#ok sphere journey
my turn
()
“oh nooo, not emotions,” he teases her. he has a quick flashback to what must’ve been his hideous sobbing face during the finale of the mgas, and is suddenly overcome by a wave of new embarrassment that mina had to watch that. that’s over and done now, though. no point to dwell, even though daniel won’t really have a choice in doing so from time to time; shoutout to anxiety. “good,” and he grins. “annoy me until i yell at you to go home.” he’s only kidding too, of course.
suddenly, he’s curious. “do you know where you’re going next for your schedule?”
the topic of auditions come up and she finds herself hesitating to respond. not because she’s embarrassed by it. sure, she could’ve chosen a different song for her audition. but she was satisfied with going with a demi lovato song to dance to, as the nostalgia that came with the song benefitted her spirits for her performance. even if she didwant that audition to be good enough to get her here, she was not shy to admit it.
rather, what she washesitant to say was the interview that gother there, to begin with. she feels like she spent a good two (if not more) minutes talking about how his journey from empty enigma and the mgas to being casted was what inspired her to even auditionin the first place. even withthe fear of her mom’s disappointment lingering in her.
she’s sure she’ll be able to thank daniel for all of that one day… but not on her first day at sphere!
she listens to his audition story and she couldn’t help but snort at his way of recounting the event. “can’t forget kang daniel, mnet’s favorite guitar boy,” she jokes. “but it’s good that you added some part of yourself into your audition! especially with the rapping. we all need a bit of mc kang-d out there.” wanting to move on from that awful, punny nickname, she answers his question finallyabout her audition. “really don’t care from demi lovato? a classic from middle school. there’s a choreo for it on youtube and it looked hard, but fun. i sang and sounded really shaky at like… the second half of my audition, but i mean, i’m proud of myself! and miss jiyoung liked it enough. so…” she shrugs with a smile.
she shakes her plans. in all honesty, given the situation she was in right now, she was lookingfor things to do after training tonight. sure, she gets home late enough that she doesn’t have to talk to her parents that much, but just being at home was a real mood-killer for her. so when daniel suggests spending time with him to celebrate her achievement, she finds herself smiling. “zeroth… really?” she asks, laughing at the other (in a loving way, obviously). even as lame as that word was, she still accepts the invitation. “why not! i like cupcakes. if we get a bigger cake, that’ll definitely be much better. but you’re the one buying it, so it’s up to you.”
she rolls her eyes at his teasing. honestly, if she wereto be emotional for a second, she’d probably take a lot more time than what she’s given to get through the rest of the day. not to mention, she wasn’t comfortablewith showing her emotions in a public space, let alone with her brother standing there in panic of what to do. but thankfully, they don’t linger on that topic of conversation for too long. she looks at her schedule, that she took on her phone for her own convenience, before responding to him. “uhh… should be music theory with piano,” she answers, later looking up at him and showing him the picture. “i’m stillnew to the building, so if you could be the kind,patient, slightly loser-ish brother you are and help me find the room, that would be great!”
twelfth flyer
michaxrk:
(…)
( besides, unlike the other convexmembers, he wasn’t particularly extraordinary. he’s still the same kid who loved dancing more than anything else in the world, and the desire he holds in his eyes for the spotlight reflects back in hers just as strongly. )
“how is training so far, by the way?”
she thought she could get away with referring to him casually, as he’s technically her senior and she wanted to be respectful. but she’s proven wrong when he lets her know that she doesn’t haveto address him formally. it definitely catches her off guard and she feels a little embarrassed by the fact that he said it. but it’s not his fault! if anything, that just made him seem friendlier than she had expected him to be.
it’s not like mina wantedto make him uncomfortable on purpose. the fact that even ifthere weren’t any coaches or managers around, she’d still feel… weirdwith calling micha- changminin a less formal way. she was only that way with people she was comfortable with. people who she was used to imaginingbeing on the same level or comfortability as her. it’s why she sometimes slips up with chungha and why she’s a little tooinformal with her brother and woong.
