From: The Most Handsome guy on Earth

Heard that it’s your debut recording today.
Don’t be too nervous because I’m not there ㅋㅋㅋ. Hwaiting! ^^

Soojung found herself smiling at Sunggyu’s message. Out of sudden, she felt more relaxed.

To: The Most Handsome guy on Earth

Hello. I’ll give my 200% today. Thank you.

Sunggyu sat up from his seat and took his phone from the dressing table the moment it vibrated. Unlocking his screen quickly, he read her message.

“Heol. What kind of girl doesn’t reply with emoticons flying all over the place these days?” he mumbled to himself.

To: Soojung

Alright and don’t you dare change my name^-^ I’ll check it when I’m back from Japan.

Soojung paused for a moment when she received his almost immediate reply. She was just about to change his contact name to ‘Sunggyu Sunbaenim’. She contemplated whether to ask why he was in Japan when the director barged into the room. 

“Why is a rookie artist making me wait for more than 10 minutes?!” He yelled.

“We are almost done here!” The makeup artist hurriedly finished up her last touch up and patted on her shoulder.

“You’re done.” Soojung quickly kept her phone in her bag, adjusted her clothes and rushed to the filming set.

“Did she just read and ignore my message?” Sunggyu scoffed in disbelief.

“’Kanojo wo ai e imasu’ means I love you, my girlfrie- Hyung, are you listening to me?” Myungsoo waved his hand before Sunggyu who was in a daze.

“Ah. Yes, I am listening.” Sunggyu replied half heartedly and locked his phone in an upset manner.

The director was apparently annoyed judging from his obvious expressions.

“I am sorry-” Soojung attempted an apology but was cut off.

“Forget it. Just go sit there and sing already.” He cursed.

Soojung bit her lips and scurried to the chair. The spotlights were turned and focused on her. Now, all eyes were on her. Although she had practiced a zillion times for the past few days, it still made her nervous. She felt like the butterflies in her stomach were on frenzy mode all at the same time. Swallowing her saliva, she darted her eyes about nervously. She felt her breaths getting quicker and shorter. Then, Sunggyu words came to her mind.

“Don’t be too nervous.”

She nodded to herself, inhaled deeply and looked up with regained confidence.

"I can do this." She told herself. 

"READY... 3...2...1!" The director clapped his hands and the music entered the scene. 

Will you listen to me? To my little stories?
Who I met today and what happened today?

(It’s very easy) Just listening to me is enough
(It’s very easy) All you have to do is take my side

What’s so hard about that? Why are you so serious all the time?
What’s so annoying about that? You never listen till the end
Did anyone ask you to solve everything? It’s not like that
Just close your mouth and listen, listen to me – that’s it
When I’m having a hard time, where are you?

“Okay, cut!” The director shouted.

Soojung hurried over to watch her recording together with the other staff. She thought it was truly amazing and unbelievable to see herself on screen. When debut felt like an impossible dream just yesterday, here she was today recording for her debut song. Everything felt like a dream, one that’s too good to be true. And indeed, good things never come easy for her. 

“You look fat at this angle, let’s try again.” The director stated blatantly and waved her off.

She could hear snickers and suppressed laughters coming from some of the staff behind the scene. Soojung bit her lips at his harsh words but still forced a smile at his instructions.

“Yes, director Park.” She went back to the chair and started over again.

After several attempts, the director finally gave the ‘okay’ sign. Then, a beautiful lady walked into the filming setting. She had light brown curls, perfectly complementing her fair skin. Soojung watched the director grinning from ear to ear the moment they met eyes.

“Oppa.” She called out intimately.

“You, come over.” He beckoned Soojung to come over.

“This is Yoo Ji Ah. She will be your female lead for the MV, acting alongside with Wheesung.” He informed.

“Oh. The company didn’t inform me abou-”

“I’ll talk to Jungyeop later. And are you doubting my professional judgment as a director now?” he raised his voice slightly.

“No, definitely not! Please don’t misunderstand.” Soojung waved her hand nervously and at the corner of her eyes, she thought she saw Ji Ah smirk at her.

The filming was increasingly demanding and tiring for the rest of the day. Soojung realized the director was particularly picky towards her, compared to Ji Ah. Almost every individual scene of hers had to be retaken at least 3-4 times while Ji Ah always gets a ‘Okay’ at one go. Soojung felt burning and turning raw from all the singing. She massaged it gently as she was waiting for her next scene. Then, someone tapped on her shoulder.

“Here.” Soojung looked back and met eyes with a familiar looking female staff.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re doing pretty well for a first timer.” She flashed an encouraging smile as she patted lightly on her shoulder.

“He’s always this biased. You just unfortunately got onto his bad side, unlike that girl.” She whispered in her ear.

“Thank you.” Soojung thanked her as she held the warm honey in her hands.

It warmed her heart too.

The filming ended at around 11PM with groans from the staff and Soojung’s cheery ‘Thank you for your hard work’ and endless 90 degrees thankful bows. 

