After finishing filming the reaction video for the music video that had just been released at six, we were leaving work when we ran into employees heading out of the company building at the same six o’clock quitting time.
“Dohee, this song is awesome!”
“Super awesome! It’s so good!”
The atmosphere was like they might come running over any second and pat-pat-pat my head.
I was a little embarrassed, so all I could do was give an awkward smile, bob my head, and hurry out of the building first.
Then I thought I should get back to the dorm quickly.
“You made something this good, so why are you so embarrassed? Your face is bright red again.”
Kim Seoyun followed me out and tugged at my cheek.
“Ah, let go.”
“What’s this? You’re actually being cute todayyy?”
“Ah, stooop.”
Wooa unni hugged me from behind too, chuckling.
“You’re just born with it~ Totallyyy~”
“Let go. I’m going to walk.”
“She says she’s embarrassed. Why are you doing thaaat?”
At least Naeun unni, who was laughing softly, tried to stop them by taking my arm and linking hers through it.
“Let’s walk all the way to the dorm like this!”
“Let’s go, let’s go~”
But all she did was restrain my arm.
“Eh, then where am I supposed to hold on...”
My cheeks were still burning.
“Ah! Dohee-ssi, may I walk while holding your big boobies?”
“Are you actually insane?”
“It’s not like they’ll wear down... Hmph.”
What do you mean, hmph?
“...But seriously, can’t I?”
“Ah, please.”
“Hmph.”
* * *
After finishing our little comeback celebration party with the unnies, I used fatigue as an excuse to go into my room, lay straight down on my bed, and fidgeted with my fingers.
Should I play the piano?
Should I sit at my desk and solve problems in a workbook?
Should I finish the book I’d stopped reading a few weeks ago?
Should I hurry up, wash, and lie down?
I tried to shift my attention.
But the place my fingers kept reaching for was the rectangular phone.
“...Should I look?”
The reaction to my song, released as the title track.
Honestly, the pressure had been huge.
It couldn’t be helped.
Even if I had conviction in myself and trusted my own ears.
Even if the A&R team and the director had shown confidence.
When working on a song, you were repeatedly exposed to the same melody, getting used to it and potentially losing objectivity.
And putting everything else aside, being evaluated by the countless general public was something that always made anyone’s heart tense.
“I don’t want to go looking for trouble and end up feeling bad again for no reason...”
Even as I worried, in the end, I swiped through my phone screen and started by sneaking a look at places where the intensity would be mild.
The fans who always supported me.
At least the personal social media accounts of fansite masters would be fine.
As expected, the fans’ social media was overflowing with praise.
“Hehe, right? Even I think I wrote a really good song.”
“Well, me being pretty is a constant~ Of course, of course~”
“A piano version of Sweet Demon? Mm... Should I try playing it once?”
The more I saw, the more curious I became.
What would the reaction be like in female-dominated K-pop communities, or in male-dominated communities?
The reason I’d stopped looking at communities altogether was because the more popular I became, the more filthy reactions that shattered my mental state, curses, and all sorts of things poured out there.
Especially on comeback day, it reached its peak.
Because the amount of mentions couldn’t help being proportional.
There were also plenty of insults disguised as feedback.
So normally, my stance was to limit monitoring as much as possible, if not basically avoid it entirely, aside from the occasional reviews by experts uploaded to YouTube.
“Hoo...”
But since my song was the title track.
I couldn’t do that. Not in my heart.
If I felt my mental state even starting to worsen a little...
Instead of reading until the end this time,
I resolved that I would immediately put my phone down, leave the cramped room, lie around in the living room with the unnies, chat, and heal.
Then I began checking the communities one by one.
.
.
.
“Ah...”
Had I been worrying too much?
[It’s a shame the song is so short, though]
─Maybe because of that, it doesn’t feel like there are many repeated parts either, and it’s seriously so damn good fr
[Wow, Sweet Demon seriously just sounds like a pop singer’s song, daebak lolol]
─The bass is insane from the start, the song is really sophisticated, and the little touches here and there are so stylish, insane
The response was far better than I’d expected.
Of course, naturally, there were bad reviews.
There were hate comments too.
─Something feels a bit off? It’s not good, but it’s not the worst either
─Just a very ordinary listenable retro song
─It’s just fucking trash
─The song is weirdly tacky
─Honestly, it’s just not good
─Ah, Lee Dohee’s doing viral marketing like crazy again lol
But I’d become a little too used to this for my mental state to break over such minor criticism.
It was a place that was practically half antis, after all.
Besides, nine out of ten opinions
were similar to what I’d seen on the fans’ social media.
[Sweet Demon is insanely addictive]
─When I first listened to just the song without watching the MV, I thought it was kind of simple and had no impact, and it felt like they were singing only the Sweet Demon part from beginning to end, so I thought they’d filled the song with too much chorus, but now I’ve been going sweeet demonmonmon for like 4 hours...? What do I do? It keeps coming to mind like crazy lol Seriously, the addictiveness is insane
[It keeps coming to mind and the melody won’t leave my ears]
─Ugh, stress... s... ssweeet demonmonmon! The guitar sound keeps looping endlessly, I’m screwed
[Seriously, listen to Sweet Demon with a headset or earphones]
─Is that the bass sound? Anyway, the music underneath and the vocals are just heavennn. I want to hear just the Inst separately. Someone hurry and upload it to YouTube pls pls
[No but why is Sweet Demon so good???]
─I can’t believe Lee Dohee made this fr... This song is insane. The melody is crazy good. Feels legendary
[Aren’t the composers who worked with Dohee this time Team EZ?]
─They’re the kids who’ve written a ton of songs for ZY since before, right????
