“Come on, pick someone to go into the water!!!”
“Pick, pick!!!”
“Guys, let’s go together!”
At the beach we had come to for our MT.
Seoyun, Harang, and Unni Hana were running around the beach like dogs.
As if we were going into the water in October.
“Ah, the ocean is so nice…”
“I know…”
Unni Chaerin and Unni Yeeun were sitting there, breathing in the ocean air.
And Unni Sera…
“Hm? Why?”
Was sitting a little farther away…
Either way, it was the ocean, something I hadn’t seen in a long time.
The sound of the waves crashing and the swaying water soothed both body and mind.
Whenever I looked at the ocean like this, I suddenly thought of Ion Sweat.
‘If I don’t promote it now, when else will I?’
After separating myself from Unni Sera, I approached the camera.
The cameraman’s expression was clearly flustered.
But when I put on a fresh, bright expression, a smile spread across his lips.
Regardless, in accordance with my objective, I pretended to hold and drink the beverage as I spoke.
“Find your blue. I on sweat, Ion Swea— Ah! What are you doing?!”
I couldn’t finish my line because of an external force pulling me from behind.
At the same time, Kim Seoyun’s voice rang out.
“Our maknae is the winner!!!”
I struggled desperately, but—
“Ah, stop it! I said no!”
I couldn’t withstand the strength of the three of them.
“Our first diver is maknae Dohee~”
“Maknae, let’s get it on~”
“Dohee, you know how to swim, right?”
You crazy bitches.
“Everyone!! You can’t fall into the ocean right now! We won’t be able to film!”
Fortunately, the PD stopped them, so I managed to avoid going into the water.
***
“Everyone, you have to eat dinner!”
Several trays had been placed in front of the PD.
The food was hidden beneath lids, so we couldn’t see it, but it was obvious what they were.
“Today’s menu is!”
“““Waaa~”””
“I haven’t revealed it yet, everyone…”
The members cheered first, without even waiting for him to remove the lids.
It was a side effect of—
“Today’s menu is! Barbecue!”
The lids were finally removed, revealing the ingredients.
Various kinds of meat and seafood, along with vegetables—the ingredients for a barbecue were laid out.
“Whoa, that looks fucking delicious!”
“Ah, because of Lee Dohee, we had to eat spicy pork that day.”
“If you’re bitter about it, beat me next time.”
“Finally, beef…”
The members were delighted at the sight of the meat.
“But I can’t just give it to you~”
I had expected this, but I was still disappointed.
“Booooo!”
“Don’t be so stingy with food~”
“Unni Hana gives us plenty to eat, too!”
“Why am I even here?”
We all hurled our boos at the PD.
“Everyone, are you going to act like this even when you go on variety shows?”
Variety shows?
I didn’t want to go on them because they were a hassle.
I’ll only perform onstage~
Anyway, a game called Word Chain began, intended to fill the airtime.
“Sping.”
The PD shouted the first syllable, and—
“Cks!”
A member had to say the next syllable. It was a simple game.
However, not long after the game began, only three plates remained on the table.
“Chaerin.”
“Ah, Gong Chaerin!”
“No, even Unni Yeeun gets them right. How can you not?”
“Why me…? I was doing fine…”
Unni Chaerin was laughing in the midst of it all.
“Is this funny?”
At Unni Hana’s words, Unni Chaerin put on an exaggeratedly sad expression.
“I’m sorry…”
She didn’t look sorry at all.
“You are a disgrace to our rappers, Gong Chaerin.”
“Harang Unni, you got one wrong, too.”
“Hmm… Mine was a mistake!”
She had single-handedly forgotten three out of the five attempts.
“—Duru?”
“—Rugi!”
“Since when is it dururugi? You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? It’s duruchigi, Chaerin!”
“—Vio?”
“—Violin…?”
“She keeps saying bye-bye. Violin! Violin!!!”
“—Waist?”
“It hurts…”
“Hurricane, cane!!! Ah, I’m going crazy. PD, please change the game!”
In the end, since he couldn’t exactly leave us hungry, the game was changed to an idol music quiz at the PD’s discretion, and we started over.
Fortunately, being idols was everyone’s main profession, so we were able to eat without any trouble.
***
Night at the pension.
At the production team’s request, we were playing an image game while talking about behind-the-scenes stories.
“Who had the scariest first impression?”
Each member pointed to the person she had in mind.
Unni Hana received one vote.
Unni Harang received four votes.
And I received two votes.
