"Boss, two more servings of tenderloin, please."
"Director, I'll grill them. Pass them here."
"It's fine, Naeun, you eat too."
"I'm eating a lot already."
"Chiyo."
"Hehe, just kidding. Pass them here!"
"I'm fine, so finish eating. You both must have had a hard time watching your diets during promotions, so you should eat plenty today, at least."
At the grill beside ours, a heartwarming scene was unfolding between Director Sohyun and the two unnies.
—*Click!*
"Seoyun unnie, how are you so pretty even grilling meat? You're so pretty I'm getting jealous."
Unlike this side.
"Hmm, is that so...? Heh."
Over here, it was just Ua unnie snapping away under the pretext of commemorating the end of our first promotions, and me eating meat deliciously.
"Nom nom."
As they say, you have to have eaten meat to truly know its taste.
"Hey."
"Huh?"
Seoyun unnie held out the tongs.
"Grill some now. The youngest is supposed to do this kind of thing, aren't they? You're going to be like this elsewhere too? A leaky ladle leaks outside too—"
"I want to grill too... but I was born unable to cook..."
"What does not being able to cook have to do with not being able to grill meat?"
"..."
"...Sigh, that's a bit sharp?"
I took the tongs.
Honestly, these days the useless cook concept had become so real that I seemed to avoid anything related to cooking excessively.
But it's just meat.
Yeah, I'll grill it deliciously.
—*Sizzle*
"Yeah, good job! Aww, good job~"
—*Click!*
"Seoyun unnie, your hairstyle is seriously amazing today. You're so pretty I'm jealous."
"...Are you teasing me right now?"
"No, seriously."
"...Ah, stop teasing me."
"Why are you so pretty today~?"
"Heh... heehee."
She likes it.
Meanwhile, the neighboring table grew rowdy again.
"Everyone, please pay attention."
Chiyo unnie seemed about to give a toast, jumping up from her seat holding a glass overflowing with soda.
"Until our debut promotions ended... how much hardship did you all endure?"
Chiyo unnie pulled out several tissues, wiping away fake tears.
"I understand. I empathize...!"
If I ignored her, she would definitely act annoying again.
—*Clap... clap...*
I hit my opposite forearm with my empty hand to make a rough clapping sound.
With my other hand, I grilled meat.
"Eat. This is grilled well."
"Aww, you grilled so well~ my baby~"
"Yeah~ unnie's baby."
"...That sounds a bit off?"
—*Click!*
"You too, stop taking pictures of Seoyun unnie and eat."
"Wait, wait. Dohee, look here for a sec."
"Ah, why..."
Did they think I, Lee Dohee, would be played with like the foolish Kim Seoyun!
"Because you're so pretty. How is Dohee so pretty even when I take pictures so carelessly?"
"You took one of me?"
"Yeah, look at this. The vibe is amazing, right? It's totally girlfriend-material, so fluttering. Should we sell it as a photocard? Let's sell it!"
"Hmm... I did come out a bit pretty...? Heheh."
"Hey, Jiuah! I told you to stop messing with us!"
"But! We took first place. We! Successfully completed our debut promotions. Without all of you, we could never have dared to achieve this. This glory rightfully belongs to our teacher, Teacher Sohyun, and our members..."
"Chiyo, look here!"
"Huh?"
—*Click!*
"Chiyo, you totally look like the leader~ You're the best! The best!"
"As expected, Ua is the one who recognizes this Chiyo! As the four-character idiom goes: 'Chiyo and Ua help each other'!"
"Naeun must have had a hard time being the leader."
"I'm okay. The kids are so cute."
"Hoho... Everyone, raise your glasses! Cheers!"
I raised my soda and half-heartedly went along.
"Cheers~"
After all, it was the day they wrapped up debut promotions, so everyone was visibly excited.
Even the Director emptied his beer glass in one go and said in a good mood.
"Kids, you'll be getting your settlement money soon. It won't be much yet."
As for me and Seoyun unnie, well, ours had been coming out for a while already.
"Have you three thought about what to do with your settlement money?"
"I don't really have anything particular yet. I was thinking of adding to the account where I've put my New Year's money since I was young and just keeping it in savings. Ah, I do want to buy my parents something tasty."
Our Naeun unnie, so by the book.
"What did Seoyun and Dohee do with your settlement money?"
"Me?"
Well, I'd been receiving a monthly salary since my trainee days, even before the settlement came out, so nothing changed for me.
"I just shoved it into my account and used my card for daily expenses. As for Seoyun unnie, well, she bought this and that."
"I didn't spend much either, you know? Just bought clothes, shoes, a mini-fridge for beside my bed..."
"You bought this and that. That's exactly what I mean."
"So I'm saying altogether it wasn't much. Trying to nitpick?"
Naturally, the members' gazes turned to Ua unnie next.
"As for me, hmm... should I just give all the money to my mom? I want to look good too."
Ua unnie seemed excited at the talk of settlement money.
I spoke worriedly.
"Tsk... I don't recommend it. You have to train your parents from the start..."
"Hey, what do you mean 'train' your mother?"
"No... what should I call it... lower their expectations? Get them used to it?"
This doesn't sound very good either...
"Anyway, I understand wanting to give it all too, but if you give it all, they'll naturally start expecting it next time too. Not that you'd do that, Ua unnie, but you see a lot of that conflict with seniors. I'm just saying be careful."
"Yeah~ our Dohee is so sly. It's just that I genuinely feel like giving it all this time."
She showed her card statement.
"Look, even if I put it in my account and just give her the card, my mom just swipes it herself whenever she needs something anyway?"
Of course, at most it was a few ten-thousand won, with petty few-thousand-won transactions repeating.
