CHAPTER NINETEEN:Lee Sung Jong

There was a lot of movement. In the hallway, in the waiting rooms, even inside the studio where the public was ecstatic waiting for the upcoming performances. Everyone in the backstage was using loud voices. Idols in their stage clothes were walking around in the corridors while others were getting something fixed inside the small rooms. Some of them were busy playing around while some more were occupied concentrating on what they were going to do next. Perform.

The staff members and managers could be seen running around bringing with them the last minute item that was needed for the show. Some nervous laughs could be heard. Shouts too.  Everyone was getting ready. They all were alert that Inkigayo was about to start.

A thin but tense wave could be felt in the backstage of the studio. No one was relaxed, not even the sunbaes that had spent plenty of years doing music programs. The sunbaes knew it better than anyone else; they knew how scary and unstable the television was. One always had to wait for the most unexpected things to happen and be prepared to fix them in the moment while being eyed by those dark monsters that recorded their every move.

It had only been five years but Infinite couldn’t be considered a rookie group anymore. In those five years they had learnt so much about the dangerous industry and the ungrateful media. Little by little, Infinite had gained the respect from other idol groups and from outsiders too. Their name had grown a lot, now they weren't that far to form part of the big ones. That’s why they were there too, preparing for their awaited comeback after almost a year.

Inside the waiting room that they were sharing with WonderBoyz, SungJong was curled in the left side of the small loveseat. He was busy watching on the room’s screen LeeHi’s outstanding performance. Unlike others, watching idols’ stages made the maknae feel calmer. This was the only way he managed to forget the accelerated way his heart was beating. DongWoo, who was seating next to him, was listening to his iPod with his eyes closed. The headphones were placed in a curious way since he couldn’t mess up with his already styled dark purple hair. Hoya on the other side was showing some Speechless’ dance movements to MinYoung and TaeHyun. They were surprised by how queasy it was. Infinite was instantly recognized because of that.

“Aish, it itches so much,” SungGyu hissed suddenly as he watched intently his face on the mirror. It was amazing the thick layer of make-up didn’t crack as he spoke.

SungJong, who was close to him, heard. “You still can’t get used to make-up, Hyung?”

SungGyu touched his cheeks carefully while a frown formed in his forehead before he caught from the mirror’s reflection WooHyun. He was in the hallway, leaning on their doorframe as he chatted loudly with Key. SHINee was finishing their latest single promotion on Inkigayo.

“Not the stage make-up. It’s like wearing a mask.”

“They all feel the same for me,”  SungJong shrugged getting a cold glare from the leader.

On a normal day SungGyu would have played along with the maknae’s words but not that day. The leader was feeling pretty sensible over every single thing. He could blame that irritation on plenty of things; the accumulated stress, the lack of sleep or the slight soreness he still had in his throat. Either way, SungGyu wasn’t able to control his irritation. 

“Aish! Where the heck’s that hairdresser?” SungGyu shook strongly with his hands the un-styled locks before dropping on the closest chair. His camel coloured fringe barely covered his glaring orbs.

Knowing their leader wasn’t his usual self, SungJong smiled helplessly. “We still have some time, Hyung.” 

When SungGyu noticed the expression on the youngest member, he sighed. Yes, there was always time to fix everything. It wasn’t the first time someone had a last minute hairstyle or improvised outfit. In other words, the leader was simply overreacting. 

“SungGyu-ya,” Their manager said as he walked quickly through the opened door. In his face one could see perfectly the lack of sleep. “SooRim-sshi’s coming. You’re the last one.”

“Finally,” SungGyu grimaced getting a tired look from Geonam. 

“Hyung, do we have time to ask for some chicken?” DongWoo asked after he removed the big headphones from his ears. The calm expression on his face didn’t match with his usual self.  

“I’m starving,” SungJong added getting an unbelievable look from SungGyu. How could they be hungry in such a moment?

“We can’t. You’ll go on air in twenty,” The stress in Geonam’s voice aggravated the leader’s fret and somehow, the member’s hunger disappeared.  

“Twenty?” it was then that Hoya intervened. The dancer stopped his actions when he listened the word ‘chicken’. “But Gyu-hyung isn’t ready yet.”

As those words were said Infinite’s hairdresser arrived giving several apologies to Geonam and SungGyu. Politely they accepted them but the fact that both males didn’t want them in that moment was pretty obvious. What they wanted was for the leader’s hair to be fixed right then. There was no time to waste. They were minutes away from their comeback and they weren’t ready.

