It’s that time of year again when we all reflect on the past 12 months in our own way. For our part, Weverse Magazine will be taking a look back at how different artists and their tireless staff spent 2022 with fans. We’ll be publishing articles for three weeks as the members of the staffs behind BTS, SEVENTEEN, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, ENHYPEN, fromis_9 and LE SSERAFIM select their favorite music, videos, performances and other MOMENTs from working with the artists they support. This week we take a look at some of the original content these six groups have released. For the final part of this series, we talk to Kim Kyungwon, lead professional of the Original Contents 1 Studio behind LENIVERSE and DAYOFF, to tell us all about the first episode of DAYOFF.

Why “DAY OFF EP. 1” is LE SSERAFIM’s best episode the year

Kim Kyungwon (Original Contents 1 Studio lead professional): If it were up to me, I’d choose at least five episodes. There’s “Welcome to the LENIVERSE,” a kind of starting point for their regular content, which highlights what makes each member unique, and “Raining is even better!” which the members really made special. There’s the episode “What Happened at the FIMternet Café” that KAZUHA mentioned in her interview with Weverse Magazine and which even Gang Beasts and Goose Goose Duck posted about on their official accounts. There’s also “Mission! RSP,” where we tried racing each other for the first time. All of them are so legendary, so it’s impossible to pick one. But if I’m something that best reflects this past year, it’s DAYOFF. (laughs) Since it was right after finishing up promoting, we wanted to give the members time to recover, so the idea was, “Just do whatever you want. We won’t tell you what to do.” Like the title says, it was meant to give them a day off after working so hard.

DAYOFF: a gift for LE SSERAFIM

Kim Kyungwon: The whole staff were determined to make DAYOFF a surprise and we worked together to make sure we could pull it off. We scheduled everything in secret, prepared their outfits in advance and all the staff from every department worked together. (laughs) The protocol team put on a convincing performance, saying things like, “We’re practicing today. I don’t know why there’s cameras.” We had someone already waiting at their home to get them their personal belongings. I think we were all able to work together in perfect unison because we wanted to give this as a present to the members for working so hard all that time. We had supplies on hand for them to write each other letters for the first episode because it was the last day of their first promotion and figured they’d have a lot they’d want to say to each other. They absolutely poured their hearts out, writing for nearly an hour. They wanted to write every single sentence full of heartfelt feelings and in the utmost detail. There’s a long time after you first debut when it’s hard to find an opportunity to have a heartfelt conversation. It was really touching for us, too, to see using it as an opportunity to say all the things they wanted to to each other. EUNCHAE said they should keep them in their rooms and look at them whenever they need a reminder why they do what they do (laughs) and we were so touched that we rushed out the next morning and bought them all picture frames (laughs) and gave them to the members as gifts.

Born with an extra funny bone

Kim Kyungwon: It feels like the LE SSERAFIM members were born with extra funny bones. (laughs) DAYOFF was our first proper shoot with the members, too, so we were really surprised by how hilariously good their timing was. We expected them to be tired out since it was right after their last TV performance but they played Halli Galli and Twister and even had a water gun fight. We were laughing a ton while watching it all from the other room. We were trying to figure out what got into them and laughed so much that the crew tired out before the members ever did. (laughs) The funniest and weirdest part happened after lunch on the second day, when, out of nowhere, they started playing the lying game: “Everything is so obvious with YUNJIN. She’s incapable of lying.” “I can lie!” “Can’t we play Liar Game right now?” So we filmed that. We just did our best to capture them acting natural, but we had way more footage than we expected, so we ended up adding an extra episode. (laughs) When it was all over, we talked about how funny the members are. (laughs)

Life is content!

Kim Kyungwon: It’s amazing because you could tell when filming that SAKURA’s the oldest, followed by CHAEWON, YOONJIN, KAZUHA, and finally EUNCHAE. EUNCHAE especially radiates the youngest member energy. (laughs) When they were first debuting, SAKURA and CHAEWON really took charge, so they were a lot of help for us when we were shooting, too. They told the younger members things like, “Don’t turn your back to the camera.” (laughs) And that’s when they came up with their slogan, too: “Life is content!” It’s amazing how they can be so close when there’s a language barrier and they haven’t been together that long. It’s plain to see that they’re real honest with each other and can rely on each other, too. Is it just in their nature? (laughs) I think the five of them are a perfect balance for each other. The chemistry and harmony between them is completely real, so we can just show them as they are in their videos.

LENIVERSE is a team effort

Kim Kyungwon: We always say the members should feel like they’re just hanging out when they’re on set. We think their content’s more engaging when they’re having genuine fun, so we always put their enjoyment first while filming and we take care of the rest later. But the LE SSERAFIM members work so hard and are so funny even when they’re just standing there (laughs) that they’re already a big help. If they feel filming’s just another job to do, it might tire them out or be a bother, but they always enjoy themselves when we shoot, which is touching to see. The members are still new to the scene and have a lot more they want to show the world. We want the content we make to let the members experiences things they’ve never had a chance to before.