Chapter 110: Last Zone

We’re at Inch’eon, our last stop for our tour to promote the new single. Inch’eon is another metropolitan city like all the others we’d promoted in and it is also a major seaport on the west coast of South Korea. In fact, Inch’eon is regarded as part of the greater Seoul metropolitan area because it was very close to Seoul, and that’s why it was also our last destination of our promotional tour since it was convenient for us to zip back and make it on time for a show taping we had at the end of today.

“Wassup Inch’eon!” Shoei shouted as we ran onto the stage they’d erected within the grounds of Inha University in Inch’eon.

An impressive crowd had assembled in front of the stage, probably consisting of some of the fans who’d traveled here from Seoul. Blue-silver balloons were seen everywhere, and there was even a mini hot air balloon which was made of blue and silver stripes at the corner of the field they’d set up the stage on.

“Inch’eon is the last destination of our nationwide tour, and we couldn’t be prouder of the turnout today,” I said.

“Ye… we’d like to thank SM for giving us the opportunity to do this tour, cos if we didn’t, we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to get closer to our fans,” Skye added, amidst squealing from his fans.

“Let’s not forget the Super Junior fans too,” Hee Chul piped in.

“You mean Hee Chul’s fans,” I laughed.

“Them too,” he said, and the crowd screamed his name.

“Let’s get on with our first song,” I said. “I know this song is already seriously overplayed over the years, but it was without any doubt the best song we had, and today, we get to sing it with another great rapper since Jun Jin isn’t around…” the crowd cheered at the reference to Jun Jin’s name, since they recognized which song it was already.

“Yeoreobun, we give you… 'Ghosts'!” we announced together.

Hee Chul: This is Hee Chul, baby, puttin’ it in for S-Cube…
Haha…
Sierra baby… do your thing…

Sierra: I turned around as I felt your presence
I was disappointed when I saw, there was no one there
I continued to walk and I heard you whisper
The ghosts of our past are haunting me, haunting me

Skye: I was walking in a crowd when I saw you
Standing right in the middle, as people passed by
I called your name and all at once you disappeared
The ghosts of our past are driving me mad, driving me mad

Shoei: Why can’t I exorcise these thoughts away
They’re driving me to insanity,
Why do they torture me
Sierra: I scream in silence as the ghosts ravage my mind
I wish I can end this torture by ending my life

S-Cube: I wish you didn’t walk away
Without a word, without a care
The memories we shared are suffocating me
Only if you came back, you’d be able to save me

I wish you didn’t walk away
Without a word, without a care
The times we spent together keep reminding me
Only if you came back, you’d be able to save me

Hee Chul: Yeah~ yeah~ here we go…
The ghosts of our pasts just won’t go away
How much more do I need to beg
For you to come back, to stay
Only you can save my sanity, baby
Only you can cure me
Without you I’d go mad
As I drown in my screams

Shoei: Why can’t I exorcise you from my head
You’re driving me mad, you’re torturing me
Sierra: I scream in silence as your ghosts ravage my mind
Stop haunting me, I beg you, if you’re not coming back
Skye: Just take my life, and end this right now

S-Cube:I wish you didn’t walk away
Without a word, without a care
The memories we shared are suffocating me
Only if you came back, you’d be able to save me

I wish you didn’t walk away
Without a word, without a care
The times we spent together keep reminding me
Only if you came back, you’d be able to save me

Hee Chul: You heard me, baby…
Come back to me

The audience cheered wildly as the song ended and the four of us bowed.

“Kamsahamnida!” we said as we took our bows at the 3 sides of the stage where the audience crowded.

“Since this is the last destination of our little tour, we’ve decided to give you a little entertainment,” Hee Chul said.

“Who wants some entertainment?” Skye shouted, and we could hear lots of screaming.

“Actually… the entertainers today will be the guys,” I added. “So without much ado, here’s the special performance for today. I give you… Skye, Shoei and Hee Chul!”

