Drawing Apart
Dark navy eyes did not wander but locked directly onto her target.
Blinking widely, those eyes sparkled with clear curiosity.
"Do you have something to say?"
Her lips parted at the same time.
Yoon Seolah spoke, her voice perfectly calm.
"No, I was just looking."
"Dain, do you want one too?"
"I'm fine. I don't really feel like eating right now."
Kwon Dain put on the polite smile of a model student.
Perhaps this, too, was a form of acting.
Plastering a smile onto her face was not a difficult task.
...Ah.
Turning her body back toward the blackboard, Kwon Dain buried her face in her desk.
What is this?
It was getting harder to keep up the smile.
Jealousy...
Jealousy was, by nature, an ugly emotion.
There was a reason it was considered one of the seven deadly sins.
The fact that she was feeling this way toward Yoon Seolah, her friend of four years...
...was more than enough to torment Kwon Dain.
If only I could stop having feelings for Jisul.
Would the jealousy go away then?
Kwon Dain agonized over the thought for a moment.
After all, the source of this jealousy was ultimately Jeong Jisul.
But how?
How could she distance herself from Jeong Jisul?
Usually, physical distance leads to emotional distance.
However, there was nothing Kwon Dain could do about the physical distance between them.
She couldn't suddenly stop eating lunch with him.
And since all their friends were in the band club, avoiding him was practically impossible.
Under the circumstances, the best she could do was...
Just talk to him a little less.
She would reduce the frequency of her conversations with Jeong Jisul.
Although one shouldn't weigh friendship against love.
For now, what she felt was closer to a crush than love.
So, the side of the scale sinking to the bottom was friendship.
And so, Kwon Dain made her decision.
Treating people mechanically... is something I'm used to, anyway.
She decided she needed to distance herself from Jeong Jisul, even if just a little.
Just before the start of the fifth period.
Since today was club day.
The four members of the band club gathered in the music room.
That was when Choi Saeron voiced her disbelief.
"Wow... so this actually happens?"
It was phrased as a question, but her tone was closer to awe than doubt.
"I mean, how did Taeseong end up leaving a comment? So, did they get in touch?"
Her bright yellow eyes locked onto me, filled with anticipation.
"Yeah, they did."
"What did they say?"
"They asked to meet up."
"Really? All of us?"
Don't tell me the reason for that hopeful look was...
Did she think she was being called in too?
If so, she was sorely mistaken.
...How do I say this without disappointing her?
I debated how to break the news.
But in the end, there was only one truth to tell.
I decided to just lay it out straight for Choi Saeron.
"No, just me and the vocalist."
"Ah, just you and Seolah?"
"...Yeah."
I carefully watched Choi Saeron's reaction.
"Hmm..."
Choi Saeron tapped her bass guitar a few times.
"That's great! You both really needed an opportunity like this. It would've been awkward if only one of you got called. It's only fair!"
She beamed brightly.
There wasn't a trace of disappointment on her face.
She seemed genuinely, one hundred percent happy for us.
What a relief.
"Can I ask a few more questions before we start practicing?"
"I'll answer whatever I can."
The questions that followed were easy enough to answer.
"Are you signing a contract with the agency as soon as you meet them?"
Or, "When are you meeting them?"
Once I finished answering those simple questions.
We finished tuning our instruments and dove into practicing a new song.
It was our practice for the second original song.
The next day. Seventh period.
Because of the rain, PE class had been replaced with self-study, making the classroom exceptionally quiet.
Since I couldn't disrupt the quiet, peaceful atmosphere.
I was messaging Yoon Seolah via DM.
Today was the day we were meeting the representative from Taeseong.
As for me...
Since I was already under contract with HS, signing with Taeseong was out of the question.
Even so, the reason I was tag-teaming this meeting with the Taeseong representative...
...was purely to help Yoon Seolah relax.
I was there to support her and help guide the conversation.
Is she sleeping?
Having put down her phone, Yoon Seolah had her face buried in a desk pillow.
To be precise, her right cheek was pressed flat against the pillow.
Because of that, her face ended up turned in my direction.
Did she not wear makeup today?
From a quick glance, it looked like Yoon Seolah was barefaced today.
Her skin tone was the same, but there was an indescribable simplicity to her look...
Well, I wouldn't really know.
Having never worn makeup or taken any interest in it, I couldn't say for sure.
