“I'm so excited!” Tiao Ning giggled when she was sitting in the practice rooms together with one of her best friends, Yoonmi. Tiao Ning had been really cheerful and excited of her first performance so she used the last few hours and trained a bit more for their upcoming performance on M!Net Music Countdown. Until now Solibaljeon haven't stood together on a real stage with people who came to watch them and Tiao Ning found it very difficult to stand still.

“Mh, I'm happy for you, Unnie”, said Yoonmi but her expression was rather gloomy. Tiao Ning immediately felt bad for her friend. They trained a lot to become a part of Solibaljeon but in the end Yoonmi couldn't impress the judges and was cut from the final line-up.

Tiao Ning didn't mean to rub that fact into her face.

“I'm sorry,” she said sheepishly and fiddled awkwardly with her sleeves.

“No problem, unnie." Yoonmi smiled and it was a rare thing to see. Yoonmi was usually quiet and reserved and it took Tiao Ning already a long time to befriend her at all. Tiao Ning was happy that she didn't treat her differently after Solibaljeon's debut was announced, but Yoonmi was always a very demure and selfless person and so she congratulated her upon hearing the news before continuing with her training. “Just make sure that you and the others are going to perform flawlessly and get the loudest cheers from the crowd, okay?”

And Tiao Ning nodded with a smile.

They were all very nervous when driving to the MBC building. Dozen of advices were in their heads, the instructors told them exactly what to do in each situation. Catching the camera, singing live and performing on a stage which was way bigger than any of their training rooms made everyone a bit anxious of their debut stage so they drove in utter silence, that was only disrupted by the few attempts of the leader and Nahee to lift the mood a bit.

When they arrived they were immediately rushed to a dressing room. Luckily Solibaljeon had one for theirselves, however, it was still small and very cramped with an additional team of hair dressers and stylists. On one side of the room there was a large table covered with cosmetics. There were five chairs next to the table and in front of each one was a mirror. On the other side of the room was a green-ish couch and a plain wardrobe which both looked quite old and cheap. The walls were painted in simple white and there was nothing else as decorations.

“Five of you, please sit down on the chairs and we'll start with your hair and make up. The rest of you can wait here in the room until the others are finished," the head stylist said and motioned Sumin into a seat. Seulyong plopped down on the chair next to her and Bara, Hyehyun and Yuntue took the other three seats while the other four members got onto the couch to chat a bit or play 'Angry Birds' and 'Candy Crush' on their mobiles. On the opposites were a door and a small window.

“The dressing rooms in Sistar's 'So Cool' looked nicer," Seulyong muttered with a slight pout while one of the stylists was spraying tons of hairspray into her hair.

“Maybe we can decorate it a bit, making it more fashionable.” Sumin, who was usually a really quiet person, offered. She was always there with the other group members but she preferred staying somewhere in the background over being in the spotlight. She didn't like starting conversations and she couldn't make friends easily and despite training together there were only few of her group mates she really ever talked with. She never exchanged a word with Sori, Hotaru or Nahee for example and frankly speaking, she didn't even want to have a conversation with the latter since that girl definitely talked too much in her opinion. Sumin was a girl that loved music and her silence and found conversations to be often exhausting. But while she wasn't that social in comparision to other Kpop idols she definitely loved music and so she trained for five years in order to debut as an idol.

Seulyong was one of the few exceptions for Sumin. They were good friends since trainee days and after sharing a dorm room with her and Tiao Ning, she started opening up to the leader. Sumin was still quiet and a bit introverted but she felt better when there was Seulyong that could help her from time to time and that she had actually a real friend amongst the members. She always wanted to be in a girl group since she didn't like to catch too much attention to herself and eight more members would definitely help her to be more invisible.

“I don't really know if it's okay to change this room. While we're allowed to stay here for today, there will be other groups to come and occupy it and I'm not really sure if they would be thrilled to see that we have put lots of photos on the walls and curtains on the windows." Bara joined the conversation while a hair stylist curled her shoulder length, black hair.

“Oh..." Sumin softly whispered. “Sorry.”

She was a bit embarassed since her idea was probably stupid and she made a fool out of herself. She started fidgeting in her seat and looked downwards.

“Relax," Seulyong comforted. “You don't always have to feel so self-conscious.”

“Think of our debut instead; aren't you exited that we'll finally perform on National TV?” Bara excitedly said, eyes sparkling with enthusiasm and a slight smile on her lips. No wonder she was considered as second visual, her looks were stunning.

“Uh...yeah....” Sumin answered with a tiny smile. Frankly, she was more anxious than excited and she didn't need the reminder because now her legs were feeling wobbly and she was glad that she was sitting on a chair. She felt like hiding.

“Please stop speaking now, we're about to start with the lipstick," said a stylist sternly.

Sumin shut up.

“So, I know that some of you might be nervous but there is nothing to be afraid of. We all practiced a lot and I'm sure we'll be great on stage," Seulyong started her prep talk minutes before they would be going on stage. Yuntue, Sori and Hyehyun looked utterly calm, while Aimee, Tiao Ning and Bara seemed rather giddy and exited. Hotaru and Sumin had blank looks on their faces and Seulyong went over to them and gave them a final pat on their shoulders.

“I'm certain we're going to perform amazingly." Seulyong said, hoping to give them confidence. Confidence was needed to gain stage presence and charisma but the Visual as well as the Main Vocalist didn't seem to believe in theirselves that much. Seulyong said some more encouraging words before leaving them, since they didn't seem to be listening to her at all.