Just off the top of my head, their hits include ‘ThreeM - It G’ and ‘AllToday - Protagonist’
─Yeah, that’s them
└They wrote Debonair’s debut song too
└(OP)Whoa; but even though it was a collaboration, Lee Dohee is ranked first in contribution for both composing and arranging? She’s listed first for both?
└Probably? Seems like they refined a song or ideas Lee Dohee brought in together
Thanks to that, the corners of my mouth slowly crept up.
“Haa...”
And I let out a long sigh.
Only then could I, with a half-smile,
put my phone down by my pillow.
The tension.
“Hoo...”
Loosened a little... just a very little.
* * *
“Huh? Dohee’s here? Welcome~”
Today too, Yeeun greeted the uninvited guest who had barged in without warning with demure grace.
“Wow... Unni, what’s this? Since last time, you’ve totally become a prim and proper young lady?”
“Oh, come on~ What are you talking about~”
“See? See?”
‘Hoo... Acting is hard.’
For some reason, Debonair was not appearing on the Thursday music show Mpulse.
As with their debut, their comeback stage too
began on Friday’s Melody Bank.
The very music show where Yeeun was an MC.
Actually, according to the original schedule, Yeeun had been planning to step down from her MC position at the same time she wrapped up Aili’s “Keep going” promotions a little while ago.
But well, would you look at that?
The lovable and beloved Yeeun, seeing how regretful the production staff looked, decided to adjust her plans so that she would leave after presenting a special MC stage today,
in order to prepare for a beautiful farewell.
Thanks to that, she was able to meet Dohee once more as an MC.
“Except for that interview last time, you wouldn’t even meet me... I’m a little hurt?”
Of course, it wasn’t a situation she was thrilled about.
Because Dohee kept tormenting her.
In truth, Dohee was a younger sister Yeeun really liked.
She had been the greatest benefactor in Yeeun’s debut process.
And when they played around, Dohee was more cheerful and fun than anyone.
She was secretly quite kind too.
However, whenever it involved their main job, she was a wicked, immature little thing who kept getting irritated with Yeeun.
‘...Ugh!’
But if she rebelled against Dohee, Dohee would mix difficult words with sound arguments and leave Yeeun dazed.
And when Yeeun was left speechless like that, in the end, she would always get scolded as is.
─Right?
─I-I was wrong...
─No, I’m sorry, unni. I only said it because I want things to go well for you...
─N-no! I know...! I-I asked you to tell me first...! We promised before...!
─Really? Then what do you think you should do from now on for things to go well for you, unni?
She was nothing short of an eloquent thug.
But things were different now.
Yeeun had completely figured out how to deal with Dohee.
“I see. Our Dohee was hurt?”
“A little? Honestly, I was pretty hurt.”
“Unni’s sorry. I won’t do that next time. Just like you said, Dohee, I wanted to prepare for the stage while sincerely immersing myself in it.”
“Ah... Then I should be understanding, I guess.”
“Thank you for understanding?”
Dohee’s weakness was Debonair’s leader, someone Yeeun was also close to.
The kind Naeun unni!
Yeeun remembered the first time she met Naeun.
Back when they were filming the show, Naeun unni had been one of the most dependable older girls.
─Yeeun, if you ever need my help, tell me anytime, okay?
Even though she herself was busy, she had always helped until the finals.
And on the day Naeun was eliminated in 8th place and Yeeun debuted in 7th.
The day joy, guilt, and sorrow intertwined.
Naeun had been considerate of that and even sent her a text the next day saying she was cheering for her.
A very, very... kind unni.
Naeun unni’s personality could be summed up in a single word, as pure and innocent as her appearance: goodness.
If Yeeun had to choose the kindest person she had ever met in her life, it would be Naeun unni.
And Dohee seemed especially weak to that Naeun unni.
Yeeun had analyzed that method while watching Debonair’s self-produced content.
‘The answer is... acting kindly like Naeun unni...!’
Dohee couldn’t help it either.
In front of a kind person, she would ultimately be reformed!
Such was the goodness of a saint that could move even a demon...!
So after finishing her analysis,
whenever Yeeun faced Dohee for a while, she adopted Naeun unni’s tone as her base.
And during Aili’s “Keep Going” promotions a little while ago, she had even deliberately kept her distance from Dohee.
So now Dohee was showing signs of reflection too.
‘Huhu... As expected, even the great Lee Dohee is now in the palm of my hand.’
Yeeun nodded like that as she faced Dohee.
Then, in Naeun unni’s tone, she opened her arms.
“Come here. Unni’s sorry for making you feel hurt.”
Dohee obediently walked over and hugged her.
Wasn’t this the embrace of an older sister...
“But I really don’t want to play along.”
“Huh...?”
Around Yeeun, in Dohee’s two arms,
“I was going to let you have your moment, unni, but I hate it too much to do it.”
“Eh...?”
She felt signs of strength entering them.
“How could I give up this feeling, seriously? I can’t.”
And now that they were hugging, she could clearly feel Dohee’s volume.
“Ghk...”
The pressure from both directions made it feel like she couldn’t breathe.
* * *
“So, how was my song?”
“It’s good...!”
“Really? Let me see your playlist. I want to see if you listened.”
“U-um...?”
“What? You really did listen? You even favorited it?”
“Yeah! I listened to it a ton! The song is good!”
“It’s incredible, right?”
“Yeah! Incredible...!”
—Because of you, I...!
“Hm? Did you say something?”
“No! I said it’s so good because of you...!”
“Right? Hard to believe Lee Dohee composed and arranged it, isn’t it?”
“Yeah...! I can’t beli...”
“You can’t believe it?”
“Huh...?”
“Haa... Unni, shouldn’t you believe in me?”
“Stop iiiiiit!!!”
Lee Dohee, that absolute thug.