covering his face with both hands and taking a long breath. “Fine, but don't get angry if they scold you for not doing the job properly. I said you're not cut for it.”
Of course, he would not show up on the broadcast station without even knowing the members. Later that same day, he grabbed his phone and started searching about everyone on the screen, opening multiple navigation tabs. The cast was surprisingly mixed between comedians, hosts, a singer, an idol, and even a former basketball player.
“I'm back,” Junho said entering the apartment taking his shoes off.
“Junho-ah.”
“Hm?”
“I am funny?”
“Nope.” That was his only answer before he opened the door of his room and locked himself inside.
“Aish, that brat.” He clicked his tongue, having missed the timing to throw a pillow on him.
Of course, Junho wouldn't find him funny. In fact, Louie could be funny if he wanted to. The problem was whether Koreans would find his type of humor entertaining.
The show's cast was almost complete since its first episode, so the director was caught off guard when he went to JTBC to say he wanted to participate.
“It says here you're not much familiar with variety shows. Why do you think you would be a good addition to the cast?” The director asked.
“I know I lack in experience, but everyone has a start point. Having a new face can be refreshing for the audience as well. The idea of trying to guess the answer to another guest's questions is quite amusing and I want to try it.”
And that's how he made his first appearance in episode three. This was mainly due to the effort his manager made to promote the company's name, saying it would be an advantage and boost in views to have both a JYP and SM artist on the same show.
But just like the manager said, variety shows were not something Louie could get used to fast. The first meeting with the cast was awkward, the first episodes did not reach high views, nor did he appeared much on-screen, everyone seemed to be funnier than him, especially Heechul, he was a natural host.
Eventually, Junho would tease him, asking if he was really part of the show. Nichkhun and Minjun were nicer about it, saying it was a good experience for him.
“To be honest, you're funnier in English,” Taecyeon said, and Nichkhun nodded.
“So the problem is the language, not me.”
“I'd say both.” They heard Junho's answering from the kitchen.
“Shut up.”
He did not want to be just eye-candy on the show, so he worked extra hard trying to fully understand Korean humor and how he could use it his own way. One day, he finally found the answer. As a Korean born in America, Louie had that unique flavor of a foreigner, so he started to mix Konglish a lot and be less conscious of his accent, answering questions with confidence. Although sarcasm was not familiar for Koreans, he worked hard in trying to convey it with his tone of voice and expressions.
By episode 46, the PD started to praise him more, his responses were creative and he figured out how to interact with everyone. Since most of the guests were women and girl groups, he had to get used to acting like a 'straight guy', which was not difficult as he's been doing that since 2PM's debut. He also tried not to get too excited when a boy group or an actor showed up.
“Hyung, you were funny on today's episode. Why are you so different at home?” Junho asked as they were getting prepared to perform on a music show.
“Shush, let me sleep.” Louie had his eyes closed and arms crossed while he was sat on the couch.
“See?! This is what I'm talking about.”
Unfortunately, the energy he spent while recording had to be recharged by spending most of his time alone. They were also promoting Promise (I'll be), which meant more energy to dance and sing. Still, he was pleased to be busy. It did not take more than five minutes for him to fall asleep when they got home.
“Chansung-ah, scold him for me.”
“Yah, stop bothering Louie hyung. He's tired.” Chansung did as asked.
“Everyone is tired, why he's the only one grumpy?”
“Lee Junho, if I get up from here, we're going to have a real fight.”
“Stop it, you two.” Nichkhun realized what was happening and intervened.
“He's always like this when we have promotions, why are you even asking?” Wooyoung tried to light up the mood, which made Taecyeon laugh nodding his head.
“Get ready, we're next!” Minjun clapped his hand to get their attention.
To celebrate a year since the first episode of Knowing Bros, the team organized a party at a small restaurant. Due to the team's size, half of the tables in the restaurant were occupied by them. They ordered snacks first, but it did not take a long time for the tables to be filled with bottles of soju and beer.
“Come on, let's drink!” Woon Hyuk, the director shouted with the beer glass raised.
Everyone cheered in response, also raising their glasses. The beer tasted too strong, so Louie decided to stick with soju and bulgogi skewers as a snack.
“Louie, your cup is empty already.” Heechul, who was sat right next to him, noticed.
“The maknae's glass is empty! Let me fill it for you~” Hodong already seemed to have had quite a bit of drinking, as his tone seemed cuter and he was doing aegyo without even noticing.
