chapter one
zenith - sm entertainment's newest girl group! // discontinued...A/N: Make sure you check the updates page before reading this!
Soyu's POV
"Lookin' so crazy your love's got me lookin'
Got me lookin' so crazy in love..."
"Ollie, stop it, you're driving me insane."
"Sorryyy..." Olivia whined as she continued to chew her lip off. "How the are you not FREAKING out, Minnie, there's got to be at LEAST 60,000 people out there."
"Who said I wasn't freaking out?" Miyoung said as she completed what must've been her 15th lap around the room. "I'm so nervous I might actually hurl."
"Ew, for the love of god, please don't."
The seven of us were currently crammed into a dressing room, with tons of coordi-noonas, makeup artists, and stylists bustling about, trying to put the finishing touches on makeup, hair, and wardrobe. Mimi was seated in the corner, simultaneously checking something on her laptop and talking to someone on the phone. She would sometimes leap up and chase Miyoung around the room in an attempt to confiscate any food she saw (apparently, breaking our diet before our debut stage was a no-no).
This was it. It was happening. Soon, we were going to head upstairs and debut in front of a sold-out audience at the Seoul World Cup Stadium... and we'd be singing and dancing with EXO, South Korea's hottest boyband.
I'll admit, I almost felt like hurling myself.
Despite all the noise and chaos, I heard someone knock at the door. Yelling a quick 'I'll get it' to the rest of the room (even though they were probably too engulfed in prepping to notice), I ran to the door and cautiously peeked outside.
"Yah, is anyone in there?"
"No, Minho-ssi, it's safe to come in," I said as I opened the door wider, a smile forming on my face. "What brings yo-"
I stopped in the middle of my sentence. I blinked once.
Twice.
Three times.
And promptly burst out laughing.
"AHAHAHAHAAA!!!" I shrieked, doubling over in laughter. "OHMYGOD, I'M DYING."
"What?" Minho said as if nothing in the world was wrong.
"N-nothing," I managed to gasp out. "You just have v-very nice t-t-thighs."
Minho crossed his arms and pouted, which only sent me into another round of laughter. He was dressed in a red skirt with a huge slit up the side, a lacy red top, and black heels, with a red wig to top the whole thing off. Very simply put, he looked like a girl. A very un-attractive girl.
"Ohhhmygod, you have no idea how much I needed that," I wheezed, wiping tears away from my eyes. "You look f-fabulous, by the way."
"Thanks," He said indifferently. "Do you have any eyeliner? Suho used ours all up."
"Probably, but I wouldn't dare touch the coordi-noona's stuff," I said. "It looks like a war zone in there."
"Ahh, right, they go pretty hard for girls' debut stages..." He said. "It's alright, I'll go see if the f(x) girls have any. Thanks, anyways."
"No prob."
"What was that all about?" Olivia said as I closed the door.
"Minho wanted some eyeliner. Ohmygod, my stomach hurts so much, I need to sit down," I said as I flopped down on one of the chairs in the middle of the room.
"Wait, MINHO wanted some eyeliner? Minho from SHINee? Why the hell did he want eyeliner?" Miyoung said.
"Because," I said, the giggles starting to return. "He's doing this sta-"
"Zenith?"
Our heads all snapped up as an organizer poked her head through the door. "The 'Something' performance is going to go onstage in a few minutes, and Red Velvet will follow. You will be going on after Red Velvet. Please follow me to the stage wings."
"Okay," Ahkum said as she stood up, a slight shake in her voice. "Let's go."
The minute those words left , it seems as if everyone tried to exit the room at once. The seven of us were simply swept away in the huge mass of bodies and I prayed that we all ended up in the same place.
I was the last one to reach the wings (it actually took a lot longer than it should have...), and when I got there, I found the other six girls huddled to the side with EXO, watching the Red Velvet girls prance around onstage with shocked expressions on all of their face.
"What's going on?" I asked Jongin softly. "What are we looking at?" He simply shook his head and motioned to the audience. Curious, I followed his gaze, and what I saw made me gasp in shock.
As dusk fell, the stadium quickly filled with shadows. With the bright stage lights illuminating their smiling faces, the members of Red Velvet couldn't see what we could: endless rows of blackness, with only a small patch of Velvet Red light illuminating the sea of darkness.
"It's a Black Ocean..." I breathed, unable to process what I was seeing.
"Impossible," Jolie said in English as she shook her head. "Why on earth would THEY be getting a Black Ocean?"
"I dunno..." Saera said. She was at a complete loss of words.
We all were.
Chanyeol's POV
The girls were getting nervous.
