The smile vanished from the corners of Rira's lips as she scanned the articles about herself. And she let it slip out thoughtlessly.
"Seven."
Jina, the member loitering beside her, reflexively answered.
"With Harang? Why?"
Unlike the other members, Jina, who didn't bother reading Rira's mood, was still bright and cheerful.
"Their song is good."
Of course, it was probably thanks to that kind of personality that this team ran so smoothly.
"Right, right? I had a feeling Harang would really make it~ The other kids are so cute too! Yeeun, was it? She's really cute!"
Since Rira wasn't exactly the type to look after others.
"Yeah, Harang has decent potential."
*Good at rapping. Good at variety. Lacking nothing in visuals.*
If only she were a little younger, she might have ended up in Rira's group. But as things stood, she was in Seven.
Rira had originally been skeptical of Seven's lasting success.
Because of the nature of audition programs, there had always been groups that merely flashed bright for a moment. Hadn't her own group eventually faded too?
[Coral Blue's Rira overtaken... Who ranks 1st in individual girl group brand reputation for 2023?]
But being mentioned alongside them after just one year.
As someone who was also Coral Blue's producer, it was quite a blow to her pride.
"Is this song a bit mediocre?"
"Huh? Who? Us? Troika?"
The collaborative production team's capabilities had been lacking.
The AR team's ears had been disappointing.
"Should we have used a different demo?"
Above all, the biggest issue was the lack of time that had prevented them from touching other demos.
"Hey~ Lil produced it, so of course it's good!"
Ignoring Jina, who kept chirping the nickname 'Lili' that she despised, Rira scrolled down the article.
[Big data analysis results for 2023 Girl Group Individual Brand Reputation show 1st place Seven's Dohee, 2nd place Coral Blue's Rira, and 3rd place Seven's Eunsera...]
'First place...'
—Knock, knock.
Just then, a knocking sound came from outside the waiting room.
The manager reflexively got up and approached the door. And when it opened.
—Im in seventh heaven. Hello, we are Seven!
The member filling the article photo on the screen had appeared.
Rira composed her expression and slightly raised the corners of her lips.
She took off her slippers, put on the heels beside her, and walked toward the Seven members.
***
The clacking sound of heels.
Rira, who had been fiddling with her phone, approached us.
"Hello. I've wanted to meet you all at least once, but the chance never came. I've listened to your song. It was really good. Everyone is charming."
"Ah, thank you!"
Taking her hand, Rira pulled Harang unnie toward her.
"I wonder if our Harang is doing well. Harang isn't acting up, is she?"
Then Rira placed a hand on Harang unnie's head and stroked it.
*Are the two of them very close?*
"Ah, well, she's a member who makes the dorm very lively, so she's very popular!"
"Really? Seems Harang is still noisy as ever."
Somehow, with gestures like soothing a child and Rira's kind tone. Harang unnie's expression stiffened as if nervous.
"Harang was even worse when she was a trainee."
Somehow, Rira's actions felt deliberately condescending.
Judging by her arrogant demeanor right now.
*She's like some narcissistic bitch.*
In fact, there were many people in the entertainment industry who hadn't been properly socialized during their school days, so it wasn't as if everyone was a normal person like me.
*It's harder than you'd think to find kids with a beautiful heart like mine.*
The Coral Blue member approaching behind Rira, Jina.
"Why are you picking on our Harang again?"
Released from Rira, Harang unnie's expression brightened and she hugged Jina.
"Harang, have you been doing well?!"
"I missed you, Senior!"
As if she didn't care about the two squealing, Rira turned her head.
"So... this is Dohee, right?"
She met eyes with me.
"Hello! I'm Dohee Lee of Seven!"
Rira smiled faintly.
"Of course I know."
And she took my hand with a brightened smile.
"I've wanted to get close to you so badly, Dohee. Can I talk with just you and unnie? It's because I want to get close so much."
"Ah..."
And without even hearing my answer, Rira pulled me along.
"Hey, where are you going! You're not bullying her, are you? She's not from our company, you can't bully her! Ah, of course, that doesn't mean you can bully her just because she's from our company! Of course? Right, Harang?"
"I can't say anything in front of Senior Rira..."
Silently, Rira moved toward the door.
I had no choice but to follow.
"Dohee-ya..."
Eunsera unnie waving her hand sorrowfully.
*Does she think I'm really going off to die?*
The place we arrived at was an empty waiting room.
Rira, seated in a chair, spoke calmly.
"But you're really pretty."
Though I was bewildered by the rather out-of-nowhere comment, Rira continued with only her own words.
"But are you standing because of me? Come here and sit."
At Rira's gesture, I went and sat in the seat in front of her.
"You know about that, right? That you've been continuously ranking first in brand reputation."
An ambiguous question to answer.
As I hesitated for a moment, Rira continued.
"But I don't really pay attention to it. Since you'll disband anyway."
"I'm not saying it to be mean. I'm stating reality. Popularity gained from a program can disappear at any time."
"That's why I'm more curious. Why you entered Topist. Honestly, with a face like that, even if your skills were bad, you would have gotten into a major agency quickly. I feel like you must have been street-cast at least once."
I had no intention of answering if I didn't have to.
