Early morning.
"""Hello, PD-nim~"""
After finishing our pre-recording, we went with our manager to greet the music show PD.
"Oh, you don't have to come greet me like this. You should be resting in the waiting room~ You must be tired."
"Haha, our kids felt they should greet you now."
It was to tell him that we probably wouldn't be able to make the live broadcast at 6 p.m.
"Ah, you can't come to the live broadcast? I see... you must be very busy?"
Our manager spoke cautiously, but the PD didn't look very pleased.
After all, it was a kind of authority he held.
But it wasn't as if he had just cause to refuse either.
"The thing is, since this album overlapped with the year-end season, the kids are short-handed. Preparing for year-end stages and keeping up with schedules. There's an awards ceremony the week after next, right?"
Since they were busy preparing for their own year-end stage.
"Ah~ MWMA? You're right. I completely forgot about that! You must all be tired, so hurry up and get some rest! Prepare hard! Hahaha."
Thanks to that, we who had spent a hectic non-promotional period found ourselves with a bit of breathing room once promotions actually began.
Just enough to enjoy exactly one day off.
Of course, once today was over, there wouldn't be a single day of rest left for the rest of the year.
Not that I was expecting any.
The one comforting thing was that the staff were thoroughly busy too, bringing in outsourced planning teams with their skeleton crew to design the year-end stage, so there wouldn't be any contact today.
Today, at least, I could truly spend with a liberated mind.
'Since it's a time when everyone is that busy...'
I should enjoy today's last leisure to the fullest.
It would be better to rest and recover my stamina...
"Hey, Lee Dohee! We're all going to a board game cafe, so hurry up and come out!"
Hing...
***
Still, once we arrived at the board game cafe and actually started playing, it was quite, very fun.
*Clack!*
"Oh, Lee Dohee is crazy good at Halli Galli."
"I know, her reflexes are no joke."
"Hing... I haven't won even once..."
Not because I was in first place.
"Stop slapping my palm while pretending to compliment me."
"Oh~ Lee Dohee is sharp too."
"Lee Yeri~ Lee Yeol~ How's that? How's my rhyme?"
"Are you a rapper?"
Because it had been so long since we'd all hung out together away from work.
"Ah, it really hurts."
"What can I do when you're so fast~"
"What to do~"
But the intentional hand-slapping by Harang unni and Seoyun unni.
"Those two aside, Hana unni's hand really hurts too much... Can't we stop Halli Galli and do something else?"
"Dohee-ya, unni will blow on it for you...!"
And the back of my hand was swollen red from Hana unni's characteristically firm palm.
*Buzz buzz.*
The smartphone in my pants pocket vibrated.
[Coral Blue Lira: (photo)]
[Coral Blue Lira: How are you?]
'...Should I ignore it?'
This person's messages usually meant piling on work, so it seemed best to ignore them while resting.
But seeing the attached photo, I changed my mind.
It was a screenshot of an article.
[Lee Dohee Who Looks So Sad. 'The Reason She Became Sulky During Recording' (Video)]
Argh...
[Me: Yes, I tried my hand at producing for the first time this time]
[Me: but it's not easy to do it well like you yet, sunbaenim. Expressing things is difficult]
Still, I can endure it.
[Me: At least the song came out well, so that's a relief]
If this issue just raises the buzz.
If that translates into performance.
I can endure being teased a little.
[Coral Blue Lira: Ah, it's not like that, I posted it because you're cute haha]
[Me: K]
Because I'm a pro.
It's not a mental victory.
'Really.'
[Coral Blue Lira: Still, talking with me seems to have improved your expressiveness, right?]
[Coral Blue Lira: Let's keep studying hard together with me haha]
Argh...
Meanwhile, Seoyun unni beside me was sneakily glancing at my chat screen.
"What, Dohee, you were in contact with Lira sunbaenim?"
"Huh? She doesn't even contact me often and we're in the same company. What gives!"
So what.
