I Became An Idol To Pay Off My Debt

After finishing all the preparations, we waited for Han Si-woo to arrive.

Bam!

“Everyone, I’ve arrived.”

He opened the practice room door and came in just as the scheduled time was approaching.

Smiling as he entered the practice room, beside him was…

“…Guys.”

Lee Hye-jeong, who had been at the hospital, was also there.

“Unnie-!”
“Hye-jeong Unnie-!!”

As soon as they saw her, all the team members rushed toward her.

“Are you feeling alright now?”
“Look at your pale face. Sniff…”

Zing-.

Our worried expressions surrounding her were caught on camera.

But just because the camera was there, our actions weren’t fake.

We all liked her, our team’s eldest sister, and were concerned.

“I’m okay now. I’m sorry to worry you all. …And I’m sorry for taking away practice time because of me.”

“No way!”
“Don’t say that, Unnie!”

When Lee Hye-jeong lowered her head and spoke softly, the other team members reassured her that it was okay.

“It’s a relief that you realized it now…”

Of course, Seo Yoo-jin, who lacked awareness of the atmosphere, almost spoiled the mood at one point…

“… No, I’m just glad you came back healthy, Unnie…!”

She flinched at something and quickly changed her words.

‘…What did she see?’

I moved my gaze to where she had flinched, but there was only Park Yoo-jung, smiling brightly.

‘Was it just my imagination?’

Anyway, even the cold Seo Yoo-jin warmly welcomed Lee Hye-jeong, and the atmosphere quickly warmed up.

However, someone was about to crash this delightful mood.

“Everyone, I’m sorry, but we don’t have much time.”

It was Han Si-woo.

“Do you remember that I said I would watch the midterm evaluation again today? Since Lee Hye-jeong is unwell, we will let her rest today and check on the others’ practice for the day.”

“……”

“You didn’t change anything from yesterday, right?”

As he said this, Han Si-woo appeared rather cold and cruel.

We only had one day left.

In a typical situation, it would be hard to bring about meaningful changes within a day.

Han Si-woo couldn’t be unaware of that fact, but he spoke coldly as if there would be no compromises.

But…

“… Yes, we’re ready.”

“……!”

We weren’t thrown off by Han Si-woo’s cold demeanor.

Surely, we had changed since yesterday.

When we said this seriously, Han Si-woo seemed a bit surprised and responded.

“Um… did you change the center?”

“No, Ye-rin Unnie remains fixed just like before.”

“Then what has changed compared to yesterday?”

In response to Han Si-woo’s question, I answered this time.

“The stage concept and arrangement have changed. And the concept is… Nerd.”

“Nerd? … Haha.”

As soon as he heard the word “nerd,” a smile blossomed on Han Si-woo’s face, as if he was excited.

“That sounds promising. Alright, let’s see it. Lee Hye-jeong, please sit beside me. Let’s see what the team has prepared.”

At Han Si-woo’s gesture, Lee Hye-jeong turned towards us… and asked with a worried expression.

“…Guys, nerd? What does that mean…?”

“We changed the concept briefly yesterday. You remain the main vocalist, so we’ll explain it in detail tomorrow. Just watch for now.”

“I think you’ll be surprised because it’s a bit different. Hehe.”

We reassured Lee Hye-jeong and immediately arranged ourselves according to the practice we had done since this morning.

Before starting the stage, I spoke on behalf of the team.

“Even though it’s a midterm evaluation, we’ll show you up to the second verse dance break. And… please excuse any shortcomings.”

“It’s hard to show a perfect performance in a midterm evaluation. I’ll take that into consideration, so don’t worry too much.”

“Then…”

Swipe-.

♪♬♩-!

When I gestured to the production team, the intro of [Where is my first love!] began to play.

And to that, we started the performance.

“… Ho-oh.”

As the stage with a slightly different atmosphere than yesterday unfolded, Han Si-woo let out a small admiration.

But it was still too early to be impressed.

Right now…

I was planning to use the first skill of Sky Demon Martial Arts, Sky Demon Enchantment.

Since the cooldown for Sky Demon Enchantment is once a day, I hadn’t been able to use it during practice earlier.

I wanted to see how to use this skill… and how powerful it really was through Han Si-woo.

Finally, the timing for the second verse dance break arrived.

Whoosh!

‘It worked.’

I could immediately sense that the skill had been activated.

Thank goodness.

I was worried that I had to say the skill’s name aloud for it to trigger, but it seemed that just having the intent to use it in my mind was enough.

Boom!

‘Aah… so this is it.’

I immediately understood what it meant to maximize my emotions with the first effect of Sky Demon Enchantment.

I had aimed to amplify a feeling of happiness, and it felt like the little joy in my heart was bubbling up.

However…

‘Why isn’t the next part working?’

The second effect of Sky Demon Enchantment.

This was to dominate the feelings of others through the amplified emotions.

But contrary to my expectations, Han Si-woo and Lee Hye-jeong, who were watching our stage, were merely…

“……”
“……”

Staring blankly.

‘Did something go wrong? Could it be that it didn’t trigger?’

