NOVEL NEXT Chapter 69
I watched Seo Yoo-jin’s back as she yelled, “I’ll handle it myself!” and walked away for a long time.
“Hah…”
…I’ve done my part.
If they can’t take advice, well… that’s just their fate.
‘Still, looking at Yoo-jin’s idol career long-term, maybe it’s better for her to debut now.’
If Seo Yoo-jin continues with that goldfish-like personality and debuts as she is, it’s clear that she’ll stir up a big controversy during her idol activities.
Honestly, seeing the bitter taste of the public now, while she’s still a trainee, could serve as a preventive shot for her.
“Right… so let’s just stop worrying about it for now.”
Getting more involved here isn’t advice; it’s just being meddlesome.
Our First Team isn’t even at the perfect stage yet; I should just focus on our team’s matters.
After watching Seo Yoo-jin disappear completely at the end of the hallway, I headed towards our team’s practice room.
But…
“Argh, why won’t you listen…!”
Even on my way to the practice room, my worries about Seo Yoo-jin surprisingly wouldn’t fade away.
“……”
“……”
The practice room was filled with silence.
After the mid-term evaluation, our First Team decided to hold a meeting on what to do next…
“Okay, let’s not drag this out. Please share your thoughts freely.”
“……”
“……”
“……”
Surprisingly, no one raised their hand or broke the silence, and the meeting didn’t progress.
‘Should I be the one to start talking….’
I thought, in this painfully cold atmosphere, maybe I should come up with an idea or at least try to break the ice, but…
‘Damn, I can’t think of anything either.’
Unfortunately, I was just as lost and couldn’t come up with anything to say.
And just as the suffocating silence continued to freeze our team’s atmosphere further…
Swipe-.
“……!”
Someone finally raised their hand to break this silence, so I looked over eagerly…
‘…oh.’
…But I couldn’t help but be disappointed upon seeing who it was.
‘…She always makes things worse when she opens her mouth.’
The hand was raised by Na Han-na.
Whenever Na Han-na spoke, she always disrupted the atmosphere, so I hesitated for a moment and then said…
“Okay, Han-na. Go ahead and say something.”
She’s the only one who raised her hand; I couldn’t ignore her, so I gave her the opportunity to speak.
Seizing her chance, Na Han-na began to speak in her typical sleepy eyes and lazy tone.
“I think I know what everyone’s worried about right now…. Aren’t we all contemplating how to change the stage setup based on what the trainers pointed out during the mid-term evaluation?”
Exactly.
Originally, our First Team was preparing Magical Love☆ while keeping its original concept.
But during the mid-term evaluation just now, the trainers pointed out that the song’s vibe didn’t match our team.
Honestly, our stage felt awkward, and there were more than a couple of things bothering us…
‘At this point, since Sky Demon Enchantment is also a failure, arranging is unavoidable.’
I was thinking about how to rearrange Magical Love☆ and what new concept to adopt. Other team members were likely pondering the same thing.
But if Na Han-na raised her hand and started talking at this moment…
‘Could she have come up with a good arrangement idea?’
But Na Han-na was a character I couldn’t comprehend from my ordinary perspective.
“Why don’t we just skip the arrangement and stick to the original?”
“……Huh?”
I couldn’t help but respond with a foolish reaction to Na Han-na’s unexpected statement.
And quickly regaining my senses, I stammered and asked, “W-What do you mean, Han-na?”
“…That’s exactly what I’m saying?”
“Aren’t we just told during the mid-term evaluation that the song doesn’t match us, but now you want to give up on the arrangement?”
Upon my hurried question, Na Han-na nodded and replied.
“Yeah, let’s just stick to this. Honestly, didn’t we all feel from the beginning that Magical Love☆ didn’t suit our team’s vibe?”
“……”
Everyone quietly nodded in agreement with Na Han-na’s statement.
Our team has many dancers and a more cynical vibe than a bright image, so it didn’t match the cheerful and hopeful tone of Magical Love☆ at all.
“However, we didn’t choose to stick to the original because we thought that arranging it would be going to be incredibly hard.”
…This part was also true.
In fact, I had thought about arrangement since we got the song, but since the unique concept of a magical girl in Magical Love☆ didn’t lead to any arrangement ideas, we kept it original.
“Now, all of a sudden coming up with brilliant arrangement ideas isn’t realistic,… you know? If we mess with it clumsily, the stage might end up worse.”
“……”
“So let’s not waste time trying to arrange and just start practicing right away. I think that’ll be more efficient.”
With that, Na Han-na yawned widely.
She looked like she wanted to quickly finish rehearsing and head to her room to sleep.
“But Han-na…”
As soon as Na Han-na finished speaking, I raised my hand to counter her point.
“If we proceed with a stage that already received negative evaluations during the mid-term, won’t we just get the same bad evaluations during the actual competition? If we show a poor performance during the main competition, it will impact our ranks as well.”
“……!!!”
At my words, the other team members, except Na Han-na, immediately flinched.
Since the other team members from First Team, excluding me and Na Han-na, were all at risk of elimination.