Since I wasn't the type to act overly nice to people I didn't particularly like either.
"Ah, I misspoke again. I don't mean that your skills are bad or that Topist is lacking. But it's true that the conditions at the Big 4 agencies are better, right? Overseas fans only pay attention to the Big 4 too."
As I listened without saying anything, Rira brought up a new topic.
"Ah, I've been talking too much by myself again. Have you by any chance listened to our song?"
"Yes, I have."
"You don't have to answer so stiffly. Seems I spoke too strongly. I'm sorry. Usually, there's no one who tells me to fix that kind of thing. At this point, I can live honestly."
"It's fine."
"So what did you think?"
"Excuse me?"
"The song. Troika."
"Ah... I thought it was a good song."
Rira had a sullen expression, as if somewhat dissatisfied with my answer.
"I've been quite interested in you too, Dohee, so I searched you several times. They say you're a piano genius."
That was true.
I also often heard that I was a visual genius.
"I didn't want to hear such a simple evaluation from someone with musical talent. Could you tell me a little more in detail? Since I am the team's producer after all, the evaluation from a peer in the same industry is important too."
Though I didn't know why she wanted to hear my evaluation so badly.
For a moment, I recalled Troika's melody line in my head.
The notes forming in my mind. And the bass line. The music sound that had approached me uniquely.
Since becoming interested in composition, I had listened while analyzing other girl groups' songs too.
"First, what I felt was that the rest of the song's composition was structured so that the chorus could shine. For example, the verse beat was rhythmical, but the melody was led entirely by the vocals."
A gaze that seemed to tell me to keep going.
"Following into the pre-chorus, the vocal melody became even more prominent..."
Meaning, it was a song in the traditional K-pop style.
"You don't have to beat around the bush. I'm really curious, that's why."
In other words, in trying to chase public appeal, Coral Blue's color had come out a little less.
"...In the bridge part, the retro feeling I got was because a music sound you might have heard in an arcade was mixed into the bass line. I could see you were going for a trendy feeling. But then a guitar riff was tacked on so out of nowhere that it made the bass line feel like it was floating away from the top line?"
"Then what do you think would have been good to do?"
"I don't know for sure yet... but if it were me, if I wanted to give a trendy feeling, I think I would have used a sample that roughly mixes drums and bass. In an unconventional way."
In my head, I pictured that this way, they could chase mainstream appeal while still preserving the familiar Coral Blue style.
"Are you learning composition by any chance?"
Rira got up from her seat.
"Ah, yes. Little by little from Chaerin unnie."
"That's a shame."
"Excuse me?"
Rira moved and sat beside me.
"You'll be returning to your agency next year. It would have been nice if you'd done it with unnie."
And she held out her phone.
"So let's start by exchanging numbers."
***
Around the time Seven's promotions ended and Coral Blue was sweeping first place on music shows for two consecutive weeks.
[OMG Dohee and Rira two-shot selfie dropped]
=======================
SAVEN OFFICIAL (@SAVENShock)
[With Coral Blue's Rira sunbae!]
(Photo) (Photo)
=======================
[I follow a few girl idol accounts and they're all talking about Dohee and Rira right now LOL]
[How did Dohee and Rira get close?]
[What's with those two's face chemistry]
[Which employee pushed for the Dohee-Rira challenge!!]
The friendship between Dohee and Coral Blue's Rira, who were competing for 1st and 2nd place in brand reputation value, naturally couldn't help but receive heated reactions.
There was no need to take sides; the number of the public who loved all top-tier idols was overwhelming.
[OMG crazy, Dohee and Rira filmed a challenge too]
(Video)
https://twitter.com/i/status/1612345
Can't believe the Coral Blue Seven friendship is a thing
I thought if anyone came out it'd be Harang since she's Haru Ent LOL
-I'm losing it
-They're from different groups but if they really had a unit the whole world would go crazy
-Wow, international fans only saw two-shots through edits
-Two-shot of girl group individual brand value 1st and 2nd place ddd
-Why did the two of them film together?
-Did Harang film it for them since she's Haru Ent?
-But they filmed just the two of them without Harang
[But is Dohee the type that unnies really like?]
She got close with other girl group unnies quickly at last year's year-end special stage too and they doted on her so much calling her the youngest of the youngests, but I didn't expect Rira too LOL Rira gives off such a real unnie vibe though
-They have a 10-year age gap so Dohee must really seem like a baby ㅠ
-(GIF of Dohee staring at camera at fanmeeting) How can you not find a kid like this cute ㅠㅠ
-OMG 10-year age gap LOL that's almost a 2-3 generation age difference;;
-Dohee is so young LOL
The meeting of two girl group members representing the 3rd and 4th generations inevitably gave a positive image to Dohee, the new generation inheriting the legacy in particular.
But the person in question, Dohee's mood was not good.
[Coral Blue Rira: (File)]
[Coral Blue Rira: Can you listen to this too?]
[Coral Blue Rira: Unnie will buy you something delicious next time. Our Dohee is doing so well~]
Dohee raised her head and looked ahead.
Yeeun unnie grinning after receiving praise.
"Hehe, I did well, right!"
'This woman is treating me like I treat Yeeun unnie...'