"Wotah, please."
"You could just ask for water. Do you have to do it like that?"
"Mocking a British gentleman’s pronunciation—truly what I’d expect from the followers of North Arican sheep."
"Yes, next up, Ms. Lee Sion, who got caught eating a McDonald’s hamburger yesterday."
Tsk.
Watching Seo Ryujin’s mouth get nastier by the day, I found myself wondering if I should’ve sent her to Paldo Man instead of Lee Gahyeon.
"Good work, guys."
But right now, I was thirstier than anything.
"Thank you for your service."
In the waiting room behind the venue, Managers Yunsik and Jiu had been watching us.
The mont we got back from the guerrilla concert, they kept fanning us while handing us ice-cold water, telling us over and over that we’d worked hard.
Their faces were full of guilt. It probably weighed on them that starting from today’s promo all the way through the stage, they hadn’t been able to help us.
'It was rough.'
Today really was physically brutal compared to usual.
We’d carried a palanquin around the streets to promote, then prepped the stage without even a second to breathe, and then did a thirty-minute guerrilla concert.
Sitting down and chugging water, I finally felt like I could live again.
"Today I don’t even have the energy to hit Lee Sion."
"It really is a whole different level from just going onstage normally."
Even Seo Ryujin and Ryu Ayeon—who were on the tougher side stamina-wise, aside from —were silently laying wet towels over their eyes, letting out heavy breaths.
Beside , Lee Gahyeon and Shinyu looked like they didn’t even have the strength to talk. They were practically lting into their chairs.
But—
"Yunkyung, you’re going to collapse like that."
"···I’m not collapsing."
Im Yunkyung was the only one still not sitting down, standing there straight.
Like she was possessed, she just stared into empty space. Even when we told her to sit, she only stood there blankly, like exhaustion hadn’t even touched her.
'Yeah. I get it.'
I understood how she felt, at least a little.
-Waaaaaah!!!
The crowd that had packed Seoul Forest Plaza.
So of them were our fans, and so of them were people who’d only co because sothing was happening. Showing the performance we’d prepared—even if it was only thirty minutes—was a completely different experience from every stage we’d done so far.
And Yunkyung had been right at the center of it, so whatever she was feeling now had to be special, even among the mbers.
-I want to try that solo part.
I rembered her during practice for the guerrilla concert, saying she wanted to be center for Lucid Dive.
Even when center opportunities ca, she’d always been quick to yield them to soone else. That was the first ti she’d ever shown that kind of desire.
-Yunkyung will do well.
-Right?
-Last ti when my blocking got tangled, you know how Yunkyung cut in right away and covered my mistake?
-That happened?
-Yeah. She doesn’t show it, but her instincts are no joke.
I already believed she’d do well, but I was still a little surprised the others—especially Seo Ryujin—trusted her that much.
And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried, seeing her look like she might burst at any second.
In the end, she pulled it off.
That miracle of a mont at Lucid Dive’s ending, when the thousands of people gathered there visibly stopped breathing all at once.
No matter how you looked at it, today’s protagonist was Yunkyung.
Swoosh.
I pushed my exhausted body up and walked over to her.
"I’m really fine."
"Tonight I’ll make you my special pasta."
"Huh?"
"Santa gives presents to a good little kid."
"It’s not Christmas yet."
Hng.
Unlike Shinyu, who would nod along like, Is that so? even if I told her the sun rose in the west, Yunkyung had picked up Seo Ryujin’s attitude sowhere. The way she kept defaulting to pushing back was a little disappointing.
Still, she’d burned herself out today and put on an amazing stage, so I was proud enough that I ruffled her hair hard.
"Aaagh! You’re ssing up my hair!"
"It’s fine. The stage is over anyway."
"That’s true, but···Captain, last ti’s pasta really wasn’t it."
"What?"
Completely oblivious to how I felt, she kept making insolent remarks.
"I thought it was good."
"See, Gahyeon knows. If nothing else, she’s serious about food."
"If nothing else?"
anwhile, Lee Gahyeon complinted my special pasta.
Seems like the spring cabbage pasta I made last ti didn’t match a kid’s palate.
Just as I was wondering if I should pull out my trump card—pork belly pasta—
"Guys, let’s move."
"Already?"
"Yeah. The studio says they’re announcing today’s competition results, so they want everyone gathered fast."
It was ti to go wrap up Three Kingdoms.
