◸ chapter | no. one ◿
‹ ETHEREAL › shincom's first girl group / revamped 。chapter one
of burdens & words
JANUARY 17th, 2016
She was a person that could adapt to everything and anything. But even she, from time to time, would fall into the endless abyss stubbornness that won’t allow her to adjust to specific situations.
Such abyss was visible now.
The instant that the lineup for Ethereal was revealed, Jangmi, who had unfortunately become Ethereal’s leader, prevented herself from initiating World War III by dancing day and night, endlessly until she felt she was one step away from fainting due to exhaustion. The motive behind that anger or more correctly, frustration, was none other than Eric Mun, Shinhwa’s Company CEO and Lee Minwoo Shinhwa’s Company CO-CEO.
Becoming Ethereal’s leader was the last thing Jangmi desired as she witnessed firsthand the struggles her brother’s group leader, Suho, had to go through to make sure they would stay at the top in the midst of a seemingly never-ending pandemonium – Kris departure followed by Luhan’s and eventually Tao’s. However, that wasn’t the only reason behind her hatred towards that position and caused immense distress. Perchance, it was the fact that all of them were close regarding age hence the leader figure wasn’t obligatory. Or, it was perhaps, the fact that Jangmi lacks the understanding of the existence of feelings and how fragile they are.
Himawari – who she knows since SM Entertainment – Dajung and Kyulbin – who she met when she joined Shinhwa Company – are part of Ethereal. Four individuals that have trained together and are somewhat friends shouldn’t need a leader, they should work things out among themselves so that they can come up with magnificent outcomes instead of having someone taking care of the entire ordeal.
That was what she reasoned with Eric during the pouring rain.
Eric looked at the window and looked at the figure in front of him, continuously shifting his gaze as he thought about his argument in the hope of persuading Jangmi. “I understand your point of view, Jangmi,” Eric began, intertwining his fingers, “However, I can’t fully agree with it. A leader figure is necessary no matter how close the members of a group are. Someone has to have control of the reigns, and that person happened to be you, Jangmi.”
“But I don’t want to be Ethereal’s leader,” Jangmi sulked.
Eric rubbed his temples, “What do you want me to do?” he asked, slightly irritated with Jangmi’s attitude, “Make Himawari who’s afraid of people the leader? Or Dajung who lives inside a comfortable bubble the leader?”
Frowning her brows, Jangmi shook her head. “Netizens would eat them up if they were Ethereal’s leader,” she let out a long sigh, “I guess there’s no way to persuade you into Ethereal not having a leader.”
“There really isn’t.” Sternly, Eric looked at her, “A leader helps one grow, I know you’ll be able to that with the remaining members.”
Jangmi scoffed as she got up from the chair, “You have too much hope in me.” Heading towards the door, she looked over her shoulder, “When you hope too much you get disappointed, I’d rather not have you hoping for something.”
“And I’d like if you could trust your CEO,” Eric said, maintaining a firm tone throughout his entire sentence, “I would never decide something that would damage Ethereal’s future.”
Jangmi inhaled, firmly staring at her white converse sneakers, “You just did.”
With that, Jangmi on the spur of the moment left Eric’s office not wanting to hear a philosophical speech from Eric on the importance of a leader figure in a girl group that’s part of the cruel and inhumane Korean Pop industry.
However, unlike she had hoped for, Himawari, the person she thought would have agreed with her, sided with both Eric and Minwoo.
“You’re the oldest member,” Himawari commented as she tied her shoelaces, “Were you expecting me to be the leader?”
Scratching the back of her neck Jangmi unsurely and slowly nodded. “You’re smart, you always know how to make the right choice, without second doubts. You would be able to lead us well.”
“Researchers have found that eldest children, you, are more emotionally stable, persistent, socially outgoing, willing to assume responsibility, and able to take the initiative than later-borns, for example, I or Dajung or even Kyulbin,” Himawari stated.
Jangmi could only blink, “I can’t believe you’re backing up me being Ethereal’s leader with scientific facts,” Jangmi looked at the floor in awe, “At least you have scientific data, unlike Eric or Minwoo.”
“I am a genius,” Himawari declared, fidgeting with her fingers, “Everything has to have a scientific background to be truthful or even plausible.”
The hallway gradually started becoming boisterous, hearable through the walls. It was 6pm, the hour trainees are allowed to head back to their dorms and practice Japanese, Chinese or English for the following day.
Jangmi approached Himwari and poked her left cheek to which Himawari responded with a glare, “I just wanted to make sure you were real.”
From time to time, Jangmi couldn’t help but ponder if Himawari's existence was real for she was too perfect to be a human that hadn’t been altered by a strange laboratory experience.
An astounding IQ of 167, the highest of any idol so far. Was chosen as the prettiest trainee under SM Entertainment and once more in Shinhwa Company. Alongside Jungkook, BTS’ Golden Maknae, she would be considered the Golden Visual as soon as Ethereal made their debut. Her entire future has already been planned. She puts everyone in front of her. She’s the most famous member of Ethereal. Would it have hurt if she had become Ethereal’s leader?
Conversely, becoming Ethereal’s leader would have been somewhat unpredictable. And the scariest part of unpredictability is the consequences that come with it, especially for someone that needs balance in their life.
Taeyong, for one, understood her entirely with both his heart and brain.
They discussed the matter that was slowly eating Jangmi’s soul over a pepperoni pizza. The three of them – Jaehyun who was both Jangmi and Taeyong’s best friend also was one of the few people Jangmi confided in – met at a restaurant they used to frequent when Jangmi was still a trainee at SM Entertainment. Unconsciously, Jangmi brought up the topic, and Taeyong listened to her attentively, processed the information he had been offered, and came to a self-evident deduction.
“SM is known for usually selecting the group’s oldest element, for example, Leeteuk from Super Junior, Taeyeon from Girls’ Generation, Onew from SHINee and Irene from Red Velvet. However, there was an exception in EXO where Suho became
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