Nanhee would never get their debut song out of her head at this rate. Day three of their official practice together as Coterie neared its end, and Nanhee regarded the other girls from where she sat in front of the mirror stretching. Everyone already situating themselves into their respective pairs for the most part. The two senior trainees, Gayoung and Youngae, lead most of their practices. Particularly Gayoung, Nanhee noted.

Strictly speaking, Gayoung was their best dancer. She could hit all the marks with finesse that went from her fingers to her toes. Aside from her, Woonseollim also danced well, followed by Hyeonyi or Youngae if she cared to really scrutinize them. Gayoung was by far the best dancer, but Woonseollim had that something. Nanhee would have been told at her old company it was charisma or attitude.

It was annoying is what it was.

Nanhee considered herself a great dancer. She could keep up with the choreography far better than some of the girls around her. The line between dance line and not was pretty clear to her. Micha wasn’t too bad, but against the others? There was no question where she belonged in their lineup: hidden off to the side or back. She was at least better than the useless visuals, Jaein and Kyungwon. If she had her way, she’d cut the loose ends and keep the strong ones. That would just leave the supposed best.

It was annoying.

“Limmie-unnie!” Hyeoni threw herself at Woonseollim, “Did you eat yet? Can we get dinner together?” If Hyeonyi was offended by when Woonseollim shrugged her off, she didn’t show it.

“Do you think they’ll let us order in food?” Kyungwon asked, “Rabbit food is getting old.”

Not bloody likely. Nanhee already knew their diets were regimented for their debut. Salad and chicken if they were lucky. If Sara was feeling generous, she might smuggle them in some ramen or other snacks.

“Ugh, get off me,” Woonseollim removed Hyeonyi’s arm from hers.

“Maybe we can get burgers? I haven’t had a burger in a long time!” Their maknae proclaimed excitedly, “Or fries! Let’s get fries!”

“I’m not touching any of that,” Woonseollim retorted. Nanhee expected her to add peasant food to her statement, “If we get anything, it’ll be-”

“Where’s your favorite restaurant?” This time Jaein had chimed in, “What part of town is it in? When grandmother was feeling special, she went to the one place with live octopus that was divine.”

Gross.

“Gross,” was all Woonseollim responded as well.

“Nanhee-unnie!” Hyeonyi called to her, “What kind of food do you like?”

“She can’t hear you,” Kyungwon motioned to her eats, “got her air pods in.”

“Oh,” Hyeonyi then took in a deep breath, “UNNIE! WHERE. DO. YOU-!”

“Don’t shout!” Kyungwon shushed Hyeonyi while Woonseollim actually smirked a little. Nanhee pretended to not hear them. Airpods always did the trick even with their actually group formed. Aside, Gayoung was speaking to their trainer. Youngae was at an opposite wall, also stretching. At least she had sense to keep the limbs limber.

The door to the room opened and the once missing Micha came in with an armful of water bottles. She called to everyone, and the dinner line already swarmed up to her to grab a bottle each with quick thanks and then back to discussing possible food plans. Youngae and Gayoung were next.

“Thank you, leader-nim,” Youngae teased Micha who Nanhee swore blushed, “you’re dancing much better today.”

“Thank you! I practiced a little extra this morning since Yongsun was bringing our manager by to meet us,” The look both Gayoung and Youngae gave her would have been comical if Nanhee cared to call it as such, “Oh...oh, I’m sorry. Didn’t I say…?”

“Okay ladies!” Gayoung immediately turned to the others, “let’s get back in places!” Hyeonyi and Jaein collectively whined out a ‘whyyyy’.

Youngae patted Micha on the shoulder before taking her spot in the beginning of So Bad. Really, from what Nanhee saw, this dance should have been for six girls. Eight seemed excessive for what the song was. They really should just cut the weaker links. While Gayoung explained their predicament, Nanhee stood to finish her last stretches. It wasn’t until she looked back up into the mirror that she noticed Micha behind her, holding out the last water bottle. , she hadn’t even heard her walk up or say anything.

For that one awkward moment, they stared at each other via the mirror. Micha’s smile faltered slightly when Nanhee didn’t respond to whatever she had asked that Nanhee had missed. Instead, she mouthed a ‘sorry!’ and set the water bottle down on the floor next to Nanhee before leaving to join the others. She shrugged, ignoring the water, and joined the others after removing and securing her airpods.

Places set, their debut song had just started playing when the door opened again. Yongsun entered followed by a young man Nanhee had never seen before. She stumbled her first move when he turned his gaze to them, and she immediately cast her eyes downwards.

Embarrassing.

