Park Kyung scrolled through the vastness of the World Wide Web. The articles glaring up at him made him yawn. Everything remained the same; netizens hated and stalkers stalked. Zico had already told him that he would be a producer in Show Me The Money 4 and whom he suspected would be auditioning. Nothing interested him. Nothing caught his attention.

In the background, Jaehyo took selfies, P.O. practiced his rap while U-Kwon and B-Bomb went over some of the choreography for their upcoming unit debut. Taeil napped and Zico was off doing who knows what in some busy schedule or other.

Jaehyo gave a low whistle, one he reserved for when he found something interesting or encountered a woman particularly beautiful. Kyung thought about ignoring him, but something nudge him not to.

“What is it?”

Jaehyo didn’t look up from his phone. Kyung scooted closer to him. “What are you looking at?”

“The girl Zico dumped. Did you know she’s not Korean?”

“What? Lemme see.”

Block B, sans Taeil, gathered around Jaehyo’s phone. U-Kwon looked at the girl on the screen as indifferently as ever as the rest gazed in wonder.

“What is she?”

“She’s Latina,” Taeil said from his place on the sofa, startling them all.

“How do you know?” Jaehyo zoomed in on her eyes. He couldn’t believe how large they were, how dark the eyelashes rimmed them.

“Tae Jun told me.”

“Have you met her?”

“Once. I bumped into Tae Jun on the street once and she was with him. Her name wasn’t Eun Mi back then, but it was still Korean.”

“Yeah, it says here that it used to be Song Ma Ri,” P.O. said. He was now looking at his own phone screen. “She’s Mexican-American. Her mother was born in Mexico and her father lived in a town on the Mexican side of the border and later moved to America. She was street casted on while on vacation in 2008 and was a trainee until her debut with CELESTIAL in the summer of 2013. She’s five feet and—hey! She’s two days older than Zico hyung!”

“She’s a ‘92 liner?” Kyung looked her up.

They poured themselves into the task of finding out more about her, all except Taeil who had gone back to sleep and U-Kwon that had gone back to practicing. They watched CELESTIAL’s music videos and found that while her outer image remained somewhat static, the charisma she projected with each concept greatly differentiated from the one before.

In the end, Kyung continued to look into her even when the others had returned to their previous activities. Zico had told him that she was the kind of person they both hated. The more he familiarized himself with her through interviews, variety show clips, and music shows, the less he knew what Zico meant. He could find nothing that supported Zico’s assurances that he would dislike her as well. To Kyung, nothing he found justified Zico’s behavior. Confused and put out, he pulled up her company’s official website.

B.Star Entertainment carried several celebrities with it; among them were several successful solo artists and popular drama actors. B.Star Entertainment had only just recently ventured into the K-Pop market with L6’s debut in 2011. CELESTIAL could still be considered rookies, though their stages said otherwise.

A single face out of the six in L6 appeared familiar to Kyung. He read the name underneath to be Su Jong, discovering that he also belonged to the ‘92 liner group.

Where were all these ‘92 liners coming from?

Kyung followed the link to Su Jong’s personal Instagram account. A picture of Su Jong pinching Eun Mi’s cheek while she slept in the practice room greeted him. The caption “Noona, wakey wakey! #practiceihaustingiknow” gleamed in blue. The picture was two days old.

He accidentally refreshed the feed as he tried to exit out. A video clip appeared when it finished loading. Kyung stopped. The caption underneath said “Zombie Party!”

The clip showed Su Jong and Eun Mi with another boy and girl—that Kyung suspected were also part of their groups—dancing to SPEED’s Zombie Party! Su Jong had tagged SPEED’s Taeha on it. When Kyung looked around, he found the screenshots of Taeha’s reply: “Wow~ I’m flattered! Thank you for loving SPEED! #L6 #CELESTIAL #hwaiting” followed by a line of blue heart emojis.

Kyung replayed the fifteen second clip over and over. The other girl showed an amazing talent at dancing, her body flowed with the music the same way B-Bomb and U-Kwon’s did. Yet Eun Mi still managed to shine. She took the center—a munchkin among giants—her bright smile and laughter sending a wave of tender feelings through his body.

