HYBE Corporation is home to some of today’s top-selling K-Pop acts, such as BTS, SEVENTEEN, and TOMORROW X TOGETHER. But it’s not about to rest on its laurels—in fact, it’s actually gearing up to solidify its place in the industry.

HYBE is preparing to debut a new girl group in the fourth quarter of this year in collaboration with Source Music, which it acquired in July 2019. On August 9, a senior official from the company confirmed the news, but didn’t say anything about the group’s concept, exact debut date, or even how many members it will have. Rumor has it that it will be a highly skilled rookie group whose skills and visuals are similar to BLACKPINK’s.

HYBE registered a number of trademarks recently, including Chakko and Red Marble. They may have something to do with the upcoming girl group, which is a joint project between its CBO Min Hee Jin and Chairman Bang Si Hyuk. The latter is, of course, the man who made BTS the superstars they are today. As such, expectations are high, to say the least.

Since it’s virtually impossible for a rookie group to have a hit with their first record, a label must invest in them continuously for two or so years. If a group does not succeed within that time, the label that launched it will have a deficit worth billions of won.

Furthermore, the last time Bang Si Hyuk collaborated with Source Music to form a girl group, things didn’t go so well. GLAM debuted in 2012 and disbanded in 2015 after one of its members blackmailed actor Lee Byung Hun. That’s why all eyes are on HYBE’s upcoming girl group, even if it has yet to debut.

Some analysts predict HYBE will go negative because it costs a lot to put together a rookie group. But there are others who say that won’t happen because the release of BTS’s single album “Butter” (which also contains the Ed Sheeran-assisted “Permission to Dance”), merchandise sales, and the continued expansion of Weverse will keep HYBE positive, no matter what.

Regardless of what will actually happen, it can’t be denied that HYBE has a strong chance of staying exactly where it is—which is at the top of the K-Pop heap.