SungGyu snorted finding his actual situation quite ironic.

“You know how this works. I need everyone to stay here and wait calmly for your time. Okay?” Geonam said before turning to the door. “Did you hear me, WooHyun?”

“Yes, I heard you, Hyung,” WooHyun answered turning his gaze to the waiting room. Seconds later is eyes went slightly bigger.

Hoya noticed it. “What now?”

“Where’s L?”

Of all the members that could go missing in the last minute it had to be MyungSoo the one. Usually, he would be seating in the room silently repeating the lyrics while waiting for a staff member to tell them their moment came. If he had to leave – usually for using the toilet – he would do it but just for the necessary minutes. He didn’t like to goof around like the other members. Still, L was missing and right then the group couldn’t be sparse. Not when they were a few minutes away from going live.

“Found him,” HoWon, who was sent to look for him, announced as he pushed MyungSoo inside the waiting room. The dancer’s facial expression was a rather uncomfortable one.

“Thank you Hoya.”

SungGyu’s voice was low before he turned to the missing member. L wasn’t looking at him, he kept his eyes on the floor while two staff members began to work on the microphone the young idol was supposed to wear. 

“This isn’t a game, MyungSoo. If you’re gonna go play do it somewhere else and out of Infinite.”

His sharp words surprised the present outsiders. Their manager kept quiet letting SungGyu call his donsaeng’s attention.

“I’m sorry, Hyung,” L never lifted his gaze. “It won’t happen again.”

“Good.”

“Infinite?”

A male from Inkigayo’s staff asked as he stood close to the doorframe. His voice brought chills to all the members. They knew the reason for his question.

“Yes, they are.” Geonam answered before eyeing the six males he had been taking care of for five years now.

“You’re in five. I need you to follow me.”

♫

She looked great in her dark purple dress and elecric blue high heels. Always showing that bright smile that made Ailee famous around the newest MCs Idols. IlHoon, unlike her, kept his usual sly smile that managed to call everyone’s attention. He was surprisingly dressing a slick blue suit.

“With perfect choreographies and outstanding lyrics.”

IlHoon words bloomed as soon as the director signalled they were on line. 

“Leaving speechless anyone that looks their way,” Ailee continued with a cute grin before extending her right arm to the side. “Comeback after almost a year. Infinite!”

 “One, two, three. Hello everyone we’re Infinite.”

After bowing respectfully to the cameras the guys waved with their friendly smiles creating a warmth atmosphere and not the usual awkward one. The shouts that could be heard on the backstage reminded them of all the support Infinite was getting.

“Good to see you back,” IlHoon could only grin when he met SungGyu’s eyes. “Tell us. What kind of music can we expect from your newest album Not Enough?”

“Yes. For this album we decided to take the risky side. There’s a new colour in our music and the choreographies are greater that the past ones we’ve done. Even with that our fans can still feel it belongs to Infinite.” SungGyu spoke quickly knowing they didn’t have much time. “Also, in Not Enough we added three ballads to show our group's vocal talent..”

“That means we’re going to see another side of Infinite,” Ailee received positive short answers. “The single song Speechless just came and it’s amazing. Can you introduce us your song?”   

“Ah, yeah,” Hoya took the lead this time. “Speechless is about falling in love at first sight. It’s about that moment when you just can’t speak and end up admiring that person you’ve just met.”

“Just like our leader said,” L added. “The choreography is completely different from the ones we’ve done before. We hope everyone can watch and enjoy our performance.”

“I’m really excited for it!” IlHoon looked quickly at the notes. “Before we see Infinite in action we got coming up. y, fresh and fearless SISTAR!”

“And the energy bomb, WonderBoyz.”  Ailee added with a deeper voice.

“Now let’s see B1A4! Music Start!”

Both host ended having the Infinite members waving while others made some aegyo at the camera. The atmosphere seemed pretty cheerful but it changed completely the moment the director cut their airing. When the lights went off not only the MCs but the staff moved quickly from the interview area to their next spot while Infinite was asked to go back to their waiting room.

Having the short interview meant they were about to go on stage. That’s why none of the members left the waiting room that was now empty. The WonderBoyz had left to get ready. The boys received a few quick visits from rookie groups and some old friends from the media. JungRyul had been kind enough to bring them some kimbap to entertain the hungry members. 

