It was dark and silent for what seemed like an eternity. The crowd was cheering but the noise was completely closed out. All the girls could hear were their own heartbeats, as if their whole bodies were pounding.
Seoah looked down at the crowd below her and when she saw the faces in the audience she could hear the faint sound of cheering somewhere far away. It was almost like water separated them. She took a shaky breath as darkness fell over them. They were in positions, waiting for the performance to start.
The spotlights shone down on them and music filled the room. It was like reality returned and they were suddenly fully aware of everything, including the cheers. The dance started and it was like all Seoah's nerves had calmed down. She felt more alive than ever performing on the stage, in front of a cheering audience.
There really were no backing vocals on the track, and that could be heard. They were on their own, completely live. Of course it was risky, they were just a rookie group performing for the third time, but they believed they could do it. They'd already done it many times in the practice room. Of course, this stage was nothing like the practice room.
The first part was Seoah's rap. It was like her heartbeats were gradually speeding up for the part, but she wasn't nervous. The rap started and she tried her best to make her voice sound cool and steady, with pretty good results.
Throughout the beginning, some parts were shaky, but that was only because of how tense they all were. As the performance went on they gradually became more and more comfortable.
They'd made it through a big part of the performance when the music was completely shut off.
Now the real fun began.
The audience went still and silent as they held their breaths. The room seemed to be filled with anxiety for the girls, but they didn't need to worry because the girls weren't anxious.
They all pretended to look shocked for the show, but Seoah who was rapping at that moment just continued unbothered while the others improvised some a cappella in the background.
Then Sera started singing and Seoah joined the a cappella. Sera had a pretty voice. She may not be as vocally trained as the others, and she could sound shaky sometimes, but her voice had a special color to it that just sounded good. She also had a really pretty falsetto and half the part she sang was in falsetto. She pulled off her whole part perfectly, with stability and in tune the whole time. They could even see some people in the audience get surprised by how great Sera sounded live.
This was the chance Sera was given to prove herself. She wasn't going to prove the haters to be wrong. She'd earned this spot, just like the rest of them. Pretty or not, she deserved to stay.
Almost a good 30 seconds had passed before the music started again. They'd even managed to time it almost perfectly to line up as the real music continued.
As the performance was over more cheers than at the previous performances seemed to be heard from the audience, and that really was a rush for all the girls.
They were standing in positions for the ending fairy, which was supposed to be focused on Mirae. Seoah with a pounding heart after the performance looked over at Lina to say something. She was completely unaware of the fact that the cameraman was zooming in on her.
It was first when Lina pointed at the camera and said something that Seoah noticed. A bit flustered she looked into the camera with a cute smile and held her breath to not look like she was panting so much.
What the audience found hilarious was how obvious she'd been, both because they'd seen how heavy she was breathing before she knew she was being zoomed in on, and they saw her take a deep breath the second she realized.
She tried to cover it all by showing the audience two finger hearts and waved a small wave at the end before the camera moved on from her.
Afterward, it could also be seen how she exhaled, completely out of breath after holding it for so long.
A few laughs were heard in the audience and Seoah felt a bit embarrassed.
"Hey Seoah, what was that?" Mirae asked as they left the stage with a cheering audience behind them. She had a smile of amusement on her face as if she'd found the whole scene funny.
"I thought you were supposed to be the ending fairy today" she defended herself. It had been decided beforehand that Mirae should be the ending fairy, the cameraman seemed to have had other plans though.
"The cameraman didn't agree," Mirae said with a chuckle.
"You girls were awesome out there" their manager met them up to say and looked like a proud dad.
"I know right, we're pretty awesome," Seoah said jokingly with way more confidence than she actually had.
"Definitely" he agreed with a smile as bright as the sun.
***
Sunday
March 20 2022
As the girls returned home after yet another music show they were all dead.
"It feels like there's no end," Seoah said and laid down on the sofa with her face down in some pillows.
"We've only just begun, and this wasn't even a full week of promotions," Naeun said.
"Exactly," Seoah said and looked up at her leader in despair.
"At least no show tomorrow," Naeun said, seeing things from the bright side.
"No just filming for weekly idol," Mirae said and sat down next to Seoah, who turned around to lay on her back so she could put her head in Mirae's lap.
"But it's fun to perform, and it'll probably be fun to film variety shows too," Lina said.
