━ { Ice Cream Cake Era

January 1st, 2016. As soon as the holiday party has aired, everyone began to ask why every member has blonde hair. Maybe a comeback soon? Soon was funny, because the MV dropped two days later, and the album the very next. Honestly, Ice Cream Cake was just a hype for their next minialbum, but no one knew that except for them. Two weeks of performing it and on the 28th, the minialbum would drop. It would be pretty exhausting but totally worth it. Right after their Inkigayo comeback stage, the girls were ushered into the van- An extremely important meeting had been called.

Most of the time, when important meetings were called, it meant somewhere along the way the members had messed up. However the look Daeun had given them was relieved, and a tiny bit excited, so the members were a bit hoepful- Maybe Soojin was coming back? Daeun had said the New Year, after all. Maeri kind of doubted it, though. In November, Ahseong had given birth to an amazingly adorable little girl who was about two months old- Lee Yikyung, a baby with a very sweet personality. After Yikyung's birth, the girls of WARdEN- Including Sumia- Were made her godmothers. Five godmothers were a lot, but Ahseong and Soojin figured since none of them were married yet, it was...Acceptable.

Upon arriving at the meeting room, Seulki was nearly in tears at the sight of Sumia, standing next to CEO Ahn and laughing over something the elder had said. She was beautiful, as always, and judging by Soo Jung's hand that grasped her own wrist, Seulki suddenly had an idea about what this meeting was about. Previously she'd thought the meeting would be centered around their upcoming concert, maybe things were finalized, but now...

"Alright everyone, let's sit down. Take your proper seats," CEO Ahn commanded, and immediately everyone was silent, taking their seats and looking at her at the head of the table. She looked intimidating as always, and Miyoung found herself impressed by their CEO again. No matter how old, no matter what gender, no matter who they were, everyone listened to the creator of UouO Media. She was amazing, "Before we begin, let me clarify. There are five main points of this meeting; Lee Soojin's return from his paternity leave, Hisakawa Sumia's possible return to WARdEN, a WARdEN sununit debut with SM Entertainment's f(x), WARdEN's concert taking place in February, and the solo debut of Kogara Shigeri." At the mention of Sumia, Yoonmi's eyes flickered to her, as though realizing something. And she had. If Sumia comes back, I'm not the maknae anymore...It's done. Over. She suddenly didn't know how to feel. During the time Yoonmi had been thinking about herself, CEO Ahn had introduced everyone in the meeting and called Soojin and Daeun up with her. Yoonmi wished she'd listened, because there were some very unfamiliar faces around the table, and she knew everyone in UouO.

"I will be making my official return to UouO Media and as girl group WARdEN's manager after Ice Cream Cake promotions. As we are all aware, WARdEN will be re-releasing Ice Cream Cake in their first studio album later this month," Soojin spoke calmly and professionally. Soo Jung found herself remembering why he was a manager in the company, among other things.

"WARdEN have been practicing their new choreographies as well as the choreographies for their concert. Of course, all of these songs are five membered, and will unlikely be able to change to six," Daeun eyed Sumia who stared back fearlessly, "As WARdEN's current manager, in an estimated two weeks I will relinquish my position and will manage the new soloist, Kogara Shigeri. He was born and raised in Japan but we believe he has great potential in the Korean market, and there may be a chance for him to expand musically to Japan."

"Kogara-ssi is also signed under EMI Records Japan!" Ms. Son, the creative director jumped up. All eyes were on her, and with a hidden smile, Soojin took his seat again, "He's well known in Japan as a model, so if we debut him in Korea with a strong vocal image, he'll have a solid fanbase already. Maybe that hype in Japan will give him a hype here, too, right? That's what we're couting on. Besides, we've been planning on debuting another girl group soon, but boy groups have more solid fanbases, so I'm thinking we could debut them first. What's their project name? BoyZ? Ugh, we should really change, it lacks a unique quality. Any suggestions? I'll take them down, I promise!"

"We can't just scrap Highlight!" An elder gentlemen spoke immediately. He was one of the biggest sponsors of UouO Media, and suddenly everything felt tense.

"Of course we're not scrapping Highlight! We're already spent money on them. It is, however, more beneficial at this point if we debut a boy group. BoyZ have been a project for a shorter amount of time, but I'm confident they're more talented than Highlight, and will bring in more attention. Highlight shouldn't debut until 2017 or so? 2017 seems about right," Ms. Son seemed just about ready to fight, but CEO Ahn interrupted immediately.

"However, none of this is official aside from Kogara-ssi's solo debut, so let's get back on track Ms. Son."

"Ah, yeah, so Kogara Shigeri will be debuting as a soloist under the name Kayo, which sound strange in Korean to us, but in Japan translates to beautiful generation or something of the like. This is what he goes by as a model in Japan, so we figured it was best to keep him known as one person. If he redebuts in BoyZ, then we may or may not give him a seperate stage name," At the CEO's sharp glare, Ms. Son cleared and changed the direction of the conversation, "Shigeri here is best at singing and dancing- Upon comparing his skills, he's certainly a main in both. So we will have him debut with a vocally-focused song, and in his solo comeback- Assuming things all went well- Will change his image to a strong dancer. Any questions?" When ther were none, Ms. Son took her seat.

