━ { Pepe Era

The Pepe Era began a short three days before Halloween, and they were able to replace their B side stage on their Music Bank, very first comeback, to collab with Bestie and cover Twice's Like Ooh Ahh. Rose was confident she'd do better than those visual-picked brats, but of course that wasn't her place to say. The EP was definitely short but promotable, showing a few lovely sides of them. Miyu got more lines, Nari and Sera got less, and things weren't totally awful setting up for their first comeback.

(Jihyo- Rose, Nayeon- Uji, Jungyeon- Hyeyeon, Mina- Byeol, Tzuyu- Haeryung, Chaeyoung- Miyu, Dahyun- Dahye, Momo- Nari, Sana- Sera)

(Seunghee- Rose, Sorn- Sera, Seungyeon- Nari, Yujin- Miyu, Yeeun- Byeol)

After the stages, the girls met with their temporary manager, Daeun. She proved to be must stricter to Soojin, who was at home with his wife. The baby was due any time now, but he constantly called in to make sure things were going well. It was a cute if not annoying habit, and eventually Daeun stopped picking up. He started calling the girls instead.

"Alright, I made sure you guys had the rest of the night off, purely because you have a lot of work to do tomorrow early. I'll drop you off and head to the company- If anything goes wrong, call me. Eat dinner and go straight to bed, no questions asked, do you understand? Maeri, Seulki, I'm trusting you. You better do as I say. Let's go," She walked briskly off, and Soo Jung leaned over to whisper to Maeri,

"She's still kind of scary," The main dancer simply shook her head and urged the others on, sighing. Dinner tonight was simply the disgusting drink, tea if anyone felt up to it. She doubted they would. They exited the building, waving at the screaming fans- They'd gotten themselves quite a few- And piled into the van. The entire ride was silent, unnerving even. True to her word, Daeun dropped them off and went straight in the direction of the company building. Before the girls could walk into the apartment building, Yoonmi tugged on Maeri's sleeve.

"Unnie, I need to go pick some more nail polish. I promise I'll be right back," She pleaded. Of course, she could have just snuck out, but she didn't have the energy for the leader to organize a search party the moment she noticed the maknae was gone. Maeri thought on it for a few moments, but ultimately sighed and nodded.

"Be back by nine, Yoonie-ah. The streets aren't safe at night!" Before she could get anything else out, the rapper was on her way down the street. It was pretty cold, and she shoved her hands in her jacket pocket to keep her hands warm. Yoonmi glanced around the night street, feeling the weight of the Pepe promotions weigh on her again. She never expected their next song to come out so soon, but the CEO felt that an aggressive approach to the industry was the best way to go. Every two months or so, she wanted them promoting a new song. It would be horribly exhausting and expensive, and Yoonmi wasn't sure it would work.

Ducking into the store, the youngest member went straight to the nail polish aisle, well-acquainted with the shop. She made sure her mask was on tight, and scanned the shelves for a few new colors to add to her large collection. Painting her own nails was the way she rebelled against the stylists, to keep being herself. As the maknae pondered what colors to buy, movements from the corner of her eye had Yoonmi straightening up, looking around. Only the cashier was around, but she was shelving some misplaced items behind the idol. Taking a deep breath she paced in the aisle. Sweat beaded down her neck and she hurriedly grabbed some bottles from a brand she'd heard of once, and nearly raced to the counter. She was undeniabley nervous. Yoonmi painfully ignored all  of the delicious snacks that sat at the checkout and bit at her nails. The strawberry tart nearly kept her from her nerves as she thanked the chashier and this time, she really did run, hoping no one would recognize her as she made her way gom.

Heart pounding, Yoonmi slowed as she walked into the lobby, feeling as though someone was watching her.

She sincerely hoped not.

---

While "eating" dinner, Seulki studied the maknae. She seemed nervous, biting her nails and bouncing her leg as though she was ready to pace again. She was worried for the youngest, and it seemed she wasn't the only one as her eyes met Maeri's equally-concerned ones. The leader nodded her head in the direction od the bedroom, and Seulki stood up, excusing herself to have a conference with the eldest.

"Something's not right with Yoonie," The main dancer spoke as soon as the door closed.

"Well, duh, that's why we're here," Seulki rolled her eyes but shuffled her foot, "I'm kind of...Worried about her. I don't think I've ever seen her like this, even after five years." And five years it had been. Two training together, the debut in 2013, all the way until that moment. Never was Yoonmi like that.

"I think we should say something?" Maeri seemed pretty unconfident, and Seulki remembered exactly why she hated that Maeri was the new leader.

"Not at all. Let's leave it alone until things really become a concern."

---

It was their fourth week of promotions for Pepe when the girls began to perform other songs regularly- Huk and Love Letter. Love Letter was incessantly cut and Huk wasn't much better. Their Inkigayo stages were constantly criticized for horrible camera work, and WARdEN agreed wholeheartedly. They were never nominated for an award in all five weeks, and that sat worse with some than others. Miyoung was satisfied with her amount of lines this time around, whereas Nari found herself wishing for a lot more. She voiced the group's general worries about line distributions to Daeun, who replied with a mild, these poor fools kind of smile and an assurance that it would be discussed. All the CEO said on the matter was,

"Line counts don't concern you. Sing when you're meant to sing."

WARdEN didn't take that well, but knew better than to argue and instead resorted to angry coversations at night when they were meant to be asleep. Things felt even worse when it was reported Soojin wouldn't come back until the new year- 2016. What a joy.

"You're kidding, right?" Sera asked, nearly laughing. Daeun was only meant to be there for one set of promotions! Surely this was just a prank.

"Unfortunately, no," The manager replied cooly, "I'll be stuck with you five for a little bit longer. Don't tihnk I'm happy with the arrangement either. I'd much rather be working with the new soloist or other group or basically anyone besides you. Now what are you doing standing around?! Get back to dancing!" She cuffed Maeri's ear, and the leader barely held in her temper as she stomped to her spot in the choreography.

Byeol was acting stranger and stranger, less mischeivous unless they were on a show and more...Reserved than usual. Always looking over her shoulder, found staring at her things, confused, as if something was gone, and generally being less and less comfortable to leave their dorm. Whenever they walked out the door she would stick close by to one of the members or staff, always looking behind her. It was strange. But for the time being the girls simply couldn't do anything, too busy with schedules. They were picked to model for a new makeup brand, amazing so close to their debut. Apparently, the creator has been inspired by them since 2012 when rumors of the original debut began to circulate.

"I cant believe it, a brand made for us!" Seulki squealed, hanging into Miyoung as they walked to the photoshoot.

"It's so cool!" Soo Jung was the most excited of all, quickly snapping a selca and uploading it. Photoshoots had become fun.

  .Byeol

  .Miyu

  .Rose

     .Sera

     .Maeri

In the end, the photoshoot was pretty awesome. So was their group selca, which also went on Sera's Instragram. Seulki posted on her own as well. Pepe promotions ended soundly, with new opportunities showing up every day. The girls were ready to make the climb to fame.

(author's note) And so chapter seven is done.