October 4, 2014

There were two sides to Krystal Jung's personality. There was Jung Soo Jung, the introverted soul who hid her fragile heart behind an icy exterior. And then there was Krystal the idol. Krystal was fierce and powerful and demanded attention when she was on stage.

At that moment, her Krystal personality was shining in full force. It was early into the first half of the SMTown concert. f(x) was performing their first number of the night, Rum Pum Pum Pum. They were forced to use microphones instead of headsets for this performance, effectively killing half of their choreography since one hand was stuck holding the mic, but f(x) was making it work. The wild cheering of the crowd was elevating her emotions. They danced and sang, they shook their hips, Amber did her rap, and then they hit Krystal's favorite part of the song.

She raised her finger to her lips seductively. "Shhh! Dulmanui, shhh!"

The crowd screamed for her and she smiled. Rum Pum Pum Pum was not her favorite f(x) song, but it had its moments.

After Rum Pum Pum Pum came their free talk. Victoria did well and Amber and Luna made the crowd laugh and cheer with their failed Japanese. Krystal delivered her part without any problems, but she admired her unnies for interacting so well with the crowd. They finished off with a shortened rendition of Jet before bowing and waving as they walked off stage.

The girls immediately started talking about the performance and how nerve-wracking it had been to stand on the moving on the rickety moving platforms. Krystal's adrenaline was still flowing from the performance.

"Too bad we weren't closer to the crowd," Amber joked. "Soo Jung could have stolen another fan sign or something." Krystal blushed and tried to hit Amber on the arm, but she deftly caught Krystal's hand and pulled her closer with a mischievous grin.

"I didn't steal it! They were giving them to me!" she cried defensively, referring to the "incident" at the SMTown concert in August where she had taken a fan sign and other items as she passed by fans during the Jet performance.

Victoria laughed and patted Krystal on the head. "Don't worry, I'm sure the fan was honored to have you steal it from them."

"It wasn't stealing!" Krystal pouted at the unnies' teasing, knowing they would enjoy this reaction from her.

"Our cute Soojungie," Luna cooed, pulling her away from Amber in a half hug as they walked.

Ahead of them, Krystal could see Girls' Generation waiting for their turn to perform. Krystal felt the resentment bubbling up inside her again, but with the adrenaline coursing through her veins, Krystal could continue to keep it professional.

She bowed 90 degrees as she walked past and murmured a "Keep up the good work" in their direction. To her surprised, unlike this morning, they mirrored the bow, a full 90 degrees, and returned a "keep up the good work". She couldn't remember the last time that Girls' Generation had bowed to f(x), but here it was. The other f(x) members bowed and thanked Girls' Generation for their hard work as well, and then the encounter ended as simple as that.

"I'm proud of you, Soo Jung-ah," Amber said as they walked away. Victoria stole Krystal out of Luna's arms in order to coddle the maknae with affection.

"Why? Because I got a sunbae group to bow to us? Yeah, I thought it was a little weird, too."

"No, because you know how to hold your head up high even when things are hard. You're pretty amazing, Jung Soo Jung."

Krystal smiled and lowered her head in embarrassment, ironically unable to hold her head up high after such praise. But to be honest, she was proud of herself as well because she had just proven to herself that she didn't need to childishly hide from Girls' Generation. She could be strong in front of them.

Later in the evening, f(x) performed a mashup of "Vacance" and "Hot Summer" with no trouble. Now that it was darker, Krystal could see the periwinkle glow sticks waving in the crowd for them. The sea wasn't as vibrant as the other sunbae groups who we lucky enough to have had their own solo concerts, but it was beautiful to Krystal nonetheless.

Then their last solo performance of the night, Red Light, began. Despite the heartache that the Red Light promotions brought with Sulli's abrupt hiatus, Krystal loved Red Light. The song was dark and gritty and catchy as hell, and it allowed f(x) to show a new side of themselves. They sang and danced their hearts out to the wild cheers. Afterwards, the girls rushed off stage and back to their dressing rooms. There would be one more performance for them that evening: the ending that included all of the night's performers. Amid the happy atmosphere with her members, they stripped their military-like Red Light uniforms off and donned their white t-shirts and jeans for the ending.

There was a TV in their dressing room that was broadcasting the live performance. In the middle of Girls' Generation's Mr. Mr. performance, just as Sunny was singing Jessica's part, the music died for about 10 seconds, leaving the stunned Girls' Generation members at a loss. f(x) watched the bizarre turn of events and looked at each other in surprise.

"Karma?" Luna wondered, and the girls shrugged.

"Or maybe a broken-hearted Jessica fan controlling the music?" Victoria surmised.

Krystal agreed that it was likely the latter, but either way she felt that Jessica would be amused when she learned about this little mishap.

Super Junior was up next and TVXQ followed soon after. Just as the girls finished their preparations near the end of TVXQ's song, there was a knock on their door. Amber opened the door and all of the Super Junior members came pouring through.

"How did you guys get changed so quickly?" Victo