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       L E E  T A E H Y U N       

— July 3, 2011 | Pro Entertainment ; Cheongdam-dong, Seoul

For the umpteenth time today, ROT.N started up another run-through of their song “I Feel Good.” Earlier today, they had finished their fourth stage and first performance on Inkigayo, so by now, they must be tired. Well, it’ll be a while before they can get a good break.

From the corner of the room, I scrutinized each member’s movements. In the eyes of those that watched their debut stage on television, they did quite well, but to those that saw them live, they were okay. As expected, they were a little awkward. They improved slightly in the performances after that and I won’t deny that they tried hard, but I’m afraid that’s not good enough.

Their movements were stiff. Their facial expressions were either a little off or too forced. There were mistakes that shouldn’t have been made.

Soojung held back. Ava nearly overdid it. Jinae reversed the choreography once or twice. Youngchan lagged behind.

I was furious.

But I held my tongue. After watching their first stage, I think they understood what needed to be fixed. I sighed and rubbed my temple. These problems never happened before. At least everyone else thought they did well. I was one of the few with a different opinion.

“Stop.”  I paused the music and pushed myself off of the wall. They’d been practicing for three hours and looked ready to drop. Ava glared at me venomously. Ha, as if that would do anything. “Who knows why I stopped you?”

“Because you’re an ?” Ava muttered loud enough for me to hear. I didn’t even need to see her lips move. Youngchan might be pretty cold, but she’d never do what Ava does. I smirked and laughed drily, causing the girls to give each other looks.

“That’s exactly the reason,” I spat. I paced back and forth and shook my head. I looked at them before continuing. “You’re handling this choreography as if you just learned it. Why?”

I looked at Jinae who held her head up high and had tightly closed. Right next to her, Soojung had turned her gaze to the floor. I glanced at Ava who crossed her arms and stared at me hardly. Youngchan turned her head as soon as we made eye contact. I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck.

“Look, I know you guys can do better and your performances have improved from the first one, but you have to step it up. I’ve seen the four of you do so much better than this.” I rubbed my hands together and sighed. “I’m going to go now. If you want to keep practicing, go ahead. But if you want to go home and rest, I understand. I’ll see you when I see you.”

And on that note, I left.

       R Y U  H A N B Y U L       

“Hi, Taehyun-oppa!”

I smiled and bowed as said dance instructor neared me. He gave me a look and shook his head.

“Hanbyul, could you be any ruder? You’re supposed to treat people with respect,” he scoffed. I blinked and bowed even lower.

“I apologize,” I said sarcastically, trying to suppress a laugh. I bounced back up and crossed my arms. “So, what brings you here?”

“Well, I definitely don’t work here.”

Oh. “Forgive me for trying to make small talk,” I huffed. It’s always like this with Taehyun. I may not work with him often because Du Yeonghon doesn’t really dance, but I see him enough to be on friendly terms with him. “I just wanted to know what’s up.”

“I was just watching the ROT.N girls go through their choreography,” he answered less harshly. He stuck his hands in his pockets and nodded his head. “Yeah…they’re working hard. Anyway, I gotta go, Hanbyul. See you later.”

I waved as he went the opposite direction. He doesn’t look too happy, I thought as I watched his slumped figure make his way down the stairs. I guess he’s not pleased with something that the girls are doing. Based on their performances, I think they’ve done well, but I remember Hyunshik telling me how tough Taehyun can be. I shrugged and continued to climb up the steps to the third floor. I don’t really have any serious business here today, but I’m bored. I’ve been sitting around my apartment all day so I decided to come here to bug my brother. I really shouldn’t bother him since he’s probably working with the other boys on their album, but I don’t know what else to do. Anyway, he better be happy because I went to the trouble of buying ice cream for him and everyone else.

As soon as I was on the third floor, I headed to the first recording studio and peered through the window in the door. It was empty. I tried the next one. It was empty as well. They’re here right? I tried the next one and was pleased to see a lit-up room occupied by a group of people. Grinning and knowing that I found who I was looking for I pushed the door open and was welcomed with despondent rapping.

