Is it true that Red Velvet was originally conceived as a female version of NCT?

idk really but iirc back then when they just debuted, there was rumor going around that Red Velvet is just a unit and other units like Blue Velvet, etc will debut too

i remember the days when there are "hidden" new members on the Happiness mv

I have no idea but I am glad that Red Velvet stayed as a group with 5 members. They perfectly compliment each other this way.

not to my (LSM) knowledge lol