On the way back to the dorm after finishing up as an MC on Yuhyangayo.
Messages from here and there came pouring in, saying they had enjoyed my first broadcast.
I was sending back formulaic thank-you messages when—
[Ye-eun unni: (lion emoji twisting its legs)]
[Ye-eun unni: What are you doing?]
Even Ye-eun unni messaged me. I had expected her to abruptly send me a fancam of her special stage.
[Me: On my way home]
[Me: Why?]
[Ye-eun unni: Just because]
[Ye-eun unni: You were doing so well as an MC...]
My prediction had been wrong.
She had even complimented me?
'Well... she is a second-year in high school. It is about time she matured.'
[Me: I am pretty good lol]
[Ye-eun unni: LOL]
Still, it was a little disappointing that my prediction had missed the mark.
"Yaaawn..."
A huge yawn escaped me.
I had been there since dawn, so the fatigue must have been piling up.
Manager Soyeong, who had suffered alongside me as my fan manager, was already fast asleep in the seat beside me.
"Dohee, you're tired, right? Get some sleep."
Manager Yeongho, who was driving, encouraged me to sleep.
"Aren't you tired, Manager?"
"I took a short nap in the waiting room while you were rehearsing. I'm fine."
I see.
I put my phone, which kept vibrating nonstop, on silent and closed my eyes.
[Ye-eun unni: But as an MC senior, I noticed a few things you could improve!]
[Ye-eun unni: Take note~]
[Ye-eun unni: (fancam video)]
[Ye-eun unni: (Ye-eun MC clip video)]
And when I finally checked my phone after arriving at the dorm—
I replied to the messages Ye-eun unni had piled up.
[Me: LOL ㅗ]
* * *
A few days after Dohee's first time as an MC.
"I'm heading home~"
The face of the office worker, who usually left work looking worn-out from being tormented all day, was unusually smooth and carefree.
—Very NICE!
She was even humming a song.
According to the office worker's doctrine that Monday through Thursday were garbage days, Wednesday was practically the worst of the worst. But there was one reason she could smile.
[Nature Free X Lee Dohee]
[In-Person Fan Sign Event]
Today was the day of Dohee's in-person fan sign event.
The cosmetics company Dohee modeled for regularly held events in collaboration with their products.
Purchasing the products in advance earned applicants an entry ticket, and she had ended up among the thirty lucky winners.
'I did buy more cosmetics than usual... but they're basic skincare products I'd use anyway... I can give some to Mom and my sister, too... And most importantly, it's my first fan sign...!'
—Very NICE!
The office worker hummed all the way there, making her way straight to the fan sign venue with her heart pounding.
At the lobby of the art hall, where she arrived—
Just as she had seen online, the office worker carefully took the winning ticket and her ID out of her bag, as though they might fly away.
Then she handed them to the guard-cum-guide stationed in the lobby.
'My hands are shaking...'
"Yes, you can go on in."
'Phew...'
She entered the art hall.
People who had arrived early were already lining up.
"Please line up in a single row over there, in the order you arrived~"
'Time to draw numbers...!'
The office worker waited quietly for her turn.
Then she pulled out her number from a black box.
'Oh my gosh... I'm practically at the front. This is insane, insane! This is amazing!'
A staff member handed her a number tag and tied a separate numbered band around the office worker's wrist.
'Oh... I should treasure this for the rest of my life.'
And finally, she entered the main hall.
The office worker sat down in her assigned seat, her heart pounding.
The others seemed familiar with the process. They were setting up camcorders and doing all sorts of things, but she had gotten lucky and had no idea what she was doing.
The man in seat number four beside her smiled pleasantly as he watched her.
"Is this your first time?"
"Ah, yes. I just got lucky somehow."
"That much was obvious. Though if you win, you're lucky by definition~ We have to wait until our time slot anyway, so it's boring. Why don't we chat?"
"Ah, sure."
The man was fairly handsome, and for a moment the office worker imagined a romance.
'Did Dohee... bring us together as a cou-couple?'
But that thought lasted only a moment.
—Brrring.
The man, who had been about to say something, looked at the notification ringing on his phone and took it out.
Then he checked something and broke into a delighted smile.
"Oh, it’s up."
"What's up?"
He showed her his phone.
"The first-day-behind-the-scenes video!"
[[SUB] What am I...? You? Yuhyangayo MC. Dohee X Seungbin's First Day Behind | Maknae-z 'Iju' MC Ep.0]
"Ah..."
So much for romance.
The man immediately began watching the video.
The office worker had brought a list of questions with her in advance and had nothing else to do, so she opened YouTube as well and decided to watch it just like the man beside her.
She clicked on the roughly fifteen-minute video.
It immediately began with a pre-interview commemorating their appointment as MCs.
Dohee and Seungbin were sitting side by side.
[Hello, I'm Avers Two's Joo Seungbin, and I've newly become an MC this time~]
'He does have that handsome, soft-looking face. He seems kind, too.'
Along with Joo Seungbin's greeting, his fancam footage and an introduction caption played onscreen.
