CHAPTER THREE

JUNE 15TH, 2021
Miranda woke up to the sound of Daon's alarm in the early hours of the morning. She sat up in her bed, soaking up her surroundings. It all still felt new to her, all of this idol stuff; everything. If you told Miranda last year that she would be moving to Korea to debut in a girl group, she would most likely laugh in your face and tell you that you were out of your mind. But alas, here Miranda was, in Korea, going to debut in a girl group in a couple of weeks.

While Daon turned off the alarm and woke up on her own terms, Miranda made her way to the vanity on her side of the room. She then started to do her daily morning skincare routine, taking a glance at the small mirror in front of her. She may not look it to anyone but herself, but the Miranda she is seeing in the mirror is definitely not the Miranda she knows. She wasn't sure if it was adjusting to Korea, the hectic schedules, or if she was just going crazy but Miranda was definitely not the same as she was a year ago. Snapping back into reality, Miranda finished her skincare routine with that thought still lingering around in the back of her mind.

Meanwhile, Chaerin woke up from her peaceful slumber and went out of her room only to see that she was surprisingly the only one up and out. Shrugging it off, she headed to the bathroom.

After using the restroom, Chaerin found Maya also out and about, promptly following her to the kitchen, wondering what Maya was going to make for breakfast. But as Chaerin was walking into the kitchen, she stopped in her tracks.

"Oh, what's this? It's a... camera...?" Chaerin trailed off, picking up the camera and showing it to Maya.

Maya lightly laughed. "Remember the meeting with the staff yesterday? They said that we will be doing a video diary starting today." Maya explained. "That's why there's some other cameras around the dorm."

"Ah... this week? I thought we were going to start next week." Chaerin admitted, but then again, she wasn't that on par with remembering things. She shrugged it off and turned the camera to her, introducing herself. "Hello, I'm Girls Zone's Lee Chaerin!" The female said to the camera, waving enthusiastically. Maya grinned at Chaerin's enthusiasm and continued to prepare breakfast for the girls.

One by one, the rest of the group came out of their bedrooms, also being reminded of what was happening today. To get the members and fans excited about Girls Zone's debut, the company prepared handheld cameras for the members to document the week's preparing for their debut and uploaded the footage onto their YouTube Channel.

This particularly excited Tubtim, as she already has vast knowledge when it comes to vlogging and just YouTube in general. The company heavily restricted social media for the girls as an extra measure of not leaking anything about the group to the public, so the restriction upset Tubtim the most, yet somehow, she preserved through it. So when the vlog series was introduced, Tubtim was ready to get back into what she loved. It was not exactly what she hoped as their social medias were still being restricted and wouldn't be lifted for another few months, but it's the least they could do in Tubtim's eyes.

Luckily for the members, it was their day off— but in a sense that they still had some work to do. For the most part, at least, it was one of their last rest days. Because of this, the majority of the members had to balance out what kind of person they wanted to showcase as their idol persona and what parts of them were being kept to their personal lives, or even herself. It was all different answers.

Miranda was the last member to come out into the main room, finding Tubtim and Chaerin watching morning television, Mirai, Bonnie, and Crystal doing some Korean lessons while playing around with the camera, and Daon, Saya, and Maya in the kitchen making breakfast. Forcing herself to be in idol mode, Miranda went into the kitchen to prepare tea and coffee for various members. "What are you guys making?" Miranda asked the girls, getting out her own ingredients for the beverages.

"We have decided to make pajeon today for breakfast!" Maya exclaimed.

"Pa'Jeon Maya'~" Daon teased, comically zooming into Maya's face with her camera. The girls lightly chuckled at Daon's attempt at the obvious pun, causing the leader to pout in retaliation.

For the next few minutes, the members who weren't cooking got together to set the table and waited for breakfast, talking about what they were going to do with their rest day in the meantime. When breakfast came, the conversation continued on. The members ended up agreeing to split into three groups of three for more convenience to the future viewers: Tubtim, Miranda, and Crystal going on a walk, Saya, Chaerin, and Bonnie staying home, and Daon, Maya, and Mirai going to the studio to continue practice.

A few hours later, the members were done with their activities for the day and came back to the dorm for the night. And instead of making a homemade dinner that Girls Zone has been doing diligently, the girls had agreed just to do take out for now. The members also decided to close the vlog for the day.

Fun Zone Teaser Images

 
        

Girls Zone 소녀구역 'FUN!' MV Teaser #1


Girls Zone 소녀구역 'FUN!' MV Teaser #2


Girls Zone 소녀구역 'FUN!' MV

JULY 9TH, 2021
Today is finally the day.

For the past couple of months— even for the past year, everyone working tirelessly hard on the Jarang Project and Girls Zone has been waiting for this day to come: July 9th, 2021. Girls Zone's debut.

