No-Bbae-Si!
Just as I was about to be forcibly subjected to Tsuki's pent-up frustration—
"Alright, everyone, gather round."
The dance coach walked into the practice room carrying something I'd never seen her with. A laptop. This from a woman who normally insisted machines were a hassle and barely even used her phone.
"Coach? What's that?"
"Ah, this? One second."
She opened the laptop, powered it on, tapped around for a moment, then turned the screen toward us. Avatars modeled after our own faces stood waiting on the display.
"Coach... what is this?"
"I had a professional dance team map these to your likenesses. And this video is the choreography you'll be performing. Here we go."
One tap, and the footage began to play.
"Uh..."
"This is..."
"You want us to do this?"
"C-Coach?"
Four pairs of eyes locked onto her at once. Couldn't be helped. What we'd just watched was not a dance beginners could pull off. Five years minimum—and some of those moves only a human with insane talent could even attempt.
"We can't... I mean, if we try to copy that, our groins are going to split."
Every member nodded. Even Jina, the most confident dancer among us, was nodding so hard her head looked ready to come off. If even she thought so, I was looking at something well past a torn groin.
I had to wait and see what the coach would say. Surely she wouldn't dump this kind of lunacy on beginners.
"Of course you can't dance this. So I've got a proposal for you."
The word proposal left us blinking in confusion while she pressed on.
"We've got about two months left. So I'll give each of you one month. Clear the homework I assign in that time, and I'll delete this video and come back with something a little easier."
Homework?!
Worst-case scenario for me. Drama filming plus exam studying plus the coach's homework. Unless I grew a second body, there was no swallowing all of that. I had the Status Window, which was the only reason I was still standing. Anything worse than this and I was going to die.
"Um... Coach."
I raised my hand with the most wronged, exhausted face I could muster.
"What is it."
"I... because of my schedule, I don't have time for homework too..."
"I know that. Jiwoo's getting special twenty-four-hour care from her manager, so there won't be any problems."
"...Excuse me? That means..."
The dance coach grinned.
The homework I'd been given was surprisingly simple.
"Stamina training, that's it!"
Complete fifty-five shuttle runs within a month. That was my assignment. The shuttle-run count I'd managed for a school performance assessment? A measly seventeen.
And then—
"Hah... hah... hah.... I-I'm dying..."
"You're not dying from that. Stop!"
The beep from the stopwatch went off, and I collapsed onto the field.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Wa..."
"Wa? Why wa? Did they serve radish at lunch today?"
Water, not radish, you idiot!
Looking at Kim Woojin, who couldn't take a hint to save his life, I got angry. I didn't have the energy to show it, though, and I couldn't even pull an angry face.
I'd somehow survived three days of hell lessons and shown up at school. The plan to skip for my schedule had gone up in smoke thanks to one tiny mistake. Why, of all things, did I have to forget to write the report?
Schools have something called an experiential learning report. It varies by school, but Cheongsol High School lets you use up to twenty days a year. And given the nature of the place, if an official notice came down from a professional institution, you could apply for experiential learning with no limit at all. Of course, I'd forgotten I had to submit the application first.
"Well... people make mistakes."
If I had to make an excuse, I'd been way too busy lately.
"Here. Water."
A shadow fell over my collapsed body. I looked up, and there was a bottle of ice-cold-looking water.
"Thanks. Unlike a certain clueless someone, you've got good instincts."
"Eh, it's nothing."
Choi Wooseok shrugged lightly.
"So why the shuttle run?"
"Haa... don't ask. You'll get hurt."
"Okay... so what's the reason?"
Did he not hear me say don't ask? I'd just said it, and he was asking again. I stared at Choi Wooseok. No malice on his face—pure curiosity. I sighed and told him about the homework.
"Ahh~ so that's it. Yeah, running and jump rope are the best for building stamina. Back when I used to train, I did nothing but jump rope for ages."
"Right. You got a perfect score on the fitness test, didn't you?"
Only two people in our class had a perfect fitness score. Choi Wooseok was one of them. I pushed my body up off the ground and dropped to my knees in front of him.
"Teacher! Please teach me how to build stamina!"
"Hey. Cut it out. People are staring. Get up!"
"Please! If I don't pass this homework, I die that day!"
I could already picture the dance coach grinding her teeth every time she looked at me. I knew why. I kept teasing her about her chest. This was revenge.
