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dreamofsiyeon · 2 years

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Return of A Member

Dreamcatcher x Reader

General Fic (No Romance or Anything)

Summary: The 8th member of Dreamcatcher joins just in time for the release of "What."

Words: 3.7k

A/N: I wrote this in roughly one and a half hours. I'm 90% sure this was a wild hyperfixation. It doesn't have much of a plot, but enjoy.

When Dreamcatcher made a comeback with their newest song, “What,” with a new member, the fanbase erupted into pure chaos.

You laid in bed, nestled in your mountain of blankets, on your phone the night the first Teaser Images for “What” came out, scrolling through the comments. The sound of laughter floated through the closed bedroom door and light leaked into the room through the small crack at the bottom of the door.

The rest of the group was piled into the living room. They had said they were going to find a movie to watch, but it sounded like things had devolved from there. You weren’t surprised. It happened quite often. Often enough that you and your introvert self knew that you would be better off retreating to your room instead of joining them. Besides, even if you had stayed, you probably wouldn’t have understood much of what they said.

Your understanding of Korean was better than it had been a few years ago, but it still had a long way to go before you could call yourself fluent. You could read mostly everything, you could follow conversations relatively easily, and your pronunciation was good enough, but you still found it difficult to understand anything when words were interspersed with laughs and the occasional scream of delight.

You enjoyed the time alone in your room, anyway. You had a good hour of two alone before Dami came in to get ready for bed.

Just as you had expected, the comments were flooded with questions and speculations about you. It was quite a shame, honestly, how little attention was being put on your fellow members, but they had all known what would happen.

Since the announcement of you joining Dreamcatcher had been released two weeks earlier, the whole fandom had been in an uproar.

They knew your stage name, Hyeon—a name you picked from a list the company had presented to you because, apparently, having a very, very American name as your idol name wasn’t recommended. They had series of selfies that you’d taken and posted on all the official Dreamcatcher social media accounts under the careful guidance of one of the many managers working for the group. They knew that you were to be a main vocalist beside Siyeon. They knew that you were Korean-American. But that was about it.

The comment section of those posts had been filled with what you could only describe as chaos.

Half of the comments had been about how excited they were to see what you could do and what you were capable of and the other half had been full of anger at the company bringing a foreigner into a perfectly good group.

You hadn’t been surprised of the comments then, and you certainly weren’t surprised about them now.

You read through the comments, your eyes lingering on the particularly foul ones.

There was an overwhelming amount of people complaining about how “unnecessary” it was to bring you into the group. They already had a main vocalist, they didn’t need another one. Seven was a good number and bringing it up to eight only made the choreos and the positioning weird and uneven.

Those, you could understand. They were logical complaints that came from a logical source.

Siyeon was a fabulous vocalist, the best you’d ever heard. Listening to her sing during recordings and hearing her voice occasionally float through the dorm was like entering a dream world. It was heavenly. You weren’t on her level, yet the company thought that you were, and decided that the group would benefit from having you as the second main vocalist. You weren’t about to argue with your employers.

The choreography of “What” had many, many moments where they were asymmetrical in their positions and where one person had to be positioned behind another. It annoyed you to no end, especially when you were placed in front of one of your group members. Having an even number of members in a group was messy, even when it was like that from debut.

Then there was the illogical responses that couldn’t be called anything but insults.

There were comments where people were calling you ugly, saying that your visuals weren’t up to par with the rest of the group. There were ones that said you were a horrible singer and dancer, all based on the fact that you were half-American, despite the fact that they’d neither heard you sing or seen you dance.

You tried to ignore those comments, but it was hard. Even though you knew they would come, even though you had prepared yourself, that didn’t stop them from hitting you hard and deep.

Of course, there were nice comments. And those nice comments were really, really nice. They warmed your heart and brought a wide grin to your lips.

They praised your visuals and talked how excited they were to see the new addition to the group. They were ready and eager to see what kind of future this would bring. They wanted to see what type of interactions you would have with their biases. They wanted to know who you would room with, who you had the best charisma with.

