Once confined to the fictional realm of HYBE’s original story DARK MOON: THE BLOOD ALTAR, Decelis Academy and Sunshine City School crossed dimensions and appeared in our real world. We caught up with Lee Dahsol and head Yoo Serim from the OSB strategy department, as well as OSB story marketing department head Hwang Seungjo and staff member Jang Wonyoung, for a the behind-the-scenes look at the DARK MOON - Two Stories - Story Exhibition held in Tokyo, Japan from November 16 to December 1.
What was the impetus behind the DARK MOON - Two Stories - Story Exhibition?
Yoo Serim: The DARK MOON series is a HYBE original story collaboratively created with ENHYPEN and &TEAM, featuring distinct stories for each of them that intertwine within the overarching DARK MOON narrative. The DARK MOON - Two Stories - Story Exhibition, held in Tokyo, centered around the schools from DARK MOON: THE BLOOD ALTAR.
Lee Dahsol: The series takes place in modern-day Riverfield, where a group of vampires are students at Decelis Academy and a band of werewolves attend Sunshine City School. Since people loved it when the characters from the two schools met in the webtoon, our goal was to create the first-ever in-person space where both could be experienced together—and in THE BLOOD ALTAR, the thing that really shows off what makes each school and the characters in them so engaging is nightball [a fictional sport popular in Riverfield]. We had new illustrations of the vampire and werewolf boys in nightball uniforms in the pop-up store.
Does the title of the cuttoon that promoted the pop-up, We became unexpected friends, tie into the message behind the pop-up itself?
Hwang Seungjo: The relationship between the Decelis Academy vampires and the Sunshine City School werewolves is constantly evolving throughout all the works that make up the DARK MOON series. Since this pop-up was the first in-person event where visitors could experience all the relationships between the characters in one place, we planned out the cuttoon to give fans a taste of the theme behind the pop-up ahead of time.
Jang Wonyoung: Though the vampires and werewolves are often seen butting heads in DARK MOON: THE BLOOD ALTAR, you can also see they help each other out in times of crisis and become friends. The Tokyo pop-up carried on this storyline, aiming to convey the message of DARK MOON that was also explored through the cuttoon format.
It was fascinating to see how different Decelis Academy and Sunshine City School are in the way they were set up in the pop-up. Why did you choose a classroom for Decelis and a gymnasium for Sunshine City?
Yoo Serim: The DARK MOON - Two Stories - Story Exhibition was significant for being the first real-world project to bring the ENHYPEN and &TEAM characters from the DARK MOON universe together. It was a major undertaking to blend two unique IPs together harmoniously for fans and general visitors alike, so we chose school as a common point between them to be the main theme, looking to construct a suitable space to properly convey the identity and distinct atmosphere of each school.
Lee Dahsol: We chose to portray Decelis Academy, Riverfield’s premier private school with a focus on academics and the arts, through a classroom setting, and Sunshine City School, a modern, dynamic seaside school that’s serious about sports, through a gym. And with distinct stories and visions behind each school, we separated the experience for each one so visitors could fully explore whatever best aligned with their interests. Fans of both ENHYPEN and &TEAM were given a chance to fully immerse themselves in their preferred space and casually come to see what makes each school special as they explored the unique parts of each IP in turn.
Was there anything you had to pay special attention to when bringing these schools that only ever existed in webtoon format into reality?
Hwang Seungjo: We felt it important that the DARK MOON IP not feel like it was stuck within the world of the webtoon and could actually be felt in the living, breathing real world, which is why we put a lot of effort into little things that could bring the details and story of the series into the real world. For instance, we placed props like chessboards, blood bags, and Bloody Birthday Party invites in the Decelis Academy classroom that would bring it to life to really captivate fans. We also used the backdrop from the DARK MOON concept photos for the two schools within the space. We did our best to create a seamless connection between the webtoon and reality for an immersive experience.
Jang Wonyoung: One of the goals of the pop-up was to help fans learn more about the characters in the DARK MOON series and become engrossed in the story, so the concept was for visitors to feel like they were really in the Sunshine City School gym, where we installed nine lockers on display, with each one reflecting who one of the werewolves is. We took things previously only ever seen in the webtoon and in photoshoots, like Khan’s Silver Fang necklace and twins Luka and Louis’ Holy Knight Rings, and put the real thing on display, along with the outfits the artists wore for photoshoots, all in an effort to bring the experience to life.
It was interesting to see posters of the December 6 nightball match between Decelis Academy and Sunshine City School all over the exhibition. Given there was more related DARK MOON content that came out that day after the pop-up closed, what were you hoping to achieve with that tie-in?
Jang Wonyoung: The nightball matches in the webtoon are essential for developing the relationship between the two schools, so there was no question it had to be in the pop-up. We stuck nightball posters up all around the pop-up as an Easter egg to let visitors better understand the relationship between schools. We also worked to make the original story more immersive by letting them experience the webtoon and the cuttoon on the DARK MOON X account in tandem with the pop-up.
Hwang Seungjo: December 6 is marked on the DARK MOON calendar as the pivotal nightball final between the two schools, so it appears on the calendar every year. We posted nightball posters in each school in the pop-up and released related content on social media on December 6 to perfectly link the pop-up schedule with the world within the story.
What are you hoping visitors took away from the pop-up?
Lee Dahsol: We put a lot of effort into creating a space where two independent yet harmoniously intertwined stories could unfold, hence the name of the pop-up, Two Stories. Given that this was the first time fans could experience the two schools from the webtoons together in person, we aimed to create a unique experience where they could experience the DARK MOON series hands on in each and every prop and the spaces they inhabited.
Yoo Serim: I hope the DARK MOON - Two Stories - Story Exhibition has allowed fans to take something that they previously only ever saw online and enjoy it on an even deeper level in person, and I hope they walked away from the experience with good memories. We have more new and exciting projects in the works, too, so know you can look forward to many more DARK MOON events in the future. (laughs)
