An idol concert lasting around two hours was, naturally, not made up of stages alone.
That was because the physical burden was considerable, given the nature of idol performances, which involved dancing as well.
So the program had been arranged to give them chances to catch their breath in between.
First, there were brief talk segments between the stages.
Then there were unit performances, with the members rotating so they could rest.
And above all, there were VCR videos that bought them enough time to change their stage outfits as a group.
Which meant an additional schedule for us: filming the VCRs.
There were three videos in total.
One of them would be made by adding flashy effects to photographs taken during the concert-poster shoot a few weeks later, so only two required separate filming sessions.
“The units will be divided into a two-member vocal unit, a three-member dance unit, and a two-member rap unit.”
And one of those two sessions was to form the concert unit teams we were filming now.
“Hey, Jeonha and you are participants too.”
“Unnie, be quiet and come down.”
We had set aside three slots for unit stages on the set list.
But the members and songs had not yet been decided.
Nor was the method of deciding them going to be simple.
They had decided to borrow the team-formation method from the time of Jeodol.
The set we arrived at was structured as though it were a scaled-down version of the set I had seen during the filming of Jeodol.
“Haa…”
According to the agency’s content team, the VCR would give the fans a chance to reminisce about the past for a little while, and they were sure the fans would love it.
But in my opinion, they clearly intended to leave Jeodol in the minds of the fans who had come to see the concert, even if only unconsciously.
At this point, it almost seemed as though the agency wanted the fandom to migrate.
*At this rate, they might even play a support video from the Jeodol Season 4 contestants in the middle of the concert.*
In any case, Harang unnie continued leading things from the platform, pulling out a hidden cue sheet and reading from it.
“All right, then we have to form the teams, right? The method is simple!”
“What is this? Was she really an MC for the day?”
“Everyone, you can see what’s written on the placards, right? The method is simple. We’ll determine the order through a karaoke game, and starting with the person who gets the lowest score, you can stand wherever you want. And, of course, you can push someone else out!”
It was exactly the same as the Jeodol rules announced beforehand.
“But does this even have a point?”
“Exactly. Everyone already decided what they wanted to do. Sera wants to sing a pop song, and Harang wants hip-hop.”
“Let’s just get this over with.”
“Ahem. Today’s proceedings will be handled personally by Jeon Harang.”
And so the karaoke game began.
“…82 points…? The karaoke machine is broken… Hng…”
“I sing better than Eun Sera!”
“Yes, next up: 85 points.”
“Let’s see what you get.”
Even though we were all in the same boat as Top East—
Honestly, I thought Sera unnie sang a little better.
“Can it really give someone 72 points?”
“Pfft.”
“No, the machine’s broken.”
How did I get 72 points?
I had never scored below 90 at karaoke before.
“Chaerin unnie got 100 points…!!!”
“But it really does seem like the machine’s broken, doesn’t it?”
“That’s what I said.”
“…Girls?”
Once the entire order had been decided—
“Then we’ll start with the youngest, in last place!”
The placard was passed to me first.
*We agreed beforehand that Kim Seoyun and Harang unnie would do the rap song, and Yaeun unnie and Sera unnie can handle the pop song, right?*
I chose the dance unit.
“Dohee, unnie’s going to do dance, okay?”
“Okay, I don’t care.”
Then Hana unnie pushed me out and sent me toward the vocal unit.
Because Sera unnie had unexpectedly chosen dance.
“Why are you pushing me out…! Everyone could just do what they wanted peacefully—!”
“The person involved says she’s fine with it, so why are you making a fuss?”
Sera unnie’s ability to empathize had really improved lately.
In the end, I became teammates with Yaeun unnie on the vocal team.
“Go, Maknae Line~”
“Huh…?”
***
Late at night.
After finishing a group commercial shoot for the newly signed Seven and a sports-brand modeling shoot, which had occupied the entire morning and afternoon, I returned to the practice room at the company building.
“Come on~ Yaeun unnie, you can do it!”
“…I don’t wannna.”
Without a moment to rest, I had been preparing the unit-stage performance with Yaeun unnie for quite some time.
“That’s it, good job!”
“Lee Dohee! I’m your unnie, remember!”
After becoming a high school student, she no longer fell for my manipulation so easily, even when I praised her.
It was like a pup finally escaping its owner’s arms.
Yaeun unnie’s growth became more palpable every day.
*She was cutest when I first met her…*
“Should I go to the bathroom? I want to wash my face.”
“If I go onstage like this, the fans will be disappointed… So I guess I have to practice…!”
After practicing for several hours straight, we finally took a short break.
I lay on the floor, breathing heavily, then swept my sweaty hair back.
I had lived with long hair all my life because of my mother’s princess-like stubbornness, so I was used to it by now. But sometimes, while dancing, the inconvenience made me want to cut it short.
*Would short hair suit me too?*
Curious to see what I would look like with short hair, I set a short-hair filter on my selfie app and took a picture. Just then, a group-chat notification appeared on the screen.
[Seven Leader Daehana: (Photo) We’re practicing hard! Is everyone else practicing well?]
The photo showed Chaerin unnie and Sera unnie lying on the floor and whining.
