12022010 8:12 AM  //  LEE MINJI

“Wait, unni! Lemme take my camera out so you can say that again.”

She rolls her eyes at me but allows me to continue. I do so and then signal her with a point of my finger to tell her she can go again.

“I’m gonna take a leap here,” Yoonkyung says in a contemplating manner as she her chin, “and say that I do not approve of matching the shoes with the skirt.” All our heads are turned down at the the numerous sketches of voluminous skirts, white shirts, ascot ties and chunky heels in various colors, all in an attempt to choose what our outfits for the music video would be. Judging by the look on Sunyoung’s face, even a stranger can tell doing something related to Shy Boy was bringing pain to her. I know I can tell because it’s probably the same expression etched onto my face, but that’s really because of our stance on the cutesy aegyo concept.

I mean, yeah, we get it, the cutesy thing works well for a lot of girl groups. Girls’ Generation is the living, breathing epitome of what a cutesy concept can lead to. No shade to them, it works out well, but considering Yoonkyung’s late night phone calls with Yoona during Gee, no one really enjoyed doing it. It got so bad that at one point Yoona actually burst into our new dorm as we were moving in, tears streaming down her face and screaming about how she’d probably quit being an idol if SM gave them another concept like that. I also distinctly remember her screeching about how it was “all Sunkyu’s fault for putting her through this!”

Needless to say, she actually didn’t actually leave or end up in a mental institution when SM dropped the Oh bomb on them.

Up to the crying/screaming sister who’s always over point, I was also really thankful Jeongyeop sajangnim finally found it in his heart to upgrade us to an apartment with three bedrooms, but you really gotta question how thankful you are when you have Yoonkyung for a roommate. Which I do, for the record. And to add on to that, I’ve basically been the picture-perfect roommate and she’s really only had something to whine about when Jeongyeop sajangnim dropped the Shy Boy bomb on us.

Shy Boy itself, with it’s old school swing feel, is something we’ve done before with Madonna, and I love that we’re reconnecting with our roots. With Kaeseul and Sunyoung jetsetting all over the country and Yoonkyung at KBS’s beck and call for Mary and me throwing myself into this and that for the sake of variety TV, it’s so great to feel that sense of nostalgia whenever we have the time to get together for choreo and vocal practice. But then, taking an actual look at what they’re having us wear and sing and do? I had to really question if it was worth it. I shared this pain with Yoona for a hot minute before it up because I have a passion for doing what I’m doing and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep the privilege of performing. That, and Joong-sshi sort of called me out for being so weak-spirited that I allowed a measly concept get to me. I kind of still have a debt to pay him for letting me sneak around with Sungyeol months ago.

Sunyoung pulls me out of my thoughts with a hum of agreement. “Yeah, I gotta agree. We should do complementary colors.” She reaches for the sketch with the yellow skirt and pairs it with the light blue Mary Jane’s and does the same for the blue skirt and pairs it with the yellow Mary Jane’s, and my camera follows everything her hands are doing. “These should be outfits and so forth.”

Goonjung-sshi looks at the both of them amusedly. “What, you do a couple of fashion shows and all of a sudden you’re both fashion moguls? Should we just fire all the stylists and leave it to the two of you to style all your outfits?”

“Since Kaeseul isn’t here,” I interrupt, turning the camera at me, “I’m gonna say that no, don’t do that, we can’t let these innocent people lose their jobs.” Kaeseul is currently somewhere in the country. Even though it’s almost out promotional period, her personal schedule is still filled to the brim with trying not to die falling off any bales of hay for the season finale of Invincible Youth, which is something we’ve already told the camera.

Lee Youngjun, one of the famed Infinite managers, suddenly bursts through the doors of the conference room. “Why are your girls coming back the same time Infinite will be promoting again?”

Joong-sshi sighs exasperatedly. “Okay, look, we’ve gone over this time and time again. We’re not doing it on purpose, and besides the kids have an idea anyway.”

