━ { Red Light Era

The Red Light MV was released on the 24th, and had a shocking three million views in two days- A record breaking speed for WARdEN, and for many other groups (WARdEN had their comeback stage the same day). Hate was released the same day, and was quickly at two million in the same two days. It was shocking how their album, Different, had affected their career. As the title suggested, each song had a different concept. Some complained Red Light and Hate were similar, but were shot down by fans with their MV theories and English lyric translations. Red Light debuted #23 the Gaon Chart, and suddenly Ice Cream Cake was #56, Rum Pum Pum Pum was #57, and touchingly, Dream Candy was #60. WARdEN's popularity overseas expanded greatly, and suddenly instead of a solid fanbase in only Korea, they could find solid fanbases in Korea, China, Japan, France, and the U.S. Things only got better when UouO Media offically annouced the concert- The 15th and 16th of February, at the Busan Concert hall, sold out in ten minutes. They added another date- the 18th at AX-KOREA, which sold out quickly. Four fanmeets were set up only a few days after the MV release, and WARdEN has officially made a name for themselves as a 2015 rookie group. The album boosted Sera's individual popularity in particular. It was the first album produced that had focused on her rapping, and finally she'd showed her full talent. Sera was getting plenty of solo work, whereas the others stuck mostly to group promotions.

Since the meeting those fateful weeks ago, WARdEN had gotten to practice with Sumia again. She was a little slow on the uptake, though no one could blame her, but she got their choreographies down. Officially, her place had ended up like this: She was the main dancer, sub-vocalist, and makne of WARdEN, Yoonmi having to step down from the spot. In Dream Candy, instead of Maeri and Miyoung splitting Sumia's and Iseul's lines, Sumia would take back her lines, Miyoung would take Iseul's, and Maeri would take Miyoung's. In the Say Hello debut album, Sumia would only participate in Rum Pum Pum Pum as a backup dancer. She would not participate in Toy, The Light, My First Love, or NU ABO, but would take Maeri's place in Muah!. In the Pepe EP she would Sera's spot, and in Love Letter, she would take the first chorus and Seulki would take the other two, the choreo changing just enough so the two could switch on and off stage without too much a commotion. In Like, Sumia would take Maeri's space. She didn't participate in Huk and First Love except for recording new backup vocals.

Sumia recorded backup vocals for Ice Cream Cake. In the Red Light minialbum, she took Maeri's place in Eighteen. She recorded backup vocals for Dumb Dumb, Hate, One More, and No More, and would sometimes sit off to the side on a stage prop or the like and take a line of Sera's or Seulki's in One Of These Nights. For Red Light, she and Yoonmi would switch every other performance who got the rapper's spot, for one simple reason- It was one of the few songs she didn't rap. That was one victory for Yoonmi, she got to stay solid in most of their songs- Otherwise she didn't get anything. She was glad to have Sumia back, she was, she loved her teammate but the rapper suddenly couldn't stand the thought of no longer being the maknae. But maybe that person would leave her alone if she seemed less important. Or maybe they'd be interested more.

"Miss Jack In The Box wasn't listening again~" Seulki teased, suddenly poking Yoonmi in the side. Miyoung giggled at Yoonmi's shocked expression, pushing her arm a bit.

"Yoonie! We were talking about something important!"

"Sorry, sorry," She coughed into her elbow a bit. She hoped she wasn't getting sick... "What was going on?"

"We're thinking of preparing something special for each of our fansign events," Maeri spoke excitedly, "Like a special dance routine or something, you know? Or maybe we prepare bags of candy with little notes. That one would be a lot of work but then our fans will have something special for them to remember us all by- Also, they can brag to their friends."

"You mostly care about the bragging rights," Seulki deadpanned.

"True," The leader agreed. Recently, Soo Jung has noticed a change in the elders' relationship. They would tolerate each other more, and generally act nicer to each other. However, she also noticed something was worrying the both of them- Maybe it was the same thing she and Miyoung would talk about late at night. Rather, someone.

