suji thinks she’s pretty good at giving advice to the point where sometimes she’s give it out when all anybody really needs is a little comforting. now that is something she’s not too good at. so it’s no surprise when she’s called in for an organized advice live. seeing that the new school year was coming up, she was expecting some questions from younger fans. she knows that feeling all too well, wanting to fit in and make some friends and actually feel like you belong. she can’t say she ever fully succeeded but at least that means she’ll be good at giving advice on the topic.
“ready?” she says, acknowledging the older female who’s been stuck running this live with her. there was always something about eunyoung that made her feel comfortable. perhaps it was the unconditional support she received from the calypso member or the fact that they’ve found points they could relate to with one another. it wasn’t super easy for suji to feel so open in front of somebody else in the industry, but eunyoung was quick to knock down her walls. “hopefully we’ll both be some help to somebody today.”
7. what one thing (concepts, genres, styling, frequency of comebacks, etc.) would you like to change about your current career as an idol?
“having said that i enjoy our concept, i do wish we could have different styling. i know that dimensions is mostly trying to go for something whimsical to match our concept, but often i feel like we end up wearing costumes that are a bit too low quality and almost too cheap looking? look, i know we don’t make that much money, but surely the company can afford better costumes. our most recent comeback had the best ones so far, and i hope we can continue to improve in that sense.”
8. if you could be in any idol group, which one would you choose?
“selene. they are my favorite group of all times. when i was a trainee, one of the first dances i learned was their choreography for bad girl good girl and i also did hush for one of our monthly evaluations. oh, i also covered i miss you once. i went to a couple of concerts and fan meetings of theirs before i became an idol, yes that’s how much i am a fan!”
9. what surprised you most about being an idol?
“how much time you spend doing virtually nothing. trainee period was super intense, we never had time for anything, we spend entire days and sometimes nights in the company practicing. and sure, after you debut you still have a lot of things to do during comeback promotions and you have to wake up early to go to music shows. but we spend so much time at schedules doing nothing. just napping or reading or playing games. it’s more boring that people think.”
10. if you were auditioning for your company today, what would you perform for your audition, or what would you change from your original audition?
“i auditioned to dimensions as a dancer, not a singer, so i would probably change that. if i had the skills that i do have nowadays, i would have sung something so i started training as a vocalist from the start, rather than having to shift my focus. but to be fair, i did get into the company either way, so maybe i wouldn’t change anything? if i had to, i probably would’ve sung gummy sunbaenim’s childish adult.”
11. if you could do any special stage, what would it be and who would it be with?
“i have a very ultra specific stage in mind that i would love to do. i think the most obvious answer would be something more vocals focused, which i of course wouldn’t mind at all either! but i feel like i have to prove i can do something more lively as well. so i would love to do a cover of s.e.s’ sunbaenim just a feeling with minjung sunbaenim and jaein sunbaenim.”
halfway through lunch, ruby’s eyes are glistening with tears, her throat burning. yet, she continues relishing the tingle of spice with every bite. as she chews, she hums in enjoyment, inhaling the familiar smell of the fragrant soup and letting it numb her tongue. suddenly conscious of the woman sitting in front of her, ruby reaches for a tissue, effectively dabbing her runny nose and stifling her embarrassed laughter at the same time.
“sorry—! i must look like a mess right now,” ruby shakes her head. far too many times, she ends up losing herself in the midst of a gastronomic experience. “it’s just that it’s been so-o long since i’ve had really good hotpot.” she offers a meek smile at eunyoung. “thanks for indulging my craving.”
ruby lets her gaze linger on the other woman, feeling a rush of gratitude towards her. in a place where she has often times felt like a total alien, eunyoung is one of the few that make her feel most at home. ruby considers herself lucky to have a senior so willing to look after her like this — being taken care of isn’t something ruby is accustomed to, but she figures she can afford to get used to it.
“anyway — craving aside — today isn’t about me, it’s about you,” ruby’s smile grows into a grin, “i’m so happy that ‘rollin‘ is doing so well. you deserve this so much.” she adds, as a jest, “even if that means you have a lot less time to spare for me now that you’re busy.”
— 은영언니 [ sent 17:12]: unnie why are you soooo pretty
— 은영언니 [ sent 17:13 ]: i was just watching this weekend’s doremi market and unnie was shining!!
— 은영언니 [ sent 17:13 ]: ah so pretty
tw injury, negative thoughts
backdated to june, 2018
the question alone is almost enough to have minhee dumbfounded. “what do you mean why didn’t you tell me?” he asks her back, brows furrowing. it was just an injury, another one and he couldn’t even say what number it was. to say that he wasn’t taking care of himself would be an understatement, but it was nothing dimensions wouldn’t sweep under the rug. “it’s just a twisted ankle, it’s nothing much.” it was actually a lot more, but the dance didn’t have it in him to go into details. he knows he should have been more transparent with eunyoung. it was eunyoung.
they weren’t promoting right now, one of the few longer breaks he could remember having in the recent years. he could be in bed, enjoying some peace and quiet really. yet here they were, in one of the dimensions dance studios, eunyoung asking question, minhee and his cast on his right ankle. if anything, running away really wasn’t an option. “right okay, it is much. i overworked myself, i’ve been stressed lately.” he admits, because well, there was no reason to hide it anymore, right? he wasn’t paying attention, he slipped during training a week ago while dancing with one of the dancers and well it resulted in this. him out of commotion for a while. “in my defense, it could be worse.” minhee does try and defend himself, but he knows it a lost cause.