Sunyoung gestures towards me and I get up excitedly. Pointing the camera at Youngjun-sshi, I say, “That’s Infinite’s most active manager, by the way. He was probably shown in an episode of You Are My Oppa or something. The one who looks angry 24/7? Yeah, that’s that dude.” Youngjun-sshi grunts and folds his arms across his chest and I hand the camera to Sunyoung and she points it at me. I wrestle through papers of outfits and schedule informations and finally come up with what I’m looking for. “Here, this is our plan of having Infinite dance Shy Boy with us so that we could promote side by side at least once.”

Youngjun-sshi says nothing and continues to examine the details on the paper.

“It’s killing two birds with one stone, plus it’s great fanservice for both our fans,” Sunyoung offers.

“If you’re all certain you’re okay with getting death threats from their fans right after the performance, then I’m down.”

Goonjung-sshi clears his throat. “I tried to warn them, but Joong says they should be fine since they’ve been in the business long enough.” Plus they know about the fraternizing with the opposite , but it’s really unnecessary to single that out.

“Yeah, but,” Joong-sshi interjects, “our girls are tigresses, and if there’s one good thing about being a tigress, it’s that they’re super protective. They’ll be fine.”

Sunyoung kind of snorts. “You know, I can’t really see the comparison you’re trying to make.”

Joong-sshi flicks her off with a wave of his hand. “But I do, so it doesn’t matter. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that it doesn’t matter since they’ve got nerves of steel.” He grabs an irrelevant piece of paper and crumples it up prior to launching it across the table towards Yoonkyung’s face. Instead of making a big deal out of it, she pulls a face and smacks it away before it can hit her. “See? If that doesn’t faze them then nothing wi- hey!” He ducks as Yoonkyung chucks the crumpled paper at him and laughs.

Yongjun-sshi oppa just sighs and says it’s cool with him, but to ask the boys just in case.

I jump at it then. “I got it!”

The phone rings twice until the person on the other line picks up with a gruff greeting. “Ya, Lee Sungjong,” I say dominatingly, since he’s really the only person in this company that I can act dominatingly towards without getting hit with the insubordination card, “it’s 8 AM, wake up!”

Sungjong groans. “It’s 8 AM, go to sleep,” he challenges.

“We’re filming right now,” I mention, “with Youngjun-sshi. Could you gather your boys because we got some exciting news about promotions!”

We hear a loud, exasperated groan and some shuffling in the background before a loud clamour that indicates he probably fell into bed again. I’m prepared to yell at him until Sunggyu’s voice comes on. “Goddess sunbaes?” He jokes, “I apologize since the other members are still asleep, but may I just say that this is an honor! Although I don’t think this is the most pleasant of all meetings, I must admit that I am very delighted to make your acquaintances.”

Yoonkyung takes the phone from my hand and rolls her eyes, even though he can’t see. “Sunggyu-sshi,” she chides, sugar slightly coating her words, “we’ve met before. I would understand why you’d forget though. Are you sure you’re taking your medications?”

Sunyoung clicks her tongue. “Alright, we don’t need to hear this old people conversation, you two can gossip about vitamins and supplements on your own time.” Yoonkyung pouts at this. “Sunggyu-sshi, we were wondering if you’d be okay with making a feature performance with us sometime during our promotional period since our schedules seem to overlap.”

Sunggyu hums in play-contemplation. “We would be honored to do anything with the Goddess sunbaes, but I’m afraid you’d have to take that up with our manager hyungs.”

“Well isn’t it lucky for you that we actually have Youngjun-sshi here with us at this moment?” I almost stare at Yoonkyung too long because is she really just blatantly flirting with her almost/sort of boyfriend right now? When the camera is rolling? While the managers are here? (Even though, yeah, everybody in this room’s known something’s bound to happen between them.)

Youngjun-sshi seems to come to his senses and realizes what’s going on. “Since you’re willing, we’ll work something out right now. I’ll speak to you kids later.”

I hurriedly take the phone from Yoonkyung’s hands because I don’t know what she’d do or say if I let her have the last word. “Okay, bye!”

