𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙣

7. ᴀɪᴍʟᴇꜱꜱ ʀᴇᴠɪᴠᴀʟ

The girls read the disbanding announcement separately, in their respective homes. They cry and grieve their loss shortly, but then they wipe their tears and don their smiles to avoid judgment. While the loss of ROSE wrecks them, people by the hundred were getting killed by a virus. Their problems seemed silly.

They each had their reasons for dismissing their pain. Aera because she could barely bear her parents' disappointment, let alone her own. Byeol because acting like she didn't care lessened the embarrassment, even if marginally, of having to wear her failure clearly and blatantly wherever she went. Hana because she didn't want to show the empathetic and caring people around her how deeply the failure hurt her. Kyungmi because she refused to admit to others how quickly and deeply she had become attached to ROSE; how she envisioned it as her future.

Sena because she does not accept it.

This cannot be the end of ROSE.

The ROSE that she poured her blood, sweat, and tears into. The ROSE that she pulled the first all-nighters of her life producing music for. The ROSE exhausted her more than anything had before. The ROSE that had become her could. ROSE could not end like this. It would not end like this. Sena would ensure it.

However, very little was on her side.

ESK Entertainment had already shut down by the time Sena had begun making an active attempt at reversing ROSE's disbandment, and Kang Daehyun disappeared. That was one option down. Sena would not chase after ESK Entertainment or Kang Daehyun, she could not justify forcing others to help her in her pursuit. A mindset is partially responsible for her refusal to inform any of the other (former) ROSE members of her little endeavor. She could not bring herself to ask them to abandon their own situations and help her revive ROSE, even when she knew they would benefit from it just as much as she would. So, she resolved to do it herself and reap the fruits with the girls later on.

However, she was now faced with the issue of 'doing it' — or more precisely how she would go about doing so. When she could not find a solution herself, Sena sought the wisest person she knew.

"Mom, hypothetically speaking, how does one go about re-banding/un-disbanding an already disbanded band? With no supporting agency..."

"Honey," Chaeyong's tone was weary and sympathetic, but seeing her daughter's eager eyes, she could not find the words to talk her out of it. "Ahm, well I don't really have any expertise in...such a situation. But since we talking about hypothetical situations here, I guess it's fine to spitball, right? I would think the first step is getting sponsors or an agency that can help you — ahm sorry, help them debut."

And with that short conversation, Sena had found a path to reviving ROSE.