Then there was the American fans that filled the comments with how excited they were to have an American in their favorite group. They practically screamed in joy at the prospect that the group would have someone that spoke fluent English.

The love was just as loud as the hate, but you couldn’t deny that the sting of the hate hit deeper than the warmth of the love.

You looked at the time on your phone—12:42—and let out a strangled sigh.

You’d been doom-scrolling for a good hour, skimming through comments and following replies full of hateful words. Tears stung in your eyes and pain hung heavy in your chest.

You knew that indulging the haters and reading through the comments was no good. JiU, the group leader, had advised you to stick away from the comments for that very reason, but you hadn’t listened like the fool you were. You should’ve listened to her advice. She was older, and wiser, and had been in the industry longer than you had. She was the leader for very good reason.

The door to the bedroom eased open, allowing the room to be bathed in the yellow glow of the lights. Dami stepped into the room and quickly closed the door behind herself.

You dropped your phone on the bed beside you which was quickly swallowed up by blankets and sat up in bed. You reached over and flicked on the light that sat on the table beside your bed so that Dami could see as she made her way across the bedroom.

She was dressed in light gray pajamas, with her hair done back in a braid. Her phone was clutched in her hand. She settled onto the bed that sat across from yours.

Dami didn’t say anything. She merely offered you a smile and laid down in bed to scroll on her phone.

A moment passed before you turned the light off and turned around in bed to face the wall. You scoured for your phone in the sea of blankets and pulled it out. You made sure to keep the brightness of your phone down and tucked into a place that wouldn’t bother Dami’s eyes as you scrolled through Instagram.

It was only a few minutes before your attention was turned back to the unending stream of comments. A new one was posted every minute. Thankfully, it had calmed down and a lot of the comments were turning into a torrent of compliments for your fellow members.

It was nearly 2:00 in the morning before you were able to pull your attention away from your phone and finally get to sleep.

☽☆☾

The next morning you were too busy to check the comments.

You got up at 8:30 with a grand total of 5 hours of asleep and had to take the speediest shower possible in order to have time to eat a breakfast and get to the gym to meet with your personal trainer by 9:00.

The company had you meeting with a personal trainer for an hour a day to help you work on the muscles and cardio that you needed to carry through with all the upcoming choreos. They wanted you singing live when you made your debut appearance on your first stage. After all, you were a main vocalist. If you couldn’t keep a steady voice throughout the performance, you hardly deserved the title. You had to at least match Siyeon in endurance, and that was no easy task.

The other members had gotten to that place through their training period and had been able to stay there since debut. Your training had ended at the same time as theirs but instead of debuting alongside them, you’d been drawn back to America by your father’s death.

You’d thought it had been the end of your career. Your group, the people that were supposed to be your family, had debuted without you. They were carrying on with their careers, reaching the heights that you had spent so many years of working to achieve. You watched every one of their stages and vlogs and did your best to drop in to every live.

You had given up on the rigorous exercise and training routine you’d been put on. You kept your love of singing, taking one vocal class a week. You never lost your joy for dance, but there was only so much two open classes a week could do.

When you got a call from Happyface Entertainment a year after you’d practically given up on your dream, you were shocked, to say the least.

They brought you to Korea as fast they could and put you on an intense training schedule from the moment you landed, much of it which you still stuck to even after four months of being in the country. An hour of exercise with a personal trainer in the morning, two hours of private dance lessons followed by lunch then three hours of vocal lessons, an hour of Korean lessons, dinner with the rest of the group, then an additional four hours of dance practice with the group. It was usually well past 10:00 before you got back to the dorm.

Even with all the work you put in, the company still wanted you to lose the weight you had gained during the year-long hiatus from training. You lost five of the twenty pounds you had gained without really trying, just from shifting to a highly active lifestyle, but you refused to actively lose weight. With the support of the rest of the group, management had dropped it. You liked your body too much to put yourself through that process for the second time.

Lunch came and you found a quiet restaurant on a street that brought you from the gym to your dance lessons. You spent a majority of the hour walking to the restaurant (your managers had offered to drive you, but you preferred the time in the fresh air that came with walking) and answering texts from your group members.

