4th January 2015

That morning, Polaris was preparing for the usual - another comeback stage, followed by an interview for 1theK’s youtube channel in a segment called ‘Hashtag’. Eunjung had been complaining of feeling that something ‘wasn’t right’, but seeing as the others didn’t have a clue why she felt that way, she had stopped saying anything and had spent most of the day looking worried when the cameras hadn’t been on her.

By the time they got back to the dorm, it was mid afternoon, and like every day, the first thing Chaerin did was turn on the television to check the news (she liked to know what was going on in the world). She caught the tail end of a weather report before the reported flashed back onto the screen, looking morose. 

“A body has been found at an apartment building in Beijing.” The news reporter said while standing in front of a sectioned off apartment building, police swarming the area inside the bright yellow tape. “The body was discovered at 2pm this afternoon by the landlord who had been called due to some residents reporting that they had not seen anyone leave the apartment nor move around inside in several days. The body is believed to be Lee Hyo, the former lead dancer of the Korean Pop group, Acid Teochii, who left the group and broke his contract a few months ago. Netizen’s reactions to Hyo’s departure were extreme, and doctor reports have stated that Hyo was being treated for extreme depression. Coroner and police reports state that the former idol’s death isn’t being treated as suspicious, and appears to be accidental. Some Chinese news reports are stating that the idol died from alcohol poisoning, whereas others are reporting it as suicide-”

Jimin turned the TV off with the remote control quickly and with shaking hands, face drained of all colour and eyes swimming with tears.

“Jimin unnie?” Chaerin asked carefully, putting her hand on the older girl’s shoulder. “Isn’t that the member that left your boyfriend’s group a few months ago?” 

“It...” Jimin breathed, her words almost inaudible. “It’s Hyo, yes. Oh my god. I wonder if they’ve seen this yet? Oh God. Poor Hanni. Poor Myung. Poor Marco.”

“You should call them,” Chaerin prodded gently. 

Jimin looked at Chaerin for a moment, probably wondering why the usually oh-so vocal singer was being so nice to her. “But I need to tell Eunjung-”

“I’ll tell Jungie and the others, don’t worry about that,” the American waved off her concerns brusquely. “You just call your boyfriend and pass on our love and support, okay?”

“You don’t even know Acid Teochii,” Jimin pointed out, already reaching for her phone on the coffee table. 

“I don’t care, it’s still heartbreaking and they need all the support they can get,” Chaerin insisted firmly. “Now hurry up and call Hanyeul, okay? I’ll go and find the others and fill them in.”

Jimin nodded and wiped away her tears impatiently, scrolling through her contacts list to find Hanyeul’s number. “Thank you, Chaerin,” she threw over her shoulder as she called her boyfriend. 

“It’s no problem, Jimin-ah,” Chaerin muttered before hurrying into Eunjung and Gayoon’s room; the two were lounging on their beds, humming along to one of the songs from the new mini album that they would be performing at their next stage. Eunjung looked up with a grin, which slid off her face faster than snow melting near a fire when she saw the expression on her friend’s face. 

“Rin?” she asked in alarm, sitting up so fast that she cricked her neck. “What is it, what’s wrong?”

Chaerin took a deep breath before unlocking her phone and sending out a text to Seohyeon and Subin, telling them to come to the room. 

“Chaerin!” Gayoon called, standing, worry all over her face. “What’s happened?!”

“Yeah, why is Jimin on the phone in the sitting room sobbing her heart out?” Seohyeon asked as she and the rapper entered the bedroom. 

“Okay, sit down, and we need to be quiet so we don’t disturb unnie,” Chaerin commanded, shutting the door behind them. 

“Chaerin-” Eunjung began harshly, but the vocalist shut her up with a glance and a wave of her hand.

“You guys need to know something,” she began, sighed, and then started again. “What I mean to say is, there’s just been some news on the news-”

“That is what the news tends to report,” Seohyeon cut in snarkily; Chaerin ignored her completely.

“-And you know the group that Jimin unnie’s boyfriend is in? Acid Teochii? They’re under Ace...”

Eunjung nodded. “Yes, I’ve spoken to Myung a few times, their leader; he seems nice. I went to visit him in hospital with Jimin when he got shot at their comeback stage back in August,” she explained. 

“Well, the member that left? Hyo? The reported just said that he’s... He’s dead. They found his body in his apartment. It looks like suicide, currently. Jimin is on the phone to Hanni right now, I think she wants to go over and see if there’s anything that she can do,” Chaerin explained, her heart breaking while she spoke. She didn’t know Hyo - hell, she hadn’t ever met any of the group - but it was still utterly devastating.

“Oh my god,” Gayoon gasped, tearing up, hands flying up to cover . 

“I know,” Chaerin agreed sadly. “It’s devastating. Do you think we should go over and see how they are, or...?”

Eunjung was shaking her head before the vocalist had even finished her sentence. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. They probably don’t want anybody there right now that isn’t from Acid Teochii. They just found out too, I mean, put yourself in their shoes - would we want anybody around us if that had just happened?”