but even beforegetting into sphere, she first knew the boy in front of her as convex’s micha when she was just a normal consta. she’s talked about wanting to be his friend (hypothetically) to her friends and mutuals. but actually being in thatsituation right now? it was a little more than mindblowing for her if she had to be honest. she’s surprised that anyone would want to be her friend, let alone thechangmin.
but obviously, she didn’t want to refuse the opportunity. so she finds herself smiling (a bit awkwardly, but it’s mostly natural) to the other. “ah! right. are you sure?” she asks again, just to confirm that he was okay with her addressing him more casually. it’s a little silly to ask. in a normal situation, asking someone who’s her age if they want her to be formal or not would kind of be laughable. but she’s sure if someone else (maybe another fan like her) were in her shoes, they’d be doing the same thing.
“okay! minnie then… you said you wanted to be called minnie, right?” she asks curiosuly. “if any manager or coach comes by, i’ll just call you minnie-sunbaenim so that i’m not technicallybeing informal with you.” there’s a playful tone in that, hoping to make the atmosphere less awkward around them. she’s not sure if it’s actually working, but it doesn’t hurt to give it a try. “oh! training is going fine. little overwhelmed by everything, since it hasn’t been too long since i got signed… it’s still weirdto think i’m a trainee now, especially since i was used to being… ordinary.”
get inked!
mina’s reaction makes him laugh, and he’s about to tell her he’s only kidding when she tells the tattoo artist exactly what he just said. his eyes widen, but the vengeful older brother in him gives him pause. daniel, as weak and easily humiliated as he is, has endured an entire lifetime of mina embarrassing him, both intentionally and otherwise. it comes with the territory of having such an extroverted, shameless little sister. would it be so bad to make her endure this punishment for losing the bet? mina did bring it upon herself.
he’s pretty sure that’s not what jesus would do, however, and considering daniel is supposed to follow that example and is trying to more now that he’s not lying to everyone he knows about his identity, he should probably do differently. “you don’t have to put all of that,” he corrects the artist. “just ‘kang daniel is the best’ works. thank you.” luckily, the tattoo artist has to start at the beginning of the sentence, so by the time daniel says so, it’s not too late to change it. if he was too late, then…oh well? (mina is lucky he’s so nice.)
he laughs again at her thumbs up, and if anything, mina gets credit for being a good sport about it. part of him is surprised she’s not complaining the whole way, but she probably realizes this was all her idea to begin with. daniel never would’ve come up with something like this on his own– never really wanted anything to do with the bet anyway –so this is ultimately all mina’s doing. maybe she really is getting more responsible as she gets older.
he hears her mutter something to the tattoo artist, but can’t make out the words. knowing mina it’s some kind of scheme, but daniel will let it slide, as he usually does. daniel gives her his full attention when she turns back to him, and taps at his chin in dramatic thought. “buy me food,” he decides. “since you ate everything else. that i worked hard on.” it wasn’t anything too elaborate, but he knows were their positions reversed mina would milk this face even more.
she tries her best to keep herself still, not wanting to ruin the tattoo artist’s concentration on what would be their futuremasterpiece (or what mina would like to name as future disaster for herself). when daniel makes the correction to go with “kang daniel is the best”, she thinks she hears boththe artist andher sigh in relief. of course, she’ssighing because the less embarrassing situation, the better for her. btu she thinks that the artist is sighing because they probably think mina’s request (let alone herself) is a lot to deal with. and… given the fact that her brotheris right here as proof, they’re not wrong.
he really issuch a good sport. if he were in hershoes, she knewthat she would still stick to the “kang mina is the best and i smell like socks” idea because she’s a little sister. it’s her job to make her siblings’ lives hard, even by just the bare minimum. she’s at least fortunate enough to know that the tattoo won’t last forever. they’d only last a few shower washes and thenno one would be looking at her funny-looking arm. even if she doesagree with the sentence, she stillhas her preciouspride.
on the topic of precious pride, him telling her that she has to buy him food makes her groan even more. she almost feels bad over the tattoo artist being the innocent bystander in this situation. a part of her wants to tell him ‘no way am i gonna do that!’, since she’s stillvery much a little brat, but she continues to restrain herself. curse her prideful self thinking that she had the upper hand in that bet. on the brightside, this will be a mistake she learns for the future.
