We Are Here to Stay

  It was an unfamiliar studio.

  The anchor was a new face.

  We were onstage – the five of us.

  I was no stranger to such a situation. With this group of five, I have been on and off of many such bigger and smaller sets all through the past 3 years. I was already used to this. And yet, as I looked around discreetly, ensuring to make eye-contact with anyone and everyone who may be on the other side of the screen, time seemed to slow down for a bit – just enough to allow me to listen to my own breathing, in sync with my other 4 members – until I heard my name being called.

  "S.T.A.Y has come to mean a lot to your fans. I believe that they are called 'True'? Wow! It's such a meaningful name for your fandom. Jeongwoo-ssi, could you tell us exactly what S.T.A.Y means to True and what True means to you?"

  The cameras were now all focused on me.

  I smiled. "Of course. S.T.A.Y's purpose and goal are all in the name itself. 'Stay Together, Always Yours'." I glanced at the three members seated to my right and then the one member on my left before looking at the anchor. "We are here to stay. We intend to stay together through everything put before us – together with the members and our precious True. Without True, we are nothing. And to True, we have dedicated ourselves." I looked at the camera with the flashing light that indicated that it was filming at the moment. "'Always Yours'. Our purpose is True and we hope to give True a reason to stay." It was scripted but I had meant every word of it. I addressed the anchor again. "The members have been together for over 3 years now. We have known each other longer. Considering all that and how far we have come, for me, S.T.A.Y is a place to belong."

  "With the time that you have spent together and given the fact that you even live together, you must really be close with all your members. It is so heart-warming to see the bond that you share with each other and with True. We at Taeyang T.V wish you all the best for your future endeavours and hope to see you back here soon! It's been lovely having you with us tonight." She looked at the camera and motioned towards us. "That was the up-and-coming boy group from DayBreak Entertainment, S.T.A.Y, everyone!"

  That was our cue to leave.

  Smiling, we stood up, shook hands with her and bowed- to her, the cameras and everyone behind the cameras. "Thank you!"

  The member who was sitting to my left, YoonJae, placed a hand on my back and urged me forward. Together, the five of us exited the set as the anchor continued speaking.

  "Thank you for your good work!" "Good job!" The people along the hallways outside the studio greeted us as we walked by, bowing, towards the green room that had been assigned to us, led by our Manager, Park Woosik-ssi. The moment the five of us had gotten into the green room and our Manager had shut the door, we let out very audible sighs of relief.

  "That went well, right?"  Our Maknae, Jun, said as he looked around at us for reassurance.

  "I think so." Our leader and one of our main rappers, MinQ, nodded. "If anything, it was very smooth."

  "Manager-nim, how was it?" YoonJae, who was also our eldest member at 23, asked our Manager.

  "It was definitely smooth. You have done well for today, S.T.A.Y." Manager Park clapped for us and bowed. "Good work."

  "You too, Manager-nim. Thank you!" MinQ said on our behalf while all of us bowed.

  "Okay. Take 2 minutes to catch yourselves. We'll leave soon after that." Manager Park said and turned his attention to his phone.

  I regarded myself in one of the mirrors in the room. The make-up was all still in place. It was difficult to tell exactly how tired I was at a single glance. The aqua blue hair that was parted on the left and fell to cover the right half of my forehead was mostly responsible for that though. It was a very bright colour and it made me stand out in the group, although our Maknae Jun had an unlikely colour of purple too.

  But then again, no colour was unlikely in the case of a K-Pop band's members.

  "There's nothing else on our schedule for tonight, right?" Another one of our main rappers, who went by the name K-Soul, enquired. He had already taken a seat at one of the chairs, sinking into it and dropping his head back in defeat. "Please, tell me that there is nothing left. I'm beat…"

  "We're done for the day." MinQ confirmed. "We're heading straight home."

  Good. "I could use some sleep." I leaned against the back of the nearest chair. "It's already past 11:30pm too…"

  "Honestly, why would they even have a live T.V show at this hour though?" Jun complained. "I'm sore from all the practice too."

  "If only we could get in on a prime-time show…" K-Soul mused, running his fingers through his crew-cut blond hair. The hair had looked awkward at first because it was a completely new look on him but once we got used to it, we realised that it really did suit him. It went well with his rapper persona in our latest album 'Blue Ink' as well.

  "It can't be helped. We need as much screen-time as we can get." YoonJae pointed out. "We need to promote Blue Ink as much as possible."

  "We aren't quite in a situation where we can pick and choose what shows we go on." MinQ reminded us. "We've still got a long way to go."

  He was right. Even 3 years after debut, while we were a relatively popular group, we were nowhere near popular enough to be invited to the kind of shows that would introduce us to a completely new and diverse audience. We were popular but only among those who had always been with us. The size of True was growing at a very slow rate, if at all. The K-Pop industry was an immensely competitive scene too. Survival was an everyday struggle.

