Week 2 of promotions.
Tuesday.
The first music show.
Already their fifth prerecording.
A schedule that began at dawn and ended at dawn every day.
Everyone was exhausted.
Even so, not one of them showed any sign of fatigue. They all wore smiles.
Because today, they were nominees for first place.
Ah, of course, Kim Seoyun—who was gripping my hand and sweating profusely—was the exception.
“Want a Cheongsimhwan?”
I had prepared one in advance, just in case.
Me, buying Cheongsimhwan for a member.
I was quite the gentleman.
“I’m not nervous at all, though?”
“Take your hand off mine before you say that.”
“I’m not. I’m not nervous at all.”
“Good grief…”
That timid little heart of hers never changed.
Ye-eun unnie was actually the calmest of them all.
“…Hoo-ha, hoo-ha, hoo-ha, hoo-ha.”
Hmm…
Maybe not.
“Dohee, I’m nervous too… Hehe…”
Sera unnie sidled over and leaned against me.
“Buy one yourself, unnie.”
“Eeh…”
Hana unnie spoke up.
“Now, everyone, don’t be nervous! I believe our members will do well!”
“Why did you suddenly switch to formal speech? It’s making me cringe.”
“Seriously. What’s gotten into her?”
“…I’m not being leader anymore.”
“Harang unnie, Dohee… Let’s all just get along…”
In the middle of the chaos, a member of the production staff poked his head through the dressing-room door and called out.
“SAVEN, five minutes to go! Please stand by!”
The stage that would air on the broadcast had already been filmed during the prerecording that morning.
All that remained was the live stage.
And once the live stage was over, the first-place announcement ceremony would begin immediately.
“Enough. Let’s just shout our chant and go! Hands in!”
At Hana unnie’s words, the members gathered and stretched their hands toward the center.
“One, two, three!”
“Make the heaven! Wake the SAVEN! Fighting!”
“Can’t we change the chant a little?”
“Chants are supposed to have that childish charm.”
…Right.
***
“Blue, blue, blue, the resonance spreads and ripples.”
Sera unnie’s clear voice rang out.
The stage lights felt unusually hot.
The fans’ cheers pierced through the in-ear monitors plugged into my ears.
Below the stage, glowing light sticks and colorful slogans swayed.
It was certainly a scene I had watched throughout the previous week.
But today’s stage felt unusually long, probably because every emotion was new all over again.
New emotions added fresh colors to everyday life, and an abundance of information made time feel slower.
Paradoxically, the stage ended in an instant.
And immediately afterward, the first-place announcement ceremony began.
The stage, crowded with every performer, was just as chaotic as ever.
Following the staff’s instructions, the performers took their places.
And today, we were lined up at the very front.
Our opponents for first place were Paramax, who had taken first place last week.
Of course, I was confident we could win.
But my heart was still pounding.
If we took first place today, we would become the girl group with the shortest time to a first-place win.
It would be the day another first-place trophy was added to our collection.
My chest churned.
Having received the PD’s signal, the male idol MC stepped forward to host.
“Paramax and SAVEN! SAVEN and Paramax! Who will become the Special One of the second week of November on ‘The One’? Please reveal the voting results now!”
***
After the music show ended, a post appeared on Dohee’s Instagram.
=======================
@icandohee
My heart is pounding because it’s our first win.
Thank you, ‘SAVEN-U.’
We’ll continue working hard!
(A photo of Kim Seoyun with red, swollen eyes)
(A perfectly fine selfie of Dohee)
#SAVEN #Jeodol3 #Dohee #TheOne #LeeDohee #イ・ドヒ #Dohee
=======================
—Go, SAVEN!
—Dohee, congratulations on your first win~~
—It’s Dohee, who ran away after turning off yesterday’s livestream lol. So cute.
As soon as the college student saw the post, he burst out laughing and left a comment.
