The next few days came and went. It was finally June 18th, the day their single and music video would officially be released to the public. At the beginning of the day, the girls wanted to go out and see whether or not their CD was selling but Li Na had kept them back, telling them it was better that they didn't. Either way it went, it could stress them out before their live performance on the 19th. Soojung sighed, getting into position on front of the mirrors of their dance practice room. Since the song was upbeat and happy, Ae Rin and Sunhi had adjusted the dance to express more emotion. The choreographer had officially resigned the very same day she had left, citing work related stress and too much tension for her to work productively. In other words, "their are girls in the group better than me at cheoreography and I don't want to admit it".

       After the six had finished their brief dance practice, Li Na had decided to take them out to eat. "It'll be the last time you can," she had said, "as of today, you're officially Jinju." That had been enough for them to agree to her treating them. Usually, they disliked anyone spending money on them when they often shared expenses together. They had done so since they began living together in the three room dormitory they had been given, payed for by Joo Entertainment.

       "How do you think "Smile" will sell?," Sunhi asked, passing out water bottles to the other girls.

       "I don't know," Hyejae admitted, "maybe people will enjoy it more than we thought."

       "I'm sure it'll sell well." Soralee said, "Didn't you hear about the pre-orders being sold out?"

       "I remember Jungmin mentioning it, but I wasn't sure whether it applied to all stores," Soo Eul said, taking her hair out of it's ponytail.

      "He said something about it being most stores, others didn't sell out but they were pretty close to." Ae Rin answered, "Maybe that means we'll be able to sell a lot before tomorrow."

      "I'm worried about tomorrow," Sunhi admitted, taking her place in their circle, "what if we mess up or something? It'll be bad if something happens on stage tomorrow."

     "That's why we have dress rehearsal." Soralee mentioned kindly, "We'll be able to work out any problems, anything that happens on stage tomorrow will be dealt with. With the amount of training we've had, I'm pretty sure we can handle just about anything that happens."

     "I hope nothing goes wrong," Sunhi said, laying down to relax.

     "I'm sure everything will be fine," Soo Hee replied.

      "We should probably get ready to go out to eat with Li Na and then go to sleep earlier than normal today," Soralee said, beginning to gather her things to tidy up and wait for Li Na to come.

      "I don't care about eating, I just want to know what people think of our song," Sunhi said pouting.

      "We can check before we go to sleep tonight," Soralee replied, "I was planning to anyway."

     "I hope people like it," Hyejae sighed, "It's our first and it seems to have so much hype already."

     "Let's not worry about it for now," Soo Eul replied, "Let's just go eat and not think about this until later. Otherwise we'll just be distracted and Li Na said she had something important to tell us."

     With that, the girls quietly began packing their things away as they wait for Li Na to arrive.

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     It had taken awhile, but the girls were now quietly eating at a restaurant Li Na had recommended that served Italian food. Li Na had told them she had something important to tell them after they finished eating and they wondered if it had anything to do with their single. Either way, they were in no rush to hear it. Finally, Li Na sighed, "I can't wait any longer." She pouted before grabbing her bag and rummaging around in it. The girls looked at her, slightly annoyed she was telling them now. Finally, she pulled out a thin folder and placed it on the table next to Soralee. Soralee picked it up and opened it, looking through the papers before looking at Li Na. "What is this?" She asked putting the folder down.
   
     Li Na smiled, "Candidates for your future manager."
   
    "Why?" Soojung asked, confusion showing on her face.

    "I recently found out I'm pregnant," Li Na said, smiling, "I'm going to resign as a manager at the end of the year and focus on raising my child."

   "So, why are we choosing a new manager?" Hyejae asked, "Isn't it the boss's decision?"

   "I got him to agree to it," Li Na answered, "after you guys chased away that choreographer you didn't like I thought you should choose someone you think you'll be able to work with. You don't have to choose right away, you have a lot of time before you need to focus on that. Still, I thought I'd give you that so you can begin thinking about it." With that, Li Na reached into her bag once again, pulling at a small square piece of paper and another folder. The folder she put on the table in front of her as she held up the smaller piece of paper. On it was a sonogram showing what looked like a small blob. Her baby. "How far along are you?" Soo Eul asked, looking at the blob on the paper.

    "I'm about three months," Li Na answered, "I'm not showing much yet, but I'm sure I will be eventually." She put the paper back into her bag and pushed the folder next to Sunhi. Opening the folder, the maknae of the group looked at Li Na, "Aren't these reviews?" Sunhi asked taking the papers out of the folder.

   "Yup," Li Na answered smiling, "those are the reviews of your single "Smile"."

   Sunhi passed some of the papers to Soojung who passed some on to Soo Eul. The three girls looked over them, feeling a bit apprehensive. Finally, Sunhi looked up with a smile, "They like it!"

   Soo Eul looked at her before looking down at one of the papers in her hand. Words had been hilighted, either by Li Na or by the author of that review. Overall, they liked it but one word stuck out above all others.

That word, was "unique".

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Fun fact: In Japanese, Pearl is "Shinju".


And another question to the girls I chose, where was your character born? It isn't something that'll be used immediately, but it doesn't even have to be in Korea. My Soo Eul was born in Osaka, Japan. I figure I can use their place of birth in the interview section at the show. So, let me know.