Yoonmi had definitely caught their attention for being...Strange. Less pranks, a little more withdrawn, some weird habits. However, they'd agreed to leave it alone until Yoonmi came to one of them or things got a lot worse. What was even more worrisome was that the rapper was losing weight. Stress, or maybe their diet, but she was looking less and less healthy, and that was why Soo Jung often gave portions of her meal to Yoonmi. Sneaking a bit of extra food from her plate to Yoonmi's before she gave the plate to her. It didn't seem to be helping much, but anything was good at this point.

"Well, we have four, right? So the first and third we can do special dance routines, and the second and fourth we can make the little candy bags with notes," She suggested easily, turning back to look out the window of the van. They had a lot to do, and she wanted to take a nap before they arrived at the music video shoot. A male fan had donated 8,000,000 won for WARdEN to use, and Ms. Son had the idea of filming a few new music videos for their old songs- As well as making films- And saving the rest for their six-member comeback. All of these risky moves were leaving the rapper with an uneasy feeling...

---

"She's so beautiful. I want her to be mine."

"But don't you want me to be yours...?"

---

After all the stages WARdEN had performed through their...Seven months of being idols? The performing was still amazing. Every stage showed more and more fans and more and more adrenaline. Soo Jung loved it so much. It was amazing to her, how much support and love their fans showed them. Posters with Iseul would still show up in the crowds, and WARdEN was getting loved, what they deserved. She was happy to finally be rapping regularly, and her Instagram was covered with new pictures. Through the months, she and Jinki had started to become pretty good friends, and she sincerely enjoyed his company. Despite it being only their first week of promotions, the girls were nominated for number one on The Show. They had performed Red Light and One of These Nights, and the reaction was great. Both were considered their title tracks- Neithere were B side stages, and she was proud of that. Sera was hoping for number one.

Rose was a little more realistic in her mind. Taemin was having his long-awaited solo comeback at the same time as they were promoting Red Light. Press Your Number and Red Light were both good songs, but she knew which was better. At least they weren't against him that time around, but she knew were they pit against him for any award, it would go to her long-time friend. She was just happy being nominated.

"Oh God," Seulki whispered, "I can't believe we won." The girls were in their dressing room, removing makeup and changing out of their stage outfits.

"Didn't believe in us?" Maeri challenged. Ah, so maybe they weren't getting along all the time.

"Didn't believe in the voting systems," She shrugged noncomittally, "Sure, we have popularity now, but doesn't mean we have the votes or the voting system in our favor."

"But we did today," Miyu interrupted, "And I think that's what matters~ You guys should really focus on the good things. Maeri Unnie and Seulki Unnie are too quick to fight. I think we should send a secret agent out to secretly buy us snacks. Who wants to volunteer?"

Only ten minutes after returning to the dorm, Soo Jung was sneaking back out, shooting a quick text to Jinki- Wanna meet up real quick? The old man was hardly busy and honestly? Soo Jung could say she was starting to fall for him. She understood why he was a leader, he was kind but firm, supportive but really a mystery in the end. It was hard to figure him out, the distinction he made between Lee Jinki and Onew of SHINee, because it was so clearly there but so hard to make out. A mysterious aura was attractive, and Soo Jung really couldn't help herself. A small, fifteen minute meetup would be enough to calm her heart for the week, she was sure. She waited in their normal convenience store meetup spot, lost in throughts when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hi, Soo Jung, right?" The vocalist looked up quickly, pushing the man back without a second thought. She put a hand to her heart, eyes wide with teorror when she inspected the equally-surprised man's face. Wait...Wasn't that Yoonie's old school friend? She couldn't remember his name in the slightest but...

"Oh jeez, I'm so sorry! I, you're, uh, Yoonmi's friend, right?"

"Uh, yeah, Shin Dohyun, twenty-one years. Old, that is. Nice to meet you," He picked himself off of the group, dusting off his jeans, "Don't worry about that, I'm worry for scaring you. You seemed pretty deep in thought thinking back on it. It's totally my fault."

"Still, I shouldn't have pushed you, so I'm sorry..." There was a long, awkward pause. They stared at each other uncomfortably, "Uhm, was there something you wanted...?"

"Oh, yeah!" He suddenly rummaged through his backback that Soo Jung hadn't even noticed before pulling out an envelope, "Could you give this to Yoonmi-ssi? I wasn't sure if it would get there if I sent it through fanmail so I've been holding onto it...But don't tell her it's from me please! Just hand it to her while you're opening fanmail? Please?"

