t h i r t y t h r e e

It was the night before their first concert--the kick off for their very first tour called the Across the Universe Tour. EXO would be kicking off their own tour on the same night, in the Olympic Gymnastics Arena not too far from the Seoul Olympic Stadium. Even in times of inner crisis and rumors surrounding both groups, the media still tried pitting them against each other, comparing their feats when it came to ticket sales, and stadium grandeur.

EXO had managed to sell out their first three days of concert tickets at the Gymnastics Arena which only seated about twenty thousand people. Even with those three days, there had been too little tickets for the people who wanted to go to the concerts and there were complaints online from the fans. Baby Lips on the other hand had no problem with their first three tour dates. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night back to back concerts sold out at the Olympic Stadium which seated sixty thousand people. But with stage equipment and other safety measures, the seats had been shaved down to forty thousand. But that was still double what EXO seated in their full arena venue.

It was the one time Baby Lips had seen a victory against EXO--the latter had been a victim of circumstance since they had booked a smaller stadium to perform in--and the girls could not enjoy that win properly since they were all at each other's throats.

They had practiced on stage all week for the three day event. But they had practiced in separate groups of six. One side was Bom and her supporters, while the other six were Sun and the ones who had taken her side. The hostilities had gotten so big between them that they could no longer be in the same room--let alone the same stadium--together without Lina fearing that Minnie would tear Bom's hair off her scalp.

Sun was allowed to practice with her group mates, even though she wouldn't be able to participate in the first concert as punishment for her bad behavior. Minnie also practiced with them. She refused to participate in the first concert because her best friend and group mate was not allowed to be there. Then there was the fact that she had attacked Bom as Bom herself put it when she complained to the higher ups in the company. That had earned Minnie a two concert suspension, meaning that she would also miss the second concert for violent conduct. Meanwhile Bom had gotten off punishment free for inciting violence and verbal attacks on her group mates.

Minnie didn't mind, since she didn't want to participate in the first concert without her best friend. But her boyfriend was sure peeved when she told him about it.

All week, he had started a social media campaign with the hashtag #JusticeForSun&Min which had gained a lot of support in Latin America before it moved overseas to gain support in Asia.

Sarang told the other girls that she wanted to support them too, but both Minnie and Sun agreed that Sarang needed to be at the first concert. Baby Lips needed her leadership, and without her they feared that everything would fall to chaos.

They were finishing up their practices for the afternoon and the music cut off. Sun went off to the side to grab her water bottle and took a long sip. Lina walked out from behind the stage as Sun returned towards her group mates and sat down on the stage with them. Lina stood in front of them and heaved a warning which was directed more at Minnie and Sun than anyone else.

"The first concert is tomorrow, girls." She said, even though it was a known fact that Sun wouldn't be participating in the first concert, while Minnie had been banned from the first two concerts. "I want you all to behave. I know we're having some internal problems, but just try not to kill each other on stage. Just pretend you don't hate them--pretend everything is fine."

Minnie crossed her arms over her chest and scoffed. "Hate is not enough to describe this feeling, Lina unnie."

"But Bom used to be your best friend when you were trainees." Lina pointed out.

With a sigh, Minnie replied. They had been friends until Sun arrived and the girls were divided into two subgroups. That was when Minnie started spending most of her time with Sun and Bom distanced herself from them. "I'm glad we're no longer friends. Now I know what she really thinks about me. When we were friends, I never would have imagined that she would be such a hateful person." Her words referring back to when Bom asked her to speak in Korean or return to her country. 

"Well just don't assault her." Lina warned.

Minnie replied with a shake of her head. "I won't touch her as long as she doesn't provoke me. But I won't let her talk all this smack about me and Sun, and think she can get away with it. So really, that's up to Bom whether I end her or not."

Lina heaved a frustrated sigh and then turned to Sarang, opting to change the subject. "Sarang, when you get back to the dorms, get ready because you'll be interviewed about the tour."

Sarang furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "I thought they wanted to interview Min?"

Her manager nodded, confirming the group leader's words. "Yes. But we told them she was ill, and that you would take her place. We can't have her giving an interview when she's grounded. She is suspended from all activities until Sunday morning."

With that, the girls were dismissed and got in the cars that would get them back to their dorms.

-

Back in the dorms, Sarang got in the shower and changed out of her dance practice clothes to go to the radio interview. She grabbed her cellphone off the night stand and said to Sun, who was laying in her bed, with her phone in hand waiting for signs of life from Yixing. But of course, he hadn't talked to her in days now, since their break up. Now there were articles and pictures of him out with Tiffany, which claimed that she forgave him for cheating on her with Sun. "I'm going to the interview. Please listen to it. I'll be talking about something that might interest you." 

Sun looked up at her group leader and nodded her head. She would be able to listen to the interview since it was also broadcast over internet radio. Sarang's words managed to spark some curiosity as to what she would say during the interview.

Sarang left the dorm building in a company car which took her into the city for her interview.

Sun waited until Sarang sent her a text, letting her know that her interview was about to begin. The maknae grabbed her laptop off the computer desk in the room and took it to her bed, opening up an internet page to listen to what Sarang was going to say.

