“Dohee, let’s go eat soon. They’re serving eel rice bowls today. You like those, don’t you?”
“Eh… really?”
Even Naeun, who usually wore a motherly smile no matter what she did, had holed herself up in the vocal room and refused to come out.
Chiyo must not have been fond of the menu either, because she had left with U-a for the café on the fifth floor of the company building.
Fighting fire with fire.
If only Chiyo were here instead.
*‘This would be a good time for the two of them to play together for once…’*
“Or we could order something.”
“Really, really?”
It had been almost an hour, at least by my perception.
After school, Dohee had come to work and stuck to the seat beside me.
She was practically glued to me, to the point that she had even followed me into my vocal room.
“Yeah, really.”
Dohee opened her eyes wide, then covered her mouth with her hand.
“Reallyyy…? It’s amazing enough that there’s a student who never got a single question wrong on an exam from elementary school through high school. But there’s also an idol who’s a visual genius? Hek…!?”
“No, why are you only doing this to me!?”
I had only asked her once whether she’d gotten good test scores.
Why did she keep acting like this?
“Eh…? Could there really be someone like that~↗?”
“What did I do so wrong!?”
At last, Dohee brought a finger to her lips and tilted her head slightly.
“Eh…? I dunnooo~??”
“Is it because I played around while you were studying? I won’t mess around next time you study…!”
Her innocent, limpid eyes suited that spacey way of speaking so perfectly that it irritated me.
“Haa… Fine. I’m sorry I stole and ate your bread the day before yesterday! I can just buy you another one!”
Apparently, I’d guessed correctly.
Dohee’s expression relaxed, and she looked at me as she normally did.
“Good. So now, let’s go eat—”
“What?”
No, she was glaring at me.
“Was it you, unni?”
Seoyoon squeezed her eyes shut.
* * *
When I wake up in the morning, I press a button to draw open the automatic curtains.
The bright sunlight streaming in helps me get up, even if it doesn’t wake me immediately.
Then I spend a little time on my phone.
Dorahee @dol_Ahyee
Ha, our Rahi got first place in the whole school again?
If she’s this good at studying, I can’t even tease her for being the youngest
Fucking Rahi unni…
Dorahee @dol_Ahyee
What the fuck, did I contribute anything to being ten years older than you?
Chocolatedocola @docacola
(Photo) Suddenly, this goofy, vacant expression looks like it has one hell of a story behind it… She acts goofy and pretends to have nothing on her mind in front of others, but when she’s alone, she’s unexpectedly calm and pathetic, with that lonely genius vibe full of atmosphere and a tragic backstory ㅠㅠ
“Haa… Has everyone finally started to recognize it? My loneliness. A genius is… lonely.”
Dorahee @dol_Ahyee
(Photo) For real, even just looking at the way she gazed at Seoyoon during Saven’s final concert, she suddenly seemed so grown-up… Behind the scenes, she’s actually a piano genius, first in her entire school, and class president Rahi unni who plays with her older sister…
“Yes. At last, the world believes me… Even the fact that I’m the one playing with Kim Seoyoon.”
Seoyoonhae @jonna_seoyoon
I can hear Seoyoon coughing up blood from the injustice all the way over here…
Seoyoonhae @jonna_seoyoon
(Photo) The Saven sisters each claiming that they’re the one playing with the other…
Dorahee @dol_Ahyee
(Photo) But when you see her bragging all day on Bubble by speaking French just because she got 100 on her French exam, she really is just an idiot
Petite Idiot Dohee
“…There’ll be no Bubble from me today because of this.”
After I entertain myself like that and rub my eyes, I’m awake enough to get ready to go out to the living room.
I sit on the yoga mat laid out on the floor, do the splits, press my waist to the ground, and go through a simple stretching routine.
“Eek…”
I had to maintain this level of flexibility at all times.
You never knew when you might get injured while dancing.
I also had to be careful of slipped discs in my neck and lower back.
—Screeech…
Once I had loosened up my body, my sisters began emerging one by one.
Today, it was the room right next to mine, close to the living room.
Seoyoon unni came out first because of her schedule.
Usually, Naeun unni was the early riser.
“Good morning…”
Seoyoon unni waved at me with a sleep-rumpled face.
Her hair stuck out in every direction, and her cheeks were puffed up.
Her eyes were swollen to the point that she looked exactly like the “-.-” emoticon.
Had she secretly eaten a late-night snack yesterday?
“Who are you?”
Seoyoon unni merely rubbed her eyes, looking blank.
“Don’t start this first thing in the morning… I’m seriously tired…”
“Who are you!? Where did our cute and adorable Seoyoon unni go?”
Seoyoon unni grinned like an idiot, pleased by that.
