Stylist Unni asked as she checked my stage outfit.
“Dohee, it isn’t uncomfortable, is it?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
There was no way this outfit I’d worn for a music video shoot just a few months ago wouldn’t fit.
“Nothing feels too tight?”
“Well, there is a little because of this… but I’m used to it, so it’s not a problem~”
It wasn’t as though I had any reason to build muscle like the male idols and change my clothing size.
The reason Stylist Unni was worried, however, was because I was still at an age when I might grow.
Of course, eighteen was generally an age when a girl’s growth had stopped.
Still, since there was always a possibility, we’d taken new measurements a few days ago.
The result was that I had grown ever so slightly.
All over.
My height, chest circumference, and breasts.
─Do-seum-gochi~ Did you get bigger?
Uwa Unni’s certainty was somehow a little creepy now that I thought about it.
‘It definitely wasn’t noticeable when I checked my body in the mirror…’
Of course, I felt rather proud of the alphabet that had officially changed.
E Dohee, hehe…
To be honest, now that I was looking back on it.
When I was young, I’d wanted to grow as much as possible, driven by the single-minded desire to beat Mom. But deep down, I’d also worried quite a lot about whether it would be uncomfortable once I actually grew.
I’d even asked my piano teacher about it for ages.
─Hmm? Honestly, it is a little uncomfortable… but doesn’t everything have its pros and cons? But why did Dohee suddenly get curious about that? Is she worried it’ll be hard for her teacher!? Oh my~ How can our Dohee have such a beautiful heart~? Come here, let Teacher give you a kiss!
It really was a wonderful memory.
Anyway, now that I’d actually become an E, I didn’t find it uncomfortable at all.
Of course, if I had the same size as my piano teacher, anyone would be stunned speechless and it would certainly be uncomfortable.
Since my chest was small as well, it felt less like I was especially big and more like I was just the right size—pretty in a perfectly balanced way.
Even when I put on clothes, most of it was covered, leaving only a beautiful line.
“Aigoo… Dohee, you were really born with everything… But why does that make me sad…?”
I’d reached the point where I could take Stylist Unni’s resentful compliment positively.
Still, there were some inconveniences of my own.
Like when I wore a tank top with thin straps that revealed my shoulders, as I did for today’s stage outfit.
Since I was a minor, I had to wear a sports bra underneath, one that served the same purpose as a compression bandage, to prevent any revealing cleavage or anything of the sort.
Sports bras were made to hold everything firmly in place so nothing would shake during vigorous movement.
Naturally, the strong compression caused a suffocating tightness and pressure pain.
But I was used to this much.
I’d been wearing one since middle school, after all.
Not only during practice and exercise, but also onstage during my Seven days.
It was to prevent my ligaments from stretching and leaving everything misshapen.
‘I don’t want them to sag or get ruined.’
As someone whose pretty appearance itself was one of life’s joys, that was something I couldn’t tolerate.
‘I should be willing to put up with this much discomfort. Phew…’
As I thought that, a wonderfully pleasant idea for solving this suffocating feeling suddenly occurred to me.
I suppose brilliant ideas really did appear in the midst of pain.
“Unni! Unni!”
I cheerfully ran toward Seoyoon Unni, who was sitting on the waiting-room sofa.
* * *
A debut showcase was surely supposed to be a day of happiness.
But Seoyoon might not have been feeling all that happy at the moment.
There were many factors involved.
The anxiety of redebuting and wondering whether she could succeed.
The pressure of the countless expectations brought about by her previous popularity and demanded of her by the fans.
The stage fright and tension that had plagued her since her days with Seven.
But those minor factors had long since been forgotten.
Because of Dohee, who was quietly singing beside her.
“Without~ letting anyone else know~”
It wasn’t that Seoyoon disliked hearing Dohee sing. Dohee had worked hard at vocal lessons for seven years and always put in the effort.
‘She really does change as much as she works hard.’
In that respect, although Dohee was her younger sister, Seoyoon couldn’t help but admire her.
Dohee’s singing hadn’t even been bad back when they were trainees.
The problem was that her vocal color had suddenly changed drastically.
But she had gradually found her own style again, and now she sounded decidedly pleasant to listen to.
‘Of course, I’m still the main vocalist.’
That was something she couldn’t give up.
The problem was that Dohee, who had come running over with a cheerful wag of her tail, calling her “Unni, unni,” had sat down beside her and abruptly begun singing lyrics that somehow sounded irritating.
“‘I cried without hesitation↗~’”
“What did you say?”
What was more, the accent on that strange part seemed oddly emphasized.
And every time Dohee sang those lyrics, their eyes met.
Whenever that happened, Dohee would unnecessarily stick out her chest.
Even with the sports bra on, her chest looked similar in size to Seoyoon’s, and it caught Seoyoon’s eye.
‘Still, being a B cup puts me in, what, the top twenty percent…? Phew.’
Just when Seoyoon became certain that Dohee was teasing her,
whenever she tried to punish her, Dohee would somehow read her intentions perfectly and speak as though nothing was wrong.
“Unni, don’t you know the song Old Love?”
“I do, but why are you suddenly singing that…?”
“What? Are you ignoring Dad’s favorite song? He sings it every time we go to karaoke together. Dad’s coming today, you know. I’ll tell him about this! My dad is really scary!”
She brought up her father in a childish tone.
So Seoyoon found it difficult to say anything more.
