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Kep1er CRACK CODE: Six Members, One Statement
Kep1er returns as a six-member group with their 8th mini album CRACK CODE on March 31, 2026. The early concept imagery signals a bold, cinematic shift from their previous era.
March 13, 2026
Kep1er (케플러) has been through enough lineup changes to slow most groups down. Three departures in four years. A founding membership that barely resembles the nine-member act that debuted in January 2022. And yet the group is heading into their eighth mini album, CRACK CODE, with the most aggressive concept imagery of their career. Six members, a bold shift in energy, and a lot to prove.
March 31 Is the Date
CRACK CODE drops March 31, 2026 at 6 p.m. KST via all major streaming platforms. Preorders opened March 11, two weeks before release. It has been about seven months since the group's seventh EP, Bubble Gum, came out in August 2025, which was already a leaner, more stripped-back era for them. This one looks different from the jump.
The Concept: Bold, Cinematic, Unafraid
The initial teaser posters signaled a shift. The first images showed the six members in a tunnel setting with a vintage vehicle and red backlighting, styled in distressed denim and leather, nothing remotely soft about it. On March 13, the group dropped the first official teaser poster titled "I'm a..." with a movie-poster aesthetic and a member gripping a bat. The message is clear: this is not a group rebuilding in quiet. CRACK CODE is a statement.
The full promotion schedule unfolds through the rest of March. Concept films and concept photos land March 17 through 23. The track file releases March 24, followed by a highlight medley on March 25, six days before the album drops.
A Group Built to Last
Kep1er started as a temporary project group, one of several that came out of CJ ENM's Mnet competition series Girls Planet 999 in 2021. Project groups in K-pop typically have fixed contracts and then disband. Kep1er was the first to refuse that fate, renewing their contract and continuing as a proper ongoing act. That decision looked good through their earlier eras: "Wa Da Da" in 2022, "Up!" and "Giddy" in 2023, the full-length album Kep1going On in 2024.
The group has now lost three of its original nine members. Kang Ye-seo and Sakamoto Mashiro left together in July 2024. Then in March 2026, Seo Youngeun officially departed after a seven-month health hiatus. She finished 5th on Girls Planet 999, one of the stronger placements in the competition. Her exit and her farewell message to the fandom were covered in detail in our report on her departure.
The six members carrying CRACK CODE forward: leader Choi Yu-jin, Shen Xiaoting, Kim Chae-hyun, Kim Da-yeon, Ezaki Hikaru, and Huening Bahiyyih. The lineup is notably international, with Korean, Chinese, and Japanese members, plus Huening Bahiyyih's American roots as the sister of TXT's Huening Kai.
What Kep1ian Are Watching For
The fandom known as Kep1ian has been tracking this comeback since the departure news broke. Fan reaction on X has leaned optimistic rather than anxious. The concept imagery has generated real energy. The red lighting, bold styling, and cinematic framing are a noticeable step up from the pastel softness of Bubble Gum. Whether CRACK CODE matches that visual ambition sonically is the question fans are sitting with until March 24, when the tracklist drops.
WAKEONE Entertainment and KLAP Entertainment are co-managing the promotion. Both labels have run the group steadily through every prior transition. CRACK CODE releases March 31, 2026.