While the main dancers and SungJong were busy stuffing themselves, MyungSoo’s phone went off. SungGyu noticed how the boy’s usual inexpressive eyes opened slightly when he noticed the caller’s ID. Trying to act calm, he stood up and walked to the exit but before he left L turned to look at the leader. It was pretty interesting how he didn’t need to speak to get L’s attention. An exchange of looks was quickly made before MyungSoo actually left the waiting room to answer the call. Yes, the warning had been done. And it had been done so well that some minutes after the other members finished devouring the food L came back.

“Something wrong?” SungGyu asked when L took a seat next to him. The way MyungSoo had walked proved there was something bothering the younger member.

L sighed not wanting to see the leader in the eyes.

“I don’t know.”

The answer did confuse Infinite’s leader but he had no time to dig for more information since another Inkigayo’s staff member appeared at their door. He could ask MyungSoo later, right now they had to collect themselves for their first stage comeback. The only thing SungGyu could do was press tightly L’s knee in a reassuring manner before he called the younger members to get ready.

Now it was real. Their moment had finally come.

Even with the lights being barely null the young males managed to find their spot. Even if they had performed in that special stage plenty of times before, it still held that new sensation for SungGyu.

As they were getting ready, they could listen perfectly to SHINee’s interview. SungGyu didn’t pay attention to it. He usually did but the raspy sensation in his throat kept him busy. He passed some saliva trying to calm the slight irritation. When he noticed there had been no result, he cursed under his breath. Singing Wish Me Love wasn’t going to be that pleasing.

When the cheering got louder SungGyu drifted his gaze to the other members. The serious and concentrated looks on their faces made him feel rather proud and scared.

Then it came, the phrase they had been waiting for since they arrived to the set.

“Music, Start!”

The cheering got louder as the lights turned a softer bluish colour. A catchy piano melody was heard and it was then that another brighter light illuminated the six members. While all this happened, SungGyu tried his best to relax himself. After SungJong's second verse he was supposed to intervene in Wish Me Love. His line was special, it brougth the radical change before the chorus. Being that or just one simple line, he had to do it right.

Careful, delicate but sweet. SungGyu managed to emit that kind of sound even with his throat condition. 

I can do this, SungGyu thought as they all started to sing the chorus of the fresh summer-like song. Until then he began to enjoy it.

It was obvious the boy’s vocal training had gotten stronger. There were almost no mistakes, at least for the people that didn’t know that much about music. People could barely listen to the raspy voice the leader had. The feelings were expressed rightly and the emotion was completely sent to the listeners. The loud chants and screams proved they had done a good job with their ballad but they couldn’t rest on their laurels. They were half done with their first stage. Now the real thing was about to start... 

The first strong chord and the first perfectly synchronized movement gave start to their awaited comeback. Finally. Speechless was being performed in Inkigayo.

The shouts and cheers that were released got vanished between the music and when the time came for SungGyu to start the song everything in front of him turned bright. Like most of his stage performances – whenever he gave his all – the public disappeared and he, blinded by the overcoming feelings, danced; just listening to the music and feeling the every move of the other members.

His listening sense duplicated as he paid attention to every little sound in their song. In the second line he could hear it, how the slight soreness in his throat kept creating a pretty raspy sound but SungGyu decided to ignore it. Hopeful he was the only one that had noticed it.  

The songs never last so long, but it amazing how many sensations can be felt in those few minutes. How many things they are able to see and how much energy could be used in just one song.

Their movements kept being precise and strong. Their performance kept the energy it held, at least until SungJong’s turn to sing came. The line he was supposed to sing after the first bridge wasn’t heard. SungJong’s voice never came out. The music sounded but no lyrics were said. It was pretty obvious a line was supposed to be there, people knew the song thanks to the Internet but there was none and the averted eyes from the maknae showed he had noticed the mistake. He had skipped SungYeol’s line.

There was no time to cover the mistake; they could only keep on going but DongWoo thought otherwise. Just as his rap came he walked to the front when he had to go to the left. Hoya, noticing what was actually going on, moved up to the front too and it all changed. Without the leader noticing, the choreography had been changed to the original one.

A wave of anger covered SungGyu when he noticed the change. It took his brain a while to find his new position and follow the other members who had caught the change right away. There was nothing he could do. He couldn’t make them go back to the second choreography. His own members had trapped the leader. The only thing SungGyu could do was to keep up with them and not let the radical action affect their performance. But it wasn’t easy. Not when SungYeol’s space was perfectly seen.

As if things couldn’t get worse WooHyun decided to skip too SungYeol’s line. Hoya did too.  

When Speechless was over and the lights went off. SungGyu’s satisfied smirk changed into a deadly serious expression.

Kim SungGyu was pissed.