Music to a famous children song, ‘the tadpole’ started playing, and the 3 of them did this really goofy dance that got the crowd screaming with laughter. As the song progressed halfway, the beat changed to a strong Hip Hop beat and the guys changed their stance and each jumped into a ‘freeze’, which is a breakdance technique of holding a pose, whether balancing on hands, elbow or head. Everyone clapped and whooped when that happened, and the song changed into Ice Cube’s ‘You Can Do It’ and they started dancing in unison. At every interval, they’d all stop and pose and there was even a bit where Skye did the ‘windmill’, and Shoei did the ‘caterpillar’.

The song eventually ended with a bang, as always, and they each ended their routine with a ‘suicide’, which meant they’d do a flip or a pose and end up falling on the ground. It looks really painful, but when done by a pro, the main is minimal or almost non-existent. The last time I attempted to learn such moves, I ended up black and blue all over.

“I don’t think you’re cut out for it, Sierra,” Lex oppa told me. “You really need that lower body strength.”

After that, I gave up trying to learn freezes and suicides, in case I broke anything for real, and that meant that I'd be stereotyped as a ‘style-head’ since I focused more on choreography and sharp execution of it, while Skye and Shoei were able to alternate from ‘style-head’ to ‘power-head’. ‘Power-head’ referred to those who specialize in gymnastics and forgo the focus on the neatness of choreography. For today’s performance, they did a mixture of both choreography and simply showing off their moves, which was usually how the audience liked it. The ‘freeze’ bits and ‘power moves’, like Skye’s ‘windmill’, they did today were all unplanned. They decided what they wanted to do there and then.

“Whoo!” I jumped in front of the guys who were still in position on the ground and they started to get up slowly. The three of them were breathing heavily. “Was that some entertainment or what?” I asked the crowd, and they cheered.

“Kamsahamnida…” Shoei said breathlessly into the microphone as soon as he received it from the stagehand.

“Did you like that?” I asked the crowd and I could hear a few scattered ‘Ne’.

“Aww… come on…” Skye said. “Is that all we get for such a great performance? Or did you think we were bad? Did you like it?” Skye shouted.

“Ne!” the crowd shouted loudly in reply this time.

“Good… cos now we’re gonna sing the song everyone’s here for today,” Hee Chul said.

“This is ‘Waiting for You’,” Shoei said and the music started playing.

Shoei: My mind tells me to go
But my heart says stay,
You’ll never know

Skye: Won’t you tell me to stay
Ask me again tomorrow,
and I may not be there

Hee Chul: Battle after battle, we fight each day
Every night before I go to bed for you, I pray
Do you still need me, baby, the way you used to
Tell me quick, baby, for I still love you
Let’s have it out, let’s pick it up, where we left off
Don’t play with me, honey, for you I care for
I don’t have much time, for us to play around
If you truly love me, then just say it out loud

Sierra: Baby turn back, if you don’t know what lies ahead
Don’t go too far, or you may be lost forever
Tried to tell you, no matter what you do, you’ll have my love
But time does not permit, baby I may not be waiting for you

Skye: My plane takes off in an hour
I kept waiting for you,
But you never showed up

Shoei: When I woke up this morning
I was suddenly reminded
that you belonged to me no more

Hee Chul: I look around, don’t see you there
I tried to pretend that I didn’t care
But I feel so lost, I feel so sad
You were the kind of love I wanted to have
Pick myself up and walk again
I swore to myself it wasn’t the end
Each day is a new day in this world without you
No matter what happened I’m grateful for you

Sierra: Baby turn back, if you don’t know what lies ahead
Don’t go too far, or you may be lost forever
Tried to tell you, no matter what you do, you’ll have my love
But time does not permit, baby I may not be waiting for you

Sierra: Baby turn back, if you don’t know what lies ahead
[Shoei: Baby, yeah…]
Don’t go too far, or you may be lost forever
[Skye: Forever…]
Tried to tell you, no matter what you do, you’ll have my love
[Shoei: You’ll have my love]
Sierra: But time does not permit, baby I may not be waiting for you
[Skye and Shoei: Waiting for you]

