the bell rings when someone walks into the store, a pleasant little jingle that cues sori’s well-rehearsed smile and a lovely little “hi, how are you today?” as she welcomes a customer into her mother’s thrift store. a girl, she realizes quickly. young, pretty, and could easily find a cute ‘fit or two from the racks of secondhand clothing. sori doesn’t go to help her immediately, letting the customer browse to her own content at first. let them get acclimated to the store, find out what things are where.
a few moments pass before sori leaves her spot behind the register and wanders up to the customer. “can i help you find anything today?” she plays the role of employee like an actor in a play, her lines scripted and repeated a hundred times before different audiences. she’s expecting to be bushed off, as usual, with a ‘oh no, i’m just browsing’ or something of the like. scripted, predictable.
things change when she goes off-script, glancing at what the customer is picking through. this is not typical of sori; usually she’ll just mind her own business and let the customer make their own choices, whether she thinks they’re good or bad. but this girl is far too pretty to be looking at things so ugly, and in this world women need to support each other. sori’s smile remains kind, though her brow can’t help but raise in subtle judgement.
“you know, this section is.. well, i think this over here would look much nicer on you. warm colors for a cold season, yeah?” she picks out a floral printed dress, a little dated in its silhouette but not totally unwearable in a modern context if accessorized correctly. sori just likes the colors, the warm reds and browns. hopefully the customer agrees.
kihyun’s frugal. he can’t afford to be anything but, considering he lives off two minimum wage part time jobs and attends university. and yet, he can’t sacrifice his morning coffee. it’s simply impossible to imagine, whether it’s due to a caffeine addiction or the constant need for some form of energy when he’s running on 3 hours of sleep.
so he has a budget for himself to feed his addiction, an allotted amount of money set aside per paycheque. kihyun thinks it’s enough—it has been for the past few weeks—but when his card gets declined at the cafe, and there’s a long line of equally deprived caffeine-addicts grumbling about how long he’s taking, kihyun learns that maybe he needs to give up coffee. or get another job. he definitely needs another job.
dejected, he turns away from the counter empty handed, only to realize that his morning is progressively getting worse.
an old friend is in line, not too far from him. even though it’s been years, kihyun could recognize seungah from a mile away, what with her button nose and sharp eyes that he grew up seeing on a daily basis. she hasn’t changed much since he last saw her—since she disappeared when he needed her most. some friend she was.
kihyun’s angry, both due to the lack of caffeine in his system and the memories and bubble to the surface of his brain. when he’s angry he gets petty. he doesn’t even realize what he’s doing until he stomps passed the girl, bumping shoulders with her and addressing her with a falsely saccharine voice. “oh, sorry, i didn’t see you there.”
Food was on Seokwoo’s brain, even after he’d had dinner at Sphere. A fact that had him anxiously tapping his foot on the floor of his car as he tried to work out what he wanted to have and fiddled with the heater. It took a ten minute drive for him to spot the restaurant, one he’d eaten at before and had some of the best pasta he’d ever had. Once he set his mind on something, that was all he wanted -- especially when it came to food. His car parked a short walk away, hands stuffed into his jacket pocket and grinning in delight, much like a boy on Christmas, already trying to unwrap what he planned to have. What it would taste like. How much he would get. Thoughts that jolted to a stop when he noticed the short line lingering outside the restaurant. Seokwoo’s brow knitting together, trying to work out how many people there were as he drew closer, sneakers slowly scuffing to a stop.
It takes a couple blinks for him to recognise one of the girls in line, Seokwoo staring at her momentarily and then feeling a smile widen on his lips. She was one of the girls he knew from the dance studio he went to with his grandmother, the one he tried not to miss classes for between his schedules because he knew there was couple’s Christmas competition coming up and he promises his grandmother that they would win. But those were other issues, the one he faced more pressingly was her name, it was on the tip of his tongue as he approached, leaning over and trying to catch the corner of her eye. “Hey, you’re.. Mijoo. Mijoo from the dance studio, right?” He greeted, hoping he didn’t get her name wrong. He was good at them, usually. His eyes crinkling as he glanced at the line in front of them and to the restaurant. “Are you eating here too?”
he had been buzzing around the festival for a while, bambam plan today had been to get in the ball pit but he had ate a bit before. someone had said it wouldn't have been a good idea to go in right after he ate and so he didn't. he walked around until he felt like everything had settled.
finally he got in line behind a few others while he waited for his turn. bambam had been rocking back and forth excitedly before he sort bumped into the girl in front of him. luckily, it wasn't too bad and when she turned around bowed his head. "sorry, i'm just excited for the ball pit!"
there’s something satisfying about seeing luxe perform. perhaps it’s because he knew sona beforehand — albeit not incredibly well but he still met her in her trainee days and that counts for something, right? — or maybe it’s a new ‘company pride’ that’s been rooted in him since he signed the contract, but it leaves a warm feeling in his heart. deep in the back of his mind, it reminds him of his time on the mgas, but at the forefront, he tries not to think about it, tries to focus on how proud he is of newly debuted groups. he’s always been someone who likes to listen to debuts of groups of all initial sizes ( sizes being company reputations; amount of members in a group has never bothered him ) so having heard a friend would be debuting, there’s no way he would miss it and there’s no way he’d miss this either.