“I’ll say I’m hurt and just keep it in // I’ll keep it in because you said you don’t like guys who make things obvious // Where did you go? // You said you’d be next to me but whe –“

The song was cut off when I was finally noticed.

“Byul!” Hyunshik got up from his seat and gave me a hug as if he hadn’t seen me in week when we saw each other this morning. He raised my hands and examined the bag. “You brought ice cream!” …that explains the hug. He definitely knew I had ice cream as soon as he saw me.

“Ice cream?”

The others stood up, looking as if they had just woken up from a long nap. They all looked a little tired and…sad? They looked as if something heavy was pulling them down.

“What’s up with you guys?” I asked, allowing Daeho to slip between Hyunshik and me and take the bag of ice cream. “You all look as if you’ve just broken up with your girlfriends or something.”

Sunho snorted as he pulled out a small carton of coffee flavored ice cream from the plastic bag.

“That’s the kind of what the song we’re working on right now is about,” Myeon told me. He smiled and held up his own carton of ice cream. “And thank you, Hanbyul-ah.”

“No problem,” I chirped, resting on the arm of one of the leather couches. Hyunshik slipped into the seat next to me, followed by Woojung and Sunho. “How long have you all been cooped up in here?”

“At least ten hours,” Woojung groaned. He rubbed his eyes and suppressed a yawn. “We’ve gotten two songs done today, so we now have seven potential songs for our album.”

“We’re still far from finished, noona,” Daeho added. He eyed his own carton of ice cream before eating a spoonful. I bit the inside of my mouth as I suddenly remembered that ice cream is a bad idea on a recording day. Well, it looks as if they’re finished. Sorry everyone, I thought. “We’re taking the day off tomorrow so we can rest our voices and then it’s back to work.”

I nodded my head as if to approve of their schedule, although that didn’t matter because everyone was focused on eating. Few words were exchanged and I took the time to analyze their faces as they ate peacefully. There was an air of excitement that surrounded them, as opposed to the bored looks I had seen on their faces many times before. If Hyunshik wasn’t my brother and if we didn’t all live in the same building, then I wouldn’t have seen them as much as I have this year. Honestly, no one has seen them that much this year. As a group, they haven’t really done anything since last summer. They held a series of concerts throughout the country and Sunho and Woojung released their EP, but their activities stopped once summer ended. They worked themselves to the point of exhaustion during the first half of 2010, and then they went on hiatus. They deserved the break and enjoyed it for a month or two. But eventually, they got bored.

When Kylla, Cha Cha, Jaehoo and I were promoting in October, Sunho and Woojung would almost beg to promote with us for our song “Bad Boy.” Hyunshik would either never leave my apartment or drag me out to go shopping or have dinner. They managed calmed down by December and learned how to deal with their boredom. In January, Myeon had his Dream High gig so the boys practically gravitated towards their leader. After his show ended, I didn’t see much of him or the others until last month when they started working on their new album. There’s definitely more energy in their eyes now that they have something that they love to do.

“Hey, Hanbyul.” I looked up and turned to Woojung. “Since you’re here you should listen to the songs we’ve finished so far and tell us what you think.”

“Sure!” I conceded cheerily. “Has anyone else heard the songs yet?”

“Cha-noona, Kyle-hyung, and Hwang-sajangnim have heard them. That’s about it,” Sunho answered. He stifled a yawn and stopped Woojung before he could play one of the tracks. “Hyung, start with “Bad Girl.” She’ll like that one.”

“You got it.” He leaned over the desk and used the computer mouse to click around until he found what he was looking for. He stood up straight after pressing play and turned around confidently, raising his hands. “Let the magic begin!”

I laughed and watched everyone else get up and instantly start grooving to the song. It was such a drastic change in comparison to the slightly dispirited atmosphere from before. Like the chick magnets they are, Woojung and Sunho simultaneously bowed in front of me and pulled me up to dance with them and the others. Pretty soon, everyone was cracking up because Hyunshik started to krump and Daeho tried to follow along. Daeho’s a pretty decent dancer, but krumping isn’t style. Soon enough, I was bent over with tears forming in my eyes because I was laughing so hard.

