Afternoon, around lunchtime.
If there had been a large number of people waiting, pre-recording would have been in full swing at Melody Bank. Instead, the show’s resident host had appeared.
“Hello, I’m Melody Bank’s bank president, Yeeun.”
To welcome the New Year, Yeeun was wearing a modest, modernized one-piece hanbok.
“The New Year of 2025 has dawned. I hope all of you viewers have a happy year, and Happy New Year~”
The Melody Bank original content to be released today would feature Yeeun offering her New Year’s greetings with a demure smile before performing a formal bow.
Yeeun was already in her fourth year since debut, a nineteen-year-old on the verge of adulthood.
And she was one of the three representative visuals of the existing fourth generation.
Dohee of Debonair, Sera of Ailey, and Minseo of 3M.
Alongside “Do-Se-Min,” she was sometimes even counted among the top four, as her radiant charm was blossoming these days.
Of course, from Dohee’s point of view, with her self-esteem capable of piercing the heavens—
‘Hmm…’
Still, there was some objective validity to the claim.
It was just that Dohee and Sera were overwhelmingly striking.
Even among Saven, where not a single member fell short in the looks department, being singled out as part of the visual line naturally meant she had been blessed with extraordinary looks.
And now, she had received every kind of care imaginable: meridian massages, makeup, dieting, exercise, dermatological treatments, and so on.
Yes.
As fans praised her, giving her courage by insisting that this was the truth, Yeeun’s confidence had been growing day by day.
That didn’t mean she was going to run wild without a care.
‘I’m… a veteran!’
More than that, it was because years of bullying under the pretext of training had helped her establish a center of her own to some extent.
Thanks to that, Yeeun was a master of social life.
She now knew exactly how far to push before pulling back.
[Yeeun: Suck it, ㅇㅇㅇㅇㅇㅇ]
[Dohee: ?]
The thrill of enjoying herself while treading that perilously fine line.
That was Yeeun’s drug.
And Dohee would probably let something like this slide with an affectionate smile.
‘She will…!’
But why was it that—
In the Melody Bank hallway, just barely visible behind the camera, Dohee happened to be passing by after giving Yeeun a sidelong glance with an unusually sharp gaze.
‘Her mind got even narrower…?’
Yeeun suppressed the faint trembling of her eyes as much as possible and kept her gaze fixed on the camera.
She didn’t even make eye contact.
‘Her chest just got bigger, that’s all. Tsk.’
Still, she had realized something.
Back then, when they had been on the same team, there had been a pretext for Dohee to teach her things like dancing, formations, and stage performance. But now they weren’t on the same team anymore…! There was no longer any pretext for Dohee to teach her anything!
All she had to do was not film a challenge.
‘Never. I’m absolutely not filming one.’
Once she returned to the waiting room, Yeeun planned to pretend to be busy and read through the rehearsal script over and over.
* * *
“The person I introduced earlier was Assistant Director Park Joo-ho, and the person walking over right now is… Main Writer Yang Seung-hye.”
The first pre-recording had finished on schedule, without any delays.
“Hello!”
“Hi there!”
“Oh my, hello? Dohee and Seoyoon! How long has it been since I last saw you two~ So these are the Debonair members who debuted alongside you? I’ve listened to all your songs. They’re really good, aren’t they? I liked the song Dohee wrote, too! I thought you were bound to make it big. Though you already have!”
Afterward, they went around the waiting rooms greeting the production staff and filmed challenges with the other performers.
Honestly, there weren’t many famous performers today.
January was generally the rest period or world-tour season for top-tier groups exhausted from the year-end stages.
This was when the field was usually wide open.
That was why this music show consisted mostly of rookies.
Going by seniority alone, Seoyoon and I were practically the seniors here.
“You know, back in the day, whenever Saven started gaining popularity, people everywhere were dying to become friends with us!”
“Wow~ Grandma, you’re totally awesome!”
“I’m not interested.”
Thanks to that, the members were having a good time on their own in the waiting room without feeling pressured.
“Whenever I strolled down the hallway, people would ask me to do a challenge with them… Dohee, you explain this one!”
Seoyoon unceremoniously dragged me into her little skit.
She must have been terribly bored.
“Go play a phone game or something. I’m busy.”
I was currently trying to figure out what challenge we should do.
“Eugh… Grandma doesn’t know anything about games. Instead, let me personally show our rookies—”
“But what are you having for lunch today, unni? The director said we’re allowed to eat carbohydrates, too.”
“Whoa, really?”
Elegant unni, who had been humoring Seoyoon, cut her off and turned her head.
“Right, Naeun unni?”
Naeun unni had been writing down each of the production staff’s names in her notebook, mumbling as she memorized every one of them herself. She nodded without answering.
She really did work hard.
At the leader’s permission, given according to the higher-ups’ instructions, Seoyoon’s eyes widened.
“Yay! Then I’ll have soft tofu stew… Huh…! I nearly fell for your trick of changing the subject…! Uah, you sly little brat! Sit back down! Back when I was in Saven…”
Upon noticing Seoyoon’s reaction, Uah unni put on an expression of surprise and amazement, then stood up without a hint of regret and started fiddling with her phone.
She really was a true my-way-or-the-highway type.
“Eugh… Chiyo-chiyo! You come over here, at least.”
“Ugh, old-fashioned… I don’t want to listen.”
“What?”
Maybe it was because it had been a while since we’d been on a music show, but she was incredibly excited. Sigh…
Meanwhile, Uah unni opened a delivery app, held up her phone, and walked over to me.
“What are you going to eat?”
I reached out and gestured for her to hand me the phone.
