First Day of School!
Around six in the morning, in the basement gym at JO Entertainment. It was the hour when agency staff and trainees typically dropped by for a light warm-up before work… in theory.
"Haaah… I knew it. Nobody's here at this hour. Love it."
A single woman had the gym to herself. Her name was Bae Ji-hyun, the rookie girl-group idol JO Entertainment had just energetically unveiled.
They said I only have vocal practice today, so let's wreck my back and shoulders nice and clean.
She'd only been debuted a month, and her actual promotions amounted to a single music-show appearance. Passion and drive, though? Bae Ji-hyun was a workout fanatic who wouldn't lose to anyone.
She'd just finished a light twenty-minute run to break a sweat and was about to get into the real work when—
"Huh… I didn't hear anyone else would be here this early…"
The gym door creaked open, and someone stepped inside. Long hair falling all the way to her waist, a chest and hips any woman alive would envy on sight.
Who's that? I've never seen her before.
Bae Ji-hyun didn't know every face at the agency. Even so—
"Hello."
The woman came over and offered a greeting.
"Ah—hello."
Bae Ji-hyun nodded, a little flustered.
Whoa…
Rookie or not, Bae Ji-hyun was an idol who'd come up through trainee life. She'd met plenty of other trainees, and after debut, plenty of seniors too. And yet this woman had a face no bigger than a fist, with delicate features so perfectly placed they made every idol Bae Ji-hyun had ever seen look like a nobody.
"Working out, huh? Fighting!"
"Ah… yeah. You too… fighting."
After the brief exchange, Bae Ji-hyun reached for a machine, ready to get back to wrecking herself.
"Ghh… ghhh! I-it's heavy…"
That was as far as she got before a strange noise started up beside her. Curious just how much weight could produce a sound like that, she snuck a glance—and froze in horror.
The dumbbells in the woman's hands were, of all things—
P-pink dumbbells?!
And she was pouring sweat over a measly three kilos in each hand.
"Ugh… ughhh!"
Bae Ji-hyun shook her head and tried to tune it out. The noise kept coming, though, and there was no concentrating on her own workout. In the end she got up and walked over.
"Excuse me? If you lift like that, you'll wreck your back."
"…Huh? Th-this?"
"Yeah. Even if it's light, that form will wreck your back. So… like this."
Bae Ji-hyun pulled the gym DNA sleeping in her bones and walked the woman through it, one cue at a time. She wasn't a licensed trainer—just a patchwork of things she'd picked up over someone's shoulder and off the internet—but it was a physique even her own PT had signed off on. Teaching a beginner a few basics didn't require a certificate.
"See that?"
"L-like this, right. Hup!"
The woman bounced the pink dumbbells up on a hip snap again. No. At this rate she wouldn't last long before she really hurt her back.
"For now, skip the dumbbells. A treadmill or the stairs would be better."
"St…airs?"
She was such a beginner she didn't even know the famous Stairway to Heaven. Bae Ji-hyun led her onto the path to paradise.
"Haa… haeuh… I-I'm dying…"
"It's fine. People don't die from five minutes on the stairs."
"H-how could you… do something this cruel… to someone you just met…"
She could still talk, so she was fine. Bae Ji-hyun casually bumped the speed.
Beep!
"…Huh? W-wait. T-too fast! N-no!"
"Huuuuhhh…"
I was about ninety percent dead in the car on the way to school.
"You're okay, right?"
"Uhhh…"
Even Kang Ho-yeon's worried voice couldn't get a finger to twitch. Until yesterday I'd planned to get myself to school. Looking at the state of this body, I couldn't move a single finger. I'd barely managed to call Kang Ho-yeon and make it on time.
"Next time I'll take you to morning workout. And… here's breakfast. You've got to eat properly if you want to study."
With trembling hands I took the bag she held out. Inside was a single roll of kimbap. What was I supposed to do with that?
My brow twitched for a second. Then I smiled.
"Unnie, thank you. I'll eat well."
"Yeah. Going forward there'll be plenty of shoots and plenty of skin. So you need to start managing now."
"Thanks for the meal."
"…Already?"
Kang Ho-yeon stared at the neatly emptied foil and looked faintly stunned.
"Aww~ it's not even ten rolls, just one. Don't be so shocked. I work out here and there too. You don't have to worry."
"…You're sure you're okay?"
Kang Ho-yeon still had no idea how much I ate. If she did, this would never have been the end of it.
I'd once looked up the daily diets celebrities used to manage their weight. I was so shocked. How does a person live on one sweet potato and one egg? If it were me, I'd have the confidence to demolish a whole box of sweet potatoes and a carton of eggs on the spot.
Growl…
"Ah."
Oh no. The second I thought of sweet potatoes and eggs, my stomach started yelling for food. Still in the moving car, I pulled up a map and searched for convenience stores near the school.
A high school without a convenience store nearby? Unthinkable.
Elementary or middle school, maybe. I'd almost never seen a high school without one.
