“Eun-hee. Did you watch the music program yesterday? Your brother was fucking amazing.”
“Hey. What was so amazing about that bastard brother of mine? If anyone was amazing, Yujin-oppa was more......”
“Ha Eun-hee. Why are you especially harsh only when you're judging your own brother?”
At school, Eun-hee chatted with the classmates who had attended the showcase with her.
“Hey, I have to keep that bastard brother of mine in line. If he gets popular later, he'll become arrogant.”
She said that, but she had already spread the word to every classmate she could, telling them, ‘That oppa is my brother!’ and promoting the group at every opportunity.
She had even emptied her allowance to buy three albums, planning to get two individual signatures from the members of Sun & Moon and one joint signature later.
Not only that, she had actively asked the broadcasting club students to play Sun & Moon songs during lunch. She had undoubtedly inherited her parents' genes and become a hardcore idol fan.
“Right. Did you win spots at the pre-recording?”
“Obviously.”
The three showed one another screenshots on their phones confirming that they had won entry to the pre-recording.
“We're seriously lucky tomorrow is the school's anniversary.”
“Does your brother know you're going to the pre-recording?”
“No. He probably doesn't.”
In truth, her oppa, Chanhwi, contacted the family group chat almost every day.
The messages were simple updates about what he was filming that day or what he had eaten, but he had once avoided even the group chat. For the past few months, he had kept it up consistently as though he had become a different person.
‘Why is that bastard acting like that when he never has before?’
Still, that did not mean she disliked it.
At first, she thought he had recklessly declared that he would become an idol merely because he did not want to attend university. But he had worked harder than expected and actually debuted.
It was nice to see. Like hell.
‘I'll just ask if his album sold well later.’
If it had, she would ask him for some spending money.
“Should we make slogans for our oppas?”
“Hey. Why would we need slogans? My mom's is more than enough......”
The three discussed what to bring to the pre-recording, but someone else did not like what she saw.
“Ha. You really are making pathetic fools of yourselves.”
“......What?”
Ha Eun-hee automatically turned toward the deliberately muttered remark from behind her.
Her eyes met those of a schoolgirl staring at her with displeasure.
“They're still some nobody idol group barely clinging to the nineties on the chart after days. Yet you keep making such a ridiculous fuss over them.”
“Ahn Hae-sol. Why, you......!”
“Hey. Hey. Calm down.”
The friend beside her caught Eun-hee before she could snap back.
“She's just jealous right now.”
“What, of me? What could she possibly be jealous of me for?”
“Ahn Hae-sol's brother is a trainee at TS Entertainment. He's been one for eight years. Then a girl whose brother became an idol in only three months suddenly appears right in front of her. Of course she'd be bitter.”
“I can hear everything you're saying.”
Ahn Hae-sol must have overheard them, because she was glaring sharply at Eun-hee.
“Yes. I said it so you would.”
“What?”
When Hae-sol raised her eyes and challenged her, Eun-hee's friend Kang Da-mi answered in an incredulous tone.
“Hey. Honestly, if your friend's brother debuted, you should congratulate her. Why are you so bitter that you have to talk like that?”
“Why, you......!”
“Hey. Hey. You told me to calm down, so why are you the one flying off the handle?”
“What? Are they fighting?”
Feeling the gazes of everyone around them, the two girls, who looked ready to lunge at each other, returned to their seats.
“No, that bastard has been getting on my nerves for a while.”
“Why, she really......”
“Hey. Don't stir things up any further.”
At that moment, the friend who had quietly watched the three of them made a suggestion.
“Then how about we try this?”
The other two stared at her in disbelief.
“Sometimes I really can't understand you.”
“But Ji-hye, are you sure you're okay with that?”
At Eun-hee's concern, Lee Ji-hye, the one who had made the suggestion, pretended to hold back tears as she answered.
“If my sacrifice can help the two of you make peace, that's enough for me.”
“Just don't regret missing it later.”
“You shut up. So what are you going to do?”
“......Fine.”
Having made up her mind, Eun-hee called to Ahn Hae-sol.
“Ahn Hae-sol. Talk to me for a minute.”
***
“Ah, why do I have to come with you?!”
“You followed us all the way to the broadcasting station without a problem, and now you're complaining?”
Ha Eun-hee and Kang Da-mi were waiting in line to watch the pre-recording with Ahn Hae-sol, who had come as a substitute for Lee Ji-hye, the person originally scheduled to join them.
“Hey. Let's ditch this bastard. She won't stop shrieking.”
“What did you say, punk?”
“Hey. Is all of that one line?”
