Big Hit's New Girl Group: I'm a K-Pop Star

"Mornin' cuz, where were you?" Cindy languidly asked as she departed from the bathroom with a toothbrush to peek inside the kitchen at the scent of heavenly waffles.

Although she had just quickly eaten an egg and sliced apple, Cindy's belly rumbled at Jiyeon's breakfast dish. Living independently before had certainly improved Jiyeon's cooking skills.

Seeing her hungry gaze, Jiyeon territorially moved her body to block Cindy's line of sight while giving her a teasing, warning glare. The other girl smiled and turned away to focus on Iris.

Unable to get away in time, Iris smoothly responded, "Just took a walk around," before ducking into the bedroom.

Cindy raised an eyebrow, but didn't pry. Her cousin would fess up when she felt like it. Most likely, the girl was coming up with a new scheme or brilliant music idea.

Thus, when Ahreum spotted Iris's back and started to race after her idol, Cindy swung her arm out and caught the little fan.

"Later, don't bother the creative genius, okay little Ahrie?"

"Pooie!" Ahreum puffed up her lips and pouted from behind Cindy's arm. She gripped the American girl's outstretched arm with two hands and bent over it as if trying to peek from above a fence.

"Aiyah. Stop being so cute this early in the morning." Cindy gently bonked Ahreum's head before sauntering back into the bathroom.

The youngest girl grinned brightly after Cindy before whipping her head around in Iris's direction. She gave a little frown, but didn't let her desires control her. Instead, she spotted a new target in the form of honeyed waffles with strawberries.

"Hehehehe~" She giggled deviously and tip-toed with large steps toward Jiyeon's back.

Meanwhile, in the sanctuary of the bedroom, Iris flipped open her notebook and began jotting her thoughts down.

'Four people… five people… choreography? …storyline. Truth and lie… two worlds… history… reincarnation…' Her mind whirled with ideas that popped and stemmed from unlikely sources.

Since she didn't know the full story of Cindy and the other girl's audition and competition experiences, Iris enjoyed spinning up theories that could result in their eventual group and musical story.

Just like BTS's world of connected stories throughout albums, Iris wanted to weave a mysterious yet coherent story of their own. She believed this was part of what made them so musically successful. Not only was their music pleasing to hear and meaningful to comprehend, it was entertaining also for its confounding factor of enigmatic yet beautiful storytelling.

Jiyeon nimbly ate her waffles in front of two girls who almost looked to be drooling. Ahreum's half-eaten breakfast laid forlornly on the edge of the table.

"Ahrie, if you don't eat, you won't be able to grow." Iris giggled and scrunched the back of Ahreum's hunched over figure.

"Whaat? I'm cute this way, humph! Besides, Jiyeon is teasing us! Look at her! Only making us breakfast when she feels like it to then only torture us when she doesn't!" Ahreum pointed an accusing finger at Jiyeon who merely smirked and continued to deliciously eat the rest of her waffles.

"Pft! Looks like someone's been spoiled too much." Iris patted the younger girl and sat on the edge of the table while turning her body to face everyone.

Ahreum puffed one side of her cheek but sat down properly and behaved. At this turn-around, Cindy couldn't help snickering. The little girl truly was a fan of Miss Iris Huang of IZ*ONE.

"Hm, good girl." Iris ruffled Ahreum's head who instead of feeling upset at her hair being slightly messed up, appeared to be wagging her imaginary tail in delight.

"Now then, I want to ask you girls about your survival trainee competition. On my walk today, I came across Jang Rinah. Do you all remember her?"

At the mention of Rinah, the three girls' faces dropped. Of course they remembered Rinah, the chaebol-like princess. She was the one who didn't try stopping the gossip about Cindy at the beginning, who was a bystander in the voting manipulation by the evicted trainees, and who even tried to break apart their trio in order to secure herself a position in the most likely group.

"H-how was she?" Ahreum couldn't help her voice trembling a little.

"That bad?" Iris softly queried and rested her hand on the other girl's shoulder. She was surprised that their impression of Rinah was so negative.

Although Iris liked to think the best of people, she wouldn't stand for two-faced people just like Cindy, her cousin, or any other hardworking, honest person. But that didn't mean she would take only the majority rule into account and not trust her own senses.

"Well, let's start from the top, not just about Rinah. I want to know all about your experience since you all basically know mine." Iris winked, lightening up the uneasy atmosphere.

The three girls relaxed and nodded. They were eager to share their story despite their difficulties with Rinah and the other trainees.

Iris mostly listened to their tale and didn't comment much. She enjoyed how the three continued off from one another and became enthusiastic in their gestures and storytelling. She could definitely tell in this short time that they would all be great teammates not just professionally, but also as friends on a dream together.

That thought, however, brought up her nagging suspicions about Rinah's situation. From the three girls' story, she was no innocent person, but she hadn't directly harmed any of them in any direct way.

In fact, if Iris was being completely and brutally honest here, Ahreum still had confidence issues. And the other two just spoiled and protected her too much.

Thus, when they were done sharing their account, Iris carefully and nonchalantly asked, "Who was the one who reported the voting manipulation anyway?"

At this simple and straightforward question, the three froze, realizing they had never questioned this themselves when it was so obvious.

"That's right," murmured Ahreum pensively. "I was about to protest when I saw Cindy up there with the scheming girls, but I didn't actually report it beforehand." At this realization, she slumped in guilt for not plucking up the courage to report the situation.

But when in a competition, it was hard not to think that you would be seen as a tattletale and possibly be cut off for it.

For Jiyeon too, she felt the same as Ahreum. She had been more or less aware of the situation; even though, the scheming girls hadn't the guts to actually approach her to ask. It was at this moment that Jiyeon felt like being able to scare people off with her aura didn't actually help her in this instance.

Slowly, the three girls came to the suspicion that had been nagging Iris all along. Cindy was the first to voice it.

"You…don't think she was the one who told?"

They all looked at one another seriously. Jiyeon spoke up. "It's possible now that I think about it… After all, Minhyun and Haebin don't seem any more likely to do that. No…" Her eyes light up. "Actually, they're more likely to go along with the voting manipulation because they got some of the lowest scores too."

"Yeah…" Cindy mumbled, deep in thought. Suddenly, something clicked in her mind. "Wait. Even though it seemed like Rinah was trying to split us apart… the other two weren't all that friendly either and were pretty stand offish. Recalling it now… didn't I hear them join in on the gossiping about me in the beginning? I don't remember seeing Rinah in that group…"

"Shoot. Did we actually misunderstand her all this time?" Ahreum suggested with genuine concern. She was starting to feel that if true, she was mostly to blame for not having a spine and making others presume things.

"Hold up." Iris stopped all of their spiraling notions. "We don't know anything yet. These are just suppositions. But it IS strange that Rinah would be at the company today after being eliminated."

"Did she say what she was here for?" asked Jiyeon.

"She spoke to Bang PD about the voting manipulation apparently. I guess she could be lying, but why else would she be there for unless—" Iris halted her sentence at the shocking thought that maybe Rinah was coming back to be a trainee.

But then why did she say she wouldn't see Iris again? Did that mean if Iris decided to go solo, then Rinah was the back up? But then Rinah probably believed that this wasn't possible because she was cousins with Cindy. And Ahreum was a big fan of hers too.