“I love Inspirit! Okay, bye guys! Bye hyungn-”

I hang up the same moment Sunyoung flips the recording off.

Youngjun-sshi takes a seat with a quiet groan as his bones crack slightly, and at that moment you can really see what the stress of managing an idol group can do to a man. “Since I’m here, I might as well ask if you guys wanna be featured in an episode of Sesame Player.”

Sunyoung, who’s infamously known to be extremely careful about her appearances, leans in towards the table and eyes him. “Depends, what do we have to do and when?”

“It’s not much. We’ve just been desperately trying to convince them to clean that pig sty they live in, but we’re slowly coming to realize it isn’t gonna happen anytime soon, so we asked the crew if one of the segments is to have them clean because a girl group is coming over to perform a task with them. They agreed, but they said we’d need to supply the girl group and you guys are the easiest option. Probably around the end of May.”

Sunyoung scoffs. “I can’t believe those brats have the nerve to keep their dorm in that shape in the first place.”

I nod my head in agreement. “I know! And they have such a large space compared to what we had, too, like how much stuff can guys have?”

12022010 10:37 AM  //  JEON SUNYOUNG

As soon as we finished with the meeting, Joong-sshi howled about how we “shouldn’t be disregarding personal schedules for group activities because you need balance” and rushed me down to the van standing in the porte-cochère of the company building. An hour later we arrived at an apartment complex in rainy Yeongdeungpo where MBC rented out an apartment for regular We Got Married filming.

When I shut the doors behind me, I immediately rushed over to the sole bedroom to sink myself down onto the bed while the crew and I waited for Junhyung to arrive.

Figures. If two months of filming has taught me anything about him, it’s that Yong Junhyung is much like Queen Clarisse in The Princess Diaries: he is never late, everyone else is simply early. The one time I called him out on it was while the cameras were rolling. He got so defensive that it drove him to his max pettiness level. We ended up engaging in a wrestling match that resulted in him under my arm in a headlock. He was one step away from going down on his knees to beg the WGM team to eradicate any evidence that such an event actually happened, and that meant deleting the film. They obviously said no, to my amusement, because it made for great variety television.

The ratings for that episode were through the roof though. His sweaty and blotchy face also appeared to have surfaced as a new meme on Twitter.

As much as I genuinely enjoyed filming with him (specifically, one upping him 75% of the time), I didn’t enjoy sitting tight for a good thirty minutes each time we were scheduled just to wait for him to get to the site. I sigh. Our commutes coming down here are around the same duration, and it’s pissed me off to no end that he’s always late. Because of that, most episodes concentrate around finding activities to direct my anger away from him. We’ve gone on paintballing missions and have built Ikea furniture together before, but what we both really found to be soothing was crashing at the studio and messing around with lyrics and beats. After a little while of flirting around the idea of collaborating, we finally got coaxed into writing and producing what would be the most explicit thing either of us have ever taken part in, career-wise. Since it was the WGM fans that convinced us to go about it, we figured we’d make it “our couple song” (even though it’s the farthest thing from being romantic) since it describes our dynamic.

The camera crew came in at that moment and the red lights that signify they’re recording are on, so I get into camera mode (which is really just me trying not to have a perpetual resting face). Still lying down on my stomach, I grunt and fist around the bed until I had my phone in hand. I punch Junhyung’s number in-memorized by heart only because of his Queen Clarisse complex-and let it ring on speaker. If he knows what’s good for him then he’d answer before two rings are up.

Apparently he does.

“Quinn, baby! What’s good?”

I resist the urge to roll my eyes and instead scrunch my nose. “You got some nerve.”

His smirk practically radiated from the phone. “Perfect timing, Little Miss Sunshine. We’ve got some work to do.” As he says this, the door to the bedroom opens and he walks in, another camera crew following him along. He freezes for a millisecond too long, and if he hadn’t been wearing those ridiculously large sunglasses, I imagine his eyes are as wide as they can go. His jaw clenches minutely until he catches himself and forces a grin onto his face.