Louie quickly held out his glass for the man to pour more, politely thanking him. In fact, he didn't want to drink that much, just eat, but it was rude to deny a drink offered by an older person.
But the thing is, everyone there was older than him. First, it was Hodong, then Soo Geum, Young Chul, Jang Hoon, Sang Min, Kyung Hoon, and even Heechul. He already had 7 glasses, the director also wanted to pour a drink for him.
“Aigoo, your face is already red. Good job, drink more.”
“I think... I need to eat, director-nim.” His words came out slurred.
“Nonsense, we came here to drink.” The man shook his head, finishing pouring the liquid.
“One shot, one shot!” Kyung Hoon started and everyone followed him.
Louie had no choice so he drank it all down, not leaving a single drop. The burning sensation made him frown, the men shouted with excitement, and little by little he regretted having come. It did not look like they were drinking just to celebrate, they all wanted to get wasted.
After the tenth glass, he didn't even know how many hours had passed. Louie looked at the glass and laughed for no reason, which attracted the attention of a man sitting next to him.
“Okay, I think it's enough for you.” Heechul took the cup from his hand. “Guys, Louie's drunk. I'll call a taxi for him.”
“Aish, 'm not drunk. Gimme that!”
He didn't know how, but he ended up outside the restaurant, crouched down as he watched the annoying lights of cars passing back and forth.
“Here, drink this.” Heechul handed him a bottle of water. “It'll get you sober.”
Louie lifted his head to look at the man. He grabbed the bottle but didn't let go of his hand, still staring, which made Heechul react with confusion.
“What are you looking at?”
“Nothin... you're cute.” A smile appeared on his face. “Want to go somewhere quiet?”
“Don't fall for me, I'm too pretty for you” he joked, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear.
Louie chuckled, probably not even understanding, and let go of the other's hand. He opened the bottle, drinking as much water as he could before pausing to breathe.
“You're different.”
“How so?”
“The normal thing is to react with disgust.”
“Let's say I'm used to it.”
“So are the rumors fake?”
“I'm straight, if that's what you want to know.”
“Ah...” His voice sounded disappointed, and he lowered his head. “I thought... we were the same.”
Had Louie been sober enough, he would have seen Heechul's face become more serious.
“I'll pretend I didn't hear that since you're drunk. Get up, I'll call the taxi.”
“Why you never address the rumors? They must be annoying,”
“People can say whatever they want, it's part of my image as an entertainer anyways.” He shrugged, crossing his arms.
“Haha, I should've doubted it. If you were really gay, you would try to do anything to hide it, as it would ruin your entire career,” he said, pausing for a few seconds, “that's what I'm trying to do. Hide from my fans, from the members...”
“Is it hard to hide it?”
“When I realized I would never be able to be myself if I became idol, it was really difficult Then I debuted, we started being called the Beast Idols, and more and more I felt out of place and guilty.”
He knew that was the fate of any gay idol trying to survive in a boy group. Louie was not the type to get depressed about something like that, but the members of 2PM became like family for him. His real family knew about it, but the members didn't.
If they got uncomfortable or even wanted to disband, the guilty Louie was feeling would be far worse.
“Aish, I hate to drink. It makes me think of useless things.” He drank more water, trying to get sober.
“Louie, I-”
“I'm sorry sunbae, can you please call the taxi? I want to go home.”
Heechul sighed out, quietly nodding his head. He took out his cell phone and called the number, giving the address where they were. In a few minutes the car showed up in front of the restaurant, and he helped Louie get into the vehicle, careful not to bump his head.
Being a little soberer, he at least managed to remember where he lived and told the taxi driver. He paid the man and got out of the car when he arrived at the apartment.
After leaving the elevator, he struggled to type the door's password, getting it wrong a few times. That's when the door opened, and Lee Junho was looking at him as surprised as he was.
“What the hell, hyung!”
“Damn door, who put such a difficult password?” He entered, forcing Junho to step back.
“It's 2am already, were you drinking?”
Louie didn't answer, kicking off his shoes at the entrance and walking barefoot inside. Junho shook his head, arranging the shoes and following the other.
He silently watched Louie take a packet of instant cooked rice and heat it up in the microwave, pouring a small quantity of hot water and mixing it with the remaining kimchi. Whoever invented instant rice deserves an award, Louie thought while eating.
