When there wasn’t much time left until the release of the first music video, Director Gye suddenly told only me to go to the salon, so I went to the salon without knowing why.
“Jerim? No, Crayfish. You came quickly!”
As soon as I arrived by taxi, the cheerful salon director who I first became acquainted with during the last music video shoot waved her hand at me in greeting. I bowed my head in greeting.
“Hello. But please don’t call me Crayfish……”
“Oh my, but it’s so cute?”
It seems the salon director saw my profile uploaded to the site this time and found out my stage name was ‘Crayfish.’
“By the way, the other kids are mostly promoting with their real names, why was only Jerim decided as Crayfish?”
Actually, seeing that Onseol chose ‘Seol,’ Park Eden chose ‘Eden,’ Seon Hobeom chose ‘Beom,’ and Ma Doun chose ‘Doun’ as their stage names, at first I naturally also chose the ordinary ‘Jerim.’
“Originally, Jerim was my stage name too.”
“Really? But why did you change your stage name to Crayfish?”
The reason for the change is a bit absurd—the day after deciding on stage names, the director barged into the dorm and suddenly made a fuss saying my stage name had to be changed, so I had no choice but to change it.
“The director went to a fortune teller to have our stage names read, and he said if I use my name as is, it’ll be a disaster. If I really want to use it, I have to use a modified version.”
When I spoke in an aggrieved tone, the salon director laughed. How absurd the members and I found it when we first heard. But whatever he was told, the director’s attitude was so firm that we ultimately had no choice but to change it. The stage name that came out after the members and I put our heads together was decided as ‘Crayfish.’
“The director really…… Crayfish is okay to use?”
“Yes. That one’s fine.”
I wasn’t particularly fond of it, but the Abyss members really liked it. And everyone around me said it was fine, and as I kept hearing that name, I gradually got used to it, so now I’ve accepted it to some degree.
“But am I getting my hair done again today?”
“Uh-huh. I also got the call yesterday, we decided to restyle your hair, Jerim.”
“Huh? We have music show recording tomorrow, is it okay to dye it now?”
Generally, you go on music shows with the same hair, clothes, and styling from the music video. But to dye it a different color from the music video right before that. When I looked at her wondering, she brushed my hair aside and said.
“I didn’t know when we were shooting the music video, but when I looked again while editing and confirming this time, the director told me that you tend to get buried compared to the other members in the video.”
“……Ah.”
“And the stage outfits for this time are mostly black too. So he urgently asked me to brighten your hair color.”
It’s true it came out later than originally planned, but seeing that there were no complaints during filming, it seemed okay, but after editing it must have looked bland. Well, thinking about it, the other members’ faces were quite flashy. Their looks played a part, but overall their hair colors were also loud, whereas I had the fewest parts, the stage outfit was black, and even my hair was black. So that’s why I got the assessment of being relatively buried in the video.
“By the way, you seem to have gained a lot of weight compared to before, so you look good.”
“The hyungs feed me so much.”
I bragged that my previously hollow cheeks that made my cheekbones protrude now have some baby fat. Then she, who had been looking at me fondly, said we don’t have time for this and let’s start.
“We’re going to start on your hair and it’ll take some time, so get a good nap in. Youngmin-ssi, come here and help me.”
And the dyeing began. After going through the process of washing hair and applying chemicals several times, and when drying my hair after washing it, I was so tired I kept dozing off, when suddenly I was startled awake by a high-pitched tone piercing my ears.
“……Is it done?”
“Oh my, how cute!”
As I cleared my hoarse voice with a cough and opened my eyes, the salon director who had finished styling my hair smiled brightly looking at my hair, and the staff standing behind were also making a fuss saying it was cute.
“Your face really stands out. So cute. Oh my, Jerim is a real celebrity!”
“Director. I’m not a celebrity yet……”
Opening my eyes blankly, I blinked as my focus gradually adjusted. While my blurred focus was gradually adjusting, I tilted my head seeing a faint purple mass in the mirror.
“Huh.”
In the mirror, there was me with fluffy hair mixed with pink strands among overall ashy purple hair, making a stupid expression.
Pink…… purple…….
“With the dye it’s really much better. Your impression looks much brighter and your originally white skin is emphasized more……”
The salon director excitedly continued talking while applying essence to my hair, but I just kept making a dumbfounded expression like an idiot. The hair felt fluffy like living cotton candy, but I was worried ahead of time. Because if I go to the dorm with this hair…….
‘I’ll get teased. This is a hundred percent certain.’
