Someone must have thought that it was a wonderful idea for Ga In and 2PM to have overlapping promotional cycles, because week after week, programme after programme, Ga In would always get beaten out by the PM’s. Then again, any later and the competition would only get stiffer, and it wasn’t in anyone’s interest to have a clashing Ga In and 2AM promotion cycle. At least, it wasn’t any good for rankings or awards. The promotion cycles did overlap, but it was the tail end of Ga In’s promotions when 2AM started promoting.

Week after week, programme after programme, Ga In would be beaten out, in varying margins, by 2PM. It wasn’t that Ga In hadn’t expected it, but to always come in second to 2PM was frustrating. She had come to terms with it, but it didn’t mean that she wasn’t disappointed—though she couldn’t really identify who exactly she was disappointed in. She had seriously contemplated swiching from saying that 2PM was her favourite boy group in favour of 2AM. Of course, music programme rankings had long become a touchy topic for Taecyeon and Ga In. Luckily he was smart enough to steer clear of the topic, and both could separate work from personal friendships. Seulong and Jokwon, on the other hand, not so secretly supported Ga In to win at least one music award, in hope that she would obtain the recognition that (in their opinion) she deserved—2PM didn’t have any more need for one more music award. No one thought that it was going to happen though, not at the tail end of her promotion cycle, and not after her president had released a note telling Ga In and her fans not to be sad.

And it so happened that on the 29th of October, 2AM and Ga In happened to be on the same Halloween Inkigayo special—needless to say, her “arch rival” 2PM was also present. Ga In presumably promoting her title track for the final time, with 2AM on their comeback and Kwon emceeing on top of that. Ga In was already mentally prepared not to even get her hopes up, after all, there was no point in wishing for something that wouldn’t happen. So while Kwon was busy emceeing in front, and the Take 7 was announced, Ga In didn’t even bat an eyelid of feign interest. She was casually chatting with Seulong at the back of the stage, since no one would miss her anyway—more accurately, she was playing with the adorable brown toy poodle.

Then she heard very familiar music. Too familiar.

“Ga In!” Seulong next to squeaked in surprise.

“Ga In-ssi! Ga In-ssi! Ga In-ssi?...” Came the callings of the three emcees.

“Hurry, go! You won the Mutizen! Don’t just stand here in a daze!” Seulong pushed her towards the crowd of people in front, “She’s here!”

She finally squeezed her way through the crowd to the front, where the three emcees were desperately looking around for her. And Ga In was speechless, seeing Yonghwa holding the trophy. The trophy meant for her! Both Yonghwa and Kwon were offering her their microphones, but she was still floored from shock and was unable to stop sobbing. Ga In remembered Kwon awkwardly patting her back and pulling her towards the centre of the stage.

“To tell you the truth, today is my last stage. Thank you for giving me a very good award. Nega Network family, thank you so much. Also, a big thank you for my fans for supporting me, and allowing me to win this great award. And to my members, I love you. Thank you!” Ga In struggled to stumble through her speech, but she managed with great difficulty.

Kwon couldn’t actually cry for her win—though he really felt like doing so—simply because it was SBS Inkigayo, he had a job to do as an emcee, and it would probably be unelegantly cut out if he did. He could manage an exaggerated cry in an attempt to make her laugh, for which he was duly rewarded with a slap on the shoulder. By this time, Seulong had managed to make it to the front of the stage, carrying his brown toy poodle, in hopes that it would coax Ga In to smile, but he was met with a cold reception. But the Inkigayo needed to be closed, so the three emcees quickly rejoined at the front of the stage to deliver their closing lines—only to have Kwon have a slip of the tongue and address Ga In wrongly—