“did you come to see luxe?” he asks a girl next to him once the group have exited the stage and the dj has resumed his own set. “they’re cool, right?” it isn’t often that won approaches people like this but he’s curious what others think of his new senior group. what are everyone’s favourite tracks? favourite members? hopes for their first comeback somewhere down the line? ( he hopes it’s a while; they’ve only just debuted and with the stress of a survival show, preparations, debut, promotional activities... they deserve a break. ) “did you watch them on royal survival?”
AHN YUJIN covering POP/STARS by K/DA on the streets of HONGDAE
( with : @rksaercm, @mijoork, and @rkheehyun )
it’s her first time performing in public.
the set up is awkward, yujin tightening the high ponytail sitting on her head as she waddles around aimlessly in front of the camera. she sees one of the other girls adjusting the camera but her mind is elsewhere, trying to remember the choreography, giving awkward smiles and waves to the people passing them by, tugging at the chain sitting on her jacket, mostly just fiddling in nervousness. saerom comes by to check in on her, patting her shoulder reassuringly and yujin brushes her nerves off with a laugh. “i’m fine, i’m fine! i’m always like this. just energetic, you know?” a believable lie that perhaps only heejin or jaemin could’ve seen through but thankfully, they weren’t here right now. she’s still going to send them the link of the video when it’s posted, though.
she’s easily the least experienced of the four, and quite obviously, too. her moves aren’t as sharp, she learned the dance slower than the rest, and there’s a case of nerves being shot, but she knew she could do it. if she has anything going for her, it’s her confidence and charisma, the ability to get into the mindset and perform.
it’s how she ended up with the part of the main rapper, akali. the badass ninja lady whomst yujin just fell in love with upon watching the music video (and she wasn’t alone there). akali had grown to be the most popular member soon after release, and taking on her role and parts was a challenge for yujin. she’s aware that everyone sees her as this energetic, bright character, but this was her chance to prove them that she could pull off badass and powerful too. “i’m a bit of an actor,” she had joked to the other girls during discussions, but in the end she truly believed in her potential.
but was it enough to match the other three?
they had all been part of dance groups before, danced for longer than her, hell, even lived longer than her. yujin had a disadvantage here, but she wasn’t about to let that bring her down. instead of seeing them as rivals, she ended up going to them for advice, tips, any help she could get, and they’ve been more than helpful.
but that’s enough of that, yujin shakes her head, ridding her mind of unrelated thoughts. everything’s been set up and it’s time to go. she takes her position beside heehyun on the far left and gets into the starting pose, breathing in tension and breathing out ahn yujin. there’s a countdown set before the song begins and she takes every moment of it to channel the song, get in the head space of said badass ninja.
go.
You know who it is
Coming 'round again
You want a dose of this
Right now
It's K/DA, uh!
god, she loves this song so much.
yujin’s gaze is intense and arrogant and if she could speak right now, she would’ve told that piece of shit back in school to fuck off.
her idea of confidence is a bit simple, childish, even, but it works for her. her hands snap into position and she’s looking down at the camera with a smug smile on her lips. the intro is easy enough, a few movements and then she gets a mere one second of standing still before she launches into her part of the verse.
I'm a goddess with a blade
소리쳐봐 내 이름 잊지 못하게
Loud, loud, loud, loud
I could take it to the top
절대 멈추지 못해 내가 끝내주는
Bad gal, gal, gal
it’s a good thing she isn’t rapping live as well because she’s giving everything into her dance. she would be buh-reathless within the first few lines, whew. she’s gotta work on that, but lipsyncing? lipsyncing, she can do.
her expressions were perhaps the best part of her performance, nailing the look after practicing in the mirror over and over (and getting some weird looks for it). it’s obvious that her moves aren’t as up to par as the other girls, but she matches them easily enough and doesn’t fall behind. as long as she doesn’t stand out for being bad, it’s a win in her books.
she rolls her body to the beat and moves around with light steps, ending off her part with the finger gun move that she messed around with so much during practice, pointing them at the other girls and shooting little hearts their way— she’s lucky they didn’t get mad at her.
this time though, for the performance, she does the move properly and drops down to the ground with a wink for heehyun’s entrance.