Kyung was confused, extremely so. He did not dislike this girl, not in the least! So what could have Zico been referring to? He wondered if she had acted differently in person. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery. He stepped out of the practice room as he dialed Taeha’s number.

“H—hello?” Taeha answered after the fifth ring; he sounded out of breath.

“Are you practicing?”

“We’re taking a break now. What’s up?”

Kyung felt a little guilty. He hadn’t called Taeha in a while. “Do you want to have dinner later?”

“Are you asking me out on a date?”

“Yeah. I miss you, babe.” Kyung laughed then paused. “Actually, there is a favor I need to ask of you.”

Taeha didn’t reply. Kyung took that as a sign to continue. “Are you close with L6’s Su Jong?”

“Yeah, we’re pretty close. You want to meet him?”

How Taeha could be so intuitive, Kyung was sure no one would ever know. Taeha possessed a gentle and kind personality; maybe that influenced or enhanced his intuition?

“Yes, definitely. I want to meet him.”

“Sure. I’ll ask him. Actually, we had plans for tomorrow, but I’ll see if he can meet tonight instead.”

“Great! And, um, Taeha?”

“I know. I’ll invite Eun Mi, too.”

“Wait—I mean—”

“Is this because of what happened? That one pilot that didn’t even make it to editing?”

“Kind…of…”

“Kyung, I’ll invite her, but if you’re planning to apologize on his behalf, don’t.”

“Alright.”

“I’ll text you later. We’re starting practice again.”

Kyung thought long and hard after the call ended. Everyone seemed to be siding with Eun Mi, from the production team to Taeha. Now, Kyung was convinced he had to meet her. Zico could not be one hundred percent wrong—could he?

The restaurant was small, set aside from the larger, more populated districts, and family owned. Kyung frequented it enough to know that it would be packed with people that either knew nothing about or didn’t care about idols. Taeha had tagged along once or twice in the past; he had assured Kyung that he could find it again.

Kyung, however, was not concerned with Taeha, as awful as that may sound. His primary concern was Eun Mi. The more he thought about her, the greater mess his nerves became.

He wanted Zico to be wrong. He wanted Zico to be right.

He did not know what he wanted. He had started to wonder why he was placing himself through needless unnecessary situations when Taeha walked in. Kyung raised his hand automatically, but he had already been spotted. Taeha smiled kindly, a friendly smile, a very Taeha smile.

“Long time no see!”

“Uh, oh, yeah.” Kyung scooted over as Taeha settled down next to him.

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready for Hanoi?”

“You know about that?”

Taeha gave a brief laugh. “Who doesn’t?”

“Oh. Right.” Kyung did not mean to absentmindedly rude; his heart and mind both raced and raced.

Had he done the right thing? Should he even be here? He could always leave. He could excuse himself before she even arrived, apologize to Taeha for making him come out so late and so far, ask him to forget the entire thing ever happened.

“Why are you here, Kyung?” Taeha suddenly asked.

“H—huh? What do you mean?”

“Why do you want to meet Eun Mi?”

“I—I don’t know. It was—something Zico said—and…”

Taeha raised his eyebrows. “I wouldn’t believe anything he said about Eun Mi. Not after that filming.”

“You shouldn’t believe anything you hear about Zico after that filming, either.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“That’s exactly what you meant. How long have you known this Eun Mi? No, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve known her, the truth is that you’ve known Zico far longer. Hell, your leader is Taewoon hyung!”

While Kyung’s voice tightened with every word, Taeha’s eyebrows knitted together. He opened his mouth as if to say something but closed it shortly afterwards. Kyung did not relent; he stared at Taeha, his own expression scrunched up tightly.

“Su Jong! Jongie! I found it!”

Kyung whirled in the direction of a young woman’s voice. He found her standing at the entrance, propping the door open with her hips as she waved someone outside over. A large, off-white bow tied her hair back, out of her face; thick locks resting on her shoulders or against her back. She turned to smile at the people that gawked at her.

“Hello!” she bowed while she held the door. “I am so sorry I’m letting the cold air in. My friend is almost here, promise!”