Dozens of people occupied the queue outside the broadcasting station.
Some had brought portable chairs and were sitting as if accustomed to the wait. Others read books or watched NeoTube on their phones.
“Where's the Sun & Moon queue? There it is. Let's go.”
Unlike the other two, who were attending their first pre-recording, Kang Da-mi expertly led them onward.
They had their required items inspected, completed the confirmation process, and lined up according to their numbers.
They had arrived on time and expected to enter quickly, but the previous stage seemed to be running slightly behind schedule, prolonging their wait.
Tired of waiting, Eun-hee looked to see what the other two were doing.
Like the pre-recording veteran(?) she was, Kang Da-mi sat on a portable chair and watched videos of her main group.
She had originally supported a different group, but Ji-hye's recommendation had led her to begin supporting Sun & Moon as well.
‘My kids are on hiatus anyway.’
Then if her favorite idol and Sun & Moon made comebacks at the same time, would she choose her favorite?
That felt a little insulting.
Eun-hee turned to see what Ahn Hae-sol was doing, but—huh?
“Hey, which one of these two is your brother......? Don't smile. I only thought I should at least know his face now that I'm here.”
Contrary to expectations, Ahn Hae-sol was seriously watching a Sun & Moon video on NeoTube.
After insisting she hated them so much.
“Anyway, which one is your brother?”
“Oh. That bastard brother of mine is......”
Just as Eun-hee was about to answer, a staff member called out from the front.
“We will now admit the audience for Sun & Moon's pre-recording! Please keep the line orderly and enter slowly!”
“Oh, it's starting. Let's go inside.”
“Hey. Answer me before you leave!”
Around fifty people streamed inside and lined up before the stage according to their numbers. Not long afterward, Sun & Moon stepped onto the stage.
“Look at those uniforms. They're incredible.”
Eun-hee heard someone near the front say it.
The uniforms certainly suited both boys so perfectly that they might have been made for them.
With colors that displayed their different personalities and splendid metal ornaments, they looked like two completely different types of princes.
Sun & Moon waved and greeted the fans as they stepped onto the stage.
They needed to wait onstage until the staff finished preparing, so they occasionally used the time to interact with their fans.
“Oh? I saw you yesterday too. Did you come to see us again today?”
“Y-you remember me?!”
The fan Chanhwi singled out made a tremendous fuss, genuinely surprised.
Seeing their chance, fans began shouting one after another.
“I-I was there yesterday too!”
“Me too!”
“Yes. The day before yesterday, you were in the center of the first row, and yesterday, you were at the end of the second row, right? I should learn the names of the regular fans who visit us this often. What's your name? Ho-yeon? Yes. I'll remember it. And the person over there......”
‘What? He remembers every single one of them?’
Eun-hee was astonished to see that Chanhwi was more considerate than she remembered.
Was this what people called stage presence?
Interest in Yujin was no less intense than interest in Chanhwi.
When Yujin smiled brightly and greeted the crowd, fans in other directions loudly asked him to greet them too or raised their hands and made opening-and-closing gestures.
While looking around, he spotted someone and waved more eagerly than before.
‘He just waved at me, right?’
Eun-hee felt that she had made eye contact with Yujin.
“He just waved at me, right?”
“No. He waved at me.”
Had he not?
As the fans around her bickered, even Eun-hee began to wonder whether he had truly waved at her.
“Hey, I think your brother just greeted me.”
What was she talking about now?
“Hey. My brother is......”
When Eun-hee pointed to Chanhwi, he happened to look in the direction where Yujin was greeting the crowd.
His face instantly twisted into a scowl.
“What was that?”
“Is there something near us?”
The fans who had made a fuss over Yujin's greeting looked around in confusion at Chanhwi's gaze.
Eun-hee, the actual target of that gaze, was so dumbfounded that breath escaped her in rapid bursts.
“Ha. Wow. I came all this way for him after putting in so much thought.”
She vowed never to attend another one of her bastard brother's performances.
Chanhwi's face had twisted for only an instant. He immediately smiled as though nothing had happened.
She wondered whether she had imagined it, yet the sour expression from moments earlier had etched itself firmly into her mind.
“We'll begin recording now.”
At the staff member's signal, the two turned away with regretful expressions and found their positions for the choreography.
The song began, and they watched the cameras signaling them.
“Chanhwi is good at finding the camera.”
“Seriously. How did he know I was filming from here too?”
Even when fans did not make grabby gestures with their hands, Chanhwi appropriately directed his gaze toward the people filming him, as if he knew exactly who was recording fancams.
At last, the song ended. Did that mean the pre-recording was over?