"Sure?" Soo Jung took the letter, and suddenly spotted Jinki who was crossing the street to her and Dohyun, "If you don't mind, I was trying to meet with someone, so uh-"

"Yeah, of course, I just, wanted to get that to Yoonmi-ssi. Thank you, Soo Jung-ssi," He bowed and jogged away just as Jinki made it across. The elder's eyes followed, expression a bit strange and eyes almost worried.

"Was that a sasaeng fan?" He asked, looking her over, "You really should wear a better disguise, you're very uniquely pretty and it's not hard to spot you. Are you okay?" Soo Jung had stopped functioning the moment he'd said, "Uniquely pretty," but she forced it back on track with a bright grin and a surge of confidence.

"Nah, that's was Yoonmi's old friend, I've got a letter to pass along. I'm totally fine. Let's go buy those snacks!"

---

"One two three four, and five and six and seven and eight! One two three four, and five and six and seven an- Maeri, your left, not right!" Eunju yelled, jumping off her chair and slamming the pause button, "How many times are we going to do the choreography and how many times are you going to to it wrong? You're the leader Maeri, lead the dance. Being good at what you do means nothing if you can't do it right. From the top."

Ten hours. Ten hours of dancing in prep for their concert. They'd gotten a few five minute breaks, and lunch halfway through, but until they could nail this choreo, they couldn't go home. Sumia was there as well, learning all of their choreography and doing just as a well as any of them. She danced off to the side, closer to the mirror so it wasn't like she was a part of the group. WARdEN was supposed to focus on their five members until after their concert. Then they could worry about actually integrating their maknae back into the group.

Ms. Son had already begun to think of how to tease for her return when their next comeback rolled around. She'd originally been against Sumia rejoining, but now was all for the exciting surprises she had to plan for the fans. Miyoung was happy, definitely, but more laidback than the others. She had noticed that Maeri seemed nervous about being reintroduced to Sumia, but repeatedly Miyoung had tried to reassure her. The triple threat was certain everything would be fine. What she wasn't certain about, however, was her place in the group. Triple threat? What she did could hardly be considered dancing or rapping. Miyoung couldn't help but hate everything she did, because it was never perfect. She would always strive for perfection, she needed it.

"Hey, Miyoung- Listen when I'm talking to you. You're not a perfect doll either, now get in your damn position. Everyone follow Yoonmi, she's clearly got the routine down," Eunju spat, glaring, "You need to get it perfect. You get that, don't you? WARdEN has to be able to play perfect idols, no mistakes, always smiling and being nice. It's not fun, sure, but it's how it is. That's what you have to pay for your dream. Now get back to dancing!"

---

The Different album was what set the tone for WARdEN's success. Eight songs that named success in their career. They won three more awards for Red Light and One of These Nights- One on Inkigayo and two on Show! Music Core. Soo Jung found herself with a lot of offers for modelling and pair appearances with Miyu in variety shows. Seulki and Nari were looking at some drama OST deals and Yoonmi was in talks with the company about releasing digital solo music to make up for not participating in Cloud- Still a working name for their subunit with f(x). Sumia was working hard to catch up with her members. Her dancing wasn't as great as it had been before the accident, but her intense physical therapy had sincerely helped her. Like Yoonmi, she'd have "sub-vocalist" on her profile so she wouldn't be the only one without a vocal position. WARdEN was right up there with Seventeen, GFriend, and even Twice. People knew them, people liked them, and people hated them. Just like any other good KPOP band. However, their image would be reinvented when Sumia rejoined, back to a cuter, lighter concept and people weren't into that nowadays. It was time to see if their concert could keep them solid in the KPOP business or if it was just a passing fame.

(author's note) Okay like the Different album is AMAZING, LET'S BE HONEST-- So, it's about time for Sumia to come aboard and Maeri to make her departure. As previous said, we'll have a new member joining in Maeri's place. But first, their concert and Cloud.

it's really weird, you guys are, like, four months behind were I am in writing this, because i have twelve hidden chapters...I wnt to post them all but it's gotta stay this way so you can have two updates a week.