The End of a Long Week
That first week had been endless.
Setting aside the tears she'd secretly broken down into at the practice room, Lee Hyejeong was a true professional when it came to being on camera.
"Are you sure you're okay? Going back in like this…"
"Yeah. I'm really okay now, Yerin."
After crying for so long, her face barely showed any sign of tears. A bright smile sat on her face, and her swollen eyes had settled back down. The tip she'd shared for reducing puffy eyes—rubbing them with cold water in the bathroom—had clearly worked.
At the same time, a thought crossed my mind.
Just how many times has she cried to know a tip like that…?
"Haa…"
I let out a deep sigh before we headed into the set, and Lee Hyejeong came over with a small smile…
Squeeze.
She interlaced her fingers with mine and gripped my hand tightly.
"…Unni."
"Thank you, Yerin. It's all thanks to you."
Tremble.
Her hand holding mine still trembled, but the light in her eyes as she looked at me hadn't dimmed.
"Let's keep doing our best from here on out."
"…Okay."
And so, hands still tightly clasped, we stepped back into that goddamn My Idol Academia set.
"Ah~ Where did you go, Hyejeong!"
The moment Lee Hyejeong and I walked back onto the set, one of the production staff scolded her. It was the same writer who'd informed her that morning that she'd been dropped to B Rank.
It was the kind of situation that would have anyone seeing red, but Lee Hyejeong didn't let a single flicker of that emotion show. She just smiled sweetly and bowed her head to the writer.
"I'm so sorry, Writer-nim. I was in the bathroom… hehe…"
"Never mind that—hurry up and get on stage. You too, Miss Yerin."
"Yes!"
Lee Hyejeong answered brightly and was about to head up onto the stage when someone called out to her.
"Oh—Hyejeong!"
The voice belonged to…
"…Shin PD."
"Come over here for a second! I need a quick word!"
It was Shin PD, the main producer of My Idol Academia—the very man who'd demoted her to B Rank. Spotting Lee Hyejeong on her way to the stage, he called her over and opened his mouth.
"You heard from the writer this morning, right? About being dropped to B."
"…Yes. Haha."
"Aigoo, I'm really sorry about that. Looking at the overall picture, it just felt like four centers would be ideal. So I asked the trainers, and they said you were the closest to B Rank. So I had no choice… haha."
Shin PD sold out even the trainers with his excuses. There wasn't a shred of guilt on his face—just a pure, easy smile.
And yet Lee Hyejeong looked at that face and smiled right back, as if she knew nothing at all.
"It's a shame, but… haha, it can't be helped. You made the call with the broadcast in mind, PD-nim. In exchange, you'll give me plenty of screen time, right?"
"Ahahaha! Of course I will! That's an audition veteran for you—you really understand how shows work! Don't you worry. I'll take good care of you!"
"Yes! Hehe, I'm counting on you, PD-nim!"
Just like that, Lee Hyejeong finished her conversation with Shin PD as if nothing had happened and headed back toward the stage.
I followed behind her, only for Shin PD to stop me this time.
"Ah, Miss Yerin. A moment."
He caught my wrist just as I was about to step up, and spoke in a tone completely different from the one he'd used with Lee Hyejeong—serious, quiet, almost intimate.
"Our production team has very high expectations for what you'll do."
"……"
"Let's keep working well together."
…Why is she "Hyejeong" and I'm "Miss Yerin"?
I had a pretty good idea what the difference meant, and it irritated me. But I wasn't a professional the way Lee Hyejeong was, so smiling through a moment like this was impossible. I answered with my usual blank expression.
"…Yes. Of course."
"I'm counting on you. That'll be all, then…"
Hearing my answer, Shin PD gave me a short bow and returned to his seat. I watched his back for a moment, then followed Lee Hyejeong up onto the stage to my place.
I stood at the very center, on the highest A Rank platform. Lee Hyejeong stood below me, on the B Rank platform. It was only a difference of a few steps, but somehow I felt an unbridgeable gap between us.
And… I hated myself for feeling it.
"All right, we'll begin the group theme song rehearsal!"
With my heart painted pitch black, the group theme song filming began.
No matter how generously you put it, the group theme song was not an easy shoot.
