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Crack.
Jihyo lets out a sigh of relief as she lightens some of the stiffness in her neck. She knew she'd regret napping on the chair but their dance practice lasted until midnight and not even black coffee could stop her from feeling like one of the Like Ooh Ahh zombies.
"You okay?" Sana asks while fiddling with her body mic.
Jihyo nods halfheartedly, moving behind Sana and rearranging the clip for her. "I'm fine, just a stiff neck. Is that better?"
Sana nods gratefully and puckers her lips up for a kiss. "Thank you, kkung."
"No problem, jjak." Jihyo laughs, playfully leaning away as Sana leans in. Her neck aches as she does, and she makes a mental note to put some ice on it when they get back home.
As Jihyo looks around the room for something to do, she spots Dahyun in the corner, already dressed and finished with her makeup. The purple-haired girl was falling asleep on the chair, her head hanging to the side.
Jihyo winces at the familiar sight. In a while, the girl will wake up and regret it. Spotting a neck pillow on the table, Jihyo carefully lifts the younger member's head to slot the cushion around her neck.
Dahyun's eyelids remain shut as she murmurs a sleepy, "Thank you."
Satisfied, Jihyo returns to her seat and thinks of ways to kill time while waiting for her turn on the makeup. She's not feeling sleepy and her phone's still charging, so maybe she can run through her lines in the meantime.
There aren't any lapel mics left, but there's a lone microphone on the table so Jihyo grabs for it. She flicks the switch on but it doesn't work. After fiddling with it, she finds the batteries compartment empty.
Jihyo's about to ask her managers where she can get some batteries, but one look at them had her changing her mind. All of them had their hands full with something—one was busy talking on the phone, the other was looped into a game of rock, paper, scissors by Jeongyeon and Momo, and the last one was missing in action, probably getting them dinner.
Tzuyu and Chaeyoung were still in line for makeup, so she had plenty of time on her hands, which is how Jihyo decides to go out on a mini-adventure and get some batteries on her own.
"Minari, I'm going outside for a bit."
"Hm?" Mina hums from beside her, briefly meeting her eyes before focusing back on her Nintendo Switch. "Where you going?"
"Just getting some batteries." With that, Jihyo zips her jacket up and walks out the room.
Looking for a staff that can help her was easy.
A woman holding a clipboard kindly tells Jihyo where she can get some batteries. It's in a storage area, the third door on the left side of the hallway.
Jihyo politely bows at the woman before following the directions. Glancing around, she notices how everyone's rushing to get somewhere; the show's probably understaffed tonight.
The hallway is long and seems to never end. Jihyo pauses every so often to greet staff and idols along the way. Relief courses through her when she finally turns the left corner.
Her relief unfortunately doesn't last long.
The first thing Jihyo sees is a figure of a man sitting on the floor. His back's to the wall and his crossed arms are propped on his knees with a mop of black hair tucked underneath.
She can't see the man's face so she can't make out who he is, but his outfit clues her in: he's an idol.
A pang of curiosity takes over her, but she forces herself to train her eyes away. It's none of her business, anyway.
She'd been gone for a while now too, and didn't have any time to waste spying on other people. With that settled, Jihyo pretends not to notice him and walks past, instead reading the signs on the doors.
B21, B22, B23-
A pained groan makes her stop in her tracks.
Jihyo turns to the guy on the floor. The words spill out of her mouth before she can help it, "H-Hello? Are you okay?"
There's no response. She wonders if the guy just fell asleep and was sleep-talking, but when she steps closer, she notices his shoulders trembling.
Cautiously, Jihyo crouches down in front of him. "Hello, can you hear me? Do you need help?"
He seems to hear her this time, and his head briefly leans up before it drops back down again.
Jihyo looks around the hallway for a personnel or one of her members, but the area they're in is deserted. Her brows furrow, not sure exactly what she's supposed to do.
Flustered, she bites her lip and tries to remember the steps to first aid as best as she can. She doesn't even know who this guy is, let alone what's wrong with him or if he wants her help. His responsiveness — or lack thereof — clearly isn't helping.
A soft groan snaps Jihyo out of her thoughts. Now the man looks visibly in pain, curling into himself.
Jihyo's face twists into one of panic. "I-I'm sorry, please hold on," she stammers. On instinct, she takes off her jacket and wraps it carefully around the man's shoulders.
Now kneeling on the floor, Jihyo decides the most first aid she can offer is call for help. "It's gonna be alright. I'm gonna call for someone who can help you. I'll come back soon." She doesn't even know if he can hear her but she thinks she sees a faint nod and immediately stands up.
She's been gone for way too long now and can already picture the members' worried faces and the scolding she's going to get, but Jihyo pushes it to the back of her head and focuses on the task at hand.
Running to the main hallway, she quickly finds a male staff and tells him what happened as fast as she can. She leads him back to the scene, back to where she found the stranger on the floor.
The staff immediately calls for help on his radio while simultaneously talking to the guy slumped on the floor, hoping to get a response.
Jihyo's relief is short-lived, because the longer she stays, the longer the scolding will be. She feels bad leaving him there without even finding out who he is, but she really needs to go. Politely, she excuses herself before running back the way she came.
As soon as she bursts into their dressing room, everybody's a split second away from calling security.
Nayeon halfheartedly chokes her while Chaeyoung and Sana hug her from behind. The managers look like they're going to pop a vein, but let her off reluctantly in the interest of time.
She has no time to explain anyway because she gets ushered into a seat to get her makeup done, and soon after they're sent back to their table at the award show.
By the time their performance ends, all the awards are given (they win one, amazingly, and even if Jihyo's rehearsed her speech like the back of her hand, she can't help but stumble on words as she tries not to cry), and the closing remarks are said, it's neared midnight.
Or it is midnight already — Jihyo can't be bothered to check.
They shuffle into the van like zombies bundled in blankets.
Jihyo falls asleep as soon as her head hits the armrest, all while still hugging their trophy. As they drive back, she forgets to put ice on her neck, forgets about the incident in the hallway, forgets the guy she never got the name of.
Until the next day, when Jihyo can't find her ring.