And so I begged Choi Wooseok to take me as his disciple...
"No."
...and failed.
"Ah, why! You could just help a little!"
"Haa... I want to help, but I've got something I have to do."
"What? I'll help you with it."
"It's... that kind of thing. Something a girl like you would never understand."
Choi Wooseok dragged a hand down his face. What? What was going on that made him look that sad?
Was I going back to that day's hell? Ugh... just thinking about it made my body tremble. For a full ten hours, no rest, jump rope to Kang Ho-yeon's whistle. Then I passed out for ten minutes, woke up, and ran. Ran and ran and ran some more. Would you believe it? An entire day got deleted.
Having to endure that hell again? Absolutely not.
I crawled on all fours and grabbed Choi Wooseok's foot as he tried to leave.
"No! Help me! Otherwise you'll have to step on me to leave!"
"Ah, come on! Ask that guy! He's got better stamina than you too!"
"I don't waaant~!! Save meee!!"
Choi Wooseok's deep sigh rolled out over me. If I just pushed a little more. I knew this. Men can't refuse a pretty girl's request. My face could reasonably be called the world's strongest beautiful girl. If you asked a passerby... no. You only had to dig through the internet. The comments on articles about me said it all. People were considerably envious of my face, and every so often someone blinded by jealousy showed up too.
"Please~ I'm begging...!"
"Fine, so let go. And you—stop laughing and help out too."
"...Me?"
With me at the center, Choi Wooseok on the left and Kim Woojin on the right, the trinity was complete. Homework was in the bag!
"You'll have to put in the effort first, though."
"Heh."
I let out a light snort.
"Effort is me. I am effort. A corpse if you take away effort. You don't know No-Bbae-Si?"
Effort I was confident in. I sing well, I'm pretty, and on top of that I'd have great stamina and dance well? Wasn't the world jealous of me? Just imagining it was terrifying. I could already see how people would react when they looked at me!
Bring it on!
On Choi Wooseok's signal, I ran the school field. We were using the empty grounds after dismissal, so nobody got in our way. There were eyes watching as they left school, wondering what we were doing. But... wasn't this way too hot?
"Hweeeeeh.... I-I'm dying..."
"A corpse without effort, you said! Run! If you can talk, you've got stamina left! Run more! Run like you're dying!!"
"It's... hot..."
Late May. June was coming, but real summer was still a ways off.
Drip. Drip. Half the sweat running down my forehead soaked into my clothes; the other half hit the field and became fertilizer. My whole body was already soaked through, underwear included.
I had no idea how many I'd run. I'd counted to fifteen for sure... what came after that? My legs were heavy. Yesterday I'd done jump rope and running with Kang Ho-yeon, and just now more running on top of that. My leg muscles were already screaming at me to rest.
Come on... just hold out one month. After that I'll rest even if you tell me to move.
"Th-that's... enough..."
I hit the ground for the second time today and looked at Choi Wooseok. H-how many... how many did I do!
"Hmm... eighteen."
"Ni...ce..."
A whole one more than last time. Anyone who'd trained would know how hard it is to add even one to your max. I'd done it.
"That's something only the top-tier people get to say. Not something you can say in your current state, is it?"
Ah, whatever. The Status Window was telling me my stamina had gone up, not Choi Wooseok.
Look at that number! I'd grown from F to F+. I was growing fiercely in real time. How terrifying was that.
"What? Why are you smiling?"
"I don't even know... maybe I went crazy from the strain?"
The two boys shuddered looking at me grinning like an idiot.
Click.
A dark room. The only light came from a computer screen.
"Heh... hehehe..."
A man wore a greasy smile as he stared at his wallpaper.
"You're pretty today too... so pretty... haa... haa... look what you did to me. How are you going to take responsibility?"
His underwear had a small bulge. He lifted his hips slightly, pulled down the briefs he'd been wearing, and took hold with one hand. Feeling the slow rise, his head tipped back.
"Hoo... good... so good..."
Hot breath filled the room. A filthy smell hung in the air, and dirty flies and all kinds of bugs crawled across the floor.
"Nngh!"
A dizzying rush of happiness, his hips lifting slightly.
"Ahh... my goddess got dirty... hurry. I have to wipe it..."
He tore off tissues and carefully wiped the monitor. When he'd wiped it all, a handsome man's face sat caught in the corner of the screen.
"She's... she's mine..."
I'm not giving her... to anyone...