"I'll be bringing a lot more in the future, though..."
Director Sohyeon brought a handkerchief and polished the trophy until it gleamed.
"But still, it's the first one... yours."
As if certain they would win even bigger awards.
The spaciously decorated high shelf still empty.
"We might run out of display cases."
"Absolutely. We're going to win tons, right?"
"Right, if it's you girls, you will. We should expand, shouldn't we?"
Normally, the director would offer some principled remark about needing to stay humble, but today she simply met my eyes with a proud, satisfied smile.
And so, on the way home from the company building.
It would only take twenty minutes to walk, but the manager insisted on driving us again, saying it was cold.
Meanwhile, the unnies in the back seats were huddled together excitedly, scrolling through a delivery app.
"Let's start with ordering all the chicken we haven't been able to eat."
"Hai!"
All thanks to the CEO's corporate card, which he told us to use to our hearts' content.
"Should we add tteokbokki?"
"Yes, let's do that."
"We need rice too. How about ssambap? Something a little healthier."
"Eat all that and you'll be plenty healthy, all right."
"Yep~ you weigh the most out of all of us, don't you?"
"Puhaha~"
Wooah unnie, who had been giggling beside me, suddenly fiddled with her phone and played a song.
─I am the best~
"Yaaah~ why are you doing this to Do-hee? To a kid who's so skinny she's nothing but bones."
Left speechless, I sat in the front passenger seat and stared out the window.
'The traffic light... turned red...'
Honestly, at 171 centimeters with a figure like this...
It's only natural that I weigh a little more than the unnies, whatever.
"So what do you want?"
But... should I lose a bit more...? Hit fifty-one?
Then my chest would shrink too, and I'd become a D...
Right now I'm barely an E as it is...
Ha, is this why celebrities worry so much.
"Hey, Lee Do-hee! Hurry up, it needs to get there right when we arrive at the dorm."
"Me? I want steak..."
"Steak confirmed."
Only a brief answer came back, and they were absorbed in picking the menu again.
─I am the best~
"Turn the song off..."
The volume went up a notch.
"Aigoo..."
Beside me, Manager Young-ho kept bursting into laughter as if the situation amused him.
"Manager."
"Huh...?"
"Won't you eat with us too?"
"Ehh~ a male manager can't just barge into an idol dorm."
"Then we can wait for the delivery together in front of the dorm, and you can just take the food. The CEO's corporate card is for times like this."
"Should I? But is that okay?"
"Of course. You're our manager."
"Okay! Then I'll have steak too!"
An immediate answer came from the back.
"Addition complete~"
A small, trivial moment with nothing special about it.
But a smile leaked out for no reason.
Maybe the reason it could be this enjoyable was because I got to spend the day surrounded by people I liked.
They say social trust secretes oxytocin, one of the happiness hormones, after all.
The proud smile Director Sohyeon wore.
The unnies in the back who were always close.
The manager who had watched over us with a happy smile for so long.
Rather than today's first place, I felt a small happiness in this comfortable atmosphere, in the sight of these people who would be with me going forward.
* * *
"Hey, you're going to do aegyo at the fansign tomorrow anyway. Think of it as practice and just do it coolly once!"
'Fuck Kim Seoyun.'
─Hurry up and do aegyo lolololol
─Do-hee looks pretty today...? Start dating me if you breathe
─Do-hee, what's the reverse of 'let's win'?
─Do-hee, if you shorten 'Yeopgi Tteokbokki' it's Yeop Tteok. If you shorten 'Yeopgi Odeng'?
─Do-hee unnie, you're so pretty!!!
The reason the chat was full of comments singling me out and baiting me, even though this was a group live, was simple.
─How come you didn't cry? kekeke
─Our crybaby maknae though ㅠㅠ
Because I was the only one who held back tears during today's first-place acceptance speech.
"I probably won't cry over things like this from now on. I've grown somewhat."
I'd said it confidently, less in the sense of any real mental growth and more in the sense that the expectations people around me had for me, and for my age, were growing, but.