[Coral Blue Lira: Then I'll see you at the awards ceremony.]
And the first awards ceremony of the big three where I met Lira was the MWMA.
***
"Park Yeeun, deployment ready...!"
"Unni always says deployment ready."
"It's my thing...! Syabenyu liked it...!"
"Those people are the type who'd like whatever you say."
"Y-you just have to like it too...!"
"Ah, that's impossible for me."
Before the awards ceremony began, in the waiting room.
The members who had finished all preparations spent their time half-excited, half-nervous.
Actually, the excitement was greater.
Because they couldn't help but hope for the Daesang.
But there was an exception.
"Ha ha. Ha. Ha..."
Seoyun unni with only the corners of her mouth raised.
"Nervous again?"
"Just a little? I thought I'd gotten used to it lately and was fine, so I didn't take the Hwangcheongsim pills... I shouldn't have done that."
Precisely because of this, before every big event, I had been asking our manager to bring them.
"The manager should have them. Go take them."
"Oh really...? As expected of our manager~"
The reason Seoyun unni gets so nervous is probably because the expectations she has for herself are high.
So sometimes I worry about her.
"Hanass~ let's drink this! Champagne! Sparkling wine!"
"Should we? Yeah, great! Bring it out!"
That doesn't mean we're drinking alcohol, you guys.
"What the heck, you're saying you'll drink before even winning the Daesang."
When I scolded them, Harang unni approached me, placed her finger on my lips, and handed me a glass.
"Ahh, this is non-alcoholic. Even a 16-year-old baby can drink it."
"Oh... then just one glass...?"
It was highly persuasive.
"Okay members, I'll give a toast speech."
A moment later, glasses were in the hands of all members after all.
Hana unni, who had boldly stepped forward, mumbled her lips, hesitated, then blushed slightly and opened her mouth.
"Um... honestly, I think there were many times when I was lacking as a leader. There were many times I pushed everyone to work hard through my own unilateral decisions..."
And her face reddening in real time.
"What, Kwon Hana turned red!"
"Harang unni, don't tease her at times like this. She'll get redder."
At the members' teasing, Hana unni resumed her toast speech at her original tempo.
"Still, thank you to our members for always working hard! What's more important than the results is putting on a great stage today!"
And she raised her glass with a completely red face.
"Let's end with our cheer!"
"No, I don't want the cheer..."
"Tsk, Dohee-ya."
I really didn't want to do the cheer, but.
It wasn't an atmosphere where I could refuse.
"Okay, I'll lead! Make the Heaven!"
—Wake the Saven!
Because I liked this atmosphere where adrenaline exploded like that.
The non-alcoholic champagne we downed was enough to make one think it had alcohol in it.
"Seven members, you'll be entering in 10 minutes!"
And this year-end began.
***
"Water."
"Ah, get lost."
"What did you just say? Hurry up and bring it."
"Ah, seriously!"
The grumbling younger sister lost to the threat and went to get water.
"Ah, and tangerines too~"
It was a family you could find anywhere.
"Mom! Kim Seonghyeon is bullying me again!"
"Kim Seonghyeon! I told you not to bully Seongah!"
Still, the two were quite close.
"Hey, forget it. Order some chicken, I'm treating."
"Orabeoni, is there anything else you need?"
Because both were K-pop fans with similar hobbies.
Of course, it wasn't as if they even stanned the same groups.
The older brother liked Seven, and the younger sister liked Coral Blue.
"So when are our kids coming out?"
"They'll probably come out in Part 2. All the popular ones are in the latter half."
"Then when does Part 2 start?"
"It'll probably start when the chicken arrives, I bet."
As expected, Part 1 passed by in a repeat of stages by idols from major agencies, promising rookies with good results, and commemorative performances.
"It's boring..."
"Why, their songs are good."
So just when I was about to change the channel.
Our kid appeared in the waiting area interview.
"Oh!"
[—Ah, hello...! I'm Eun Sera of Seven!]
