The fictional scenario is depicted like this: The members of boy band EXO sit down for dinner together for the first time in a long while.

Sehun and Chanyeol bring food, D.O. prepares the music and Suho presents a custom-made cake frosted with the words “Let’s love.”

The scene is not from a television drama but from a short story, titled “Ex-Vision,” included with the band’s latest album.

The story accompanies EXO’s eighth album “Reverxe,” released on Jan. 19. “Let’s love” is the group’s slogan, created by Suho in 2012 when EXO debuted. The story also incorporates elements fans would immediately recognize from EXO’s fictional universe, such as the “tree of life,” “total lunar eclipse” and “red force.”

Novelist Lee Hee-joo wrote the story, after SM Entertainment reached out to her with the proposal. Lee has spent a decade publishing fiction, including the novels “Phantom Limb Pain” (2016) and “Holy Boy” (2021), both centered on K-pop fan culture, as well as the short story collection “Creamy(nal) Love” (2025).

“Since EXO is making a comeback after a hiatus and lineup changes, [the agency] suggested it would be good to write a story based on the group’s universe that fans enjoy,” Lee said.

Collaborations between K-pop acts and Korean literary writers are becoming more common. In some cases, writers produce texts that match the concept of the group’s latest release. In others, they create narratives that expand a group’s fictional universe or write short stories featuring the idols as protagonists that accompany albums.

Mo Na-ri, head of the SM Culture Universe development division at SM Entertainment, said the collaboration aimed to broaden each group's narrative.

“We think it’s important to add narrative to the artist’s existing universe and settings, and to expand that consistently across album concepts and various content,” Mo said. “We thought it would be meaningful to organize the story EXO has built over the years into a short piece of fiction.”

This marks the first time SM Entertainment has included an author’s short story as part of an album package. Mo added that collaborations with writers from various fields are already active in the K-pop industry and that SM is also preparing projects with creators from multiple disciplines this year.

Starship Entertainment’s latest girl group, KiiiKiii, has been collaborating with writer Lee Sull-a since its debut album in March last year. She gained a following among younger readers through her essay series, launched in 2018 and published via email to subscribers.

Lee Sull-a also wrote lyrics for songs on KiiiKiii’s debut EP “Uncut Gem” (2025) and digital single “Dancing Alone” (2025). When the group returned on Jan. 26 with its second EP, “Delulu Pack,” she was credited as a lyricist and published a short story titled “Running in a Dress” on KiiiKiii’s website.

Starship collaborated with novelist Chung Se-rang, author of “School Nurse Ahn Eun-young” (2015), for narration in a promotional video for girl group IVE’s third single album “After LIKE” in 2022.

HYBE worked with novelist Kim Cho-yeop — author of “If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light” (2019) — to write the prologue for girl group Le Sserafim’s second EP “Antifragile," also in 2022.

Girl group Red Velvet member Joy collaborated with poet Cha Jung-eun for her solo EP “From Joy, with Love” (2025). Cha, whom Joy has said she admires, said she was given only a few keywords related to love and some song lyrics before writing the text. Cha is known as the author of the poetry collection “Tomato Cup Ramen” (2024), but she said her piece of writing for the EP is "closer to prose."

Although such works resemble fan fiction in that they feature K-pop acts as protagonists, the writers do not abandon their literary standards.

“I referred to music videos and other materials to understand the members’ personalities and stories,” Lee Hee-joo said. “But when constructing sentences and narrative, it was no different from writing a novel.”

Industry observers say the K-pop industry is increasingly turning to novelists and poets for their expertise in crafting narratives.

“K-pop fans become more immersed in an artist’s image through well-crafted writing by professional authors,” said Kim Jeong-seob, a professor of cultural industry and arts at Sungshin Women’s University. “These texts broaden fans' understanding of concepts and can generate new discourse.”

Others see the collaborations as a way to give K-pop artists more distinct identities.

“Recent K-pop singers often operate under tight management from agencies, and individual activities such as on social media are strictly limited, making it difficult to build personal narratives,” said music critic Lim Hee-yoon.

“In that sense, we could say a paradox has emerged where agencies turn to novelists or poets to construct those narratives. This kind of exchange will likely increase in the future.”

BY CHOI HYE-RI [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]