Chapter 98

As Kim Seo-yoon’s stomach grumbled, the members voiced their hunger, and the PD called out for the dinner mission to begin.

[Hana: My babies, what do you want to eat? Unni will take care of everything!]

But the menu selection was anything but smooth for the members.

[Ha-rang: Really? Then I want rose tteokbokki!]
[Seo-yoon: Oh wow, I love rose tteokbokki.]
[Sara: I want galbijjim…]
[Ye-eun: Um… I’m…]
[Do-hee: Ye-eun Unni is with me. Stir-fried pork.]
[Ye-eun: Huh…? Why…? I want beef…]
[Do-hee: Stir-fried pork sounds delicious~]
[Chae-rin: (sighs) I’ll just eat anything tasty!]

The leader was supposed to take charge of cooking. Whether Hana was glaring or scowling, the members were in a rush to voice their opinions.

– Everyone’s tastes are all over the place, haha, it’s going to take a while to settle on something.
– Besides Chae-rin, everyone else is totally clueless, haha.
– Ugh, why is Ye-eun so adorable? I just want to tease her,ㅠㅠ.

└ The youngest Ye-eun is being bullied by everyone… I’ve been thinking lately that Ye-eun is the real youngest; Do-hee is the unni, for sure.

– But doesn’t Do-hee have a pretty masculine taste?
└ Haha, true, our tastes align perfectly.

In the end, they decided on a menu through rock-paper-scissors, and things seemed to flow smoothly. But, as expected, the preparation process was chaotic.

[Will the grocery shopping crew be successful?]

The grocery shopping crew burst into the store, bustling around and chattering away.

[Ha-rang: Ah, stir-fried pork doesn’t sound great. Hey, should we just buy tteokbokki ingredients?]
[Seo-yoon: (throwing rice cakes into the cart) Okay. What are they going to do if we buy tteok?~]
[Ye-eun: I don’t want to be scolded by Hana unni and Do-hee…]
[Ha-rang: Don’t worry, unni will protect you~]

Park Ye-eun looked at Ha-rang, seemingly not convinced. But that didn’t stop Ha-rang from continuing.

[Ha-rang: Anyway, shall we go for ice cream tteokbokki?]
[Seo-yoon: Oh, that sounds good! Let’s go! (runs towards the ice cream)]
[Chae-rin: Sigh… (puts the rice cakes back)]

– Chae-rin is shopping alone, haha.
– How do these guys live together?
– This is chaotic, haha.

Thanks to Chae-rin calming the members down, they barely managed to finish shopping and return to their lodging.

[What will the members' cooking skills be like?]

It was the cooking crew’s turn. After receiving the ingredients, they began prepping the vegetables.

Hana was neatly trimming the veggies.

– Oh, Hana seems like a pro.

└ I heard Hana is good at cooking.
└ Yeah, she often posts cooking photos on Instagram.

– Kwon Hana, I hereby appoint you as my 24th potential bride.
└ Wow, I respect that!

– I’m curious if Do-hee and Sara can cook well too, haha.

[Meanwhile, what about Do-hee and Sara...?]

The camera panned to the side, and a goofy BGM began to play.
Time passed.

On the cutting board filling the screen were smashed vegetables.

And a hand that continued to smash the vegetables.

With a subtitle full of question marks, the camera’s gaze rose.

Do-hee, who was grinning widely, and Sara, who was watching beside her.

– How did she smash them like that? lol

– Oh, Do-hee’s hands are so tiny! lol

– Finally found something Do-hee can’t do… She graduated from the Hotel Food Service Culinary Department. Confident she’ll cook for a lifetime. Do-hee, won’t you marry my brother?

└ Even if you’re Gordon Ramsay, she won’t marry you, lol

└ What are you doing then?

└ Just a jobless person cheering on, lol

└ o-kay;;

– Cooking skills lacking? Hey, Do-hee. As of today, you’re disqualified from being my bride candidate.

└ Thank you… really thank you…

Of course, Hana couldn’t just watch this and appeared from off-screen, grabbing Do-hee’s cheeks and shaking them.

The screen showed Do-hee listening to Seo-yoon’s teasing.

[Do-hee: Hm… Mom used to praise me for doing this…]

[The adorably cute 15-year-old youngest]

“Crazy… so freaking cute…”

Just like Do-hee’s Home Mama reaction, the real-time timeline was buzzing with posts.

– Do-hee Lee. Congrats! You’ve been reappointed as my first bride candidate.

└ Do-hee’s gonna be mad…

– Oh, she’s seriously cute, lol

– What are we gonna do about her looking for her mom, lol! Ah, I should’ve given birth. I should have given birth to Do-hee!!!

– She’s a baby, a baby!ㅠㅠ

Of course, Do-hee was pretending to be pitiful, but the viewers had no clue.

Hana also comforted Do-hee, while Hana finished cooking alone.

– But why isn’t Sara cooking?

└ For real, it was so natural I didn’t notice, lol

After finishing their meal.

Now, the members were getting ready for bed.

Of course, the dorm was still noisy.

A dorm full of noise.

The screen focused on Chae-rin, who was lying on her bed with an eye mask and headset, looking tired.

Next, an interview scene was cut in.

Chae-rin appeared with a blank expression.

[Q: You look really tired.]

[Chae-rin: Ah, no… (nodding) it’s just… ah… I’m really dying.]

The PD chuckled and asked another question.

[Q: By the way, you said you have something to say, right, Chae-rin?]