S.T.A.Y debuted 3 years ago on July 31st, 2014. Our debut album 'Horizon' had been well-received but it did not seem as though we had moved much since then. We had not given up though. It was much too early and we had gone through much too rigorous a training process to just quit. DayBreak Entertainment, our agency, still saw potential in us and have been actively supporting us. We had our work cut out for us but we were determined to persevere. We had come too far along to step back now.

The five members of S.T.A.Y had all been trainees at DayBreak, running into each other during monthly evaluations and training sessions occasionally before one fine day, the five of us were asked to perform together. S.T.A.Y was formed just like that.

  Our leader- stage name MinQ, given name Woo Mingyu- had been a trainee for 4 years before debuting at the age of 17. He was a year younger than me and had only Jun below him but he had more than proven his worth as the leader of S.T.A.Y on many occasions. His family had always been tied to the entertainment industry and, if anything, he was mature enough to pull us together through this world. He was an exceptional rapper and dancer and despite the fact that he was our shortest member, he had one of the biggest presences onstage and onscreen. He was also a major contributor when it came to the lyrics for our songs. He was also in charge of performance in general. The rest of us had never had any complaints about Mingyu being our leader whatsoever.

  Our eldest member, YoonJae, was one of our main vocalists. His given name was Yoon Jaehyeon but he found YoonJae way cooler for a stage name and went with that. He was 20 years old at the time of debut and had always been one of the most certain members of S.T.A.Y pre-debut. While I myself almost got cut twice, Jaehyeon had always held fast to his position. With how careful he was about fan-service and how good a producer he was, it really was no surprise. He was also a small-time model and had already played minor roles in two very popular movies. He was, for obvious reasons, the highest net-worth member of S.T.A.Y.

  K-Soul, or Kwan Hanseol, was 18 at the time of debut. We were born the same year but he was born in October while I was born in December. He was pronounced the visual of the group. He was also one of our main rappers and dancers. Outside of S.T.A.Y, he had a very hip-hop way of doing things- be it his music production, dance or his clothing. In fact, he had made quite an impression with his sense of style. His now blond hair was one of his biggest assets, if you asked me. It was the easiest to style among all of us.

  Our Maknae Jun's birth name was Kim Yeojun. Given that he was the Maknae, he was doted on quite a lot but when it came to music, and especially rap, he was a completely different person. He was one of the fastest rappers I had ever known as well. Another one of our main dancers, he was also our Dance Team leader and in charge of the choreography. Yeojun had actually become a trainee at the age of 12 by winning a dance show that DayBreak had conducted called 'Dance Heaven'. 4 years after that, he debuted with S.T.A.Y. Before his debut with us, he was a member of the D2 Dance Crew that had been unofficially formed within the agency. He was quite the social person and he had the wits it required to become a fan-favourite and a variety show specialist.

  I, Choi Jeongwoo, was the last member to be finalised for S.T.A.Y. I'd initially garnered a lot of attention as a trainee. I had gotten into DayBreak through auditions when I was 14. A little into my training period, I found myself pairing up quite a lot with a particular senior of mine when it came to performances, monthly evaluations and so on. I, and many others, had thought that the both of us would end up debuting together, either as a duo or in the same group, because of how well we worked with each other. The agency, however, decided to debut him a year before my turn came. To be fair though, I almost did make into that group but changes were made at the last moment because they felt that I fit in better with S.T.A.Y's members when considering overall group chemistry. I did not regret debuting with S.T.A.Y at all. I had found my place. If anything, DayBreak had made the right call. Even though S.T.A.Y was yet to make that big break, I could proudly say 'I am Jeongwoo- main vocalist of S.T.A.Y!' I had been assigned as the Vocal Team leader. Dance was not quite my forte. I could manage but I always took the longest time to learn our routines. I could write, though. S.T.A.Y was perfectly balanced in that sense that we had talented producers as well as fairly good lyricists right among the five of us.

  I had come to really like where I was.

  "Jeongwoo-ya." I opened my eyes when I heard Jaehyeon call my name.

  "Hm?" I blinked the weariness out of my eyes and looked at him.

  "Did you fall asleep? Seriously?" He chuckled. The others were also watching me.

  "U-Uh." I stood straight and rubbed my eyes lightly. I really had nodded off for a bit.

  "You… stand and sleep? Wah… You must be really tired. You don't usually sleep so easily." Mingyu laughed.

  "I didn't get proper sleep last night." I admitted.

  "We don't get enough sleep as it is." Yeojun sighed. "Hyung, you have to be up early tomorrow too, right?"

  "Yes." I nodded and looked at Hanseol. "Hanseol-ah, what time?"

