Chapter 34: Double Joy

At 00:20 AM, the girls' van finally arrived at the dormitory building. After the girls got out of the car one by one, the manager, Lee Dong-soo, handed the schedule for the next day to Kim Tae-yeon and then left in the van.

Perhaps because they were just debuting and hadn't yet made money for the company, Lee Soo-man didn't change the girls' dormitory. It was a 12-story apartment building from the late 90s, a bit old and worn.

After the nine girls entered the elevator, they quickly arrived at their dormitory on the 9th floor. As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, they saw the aunt next door and immediately bowed to greet her.

Finally, the tired girls all rushed into the dormitory. Only in this small space could they truly be themselves, without having to wear a mask.

"Sisters, we won two awards today. Shouldn't we celebrate?" Sunny suggested.

Kim Hyo-yun nodded in agreement, saying, "That's a great idea. Today is the happiest day of our year, and it's worth celebrating! Sunny, why don't you share your secret stash with everyone?"

Upon hearing this, all the girls, who were sitting on the floor, looked at Sunny. Sunny remained calm and said, "What secret stash... I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Tsk tsk tsk... Don't think we don't know about the things hidden under your bed!" Kwon Yu-ri was the first to reveal Sunny's secret.

"Hey, Kwon Yu-ri, how could you do this!" Sunny, in a fit of anger, started wrestling with Kwon Yu-ri. Soon, all the girls joined in, and poor Sunny was at the bottom, begging for mercy.

Seohyun, who had a quiet personality and didn't like to play around, stood aside and didn't join the chaos. Instead, she walked to Sunny and Kwon Yu-ri's bedroom. A moment later, a scream came from the bedroom. The girls, who were still playing, looked up to see Seohyun standing at the door with a bottle of red wine, angrily saying, "Sunny, how can you drink alcohol? You're not old enough yet!"

"Wow! Sunny, you're so selfish, hiding it and drinking it all by yourself! That's not sisterly at all!" Tiffany, struggling to stand up, ran to Seohyun and snatched the bottle from her. Although it wasn't an expensive bottle of red wine, it cost about 100,000 won. Normally, they wouldn't drink red wine, except for Sunny, who had this habit.

Sunny's family background was one of the best among the nine girls. Her father had once run a talent agency and later went abroad to do business. During S.M. Entertainment's most difficult times, he supported Lee Soo-man, helping him gain control of the entire company and become the sole leader.

It took Sunny a long time to integrate with the other eight girls and become good sisters. In 2007, after leaving the talent agency where she had trained for 9 years, she joined S.M. Entertainment through the **Casting System, even without her uncle Lee Soo-man's knowledge. Based on her talent, she was assigned to Kim Tae-yeon's group and became a member of Girls' Generation.

However, as a new trainee who suddenly joined, she naturally faced jealousy from the others. For example, Jung Soo-yeon had trained for 7 years, and Kim Hyo-yun for 6.5 years, while the others had trained for 3-5 years. When Sunny joined the company and was immediately assigned to their group, the other eight girls felt unbalanced. Other trainees also envied and resented Sunny.

Thus, various rumors about Sunny spread among the trainees, and she seemed to be shrouded in a mysterious aura.

But soon, Sunny's impressive talent, hardworking nature, and her warm, sunny smile quickly won the other girls' approval.

Over time, Sunny gradually revealed her identity as the CEO's niece. This revelation made the other eight girls keep their distance for a while, and Sunny had to use all her efforts to re-integrate into the group and become good sisters with them.

"Fanny, I only drink this when I can't sleep. There's only one bottle left, you can't do this!" Sunny pleaded, begging the others to show mercy.

"Ha... You just like this. You sleep better than I do every night. With such good sleep quality, do you really need red wine to help you sleep? Fanny, don't listen to her, open the bottle. Let's celebrate today and drink to our heart's content!" Kwon Yu-ri, Sunny's roommate, knew all about her habits.

"Hehe... Sunny, just bear with it and share this bottle with everyone!"

