One day before the showcase.
We had arrived at the showcase venue for rehearsal.
In the waiting room, behind-the-scenes cameras were rolling.
“To think you’re only realizing this now…”
Seoyun unnie, seated on the sofa, was creating a serious atmosphere.
“Hey, I Do-hui, this is really important, okay?”
Of course, I was busy looking over the drinks in front of the refrigerator.
“Right. Since this one drink can determine today’s condition, this is truly… a very, very important matter.”
Water, vitamin water, cola, Ion Sweat.
Ha, Ion Sweat…
This was my first commercial.
Of course, there was that commercial when I was five, too.
But that was someone else, not me, yeah.
More importantly, why on earth weren’t these people using me as a model again?
I thought they’d contact me right after Seven debuted.
I guess it really is my asking price after all…
Well, these days they use ordinary people or rookie actors for that kind of thing…
Should I tell them I’m willing to lower it…?
Ah, but then I’d get an earful from the director…
for lowering my rate.
“Sigh, let’s leave her out for now. Listen, this is really serious…”
Gim Seoyun gave up on me, lost in my idle thoughts, and made eye contact with the other unnies one by one.
The three who were having their first showcase seemed to be taking it quite seriously.
“What on earth is it…?”
“Yeah, Seoyun, hurry up and tell us.”
“So~ what is it, unnie~?”
No, Ua unnie was giggling.
It seemed like she was just playfully indulging her.
“Hoo. Brace yourselves.”
Gim Seoyun, who had been nodding, spat it out in a tone as if she were mounting a podium to make a proclamation.
“We don’t have a chant to shout together to become one before we go on stage…!”
Of course, it was the kind of nonsense I had more or less expected.
I grabbed a water and left the waiting room, approaching a staff member who had the in-ear monitors.
“Excuse me, I think I can put my in-ears in now.”
I needed noise cancelling.
* * *
“I thought about a chant a bit… Who are we? We are Debonair! How’s this?”
Seoyun unnie was still spouting nonsense beside me.
Of course, I wasn’t listening to most of it, nor could I hear it.
“The noise cancelling on this is way better than other earphones, isn’t it?”
Ua unnie, intrigued by the in-ears she was trying for the first time, kept touching her ears.
“Unnie, I can’t hear a thing you’re saying right now! Can you say it again, louder?”
She asked in a loud voice while patting Seoyun unnie as if experimenting.
“Okay. Then how about this? ‘Everyone’s looking at us! Looking? Uh!’ I just thought of this; it’s funny and good, right? Good, right?”
Then she just giggled.
“I could hear that through the in-ears just now… wow, that was really totally lame!”
“Damn…”
Leaving Seoyun unnie, who was deeply hurt, behind, I approached Ua unnie and pulled out one of her in-ears.
“Unnie, it’s better to wear just one before going on stage. If you wear both, you can’t hear the members or the staff around you very well.”
Of course, it was an intentional act in front of the behind camera.
Do-hui sunbae is so fucking cool, totally.
“I should do that.”
Ua unnie nodded and gave me a light hug.
“But~ you totally looked like a sunbae just now. Honestly, I almost got a little fluttered?”
“…Really?”
“Of course~ really~”
Pure praise.
Since it had gone exactly as intended, I kept giggling for no reason.
“Then shall I give you one more honey tip?”
In my good mood, I decided to share a hidden tip with Ua unnie.
It was probably a tip that even the Seven unnies didn’t know…
“Really? What is it~?”
“Sometimes while performing, in-ear issues happen. The beat gets delayed, or the backing track echoes. If not a transmission issue, the wire gets tangled…”
I recalled that time.
That time when noise had mixed in and my pitch became unstable.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that happens. But?”
“But when that happens, just unconditionally take them out or throw them away and keep performing.”
“Ah~ yeah? Is that okay?”
“Yeah. People actually love it and say you look like a pro.”
“I see~”
“So this is a secret, but…”
I whispered secretly into her ear.
“During the world tour in Singapore… I grabbed and threw my in-ear very coolly in the middle of the performance that day, you know…?”
“Yeah, so?”
“But… actually there was no problem. I guess you could say it was a kind of performance for the fans. Hehe…”
“Ah~”
Ua unnie patted my head twice.
“Sure~ sure~”
And as if needing noise cancelling, she put both in-ears back in and walked away.
* * *
Now that we had to get used to the stage rather than the practice room.
Monitoring the rehearsal stage was a given.
“Did Chiyo go out a bit more here? The spacing doesn’t match with Do-hui.”
“I think I went a bit too far back. I will definitely fix it.”
Spacing and movements being checked under the leadership of Naeun unnie, the leader.
At that moment, my eyes briefly met Seoyun unnie’s.
Seoyun unnie’s eyes glancing at Ua unnie.
She wasn’t speaking, but her inner thoughts were conveyed.
Seoyun unnie had been hurt by Ua unnie’s harsh words earlier.
I really hadn’t been hurt at all, though…
I subtly pointed at Ua unnie on the screen and bluffed.
“Unnie.”
“Yeah~?”
