“18… 19… 20… This is it!” Minjoo pulled over her car and rolled down the window to look at the old, run-down building on Cheongdam-dong Street. She spotted Seoyoon walking up to the gate and waved. “Seoyoon-ah!”

Seoyoon walked to the car, which was blasting music so loud she had to raise her voice. “Minjoo, right?”

“Yup! And you can drop the formalities, since we’re going to be seeing each other a lot,” Minjoo said with a wink. The song on the radio switched to Beast’s Beautiful Night, and Minjoo squealed, “I absolutely love this song!” and sang along.

“Excuse me, Minjoo?” Seoyoon tried to get her unnie’s attention, but she had her eyes closed as she danced in her car. “Minjoo unnie! Minjoo!” When her yelling and pounding on the car didn’t work, Seoyoon reached into car and turned the radio off. Minjoo immediately deflated.

“Ey, what was that for?” Minjoo whined.

Seoyoon stared at the 25-year-old in bewilderment. She chewed on bubble gum and twirled her hair like an elementary student, and dressed like a teenager. “As excited as you must be to become an idol, please, be a little more professional.”

“And you need to lighten up or else you’ll give us away immediately,” Minjoo shot back, rolling her eyes. Seoyoon pretended to not her hear, and walked into their new station.

But it didn’t look like a police station at all. Instead, it looked like an office. When they entered, a short man sitting on a bench ran up to them with open arms.

“They’re here!” he exclaimed. “They’re finally here! Our two new babies.” He pinched Minjoo and Seoyoon’s cheeks, though he had to stand on his tip-toes to reach Minjoo in her heels. He then took a step back to introduce himself, with lightning-speed speech. “I’m Kim Pilseok, your new manager. As in, best friend, life coach, secretary, father figure, bodyguard, cheerleader—whatever you need, I’m here for you.”

“What…” Seoyoon didn’t bother hiding her confusion.

“Ah, you’re probably still dazed from last night’s practice. Why am I still talking?” Pilseok laughed by himself. “Let me lead you to the CEO’s office. He said he wanted to see both of you before your vocal practice.” Seoyoon and Minjoo shared a confused look, but Seoyoon motioned for Minjoo to remain silent while Pilseok discussed the last artist he helped (Nine Muses) and how it ended (it wasn’t pretty).

“Well, here we are,” Pilseok said, arriving at the CEO’s office. He opened the door and pushed them in without another word. He finished his story about how he got to his current job (a call from the CEO himself) before leaving the room. It was only then that the CEO pulled out his police badge.

“Captain Ahn,” he said. “You must be Han Seoyoon and Jun Minjoo.”

“What is going on?” Seoyoon asked.

“I believe you’ve been briefed on the case, and told you’ll be going undercover,” Captain Ahn said. “Well, that undercover identity started a minute ago, when you first walked through these doors.”

“I figured,” Seoyoon mumbled.

The captain had a flash of annoyance but ignored her comment. “This is a very serious case and you must complete it perfectly. Listen carefully: there’s only one pattern to these crimes, and that’s that it disturbs schedules for not just any entertainers, but for idols specifically.”

“So idols are the victims?” Seoyoon asked.

“Possibly, Ms. Know-it-all, why don’t you let me finish?” His voice slowly rose. “The idols aren’t just victims. Sure, there’s a lot of people out there gunning for them, but no one else would have so much access to the hit locations. That means an idol’s the culprit.”

“Where does the undercover part come in?” Seoyoon asked.

“Would you stop interrupting me?” Captain Ahn threw a folder at Seoyoon. “Open that up. It has your new identities.”

Seoyoon opened up the folder with Minjoo looking over her shoulder. It contained the profile for a kpop girl group, called Honey Moon, with members Seohwa and Minnie. Minjoo took the papers and read them closely. “I don’t understand,” Seoyoon said. “We’re going undercover as idols?”

“Your new job is to go undercover in the music scene. I want you to infiltrate—”

“I know what he’s going to say,” Minjoo interrupted. “Infiltrate the dealers, find the supplier!”

“What the hell do you think this is? A simple drug bust?” The Captain stood up and pounded his fist on the table. “Infiltrate the idols, find the criminal!”

ONE MONTH LATER

The small dressing room was buzzing with over twenty staff and idols, sitting or walking or talking or rushing in and out of the door. Two rookies sat still at their makeup chairs, while three other figures surrounded them: one hair stylist, one writer, and one camera man. The room was exploding with noise from the other idol group behind them, but the rookies were assured they could be heard.

“Our daily routine is really simple,” Minjoo said, answering the interviewer’s question and looking straight into the camera. “Wake up, vocal lessons, dance practice, shower, sleep.” She laughed in her carefree way and the interviewer laughed with her.