"For sure, but I need a day off," Seoah said.
"We'll be free on Tuesday," Naeun said and shrugged.
"Mm," Seoah said and picked up her phone. She'd already looked through comments after their performance yesterday on Show! Music Core, and people were praising them, not only for singing live, but also for how well they handled the incident.
It had all blown up and was a trending topic. People were discussing it all over several different platforms. Their music video had gained a few million more views and the video of the performance had also reached high numbers.
They were an SM group that was a part of NCT, they definitely debuted with a stable fan base, they'd had fans since the reveal of the unit and even got paid the first day they debuted. But this stage alone had given them a lot of recognition.
It's not like music cutting off mid-stage hasn't happened before, so why did it become such a huge deal this time? Seoah was thinking about it and the only reason she could think of was because it was their third performance ever and they handled it as if they'd been doing it for years.
Seoah felt a bit bad since the incident wasn't really an accident, but was planned all along. If it really had been an accident they would not have been able to shrug it off so easily.
She just wanted to show they could sing live and now she felt like an imposter.
She went to check the comments for today's show on Inkigayo instead. People kept praising them but Seoah still felt it was mainly because of her little scene yesterday.
'Live vocal queens'
'And they keep delivering those live vocals'
'Started stanning after yesterday's spectacle'
'Slay queens'
She kept reading through the comments and felt more and more guilty. Sure they did sing live and people were praising them for singing live, but it was still only because of yesterday all those people were commenting about it.
"I'll go do a v-live" she then said and went to her room. She just had to tell them the truth, even if it would create drama. It was better if it came from her directly than from some insider gossip account or dispatch. Now she could at least be praised for being honest instead of an imposter trying to hide stuff.
She set up the livestream and watched the viewer count increase, way faster than she'd expected. So many people were watching her and that made her feel uneasy. Maybe she shouldn't tell them.
Well, now she has to do a live stream. "Hi everyone" she greeted them with a half-hearted smile.
'It's Seoah!!'
'The queen is filming'
'OMG hiii'
'Omo I wasn't prepared for the visuals'
'a v-live with seoah? from where? not complaining tho'
'Our Seoah has finally debuted and now she's doing surprise v-lives'
'Is it just me or does Seoah look a bit dull'
'she does look a bit dull'
'Yah Seoah, what's the matter?'
'Noo don't be sad Sweetheart'
Once they all saw on her smile she wasn't in the best mood she started regretting this for real. "Oh I'm fine, don't worry" she tried saying and smiled a bigger smile.
'You're not fine'
'She says she's fine, let her be'
'She's probably just tired'
"Mm, I'm very tired, we just came back after performing on Inkigayo" she informed them, hoping they would buy the excuse. She was actually very tired.
'Where are the others?'
'Why are you filming alone?'
Quite a few comments were asking about the others, maybe it was weird that Seoah was already doing lives on her own. "The others? They're probably sleeping on the sofa by now, we've been up since 5:30" she told them.
'Oh my god, go to bed, right now'
'You should get some sleep'
'Why you here talking to us for? go to bed'
She couldn't help but let out a chuckle when she saw how they all cared for her, telling her to go to bed. "I'm going to bed right after this," she said with a somewhat genuine smile. "I just have something to tell you guys" she added and the smile faded slightly.
'Is it good or bad? Cuz I'm kind of getting the vibes it's bad'
'What is it you need to get off your chest?'
'You can tell us'
She hesitated a few seconds and caught a few comments rolling in. At last, she opened her mouth to speak. "It's about yesterday, to be honest, that incident wasn't an accident" she admitted, and it felt nice just having it said.
'That's what was bothering you?'
'You've been going around and feeling bad about that?'
Seeing the response she felt a tiny bit better and managed to continue explaining. "I just felt like people were praising us for handling it so well, but that was because it was more or less planned since before"
'Why is Seoah the most innocent idol ever?'
'It breaks my heart she's been feeling guilty for this reason'
'Don't worry Seoah, we still love you'
'But why would you plan that?'
Now a lot more at ease, she almost felt comfortable. "It was my idea actually, so I kind of felt bad for the other members too, I just wanted to let them all prove to the audience that they really can sing live, so I asked our manager if we could do it completely without any backing vocals, and then told him to cut the music at some point for a few seconds" She explained.
