Because of My Parents

Something big was coming…!

The moment I stepped onto the stage, more than a hundred pairs of eyes locked onto me.

A jolt ran through me.

Even though I'd been through this once before, the tension made my hands go numb. And… I couldn't help but marvel at Seo Yujin, who'd taken the stage just before me.

How did she manage to look so confident up here?

That trait of hers — Looking Down on Everyone… I'd thought it was pure garbage, but maybe it wasn't so bad after all. At the very least, it would cut through this crushing tension.

Thump—.

I was shaking under the pressure myself. Only after I barely managed to calm my wildly racing heart did the judges, as if they'd been waiting for that exact moment, begin their questions.

"Yes, contestant Ha Yerin. Please introduce yourself."

"…I'm Ha Yerin, nineteen, from Hyeongje Entertainment."

"Is that all?"

"As chic as ever~"

Oops…. I'd meant to dress the introduction up a little, but the nerves must have stripped it bare.

Still, my clipped answer didn't seem to rub the judges the wrong way. If anything, they looked pleased with the character of it, and smiles spread across their faces.

"You're quite tall, aren't you? How many centimeters?"

"Ah… one seventy-two."

"Really? Wow… you looked closer to one seventy-seven…."

"It's because your face is tiny. Practically the size of my fist?"

The judge who said that and raised a fist was a woman.

…No matter how small my head ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was, it was not the size of a woman's fist. She was clearly trying to tease me.

"I don't think it's quite that… but thank you anyway."

"Oh my, even the flustered look is cute."

"Contestant Ha Yerin is more fun to tease than I expected?"

"Hahaha~"

One of the judges laughed, the others followed, and the stiff atmosphere finally loosened.

There was one thing that felt completely different about being reborn as Ha Yerin compared to my previous life.

People were kind to me.

Mostly thanks to my face, I'm sure.

Whether the other person was the same gender or not, a beautiful appearance put them in a good mood. Thanks to that, I'd managed to draw a far more favorable atmosphere from the judges than the other contestants had.

Some people might call it unfair… but I was born this way. What was I supposed to do about it?

I fully intended to cash in on the benefits of being born pretty.

If I can keep this soft atmosphere going all the way through….

But then—

"Trainee Ha Yerin."

A voice as cold as ice cut through the pleasant flow.

The owner of that voice was, of course, Han Siwoo.

He kept his head down as if my appearance meant nothing to him, flipping through papers, then asked in a voice that was casual yet razor-sharp.

"I just looked… and your idol trainee career is extremely short, isn't it?"

"……."

"Exactly how long have you been a trainee?"

At Han Siwoo's words, the other judges finally tilted their ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠heads and started rifling through their own documents.

…Damn it.

It was something I was going to have to face eventually. I let out a quiet sigh inside and answered calmly.

"Exactly one month."

"……!!"

One of the judges shoved her glasses up her nose as if she couldn't believe it and asked again.

"One month… so you're saying you've only been training for a month?"

"…Yes, that's correct."

"……."

With my answer, the warm atmosphere cooled at a terrifying speed.

And the person who'd made it that way continued, still perfectly calm… with questions even more lethal.

"Among the trainees sitting behind me right now, there isn't a single one who hasn't trained for at least a year. Some of them have been practicing for over a decade."

"……Yes."

"And yet you came on after only a month of practice… were you that confident in your skills, or…."

Tap. Tap.

"Did idols just look that easy to you?"

…This bastard.

This wasn't even a major corporation — why the hell was he running a pressure interview?

From a third-party perspective I might not have noticed, but Han Siwoo's sharp questions were so suffocating I wanted to swear out loud.

But there was no time to think it over carefully.

Whirr—.

The cameras were still rolling.

No—

"Zoom in on her and Siwoo's faces, hurry."

They were going wild over the new broadcast ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠material, cheerfully digging my grave for me.

In that moment, my eyes met Han Siwoo's as he glared at me.

The hostility in his cold gaze was… worse than when Seo Yujin had looked at me.

Why on earth…?

I didn't understand it, but I had to pull myself together fast.

One slip here… and I was finished too.

Was I confident enough in my skills to think I could come on My Idol Academia after only a month?

No.

Even with the Status Window, I hadn't been confident.

"Over the past month, running myself into the ground and colliding with everything head-on, I learned just how hard the job of an idol really is. Of course… I'm not confident in my current skills. I still have to work harder and grow more."

Did idols look easy to me?

No.

That wasn't it either.

"I was already struggling after only a month of practice. Everyone else here has endured this grueling training for at least several years. I would never look down on an idol industry filled with people like that."

When I finished answering, Han Siwoo still fixed me with that icy stare and asked,

"If you're not confident in your skills… and you didn't look down on idols either, then why did you come on My Idol Academia?"

This snapping-turtle bastard.

Once he'd bitten down, he had no intention of letting go with that monstrous jaw strength.

Why did I come on My Idol Academia… if he was going to ask it like that, then of course my answer was—

"…Obviously, I came on My Idol Academia to become an idol."

"Then why do you want to become an idol?"

Wham.

Under the snapping turtle's relentless assault, my head started to ache more and more.

Normally I would have dressed up a decent answer somehow… but with the tension and pressure piled on top of each other, all I could do in that moment was answer with whatever rose to the surface of my mind.

The reason I wanted to become an idol….

Yerin, when Mom gets old, I want to live in a big mansion with a beautiful view.

Haha, honey. That would put too much pressure on Yerin. I'd be happy with a sixty-pyeong luxury apartment in Gangnam.

Our Yerin is going to keep living in the same house as Mom and Dad even after she gets married, right?

Yerin, Dad's favorite fairy tale is the Story of Sim Cheong. The filial piety of Sim Cheong, who threw herself into Indangsu for her father, is so moving….