“You should just close the door then,” said one of the men closest to her.

“Yes, sir.” Eun Mi stepped aside. The door shut gently with her still outside.

“No, wait!”

“Eey! Why did you tell her that?”

“I didn’t mean—!”

“What an obedient child. Her parents must be proud.”

“Hey, go tell her she can come back in!”

Taeha left his seat, heading to the entrance with quick steps. There was a great, big grin splattered over his face. Carefully, he opened the door, peering outside.

Eun Mi stood on the inner sidewalk, away from nonexistent traffic. Her bag rested against her leg, the blue strap cutting across her brown sweater. She stood with mock impatience, her head tilted slightly to the left, hands on her hips.

“Su Jong-ah! Hurry!”

“He’s always late.”

Eun Mi beamed at Taeha. “You know it.”

Su Jong stood at the other side of the street looking sullen. “Hey! Oh Taeha! You better not be talking about me!”

“When would I?”

“When wouldn’t you?”

“Ush! Just shut up and hurry!”

Su Jong waited for the car that had just rounded the corner to crawl by before he dashed across the street.

“Did you have to wait for that car to drive by? That one car?”

“Street safety first.”

“It wasn’t even near us!”

Su Jong threw his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close while winking in Taeha’s direction. “I just wanted to hear your beautiful voice calling out for me.”

“Ugh. Gross.” Eun Mi elbowed him, stepping out of his embrace. She stood by Taeha; they both watched Su Jong hold his injured side overdramatically.

She looked up at Taeha. “Keep that nasty, greasy thing away from me.”

“I’m hit! I’ve been mortally wounded!”

Taeha shook his head, opening the door for Eun Mi. “If she really wanted to, she could’ve broken your ribs.”

When Eun Mi walked into the restaurant, she felt a powerful set of eyes that gave her pause. She stopped so suddenly that Taeha bumped into her. Su Jong, coming in last, looked over his shoulder to see what the holdup was.

“Oh? It’s Park Kyung.”

“You know him?” Taeha asked.

“Not personally. I’ve seen him around. I think we met once while I did underground. I can’t quite remember.”

Taeha placed his hands on Eun Mi’s shoulders, gently guiding her forward. “Kyung’s a great guy. He’s also a ‘92 liner.”

Kyung expected tension. He expected Eun Mi to refuse meeting him or for Su Jong to protest against his presence. Anything even remotely related to Zico should have been cause for alarm. That is how Kyung thought.

But Eun Mi smiled warmly at him as Taeha introduced him. Su Jong acknowledged him with mild interest, but soon lost any concern and busied himself talking with Taeha.

“Did you have a good day?” Eun Mi asked as she slipped out of her coat. She folded it inside out then set it on the bench beside her, pulling the strap of her bag up and over her head. Her eyes never once left Kyung.

“Oh, um, yeah. Did you?”

Her eyebrows knitted together slightly; her brow smoothed out a few seconds later. “It was a little busy, but it was good. I hope you have a better day tomorrow. Is Block B doing okay? Are you ready for Hanoi?”

“You know Block B?”

Eun Mi laughed softly; the sound of conversations drowning out her melody. “Yes, I know Block B. I mean, you’re the third member I’ve met. Mr. Taeil was the first. I was out with Tae Jun oppa that night. We bumped into each other. Tae Jun oppa introduced us.”

Kyung sized the opportunity. “And Zico?”

Several things happened at once. Taeha’s hand froze halfway to his lips, a cup held between his fingers. Su Jong, who had been keeping an ear on their conversation tensed. And Eun Mi, Eun Mi’s smile faltered briefly before returning. It shone with sincerity, along with hurt.

“We… we didn’t seem to get along when we met. I think I might have done something to upset him but I don’t know what.”

“Eun Mi,” Su Jong cautioned.

Kyung’s eyes flashed in his direction briefly before returning to Eun Mi. He didn’t want to come across as a jerk, but he had to know.

“What did he do? Was he a jerk to you?”

Eun Mi smiled with her tongue between her teeth. Her eyes had lost some of their cheerful gleam. Just then, the waitress arrived with their food.