'Omg she wanted to let her members prove they can sing live'
'This makes me Stan Seoah even more'
'Why is she so honest?'
'We all need a Seoah in our lives'
Then a second girl entered the room and came into the frame. She didn't say anything as the comments started rolling in.
'It's Mirae!'
'It's the cool maknae'
'It's the not cute maknae'
'Mirae marry me plz'
'both queens are here now'
"Ya'll calm your tits," Mirae said when she saw the comments. "Are we allowed to say that?" she then asked and looked at Seoah.
She just shrugged. "let's say hakuna your tats instead" Seoah suggested. "I don't know if that's any better though," she said on a second thought.
"Eh, it'll do," Mirae said and sat down next to Seoah. "Why are you live all by yourself though?" she asked the older girl.
"I was just explaining the incident from yesterday," Seoah told her.
"Ahh, so they know it was all part of your master plan?" She asked and looked amused.
"Yeah, I had to tell them" Seoah replied.
"Yeah whatever, I'm just gonna go brush my teeth and then I'm going to bed, so if you're going to continue that v-live, please don't be in our room" Mirae then said. Their maknae was really tired now. "You should go to be too, if you come to my bed before I fall asleep I'll spoon you," she said and the comments were going crazy.
"Mm, just give me a few minutes to end this sweety, I'll join you soon," Seoah said as Mirae went to the bathroom.
'wait omg the first GG ship has been born'
'what is this I'm hearing'
'whatever it is I like it'
'the PDA we're getting'
'stawp it im blushing'
'TEA'
'is it MiAh or SeoRae?
"Yikes, all our ship names sound bad," Seoah said when she saw comments coming up with ship names. "But if I were to pick one I think SeoMi is the best one" She then said.
'she's helping us pick their ship name'
'Bruh I'm dead'
'I love Seoah'
'we all love Seoah'
"So you heard the maknae, I should go to bed now," Seoah said to come to an end with this short live stream.
'yeah you must go to bed before Mirae falls asleep'
'rushing for that spoon now ey?'
'we get it ;)'
"Ayo, it's just a joke though," Seoah said with a small laugh.
'yeah sweety, absolutely'
'we all know that ;)'
"If anyone I'm the one spooning her" Seoah joked and showed a smile.
'Nah I think Mirae would be big spoon, she just gives off that vibe'
"And I give off the vibes of little spoon then?" Seoah asked, feeling a bit attacked here.'
'Oh definitely'
'Seoah big spoon? Nah man'
'yes honey you do'
"Good to know, well Mirae moves too much in her sleep anyway, last time we shared a bed I woke up with her legs over my chest, so I won't be making that same mistake again," Seoah said as she remembered the scene in her head.
'Seoah you should go to bed before you reveal too much personal information'
'Why is Seoah chaotic'
"Duuude, I'm so tired right now, like I seriously don't even know which bed is mine," Seoah said with a sigh.
'dw, just go to the one Mirae goes to'
'Mirae's bed is the correct answer'
'your maknae will show you I'm sure of'
"Bruh, if I steal Mirae's bed I'm dead fish, she fought so hard to get the only single bed in this apartment. I have the upper bunk and Lina the lower one," Seoah said and angled the camera to show the bunk bed. "So while we share this royal throne to bed, Mirae has this all to herself" she continued and showed Mirae's 140cm wide bed that was thicker than both Seoah and Lina's mattresses stacked upon each other. "I'm not salty at all" She added with a very salty smile.
"Stop complaining, you didn't even try to get it," Mirae said as she came out from the bathroom.
"Because I'm a good unnie and let our cute little maknae have it," She said and forced a smile.
"I know, I'm so cute without makeup right," Mirae said and came closer to check out her bare face in the camera. She had the best skin of them all, no doubt. it was flawless with or without makeup.
"Stop bragging about your perfect skin, some of us don't have that," Seoah said and looked salty again. "For real though, like she washes it with hand soap and it's still flawless" Seoah ranted on to the audience.
"I also sleep, which you should do too," Mirae said and looked at Seoah.
"Right, well, good night everyone," Seoah said to the viewers. She saw a few comments wishing her a good night and such roll in before she turned off the live stream.
"Go brush your teeth, your breath stinks," Mirae said and went to her bed.
"It does not"