"Found it!"
"Huh? Found what?"
"Ah, nothing."
I grabbed my phone and my bag.
"Please drop me a little ways from school, not right out front. Even so, pulling up to the gate is a bit…"
"Will that be okay? Once the drama airs, it'd be better to go by car."
The drama aired this summer. There was still plenty of time, and I did not want to hear I'd already caught celebrity disease.
"It hasn't aired yet. I'll enjoy school life for a while. After that I'll listen to you, unnie… please."
I clasped my hands and looked at Kang Ho-yeon with pleading eyes. She hesitated at the look, then nodded.
The car eased to a stop. The door opened.
"Be careful. If anything happens, call me right away! I'm still your manager for now!"
"Got it. Drive safe."
I waved Kang Ho-yeon off, then switched modes on the spot. Target: the convenience store I'd just found. It was morning rush, so students would be pouring in—buy what I needed and get out fast.
Ding, ding!
"Welcome."
I stepped in on the chime. It wasn't student-rush hour yet; the clerk didn't even look up, buried in a phone. Less than thirty minutes until class. I grabbed a few things for breakfast and headed for the register.
"That'll be twenty-eight thousand won."
This much…?! More than I'd expected. Three pastries, two drinks, and a few chocolates and jellies for snacks—and it came to that.
Wait. Was that even expensive?
"Would you like a… bag?"
The clerk's voice cracked with surprise. What were they even looking at?
"No. I brought a bag. I'll put it in here."
I stuffed breakfast and snacks into the black bag that had held the kimbap and held out my card.
"Um… are you a student at this school?"
The uniform I was wearing was the uniform of the high school right in front of the store. If you worked here, how would you not know?
"I am?"
Was the uniform that awkward after so long? Did I not even look like a student? I said it with slightly dejected eyes, and the clerk's face went flustered.
"Um… th-this! It's about to expire—want it?"
"Ah…? Really?!"
Someone this kind existed?! The dejected look vanished on the spot as I accepted a hamburger.
"Well, take care~"
I stepped out of the convenience store with a happy smile.
Crash!
A racket exploded from inside.
"Something happen?"
Through the glass, the clerk was on the floor, clutching their waist.
"Eh. They'll be fine."
"Hey hey hey! Breaking news! Breaking news!"
"Ugh… damn. So loud."
Kim Woojin, who'd come in early and been sleeping face-down on his desk, roughly scratched his head and sat up.
"What's the fuss? First thing in the morning."
"No! I said breaking news! You'll lose it when you hear this!"
Choi Wooseok—the childhood friend who'd stuck to him like glue from kindergarten through elementary, middle, and now high school—came panting over. Kim Woojin resented him for wrecking a perfectly good nap.
"What is it. This 'breaking news.'"
"So… yesterday I skipped cleaning and got called to the faculty office, right?"
"And? Just the point."
"Man, this guy has zero patience."
"Shut up."
A pre-class nap was one of the healthiest things a body could do. Interrupt that, and Kim Woojin was confident he could rip the balls off even a childhood friend.
"Why… why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothing. Just that you flinched pretty well."
Instinct or not, Choi Wooseok covered his crotch with both hands. Kim Woojin snorted.
"So? What's the point?"
"Ah—!"
Choi Wooseok slammed the desk and got to it.
"I went to the faculty office earlier, and guess what—the homeroom teacher was talking to some girl I'd never seen."
"A girl? Transfer student?"
Choi Wooseok shook his head hard.
"That's not it. I overheard a bit. She said due to personal reasons she's coming to school starting today. And she's in our class. Holy shit!"
"…So?"
Kim Woojin's dry reaction made Choi Wooseok frown.
"You're a guy and you don't even react to 'girl'? Don't tell me… you don't have one?"
"Bullshit. If I do, it's bigger than yours. And… never mind."
"Why… what? Why are you looking at me like that!"
"It's nothing. Just… hang in there."
Choi Wooseok pulled a face like he might cry on the spot. Thinking he actually might, Kim Woojin steered it back to the girl.
"So, what's with the girl?"
Choi Wooseok clenched a fist at the sudden pivot, then decided the girl mattered more.
"Ahem!"
He took a huge sniff and pressed on.
"That girl… no, that female student was insanely pretty."
"……That's it?"
"What else do you need?"
Kim Woojin found it ridiculous to lose your mind over seeing one pretty girl. Extra or not, he'd been acting since he was a kid and had seen plenty of gorgeous celebrities in the flesh. Choi Wooseok had even tagged along to sets and seen them himself, and he was still like this.
"Sheesh…"
It looked pathetic.
"What? What is it? What's that sigh?!"
"Nothing… more importantly. Homeroom teacher's coming soon, right?"
"Not yet…"
Then the classroom door rattled open, and with the homeroom teacher—
"Holy… shit…"
—an insanely pretty girl walked in.
"Who was that? Who just swore?"
"Kim Woojin!"
….That son of a bitch.