𝓑𝓐𝓑𝓨𝓜𝓞𝓝𝓢𝓣𝓔𝓡 | 𝓝𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓪 𝓠𝓾𝓲𝓮𝓽 𝓓𝓪𝔂

The green room backstage at the music show was quiet for roughly twelve seconds, which was a new group record.

You were sitting on the couch, reviewing the printed stage cue sheet, while the rest of BABYMONSTER prepared for their camera rehearsal. The brief peace shattered instantly as a dramatic gasp echoed from the corner of the room.

"WHERE’S MY PHONE?!" Chiquita suddenly screamed, frantically patting down her stage outfit as if she were on fire. "MY PHONE IS GONE! SOMEONE STOLE MY PHONE!"

Ruka didn't even look up from her mirror, calmly adjusting her hoop earrings. "You had it five minutes ago, Chiquita."

"I KNOW! THAT MEANS IT WAS STOLEN IN THE LAST FOUR MINUTES!" Chiquita yelled back, dropping to her knees to tear through her backpack.

Asa threw her hands in the air with immense, unhelpful gravity. "Okay, everyone stay calm! Nobody panic! We need a perimeter search!"

Rami looked up from her handheld game, her face totally deadpan. "You’re the least qualified person in this room to give orders about staying calm."

Pharita quietly ducked down to check between the couch cushions, while Rora peeked beneath the catering table. Suddenly, Ahyeon gasped so loudly that two stylists near the door physically jumped.

"WAIT! I FOUND SOMETHING!" Ahyeon shouted triumphantly, holding an object high above her head like a mythical relic.

Ruka slowly turned around on her stool, staring at her with dead eyes. "Ahyeon. That is a glittery hair clip."*

"Oh," Ahyeon said, lowering her arm instantly. "My bad. Looked like a phone for a second."

At the sudden noise, you walked over to the center of the room with the printed schedules in hand, letting out a silent, weary breath as you took in the scene.

The moment they noticed you standing there, the entire room exploded into speech simultaneously.

"Chiquita lost her phone—" "I DIDN'T LOSE IT, IT WAS TAKEN—" "She definitely lost it, she always loses it—" "I think Asa hid it to get back at her for the chips—"

"WAIT. EVERYONE SHUT UP!" Ruka's command sliced through the noise like a razor blade.

Absolute silence fell over the room. Seven pairs of eyes locked onto the oldest member. Ruka slowly turned her head, narrowing her eyes at the youngest.

"Chiquita," Ruka said softly, her voice dangerously calm. "Check your jacket pocket."

Chiquita blinked, hesitated, and slowly slipped her hand into the right pocket of her oversized varsity jacket. Her fingers wrapped around a sleek, rectangular object. She pulled it out. It was her phone. The screen lit up instantly with a notification.

Silence hung in the waiting room for three agonizing seconds.

Rami slowly covered her face with both hands, letting out a heavy sigh. Asa threw her head back to stare at the ceiling in disbelief. Pharita hid behind her water bottle, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter, while Rora buried her face in a sofa pillow. Ahyeon just burst into a full-volume, high-pitched laugh that echoed down the hallway. Ruka simply closed her eyes, silently praying for patience.

Chiquita slowly turned her head toward you, clutching the phone against her chest with wide, guilty eyes.

"…Nobody tell the staff," Chiquita whispered dramatically.

She didn't even care that as the eighth member holding the clipboard, you were technically part of the core team. To her, you were just the final witness to her mistake.

"Exactly," Chiquita added, nodding firmly as if agreeing with a point you hadn't even voiced aloud. "So you're on our side."

Before anyone could settle down, Ahyeon happened to glance at the digital clock on the wall and gasped in pure terror.

"WE’RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR CAMERA REHEARSAL!" Ahyeon shrieked, pointing wildly at the digits.

Everyone froze. Ruka snapped her eyes open, looked at the time, and her eyes widened in rare panic.

