Most of the existing fans of “SAVEN” were actually a collection of individual fans supporting the members.
But there was one of the few fans who supported “SAVEN” as a group.
By sheer coincidence, every pick she had been rooting for had managed to debut.
It was also possible because every member who debuted had been a popular pick.
As if to prove she was a group fan, Dohee’s Instagram was open on her phone screen.
“Ah, she must be even prettier in person, right? I seriously want to punish her with kisses.”
She was amazed every time she looked at Dohee’s selfies, though it wasn’t just because of her face.
Amazingly, the expressions and compositions in Dohee’s countless selfies were different every time.
“She’s seriously a genius with expressions, and a genius at selfies too...”
Something Dohee would have loved to hear.
The fans didn’t know it, but Dohee was actually more of a hard worker than a natural.
She had acquired all sorts of expressions by looking in the mirror whenever she had a spare moment.
The agency had even forced Dohee—who had never taken selfies and didn’t know how—to attend selfie lessons.
In any case, a very big question arose for the fan who enjoyed looking at Dohee’s new photos every time.
Every photo was clearly different, yet somehow they all felt familiar.
And then she realized why.
She had been so distracted by Dohee’s face that she noticed her clothes far too late.
“Hmm... Does Dohee not have any clothes...?”
Something Dohee’s mother would have heard with furious indignation.
Dohee’s closet was stocked with countless bright, girlish outfits.
But using school and practice as an excuse, Dohee only wore comfortable clothes.
As a result, most of the outfits in Dohee’s selfies were either school uniforms or tracksuits.
Very occasionally, there were bright outfits that her mother had forced her to wear, but that really was only very occasionally.
“Well, she’s a student and a trainee, so I guess it can’t be helped.”
Thinking, *So Dohee must have been the type who liked to keep things neat and proper...*, she entered the social media account she used for fangirling.
While she was intently reading through the timeline, a YouTube notification appeared at a completely unexpected moment.
*Ding.*
It was a notification from “SAVEN’s” official YouTube account, which had posted nothing since its introductory greeting upon opening the channel.
▶[SAVEN 세이븐 Teaser]
She hurriedly tapped the notification.
The teaser began playing at once.
A monochrome black-and-white video.
The only thing visible on the black-and-white screen was the white SAVEN logo drawn on a blackboard.
An alluring funky bass line could be heard, gradually increasing in volume.
Then the camera slowly pulled away from the blackboard.
The classroom gradually came into view on the screen that had previously been filled entirely by the blackboard.
First came the silhouettes of the members sitting on the chairs seen in the concept photos.
The camera zoomed out once more.
The window at the far end of the classroom, unusually bright, caught the eye.
A telescope had been set up by the window.
One of the members rose from her seat.
Bathed in moonlight, her face was revealed.
Lee Dohee.
Dohee approached the window and placed her eye against the telescope.
A not-unpleasant siren-like synth sound was layered over the bass line, and Dohee’s eye appeared through the telescope lens on-screen.
The only thing glowing red in the black-and-white scene was Dohee’s eye.
[DNA, everything engraved is new]
The screen was sucked into Dohee’s eye as if caught in a vortex.
Then the colors returned.
[Because sourness is always refreshing]
Seven members wearing casual street-punk outfits stood in the middle of a city crosswalk, looking straight ahead.
The screen turned black.
The red SAVEN logo appeared.
[10.31. KST 18:00]
***
It was a short, twenty-second video.
It had been up for less than five hours, yet its view count had already shot well past one million.
It looked as though the record for views on a debut-song teaser by a newly formed girl group would be broken.
“What are they saying? How are the comments? Are they good?”
Unni Seoyun asked from beside me, her eyes shining.
I lowered the window and checked the comments aloud.
“‘Dohee is even prettier than I remembered...’ ‘Wow, I’m already looking forward to it, lol. More importantly, why is Dohee so pretty?’”
“Not your comments!”
Jealous, are we?
“Fine, I’ll check yours too, unni.”
I scrolled down farther and read a comment mentioning Seoyun.
“‘Kim Seoyun is a little disappointing, perhaps...’”
Unni Seoyun put on a wounded expression.
“Really...?”
As if.
“Just kidding. ‘Seoyun is freaking cool ㅠㅠ.’”
“Do you want to die?”
“There’s another one. ‘Seoyun is so petty ㅠㅠ.’”
“You’re seriously dead.”
Anyway, the teaser’s response was blazing hot.
Most of the comments said they were already looking forward to the song and concept, or cheered on the members.
The negative comments had apparently been pushed so far down that they were difficult to find.
“The good response is really giving me energy~”
I felt like I could practice hard.
.
.
.
I felt like quitting.
“Come on, stop whining and get up! Let’s do it one more time!”
Except for Hana unni and me, the other five were sprawled across the floor.
“F... I told you we shouldn’t make that person the leader!”
***
Four days before debut, with the SAVEN members devoting themselves to showcase and stage practice.
Dohee’s fansite master was staring intently at the television, where an advertisement was playing.
In the corner of the room, the teaser video was playing on repeat on her computer.
“Phew... There’s only so many times you can look at the photos.”
There was only so many times she could edit and retouch Instagram photos, either.
She was tired of watching the teaser hundreds of times by now.
The fansite master needed a new video that was alive and breathing.
An age-rating notice appeared on the screen.
