The showcase ended on a high note.
As I came down from the stage, I could still feel the lingering afterglow.
I had grown accustomed to being onstage—or so I thought, and therefore believed I wouldn’t feel any thrill from a stage of this size.
But now, with shivers running through my entire body, I couldn’t think of anything at all.
Was it because this was the moment of our debut...?
‘Whew, if even a veteran like me is like this... then the unnie-debuting-for-the-first-time...’
They might even cry.
This was my chance to show the dignity of a veteran!
I turned my head.
To show the dignity of a true leader...!
“I think I was so cool and cute today... Eh? N-no, this won’t do. To steal all the popularity Dohee worked so hard to build up in a single moment...! B-but... honestly, Chiyo can’t help it... It’s the fans’ free choice, after all... But... if Dohee-chan starts watching me carefully and Seoyoon unnie gets jealous... that might hurt my feelings a little...”
...What the hell.
“Hey! Kimchi! Enough noise, get over here!”
“Oh my~ Uajjang! No matter how jealous you are of Chiyo, you shouldn’t use such harsh words~?”
“Huh? I haven’t even said anything that harsh yet.”
“Gasp...”
“Seoyoon unnie, come over here too! The director said he’d take commemorative photos himself~”
“Really? Director Sohyeon?”
“Seoyoon, what do you mean, ‘teacher’ to the director?”
“Why not! He was my teacher when I was little! He said I could call him that~ Right?”
“Yes, yes. Naeun, you come over here quickly too. You’re so pretty today that I want to take a picture of you. Seeing my girls debut like this makes me so happy today.”
“Hehe, thank you!”
“Teacher, take one with us too!”
“Yes, yes~ First, let’s take one of just you girls. We need one to upload for the fans. After that, after that, we’ll take one together~”
Hmm... The reason everyone looked perfectly fine...
Was probably because they were simply in such high spirits.
If it felt like walking on clouds...
Then they probably had no sense of reality.
‘Come to think of it... this was only possible because I’m a veteran.’
The rookies... Yeah.
Once we got back to the dorm and their tension finally released, they’d cry their eyes out.
They’d cry and cry.
‘Yes, and then I’ll show them the dignity of a veteran as a true leader...!’
“Seoyoon, where did Dohee go?”
“Dohee?”
“Oh, there she is! Dohee~ What are you doing all alone in the corner, being so cute~? Let’s take a picture together with your unnies! Come here! Hurry!”
* * *
I think my hypothesis was wrong.
“Chiyo, are we finally going out for my first glass of alcohol to celebrate becoming an adult? If so, I might drink everyone under the table...?”
Even while waiting for our families in the waiting room, Chiyo unnie was bouncing around excitedly.
“Seoyoon unnie, how much can you drink?”
“Me? Hmm... maybe a bottle of whiskey?”
“Pfft, stop pretending to be strong. That makes you look weak...”
“What’s with that line? I kind of like it.”
“It’s a line from Chiyo’s anime collection. If you wish to learn it, lie down on the bed with Chiyo and watch anime.”
This wasn’t being excessively hyped up.
‘That’s just her usual personality...’
Of course, she was a little more excited than usual.
But even then, she was only slightly more hyper than me.
‘Right, me and the unnies were probably all at about the same level...’
No matter how accustomed one became to the thrill of performing onstage,
I had overlooked the fact that debuting was something one could never grow accustomed to.
Of course...
‘Dohee, you... Even your mindset... You’re a real professional, a true professional.’
I felt a little proud of myself for still trembling with the heart of a rookie. It was admirable, too, that I had maintained my initial resolve.
I really, really liked that side of myself.
‘Whew... I guess I got even more confused because of Chiyo unnie, who’d been acting so serious about debuting these past few days.’
For no good reason, I resented Chiyo unnie for destroying my hypothesis.
“We’re not having an after-party today.”
“What...?!”
Chiyo unnie looked as if the world had come crashing down.
