Lately, Yeeun unnie has been acting awfully cocky.
After our *Unsatisfied* promotions ended.
A leisurely day with no special schedule, resting at the dorm.
Hana, who is an adult, Harang unnie, and me, a dropout.
Except for the three of us who don't attend school, it was a rare day when the members were present at school.
Afternoon.
Seeking to enjoy some leisure after lunch, I'd settled onto the sofa and was reading a book when Hana unnie asked,
"Is it interesting?"
The title of the book I was holding.
*The Benign Discriminator.*
"Well. Not really."
I read it because it was on the Korea University recommended reading list, but rather than being persuaded, it was a book that struck me as sophistry.
Still, the reason I'm reading it.
I might be able to use it later.
"Most importantly, it makes me look like I have depth."
"But isn't Harang unnie going to eat anything?"
When the members left for school in the morning, Harang unnie had shouted that this was an adult's privilege, and she still hadn't gotten out of bed.
"She'll eat on her own."
*I want to eat a snack, though.*
"Unnie, want to get chicken?"
Hana unnie, who is strict about her diet, hesitated before nodding.
"We're only eating a little, right?"
"Yeah, I'll order one whole chicken."
Even though I usually have a small appetite, I seem to eat quite a lot since I'm still growing.
"When you're growing taller, you eat three bowls of rice a meal, after all."
My chest, which had swelled up considerably before I knew it, asserting its presence.
A C-cup. Right now, isn't this just the perfect, stylish line?
As I was staring at my chest, Hana unnie giggled with a sly expression.
"Come to think of it, our maknae has really grown a lot? Shall unnie check...?"
She approached with a perverted look.
"Ah, don't."
.
.
.
About thirty minutes later, the dorm intercom rang.
It seemed to be the delivery driver.
And before long, the sound of the elevator from outside the front door.
"-Seventeenth floor."
Heading to the front door to pick up the chicken left outside,
I heard the door lock click, and the front door opened on its own.
A face visible beyond the front door.
Yeeun unnie, wearing the uniform of Hanlim Arts High School, also known as the Idol Military Academy.
"What, were you waiting for me? Heh."
Meeting my eyes, she formed a strange smile, her eyes turning into straight lines.
"Did you miss unnie that much?"
What's she talking about.
"Forget it, is there no chicken out front?"
There was no chicken visible in front of the door.
I guess we must have missed each other with the delivery driver.
He'll probably come back up on the elevator that just went down.
"You're embarrassed? Heh. Yeah, that makes sense. A middle schooler is still at an age where she needs her unnie."
"Why are you like this, seriously."
A smile with the corners of her mouth raised to the fullest, dimples fully showing.
A gaze angled as if she were looking down on me, despite being shorter than me.
An expression brimming with superiority.
That obnoxious behavior of Park Yeeun had become an occasional sight since the entrance ceremony.
"It's okay, Dohui. You're still in middle school, so you can be like that. Hee-hee."
"No chicken for you."
Even on the day of the entrance ceremony, she'd been anxiously fretting about how to make new friends.
Yet not even a few weeks—no, a few days after enrolling—that grossly smug expression began to surface.
Was it simply because she had become a high school student?
'Or did her classmates hype her up...?'
The latter seemed more likely.
The seven who passed the audition.
Staff members who doted on them.
People who recognized them wherever they went.
The most popular kid at school.
Winning awards at various music shows and award ceremonies.
It was inevitable that Yeeun unnie's ego, which had originally lacked confidence, would become inflated.
'How should I educate this kid.'
I'd always thought about it, but celebrities receive excessive treatment, so it's all too easy to come down with celebrity disease.
Of course, that's limited to celebrities with a certain degree of recognition.
I'd even heard the names of some actors and idols who were said to have celebrity disease.
The staff cursed them out all the time.
So-and-so had no manners.
So-and-so had a trash personality.
So-and-so was always late, and so on.
Anyway, for Yeeun unnie's sake, too.
I had to rein her in now, at times like this.
Before she ruined her own reputation.
"Hmph... Park Yeeun, you've become a real unnie now. Hee-hee-hee."
I felt the need to give her a scolding as an adult.