“No, I like it. I do like it… Ugh… Damn it…”
And then Dohee began humming again.
“Without~ letting anyone else know~ I cried…”
Forget the showcase.
Maybe she should just kill her.
And then a staff member’s voice rang out.
“It’s one minute before six!”
“Oh, six o’clock, six o’clock! The music video is coming out.”
Dohee began rummaging around her waistband.
“Phew… ha… phew…”
Then she poked Chiyo, who was sitting beside her, meditating while practicing her breathing with a serious, tense expression.
“Where’s my phone?”
“Ehh… why are you asking me that?”
“Never mind, just hand it over. Unni hid it, didn’t she?”
“It wasn’t me! I don’t play jokes on important days like this!”
“Just give it to me quickly. I won’t say anything.”
In the meantime, Seoyoon quietly took Dohee’s phone out of her pocket.
Then she discreetly let it slip down beside her.
‘Phew… I’ll let it go just for today. Seriously.’
Right then, the YouTube notification sound went off.
“Hey, this is your phone.”
Seoyoon casually pointed at Dohee’s phone, which had a group photo of the Seven members stuck together with a group photo of the Debonair members.
“Th-this is what happened!! It’s unfair!!”
Thanks to that, Chiyo also forgot her tension and began bouncing around.
“Oh… it really is. Wow, when did I drop it?”
“Ugh… It’s because you’re always so scatterbrained. Never mind that—just play the music video already.”
“Okay, okay. Naeun, Uwa, come over here quickly!”
And Debonair’s first promotions began.
* * *
[Debonair ‘Debonair’ Offcial M/V]
The showcase venue was filled with bustling sounds from every direction.
‘Finally…!’
The fansite master placed her phone between herself and her friend, then clicked on the music video without even looking at the thumbnail.
It began with a pitch-black hallway and a green emergency Exit sign glowing with fluorescent paint at the far end.
The screen moved toward the exit as though fleeing.
When it finally reached the door, a hand grasped the doorknob.
The hand hesitated for a moment before finally opening the door slowly.
Creeeak—
At that moment, the groovy bassline gradually grew louder.
Then a meaningful voice rang out, clear yet somehow low and decadent.
‘That’s Dohee…!’
—I can see you
When the door opened, a figure stood blocking the entrance several steps ahead, seen from behind.
It was a girl with long, straight hair, wearing a cropped navy suit.
Then the girl turned around.
Dohee’s fansite master found herself unable to breathe.
“......!”
The slight loss of cheek fat had made Dohee’s face grow more mature day by day, and it was captivating enough to entrance someone in an instant.
But now Dohee was staring straight ahead with an eerie, expressionless face the fansite master had never seen before.
—Calling devil more
Then Dohee took a step backward.
There was no fear or surprise in her face. She remained calm and expressionless.
Only the background, which had been hidden from view, slowly came into the camera’s frame.
The focus was still off, leaving the scene blurry.
But one thing was clear: the room was filled with CCTV cameras beneath yellowish lights.
And four other members were watching the surveillance screens.
All of them were dressed in suits of different colors.
—Loving even more (Ay)
Then Dohee gave a sly little grin.
As if it were a secret, she raised her index finger and brought it to her lips.
—Fall in Debonair
At the same time, a bassline with a trendy Latin-pop feel played underneath, and the screen went completely dark.
Then the lights came back on.
Seoyoon woke up in a room, eyes flying open.
She looked around.
The room was filled with red apples.
—Everything seems to have changed
You won’t understand
Why everything makes sense (Woah-ooh)
‘The whistle sound is so good…?’
But Seoyoon seemed reassured, as though the scene was familiar, and bit into an apple.
The shot changed to capture Seoyoon in profile, followed by a group shot of the members dancing.
In the CCTV room, the members wore neat yet sophisticated suits.
Naeun stood at the center this time.
Then individual shots of the members alternated around her.
—Could I be under some kind of magic?
Could I be under some kind of curse?
It feels like a vivid dream (Woah-ooh)
The elevator doors closed, leaving only a narrow gap.
Uwa winked through it.
Soon afterward, the elevator began to shake and plummet.
It looked dangerous, but the inside remained peaceful.
In a state of weightlessness, Naeun floated in the air, lying down comfortably.
Once again, group and individual shots alternated.
This time, Uwa stood at the center.
—One thing is certain
That different feeling
That completely unfamiliar emotion
Uwa walked down a hotel corridor.
Every light went out as she passed.
Flashes of fire burst out here and there, like fireworks exploding.
But she showed no sense of danger whatsoever.
Uwa simply walked through them as though nothing was happening.
This time, Chiyo stood at the center of the group choreography and in the individual shots.
A bustling street filled with neon lights.
Electricity flashed in every direction, shorting out.
The billboards shook violently, to the point that one fell.
A billboard that narrowly missed them crushed the roof of a car.
—One thing is certain
This different emotion
Then the scene returned to the group choreography.
The members beside her stretched their arms in every direction, forming broad, sweeping movements.
Chiyo, standing in the center, was pulled in with a zoom.
She swept one hand down from the sky toward the center,
then tilted her head to the side in a small gesture.
And together with a deep voice distorted as though it had been warped by electronic effects—
—What will you do the next, is
Dohee surged out from the side into the center, and the chorus from the beginning burst out with even greater force.
—I can see you calling devil more
Loving even more
Fall in Debonair