Chapter 109
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: Practice Tensions
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After properly healing up from the volunteer activities, I returned to everyday life.
Now it was time to focus on school again.
After dinner, we gathered in the practice room for the singing & dance test rehearsal.
We'd already had two practice sessions, so everyone had the movements down well enough, and things were mostly in sync.
Even Woo-sik was dancing decently, so the three of us—me, Woo-sik, and Moon Woo-hyuk—were able to keep going without much trouble.
But trouble was lurking elsewhere.
“Argh!”
Thud. Han Jin-su went sprawling.
It had only been 30 minutes of practice, and this was already his fifth fall.
It was too many slip-ups to chalk up to just stiff muscles.
Moon Woo-hyuk, who wouldn't normally let it slide, shot Han Jin-su a fierce glare.
“Hey.”
Moon Woo-hyuk called out to him in a low, gravelly voice.
Han Jin-su, still face-down on the floor, flinched at the menacing tone.
“Uh, yeah…….”
Han Jin-su rolled his eyes around as he answered.
Moon Woo-hyuk already had a deep voice, and when he lowered it even more, even I got chills.
“You got connections to get into this school or what?”
Moon Woo-hyuk let out a gradient of rage.
His voice grew louder, echoing through the practice room.
“How the hell did you even get in here? Huh? Even if you're dead last, there's a limit before it gets ridiculous!”
As Moon Woo-hyuk's voice rose and he closed in on Han Jin-su, Woo-sik and I rushed in from both sides to hold him back.
“How many times are you gonna mess up the same spot? Huh? Hey! Answer me!”
“Moon Woo-hyuk…! Gah!”
Trying to shake us off, Moon Woo-hyuk swung his elbow, catching Woo-sik square in the chest and sending him tumbling.
“Hey, Moon Woo-hyuk!”
With Woo-sik down too, I yelled, realizing this couldn't go on. Moon Woo-hyuk finally stopped.
He turned to me, still huffing, clearly not over it.
What a strong kid.
“Argh!”
He'd stopped, but his anger hadn't faded.
Unable to hold back, Moon Woo-hyuk stormed out of the practice room.
Woo-sik wouldn't show it, but he had to be pissed too.
Especially after taking that solid hit to the chest.
Woo-sik got up, running a hand through his hair as he grumbled.
“I'm gonna hit the bathroom real quick.”
He headed out too, probably to cool off.
It was rare to see Woo-sik get irritated like that.
I wanted to let it slide if I could.
But the situation wouldn't allow it.
“Jin-su.”
“Yeah…….”
“You feel wronged?”
I couldn't just let this go.
I plopped down on the practice room floor.
Han Jin-su slowly sat beside me and hung his head.
“No… It's my fault for sucking. What's there to feel wronged about?”
He mumbled, completely deflated, like he was the criminal here.
Watching him, my thoughts grew complicated.
“…But you know.”
I stared into the practice room mirror, not looking at him, and slowly spoke.
“Even if I practice my ass off and still screw up, that would suck.”
Through the mirror, I fixed him with a cold stare.
“That kind of real frustration would kill me. I'd probably lie awake at night.”
“Huh……?”
Han Jin-su froze, caught off guard by the bluntness.
In the end, you just don't practice your ass off—that's the point.
If you really gave it your all, you'd be pissed when things didn't go right.
To the point of tears at your own frustrating self.
But from watching Han Jin-su the past few days, it just looked like a lack of will.
You could see it—he wasn't putting in any effort beyond the bare minimum.
That's probably why he couldn't even think of pushing back when Moon Woo-hyuk went off like that.
I got where Han Jin-su was coming from.
It hit too close to home, making it even more frustrating.
In the arts, innate talent matters, sure.
But now I knew even the talented ones worked their asses off.
Before my regression, I used to think I could never beat the naturally gifted ones, no matter what.
There were times I got cynical and slacked off like Han Jin-su.
I only realized later, as an adult.
How much blood, sweat, and tears overflowed from those ultra-talented actors behind the scenes.
‘This won't do.’
Seeing Han Jin-su today, I thought that.
Talent or no, messing up basic steps was a problem.
I understood Moon Woo-hyuk's outburst this time.
Han Jin-su was mostly at fault here.
When you've prepped hard, and your own teammate keeps botching the basics, of course you're mad.
As someone sharing the stage, I had to address Han Jin-su's mistakes head-on.
“Ensemble… yeah. The audience might not remember you at all. Honestly, the odds are high.”
I pictured my pre-regression days.
The leads soaking up applause center stage, while I bowed in the corner by the curtain.
“You might not be as important as the leads.”
“…….”
Han Jin-su had no response to my heavy words settling over the room.
“But what if the ensemble messes up once?”
Just thinking about it made me shudder.
“The audience remembers that forever. An ensemble—not even a lead—screwed up. Tripped. That person never gets a lead role. No one's dumb enough to hand them a stage.”
It sucked to say, but Han Jin-su needed to hear the reality.
If you really want to be a musical actor and that's why you got into Cheongyeom Arts High.
“Don't think, ‘This role's not important, so this much effort's enough.’ Isn't it sadder if your work gets undervalued because the role's small?”