“Heheh, I’ll admit I’m cute…”
She liked it.
While Seoyoon unni went into the bathroom to take her morning shower, I continued stretching.
“Dohee… towel, please!”
“Dry it with a hair dryer~”
The bathroom door opened just a crack, and Seoyoon unni reached out and slapped the floor.
—Tap tap.
“Hurry…”
Good grief.
I felt like I was constantly restocking the towels, but perhaps because of the villains who used two at a time, they ran out again in no time.
While I went out to the veranda to collect the towels and bring them back,
Naeun unni woke up and was rummaging through the refrigerator in the kitchen.
“Huh? Dohee, you were already up?”
“Yep.”
Naeun unni smiled gently and opened the fruit compartment.
“You’re not going to school today?”
“I’m on vacation…?”
“…Right, you are.”
There were all kinds of fruit inside.
“Dohee, do you want an apple?”
“No, I want Choco Chex.”
“I want a towel toooo!”
Ah, right.
“Is Seoyoon awake too?”
“Yeah. She has a variety-show schedule this morning.”
I set the towel down in front of the bathroom.
“I put it in front~”
The crack in the bathroom door opened.
Along with a thumbs-up, the towel disappeared inside.
I was sitting in the kitchen eating cereal with milk when Naeun unni peeled a peach and handed it to me.
“Who bought these?”
“I did. They were on sale at the market yesterday.”
“It’s good. Nice purchase.”
As we ate breakfast and chatted about nothing in particular,
a voice came from behind me.
“I want a peach too…”
A villain.
“I am peach, please…”
The towel villains.
“Let’s each use just one towel. Or at least refill them after you use them.”
It was Seoyoon unni, shaking the water from her hair.
“Sure, sure. Everyone, sit down.”
Even so, everyone was relatively peaceful in the morning.
* * *
Jeong Sohyeon, the director of Debonair, had been keeping an eye on public opinion and worrying about how to deal with the distance between the group and the public.
In fact, the original plan had been to insist on a mysterious image.
After all, Debonair’s concept itself was rooted in mystique.
One successful example of mystery marketing was ZY, one of the Big Four agencies.
When producing their own content, ZY focused on the members onstage instead of showing their training process.
Even when showing the members eating, sleeping, and playing together, they emphasized a standardized celebrity image by setting their content on sets and following prepared scripts rather than showing the members in their dorm.
Most important of all was text-based marketing through articles and magazines.
The company would officially quote such viral posts from its own account, building an image of “They tore it up. As expected of ZY.”
This method was simple, but it had been effective so far.
The problem, however, was that reporters were already turning Dohee into news without the need for viral marketing.
[Meanwhile, netizens who heard Lee Dohee’s study methods…]
[The girl-group idol who has once again ranked first in her entire school…]
The public was getting tired enough to assume it was viral marketing.
In fact, it was possible that another company was deliberately stirring things up.
But it was all true.
Even good news became tiresome when people heard it repeatedly.
As a result, rather than seeing Dohee as someone who worked hard, people were beginning to cement the perception that she was simply “a born genius.”
That kind of image was liable to create isolation.
*‘Dohee isn’t an actress, after all.’*
The entertainment industry—
especially idols—relied on star quality and image to build connections with fans. They needed to show their genuine selves and approach fans by saying, “Please support our members.”
For that reason, sticking to the original plan and maintaining a mysterious image would be a bad move for Dohee.
It would be better to let that image get a little wrinkled.
Besides, Dohee’s character was so unique that worrying about image consumption seemed pointless in the first place.
So, I was sorry to Dohee, but…
from now on, she was probably going to be a little busier.
*‘I’ll start with this. Later, perhaps I should send her on a variety show that involves some physical activity…’*
* * *
A restaurant with private rooms.
Before we had even entered the establishment—
“D-Dohee!”
Sera unni came running from the entrance and leaped into my arms.
“Oof.”
Luckily, Sera unni was light enough for me to catch her.
If she had been U-a’s height, I would have fallen over.
Come to think of it, Sera unni seemed lighter than before.
There seemed to be less flesh on her body, too.
“Did you lose weight, unni?”
“Yeah… a little…”
“Is it because you’ve been under so much stress?”
“Mm-hm…”
“I guess redebuting is hard. You must be worried about whether it’ll go well.”
“Mm… yeah.”
“If you were with me, it would definitely go well, right?”
“Yeah!”
Seoyoon unni got out of the car behind us and pouted.
“Hey, Eun Sera. What about me?”
“Oh, it’s Seoyoon…!?”
“What…? Hey, Eun Sera, what was that reaction?”
“Oh, it’s Seoyoon! Hiiii!”
“Good grief…”
We often met up with the Saven members as a group.