she sighs later on, showing a look of slightdefeat as she pulls out that fake,forcedsmile again on him. “sure. you deserve it,” she answers. and it’s true, he does. he deserves a lotwith the fact that he had been dealing with her endless teasing for years. “don’t order any of my favorites, though. if you do, i will neverforgive you… even if i deserve it.”
twelfth flyer
michaxrk:
no matter how many times he’s seen trainees outside giving out flyers, changmin never quite seems to lose the excitement that comes with seeing fresh faces and seeing their determination in getting their companies’ names out.
back in his trainee days and even as an idol, he goes out often enough to get handed a flyer from an unsuspecting trainee. rather than revealing his status, however, he finds it a bit more fun to see the surprise on their faces when they find him at seocho.
he’s heard from some of his trainee friends about the new casting ( especially for sphere ), so when a girl approaches him on the street with a flyer, changmin’s face brightens.
this time he’s surprised, however, when she recognizes him.
“hi, that’s me!” flustered, he finds himself bowing back at the stranger, laughing. listening to her explanation, he rubs the back of his neck shyly. he’s been recognized once or twice already when going outside, but it still catches him by surprise. it’s a bit obvious that he’s still quite happy at being recognized.
“it’s all right! it’s hard to tell people apart on the street, i had the same difficulty when i was giving out flyers in the past! don’t worry!” waving his hand dismissively, ears tinted red, changmin starts to bounce on his heels, smiling widely. “you can call me changmin – or minnie! i’m eighteen going on nineteen this year. what’s your name? i can still take the flyer off your hands, by the way. i’m keeping a collection!”
she remembers quite vividly about the moment when the new members of convex’s information was revealed to the public. curious to know about them, she was surprised (and a little ashamed of herself at the time for not being as talented as him) that there was a convex member who was basically born in the same year as her. she remembers even thinking for a secondthat if they were to meet, she’d hope they become friends at least.
and how fate plays their cards right, even though mina wishes that they didn’t. she should’ve been more prepared for meetings like this, especially given the fact that she’ll have to see her idolsmore often. now that she’s under sphere, it’s guaranteed she’ll at least run into yet another member again.
her heart is too weak. she’s not sure if she could handle yet another cool,talented,andhandsomeconvex member running into her again. was she being dramatic? probably so. but in her mind, she thinks she has every right to be.
she hands him the flyer upon his request, noticing how excited he seems and how his ears are tinted red. she finds it endearing how he reacts to all of this. especially because she practically wants to react the same.
“ah! i know! i know. i’m the same! i turn nineteen in december,” she reveals with a shy smile and excited nods. “i’m mina. kang mina. i signed just this month and it’s reallyan honor to meet you, changmin-sunbaenim.” she bows her head once more to show her appreciation.
did she ignore him saying she could call him changmin or minnie? yes. but that’s because there could possiblybe a manager walking around somewhere…. but also, she isher senior. so it’s out of respect!
seventh flyer!
a quick break from the hustle and bustle of practice calls for a five-minute convenience store run for some nourishment – maybe a few jelly packs and some vitamin water or something. taeyong taps the shoulder of his manager, and together they go off to the nearest 7-eleven – in a somewhat rare occasion ( along with the good old tactic of batting his eyelashes and saying pretty please ), their manager is offering to pay for whatever they want. within reason, of course.
they’re on their way back to the sphere building, taeyong’s fingers clutching and stretching out the handle of the plastic bag. there’s a few fruit milks, some nutritional energy drinks, low-calorie snacks – maybe later taeyong can reach into his secret snack stash and fill in some of those calories with a small bag of chips or something. or maybe he’ll just fall asleep on his phone thinking about snacks like he always does. he digresses.
on the way back, he’s approached by someone who he recognizes, a face he’s somewhat familiar with, with a flyer in their hand – a new sphere trainee, if he’s not mistaken. he doesn’t know if she can tell, but he’s smiling behind his face mask, his eyes crinkling delightfully. “oh, thank you! you know, these are actually pretty useful, i tend to forget what things are coming up,” taeyong doesn’t get to see the serious look that his manager throws at him – he raises his eyebrows, then shakes his head, waving a hand to try and reassure her. “no, no, it’s okay, i’ll take it! you’re working hard and doing fine, no need to worry!” he throws her a thumbs up, a smile. “you’re new at sphere, right? kang mina?” he bows his head slightly to her. “congrats and welcome to the sphere, mina-ssi – i’ll try not to be a stranger!”
