Minju's debut did better than anyone, even Minju herself, had thought it would. After her debut performance, she ended up trending on Naver for days and she got close to three million views in twenty-four hours. The night after her debut and her date with Yoongi she spent close to an hour on the phone with her parents who, as they had done to Namjoon, spent most of the time screaming about how proud they were of her.
The promotions for Uh - Oh we're almost done as she only had 2 more music show performances scheduled before they were over. Tonight, she was scheduled to be on Inkigayo and the sudden increase of her streams and sales meant she would be nominated for first place that night. She was going up against EXO, a group from her own company whose newest song Growl was dominating every single chart. It was going to be a tight competition that night due to the popularity of each of the songs.
For her performance that night her hair was slightly curled, and her outfit wasn't over the top for that night. She was dressed in baggy jeans, a leopard print tube top, and white tennis shoes and she was glad that her outfit was comfortable for that night. Her nerves died down after the first couple of performances, now she felt more confident than she did the first night. She did occasionally glance at the comments, scared for what she would be there, all that she saw were comments praising her and her skills.
They were equipped with a headset mic for that night instead of her usual handheld one which made it easier for her to do the choreography but the microphone on the side of her head was easily distracting and it bobbled whenever she moved. The group that was performing before her left the stage and the show went into a commercial break which allowed time for the stage to get set up for her performance and do any additional touches to her or any of the background dancers' makeup.
The camera zoomed in on the two MCs as they welcomed the show back and began the introduction for Minju. The crowd cheered loudly for her the lights on the stage lit up, revealing Minju on the stage. The song began and almost immediately the crowd burst into a loud mix of the fanchant and cheers, lightsticks of many different groups shaking back and forth as they cheered for she didn't have her one just yet.
Her performance went by in a flash and before she knew it the crowd was cheering for her as the song ended and the camera zoomed in for one last close up which she smiled for despite trying to catch her breath. She waved goodbye to the crowd of people as she quickly left the stage so they could get ready for the performance after her.
Minju waited in her dressing room for the rest of the performances, going in between texting Yoongi and Namjoon who were watching at their dorm and watching the other groups' performances on the screen. Some of them she couldn't care for, but she didn't have anything else to do until it was time for the awards. She wished it was time for the awards because it was getting late and she honestly just wanted to sleep.
Eventually, the last group finished their stage and all the idols were gathered onto the stage for the awards. Minju, EXO, and f(X) all stood up at the front as they were all nominated for first place. She found it somewhat funny how all the nominees that week were all SM artists. They were all able to strike up an easy conversation, Minju talking with Sehun from EXO who was only maybe five months older than her.
The chatter amongst the large group of people died down as the MCs took their spot in the middle of the winners, announcing all three of the nominees that night for the people watching at home. Then all the attention was focused on the big screen above them which displayed all three songs and started counting all the points that each song had accumulated for that voting period. As expected, f(X) accumulated close to six-thousand points and everyone watched as Minju and EXO were neck and neck as it seemed that the numbers wouldn't stop.
Minju expected EXO to win, after all, they were a bigger group than her and Growl was a huge hit -- you couldn't go anywhere without hearing it played. She was thoroughly surprised when EXO's numbers eventually stopped, and then maybe a second later so did hers. Her name was on the big screen, meaning that she had won.
Confetti exploded at the announcement, making her jump, as the audience erupted into cheers while some were groans of disappointment that EXO didn't win. She was handed a microphone and the trophy, and all she could do was laugh in disbelief because it truly didn't feel real to her even though she knew that it was.
"Hi," she started, not even knowing where to begin. "I didn't expect this, but I want to say thank you to everyone who listened to my song. I worked hard on it and it's worth it to know that people enjoy it even more than I thought they would. I would also like to thank my brother who is currently watching this at home. Without you, I don't even know how I would be on this stage -- you're one of my biggest inspirations so I truly owe this award to you." At some point, she felt tears start to fall down her face, somewhat ruining her makeup, but she didn't care and didn't stop talking for she had one person to thank. "One more person I would personally like to thank for this is someone special to me and I know he's watching this right now. I just want to say thank you with my entire heart for without you I don't know how I would even be on this stage. I won't say your name, but you know who you are, and I just want to say that I love you so much."
With that, she wiped the tears from her eyes as members from different groups congratulated her. Sulli from f(X) came up to her, pulling her in for a long hug which made the audience aww, some shouting at her to please not cry which did make her laugh some. Her tears did eventually stop as she made it off the stage and back to her dressing room where she changed out of her performance outfit and helped the staff put the things away even though they insisted she didn't need to.
She could barely step foot into her dorm before her phone started ringing, and she didn't know who it was gonna be -- Yoongi, Namjoon, or her mom. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, answering and putting it on speaker as she threw it onto the bed so she could change into her pajamas. "Hello?" She shouted from her closet, grabbing any random shirt she could find.
"Hey," Yoongi's deep voice came over the phone, a little rougher and wavier than usual. "I'm so proud of you, I can't believe you won."
"I couldn't believe it either -- I still can't," she replied, pulling on a pair of shorts before she retreated to her bed. "Did you hear what I said on there? In my speech?"
"Yeah, Namjoon was next to me so he heard it too. I think he started crying a bit too," he joked which made Minju laugh. "But I also heard what you said about me, and I want to say that I love you, too." She could hear the smile in his voice and those four words made her feel tingly and happy.
They talked for a little while longer until Yoongi made note of how tired she was and forced her to hang up so she could fall asleep. She complained, loving the sound of his voice, and found it relaxing just listening to him talk. However, he hung up after he wished her goodnight despite her complaints. She fell asleep not long after he hung up, the tiredness in her body too hard to fight.