“Everyone,” Yongsun motioned to the man next to them, “let me introduce you to Ryu Hosung. He will be your manager starting during your debut. Our CEO wanted him to come watch you girls and greet you.”

“Hello, I’m Ryu Hosung. I look forward to working with all of you.”

“Everyone,” Micha motioned for them to line up, “1, 2, 3!”

What should have been, ‘Welcome to our clique! We are Coterie!’, ended up being a slurry of some right words, some wrong ones, and Nanhee who didn’t even try to say the ridiculous greeting. Well, her and Woonseollim. Micha quickly apologized while Hyeonyi just barked out laughter obnoxiously.

Neither Yongsun or Hosung looked amused.

“...very well. From the top shall we ladies?” Yongsun sighed, literally facepalming, and their song kicked up again.

They’ve been practicing this dance for three days. By now, they mostly had the kinks worked out. Sure, Kyungwon was atrocious still at times, and Jaein would trip on a transition sometimes, but Nanhee had seen them do this near perfect enough to know this was just not going to happen THIS time. First, Micha just looked awkward with her hip movements. Bad. Then Jaein got lost during their first chorus. Nanhee couldn’t tell you how, but she ended up face to face with the younger girl. Kyungwon and even Hyeonyi seemed to get the timing off during the second chorus. How was beyond Nanhee’s comprehension.

But the moment Nanhee knew this was a lost cause when during their one move where they laid almost across each other’s backs. Hyeonyi’s laughs must have infected Youngae because she nearly slipped off her back and that lost momentum carried into their final chorus with stronger arm movements. Youngae ended up playfully flailing a little; Hyeonyi, Jaein, and even Gayoung laughed at the antics.

When the dance ended, most of them were giggled and the atmosphere almost felt relaxed. Nanhee already knew what was coming from the grim expressions on their visitors faces.

“I sincerely hope all of you are taking this seriously,” Yongsun stated flatly. Instant mood killer as most looked down at their feet. A few kept their heads up, but even they knew not to speak right now, “because your official stage is going to happen in a few weeks. You have to be perfect.”

Nanhee should be paying attention to Yongsun as she admonished them, but her eyes were drawn to Hosung. He’d taken a stance with arms crossed while he watched them with a stare she recognized as judgment. Nanhee’s eyes went to the floor as a knot twisted in her stomach.

“You,” he suddenly spoke. All eyes went to Youngae who looked very surprised at being spoken to, “the way you flailed your arms? You could have easily smacked another member and hurt someone. You were the worst of the lot. Mind yourself.” Youngae’s face turned red at his remarks while her jaw clenched just enough for Nanhee to notice since she was next to her. The normally placid Youngae was not pleased. Clearly.

She also noticed he had no critique of Nanhee herself. She really did try to hide her indulgent smirk, but if she failed who cared?

“Speaking of which. Youngae, Gayoung, come with me. Micha, wrap things up for the night and come meet me outside.” Yongsun left with Hosung following. The two mentioned followed soon as Youngae actually muttered a little angrily. Too low for any specific words, but Nanhee could recognize anger when she saw it. Ha.

Woonseollim snorted.

“Wonderful. We get Yongsun Jr. as our manager,” Lim strode to her bag, scooped it up, and was already headed for the door.

“Wait for me!” Hyeonyi bounded after her.

“Are we getting food? Come with Kyungie-unnie! See you later Micha!” Jaein called back as she too went after Lim and Hyeonyi, grabbng Kyungwon by the arm to drag her along. Kyungwon protested that she needed to get her bag too but both were gone before long.

Nanhee stooped to pick her own belongings up. As usual, they were to manage their own way home. At least maybe having a manager would mean they’d have a more reliable means of travel and getting to and from practice. As Nanhee stood up straight, she caught sight of Micha busying herself by collecting the discarded water bottles to toss into the recycling. There was speakers that needed to be put away still along with some other odds and ends that needed to be straightened up before they left for the night. Not a lot of hard work, a few of them could probably finish it quickly together without too much hassle...

Micha looked up and met her gaze through the mirror again. She held up a hand to wave, but ended up dropping the bottles in her hand that she then went scrambling to collect. The bottles hitting the floor were her cue, and Nanhee left the training room to see herself back to the dorm.

Her fingers tapped impatiently on her phone screen while Gayoung shot looks over to where Hyeonyi and the director were conversing. Hyeonyi had on a bright blue, short wig today. The scenes in the pink room of their MV shoot really made it pop and stand out, but Gayoung missed her hair from their group choreography shoot the previous day. Their maknae really was adorable in her long pigtails put in specifically for this MV. Hyeonyi was pointing excitedly at some of the shots he was showing her with the biggest smile she’d seen on her face since that day she had run up to Gayoung announcing they’d be debuting together.

