It has been 15 months since I started this "non-fiction" analysis on fanfic on AFF, introducing Sakura-related fics while also doing studies of IZ*ONE members and their CP ships. Please note that after some consideration, I have changed its title from "Kkura in My Pocket" to "Mini IZ analysis" to expand the scope of my comments.

It is safe to say that all IZ*ONE members have debuted again, either as actresses, soloists, or forming new groups. Chaeyeon is a particular case as she is not re-debuting as a soloist or in a group but associated with the dance crew WANT while participating in various guest performances. Rumor suggested that Chaeyeon will have her solo debut next month. That will mean all IZ*ONE members will re-debut by the end of 2022 (Hip! Hip! Hooray!).

However, it is worth noting that the number of Chaeyeon's tags in AFF dropped drastically from 695 in June 2021 to 503 in Sept 2022 (-192, -27.6%), although her related ship tags are not affected – Chaekura/Kkuchae (472/464), Kwonchaeng (327/325). The number of ship tags dropped a little, but not significant.

Chaeyeon is not the only member who has recorded a drastic drop in personal tags. Hyewon's tags have dropped even more drastically from 689 to 420 (-269, -39%), although Kangbi fics and even Hyekura fics still have slightly increased in number.

On the other hand, the other two members shipped with Chaeyeon and Hyewon, Eunbi and Sakura, have a ship of their own – Kkubi. In the past 15 months, Kkubi had a considerable increase of ship tags among all the IZ*ONE ships in both net and percentage (403/565 +162, 40.2%).

As a matter of fact, half of IZ*ONE members' tags have decreased, or the increment has slowed down, except for Yujin and Minjoo**. Although the number of Kkubi's tags has increased by 40.2%, the number of Sakura and Eunbi's tags didn't increase significantly. Contrarily, Yujin and Minjoo's tags have significantly increased by 118 +20% and 106 +22%, respectively, and the number of their ship tags also increased – Jinjoo (753/903), Annyeong (485/590), and 2kim (701/802), all have significant increments. Since Yujin is now featured in Na PD's show and Minjoo is to be in a movie, it is safe to expect more increments coming.

The comparing figures as of 1 Jun 2021/5 Sep 2022 are as follows: Sakura (754/784*), Chaeyeon (695/503), Hyewon (689/420), Chaewon (670/640), Eunbi (629/640), Yujin (594/712), Minjoo/Minju** (487-468/593-467), Yena (414/407), Wongyoung (377/404), Yuri (341/353), Hitomi (316/290), Nako (270/225).

Analysis

As I have mentioned in Chapter 1, the number of tags/ship tags reflects the romantic imagination or desirability of a particular idol or/and the couple paring of him/her to another idol in the mind of a fanfic writer. While the number of ship tags of Kkuchae, Kwonchaeng, Kangbi, and Hyekura fanfics remains more or less the same, it is safe to conclude that the shippers (supporters) of Kkuchae, Kwonchaeng, Kangbi, and Hyekura "are still there." But then, why would Chaeyeon and Hyewon's tags have decreased drastically?

There are two explainations. Firstly, such a drastic drop in tags will be due to the deletion of fics; secondly, those writers who like to write one-shots on various idol groups (usually fic) have untagged Chaeyeon and Hyewon and other girls when they need space to tag new idols.

For the first point, it is pretty hard to imagine so many deletions while the number of Chaeyeon's and Hyewon's ship tags has hardly dropped, so we should rule out this possibility. Chaeyeon and Hyewon's stan are still there. Although they have not updated those fics anymore, they are not erasing their memories (some of them did). The second point seems to make more sense. These writers are not die-hard core WIZ*ONE nor Chaeyeon and Hyewon's stan, they have no moral obligation to add or delete any idol. But the question remains: why did only Chaeyeon and Hyewon lose +/- 200 tags and not the other IZ*ONE girls?

The ship tags that gained the most significant growth are Kkubi (403/565 +162, 40.2%), Jinjoo (753/903 +150, 19.9%), Annyeongz (485/590 +105, 21.6%), and 2kim (710/802 +92, +13%) respectively. We have mentioned how Yujin and Minjoo's tags have increased significantly, and it is logical that their ship tags will increase too. However, the other members who are shipped with Yujin and Minjoo, meaning Wonyoung and Chaewon, did not gain any significant increase in their own tags. Wongyoung's tags have merely increased by 27 while Chaewon even recorded a drop in personal tags by 30.

I cannot offer any simple explanation for the phenomenon. In my opinion (even though I am also a Kkubi writer), Kkubi is one of the most minor close relationships among all the IZ*ONE ships. I didn't see a lot of interaction between the two during the IZ*ONE days (except Eunbi playing pranks on Sakura), and there is no information suggesting that they have met after Sakura returned to Korea. However, in the eyes of Kkubi shippers, the (imagined) chemistry between Eunbi and Sakura creates a very high desirability especially in fanfic writing; probably the mature y extrovert Eunbi always looks good with the innocent nerdy introvert Sakura. (I guess a similar logic also applies to the Jinjoo ship: a childish brave energetic Yujin pairing with a mature kind-hearted calm Minjoo)

Maybe I should put it this way: why does Kkubi ship (also Jinjoo ship) continue even over a year after IZ*ONE disband? Why didn't the new groups have produce enough disaribility for new ships to develop among new members? In the 5 Sept 2022 record, there were only 107 tags for IVE and 59 for Le Sserafim. If we still have a 105 increase in Annyeongz ship tags, there are only 57 Ssamkkura ship tags. It's a pity that I have not recorded the Ssamkkura ship tags and their changes, but what remains is really insignificant. I have tried to subscribe to all fics that have tagged Le Sserafim, only to find that most are old IZ*ONE fics with no new content; some are the one-shots on various idol groups that I mentioned earlier. That may explain why many Eunbi-stan and Saku-stan writers have stuck to the Kkubi ship because they couldn't find a new target to ship their OT.

Conclusion

The idol industry sells dreams, and dreams are created based on fantasy/imagination and identification with the idol. Although the desirability of an idol does not dictate the idol's popularity, it is definitely a significant contributor to his/her success. I have talked to friends from other fandoms, and they agreed that the (CP) fantasies which IZ*ONE has produced were so unique and to a level that no other fandom could replicate. And that contributed a lot to their success.

In short, IVE and Le Sserafim lack the vibe and chemistry that IZ*ONE has disseminated. After all, life is a river of no return, and as a fanfic writer, I need another way to find my muse.

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* I have deducted 15 fics off Miyawaki Sakura's tag number as they are not the "Sakura" of LE SSERAFIM, IZ*ONE, and AKB/HKT.

** Recently, Minjoo has outnumbered Minju in Kim Minjoo's tag. So I will use Minjoo as the leading name from now on.