The members had no time to waste. From the moment they woke up, the staff immediately took them to where they would have their debut showcase. So obviously, the members had already been tired when they arrived at the building, only eating and drinking breakfast to have enough energy to get through the day. With the showcase starting at noon, the staff wanted the members to practice nonstop to perfect their debut. As a result, this gave the members a chance to step back mentally and soak in all that has happened in the past couple of months.

Suryang found herself hyper-fixated on her nails before snapping back into reality with the help of a staff member who was fixing her hair. Suryang has been out of it for the past couple of days, and it's not because of the lack of sleep but rather the abundance of stress leading up to today, it was just all catching up to Suryang.

Suryang had no idea how brutal the past several months would be well, brutal. It was like every day, she was fighting for her own life, but now, it gets easier, right?

Right?

On the other hand, Seoljung was more upbeat and optimistic about their debut than the oldest. Yeah, Seoljung was nervous, but she chose not to care too much about it and focus on other things instead. For instance, Seoljung her camera and decided to vlog herself ahead of the showcase.

The youngest balanced the camera on a table and fixed up herself before pressing the record button. "Hello, [REDACTED]! Girls Zone's maknae Seoljung here!" Seoljung greeted the future viewers, causing the other members to look up from whatever they were doing. Maya hurried over to Seoljung's side.

"Ah, no, not yet!" Maya exclaimed to Seoljung.

Seoljung looked at Maya like she had two heads. "Huh? What are you even talking about?" Seoljung confusingly asked.

"The fandom name!" Maya explained. "We're not supposed to reveal just yet." Seoljung nodded understandably and apologized to Maya and the camera.

About a week ago, the members settled on a fandom name after many suggestions. They decided to reveal the name at the showcase, and all the members agreed not to spoil anything about the fandom's name.

For the next few minutes, the members were doing a handful of things to get their nervous jitters out as the showcase would be on in less than half an hour. And just then, there was a knock on the door.

The girls looked at each other in confusion since they weren't expecting to go on anytime soon. Seonye went to see who was waiting at the other side of the door and let them in. The person who knocked was none other than NCT's Taeil, who was MCing the showcase for today. He wanted to quickly greet the girls before going on stage himself.

It was no secret that the girls were nervous in front of their seniors. All except Riel, who had known Taeil for the past several years. So, she was the one who initiated the greeting and the conversation. "In the zone! Hello, we are Girls Zone!"

"To t- ah, I mean; hello! I'm NCT's Taeil!" Taeil responded, forgetting that he was the only NCT member present so he didn't need to do the group's greeting. "So, less than 30 minutes, I bet you guys are nervous, right?" The members nodded in agreement. "Well, I don't know if this will make you guys feel any better, but everyone goes through this. So, I would suggest that you guys take three deep breaths before going on stage to clear your head a little bit." After a few more minutes of chatting, Taeil excused himself from the members to get ready for the showcase himself.

There were a few minutes of complete silence after Taeil left as the showcase was nearing airing live. Moments later, the girls heard his voice throughout the building, introducing himself and the girls.

"... Girls Zone!" Taeil announced. Riel left a small sigh out. She wanted to give a big speech before the group went on stage, but time was not on her side. Despite that, the girls were guided to the stage.

The lights dimmed due to the members getting into their positions on the stage. For Girls Zone's first performance, they decided to perform Girls Generation's iconic debut song, 'Into The New World.' After all, the whole point of Girls Zone was to recreate the legacy that was Girls Generation.

The cover went over decently well, it was well-received by the fans and the public. After the performance, Taeil got back on stage and asked the members to introduce themselves as a group and individually.

"In the zone! Hello, we are Girls Zone!" Girls Zone greeted the audience. There was a wave of cheers shortly followed, something of which the girls were not expecting so much. Taeil then asked the girls to introduce themselves individually.

Riel was the first one up. "Hello, I'm the only Riel, the leader of Girls Zone!" Riel introduced herself to the crowd.

"Hello, Girls Zone's Japanese princess Mia here!"

"Hi, I'm Girls Zone's Bonnie from Thailand!"

"Hi! I'm Lee Chaerin of Girls Zone!"

"Hello, I'm Kang Suryang, the oldest of Girls Zone! Glad to be here!"

"Hi everyone! My name is Seoljung and I'm the maknae of Girls Zone!"

"Hi. I'm Mandy, the main rapper of Girls Zone!"

"Hello, Girls Zone's more than meets the eye, Angel is here!"

"Hello there! I'm Girls Zone's Jeon Maya from Sokcho!"

