orbit

if you were to ask the vocalist if she thinks of herself as one of scaredy-cats of the group, yeseo would simply answer no with a smile on her face. deep down, however, the girl is well aware that even the smallest things have her screaming, if not crying, at times. the thought of having to put her hand inside a box that could contain – quite literally – anything has her shaking a little as she stands in front of her friend. 

there is mostly a hint of sympathy on her face as jina struggles to do their little mission. ‘‘a – ’’ as she’s about to answer, a staff looks at her. head shaking furiously as to tell her to shut up. ‘’who knows, who knooows?’’ yeseo offers her friend a cute and quick shrug instead. ‘‘but you can do it, jina! i believe in you,’’ is the only thing yeseo manages to say in a soft whisper, as her head is already preparing all of the worst scenarios possible. what if they put a snake inside her box?! is that even possible?

‘‘ohh, correct! it’s a cute little rabbit. see? i knew you could do it,’’ she points out with a soft chuckle. realization hits her late, however, as she realizes this means she’s next in line and that jina has already secured some delicious cake despite her initial fear. ‘‘do you want to pet it? i don’t think it’ll bite you,’’ yeseo questions playfully while eyeing both jina and the staff. the beginning of her – oh so stupid – plan in order to lead them to forget about the item they’ve prepared for her. maybe a small distraction could work. after all, yeseo is just yet another girl that will – most likely – scream into the microphone and give the staff a few more headaches.  

Jina was thankful of Yeseo’s encouragement despite her taking way longer than she should have to put her hand inside a box. Had she been a staff member, she would have been annoyed at herself for dragging out such a simple mission, but Yeseo was so sweet to her that she didn’t care how long Jina made a fool of herself. Her eyes widened in surprise when the girl declared that her answer was correct. 

She walked around the table to observe the bunny, calmly sitting inside the box. She would have cowered with any other rodent-type animal. She carefully picked up the bunny along with the carrot that had been placed inside the box. “I can’t believe I was scared of you.” She gushes, dangling the carrots near it’s mouth while stepping closer to the other girl. “You’re as cute as Yeseo. Aren’t you?” 

     a ghost prank was a classic staple on variety shows like the one they’re filming for legacy girls japan but that didn’t mean it didn’t give jueun quite the fright when they had pulled it on her earlier. while she wasn’t easily scared when it came to horror movies and thrillers or anything in that realm, she does react violently to jump scares - which is what happened when the ghost came out from under the table she was sitting at, where she was told to fill out papers.

     now that she’s watching it happen to someone else though, she can’t help but remember how she had reacted in amusement–she had yelled and dropped the pen she was holding at the time, pushing herself back from the table in response before taking a moment to realize it was all planned and she had let out a laugh in disbelief–and excitedly look forward to see how the next person who this would happen to reacts.

     jina is next, it looks like, and jueun waits in anticipation for the ghost to appear. when it does, she bursts out laughing hearing the younger’s cry and seeing her clutch onto her pen for dear life. it was so cute seeing jina scared that she wants to tease the other when she comes out of the room. the door opens then and jina’s words cause jueun to laugh again as she decides to enter and wrap and arm around the other instead, sensing that her fellow member wasn’t going to be moving anytime soon. “join the club,” she grins while hugging the girl comfortingly. “i promise your reaction was adorable as it was funny! 

Upon hearing the girl’s voice, her confused daze ends and her arms slowly lift to loosely wrap around Jueun’s waist. The embrace comforted her enough to the point that she drops the pen on top of the papers and forgets about the task entirely. She had enjoyed filling out the questions, but she wanted revenge on whoever came up with that idea or at least sulk in silence. 

She hadn’t thought about her reaction being shown on screen until Jueun mentioned. She hums softly, pulling back slightly to glance up at the girl’s expression. Her lips tugged upwards into a faint grin, which quickly disappears when she scrunches her nose. “How long were you watching me for?” She asks, arms tightening around the girl before pulling away altogether to rise from her seat. 