As I pondered this unexpected reaction, the midterm evaluation stage came to an end.

Swipe-.

I turned my head to check the expressions of the production team.

“……”

They too wore a similar blank expression as Han Si-woo and Lee Hye-jeong.

No one could decipher the meaning behind those vacant looks.

I only understood why they had those expressions after Han Si-woo finally spoke up after a long pause.

“… Ye-rin.”

“… Yes?”

“Was it really possible to make that expression…?”

…That expression?

‘Ah… now that you mention it…’

I had been so focused on the others’ reactions that I hadn’t noticed what kind of expression I had made while using Sky Demon Enchantment.

“What was my expression like…?”

“……”

Han Si-woo deflected my question with a brief impression of the performance.

“… It was a stage where I almost fell in love.”

“……”

“… I think this team can proceed as is. … It’s perfect. I’m excited to see what it will be like on the final day once all the preparations are complete. …That’s about it, Ye-rin.”

As he spoke, Han Si-woo’s eyes glimmered as if entranced by something.

It seemed my skill had indeed worked.

And that meant…

It was okay to look forward to this competition.

After the midterm evaluation, our routine was quite monotonous.

Practice, then more practice.

Of course, we did play Yutnori to determine the competition order at one point.

Thanks to that, our leader Seo Yoo-jin rolled a five in a row, making us the first to compete.

‘S-Sorry…’

There was no time to dwell on the disappointment of being first. The moment the order selection Yutnori ended, we plunged back into practice.

And on the sixth day, the day before the competition.

Murmur, murmur.

10 PM.

Normally, this would be the time for intensive night practice, but all the participants gathered at the set.

“It’s already 10?”

“It should start soon.”

We were all there to watch the second episode of Na Ah Ah live together and capture our reactions.

We sat in our respective teams, tense as we watched the second episode of Na Ah Ah begin on the giant screen set up in the center.

It felt different compared to watching with the Brotherhood Planning family. Here, we couldn’t see the community reactions.

Moreover…

Zing-.

“Hahaha.”
“Wow~ I’m so excited.”

With the camera capturing all our expressions, I couldn’t relax.

“Oh, it’s starting.”
“Yoo Seol Unnie.”

The second episode of Na Ah Ah began with Yoo Seol’s <24 Hours Is Not Enough>, continuing from the first episode’s ending.

[What kind of performance will Yoo Seol show?]

Of course, she probably didn’t want to just show it, as many reactions and commercials filled the time for about 10 minutes before revealing Yoo Seol’s stage.

-Not enough, time
-I want to be with you.

Even after watching it again, Yoo Seol’s performance was perfect.

The broadcast even showed how Yoo Seol received high praise from the judges, along with the fact that I had received an A rank right after her.

And in the next scene…

[Ha Ye-rin (Brotherhood Planning): …Next time, I will show an even better performance.]
[Yoo Seol (JJ): Yes, let’s do well. (smiling)]

…It intensely focused on the rivalry between Yoo Seol and me.

As that scene came on, the surrounding participants glanced at Yoo Seol and me.

Their looks were filled with jealousy and envy.

Since the rivalry between Yoo Seol and me was now officially established, it was clear that our screen time would be significantly more in the future.

I desperately ignored their gazes and focused on the next scene.

Next was the customized class organized by ranks.

[Production Team: Everyone, a new A rank trainee has been born!]
[Lee Hye-jeong (Kidship): Ah, hello! This is Lee Hye-jeong from Kidship! I will start attending classes from A class today! Please take good care of me…!!]

Lee Hye-jeong received screen time for the first time in a while due to being promoted from B to A.

However, from there on, she was only shown in scolding scenes. Of course, I was in the same boat.

[Kim Ye-sol (Vocal Trainer): Ye-rin! Are you not paying attention?]

The broadcast continued to heavily emphasize scenes of me getting scolded in A class, leaving a negative impression.

[Kim Ye-sol (Vocal Trainer): Tomorrow, I’ll see how much you’ve grown in the vocal aspect. And if there’s no improvement… I can’t guarantee that you will stay in A rank.]

And as the tension heightened, hinting at the possibility of me dropping to B rank, the segment moved to the final ranking evaluation.

I watched expressionlessly as participants with low ranks were cut one by one due to harsh criticism during the final ranking evaluation.

What I was most curious about was… how the production team had forced Lee Hye-jeong, who had originally maintained her A rank, down to B rank.

Swipe-.

“……”

When I turned my head, I saw Lee Hye-jeong staring at the screen with a pale face as if she had anticipated her dire outcome.

Grip.

I held her hand.

“……!”

Startled by the sudden touch, Lee Hye-jeong was taken aback but…

“……”

Clamp.

Realizing it was me holding her hand, she intertwined her fingers with mine tightly.

As soon as we held hands, the news of Seo Yoo-jin and Na Han-na being promoted to A rank in the final evaluation came.

[Han Si-woo: Final ranking evaluation… Next is A rank.]

…Finally, it was time for A rank, including me, Lee Hye-jeong, and Yoo Seol.

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