The two boys onstage climbed down and walked toward the fence beside the fans.
When Eun-hee turned her head in the direction they were headed, she saw staff members seated before a monitor.
Chanhwi approached them and spoke.
“I'm sorry. We'd like to do it just one more time.”
‘Do it again? Why?’
It had been a good performance. What could he have disliked about it?
As the two monitored the footage and talked, the reason soon became clear.
“As expected, this stage is a little narrower than the others. Let's shorten our routes.”
“Then when you move here, stay a little farther inside.”
“And Yujin. Be careful not to let your expression stiffen during ‘Please stop here for a moment.’”
As the two began speaking with serious expressions, the fans whispered and watched them.
‘He's taking this much more seriously than I expected.’
Seeing one new side after another of that bastard brother of hers—no, of her oppa—left her confused.
Was he really her brother?
‘No, he must be. That's why he made that face earlier.’
Remembering his sour expression from before made the anger she had suppressed flare up again.
But when the stage recording resumed, that rising anger soon subsided.
‘Still, it's nice to see him working hard.’
Sun & Moon successfully completed their second performance, bringing the pre-recording to an end.
The fans were disappointed that the performance had ended sooner than expected, so Sun & Moon spent a little time interacting with them.
“Everyone, you know what's happening the day after tomorrow, right?”
At Chanhwi's question, someone shouted, “The fansign!” That produced mixed joy and sorrow among the fans.
They were divided between fans who had won entry to the fansign and those who had not.
The fansign cutoff had soared higher than expected, so fans who bought around five albums had been eliminated without even coming close to the cutoff.
Even among the people here, fewer than ten out of fifty had cleared the fansign cutoff and won.
“I'll be waiting for you at the fansign.”
With that farewell, Sun & Moon's time ended, and the fans began leaving one by one.
Eun-hee and her friends were about to follow the crowd out when.
“Hey. Ha Eun-hee.”
Chanhwi beckoned to her from the stage with a crook of his finger.
Did he want her to come over?
The three approached the stage, and Yujin greeted Eun-hee again when he spotted her.
“Hi, Eun-hee. You came.”
“Y-yes. Oppa. Hello.”
Unable to look Yujin properly in the eyes, Eun-hee lowered her head and greeted him.
When she did, the other two followed suit and greeted Sun & Moon.
“Are the two behind you your friends?”
Chanhwi's question forced Eun-hee to think for a moment.
Kang Da-mi was certainly her friend, but was Ahn Hae-sol?
In the end, Eun-hee decided to answer honestly.
“This is Da-mi, and she's my friend, but......”
“Y-yes! I'm Ahn Hae-sol, Eun-hee's best friend!”
Before Eun-hee could finish the introduction, Ahn Hae-sol thrust her hand into the air and introduced herself.
“Hey, why would I be your......”
“We're friends, right? Eun-hee!”
“......Fine. We're friends.”
Overwhelmed by Ahn Hae-sol's forcefulness, Eun-hee reluctantly admitted that they were friends.
Chanhwi smiled warmly as he looked at them.
“My sister may be hopeless, but please take good care of her.”
“Yes.”
“Leave her to us!”
“Why am I the hopeless sister?”
Yujin chuckled at their different answers, while Chanhwi placed a fifty-thousand-won bill in Eun-hee's hand.
“You must be hungry. Buy something to eat with your friends on your way back.”
“Huh? Okay.”
It was the first time her brother had ever given her spending money, so the money in her hand felt awkward.
“We have to head back to the company. Get home safely.”
“Okay. You too.”
Even waving goodbye to her brother felt awkward.
It felt as though they would grow distant forever if they parted like this, so she added one more sentence.
“I'll come to another pre-recording next time!”
“......Do whatever you want.”
***
What's with his face?
(Photo of Chanhwi's face twisted into a scowl)
I was sad I couldn't go to the pre-recording, so I was watching the Earthlings' fancams. Did something happen at today's pre-recording?
↳ Seriously. His face looks completely grim?
↳ Ah, LOL. That, LOL.
↳ What is it? Stop laughing and tell us.
↳ Chanhwi's younger sister came to the pre-recording.
↳ Whoa. Seriously? I didn't know Chanhwi had a younger sister.
↳ Ah, LOL. If it's his younger sister, that expression makes sense. Looking again, it's exactly the same face I make when I see that useless bum in my family.
↳ Agreed. That expression is painfully realistic.
↳ But he was pretty sweet. After the pre-recording, he gave his younger sister spending money and told her to buy dinner with her friends.
↳ That's a little unrealistic. LOL.