Jina stares intensely at Yeseo who stands in front of her, fingers touching the top of the box, which wasn’t the task at all. She had tried to stick her inside the box multiple times and failed with a series of low pitched squeals. She wasn’t afraid of any particular animal, but certain textures could be off-putting to her or anyone really. “Is it alive?” 

It didn’t hurt to ask despite knowing that the girl couldn’t give her a verbal clue. Perhaps, she could start blinking or wrinkle her nose. Anything to ease her into finally touching whatever was in the box. She inhales deeply, removing her left hand from the top of the box and inserting it into the hole. “Okay, okay.” 

“No, I can’t touch it!” She mumbles and proceeds to embrace the box. The producers held back their laughter while a bunny sat in the box unaware of the cowardly demeanor of the young girl. “One more try...” She inserted her fingers inside the box, carefully touching the bottom of the box until she came in contact with soft fur. 

“A rabbit?” 

For Jina, the coveted and most anticipated award of the night was “Best New Girl Group.” LGC Girls was a temporary project but the group had been invited to perform at all three festivals, which was an achievement in itself and showed how promising the trainees were. She saw herself as an extension of all the other girls seated with her and of the trainees yet to debut who would surely surprise the audience when their time to shine arrived. 

All of them had worked immensely hard this past year and endured blood, sweat, and tears. She wanted to believe that she knew better than to get ahead of herself and reality like her older brother often joked about with her. They deserved this award just as much as any other new girl group seated nearby. After all everyone had a similar dream, and she was willing to stubbornly wait for their name to be announced with bated breath. 

even after watching a handful of japanese variety shows to prepare herself, meng really doesn’t thing she’d prepared herself enough for this. because don’t get her wrong, meng was all about good food, place something in front of her, she would probably at least try it. but this … ? if there was anything meng didn’t like, it was spicy food. while she was a fan of big flavors, spice and heat really wasn’t one of them. she more like savory than … this. not to mention, it seemed way easier to watch these shows than actually participate in them at all.

meng swore that her nose was already burning and running, simply at the smell, and her eyes may have been watering just seeing the red broth. seated next to jina, meng looks up at the younger girl with wide eyes when she speaks up, she’s not sure she could agree … but she thinks she understands what jina’s trying to do. meng nods along with jina, as she follows suit. “ delicious … definitely, i can’t wait. ” she says, in a not-so convincing tone, because meng’s sure she’s going to get punished. how was she not supposed to react ?

“ happy memories … ah, yeah, smells like going home for the holidays, right jina ? ” meng asks, brows raised. she’s clearly stalling as the noodles nearly reach meng’s lips before she glances at the camera. “ do you think … i may cry out of pure joy, you know - from eating this. ” meng states, nodding, before looking to the producers behind the camera. “ remember that ! if we’re crying, it’s out of joy, right jina ? i can already tell, it’s going to be that good, yeah ? ” she turns back to the younger girl, still hesitating to put what’s already burning her nostrils in her mouth. 

jina wanted to continue stalling once meng joined her. she had received blank stares from the producers when she tried meeting their gaze as if to ask for mercy. she didn’t want to be seen as a difficult idol to work with but the red broth was menacing enough to reconsider even tasting it. could the punishment be that bad? she would prefer to not find out what the producers had in mind. instead, she turns to give a reassuring smile to the older girl. 

“we might be craving for more.” she say, smile faltering when she lifts her chopsticks to pick up what she referred to as a courageous amount of noodles. she starts chewing quietly and finds herself unable to speak on the dish. her expectations had been for the spice to predominantly take over her mouth, but when she starts humming in surprise, the after taste near the back of her mouth has her tearfully coughing away from the girl and into a napkin. “ah, tears of joy. we were right, meng.”

she never dreamed that she’d be at an awards show this quickly. or even as an un-debuted idol and especially if she wasn’t apart of of legacy girls japan. so this was the biggest fever dream she felt herself having. she was really watching other legacy idols perform and she was going to do it herself. and for a moment she left herself, let go, and enjoy the performance. and it was fun, especially with her sitting partner, jina. 

who looked like she was having the time of her life and sarang followed her lead. if she wasn’t shy about it, then why should sarang be? along with the fact that miroh was a song she enjoyed a lot.  and it didn’t stop her from doing the dance as best she could in her seat. and once it got to the rap, sarang was able to return the favor, turning to jina has she rapped, letting out a loud ‘woo’ at the end of it. “ahhhhh, i can’t believe this!” she found herself shouting over the music. “it’s like we’re really idols!” 