while standing in mostly shock, mina tries to get the situation in her head as much as he can. processing all of what is happening is so… strangefor her. she never expected to be in the presenceof someone she’s admired for almost two years. and yet, here he is, as not only her idolbut as her senior.and the possibility of running into him again in the building where the both of them technically worked at- oh god. had it not been for the fact that the both of them were in public right now, she’d pass out.
she doesn’t know how to react besides to just stare in awe. she probably looks like a loser right about now. and the fact that she didn’t even address him properly.descending sounds like a good idea now, she thinks. but she holds back from saying that aloud because she’d look like a loserif she did! she couldn’t wait to write about this on her finsta- or her diary- whatever she’ll write down about this epic win for her. (or epic fail, considering that’s.. who she is right now.)
she’s already noticed his manager next to him and she couldn’t help but feel moreintimidated. hopefully the manager doesn’t expose her for being a huge consta to baek jiyoung (though, why would she be angry at mina for being a fan of her group? the possibilities are endless, even without reason, in mina’s head.) as he takes the flyer and gives her a thumbs up with a smile, she feels butterflies in her stomach. yes,haru is her bias. but she would be lying if she didn’t say taeyong was a bias wrecker from time to time… especiallynow that he knows her name!!! hearinghimsay it almost felt like a blessing! she bows with a nervous smile and she laughs nervously. “y-yes! yes! that’s me! kang mina!! one and only!! in sphere, i think.” she pauses as she realizes how ridiculous she sounds. “t-thank you for taking my flyer! you don’t have to try to not be a stranger with me. thank you!” she bows politely before she runs off in embarrassment. god. she is an idiot.
get inked!
mina is one of the people daniel loves most in the world, if not the one. they endured the same life together, aware of their shared blessings, but withstanding the difficult parts: their mother, mainly. they held up against their constant criticism and built each other back up again, understanding constantly mutual, on the same insufficient level while their older brother seemed to meet every expectation. they shared a subtle resentment of him too, or– daniel did, at least. mina never really does anything subtly, but daniel loves that about her (usually.)
she annoys him to death sometimes though, like now, with her insistence on eating all of the food they packed up for the picnic before they even arrive. there kang mina sits in the back seat, drowning in food like some insatiable piglet, stuffing her face, and here is daniel, always looking at her in his rearview mirror, silently cursing seoul’s evening traffic. maybe, if he even could drive on the street long enough without stopping, he would even speed to get to their location in time.
it isn’t even really about the tattoo, although it would be humiliating. daniel could just find a way to cover that up. no, it’s the fact that he wants food too. he’s hungry!
thankfully, daniel’s excellent driving skills preserve some of the food. oh, yeah, it also wins him the bet, which is convenient. he laughs all the way to the airbrush tattoo stall, and even this much is fun. spending any time with mina is, though, with training getting in the way of their time together for the longest time. now she’s in sphere with him, and it’s still a joy, even if he has the feeling the heartz project will separate them once again.
“i don’t know,” he admits. “kang daniel is the best and i smell like socks?” honestly, daniel isn’t vengeful enough to make her get something that bad. it’s fun to joke about, though.
one of the things she’s thankful for is how daniel has always been a good brother to her. maybe toogood, especially considering the fact that most of the time, mina has acted like a demon spawn to him. or really a little sibling to him. either way, he has to witness half if not most of her wild shenanigans growing up and even nowcounts as proof. of course, she’s the one who lostin this situation, but mina will take this L even ifit’ll hurt her pride more than she would want it to. to be honest, it was bold of her to assume she’d win such a bet.
she groans at his response, not even trying to hide how she was not at all excited at that response. she wishes she can complain and instead tell the artist to draw something else. maybe something lesshumiliating for her, considering the fact that she’s putting it somewhere most people would be able to notice. but, this isher punishment for not keeping her end of the bet. not to mention, she’s too full to eat anything more from the basket to continueto try and prove herself. even if she did that, it’d be cheating and daniel won fair and square, thanks to his driving skills.