Chae-rin looked puzzled as if she had never heard this before, checked something in front of her, and read the words clearly.

[Chae-rin: Ah… In 4 days, our debut song ‘Rose Nebula’ will be released! Please show us a lot of interest!…]

As Chae-rin finished speaking, the teaser for ‘Rose Nebula’ played.

Do-hee’s Home Mama, who had been immersed in the broadcast, suddenly snapped back to reality, looking at the clock.

An hour had already flown by.

“Oh, it’s almost over.”
It’s just watching the kids play, but who knew it would be this much fun?

I spent the whole broadcast with my mouth corners lifted, and my cheek muscles got so tense they seemed like they wouldn’t lower.

“Is the next schedule our debut? Episode 2 will come out next week…”

Slightly disappointed, she decided to check the posts on her timeline.

[Today’s [Saven's Haven] Summary]

Hana: The leader who cooks. Bosses the kids around as much as she feeds them.

Ha-rang: The loudest kid1.

Seo-yoon: The loudest kid2.

Do-hee: Weirdly loud + crushes veggies while being adorably cute… I think I understand why everyone loves Do-hee.

Sara: Do-hee’s shadow. No idea what’s going on in her head. Personality and face are both cat-like.

Ye-eun: The real youngest. Ye-eun is lovely.

Chae-rin: The victim… Just trying to read a book while the kids are blasting music and yelling next door, hahaha.

-Summary Supplement

-Hahaha, I laughed the whole time.

└Just looking at their faces makes me grin, lol.

-Each kid seems to have different personalities, haha.

└Seo-yoon and Ha-rang are exactly the same, though…?

└??? Aren’t they basically one entity?

-Oh, I want the next episode fast. Oh, I want the debut song fast. Oh, I want the next meal fast.

Do-hee’s Home Mama started liking the relatable posts and creating memes from episode 1 of ‘SAVEN’s HAVEN’.

*

The day before the showcase.

“Ye-eun, this move just isn’t syncing up. I wish Ha-rang would also stick their hand right up to their face.”

Standing on the stage where the showcase would take place, they were rehearsing ahead of time.

After each stage rehearsal, they all gathered to monitor and refine the stage details.

‘This wide stage is our very own stage.’

Every time they stood on the stage, their hearts raced.

Most importantly, it felt like their heart was being squeezed.

Maybe it means they’re excited for tomorrow’s stage.

But strangely, it feels like their heart is really being squeezed.

They brought their hand to their underwear strap and pulled it a bit.

‘So it was a physical squeezing after all.’

At the beginning of the new year, everything was pretty loose, but before long, the underwear felt tight and uncomfortable.

Anyway, the conclusion is that just like my chest has grown, so have I.

Tomorrow is the debut, and it’s suddenly hitting me.

“Do-hee, I think it would be great if you stepped back just one step.”

In the midst of monitoring, Seo-yoon Unni pointed at the screen and gave feedback on the line that didn’t match her.

‘She could just step forward instead of coming at me.’

“Seo-yoon Unni.”

I called her with honorifics.

“What is it?”

“We’re just debuting, you know.”
“Yes, I know.”

Of course, it wasn’t Hana Unni who would let a little chit-chat slide.

“Focus on those two Topists over there.”

At Hana Unni’s words, I pretended to be wounded.

“Huh… Unni, did you hear that? They called us Topists…”

Seo-yoon Unni hugged me and spoke in a sulky tone.

“Oh my… totally heartbroken. We’re the same group, part of the same Shock Enter, you know…”

Of course, our expressions of despair were just a bonus.

“Ah, here we go again.”

Hana Unni’s looks of exasperation.

“I guess they weren’t impressed with us… boohoo…”

“Hana Unni… we’ll do better… sorry…”

Just because she was the leader didn’t mean she was immune to teasing.

“Ugh, so annoying.”

*

The Bluesquare in Hannam-dong.

The Ilji Art Hall in Cheongdam-dong.

The Yes24 Live Hall in Gwangjang-dong.

Together, they were called the Big Three of showcase venues.

The average capacity of these three halls was around 2,000.

But ‘SAVEN’s showcase was held elsewhere.

[SAVEN]

[AURORA]

[SHOWCASE]

The gigantic faces of the seven members were carved prominently.

Below them was the name of the album.

The place adorned with large banners was the Olympic Handball Gymnasium, which could hold 5,000 people.

This alone proved to be a hot topic, but some fans waiting in line in front of the showcase venue during the day expressed their disappointment.

“I feel like they could’ve just rented the gym…”

And there was a longing for a show concert instead.

“Exactly. The voting rate was similar to Season 2.”

The story of the project boy group Mono Rush hosting a concert instead of a debut showcase at Gocheok Sky Dome with 20,000 fans was a well-known tale among heavy idol fandoms.

Of course, it was a number only possible due to the strong purchasing power of boy group fandoms, but Shock Enter also believed they could secure around 10,000 attendees.

However, the debut date was pulled forward to win the Rookie Award.

A short month.

Since the members would be likely overworked and unable to sleep while preparing for a concert, it was arranged as a showcase out of consideration.

“Well, it can’t be helped. The preparation time is tight…”

“By the way, did you buy the goods? They’re going to sell out soon.”

“What? Sold out? Already?”

The performance was set to start at 8 PM.

Usually, goods were stocked in ample quantities, making sellouts rare.

Still, by around 4 PM, all goods except for the light sticks were sold out at the SAVEN showcase venue.

The fans’ interest and attention heightened, and the music release and showcase performance were drawing near.

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