And the members we were meeting today were JS’s debut team.
Unlike Harang and Chaerin unni, both of our teams were scheduled to redebut within six months, so we made separate plans in case we wouldn’t have much time to meet in the future.
“Oh, you’re here?”
“Seoyoon unniii! …And Dohee.”
When we entered the restaurant, the two of them were already seated.
I gently detached Sera unni from my arms.
“…Hmph.”
Then I approached Yeeun unni.
“W-Why…!”
“You’re not happy to see me?”
“D-Dohee…!! Gasp…! Of course I’m happy to see you…!”
“Good.”
“Tsk… Who does she think she is, a gangster…”
* * *
Even when she was feeling down,
“You’ve been doing well lately, Yeeun unni, haven’t you?”
“That’s right. She’s good at hosting Melody Bank.”
if we praised her and kept telling her how well she was doing,
“Hehe, right? I’m good, aren’t I…? I worked hard…!?”
Yeeun unni’s lips split into a wide grin.
“I mean, being a music-show MC is the hottest of the hot right now~”
“Exactly! I’m totally the hottest!”
She was so easy to understand, as consistent as ever.
“But this one, Lee Dohee, is going to become an MC for SBC’s music show starting three weeks from now.”
Honestly, I didn’t want to do it…
But even if we tried to make Seoyoon unni do it, she was already appearing on variety shows.
I had to work too, I suppose…
“…What?”
She immediately became gloomy again.
As expected, Yeeun unni had a sense of rivalry toward me.
*‘She doesn’t realize I’m the one who made her into a functioning human being.’*
I exaggerated my tone just to tease her.
“Haa~ The world just won’t leave me alone. Honestly. Even Cartier kept begging me, saying, ‘Oh, please become our ambassador…’”
Yeeun unni’s expression grew even more dejected.
“Begging? It wasn’t quite that serious.”
“Ah, Seoyoon, read the room.”
Meanwhile, Sera unni seemed delighted about something and kept giggling to herself.
“T-Then we’ll see you when we go on SBC’s music show…!?”
“Well, yeah, I guess.”
“Gasp…! We, we have to debut quickly…!”
Couldn’t she just meet me separately in private?
Was she an idiot?
“So, how is it at the company, Hana unni?”
“Big agencies are big for a reason. The cafeteria at our company is seriously delicious, you know? It’s no joke. I was moved—”
She took the bait.
“Twenty-three-year-old Kwon Hana, who vowed eternal loyalty to the president of Pudding Entertainment. And she’s already referring to JS Entertainment as ‘our’ company.”
Seoyoon unni immediately caught my conversational cue and turned both thumbs down.
“Boo, what a bat-like person. Boo.”
“No, why are you suddenly doing this?”
“Boo.”
“I told you last time, our president was the one who told me to go and was happy about it in the first place. I still keep in touch with him, so what…”
“Breaking news. Twenty-three-year-old Kwon Hana vowed to remain together forever with the Saven members as well. She said that the only people she would continue to call ‘us’ were the Saven members.”
“Boo, what a bat-like person. Boo.”
“Wow, look at you guys. So now that we’re not in the same group, none of that matters?”
Yeeun unni’s expression hardened.
“…Y-Yeah! Our Hana unni isn’t a bat…! Both are ‘us’!”
Why, was Hana unni becoming troubled because she would be the one in trouble if Hana got stressed? Heehee.
Perhaps because Sera unni was growing desperate, her face turned pale as she changed the subject.
“D-Do-Dohee, what’s your group name…?”
“I’m not telling. Tell us yours first, and then I’ll think about it.”
“We’re not telling you either.”
“‘We’? You’re Saven’s leader, and you’re saying ‘we.’ Boo.”
“Boo, Kwon Hana is bad.”
Hana unni shook her head as though she was fed up.
“Haa… Do you two ever change?”
Satisfying.
In the near future, Sera unni and Yeeun unni would tearfully complain while practicing.
I felt sorry for the other girls debuting with them, but I had no ill will.
“Oh, but I’ll give you one spoiler: there’s a weird person on our team.”
“Right. Seriously weird.”
“I already know that.”
Hana unni looked at us with an exasperated expression.
“What? Why are you looking at us?”
“Not at us. She’s looking at you, Dohee.”
“What are you talking about? You’re weirder than me.”
“Wow, this is unbelievable. Didn’t you see what was posted on Twitter last time? ‘Which of the two is more stupid?’ You won by a landslide.”
“What are you talking about? That was made by your personal fans!”
“Wow, you’re fabricating things now. Even your fans admit that one!”
“Admit what? They were saying today that I’m the one playing with you, unni.”
“Huh? Wow, look at this one!”
“Wow… They really are as consistent as ever.”