After saying this, Tiffany went to the kitchen, took out a corkscrew, and soon the sound of the bottle opening echoed from the kitchen. Sunny seemed to accept her fate, no longer struggling, and resigned herself to the consequences of her own suggestion to celebrate.

The seven girls got up from the floor, and Tiffany had already poured the red wine into nine bowls, as there were no glass cups available.

"Come on, let's celebrate our win of the New Artist Award and the Popularity Award today. But this is just the beginning. In the future, we need to win more awards, many more!"

"What is our goal?!" Kim Tae-yeon shouted.

"Number One Girl Group!!!"

All nine girls felt a surge of excitement. The Number One Girl Group, this first place, is not a shared first place but the true, unique first place, the H.O.T. of girl groups. Although they were still far, very far, from this goal, it seemed almost unattainable.

Cough... cough... cough...

Seohyun took a sip and immediately started coughing, breaking the intense atmosphere.

"Sunny, you drink this every night... Your taste is really heavy!" Seohyun, who had never drunk alcohol before, found the taste of the red wine, though low in alcohol content, to be a strong shock to her taste buds.

Sunny laughed, and seeing Seohyun's furrowed brow, the others also burst into laughter. Their youngest member, indeed, was still a teetotaler.

At this moment, Jung Soo-yeon felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, puzzled. Who would call her at this hour?

Shh...

Jung Soo-yeon shushed the others and pulled out her phone. The screen displayed "Kim Heechul."

Oh... The others looked at Jung Soo-yeon with mischievous eyes. A call at this hour must have some hidden meaning. Could these two be secretly dating without their notice? A question mark rose in everyone's mind.

Jung Soo-yeon ignored their playful gazes and answered the call, "Hey, Heechul, why are you calling me so late?"

A few seconds later, Jung Soo-yeon's smile slowly froze, and her face became frighteningly pale.

"Jung Soo-yeon... What's wrong?!" The others, seeing her sudden change in expression, quickly asked in concern. The next moment, Jung Soo-yeon's phone fell from her hand, and she rushed to the bedroom in three quick steps.

"What's wrong with her? What did Heechul say?!" The others, seeing Jung Soo-yeon's hurried and anxious back, asked in confusion.

"Shouldn't we go check on her?"

Kim Tae-yeon was the first to follow, and then Tiffany, Sunny, Seohyun, Yoon-a, Kim Hyo-yun, Choi Soo-young, and Kwon Yu-ri put down their wine glasses and rushed to Jung Soo-yeon's bedroom.

"Hehe... He's back... He's finally back!" In the bedroom, Jung Soo-yeon stared at the computer, tears streaming down her face, her makeup smeared.

"Jung Soo-yeon, what's wrong? Why are you crying?!" The other girls were panic-stricken at the sight of Jung Soo-yeon's tears. They had never seen her cry before. No matter how tired or how hard the training was, she always gritted her teeth and endured. When others were crying, she was sweating, but at this moment, she was crying... happily, yes, happily.

"Yoon-a, Hyo-yun, Yu-ri, Seohyun, Soo-young! Oppa Yunjae is back, he's back!" Jung Soo-yeon stood up, pointing at the computer screen, and shouted to the five girls.

These five girls were the closest to Lee Yunjae in Girls' Generation. Seohyun had been his junior, and when Kim Hyo-yun, Yoon-a, Kwon Yu-ri, and Choi Soo-young joined the company, Lee Yunjae was still at S.M. and was the "big brother" of all the trainees. Each of them had received care from Lee Yunjae and had a close relationship with him. Kim Tae-yeon, Tiffany, and Sunny only knew Lee Yunjae through photos, videos, and stories from other trainees, and had never met him in person.

"What?! Oppa Yunjae is back?!"

Seohyun screamed and crawled to Jung Soo-yeon's side, while Yoon-a, Kim Hyo-yun, Kwon Yu-ri, and Choi Soo-young also rushed over with excitement. The other three also joined out of curiosity, eager to see the lyricist and composer of "Gee," who had been "missing" for four years and was often mentioned by Jung Yun-ho and others.