Chapter 109

November, third week, Sunday.

SBC Trending Songs Studio.

Today was the last day.

“Everyone, today is our final activity!”

In front of the live WE broadcast.

It was the last day for our debut song, and a mix of emotions swirled inside me.

A sense of liberation, regret, and pride.

“Thank you so much for the past three weeks! You’ll continue to be with us, right?”

The three weeks of activities had been a huge physical burden.

I cut down on my sleep.

But it wasn’t just exhaustion that remained.

I could say we achieved the best results possible as a rookie with ten music show wins.

Of course, it was only possible because we started as a popular project girl group.

Unless it was my visuals…

Anyway, there was still one thing I regretted.

We failed to complete the triple crown on public broadcasting networks.

What we missed was first place on KBC Melody Bank.

The reason was that the broadcast score significantly affected the rankings on Melody Bank.

Broadcast scores are points that can only be obtained by appearing on KBC broadcasts, and right after [Aggressive 3], we had to prepare for our debut in just a month, so we obviously didn’t have time to be exposed to KBC broadcasts.

We did manage to squeeze in some radio appearances between pre-recorded segments and live music shows, but it was clearly insufficient.

Still, with ten wins, after finishing our activities, we achieved first place on Mpulse again, making it three weeks in a row, so there was no regret.

Well, now that the activities are over…

Ha-rang Unni said seriously but softly.

“We’re screwed.”

Right.

We’re screwed.

“Ha-rang, you should filter your words more often.”

Yeah, we really should filter what we say.

You never know when a slip of the tongue might happen, so it’s best to speak prettily all the time.

Of course, I’m an elegant person who doesn’t curse regularly.

“No, Hana Unni, we really are screwed!”

“You shouldn’t say that.”

“We’re screwed. Hana is angry.”

Anyway, it’s true that we’re… I mean, messed up.

Now it’s the end of November.

That is, the end of the year.

And as an idol, you can’t escape year-end events.

The big three music awards.

WMA (Watermelon Music Awards).

MWMA (Music Wave Music Awards).

And finally, including the Gold Disc Awards.

SBC, KBC, and MBS music festivals.

Plus, all sorts of awards including the Asia Artist Awards.

There would be an overflow of year-end stages ahead.

And naturally, we had to prepare each year-end stage differently.

Various remix versions of [Aggressive 3]’s title track “Fell for You” and our debut song “Rose Nebula,” joint performances with other groups, and special stages covering songs from senior singers – there was a mountain of preparations to be made.

In the end, whether we were active or not, sleep deprivation was a given.

And starting this week with “WMA”… sigh…
And starting this week, it’s ‘WMA’… Sigh…

It wasn’t even the end.

On top of that, we had to do some advertising shoots in between.

First up, a group ad for the [Seven] members featuring lenses and outdoor gear.

Considering our busy schedule, the agency cherry-picked only the most profitable ads, so we had no choice but to do them.

And now we had personal solo ads, just the two of us.

Me and Sara Unni.

I got a body lotion ad, and Sara Unni was going to be a hair model.

I could squeeze out the time for it, but it would be tiring.

Honestly, personal ads ended up being a numerical result predetermined by the data.

Two days ago, an entertainment news piece popped up online.

[[Brand Reputation] Seven’s Do-hee, Individual Brand of Girl Group… November]

The Korean Corporate Reputation Research Institute analyzed the big data of individual girl group brand reputations… up until November 18th, with 554 girl group members’ brand big data analyzed.

1st place: Seven’s Do-hee

2nd place: Coral Blue’s Lira

3rd place: Seven’s Eun Se-ra

4th place: 3M’s Min-seo

5th place: Coral Blue’s Binnie

6th place: Seven’s Jeon Ha-rang

7th place: Seven’s Kim Seo-yoon

8th place: Coral Blue’s Jin-a

9th place: Pastel Love’s Vita

10th place: Seven’s Gong Chae-rin

11th place: Seven’s Hana Kwon

12th place: Seven’s Park Ye-eun

13th place: Pure Girl’s Lucy

The day the girl group individual brand reputation was revealed, the dorm was buzzing with a festive vibe.

Tossing my hair back with a graceful strut.

“What? Isn’t the number one in girl group brand reputation Do-hee?”

The key point is the cheerful innocence.

“Yep, that’s right~ The angelic beauty idol! That’s me~ Haha!”

Kim Seo-yoon shot me a disapproving look.

Wasn’t that a familiar scene?

Deja vu?

“Oh? Number Seven! Isn’t that Kim Seo-yoon?”

“Oh, I seriously hate this. Why is she number one?”

The fact that ranking seventh was still pretty high didn’t help.

And here was the one smiling…

“Do-hee, congratulations on being number one. We’re on the same team, right?”

It was obviously a forced smile.

“Sixth place, Jeon Ha-rang? Hahaha.”

“……Do-hee, you’ll definitely pay for this someday.”

Hana Unni tilted her head, as if to say, let’s see.

“Do-hee, I guess I’ll tease you about being eleventh place?”

Of course, I had no intention of messing with Hana Unni.

“Come on, our leader Unni is obviously number one in my heart!”

“Right? Aww, our cute youngest! How could I not adore you?”

A heartfelt hug with Hana Unni.

But honestly, I always feel like she could definitely be at least a C cup.

Equal to or surpassing me.

“What about me…?”

“Twelfth place.”

“That’s so unfair…”

Chae-rin Unni said.