Three hours she’d been here with Hyeonyi and Kyungwon today so far. They were wrapping up with Hyeonyi she hoped. Kyngwon would be next. Depending on how fast she hit her marks well, Gayoung would guess she could expect to be here another six hours at least. To his credit, their manager did call someone to ask if they could have a car take them back to the dorm as they finished, but for some reason or another that wasn’t going to be an option. A nine hour work day wasn’t so bad though. The three extra hours of practice after was going to be the hard, though necessary, part.

Lim and Hyeonyi both proclaimed the extra practice was for nothing. Actually, that’s not true. Hyeonyi proclaimed they were perfect. Lim proclaimed she was perfect and didn’t need the extra practice. Gayoung had pretended not to notice her cast a look at their less than perfect dancing groupmates. Ever since that mess up with Yongsun in the practice room, their practices had increased in length and frequency. Gayoung woke up singing the chorus of their debut in her head every morning and she swore she heard Micha muttering her lines in her sleep.

You are stuck in my head head head baby...

Story of Gayoung’s life by now.

Still, that mess up meant one thing for sure: they weren’t ready. If that meant an extra hour or two each day of practice, then they needed to do it. Until they could perform the choreography practically blind, they needed to practice. Sara jokingly told her they’d might try putting blindfolds on them next week for fun. Joke’s on her though: Gayoung didn’t need a blindfold to practice with her eyes closed. She only peaked once during their last practice and it was to avoid Jaein running into her.

Her phone buzzed and Gayoung looked down at it immediately.

Miyeon-Unnie: Sorry I fell asleep. Are you busy now? Have time to VC?

Hyeoyi giggled as she agreed to redo the shot. Another half an hour at least then? Gayoung stood from where she’d been sitting. Kyungwon looked up from her phone.

“I’m going to step out for air.”

“Oh, okay,” Kyungwon just smiled at her and returned to reading whatever she was preoccupied with on her phone. Thank God Kyungwon didn’t ever ask questions, “I’ll let the manager know if he asks.”

After being stuck in the stuffy studio, even the polluted air of Seoul felt refreshing. At least it was a low pollution day. She walked a couple of feet from the door before responding to Miyeon she could take a call. Gayoung knew this side of the studio: people don’t come here often. Jaeseok once told her he’d met up with another idol here without issue for nearly an hour when they filmed their debut MV as well. Gayoung really didn’t want to know any more than that even though Jaeseok did grace her with the details. He’s an idiot.

“Wow! You look so pretty!” Miyeon exclaimed first when Gayoung answered her call. Miyeon was in a darkened room looking absolutely cozy in her robe and pajamas. None of the fake lashes or familiar makeup. Gayoung could even see a couple of blemishes on her forehead.

She was so beautiful.

“Isn’t it midnight there? Are you okay to talk? I’m glad Sungwon’s policy of NOT Taking your phones is still going strong.”

“I wouldn’t have called you if it wasn’t,” she countered, “so how’s filming going? I don’t see any weird hair color on you. Or bleach. Avoid that as long as you can: breakage is real.”

Gayoung spared a thought to Kyungwon’s nearly platinum tresses.

“They just have us on a set today in room setups. Yesterday it was mostly in front of a green screen for our choreo sequence.”

“How many times did you need to redo it?”

“Too many. It took five hours.”

“Riot’s debut with just four of us took three. Don’t feel too bad about it. Unless you have someone with no sense of movement like Minji,” when Gayoung didn’t answer, Miyeon laughed with a bright smile, “oh my god. You do!”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Not Youngae, Hyeonyi, or Woonseollim I gather! I bet it’s one of the newbies. Is it Jaein? It’s Jaein isn’t it?” Gayung tried to protest but Miyeon just kept her dazzling smile.

“How are you doing?”

“It’s cold up here. But it’s been a,” Miyeon paused a second as she contemplated, “relief. Let it be known Circle’s English regime is no joke! I went to the grocery store alone yesterday,” Miyeon’s bright smile softened into one Gayoung remembered from the late nights of them talking alone together in the training room after others had left, “but tell me how you’re doing.”

“It’s been tiring, but training always is. Did I tell you about the set designs? There’s so many TVs and lights, but I don’t get to film in the sparkly forest scenes that Hyeonyi keeps talking about. She’s so jealous of Lim and Nanhee getting to-”

“No, no, sweetie,” Miyeon stopped her, “how are you?”

“I’m fine!”

