an olive branch
in the recording studio with @idjinkyong
Mijung sat in the studio, a few seats away from Jinkyong. They were each waiting for their turn to record as the lead rapper finished up his parts. Mijung had been pleased to find she didn’t mind the song. The song, however, was not what was on her mind.
To say that Mijung was on edge would almost be redundant. When wasn’t she on edge? But this was a bit different. This time her attitude actually mattered. She was a hair’s breadth away from debuting. She was in the studio, recording their debut song. Soon she wouldn’t be a moody trainee anymore. She’d be a rookie idol with all eyes on her. Mijung knew, despite how much it would pain her, that she needed to get over the fact that she did not like Jang Jinkyong.
It hadn’t always been this way. Jinkyong had always been a hardworking and dedicated trainee. They weren’t the best of friends, but Mijung had respected her from a distance. That was the most anyone could hope for from her, really. Things changed after Jinkyong was among the 99 trainees selected to try audition for the Produce Project. Mijung, of course, had been considered, but this was at the tail end of the slow collapse of the promised MixedUp debut. Mijung was in limbo, not legally able to join another group but also unlikely to debut herself. This only added to Mijung’s growing sense of bitterness toward Jinkyong and Minyoung, who of course rose to brilliant heights on the much more successful program. When they both debuted in Pro.logue, it was just that much more salt being poured on Mijung’s still open wounds. Minyoung’s leaving was the final straw, tainting Jinkyong by association and leaving little hope that a friendship could ever blossom.
A friendship was still not in the cards, but Mijung knew that, like with Hojun, she would have to come to some sort of understand with Jinkyong. They were debuting together whether Mijung liked it or not (Mijung did not, in fact, like it). Mijung wasn’t going to let her bitterness get in the way of the group’s success. Not after she’d worked so hard for so long.
She just had to bite the bullet, Mijung told herself. The Jinkyong problem wasn’t going to go away on its own. Mijung took a deep breath to center herself, build up her strength, before turning to Jinkyong. She would need all she could muster.
“Jinkyong-ssi, you’ve done this a few more times than I have. Do you have any advice?”