CHAPTER 10: Rehearsals!

Rio stood by the side of SM entertainment’s practice room where some members of T-Ara, Girl's Day, B1A4, EXO, SHINee, B.A.P and solo singer IU were seated. She was going to dance with a boy group…

'How hard could it be?' She asked herself—but given that B1A4, EXO, SHINee and B.A.P were going to participate, she could already foresee the level of difficulty of the dances. She frowned, already feeling burdened. She was not mentally prepared for this. 

“Annyeooooong!” Minah greeted cutely as she hugged the frozen girl.

“Annyeong.” She greeted lifelessly.

“Kwenchana? What happened?”

She buried her face in her palms. “I can’t do this, Minah-----“ She whined. Minah sighed and patted her back.

“Yah, you can do this! You’re jjang!! Hottest rookie, Rio!!!” She laughed and Rio could only sulk. “Ah, that’s right, I heard Manager Kim and our manager talking yesterday about how you didn’t wait for him to Inkigayo.” She chuckled and Rio shook her head, mumbling about her manager. “So, how did you go to SBS?”

She hesitated before answering, “…I rode with someone else.”

“YG artist?”

Rio smiled sheepishly at her friend. “… Infinite.”

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.

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“Kyaaa!!! Jeongmal?!” Minah squealed. “Yah!!! You’re lucky!! Being in the same apartment as them… I should drop by your apartment and hang out with you more often!”

Rio laughed. “And what? Ride the elevator every minute just in case you get to ride it with them?”

Minah was quiet for a second. “That’s not a bad idea.” She giggled. "Yah, I don't know if you know this but they are all so handsome. Ulzzang group!"

"Mhmm." Rio shook her head and scanned the room as Minah nudged her for more details.

Jiyeon and Qri were the representatives from T-Ara, Minah and Yura from Girl’s Day, Baro and Jinyoung from B1A4, Kai, Sehun and Baekhyun from EXO, Taemin and Onew from SHINee, Daehyun and Himchan from B.A.P, IU and herself representing the individual artists.

The organizer grouped Jiyeon, Qri, Baro and Jinyoung first. Kai, Sehun and Baekhyun were grouped with Minah and Yura. Rio was grouped Onew and Taemin, while IU with Himchan and Daehyun. Rio felt a bit disappointed with the grouping but she smiled when Onew hi-fived her. Daehyun unconsciously frowned when Taemin went up to the two and greeted Rio.

Himchan noticed his dongsaeng’s fazed state and pulled him to where IU was.

“Annyeong, sunbae! I’m Himchan, this is Daehyunnie, we’re from B.A.P! Please take care of us!”

“Aniyo! Please take care of me! Jieun imnida!” IU said brightly and the two proceeded to talk about their performance.

They were tasked to arrange one old song and one new song from each group and perform them:

T-ARA/B1A4 – Bo Peep, Number 9, Baby Good Night, Lonely

Girl’s Day/EXO – Hug Me Once, Something, MAMA, Growl

IU/B.A.P – Marshmallow, Red Shoes, Warrior, BadMan

Rio/SHINee – Waiting, Rose, Juliette, Everybody, Areumdawo

Each group went to their own spot and Rio immediately became comfortable with the energetic Onew. He was blabbering about ordering chicken for lunch and she felt a kinship to him-- because of chicken.

Taemin was counting the steps while Onew danced to Juliette. Rio watched intently.

“—7, 8!” Onew stopped right after the chorus ended and Rio clapped.

“Daebak…” She muttered and the two laughed.

“Your turn.” Onew said as he pulled her up and made her stand beside him. She blew on her fringe and started counting off.

“Sunbae, go slowly!” She said before they started counting off to the song.

“Jebal gihoereul jwoyo, nal boneun nun machi, neol ango sipeoseo,” Rio started singing along to Taemin (Juliette),

“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8—“ Onew counted and soon the two were in sync.
“Andal nan naege jangnanchineun yeougata,” Taemin sang.
“Juliette! yeonghoneul bachilkkeyo
Juliette! jebal nal bada jwoyo
Juliette! dalkomhi jom deo dalkomhage
Soksagyeo naui serenade.” The three of them danced the chorus together and the others turned to look at the trio.

“Then there’s a transition to Everybody.” Taemin said and Onew nodded.

“We can shout, “Everybody, sing together!” What do you think?” Rio suggested.

“That’s a good idea!” Onew complimented, “Rio, you can have these lines, Taemin, these and I’ll sing these. Is that fine?”

“Oh, that’s fine oppa.” Rio said in approval.

Onew and Taemin started,

“Everybody Wake up (wake up) haega ddeunda

Everybody haega ddeunda”

Rio joined them, “Everybody, Every- everybody

Everybody everybody every-everybody jamdeun i bameul kkaewo”

“(Rio) Achimi wa dashi eoreunui jichin gamyeoneul sseo

(Taemin) urimanui bimalseureoun bameul ganjikhan chae (everybody everybody)

(Onew) jamdeul i bameul kkaewo”

“Oppa, let’s add another song? It’s too short and won’t fit the two minutes.”

“Okay, what about Areumdawo?”

Rio thought for a second and nodded.

“(Onew) Areumdawo
(Taemin) Ne sangcheokkajido naege jwo
(Onew) Areumdawo
(Taemin) Nae pume angimyeon da gwaenchanhajyeo”

“What will I sing?” Rio asked.

“We can have you be in the center and we can give you roses?” Onew threw in.

“Will that be fine, though?” Rio asked and Taemin nodded. “How about I add, “Neol Areumdawo!” When Onew oppa sings, “Areumdawo”?” The two agreed.

After a few hours of working on the back ground music with the DJ assigned to them and fixing the dance steps, the group decided it was time to finalize the performance.

“Let’s end it simply.” Taemin spoke up.

“Okay.” She agreed.

After “Beautiful/Areumdawo”, the two stood beside Rio and their hands formed two hearts. One with Onew, and one with Taemin.

“Ne sarangan seupalgan Rose.” She sang and the three of them cheered.

“Good job!” Onew high-fived Rio and Taemin.

"Shawol won't kill me, right?" She chuckled.

"Naaah." Onew assured her.

"Just a bit." Taemin joked and this earned him a soft punch from her.

--

The Music Bank PD approached them and complimented the three for the well put-together piece. He called all the idols in the room to huddle together.

“Good job everyone! So tomorrow,” He began, “And the 2 days after, we will have rehearsals at the studio, please be there. Thank you for your hard work and I hope to see you the next few days!” He ended and bade them all goodbye before leaving the room.

Rio walked to her bag and took out her towel. Daehyun stood up and walked to his as well.

“Annyeong.” She greeted and smiled at him. He cleared his throat.

“Annyeong.”

She took out her towel and hastily wiped her perspiration. “How was your practice?” She asked.

“It went smoothly.” He smiled at her and looked at Himchan who was teaching IU “Warrior” dance moves. “She’s having a little difficulty with the speed.” He chuckled.

“Warrior and Badman?” Rio asked and he nodded. “Sounds like fun!”

“You were doing well with the SHINee sunbaes.”

“They’ve been very helpful.” She chuckled. “Ah! That’s right! Daehyun-ssi, I listed to your mini-album. It’s nice! I like it.” She smiled brigh