Attending SOPA

Chapter 10

*Debut Day*
Today is the day, people. My group, 4EVER will be debuting today. We have trained very hard for the past week, and for the past 6 months I've been working extra hard. Expecting me to debut, all my friends are waiting at the venue to see me walk out onto stage. While, backstage we're huddled in a small circle, giving each other pieces of useful advice. We remember that we're in this together. This journey that we've been together has been one windy road. We've had our highs, and reached ultimate lows. But, now we're on our way to stardom. All we have to do is walk out onto that stage. We've got this.

The MC announces our name and we walk out confidently onto stage. We're rocking our dark and sultry looks. The boys are wearing tight leather pants, and ripped sweaters. Mi-Sun and I are wearing black leather skirts, straps, and cool crop tops. Our first song starts, and we begin like we've practiced. I can't believe the amount of people in that crowd. I look around the crowd and notice that most of our friends are here. In the front few rows are all the groups who came before us: GOT7, TWICE, Stray Kids, Day6, ITZY, and Boy Story. Being JYP's first co-ed group, we are very special. There's no group like us in JYP. That also makes us unique to any other group under JYP.

We perform our four other songs, and also cover a few other songs. Since Hajoon can play guitar, we can easily cover Day6 songs. I'm very nervous to be covering their songs because they're watching. I wouldn't want to disappoint them. I notice them smiling in the crowd, which is a good sign. Then, the rest of our setlist has other songs that are by our seniors in the company. Covering Stray Kids' songs was one of my favorite moments of our debut stage. After performing our last song, we take a bow, and the crowd bursts with applause and cheering. Everyone stands up, clapping for us. The MC asks us to introduce ourselves. We say in unison,
"안녕, 우리는 4EVER이야."
Then, we introduce each member one by one. Hajoon goes first because he's the leader,
"안녕, 나 하준이야. 나는 포버의 리더 겸 리드 보컬이다."(Hello, I'm Ha Hajoon. I'm the leader and lead vocalist of 4EVER).
"안녕, 난 쉘리야. 나는 포버의 메인 보컬이다." I said(Hello, I'm Shelly. I'm the main vocalist of 4EVER).
"안녕, 나는 범미선이야. 나는 4EVER의 리드 댄서다." Mi-Sun said(Hello, I'm Beom Mi-Sun. I'm the lead dancer in 4EVER).
"여보세요, 부광수 입니다. 내가 4EVER의 리드 랩퍼다." Kwang-soo said(Hello, I'm Bu Kwang-su. I'm the lead rapper in 4EVER).

Once we finished our introductions, we wave to the crowd as they continue cheering. The MC states that we are the next big thing in JYP. We are the the group taking the next right step. We are unlike anything that JYP has ever debuted before. Finally, we're asked to go backstage. The show continues on with other groups doing their performances. While backstage, we're introduced to the group who had debuted before us: Stray Kids. They debuted in 2017, and have been awarded the best rookie group. We are meeting so they could give us some words of advice to improve or better our next performances.

We're sitting in our green room anxiously. Hajoon takes my hand in his to stop me from shaking. Then, the eight legends walk into the room: Bang Chan, Felix, Han, Changbin, I.N, Hyunjin, Seungmin, and Lee Know. They are all so handsome, I can't believe I'm meeting them. I mean, I know it would of happened some day because we're in the same company, but not this soon.
"Um, hi." I said shyly.
"Oh, you speak English?" Bang Chan asked.
"Well, I am American." I said.
"Oh, I thought you were like a Korean mix." Felix said.
"I'm not even Korean, haha." I said.
"What?" They all asked.
"Yeah, I'm half Filipino, and part German." I said.
"Gosh, you're something unique. Especially to the K-Pop world." Bang Chan said.
"I am very aware of that. People back at school pointed that out to me every day for the first week or so." I said.
"I'm sorry you may have gotten bullied." Felix said.
"It was hard at first, but it got easier." I said.
"Good, now onto the advice." Bang Chan said.