At that moment.
"..."
As I stared, I suddenly felt a sudden chill on the back of my neck.
"Jisul."
"...Yes, sir."
"You shouldn't stare at girls like that with a face like yours. And this is self-study time."
"Yes, sir..."
The PE teacher, who had been patrolling the classroom, pressed a cold tumbler against my neck.
Fortunately, the teacher whispered his warning quietly.
But perhaps because the classroom was so dead silent.
...I think she heard.
Kwon Dain's shoulders gave a sudden flinch.
"...?"
We usually chatted just fine during self-study.
I wondered why she was suddenly acting like this.
And besides.
My seat was positioned in a way that made it impossible to space out without looking at a girl.
Directly in front of me was Kwon Dain.
Diagonally was Choi Saeron.
And to my right was Yoon Seolah.
Since my seat was at the very back left corner.
Looking backward would make me look like a crazy person.
The most natural thing would be to turn my head left and look out the window, but...
The curtains are drawn.
The teacher had drawn the curtains so the students could sleep.
Oh.
That was actually a fair point.
I sent the reply, agreeing with her logic.
But no reply came back for quite a while.
I shifted my gaze from my phone to Kwon Dain.
Her ears are so red.
Looking at her, she didn't seem to be in the best condition.
Her faint breathing sounded a bit shaky.
I was slightly worried, but...
Kwon Dain didn't reply until the end of the seventh period.
"Whew..."
Kim Muhwan, the team leader of Taeseong Entertainment's Rookie Development Team.
He took a deep breath and recalled the instructions from Ma Seonghyeon.
Adjust the approach depending on their level of looks.
The musical talent of the kids he was meeting today was exceptionally high.
However, they were people who would eventually have to stand in front of a camera.
If their looks didn't measure up.
No matter how outstanding their music was, they would inevitably be pushed down the priority list.
Honestly, if they were confident in their looks, they wouldn't have blurred their faces in the video.
Kim Muhwan wasn't expecting much in terms of their appearance.
Would someone with high self-esteem about their looks go out of their way to blur their face?
In his opinion, the answer was no.
Of course, there were people who just wanted to make money without selling their faces.
But in this industry, that was practically impossible.
Because of this, Kim Muhwan expected their visuals to be lacking.
By the time he finished his train of thought, he had arrived at the cafe.
Kim Muhwan got out of his car and strode into the cafe, but...
"Ah."
The moment he saw the boy and girl in school uniforms, he immediately turned around and walked back out.
He hurriedly pulled out his phone.
"B-Boss, we have to sign these kids no matter what."
"...What?"
"Even if we pool all of our trainees together, they can't compete with these two. You really need to see them..."
"Muhwan, calm down and tell me. What do they look like?"
Kim Muhwan closed his eyes for a moment and pictured them.
First, the girl.
She possessed a cool aura with deep navy hair.
With her soft smile and sleepy gaze, she was a unique beauty where innocence and subtle allure coexisted.
Kim Muhwan did his best to describe her to Ma Seonghyeon.
"Honestly, I've never seen a high schooler this pretty. But..."
Even so.
The real shocker was the boy.
His looks were absolutely unreal.
His face sat on a delicate boundary—neither too sharp and masculine, nor too soft and feminine.
From a distance, he looked like a pure, delicate boy who triggered a protective instinct.
But a closer look revealed dark, defined eyebrows.
And a strong, masculine energy radiating from his prominent T-zone.
His broad, square shoulders and well-defined collarbones were clearly visible even through his school uniform shirt.
"The guy is the real deal. I've never seen anyone look like this in my entire life. Just putting him on stage would bring in piles of cash."
"...Is he really that good?"
"Absolutely. But since they don't have their guardians with them right now, I can't make a contract offer on the spot..."
"For now, make sure to secure a next meeting. Tell them we'll guarantee a fast debut."
"Of course."
Kim Muhwan took a deep breath.
Now that he had hung up with Ma Seonghyeon, it was entirely up to him.
...I didn't become team leader for nothing.
Out of the male idols currently referred to as the "Big Three Centers," Kim Muhwan had scouted two of them.
So bringing two high schoolers into Taeseong should be an incredibly easy mission for him.
That was how it was supposed to go, but...
The more they talked.
...He knows the industry way too well.
Kim Muhwan found himself getting dragged into Jeong Jisul's pace instead.