Six women were sitting together in the conference room that Seulgi only knew from what others had told her. The big one with the oval table. The infamous room in which the fate of Hayoon and Haeyi had been decided. And now it would mean to decide what would happen to the six females sitting in it, waiting for their manager to finally show up.

Woori and Junji were sitting closely together, Junji’s head resting on Woori’s shoulder as they both very tiredly were hanging on their seats, praying to the gods that this meeting would be over as soon as possible. They were hungover. Very hungover.

“Hey, Woori… who was that dude I left with last night?“

Oh. A typical Junji story.

“What do do you mean?“, Woori asked and slightly opened her sleepy eyes. “I didn’t see you anymore after you disappeared with Heechul.“

“It’s strange… I could have sworn Jungkook picked me up. And… you know… but when I texted him today in the morning to ask him about it, he was confused and told me he wasn’t with me. Who did I leave with last night?!“

As they were speaking Jaehee was looking at her with judgmental eyes. She kept silent nevertheless and even Ejeong didn’t say anything, yet Ejeong pretty much didn’t even acted as if she noticed any other female in the room. She just sat there, busy with her phone. And so was Eunsoo, the youngest among them. It was like all of them were doing their own thing. Except for the two drunk birds. Not that Seulgi cared. Because she didn’t. If you’d asked her, she’d totally told the management to only let her debut as a soloist. Or a smaller group. Like Red Velvet in the beginning. Four was a nice number to shine on your own. Six made it a lot more difficult. At least it wasn’t an NCT situation… that would have been horrible.

Even though Seulgi couldn't care less about the others, she had to admit that she was missing some sort of affection like Junji and Woorie shared with each other. Among the trainees there always had been at least one person, namely Hayoon, to keep the interactions between everyone going. Now, none of the women tried to change the lack of interaction between each other, not even when Junggyu finally showed up.

“Hello ladies.“, he greeted them and sat down straight, unpacking a bunch of documents without looking up at any of the women. Some of the others finally stopped focusing on themselves and paid attention to him, some… didn’t. “As you see, you’re the remaining six that will debut as Honey Crush. The infamous project that was abandoned for so long due to… internal issues.“, he presented the information which everyone already knew with a nonchalant grin on his lips as if he was trying to low-key mock them for being not capable of debuting before their rookie fellows Red Velvet and NCT. “You’re ready to make 2017 your year?“

“Wow, so SM really thinks we stand a chance against those TWICE babies?“, Ejeong asked and crossed her arms. TWICE babies. A nice way to put it. Thinking of how their oldest members were as old as Eunsoo who would make the maknae in this line-up. Seulgi eyed her shortly before her eyes wandered back to Ejeong and Junggyu.

“Of course. South Korea had enough of baby faces, it’s time to bring some -appeal back into the game.“, he declared and a frown was wandering over each of the members’ faces.

“-appeal? So we’re going y concept when what’s hip and trendy these days is hip hop for guys and dancing baby cuties for girls?“, Junji asked bewildered as next to her Woori was letting out a very excited “YAY!“.

“This means you want us to be pioneers.“, Seulgi shared her thoughts. She wasn’t against y. y was good with her. More than good, actually. But she wasn’t the only one. Her eyes immediately moved further to Jaehee who was already grinning triumphantly.

“ sells in this case and the songs for your first mini - album are already set. Recording will be in two weeks, the line distribution will be decided 100% after the recordings and mastering, but your positions are mainly set at this point. You’ll get your info sheets from me now with stage names, personas, positions and all the other stuff you need to know.“, Junggyu further explained and a pile of paper was suddenly making its round. When it reached Seulgi, she found her stage name printed in big letters at the top of her sheets. Mona. She immediately knew it was hers. Because she had requested that name. Who would have thought that the company really went with their suggestions and wishes? Or was it someone else who spoke up for her to get that stage name? Seulgi grinned.