He was handsome, all right.
But the office worker's interest lay elsewhere.
Dohee received the microphone right after him.
After applauding, Dohee took the microphone, looking strangely bewildered.
[Ah, he-hello. I've also newly become an MC this time...]
Then Dohee stared straight at the camera and muttered to herself.
[...What am I?]
Perhaps because her voice was being picked up by the microphone, it sounded especially loud.
The comment and her expression were so foolish, as if they had come straight out of a comic, that the office worker burst out laughing without resistance.
The man beside her was laughing too, at that exact moment.
People in the rows behind them were laughing as well, presumably watching the same video.
Naturally, even the production crew in the video was laughing.
Everyone except Dohee.
[Ah, no...!]
Dohee seemed flustered and began rambling out an excuse.
But a caption appeared immediately afterward.
Alongside a fancam from Dohee's Seven days—
Instead of Dohee introducing herself directly, an introduction video made by the production crew began playing.
There was also a brief clip of her playing the piano.
The interview from moments earlier replayed.
[What am I...?]
The video returned to Dohee mumbling while Joo Seungbin tried to hold back his laughter beside her.
[Can I do it again...?]
After watching the video, several fans hurriedly revised some of the Post-it questions they had prepared.
Not long afterward, the host for the fan sign event entered.
* * *
I wrote down the name the unni told me on the autograph page, then stared intently at the unni in front of me.
She looked terribly embarrassed.
I shouldn't ask whether someone was here for the first time if there was even a chance I had seen them before. It would be terribly upsetting if I asked and they actually had been here before.
"Unni, this is your first time, right?"
No matter how I looked at her, she was an unni I had never seen before.
Her whole vibe, too.
"Yeah, yeah. I really wanted to have a fan sign with you, Dohee, but I kept losing the lottery..."
"I thought so. I remember almost everyone after seeing them just once, you know~"
"Really?"
"Of course. Lee Dohee? A fan genius~"
I pointed at myself with an exaggerated expression of self-admiration, and the unni in front of me giggled.
"But, Dohee."
"Yes?"
"But~ why did you forget your name in the interview~?"
"Huh? The interview?"
"Yeah! The Yuhyangayo MC interview!"
"Th-that one with the live-broadcast singers? Oh, no, I didn't make any mistakes during the live singers' interviews!"
"No~ Not that one."
The unni in front of me made a teasing face.
"The one you did~ Your first MC interview, the behind-the-scenes one!"
"Th-that came out?"
"Uh? You didn't know? It was uploaded earlier."
"Ah, no, the PD promised they would edit that part out...!"
The fan unni giggled even harder at my reaction.
I knew this would happen.
There was no way the PDs would let material like that go to waste.
Somehow, I had a feeling the question on this unni's Post-it was—
[Q: What are you, Dohee~?]
[1. A dumb bunny 2. A silly kitty 3. A genius puppy]
"Circle one quickly for me~"
I wasn't really a puppy-type...
Though people did say the corners of my eyes looked a little puppy-like...
I circled “genius puppy.”
"Really~?"
She crossed it out and circled number one instead.
"Write 'dumb bunny' beside Dohee's name on the autograph page, too!"
"Yes..."
* * *
After the fan sign ended, I took out my phone.
As expected, the Seven group chat was lively.
[Harang unni: Damn, the maknae's accuracy is insane]
[Harang unni: Her words are a little rough, though]
[Harang unni: Harang unni, warm on the inside?]
[Harang unni: Agreed, agreed again, totally agreed-agreed lol]
[Chaerin unni: What are you talking about?]
[Harang unni: LOL, it’s painfully obvious Chaerin hasn’t watched the video!]
[Hana unni: LOL, this is ridiculous]
[Seoyun unni: Fuck, this is annoying]
[Seoyun unni: I feel like my character was psychoanalyzed]
[Hana unni: I watched it with Sera earlier, too lol]
[Sera unni: Dohee, I’m not predictable...]
[Sera unni: I watched it with a completely blank expression instead of being completely cute...]
[Hana unni: What are you talking about lol]
[Seoyun unni: This is pissing me off. I should steal and eat some of Lee Dohee's bread.]
Fortunately, the chat was full of discussions about the others being mentioned rather than my own mistake.
Phew...
More importantly, should I tease Ye-eun unni, who had been suspiciously quiet?
[Ye-eun unni: Take note~]
[Ye-eun unni: (fancam video)]
[Ye-eun unni: (Ye-eun MC clip video)]
[Me: LOL ㅗ]
[Ye-eun unni: ㅠㅠ]
I opened the behind-the-scenes video first.
I captured the exact part where I predicted Ye-eun unni.
Then I went into my private chat with Ye-eun unni and sent it separately.
[Me: (photo)]
[Me: So predictable lol]
The “1” disappeared immediately.
Just as I was beginning to wonder about her answer—
[Ye-eun unni: LOL]
[Ye-eun unni: (photo) What am I? LOL Pfft]
[Ye-eun unni: Silly lol]
I would have to put her back in her place the next time we met.