‘LOL Seoyun’s crying face is cute too. But why did you only upload a perfectly fine picture of yourself, Dohee? You cried too LOL.’
After achieving their first win—
SAVEN had set the record for the shortest time to a first-place win among girl groups.
Thanks to that, the SAVEN fan café was in a festive mood.
And there was another topic being discussed besides their “first win.”
—Guys, guys, tune in live to ‘Idol Zone’ ㄱㄱㄱ
—They’re revealing Dohee playing the piano for the first time today ㅠㅠㅠ I’m so freaking excited.
It was the episode SAVEN had filmed the previous week.
The preview had already raised everyone’s expectations to the highest level.
The college student, too, had the channel airing ‘Idol Zone’ switched on.
“It’s starting!”
The members appeared on-screen, dancing to their title track, “I’m Falling for You,” beneath a caption that read:
***
.
As the program was meant to introduce the idol members’ chemistry, personalities, and above all, their songs, the broadcast proceeded largely as recorded, without any special editing.
First came the member introductions.
[First up, our Eonsweat girl! The visual center! The maknae bunny! Lee Dohee!]
Dohee stepped into the center of the set, riding an appropriately restrained groove.
Then she swept her long, straight hair behind her head and struck a pose.
[Hello! I’m Lee Dohee, in charge of coolness and looking awesome!]
Her expression and lines, both intended to project chicness, were accompanied by captions.
[Ooh~ A one-trick pony whose only skill is being cute!]
[Don’t lie!]
The members’ jeers mixed in, provoking laughter.
“Ahahaha, she’s really cute.”
***
The broadcast was full of laughter from beginning to end.
Enough to make fans wonder whether SAVEN really possessed the makings of variety-show idols.
It was the chemistry that came from the playful back-and-forth among the seven team members.
And then came the most infamous scene.
[Dohee’s special talent is aegyo?]
It was the special-talent segment, which began with Dohee’s aegyo and continued into her piano performance.
On-screen, Dohee hesitated until the people around her kept urging her on. In the end, she threw a little tantrum.
[Dohee, you came on Idol Zone, but you’re not going to watch it…?]
—Ding-dong-dang♫
[Oh, she’s absolutely adorable! So cute!]
—LOL she’s freaking adorable.
—Why wouldn’t she watch it? Of course she has to! LOL
—Lee Dohee is cute.
—Cuuuuute~~~~~~~~
Of course, Dohee was the only one who thought it was an embarrassing scene.
The production staff were delighted, anticipating the high ratings they would draw by using the scene as clickbait.
The members were also happy, looking forward to teasing her.
And the fans were thrilled by her cuteness.
[Now, it’s time for her real special talent!]
[I heard about this too! Lee Dohee, the piano genius idol who won the grand prize at the national piano competition nineteen times! Apparently, no broadcast has ever verified her playing, so we have to put her to the test, right?]
When the MC asked what piece she would play, Dohee answered:
[I’ll play Mephisto Waltz.]
As footage of great pianists performing Mephisto Waltz appeared on-screen, an explanation of the piece played alongside it.
Soon after, Dohee began to play.
Since the entire ten-minute performance couldn’t be aired due to the program’s runtime, only selected parts were shown in a highlight edit, accompanied by a caption saying that the full version would be uploaded separately to YouTube.
As a result, the performance felt somewhat disjointed.
Even so, the melody and Dohee’s technique created a quiet atmosphere and radiated an unmistakable aura.
At last, when the climax ended and Dohee lifted her hands from the piano—
—Wow……
—She’s really good.
—I know piano, and this is a piece that’s hard enough to play without making mistakes. But she even put feeling into it while playing… That was insane…
—Even if you don’t know much about piano, you can tell why she won the grand prize. For real.
—Upload the full version soon ㅠㅠㅠ
—Why does she look so mature when she plays? There’s something so elegant about it…
The response was incredibly enthusiastic.
Both on-screen and off.