But one large amount was printed in a line.
"Ah, look at this. She swiped 1.41 million won this week again too. Fuel cost, 60,000 won."
"1.41 million won...?"
"...It's real?"
"Right? She does spend quite a lot..."
Wait, I feel like I'm making my mom out to be bad.
My mom is a kind and good person...
"Actually, this day... it was me buying clothes for Doa. Not Mom."
"Whew... I had a feeling."
My mom doesn't actually ask me for money, contrary to what she says.
To the point where it's almost sad.
Probably because Dad has a job...
"I, I will pay off my family debt."
"Huh? Chiyo unnie, you had debt?"
"...There is quite a bit. A mortgage. Mom and Dad sent me allowance every month too, and I will pay it off."
When she says that.
"Whew, Rahui turned out even worse than Chiyo."
"How are you any different..."
What does that make me, who said you have to train your parents...
"If we work harder, we can make Chiyo unnie earn money... Chiyo unnie, should I buy you something...? Is there anything you need...?"
"It's fine. Buy me a meal instead."
Watching Chiyo unnie refuse curtly.
"Uh..."
Awkwardly popping a piece of meat into my mouth, I averted my gaze.
And asked the Director, who was smiling gently.
"What did you do with your first paycheck, Director?"
"...Me?"
The Director's expression didn't seem too bright either.
"I... invested a bit in stocks."
It didn't seem to be a particularly good memory.
"Yes, so since you're all still new to society and don't know how to spend it yet, it would be good for everyone to put it in savings for now."
Director Sohyun smiled awkwardly, flipping the meat, and asked.
"Kids, what do you think is the most necessary ability for working as an idol? Dohee, stop fidgeting with your face."
"Whew... Rahui's..."
"I was going to say character..."
I mean, my face is my face, and my body is my body, but it's the inner self that makes the exterior shine.
Working hard at everything, never losing my manners, even equipped with pleasant humor—in other words, this noble character is my most beautiful side...
"I'm like that..."
But while no one affirmed it.
The unnies began to give their opinions.
"Isn't it flair. Look at Lee Dohee. She totally shot up as a bundle of aegyo and a flair genius."
"I rose through star quality though."
"Of course, I'm more of a flair genius, but..."
Seeing Chiyo unnie making a flower cup with her hands and putting on a cutesy expression, Seoyun unnie jumped right in.
"If we're talking flair, it's me~ but still, in the end it's performance on stage. The ability to digest a song. It's not because I'm the main vocalist~ but the root is vocals~ since we're a group."
"Tsk tsk. Who's going to dance for you? In the end, what's important to digest a song is flair. That is, expressiveness. Rap is also expressiveness. Eing~"
"Oh my? Look at her talking back?"
"You two over there, stop bickering. In the end, it's a noble character like mine..."
The other two unnies gave the Director the most fundamental answer seriously.
"Still, isn't it fundamentals?"
"Yes, like Ua said, probably... I think it's definitely fundamentals."
I nodded too.
"I think so too."
"Lee Dohee, don't bandwagon. Fidgeting with your face and then blabbering about character."
"That's right. Character my foot... you're such a sly fox..."
"The flair genius and the loudmouth should get lost."
The stamina of character that maintains your original intention.
If that isn't fundamentals, what is?
How easy it is to catch celebrity syndrome. Huh?
"Yes, listen while you eat."
The Director, who had been laughing as if watching an entertainment show, placed pieces of meat in front of each of us.
"You're all right. Star quality, fundamentals, flair, personality, stamina. That your debut was successful is definitely thanks to your long-term efforts."
Then our eyes met.
"But to say it was a result completed solely by you..."
Surely, what put us on track from debut was the company securing a good composer and choreographer, and the planned concept.
That was the company's creative input.
"Since the debut was successful, I'm not just telling you to hold onto your original intention. Our company, Topist, definitely helped domestically. That the response overseas rose slightly this time is surely thanks to the existing overseas fans that Dohee and Seoyun have."
The Director filled my glass to the brim with beer.
"Some groups set records on overseas music sites, on Spotify, right from debut. Seoyun, Dohee. What do you think would happen if Haru launched a new girl group as Coral Blue's successor?"
A Coral Blue successor group that also had Harang unnie, who'd built her own fandom through Seven, plus...
"Coral Blue has 100 million YouTube subscribers. And their successor group would have your former member Harang too, so, yes. Even just the trickle-down effect would quickly let them shoot up to the top among 4th gen girl groups."
The Director spoke somewhat gloomily.
"I'm not telling you to compete. Even if you bring a good song, I'm just stating the fact that there's definitely a meaningful difference in the existing listener base and fandom a company has."
And took a sip of beer.
"Did you all have a good Lunar New Year holiday?"
Director Sohyun nodded after hearing affirmative answers.
"You probably expected it, but it seems you won't be getting separate time off just because promotions ended."
Actually, getting Lunar New Year leave during promotions itself had been special consideration from the Director, so no one was dissatisfied.
Just a little disappointed.
"As you yourselves said, there's a lot each of you needs to do."
The Director soon told them the schedules.
Basic vocal, dance, fundamentals, and language lessons from trainee days, of course.
Even personal schedules that each member had in mind.
The amount was even greater than during trainee days.
...Other groups weren't like this.
"Dohee and Seoyun will be busy with individual schedules you've already booked, so good work."
"Yes." "Yes~"
"Yes, first off, you'll be participating directly in the blind test for the next comeback song... still, instead of vacation, you need to rest even a little, right?"
Director Sohyun, who had been pondering, nodded.
"Let's make this in-house content a trip. Healing among the members..."
"Anyway, let's go on a trip next week and have some fun. That'll be nice."
Why are you trailing off?