─18-year-old Do-hee is cute lololol
─lololol do aegyo to commemorate your growth lol
─Kya, I can't stand this
─I missed you because I haven't seen you in so long ㅠㅠ
─If you blink, start dating me
To the viewers, I must have seemed like a child proud of being a year older.
"Oh... Do-hee's gone twenty seconds without blinking...!"
After that, it was Seoyun unnie's instigation.
"If you won't do it at the fansign tomorrow, don't do it. If you will, do it now too."
"I'm not going to..."
At the same time, the chat window heated up again.
"Huh? Eyes closed."
"Ah."
─Hehe, closed eyes... that means we're dating...?
─What?
─Hey.
─Nooooo
No one cared that I closed my eyes, and they showed an even fiercer reaction to my declaration that there would be no aegyo at tomorrow's fansign.
'What, did they put in an order or something...?'
Yeah, I was younger back in Seven, so I get it.
My professionalism is as perfect as my looks and personality.
I'd tried hard even when I hated it, claiming I was acting my age.
But I'm eighteen now.
"I have human rights too..."
"So. You're really not going to do it? Tomorrow is Debonaire's first fansign in history, you know? Really? For real?"
Ha... damn Seoyun...
This is exactly why I hated the maknae image.
I wanted to be the leader.
Of course... right now...
─She will, she will!
─Go go go
"Meow...?"
"Pfft."
Gyaah.
"Oh... but honestly, it's kind of cute."
"Because Do-hee is pretty~"
"Yeah, you don't have to cover your face~ it's just cute, right?"
* * *
The fansign that started the next day.
I forgot about yesterday and greeted fans with practiced pretense.
"Ah, unnie~ it's been so long!"
There were occasionally rude people too, but.
"I know right~ Do-hee!"
They spent at least several hundred thousand won each time they came, up to several million, so I had to leave only good memories for the good fans whenever possible.
"How is it? Does it suit me?"
Wearing cat-ear headbands as requested was a given by now.
"Oh, totally... crazy..."
"I might not be able to do cute, but I can work hard at things like this~"
"Huh? You were super cute yesterday though?"
"Ah, right."
I'd really forgotten for a moment.
"It's good if you liked it. More importantly, how are you these days, unnie? You were preparing your graduation project."
"Omg, you remembered?"
"Of course~ I don't know much about art, but I do have an artist's soul. We're on the same wavelength~"
I smiled slyly and held out my fist, and my unnie-fan loved it so much.
After that too, while signing, I answered each question the fans had written down earnestly.
"Do-hee, I'm recording my voice right now... say something nice. Something that gives me strength even when it's hard."
"Hmm..."
What would be a good line?
Ah...!
Am I a genius? Me?
"Unnie, do you know that poem?"
"Which one?"
"Draw a circle with your fingertip. As big as you can."
"Ah~ 'I love you except for that circle'? Nice, nice!"
The unnie-fan in front laughed gleefully and loved it just from that, but it still couldn't erase the cliché.
I leaned my head forward.
"Unnie, but do you know what that is?"
"What is it~?"
And I lowered my tone.
"...I like you without the circle."
The fan roared with laughter.
"I'm showing this for the first time today~"
Ha... Lee Do-hee.
I'm going crazy, really~
"Really? You wrote this just for me?"
"Of course~ each and every Doramdan is precious~"
Chiyo unnie, who was doing a fansign beside me, and her male fan both glanced at me for a moment.
"Wow, Do-hee's lines are totally pro..."
That's right, this is how it's done.
"I should use this on my girlfriend too..."
"Oh! You have one?!"
"Ah, no...? I was going to when I get one..."
"Ah, ah, ah...! Y-you'll get one...?"
As expected, still green.
If it were me, I'd have playfully praised him with "I thought you already had one."
Anyway, when the event was about halfway through, while wearing various props.
To me wearing classic rabbit-ear headbands.
A new male fan came.
"Hello~ it's your first time, right?"