I release the bottom lip I’d unknowingly taken between my teeth the moment he burst in and force myself to think up an image of Yoonkyung standing beside the cameraman screaming for me to give her more face. “Ya, have you been outside this entire time?”
 

“Nah,” he says, grasping my calf and gently pushing me away from his side of the bed so he can settle himself down. His fingers don’t slip from my skin just yet, and the warmth from his fingertips force a quiver in my bones. “Just for the past couple of minutes.” He’s got this sly smile that can only really be described as suspiciously dubious.

“If this has something to do with a surprise event then I’m just gonna remind you about night one.” His face pales for a split second as his mind wraps around the meaning behind my words: he set up a nighttime picnic on the roof of the apartment complex to celebrate with food and fireworks, but he almost took his own finger lighting one. If that wasn’t bad enough, s security team came up because of reports of disturbances coming from the roof. That’s kind of why we don’t go anywhere but the apartment whenever we’re here. Also kind of why he doesn’t plan surprise events anymore.

He shakes the thought away with a faint blush dusting over his complexion. “No, I promise this one’s gonna be good.” He gets on to his knees and pulls at my hand. I answer with a groan. “Quinnie, my beautiful wife, please come out to the living room with me?”

I raise my upper body at his words. He must really be motivated if he’s willing to tickle my ego for it. Alright, but he’s not gonna win so easily. “Bring me there,” I order.

He lets out the groan this time, but still launches himself up to his feet. With another exaggerated sigh, he takes hold of my arm and hauls my body over the foot of the bed before I have time to react.

“Hey, you must be craz- oof!”

After a crazy few minutes of gaining scratches on my cheeks and bruises all over my body, we finally settled on the couch. His hands still hadn’t left my eyes, so I’m assuming there’s more to the surprise than getting me to the living room. “Junhyung, I promise if you don’t tell me what’s going on in the next two seconds I’m gonna kick your-”

“Surprise!” He jumped up, his fist pumping in the air, an accomplished grin on his face. One of those portable DJ systems was placed on the coffee table, all booted up and ready to be messed around with. “I kind of figured that you’d be at crossroads with what to get me for my birthday, so I thought I’d just let you know up front. I want us to record You Got Some Nerve together.”

He looked up at me, probably expecting me to be overcome with emotion over not having to put much effort in buying him a gift. In reality, I was overwhelmed with another emotion: gratefulness. It actually did worry me that I wouldn’t have gotten him the proper gift that would invoke the proper reaction for variety purposes. Of course, knowing what Goddess had been taught (to always take variety television to the next level), I had to do more for him than just record the song.

My mind was already racing with ideas: the newest edition of Beats headphones, oversized designer sunglasses, a personal assistant that would get him to schedule sites ten minutes before the set time? A birthday quickie in one of our dorms before our members come home? Clearly there’s work to be done.

“So what do you say? Shall we make music so filthy it’ll make my parents want to disown me?”

12022010 12:34 PM  //  IM YOONKYUNG

Dasi dorawa, dorawa, dorawa

From: GYUGYU BABY

Nice performance, try to make sure your fanboys don’t kill me next time though?

To: GYUGYU BABY

They love everything I do

To: GYUGYU BABY

I can literally tell them to leave you alone forever and they’d listen!!

As soon as Joong-sshi ushered Sunyoung to WGM, Minji and I were escorted down to vocal practice by Goonjung-sshi. On the elevator, Minji and I exchanged looks somewhere between the fourth and fifth floors; from the look in her eyes she had no idea why we were being escorted all of a sudden either. It’s not like we’re known to hold the track records for bad behavior.

Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration.

Besides, now that Infinite’s made their debut, ½ of Goddess aren’t the only ones known for being little s since Sungyeol’s around more often.

Whatever, you get the point!

Now we’re just lounging around, waiting for Jihae to come back from grabbing us lunch (since I’m  apparently not allowed to leave until Goonjung-sshi comes to get me for M Countdown prep and Minji wasn’t allowed to leave until the clock struck 2) and listening to my mini album. And you know what? When Jihae promised we’d have more say in our tracks after Madonna, she actually meant it.