“Junggyu-oppa.“

Eunsoo’s voice sounded like a little bird’s twitter. Her eyes were fluttering like butterfly wings and she moved on her seat like a little child, knowing how appealing its effect must have been on the manager.

“Are you sure the concept is matching to all of us?“, she shared her thoughts.

“Yeah, what if people will see us as old aunties that missed out on the youngster fame train?“, Ejeong joined her on her track. “Currently people want to see young concepts with youth and innocent girl appeal. I don’t want to enter a sinking ship that doesn’t even manage to leave the harbor.“

Junggyu snorted shortly. “So, you think you can change something in what has already been decided for you guys? Sorry to disappoint you but that’s not gonna happen. You should take any opportunity given to you. It’s not like Honey Crush wasn’t pushed back once, already. Show some gratitude. This time the company is not joking around. Anyone that causes trouble for the debut will be kicked out immediately.“

The atmosphere suddenly grew more tensed up. Everyone knew what he was talking about. Haeyi and Hayoon. “You mean…“, Jaehee was the one brave enough to voice out what everyone was thinking.

“Yes.“, Junggyu answered. “Just be thankful for what you have right now.“

“Oh no!“ From the other end of the table, a disappointed looking Woori was staring at the display of her phone. When she noticed that the others were looking at her, she pointed at her phone. “They just told me that my co-star in the next drama will be the same like last time!“, she informed everyone. “I was hoping for a new one!“

Right, there was always the one exception. Junggyu had mentioned that everyone causing a ruckkus would be kicked out. But this rule did not apply to Bang Woori. Bang Woori who turned out to be the new jewel in the girlgroup universe of SM entertainment. Once again she accidentally pointed out how special she was compared to all the others.

 Seulgi tried to ignore her and looked down on her sheets.

Mona. She wanted to be Mona. So bad. She wouldn’t complain. She would be grateful. This was her chance after all the sacrifices she had made. This was hers. Finally. Nobody would ruin that. Not even a Bang Woori.

The recording booth was already packed and the girls were all waiting for their turns to sing the songs. Woori felt overly excited to finally be where everyone of them wanted to be so badly - there, where the magic happened. Recording songs was magically. Well, a lot of things were. And some of the things on Woori’s even more magical Bucket List were… quite experimental. But things had to be done and the ones not daring to be brave missed out on so many things.

Jaehee had been the first to record, so now she was relaxing on one of the couches, breathing into a package of chips, her eyes closed as she concentrated to extract the flavor completely out of the scent. She still didn’t get to the weight that the stylists had required from her and just like her, the rest of the group was starving themselves to achieve the ultimate Korean body goals.

“Sniff on your chips somewhere else, you’re making everyone hungry!“, Ejeong scoffed at her, Eunsoo’s gaze shooting from the booth in which Seulgi was currently singing to the two women that were glaring at each other like crazy hyenas.

“Stop complaining. Not everyone wants to look like a pig when they debut!“, Jaehee huffed back at her.

Next to Woori Junji was still sulking. Woori knew why. Junji was still hurt by the fact that the company had decided to make her a rapper instead a singer, as she had hoped for. The past days had been filled with endless nights of a bitter Junji crying. Woori thought of the sniffles and sobs at night as a very interesting change of sound background before falling asleep but she knew that she was probably the only person that could take pleasure in the sound of someone crying. In general, Woori had felt a mixture of pity and amusement about Junji’s situation. An angry Junji was a funny Junji. Like a hurricane she sometimes was unstoppable. It was fun to watch her be a destructive whirlwind. But also Woori knew how much Junji had wanted to be a singer and how much it must hurt her to be reduced to be a female SM rapper… who were known to be… not so great (except for Amber, Amber was great and Woori loved Amber, but also she loved everyone as everyone loved her).

“Hey, you should try to brighten up a little, otherwise your parts won’t sound great.“ Junji looked up at the gorgeous woman in front of her and Woori tried her best to infect her with her smile. It didn’t work, unfortunately.