It was absolutely not because that smug expression was annoying.
And before long, a fine schedule came up to correct Park Yeeun's inflated ego.
Manager's schedule briefing time.
"We're going to Japan next week."
"Ehh! Nippon desu ka!?"
"Eeeh! Honto!?"
"Dohi-chan, kawaii~"
"Sigh..."
Meanwhile, Yeeun unnie, looking intimidated and worried for the first time in a while.
"What should I do... I don't know any Japanese..."
At large agencies, they basically took English and Japanese conversation lessons.
All the members except Yeeun unnie and Hana unnie could manage at least basic beginner conversation.
Of course, I could speak Japanese fluently.
But since we weren't a large agency, Hana unnie and Yeeun unnie's Japanese proficiency was severely lacking.
They could quickly practice very basic conversation, but...
Fortunately, it wasn't so urgent that they needed to master Japanese to that degree.
The manager's explanation was as follows.
"We're not debuting in Japan; we're just simply..."
Currently, Seven was a top-tier girl group in Korea.
Naturally, riding on the wave of K-pop's global popularity, they possessed a certain degree of global recognition.
And in Japan, they were also quite popular.
Even I had had birthday ads put up in Shinjuku by Japanese fans who pooled their money together.
*Japanese comments are often left on Insta, too.*
Still, there were no plans to debut in Japan.
For one thing, being a project group meant there was a time limit.
And to advance into Japan, they would have to go through a local Japanese agency.
If they had to split the pie with a Japanese agency, the expected value in terms of settlement and revenue would be lower than if they focused on Korean activities. For the current agency, where the present was more important than the future, a Japan debut was not in the cards.
But Japan was the next largest market after North America and couldn't be overlooked, so they would briefly appear for a few interviews, a pictorial shoot, and some famous Japanese talk show programs.
*Is it finally time to show off my Japanese skills, which I've honed through long self-study and agency lessons?*
I have no shortcomings to speak of, and that's the problem.
"You're thinking about something else again."
"No."
Does it show on my face?
Kim Seoyoon's sixth sense is sometimes scary.
***
A program that introduced popular celebrities.
This famous Japanese variety show with fairly high ratings received a lot of reactions from Korean fans saying that it was comfortable to watch.
Because it was a talk show with just two male and female MCs, not a provocative broadcast with countless comedian MCs and guests.
Still, Seven fans who had heard about Seven's sudden Japan schedule were worried that there might be aggressive questions due to the nature of Japanese programs.
This was the same for local Seven fans in Japan.
-Eh, will Seven come to Japan and leave with nothing but scars..
-The MCs must absolutely not touch the angels! ! !
-This is an international issue! ! ! If they're mean to Lee Dohui.
-Seoyoon and Sera-chan are absolutely cute (lol); for some reason, it's embarrassing.
-Chaeri, absolute support!
-Can the members speak Japanese?
Most important of all was the members' Japanese proficiency.
Even if the MCs carried them, if conversation didn't flow, the variety show was likely to fail.
Fans had no choice but to watch the broadcast anxiously with worry.
The broadcast began with the members' *Unsatisfied* stage in the studio.
After the stage ended, the screen moved to profile introductions.
Seven billboards shining even on the streets of Tokyo.
A Seven goods pop-up studio on the streets of Ikebukuro.
Seven posters and songs lining Shin-Okubo, the Korean Wave street.
A simple profile introduction stating that they were also a hit in Japan.
After interviews with citizens on the street who had purchased Seven goods at the pop-up studio,
back in the studio, the screen showed the members seated.
[-I'm in seventh heaven. Konbanwa, Seven desu!]
The broadcast properly began with the members' greeting slogan.
First, the two male and female MCs talked.
[-That was amazing. How did you sing that?]
[-Do you like Seven?]
[-I really like them!]
Because the female MC claimed to be a fan of Seven, a warm breeze blew through the studio and the atmosphere grew comfortable.
The members fluently delivered their prepared self-introductions in Japanese.
[-I'm Dohui, the maknae of Seven.]
.
.
.
[-I'm Yeeun, and my charming point is my dimpled smile!]
The situation was still nothing difficult.