I glanced over with a faint smile, and saw Han Jin-su's lips trembling.
“Hey, Jin-su. Hey, hey.”
I twisted toward him in a panic.
Was he crying?
Did I come off that harsh?
…Yeah, maybe.
But no need to cry, right?
Han Jin-su roughly wiped his tears.
He sat there a while, tears keep welling up.
Then, like something clicked, he snapped his head up.
“Sorry. I'm really sorry.”
Relief hit me first.
His first words weren't defiance.
“You guys are so good… I figured no one would notice me anyway. That's why I lost motivation, honestly…….”
Tears dripped from Han Jin-su's eyes again.
He wiped them, then jumped to his feet.
“Whoa, you scared me.”
Looking down at me still sitting, Han Jin-su said.
“I'll do it. I'll work harder. I won't disrupt practice—you guys', no, our practice—ever again.”
I stood up too, brushing off my butt.
About to encourage him, when Moon Woo-hyuk and Woo-sik walked in.
Eating ice cream together, all buddy-buddy.
They sauntered in looking totally chill, anger gone.
“What's this?”
“He said sorry and bought ice cream. Heh.”
Moon Woo-hyuk knew how to apologize after all.
Woo-sik's personality was top-tier as always.
I nodded, relieved.
“Huh……?”
But Woo-sik, smiling with his ice cream, froze when he saw Han Jin-su's face.
Red, bloodshot eyes. Wet sleeve. Swollen red nose.
Putting it all together, Woo-sik clapped a hand over his mouth.
“Uncle… did you really have to go that far?”
I panicked at Woo-sik's trembling voice.
It looked bad, sure, but it wasn't like that.
“Wait, this isn't—”
Even Moon Woo-hyuk turned cold, cornering me.
“Didn't think you had it in you.”
Moon Woo-hyuk narrowed his eyes, treating me like trash.
Not from him, of all people.
Their icy stares made it hard to even open my mouth.
No, you two are the ones who stormed out pissed.
***
Second semester of first year traditionally emphasizes comprehensive evaluations over subject tests.
With the Cheongyeom Arts Festival right around the corner, that made sense.
Unlike first semester, each subject test got just two weeks prep time.
Maybe that's why the singing & dance evaluation day came so fast.
Second semester tests were in the small theater too.
On the small stage stood singing teacher Huh Ji-woong and dance teacher Jung Hye-seon.
Spotting the two teachers, the kids took their seats in the audience.
“You all practice a lot?”
Huh Ji-woong asked lightly while checking his evaluation sheets.
“Yesss—”
“Good answers.”
Jung Hye-seon grinned.
“We'll start with the girls' teams first, then the boys. Girls' teams, all backstage.”
The girls bolted backstage the second Jung Hye-seon finished.
Woo-sik, in the seats, whispered in my ear.
“This is gonna be good. Right?”
Right my ass.
Don't lump me in with you.
With Woo-sik's eyes sparkling the whole time, the girls' teams took the stage one by one.
Woo-sik watched even more intently than when monitoring our own practice.
Anyone would think he was a judge.
Song Ha-na's team was especially nuts.
“Whoa…… As expected. Ha-na's got that dancer vibe.”
Not exaggerating—he gasped every 10 seconds.
“Ooh, Lee Cheong-ha—pretty good, huh?”
Lee Cheong-ha's dancing had noticeably improved.
Yeah, she'd kept getting better since the tryouts.
Woo-sik grinned the whole time, clearly enjoying the show.
The girls' singing & dance wrapped up, and our fateful moment arrived.
“Boys' teams, stand by.”
Woo-sik's smile vanished at Huh Ji-woong's words, his face turning gloomy.
It was so serious, it was funny.
“Don't try to act cool. It doesn't suit you.”
Woo-sik turned to me all stern, then relaxed with a grin.
“Right?”
Seeing that carefree smile, he was back to normal.
The boys headed backstage in a group.
Our team of four huddled in the corner.
Han Jin-su unwrapped his knee pads and wrist wraps.
Since that day, he'd shown a total change in every practice.
He was practicing the hardest of the four.
Memorizing parts that weren't even his.
Our eyes met as I looked at him.
We both smiled faintly.
No worries now.
Just do what we practiced.
“First team: Kim Sun-woo, Do Kyung-in…….”
Huh Ji-woong came backstage to announce the order.
Kim Sun-woo's team was up first.
The kids groaned in unison.
Kim Sun-woo's first again—they muttered, and the rest tensed up.
“Man, check out Kim Sun-woo's eyes. Something different, right?”
At Woo-sik's words, I glanced at Kim Sun-woo heading onstage.
Heard he went to England over break.
Not sure about his eyes, but yeah, he looked different.
From the masterclass, volunteer work, even casual singing—you could tell.
Curious what he'd show in the actual test.
Kinda tense now.
“Begin!”
Even backstage in the small theater, there was a monitor to watch the stage.
We crowded around it, eyes glued.
Kim Sun-woo's team performance began.
Everyone marveled at his singing and choreography.
But watching the same stage, I muttered under my breath, too quiet for anyone to hear.
“Kim Sun-woo… What's with all the mistakes today?”