"…Oh," Ruka whispered.

The waiting room erupted into absolute, unadulterated madness once again as seven idols scrambled for shoes, microphones, and water bottles at maximum speed, leaving you standing right in the center of the storm.

It was past 1:00 AM. The heavy practice room doors were shut tight, blocking out the rest of the dark, silent entertainment agency building. Most of the overhead fluorescent lights had been switched off, leaving only the soft glow of the mirror-strip lighting illuminating the polished wooden floor.

You were sitting alone near the mirror, your knees pulled tightly against your chest, staring blankly at your smartphone lying face-down on the floor beside you. You were the eighth member—added to BABYMONSTER late. After the group had already forged their identity. After the public had already decided who and what BABYMONSTER was supposed to be.

No matter how hard you practiced until your muscles burned, the toxic online comments from the latest teaser release kept echoing through your head over and over again.

‘Why is she joining now?’ ‘The group was perfect as seven.’ ‘This is a hip-hop group and she can’t even hold a line.’ ‘Forced addition.’ ‘Just an unnecessary PR move by the agency.’

The heavy door clicked open quietly. Ruka stepped into the studio first, towel draped around her neck, followed closely by Rora. The rest of the group filtered in behind them when they realized you hadn't come down to the van with them—Pharita, Asa, Rami, Ahyeon, and Chiquita. The usual explosive noise that surrounded them was completely absent.

"…You saw the comments again, didn't you?" Ruka asked gently.

It wasn't a question. You kept your chin resting on your knees, staring ahead as silence filled the room. Rami stepped forward, leaning her back against the mirrored wall with her arms crossed, her eyes surprisingly sharp.

"For the record," Rami said, her dry voice cutting through the heavy air, "half of those keyboard courage experts couldn't survive twenty minutes of our warmup routine without passing out."

"And the whole 'she can't even hold a line' narrative is just so—" Asa started, scoffing heavily as she shook her head.

"SO ANNOYING!" Ahyeon blurted out, her loud voice echoing against the walls before she caught herself. "Like, do they even hear themselves? Have they heard you in the recording booth?!"

"I already fought one of them," Chiquita chimed in, stepping forward aggressively.

Ruka turned her head slightly. "Chiquita."

"…In my head," Chiquita mumbled, dropping her gaze. "I won the argument, though."

Pharita walked over quietly, sitting down on the floor right beside you without asking. Rora followed, pulling her knees up and speaking in a soft, soothing tone.

"You didn’t join late because someone forced you in," Rora said, placing a warm hand gently over yours. "You joined because you belonged here from the start. The timing of an announcement doesn't change your talent or your place with us."

"Also, this group is so much more than just one specific genre," Rami added from the mirror, her expression softening. "Anyone saying you don't fit our image has clearly never watched us perform together as a complete unit."

Ruka walked over and crouched down directly in front of you, reaching out to lightly tap your knee until you looked up to meet her firm, caring gaze.

"Listen to me," Ruka said clearly, her leader energy radiating through the quiet room. "You are our member. Not a guest. Not a temporary addition for a single era. Ours. The fans will take time to adapt, and that's fine. But we already decided. You're part of this family."

"And if people keep talking nonsense on the internet, let them talk," Asa said, offering a small, confident smirk. "We’re still going into the studio together tomorrow."

"Together," Ahyeon emphasized, nodding vigorously.

"And I’m still younger than you," Chiquita added, poking your shoulder with a serious expression, "so you legally have to listen to me when I order you to stop reading that garbage right now."

A brief beat of heavy silence settled over the room. Then Rami let out a quiet, amused huff.

"She’s actually not wrong for once," Rami chuckled.

Seven girls who had each survived their own brutal survival-show scrutiny, public doubts, and endless pressure were sitting here in a half-dark practice room instead of heading home to sleep—waiting on you.

"Come back to the dorm," Ruka said softly, standing up and reaching her hand out toward you. "You don’t have to fight the internet tonight. You just have to come home with us."