“And you always complain when you have to drink with us...” Junho muttered, hoping the other would hear.
“I had no choice.”
“Yeah, yeah, I believe in you.”
Since Junho was awake, he would at least wait for the other and go to bed. Louie didn't take long to finish eating, but he kept staring into space.
“Hyung? Hyung, don't sleep here. Look at me,” said Junho holding his face.
The maknae's face showed surprise as he saw the tears in his eyes. Louie turned his face away, pulling Junho's hand away.
“What happened? Did someone harassed or offended you? No, you would curse them off, you aren't the type to cry for these things.”
“Nothing happened,” he replied in a low, barely audible voice, “Junho-ah.”
“Hm?”
“Sorry.”
“Okay, I forgive you.”
“Do you even know why I'm apologizing?”
“For being boring and no-fun?”
“Gosh, I hate you.”
Junho wiped Louie's eyes with the sleeve of his pajamas. He didn't insist on questions, just told Louie to go shower and sleep. Those words were far better than any comfort.
But the next morning he still had to deal with the hangover.
His group was at a stalemate currently - the company had essentially put them on hiatus while dealing with in-company drama. Time he could have been spending with Bom was being spent laying in bed and tossing a squishy stress ball in the air and catching it.
Repeatedly.
Most of his members had either gone home to visit family for two weeks or were busy with solo activities. He was alone and admittedly a bit homesick as well. His phone had been confiscated and while Ten from NCT - a good friend of his - had tried to help sneak a burner in, Majesty was not so slick and was immediately caught with it and "grounded".
All that trouble I supposedly caused for "disrupting 2FOLDS comeback" only for us to be put on hiatus for unrelated reasons.
He had thought to himself, feeling anger bubble inside him. He kept wondering how Bom was doing and even found himself worrying about whether she was eating well and staying out of trouble. It had been almost 3 months at this point but felt much longer.
Then another part of him started assuming she had moved on. She was gorgeous, confident, powerful and sweet. There was no way another guy hadn't been tryin to pick her up during their "split". She had an aura that reeled you in and put you in a chokehold.
Majesty shook his head, throwing the ball against the wall and knocking over a framed poster a fan had given him at their very first fan sign. He cursed loudly, hopping up to pick up the gift and making sure it wasn't broken before placing it back on the wall, even apologizing and patting it because he felt bad. It was a picture of him as a Pokémon trainer holding jiggly puff in the Pokémon art-style and one of his most cherished fan gifts because it was the first he had received.
Feeling impatient then, he threw on some sweatpants and a hoodie and left the dorms. He wasn't supposed to leave and certainly wasn't supposed to be in public right now. "I don't care anymore. Screw them." He grumbles to himself as he stalked down the street to a nearby 7-ELEVEN. There was a pay phone there and he had just enough change to make one quick phone call. It took him a moment to remember her number but he quickly punched it in, sighing as it rang.
And rang.
and rang.
Her voicemail greeting began and Majesty groaned, slouching against the wall. "Bom...It's me...Shit," he paused, too nervous then to even think of what to say. "I miss you a lot. Are you okay? Take care of yourself. I lo - " despite how fast he was speaking, he still couldn't finish and was cut off. He hung up the phone and growled softly.
The older woman behind the counter - the owner, he remembered -recognized him and shakes her head. "Are you okay, sweet boy?" She asks, dropping the cloth she was using to wipe down he counter and walking up to him. She was much shorter than him and had to crane her neck back to get a glimpse of his flushed face. "You look awful. And so skinny. Why aren't eating, boy?" She tuts, going to grab an assortment of items and before returning to him, thrusting the goodies out to him.
"I don't have any money. I'm sorry." He says in defeat, cheeks turning red in embarrassment.
"No! Take them for free. You are a sweet boy and work very hard and you deserve to eat. I don't know what those companies do to their poor children but I do not approve. Not at all," she tuts disapprovingly before going back behind the counter.
Majesty bows repeatedly as he thanks her. Just then a group of teenage girls walked into the store and he decided then to scurry back to the dorm in case they recognized him.
Once he got inside, he went to heat up water for the noodles. He was completely lost in thought that he hadn't heard the landline phone ringing. He rushed over, grabbing it and answering breathlessly.
"Shi Yiu Man? it's Lawyer Song. I have some very good news for you, son."
