«Come on, Exy! You want to be a sergeant, shouldn’t you be better at, well, servicing?» asks Heehyun. Even with the beads of sweat rolling down her neck, DIA’s leader looks every bit irrepressible, despite the weather. The summer day is hot and humid; they’re running their usual 3 km distance in tank tops, and the best half of the platoon wants to die already.
«Did you blink and miss my travels to Seoul to promote our comeback?» grunts Exy, «I’m trying!»
Heehyun flashes her a toothy smile: «Try harder, mate!» — and speeds up; her ponytail is swishing back and forth between her shoulder blades.
Half-dead because of the heat, two cameramen capture their banter, and then enthusiastically follow Heehyun, filming her from every angle possible.
«How do her legs carry her back and forth in this heat», croacks Sowon, watching Heehyun photogenically catching up with Jooeun, Haebin and both Nayoungs at the head of their column.
«She’s showing off. This bastard wants to be a sergeant just as much», complains Exy and points ahead with her chin, «the more she hangs around Seolhyun sunbaenim, the higher her chances are».
«She’s at least entertaining», wheezes out Sowon. «I’m no use for the show».
«MNet will just stage manage her for drama, like they did in Produce», huffs Exy. «It’ll bite her in the ».
«No, it won’t. The show is a show; no one hates Irene because of her strictness in season 1».
«No one hates Irene because of it anymore», Exy corrects her, but hiccups and focuses on breathing. Sowon doesn’t distract her, prefers to focus on her backache instead.
«Exy, do you have your eyes on Oh My Girl?» asks Bona, slowing down a bit. Exy widens her eyes and shakes her head. 
Bona spits out, «Impossible!» — and runs ahead, passing by her running pals Jisoo and Nayeon and slowly making it to the middle of their group.
«She was ahead the whole time!..» begins Exy, but pulls herself together: the camera crew has returned to film the slowpokes. 
Sowon flashes a smile into the camera, and it doesn’t look crooked.

***

«You’re doing it wrong».
«But it’s just running?»
«I am speaking from experience. Watch me running. Pay attention, private. See? I spend less energy. Look at my arms; can you see the angle?.. And you should move your shoulders a little bit, it won’t hurt as much, when, you know… it bounces».
«Hm-hm».
«And you should bend your body forward a little bit. Come on! It really helps your knees».
«Like so?»
«More».
«Like so?»
«A little bit more. Actually…»
«Yoo Siah, you’re a slowpoke!!!» Bona screams, speeding past YooA and captain Baek, trying not to collapse on her way. «Bet, you’ll never catch up with me!»
The camera crew gets invested in the challenge and points the cameras at YooA, who roars, «What did you say, Kim Jiyeon?!» — and bolts forward.
Bona acts her role thoroughly: she revels in her boldness, she shows off the strength of the youth, and she is surprised, but respectful, when YooA outruns her. Whatever it takes, she thinks, while her lungs are burning.

***

Haebin, sweaty and glowing after the run, is drying herself with a towel and takes a selfie, while the slowpokes are finishing their run. So later, when they will be standing in a queue in the canteen, Eunice can send her the clenched teeth emoji as the response.
She half-hears Nayeon say, «I can’t believe I came last; you, cheater! Your strides are longer» — but doesn’t really register the words. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Nayeon push Sowon’s shoulder, but doesn’t focus on it. In front of her, her smartphone is overflown with the SNS notifications.
Naturally, she checks Eunice’s one first. Her modest, excellent, thoughtful, m