she sighs and looks over at the artist. “what he said. kang daniel is the best and i smell like socks. please.” the tattoo artist gives her a strange look, but complies to the request. she looks over at the other with an awkward, fake smile and a thumbs up similar to posing for a picture of a regretful decision. she turns back to the artist for a quick second to say something else to her. “if you could, could you make it as small as you can? only if that’s not a bother.”
she looks back to him as the artist begins drawing on her arm with the air brush. “congrats, by the way. for getting your win, i mean,” she says with a genuinesmile this time. “do you want to do anything else to congratulate your win? because i don’t think there’s much left food in the basket.” there’s a cheeky grin that follows right after because while she didn’t win, she still got benefitted from it in a way.
shock attack
she’s sure they’re getting some looks for their stunt in the corridor at such an early hour but chungha can’t bring herself to care. it just felt so good to have mina there. it was just unfortunate she wouldn’t be able to give mina the personal tour. she’d be busy with heartz group evaluation prep today.
“good!” chungha replies with a smile. staff couldn’t be mad at that. mina could coast for now. “i hope your commute here wasn’t too bad.” it could be really difficult to adjust to the travel times and finding your way here. especially so early. train traffic was a headache.
chungha laughs. “wow you made him curse?” she was joking but now that she thinks of it, she doesn’t think she’s ever heard daniel curse in front of her. admittedly chungha curses enough for the both of them. daniel probably never really needed to. it was good that daniel knew (now) though. he could take over with showing mina around since chungha clearly couldn’t.
she was reminded of that fact when mina mentioned spending the days together. it wipes the smile off of chungha’s face. now comes the (sort of?) hard part. “actually….” she takes mina’s hand. might as well lead her to the cafeteria for breakfast. she was going to need the energy. “we won’t have a lot of time together.” it sounded bad but chungha was quick to explain.
“i’m actually a part of a predebut training project for sphere’s new girl group. it takes up most of my time.” it sounded like a good thing but it meant that mina would have to get around on her own. “we have evaluations every month but it’s separate from normal sphere trainees. the debut prep is supposed to take up to two years. and if i’m considered for the group i might be busy the entire two years.” she grimaced. it sounded so intensive when she phrased it that way. “but i’ll be here for breakfast, lunch and dinner! that’s usually when i see daniel too.”
when chungha repeats to her what she had proudly announced, she puts her hands on her hips and gives a confident pose (much like how the animal crossing villagers do it). “i sure did!” she answers with a big grin. “he was also his usual sappyself with me. you know how he is. super wholesome and stuff.” she’d say something a little more meaner,but she holds back from it. she wouldn’t want the wrong staff member to get the wrong impression.
she’s confused as to why chungha’s smile gets off her face, her confused look showing on her face. before she asks as to what’s wrong, the older holds her hand gently to lead her to the cafeteria for breakfast. it’s great, considering she was feeling hungry anyway, but she couldn’t help but still feel concerned over the other girl.
she pouts at first when chungha explains that the both of them won’t spend that much time together, but her face lights up at the mention of chungha being in a projectfor sphere’s new girl group. “heartz, right?” she asks with excitement. “i’ve seen the songs they’ve released so far. they seem really cool-”
she pauses. that wasn’t her mainpoint. “but oh my gosh, unnie. that’s amazing! i’m so happy you got this opportunity!” she says excitedly. she’d pull the other into a hug again, but this time she just holds her hand tighter so she doesn’t potentially embarrass the other… again. “two years sounds like a lot, but as long as you’re going to be successful in the end, then that’s all that matters! because if you don’t end up debuting, i’ll be super upset.”
speakingof breakfast, the sound of her stomach growling is louder than she wanted it to be. she finds herself blushing. “hopefully, thatwon’t happen in the future,” she says with a light laugh. she clears her throat. “it sucks that i won’t be able to see you as much, but i’ll try to make the time we see each other count! starting… now… with wherever you usually sit.”