These people. I love them!

       L E E  J I N A E       

— July 4, 2011 | Nonhyeon Plaza ; Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Time: half past two in the morning. Place: ROT.N’s dorm. Objective: find my phone.

After a grueling day of practicing and performing, we walked from Pro Ent to our dorm and were home a little before two in the morning. Out of the four of us, I was the last to take a shower. I had slapped on a face mask and was on my way out of the bathroom when I realized that I don’t know where my phone is. And that brings us up to speed.

With a towel still wrapped around my head, I scurried throughout our apartment in search of the device that keeps me sane while throwing pillows across the room and opening cabinets as I passed them. Where did I put it? I definitely had it when we came back from that ridiculous rehearsal. Why am I so forgetful when it comes to things like this? It was just last week that I lost my keys. Like, I really lost them. Luckily, I managed to get a replacement before Jung-unnie could find out. If she found out, she’d have my head.

I sighed and stomped my feet in frustration. Youngchan side-eyed me from the couch and changed the channel from some third-rate drama to another third-rate drama. As if she had the right; she was wearing a pink hoodie with bunny ears and matching shorts that had a carrot decal on the leg. Sorry, but I don’t think you can side-eye me when you’re ROT.N’s “y powerhouse queen” while you’re dressed like a pink rabbit and not following our diet by eating ramyun at nearly three in the morning. I snorted at that last thought. Her face is going to be puffy in the morning.

“Quit laughing at me,” Youngchan said flatly. “And put on some clothes.”

“Why?” I remembered that not only was I wearing a towel around my head, but I was also still wearing a towel around my body. I struck a pose. “Am I too pretty?”

I giggled as she only shook her head and returned to watching TV. Okay, back to business. I put my hand on my hip and looked around. Where is my phone!? I entered the kitchen and found Soojung and Ava at the counter with their eyes focused on our shared laptop. I scooted around them and looked over their shoulders to see what had captured their attention.

“Who are they?” I asked as I saw a group of seven guys dressed like…janitors? What?

“They’re called Block B,” Ava answered without tearing her eyes away from the screen. “I think they debuted in March, but this is their most recent song. And their rappers are pretty decent.” She sat back and folded her arms. I leaned forward a bit to check her expression: she looked slightly impressed.

“March?” I took the chair next to Ava and sat down. “So they’re our sunbaes by just a few months.” I checked the release date of the music video. “This came out just a couple of days before ours? Huh, maybe we’ll see them during promotions.”

Suddenly, Soojung let out a little sneeze-cough-squeak. I raised my brow and suppressed a small laugh. She was hugging her knees and staring at the screen. She looked like a little kid! But my smile turned into a frown when I realized that the bags on her eyes were more defined than they were yesterday and her skin was rather pallid.

“Hey, Soojung,” I said. She sleepily turned towards me. “It sounds like you’re getting sick. You should sleep and take some medicine.”

“I’m okay.” Her voice was really soft and she still had not looked away from the laptop screen. There was some guy with dreads rapping and jumping around. Oh, the scene switched to a dance battle? Interesting. I looked back at Soojung. She was rubbing her eyes. “I just want to finish watching this.”

“She wouldn’t be so tired if Taehyun wasn’t such a douchebag,” Ava muttered irritably. Her mood changed drastically from pleased to more than annoyed. As Block B’s song died down, Ava’s temper flared up. From the corner of my eye, I saw Soojung slink away to her room and I heard Youngchan turn up the volume of the television slightly.

“He has his reasons for being tough on us,” I reasoned, hoping to avoid the full blast of Ava’s firecracker-like temper. It’s not difficult to prevent her from losing it since she usually has control of her anger, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t scary. “We just have to work hard – “

“Jinae, please.” Ava cut me off. “I think we both know the performances would be better if Taehyun choreographed a singer-friendly dance. Or if everyone back at Pro Ent wasn’t so bent on having you three sing everything without backups. Let’s be real.” Her voice began to steadily rise, but she took a moment to calm down a bit. She sat back and waved her hand. “With the public’s unrealistic expectations of entertainers these days, there’s no way we can avoid using backups, or straight up lip syncing when it’s necessary. It’s either that or we change the choreography to something that allows more time for singing and less dancing. Our performances would be nearly flawless if people took that into consideration. I doubt our work ethic is the reason we’re struggling.”