It was precisely 6:40 AM. The company's black luxury van was idling down in the dorm driveway, its engine humming in the chilly morning air. Call time for the live morning broadcast was in exactly twenty minutes. In theory, a well-trained idol group should be standing outside, organized, loaded, and ready to move.

In practice, inside dorm apartment 4B, absolute multi-dimensional warfare was breaking out.

"HAS ANYONE SEEN MY IN-EAR MONITORS?!" Ahyeon shouted at the top of her lungs, frantically tearing through three different tote bags in the hallway.

"They were on the kitchen table last night!" Rora called out calmly from the living room, carefully folding a blanket.

"They’re not on the table now!" Ahyeon yelled back in a panic.

Rami walked past her holding a bottle of water, not even breaking her stride. "That's because you moved them to the hallway outlet to charge them at 2 AM."

Ahyeon froze, staring at the wall outlet directly beside her feet. "…Oh. Right."

From the back master bedroom, a tragic cry echoed out:

"I CAN'T FIND MY SHOES!" Chiquita wailed.

Ruka's exasperated voice immediately shot back from the kitchen: "They’re right by the front door! Where they have been for the past four days!"

"Those are yesterday's shoes!" Chiquita protested, stomping into the hallway wearing two different socks.

"They’re the exact same shoes, Chiquita!" Ruka yelled, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Asa brushed right past you in the narrow hallway, holding up two radically different oversized denim jackets, silently presenting them for your judgment.

"Which one fits the concept better for the radio interview later?" Asa asked, looking at you with dead-serious eyes.

You simply pointed toward the front door and tapped your wristwatch with a flat, unamused expression.

"Right... so the black one," Asa nodded, completely interpreting your silence as a fashion verdict before slipping it on.

Pharita sauntered past the chaos fully hair-and-makeup ready, peacefully eating a piece of milk bread straight out of a convenience-store bag. She offered a small, polite piece of the bread to you without a single word. Rora was quietly double-checking everyone's insulated water bottles, while Rami leaned against the entryway wall, scrolling through her phone with absolute, unbothered deadpan energy.

"We’re going to be late," Rami stated casually.

"WE’RE NOT GOING TO BE LATE!" Ahyeon shouted from the floor, aggressively untangling her charger cable.

"We’ve been 'not going to be late' for eleven minutes now," Rami pointed out dryly.

You stepped into the center of the hallway, raised your hands, and clapped once—a sharp, booming sound that instantly echoed off the walls.

You signaled strictly, gesturing toward their belongings and then to the exit.

A momentary miracle of absolute discipline occurred. The girls scrambled, grabbing their belongings and lining up near the door in record speed. But just as the first person reached for the doorknob, Chiquita suddenly froze in her tracks.

"Wait," Chiquita said, holding out a single hand.

The entire group groaned in unison: "WHAT?!"

"…Did we eat breakfast?" Chiquita asked, looking around with big, innocent eyes.

"We do not have time for breakfast!" Ruka groaned, grabbing Chiquita by the backpack strap.

"I’m the youngest member!" Chiquita argued back, dramatically clutching her stomach. "I am growing! I need sustenance!"

"I also need food," Asa chimed in immediately, switching sides.

"I NEED FOOD TOO!" Ahyeon agreed loudly.

You stood at the open doorway, staring at the seven of them as the clock ticked down relentlessly. Downstairs, the van driver honked the horn lightly. Pharita quietly held up her convenience-store bread bag like an official peace treaty. Rora turned her head away to hide her giggles, while Rami simply looked at you with an amused smirk.

"You’re the head manager," Rami said smoothly, gesturing to the hallway of chaos. "This is your kingdom. Rule it."

"Please just shepherd them into the elevator before I lose my mind," Ruka pleaded, rubbing her temples.

Seven elite idols. One impossible schedule. Zero chance of a calm morning. And somehow, it was entirely your job to make the day work.