As if Debonair's first event weren't already overflowing with excitement, it had to be Korea's largest-scale university festival.
"That's an outdoor concert hall, right? This is a first for us too!"
"Can't we try taking pictures all together?"
"This body is making its university festival debut...!"
Throughout the car ride, the unnis were all visibly excited.
"It's really, really been a while. This should be fun."
Even experienced Seoyun-unni had been hyped since a while ago.
'Ha, these babies.'
"More importantly, the weather's a bit gloomy. The forecast did say it would rain today."
Was I truly the only one who could maintain composure at a time like this, thanks to my serious-minded nature?
"Ah, come to think of it, I heard Ailee is coming too."
"Huh? You know the lineup? It's supposed to be secret."
"Sera-unni told me. She said she knew we were coming and wanted to meet up before the performance."
"What, I kept my mouth shut because it was a secret..."
"I got like thirty texts from her though?"
"Private messages?"
"Yeah."
"Damn, Eun Sera didn't even text me."
Seoyun-unni seemed to feel betrayed by her same-age best friend's backstab.
"But we'll be split up by order anyway, so won't we not be able to meet?"
"I sent her a message saying exactly that, so she called me last night and whined."
"Argh!"
Anyway, as car small talk always goes, the members in the front seats began chatting about university-related topics, following the stream of consciousness.
"Hehe, actually I studied a bit?"
"Huh? Your grades in high school weren't that great."
"Ha, it was Korean language, so that's why!"
"Hmm~ really? Anyway, I've never thought about anything besides being an idol. Maybe because I've been a trainee since elementary school?"
"M-me too! Same here!"
"Come on~ you must all have some campus romance fantasies."
"I don't really know. Still, I'd like to try auditing a class or something. What about you, unni? Do you have one?"
They were in the middle of discussing what they would have wanted to do if they hadn't become celebrities.
"Wouldn't I have gone into early childhood education or teachers' college? I wanted to be a teacher since I was little."
Naeun-unni definitely suited being a teacher.
She had a kind side, but also a slightly strict side.
"Oh! Perfect image! Naeun-sensei!"
Nevertheless, I couldn't help but jump into the conversation and shake my head.
"I disagree."
"Huh?"
"Unni, think about it carefully. At that age, how many Chiyo-unnis would there be in the classroom?"
"Dohee, what the hell are you saying right now."
How much I'd suffered since I was little.
I can confidently say that elementary schoolers are pure evil.
"...You're right. I'm really glad I became an idol."
"...Sensei? Naeun-sensei!?"
A scuffle broke out in the front seats, but anyway, the Q&A turn was on us now.
"I wonder."
Seoyun-unni was seriously pondering.
"A wise mother and good wife?"
"...? Seo-moyangcheo?"
"Wh-what! Hey, what about you!"
"Me?"
"Right, what would Dohee have become?!"
"I wonder."
"Curious, curious...!"
The front-seat unnis also seemed curious, and even Chiyo-unni stopped hitting Naeun-unni and looked this way.
Honestly, there were so many possibilities that I didn't know what to say.
"Forget it, I would've become whatever."
I didn't particularly want to brag to the unnis.
I'd never had anything I wanted to do in the first place, anyway.
"Ah, tell us!"
Of course, if I didn't tell them, they'd probably nag me endlessly, so I had to say something.
If so, then something reasonable...
"Well, after I won the grand prize at a concours in elementary school, I occasionally received offers. From pianists, university professors asking if I wanted to learn piano directly from them."
"I've heard about that once or twice."
"Yeah, among them was even a Korea University professor. Someone who was about to reach retirement age."
"...Really!?"
The unnis' pupils simultaneously dilated.
"Right?"
Of course, this was after I'd already become a Topist trainee.
"So anyway, if I'd gone then, I'd probably be studying abroad in Germany or America by now, and I might have become quite a famous pianist."
"...Can't argue with that."
"Right..."
The unnis looked somewhat awkward, perhaps because it felt strange that I, who was usually just a playful maknae when we were together, was suddenly a genius in the eyes of the public.
So I smirked for no reason.
"But honestly, just playing piano might have been freaking boring, so I might have lost interest quickly."
"Then since Dohee studied so well too, wouldn't you have gotten into Korea University?"
Well, as Ua-unni said, I might have gone to Korea University and become famous for both brains and beauty.
Or maybe I really would have gotten a perfect score on the CSAT and made headline news.
"But I just like that I became an idol. I like the stage, the attention, and the free music."
More than anything, the members I met like this, and all these connections, were especially precious.
Of course, I kept those afterwords to myself.
"No, but these people, it's their first event today and they're not nervous?"
It was embarrassing for no reason.
* * *
Ailee.
"D-Dohee...!"
"Gasp, Lee Dohee! Run away!"
Ailee was right before the singer who had just gone on stage, or rather, since they were the first in order, we were able to meet group-to-group for the first time.
"Dohee-unni, hellooo!"
"Hello, cute Bomi~ Ah, Miho-unni, hi too."
"Ah~ I knew you guys would be here too!"
Of course, everyone was busy exchanging delighted first greetings or reunion greetings.
"Hana-unni, have you been well?"