“It won’t matter much, will it? I mean… I rap a few times and that’s about it.“ Like a child Junji crossed her arms and looked away, as her eyes started watering again. Woori couldn’t help but sigh before she moved closer to her friend and gently whispered something to her that instantly changed the expression on the woman’s face. “Are you serious?!“, Junji asked and Woori decidedly nodded at her. “It won’t work that way, you know that.“, the freshly announced rapper insisted.

“Then I will make it work.“, Woori told her and grinned.

When it was Junji’s turn to enter the booth, everyone ended up surprised when she was doing more than she was supposed to. Instead of only rapping her few parts, she was singing the entire song and the staff was watching her with a frown. Junggyu, too, was watching, only shaking his head at the attempt of her to change something by that. The belittling grin he was carrying the entire time during Junji’s recording vanished when the last member entered the booth to record her parts and Woori left out certain parts on purpose. She even added the rapping parts in some of the songs to her own lines.

“Stop it.“, Junggyu told the recording staff immediately and communicated through the mic into the booth. “Are you kidding me, Woori? Do this properly! Now!“

“But I feel more like being the rapper!“, she replied. “Rapping is something new! I want to be a rapper, too!“

“You’re not a rapper, Woori!“

“Let me just do the rapping part in one song!“

“Bang Woori, do as you’re told!“ Junggyu got louder and louder and unhealthy wrinkles appeared on his forehead.

The argument lasted for a moment, resulting in an overly stressed Junggyu and Woori giving up after a while, singing her parts but still adding the rap parts. When she got out of the booth, Junji was already waiting for her.

“Thank you…“, she mumbled sheepishly.

“You don’t have to thank me.“, Woori assured her, “Rapping is cool.“

“No… you are.“

The fresh air of the night was still clinging onto the few lights coming from the tents in which people were gathering to have a drink or two. Junji was passing them by, a plastic bag in her hands as she was strolling down the street, not knowing where to go. No, seriously, she couldn’t remember the way back, neither could she remember how she even got the plastic bag full of Soju bottles.

“Girl, you’re something! Get in the car!“

Junji was looking at the street next to her, where a silver car stopped and an angry man was looking straight at her. Was he talking to her?

“…wry?“, she replied, noticing how it was pretty hard to talk after being so alcohol infused.

“If you make me get out the car, I’ll kick your , Junji!“

From the angry yelling, Junji started to recognize the man in the car.

“Heehee!“, she exclaimed and stumbled towards the car. Her plastic bag and its content hit the door of the car when she reached it and from the inside Heechul was yelling at her, whining over the bumps the bottles must have caused. “Ho sid yu fine me?“, Junji asked once she slumped down on the seat next to him and rested her head on the soft leather. God, how could her head be so heavy?! Was it the amount of Soju she drank during the past few hours? The it stay in her head? Maybe that was the reason for the weird feeling inside of it.

“Woori called me, telling me that you left the house to get alcohol more than an hour ago.“, he answered.

Junji looked distraught at what he was telling her. Her eyes started to water and her lips formed an unhappy line downwards. “… wai sidn’t Woori com to fine me… she hate me nao?“, Junji asked and looked at Heechul with big, red eyes.

“… wow, that’s all you’re worrying about at the moment? Only Woori? No ‚Thank you‘ for me because I came to find and pick up your pathetic ? Do you realize it’s already 4 AM?! Why were you even drinking again?“

The girl in his car still looked at him with watering eyes, waiting for her question to be answered.

“…fiiiiiiine. Woori was too drunk herself. You two are really something… almost as troublesome as Donghae and Kyuhyun, really…“

“Yu thin’ I’m pa… pathetic?“

Heechul paused for a moment, speechless of the kind of conversation he was having with Junji. Then he rolled his eyes, sighed and tried to concentrate on the road again. For a moment it was all silent in the car and there was nothing else than the sounds of the streets filling the empty space between Heechul and Junji. Not even the radio was playing and after a while of unpleasant awkwardness, Heechul unlocked his lips again.