Cute, sparkling, crystal-like pupils.
Large eyes that were round, yet with a slight upward tilt at the corners.
"Wow..."
"Kya, this is what you call visuals."
When a face that anyone could tell resembled a cat filled the screen, my younger sister and I alike poured out exclamations.
[It's really cold today, so I'm truly grateful to the fans who came out like this... Just like our sunbaes and hoobaes who showed wonderful stages, we Seven will also work hard to show you a great stage...!]
"She's really so pretty. Now I get why oppa likes her."
"This is Seven, which holds two of the three representative visuals of the 4th generation. If you can't beat them, join them."
"Yeah, CorBlue has Jina, the 3rd generation representative visual. And I prefer a strong, elegant style like Lira over that delicate feeling. Like a queen."
Of course, it wasn't that I couldn't understand my sister's words.
Since I too had liked Coral Blue very much at one point.
But my sister doesn't know something.
"The fact that she's young is what's pretty, tsk."
"You pedo bastard."
Throwing the tangerine I was eating at my sister and scratching my belly, this time the angle shifted and another member was captured on screen.
And the awards ceremony venue buzzing beyond the brown railings.
That was no easy feat.
Because the previous interview had been with Sera.
But no one found it strange.
Because the new interviewee was also a visual representing the 4th generation.
[Hello. I'm Lee Dohee, the maknae of Seven!]
A face where puppy-like and rabbit-like features coexisted, her eye corners drawing a downward arc in contrast to Sera's upturned ones.
"Wow..."
Yet Dohee's appearance, where a gorgeous face coexisted with one that was simply cute, certainly bore a heterogeneous air.
To that extent, the venue buzzed with just her looks alone.
And Dohee's looks seemed even prettier today.
"No but, what is with her..."
My sister seemed to have noticed too.
She must have been looking at the same place as me.
"Does she have everything...?"
Seven's dress code for today was white.
Dohee was also wearing a white dress.
But wearing a dress didn't mean exposure.
Because aside from her shoulder lines and arms, there was nothing revealed at all.
But thanks to the thin dress material, her silhouette showed well.
And while it wasn't at an enormous level, her midsection that certainly asserted its presence was as much of a hidden gem as Seven's leader Hana, who was known for her healthy beauty and mid-pick.
"At that level, what cup size is she?"
"You fucking pedo bastard."
A fierce glare came my way, but curiosity couldn't be suppressed.
"Is she around a B?"
"Ah, I don't know."
"You're a girl and you don't even know that?"
"Would I know? It's not like I've touched them."
It couldn't be helped.
Curiosity had to be satisfied.
"I'll buy you jokbal tomorrow."
And my sister, who hesitated for a moment, finally opened her mouth.
"Sigh... around a C. She looks like she has a small chest width so she could be bigger. A full C or D."
"Ah, really? That's different from what I thought."
"Because whether you push them up or not makes a bigger difference than you'd think."
"I see."
"So shut up now, you pedo bastard. Seriously disgusting."
"Onee-chan's heart is hurt..."
Meanwhile, on the broadcast, Dohee was still answering the MC's questions.
And every so often, Coral Blue's Lira, seated right beside her, was captured on screen.
At that moment, Lira, who had briefly given off a cold impression, met eyes with the camera, gently curved her eyes, and waved her hand.
"Gasp... Lira!"
Thanks to that, my sister, who had been spewing curses, refocused on the screen with exclamations of wonder.
"But with Dohee and Lira sitting side by side, it feels like a princess and a queen... totally sparkling."
"Ah, right. Aren't those two close?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Pretty girls are just close with each other, that's all. You don't know because you're ugly."
"Ah, I really want to kill you. Mom! Can I just report Kim Seonghyeon to the police!?"
And then the Part 1 latter-half stages began in succession.
On the waiting room screen shown during stage reactions, Dohee and Lira passing by while chatting lent credence to the hypothesis that they were close.
Of course, their conversation wasn't entirely amicable.