Seohyeon was the first person to answer, surprisingly. “Of course we wouldn’t. I say, let Jimin have her conversation with her boyfriend and find out what the group wants us to do and go from there. Are we allowed to make statements, or is that a no-no?”

“Why do you want to know that, Maknae?” Subin asked curiously. “You don’t even have a social networking account, so how would you make any sort of statement?”

“Some of you guys do,” the youngest member argued. “We could maybe put a message up from all of us on one of them, I don’t know. I just feel like we should say something because Acid Teochii are kind of our friends,”

“I think that’s a really nice idea, Seo,” Eunjung encouraged. “We could put a message up on my twitter account and something from the Polaris YouTube channel. I’m sure Jimin will post something for us later on her Instagram - mine isn’t public, otherwise I would. But other than us talking about it, what could we do?”

“Maybe an acoustic performance?” Chaerin suggested. “There are songs from our albums that mean a lot to us. We could look through and dedicate a song to Hyo,”

“You know what? I really like that idea,” Gayoon piped up, tears still swimming in her eyes. “And you know what the first song that popped into my head was? ‘Just Once’. The lyrics really describe what we want to say - that we’re going to be here for our friends and we wish them all happiness and hope that everything will feel better in the future.”

The other four members of Polaris nodded slowly as they considered the vocalist’s words; Eunjung was the first to speak up.

“I think that is an absolutely wonderful thing to do for them. We can’t just post it up, though, so maybe we could talk to Daeseun and see what he thinks. Right now, let’s just figure out what we want to post on Twitter. I was thinking of posting the same sort of thing in three languages so fans and Acid Teochii members can all understand what we’re saying, what do you think? English, Korean (of course) and Chinese, though I’d need to ask Kin unnie for some help with that one.” Eunjung said in one big sentence, already reaching for her laptop from under her bed (the only place she could store it where she could guarantee that it wouldn’t get knocked off of a surface or trodden on as the members always seemed to need to trudge through her and Gayoon’s room). 

“I think that’s nice,” Chaerin told her. “If you want, while you’re doing that, I can check in on Jimin and see how she’s doing?”

“And I’ll call manager-nim,” Subin offered, already reaching for her mobile phone. 

Eunjung smiled at them all. “Thanks, guys, that would be a huge help. Chaerin-ah, if Jimin isn’t okay, send her my way and I’ll look after her. Just, Seohyeon... Stay away from Jimin until you learn some tact, okay?”

While the maknae was still spluttering from the last request, Chaerin and Subin left the room together, the rapper to call their manager to ask what he thought of the idea to film a video in Hyo’s memory, the vocalist to check on their visual.

“Chaerin,” Subin stopped her before she reached her own bedroom. When the younger member turned to see what she wanted, Subin smiled sadly at her. “I know that we all tell you on a daily basis that you’re too loud and annoying, but just know that what you’re doing right now for Jiminnie is really nice and we all love you, okay? You’re one of our sisters. So when we moan at you, please remember that it’s because we’re a big family,”

“A big dysfunctional family,” Chaerin corrected with a grin that didn’t reach her eyes. “I know, Subin unnie. I knew that all along. Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on Min-ah, she’ll be okay. I’ll make sure that she doesn’t get too into all of this.”

Subin nodded once and shut her bedroom door behind her as Chaerin entered the sitting room. As she had suspected, Jimin was now off the phone and just sat on the sofa, looking completely drained.

“Jimin-ah,” Chaerin called softly; the vocalist jumped slightly, obviously lost in her own world. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you jump,” the American member apologised as she took the seat beside the older girl. “How’s Acid Teochii holding up?”

Jimin sighed deeply, a sound filled with all the anger and sadness in her soul, Chaerin thought. “Hanni is utterly devastated. Their new member only got introduced to them a few days ago, so she’s just sitting with another Ace group, Symphon-ee. The rest are completely crushed. Myung is just crying, apparently, and Marco isn’t talking to anybody. They probably won’t get any sleep tonight.”

“Do they want us to go over?” Chaerin prodded delicately in a quiet voice, watching Jimin bury her face in her hands for a second or two. “Is there anything we can do for them? Make them some food, or... Something?”

“Hanni thinks going over today will do none of us any good, so he said maybe tomorrow. Subin unnie has a schedule, though, doesn’t she? She has a shoot for a magazine with Gayoon-ah,” Jimin said suddenly, looking straight ahead of her with a blank expression. “I have no idea how I’m going to get there.”

“Well, nobody else but Subin in Polaris can drive, but Kin unnie can,” Chaerin told her. “You could ask her, you know she wouldn’t have a problem with it as long as you can direct her to their dorm. Plus, they have Chinese members, right? Maybe Meihui unnie could be of some help to them in some way, I don’t know.”

“That’s a pretty good idea, Chaerin, thanks,” Jimin told her after a second of deliberation. She sighed again, pushed her hair out of her face and stared at the vocalist. “What did the others say?”

“They’re really upset, of course. Subin unnie is on the phone to manager-nim right now to ask if we can dedicate an acoustic performance to Hyo and Eunjung is posting some messages on Twitter, you know, passing on our condolences and such. She wants to do it in Korean, Chinese and English, so I think she might be skyping with Meihui right now to get her help with the Chinese side of that idea,” Chaerin filled her in.