Then I took it and navigated to the category I was familiar with.
Korean food, meat restaurants, soft tofu stew.
“This place is good. Seoyoon unni and I go there all the time.”
After checking the menu, Uah unni smiled with her eyes.
“I knew it would be~ I had a feeling you two would order the same thing! You two really, really have the exact same taste, huh~?”
“…? There’s such a thing as taste when it comes to Korean food? Isn’t it just something all Koreans like?”
Uah unni lightly tapped me on the nose.
“You two are ex-act-ly the same.”
How absurd.
I was a true Korean who hated malatang.
That woman was an omnivore who even liked malatang, so how could we possibly be the same?
Hmph. That annoyed me.
I stood up from my seat.
Uah unni caught me by the arm for no reason.
“Are you pouting~?”
Her eyes were sparkling, but her tone was teasing.
If I didn’t answer, she’d just jab me in the side and say I was pouting again.
“I’m not pouting. I’m just going to the bathroom.”
“Right? Dohee doesn’t pout, does she?”
Good grief…
Uah unni used to be cute, too.
When on earth had she become so sly?
I turned my head.
“This is the fourth time you’ve said that…”
“Hey, every story teaches a lesson.”
Chiyo unni was being held captive by Kim Seoyoon and forced to listen to a lecture.
Right. It was all because of that woman.
She had spent four years stuck to that woman’s side as her best friend.
Anyone would have to become strong-willed to survive that kind of energy.
I had been with her from the age of thirteen until now, at twenty.
I knew.
Our Uah unni had merely adapted in order to survive.
Uah unni was innocent.
So, as I passed by, I gave Chiyo unni a light tap.
“It’s because of you, unni.”
When I tapped her on top of being lectured, Chiyo unni looked deeply aggrieved.
“Huh…? I-I didn’t do anything…!”
“Tsk…! You’re turning your head away? Back in my day, you couldn’t even turn your head when a senior was present!”
“Why are you both doing this to me today…! You idiots! You good-for-nothings! You fools!”
Seoyoon unni grabbed Chiyo unni by both shoulders and shook her.
“Because there’s no one else who’ll put up with us! You’re all we have!”
“Grr, get off me, you bums!”
The impact was so satisfying that I felt a little better.
And so I left the waiting room.
Then I saw one spot where a crowd of people had gathered.
Filming was in full swing in the open area of the hallway.
It wasn’t a challenge, but Melody Bank’s original content.
And there, I saw another one of my beloved plushies.
I wondered why I was so happy to see her.
I wandered down the hallway while keeping a close eye on them without making it obvious.
As soon as filming ended, I returned to the waiting room.
What I saw immediately upon returning was—
“Shu-shu-shu-shuk!”
“Ah, I said I was sorry.”
Somehow, the tide had turned between the two of them.
Whatever.
I grabbed an album with one hand and helped Seoyoon unni to her feet.
“Ah. No, wait. Naeun unni, you come, too. Naeun unni, let’s go together. We’ve got a new schedule.”
* * *
“R-Really…?”
“Why? Weren’t you close with the Saven members?”
The manager looked at her suspiciously, as if he couldn’t believe it.
“Are you perhaps on bad terms with them…?”
“No! No…! It’s not that… We’re really close… We are close, but…”
“Right, you two seemed to get along really well. I saw you playing with Dohee last time.”
“That’s true, but…”
She was scary sometimes…
If something didn’t meet her standards, she’d always scold me for having no sense of professionalism…
Faint tears gathered in the corners of anxious Yeeun’s eyes.
The Debonair members were coming over shortly to film a challenge with her.
There was no way to avoid it anymore.
If it had come from the manager’s mouth, it was a schedule officially approved by the company…
‘L-Last time, Lee Dohee was just so incredibly intense about the challenge…’
Besides, it would be strange to refuse when they were merely reciprocating a previous challenge.
She wanted to call Sera unni right away and ask her to come here.
Sera unni had even strongly suggested that they go directly to Dohee’s company to film the challenge, after all.
But Sera unni was currently away shooting a pictorial after being selected as an ambassador for a luxury brand.
So there was nothing Yeeun could do now.
All she could do was hope that one of the other members would come.
‘I hope Seoyoon unni comes… Ah! Or maybe Naeun unni…? Naeun unni was really nice, too… She always took such good care of me…’
If Dohee came, she would nitpick every single dance point and every change in intensity, grilling Yeeun with every possible fact.
Knock knock.
A knock sounded from outside the door.
Yeeun reflexively hunched her body.
At Melody Bank, the male and female MCs used separate waiting rooms.
This was definitely someone looking for her.
“Who is it?”
After Dohee had given her a thorough scolding at Yuhanggayo last time, the manager had developed the habit of asking who it was first, just as Yeeun had requested.
Yeeun held her breath and waited for the answer.
“Ah~ It’s your unni, Seoyoon! Is Yeeun in there~?”
It was definitely Seoyoon unni’s voice.
But clear-headed Yeeun did not let her guard down.
The wicked Lee Dohee might have deliberately told Seoyoon unni to speak first.
Challenges generally involved two members coming over together, after all.
‘I’m not going to fall for it so easily anymore!’
Fortunately, after a brief silence—
Another member’s voice came from outside.
“Ah… hello.”
It was a calm and comfortable tone, one she hadn’t heard in a while but remembered well.
“I’m Naeun from Debonair. I came to say hello today.”
It was Naeun unni, who had been so warm and kind that many trainees had adored her.
‘It’s really them…!’
The tension finally drained from Yeeun, and she gave the manager a bright smile and a nod.
And the ones who walked in with cheerful smiles were not two, but three.