“Are you really? I remember debut was rough. Are you sleeping okay when you can? How about food? Even if they tell you to lose weight, you’re perfectly okay with eating a little bit more after a long training session. You don’t want to collapse. Also, why aren’t you leader? What is Yongsun thinking? You didn’t work your off all this time to just be second fiddle to anyone. And don’t get me started on the vocal part. Hyeonyi is a darling, but we both know you are so much more stable live. Seriously, what is Yongsun thinking?”

“I...I don’t know really. It’s fine though. Less pressure for me right?”

“At least make you center then. Whatever Hyeonyi did to win their approval, I wish I knew.”

Gayoung wanted to tell her that Hyeonyi wasn’t problematic. She was cute and marketable. Why shouldn’t she be center? Afterall, even with their debut sound not being anything remotely close to Riot or Miyeon’s solos, why would Yongsun take a chance and link Coterie even closer to their latest fail-but Gayoung doesn’t say it. She smiled and shook her head while Miyeon continued to grumble on about her not agreeing with what their CEO was doing.

“It’s okay unnie! We’re all doing well as is. Why bother about it? I’m happy to be debuting!” That seemed to appease Miyeon finally, “I should probably get back.”

“You’re right. Oh! I did want to ask one more thing.”

“Ask anything!”

“Have you talked to Woojin lately?”

Ask anything but that.

“No. I think he’s been really busy with Omni. I don’t see Jaeseok or Dohyun too often either. They’re really busy promoting Inception.” Not entirely untrue. With Inception charting really well and even winning first place twice in a row now, they’d not seen their brother group at all these last few weeks. That included Park Woojin, their terribly handsome manager with an adorable smile just begging to be kissed.

Not that Gayoung said anything about that to his older sister.

“I see,” Miyeon trailed off, mouth forming that firm, thin line she did when she was trying to not say exactly what was on her mind. Woojin does the same thing, “if you do talk to him...no, nevermind. You should get back to your shoot. Oh, and you should send me a picture of your manager. Sungwon’s nephew was always a hottie.”

“Okay, sure-wait, nephew?”

“Byeeee!” Miyeon ended their call.

By the time Gayoung reentered the set, Kyungwon was already being filmed on the pink set. Hyeonyi, now back to her normal dark hair, had taken a Gayoung’s former spot at the table she’d left previously. As she took Kyungwon’s former seat instead, she heard the director call cut, and Kyungwon being fed new instructions.

Six hours to go.

Waiting was the worst part of going on stage. She’d never felt so anxious and excited at the same time. They’re dressing room was far too small for eight of them in her opinion. Nanhee was busy in the one corner listening to something on her Airpods again, so Hyeonyi didn’t really talk to her. Limmie-unnie complained that the material of their stage outfits felt cheap and scratchy. Hyeonyi didn’t didn’t really notice: they were so sparkly! They were all coordinated with black and silver outfits with sparkling silver sequins. When Hyeonyi had gone out to check the sparkle in the hall lights, she was so so stoked for the effect they’d have on stage. Plus! The stylists had woven some long silvery strands into her black hair and fringe. Every time she twirled, her hair was a curtain of black and shine. No one else had it!

Wait a second. Didn’t they wear these for their MV shoot too? Ohhhh that made so much more sense. I would have been fun for her to have the braided pig tails too like in their MV. She’d be able to whip those around and if they were silver too, oh man she’d look amazing.

“Our maknae is so pretty!” Jaein cooed as she played with Hyeonyi’s hair, “You’re going to look so cool when you take center stage!”

“Right? Did you see the stage setup? Hosung told me it was going to be pink and silver like our MV!”

“I’ve been sending texts to Dohyun! He said Omni’s stage was going to be mostly blue today! He sent me a quick pic he took of ours! Look!” Jaein had showed her the very pink stage from a poor angle off to the side, but the pink was real.

“Maybe we can sneak out to see their performance?”

“Oooh yes! We’re all done here so-”

“You probably shouldn’t,” Kyungwon called out as their makeup artist brushed some blush across her face, “We’re supposed to be on stage in under an hour a think?”

“Are we sure? Mi-Unnie! What time do we go on?!” Hyeonyi shouted for Micha.

“She went to the restroom,” Kyungwon responded, “But she said-”

“ it. I’m bored. Let’s go,” Lim added. A coordinator tried to step in the way to chide them, but to Hyeonyi’s glee they stepped back with one loom from Lim. Behind the trio, she heard both Youngae and Gayoung say something, but they were already making their way down the halls to either find Omni’s waiting room or a view of the stage. She really wanted to see Inception live for once instead of just the MV or practice videos. She didn’t usually like boy group music but Inception was pretty neat.

“Do rookies still give out copies of their singles to other groups? Should we have brought some?” Jaein asked.