Just imagining it slightly, the sight of the Abyss members teasing me already vividly came to mind as if they were waiting. Just last night, the members’ appearance smiling widely while stuffing high-calorie food in my mouth was still vivid, so how much more will they tease about the hair.
Their playful appearances flickered before my eyes to the point my head throbbed.
* * *
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Get home safely!”
“Goodbye.”
The salon director greeted him cheerfully and looked fondly at Ka Jerim’s back as he disappeared with quick steps, then spoke to Youngmin who was cleaning up.
“The Abyss members are quite flashy, right? Among them, he’s a kid who doesn’t stand out much, so I had no idea.”
The day she first saw Ka Jerim was the day before the Abyss music video shoot. Unlike the members who confidently entered and sat down readily, he alone read people’s moods, then went to the quiet far end seat saying he had black hair anyway, got just a cut and left right away.
“I cut his hair then, you know? Honestly speaking, I was surprised when I heard he was an Abyss member. He’s so modest.”
If the other kids’ looks gave a strong feeling of ‘He’s a celebrity!’, Ka Jerim had enough doubt to wonder ‘Is he a ce……lebrity?’ with an overall modest impression, and his posture showed more of a withdrawn appearance rather than confidence. Seeing that, she worried whether such a shy person who couldn’t be brazen would be able to do well in the entertainment industry.
“But after gaining some weight and having his hair done like that, his atmosphere really stands out. His personality is so good too.”
Ka Jerim was probably inwardly flustered seeing the hair color. Because she saw his pupils roughly shake when he first saw himself in the mirror.
But seeing him pull up the corners of his mouth trying to smile brightly, probably worried about being rude to her and the staff if he showed such signs, the salon director was first surprised by Ka Jerim’s considerate personality, and surprised a second time by Ka Jerim’s face. Seeing the deeply dimpled corners of his mouth when he smiled and his eyes adorably folding in half, she naturally felt he was cute, and because it became much more glamorous, the hidden charms that had been hidden behind the previous plainness finally became noticeable.
“But doesn’t the feeling seem a bit strange?”
“What do you mean?”
When Youngmin asked back, the salon director tilted her head then soon uttered a single “Ah” and said.
“Should I say there’s no superficiality for that age…… There’s no particularly appropriate expression, but anyway it’s strange.”
When talking, the expressions he made felt mature unlike someone nineteen. Since he’s still young, he could blurt out words without filtering them through his head, but Ka Jerim didn’t do that. As if carefully selecting each word, he thought deeply before answering even light questions. Also, if you looked closely, he was so well-mannered and had a lovable edge.
“And remember when Youngmin-ssi accidentally pulled hard while applying dye to his hair earlier?”
Actually, during the dyeing earlier, while Ka Jerim was dozing, Youngmin who was assisting beside the salon director applied chemicals to the hair and strength suddenly went into his hands. Normally then, people reflexively grimace at the pain in their scalp, but Ka Jerim smiled even while sleepy and in pain, rather apologizing himself and asking back if it wouldn’t be more comfortable if he just didn’t sleep.
“I was really sorry earlier. But when he said it was okay while smiling, I thought he was an angel.”
“Right. I was so surprised seeing him smile when he could have grimaced, you know? His smile is so cute…… When he smiles, his eyes tear up like this, and he has an eye smile so it’s cute.”
Youngmin looked at the salon director talking about Ka Jerim and chuckled.
‘Director, you’re a total fan?’
Though she doesn’t know it herself.
* * *
After hailing and getting in a taxi, I sat in the passenger seat and needlessly read the taxi driver’s mood. Then I carefully turned on the selfie camera to check my hair inside the hood. As soon as I saw my hair, a “huh” sound naturally came out, but I held it in.
When I was Cha Hohyeon, I had quite a build so I felt this kind of hair wouldn’t suit me and never tried it even once. So this hair felt extremely radical.
‘It’s too much like cotton candy.’
To be precise, it’s the shape of pink cotton candy stuck between slightly cloudy purple cotton candy. I should accept in my head that I got such flashy hair because among the tall Abyss members, I’m short and don’t have a strong impression either, but I really couldn’t adapt.
“But everyone dyed their hair anyway. So I won’t stand out too much.”
Onseol was blonde, Park Eden had light brown hair with white hair and blonde slightly mixed in the middle as a point. And Ma Doun was blue-black, Seon Hobeom was ashy khaki, so among the members, excluding Onseol’s blonde, there were no colors that really stood out. Like this, when we all gather, our hair is colorfully flashy, so while I might stand out overall, won’t I stand out relatively less?