***
"As of this mont, the guerrilla concert audience count has been fully finalized."
At Main MC Jang Junseok’s words, the studio went silent.
After finishing the guerrilla concerts that had run since morning, and without even getting a proper break, Kaella and the other VYNNIA mbers had to move back to MPlay’s indoor studio again to close out the program.
Now, at last, only the final announcent of the third competition remained.
As the long two-month run finally neared its end, she felt a fresh wave of emotion.
'I didn’t think I’d end up taking this so seriously.'
Honestly, when the company first told her VYNNIA would be going on Three Kingdoms, she hadn’t cared much.
Because she’d thought VYNNIA was far better than both rival groups, LYNX and Iam.
SY.
People sotis sneered that if you debuted at SY, of course you’d take first place, belittling VYNNIA’s success—but put another way, to debut at SY, you had to claw through fiercer competition than trainees at any other agency.
In reality, the four of them had endured through years where dozens—no, easily a hundred—trainees entered and left the company. They held on, and that was how they’d been able to debut as VYNNIA.
That was why, no matter what group you compared them to, she hadn’t believed they’d lose on skill—and she’d believed they’d obviously take first on Three Kingdoms too.
But.
-VYNNIA is second again this ti?
⤷Second is still good!
⤷Second is still good!
⤷Wait, why are the comnts duplicating?
⤷Their stages always seem really good, but they can’t get first
⤷For real, doing sothing with impact like Iam—clinging to the producer and getting last—has impact, agreed?
⤷This is all VYNNIA sacrificing themselves to make the show fun until the very end
⤷Stop sacrificing and get first already!!!
Contrary to expectations, Iam and LYNX—the opponents they t on Three Kingdoms—weren’t pushovers.
It was a sha, but they’d taken second place twice in a row across the two rounds.
'I was arrogant.'
She realized she’d overlooked sothing: just like VYNNIA debuted by breaking through brutal competition at SY, LYNX had fought just as hard to debut at TSP.
And Iam, too—since its mbers had survived a competition of a hundred—had reserves that were anything but easy.
Every round, Iam brought out unexpected stages that shocked her and the other mbers.
And in that Iam—
"You’ve got the qualifications. The Iam fan-community quiz is hard, but you can solve it."
"Is it really worth joining if you have to go that far?"
"Once you look, you can’t climb out for at least a month. It’s a treasure vault of information. I don’t recomnd just anyone for mbership."
"I’ll give it a shot."
"Yeah. Good choice. Contact once you’re back at the dorm."
If there was one person who especially stunned her, it was Lee Sion—right now, excitedly whispering sothing with Lee Jia, who was now a LYNX mber.
'Is she not nervous at all?'
Kaella had first t her by chance in a restroom, and before they knew it, they’d beco the kind of friends who kept in regular contact.
At first, since they were rival groups, she’d planned to keep it to polite, official courtesy and had no intention of getting close—but sohow, Sion had beco the first idol friend she’d ever gotten close to.
She’d always been sensitive and had a hard ti forming relationships, but for so reason, being with Sion brought a comfort she couldn’t explain.
Even now, with her stomach churning from nerves ahead of the final results, just looking at Sion’s easygoing face made the nerves settle.
-Articles are blowing up right now.
Kaella suddenly rembered what her manager had said as they rode the van to the studio after the guerrilla concert.
The manager had spoken excitedly, saying the internet was buzzing with stories about the three girl groups’ guerrilla concerts.
At Yeouido Hangang Park, where VYNNIA held their guerrilla concert, a decent crowd had shown up despite the short promo ti.
She didn’t know exactly how the other two groups had done, so she was curious about the results.
"From here, we’ll reveal the number of audience mbers who gathered for today’s guerrilla concert for each group on the big screen!"
As if reading her mind, Jang Junseok—who’d been shouting that it would be revealed in sixty seconds—continued into the announcent again.
Even Lee Sion and Lee Jia, who’d been chatting.
Not just the mbers up onstage, but even the staff and agency people {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} gathered at the filming site held their breath, staring at his mouth.
"Three Kingdoms’ two-month long run. The fierce competition between rookie girl groups representing South Korea finally cos to an end. We will reveal the rankings right now!"
In that silence, the mont he delivered the line announcing the results, the question marks on the big screen behind them began spinning busily like a roulette.
Click.
The screen finally stopped.