“What do you mean, ‘what’? Don’t you want to appear on TV, unnie? We start promotions tomorrow. Do you want to go on TV with a swollen face? Well, if you’re going for a steamed bun in winter concept, I suppose it’ll be fine.”
“...Why is Dohee-chan angry...? Relax. Today is a happy day. Calm down!”
“Yeah, Lee Dohee. Don’t come on too strong. It makes you look weak. Heh.”
Oh, come on.
—Creeeak.
Just then, the waiting-room door opened.
“Girls, your families are here.”
The director pointed outside the door.
A family reunion. It was a moment to escape from being idols and relax by laughing and chatting as ordinary members of a family.
Me, too.
Even though I was truly a veteran,
for just a moment, as a rookie with the heart of a beginner,
I planned to set aside my mature self.
To return to being a daughter in my family, and an older sister to one child.
“D-do, do, Doa... where is she...?”
* * *
When a group was said to have claimed first place on the music charts, that generally referred to the daily chart.
===========
[Debonair Real-Time HOT100 Chart Rankings]
[1st: Debonair / Debonair]
[2nd: Born Ideals / Debonair]
[3rd: As Fickle As Fortune / Debonair]
[...]
[6th: Star Candy / Debonair]
Debuted and immediately put every song on the real-time chart ㄷㄷ
===========
That didn’t mean taking first place on the real-time chart was meaningless.
The HOT100 hourly chart.
Up until now, the only cases of an artist taking first place on the real-time chart immediately after debut were—
—How does that even make sense when they aren’t from one of the Big Four agencies?
—This is insane.
The Big Four agencies.
—Monorush, Saven, and Eners got on there too, though.
└Those were groups that debuted through audition programs, while this is an agency debut.
Other than those groups and the seasonal groups from survival programs like Saven, there had been no such cases.
In other words, this meant that the public had granted them enough attention to rival the launch of a group from one of the Big Four agencies.
Put another way, they had gained the momentum to keep drawing attention—and it meant they had already secured first place on the daily chart.
—Wow, but they got every song into the top three? First, second, third...?
└That’s incredible. If they play their cards right, they might even line up the entire daily chart.
—Honestly, since it’s January, there aren’t any comeback groups around. They’re raiding an empty house. Ah ah ah ah, love, this is what it means to be born to draw them in! Your wavering heart, right?
└For real, the kids are freaking cute in that part of Born Ideals... The first title track is good too, but this one is totally my style—so fresh.
└I think both are just good! Though personally, I prefer Debonair! The choreography is completely addictive.
—Even before their debut, they kept appearing on YouTube’s trending videos, so I figured they’d definitely do well as long as the songs weren’t awful. Separate from that, both title tracks were produced unbelievably well.
└Exactly. They show off the concept, and the storylines of the two songs are connected too. The production team really must have gone all out.
—Debonair’s first-week physical sales exploded. 220,000 copies in just one day ㄷㄷ It’ll probably sell less than Ailly, but considering the agency’s fandom? This is seriously huge. I bet they’re throwing a party over there.
—I’ve never seen a piano song rank third on the real-time chart before. Seriously... I was surprised even by sixth place, but it keeps climbing.
└Since Dohee composed it all by herself, I think even people who aren’t interested in idols are curious enough to give it a listen.
└This is absolutely true—my mom only knows NND and Coral Blue aside from second-generation idols, and she mainly listens to classical music on the radio. But after Dohee won the grand prize at that competition last time, she got curious about an idol doing classical music, and today she listened to the entire album.
└LMAO, what did she think?
└I didn’t ask, but right now I can hear Dohee’s song playing on infinite repeat from the master bedroom. The atmosphere in there is pointlessly grand at this hour LOL.
But attention could sometimes provoke resentment.
—Dohee’s star power really is unbelievable. I don’t think people have started calling her the Princess of Korea for no reason... She really doesn’t seem to care what generation you’re from... Everything about her is perfect...