"Huh? How did you know?"
"Because I'm seeing you for the first time~"
Setting aside the fact that it was my first time seeing him.
Honestly, it showed through his atmosphere and demeanor.
After that, while writing signatures and answering fan questions was routine, because he was too shy and frozen, I decided to take the lead.
"What made you start liking Debonaire?"
"I actually had interest since Seven times... but couldn't get myself to come."
"Aha~ you could have come anytime. But we can see each other often from now on."
"But I think I've fallen deeper now."
"Ah, really? Why?"
"I usually like cool things, and Debonaire's first song was girl crush, and the piano playing was cool too, especially the short I saw with Yeeun. The song was really good, but the dance was pretty and cool too...!"
"Ah, really~? Ha~ another Doramdan recruit! Since I'm tall, it's fun to watch me stretch out long, right? Actually, I thought everyone would really like that part, so I prepared it and did it separately with Yeeun unnie."
I lowered my voice slightly again.
So only we two could hear.
"But our Wooah unnie is the main dancer~ she dances incredibly well, just like me. Her dance lines are pretty. You know? Her muscles are solid. Please like her a lot, her face is pretty too. Then I'll upload lots of dance covers with unnie later. Ah, and also, if you smile at Chiyo unnie while saying this, she'll think you're praising her and secretly like it...? Look at Chiyo unnie. See? Kind of cute, right?"
Mentioning members was important too.
"Yes, Jisu is cute..."
Jisu?
"Who's Jisu? Surely not Pure Girl Jisu?"
"No no, that's Chiyo's nickname..."
"Oh, really? She has a nickname like that? How did Chiyo unnie become Jisu...?"
The male fan smiled awkwardly and finally asked a question first, as if trying to change the subject.
"More importantly, you talked about the fandom name yesterday."
"Ah, right, right~"
During last night's live broadcast, while going on about fans this and fans that, a comment had come up in chat saying we needed a fandom name quickly.
"I heard it'll be revealed in the self-content..."
"...? Who said that??"
The fan's gaze turned toward Kim Seoyun, who was laughing happily in the first seat.
Agh... that spoiler queen.
Did she have nothing to say because she was awkward? Sigh...
"They also said the self-content would be uploaded today..."
But since it would be up in a few hours anyway, maybe it doesn't matter?
I should drop a spoiler too.
"Our self-content is a bit late. But it'll be fun instead~ honestly, just seeing our faces is totally entertaining, right?"
The fan nodded vigorously.
"Right~ I'm going to drop a really big spoiler..."
I said sneakily after checking my surroundings.
"Keep it to yourself?"
─Time's up~ please move to the side~
"The fandom name... was decided based on my suggestion...?"
"...Really?"
I'd said everything I wanted to say, so that was enough.
"Yeah. And speak comfortably next time you come, okay? Bye~"
* * *
The man who had attended the Debonaire fansign for the first time today was still replaying a few hours ago even now that he was back home.
'Wow... she's really crazy at fan-handling...'
The signed album in his hands proved it.
Do-hee, who proactively poured out questions about him to show interest, while also filling the album with lengthy comments alongside her signature.
Thank you so much for coming to the fansign, thank you for liking us.
Eat your meals properly, take care of your health, work hard on your studies (like she does)... and so on.
The man nodded, realizing that this was why there were so many reviews of Do-hee's fansigns, and why people said they didn't regret going. He enjoyed the pleasant afterglow.
They say many people leave fandoms after concerts or fansigns, but they also say some fall deeper—he must be the latter.
'Ah, but they said self-content would come out today...'
Entering Debonaire's official YouTube channel, the man could check immediately.
It had been uploaded exactly at ten o'clock, just two minutes ago.
'Do-hee said the fandom name was her suggestion...?'
The man watched the self-content, laughing and enjoying it, but focused on Do-hee during the fandom name decision part.
And he couldn't help but gasp slightly at the fandom name candidates Do-hee proposed.
'Really... it's among those...? The fandom name...?'