Dasi dorawa, dorawa, dorawa

From: GYUGYU BABY

Ya, don’t even try!! If you do that, we’ll lose fans!

Sunyoung, specifically, went on a tirade rejecting rap part after rap part for Heart to Heart until Jeongyeop sajangnim finally coaxed some lyrics out of her. That fighting nature’s what got her name as a lyricist attached to Femme Fatale with Lee Minwoo’s. After that, she’s continued her tirade through writing little by little until sajangnim gave her permission to write for Talk About S. When we were picking the promotion track I wasn’t aware of which one she wrote, and it surprised us all that I actually picked her track. Lo and behold, that’s how Bloom came to be.

Dasi dorawa, dorawa, dorawa

From: GYUGYU BABY

But it’s not a big problem, you’re giving us attention so thanks for that

To: GYUGYU BABY

See, I literally always have everyone’s well-being in interest. You’re welcome!

What surprised us more was how much recognition it was getting. For being such a controversial song, winning four first place titles wasn’t bad.

So, yeah, you can probably guess that Talk About S is Sunyoung’s baby as much as it is mine. Minji’s presence in front of the very desktop that held all edits and versions of Bloom should’ve worried me but I let her click away anyway because we might as well try to enjoy our time in temporary prison.

Dasi dorawa, dorawa, dorawa

From: JJANGGEUNIE

What time shall I pick you up?

When the song ends, Minji swivels around to face me. “Is that your precious Jjang Geunsuk oppa?”

I scrunch my nose at her. “You should’ve been a mind reader instead of an idol.”

She grins and scooches her chair towards me in four nudges forward to take my phone from my hands.

Again, I should probably not let her do that because she’s kind of an enigma, but I don’t think I have anything to hide. I started promoting Bloom almost right after Hurricane Venus and that should’ve led to a decrease in our communication, but we spent a lot more time together than usual since we recorded simultaneously. Spending late nights at the studio together isn’t quite the most conventional way to bond, but it’s done our relationship well nonetheless. It’s only gotten better now that we’re actually coming back as a group for Goddess.

“Sunggyu’s heart’s probably rolling around in his chest because you’re hanging out with another guy.” She says this with the same confidence that’s gotten her on top of popularity polls all over the internet.

“Um, no.” I snatch my phone away from her grubby fingers. “You’ve seriously gotten it all wrong. This is what you get for being in a relationship with Sungyeol for so long.”

This time it’s her that looks somewhat mortified that I’m mentioning her ex-boyfriend, but I know it’s not to the point that she’d get hurt over it. “That’s so two months ago. If you’re not over it yet, unni, I suggest you go away and overdose on Taylor Swift.”

I laugh. “You know damn well that the only English words I understand are ‘hello’ and ‘food’ and possibly ‘bathroom’ on a good day.”

Minji leans back on the chair and brings her hands up to rest behind her head, her feet settling one on top of the other on the sofa beside my abdomen. “Aish, and you wonder why they call you Im Leader.” I have to stop myself from pouting at the sound of that stupid nickname; Im isn’t just my last name, it’s also short for immature. It hurts enough hearing it inside my head, but hearing it out loud feels like a truck hit me. Nevertheless, a shy eye smile and an apologetic shake of the head/flitty laugh in fake embarrassment I go, especially since this mostly goes on while the camera is rolling.

At that moment, the door opens and a wide-eyed Sunggyu bursts in, freshly showered and impeccably dressed. He looks as put together as you were ever going to get sans stylist noona, save for the spilled coffee dripping from his hand.

“Thunggyu-sshi!” I exclaim. “I’m no speech pathologist but-”

He’s still halfway across the door, which is strange because he’s a person of privacy and would’ve already closed the door behind him by now. Instead he shakes his head, his lips in a thin line. “I was on my way up to practice vocals with the kids, but there’s someone in the lobby waiting to see you. I don’t know how you’re gonna feel about it.”

