Postponing the concert was not an option. We simply had to take the risk of the meteor falling.
Backstage, Yoon Seoyeon was stretching, but she couldn’t focus as usual.
Her mind kept drifting back to the news from yesterday.
What were the chances that the meteor would fall on the very day of the tripleS concert,
the first and possibly the last full tripleS performance at Namsan Neo Stadium?
Although they said it would most likely burn up in the atmosphere, the tiniest “what if” kept gnawing at Seoyeon.
She needed calm. Seoyeon cut her stretching short and ran straight to the members in her sight.
Lynn was letting out a little scream as Joobin hugged her tightly from behind.
“What are you two doing?” Seoyeon asked playfully.
“It’s Naky…unnie,” Lynn said, her voice rising in exasperation.
“She keeps, like, scaring me. She said she had some weird dream.”
Though Kim Nakyoung herself was just mingling with Hayeon in the corner of the waiting room.
“What did she say?” Seoyeon asked.
Joobin suddenly cut in to explain.
“You know how Nakyoung unnie has that weirdly good intuition? She’s always joking that she should open a fortune-telling shop or something.
Anyway, she said she had this dream last night. We tripleS split cleanly into four… and you turned into a skeleton.”
“I become what?” Seoyeon pointed herself. “Why am I part of this?”
“I have no clue. Anyway, Lynn unnie got even more spooked. She’s the one who told me first.”
Joobin let out a sly grin. When Lynn crossed her arms in complaint, she copied the pose right away.
That’s oddly specific.
Seoyeon was sure Nakyoung was just messing with the kids.
Resolving to scold her after the performance, she shot Nakyoung a quick sidelong glance.
The next thing she noticed was Yooyeon, standing alone in front of the stairs.
As Seoyeon hurried over in small steps, Yooyeon muttered without even turning around.
“Something's wrong.”
Even you, unnie?
Seoyeon sighed inwardly.
“Why? Does your stomach hurt?”
“No, it’s just… a feeling,” Yooyeon said, bouncing anxiously on her feet.
“I just want it to start already. You know, once we’re actually performing, everything else just disappears.”
As if God had heard Yooyeon’s wish or something, the alert to enter the venue burst through their in-ears. Xinyu and Kotone shouted with excitement,
and Yeonji, noticing Jiyeon hesitating from nerves, gave her a gentle push on the back.
“Guys!” Kaede shouted, her voice booming.
“This kind of chance doesn’t come around twice! Let’s show them what we’ve got!”
Mayu and Sullin, who had been quiet in the back,
chimed in with agreement, and soon all the members fell into formation.
The moment they stepped onto the stage, the biting cold of the heart of winter mingled with the heat of the lights.
Beyond the veil of drifting snowflakes, the shapes of the cheering crowd shimmered.
It felt as if nothing in the world could be more beautiful. Like a perfectly crafted model,
it seemed as if not a single thing could go wrong.
But then why do I still feel so uneasy?
Seoyeon drew in a shallow breath. For now, she had to focus on the performance.
The concert itself flowed effortlessly.
The wide-open venue was washed in stage lights and sunlight that fell evenly across the members.
The live sections that highlighted Dahyun and Shion’s vocals were, as always, a crowd favorite,
and the Christmas carol medley performed by Soomin, Hyerin, and Chaewon
during the break was met with an equally warm response.
Was I just overthinking it?
Thanks to that, Seoyeon even had room to breathe and focus on keeping her expression steady during the finale.
She even made eye contact with a girl in the first-floor standing section. She looked a year or two younger than Seoah.
Seoyeon remembered her from the last fan meeting, where she hadn’t been able to say a single word and had just cried.
When Seoyeon flashed her a small, cute smile, the girl’s face lit up,
cheeks turning bright red, and seeing that made it all feel worth it.
In that moment, something flashed in the sky, catching Seoyeon's attention.
Before she could even process what it was, a deafening boom erupted, and the entire stage collapsed in an instant.
Ironically enough, that damn meteor had fallen right onto the venue.
When she finally stood up, clutching her aching shoulder, Seoyeon found herself beneath the stage.
The air was thick with dust. Security staff were busy evacuating the audience,
and several members, including Jiwoo and Yubin, were helping them.
On the stage, Sohyun grabbed the mic and tried to calm the chaos.
“Please stay calm and follow the evacuation instructions.”
Even Seoah, the youngest of us all, was helping Nien move the fallen stage lights to a safe distance.
Ah. As Seoyeon looked around at the space rapidly falling back into order, she realized it.
So this was what I’d been afraid of deep down.
tripleS had become a community that could carry on responsibly even without Seoyeon stepping in to guide them.
It was at least something she should have felt grateful for.
But Seoyeon could no longer avoid asking herself what role she had left.
Since she had fallen toward the audience area anyway, she thought she might be able to help that young fan from earlier,
but the girl was already sprinting away with all her strength, far beyond Seoyeon’s reach.
It was a relief she wasn’t seriously hurt.
BOOOOOONG
Just as Seoyeon felt herself relax, a low wail, something like a ship’s horn, rang out.
When Chaeyeon’s scream layered over it, a chill shot down her spine.
Looking up at the sky, she saw three massive skeletal fingers descending toward them,
menacing and slow. Is this what it would feel like to watch a human hand closing in from inside a snow globe?
And you turned into a skeleton.
The words Joobin had told her circled ominously in her mind.
Seoyeon dragged her heavy feet forward. Something she couldn’t explain was pulling her closer to the meteor.
It wasn’t a simple piece of rock.
A smooth, metallic spacecraft stood before Seoyeon.
It looked like one of those magical eggs from the cartoons she used to watch as a child.
As if hypnotized, Seoyeon extended her hand,
but it passed clean through the ship, like touching a hologram. Even the spacecraft seemed to reject her.
Give me a role… anything. Seoyeon sank to her knees, pleading. I don’t want to die useless.
Don’t let me end up as a skeleton.
As her desperate cry tore out of her, a sudden chill spread across her fingertips.
She could touch the spacecraft now.
No sooner had she done so than the silvery surface split into multiple strands and wrapped around her.
At first, it was like bandages; then, it hardened into a solid armor.
Before long, Seoyeon’s reflection in the spacecraft looked like a knight straight out of a fairy tale.
A silver crown with twelve tightly spaced points settled atop her head.
Her sleek armor gleamed, and in her hand she held a long sword, one side of its blade curling like a key.
Even just after finishing the performance, her entire body was full of energy. She felt as if she had been born anew.
Thud. Thud.
Something inside the spacecraft knocked against the outer wall.
Right, if this is a spacecraft, it must have a pilot too. Someone, please, explain to me what on earth is going on.
Snapping back to her senses, Seoyeon sprang to her feet. Any action would require a swift decision.
The massive skeletal hand was still descending, ready to crush everything in the stadium.
Beneath its shadow, the girl whom Seoyeon had been watching was frozen in fear.
She swallowed hard.
Looks like there’s still a lot left for me to do.
Q. What will happen in the next scene?
1. Take it down first : Seoyeon strikes the skeleton
2. Sudden trend : Pics of Seoyeon go viral
3. Supporter appears : A pilot leaps from the craft
4. Save the fan : Young fan rushes to Seoyeon
