NOVEL NEXT Chapter 55
After leaving home, I stayed at the hotel that Kang Hyung-man booked for me that night.
“Let’s just sleep here for now… What are you planning to do tomorrow? Are you going home?”
“…No, I don’t want to go home until Na Ah Ah Week 3.”
“…Okay, then I’ll apply for long-term stay at this hotel, so just make yourself comfortable. I’ll send Sang-gu every morning to take you to school. I’ll bring your school uniform tomorrow.”
“…Yes, thank you, Boss. And…, I’m sorry for the trouble.”
“……”
As I replied a bit dejectedly, Kang Hyung-man gently patted my head.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. …Don’t worry too much and get some good rest.”
“…Yes.”
With that, Kang Hyung-man left….
“…Should I take a shower first?”
After a quick shower, I lay down on the bed.
Today was the most exhausting day ever.
I hadn’t slept well for the past week preparing for the competition… and I presented the results live in front of the audience.
However…, what troubled me the most was…
‘…Why was I born to these two people?’
When I thought that, I remembered the hurt in my parents’ eyes as they looked at me.
My parents exploited me as if I were a servant…
They casually drained my energy away…
with no malicious intent or guilt about their actions.
So…, whenever I said something even a little strong…
“Ye-rin…”
“How could you say something like that…?”
They would genuinely feel hurt and distressed.
Every time that happened, I felt guilty even when I hadn’t done anything wrong.
Just like now.
“…Damn it.”
The last nineteen years of my life made me this way.
Even when I felt tired, I couldn’t close my eyes.
Because if I did, I would think about Dad and Mom.
“…So annoying.”
I hated Mom and Dad.
Really….
I hated them with a passion.
After the second week of Na Ah Ah ended… when I got back to school, my life felt similar yet different from when the first week ended.
When the first broadcast of Na Ah Ah aired, a lot of people were suddenly friendly with me.
And now, after the end of the second week of Na Ah Ah…
“Ye-rin! I watched the broadcast!”
“You were so pretty!”
“The team competition must have been recorded already, right? How was it?”
“Are you close with Yoo Seol?”
“You dance so well! When did you start learning?”
Brrrrr…
…Way more people gathered than before.
It was to the point that previously, people would just gather around my desk…
“Is this her class?”
“I guess that’s her. Wow, she really is pretty.”
“Ye-rin sunbae! I greeted you in the hallway before, do you remember me?”
Now, not only was our classroom filled, but even the hallway was crowded with people coming to see me.
“Uh… that is…”
In the past, I could have ignored a crowd like that or given short answers.
But the crowd now was overwhelming for me.
This situation continued during breaks and lunchtime, and I couldn’t catch up on sleep as I had planned.
Life after school also changed.
“Ye-rin! Come here!”
“Ji-woo sunbaenim.”
My first trainer, Lee Ji-woo, signed an exclusive contract with Brotherhood Planning, so after school, I could get lessons from her as much as I wanted.
Even though my dance stats were 99, I still lacked experience, so I learned various know-how from her throughout the week.
Lee Ji-woo was good at community engagement, which was another advantage.
“Ye-rin, look at this. Already getting good reactions!”
On the screen she showed me, there was a post from someone who I guessed was an audience member.
[Title: Review of Na Ah Ah’s First Team Competition (Includes Spoilers)]
[I’ve never been to one of these before, but my girlfriend loves this stuff, so I went with her. We’ve been dating for 34 days. You all know, right? The early stages of dating are when your girlfriend looks the cutest. (Ah, you probably don’t know haha) Anyway, no matter how pretty the girls were, I thought my girlfriend would look the prettiest, but wow… from the first stage, seriously…. Especially Ha Ye-rin? She’s freaking gorgeous. After seeing her, my girlfriend looked like an orangutan waving a light stick ㅋㅋ. Anyway, she sings well and dances extremely well. Towards the end, Yoo Seol also did really well, but my girlfriend and I supported Ha Ye-rin’s team. We signed a spoiler prevention agreement, so I shouldn’t say anything, but it’s an anonymous community, so who cares? Ha Ye-rin’s team got first place ㅋㅋ sg]
– Hey, are you bragging about having a girlfriend?
– I get it, the early stages of dating are the most fun (Not that I know)
– Ha Ye-rin’s team got first? Wow…, sick.
└ She’s been practicing for a month, how did she do so well in the team competition?
└ She’s just a genius, was born to be an idol.
└ Seriously, that seems like it.
– Spoiler, you jerk.
– Didn’t Yoo Seol’s team get first? Why? What was the reason, you jerk?
“Ah, Ye-rin, you probably don’t know, right? This is a community mostly for guys…”
Swipe…
Lee Ji-woo picked up her phone and showed me a different site as she continued.
“Even on the site mostly for girls, you’re getting talked about the most, Ye-rin.”
“……Wow.”
In the women’s community she showed me, there were plenty of posts filled with compliments about me.
“Usually, these places only share criticism, but if this level of positive feedback is coming in, it’s pretty impressive, isn’t it?”
“Is that so?”
“Of course! Ye-rin, the filming for the ranking announcement is next week, right? Considering the positive atmosphere, I’d say we can look forward to it!”
Lee Ji-woo said that while looking at me with a smirk.
I chuckled softly and shook my head.
“Eh, there are still plenty of strong competitors, right? I’m sure being first is out of reach.”
“Strong competitors, like that one? Yoo Seol?”
“Yes.”
As I nodded, Lee Ji-woo nodded back.
“Hmm…, that’s true. Her skills are definitely beyond that of a trainee. No matter how much I’m blinded by love, I can’t deny that her skill is above ours, Ye-rin.”