“That definitely means it isn’t Jjang Geunie oppa.” Sunggyu frowns, and I’m almost sure he’s about to go on a rampage about how she’s always on the lookout for any and every way to bully him and how this was most definitely a premeditated ambush targeting his ‘inability to keep my friends from guys who are obviously just out for a quickie and not an actual relationship’ (true story, it’s been said but also rebutted). Under any other circumstances, he would’ve definitely verbally and physically fought Minji for interjecting in her sing-songy tone, but the fact that he just ignores her worries me.

It could’ve been worse; a fanboy could have broken into our apartment and stolen our dirty laundry. Or Jeongyeop sajangnim could have marched his frumpy self down here to tell me that my contract was terminated, his cool tone even more menacing than normal. At least whoever was down there had the decency to let me go to him/her.

I rise to a sitting position, groaning unhappily the entire while up. Minji doesn’t let my reluctance and displeasure pass her. “Tell him to piss off, Sunggyu-sshi,” she orders. “We’re busy rehearsing.”

With an eyebrow practically shooting up his forehead in a very ‘I’m the leader so I know it was you who broke our last good mug, Sungyeol’ type of way, Sunggyu clearly looks like he doesn’t believe us, if our orientation the moment he walked in gave any sort of clues to the clear lack of rehearsing that was going on. He doesn’t comment on it. “No, I think you’d wanna hear this one out, Yoonkyung.”

You’re not a good leader if you don’t get down there and deal with this dude once and for all before it bothers any other member, a voice in my head murmurs. With that, I heave myself up and head towards the elevator, with a plea to the two to please not wring each other’s necks because I appreciate them both too much, thank you very much.

The ride down is a slow journey and by the time the doors slide open I’m almost too lost in my own thoughts of making sure to check the charts for Bloom and checking the number of views for the Shy Boy teasers that I basically forget why I was heading down in the first place. My feet lead me to the front desk, where I rest my elbows and ask to see whoever it was that was requesting to speak with me. Before the receptionist can even answer, someone taps my shoulder and I whisk my head so fast that there’s an aching crick in my neck after, but the sensation is immediately dulled when I see who is standing behind me.

“Hello, Lee Sooman-sshi, welcome to Woollim Entertainment.” I bow. My tone was frigid. “How may I be of service this time?”

12022010 09:45 PM  //  SHIN KAESEUL

I’m more or less burned out when Goonjung-sshi pulls up in the van to pick me up from the very last day of filming for Invincible Youth. After another round of deeps bows and ‘thank you so much, you’ve all worked very hard’ and ‘have a great night and great life’ I finally got to collapse on the awaiting backseat, face first because that’s the only logical way to go, really.

Well, not really.

I realize this around two minutes into the car ride back to the apartment after decisively asking Goonjung-sshi if he was prepared to drive another few hours at this time of night. He answers with a big grin that I can see from the rearview mirror as he motions towards the two cans of Red Bull resting snugly inside the cup holders. Relief floods through my system, and I slowly bring myself upright so I can adjust the seat to treat myself to a more comfortable position.

Once I’m comfortable, I fish through the pockets of my jacket (which was thrown in the general direction of the third row of seats that are actually quite unnecessary since the four of us could fit in a five-seater, minus one manager) for my phone until it’s safely tucked into the palm of my hands and I await for signal to reach me.

There are a ton of notifications from social media sites as per usual, and I try to go through everyone’s tweets and posts, liking or commenting even the slightest remark, but before I know it, I’m knocked out.

My eyes only open again when Goonjung-sshi shakes my shoulder. A bright white light shines brightly behind him, creating a halo effect behind his mess of slightly curly hair, and I briefly remember why some of us had mild crushes on him during our early years, but I shake it off with a series of quick blinks.

I’m facing the door to our apartment before I can even say ‘rice’, smiling a lethargic goodbye at Goonjung-sshi who pats my shoulder before he drops my overnight bags and turns on his heel for the elevator.

