Once they were inside the studio, Manager-nim walked with them to the green room. Rina was the first one through the green room door.

"Joon-ho?" she squealed, as she ran across the room and into her boyfriend's arms. Suyeon noticed that the Seoul E-Land jersey he was wearing was almost exactly the same color as the earrings that Manager-nim had had Rina borrow from Sei. She smiled at Manager-nim's cleverness.

"What are you doing here?" Rina asked.

Joon-ho gestured toward Manager-nim. "Your manager contacted my coach, then they called me into a meeting to ask me if I'd appear on TV with you as a show of support for your members." He sketched a quick bow to Suyeon and Lucy. "Of course I said yes, so Coach had me put on one of the new-design jerseys that weren't supposed to have been revealed until next week, put me in a car, and here I am!"

"What show are we going to be on?" Suyeon asked. "I don't recognize this green room."

"You wouldn't," Manager-nim said with a smile. "This is the studio where they film the news shows for KBS1. You and Lucy are going to be the subject of a special broadcast tonight - you're not just entertainment news now, you're news. Now, we've got to get you ready to go on the air." She collected Rina's bulletproof vest and helmet and put them on the couch. She then turned to Suyeon. Suyeon gave her the helmet, but when Manager-nim reached for the vest, Suyeon took half a step back and shook her head.

"I want Korea to see what we're having to go through," she said.

"Are you sure about this?" Manager-nim asked. "I think it could have a big effect, but it could also make things more difficult for you."

Suyeon looked at Lucy, who quickly nodded. "It's bad enough that we're having to hide," Suyeon said. "I don't want to try to hide the fact that we're hiding. I want people to know what these hateful people are doing to Lucy and me."

Manager-nim looked at Lucy. "You want this too?"

Lucy handed her helmet to Manager-nim, then stood up straight and tugged on the bottom of her vest to smooth out any wrinkles. "I think Suyeon's right," she said. "I want people to know what we're going through. If they just think 'Oh, they're getting some hurtful comments,' that's a lot different from if they know people have threatened to kill us."

Manager-nim reached out her arm and caught Lucy and Suyeon up in a hug. "I'm so proud of you girls," she said. "I had thought about what an effect it would have for you to come out wearing the vests, but I hadn't wanted to ask you because I didn't want you to feel bad if you didn't feel strong enough to do that. But it turns out you're stronger than I had ever guessed. I-"

There was a knock at the door. Suyeon instinctively moved to stand between Lucy and the door. When the door opened a moment later, a young woman wearing a KBS ID badge on a lanyard came in. She bowed to them and said "I'm Baek Eun-ji. I'll be the production assistant guiding you through your appearance tonight. If you can come with me, I'll take you to the makeup room." Turning to Manager-nim, she said "Ma'am, if you'd like to sit in the control room, the producers have said they'd be glad to have you there. Do you know the way?" After Manager-nim affirmed that she did, Eun-ji said "If the rest of you will now follow me, I'll take you to make-up."

"Where do I wait while you're in makeup?" Joon-ho asked.

"Oh, you've got to wear makeup too," Eun-ji told him. "Otherwise your face won't look right to the camera under the studio lights."

Joon-ho looked at Rina, certain that Eun-ji was pranking him. When Rina, nodded, he realized she was serious. "OK," he said. "I've never worn makeup before, so this should be interesting."

Lucy and Suyeon were standing backstage, watching Rina and Joon-ho talk to the hosts.

"It's kind of weird having our members and their boyfriends talking on TV about us," Lucy said.

"But it's a good thing," Suyeon said. "We need not just as many people supporting us as we can get, we need as many different types of people. Joon-ho's a man, and he's from sports, so someone outside of K-pop supporting it."

"I hadn't really thought of it that way," Lucy said.

Just then Eun-ji rushed over to them. "Okay," she said, "they're about to go to commercial, then when they come back from that, you're up next, so wait for the hosts to introduce you, then go out."

Suyeon and Lucy watched as the indicator light at the front of the stage switched from "on-air" to "commercial." Two stage hands rushed out from the other side of the stage carrying two chairs. They scooted Rina and Joon-ho a little bit away from the hosts, put the two new chairs next to them, then rushed off stage. A couple of seconds later, the director, who was standing next to the camera, called out. "OK. Back from commercial in 5, 4, 3," then made hand signals for 2 and 1. Right after that, the indicator light changed back to "on air" and the hosts looked at the camera.

"Welcome back to KBS New Magazine Tonight," one of the hosts said. They had been introduced before filming began, but Suyeon was so nervous she couldn't remember their names.

"We've been talking to Rina of Weki Meki and her boyfriend Joon-ho, star striker for Seoul E-land, about the recent scandal that's engulfed the world of K-pop, when it was revealed that  two members of a Weki Meki were involved in a relationship with each other," the second host said.

The first host started speaking again. "Are you ready to meet the two young ladies at the center of all this uproar?" he asked. The studio audience roared their readiness. "Then please welcome, Weki Meki's Suyeon and Lucy!"

The crowd started to applaud. Lucy took a couple of steps toward the stage, when she realized Suyeon wasn't coming with her. She stepped back to Suyeon and grabbed her hand. "You can do this!" she said. "Are you ready?"

Suyeon looked at her, her eyes wide with fear. She just stared for a moment, then she nodded. Not letting go of Lucy's hand, she started walking toward the stage. After just a couple of steps they were onstage. The sound of audience was loud, but nothing compared to the audience at a K-pop music show. Suyeon pretended she couldn't hear the boos mixed in with the applause, kept her eyes fixed on the hosts, and walked across the stage. Lucy came right along behind her, still holding Suyeon's hand. When they were in front of the hosts, they bowed and offered their greetings. The