First, all one hundred contestants ran through the dance in rehearsal before the real take. We synced it up several times, and only once there were no problems did we move on.
Next came makeup. The moment rehearsal ended, the waiting stylists swarmed us—three of them alone latched onto me, as an A Rank, doing my makeup and fixing my hair.
"There! All done! Take a look in the mirror. Well? Pretty, right?"
An hour later, when the makeup was finally finished, my face was beautiful by any standard—but it was an experience I never wanted to repeat. Full glam was far more tedious and annoying than I'd imagined.
Once the styling was complete, I had to fight the urge to scrub my face raw and head into the actual shoot.
From there, it was pure hell.
"Hey—! You, fifth from the left in C Rank! You messed up!"
"I-I'm sorry—!"
"Ugh, damn it… Going again."
One hundred contestants dancing the group theme song all at once. If anyone missed a step or made a mistake, we had to shoot from the top. Apparently, capturing the contestants' desperation on camera required a single continuous take, no exceptions.
And for us in A Rank, it was even worse. We carried the entire opening section, and on top of that we had to nail a high-difficulty dance break in the middle.
"Haa… hah…"
Seo Yujin, whose stamina and dancing were her weak points, was the first to wear out. By the end, even Na Hanna and I—who were strong dancers—and even Yu Seol were gasping for breath. I'd always prided myself on having survived every kind of hard labor, but in that moment I nearly blacked out.
It felt like finishing a convenience store night shift and immediately jumping into loading and unloading delivery trucks.
Only after that long, grinding ordeal did we finally…
"Cut! That's a wrap! We're done shooting!"
…get the cut sign.
"Aaaargh—!"
The second the production team called cut, the contestants collapsed into their places as if their strings had been cut. From the highest A Rank platform, I could see the lower-ranked contestants clearly.
"Unni, you worked so hard~"
"Yeah… you too…!"
The lower-ranked contestants were congratulating the people around them, bonding over the shared struggle.
"Hehe, everyone worked so hard."
Park Yujeong was among them. With her trademark social ease, she was greeting the other B Rank contestants nearby.
I turned my head, searching for Lee Hyejeong.
"……"
Whether from the long shoot or the shock of being demoted to B Rank, she was staring blankly into empty air. I wanted to go to her, but our positions were so far apart that I gave up.
Instead, I turned to try bonding with the other A Ranks.
But…
"Hmph…!"
The moment I looked over, Seo Yujin—still panting—snorted and deliberately avoided my eyes.
As for Na Hanna, the other A Rank…
"Zzz…"
Is she seriously asleep…?
She was sprawled flat on the floor, snoring. Come to think of it, she was the type who tried to sleep anywhere the second she had a free moment. According to her, she needed a ridiculous amount of sleep. Still, I hadn't expected her to drop dead the instant filming ended. It wasn't like she'd been hit with a tranquilizer dart…
Anyway—bonding with Na Hanna: failed.
Last was…
I started to turn toward Yu Seol, then stopped. She still had a cold wall up between us. At this rate, the four of us in A Rank weren't going to get close anytime soon. Maybe not until the day My Idol Academia ended.
So I just hugged my knees and sank down where I was, silently wishing they'd send us home already.
As if he'd heard the thought, Shin PD, the main producer of My Idol Academia, appeared in front of us and shouted.
"All right, everyone! It's currently 10:22 p.m.! With that, Week One filming of My Idol Academia is complete—! Applause—!"
…Clap. Clap. Clap.
The contestants answered his call for applause with limp, exhausted claps. Shin PD chuckled at the sight and continued.
"Today's footage will air over two episodes—the week after next and the week after that. We'll see you again the Saturday after next! Everyone, great work—!"
And just like that, Week One filming of My Idol Academia was over.
Now… it was time to go home, if only for a little while.
"Wow… we started in the morning and it's already night…"
"Tell me about it."
After Week One filming wrapped, the contestants packed their things at the dorm and left the set. Outside, the night was already dark.
I packed my own bag and was about to look up bus routes home when someone called out to me.
"Unni—!"
"Yujeong."
It was Park Yujeong, who'd been friendly with me since the first day of My Idol Academia. She came over with a bright smile, as if she weren't tired at all.
"Unni, you worked so hard this whole week!"
"Yeah. You did too."
