Chapter 203

The day before the showcase.

The showcase venue, where rehearsals are taking place.

In the waiting room, behind the scenes, the camera is rolling.

“I can’t believe I’m just realizing this…”

Seo-yoon Unni, sitting on the sofa, was creating a serious atmosphere.

“Hey, Do-hee, this is really important, okay?”

Of course, I’m just gaping at the drinks in front of the fridge.

“Yeah. This one drink can decide today’s condition, so this is really… extremely important.”

Water, vitamin water, cola, ion sweat.

Ugh, ion sweat…

That was my first commercial.

Sure, I had a commercial when I was five, but that was someone else, not me.

But seriously, why don’t they use me as a commercial model again?

I thought they would contact me right after Seven debuted.

Maybe it’s the price tag…

To be fair, those guys have been using regular models or rookie actors lately…

Should I suggest I’d be willing to lower my fees…?

Ah, then I’d get scolded by the Director…

“Ugh, let’s exclude her for now. Listen up, this is really serious…”

Kim Seo-yoon gave up on me, lost in thought, and locked eyes with the other Unnis one by one.

The three who are new to showcases seem to be taking this quite seriously.

“What the heck…?”

“Come on, Seo-yoon, just say it already.”

“So~ what is it, Unni~?”

Nah, Woo-ah Unni seems to just be teasing.

It feels like she’s just playing around.

“Phew. Get ready mentally.”

Kim Seo-yoon, nodding, spoke up as if making a decision, taking to the stage.

“We don’t have a cheer to shout together before we go on stage…!”

Of course, it’s the nonsense I had somewhat expected.

I took my water and walked out of the waiting room, approaching the staff member with the in-ear monitors.

“Teacher, I think I can wear the in-ear now.”

I need noise-canceling.

*

“I thought of a cheer… who are we? We are Debonaire! What do you think?”

Seo-yoon Unni was still spouting nonsense next to me.

Of course, most people aren’t even listening or can’t hear her.

“This noise-canceling is way better than other earphones!”

Woo-ah Unni seems fascinated by the in-ears and keeps fiddling with them.

“Unni, I can’t hear a thing! Can you say it again, louder?”

Like it’s an experiment, she poked Seo-yoon Unni and asked in a loud voice.

“Okay, then how about this? ‘Everyone sees us! Daboné? Oh!’ I just thought of this, isn’t it funny? Isn’t it?”

And then she just bursts into laughter.
Just laughing it off.

“I could hear it through the in-ear just now… wow, that was really awful!”

“Geez…”

Leaving the greatly wounded Seo-yoon Unni behind, I approached Woo-ah Unni and took one of her in-ears out.

“Unni, it’s better to wear only one before the stage. If you wear both, you can’t hear the members or the staff properly.”

Of course, this was all intentional in front of the behind-the-scenes camera.

Do-hee Senior is so cool, totally.

“I’ll have to do that.”

Woo-ah Unni nodded and then slyly hugged me.

“But~ just now, Do-hee felt so senior-ish that, honestly, I was a bit flustered?”

“…Really?”

“Of course~ it’s real~”

Pure compliments.

I couldn’t help but giggle at how things turned out as intended.

“Should I share one more golden tip?”

Feeling good, it was time to spill a secret tip I had been keeping from Woo-ah Unni.

It’s probably a tip that even the Seven Unnis don’t know…

“Really? What is it~?”

“Sometimes while on stage, in-ear problems can happen. Like the beat getting laggy or the sound echoing. If it’s not an issue with the sound output, maybe the in-ear wire gets tangled…”

I recalled that moment.

The time when noise mixed in and the pitch was unstable.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that can happen. But?”

“But when that happens, you just take out or throw your in-ears and perform on stage.”

“Oh~ is that okay? Really?”

“Yep. People actually think it’s professional and love it!”

“I see~”

“So this is a secret, but…”

I secretly whispered into her ear.

“Once, during our world tour in Singapore… I threw my in-ear dramatically in the middle of the performance that day…?”

“Yeah, so?”

“But… there was actually no problem. It was kind of a performance for the fans, you know. Hehe…”

“Oh~”

Woo-ah Unni patted my head twice.

“Alright~ alright~”

Then, it seemed she needed noise-canceling as she put both in-ears back in and left.

*

Now, I had to get used to the stage instead of the practice room.

Monitoring the rehearsal stage is only natural.

“Did Chiyo go a bit ahead here? The gap with Do-hee isn’t right.”

“I think I stepped back a little. I will definitely fix it.”

Under the leadership of Na-eun Unni, we were checking the distance and movements.

At that moment, my eyes met with Seo-yoon Unni’s for a brief moment.

Seo-yoon’s eyes were side-eyeing Woo-ah Unni.

Though no words were spoken, her inner feelings were conveyed.

Seo-yoon Unni had been hurt by Woo-ah Unni’s harsh words earlier.

I wasn’t really hurt at all…

I subtly pointed at Woo-ah Unni on the screen and made some air.

“Unni.”

“Yeah~?”

“Unni, I think you really need to hide me properly in this choreography.”
“It looks like Unni needs to properly cover for me during the dance routine.”