“Why did you get drunk?“, he asked again. “Aren’t you supposed to start your dance rehearsals tomorrow?“

Junji gulped loudly. “They… not… done assigning lines…“, she answered, trying hard to get the words over her lips.  There was another silent break until Junji moved closer to Heechul, the safety back holding her back at some point. She was still leaning desperately against it, trying to force the driving guy into a desperate hug. “Heehee? How.. sid yu feel… wen sey gave yu lines yu didn’t like?“

“Oh… so you didn’t get the lines you wanted to have?“, Heechul asked.

That was when Junji broke into drunk crying.

For some reason people did not want to leave Junggyu in peace for just a single second. Ever since Honey Crush had been announced to be a thing, people kept pestering him. And when the probably most annoying shareholder of SM was sitting in front of him, demanding of special treatments being made to certain members of Honey Crush, Junggyu hated his entire life. Some shareholders didn’t care about what was going on internally in the groups, they were just caring about profit and if the idols behaved as they should. Some on the other hand…

Junggyu had thought Jaehee’s personal pet shareholder was the most annoying of all of them when he showed up in the beginning of the week, but now that the man with the pitch black mustache was sitting in front of him, telling him how to treat some of the girls, he wasn’t so sure about it anymore.

“You understood me?“, the shareholder asked after finishing his request that was consisting of 50% threats, mostly. Threats of Junggyu loosing his job. Life was beautiful, really! Junggyu tried to look as professional as possible when he inertly felt the urge to puke.

“Sure“, he answered. “Don’t worry, everything will be to your liking.“

The shareholder left a bottle of expensive Whiskey at Junggyu’s office before he disappeared and when he was gone, Junggyu fell back into his seat, staring at it. Why were people making such a fuzz about line distribution and spotlight? Oh right, because it was promising individual success in this business. Sometimes he still wondered what those shareholders were thinking. In this case it was especially… confusing. Seriously, Junggyu didn’t know what to say about it.

What caught him even more off-guard was the amount of idols suddenly showing up in his office. From EXO’s Baekhyun, to Super Junior’s Heechul, the girls already had their supporters who weren’t ashamed to approach the manager directly. Junggyu couldn’t believe how much disrespect they were showing.

Someone knocked on the door and Junggyu didn’t even bother to get up again. “Yes?“, he asked loudly and the door opened once more, the pretty face of Bang Woori showing up in front of him.

“Junggyu-oppa, do you have a moment?“, she asked but got in before he even answered. When she locked the door behind her, Junggyu started furrowing his eyebrows and watched her skeptically getting closer. Elegantly but also somewhat casually, she sat down and leaned over the table, her chest popping through the see-through blouse she was wearing. The edges of her bra were clearly showing and Junggyu was suddenly wondering how clothes like that were considered modern fashion when they were dangerous territory for every man’s eyes. “I have a request.“

“And that is?“

“Give me the rapper position in Number Nine.“

Number Nine was one of the songs on the mini-album that were considered as main tracks. One of those where the line distribution had been very clear, even way before the girls recorded all of the songs.

“You know I can’t do that.“

“Oh really? I asked the editor and he told me that you’re the one who is supervising the song production and distributions during the talks with the songwriters. So you’re the one who can make changing suggestions. Am I right or am I wrong?“

Ugh. Junggyu forgot how quick Bang Woori was in twisting people around her little finger. Of course, they all gave her the information she needed when she asked just friendly enough.

“Maybe. But I won’t give Junji your lines and yours to her. I have to justify my decisions in front of the board and there are more reasons to be against Junji than to be for her.“, he informed Woori but the woman didn’t want to back down.