"We're connected by fate now, right? Want to exchange numbers?"
She held out her phone as she said it. Building a friendship with her was something I wanted too, so I typed in my number without complaint.
"And not just numbers—let's follow each other too. What's your ID?"
"…Follow each other? Ah… I don't do Instagram."
"What? Wait, no way. So you don't do any other SNS either?"
"I used Facebook a little, but…"
At that, Park Yujeong's mouth fell open in genuine shock, then she burst into laughter.
"Unni, sometimes you really seem like an old man."
"An old man…"
"But still…"
She took my hand as she said it.
"I like that about you, Unni. Thank you for this past week. And let's keep looking out for each other!"
"…Yeah."
With that, Park Yujeong gave me one more smile and left.
"I'll head out then! See you next time!"
"Yeah. You take care too."
After watching her go, I glanced at her number once, then something suddenly occurred to me and I went looking for Lee Hyejeong.
"Unni."
"Huh? Oh… Yerin."
Finding her was easy—she was standing blankly off to the side with a vacant expression. I walked over, offered a word about how hard she'd worked, and held out my phone.
"Let's exchange numbers. If anything comes up, just contact me."
"……"
Lee Hyejeong looked at the phone I'd offered, typed in her number, and then…
Squeeze.
She pulled me into a hug.
"…Thank you, Yerin."
"…I didn't do anything."
"Didn't do anything… Because of you, I…"
Her voice, faintly wet, didn't make it to the end of the sentence. Instead she hugged me tightly one more time, then…
"Anyway, thank you, Yerin. See you next time."
"…Yes, Unni."
She waved and walked away.
Having said goodbye to Lee Hyejeong as well, I took one last set of steps. My destination was…
"…Unni."
"……"
Yu Seol.
The moment she saw me, she started to drag her suitcase away—
But I raised a hand and blocked her path.
When I cut her off, Yu Seol demanded an answer with an irritated look.
"…What do you think you're doing…"
"I wanted to apologize."
I cut her off before she could finish.
"About yesterday… I'm sorry. What I said wasn't meant to hurt you."
"Forget it. I don't need—"
"And I wanted to formally declare war."
"…What?"
Maybe Yu Seol and I would never get close for the rest of our lives. Even so, I couldn't stop being aware of her.
"I've come to understand how desperate everyone here is… how hard they're all trying."
She was the first person who'd ever made me feel like I wanted to surpass them.
"So from now on, I'm going to give it everything I have too."
"……"
"I'll give it my all—every last bit of strength—and next time, I'm going to beat you."
I'd learned how desperate Yu Seol was, what kind of heart she was bringing to My Idol Academia. So next time… I would pour everything I had into beating her with pure skill.
"As your rival."
"……"
Yu Seol looked at me—at how boldly I'd come at her—with faintly surprised eyes, then…
"Do whatever you want."
She brushed past me with that cold reply.
Roll, roll.
Her back was as cold as her answer as she dragged her suitcase away.
"Trainee Yu Seol."
At the end of her path, a car was waiting for her. Probably a vehicle sent by her agency. She loaded her suitcase into the trunk with practiced ease and climbed in.
Vroom—.
The person who'd stirred the biggest waves of emotion in me over the past week left just like that.
"Haa…"
Once I'd finished saying goodbye even to Yu Seol, my body finally seemed to let go of its tension and went slack. At last, this long, long week was over. I hadn't slept properly the whole time… and so much had happened. If I lay down in a bed right now, I felt like I could sleep forever.
The bus… I need to look it up…
I needed to get home to rest—but my body was so spent it wouldn't even move to pull out my phone.
And then—
Someone appeared behind me without warning and snatched my backpack.
Startled, I spun around…
"Yerin."
"……"
"I came to pick you up."
"…Boss."
Standing there was Kang Hyeongman of Hyeongje Entertainment—once my creditor, now my boss. Dressed as always in a pitch-black suit that made him look like the reaper himself, he gave my collapsed form a once-over, then…
"You worked hard."
He tossed the words out casually. Then he slung my backpack over his own shoulder and helped me up with a gentle hand.
"Let's go home."
At that offhand yet warm way of speaking, that quiet care…
"…Yes, Boss."
I felt like I might cry.