Stray Kids and my group sat there discussing advice and performances for about an hour. Being able to get this useful advice from Stray Kids helped us know what to work on for the future. We even became close friends. I am so happy to have gotten their Kakao Talk ID's. Whenever we have questions, we can always shoot them a quick text. Ask whatever is on our mind. After our meeting, we are lead back out where we sit down in the crowd to watch the rest of the performances. All our seniors perform, inspiring us to do better. We see how perfectly coordinated their dance is, their vocals, their rap. Everything about their performance is amazing. Especially Stray Kids' performance, they're powerful, they're talented, they're everything 4EVER would want to be. Once everyone's performances were over, there was this after-party for all the artists. Hearing about this, it's our chance to meet the rest of our seniors.

We get into our black SUV and taken to the after-party venue. Once arriving, the music is pumping. It's music from artists from JYP and I'm singing along to the music. As we're walking through the party, I notice GOT7 standing by the bar, and I really want to talk to them. I'm nervous to walk up to them and talk to them though. Hajoon pushes me, encouraging me to go for it.
"Uh, hey Jackson." I said, raising my voice so he can hear me. He's actually shorter than I thought.
"Oh, hey. You're in that group that debuted today. Congratulations." Jackson said.
"Thanks so much, Jackson. You're one of my favorite rappers." I said.
"Ah, it's nothing." Jackson said.
"How much rice did you eat to become so hot?" I asked, joking.
"What?!" Jackson asked, smiling.
"Just kidding. Um, thanks for being an amazing person and hilarious." I said.
"You think I'm funny? Sure, well I'm glad I'm an inspiration to you. Keep up the good work, you're off to a great start." Jackson said.
"Aww. Could I get a quick selfie?" I asked.
"Sure." Jackson said.

We took the selfie and I move onto the other members. Jackson may be my bias, but I love all the members of GOT7. They are all amazing. I have a short chat with Jinyoung about his acting career, and told him he did great in He Is Psychometric. Then, I chat with BamBam about how funny he is, and that he brings much joy to me. He is literally one of the funniest members of GOT7. I love him so much. I speak with Mark, JB, Youngjae, and Yugyeom. After talking with them for a bit, I take selfies with them, then retreat back to Hajoon. He puts up his thumbs, meaning I did really good. I give him a tight hug, I'm shaking from meeting one of my favorite K-Pop groups. He puts his hands on my shoulders,
"You did a very good job keeping your composure. Our seniors are very proud of our debut."
"I can't believe I met them. They're even more attractive in real life, sorry Joonie." I said.
"No, I get that. They are attractive men." Hajoon said.
"Wow, that's a lot coming out of you." I said, laughing.
"Yeah, wait. Is that K.A.R.D?" Hajoon asked, pointing to the group standing there.
"Yes, that's BM. I recognize them. Let's go meet them." I said.
"Oh, wait. I'm nervous." Hajoon said.
"Hey, if I did it, you can do it too." I said.
"Alright." Hajoon said, sighing.

We walk over to K.A.R.D. They are the co-ed K-Pop group who had debuted before us. They are sitting on the leather couch together, chatting. There is another leather couch across from the one they're sitting at. I call Mi-Sun and Kwang-Su over so they could have a chat with K.A.R.D too. I get BM's attention by calling his name. He looks over to me and stands up to greet me. This man is built, like he's ripped. His arms are huge, in fact, he is huge all around. He's super tall too. He's over 6'0, and I'm only 5'2, so to me he is a giant. We sit down on the couch to have a chat. As the only co-ed group in JYP, K.A.R.D gives us some useful advice. We're informed that our company might make us do some things that will make us feel uncomfortable. They might make choreography that is very sexual, but since we're still minors, our choreographers are not allowed to do that. It would be wrong for minors to be dancing sexually. We got some useful advice from our senior co-ed group. It was getting a bit late now, so I'm getting tired. We left the party early while our seniors partied the night away, drinking and dancing as if they were in a club. I wish we could stay later, but we have school tomorrow. We wouldn't want to stay too late. We arrive back to our dorms at JYP and fall asleep with many ideas in our head from all the advice we've gotten tonight.