And when I start to talk like that (Like that)
Oh you won't know how to react
I'm a picture-perfect face
With that wild in my veins
You can hear it in my
Growl, growl, growl, growl
she takes the brief moment to brush a strand of hair out of her face before getting back up with a spin. the action proves pointless as she does a hairflip right after, straight down and right back up again.
she remembers when doing that used to get her so dizzy. now it only gets her kinda dizzy. win!
the rest of the verse is tough(™) on the knees and she wishes she had heeded heehyun’s advice about wearing either longer pants or knee-high socks, but it’s too late now. a couple of scrapes she can deal with, and besides, she’s in the zone right now.
So keep your eyes on me now
무엇을 보든 좋아할 거야
닿을 수 없는 level
나와 대결 원한 널 확신해
We got it all in our hands now
So can you handle what we're all about?
We're so tough
Not scared to show you up
Can you feel the rush now?
a grin escapes her when mijoo stands up and makes her way to the center. yujin’s fingers obscure her own vision for a brief moment before she rises first in line to join the older girl. bouncing her hips once, and raising her hand smoothly, she manages to steady her breathing and look around at the crowd that had gathered. it was quite a sizable amount now, some passersby having hung about earlier from when they were setting up, but more and more people gathered and now yujin could barely see the nearby stores from in between curious figures. one person’s even filming them on his phone— wait, two?! oh jeez, she’s even more nervous now.
the beat builds up as they line up in a row, spreading out two by two before yujin turns to face behind them. she’s startled by a couple watching them from just outside of the camera’s view, but she hides it quickly with a cheeky smile. good thing she’s so good with strangers. she barely catches a glimpse of them smiling back before she returns to her spot in front of the camera.
Ain't nobody bringing us
Down, down, down, down, down, down
They could try but we're gonna wear the crown
You could go another round
Round, round, round, round, round, round
Wish you luck but you're not bringing us down
the chorus was the first part yujin learned. even before meeting the others, she had stood in front of her mirror at home and copied the moves, enough so that she ended up helping the others when it came to the intricacies. that feeling of pride didn’t last long, though, as she was quickly shown better ways to do the choreography. it was definitely embarrassing but at least she stayed humble. it’s a learning experience, she assured herself, biting down the feeling of inferiority that creeps back up her throat every so often. it’s okay to be bad as long as you’re willing to learn.
her arms move with the beat before coming up to form a crown on her head. she tilts it upwards in a look of arrogance, a smirk on her lips after mouthing the lyrics as if she was the one singing. then a spin around and the same move again with a small difference at the end, but stays mostly the same.
We go hard (Hard); 'til we get it, get it
We go hard (Hard); we so in it, in it
We pop stars (Pop stars), only winning, winning now
Ain't nobody bringing us down, down, down, down
the energy continues on through the rest of the chorus with yujin's hands up in the air as she rolls her body fluidly. the one thing her long limbs are good for and that's really emphasizing the moves. her mind isn't on this part though, already gone onto the next verse in anticipation of her second center part.
please let her make it through smoothly.
Hey!
You ready for this? (Let's go!)
See 언제든지 내 모습 magic
단 한 번에 내가 잡어
절대 기죽지 않지, uh!
Pow-pow 네가 뭘 알아
견딜 수 없어, 원해도
원하는 게 얼굴에 보여
yujin ends up behind the other girls, hoping her nerves didn't show as mijoo heads the formation, the younger girl preparing to make the jump.
they've practiced this many times though at first yujin ended up tripping over herself in a moment of hesitation. it felt weird and almost dangerous to do, which was rich for her considering how reckless she usually is, but it's never at the expense of someone else's safety.
mijoo ends up assuring her enough that she's able to pull it off in practice, but that was in her pair of comfy sneakers and not these new black ones she got for the cover. she knows she's overthinking it though, and that she should just focus on making the jump.
and so she does, right over mijoo's crouched form and into the center position right in front of the camera. she swears she hears someone cheer in the crowd, but ignores it to focus on what comes after.
another drop and oof, her thighs are going to hurt after this workout, but she bounces back up using the momentum and just for a moment, she thinks about giving the camera a wink, but the choreography is too intense right now. oh well, better just put her everything into the dance then, it's her solo part after all.
for this moment, she stops thinking unrelated thoughts and channels her energy into making everything work. it ends up being one of her best performances if she does say so herself and she's proud, but the part was far from over.
I'm trouble and you're wanting it
I'm so cold
When I move that way, you gonna be so blown
I'm the realest in the game, uh
yujin moves back and joins the others in a line, resting her hand on saerom's back and taking a few steps before turning the other way, barely tapping mijoo's shoulder and then doing a little move she liked to call the "whoo!"
it's paraphrasing, of course, but she's elated after completing the most nerve-wrecking part of the song. now it's only group choreos left and she's confident that she'll ace it.