[Seven Leader Daehana: From now on, everyone send proof shots of your unit-stage practice ㄱㄱ]
There were only two practice rooms in Shock Entertainment’s building.
Hana unnie’s unit was preparing their stage in a practice room two blocks away from the company building.
So she couldn’t check on the members herself, and was asking us to send pictures proving we were practicing.
“Yaeun unnie, come here for a second. Hana unnie says we have to take a selfie and upload it.”
“You come here!”
*Sigh…*
In any case, we took a selfie, sweaty and glistening from head to toe.
[Me: (Photo) Workout complete]
[Seven Leader Daehana: Are Harang and Seoyun still practicing? They aren’t checking their messages.]
[Me: I’ll go check and upload one for them ㄱㄷ]
“Unnie, wait here. I’m going to check on Harang unnie and Kim Seoyun.”
“Okay!”
I wanted to keep teasing Yaeun unnie, whose face had brightened up considerably, but I headed to the practice room right next door anyway.
I had a feeling the two of them were just fooling around.
“Hey~”
I entered the practice room beside ours.
“Ahh, Kim Seoyun, you’re so bad! I told you to press Zhonya’s!”
“No, she used Flash and her ultimate! How was I supposed to react to that?”
“If it were me, I would’ve reacted~”
“Yeah, right.”
I found Kim Seoyun and Jeon Harang playing a game with their heads pressed together over the tiny laptop screen.
“What are you doing?”
Only then did the two of them look up.
“Oh?”
“Ah, no wonder we lost. Lee Dohee’s energy was nearby.”
When I walked closer, I saw the red defeat screen displayed on the monitor.
I immediately took out my phone and snapped a picture.
“…? What are you doing? Why did you take a picture?”
While Harang unnie looked confused, Seoyun unnie, who was quick on the uptake, began making excuses.
“Dohee, you seem to be misunderstanding. We were practicing until just now. See the sweat here? We were practicing really hard. And the game we just played was to get ideas after discussing whether we could arrange a game beat into the unit stage. We tried it ourselves for research purposes.”
“So?”
That was when Harang unnie finally grasped the situation.
“I suddenly feel like practicing. Dohee, you know, right? Kim Seoyun was the one playing the game?”
Harang unnie began slowly getting up to leave.
“Dohee, I didn’t want to say this, but Harang unnie played first while I was practicing. Search for ‘Top-Lane Maniac Jeon Harang’ in the match history and it’ll come right up.”
“So what?”
“Unnie really loves you, Dohee, you know? You know about our sisterly chemistry, right? We’re true love.”
“I only have one sister, our Doa. What do you mean, Sisters Line?”
In the meantime, Harang unnie abandoned her comrade and walked out the door.
“I wonder what Yaeun’s doing~”
Kim Seoyun’s eyes changed.
“Hey, Harang unnie’s already left, so let’s crop the picture and upload only Harang unnie. Deal?”
That was rather tempting.
“Should we?”
“This is why I can’t hate you, Dohee. Should I give my little unnie a deep, heartfelt hug?”
As she said that, Kim Seoyun mimed puckering her lips.
“I don’t know about that. Just massage my shoulders.”
My shoulders had been stiff rather often lately.
Maybe because my chest had gotten bigger.
“Of course.”
Seoyun unnie quickly got to her feet and began massaging my shoulders.
“Haa… The fatigue is fading a little.”
“Of course. I’m quite the masseuse, you know.”
“Whew, I’ve been so exhausted lately because of this girl named Kim Seoyun.”
Kim Seoyun pressed down firmly on the tense muscles.
“Uh—? My hands suddenly feel a little sore?”
Seoyun unnie let out a staccato laugh.
“Seems you’ve got a bit of a knot here~ More importantly, could you be mistaken about this Kim Seoyun person?”
“Hmm, maybe? By the way, do you know Seven?”
“How could I not? They’re the top girl group these days.”
“Then you must know. I know because I’m a staff member, but there’s this girl named Kim Seoyun in the group, you see? Lately, the fans have been praising her, calling her ‘Seorodi, Seorodi,’ and her shoulders have gotten so high.”
Of course, even I had to admit that Seoyun unnie’s beauty had really blossomed since her debut.
“She thinks she’s as pretty as Lee Dohee.”
Kim Seoyun once again pressed firmly down on my knotted muscles.
“…Oh, I see~”
“Honestly, from the perspective of a massage therapist, who’s prettier? Kim Seoyun or Lee Dohee?”
“…Lee Dohee, of course~”
“Right? Uh—! But why do my hands keep getting stronger?”
“You’ve got another knot here! Ha. Ha. Ha.”
“Could it be that you’re secretly a Kim Seoyun fan?”
“Oh, no way. I’m a complete Lee Dohee fan.”
“Really?”
“Of course. More importantly, you keep sweating. You must be really hot. Shall I turn on the air conditioner for you?”
“Oh, yes, please.”
“Yes, yes. I’ll set it to si-pal degrees for you.”
“What?”
Seoyun unnie pressed the remote.
“Eighteen degrees, so you’ll be nice and cool. Ah, eighteen—refreshing.”
“That sounded a little strange.”
“Surely not.”
Still, her antics were somewhat endearing, so I decided to let it slide this once.