past, present, and future | hwang hyunjin

e i g h t

c h a p t e r   e i g h t

After the examination, which rendered me completely fine, I called the rest of Island-I with me to practice our dance a few more times. To become a successful idol, I had to practice hard, and that meant practicing in whatever free time I had. Except for entirely free days, because those were meant for relaxation and a break from the demanding work of idol life.

We also had a freestyle/random play dance session, which pretty much just turned into three of gawking at Sana the entire time since she was just so good. Unmatched skills right there.

Then the fact that we were about to debut tomorrow hit me. It was so surreal, I almost didn't believe it. "Tomorrow is our debut day, everyone!" I smiled at the three girls whom, over the course of a few short months, I had come to call my groupmates. "Be excited and let's do our best!"

We all put our hands together. "I, 2, 3, Island-I fighting!"

As we headed back to our dorm, we engaged in deep conversation with each other. After we had washed up and gone to bed, Sana spoke to me.

"Remember a few days ago when we were talking about our debut?"

I smiled. "Yes, I remember. I'm glad that we can put our worries behind us now and just focus on doing a great job for our fans."

"Oh yeah, did you know that we broke the record for debut album preorders recently?" Sana said casually.

I sat up straight, almost hitting my head on the bottom of Sana's bed. "Wait what? You never told me this before! How did you find out?"

"I read the news," Sana said sheepishly, and from the way she was talking, I could already imagine the wide grin that was spread across her face. "I just didn't really find a good time to say anything about it."

"How many preorders so far?" I pressed, eager to get the news out of my groupmate.

Sana hesitated, presumably trying to remember, "Around 980,000, I think."

"WHAT?" I was utterly shocked. I knew JYP had advertised us well, and I knew that people were going to like our music because of the concept and our group talents, but I didn't expect so many people to pour their money into practically a gamble because they had no idea what our music vibe was really like yet. "Are you sure you didn't remember wrong or something?"

"Nope, I'm serious," Sana's voice said it all. "We broke the record for K-pop debut album preorders and K-pop girl group debut album preorders."

"Wow," I was surprised. It only motivated me further. "We'll work hard so we don't disappoint them, right? We have a Music Bank performance tomorrow too."

"Yes, it will be our first stage," Sana agreed. "Oh, and after seeing the teasers, most fans really liked your vibe. I think you're currently the most popular member."

"Wait what?" Again, I was completely shocked. Sana was spitting these things out way too fast. "Are you actually serious?"

"If you don't believe me, go check for yourself."

I didn't respond to her words. Instead, I just stared up at the bottom of Sana's bunk bed, a million thoughts going through me at once. It was nerve-wracking to know that so many people supported me and Island-I already.

In the end, I decided to just go to bed. "Goodnight, Sana."

When I didn't receive a response from her, I just sighed. I guess was just karma, because I didn't respond to her earlier either. Sana was probably already asleep, so I didn't worry about it too much.

My eyes fluttered closed as I fell into a deep sleep.

- - -

"Wake up Areum! It's the big day!"

I was greeted to three yelling voices besides my bed, jumping around like there was no tomorrow. "Morning," I muttered sleepily. "How do you manage to have so much energy in the morning?"

"I don't know!" Sana responded with excitement in her eyes, Zoe and Jeona nodding behind her. How they got into our room, I did not know. "Probably just the fact that our debut is today, aren't you excited?" Her little mini jumps around the floor sent a smile to my face.

"Yeah, of course I'm excited! We've worked so hard to get to this point already," My sleepiness was wearing away already as I spoke. "I'm going to get ready. We have a busy schedule for today."

"Yup, we've got to film our debut M/V reaction video, which I think should be released tomorrow," Zoe confirmed. "Let's go Island-I!"

After we had all done our skincare and put on some casual clothes that would be taken off later, we were sent to the stylists and makeup artists to do our makeup and clothes that we would be wearing on camera. I started a recording of myself using my phone.

"Hello!" I waved with a smile on my face towards the camera. "Good morning everyone! We're getting ready to film our debut M/V reaction video." As soon as I finished speaking the words, my phone was abruptly knocked out of my hand, and I looked back with a glare as Zoe's giggles filled the room. I sighed as I yelled across the room, "Give me back my phone!" but Zoe, being Zoe, just ran away with it.

I was going to stand up and run after her, but I was still getting my makeup done at the moment and it would be rude to just run away. Plus, I felt bad for the staff who had to deal with us. So I just sat there as I got my makeup done. 

We were pretty much being filmed 24/7 for behind-the-scenes content, so that fans could get a better glimpse of our personalities. I really wanted everyone to see the best of our group, but also our closeness with each other, because we really had gotten extremely close with each other over the past few months.

As soon as my makeup was done, I dashed out of my chair and ran towards Zoe, who was filming herself using my phone. With a quick swoop, I snatched it out of her hand and stuck my tongue out at her. Then I continued filming myself. "Sorry about the inconvenience," I said, trying to stifle my laughter but failing miserably. "We're going to be filming our reaction video. Actually I already said that, but whatever."

Out of nowhere, Sana popped up in front of my camera. "Hi everyone! We don't have a fandom name yet, sorry. Don't worry, we'll come up with something good!"

I laughed as I zoomed in on Sana's face, creating a not-so-flattering shot of her. In the end, I just collapsed onto the ground while Sana stood there, confused about what was so funny.

"So yeah, that's pretty much it, goodbye!" I stood back up again and waved to the camera. "We'll see you all tonight at Music Bank!" I pressed the button that would end the recording as a staff called to me for clothing selection.

After all the preparation was over, we walked into the set, which was nicely set up for us. There was a large TV behind the huge row of cameras that were set up all around us. "Wow," Jeona commented in awe as we walked towards the four seats that were set up for us. "This makes the entire concept of debuting feel so much more realistic."

I nodded in agreement as we settled down on the chairs. We really hadn't watched our own music video yet, even though it had been released at midnight. So this would be our first time. "Nervous?" I asked, nudging Sana, who was sitting next to me on my right.

"Not at all!" Sana responded with a smile on her face. "I think I really was born to do this."

A small smile crept up on my face as well, but I didn't have time to respond as the staff called to us. "Are you ready?"

"Yes!" The four of us responded together.

"Alright. 3, 2, 1, action!"

And so the idol journey began.