She was first asked about the tour, with the interviewer congratulating them on selling out all of the tickets available. As was expected, the interviewer mentioned how Baby Lips had sold double the amount of tickets that EXO sold. Sarang responded by thanking him for the congratulations, and then pointing out that the arena where EXO would be performing was half the size of the Olympic Stadium. She also mentioned how they had also sold out all of their tickets in a matter of minutes and that it was a great achievement for them.

The next thing she was asked about was Minnie and the fact that she would be missing the first two concert days because she had fallen ill. Sarang uncomfortably replied with a lie about how their vocalist caught a bug off Sun who had been ill for several days. It was the response she had been urged to give by the managers.

The last thing she was asked about were the rumors of Yixing and Sun.

"There has been a lot of confusion surrounding your maknae and EXO's main dancer Lay." He began, reading off a note card for an instant, reminding himself exactly what to say. "There has been proof of them being spotted together. But both agencies continue to deny the rumors. Do you know anything about this?" He eyed Sarang with curiosity. 

The Baby Lips leader paused for some time, so long that for almost a minute, all anyone could hear was dead air. What they couldn't see through the radio was that she had her eyes trained on the clock on the wall behind the interviewer's head. 

In another part of Seoul, the leader of her group's main rival was also getting interviewed about their upcoming tour which would kick off the next day. Both leaders had agreed that it was the time to announce their relationship. They had decided that they didn't want to wait so long and make things worse by waiting. Sarang also wanted to steer the negative attention away from Sun. She was only nineteen and already a public enemy because of all the rumors surrounding her. The people who didn't love her, absolutely hated her. There was no in between. Sarang was worried for her friend who she regarded as a younger sister.

The clock struck the agreed upon time, and Sarang sucked in a deep breath.

"I have nothing to say about my group mate Sun and whether or not she's dating Zhang Yixing." She began with a determined tone underlining her words. "That's not my business, or anyone's but their own. What I do want to confess here on air--because I'm tired of all the secrets and lies--is that I am in love with Kim Junmyeon. He's my boyfriend, and I don't care what my agency or his agency think about that. Its my love life. I choose who I want to love. As an idol, I have been able to endure many challenges in my career. They choose what I wear, how I do my hair, what I eat or don't eat, where I live, what I sing about. But I refuse to be told who I can or can't love."

Sun'e eyes widened in surprise.

Right on cue, the transmission cut off, leaving them again with dead air to listen to. Pledis was an oppressor, shutting down whatever didn't benefit them. Now Sun was sure that there would also be consequences and maybe even a suspension for Park Sarang.

Immediately, Sun searched on the internet for news of Junmyeon doing the same thing Sarang had done on air. Within minutes of the broadcast there were already articles with audio clips of the two of them making their on air confession. 

EXO's Suho & Baby Lips' Saris confess their love for each other.

Two relationships confirmed between rival group members of EXO and Baby Lips.

Group leaders in love: More drama surrounding direct music industry rivals EXO and Baby Lips.

The article titles were endless. Sun was surprised at how quickly articles were being written and posted in the media.

-

Sarang returned to the dorms about an hour later with Lina yelling at her, scolding her for what she did. Her yelling as heard all throughout their floor and Sun left her room to hurry to her friend's aid. Lina had her grip on Sarang's upper arm, half-dragging her down the hallway towards her dorm. "It seems like you girls want this group to fall apart. Do you know how much money has been invested in you? You should be grateful you weren't kicked out of the group on the spot." She said to Sarang.

The group leader only remained quiet. 

Everything she wanted to say had already been said. Sun hurried towards the two of them and Lina came to a halt in front of the maknae of the group.

"What do you want, Mae?" Lina asked her, her words dripping with annoyance and frustration.

"I want you to let go of Sarang unnie." Sun said firmly. "She only said what she really felt because she's brave. Just let her be happy with Junmyeon oppa." She begged in her last sentence.

Lina gave a shake of her head. "If she wanted to live her life the way she wants to live it, then she shouldn't have signed that contract. That's the price you pay when you want to be an idol. There are rules to follow."

"We're not slaves though! We're human beings." Sun protested. "Stop treating us like that."

"You signed that contract." Lina repeated.

Of course they had all signed, that was why they were there. They had been given make overs, put through years of training which included vocal, dance, and performance. But it had all been in exchange for their liberty essentially. They were no longer allowed to make their own decisions, or date whoever they wanted. When they signed those contracts, they signed their lives over to Pledis Entertainment.

Rebelling against them would serve them in no way. They had no say in their own lives anymore.

As Lina put it so bluntly: They signed those contracts.

-

more and more drama within both groups. yifan leaves the group, lay and sun's relationship exposed, sun and lay supposedly cheating on tiffany and aron, bom starting an uprising against sun, sarang and junmyeon standing up against their agencies. and there is still more drama which will happen in replacement first before i can talk about it here. but i think i can avoid it for like one more chapter.

thank you all loads for reading. so much closer to ending this story. only eight more updates left.

please check out replacement and sasaeng. replacement is the next story in this universe. so i'll probably focus on updating that one next. and sasaeng after that. have a good weekend!

-clary xx