- Broadcast date: Aug. 3
- Starring: Wonder Girls, Girl’s Day’s Sojin, BTS’ Rap Monster, Kara, CN Blue’s Jung Yong-hwa

There were no Monday blues for K-pop fans tuning into Naver’s real-time broadcasting app V on Aug. 3. The official lineup included special live coverage of the Wonder Girls’ “Reboot” showcase as well as programs from Girl’s Day’s Sojin, BTS’ Rap Monster, Kara and CN Blue’s Jung Yong-hwa.

The Wonder Girls kicked off at 8 p.m. with a showcase for their third studio album “Reboot,” in which the four members returned as a band. After getting the ball rolling with a band rearrangement of their megahit “Tell Me,” the ladies played “Baby Don’t Play” from their new album as well as “Back,” a rap song performed by Hyerim (Lim) and Yubin, “Rewind,” with stylish choreography, and their title track “I Feel You,” where they showed off their dancing skills with instruments in hand.

Wonder Girls (Naver V App)

After the hourlong showcase, the girls got changed and held another 20-minute talk session in the waiting room backstage. The session, hosted by Ye-eun (Yenny) and Yubin, included peeks at flower baskets sent by family and friends and an introduction of Yubin and Sunmi’s beauty show “You And Me.” The showcase and talk amassed an impressive 1.6 million hearts over the course of the broadcast. “Hearts” are a function on V that allow fans to indicate when they like what they see.

Wonder Girls (Naver V App)

At 10 p.m. the reins were handed over to Girl’s Day’s Sojin. First, there was a prerecorded 15-minute clip of her getting her makeup done at a salon while introducing her show “Ssozi’s Return to ’90’00” where she would reminisce on memories from the ’90s and 2000s with her fans. Then, the show went live for the first time.

Sojin of Girl's Day

“I’m planning to talk about music, and stories and games (from that period),” she said, dressed in a black hoodie on her bed. She opened the floor to her fans, whose real-time feedback included talking about junk food from her childhood. Sojin ended the show by saying that her next show would be about music.

At 10:30, BTS’ Jungkook and Rap Monster appeared for “Rap Monster’s 1-minute English.” The word of the day was “pardon,” and Rap Monster taught Jungkook how he could use “pardon” to get out of awkward situations.

BTS (Naver V App)

BTS was followed by Kara’s “KA-LIVE,” where the girls greeted their fans from a rooftop in Seoul. They ordered a midnight snack of strawberry makgeolli, apple makgeolli, and side dishes, and played a game to determine who would pay for it -- Hara lost. The girls played a second round to make someone dance in the moonlight (it ended up being Seungyeon), and talked about what they had been up to that day.

Kara (Naver V App)

At 11 p.m., CN Blue’s Jung Yong-hwa aired his half-hour show “BangSongYong” with an episode titled “Jaljayong (Good Night).” Shooting in his own home, Yong-hwa gave the fans a peek into his closet, let them watch while he took his nighttime vitamins, and then headed into his studio for a parade of fans’ real-time request songs he sang while strumming the guitar and keyboard.
The show ended, appropriately, with him retiring to bed and turning out the lights, with over 760,000 hearts in tow.

Jung Yong-hwa (Naver V App)

Other brief live and prerecorded appearances were made Monday by the full BTS crew in Chile, B1A4, AOA at KCON in Los Angeles, Joo Won, and Big Bang in Malaysia.

Naver’s V app allows fans to see and chat with their favorite stars in real time via smartphone. The beta version is currently available for Android, and the iOS version is slated for release in mid-August. For more information and to download the app, head to www.vlive.tv.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)