We started the year off with the release of ‘Oh!’, our second full-length album. Following ‘Tell Me Your Wish’, ‘Oh!’ was doing really well too. Everyone likes how the song goes, especially our male fans. Many said that we pulled off the cheerleading concept very well too. But I wasn’t having the same thoughts as them. I felt that as we’re stepping into our 20s, we should be having a stronger and ier concept, instead of continuing all these cutesy concepts. But nonetheless, we did quite well.

Amidst all the group promotional activities, we were all continuing our individual activities too. Recently, Tiffany and Yuri were offered to be the MCs for ‘Show! Music Core’. Fany was so happy that she came home screaming and shouting, saying that it was a great chance for her to improve her Korean Language.  Other than that, our black pearl had decided to continue with schooling, going to the same college with Sooyoung. We were all very supportive of her choice since we already had three members attending colleges at that time.

Then, the first obstacle of the year came. On top of our group promotional activities, our health freak had her MC schedule and also her Invincible Youth schedule. One night, she was running down with fever and symptoms of the deadly virus that was spreading throughout the whole world. We were all very worried for her but we still had to remain optimistic and continued praying for her. Her fever became worst and she was sent to the hospital.  Our prayers weren’t heard.

The health freak of our group was diagnosed with H1N1 and she had to be quarantined. We were shocked when we heard the news from our managers. Of all the members, Yuri was the least expected one to get down with H1N1. She always made an extra effort to take care of her own body, so why her? Manager Oppa said that we would have to carry on with our schedules without her and some of us would have to take over Yuri’s schedule.

“What would I do when we’re in the waiting room then? Yuri unnie is not gonna be there to joke with me.” Our doe eyes sulked, obviously missing her twin.

“Yeah the atmosphere would be so different without that black kid. Who’s going to kkab around with me?” Kim choding sighed.

“My buddy isn’t gonna be there with me for our MC Sessions! I’m gonna miss her real bad.”

“Who am I supposed to bring with me to go to Yuchiri then?”

“Unnies, Yuri unnie will recover. As of now, we should put in more effort to help cover her spot, now that we’re one member down.”

“Yeah guys, hyunnie’s right. Have faith in that health freak. She doesn’t grind Ma every morning for nothing. It’s late, let’s all go to sleep and discuss who to take our Yuri’s schedule tomorrow.” I ushered everyone to their respective rooms before anyone of them started whining again.

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As expected of our black pearl, she managed to recover within months and was safe to carry out schedules with us again. We threw a ‘welcome back’ party for her when she came back to us at the dorm.  The moment Yuri stepped inside the dorm, all of us engulfed her into a big group hug.

“Unnie I missed you! You know how much I hate sleeping alone right?” Yoona pouted.

“Yeah Yuwree! I missed my MC buddy! None of the girls had better chemistry than us two!”

We were so happy to have Yuri back with us. That’s when I realized that we were so attached with each other that even when one of us fell sick, everyone would be affected.

After Yuri came back to us, we began preparations for our repackaged album. This time, I was enjoying myself a lot with the song and the concept because we finally had a chance to try on the y, bad girl concept. That was what I wanted at the beginning. I was expecting the song to turn out as an even bigger hit than ‘Oh!’ but it wasn’t the case. ‘Run Devil Run’ was something different from us but It didn’t received as much popularity as ‘Oh!’. But I got to say, our members pulled off the concepts really well.

After ‘Run Devil Run’ came to an end, we started preparing for another thing. This time, it was not just any album. We’re preparing to enter the Japanese market. All of us were studying really hard, in order to be able to communicate in Japanese. Sooyoung doesn’t really have many problems though, since she had debuted in Japan before.

We were really worried. It was like having our debut stage all over again. Will there be fans cheering for us? What if we’re not as popular as how we are in Korea? What are we going to do if nobody attends our showcase? All of the questions were floating in my mind, but they were all being answered the moment we stepped out of the airport.

Flashes, fans, fan boards, cameras, everyone was waiting for us. I heaved a sigh of relieved, knowing that at least there were people supporting us in this foreign country. But, the amount of people at the airport waiting for us was just a sneak peak. During the day of our showcase, due to overcrowding of responses, we had to carry out the showcase thrice!  Who would have thought that we had a huge fan base outside of Korea? It was another amazing feat for us and we were always thankful for all the support.

Shortly after our debut in Japan, we managed to release 2 EP albums ‘Genie’ and ‘Gee’ in Japanese versions. Not only so, we made new records, clinching the second spot on Oricon chart! We brought glory not only to the K-pop industry but also our country. Everyone was congratulating us as it was a rather amazing feat. Never would I have thought that the girls and I were that influential.