Dami asked you if you’d seen where she’d set her phone charger which she found before you could get to respond. Gahyeon sent you a picture of a bird she’d seen on her way to her dance lessons. Siyeon sent the picture of you from the first Teaser Image, a comment saying “She’s so pretty <3 <3” highlighted underneath it. And JiU asked if you would be able make it to dinner with the rest of the group that night, which you said you would try your hardest.

You still hadn’t gotten used to being around so many people, especially ones as loud and as joyous as your group was. You were used to your quiet home back in America where you lived and dined alone.

Even with the four months you’d been in Korea, you’d only had a few dozen dinners with the rest of the group. The first month, you had been completely isolated, thanks to the fact that the group was busy with their current comeback “You and I.” They hadn’t had much time to really talk to you in between your own training schedule and the never-ending schedule that came with a comeback.

The distance had been a blessing in disguise. It gave you the time and space you needed to reacquaint yourself with life in Korea and life as a kpop idol. You got to meet your group mates on your terms and as you felt comfortable.

You’d been practically thrown into the group when they started working on their next comeback, your debut.

You went from seeing glimpses of them in the dorm and falling asleep with only a few words said to Dami to keep the awkwardness away to spending hours upon hours with them in recording studios and styling appointments and concept photos and dance practice. The transition had been rough, leading you to go practically mute as you focused every ounce of energy on your work and performing your best.

Your group had tried their hardest to break your shell from the moment they’d met you. In the practice room when you were taking a break, they would huddle in little groups to chat and drink water or have snacks. They would always invite you to join them, though often refused, using your break time to get back the energy you needed to continue on with dancing.

In the end, it was Dami who broke you first. That mostly had to do with the fact that you shared a room with her and there was no avoiding her presence. That and the fact that she was the calmest out of them all. She matched your energy levels more than the rest of the group did.

That didn’t mean that the others didn’t find a way in. They were ruthless in their dedication to befriend you. And considering you lived in the same house as them and spent five hours a day, at least, in their company, that wasn’t too difficult of a mission. Their charisma was irresistible.

You’d grown close to Siyeon not long after Dami, thanks to the hours in the recording studio you’d spent together. The company wanted to make sure you could easily play off her voice and be able to harmonize with her on command. It was a bit of learning curve, especially since Siyeon’s voice was impossible to match, but Siyeon was patient. She filled the long sessions with smiles and laughs and kept you hyped up. You still had quite a ways to go before you could get perfectly in-sync with her, but the company was satisfied enough with your progress that they declared you ready for the comeback.

The relationship with the rest of the group had come slowly. You were still just acquaintances with most of the group. You’d only a handful of conversations with them, all of which were quite pleasant. You had all of their numbers and they had yours, so most of your communication with them came in form of texts interspersed throughout the day. You liked it that way. You weren’t pushed into conversations you weren’t ready for and you were still able to make a connection with your new family.

Just as you were finishing lunch, you got a message from your manager saying that they wanted you to skip out on your Korean lessons and head back to the dorm to join a vlive with JiU and Yoohyeon. They wanted you to speak with your fans a little and hopefully grow yourself more support.

After lunch, you continued on with your vocal lessons before being picked up in a car and brought back to the dorms.

Your chest fluttered with nerves and you tapped your fingers on your thighs.

You’d seen and heard your members going on vlive multiple times over the last four months. Then, you had been told to stay quiet and keep as far away from them as possible to avoid the fans picking up on your presence. Now, being encouraged to join one of the vlives had you shaking with nervousness.

It would be all right. You would be with JiU and Yoohyeon and if you faltered at all, they would be there to fill the silence and help you through it.

Besides, this was a huge milestone. Your first vlive, your first greetings to the fans, your first interaction with your fans. You just hoped that the comments kept clear of the hate you’d gotten used to finding in all your previous appearances.

You arrived at the dorm and before you had even closed the front door, you heard the sound of laughter coming from one of the bedrooms—JiU’s room which she shared with Siyeon.

You took in a deep breath and made your way to the kitchen. You grabbed a bottle of water and sipped at it, embracing the way the cold ran down your throat. You enjoyed the small break, using it to center your emotions and steady yourself.