“Yes!”
She couldn’t give up streaming the teaser, so she muted it first.
Then, filled with anticipation, she adjusted her posture and sat up straight.
The reality show began.
First came media reactions acknowledging the buzz surrounding “SAVEN” and the enormous amount of public interest the group was attracting.
One after another, individual profile photos of the members appeared, drawing attention, followed by the title of the reality program and its captions.
The reality show proper began.
Kim Seoyun and Jeon Harang were spinning their heads around in a place that appeared to be the dorm.
Music was echoing through the room.
[Harang: Don’t spray perfume~ Hana will find out if you do this~]
[Seoyun: Dohee’s Dohee, but~]
[Dohee: What about me?]
[Harang: Shake your head! (grabbing Dohee’s head and shaking it)]
The dorm was noisy from the very beginning.
She burst out laughing the moment she saw it.
The posts appearing on her timeline showed the same reaction.
-LOL, the kids are already hilarious
-What’s with all that beagle energy lol
-Actual middle and high schoolers lol
But then ominous background music began to play in the dorm.
Hana entered the room along with a caption.
[Hana: You still have energy left? So it was all excuses after all.]
[Dohee: I was just watching.]
[Seoyun: I’m going to bed first. Good night.]
Seoyun ran into the room with the sign reading [Seoyun & Yeeun] attached to it.
[Dohee: Unni, come here. Let’s go to bed.]
Dohee also took the hand of Sera unni, who had been watching from the corner of the room, and returned to the [Chae & Do & Ra] room.
[Harang: (turning off the music)...Should we go to bed now?]
[Hana: Start one set of squats.]
An interview with a familiar composition, one previously seen in the preview, appeared.
[Q: I heard you want to change rooms?]
[Harang: Yes... Please...]
[Harang: (glancing to the side) Um... I want to change the leader too... This gets censored, right?]
=The First Day at the Dorm=
[Staff: We have a mission for you!]
[Sera: I hate missions...]
[Yeeun: I don’t like them...]
The members flinching at the word *mission* and the process of revealing the mission were intercut, eliciting laughter.
Since the room assignments had been decided by a simple drawing of lots, the formation process was also shown only briefly.
Of course, scenes intended to provoke laughter were inserted here and there.
[Harang: Please let us choose the rooms again...]
[Hana: Come on, Harang~ Let’s unpack your things~]
-What on earth has Hana been doing this whole time to make her act like that? lol
-Ah, why are they so funny? lol They seem to get along well, though
-Oh, so that’s how they became roommates
-I hope they get along well
-They’ll change them again, right?
[Now then, shall we recommend a leader?]
Next came the process of selecting the leader.
[Dohee: Anyone but Hana unni! Absolutely not!]
[Harang: I agree!]
-A duo that opposed it before even making a recommendation lol
[Sera: Um... Me too...]
[Hana: Why me!]
-Even Sera opposed her lol
-Now that I think about it, all three people who opposed her were from the FATAL team in the second evaluation lol
-What happened there? lol
The “Fearless Three” dormitory.
Jeon Harang appeared lying face-down on the floor.
Eun Sera appeared lying on the bed as if exhausted.
[Hana: Snacks again today, girls~]
Hana then began pulling snacks endlessly from her bag.
[Sera: (reaching out her hand)...]
[Harang: I want chocolate...]
[Dohee: (sigh)]
Harang and Sera accepted the snacks with trembling hands, looking like baby birds being fed.
[Dohee: Hana unni, what time are we waking up tomorrow...?
It was Kwon Hana, the leader who had set their practice schedule.
Her leader moments appeared one after another in chronological order, beginning with their first day of practice.
[We’ll get up at eight tomorrow! That means we can sleep for seven hours.]
[Hmm... Let’s try getting up at seven-thirty tomorrow.]
[Should we get up around seven tomorrow? We’ll get to sleep for six whole hours~]
[You’re all holding up pretty well...? Six o’clock.]
[Should we just not sleep tonight?]
-LOL, she was just working the kids to the bone
-So legendary stages required legendary amounts of practice lol
[Q: Won’t the team members have a hard time?]
[Hana: That’s why I give them snacks while we practice!]
[Q: ...I see.]
The screen returned to the dorm.
[Hana: Who else is going to do it but me!]
The members’ ages appeared in captions beneath each of them.
-LOL, but I like Hana because she’s the kind of leader who takes action
-Hana really is the perfect leader lol
-Agreed, agreed
However, Dohee rose confidently from her seat.
[Dohee: I’ll do it.]
A list of her qualifications scrolled beneath Dohee.
-Wow, even seeing it again, her résumé is unbelievable lol
-She’s number one among idols we’re grateful actually became an idol lol
-Mom, I’m sorry...
└No, your mother is probably happy that you’re her daughter too
└My mom said she wanted to trade me for Dohee first ㅠㅠ
└Go apologize to her right now
└F***...
-But why is it so cute that the youngest wants to be the leader? lol
-I fully support youngest-leader Dohee
Of course, following Dohee’s declaration that she would be the leader,
she was rejected as a candidate after receiving one remark of disapproval from every member.
The screen once again showed an interview with Jeon Harang.
[Q: If you could go back to the past, would you recommend Dohee as the leader?]
[Harang: ...? No, even so, that wouldn’t be right. It would be better for me to do it.]