5am found them all comfortably asleep, but the many alarms woke them up soon enough. Even Jaesun and Gongchan were up today without the normal routines.

“I’m running back. I’ll see you guys later, okay?”, Shim Jang said, and with that, she was off.

“Where were you?”, Chan Hee screeched when she got back.

“Ran over to the guys for a bit, don’t worry, I’m back!’, Shim Jang said, hastily.

“Tell us next time, little one, okay?”, Soo Ri said, yawning.

Soori stuck a strawberry in Soo Ri’s yawning mouth.

“Did they sleep at all?”, she asked Shim Jang.

Shim Jang grinned, “I hope our makeup artists are good at covering up dark circles!”

“Oppppaaa, why are you so handsome”, Jaesun said, popping up out of nowhere to examine himself next to Kyuhyun at the mirror.

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes and shoved Jaesun out of the mirror frame.

But he was back in the next second, saying, “Oh… so handsome, so good-looking.”

Jaesun could see Kyuhyun sigh heavily in the mirror and grinned.

“Just don’t trip over yourself today”, Kyuhyun muttered to Jaesun.

“Move over”, Gongchan said, and used his to push Kyuhyun and Jaesun to the side.

“I wasn’t finished!”, Kyuhyun said, pushing back.

“But… sharing is caring”, Gongchan said, making puppy eyes.

Kyuhyun groaned and left to find another mirror.

“Well done”, Jaesun complimented Gongchan on his maneuver to get the mirror.

Gongchan grinned.      

“You know, I think red hair suits me”, Jaesun said, also squirming his way into the mirror.

“Yeah, whatever, Charmander”, Gongchan replied.

“Hey, your blonde hair suits you too”, Jaesun said.

“Why didn’t your sister change her hair?”, Gongchan asked Jaesun (referring to Soori).

Jaesun shrugged, “She’s just au natural, I guess. Why? You want her to?”

Gongchan shrugged, “I don’t really care.”

Jaesun eyed Gongchan and said, “Kyuhyun is enough to have in the family.”

“What?”, Gongchan asked, but Jaesun had already left.

Their schedule went a little something like this:

7am-9am: Photoshoot for High Cut

9:15am-10:45am: Warm Up Vocals/ Stretching

11am-12pm: 1VS Interview

12:30pm-3:30pm: Rehearsal at Musicbank’s Indoor Stage in Seoul, Korea

3:30pm-5:30pm: Dressing & Hair & Makeup

5:30pm-5:45pm: Last Checks on Microphones, Costumes. Doors open for seating.

6:00pm-10:00pm: DEBUT CONCERT AT MUSICBANK’S INDOOR STAGE IN SEOUL KOREA

Right now, it was 7am, and the 1VS members were all dressed up 18^th century style; meaning for boys: glasses, ties, button ups, and slicked forward hair and for girls: high collared dresses, lace, curls, eyelashes and bold lipstick).

Their backdrop was a room with a stand-up mirror, a window with lace curtains and a windowsill large enough to sit on, mahogany table with a chess game in session, two finely embroidered couches and an extravagant chandelier.  

Kyuhyun and JiHyun were seated at the table, seemingly locked in a game of intense chess. Gongchan was supposedly looking at the mirror, straightening out his bowtie. Jason was actually sleeping on the windowsill, with Chu in his arms. Sky was on one of the couches, his elbow on his knee and staring straight forward, as if deep in thought. On the floor at the other end of the couch was Jin. She was propped up with her back leaning on the couch, and staring out the window. On the other couch sat Chan Hee, Soori, and Shim Jang. The three of them had their heads cocked and were looking straight into the camera. Soori and Chan Hee were holding hands. Shim Jang had her chin in her hands, cutely making a blowfish face. And Soo Ri was directly under the chandelier, looking up at its gorgeous hanging jewels.

On another picture all nine members were crowded around the legitimately sleeping Jaesun, staring at the sleeping boy as though mesmerized by his good looks and cuteness.

And then it was time for solo portraits. First Soo Ri, then Gongchan, and after that, Chan Hee, Jason, Sky, Shim Jang, and so on…

“Not bad”, Soo Ri remarked, looking at Chan Hee’s picture. Chan Hee grinned and retorted, “Twice as good as yours, right?”