In the other makeup chair, Seoyoon stayed quiet, and was caught off guard when the interviewer suddenly asked her a question. “Excuse me, could you repeat that?”

“Who is your ideal type?”

“Ideal…” Seoyoon smiled shyly and glanced at her phone. Earlier that day, she received a text from her sunbae, Yoon Doomin, wishing her luck on her new assignment. Then, before she knew it, she blurted out, “Yoon Doo—” She caught herself, but it was too late.

“BEAST’s Yoon Doojoon?” the interviewer asked, suddenly intrigued in her.

“Y-yeah, Yoon Doojoon. That one,” Seoyoon said with an embarrassed smile. The interviewer on her red cheeks and moved onto the next question.

“Ten minutes to rehearsals for the rookies!” someone screamed from the hallway. Suddenly, the already crowded and loud room became even more crowded and loud. The rookies were stuck in their chairs, being yelled at from every direction and loomed over like objects.

“Don’t forget any of your lyrics!” one manager insisted.

“Make sure to be polite to everyone you see, sunbae and staff and possible fans,” another manager said.

“Yah, I can’t finish her hair in time—we have to do something else!” a stylist exclaimed.

“Where are their shoes?”

“How do you feel?”

“As a sunbae, I can tell you this: It can’t get any worse after your debut stage.”

Seoyoon suddenly stood up from her seat. “Please!” she yelled. “It’s just a rehearsal. Let us relax.” She found her heels beneath a pile of clothes and tossed another pair of heels Minjoo. “Let’s go.”

The girls finally escaped the stuffy room and made their way into the dark hallway leading up to the music show stage—their debut stage. Just as they were taking their first step onto the stage, Minjoo stopped.

“Seoyoon,” she said.

“Minjoo—I mean—Minnie? What’s up?”

“Seoyoon, I have something to confess,” Minjoo whispered. She took Seoyoon’s hand and continued, “When I was younger, in high school, I actually went to a lot of auditions.”

“I know,” Seoyoon replied.

“But I always got stage fright.”

“I know.” In the dark, Seoyoon could see Minjoo’s eyes shake. She glanced at the camera beside them and then back at her partner. “But you don’t have to be afraid this time. It’s not real, anyway.”

“And yet I still care so much,” Minjoo laughed. The two of them walked on stage together and introduced themselves.

“Hello, I’m Minnie.”

“I’m Seohwa.”

“And we are Honey Moon!”

And though they neither of them noticed, they already had an audience backstage.

“Where did those two even come from?” Hyosung asked.

“Right? I’ve never heard of their names or their company before,” Bora said.

“But have you heard their song?” Woohyun asked.

“Yeah, and I can’t get it out of my head,” Mir said. He began to sing along to the first verse.

“What are their names?” Dongwoon asked, squinting up at them onstage.

“Minnie and Seohwa. And dude, if you want to look at them so bad, just ask for their numbers after,” Mir said, patting Dongwoon on the back.

“It’s not that,” Dongwoon clarified. He walked back to his dressing room, where the rest of Beast was getting ready. “So her name’s Seohwa now…”

“Seohwa? Who’s that?” Kikwang asked, rolling up to Dongwoon in a rolling chair. Dongwoon was about to answer when a foam ball flew into his face.

“Omona! I’m so sorry,” Yoseob said, picking the ball up from the floor. He fluffed up Dongwoon’s hair and patted him on the shoulder.

“You’re a terrible catcher,” Junhyung said from the couch.

“You’re a terrible thrower,” Yoseob said, throwing the ball at the phone in Junhyung’s hands. From the makeup chair, Hyunseung screamed.

“That’s my phone! My phone!” he said.

“Shh, it’s just a foam ball,” Doojoon said, patting Hyunseung’s hair.

There was a knock on the door and the music show’s interviewer and cameraman entered. They made rounds with all six Beast members, saving Doojoon for last.

“A rookie, earlier, from Honey Moon named you as her ideal type. Do you feel burdened?” the interviewer asked.

“Ah, yes, it’s a heavy burden to bear,” Doojoon said.

Dongwoon suddenly cut into the conversation. “But he’s the one and only boyfriend-dol. He’s got the looks, the personality, the money. He’s an all-kill.”

“I’m a killer?” Doojoon joked.

“You steal hearts,” Dongwoon laughed.

“I’m a thief! Lock me up in jail!” Doojoon cried. He clasped his hands together and looked apologetically at the camera. “To all of you out there, I’m sorry. I’ve done wrong.” He slowly bowed, and when he brought his head back up, he kissed the camera.

Dongwoon crossed his arms and shook his head. “Yah! A true criminal.”