“…Haha.”
Lee Ji-woo was indeed realistic about such things.
Well… I guess that’s a good thing about her.
“But still, Ye-rin. In survival programs, rankings aren’t decided purely by skill. It might be good to keep some hope.”
“Yes, I will.”
“Oh, it happens to be the day of the third episode of Na Ah Ah tonight. We’ll be able to see how it turned out. You’re watching the broadcast with us tonight, right?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Hehe, I’m excited! I can’t wait to see how my pupil rocked the stage. …But Ye-rin.”
Lee Ji-woo laughed and pointed at my pocket.
Vroom…
“That… it’s been bothering me for a while. Your phone keeps ringing?”
“Ah.”
At the tip of her finger was my phone, vibrating incessantly.
I hurriedly turned off my phone and shook my head.
“I should have turned this off earlier. Sorry about that.”
“Hmm? Aren’t you going to answer?”
“It’s a call I don’t need to answer.”
The one calling me was Mom.
For the past week, Mom and Dad had taken turns calling my phone whenever they got the chance.
I probably had hundreds of missed calls piled up.
Press.
I turned off my ringing phone and stood up with a smile.
“…More importantly, let’s practice more, teacher.”
“Shall we? Haha, Ye-rin, you’re so enthusiastic it makes my heart race!”
So I completely forgot about having dinner with Lee Ji-woo and continued dancing till nightfall.
And just before Na Ah Ah started, we all gathered in the monitoring room with the chicken that Kang Hyung-man had ordered as a substitute for dinner.
“No way, Boss! Are you really serving chicken for dinner to someone who wants to debut as an idol?!”
“Uh, I heard roasted chicken is okay…”
“Roasted chicken is still chicken! Good thing Ye-rin has a body that doesn’t gain weight… but be more careful next time!”
“Ah, I understand.”
It seemed like the relationship between Kang Hyung-man and Lee Ji-woo had flipped.
I couldn’t help but laugh at this irony and sat on the sofa in front of the TV.
Ding.
[10:00 PM]
The time was exactly 10 PM.
The third episode of my Idol Academia, which contained the content of the first team competition, was about to start.
Our team had come in first place, and I had shown a good performance as well.
But how this would be utilized was up to the production team.
“Ah, it’s starting.”
It was time to find out how the production team had edited the first team competition.
Let’s rewind back to last week.
On the night after the first team competition ended.
The participants returned home after finishing filming, but the Na Ah Ah production team’s day was just beginning.
It was shortly after midnight.
They moved to the broadcasting station for a meeting.
The meeting was called ‘Editing Direction Meeting.’
At first glance, it seemed like a normal meeting, but…
What they colloquially called ‘Editing Direction Meeting’ among themselves was…
The ‘Death Note Meeting.’
“Okay, spill it.”
Under the guidance of Na Ah Ah’s main PD, Shin PD, the meeting began.
The writers in charge of the editing for Na Ah Ah started reporting to Shin PD about how they would structure the third episode.
“First, there’s a lot to include in episode 3. Both Ha Ye-rin and Yoo Seol successfully performed the designated songs, so we should maintain the rivalry narrative…”
Of course, it goes without saying that the cyber spinning wheel used for selecting team competition songs was manipulated, not random.
To be precise…, only Ha Ye-rin and Yoo Seol’s selections were manipulated.
The production team deliberately assigned the cold image Ha Ye-rin a charming, upbeat song [Where is my first love!]…
while they assigned the cute and clumsy image of Yoo Seol a hip, girl-crush style song [Thank you very much]…
This was the production team’s way of filtering out the talent.
They aimed to see who could perform a stage better when songs with contrasting images were selected for the two candidates for the top spot.
However, both of them performed well enough that it was hard to distinguish who was better.
Thus, the writers decided to avoid pushing either one too much and chose to make their judgments based on the competition.
So, the content for Na Ah Ah’s third episode remained focused on the rivalry narrative between Ha Ye-rin and Yoo Seol.
Since the two were already hearty main characters like a warm soup in Na Ah Ah, they figured using them could lead to stable ratings.
But….
“Sure, we have to include both of their stories. But… are you planning to stretch that one narrative till the final episode? It’s too monotone and cliché~”
It seemed Shin PD had dissatisfaction with continuing the broadcast solely around the rivalry between Ha Ye-rin and Yoo Seol.
“…Then.”
“I need something more exciting…, something that will rile the viewers up…, something like… is there anyone who might explode in drama?”
A participant that might explode.
Being someone who had worked with Shin PD for a long time, the writers understood.
When Shin PD referred to the ‘participant who might explode,’ he meant… someone who could serve as fuel for the program.
In other words, a sacrificial lamb for witch hunting.
“Hmm…”
The writers fell into deep thought, trying to recall participants that fit Shin PD’s demands.
However…
“Uh… there wasn’t that much conflict in this team competition…”
Participants who could serve as the flame that Shin PD wanted didn’t come easily to mind.
With a sharp gaze, Shin PD continued with a cold voice due to the writers’ frustrating responses.
“Hey, are you all out of your minds?”
“……”
“What? No conflict? How many years have we worked together? You still don’t know my style? If you don’t have any, make one.”
“……Even so.”
“Come on, we need to grab this opportunity to rise higher in our field. Ratings are our bread and butter; don’t you know that?”
Shin PD had a tendency to keep pushing his subordinates until the desired results came out.
So, with another week of sleepless nights ahead of them, the writers needed to squeeze their brains.
And…
“Um…”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“I have a participant in mind…”
One of the writers, who had been pondering for a while, recalled a participant’s face and opened their mouth hesitantly.