he looked like shit, hair too grown out now, not bothered to get his roots fixed or length shorten, he is sure he has lost a bit of weight, he couldn’t tell. polaris had a bit of a break and minhee had completely let go of his image, he couldn’t really handle being preppy and look even decent these past few weeks.
hyojung thinks that she had a rather unique audition experience. or at least unique for her time when vocal academies weren’t the most common thing around. most audition stories from people who debuted around the same time as her mostly consisted of looking up companies themselves and going to the building for an audition. hyojung, on the other hand, auditioned at the vocal academy that she was attending as gold star was holding in-house auditions there.
gold star was an upcoming entertainment company at the time and hyojung had never heard of them until the day of her audition. she didn’t even think she would make it because it’s not like she auditioned with the mindset of wanting to make it in. she was encouraged to by the people around her. her own vocal coach told her later on (after she debuted) that he didn’t think she would pass either.
other than the surrounding circumstances, hyojung’s audition was very typical. she sang lee moonsae’s girl (a personal favorite of her mother’s). it wasn’t even the song that she was practicing at the time, but the gold star representative told her to sing whatever song she was most confident in, and since she’s been singing this song since she was a little girl, she decided she was more confident in it than the pop song that her vocal coach was teaching her at the moment.
Send ☎ for a bad fan experience headcanon. ( 263 words )
so far, hyojung believes she’s been lucky because she hasn’t had an offline bad fan experience. or at least nothing that she would categorize as being so extreme that she finds it to be a bad experience. sure, she’s had a fair amount of people probably whispering things behind her back at appearances and stuff, but she doesn’t think they were fans to begin with. just some random people who like to say things about celebrities because they think they won’t know.
however, she does have some sour experiences online. while she’s not super active online—she’s the type of person who only updates her instagram when she’s promoting with selene or a drama—she can’t fully ignore all the comments that she receives. the most common things she sees are comments about how she’s changed with time, and how she doesn’t appear to want to be an idol anymore. there’s also the super frequent ones that call her out for having actress disease or whatever that means. while she doesn’t believe she’s changed with time (only matured), that must not be the case for some of their fans who have been around from the start and have seen 16 year-old hyojung bouncing around on their screens.
the comments can be a little extreme at times, but they’ve never fully bothered hyojung because she believes that she’s staying true to herself. however, it would be a lie to say that sometimes, she stays up at night wondering how she’s appearing to her fans at the moment and whether their words have some truth behind them.
Send ☏ for a good fan experience headcanon. ( 206 words )
because selene’s been around for such a long time (12 years now), it’s no surprise that their fanbase has shrunken in size. hyojung likes to think it’s a natural phenomenon though it does get a little sad to see some of the bigger fandoms that her junior groups have.
despite their long career, selene does have some dedicated fans. hyojung’s best positive fan experience isn’t one single incident but rather seeing the same few faces in the crowd with each promotional period. there’s an indescribable feeling that bubbles up in hyojung’s stomach when she sees a couple of fans that she knows have been around since bad girl good girl. she can’t help but wonder what’s making them stay especially knowing that better girl groups have debuted after them. is it pure loyalty? or is there something about growing up with a group that makes you so attached to them that it feels like a personal betrayal to move onto another group?
whatever it may be, hyojung’s forever grateful for the handful of fans who have watched them grow up. there’s something special about a group of people who don’t turn their backs on a group despite the changes that older idol groups may go through.
hyojung’s been made painfully aware that she’s had a smooth start to her career with the way selene blew up right away. a rookie group winning a daesang was pretty unheard of. while selene’s fanbase may have decreased over time, she still believes that their impact is still there. though she’s not haughty about it or anything, she can’t help but look at a junior group and see hints of selene in their concepts and songs. things that they’ve done, sounds that they’ve released before.
what this also led to, however, was some straight up envy. envy? jealousy? uneasiness? she wasn’t entirely sure what it was, but she’s been through it. debuting at 16 and finding success right away meant that there were people who stared upon her with glaring eyes. she tried her best to not let it get to her, but she couldn’t help but wonder what she’s done wrong individually to get such treatment.
it’s why when she stumbles upon eunyoung at the animal farm, she contemplates for a moment if she should go find something else to do. while they haven’t directly interacted in a couple of years, she can’t forget the way the older female had looked at her earlier on in their careers. but she decides that it’s been too long, and she’s grown up too much to feel intimidated or petty or whatever. she now understands why eunyoung acted the way she did. they were both young and new to the industry and with the wavering ways their two groups were received, hyojung doesn’t blame her. anymore.
“hi.” it takes a lot of courage for her to take the first step, but she does it nevertheless.
perhaps it was because of the many choices that were available, but jaein found it oddly difficult to find someone to even grab dinner with her. she blames it on the numerous restaurants that were around and the fact that room service was an option as well. people didn’t want to leave their hotel rooms. she didn’t blame them, but she also thought it would be a waste not to get a taste of the good food that was being given to them.
it’s why she decided that she’d go out on her own. there was nobody around that wasn’t a fellow idol or a staff member, and she doesn’t think it’d be that embarrassing to be caught eating alone. it happens all too often nowadays. she’s about to take a seat when she notices another figure that seems alone just like her. recognizing her senior, she waves towards her direction, inviting her to take the seat across from her. this way, maybe they’ll look like they came together or whatever.