1st Iam 9,234 people
2nd VYNNIA 5,023 people
3rd LYNX 4,851 people
At the numbers on the screen, soone scread in celebration, and soone scread in despair.
The Iam mbers imdiately ran to Producer Raon and the company staff who’d been waiting, hugging each other and bouncing up and down.
"Hngh···."
VYNNIA’s Sofia and Mizuhashi Risa were in tears.
"···."
Their main dancer, Iber, stared at the big screen with a glare full of venom.
Was it because of the mbers crying and the mbers radiating a cold aura?
Because of that, VYNNIA’s manager, the SY people, and even CEO Lee Seyoon—who didn’t have to participate in filming today but had co to watch the results—could only stand there and watch them.
'What about right now?'
Looking over her mbers and the company people, Kaella wondered what kind of expression she was making.
And she quickly found out.
"It was a good match. With this body belonging to Iam, it wouldn’t have been easy to surpass. But you need that kind of stress too. It’ll probably help a lo—"
"Pfft—hahaha!"
"Huh?"
The mont Lee Sion ca up and said that to her, laughter burst out before she could stop it.
'Why is she so transparent?'
The words sounded like she was teasing, but her face looked like she didn’t know what to do.
Since she’d gotten close to Sion while filming Three Kingdoms, Kaella could tell she was trying, in her own way, to comfort her for losing.
Maybe that was why—seeing Sion’s awkward expression made her laugh without aning to.
VYNNIA’s mbers looked shocked seeing her like that, but she felt lighter than ever.
"Next ti I won’t lose, Lee Sion."
"Huh?"
"Next ti, with the mbers···"
She walked over to the mbers wearing stunned expressions, wrapped an arm around their shoulders, and continued.
"We’ll do better."
***
"Are you working without even resting?"
Raon flopped down on the sofa in the CEO’s office, looking at Sanghyeok sitting at the desk and doing sothing the mont she walked in.
"The mbers’ work is done. Ours isn’t."
"What are you going to sell off this ti."
"'Sell off' sounds too negative. I’d prefer 'business,' if you don’t mind."
"Yes, demon of business."
Even at her joke, he didn’t change expression, still staring at the monitor.
'So weird.'
Looking at him, she thought this company was strange from top to bottom—artists, employees, even the CEO.
No matter that she was an executive director and producer, being this casual with him wasn’t normal.
Sothing her old agency, SY, wouldn’t have even imagined.
But at KJ Entertainnt, it was completely natural.
-CEO, if you bestow the company card upon , I will never forget this grace!
-No buying figures.
-Tsk.
Every ti she saw Lee Sion asking the CEO for the company card so the staff could have a team dinner, and Sanghyeok telling her not to buy figures with it, it got to the point she couldn’t tell if this was a company or a high school classroom.
Still, maybe because of that atmosphere, KJ Entertainnt was a place where even if there was overti or tough work, what rose among the employees was laughter more than complaints.
Before she knew it, the company had started feeling more familiar than ho.
"Anyway, what are you working on that hard? We should do a team dinner for the employees today too."
"Yes. I already told the team leads to have dinner tonight with only the employees who are free."
"Why didn’t you tell ?!"
"I figured you’d co to the CEO’s office anyway."
"···."
At his words, she briefly reflected on whether she’d been dropping in too often lately—but her curiosity still won out. She walked over to his desk and leaned in to look at the monitor.
"Snacks?"
On the screen was an online shopping site—specifically, a page full of snack options.
"Do you know any refreshnts won in their fifties might like? Sothing that feels a bit upscale."
"Won in their fifties? Then wouldn’t bakery items be better?"
"That’s true, but···I don’t really know that area."
"I know a few good places. If you need, I’ll pick so up for you next ti."
"Thank you. That takes a big worry off my mind."
Only then did he finally pull his eyes off the monitor.
"But why are you suddenly looking for refreshnts won in their fifties would like?"
When she asked why he was suddenly searching for that kind of thing—
"We have an important guest to receive. I don’t think there can be any gaps in hospitality, so I planned to personally prepare everything, from the refreshnts to the tea."
"Hm? Soone you have to go that far for is coming?"
He nodded and continued.
"Kim Sukja."
"Kim Sukja? Uh···wait. I’ve heard that na sowhere before."
"You have. She’s Sion’s mother."
And at Sukja’s na, Raon’s mind went blank for a mont.
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