"So, we've cleared up Lee-ssi's return and Kogara Shigeri's solo debut. Next item will be a very important one- Hisakawa Sumia's possible return to WARdEN. Sumia hasn't been in a WARdEN since, ah, the predebut work of Dream Candy," The CEO was very serious, and Maeri realized that this wasn't telling them Sumia was back in, it was deciding whether she was back in, "Since then, WARdEN's image and average age has changed dramatically. From 17.3 to 21.8 is a large difference. While some of the new releases have a cuter concept, be it the title track or something on the EP or minialbum, she simply doesn't fit the next release, or any concepts we've drawn up for WARdEN to try after. However, Sumia's contract requires her to be promoting under us until 2018, and she is to stay with us until 2020. She was given the option to terminate her contract after her accident, but Ms. Hisakawa has chosen to stay with us. Morally, she should be allowed back into the group. But the entertainment world isn't moral."

"She needs to come back!" Seulki said immediately, "We're a six mem-"

"Miss Lee!" CEO Ahn interrupted, "Not you or your bandmates are to speak during this conversation. You are not to say anything, because this decision is not up to you. This is up to our team, and you'll accept whatever decision is made." Seulki's face burned in anger, but she knew the CEO is was right. The WARdEN members would speak from emotions, not logic and the industry was not run by emotions.

"There is a lot of positives of bringing Sumia back," Soojin spoke up, "Firstly, we bring the lineup to the original number of six, which their original fans will love- Especially when that "new" member is from the first lineup. As Sumia is considered visual to a degree, her beauty, personality, and talent is sure to bring in newer fans as well."

"But none of their songs are built to have six members!" Ms. Son interrupted, "Only Dream Candy, and as we specified earlier, that is no longer WARdEN's concept. They attempted with Muah! but that wasn't nearly as well recieved."

"So you're telling me Ice Cream Cake isn't a cute song?"

"Not cute like Dream Candy. However, I will admit that as a whole, WARdEN looks beter with six members. But choreographies become hard, none can ever be performed with six members. If Sumia returns, we could never use those songs again."

"Not unless she doesn't perform them," Daeun's words drew attention towards her, "So, none of the songs are made for six members. Fine, that's acceptable, reasonable. But Sumia doesn't have to perform those songs. The only time she would is if it was a concert, but by the time WARdEN has another concert, there will plenty of six-membered songs for her to perform with them. She could always just sit the five member songs out?"

"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of adding her back?" A younger, female sponsor disagreed, "If we can't make her work with their current music, she shouldn't be there. WARdEN is off better with five members."

"No, no I actually like what Daeun said," Ms. Son suddenly said, "Fans may protest but overall won't they be glad if Sumia is back? So what about this- WARdEN finishes Ice Cream Cake promotions. They release Red Light. They have their concert, and on the very last day, very last performance, Sumia comes out and performs Dream Candy with them and announces her return? Then, they'll be a six member unit, but in future concerts they can switch out members to perform parts. Maybe they perform Pepe with Seulki, Soo Jung, Miyoung, Yoonmi, and Sumia but Huk with Maeri, Seulki, Soo Jung, Miyoung, and Yoonmi like it is originally? But then Ice Cream Cake can have Maeri, Seulki, Soo Jung, Yoonmi, and Sumia. Things like that, you know? It's new, and risky, but I really like it. Don't you, CEO-nim?" Ahn Minha was silent for a few moments as she thought it over, but finally, she nodded.

"I believe that could work. Risky for sure, but it could work. Hisakawa Sumia, you're back on the team," Minha smiled, "Speaking of the concert, WARdEN. The dates are set for February 15th and 16th at the Busan Concert Hall. I hear that you're done deciding the solos, and the revised choreos are complete?"

"They are," Kim Eunju, the female dance trainer and on of their choreographers confirmed, "Jeon-ssi and I have got everything covered in the dancing department, the girls are good to go." Jeon Minkyu, the male dance instructor, nodded to confirm her words.

"That leaves one thing to discuss- A collaboration between f(x) and WARdEN," The members of WARdEN looked at each other nervously. No one had told them about a collaboration, "This has already been decided, but unfortunately due to the concept, member Baek Yoonmi and newly-reinstated member Sumia will not be participating in the sunbunit."

"What...That's not fair," Yoonmi whispered to herself, frowning. If she couldn't do it, when why could Miyoung? She was only a month younger!

"The concept is mature and vocally based," Ms. Son took up where CEO Ahn left. Oh, so that was it. Her vocals weren't good enough. Yoonmi looked at her lap, cheeks burning, "All members of f(x) and the four eldest of WARdEN. They will debut in April. After Red Light and their concert, WARdEN will prepare for a six-member comeback in May or June. The subunit with f(x), working name Cloud, will debut shortly before. This is a one-time subunit, despite being the first."

The rest of the meeting felt unimportant to Yoonmi, and she didn't bother to listen.

---

Ice Cream Cake had a total of ten stages. Fans complained about the length of promotions, but when rumors of a new minialbum and concert began to float around, the anger was mostly put to bed. WARdEN had been nominated for number one on Show! Music Core but were unable to attend and got third place anyway. However, this renewed the hope that they could get first place. With the reassurance that Sumia and Soojin would return, the New Year brightened up.

(author's note) Side note, Ms. Son's FC is Han Go Eun, she's on the staff page! So, finally, Sumia is coming back. About switching members in song performances, I love their five membered songs too much to just ignore them, but obviously the bands don't have six members so they can't perform them as so, and I hate pretending a performance has more or less members than it does on stage. It's not too likely that it will come up often, though, so don't worry about it.