“You know you’re my number one in my heart, right?”
“Yeah, yeah.”

I don’t intend to tease or even think about it.

“Hehehe, Do-hee, then what about me?”

“You’re my one-two punch.”

“Hehe, sounds good!”

The festival atmosphere was in full swing.

At least for me.

*

“Ah! The exams are finally over!”

Hyun-woo, freshly liberated from senior year, was feeling free as a bird.

A dedicated listener of “Jodul3”, Hyun-woo and his classmates would chat about “Jodul3” during breaks, sharing behind-the-scenes photos and stage videos to combat the tough study life.

Moreover, he was the student who updated “Do-hee Lee’s Study Method Day X” daily on the exam student cafe by posting pictures of the members.

As a die-hard fan, his first order of business after finishing the exams was to snag tickets for the WMA Festival.

Forget about essays; all that was left was to play hard.

As a result, anticipation and excitement for the year-end stage reached a boiling point.

The issue was…

“Dude, it’s freezing as hell.”

“Just tough it out!”

The winter in South Korea wasn’t any less brutal than Siberia right after the exams.

‘I’m going to Gocheok Dome in this cold.’

I was worried about whether the members would be okay.

Here I was, concerned about the members even in this freezing weather.

I was really deep into it.

– Thank you!

After the previous indie band’s performance ended, all the lights went out.

Perhaps because the previous stage was decked out in flashy lights, it felt even darker in comparison.

Amidst the pitch-blackness, the word ‘SAVEN’ stood out on the screen.

Finally, it was ‘SAVEN’s turn to take the stage.

The screen lit up with the intro.

The front gate of the school I often saw during the day appeared.

‘Ah, this is that school from the title music video.’

Then, in an instant, the school transformed into a dark night.

With the sound of clicking heels, a pair of feet walked through the nighttime school.

Entering a classroom.

It was the exact same classroom as in the music video.

Written on the blackboard was ‘SAVEN IS WAKEN’.

The owner of the feet, Do-hee, strolled over to the window and finally peered through the telescope.

And inside the telescope’s view…

It reflected Gocheok Dome.

The waving light sticks of fans sparkled like starlight.

And on the screen, a gigantic whale appeared amidst the starlight.

The ceiling resembled sunlit water’s surface.

The concert hall was a blend of dark hues and shimmering waves, making it indistinguishable between space and underwater.

As the extravagant stage using augmented reality technology commenced, gasps of awe echoed from every corner.

“Huh…”

“Wow… this is insane…”

Then the screen shifted back to the stage.

On the stage was Gong Chae-rin, swimming through space and the sea.

In reality, she was gracefully performing elaborate movements while lying on the floor.

The stage lights cast wave patterns on the ground, alongside animated fish swimming around.
Animation of fish swimming.

Feeling as if there’s some resistance in the water, Gong Chae-rin’s body lines gracefully spread out, making one feel like she’s gliding through the ocean.

As the stage zooms in, two members approach, reaching out their arms to the sides of Gong Chae-rin, and when she pulls them in, two more come closer, followed by another two.

Finally, all the members are captured on screen.

One by one, the members kicked up to the surface.

The lighting on the floor shifted from blue to sky blue.

They soared from the sea into the sky.

And the sky blue transformed into the Milky Way.

Against the backdrop of the Milky Way, the members lay with their heads together in a star-shaped formation.

The white light illuminated the members.

The brightest star in the Milky Way shone the most.

And based on the center of the members, a supernova explosion occurred.

The lights instantly burst forth in all directions with intense brightness before going dark.

Before anyone could exclaim in awe at the visually stunning intro performance, the prelude of “Rose Nebula” started playing.

Bass sounds and sirens echoed.

As the lights came on, the seven-member formation responded to the thunderous applause echoing in the venue and began a powerful synchronized dance, even more intense than usual.

*

[Seven is doing so damn well, lol]

Is this the hopeful side of an audition program? Lol

From visuals to talent, there’s nothing lacking, really.

Most importantly, the planning deserves praise.

The stage was seriously fire, haha.

-For real, they tore the stage apart.

-They’re definitely young girls, but the stage was so cool, what’s up with that? Haha.

└“Falling for You” was just cute, haha. Center Do-hee’s expressions were insane.

└It was less of a runaway atmosphere and more like a girl crush today, but right after with the cute “Falling for You,” I got hit twice, lol.

[Reasons Seven is an all-time great girl group.]

First off, three aces selected by the top four agencies.

Jeon Ha-rang, Gong Chae-rin, Eun Se-ra.

Miraculous members Kim Seo-yoon and Do-hee Lee emerged from prominent topist agencies.

Lastly, members Hana Kwon and Park Ye-eun, who debuted after defeating the big agencies.

(Group photo of the members)

It’s weird if they can’t do something, haha.

-For real, lol, they broke rookie records with that girl group.

-Listening to “Falling for You” reminds me of this summer… it was truly summer.

-This is a girl group, haha.

WMA, being one of Korea’s largest music award ceremonies, attracted considerable viewer attention.

Among fierce competitors at [Miss 3], the seven members who overcame the competition debuted and presented a stunning stage once again, capturing the attention of many viewers.

In such a positive atmosphere, fans enjoyed the festival to the fullest.

-??? Pure girl?

-What’s SSSN???

-Stop messing around.

-Why is a pure girl winning the Rookie Award???

-Ah, WMA causing chaos again, lol.

-WMA starting up again? Haha.

In the end, they erupted in anger.

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