The definition of tired isn’t hazily fumbling around my hand bag in search for the key card. The definition of tired is avoiding that trouble by knocking my forehead against the door instead just so that I have somewhere to lean on in case I was to fall out of fatigue at this very moment. I know their nightly schedule anyway, and there is no way anyone is asleep as early as 1 AM. If anything, I’d be the one who’d fall first while an upside down Yoonkyung lounged around on the couch talking to someone or the other on the phone, Minji sat huddled with her laptop on the breakfast bar, and Sunyoung fiddled with the instruments and equipment in the third room (which we’ve dubbed as the Creation Room because it’s got all the bells and whistles any artist would want to have in a mini recording studio).

I’m right, of course, and Minji flinging the door open with a mock disgusted expression on her bare face just further proves my point. “You don’t have any ticks, do you?”

I can do nothing but grin and engulf her lazily protesting body in my arms as I kick my bags inside. “If I did, they’re yours now, too.”

Sunyoung peers toward us from the breakfast bar. Her hair wrapped up neatly into a towel turban.

She’s never said it out loud before, but I know she’s thankful we don’t usually have any cameras rolling around this time of night since this is usually when she’s keen on taking her long baths. The towel turban adds a flare to her that would really disgrace the Ice Queen persona she maintains, and we know she’s not about messing around with it. Her stony yet strangely doting attitude towards on-screen husband Junhyung proves so.

Minji drags me inside the apartment and collapses on the sectional sofa. The television is muted but still programming a late night show. There’s a mess of takeout containers on the coffee table. Our usual floor-to-ceiling view of the beautiful landscaping of the mini concrete jungle of Seoul is hidden away behind thick, white drapes. I’m home.

“We were just talking about the terrifying event that’s made me even more terrified of Sunyoung while you were off attracting fleas and ticks,” Minji starts.

Sunyoung snickers into her tea mug. “Terrifying, huh?” She smirks. “You definitely seemed terrified when you barged in unannounced and uninvited, shouting about needing crapload of penne alla vodka.”

“Number one,” Minji raises a finger, “you know how bad my pasta cravings can get, and this case especially unbearable because it was my first meal since lunch the day before. And number two, how was I supposed to know you and Joker nim were christening every single surface area of this apartment through wild ?” Her face twists from disgust to disbelief. “And by the way, I didn’t even know you and Junhyung had such a relationship in the first place, so I don’t believe I am at fault for anything here.”

My eyebrow shoots up past my hairline and towards the Sun itself. Of course none of us would know about her apparent friends with benefits relationship with Junhyung (because in no way would she get into an actual relationship that requires feelings to be shared frequently; I know this because there have been multiple attempts from multiple suitors in the past).

Minji opens again. “And number three...”

“You’re not done yet?”

“No, I’m not done yet!” Minji screeches. “And number three, yes, the occurrences of two days ago have made me more terrified of you because you managed to throw your cellphone at me, threaten both my family and me, and kick me out of my own abode in the span of five seconds. I honest to T.O.P. locked our bedroom door last night because I thought you may have had the idea of sneaking in to make sure there were no witnesses of your basically forbidden romance.” She shakes her head with a deep sigh. “Believe it or not, I’ve been working on a will since then.”

Sunyoung’s quite amused by the youngest’s tirade. “Did you at least leave me anything?”

“I haven’t had Joong-sshi finalize anything yet, but you should be getting my collection of psychological thrillers and Kaeseul should be getting my collection of snapbacks with wild English.”

“Great,” I interject, “more opportunities to earn under-the-table cash.”

The corner of Sunyoung’s lip tilts up before she twitches her head in the general direction of the fridge. “There’s jjajangmyun in there with your name on it.”

The fridge is my target destination now, and I make beeline for it. “Huh, why’s there another container here,” I mutter.

“It’s for Yoong, but she stormed into the room as soon as she got home from M Countdown.” Minji’s resumed her (I assume) previous position on the sectional. Numerous quilts now surround her and her laptop. She’s got her old glasses pushed through her hair as a makeshift headband even though it’s been a few years since she’s gotten Lasik done. “Figured we’d wait for the UN delegate to get home to confront her.”

