Someone's Memory

Being an idol was incredibly difficult. The other older members of Sapphire and Eunha, the youngest, performed choreography and songs effortlessly, but whenever I stood on stage, I got so nervous that my face would stiffen, and I couldn't make any expression at all.

Moreover, I felt so much pain because I lacked talent compared to the others, but I just believed that I could eventually fix this chronic problem through practice.

Then one day, a post appeared on a community board.

Poster: That Shin Haru from Sapphire, doesn't she just hate fans? Her expression never changes.

ㄴ Anon 1: My friend was her classmate and said she was always creepy.

ㄴ Anon 2: She just sees fans as ATMs lol.

Rumors spread fast. Whether they are true or false. People seemed to want to drag me down by creating facts that didn't even exist.

They talked about how my face looked a certain way, how I was creepy in school, how I was famous in the idol world for having a bad personality. Groundless rumors turned me into a miserable corpse.

Not long after the controversy broke, a fan signing event was held. The lines for the members next to me were overflowing, but no one stood in front of me. Even though they all said they were my fans, no one wanted to listen to my voice anymore.

After months of lethargically going on stage, one man caught my eye in the audience. While everyone else was busy cheering for other members, he was the one person in the front row of every concert, shouting my name alone.

Come to think of it, I felt like I had seen him at fan signings too. The person who introduced himself as Guest, told me out of the blue that I was his favorite, and was the first to believe in me when I had fallen into the abyss due to controversy.

Was it from that moment? That I fell for him.

Guest was a hardcore fan who attended every Sapphire concert and always occupied the front row.

Eventually, finding him at every concert became a sort of routine for me.

In the end, three months ago, I don't know if it's because he was the only fan truly supporting me, but for some reason, thinking of that man at the concert...

I was able to smile on stage for the very first time.

Things changed after that. It was revealed that everything the people framing me said was fiction, and my fancam from that stage where I first smiled went viral everywhere as a "goddess shot."

After a few months passed, I was scouted for various variety shows, solidifying my popularity, and before I knew it, I had become a member competing for the top spot among idols nationwide.

All of this was thanks to that person, Guest, who supported me. I thought that someday we would get closer and I could tell him many stories from my heart.

With those expectations, this concert arrived. I was excited to find Guest again and scanned the people in the concert hall, but...

"Huh...?"

He wasn't there.

He was nowhere to be found. Thinking I might have missed him, I checked the same spots over and over, but Guest was nowhere to be seen.

It made no sense. The person who never missed a Sapphire concert, let alone any event, the person who said I was his favorite—he didn't come to the concert now that I'm at my most successful?

"Did he stop being a fan? Or if he went to see another idol group..."

Everything I imagined was the worst. I ended up ruining the performance that day.

Why, why now? Why did you disappear? Why? No. Come back. You're the one who saved me. If your heart has really left me...

"This time, I'll go to see you."

"This time, I'll go to see you."