Unni Hana had received fewer votes than expected.
Well, the first impression of Unni Hana’s face had been rather gentle.
It was just that she was kind and yet rough around the edges…
More importantly, I didn’t understand why I had received two votes.
Yeeun Unni was understandable, but why had Harang Unni voted for me?
“Why did I get four votes?”
Unni Harang was also protesting her result.
Since she had sat in first place during the first shoot, it seemed natural that she would have developed an image of being fierce based on her first impression alone.
But judging from what the others were saying, there seemed to have been another reason.
Unni Chaerin began to explain.
“On the first day, during the Tier 1 class, Harang Unni and I hadn’t exchanged a single word, right? But then, all of a sudden, she just came up to me and—”
Unni Chaerin stood up and began imitating Unni Harang’s loose, swaggering walk, along with her voice.
“She came over like this and went, ‘Wow, fuck, why is this so hard? Hey, did you memorize the choreography?’ I was a little flustered, and the way she talked sounded kind of like a thug!”
Unni Sera continued the story.
“Um… me too… She suddenly acted all friendly, so I was scared. After she took first place from me, she said, ‘Hey, you’re pretty good at singing?’ and…”
“Was I the only one who developed an inner sense of familiarity? Didn’t we build up a little familiarity by giving each other small bows?”
It seemed Unni Harang had gone around talking to every participant she could see.
“But she didn’t talk to me.”
“Ah, I was scared of Dohee.”
Unni Harang pointed at me.
What was there to be afraid of?
“No, listen. During the first evaluation, there was this incredibly pretty girl.”
That was true.
A face so beautiful it was almost frightening? Damn…
“But we were still strangers, so I didn’t really know who Dohee was. Then I heard people talking about her up front, saying she was a famous trainee who had filmed commercials and music videos. So I thought, ‘Ohhh,’ and decided I should become friends with her.”
“And then?”
“While I was thinking that, she suddenly said she’d won first prize at nineteen piano competitions, and she started to feel like someone from another world. I thought she’d give me a cool, aloof answer if I approached her. She had this haughty vibe, you know?”
So the conclusion was that I was too outstanding…?
Ha… Damn, this ability of mine really did create all sorts of prejudices.
“Ah, look, Lee Dohee’s face is red again. She really likes this.”
Unni Harang pinched my cheek.
“But after I saw you acting cute during the center selection, I just thought you were a cute kid.”
…Ah.
***
After we had enjoyed a pleasant two-day, one-night MT at the beachside pension,
we went straight to filming at our own homes one after another.
It was a busy period.
Concept photos, album jacket photos, group and individual profile shoots, commercial filming, music video filming, recording, and choreography practice.
I wondered whether we really needed to film a reality segment at our homes as well, but the schedule was so tight that they had squeezed this shoot in too.
Meeting the members’ families and having one meal with them was simple enough.
—Ding-dong.
I heard signs of movement from the other side of the door.
Then the door opened.
Mom smiled brightly and hugged me.
“My daughter~”
Mom had always liked hugging me, but from her nasal voice to the unusual strength in her arms—
she was being so obviously fake.
“What are you doing…?”
Whether I pushed her away or not, Mom smiled demurely like a newlywed and greeted the members and staff.
“Oh my~ Hello~ I’m Dohee’s mother~”
Mom’s outfit looked like she had put in just a little effort.
As her daughter, I could tell.
She must have spent all day browsing the internet to create that effortlessly stylish look.
“Hello! Your mother is so pretty!”
“I really thought you were Dohee’s older sister!”
What ridiculous things they were saying.
Anyone could see she was my mother.
“Oh my~ Such pretty girls, and they speak so prettily, too~”
Mom gave a pleased little hum and laughed at their sugar-coated compliments.
I had no idea who she took after.
“Enough. Come inside already.”
When I pushed Mom inside by the back, she said with displeasure,
“Why are you being so prickly today? Who did you take after?”
Fortunately, Doa wasn’t there when we entered the house.
It was the time when Doa would be in class at school.
At least we didn’t have to worry about Doa being exposed to the media.
Doa had to see nothing but her sister for the rest of her life…
“Everyone must be hungry, right? Come on in and eat~”
The meal had been prepared in advance.
Among the assortment of dishes, there was also a great deal of my favorite food.
“Wow!”
“Lee Dohee must have eaten delicious food all by herself every day.”
These fake people.
While we ate lunch, Mom naturally brought up a preamble about me.