Instinctively I wanted to do nothing more than just collapse on my feet, but making a mess of the jjajangmyun and having a cranky leader in the morning were the two things I most certainly did not want on my plate.

Not when there was jjajangmyun on it.

I almost roll my eyes in realization that they probably only got me a large container because they knew it’d convince me to play peacemaker. But jjajangmyun is nothing short of glorious. So are they, I guess, since they paid. So I shut the fridge door before I can convince myself to stay.

With a sigh, I creep into Minji and Yoonkyung’s room, where the overhead lights are off and the only source of illumination was coming from the screen of the latter’s phone screen. She’s lying on her back and she’s using her rack to hold her phone up as a mini table, so the gleam of her phone highlights her face in the most unflattering of ways. I almost laugh, except I see how dark blue her under eye circles are and how sullen her expression is. It takes me by surprise because we’re usually not used to seeing her no-makeup face around since she’s up before the rest of us are every morning, running around doing this or that for an event or another.

Come to think of it, she’s never really shown how tired she was even though the rest of us (read: Minji) complain about fatigue day in and day out. She’s never not smiling, and that’s something I admire about her because I know for sure I wouldn’t be as upbeat/cheery if I had to be promoting and filming a drama simultaneously.

Regardless, I had a feeling this had nothing to do with that.

I don’t bother going for the light switch. Instead I go over to her side of the room to sit myself beside her and turn on her bedside lamp.

Yoonkyung makes a little sound of amusement as she shuts her phone off to look towards me. “It’s taking you a little too long to turn that thing on. Should I be worried about the types of plants they grow Hongcheon?”

“Ha ha, very funny,” I glare mockingly at her, “I’d love to see you balance a container of precious jjajangmyun in one hand and hold chopsticks in the other all while trying to flip a switch.”

She tilts her head. “You’ll manage.”

Oh, no. Shortening responses? No eye smiles? I knew coming in here was a bad idea as soon as Minji suggested it. “So,” I say almost a little too hurriedly, “what’s been up with you?”

“If those two sent you here to play Switzerland, you can forget about it.” She rolls her eyes. Nonetheless, she crosses her arms and harrumphs in the way that makes a little part of me question how she’s the leader in the first place. “It barely touches DEFCON Five and most certainly does not need immediate attention.” She shouts the last part, knowing fully well the other two were tuning in, too.

I hear a knock on the wall that unquestionably comes from Minji because there’s nothing on the other side but the sectional. “Gotcha!” she yells out additionally.

We’re both silent for a moment while I slurp up some noodles and she ponders. “Lee Sooman came by Woollim this afternoon.” This makes me almost spit out the contents in my mouth. Almost. “He wants me to sign my career outside of Goddess off to SM.”

The only intelligent thing to say, in my mind, is, “Well did you say yes?”

My tenacity seems to amuse her. “Calm down, I told him I’d discuss it with Jeongyeop sajangnim,” she says with an airy chuckle in her voice. “He didn’t seem too happy with me not agreeing right off the bat, but he acquiesced.”

Even though I already kind of know why, I ask her, “Then why are you isolating yourself from us? Look at Sunny Sunyoung. There’s a good chance .02% of her still hates us, but she’s in the living room right now chatting with Mingji. Don’t be pre-Goddess Sunyoung.”

She pats my thigh with a smile forming on her lips. “Thanks, now I know what to avoid becoming.” She sighs. “I just don’t like to think of my life without Goddess. He made it sound like he wanted me to leave you guys for good in exchange for being signed under his company, and that’s not the path I want to take.” There’s a pause and she squeezes my hand. “But I just think about the opportunities they could provide that Woollim can’t and some part of me wants to go ahead with it.”

There’s nothing I can formulate in my head that seems to be a good enough response to her, so I do the only thing that I know she’ll at least find some comfort in: feeding her jjajangmyun via the airplane method.