“Unnie, in this choreography, I think you need to cover me properly here.”
“Hm, really?”
Seoyun unnie cut in and agreed.
“Looking at it that way, it does seem right. Do-hui said something right for once. Ua, you should match Do-hui.”
Ua unnie turned her head and looked back and forth between us.
“Yeah, is that so~?”
And she smirked with her eyes, then went back to monitoring.
‘…She doesn’t believe it at all.’
My eyes met Seoyun unnie’s again.
‘Hey, do it better.’
I glared back with my eyes.
‘It’s because you agreed so obviously, unnie!’
Of course, the choreography movements we’d repeated countless times over half a year couldn’t have been wrong in the first place.
But the unnies weren’t idiots—why would they believe us if we nitpicked forcefully?
Seoyun unnie let out a deep sigh and changed targets this time, subtly glancing at Chiyo unnie.
‘Let’s go with her. She’s a bit dumb.’
That’s what she seemed to say.
I expressed my agreement with my eyes.
‘Okay. That person is indeed dumb.’
Seoyun unnie cleared her throat and spoke subtly.
“Chiyo?”
And immediately, Chiyo unnie’s cold, razor-sharp answer came.
“Today is the day before the showcase. An important day.”
Chiyo unnie pointed her finger at Seoyun unnie.
“So don’t nitpick me.”
“Ah… yeah… you’re right. Sorry…”
This time she pointed at me too.
“Do-hui, you too. You’re the same.”
“Yeah…”
Getting scolded by Chiyo unnie was very… Chiyo-esque.
* * *
People taking photos in front of fluttering banners and full-body posters, distributing things like slogans with Debonair members printed on them.
Do-hui’s fansite master looked around and spoke to her friend.
“There are quite a lot of people? This is more than Square Hall can handle, isn’t it?”
Judging by the instincts honed from a long fan life.
This commotion was roughly two thousand.
It was a number far exceeding the 1,500-seat capacity of Blue Square Hall, the venue for today’s Debonair showcase.
“Well, they’re probably the ones. Fans without tickets who want to see from outside.”
Even at her friend’s indifferent answer, the fansite master deeply sympathized with those people’s misfortune.
Because the desire to share the historic debut moment was a feeling any fan would share.
“Ha, what a shame… They should’ve just increased the number of seats. I feel like they could’ve filled them easily.”
“I wish they had done it like Ailee’s showcase. They had about 2,500 people, didn’t they? They rented a gymnasium.”
“Right? Looking at this really shows that Topist is a small-time agency.”
“You know. When has Topist ever debuted a group that got this much attention from the start? Pastel Love was first-tier at best, but they were unknown at first.”
As her friend said, strictly speaking, debut showcases held at Blue Square Hall had been limited to the Big 4 agencies until now.
In other words, choosing Blue Square meant Topist had tried to make it as big as possible in their own way.
But even that appearance was evidence that they still couldn’t escape the mold of a small-to-medium enterprise.
‘And our kid is from Seven, who filled Gocheok Dome and won three Daesangs…’
Even considering modern times where online holds great weight and internet streaming was scheduled…
“Sigh, forget it. Topist will learn and do better next time. So what time is it now?”
“5:30. I think we can enter now?”
The showcase started at 7, but after receiving their tickets beforehand, they moved toward the ticket counter to enter early.
And although they had complained a bit, they started chatting about the reason they thought Topist had done quite a good job this time.
It was Debonair’s first debut album, 「ID」, which would be released in just 30 minutes.
“Don’t you fucking love it starting from the album name?”
“Agreed. It’s ID because of I Debonair.”
The album tracklist had been released two weeks ago.
There were 4 songs included.
First, track 1 revealed in the earlier trailer.
Do-hui’s self-composed piano piece.
「As Fickle As Fortune」
Followed by the double title Topist had ambitiously put forth.
「Debonair」 and 「Born Ideals」
And lastly, the b-side that seemed like it would be ballad-style, 「Byeol Satang」.
From Do-hui’s self-composed song expressing their diverse and capricious sides.
To the somewhat blatant title track names.
A determination to firmly imprint the group name and concept on the public’s minds was evident in this debut.
This was likewise plainly reflected in the album.
First, as if to show the group’s identity through the album name ID.
The album was divided into two concepts.
One was pink ‘B (born ideals)’.
The other was indigo ‘D (Debonair)’.
The concept photos released together likewise contained two completely different atmospheres.
First, in the ‘B’ concept, members happily taking selfies together in a pink, cozy room, showing off girls that age.
And in the ‘D’ concept, members with no dyed hair or colored lenses, staring forward with dry gazes under intense blue lighting.
Thanks to this blatant appeal, even before the songs were released.
The concept was already firmly imprinted on the majority of K-pop fans.
Even the album was laden with interpretations.
The familiar idiom, the C between B and D.
From the choice between girl crush and girlish borrowed from that.
To the masculine color blue and feminine color pink, and so on.
But right now, none of that mattered.
Because an idol’s concept is ultimately shown through the song itself.
In 20 minutes, 6 o’clock was so highly anticipated and exciting.