ILLIT’s alleged pre-debut concept raises further suspicions of plagiarism

On October 11, 2024 it was reported that the first I LOVE IT CEO Min Hee Jin submitted supporting legal documents MOVES he had formulated YOU‘s concept and debut are based on his conceptual plans for New Jeans.

HYBE employee provides bombshell evidence proving that ILLIT’s very existence is the result of plagiarism

According to pages 9 and 10, an internal HYBE employee revealed to me that ILLIT’s creative director asked for plans detailing the conception of NewJeans during ILLIT’s conception stages. The employee then revealed that, soon after, the conceptual plans for both groups became identical.

—Min Hee Jin

Netizens returned to the pre-debut concepts of ILLIT revealed through RU NEXT? to delve deeper into the story. From the beginning, it seemed that Belift Lab had planned to connect the concepts of ENIPENE and ILLIT together. The slogan for RU NEXT? it was “BE THE ORANGE.”

Many have linked the random phrase to ENHYPEN’s album Orange blood. The album continues ENHYPEN’s vampire tradition as told by their webtoon, Dark Moon.

Orange is a prominent but rare color in the Dark Moon series. One of the upper class vampires under Dardan, Lara, played an important role in the story. Fans have theorized as much Mocha it had to represent her, or that the members of ILLIT would be linked to the story through her. Lara’s eyes were orange.

In the world of Dark Moon, red cloaks were worn even by higher-class vampires. RU NEXT promotional material featured girls in red cloaks.

A similar image of girls in red cloaks was also teased in Dark Moon.

The initial name of ILLIT and/or their webtoon was also said to be Ruby Moon. The color and theme deeply suggested a crossover with Dark Moon or vampire lore. Subsequently, the webtoon was named Summer Moon after ILLIT’s debut. In comparison, Summer Moon fits the girl’s current magical concept more than the vampiric one.

Netizens believe that the original concept of ILLIT was more oriented towards dark fantasy rather than bright and magical. During RU NEXT? per se, many of the performances the girls took part in also tended towards a darker style.

• If you look RU NEXT?there were interns who fit this concept perfectly, so I think that’s even more of a shame. There is definitely a market for a niche concept.
• Why did they change it? It looks good.
• This or that, they’re all meh, but at least that’s not plagiarism…right?
• This is much better than being a copy…
• Yunah has become so popular even with their current concept, but it would have suited her very well.
• This tradition is much better than promoting it as copies.
• While you might think this concept is tacky, concepts are all about how you make it, so I think they would have done a good job with this. Why did they change it?
• No, but they should have done it. It looks much better and fans can understand the lore better.

Of course, many groups undergo changes in concept and changes in plans before the final debut. A dark fantasy concept would have been perfect for the group, seeing how well they depicted these concept photos in a dark forest!

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