20 cm || Choi Yeonjun

42

"You'll do good, Jiwon. You can do it." I have been chanting this to myself for five minutes now. We were going to be called on stage after the introduction which is about to finish any second. To say I was nervous was an understatement. I was shaking like a leaf. All of us in the backstage were silently memorising our lines to interact with the fans later during the show. It was making me crazy. Only footsteps from our stylists going back and forth were the only ones making small noises in our waiting room.

"Girls, you're up. Standby in one minute." The stage director peeped through the door and gave all of us looks, making sure we understood what he said. The four of us stood up at the same time. Eunbi motioned for us to go near her. She held our hands one by one. "This is it girls. This is the day. Always remember that its okay to make mistakes. Just have fun. Let's remember this moment. Fighting!" We all gathered our hands together and cheered. Her words really made me more confident. It effectively took a lot of weight off of my shoulders.

We all gasped when we heard the cheers coming from outside. The moment we stepped out, we instantly hear them yelling out the song. Our song! It almost made me tear up. It was too overwhelming. It was amazing how as they wait for us to come up, they were already singing. "Okay, 3, 2, 1, now!" The director gave us a small push towards the stage.

When the lights dimmed out, we got up into position. The song blasting off of the speakers in full blast as spotlights aimed at the four of us. This was our cue. We sang our hearts out, dancing with much effort as the fire in us burned. I tuned everything out. Just focusing on myself as I try to control my facial expressions as best as I could. When the song ended, we immediately formed a straight line facing the audience. All of us bowed and greeted everyone loudly. The high of performing was still there.

I smiled when the spotlight aimed at me. "Hello everyone! I am Jiwon, the lead vocalist of G:NiE. Nice to meet all of you!" I bowed twice, earning a few 'aww' from the people.

When our introduction was over, we walked to the center of the stage for yet another performance. This time it was a B side. Everyone screamed when a pop song played. Different from what we showed earlier.

Halfway through the show, we were asked to sit for a short interview segment. The MC was Heechul, making us all stare at him in awe. The fans laughed at our reaction when Heechul sunbaenim emerged from backstage. His aura really screams the years of him being in the music industry. It was so cool.

"Let's begin this with a simple question. Girls, what does G:NiE stand for?" He asked us. Eunbi calmly lifted her mic and answered. "The meaning of G:NiE is quite simple, everyone. It means that we strive to be what the people wish to have in a girl group. It aims to heal people who listen to our music. Sort of as a wish and we are the genies." She immediately covered her face when she saw us focusing our whole attention to her. This earned a lot of reactions from the fans again. "Wow. That's really deep... I should have talked to Sooman Pd the moment I heard that we were going to be named Super Junior." All of us laughed at his joke. Heechul sunbae's face was the highlight of everything.

I was grateful that he added humor from time to time to make us feel more comfortable. "Now, this question is for Jiwon-ssi," I straightened my back the moment I heard my name. "I heard you were related to someone in Bighit. To a very big senior. Is it true?" Oh god. I feel like this question was made intentional by the company. To make me spill everything on our debut to boost our popularity. I forced a smile and nodded.

"Yes. Actually I'm related to BTS' J-hope. He's my brother." I turned to the audience and I saw that they all had shocked expressions. Luckily, Heechul sunbae saved the situation and made follow up questions. "That's amazing! Talent must naturally be in your genes. And speaking of sunbaenims. How are Tomorrow by Together and Bangtan Sonyeondan like as your seniors? How do they all treat you?" He turned to the other members. Thankfully, Ga eun was the one who answered. I would never know what to say if I was the one asked that question. I sighed in relief.

"We don't see Tomorrow by Together that much but when we do, they greet us all warmly like younger sisters. BTS sunbaenim too! They cheer for us when they see us in the cafeteria." She explained lengthily. Everyone reacted pretty quick when she mentioned the groups, they all screamed and shouted their names as if they were going to magically appear in front of them.

We all thanked and bowed to our senior when the interview ended. We performed the rest of the songs and a VCR played in the end to successfully finish our showcase.

We all screamed and hugged each other when we arrived inside the fitting room. "G:NiE, we made it! I love you guys so much." I said to the girls, squeezing them tighter.

"Sleep over at Eunbi and Ria's dorm! We will celebrate!" Ga eun announced, raised her finger and wagged it back and forth to prove a point. We easily agreed. This was something worth pigging out and staying up late for.

After we thanked every single one of the staff, we were dropped off by Kibum oppa at the dorms by 11:30 pm. He instructed us to be up early at 6:00 am for a schedule at Inkigayo. Good thing he allowed us to buy a few snacks through a drive thru because deliveries were already closed at this time of the night.

"Girls! Check this out! We're trending on Naver! And in the number one spot. Heol." Ga eun screamed loudly as she continued to scroll through her phone. Wow. A lot of achievements in one night. Everything was going super fast for us. I too checked my phone and much to Ga eun's words, I saw our name written on the very top spot of the site. It gave me sense of pride and comfort. It was still hard to believe that all of them welcomed us warmly and positively. It felt like I could fly high to the sky any moment.