“How do you describe this picture, exactly?”, Shin said, cocking his head as he looked at his picture on the monitor.

Sky looked at it also and had to hold back an exclamation of surprise.

Shin was sitting promptly on the couch, twirling a knight in one hand, but in between his teeth was a white king. His facial expression could only be described as growling and his perfectly slicked back hair was all over the place.

“Um… aggressive?”, Sky suggested.

“Kyuhyun’s good with words, right? Let’s ask him”, Shin said, and dragged him over.

Kyuhyun took one look and said, “Fanatical”.

Shin nodded approvingly at Kyuhyun’s one word description and asked, “This one?”

Soo Ri flashed onto the screen. Her eyes were wide, open, honest, and yet somehow mystical… who could tell what lay beyond those glittering eyes? Her perfectly curled hair framed her face gorgeously, and her tresses streamed down her shoulders. Those lips…

“Perfect”, Kyuhyun remarked, before he walked away.

Interviewers: Leeteuk from Super Junior & Kang Sora

Leeteuk: Hello, viewers. Now, I have the extremely anticipated group, Universe, with me! Please introduce yourselves.

Shin: We are:

Universe: Those with starlight, UNIVERSE! (Two stars are formed between the 5 members of Chrome and 5 members of Epik Love! [They cross their arms across each other.])

[Fast forward Ind. Introductions]

Leeteuk: Fantastic, your introduction was very awesome. Now, I heard Universe is a group that had a lot of guidance from the beginning to now. How was that process for you?

Chan Hee: Yes, we did have an amazing amount of guidance from the Presidents, SNSD, SHINee, Big Bang, Exo, Miss A, and 2pm sunbaenims. But even with all of this wonderful guidance, I feel like the ones who helped us the most, through our hardest and most challenging times, are our main mentors, Beast and Epik High, and also the other members of Universe. When you are training, sometimes you feel a very distant feeling, because you’re so focused on music for so long, you don’t really hang out with your friends and family like you used to, and so… the ones who made me feel complete the most, were my fellow group members. But none of us could have survived without help from our awesome sunbaenims.

Leeteuk: From being in a boy group myself, I can understand what you mean when you say your members are your brightest support. But, coming from an co-ed group, what was that like? Was it harder to become friends for members of Chrome to become friends with Epik Love!, and vice versa?

King: Wow… I don’t even think I remember that far back. It’s hard to remember a time when we weren’t living together… but, I do think that I became close with the boys first. I think it’s because I lived with them first, so I saw them far more often than the girls. Also, I have a lot of caring hyungs on Chrome, so it was easy for me, personally, to become open and honest with them. But when a boy is around a girl, you become… you know (blushes slightly), you start to act more independently in some ways, whether you mean to or not, and that creates a bit of a barrier around you and the opposite gender. But once I started to work with them, it was incredibly easy to open up to them as well. Gender wasn’t really an issue here, for anything. 

Shim Jang: Except the whole dressing-room incident when we first got our outfits…

Sora: What was that?

King: Nothing! She said nothing, really.

Leeteuk: Haha, all right. We’ll let that one pass. Seems like you need to keep your main dancer from spilling all the secrets! (Kingglares at Shim Jang*)All right, Shim Jang, what do you think are the benefits of being a co-ed group?

Shim Jang: Honestly, everything. What we can provide for any fans is far more diverse than just a boygroup or girlgroup, which is not meant to insult any of our sunbaenims, but just the harmony of two people of opposite genders singing together or dancing together allows people to see a peaceful harmony you can’t see anywhere else. I mean, it’s power and grace together, and sometimes it’s the girl who is fierce and the boy who is very classy, and sometimes it’s the boy who is powerful and the girl who is gentle and soft. But it’s always amazing to see how two different personalities and figures collaborate to create music, art, and friendships. I feel like, as humans, we are naturally interested to see how different genders interact, not just romantically, but as friends and members.

Sora: So you’re telling me that there are no couples within the members of this group?

Jason: There really are none, unless it’s sibling-wise, because both my sister, Laiqa, and I, are Jungs.

Leeteuk: That’s right! So how different is being an idol from what you thought it was when you saw your sisters go through the process?