…My parents.

Yeah. My goddamn parents….

Mosquitoes who would suck the marrow from my spine until I worked myself to death.

To escape their grip… I needed money. I needed power.

And the only way I could get either of those right now was by becoming an idol.

Yeah… I….

"…Because of my parents."

"……Excuse me?"

"Because of my parents… I have to become an idol…. I absolutely have to…."

"……!"

The moment I poured every ounce of sincerity into those words—

Fwaaah—!

The Status Window, which had never done anything like this before, suddenly lit up on its own and began to shine….

…Something pretty vague had shown up.

I'd figured the empty Status Window would fill up someday. But what was this…?

What even counts as true feelings rising from the heart….

And if it got conveyed to the other person, did anything actually change?

"You have to become an idol… because of your parents?"

"Huh? Ah, yes…."

"…What kind of story could make you sound so desperate… ah, never mind."

"……?"

The dance trainer who'd been about to ask me something flinched mid-sentence and withdrew the question.

In that moment, I could tell the atmosphere the judges directed at me had shifted.

The people who'd been looking at me coldly before… now seemed to look at me with a touch of pity? There was even a sense of support mixed in….

Did the trait activate?

…But even if the trait had activated, I didn't think my sincerity had been applied exactly as intended.

When I'd said I had to become an idol because of my parents, what I'd meant was that I needed to escape from them.

But the way they were reacting now was exactly like the boatmen watching Sim Cheong throw herself into Indangsu.

…There was clearly some kind of misunderstanding.

"……."

Even so, I made no effort to correct their misunderstanding.

If they wanted to misunderstand, I was grateful. The icy atmosphere had thawed, so from my perspective it was a free win.

And if I happened to pick up a filial-daughter concept out of it, that would only help my image.

Not bad, actually?

In fact, even that snapping-turtle Han Siwoo had become noticeably gentler, hadn't he?

"…No matter what reason you have, as Trainee Ha Yerin just said herself, this industry is not easy. A single month of practice wouldn't have been enough to prepare for the rank evaluation stage…."

"That… I'll prove on stage."

"……Yes. Understood."

With that question, he set down his microphone. It meant he wouldn't ask anything more — he would watch the performance.

Following his lead, the other judges set theirs down as well.

"Then… I'll present my stage now."

I returned the interview mic to a staff member, climbed onto the stage, and took my position.

Even if the atmosphere had improved a little, more than a hundred pairs of eyes were still fixed on me, pressing down hard.

The most overwhelming among them was, of course, Han Siwoo.

True to a professional — before the stage even began, his eyes had already returned to pure rationality.

I almost shrank under that look… but the moment the performance was about to start, the tension somehow drained out of me instead.

Above all… hadn't I come prepared with an Anti–Han Siwoo Strategy?

I'm going to make that ice-cold face melt for sure.

After privately entertaining that slightly cute thought of capturing Han Siwoo's heart, I gave the staff the cue.

Whirr—.

Dozens of cameras outside the stage trained on me.

This was… my first stage as an idol trainee, presented to the public.

"Cheers! You've worked so hard, Suhyeon-ssaem."

"You too, Jiwoo-ssaem."

While the first day of My Idol Academia filming was in full swing, outside, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠two women who'd been Ha Yerin's temporary trainers were unwinding at a pojangmacha.

"Yerin's probably doing her rank evaluation around now, right?"

"Most likely."

"Ah… please let her get through it without any mistakes…."

"…Tell me about it."

What the two of them were saying wasn't empty politeness — it was genuine.

Over the past month, both of them had grown quite attached to Ha Yerin.

"Nnet seems to have put a lot of work into filming My Idol Academia this time… is anyone from JJ coming on too?"

Lee Jiwoo asked without any particular meaning behind it.

She simply figured that since Kang Suhyeon had originally been with JJ, she might know something.

But….

"……."

"……?"

At Lee Jiwoo's question, Kang Suhyeon wordlessly knocked back her soju. Then, with a complicated expression, she answered.

"…One of the kids who used to be my student is going on, apparently."

"…Ah."

Working in the entertainment industry meant collecting one or two heartbreaking stories along the way.

And the JJ-origin contestant appearing on My Idol Academia this time was Kang Suhyeon's most painful finger.

"…Her talent was the best of any kid I'd ever seen… but because of various circumstances…."

"……."

Kang Suhyeon's expression as she said it was so heavy that Lee Jiwoo couldn't press any further.

Instead, she simply tilted her glass with her and offered a small comfort.

"…It'll probably turn out okay."

"…Yeah. Yerin too… and that kid too… I really hope things go well for them."

Clink.

The two of them toasted again under the weight of the mood and drank their soju.

In the awkward atmosphere, Lee Jiwoo brought up something else to change the subject.

"…So, more importantly, Suhyeon-ssaem. Why do you think Yerin chose that song for the rank evaluation?"

"That… well. I don't really know either."

The song Ha Yerin had prepared for this rank evaluation was not only extremely obscure — it wasn't even an idol song to begin with.

Both Kang Suhyeon and Lee Jiwoo had voiced their concerns….

"She's a smart kid, so she must have her reasons."

"Right?"

…But Ha Yerin had insisted so stubbornly that she absolutely had to do that song that there was nothing they could do about it.

Above all, both of them trusted Ha Yerin. If she was pushing that hard, they figured there had to be a good reason.

"Then shall we toast one more time for Yerin's A Rank?"

"…Jiwoo-ssaem. You hold your liquor well. This is our third round in a row without a break…."

"Hmm?"

"…Never mind."

Kang Suhyeon let out a hollow laugh and raised her glass again. Lee Jiwoo matched her with a bright smile, lifting her own high.

They were two people different in field, personality, and hobbies.

Clink.

But in this moment, they became one and toasted for their student.