If Dohee hadn’t grinned smugly amid the applause on-screen—or if she hadn’t said anything—her cute image might have faded a little, just as she wished.
[Ah… Why am I so cool?]
But the moment Dohee quietly muttered those words, as if intoxicated by her own magnificence, the reactions changed completely.
—LOL She’s so freaking cute because she’s being completely serious LOL
—Why are you so cute, Dohee? LOL
—That’s right, you’re cool LOL
—Damn it, there goes all the emotion I was feeling LOL
—LOL It’s even funnier because she wasn’t trying to be funny LOL
[…But wasn’t I really cool…? I was seriously cool…]
The more wronged Dohee looked, the stronger those reactions and that image became.
[Of course you were cool! Super cool, super cool, super cool!]
—LOL That’s right, you were cool LOL
—Her genuine confusion over why everyone’s laughing LOL
—Ah, my stomach hurts so much LOL
Then Seoyun fanned the flames with a well-timed revelation.
[Dohee is just a total narcissist, I’m telling you!]
[Why? What did I do!?]
[There are so many examples, but just to name one—Dohee’s phone wallpaper is a picture of her—er, I mean, a picture of herself!]
The screen showed Dohee’s phone wallpaper.
It was a close-up of Dohee at the center of the stage for Jeodol 3’s title-track performance.
Dohee’s face turned bright red, as if she were flustered.
[No, that… I…]
Then came Harang’s revelation.
Harang imitated Dohee placing her hands on both cheeks and cycling through countless poses: coy, cool, slightly flushed, charismatic, and more.
[No, I’ve never gone that far…!]
[I just practiced and tried out some expressions! You’re making everyone misunderstand me!]
[I swear on my entire idol career, this is one hundred percent real.]
[Yes, everyone! This is one hundred percent real!]
Up to that point, one could at least claim it had all been variety-show antics written into the script.
But after the broadcast ended, a video was uploaded to the official YouTube channel at exactly the right time.
[SAVEN 세이븐 “Rose Nebula” MV Reaction]
[Dohee, stop watching it and play the video already, will you?]
[Ah, she’s looking at her own face again.]
[What are you doing? Hit play, hurry up!]
[What? Why did you pause it?]
[Ah, Lee Dohee, why did you pause it!?]
[She’s looking at her own face again.]
[Ahh! Enough already, Lee Dohee!]
[It’s okay because Dohee is cute…]
[Dohee… I think this is my scene next…? I want to watch my scene too…]
Dohee’s overflowing self-love had become official.
And in the comments beneath Dohee’s latest Instagram post—
=======================
@icandohee
My heart is pounding because it’s our first win.
Thank you, ‘SAVEN-U.’
We’ll continue working hard!
(A photo of Kim Seoyun with red, swollen eyes)
(A perfectly fine selfie of Dohee)
#SAVEN #Jeodol3 #Dohee #TheOne #LeeDohee #イ・ドヒ #Dohee
=======================
—LOL Why are you so cute, Dohee? LOL
—LOL Why do you say it and then get embarrassed yourself? LOL
—Dohee’s loveliness is on the level of conquering the universe LOL
—She’s so cute that I’m commenting for the first time LOL
The comments were flooded with people teasing Dohee.
***
Meanwhile, at the dorm.
Dohee had buried her face in a pillow on the bed and was whining.
“Ah, seriously, what am I supposed to do now…”
Her entire face—and even her ears—had turned red.
Beside her, Kim Seoyun, Jeon Harang, and Kwon Hana were laughing uproariously.
Park Ye-eun was snickering.
Eun Sera was stroking Dohee’s head.
“Ah, stop laughing already. This is serious.”
Of course, the members showed no sign of stopping.
“I’m done. I’m not promoting anymore!”
“Ahahaha, don’t! Don’t do it!”
And then—
“Ah, go back to your rooms and make noise there… Let’s get some sleep…”
Chaerin was having a hard time today, too.