Jason: Seeing my sisters go through it definitely braced me a little bit for what practices and recordings and photo shoots were going to be like, but for me, the dorm life with the members, and being in a co-ed group was a still a huge unexpected mystery that I had to solve myself. And then, my sisters are very skilled at what they do within their group, but my role was a little different. I’m not in charge of long legs or being beautiful, I’m just in charge of being me, Jason.

Sora: Do you dislike it when you’re just called one of the Jung members?

Laiqa: Well… I dislike it when I am judged based only on the fact that I am a Jung. I actually take immense pride at how much our family has managed to impact the kpop industry, and it’s not a reputation that my brother or I take lightly. (Jason nods*)That being side, like Jason, I feel like I have my own role to fulfill, I am not my gorgeous sister Jessica or my beautiful sister Krysal. I am Laiqa, and I hope people appreciate me based on my personal skills because the work that was put into my skills was one hundred percent me, and I wish people would acknowledge that.

Leeteuk: I don’t think you will have an issue with creating a big identity; you seem very vibrant in your own styles, both of you. Speaking of styles, what is the style of Universe?

Shin: Passion. I mean, I suppose you can get technical and label us as hip hop or ballad or whatever, but that’s not what we think about when we create our own music. And we did create this album mostly by our own ideas; obviously, our sunbaenims helped us with the musical theory and all, but this album… is really something that we put our passion in. It is composed, written, and choreographed by us, and we wanted it that way. Universe is the most invested in group by the Big Three, but we are still… us. Some of the songs are quiet and filled with strangled desire, but others are just raw, energetic, passion. We put ourselves and our beliefs, desires, and thoughts in every single beat, syllable, and so on. It’s about passion, and it became that. We didn’t start by saying, we’re going to write our own music and choreography everything; no, we didn’t have any idea what we were doing when we started, but that’s exactly why we treasure it so much. It’s our honest passion.

Leeteuk: Your album has already sold over 10,000 copies in the span of three days. Why do you think it’s already so popular?

L1GHT: Well, I would think, the fact that it’s our album. I mean, Universe is being supported by the three biggest, most productive companies in the Korean music industry. Furthermore, our sunbaenims are those already incredibly renowned for their amazing talents and skills. I myself would have been extremely interested to see the group in which all of these significant people invested in.

Leeteuk: Agreed! And are people interested in you? I mean, do people recognize you yet when you go out on the streets?

Sky: Not really. I mean, a lot of people point and whisper that I seem really familiar, but no one has come up to me to ask for a sign of anything like that. But we’ve been really carefully the last couple months to keep ourselves undercover, and with our debut coming up, we haven’t been out much lately.

Sora: Enjoy now, because later you’re going to miss being able to travel without being recognized 24/7! So, your fame is spreading! What do you want to get out of your fame?

AN: Well, I can’t really speak as a group for this one… but I want my mother to be able to see me on screen so often that she can’t miss me… for good things, of course.

Sky: I definitely agree.

AN: Yeah, and the other thing I’ve always wanted to do is travel. It seems awesome to perform for international fans! But first, our goal is to score an award here. We really want the chance to thank everyone who has helped us to debut.  

Sora: So you said that you guys wrote your song… Who wrote your debut song?

Jin: We all did, collectively. And we gave lyrics and dance to it too. We created it and gave our dreams life and musical form. And I think you can see that when we perform, we are a lot more confident in this debut song than if we were to debut with a song that was just handed to us by the company.  

Leeteuk: And Jin, what do you think your parents think of you right now? Do you think they are proud of all you have accomplished?

Sky: That-

Chan Hee: Jin…

Jin: (Shushes Sky and Chan Hee*)(Takes a deep breath*) Yeah, I really… hope so. I-I… have a lot to apologize for, actually… to my parents. But I’m hoping that with this debut, they will… come to respect the person I have become… with a lot of hard work and effort.

Leeteuk: Oh… I see. (Awkward pause*)

Shin: I think all of us feel that way about our parents. And from my experience, all idols, to some extent, feel that way. Becoming an idol is a more difficult decision for the parents than for the kids… The kids at least are clear of their goal, but the parents often have a difficult time in understanding. But that’s why we have to have a successful pose, like AN said, we want our parents to be able to turn on the t.v. and see our happy faces.

Leeteuk: That definitely makes sense; I know I and the members of Super Junior felt that way pre-debut. All right, time for me to let you go, any last words you would like to say?

