Title: Comeback or Marathon?
Fandom: 3YE
Rating: G
Length: 1114 words
Content notes: Mention of weight gain due to exercise.
Author notes: None
Summary: When it started, Yeji didn't like to run and there was no mention of a comeback in their future.



"You can't be serious," Yeji said, staring at her friends, stunned. "You want to run a marathon."

"Yes! It'll be fun, and it's not for another five months. Everything's opened up, and we won't even have to run in masks," Haeun said.

"It's not like we're doing anything else, and it'll be good training for our next comeback," Yerim agreed.

Yeji hesitated at that. They weren't wrong, probably. She didn't like running, though. She'd much rather dance. On the other hand, they didn't have anything planned, and she didn't know if they ever would. She frowned. "Have you checked to see if that's something they'll let us do?" she asked.

"I talked to the manager," Yerim said, leaning over the table they sat at, pushing her coffee aside to do it. "He understands that we're going to have to change how we eat and everything, that we'll have to have more."

"I checked on how it'll affect our muscles, and dancing, and stuff like that. It shouldn't change too much," Haeun said. "Come on. I know you're as bored as we are, doing nothing productive."

Yeji couldn't deny that, either. "Well," she hedged.

"Why not try it? I mean, it can't hurt, and if you really don't enjoy it, you can stop. But you have to come and cheer us on, if we keep going,"Yerim said.

"Will they cover the entrance fee?" Yeji asked.

"Yes," Haeun told her. "I think they're planning on using it for promotions, or something, but only if we actually do it. It's a charity run, too, so there's that. We can even donate any funds we get in support toward that charity."

Yeji gnawed on her lip. "I'll give it a shot," she said after a moment of Yerim and Haeun looking at her with wide eyes and expectant expressions. "I'll give it a month. Do we have a schedule or something to help us run this thing?"

"Yes, let me grab it," Yerim said, and dashed into the bedroom.

Yeji looked at Haeun, who grinned back at her. "One," Haeun said softly. "Two."

A crash sounded from the bedroom, and Yeji and Haeun snickered together. "What did you drop?" Haeun called.

"Are you okay?" Yeji called, hitting her maknae.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Yerim called back, and shortly came back with papers in her hand. "I dropped the paperweight I had on them so they wouldn't blow away with the fans on."

Haeun snickered behind the hand over her mouth, eyes bright. Yerim rolled her eyes and spread the papers out in front of Yeji. "I found a schedule online, and I figured out some routes, since it'll be on the streets, and we'll want to train there," she explained. "We might not be able to follow it exactly, because we'll be rehearsing, too, but it's a good place to start."

Yeji looked at them both, sighed, and nodded. "Yeah, okay. let's do this."


It started off not fun. Yeji followed the schedule as well as she could, both she and the others, and she hated it. Hated it. But she'd learned, long time ago as a trainee, to see herself doing something. To imagine it and make it real. So she worked on that, putting her energy into it, as much as she could. She'd done it for every comeback and for every practice, and it had helped. What's more, it'd been something that worked.

They started slow, of course, and made sure not to make their practice any shorter. It hurt, by the end of the day, more than anything else had, but that felt good, too, after a while.

It happened slowly, so slowly that Yeji didn't quite get it, didn't see how it happened, but all of a sudden, she was enjoying the runs, no matter how long or short. They'd put together a few trails to follow for whatever length of run they needed, and it worked out so well, especially early in the morning. They were working on their old stuff anyway, things she could do in her sleep, with or without the back up dancers. Being able to turn off her mind, turn off her thoughts and just... just go was something she'd never really thought of. Never really considered would be a good idea.

They'd gotten through half of the training when the manager called them into one of the meeting rooms on the floor above the training rooms. They sat down around the table, Yeji careful not to let her insecurities show. This made her nervous, because she didn't know what they wanted. She didn't want to disband. She loved Yerim and Haeun, and liked working with them. None of them had gained any fat, although they weighed more now, because of muscles, but they'd been fairly muscled before.

"The CEO thinks it's time for a comeback," the manager said.

Under the table, Haeun and Yerim grabbed her hands and squeezed. "When?" Yeji asked, sitting straight and holding their hands as tightly as she could.

"He figures you'll need three months, to get it recorded, get it choreographed, learn it, and everything," the manager said, looking between them. "It'll be hard work, but the songs are ready for you to learn and to sing."

"Does this mean we have to give up the marathon?" Haeun asked.

"Yes," the manager said. "It would get in the way."

Yeji sighed, but immediately brightened. "When do we start working?" she asked.

"You'll start recording tomorrow, and the choreographer has some ideas already of what to do for the title track. It'll mean less running, and you'll have to cut back on what you're eating."

Yeji nodded. "We expected that," she said. "Thank you."

The manager got up to leave. Yejis got her hands free and stood up as well, the other two standing right with her. They bowed to him, and watched him leave the room. "I can't believe it!" Haeun said with a huge grin.

"I can't either, but man, I'm really glad we don't have to run anymore," Yerim said.

Yeji blinked at her. "But it was your idea," she said.

"Yeah, turned out I don't like to run," Yerim said with a shrug. "I'd rather dance."

"Me, too," Haeun said.

Yeji snickered. "Come on, let's get our stuff and go home. We have an early morning, and a lot of work to do."

All three made for the practice room to get their things, and Yeji wondered if there was maybe a way she could get runs in before rehearsal or something. She'd have to talk to the manager and see if it were possible.