“Do you know how much trouble I went through to ask our PD to let us do this stage?”
“I do not know.”
“Th-that… cheeky dongchimi.”
How much I’d gone through!
“But what does dongchimi mean, anyway? It doesn’t sound like it has a good meaning. Ah, baekchimi? Is it something like baekchimi?”
She knows that one, at least.
“No, no. Baekchimi means being stupid, while dongchimi means being refreshingly straightforward.”
“Aha! Pretty in a refreshingly straightforward way?”
I told Chiyo unni to think whatever she wanted and turned around for now.
Cameras belonging to the staff were being set up everywhere around us.
The reason Chiyo unni had disliked the nickname “mul-kimchi” wasn’t because she had any particular feelings about the title itself.
‘She introduced herself as Kim Chiyo in the first place, so what else would it be?’
She simply didn’t want to be remembered for the image of falling onstage.
Regardless of how she usually was, she wanted to be remembered as a professional whenever she was onstage.
‘Maybe seeing all those malicious comments made her feel that way even more.’
I just didn’t want to stand by and watch her become depressed for no reason, either.
Anyway.
All we had to do was cover up the memory of Chiyo unni falling onstage with a new image, so that the public would forget it.
It was simple. Perform onstage in a similar situation, then show that we could create even more buzz than we had back then.
Of course, to do that, it had to feel natural rather than hastily thrown together, and it had to be a situation familiar to the idol industry.
‘It would be even better if this became a hot topic.’
I nodded and dipped my feet into the water.
“Naeun unni! The maknae said I was totally dongchimi!”
“Hm? What does that mean?”
“Hehe, can you see? This refreshingly straightforward figure? I’m totally dongchimi!”
“…Uh, did dongchimi gain a new meaning?”
“…Yen?”
“Hm?”
Chiyo unni slowly turned her head and stared at me.
“What.”
It means refreshing, that’s all.
* * *
Friday’s KBC .
Saturday’s MBS .
Dohui’s fansite master, Bae Hayoung, had failed to obtain tickets to attend Debonair’s prerecording of “New Vibes” on either of the two music shows.
“I have to listen to Dohui rap from the very front…”
Bae Hayoung was waiting for a new announcement.
The notice regarding SBC’s prerecording attendance.
Although the competition for attendance tickets was even fiercer because Dohui was an MC on , she had to secure one somehow.
However, contrary to Bae Hayoung’s determination and hopes—
─There will be no prerecording this week.
That was the irresponsible notice posted on the fan café.
“Th-there’s no prerecording during the first week…? Well, they must’ve been exhausted from promoting Sweet Demon’s pre-release… But then I won’t be able to hear Dohui rap…?”
She fell into a state of panic.
How excited she had been when she saw Dohui show off a hip style in neon-colored outfits she had never worn before.
How her heart had pounded when she saw Dohui perform such an appealing rap.
How proud and thrilled she had been when she learned through the news that all the rap parts had actually been written by the members themselves.
[The New High-Teen Queens: “New Vibes” Draws a Refreshing Summer]
[Debonair Says, “We’re Happy Our Self-Written Lyrics Were Chosen”]
[Debonair’s Comeback: Dohui, Chiyo, and Uah Write Their Own Rap Parts]
[Rapper JO’s Student, Lee Dohui, Shows Off Perfect Rap Skills]
Hip Dohui.
Rapper Lee Dohui.
Lyricist Lee Dohui.
Every single one of those headlines made Bae Hayoung’s dopamine surge.
But in the end, Bae Hayoung couldn’t attend the prerecording.
“Boo-hoo… TopEast, please hold a festival or an event soon… I’ll go see them…”
Her Sunday schedule had become completely empty.
With the unpleasant thought of having to go to work on Monday, Bae Hayoung decided to sleep in.
“Ah, it’s already three…”
She didn’t get up until it was time for Dohui’s music show, Trendy Songs, to air. Then, for no particular reason, she punched the remote lying beside her.
Whack!
“Turn it back to Friday…”
As if telling her to face reality, the TV switched channels.
[Where are you going on Sunday?]
[Trendy Songs!]
The commercials had just ended, and Trendy Songs was beginning its live broadcast.
[Dohui, I think we have to start with this today!]
[With what? What is it?]
[What do you think?]
[Wow~ It’s summer~]
“You’re wearing a sailor-style outfit today~”
It wasn’t the sharply tailored sailor uniform she had shown during the cover stage after becoming an MC.
Today, Dohui was showing off her innocent charm in a white cardigan and a white-and-blue striped short-sleeved shirt.
Come to think of it, it had already been a year since Dohui became an MC. It brought back a lot of memories.
The two MCs, “Lee Jooz,” who had been awkward at first, had now become completely skilled, creating a comfortable atmosphere.
“They’re both so devoted to their actual careers that they probably don’t even have time to worry about dating. I hope they keep MCing together like this.”
The two of them once again repeated countless stage announcements and interviews, matching each other perfectly.
Including Debonair’s interview in the latter half of the show.
[What comes to mind when you think of summer, Dohui?]
[Ah, I’m thinking of bingsu, red-bean bingsu~ Cold noodles, cold noodles, cold noodles!]
[That’s all food, isn’t it?]
[Hmph! Then what comes to mind for you, Seungbin?]
[For me, it’s “My Sea~ My Sky~,” the song we covered last year!]
[An-y-way! Of course, you can’t leave out summer songs when talking about summer, right?]
[Uh, you’re glossing over that awfully smoothly—]
[Yes! Debonair is here to take responsibility for this summer! Please welcome them~ Waaah~]
Of course, it wasn’t a particularly special interview.
