Supernova

Re-entry

"Let's break here for ten and then we'll put it together."

Our choreographer nodded at his assistant and immediately the music was switched off.

I went over to where I'd left my water bottle, crouching down as I opened and drained it before passing the empty bottle to my waiting manager who disappeared to get it refilled. 

We'd been at it all morning, learning the new choreography for our comeback title track, which we had two days to master and perform flawlessly - we needed it perfect for the music video shooting later in the week. 

As I'd foreseen, it had been a carnival from the moment I'd returned to the group. There'd been no time to think, it was in at the deep end. The schedule had been full that afternoon onwards, with my manager shuttling me from one thing to another in quick succession. There had been sessions with the vocal coaches, skin and face care appointments, meetings with the PR and contents team, consultations with stylists, group meetings regarding the new album and promotions, not to mention endless hours in the studio recording, re-recording and recording yet again until the vocals came up to Kao and Midas PD's exacting standards. 

 The title track was a slightly darker number that had been written by Midas, Kao and Kiha, with all the hallmarks of being a hit, even though it was a different style from our last album. It was clear to everyone involved that this was going to be big, the hook was addictive, the beat was intense and the melody and vocals were perfectly balanced. The anticipation was high - and not just within the company.

Our fans had gone nuts the minute the first paparazzi photo of me exiting the company's HQ had been released, the evening I'd returned. #JinhaeReturns, #Supernova, #SupernovaIsBack, #SupernovaTogetherAgain were the top trending topics on Naver and Twitter for a good few weeks. The PR team had stirred the frenzy by very carefully not releasing any official media of our reunion, but instead posting a black screen with a pinprick of light in the centre across all our social media accounts. The company had ensured we were kept out of sight and even the few hours off we had were strictly guarded. 

It was driving me insane. 

I was in dire need of blowing off steam or something was going to give. The trouble was, there seemed to be no way to get the space I so desperately wanted, not until the comeback had happened anyway. I sighed to myself. I was just going to have to grit my teeth and push through it for now. 

"J?"

I shook myself out of my head and looked up to see Jii looming over me.

"I called your name three times, man." He gave me a quizzical look as I stood up. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just off in my head." I said, dismissively. "Are we going again?"

He nodded slowly, frowning slightly.

"You sure you're alright?"

"Fine." I said, "Just getting my head around doing choreo again."

He frowned and opened his mouth to say something when the choreographer called for us to get back to it and I took the opportunity to slip back into position, concentrating on the dance moves as we began the routine as a whole for the first time. 

An hour later, we'd run through the routine some ten times and my t-shirt was damp with perspiration.

"Break for half an hour!" The choreographer called, moving off to the side with his assistants to review the video footage of the rehearsal. 

"Well, that was brutal." Juni winced, sitting down heavily as I went off to the side to get my water bottle. 

"My muscles hurt." Alex groaned as he sprawled out on the floor, Marcus beside him.