A heated showdown is brewing in the K-pop world as two powerhouse girl groups, aespa and ILLIT, are set to collide on October 21st.

Recently, HYBE announced that ILLIT's 2nd mini album, 'I'LL LIKE YOU,' will be released on October 21 at 6 pm KST. Meanwhile, aespa revealed that they will be releasing their 5th mini-album 'Whiplash' on the same day, October 21, at 6 pm KST. 

Netizens are intrigued because ILLIT is a group created by Bang Si Hyuk's HYBE, and in messages that Min Hee Jin revealed through a press conference, she revealed an alleged message where Bang Si Hyuk asked the creative director if she could "Step on (crush) aespa."

Netizens commented:

"Let's see if they can really step on aespa."

"I'm so excited for aespa~!!!"

"The HYBE founder literally said, 'Can we step on aespa?' so no wonder we're seeing this kind of response lol."

"'Step on aespa, supernova!'"

"Both groups, fighting! Aespa and their fans must be so frustrated, constantly being used to bring down other groups..."

"You people leaving nasty comments about young girls are so pathetic."

"This isn't the first time multiple teams have had overlapping comebacks."

"Aespa is really amazing lol. They keep releasing intense songs, and it's like they're shouting at us to get used to it. And you know what? We are!"

"Cheering for aespa."

"ILLIT is smart. Dropping their comeback on the same day as aespa will definitely help with visibility. The song will get attention."

"Good luck to both aespa and ILLIT. Don't go crazy over girl groups."

"I'm cheering for both groups, fighting!"

"TikTok and YouTube seem full of younger kids, so I was like, 'ugh (when reading the comments).' But isn't the average age here around 30 now? Yet people are acting the same as those kids."

SEE ALSO: aespa's 'Whiplash' reaches 100 million Spotify streams