Danni was seated to the side, her legs pulled into her chest and her face buried into her knees. Miyoung was constantly pacing, glancing at the stage every once an awhile, and Jolie was muttering in rapid-fire French. This was definitely not the right atmosphere for them to be going onstage in.
"Ahkum, you need to do something," I said, addressing the young leader. She looked up, surprised at my order. "What?" She said.
"Do something," I repeated. "Your girls are shutting down, you need to get them ready to get out there and face that crowd."
She looked at me, processing my words, before nodding and gathering the rest of the group, pulling them to the side.
"Are they gonna be ok?" Joonmyun asked, his red dress and makeup gone, replaced with a black and white stage outfit that complimented Zenith's.
"I don't know," I admitted as I watched Ahkum talk to the group. "The Black Ocean's messing with their heads."
Joonmyun watched his fellow leader before sighing in agreement. He patted me on the shoulder before going off to moniter the Red Velvet girls (who were currently talking to the audience). Groaning, I massaged my temples, feeling a little stressed out myself.
"Hey..." I looked up in surprise to see Saera standing in front of me.
"Hey," I said, smiling. "You ok?"
"Yeah, Ahkum gave us a pep talk," Saera said. "She told us... Whatever happens, we're going to get through this together. And I trust her."
I smiled, patting her shoulder comfortingly (I've learned that messing with stage-hair is like signing a death wish). "You're going to be ok. You've got each other."
"Zenith, EXO, we'll be playing your video as soon as Red Velvet comes off," One of the stage hands called. "We'll tell you when to go."
All 18 of us immediately crammed as close to the stage as we could, eager to see the video they were about to play (we've never seen the edited version before) but stopped and cleared a path as the Red Velvet girls rushed offstage. Was it just my imagination, or did they have tears in their eyes?
The lights dimmed onstage and our faces appeared on the video screen, earning the shrieks of everyone in the audience. In the darkness, I could see the stage crew setting up the girls' five poles, though I doubt anyone in the audience noticed (or cared) at the moment.
"We are one! Annyeonghaseyo, EXO imnida!" We said as the whole stadium let out screams and shrieks.
"Everyone, you've heard of our sister group Zenith, right?" Joonmyun asked. The audience screamed out a collective "yes!" which made Saera grin wildly and bounce on her toes. Aish, too cute.
"Yes, they're going to be making their television debut on Music Bank tomorrow," Luhan said. "We're all really proud of the little stars in our sister group, and we'd like to thank you for supporting them."
"To thank you for supporting our little sisters, we have a surprise for you all," Jongin said, a smile on his face. "But first, Zenith wanted to thank you themselves for all your love and support."
The video cut to the Zenith girls, sitting in the same type of 'interview seating', their smiling faces earning another round of screams and applause.
"Are they cheering... for us?" Danni breathed, a large smile forming on her face. I saw the rest of the Zenith girls clutch each other's hands, their excitement growing. They certainly didn't seem nervous anymore.
"Rising to the top, we are Zenith! Annyeonghaseyo, Zenith imnida!" The girls said, bowing, as the crowd shrieked.
"Neh, everyone, thank you so much for giving us all your love and support!" Olivia said with a smile. I saw the actual Olivia clutch Baekhyun's hand as she watched herself on the big screen, grinning.
"We've been practicing for a long time to be able to show your our skills, and all of your kind comments really mean the world to us." Ahkum said with a shy smile.
"To show our appreciation, we have a couple of surprises for you," Miyoung said, a sly smirk forming on her face. "First, we'd like to show you a secret video our mighty Cilla shot especially for our lo-"
"Yah, wait, I thought we weren't gonna show that!" Soyu said sharply, her confused (and slightly pissed) face earning a round of laughter from the audience.
"Aish, fine, if PD-nim if ok with it, I guess we can skip the video..." Miyoung pouted. The stage hands told us to take our places on stage, and as we all silently moved into our opening spots onstage, I kept watching Zenith's interview from where I stood in my opening pose. "But I'm sure everyone is going to like our second surprise much better. Anyways, here comes the surprise, I hope you enjoy!"
The Zenith girls smiled and waved as the video faded to black. Then, on the screen, the words "ZENITH x EXO: SPECIAL STAGE" appeared as the whole stage lit up, revealing the girls elevated off the ground on their poles, sultry stage faces firmly set into place as the rest of EXO posed around them. It was like the crowd finally realized what the girls had been talking about, and it finally clicked that SM had surprised them with a special debut stage.
And they exploded.
Oh yeah. There was absolutely no reason for them to be nervous at all.
Taeyeon's POV
I had been the first of the nine girls to get ready for our 'Into the New World' stage, so I had simply started to wander around aimlessly, trying to kill time. As I reached the waiting area, I saw the f(x) members crowded around a television that was showing what was happening onstage.