If someone were to ask her, she too had her own reservations when the company referred to them as debuted idols. Jina felt like she was in limbo, not a trainee but not an idol just yet. She craved something more permanent, but that would come with time. For now, she was enjoying her second round of promotions with the other girls. Besides, she couldn’t believe that she not only got to attend but perform on a stage that she would share with other artists that she had admired when she was younger. 

Her face brightened when Sarang followed her lead and joined on her sing-along. She sat back on her seat, leaning closer to the girl to catch onto what she was saying. Her ears caught the last of the sentence, words eliciting a chuckle from the girl as she nodded her response. It did feel that way. “I feel like a concertgoer.” She yells back with a wide grin, loosely wrapping her arms around her. “Are we having too much fun?” 

Her usual smile when on screen had faltered upon seeing the redness of the noodle broth. She suspected the variety of vegetables were placed on the dish as a distraction. Her attention shifted to the glasses of milk placed out of view for them to drink when the challenge was over. She had known what to expect from Japanese variety shows, but she found it cruel now that she was in the same position as the celebrities that had entertained her from the comfort of her couch. 

Would eating fast help her tastebuds survive? She would be risking her image, but she didn’t care anymore as turned to look at Meng. A final glance of solidarity before lifting her chopsticks. “Doesn’t it look delicious?” She says, picking up the noodles from the top where the vegetables were. She needed to ease it into and found herself, facing the older girl with every second on the screen. “It smells like... happy memories. Let’s make some by enjoying this delicious plate of noodles.” 

If she could sell it to the camera, she might have a chance to trick her mind. 

Her first experience at an award show was off to a great start. Jina would have happily sat in the audience watching the performances, but being asked to perform with her members had been the highlight of the night for her. As soon as she found her seat, she refused to get up for a drink, or to go to the bathroom. She had been caught on camera several times enjoying the performances of the other idol groups, but the most embarrassing moment for her was how awestruck she had appeared when Sunmi was on stage. 

Her excitement had reached the peak when LGC boys were announced and entered the stage in a cool formation. Her attention as per usual was on her brother, Jun. She was more aware that she was biased, but she knew that he would captivate the stage despite how reserved he was. She had slowly shifted to the front of her seat, gaze occasionally drifting to the large screens where the members where displayed.

With the chorus approaching, she turns to Sarang —who had put up with her sing all night long— and starts to sing the pre-chorus to the girl. “We goin’ higher 다음 도시 속에. 빌딩들 내려보며, fly all day.” 

Stepping onto the set of her second photoshoot for Lamucha, her heart swells with a sense of accomplishment that she hadn’t felt until recently. During her first photoshoot, she had felt grateful to be chosen to represent a jewelry brand, but she was beginning to enjoy the mini-events and the photoshoots were just as fun. 

At the end of shooting the game segment, Jina finds herself cornered by the camera crew. Had the production figured out that she had been hiding from them for as long as possible? She knew better than to be caught on camera looking like she had run a marathon, which wasn’t quite what they did, but she thought she looked like she had run several miles. As soon as she saw the crew conducting interviews with the other players, she stepped inside the restroom to fix her hair and splash water on her face. She looked and felt more alive when the camera was positioned in front of her. 

“What was my strategy for the game?” She repeats, swaying slightly with excitement. “My first thought was to run as far as I could from the base and start searching for the flags at a location with a smaller chance of people going to look for people or flags. I felt that everyone would stay near the base since I suspected most of the flags were hidden near the base. It was the place that would be the most difficult to search through and would have a lot of traffic from both teams.” 