"Naeuni, it's been ages, really so long! More importantly, are you okay? Seoyun and Dohee are totally no joke...? Isn't it hard being the leader? Oh no, look at Naeun's cheeks getting hollow... Should unni brew you some herbal medicine? Unni earned a lot of money, I'll do it for you, I'll do it! I just need to send it to the Topist address, right?"
"I'm fine~ it's not just those two who are tough~ I'm used to it now."
"...??"
Seoyun-unni beside me, leaning on a crutch with her arms crossed.
"Hey, isn't this ridiculous."
"I know, right? Is that really something Hana-unni should be saying?"
"What?"
Hana-unni's eyebrows twitched.
"It's nothing..."
"...Ahem."
Recalling our time with Seven, Hana-unni's cheeks had generally always been glossy and smooth.
She made us perform exercises every night, so if anything, it was us members whose cheeks grew hollow.
Anyway, the greetings were brief too.
"Guys, we need to leave now!"
Ailee also had to leave the venue quickly for their next schedule. Safety issues too.
Before that, Yeeun-unni.
I hugged Yeeun-unni from behind as she trembled all over from the ecstasy and thrill of finishing her stage.
"Wh-why! I was good...! And I did well on stage today...! It was the best...! I'm super veteran Park Yeeun!"
"Who's saying what? I'm praising you for doing well."
And another person hugging me from behind.
Sera-unni's hands fumbled around my waist.
"D-Dohee, did you lose weight? Th-those muscles...!"
"What, how do you know? I've lost about 1kg lately because it's been tough."
"Sniff, to think that 1kg of Dohee vanished from this world."
What is she talking about.
Anyway, Hana-unni took care of (dragged) everyone away shortly after.
"D-Dohee! We're hanging out after promotions end, right?!"
"If we can see each other?"
Finally, I became aware of music sounds and cheers ringing loudly enough to make my ears go numb.
"Waaaah!!!!"
Nice.
"Two teams left ahead of us. Let's quickly warm up our bodies and voices-."
"Th-there are so many people here..."
"R-right."
"I'm not nervous, I'm fine."
The three beginners finally checked the audience seats and now stuttered.
From my perspective, it wasn't like I hadn't seen large crowds for a day or two, but truthfully, even so, the sight of everyone dressed in matching monochrome, jumping and singing along in chorus was still quite an overwhelming spectacle to me.
So I was a bit worried.
If the first event was such a big festival, the possibility and margin for mistakes would naturally increase.
'It couldn't be helped because it's comeback period.'
The company had even minimized and reduced events as much as possible for us.
I figured Seoyun-unni, the veteran, and I would have to do better-.
"...Hoo..."
No, why is unni nervous.
She'd done concerts in front of forty thousand people.
"Why, should I give you a candy too?"
"Licorice candy?"
"I changed it because it tasted bad. This time it's glucose candy."
"G-give me one!"
* * *
The outdoor stage they jumped onto.
A rain shower had started since the previous performance, so the floor was somewhat sticky, but.
Perhaps because they started with their debut title 'DEBONAIR' as soon as they came up, it was instead filled with heat.
"Wuaaaaaah!!"
A unified shout that rather buried the sound of rain.
The wave, the sea of people doing the wave from the audience seats.
'Good.'
The passionate energy of becoming one with the community naturally brought a smile to my face.
More than anything, faces I remembered well.
"Dohee!!"
I could see quite a lot of our fans who always gave me strength.
Running around the stage with big movements, the first stage ended before I knew it.
"One, two!"
"Hello, we are Debonair!"
A greeting and shout along with the cheers.
"Everyone, we're Debonair, do you know us?"
"Yeeees!"
"We watched you on the variety show yesterday!!"
And now it was time for the short talk they'd prepared.
"As expected, since you know us very, very well, that's why you're singing along in such loud voices, right? Can we keep looking forward to it!"
"Yeeees!"
"Of course, we're so happy to meet Yeonsin University students like this today that we even prepared these all-blue outfits!"
However, perhaps because she'd been unusually nervous lately, Chiyo-unni's voice was clearly trembling.
"T-today's ch-eers are..."
Of course, being nervous and trembling to that degree was natural and fine.
But today's stage was sticky from the rain shower.
If strength entered her body due to a vicious cycle of nervousness, it would be easy to fall during the performance, so I had to calm her down even a little.
"Oh no, looks like our unni is completely moved."
So I placed my hand on unni's shoulder and spat out an ad-lib.
"As expected, the students' energy is totally...! If I tell you a huge secret, I actually came here with Seoyun-unni two years ago! No, how does your voice seem louder than back then!?"
"Wugyaaaak!"
"Dohee-ssi, that's true, but that's an obvious fact. Isn't the huge secret that Yeonsin University is the first university festival event Debonair has ever attended?"
Fortunately, Chiyo-unni's trembling subsided somewhat.
"Ah, that's an extremely huge secret!"
"Wuaaaaah!"
The response was good too.
Now it was time for Ua-unni to guide the next stage according to the prepared remarks that Seoyun-unni skillfully led into.
"But everyone, there's a song that tells us a secret. Do you know what it is?"
We placed our index fingers to our lips.
"Sweet Demon!!!"
Immediately, the intro of this self-composed song I'd written filled the stage.