“You want to do a performance? Like, a live one or a video?” Jimin seemed to have jumped on that particular idea, sitting straight up, eyes wide. 

“Yeah, we were thinking a video for YouTube. Yoon-ah suggested ‘Just Once’, what do you think? Are you up for it? We don’t have to if you don’t want to-”

“No, I want to do it,” Jimin assured her firmly. “I think it’s a wonderful idea. When can we film it?”

“Daeseun says he can get the practice room ready for us as soon as a few hours,” Subin told them from the side of the room and the two younger idols jumped, not noticing she had been in the room and listening to their conversation. 

“A few hours?” Jimin checked and Subin nodded. “That’s good, we have time to get our hair and make-up done. Call me narcissistic, but I don’t exactly want to appear to the internet looking like I’ve been steam rollered.”

The other two chuckled at her words. “It’s not narcissistic,” Subin assured her. “And I’m glad you’re on board - I don’t even know if Acid Teochii will watch it, but it might mean a lot more to them that you’re in there,”

“I think they might just be avoiding the internet,” Jimin replied with a sigh. “And I don’t blame them, in all truthfulness. I would, too, if I were them. Anyway!” she exclaimed unexpectedly, standing up. “I’m going to go and find a new outfit and do my hair and make-up. You guys should tell the others that we’re filming so soon. I doubt Eunjung will want to make a speech up on the spot in front of the camera, and we need to figure out who’s going to be playing an instrument.”

With that, the shortest member brushed past Chaerin and Subin towards the room that she shared with the maknae, leaving the two to stare at each other in the silence left behind.

*

Two and a half hours later, Polaris were seated on stools in their dance practice room, the lights arranged expertly and a camera staring at them from a tripod. They had been left in the room on their own (on Eunjung’s request - it would be hard to capture the emotion that they wanted to put into their performance if there were people there staring at her), Subin and Eunjung carrying their favourite acoustic guitars. 

“Okay, so Eunjung can be in charge of speaking and turning the camera on and stuff,” Seohyeon nominated the leader immediately. “What?” she asked innocently as the Brit stared her, eyebrows raised. “You’re the leader. As for the camera management - didn’t you used to make covers for YouTube before you auditioned?”

“Fine, oh my Lord,” Eunjung muttered, handing her guitar to Chaerin to hold while she turned the camera on and focused it in properly. She hurried back to her seat, grabbed her guitar again, and counted down from three before the group did their introduction.

“Today, as you all probably know, is a very sad day, not just for us, but for other idols and fans around the world. Hyo, a member from the group Acid Teochii, was reported to have sadly passed away and because the Acid Teochii subaenims are our friends, we would like to dedicate this acoustic version of a song from our first mini album, ‘Just Once’.” She paused to take a deep breath before glancing at each member to see whether or not they were ready. “We hope that this song brings you some peace and we wish to convey our deepest condolences to Acid Teochii. May Hyo’s spirit rest in peace. Okay, are we all ready?”

“Eunjung, you and Subin just have to start playing and we know when to start,” Seohyeon told the leader. 

“Well, it’s a good job this has to go through editing,” Eunjung countered. “Because if we keep what you just said in, everyone will know how annoying you are in real life.” It was only a half-hearted insult, Chaerin noticed, and the maknae took no notice of it anyway, so Subin counted to four and began playing the intro. 

The six girls made sure to harmonise with each other, which they didn’t always do when performing - it was hard enough to dance and sing at the same time without adding in other responsibilities. Plus, the MR already had the harmonies anyway, so there wasn’t any need for them to do it live. 

By the time the recording was finished, Polaris had performed their song three times, leaving the editors to decide which one was the best to be left in, and began packing their equipment away; Eunjung took control of the camera, which they were to leave with the receptionist at the front desk, while Subin sorted out their guitars. When they got back to the dorm, it was past ten at night and they all looked at each other for a moment before silently agreeing to just have a cup of tea each and go to bed, ready for their schedules in the morning. Suji, who had taken to camping in Jimin and Seohyeon’s room (it was by far the biggest), was probably already asleep. Not wanting to wake her, the others moved around quietly, barely speaking to each other. Jimin had been cleared by their manager to be able to go and visit Acid Teochii with Kin the following day, so the five members of Polaris would be going about their daily schedules without the visual yet again, this time for a very different reason. 

Before she accepted her cup of tea from Eunjung, Chaerin thought that Acid Teochii had lost Hyo, put it seemed like Polaris were losing Jimin as well. 

I'M SORRY FOR THAT ONE, GUYS. It's a sad one ahh I was so upset when I was writing this earlier in the month aswell. I thought I'd post this up to cheer up Anna for when she gets home from work because she was dreading it earlier, but then I realised what chapter it was and oops SORRY ANNA~!

But on the upside, Chaerin's being nice! And sappy Subin, bless her. Gotta love bratty maknae Seohyeon coming up with some really sweet ideas aswell.

DON'T EXPECT ME TO UPDATE LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME! I just wanted to get this one out there because I'm pretty behind Anna's story now :(