Of course, we couldn’t forget our home country and our Korean fans. So, me and the girls, we decided to prepare a little surprise for the fans back home. While we were in Japan doing our debut promotions, we were also getting ready for a comeback in Korea. This time, the concept was something new too. We decided to try Retro.

I got my hair snipped off and dyed the ends blonde. Sunny, Tiffany, and Hyoyeon decided to have blonde hair too. The comeback was a surprise to many because they didn’t expect us to prepare it while we were at Japan. But some were expecting it because Tiffany decided to show off her new hair color at the airport, on the way home. ‘Hoot’ received a lot of love from our fans too, but this album was different. It was a little bit more special to all of us, especially Yuri. The lyrics to the ballad song ‘Mistake’ in the album, was written by our one and only back pearl. We were so proud of her, our first ever member to contribute to our album that became so meaningful.

However, during one of the performance for ‘Hoot’, our ever clumsy Fany Fany Tiffany managed to injure herself again and was sent to the hospital. We had to complete our performance as it was a Live broadcast, so we got no choice but to visit Tiffany only after the schedule. The members started bombarding the poor American with questions the moment they burst through the door of the ward.

“Fany ah!”

“Fany unnie! Are you ok?”

“Fany, what did the doctor say? Did you break your leg?”

These kids, sometimes there are just so stupid but cute.

“Girls calm down, I’m fine. I didn’t break my leg. The doctor said I tore my ligament, so I may have to stop all my activities for a while, in order to recover faster.” Tiffany answered with an eyesmile.

This girl, she can still smile so brightly after tearing her ligament.                                               

“Stop all your activities? Does that mean that you’re not able to join us for all the year-end award shows too?” The not-so-icy ice princess pouted cutely.

“I’m afraid yes, Jessi. I can’t possibly attend the red carpet with a huge cast on my leg.”

“Aww man! This is gonna be the first time that we’re attending award shows without all nine!” Yoona whined.

“What are you gonna do then?” Sooyoung asked while sitting on the bed next to Tiffany.

“Of course I’m going to watch you girls on TV! I may not be there with you girls physically but I’ll be cheering for you girls at home! Come on girls, don’t be sad. Do me proud ok! Don’t come home without the Daesang award!” Tiffany tried to lighten the atmosphere.

“Yeah guys, let’s go and kick some ! We’re gonna bring back all the awards for Tiffany!” Hyoyeon cheered with her dorky actions.

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As promised to Tiffany, we managed to obtain the Popularity Award and the Bonsang Award, both of which we were nominated for. When we went up on stage to collect our trophies, Jessica even spoke into the mic and announced it to Tiffany.

The girls were just being themselves again, playing with each other, dancing along with the songs that other artistes performed, and even smelling the table cloth. Then, it was time for the last award of the night, the Disk Daesang Award.

“Girls, it’s gonna be us, what are we gonna say when we go up?” Hyoyeon joked.

“I want to thank my family, the company, the seniors, the juniors, the fans, and my dorkiest members. Oh, and manager oppas and unnies, thank you for giving us good food!” Sooyoung played along.

“I’m just gonna go up and cry.” Yuri faked a sob.

“If Yuri unnie is going to go up crying, I’m going up with my flounder face then.” Yoona laughed.

“I don’t think we will win though, we won the Digital Daesang last year. How could we possibly win another Daesang again this year?” Jessica asked and I was nodding to her words.

“The winner of the Disk Daesang at the 25^th Golden Disk Awards…”

“Girls’ Generation!” Seohyun joked and the rest of us laughed along.

“…Girls’ Generation!”

What? We won?

Everyone was shocked. Who would have thought that our joke would be real? Everyone started weeping and Hyoyeon and Jessica were just hugging each other, crying out loudly. I was not someone who would just cry in public, but at that point of time, I burst out crying like a baby. Everything that I held in came bursting out. We were crying while making our way up on stage, like how Yuri joked earlier on.

“It’s such a pity that we couldn’t be together here as nine today. We weren’t expecting to win and we are so thankful. It has been difficult as Girls’ Generation. Lee Soo Man sungsaengnim, we’ve become the Girls’ Generation that you can be proud of. And Sones, We’re always grateful.” SooYoung said while crying. This girl, she may be a shikshin but she never fail to give a meaningful speech. She is just like the Speaker of Girls’ Generation.

“We will become a more hardworking and humble Girls’ Generation.” The maknae is such a pure-hearted kid, as always.

“On a great day like this, I think it’s thanks to all the loving fans over anything else. This is not a day for us to be congratulated but a day for us to congratulate the fans. We can only shine brightest as Girls’ Generation when Girls’ Generation stand on one stage as nine. Fany! Get well soon!” Yuri never fails to mention our lovely sones.

After our speech, we came together and shared a group hug. Tonight, we became the first girl group to obtain both Disk Daesang and Digital Daesang. Girls’ Generation created yet another history.