After singing ‘Waiting for You’, we had out autograph signing session. The fans lined up to get our signatures, pictures taken with us, and some of the girls asked for hugs from the guys and from me as well. Some of the fans came bearing gifts for us. There were stuffed toys, wrapped up packages, flowers and some offered us food and beverages, which we set aside for later. Ever since Yun Ho’s incident with the anti-fan, we’ve been instructed to never consume food given by fans immediately without first inspecting it. Instead of tossing them out immediately, we put them aside and we’d check them before we consumed them later on.

It was almost 6pm by the time we started packing up. The 4 of us sat in the van with the doors open while waiting for Shi Kyung hyung to wrap things up before we headed to our next destination, an interview taping at Arirang, which would be aired on one of the coming episodes of Pops in Seoul. Interviewing us is VJ Isak. In case no one remembers, Isak was one half of the duo, Isak N Jiyeon, created by SM. Jiyeon is now Lina of TSZX, and Isak is now a VJ and DJ for Arirang TV and she also emcees for other cable television programs.

Initially, they’d planned to come to Inch’eon to interview us as it is more common for them to interview us on location, but since we wanted to head back to Seoul earlier, we asked to be interviewed at the Arirang studios.

“Welcome, welcome!” Isak said as soon as we walked into this small waiting room where they were interviewing us.

“Hi Isak!” I greeted her.

I’d met Isak on several occasions and have managed to have short conversations with her. Sometimes it’s a bit hard for me to imagine that she’s younger than me; 2 years to be exact. She always seemed a bit more mature to me, probably because of the years she spent in the entertainment business. She’s a great VJ, and I say that because ever since she replaced VJ Julie on Pops in Seoul, I’ve started watching it again. VJ Julie put me off because she was so stiff, and there was nothing personable about her.

“Hey Sierra,” she greeted me in English. “How’s it going?”

“Same old,” I smiled. “So this is the setup?”

“Pretty much,” she said. “Hey guys!”

“Isak…” Hee Chul drawled. “Wassup momma!”

“I ain’t your momma,” Isak replied, and that cracked us up.

After getting our makeup touched up, the 4 of us squeezed onto the longer couch in the room, while Isak sat in the armchair beside us.

“Ready?” she asked us, and we nodded.

“Action,” the producer called out.

Isak: Hey there! This is VJ Isak and I am here now with this season’s hottest R&B act, S-Cube, and a special addition to their latest project, Hee Chul of Super Junior.

S-Cube & Hee Chul: Annyeong haseyo! (bowing)

Sierra: S-Cube-ui, Sierra-imnida.

Skye: S-Cube-ui, Skye-imnida.

Shoei: S-Cube-ui, Shoei-imnida.

Hee Chul: S... I mean, Super Junior-ui, Hee Chul-imnida. (everyone laughs)

Skye: I knew it… you want so much to join us permanently, don’t you?

Hee Chul: You wish…

Isak: So… I understand that you guys have just completed your weeklong nationwide tour for the single, ‘Waiting for You’. Tell us a bit more about it.

Skye: ‘Waiting for You’ is a song that all 4 of us wrote together.

Sierra: I wrote the rap, which is a first for me.

Hee Chul: And us guys wrote the rest.

Isak: So what’s the meaning of the song? I’ve seen the MV and it looks rather serious and pensive.

Hee Chul: I’m gonna explain the meaning in the first person perspective, so please imagine I’m the only one singing this song. (laughs) This song is about telling this person that I love, or loved that as much as I love her, I can’t wait forever, and even though it’s difficult, eventually, I will have to get over her.

Sierra: Yep… that’s about it. So it’s like, ‘if you love me, then you’d better not be playing with me now, cos eventually, I will forget about you… I will try to forget about you’.

Isak: Anyone in particular in your life who inspired this song?

[To be continued…]