King: HWAITING!

Laiqa jumps, startled*

[Collective Laughter]

Universe: Hwaiting!~ Please support our debut!

Jason: Thank you for viewing!

Director: CUT! Nicely done, thank you!

“This stage is…”, Sky murmured, looking out from a huge stage for the very first time, standing in his spot, the very spot he would reveal his talents and efforts to the world.

“Wow”, Jaesun said, admiring the view as he walked over to Sky.

“Only a few hours left”, Sky said, and slung his arm around Jaesun’s shoulder.

“Hyung, you can’t do things like hugging me or grabbing my hand after we debut. People are going to think we’re a couple, you know?”, Jaesun said, pulling away from Sky.

Sky laughed, “From what I’ve seen, they’re going to ship every member with every other member anyways!”

The others soon followed onto the stage, muttering and exclaiming their surprise.

“This is like…the physical manifestation of glory and heaven”, Kyuhyun said, spreading his arms out and letting the spotlight fall on him for a brief moment.

“What do you think?”, Shim Jang asked JiHyun.

JiHyun smiled, “I prefer smaller stages and gigs.”

Shim Jang looked at him, puzzled.

“You’ll see, little one”, JiHyun said, and lightly ruffled her hair. But Shim Jang watched as JiHyun fondly looked out in the empty rows and rows of seats.

Shim Jang usually forgot that JiHyun was older than her, but it was times like these when she realized he was not only older, but wiser and far more experienced.

“What?”, JiHyun asked. Shim Jang must have been staring…

“Nothing… I just… have a feeling we’re going to do good”, she replied.

JiHyun chuckled, “We’re going to do well.”

Suddenly, Gongchan’s voice came out of nowhere.

“RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! YELLLLLLLL!”

All the members and stage workers and cameramen stared back and forth between him and the audience. There was no one there. And just when the members thought he’d gone round the bend, Gongchan’s face broke into a grin, “Always wanted to do that”, he said happily.

“Can I ask you something, Chan Hee?”, Soo Ri said. She, Soori, and Chan Hee were sitting together, having their hair done. The boys were dressing now, and Jin and Shim Jang were getting makeup done in another far corner of the room.

“What’s up?”, Chan Hee asked.

Soo Ri hesitated briefly before she said, “Why wasn’t Jin comfortable about answering about her parents? When we doing the interview…”

Chan Hee shifted slightly in her seat, “Oh… that…”

“You don’t have to tell us…”, Soori said quickly, “But we were just worried.”

Chan Hee nodded, “I know I can trust you guys, but I also want to hear it from her own mouth. From what I can see, though, I can tell you one thing for sure: she’s handling it absolutely fine on her own.”

And because they trusted each other, Soori and Soo Ri nodded and let it go at that.

I’m scared, Jin thought, as the last microphone checks were occurring. She was sure hers was working properly and was now waiting by one of the five grand doors that would swing open at the start of the debut. Soo Ri and Gongchan, being the faces, were at the middle door. To their right stood Chan Hee and Soori, and to their right was Kyuhyun and Shim Jang. On the far left was Sky and Jin, and in between themselves and the middle door was Jaesun and Shin.

Sky could hear the crowd roaring as he walked up to take his spot. He felt like his heart was going to beat right out of his chest. He swallowed down and stared nervously at his feet.

“Sky?”

Sky looked up to see Jin.

“Street performance”, she whispered to him.

He nodded.

That’s right, he told himself, passion.

Soori felt her heart about to burst… But I have to sing!

Gongchan whispered to her, “You okay?”

Soori nodded, afraid he was going to , but then she couldn’t hide it anymore, and started shaking her head.

Suprisingly, Gongchan nodded and said, “I know, right? Me too. But we’re going to be okay. You hear me? We’ll be okay.”

Soori looked up at him, slowly beginning to believe him.

And Gongchan, who had only said those words to make her believe that they would pull this feat off, slowly found confidence in himself.

Kyuhyun took a deep breath. He was going to leave Kyuhyun behind the door, and become L1GHT the moment the doors opened.

“Cue!”, he heard over his earphone.

“And THREE, TWO-.”

The crowd began to join in, “ONE, ZEROOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

And all five doors slammed open.