Llana walked lazily down the company corridor, sipping her coffee. Their practice schedule was now set from 3 a.m. to 9 a.m.,
and since she was temporarily part of a minor group, she had to follow their hours.
The day before, they had practiced early in the morning instead. Nayeon's team—the first major group—had prior commitments that day, so they asked Llana's group to temporarily switch practice times.
Now, Llana understood just how hard it was for a minor group to practice from midnight into the morning.
She let out a quiet sigh as she walked down the hallway, sipping from a cup of Americano in a desperate attempt to fight off sleep. Waking up this early had never been her strength.
'2:30 a.m. Early. Definitely early,' Llana muttered to herself. 'I want to sleep.'
""Annyeong~ good morning… or is it still good night?" Llana greeted as she walked in.
She spotted Sana sitting alone, staring blankly into space. The stress on her face was obvious, so Llana tried to lighten the mood.
"Hi—oh." Sana jolted upright, forcing a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Is it my time already?"
"Anniyo~ there still half an hour left," Llana replied, her voice lowering. "Are you okay? You look really tired and stressed."
Sana's eyes reddened, she feels like her emotions flooded hearing her concern she couldn't help it. Sana hastily wipe her eyes she turned her face away trying to hide it from Llana
She turned her face away quickly, wiping at her eyes. "Ne~," she said, but her voice trembled, betraying her.
Llana noticed anyway.
"Can I sit here beside you, unnie?" Llana asked gently.
After a brief pause, Sana nodded.
Llana sat down slowly next to her, careful with every movement, as if she were approaching something fragile. For a moment, neither of them spoke.
"Where are your group members, Sana-unnie " Llana asked.
"...They didn't come"
"Huh? Why, what's the reason? " Llana asked feeling puzzled
"I don't know, they never said anything. "
She laughed weakly, a sound that held no humor. "I kept waiting. I thought maybe they were just late."
Sana wiped her tears, keeping her gaze fixed ahead.
"We're supposed to be a team," Sana ranted. "But I was the only one here. How can we move up, how can we win, how can we practice If they have their own world and I'm alone here."
"This is supposed to be a team performance," Sana continued, anger and sadness mixing together. She usually had a good temper, but what her team was doing was too much even for her. "Not a solo stage. I wanted to practice but what's the point if I'm the only one doing it?"
Llana let Sana pour out her emotions, staying quietly beside her. She didn't interrupt nor rush her.
'Should I say something?' Llana wondered. 'What could I even say?'
Sadness and sympathy twisted in her chest. The Sana she knew was always optimistic, energetic, and good-natured. Seeing her like this made Llana's heart ache.
After a few more minutes Sana finally calmed down.
"You should talk to them, unnie," Llana said. "You're a team. You need to communicate with one another. If this isn't resolved quickly…" She paused, choosing her words carefully. "I'm afraid your team will lose...badly."
Llana didn't say it to scare her. It was simply the truth.
Their group was deeply problematic. They weren't moving as one unit, they were competing individually, each person pulling in a different direction. A team like that couldn't survive a competition built on harmony and coordination no matter how talented they are individually. If this continued, failure wasn't just possible.
It was inevitable.
At its core, the issue was communication. Or rather, the lack of it. No one was talking honestly, no one was listening, and the silence between them had turned into a wall, slowly tearing the team apart.
And then another thought struck her.
'A team like this… does it even have a leader?' Llana wondered.
She turned back to Sana. "Who's your leader, unnie? Do you have one?"
Sana shook her head.
Llana let out a quiet breath, 'So that explains everything.'
Without a leader, there was no direction. Without direction, unity was impossible. And without unity no amount of talent could save them.
They were like voices in a song with no melody to follow.
No matter how good the singers were,
without harmony… they were nothing but noise.
"You guys should meet together and talk about your differences. It would also be better if you guys appointed a leader to lead" Llana said softly.
"Ne." Sana nodded before turning towards her hugging her tightly, "uwuuu~ thank you Llana."
You're always welcome, unnie." Llana hugged her back.
Sana said her goodbyes soon after and left. Llana stayed where she was, and before long, familiar footsteps echoed down the hall as her teammates arrived.
"Wah?!" Momo gasped exaggeratedly. "Llana Ezhel Kim arrived first?"
Her eyes immediately locked onto Llana, who was already inside the room, calmly sipping her coffee.
"Oh," Llana said with a small smile, "Momo-unnie looks very energetic this early. You must be excited to practice."
"…."
"Are we really doing vocal practice again?" Momo asked, already tired just thinking about it.
"Yes, unnie," Llana answered, sounding slightly apologetic. "We need to make sure our vocals are stable before we move on to choreography."
"It makes sense," Chaeyoung said, nodding. "Vocals come first. If we don't get that right, everything else won't matter."
She didn't say it out loud, but Momo and Tzuyu's vocals still needed work. As for choreography, she trusted that Llana already had it planned out.
"Alright," Llana said, clapping her hands once. "Let's start. Once our vocals are clean and stable, we'll move on to choreography."
A quiet groans followed.
To prepare them for live performances, Llana had them jog lightly in place while singing their lines. It forced them to control their breathing even while moving. She didn't exempt herself either. Her endurance wasn't great, but she had already trained her breathing enough to keep up.
After several rounds, Llana finally clapped her hands again. Their vocals were steadier now; choreography could wait until tomorrow.
"Okay," she said, catching her breath. "Let's take a break."
Momo dropped straight onto the floor. "Finally. I thought you were trying to end us."
Chaeyoung laughed softly as she slumped down beside her, while Tzuyu leaned back against the mirror with a quiet sigh. Their legs were already numb, burning with a dull ache it felt like they had just run twenty kilometers straight.
"How long?" Chaeyoung asked.
"One hour," Llana replied. "Rest properly and hydrate."
She glanced at the clock. "We'll start again after that."
Llana wiped the sweat from her neck. "Change your shirts, unnies. They're soaked."
Momo raised a thumb without lifting her head. "I will spend this entire hour recovering."
An hour later
"Okay, break time's over, unnies." Llana clapped her hands, already preparing to call them into position.
But before she could say anything else, a knock sounded at the door.
A member of the production team poked his head inside.
"Everyone, the matchups will be announced in thirty minutes. PD-nim asked me to let you know you'll be staying here. This room will be used for the announcement. Thanks."
He was gone before anyone could respond.
Silence settled in. The matchups were finally about to be revealed, and instinctively, they looked at one another.
Momo straightened, the last of her fatigue fading as focus returned to her eyes.
"Wow…" Chaeyoung let out a slow breath. "We'll finally know who we're up against."
This was it. The moment they'd been waiting for.
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I think the pacing of the story is getting too slow and a bit boring, so I'll try to speed it up in the next chapter.
What do you guys think about the story's pacing?💙
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