“Hmm, really?”

Seo-yoon Unni chimes in, agreeing.

“I suppose that makes sense. For once, Do-hee is right. Woo-ah, you should adjust to Do-hee.”

Woo-ah Unni turns her head, alternating her gaze between the two of us.

“Ah, is that so~?”

Then she gives us a sly smile before going back to monitoring.

‘…Not buying it at all.’

Once again, my eyes lock with Seo-yoon Unni’s.

“Hey, do a little better.”

I shot her a glare back.

“No, it’s because you’re so obviously agreeing!”

Of course, there’s no way those dance moves that we’ve repeated countless times over the past six months are wrong.

But come on, Unnis aren’t foolish enough to force it just to believe it.

Seo-yoon Unni, letting out a deep sigh, switched her focus to Chiyo Unni with a pointed look.

‘Let’s go with her. She’s a bit of a fool.’

That’s what it seemed like she was saying.

I nodded in agreement.

“Okay. That person is indeed a fool.”

Seo-yoon Unni, clearing her throat, subtly said,

“Chiyo?”

And immediately, Chiyo Unni’s cold, sharp response echoed.

“It’s the day before the showcase today. An important day.”

Chiyo Unni pointed at Seo-yoon Unni.

“So don’t stir up trouble.”

“Ah… yeah… sorry…”

Now, she was pointing at me too.

“Do-hee, you too. Same goes for you.”

“Okay…”

Getting scolded by Chiyo Unni feels pretty Chiyo-licious.

*

People gathered in front of fluttering banners and full-body posters, handing out slogans featuring the Debonaire members.

Do-hee’s Home Mama looked around before saying to a friend.

“There are quite a few people, huh? This isn’t something the Square Hall can handle.”

Based on the instincts from years of fandom.

The confusion looks to be around 2,000.

The number far exceeded the 1,500 capacity of the Blue Square Hall where Debonaire’s showcase was set to take place today.

“Well, those are likely the people. Fans who don’t have tickets but want to watch from outside.”

Despite her friend’s indifferent reply, the Home Mama completely empathized with the plight of those people.

The desire to share in the historic moment of debut is an emotion every fan would understand.

“Man, that’s really unfortunate… They should just increase the seats. It seems like they could fill it.”

“It would have been nice if they did it like Ailee’s showcase. They had about 2,500 people, right? They rented a gym.”

“My point exactly. You can seriously see that Topist is just a mid-tier group through this, can’t you?”

“You know, when has Topist ever debuted a group that received this much attention? Pastel Love was the only one that was somewhat in the first league, but they started as nobodies.”

As my friend said, historically, debut showcases held at Blue Square Hall were limited to the Big Four entertainment agencies.
So far, it’s been limited to the big four entertainment agencies.

In other words, choosing Blue Square means Topist has opened the doors as wide as possible with their efforts.

But the fact that it still doesn’t break out of the small to mid-sized company mold is a clear indication.

“My kid is from a group that’s filled the Gocheok Dome and won three awards at the Daesang…”

No matter how much emphasis is placed on online presence these days, even with internet streaming planned…

“Ah, whatever. Top Dong will learn and do better next time. So, what time is it now?”

“It’s 5:30. It seems like we can enter now?”

The showcase starts at 7, but after getting their tickets in advance, they headed to the box office.

They complained a bit, but they began to think that Topist did quite well this time for a reason.

That reason was the imminent release of Debonaire’s first debut album, “ID,” just 30 minutes away.

“Don’t you love the album name?”

“Agreed. It’s called ‘I Debonair,’ so it’s ‘ID.’”

The tracklist for the album was revealed two weeks ago.

There were a total of four tracks included.

First up was the number one track revealed in the teaser.

Do-hee’s self-composed piano piece.

“As Fickle As Fortune.”

Next up were the double title tracks that Topist proudly put forward.

“Debonair” and “Born Ideals.”

Finally, there was the ballad-like inclusion “Byeolsatang.”

From Do-hee’s self-composed song expressing their diverse and capricious sides to the somewhat bold titles.

You could see the determination to firmly etch both the group’s name and concept into the public’s mind with this debut.

This resolve was reflected in the album as well.

Like the album title ID, it seemed to showcase the group’s identity.

It was divided into two concepts.

One was the pink ‘B (Born Ideals).’

The other was the light blue ‘D (Debonair).’

The concept photos released alongside captured two completely different vibes.

For the ‘B’ concept, members happily taking selfies in a cute pink room like kids their age.

For the ‘D’ concept, members staring ahead with dry gazes under intense blue lighting, without any dye or lenses.

Thanks to this blatant appeal, even before the songs were released, most K-Pop fans had the concept firmly etched in their minds.

The album itself was practically bursting with interpretations.

The familiar phrase C between B and D.

Taking from the choice of girl crush and girlishness.

Masculine color blue and feminine color pink, and so on.

But right now, none of that mattered.

In the end, an idol’s concept is shown through the songs themselves.

Twenty minutes later, they were eagerly looking forward to 6 o’clock.

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