Nine months break seems like the longest break ever. And probably the only time I would complain about a break given to us. Through the nine months, a lot of things happened. We went on our solo activities and schedules, and sometimes would only meet everyone else once a week or two. Yoona debuted as an actress and gained popularity with her role ‘Saebyuk’. Sunny and I, we became DJs hosting our own radio shows. These nine months were practically the ‘solo activities month’.

Although we all love our individual jobs a lot, we were actually starting to worry about our group image. What if people forgot who we are? Are we ever going to make another comeback again? Is this going to be the end of our career, even though it barely started? The music industry was not that stable at the time, and popularity was basically a seasonal thing. It comes and goes. And it was as though our worries and prayers were heard; we received a new music piece from the company. They said it was our turn to comeback. Finally.

But after I heard the demo of the song, I was not that enthusiastic anymore. Is it me? The other girls all had different reactions to the song than me. I was the only one that thought that it was not ‘THE’ song. The lyrics were so cringe worthy and I could only imagine how the choreography would be ten or hundred times worst. Acting cute was just not my thing.

Even though it was just a mini album, I had a really hard time coping with our new song. We were supposed to go around winking, shaking our bodies, and doing the weird crab-leg dance. The title of the song was the worst out of everything. ‘Gee’, is that even a proper word? Funny how the rest of the members all had great shots and cuts, but I struggled the most. Even Jessica, our resident ice princess, was better than me. Cute and Taeyeon just could not go together.

But surprisingly, after the teaser was released, we miraculously topped every digital charts out there. How in the world? It seemed as though I was really the only one that felt that the song was bad. Hours after ‘Gee’ was released, it was already being played on the streets. None of us would even dream that this cringe worthy song would bring such a huge craze in the nation. Coming back to the industry was already good news for us. Climbing up the ladder as soon as the song was released, never once would we even dare to think about it.

“And the winner for this week’s Music Bank K-Chart is, Girls’ Generation‘s Gee! Congratulations on your Ninth win!” The MC announced while giving us our Ninth trophy from Music Bank. Yes everyone heard that right. Nine trophies from nine consecutive weeks, we even start to break records now.

“Thank you everyone for supporting Girls’ Generation’s Gee. We would have never thought that we would be making it this far. Throughout our preparation period, we met a number of obstacles, but we managed to overcome all of it. Within nine months, the nine members received nine trophies. Thank you sones, we love you!”

Third year into our debut and this was the best so far. We have received a lot of love and we gained many more fans from not only Korea but all around the world. We were thankful for all the support.

With our new popularity come new endorsements for us. Chicken, electronic devices, pizza, cosmetics products, clothing, school uniforms, banana milk, we were practically everywhere.  

However, that was not just all. The company decided that we would held our first ever concert “Girls Generation Into The New World”. All of our concert tickets sold out just three minutes after the sales began. We were not sure where did all those fans come from, but we were certainly grateful and could only practice harder to show them a better side of us.

Of course, with the year coming to an end, it would also mean that year-end award shows were coming up. We were nominated for a number of awards.

“The Popularity award goes to, Girls’ Generation!”

“The Bonsang award goes to, Girls’ Generation’s Gee!”

None of us would have thought that we would bag two awards for the night. All the members were already discussing about the post-celebration later at the dorm and some were even joking around, enjoying ourselves. Towards the end of the show, everyone was waiting for the announcement of the grand award, “The Daesang Award”.

“Unnie, who do you think would win the Daesang Award?” Our innocent looking maknae asked.

“Well, all the candidates are pretty strong, but I think Super Junior Sunbae would win it.” I smiled back at Ju Hyun.

“Unnie, do you think we stand a chance?”

“Seohyun ah, we’re only in our third year of debut, I don’t think we would w- “

Before I could continue, the MCs announced the winner and cheers erupted from tables around us.

“The winner of The Digital Daesang Award goes to, Girls’ Generation’s Gee! Congratulations!”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. After all these years, all the trainings, all the obstacles in between, all the hate we received, we got our reward. This 24^th Golden Disk Award, we brought home 3 awards and we could not ask for more.

With the first day of our first concert arriving, everyone was nervous. It was just the same as when we were preparing for our debut stage. Being the leader, I gathered everyone around and started our routine again. We would always do this every time before we step on the stage. It would somehow calm us down a little.

“Girls, tonight’s our show. It’s going be like our debut stage all over again, but this time it’s different. There are thousands of people out there supporting us, cheering for us. Go up, enjoy the show, and have fun performing. It’s our stage, just be your usual selves. This is another new chapter of our story, so let’s all fill it up with beautiful memories.” I finished by putting my right hand into the middle and all the girls started following. We looked at each other, speaking through our eyes.

“Jigeumeun, So Nyuh Shi Dae!”

The stage rises and the scene that unveiled upon us was beyond beautiful.

What we thought that couldn’t be accomplished back then were all crossed out on our list.

Girls’ Generation has stepped into another new world, The Pink Ocean.