“Tell them I wanted to be the rapper. Tell them I asked you for it. We both know that I can ask for special treatment.“

“And we both know that it’s my job to reject you, when I think that it’s nonsense what you’re requesting for.“

Woori got up from her seat and walked around Junggyu’s desk. The mixture of super short skirt and see-through blouse was constantly distracting Junggyu from the entire discussion. Yet, the girl was suddenly looking a lot more intimidating than usual.

“It’s just one song, Junggyu! One! And it’s possible! We recorded all the parts needed. Junji did sing all of my parts, I did all of hers.“, Woori insisted.

“Yes, but if this song flops, I will be the responsible for that - and also Junji. Do you want that to happen?“

Woori didn’t argue further. She was standing next to him, suddenly giving his seat a turn, moving Junggyu right in front of her. “It won’t flop. And I’m not going before you agree to make me a rapper in Number Nine.“

Junggyu sighed. “I won’t change my mind.“

“Unless I make you.“ With that Woori leaned over him, her sweet scent being suddenly so close, that Junggyu felt like being able to touch it. “Look, oppa. Instead of fighting each other, why don't we work together? I could help you relax and you could help me with my needs, in exchange. Sounds good, doesn’t it? I mean… look at how stressed you seem. I should help you relax.“

Junggyu’s eyes wandered from Woori, who went on her knees in front of him, to the bottle of fine liquor on his desk.

Why were people always connecting bribery to threats? Bribery could be so nice. And so convincing. All you had to do was to make it right - and be the one with the better arguments.

 

Eunsoo was staring into her bottle of tasteless water. Gulping down the anger stopped working a while ago. Just like pretending not eating was okay. Everyone was angry. Angry and surprised of so many things. Some were discontent on how the styling for the debut went. Some of how the final line distribution turned out. She could still not explain how Junji had ended up getting so many lines for Number Nine, how Woori turned out to be the rapper in that song and how Eunsoo herself suddenly found herself with a lack of lines in it. It pissed her off so much that it was hard to keep her image of being the perfect, nice girl incredibly hard. She was sure, it was all Woori’s fault… next time she’d be prepared. Next time, she’d be clinging onto Junggyu to get her will through. She knew he was going crazy over her, she had thought that it was enough to automatically make him support her. Unfortunately she was wrong.

As the maknae was still busy meditating her anger away, Jaehee, Ejeong and Junji were having a loud argument.

“Stop complaining! It’s just hair! Some freaking hair!“, Ejeong barked. Indeed, the stylists had done nothing good to the long hair of Junji. The once super long mane had turned into a short bob and Junji didn’t manage to get used to it, yet. “Look at me! Due to the weight loss I lost like one whole cup size! My s went from glorious to glorious minus one!“

Jaehee in the corner laughed about it. “How unfortunate that you lost weight on the wrong spots. All the weight I lost was weight on my stomach and leg area.“

“Bah!“, Ejeong reacted, “So what, I lose y size when I lose weight. That’s because my s were a present made by God, not a sugar daddy.“

The entire room fell silent and anxious glances were thrown from one side to another.

Jaehee had her troubles suppressing her anger.  “Tsk, whatever. I’m not talking to the in the corner.“

“Oh? But I do.“, Ejeong countered and Jaehee raised her hand to throw her water bottle after the vocalist.

The fight, however, was interrupted by the sound of a body hitting the floor and following screams. Seulgi had collapsed, probably because of exhaustion and malnutrition.

Eunsoo couldn’t help but rest her head on her knees. This all was anything but what she had expected the debut preparations to be like. To be the maknae. When you were the smallest bit of the whole. The youngest. The one that people started to overlook. Eunsoo never was one to just look over or even through. She was special. And she'd show. She'd show the whole world. In the sea of fighting es, she'd be the glamorous angel to smile upon the souls of the fans. She didn't care how it would happen, but it would. The end justified the means. And nothing was holy anymore. Except for herself. But saints weren't what they used to be, anyway.

Eunsoo was born as a singer. She was born as a star. And that was exactly what she would be.