I stayed quiet. She had a point. We’re in a tough situation and concerning our performances, it’s one or the other, but it’s not like we really have a choice. We’ve only just started; we can’t really do anything until we at least make some sort of name for ourselves. She should know that.

“Everyone’s so ridiculous,” Ava continued. I frowned as kept running and she began to raise her voice again. “God, it’s so annoying. Taehyun’s always ordering us around, Jung is always on my case, we haven’t slept well in the past four months, everyone is criticizing us, and – “

I snapped.

Ava may be known for her strong and fiery personality, but she’s not the only one with a temper.

“Quit complaining,” I told her. She stopped talking and glared at me. Youngchan’s drama kept playing in the background. “You signed up for this. You’ve been preparing yourself for this moment for four years. You should have known how things would be once we debuted.”

“Don’t act so high and mighty just because you’re our leader,” Ava scoffed. “You’re only our leader because you’re the oldest. Anyway, why are you okay with being treated like this? I never thought you were one to be a puppet!”

A puppet? That’s ridiculous. I opened my mouth to say something, but I stopped myself. The dark circles around Ava’s eyes were especially noticeable today. I took a deep breath and exhaled. We’re tired. We’ve had a long day. I tried to calm down.

“Ava,” I started slowly. “You know we won’t have much control for a while. We’re rookies. All we can do is work harder.”

“Work harder? We have been working hard! I’ve been working for this for practically my whole life!” She was standing now. “How much longer do I have to be treated like crap?!”

“We just started!” I got up. “You let something as silly as impatience get the best of you. It’s been less than a week since we debuted! How can you expect to be treated like a queen when no one even knows our names yet?” My shoulders slumped and I sighed. Ava looked at me with contempt. I fiddled with my fingers and looked at the floor before speaking again. I can’t fight with her. Yeah, I was only chosen to be the leader because I’m the oldest, but that doesn’t mean I can neglect the duties that have been bestowed upon me. As leader, I have to maintain order within this group. I opened my mouth to speak. “Just a little bit longer.”

“What?” she snapped.

“Just a little bit longer. We’ll have to be…”puppets” for a little bit longer.” I struggled to not say that last bit harshly. Puppets? How awful. But I’ll have to try not to think about that comparison too much. I stared at Ava and the fire in her seemed to die down. “Anyway, we should go to sleep. Jung-unnie said something about there being a big meeting tomorrow. Good night.”

I left her in the kitchen. I don’t think she did anything else after I left. Youngchan didn’t say anything as I walked between her and the television; I didn’t even look at her. I entered the room I shared with the maknae and closed the door behind me.

We’ve had a rough day. I looked in the mirror and couldn’t help but laugh. I was wearing nothing but a towel and a face mask. How did Ava not mention that while we were fighting? I shook my head and opened the top drawer of my dresser. My eyes widened with slight surprise when I saw what was lying on top of my clothes. It must have fallen in when I was going through my clothes before I took a shower.

It was my phone.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE
UM.
IS IT JUST ME
OR DID THAT UPDATE TAKE FOREVER?????

Wow, I am so sorry.
I meant to update in December, but I guess that was delayed for another month and a little more?
I have decided that I will not tell you wonderful people of when I plan to update so I can avoid directly disappointing you when I don't.
I guess all updates will be a surprise from now on?
Again, I am so sorry.

Anyway, a lot of stuff is going on! I hinted at some things hmm.
Some of the things I hinted at in this chapter are also hinted at in previous ones.
I actually tried to incorporate a lot into this chapter since not much is really going on.
And the characters! I tried to pay more attention to their habits, likes, dislikes, etc. ^__^
I want everyone to get to know the stars of the show better~
I also have a better idea of what I want to do with the plot!
Yay~

Thank you so much for reading and subscribing!
See you next time! Lol

     
Happy Valentine's Day!
 

February 15, 2014