The MCs calmly exchanged simple conversation and proceeded with the questions according to the script.
[-Was the audition very hard?]
[-Yes, you could say they were days of repeating nothing but practice, even without a cell phone.]
It wasn't very difficult if they gave answers they had practiced and prepared in advance.
[-Dohi-chan, your Japanese is incredible, isn't it?]
[-Ah, is that so!]
[-You really seem like a local!]
[-Actually, since I was eight? Nine years old, I've been very interested in Japanese, so I studied it entirely on my own.]
[-Ehh!!! Really? No way!]
[-They say Dohi-chan is a genius with excellent grades too? (laughter)]
But then came the real viewer question time.
It was a format where the MC picked one question from those coming in in real time, and the members wrote their answers on a board.
[-If you were reborn, which member would you want to be born as?]
[-Ah, this is one I definitely want to ask about!]
Along with the MC's question, Dohui interpreted.
[What are you writing?]
[She's asking if you know how to write Lee Dohui in three Japanese characters.]
The maknae trying to get them to write her own name.
[What are you talking about. She's asking which member you'd want to be if you were reborn.]
Chaerin, who had the best Japanese skills among them, corrected Dohui's translation and clarified the real question.
The members chose other members as much as possible and praised one another.
[-I choose Sera-chan. Sera's voice is really pretty!]
[I choose Dohui. She's fifteen in Japanese age, can you believe it? Her proportions are wow. A finished product.]
[I wrote Harang unnie... Harang unnie is always so confident and fun and cool...!]
Of course,
[Me. I really like myself.]
There was that minor issue, but the most talked-about scene was the next question.
[-Have you ever fought with each other or anything like that?]
Dohui, who understood first, answered fluently.
[-Of course. The members fight every day, but I tend to calm them down in a somewhat mature manner.]
Mixing in difficult vocabulary just in case Chaerin understood.
[-Ehh~ liar!]
[-Even regarding refrigerator food, there are frequent situations where they claim pudding as their own and pour out complaints, and occasionally fight over clothes, that is, outfits. However, I believe it's safe to say that I still take charge of adjustment and mediation.]
The members, who couldn't catch the difficult Japanese, simply smiled and nodded along to Dohui's words, but
something about the MC's strange reaction left her feeling slightly uncomfortable.
[-Members, is that true?]
[She's asking if you all get along well.]
[-Yes! We really get along well!]
[-Ehh~ Dohui is so mature!]
It was only after the broadcast aired that Dohui got ragged on by the members.
***
What fans had worried about was the members' lack of Japanese proficiency.
But after the broadcast aired, that concern was confirmed to be unfounded.
Far from growing awkward, the variety show proceeded with warmth and laughter mixed in.
Naturally, the viewers' reactions were also positive.
-Everyone is so cute! They dance really well and sing well too, they're just simply cute.
-Their faces are (too) small! !
-Yaba, why is everyone so cute? !
-(lol) Dohi-chan chose herself wwwww but I can't help but agree
-Why is Dohi-chan so good at Japanese? She's much better than our idiot! ! !
-Seven's manne is super cute
-Manme Hidoi-chan is totally a rabbit (lol)
-wwwwwww the members definitely didn't understand!
└Manne-chan is scary wwwwwwww
As a bonus, several posts popped up on Korean online communities.
[Girl Group Member Who Self-Studied Japanese]
[Girl Group Member Who Cheats on Japanese Variety Shows]
[Lee Dohui Who Lies on Japanese Variety Shows]
***
Taming Park Yeeun.
The reason Dohui was pleased with the Japan schedule was trivial.
After the plane departed from Gimpo International Airport and arrived at Narita Airport in Japan.
"Yeeun-ah."
Dohui put her arm around Park Yeeun's shoulder.
"Uh...? Yeeun...? I'm your unnie!"
"Here, we're the same age. Don't you know Japan uses the full-age system? You're born in August. We're friends? Okay?"
"No...! I'm Korean...! Call me unnie...!"
"Forget it, let's go to the bathroom."
"Hana unnieee! Dohui is picking on me again. Hiiing."
"Lee Dohui! Why are you making Yeeun cry again!"
Yeeun's celebrity disease had probably been prevented.