If they messed up their stage in the main competition, they would feel their survival was directly threatened.
“Of course, I know Magical Love☆ is difficult to arrange. However, if we want to show a good performance in the main competition, we need to change something, don’t we?”
“Y-Yeah, I agree with what Ye-rin unnie said…!”
“R-Right. At least we need to do something for the competition….”
While the other team members began to align with my opinions and shift the atmosphere towards doing something…
“…If it were an ordinary competition where all teams compete at once, I wouldn’t say this. But, this second team competition is a 1 vs 1 team match, right?”
Na Han-na raised her hand and coldly countered.
“We only have the Second Team as a comparison. As we saw earlier,… the Second Team is self-destructing.”
“……”
“If we don’t make unnecessary attempts and instead solidify the current stage, we should win against the Second Team without much trouble.”
As you know, the second team competition is a 1 vs 1 team match.
In the main competition, the audience must pick one team between Team 1 and Team 2, whether they want to or not.
Better than the worst, it’s the lesser evil… Even if both teams’ stages are subpar, the audience will still choose our team, which is a little better.
“So let’s not overexert ourselves and just focus on practicing like we have been doing.”
“……”
“Honestly, if we make an unnecessary move, we risk losing practice time and giving the other team an opportunity for a comeback.”
Na Han-na’s argument was logically sound.
Thus…
“Han-na’s point… does make sense.”
“Definitely, instead of wasting time on an arrangement, focusing on rehearsing the current stage…”
The atmosphere shifted again, and team members started to align with her words.
“……”
But I still couldn’t understand.
Sure, I get that the arrangement difficulty is extremely high, but… we still have four days left.
Moreover, most of the team members had already memorized the choreography, so we surely had enough time.
We still had many things we could do, yet why are we already giving up and taking only the safe route?
…I simply couldn’t understand.
However, we were a team, and no matter how much of a leader I was, I couldn’t force my ideas.
So I decided to…
“Let’s vote on what to do.”
Whether to spend time on the arrangement or give up and focus on practice instead, I put it up for a vote.
“……”
“……”
“First, those who think we should prioritize the arrangement, raise your hands.”
As the team members hesitated over which option to choose, the voting began…
“…The results are in.”
…Our team concluded to give up on the arrangement and proceed with rehearsing.
This week, just like always, First Team finished practicing right at midnight.
“Good work, everyone.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow~”
Na Han-na exchanged quick greetings with the team members and returned to her room.
After barely catching the last train to an A rank in the final evaluation, she got herself a private room.
Whoosh…
Na Han-na quickly finished her shower in her now-familiar room and lay down on her bed.
After completing her day’s tasks and lying down just before falling asleep, that cozy feeling enveloped her.
It was her favorite moment of the day.
But…
“Ah…”
She soon realized her beloved eye mask was not there.
“Did I leave it in the practice room…?”
Since the only places she had been that day were the practice room and the cafeteria, if she hadn’t dropped it at the cafeteria, it had to be in the practice room.
“How troublesome…”
She contemplated just sleeping without it but realized she couldn’t rest comfortably without it, and reluctantly got up.
Thud, thud…
Slowly trudging toward the practice room at a pace that would make even a sloth cry, Na Han-na cursed her past self for leaving behind her eye mask.
‘I could have had a wonderfully comfortable sleep…’
Grumbling, as Na Han-na finally reached the First Team’s practice room…
“……Hmm?”
She immediately noticed something strange.
The lights of the First Team’s practice room, which should have been turned off after practice, were still on.
Peeking secretly into the practice room…
‘…What’s this?’
The leader and center of the First Team, Ha Ye-rin, was sitting in the middle of the practice room, looking at something on a tablet.
With her good eyesight, Na Han-na quickly identified the screen of the tablet showing the music video for Magical Love☆ and clicked her tongue softly.
‘That unnie hasn’t given up on the arrangement yet, I see.’
Na Han-na couldn’t understand Ha Ye-rin.
The Second Team, the only rival for the First Team, was already self-destructing. If they diligently practiced what they were doing, they should have no trouble winning in the competition.
If there’s an easy route, why choose the hard one?
‘She’s already at the top of the personal rankings anyway.’
Moreover, Ha Ye-rin was a participant who had overwhelming popularity in Na Ah Ah.
Unless some bizarre scandal happened, it was likely the viewers would continue voting for her even if she performed the leg dance until the final.
So why was she working so hard.
As Na Han-na continued watching Ha Ye-rin repeat the music video…
‘Should I just turn back…’
She thought about going back.
Although it was disappointing not to have her eye mask, she felt it might be excessively awkward to enter the practice room now.
‘Yeah, let’s go back.’
Having made up her mind, Na Han-na turned back with weak steps.
But…
“……”
…As she took each step back, Ha Ye-rin’s figure continued to stick in her mind.
Specifically…
‘…So reminiscent of someone foolish.’
Ha Ye-rin reminded her of someone from her past.
So Na Han-na…
“Hah…”
Stopped her footsteps, letting out a sigh.
And then….
Squeak-.
“……Who, huh?”
She walked right into the practice room where Ha Ye-rin was.