An ordinary script and a single chorus sung by the members.
The final remark, however, was highly significant.
[Naeun: Actually, we prepared a truly refreshing special stage today!]
[Joo Seungbin: A special stage!?]
“…A special stage!? Is that why there was no prerecording!?”
At any rate, she would be able to find out soon, after only two or three more stages. The broadcast was nearly over.
As for the stages of groups she didn’t care about—
“Wow, both number one and number two on the daily chart are our unnies?”
She could simply leisurely watch the graph showing the music chart trends.
“Sweet Demon will probably stay number one until the end of this month, but will ‘New Vibes’ take first place on the music charts starting next month? Hmm.”
And finally, Debonair’s intro VCR began playing on the screen—the special stage!
“Oh, it really is special… Huh?! An aerial shot?”
Bae Hayoung was momentarily rendered speechless by the footage, which looked as though it had been filmed by a drone.
“What is this?”
She hurriedly picked up her phone and checked the group chat for Debonair fansite masters.
Only now did she see the messages that had piled up while she slept.
Every single one said essentially the same thing.
─(Video) Apparently the girls came and went this morning.
─Hey, they’re on right now lol
─Wow, crazy. How many years has it been since an outdoor stage?
─The execution is insane lol TopEast!!! I knew I could trust you!
What was currently appearing on the screen was a massive water park.
Against a backdrop of countless visitors, the members stood with their feet dipped into the edge of the wave pool.
She never would have imagined it.
Outdoor stages had occasionally appeared on old music shows, especially MBS’s , but they had completely disappeared after the PD of changed six years ago.
And yet her unnies were standing on an outdoor stage.
On !
“Is Trendy Songs going to start doing outdoor special stages every now and then!?”
This was sure to become a hot topic.
It was the revival of outdoor stages after six years!
And the moment the members came into close-up—
Bae Hayoung stopped thinking altogether.
‘This is insane!’
Honestly, even without all those extraneous details, it was already enough to become a hot topic.
A summer song, a girl group, and a swimming pool.
There wasn’t a single flaw to be found in the members.
“Crazy, Dohui’s outfit!”
Even the styling had brought their music video outfits over intact.
Before long, Debonair stopped waving to the cameras and the people, and began bouncing their bodies to the hip guitar riff.
Dohui walked toward the center.
[To the Deb to the Deb!]
It was the opening line that announced the beginning.
[All the lit girls get down with Deb, hey—!]
And today, the members moved more rhythmically than ever.
As though the waves behind them didn’t matter at all.
Just as the lyrics said, they performed with a feeling all their own.
That, in itself, was the perfect kind of refreshing.
Their bare feet, without even shoes on, looked free.
Each time they stepped, their feet sank into the water up to their ankles and emerged again, sending beautiful ripples splashing outward.
More than anything, there was no need to check the people’s reactions on the internet.
That was the greatest feature of a music show outdoor stage:
The citizens caught on camera from time to time.
Visitors who followed the rhythm and danced along in a ridiculous, uninhibited fashion.
A man staring so intently that he failed to notice his girlfriend glaring at him from beside him.
Young children standing side by side and watching adorably.
Everything about it was a perfectly planned guerrilla water performance.
* * *
─Today’s number one is—
─Sweet Demon! Congratulations to Debonair!
They had hurried to the water park from early in the morning to prerecord “New Vibes,” then returned to the broadcasting station for the MC rehearsal and live broadcast, and finally performed the encore stage for Sweet Demon’s first-place win.
It had truly been an exhausting day.
“Dohui!”
But when we met in the hallway, the head PD smiled even more warmly than usual.
“Ah, PD-nim!”
I was just about to apologize and thank him for making that request despite how much trouble the outdoor stage recording had caused the staff.
“Today’s response was really incredible. The peak rating was 3.2 percent!”
The PD took my hand.
“…Really?”
These days, all three major music shows had ratings below one percent. A peak rating exceeding three percent was unmistakably a huge success for a music show.
“Yes, even though we had to arrange the location in a hurry! It worked! As expected of my clever girl!”
“Come on, it’s because you helped us with everything, PD-nim.”
“Is that so? Well, I suppose it is!”
“It really is.”
“Right, right. If we’d released the news beforehand, the ratings would’ve been even higher. Still, it’ll get tons of views on YouTube! Right, Dohui?”
The PD seemed delighted by the music show’s highest ratings in a long time, and kept repeating himself.
“Oh, right! What am I doing? Dohui must’ve had a hard time running around since this morning, too… Go back to the dorm and get some rest!”
It took another five minutes before I was finally released.
And at last, I returned to our members’ waiting room.
“M-maknae’s back?”
I went straight over to Chiyo unni, who was watching me anxiously, and offered her my knee.
The bandage over her knee had turned red.
“How are we supposed to do the knee choreography again next week…”
The floor of the water park had been covered with moderately rough protrusions to keep visitors from slipping.
Doing choreography that involved moving with your knees pressed against that floor—
It was only natural that the skin would get scraped off.
“It stings…”
Kim Seoyun had performed the same choreography, yet she was wearing long pants while I was the only one in shorts. It felt a little unfair.
“I-I’ll blow on it for you…”
Still, it was cute how she brought her face to my knee and blew on it.
“Whoosh—whoosh—”
‘Well, I suppose I should indulge her.’
Of course, there was one unni who ruined the mood.
“Chiyo, could you move your face away? That’s not going to make it heal.”
“…Yen.”
Naeun unni gently applied the medicine again.