  "I don't remember." He shrugged. "Let Manager-nim get back."

  "Well, the fact that our schedules are this cramped is proof that we are doing something." Jaehyeon said. "We're not as popular as 04:00 am so we have to put that much more effort into promoting."

  "I really like Blue Ink though." Yeojun smiled and nodded. "I have a good feeling about it. 'To You' and 'Yeongweonhi Norae' are doing better on the charts than any of our previous songs have done thus far. They played 'To You' on the show too so it might go higher up in the Top 100."

  "Let's hope so." I really wanted it to be so. We had poured our everything into this comeback of ours.

  "Guys, let's go." Manager Park came back into the room, having wandered off on a phone call earlier. "The van is outside."

  "Let's go." Mingyu said and stood up. "Don't forget anything that belongs to you."

  "Yes~" I practically dragged myself out of there. Once we were in our black van and the curtains had been drawn, Yeojun and I at the very back, Mingyu and Hanseol in the bucket seats in the middle and Jaehyeon in the passenger seat, I leaned against the window and tucked my arms against my chest. I was ready to fall asleep again.

  "Manager-nim." Mingyu spoke up. "About tomorrow's schedule…"

  "Ah, yes." Manager Park nodded as he eased the van out of the car park and onto the road. "There's an interview with a magazine for YoonJae-ssi, MinQ-ssi and Jun-ssi at 08:00am. I'll pick you up at 07:00 am from the dorm. Jeongwoo-ssi and K-Soul-ssi have to be at the Daily Morning podcast at 07:00 am. Manager Kim Youngil will go with you. Be ready by 06:00 am."

  That meant that I had to wake up by 05:00 am. It would be at least 12:15 am by the time we get back to the dorm. By the time I can actually go to sleep, it might be 01:00 am. I guess 4 hours was better than most days.

  "You'll be brought back to DayBreak HQ as soon as your events are over. Meeting with the MV Director at 11:00 am. Concept Team at 12:30 pm. K-Soul-ssi, photoshoot at 02:00 pm. I'll go with you. The rest of you have the practice room to yourselves. We will join you after K-Soul-ssi's shoot. Review Meeting at 05:30 pm with Kim PD-nim. Dinner show at Young Productions at 08:00 pm. It's not live. I'll go with you. Any questions?"

  "How do you remember all this?" Yeojun blinked, clearly impressed.

  I chuckled. I had closed my eyes but I was still listening.

  "I swear… I've already forgotten most of it." Jaehyeon winced.

  "That's why it's my job to remember it for you." Manager Park smiled. "You are all working so hard at your own things already. I could never do all that."

  That said, his share of work was just as tiring. The proof of that were his dark circles and visibly greying black hair. He was always running everywhere for our sake, either on the phone or in meetings if he wasn't driving us places. As long as we don't take a break, he won't get a break. Even then, there was every possibility that he might have other work to attend to at office. Moreover, we hardly ever took a break.

  "Shouldn't we be doing a Live soon?" Hanseol asked. "It's been a while."

  "This week." Mingyu agreed. "We'll need to figure out when."

  "The last one was Jaehyeon Hyung's, right? The one that Jeongwoo Hyung had walked in on." Yeojun asked.

  I frowned. "I was genuinely unaware of it."

  "It turned out fine in the end." Jaehyeon laughed lightly. "Our True love it when you're around me."

  Shippers can be scary.

  "That's because you give them so much content." I pointed out.

  Shippers could be scary but Jaehyeon could often be scarier with how much he played along.

  "If you want them to like you, you need to give them what they want to see, at least a little." He stated.

  "All that is fine. Just don't take it to a point where it becomes trouble for me." Manager Park said, turning right at the signal.

  "Ey. It'll be fine." Jaehyeon sang. "We know what we're doing."

  The things we do for True…

  "Yeojun-ah." I called softly.

  "Yes, Hyung?" He turned to me immediately.

  "Wake me up when we get there."

  "Okay. You can go to sleep." He patted my head and nodded.

  Smiling, I settled in. "Thanks." It was going to be hardly a 15-minute snooze but at this point, even that was precious.

  We weren't quite in a position where we could do things as we wanted. Jaehyeon did have a point. There were times when Mingyu, Yeojun and Hanseol too played along with whatever the fans wanted. Nevertheless, it wasn't all that bad. And we were slowly making progress. There will come a day when thinking about South Korea would make anyone think about S.T.A.Y- or so we members liked to believe. It wasn't just a matter of popularity either. It was a matter of survival, of passion. S.T.A.Y was our lifeline, after all.

NOTE:

The names are written in "surname first-name" format. So, Choi Jeongwoo means Choi is his surname and Jeongwoo is his first name.

Maknae = Youngest member of the group

Hyung = Guys refer to guys elder than them like this