“You did well. Rest well tonight!” The staff from before patted on her shoulder encouragingly before leaving.

Sitting in the train, Soojung found herself dozing off from time to time because she was simply too tired. The makeup artist had helped her straighten her hair back before she left. Touching her hair, she felt like they had become frizzier and damaged. She sighed. Soojung watched her own reflection in the train glass window. Without her makeup, she thought she looked just like everyone else in the train.

“I couldn’t even bear to take a second glance at her face.”

“Even if she debuts, she’ll probably end up as a flop with that face of hers.”

“You look fat at this angle, let’s take again.”

Staring at her own reflection, those words came haunting back at her. Soojung unconsciously touched her face and deep inside, she agreed with them. She was just a girl with average looks, with talents that you can probably find in 1 out of 3 South Koreans. Maybe, they were right. She was and will never be an idol-material. Maybe, all those dreams of having thousands of fans chanting for her as she sang were destined to be dreams. Maybe, she should have listened to her parents back then. Maybe, this debut would be her first and last chance on stage. Those thoughts were devouring her from inside until the automated voice broke her from her trains of thoughts. She got off quickly and with a heavy heart, she headed back to the shared dorm.

Those were times when Soojung felt like maybe, some people are simply born to belong to that dazzling stage. And that dazzling stage had no space for someone like her. 

-

Soojung nervously held onto her phone with slight trembling hands as she watched the time turn 12:00 AM KST. Hesitantly, she hit the play button. Soojung felt her heart sink when she realized they had cut out her scene to replace it with Ji Ah’s scene as the opening. Nevertheless, at the end of the video, she still found herself in tears, happy and thankful that she had this opportunity. 

“Yah. Did you know Woollim is debuting a new solo artist?” Sunggyu threw a pillow at Woohyun.

“Yea. Why?” Woohyun replied, eyes still glued on his phone game.

“Why are you not supporting your junior?” Sunggyu threw another pillow.

Then, the video came on and Sunggyu fell silent suddenly.

“What’s with her hair?!” Sunggyu laughed out loud. 

He wouldn’t deny that the new girl was pretty but he was too busy anticipating Soojung’s scenes. He then switched accounts and bought the song. 

“Oh my. Did you actually just bought a song legally?” Woohyun exaggeratedly pretended to be taken aback, earning a punch in the shoulder.

When Woohyun was finally out of sight, Sunggyu excitedly opened their chat and was about to type a message to ridicule her electrified style hair. However, he stared at the message he last sent that was ignored. Shaking his head, he exited their conversation. He hated the feeling of being desperate for someone’s attention. He figured that he was already showing excessive concern towards a junior and this needs to be stopped. 

That night, Sunggyu fell asleep to a particular song on replay.

“It’s a good song. Why not?” he self-appeased his inner thoughts.  

Soojung refreshed the page almost every hour to check the video views to realise it was increasing way too slowly. She was falling way below the expected target set by the CEO. Keeping her phone in the locker, she entered the practice room. All eyes were on her, again. She disliked such attention.

“Oh. Isn’t that our next solo artist?” Someone said sarcastically.

“Soojung! I heard your song yesterday, it’s really good.” Another trainee made an encouraging remark to be shot down by another.

“What’s the use of a good song if it’s not a big hit?” Other trainee in the same clique folded her arms and shrugged.

“How many views must you hit by next week?” Ji Ae turned to Soojung and asked softly. 

“2 Million Views at least but it’s not even 10,000 views now...” She admitted.

Excusing herself to the washroom, Soojung locked herself up in the cubicle for a minute. She splashed water onto her tear-stained face and did a mental ‘hwaiting’. Everything would get better, she thought. Exiting the washroom, she absentmindedly made her way back.

“Did someone forget about me after she debuted?” A voice said out loud.

Soojung stopped walking and turned around to find someone standing right before her. He smiled and embarrassed Soojung stumbled backwards upon realising their close proximity. Tripping over her own foot, she almost fell backwards. It was totally resembling a cliche drama scene. He swiftly threw his arm around her and supported her back, pulling her back and also, closer to him. Straightening herself, she felt her heart race at their awkward accidental hug. Coughing awkwardly, he took a step back.

“I watched your MV. It’s really good.” He complimented.

“Thank you, Hoy -.” Soojung habitually bowed as she thanked him.

The distance between the two was too close, causing her to bump into his shoulder. The two then burst out into a hearty laughter at her second accident.

“Woah. Who do we have here?” Sunggyu appeared from nowhere and said in a surprised tone.

His eyes landed on her and then, on Hoya. Soojung frowned at his words. He sounded as if they had never known each other before.

Author's Note:

Special update because it's Hoya's birthday yesterday (KST Time) ^^
Hope you enjoyed this update! <3
Sorry for late update because school = living hell :(
Please do comment if you are liking this fic so far :D 
It will definitely motivate me to update faster (':
Thank you for reading~ Just curious, any Inspirits or Lovelinus here?