Slowly but surely, Seojin felt himself truly becoming entrenched in the spirit of competition. He still needed to remember the nature of said show, however. This was for now showy prize. No large amount of money or a brand new car. Only their pride laid on the line and he was certain that Jina was more than away of that. Despite the playful tone she started to take one after a while. Something about it sounded uncannily familiar to his middle youngest sister who was no stranger to scheming. 

“Hey. Old man?! ㅡ “ It was difficult to hold back the offense he took to such an observation. ( Not that she was entirely wrong. ) Perhaps their interaction could be played for laughs when the episode aired. He surely wouldn’t mind. God forbid he obtain any further image of having a bad attitude. He wanted to look like a good sport who worked well with others. “I prefer sounding like a sergeant, thanks very much!”

Once they reached the food court, he was the one to run into her this time. The outstretched arm was unexpected. One thing was for sure, they would have to work on their synergy before signing up for something like this again.

“You sure no one’s here?” What torture. He could still smell the food stands even without anyone working the grills and ovens. Unfortunately, flags weren’t something they could eat. “What if we hid around here and waited to see if someone comes? Then ambush them? Not really my style but…” 

His reaction caused her smile to widen at the corners once more. Seojin was hilariousily reactionary, and she knew that he was certain to stand out in a show like Dream Team. She wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up booking more shows that required humor, leadership, and wit. The over-the-top reactions were expected on a variety show, but his expressions without a doubt would be something that viewers would remember. If she had to be paired with another trainee, she would hands down choose Seojin. 

“Not mine either...”Jina whispers, dropping her arm to allow the older male to step closer. Her team member was correct about one thing. It was the perfect place for an ambush. If there were other players lurking, there would be no choice but to separate and she was beginning to like her odds with Seojin around. She quietly scans the area once more, eyeing areas underneath the tables and near the restrooms. “Perhaps, we should stay clear of this place for now, but there has to be flags here.” 

Seojin’s face immediately lit up when his eyes laid on the flag clutched in Jina’s hands. He reached toward it and touched the hanging fabric ㅡ just to make sure that it was actually real. The corners of his own mouth quirked up in a smile that mirrored the girl’s. Perhaps their sense of chemistry was significantly better than either of them initially suspected. ( As well as alike in their planning. )

He steadied himself against a decorative pillar and peered out from behind it, checking to make sure that the there weren’t any opponents trying to scope them out. Throughout the game he thought about what he might have to do for the sake of victory. Sacrificing himself so another can move forward? Sacrificing another person would be too much for his pride to handle. Especially if it happened to be someone like Jina.

“Good job. Hearing a lotta good news for our round. Let’s team up, yeah. And figure out a place to put this so they can’t get it again while we look for more.” Unfortunately his mind traveled to less appropriate places to conceal it… such as in his shirt or pants. There would be no way someone would willingly reach inside either, right? Without waiting for a suggestion from Jina, he took the liberty of very nearly putting the flag down the front of his shirt. Who was he anymore?

“We should move. The more we stand around, the faster someone can find us.” 

Similarly, Jina had thought of hiding the flag inside her jacket, but she couldn’t recall the specific rules of how far the players could go when concealing the flags from the opposing team. She didn’t want to be disqualified. Now that was way worse —and could take quite a hit to her pride— than becoming a ghost. 

After realizing that she had beat the older male in finding a flag, the simple praise from Seojin’s lips had her biting back a smile. He was soon becoming the mischievous older brother that she didn’t have, but could learn to appreciate the more she interacted with him, especially when he was willing to spar with her. 

“Hearing you speak in this manner makes you sound much older...” She trails off, playfully narrowing her eyes at him before following his lead to begin moving away from the area that they had been standing in. She turns to look at him, corner of her lips tugging upwards into a wide grin as she finishes off her thought. “Like a sergeant, or an old man!” 

Her language lessons start off the same way: riddled with confusion and question marks for doodles on the page. Her grasp of Japanese is better than her English, which needs a more intense focus if she has her sight on more worldwide tours. She wants to be able to express herself without a translator, but for someone that doesn’t enjoy studying that is an uphill battle that she is willing to trek slowly and with some hand-holding. Her language teacher, Ishida Ayano, makes her feel comfortable enough to ask as many questions as she wanted to.