◦ sphere ‘save the earth’ concert ◦
“peace” by lee junghyun
with mijoo and seulgi
backstage never fails to spark her adrenaline. only with time does stage fright loosen its grip and chorong finds that now she can breathe much easier than she’d been able to half a year ago. she picks at the lint clinging to the sleeve of her suit until the assistant stage manager calls out her name for a two-minute warning. seulgi, mijoo-- her eyes flick around to spot her group mates and there they are: the three of them ready to heed the asm’s signal.
what must those two be feeling? she doesn’t have time to ask and maybe it’s for the best that she doesn’t.
when the lights go up, chorong’s performance demeanor slides automatically into place. she isn’t the first to go onstage and patiently waits just beyond the curtain as seulgi and mijoo take front and center stage position to perform their dance solo. even though their sunbae’s song is rich with korean culture context, there’s no denying the michael jackson influence that permeates the intro and inspires a duet where the two dancers can gracefully play homage. as they do so, chorong quietly adjusts the armband around her upper arm, making sure the green recycle symbol is visibly obvious as she follows her cue on.
chorong brings the microphone to her lips and begins to sing even before she gets one foot on the stage. the song mijoo had chosen for the group is meant to promote the country’s well-being and, after chorong tweaked several of the lyrics to fit the theme of the concert, had been reborn as doing so for both country and the earth upon which south korea rested on. power for peace. power for the earth.
"not letting anyone know, make them powerless"
closing off both eyes and both ears,
you're all surrounded by pollution and negligence !
just like the way they’d practiced, chorong steps back to let seulgi take over and falls into the simple dance rhythm she’d decided on. forever resigned to her status as the ‘hopeless dancer,’ mijoo and seulgi had taken pity on chorong for the choreography, not caring if chorong wanted to do her own randomized movements to blatantly cover up the fact that synchronization between the trio was frankly impossible. in a way, it would make the performance seem more organic-- or that is how chorong justifies it to herself, at least.
mijoo’s voice soars after seulgi’s but seulgi parries back when she brings bow to violin. intensely passionate when she plays, chorong almost forgets to reposition herself behind seulgi as she watches the latter power through her solo as if it’s no effort whatsoever. but, then it’s chorong’s turn and she isn’t going to be forgotten. all three of them made it to the mga finals for a reason and all three of them are there to entertain. chorong pushes her way to the center stage and delivers her rap verse with a forceful speed. the audience is her intended target of message and she calls out to them directly.
one! two! yes i see you !
three! four! don't you close your door!
everyone hold hands together and let's go now
to the land of light-- to peace, so so
that will come to us from now on
everybody peace !
peace in country, peace on earth-- it’s all they can ask for. chorong’s not so naive as to believe one concert performance can turn the tide of someone’s habits, but a small part of her clinging to the idealism mijoo inspires her with does wish that pollution could end with more awareness. it’s all they can do to be the faces of sphere that promotes such a noble cause... all they can do to contribute to a better life by being the performers they’re trained to be.