“We don’t even have copies. What would we even give out?”

“You never know! Maybe we should have brought our manager’s business card or something then. Networking! Half the work is who we know here! All those fansites go crazy over idol interactions! We could be the next shipped groups! Exposure Lim!”

“Do you think ITZY is around? I want to be friends with Yuna!” Hyeonyi asked excitedly.

Lim didn’t respond to them.

Unfortunately, the only people they ran into were coordinators and other staff. Some stared at them a little long, but Hyeonyi just grinned back at them with an excited wave. That seemed to make them happy enough to pause and ask them who they were. Oh, how Hyeonyi and Jaein talked about themselves to these new friends! They even got most to promise to watch their performance and to support their album sales! New fans!

“Oh no! Dohyun says they won’t be recording until late today! A couple of groups ahead of them are taking long.” Jaein groaned as she stopped in the middle of their search for the Omni waiting room, “but he’s bored. He says we should swing by and get some of their snacks.”

“What? They got snacks?!” Hyeonyi was starved!

“I’ll tell Sihoo to come meet us. I’m tired of walking aimlessly.” Lim stepped aside to text him. Hyeonyi spotted a vending machine at the end of the hall. Oh! She had some money! She could get a snack here! While her groupmates texted their respective Moni member, Hyeonyi stared at all the things she could get. But was she more hungry or thirsty? She only had enough for one or the other. strawberry Milkis sounded kind of tasty right now.

“Excuse me?” Hyeonyi was tapped on the shoulder. Behind her was a man in dark clothing, baseball cap on his head and sunglasses on his face. Poor guy! If he was wearing sunglasses indoors he probably had some eye issues.

“Hello! Do you need the machine? I’m just trying to decide what I want. You can go ahead!”

“Let me buy something for you since I’m bothering you. Which one were you looking at?” Hyeonyi bowed thankfully and pointed out the Milkis. He stood next to her, one of his hands resting on her shoulder as he leaned over to enter in the selection on the machine. Hyeonyi looked at his hand and frowned just a little. Weird.

“By the way, are you part of the Circle Media?”

“Yes I am. We’re Coterie.”

“Really? Great! I was actually looking for you girls. Say, could you show me where your waiting room is at? My friend works for the company and said she needed me to bring her something. She’s one of your coordinators.”

“But...why were you looking for us then instead of her then? I can ask for her. What’s her name?”

Before he could answer, the man was suddenly pulled aside as Lim interjected herself between Hyeonyi and him.

“ off.”

“I was only asking her for some help and buying her a drink.”

“I said: . Off.” Lim repeated louder. Around them a few people stared, some whispered. The man only smiled at them, raising his hands as if he surrendered. What was going on? Lim didn’t respond but she stepped towards him with an look of contempt Hyeonyi had seen her use on food she hated. Before anyone could do anything else, someone called to them. Micha placed herself between Lim and the man. She bowed to him quickly and Hyeonyi felt her arm get grabbed and she was pulled along away from him

Micha had hooked her arm with hers, the other linked with Jaein’s, and pulled them back towards their waiting room. Lim ran up behind them.

“I’ve been looking for you all. We’re on in twenty. They gave us the wrong timing.”

Hyeonyi looked back at the man. He waved at her before he answered some other folks coming to check on him. That was really weird. Hyeonyi would be more concerned, but then Gayoung was shouting at them from far off and they broke out into a fast run.

~~~

Hyeonyi had never felt so happy. They had stepped off the stage to some actual fan cheers. Did they already have fans? Were they just staff members? Did it matter? They were cheering for her! She’d always imagined what it’d be like to be under those hot lights with the flashy screens in front of fans and soon-to-be fans alike. It felt so much better than anything she’d dreamed of! She was flawless! Every move she made was on point. Every time she was center, she swore she heard the screams get just a little louder. Yang Hyeonyi had made it! Everything she’d worked so hard for all these years were finally coming to her! She’d pinch herself so many more times before they went to bed to make sure she wasn’t dreaming!

Nothing went wrong. No mic malfunctions, no formation changes, nothing went wrong! Hyeonyi could hardly contain her excitement as they walked back to their van. She led the pack, strutting right up with Hosung. It was a shame they couldn’t wear their stage outfits out. Hyeonyi would have loved to see if they sparkled as much in the moonlight and street lights.

“You watched us right? We were really good right?”

“I watched from a monitor. You looked like you did everything right.”

“Did you hear the people? Do you think they’ll be back to watch us again?”

“I really don’t know.”

“Manager, don’t ignore us!” Hyeonyi giggled when Hosung seemed to walk faster.

She was going to be a star.