[Me: I’m busy.]
[Coral Blue Lyra: (file) You can do it.]
[Me: I said I’m busy.]
[Me: Seriously.]
[Coral Blue Lyra: (crying rabbit emoticon)]
[Coral Blue Lyra: (gifticon)]
‘Is she seriously insane?’
I thought this every time, but even the free time during an inactive period didn’t apply to our Seven.
There might not be any university festivals, but there were still regular events for major corporations and regional festivals.
Video-call fan sign events with overseas fans.
Fan sign events collaborating with advertisers and advertising agencies.
And each member’s individual schedules and commercial shoots.
Whenever we had the time, we also kept communicating with our fans through the WE app, Bubble, social media, and so on.
At least today, the only day without a schedule, we were planning to rest without practicing.
“Guys, the manager says we have to come to the company. He says it’s urgent.”
If we hadn’t received that urgent call from the company.
“Ha, can’t you cut something this minor at the leader level?”
“Agreed. If I were the leader, I’d have cut it immediately.”
You could say her charisma had been rising lately.
The maknae was in the process of escaping her maknae status.
“Huh?”
“What?”
“Jeonha, I Dohui, stop talking nonsense and get dressed.”
“Yes, ma’am.” “Okay.”
When we arrived at the agreed-upon location, Director I Sinsu of Shock Entertainment was already there, seated.
“Oh, you’re here?”
The director seemed oddly excited.
What was this? Was he planning to work us to the bone?
“Ah, I really ought to give such busy people as you a vacation. I’m sorry for calling you in even on a day like this. I’m sorry, I’m sorry~”
Of course, he didn’t look like he had any intention of giving us a vacation.
“But what I have to tell you today will be over quickly, so bear with me just a little~”
After exchanging formal greetings with the director,
once we had all taken our seats, he got straight to the point.
“Now, the reason I called you all here today is to deliver some important news.”
What could possibly count as important news at this point?
“Here it is! Drumroll~”
The director tapped on the desk rather frivolously.
How had someone like this managed to become a director?
After keeping us on edge for a while, the director finally clapped his hands brightly and shouted,
“We’ve scheduled your first solo concert!”
At that moment, the gazes of all the members, myself included, turned toward Director I Sinsu.
“Really!?”
“A concert...!”
I finally understood why he was a director.
‘He was excited at the thought of making a ton of money.’
***
Our first solo concert.
Regardless, for us, who had never even held a joint concert aside from year-end stages, the words themselves were incredibly thrilling.
What’s more, the concert we were embarking on this time was a world tour beginning in Seoul and traveling through various countries, including Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Japan.
“How many people does the Olympic Gymnastics Arena hold?”
“Up to fifteen thousand seats, but if we reduce the space for convenience, we’ll probably get somewhere between eight and eleven thousand.”
The Seoul concert had first been scheduled to run for two days.
The venue was the Olympic Gymnastics Arena.
‘That means nearly ten thousand people will be watching me.’
A concert.
In a way, it was the stage of my dreams—especially after being disappointed by domestic piano competitions, which had been more subdued and smaller in scale than I’d expected.
The darkened surroundings and the brilliantly lit, dazzling stage.
An uncountable number of people.
Of course, I had never personally attended a concert.
But what mattered to me was standing at the center of one.
My heart was already pounding rapidly, and my body began to tremble.
So I immediately called Mom.
“Mom! I’m having a concert!”
—A concert!?
“Yeah!”
Because she would be happier than anyone.
—Our daughter’s going to make lots of money now?
“...Huh?”
—The bed’s been uncomfortable lately, you know.
“...And?”
—My back hurts a little...
“...Fine. I’ll buy you an expensive one...”
—Congratulations on your first concert, my princess! I’ll definitely go with your father and Doa!
She was happy for me.
***
“Wow, I can’t believe I’m actually doing a concert.”
Seoyun unnie nodded beside me.
“Exactly. We used to go as audience members.”
“I’ve never been to one, though?”
“Huh...? You’ve never been? You didn’t even go to Pastel Love sunbaenims’ concert?”
“No.”
Was I supposed to have gone?
“Seriously, I Dohui, why did you decide to become an idol?”
“Born to be an idol.”
For several days, the members remained lively as they talked about the concert.
“Everyone, come gather around.”
In the middle of it all, Hana unnie called us over, clapping her hands.
Once the members had gathered in the living room and sat down, Hana unnie held a tablet out in the center.
“Guys, we just received the first draft of the set list, you know?”
“Oh, it’s finished?”
“Yeah.”
Displayed on Hana unnie’s tablet was the first draft of a set list created through meetings between the outside concert-planning team and Shock Entertainment’s performance-directing team.
The proposal still looked sparse, with blank spaces here and there.
Hana unnie pointed at the screen and began a brief briefing.
“As you all know, you need around twenty songs to put together a concert. But the plan is based on eighteen songs. For now, we have a total of seven songs in our repertoire, including ‘I Fell for You.’”
Although we had released a third album, it had been composed entirely of singles to keep up with our tight comeback schedule, so it was inevitable that we had so few songs.
That was also why we could only hold a concert now, nearly a year after our debut.
“And they suggested that we choose around two of the four songs from the Theme Evaluation in the third round of our survival show and perform them as unit stages. We’ll decide who does what in a bit...”