Say I'm on fire with a blade
You're about to hear my name
Ringing in your head like, whoa
So keep your eyes on me now
무엇을 보든 좋아할 거야
We're so tough
Not scared to show you up
Can you feel the rush now?
which, of course, is thanks to the lack of any real movement during these next few parts. she gets time to breathe and wipe the silly grin off her face before the chorus comes up again. although she ends up waving to a cute little kid in front of the crowd, holding onto his mother's hand but seemingly enjoying the performance. ah, the glory days of youth.
Ain't nobody bringing us
Down, down, down, down, down, down
They could try but we're gonna wear the crown
You could go another round
Round, round, round, round, round, round
Wish you luck but you're not bringing us down
We go hard (Hard); 'til we get it, get it
We go hard (Hard); we so in it, in it
We pop stars (Pop stars), only winning, winning now
Ain't nobody bringing us down, down, down, down
the remaining choreography is a repeat of everything they’ve done previously. do the chorus two more times, and then the bridge, which was just a slowed down version of the pre-chorus. easy enough if only her stamina wasn’t running out already, but she’s done this dance enough times now to know she’ll make it to the end regardless.
that being said, simply making it didn’t feel like enough. she wanted to ace it! and thankfully the rush from performing in front of a crowd gave her enough adrenaline to make it through the rest of the song (although she thinks her ponytail is coming loose).
Oh, 난 멈추지 않아
Oh, oh, we go hard
Oh, oh, we pop stars (Stars), stars (Stars)
Ain't nobody bringing us
personally, just personally! yujin would’ve done something different for the bridge instead of just reusing the pre-chorus choreography, but what did she know! she wasn’t a choreographer, and she sure didn’t know jack about dance— but, from a strictly entertainment standpoint, it’s just a better idea! change it up a little, y’know?
she did want to propose perhaps them making up their own choreography for the bridge, but she did think it was a bit rich of her to suggest doing something like that when she herself didn’t have the original down perfectly yet. there was a part of her that hoped one of the others would bring it up, but the opportunity never arose. a shame, really, but maybe some other time.
Ain't nobody bringing us
Down, down, down, down, down, down
They could try but we're gonna wear the crown
You could go another round
Round, round, round, round, round, round
Wish you luck but you're not bringing us down
We go hard (Hard); 'til we get it, get it
We go hard (Hard); we so in it, in it
We pop stars (Pop stars), only winning, winning now
Ain't nobody bringing us down, down, down, down
final chorus now, one last victory lap for the girls (preceded by a badass fist pumping move, in yujin’s humble opinion). she tries not to do it mindlessly as she’s been criticized for before— just because you know the moves doesn’t mean you’re doing them right. “focus, yujin,” she mumbles internally, forcing herself to zone in on the music instead of having her mind wander off to what they’re going to have for dinner. god, why is she so scatterbrained???
thankfully, everything ends smoothly for them, holding the ending poses for a good five seconds before yujin finally relaxes. her breathing is heavy but there’s a wide smile on her face, not believing that people were actually clapping for them. the fact that they stayed to watch in the first place was bonkers enough, let alone this— what a world.
she bows in thanks to the crowd and turns to the other three girls, letting out a “woo!” before gathering each of them into a hug. yujin realizes she’s overreacting, but it’s her first public dance! she has a right to be excited! maybe the other girls are used to this already, but it’s been a big step for yujin. she’s so painfully new to dance, so to be able to stand next to veterans like heehyun, mijoo, and saerom...she’s proud of herself!
“that was so fun! i can’t believe it just happened— i did well, right?” she tilts her head questioningly, though not expecting a serious answer as proven by the silly grin on her face.
now she can say she’s leveled up, ascended in tiers— crossed something off her bucket list. part of her wants to do that all over again, but her body’s finally coming down from the adrenaline rush and her legs feel like jelly. she’s typically not this tired after just one dance, but she suspects the pressure of being in public must drain your energy. at least now she knows.
oh well, there’s always next time, literally. as soon as she learns another dance, she’s going to do this again— it’s too fun to not. plus, working together with the others was educational, she’s learned so much from them and she’s so grateful.
“thank you guys for everything! i hope we can do this again!”
Luda still wasn't sure how she'd ended up at Lotte World – Halloween easily had her scared and there was quite the number of costumes she hoped she wouldn't see. Keeping her mind off of things however, were the ghost tasks.
The one currently keeping her brain busy was the first. She could swear she knew that songs, but for the life of her, couldn't remember the next part. She didn't want to give up that easily, but her memory wasn't going to help her anytime soon.
Almost having forgotten her Sailor Neptune costume, she plucked a few bothersome strands of blue hair out of her face and turned to the stranger next to her. Usually she wasn't the type to address complete strangers, but Luda was clueless.
“Have you figured it out yet?” the girl asked, holding her hand in front of her lips, still in thought. Maybe she could help her, or they could solve it together?