"Who's onstage right now?" I asked as I approached the group.
"Zenith's performing that mashup stage with EXO," Krystal said, eyes glued to the screen. "They look so great, and the crowd loves them."
Really? I simply assumed that the rabid shrieks I had been hearing had been for EXO, but they were for Zenith? That was unexpected.
"Aish, Jolie and Joonmyun look so good dancing together... This is such a good concept, that lucky ." Luna said, smiling, as that foreign girl, Jolie, ily caressed Joonmyun's face during her solo.
"Yah, Taeyeon, we have to be ups- IS THAT MY OLLIE-WOLLY?!" Jessica shrieked as she came over to us and caught sight of Olivia dancing onstage.
"She looks good, doesn't she?!" Krystal gushed as Olivia sang her part in the song. I felt a twinge of jealousy as I saw Baekhyun glide over to her and press his face into the crook of her neck, hugging her with his back to the audience while Olivia looked over his shoulder. Damn, this concept... this was intense.
"They look good together as well, they really do make a cute couple." Krystal commented.
Wait, what?
"Yah, wait, they're dating?" I asked, trying my hardest to sound as indifferent as possible.
"No, they aren't," Jessica interjected. "I went down to their music video shoot, she told me they weren't."
"I find that super hard to believe," Amber said. "They're basically joined at the hip. She was probably lying."
"Whatever," Jessica said, waving her hand dismissively. "They're close, that's all I know."
They were?
Hmm... I was going to have to keep my eye on those two.
Zitao's POV
"Neul hamkke isso sojunghan gol mollatton gojyo
Onjena nawa hamke issojun sojunghan saramdeureul
Gakkeumssik naega jichyo honjara neukkiltae
Onjena naege himi dwaejun saramdeureul itgo saratjyo"
I swear, I was never going to get used to all the fans.
I stood onstage with the rest of my SMTown family, wearing our matching white shirts with the pink gummy bear in the middle, singing 'Hope' after sucessfully wrapping up yet another concert. As I waved to the fans crowding the stage, I couldn't help but notice the Zenith girls laughing, crying, and smiling as they waved to their fans, successfully wrapping up their first public appearance as a group. Hopefully, nothing would ever break them apart.
"Oh!" Olivia gasped as she stumbled into me. "I'm so sorry, Zitao-ssi..."
"That's alright," I said. "And... you can call me oppa."
"Zitao-oppa," She repeated. Aish, so cute. "Alright, I will."
She smiled, watching her group mingle with the rest of the family: Ahkum sang her lines with Jonghyun's arm slung over her shoulder, Miyoung burst out into a strange form of interpretive dance with Seohyun and Luhan, Danni clapped along with the music with Sehun, Soyu chased Saera down the catwalk, laughing, and Jolie and Key danced together on the side.
"I can't believe I'm actually here," She admitted, wiping away some tears. "This seems like a dream. Am I dreaming right now?"
"No, you're definitely not dreaming," I laughed. "This is actually happening."
"Oh, thank god," She said, sighing happily. "Hey, Zitao, after this, wo-"
"OLLIE!" Baekhyun screeched, swooping her up into his arms bridal-style. "C'mon, let's go!"
"Ok, ok!" Olivia said, laughing. "Aish, oppa, put me downnn!!!"
I watched Baekhyun walk down the catwalk with Olivia in his arms, and for a split second, I wished I was in his shoes. Blinking, I mentally shook it off, and walked down the catwalk with Joonmyun and Yixing. Reaching the end, we all held hands and bowed deeply.
"Yah, everyone... KAMSAHAMNIDA!!!"
SM Entertainment's newest girl group, Zenith, made a surprise appearance at the 'SMTown Live World Tour IV in Seoul' last night!
SEE ALSO: Zenith release their debut single and MV for 'First Love!
The girls, who are set to make their debut on Music Bank today, made a surprise appearance when they performed, with EXO, a mashup of their debut single, First Love, and EXO's Thunder, a song remixed by member Sarah.
They then went on to perform a variety of solo stages; Danni, Olivia, and Jolie performed 'Crazy in Love' featuring Sehun, Baekhyun, and Kai with Xuimin on drums and Sarah on the piano. Cilla performed the rap section in Seohyun's 'Problem' stage, and leader Ahkum sang 'Endless Love' with SHINee's Jonghyun, while Miyoung performed in the dance battle with Eunhyuk, Kai, Sehun, Lay, Hyoyeon, and Luna. The girls returned at the end of the concert to perform 'Hope' with the rest of the SMTown family.
Zenith will be debuting on M! Countdown today, performing their debut single 'First Love'.
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