“Our Dohee is quite mischievous and doesn’t listen very well, so I wonder if she’s managing dorm life properly. Do you girls listen to your older sisters?”
The members gave awkward laughs as they answered.
“Hahaha… Of course. She listens so well.”
“Yes, yes… Haha.”
What the fuck.
If you’re bitter about it, beat me.
Except for Unni Hana, of course.
“You know how mischievous Dohee was when she was little~”
Without anyone even asking, Mom began talking about my childhood and then brought out several photo albums.
“These are pictures of Dohee~”
When she opened one of the albums, it was filled with the pictures Mom had collected of me.
I looked pretty in every single one.
There were also countless photos I had never seen before. Most of them appeared to have been taken last year, when I was around fourteen.
They all had one thing in common:
I was asleep.
Dad must have taken them secretly.
“This part is from recently and elementary school~”
Mom opened another album.
This one contained pictures from when I was a baby.
Pointing to the photographs, Mom said,
“Look at these pictures. She has the same expression in every one, right? Until Dohee was five, she was so expressionless and emotionless that I was terribly worried. She neither laughed nor cried, so we even went to the hospital, you know?”
I thought, TMI, Mom… but apparently the members didn’t feel the same way.
The members listened with interest.
Kim Seoyun, in particular, lit up and asked,
“Whoa, she—no, Dohee did? She has such intense mood swings now. She’s always giggling to herself, then suddenly crying all by herself.”
…I was a person like a calm wave.
I considered myself peaceful and restrained.
“You wouldn’t believe it, but she really was like that~ She started expressing her emotions around the age of five, and now she’s become such a tomboy that she gives her mother no end of trouble… Ah! This was when my daughter filmed her first commercial at five years old~”
Huh?
Mom began flipping rapidly through the album.
“Dohee filmed commercials when she was five?”
“That’s the first I’ve heard of it! What was it!?”
“I’m curious…”
“Oh my, you girls didn’t know?”
Mom smiled and began searching for a video saved on her phone.
“Ah, don’t!”
***
[‘SAVEN’ is counting down to its debut.]
[Reality show premiere: ‘SAVEN,’ October 27.]
[Will ‘SAVEN’ create a sensation in the music industry?]
[‘SAVEN’ revealed. The group’s debut takes shape.]
With less than two weeks remaining until their debut,
Shock Entertainment began releasing articles after arranging for reporters, following the release of the members’ individual and group profiles.
The fans’ reaction was more lukewarm than expected.
That was because as many as ten photos of Dohee alone were being uploaded to her Instagram every day.
What the fans wanted was information about the debut song.
As if aware of the fans’ needs, Shock Entertainment began uploading the album’s concept photos to its official social media accounts at the perfect timing.
—I guess their debut really isn’t far away now ㅠㅠ
—Seeing this after watching “Jodol,” it’s finally hitting me that they’re debuting, and I’m genuinely moved
—The girls are just pure and insanely pretty…
—Does this feel like an extension of “Jodol”? I like it
Seven members sat on chairs wearing uniforms—in other words, outfits resembling school uniforms.
Since it was the fandom’s first teaser for the debut song, the reaction was heated.
However, there were also fans who cautiously voiced their concerns.
They were veterans who had been following them since before, fans with considerable years of experience.
—Pure… sure, it’s nice. At least it’s a safe concept that can’t really flop
—I like the pure concept, but why school uniforms again…? Shock Entertainment is past its prime
—Are they going to use the same thing they used endlessly during “Jodol 3”?
—Don’t they know the uniforms themselves started feeling stale around 2017–2018 and are old-fashioned now…?
—Shock Entertainment, lol. Ever since Mono Rush disbanded, they haven’t done a single thing right. I knew this would happen. Sigh
—If they use school uniforms again, their identity is going to become way too narrow…
—I guess all we can do is hope the song is good
The pure concept could be considered the exclusive domain of freshly debuted rookies.
However, ‘SAVEN’ was a project group spun off from “Jodol 3.”
Groups that came from survival shows generally shed their trainee image and exuded the atmosphere of proper star idols once they debuted, having grown from their trainee days.
That growth was also one of the pleasures for fans.
They could feel, “The trainee I supported has now become a truly cool and beautiful star.”
However, repeatedly styling them in school uniforms felt boring while also failing to show how much they had grown, so the heavy fans’ concerns were inevitable.
Then, one week before the release of their debut song and showcase,
—Ding
▶[SAVEN 세이븐 Teaser]
The debut song teaser had been uploaded.