Hotaru was rather glad when Seulyong went over to Aimee and started a conversation with the maknae. She fiddled with the anti-bullying bracelet. She refused to take it off when they told her to, so in the end the staff members had to give in and let her perform with it. It hasn't been long that she transfered to the idol trainees in SM Entertainment and she knew that she wasn't as good as any of her group mates. The media dubbed her as a triple threat when the news of her debut in Solibaljeon were published; they spoke about someone who was a good actress, model and singer. But while Hotaru was satisfied with her acting and thought that her face was okay, she absolutely knew that she was an horrible singer and idol. The pressure of the media was too strong, the expectations were too high for the viewers to not be disappointed with her performance.

The hip hop music of the group that performed right before their turn suddenly stopped and she heard applause and high-pitched screaming. Hotaru's heart immediately dropped – it was their turn. Right?

“Lights out. Solibaljeon ready?”

Hotaru jumped a bit when she suddenly heard a voice through the earpiece, placed in her ear. Every idol was obliged to wear one of them, for two reasons; first and foremost, they should be able to hear the staff orders they had to follow and second, idols that were actually singing instead of lipsynching could hear their song clearly when they were on stage. With thousands of fans screaming the actual backing track was often lost in the noise and since SM decided that Solibaljeon should sing live, the earpieces were set on a loud volume that actually hurt in Hotaru's ear. The other members also disliked the volume and asked if the staff could tune them down but their request was denied with the words that every idol went trough this and the music had to be that loud so that it would overpower the screaming of the fans. Hotaru wondered if this would cause her an eventual hearing loss.

“Ready.” Another voice, deeper than the first one, answered.

“Are they at the entrace of the stage?” The first voice asked.

“Yes, all nine of them." Hotaru spotted the owner of the second voice, a bulky staff member that spoke into something that looked like a big moblie phone.

“Block B; to the left exit off the stage; Solibaljeon from the right onto the stage. You have fifteen seconds. Fifteen...”

Seulyong motioned Sumin and her closer as they were entering the stage from the right side.

“Fourteen, thirteen...”

The first thing Bara saw were the bright sea of lightsticks. Lightsticks everywhere where the audience was sitting and many people were waving them around, creating waves that looked beautiful. Bara saw photos of these crowds of lightsticks before but experiencing them live was totally different from seeing these pictures. It just had a whole different feel and the room felt oddly alive.

“Twelve, eleven...”

Bara knew she had to look away and prepare for her performance. It was pretty dark, she could see the silhouettes of the other members but not the other's expressions. She went right away to her opening spot, at the left side and in the second row. She looked around and saw Hyehyun at her left. Bara smiled and gave Hyehyun a thumbs up. With Main Vocals like Hyehyun and Sumin, they would definitely make a great impression.

“Ten...”

She was startled when a weird synthesizer noise was coming out of her earpiece. At the same time the ground below her was luminated and her shadow looked pitch black in comparision. Bara almost exclaimed something out loud and could only control herself last minute. Their microphones were on and it would be unwise to start their debut performance with a girly squeak.

“Nine...”

Instead she looked behind her, where the gigantic screen was. During their performance it would show a simple pattern but for now she saw a picture of Seulyong, Sori and Sumin.

Seulyong and Sumin looked really cute in the picture. Sumin showed a rare smile that made her cute chubby cheeks even chubbier and cuter and Seulyong's plump lips were in a cute pout. Sori was painfully obvious photoshopped, spotting a chin that would need a weapon license in Korea. Next to each of them were the stage names, 'Seul', 'Sori' and 'Minnie' written.

“Eight...”

Bara watched as the picture bursted into thousands of tiny, silver-colored pieces while the synthesizer noises came back. The silver-colored pieces formed theirselves into lines and patterns before transforming into a picture of Hyehyun, Yuntue and herself.

“Seven, Six...”

Hyehyun looked stunning with her pink-red lipstick and her reddish brown, wavy hair. Next to her picture her stage name was her stage name 'Wish' written. Yuntue with her pretty face, the dark eyes, delicate nose and chubby cheeks were on the left side, together with her stage name 'Yun' while Bara herself stood on Hyehyun's right side, her trademark smile on her lips and her real name 'Bara' above her head.

“Five...”

The picture bursted again and the synthesizer began again. At this point she as well as the other girls were adjusted to the loud noise so that it didn't even seem that loud anymore.

“Four, Three...”

This time the maknae line were visible. Tiao Ning chose the stage name 'Hyemin' and her smile was radiating on her face. Aimee – Bara noticed that her stage name, 'Aimee', kind of sticked with her, they never called her Nahee – smiled too, and looked feminine with her delicate features and doe eyes. And there was Hotaru with her stage name 'Stella', with prominent brows and baby-faced features, smiling with the usual melanchonic look in her eyes that made Bara want to buy her ice cream and plushies until Hotaru looked happy for once. She wished Hotaru wouldn't always be so gloomy.

“Two...”

The synthesizer noise came back but Bara decided to stop looking to the screen behind her and turned to face the audience again. After all, their song was about to start and she was sure there will be only a picture of the whole group together before the song starts.

“One...”

She took a breath.

“Go.”

“Oh? Uri eodiseo bwatjyo?”

The music began playing and suddenly there were bright lights everywhere. Above her, in front of her feet, on both of her sides - there were gigantic headlights everywhere making it much brighter as the sun on a summer day. She felt how her head was getting hot under the heat they emitted and asked herself how some idols could dance like this for hours without sweating like a pig. She blinked while dancing the first few steps, some of the lights were so intense that she could barely see the sea of lightsticks now.

Then the second bar of music began. Bara managed to solely think of the choreography and danced on her high heels precisely. Somehow it was like the tiny bit of anxiety she felt earlier got replaced by a odd kind of calmness. She felt free but also professional; dancing, rapping and singing without any mistakes and catching the camera twice when it was zooming on her. In the end she found the performance unexpectingly easy and she would have loved to stay there and keep performing every song of the album.