She beamed at her as she helped her set everything down. The waitress, probably in her teens, stole some glances at Taeha from behind her glasses. Every once in a while they would slide down her nose and she would rush to push them up.

This didn’t escape Eun Mi’s attention. She placed a tender hand on the girl’s forearm. “Are you a DEEPS by any chance?”

The waitress’ face flushed. She opened and shut , small gasping noises escaping. Her hand covered as she nodded.

Taeha rushed to stand, offering her hand. “Oh, thank you so much!”

The girl squeaked, gripping her apron. “M-my hands are dirty.”

Taeha rounded the table, a wide smile on his face. “It’s alright. Our DEEPS’ hands are sacred and beautiful.”

She hesitated, but when Eun Mi handed her a wet hand wipe she gratefully took it. She also cupped her hands in appreciation as Eun Mi shared a flowery scented hand lotion with her. Taeha’s smile never once wavered as he waited for his fan.

“Do you want a picture with him?” Su Jong winked.

“Actually, I kind of want a picture with her!” Taeha said with a giddy smile.

“You cutie,” Su Jong said.

“You guys are making her nervous. What’s your name?” Eun Mi asked.

“H-Ha Na. K-Kim Ha Na.”

“Kim Ha Na. What a pretty name!”

After a while, Ha Na’s nerves had subsided enough to shake Taeha’s hand. She also admitted to being a fan of Block B and L6.

“You have excellent taste,” Eun Mi said.

“Unnie, you’re so lucky! Whose coordi noona are you?”

Kyung expected Eun Mi’s kindness to fall off of her like a false second skin. She couldn’t be such a nice person, not when a stranger flat out confused her for a coordinator. Kyung had met several idol girls that hated being mistaken for a fan or a coordinator. Their kind smiles, friendly faces fell as quickly as they put them on. Kyung hated those kind of girls, the fake kind; the ones that walked about holding up appearances. No matter how beautiful they were, the moment they faltered and their masks cracked or fell right off, Kyung hated them.

Zico hated fakes, too.

Kyung thought this was it. This was the moment Eun Mi’s mask fell right off. He would see just what an ugly person she truly was and he would understand Zico one hundred percent.

He watched Eun Mi closely as she returned Ha Na’s cellphone. Her smile stayed in place. She moved a long strand of hair out of the way, tossing it over her shoulder absentmindedly.

“I’m not their coordinator, but if I had to choose one of them,” she paused, her chin between her fingers. She looked them all up and down. “I don’t know… Which one do you think would be the most difficult to deal with?”

Ha Na looked apologetic, but she went along with Eun Mi. “I think…Su Jong oppa?”

“Hey!”

Eun Mi burst into laughter. Her laughter started out loud then faded into soft huffs and hiccups. She held her stomach, sinking down into the bench. She was genuinely laughing! Kyung could not believe how hard laughter hit her.

Kyung stared.

“She’s not a coordinator at all,” Taeha explained. “She’s part of CELESTIAL. Song Eun Mi of CELESTIAL.”

“She’s the leader, in fact,” Su Jong added as he shot her rueful look. “A leader that always laughs at my misfortunes.”

Ha Na handed Eun Mi a glass of water as she apologized.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t know!”

“Oh, no, no, don’t worry about it!” Eun Mi dismissed it with a wave of her hand.

“Y-you just look so different in person! Y-your eyebrows aren’t s-straight and y-your hair is wavy…”

“I don’t do my makeup when I go out. Well, not like how I do it for broadcasts and such. My hair is naturally wavy like this. I have my mom’s hair.”

“M-my brother is a fan of CELESTIAL. I-if I go call him would you take a picture with both of us?”

“Certainly!”

Kyung did not know how to react. The table soon returned to normal during Ha Na’s absence. Eun Mi congratulated them for their triple kill. Taeha looked especially happy.

“You miss DEEPS so much, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Cheer up! We haven’t forgotten you!”

Kyung asked, “Are you DEEPS?”

“She’s DEEPS, BBC, and AMORES,” Su Jong said as he placed the pieces of meat on the grill. “Actually, she’s our first AMOR. She also came up with that fan club name.”