“Oh, are we going to see maknae Dohui’s cute, aegyo-filled stage~? The fans would love that, wouldn’t they~?”
Go to hell.
“Seoyun, listen first, then talk.”
Hana unnie tapped the tablet with her pen as she spoke.
“Lastly, they said the encore stage will repeat two title tracks... That leaves seven songs. They want us to put together cover stages as units or solos. You’ve all thought about what you want to do, right?”
In fact, ever since the concert had been confirmed, we had talked endlessly about the set list while going back and forth between schedules.
Everyone surely had something they absolutely wanted to perform.
As for my own carefully considered wish—
“Without question, a boy-group song.”
It was time to show off the charisma I’d been hiding.
“Oh, and they said Dohui should have one stage where she sings while playing the piano, or just plays the piano.”
Fuck.
“Then let’s assume Dohui gets one piano stage as a solo.”
I want to do a girl-crush stage too...
“That leaves six. Let’s each say what songs we want to do!”
At Hana unnie’s conclusion, the members began a heated debate, all clamoring to speak first.
“Me! I want to see Yeeun’s chic side...”
“Give it up. Unnie’s dyeing her hair black again.”
“Really...? Aww...”
“Me! A hip-hop song! I really want to do a rap song!”
“That sounds good. You and Chaerin could do it as a unit.”
“I’d like that too.”
“I want to play the piano with Dohui...!”
“Sera, do you know how to play the piano?”
“I’ll learn...”
“Do you really think learning will let you catch up to her?”
“Then I’ll do the vocals... and Dohui can play the piano...”
“The proposal says Dohui is doing that as a solo stage.”
“...Then I’ll do a pop song.”
“But it would be nice to have one boy-group cover, right? Boy-group songs are the best for performances.”
“Oh... Then me too?”
“You have to do the cute stage and the piano stage. What are you talking about?”
“Shh...”
“But I think we should have at least one group cover too, shouldn’t we?”
“Then should that be a boy-group song...? A group performance would be cool and really great...”
“Seoyun’s been feeling under the weather lately, so she can’t do something like that~”
“Want me to make you feel worse?”
“Tsk, you really don’t hold back with unnie, do you?”
“Good grief...”
“But Chaerin, don’t you want to see those two have a proper fight at least once?”
“Harang unnie, please be quiet.”
“What? I only said one thing.”
The seven songs, chosen only after a fierce debate in which no one was willing to yield, were reported to the company staff.
And, befitting cover stages decided by beginners entirely on their own, they were rejected by the company several times.
Only after changing the order of a few songs and adding one more could they finally receive approval.
***
Some time later, news of Seven’s first concert was revealed through various articles.
[Seven Confirmed to Hold First Solo Concert... Seven-City Tour from Seoul to Bangkok]
[[Official] Seven to Hold First Concert Since Debut... First Solo Concert at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena This September]
[Seven Draws Attention Overseas with First Asian Tour... Major Philippine Media Take Interest]
—Holy shit, Seven’s having a concert before even a year has passed ㄷㄷ
—They’re finally doing one ㅠㅠㅠ But September...? How am I supposed to wait two months...?
—Wow, the Olympic Gymnastics Arena right from their first concert? As expected of Seven?
└Is that a lot? Boy groups fill Gocheok Dome every time, and doesn’t Gocheok hold twenty thousand people?
└Boy groups can fill Gocheok quickly, but a girl group that fills the Gymnastics Arena is already a top group... Even Coral Blue performed there.
└Yeah, girl groups have never performed somewhere bigger than the Gymnastics Arena.
└Oh, really? I didn’t know.
—They skipped Jamsil and went straight to the Gymnastics Arena?? Can they really fill it?
└It’s a little questionable, but since they’re doing only two days, they’ll probably fill it?
—But are they touring overseas too? Are Seven popular abroad?
└If you do well in Korea, you become popular overseas too these days.
—Isn’t Seven still a rookie group? It would probably be better to perform at Jamsil Indoor Stadium. The agency obviously got greedy.
└LOL, if the agency had gotten greedy, they would’ve chosen Jamsil and charged more for tickets. That would’ve made more money.
└This is what happens when clueless trolls stir things up lol.
—Am I the only one who thinks they won’t sell out?
Naturally, Seven’s first concert became a hot topic in its own right.
But what drew even more attention was the fact that they were holding their very first concert at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena.
In truth, even Seven’s fans weren’t confident they could fill it.
After all, even Coral Blue, who had caused a huge sensation from the very beginning, had only managed to fill the venue in their third year.
So it was true that some anxiety remained.
On the other hand—
[Me: Sunbaenim, is that a geomungo playing the bends in this song?]
[Coral Blue Lyra: Yes.]
[Me: I think it sounds good. It goes well with the 808.]
[Coral Blue Lyra: (thumbs-up rabbit emoticon)]
[Coral Blue Lyra: (gifticon)]
[Me: You didn’t have to give me one. But, sunbaenim, may I ask you something?]
[Coral Blue Lyra: Of course.]
[Me: Where did you hold your concert in Korea?]
[Coral Blue Lyra: We held ours at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena~]
[Me: Aha. That’s the same as us lol.]
[Me: Okay, got it!]
[Coral Blue Lyra: ???]
Dohui was simply satisfied.