└Please, can you all stop being so over-the-top? LOL It’s people like you, blindly overpraising her and acting like pathetic simps, who make Lee Dohee get cursed out all the time.
Comparing people was an unavoidable human tendency.
And when it involved sports or idols—things placed before the public, constantly ranked and pitted against one another—that tendency naturally intensified.
—Well, then one of the Big Three fourth-generation girl groups is going to have to drop out LOL.
└I hereby declare the time-honored fandom girl-group tournament begun—!!
└They’re just the Big Four now: Ailly, Threem, Debonair, and Pure Girl.
└Pure Girl fans—
└?? LOL Have you never seen one or two groups blow up right after debuting? Ailly’s from a major agency, so they’ll keep pushing them forward, but Debonair... That agency, seriously LOL.
└They do seem to have come out with knives sharpened, but their debut will definitely be their career high.
The same applied to Saven, which had once shared the same fandom.
—Ailly fans must be dumbfounded LOL. They kept saying Debonair would be compared to them and whatnot... LOL.
└What do you mean, we’re the same fandom?
└They may be called the same fandom, but the group came from a survival show, so Saven’s fandom had the most solo stans.
└For real, after Dohee, Sera had the most individual fans too. Those two groups are going to be tearing each other apart from now on LOL.
└Even before Saven disbanded, the fans were fighting like crazy over whether Top East or JS was responsible for the disbandment LOL. They were constantly tearing each other down.
Of course, most of them were other fans or provocateurs stirring things up and driving wedges between people, along with a small number of vicious solo stans.
In reality, most of the fans who had attended Saven’s concerts and supported them wholeheartedly were in a festive mood.
—Saven pride is surging... Now only His Highness Chaerin and you two remain!
—What kind of group had Saven been, anyway?
└A group that swept every grand prize, and ranked second all-time among girl groups for first-week sales.
—Seriously, what is our maknae’s talent? How can a piano song be this good?
—Seoyoon, my darling, is getting sexier by the day...
—The Debonair members are all so pretty and all so talented, for real.
—What? We’re getting twice as much content now that they’ve split into two groups? We won’t have any time to rest?
└Oh... Such a positive mindset.
└But does that mean spending twice as much money?
└Ah...
They were simply devoted to rewatching the music videos and showcase stages while waiting for new content.
—I want to see them on a music show already. Which one are they appearing on first?
└When our girls disbanded, M-Web and Top East weren’t on good terms, so I don’t think they’ll appear on M-Pulse.
└Is Top East allowed not to appear? Honestly, I feel bad saying this, but Top East isn’t even a major agency.
└Who knows? I guess they’re just going all-in.
Especially the reunion of the former Saven members.
—So is their first music-show stage this Friday? Melody Bank? Their first stage with MC Ye-eun ㄷㄷ?
└Crazy LOL, you’re right. Wow, I’m already excited for a Seoyoon, Dohee, and Ye-eun challenge. My heart’s pounding.
└It’ll be Seoyoon’s first challenge too. Wow.
And the people anticipating that reunion...
Were not limited to the fans.
[Seoyoon unnie: Dohee’s about to brag, just ignore her.]
[Me: Huh?]
[Seoyoon unnie: I saw you taking screenshots earlier.]
[Me: Oh LOL]
[Me: (Chart photo) My song is third on the real-time chart LOL It entered the Top 100 chart at 81st place in just one day LOL]
[Me: How is it? Pretty awesome, right? Insane, right?]
[Harang unnie: LOL How cute. Our baby.]
[Hana unnie: Congrats, congrats. Our Dohee must be happy LOL]
[Sera unnie: I’m listening to it right now too! It’s so good, Dohee! I love it!]
[Chaerin unnie: LOL Congratulations. (Dancing rabbit)]
[Ye-eun unnie: What can I say? Yep yep yep yep yep.]
[Me: ?]
The person at the center of it all felt the same way.