Eun Mi smiled again with her tongue between her teeth. “I didn’t think it would become the official fan club name, though. I’m happy that it did!”

“Wait, so, you’re multi-fandom?”

She directed her smile at him, the idol girl whose face shone bare, the foreigner with almost perfect Korean language and manners. She wore no mask. This girl was simply herself. She was so much herself that Kyung did not know what to make of her.

“Yes. Actually, I have a copy of Very Good in my bag. When Taeha mentioned that you might be here tonight, I couldn’t help it. Would it be too much to ask for your autograph?”

“Not at all! I’d love to sign it for you!” Kyung blushed.

“You should teach her your trademark ‘Aight,’” Taeha said as he munched on some side dishes. “You’re her favorite member.”

This time, it was Eun Mi’s turn to blush. “Oh Taeha!”

“Really?”

She nodded, fiddling with a strand of hair, twisting it this way and that between her fingers.

“She thinks you’re really funny, talented, and she especially loves your shoulder dance,” Taeha continued.

Eun Mi groaned in embarrassment, hiding her face behind her hands. “Stoooop iiiiit!”

“Are you trying to be cute in front of Park Kyung?”

Su Jong just had enough time to dodge the wadded up napkin Eun Mi threw at him with deadly good aim.

When Ha Na returned with her older brother, Eun Mi had had not time to recover. The older boy blushed at her blush and bowed continuously as she bowed to him while they shook hands. They ended up bumping heads, which only made Eun Mi laugh hard.

She assured them that they would post it on SNS so long as they didn’t say where they had met. “This is Kyung’s favorite restaurant. I don’t want a wave of fans coming here just to see him. I’d rather they come for great food and be respectful.”

Ha Na and her brother swore they wouldn’t give their location away. She signed the three copies of CELESTIAL’s mini-albums that the young man had brought along. He asked her to sign his apron and she did.

“Unnie, you’re really pretty,” Ha Na said with a blush. “Can I be your fan too?”

Eun Mi grinned. “I’d be honored!”

“She’s always stealing our fans,” Taeha whispered to Kyung. “Fan service just comes so naturally to her. Better watch out or all BBC will be taken from you.”

“I’m sure she would send them back to me. She’s a BBC herself after all.”

“Eey, you’ve fallen for her haven’t you?” Taeha teased, elbowing him playfully.

“She has a friendly charm. I like her.”

Taeha nodded knowing exactly what he meant. “She’ll probably send him brand new copies of their albums with all of the members’ signatures. Su Jong will also send Ha Na copies of L6’s albums.”

“They do that?”

“Yup. I’m sure they get in trouble for it, but they always find ways of doing things like these for their fans. Eun Mi, especially. She knows what it’s like to be a fan, so she takes great care of everyone’s fans, not just CELESTIAL’s.”

“What’s their fan club name?”

“A.Borealis.”

“A.Borealis? That sounds vaguely familiar.”

“It stands for Aurora Borealis.” Eun Mi took her seat as she gave one final wave to Ha Na and her brother.

“Really?”

Eun Mi explained the origin of their fan club name, sharing how the fans had wanted something meaningful, amazing, something that would tie them to the heavens, to CELESTIAL. She then ventured into astronomy. That eventually led into Greek mythology and literature. Kyung found out just how intelligent Eun Mi truly was, how much substance her conversations could contain, as well as how she had spent many months before a computer only to receive her B.A. in English from one of the universities in America.

The night grew old, the day young. Before they knew it, time had flown by. Su Jong rubbed his full stomach as he told Eun Mi they should get going.

“Hey, let me give this back to you in Hanoi.” Kyung raised her copy of Very Good. “I’ll get everyone to sign it.”

“You will! Thank you!”

Kyung ended up exchanging numbers with both of them before they left. Su Jong had helped her into her coat and she’d let him. They’d said goodnight to Ha Na and her brother as they’d walked out the door.

Kyung sat beside Taeha in silence.

“So?”

“So.”

So Zico had been wrong. Kyung didn’t hate Eun Mi. He liked her. He’d become her friend. And instead of solving the mystery, it simply grew bigger.