Thereafter the girls introduced themselves, Taeil and the members talked a little bit about how the group was formed through the Jarang Project as well as the past couple of months of training officially as a group. Following this, Girls Zone performed the second song from the single album, '22 Century Girl.'

Once the members finished performing '22 Century Girl,' they continued to chat with Taeil. As the conversation went on, the topic of fans had been brought up.

"And I understand that you guys wanted to announce something else?" Taeil asked. The crowd perked up, waiting for the members to answer.

"Yes, that's correct!" Chaerin cheerfully responded. "It's something that many of you guys have been asking for... what we, Girls Zone, should call our fans." Chaerin continued, "Now, who should announce it? Riel-unnie? Our maknae Seoljung?"

Seoljung took some time to reply to Chaerin's question. "I think all the members should say it! How does that sound?" Seoljung asked around, receiving agreements from the other girls. "Okay, ready? 1... 2... 3..."

"Sokkeun!" Girls Zone happily shouted their fandom name to the crowd. When asked the meaning behind Sokkeun, the girls answered that they hope to create a strong fate and bond between them and their fans, hence the usage of the Korean word for string.

After a while, the showcase had finally ended with the members performing their debut song 'FUN!' and thanking everyone who has supported the group in any which way.

And just like that, Girls Zone finally debuted.

Girls Zone 'Into The New World' Cover - 'Fun Zone' Debut Showcase


Girls Zone '22 Century Girl' - 'Fun Zone' Debut Showcase


Girls Zone 'FUN!' - 'Fun Zone' Debut Showcase

It was only a few hours since the showcase, and the girls were far from resting. Now, it's all about promoting Girls Zone. Even though the girl group is the latest artist under SM Entertainment, the public has been on edge since the announcement of the Jarang Project. All they have to do from here and now is to prove that they are not just another rookie girl group.

And one of the first steps in doing so is to go around and give their free debut albums to their fellow artists at the music stations. It's easier said than done as many of the artists that were also promoting at the same time as Girls Zone were big names in the industry, or at least to the girls.

It was getting close to leaving Music Bank for the girls and the rest of the artists there, and they have not given out their albums to the artists who haven't gotten them yet. So, the girls decided to split into groups of three to make the process quicker.

Mandy and Bonnie waited patiently for Angel to finish up whatever she was doing so they could get a move on. Once Angel was done, the three went to see Oh My Girl's Arin and TXT's Soobin, the current MCs of Music Bank to give them the album and greet them in general.

While walking to the MC's room, Bonnie noticed something that was in Angel's hands along with the signed album. Bonnie tapped Mandy's arm. "_EWhat does she have in her hands? Aside from the album._E" Bonnie pondered to the older girl, nudging Angel.

"_EHow would I know? Maybe a note or something._E" Mandy shrugged, as she was not really interested as much as the younger one was.

Bonnie hung onto what Mandy said last and looked down at the signed album she had for Arin. Should I have written a note for Arin as well?

But it was way too late for that, because before she knew it, the three had already arrived at the right room and greeted their seniors nervously.

"In the zone! Hello, we are Girls Zone's Angel, Mandy, and Bonnie!" The trio introduced themselves to Soobin and Arin.

"We just wanted to drop by and thank you for introducing our debut stage today! As a thank you, please accept our debut albums as a gift!" Angel presented, handing out the album and a note to Soobin, and Bonnie gave the album to Arin. After some awkward small talk, the members of Girls Zone left, leaving just the MCs.

As the two were just getting ready to leave themselves, Soobin decided to read the note that Angel gave him.

Hello Soobin sunbaenim! It's Girls Zone's Angel, and I have been a great fan of TXT since your debut (I'm a proud MOA^^) I'm now a successful-

"Soobin-ah, come on, let's go!" Arin said abruptly, motioning around the empty room.

"Ah, right. Sorry." Soobin replied, quickly putting the album in his bag and the note in his pocket. As the two walked out of the room and the male turned off the lights, he put a mental note in his head to read the rest of Angel's note with s.

JAC SAYS Finally managed to finish the chapter, as promised! I have accidentally made a schedule of posting one chapter a month, and I will definitely try to get out chapters as soon as possible if I have insane amounts of inspiration and motivation to do so. Anyways, now onto what I like to call, some house cleaning stuff.
HERE is where you can find the lyrics of Girls Zone's album. The color code and line distribution is vastly different from fromis_9's, mainly because of the whole amateur idol thing. But yeah, I really enjoyed doing that, especially when looking for bsides.
I am still trying to figure out how you guys can contribute to the story somehow, I have a form thingy that I'm working on. However just so you know I think I'm going to put the extra stuff in the miscellaneous story just so this main story can be pretty and consistent, so look out for more info on the miscellaneous story.
As always, please let me know what you think of the chapter!