This was what you had spent so long training for. This was what those hundreds of hours worth of vocal training and dance lessons was bringing you to. You were finally living your dream. All your hard work was paying off. It was time you got to enjoy the bright, exciting parts instead of simply pushing through all the difficult grueling aspects.

You set the water down on the counter and started walking towards the bedroom, following the voices.

As you approached, you made out the sound of Yoohyeon reading out a comment, “What spoilers can you give us?” A moment later, she answered with a laugh in her voice, “Nothing! You guys should know that by now.”

JiU added, “The next Teaser Image is coming out in an hour. That’s your spoiler.”

You got to the open door of the room and paused in the threshold to see Yoohyeon nodding in agreement. “Just nine more days! You’re even getting a trailer tomorrow.”

They sat on JiU’s bed, their backs up against the wall. Yoohyeon’s phone was placed precariously on the side table that had been moved to sit in front of the bed, propped up by stacks of creams and lotions. You were sure that one wrong move would have the whole thing toppling to the ground.

Yoohyeon leaned forward to read the comments on the tiny phone screen and JiU looked up, her eyes landing on you.

Her smile grew wide. JiU held her hand out towards you and said, “Come. Come say hello.”

Despite the wave of anxiety that overtook you at the prospect of being on the live, you gave her a smile and walked across the room and took her hand. She practically pulled you onto the bed and you, not so gracefully, fell onto the bed beside her. The pile of blankets helped to soften your fall. JiU placed her hand lightly on your shoulder and pulled you in close so that you would fit in the frame, which caused Yoohyeon to be pushed out of frame. It didn’t seem like she minded all that much.

You looked straight at the camera—not the screen, but the camera to ensure that you were making eye contact with the fans watching—and smiled. You gave a small smile and waved. “Hello.”

The one word held too much of your American accent and not enough of the Korean accent you’d spent so many hours trying to perfect, but you tried not to react to it. You had still pronounced correctly, it was just very obvious that you weren’t a native, or even fluent, speaker. You blamed the mistake on your nerves. Neither JiU or Yoohyeon showed a reaction to slip up even though you knew they noticed it. There was no way they couldn’t have. Anyone who knew Korean would’ve noticed.

That wasn’t a great first impression, but you supposed you would just have to deal with it. You had at least twenty minutes of company-ordered time on the vlive. That had to be long enough to leave the fans with a good impression.

You settled on the bed beside JiU as she introduced you, “This is our new member, Hyeon. Say hello!”

You watched the comments as they filled with hello’s and excitement. You picked out one of the comments which read, “Her accent is so cute!” and you couldn’t help your smile. That was better than the response you had expected.

Yoohyeon reached forward and moved her phone that in a place that captured all of them at once, though she still had to squeeze in close to JiU to made sure she fit.

JiU pulled out her phone and opened the vlive on her phone and angled it towards you so that you could better read the comments. The first one that caught your eye was an English one that read, “I have no idea what’s happening, but I’m so happy to see Hyeon. Pls say something in English.”

You had no idea how to respond to that so you stayed quiet, but you smiled, a happiness filling you at the idea that you did, in fact, have English fans.

Yoohyeon read out a comment, “Isn’t it weird having two main vocalists.”

A moment passed where Yoohyeon hummed out an “uhh,” looking for an answer. You answered before either of them could find an answer. “This group is full of main vocalists. The only difference is they gave me the title.”

Thankfully, you were able to bring your Koren accent back. JiU smiled and nodded, satisfied with the answer.

You kept reading through the comments as JiU and Yoohyeon answered ones directed at them. There was a lapse of silence and read a question in English, “When did you first go to Korea?” Only after you had read through it, did you speak it out loud. Both JiU and Yoohyeon turned their attention to you. “Well,” you said hesitantly. “I first came when I was 8 with my family. Then I came four years ago for training.”

A comment came up, “So you trained for 4 years?”

You read it out then said, “No. I trained for three years, took a year-long break, and now I’m here.”

Yoohyeon said in English, “We’re happy to have you.”

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