Winners and Losers
Winners and losers. What decides that is….
Kang Hyeongman had come to pick me up by car every single day for a full month, from the day I signed with Hyeongje Entertainment right up until I appeared on My Idol Academia.
Thanks to that, the girls at my all-girls high school—who had initially been shocked by Kang Hyeongman’s appearance and intimidating aura—gradually grew used to him and no longer batted an eye when they saw him.
But the male students currently occupying the front of our school gate were a different story.
“……Uh.”
The moment Kang Hyeongman appeared, they froze in place as if by pure animal instinct.
Kang Hyeongman looked at those guys with annoyed eyes, yet still maintained a polite attitude.
“Would you mind not blocking the road and stepping aside?”
…Of course, just because he was being polite didn’t mean he wasn’t terrifying.
Now’s my chance.
I seized the opening and sprinted straight for the school gate, planning to slip into Kang Hyeongman’s sedan while the male students were still frozen solid.
“……Uh.”
“She’s coming out!”
There was a crisis.
The instant I dashed out toward the gate, the male students who had been waiting for me all turned their heads my way at once, somehow overcoming their fear of Kang Hyeongman.
But that was….
“Yerin, take your time.”
“…….”
“…….”
It was resolved by the appearance of Sanggu Oppa climbing out of the driver’s seat.
Kang Hyeongman only gave off the vibe of a scary ahjussi, but Sanggu Oppa—with his massive build, bald head, and the scar across his face—was a beast incarnate.
When that Sanggu Oppa called me so affectionately, the male students couldn’t even think of approaching me.
“Hello, CEO.”
“Yeah, hop in quickly.”
In that gap I pushed through the male students and slipped into the sedan.
Kang Hyeongman and Sanggu Oppa each shot a glance at the guys before taking the passenger seat and driver’s seat respectively.
Even then the male students just stood there with blank expressions.
I glanced at them once through the window, then offered my thanks to the two in front.
“CEO, Sanggu Oppa. Thank you. I was just in a tight spot….”
“Sure. But who are all those guys?”
“My personal info got posted on a community site yesterday. They probably came after seeing that.”
“Tsk, already becoming a nuisance. From now on, make sure you take either me or Sanggu with you whenever you go out. It’s a rough world. You never know if there’s a crazy one mixed in among those vacant faces.”
“…Yes.”
As time went on, more and more people would recognize me. If Kang Hyeongman or Sanggu Oppa accompanied me, I could move around with peace of mind.
But that would create another problem.
“…Still, I’m worried.”
“About what?”
“…What if people start thinking our company is a gangster company.”
Going around with Kang Hyeongman or Sanggu Oppa would only fuel that kind of misunderstanding.
It would clearly damage the company’s image, so what was I supposed to do….
“Hmm….”
At my words, Kang Hyeongman rested his chin on his hand, gazed out the window for a moment, then spoke.
“Yerin.”
“Yes, CEO.”
“We are a gangster company, though?”
“…Ah.”
…That’s right?
Come to think of it, the people sitting in front of me really were gangsters, weren’t they…?
“Of course we’re working hard to cut back on shady work like loan-sharking and move into the light. Still… that doesn’t mean we’re not gangsters.”
“…….”
Here I was, a watermelon fretting about people seeing us as watermelons.
“Pfft.”
The moment that thought hit me, my worries vanished in an instant and a laugh slipped out.
Kang Hyeongman, seeing me suddenly burst out laughing, must have thought I was disappointed; he spoke with a worried look.
“We’re putting real effort into polishing our external image these days, so just wait a little. I won’t let it affect you.”
“No, CEO. That’s not why I laughed.”
“Then?”
“Just… it was funny that I’d completely forgotten you and Sanggu Oppa were gangsters.”
It was easy enough to forget.
The two people in front of me… were the kindest people I had ever met, and the ones who had saved my life.
“So what if Hyeongje Entertainment is a gangster company. I don’t care what people think. To me, it’s more precious than anything else.”
“…I see.”
Kang Hyeongman heard my answer and turned his face toward the window.
He wore his usual indifferent expression, but… I could see a small smile hanging at the corner of his lips.
At that smile of his, I smiled too and asked,
“But CEO, what brings you here today?”
“Today’s the first day of My Idol Academia, isn’t it. I came to pick you up thinking we could monitor it together.”
“Ah….”
Right. Today was the long-awaited first broadcast day of My Idol Academia.
Just thinking about it made my mouth go dry again.
It felt like being a death-row inmate waiting for judgment. I hadn’t been able to sleep properly since yesterday.
Kang Hyeongman looked at my face and asked,
“You were originally planning to watch at home, right?”
“…Yes. I was going to.”
“If you watched at home, your parents would make a huge fuss for sure. Let’s just watch together at our company. I’ve invited some people you’ll be happy to see.”
“People I’ll be happy to see?”
When I tilted my head, Kang Hyeongman grinned.
“First, let’s go eat dinner. I’ve reserved a nice place.”
The place Kang Hyeongman took me to was a small Japanese restaurant in Gangnam.
There were no other customers besides me, Kang Hyeongman, and Sanggu Oppa. The chef prepared sushi right in front of us and handed each piece over immediately.
This was what people usually called… omakase.
I’d only ever heard about it in stories and watched it on YouTube; this was my first time experiencing it in person.
The taste went without saying, of course, and the portions were so generous that with Ha Yerin’s body I had no choice but to leave some uneaten.
After that blissful dinner we headed to the Hyeongje Entertainment building.
The interior was finally starting to look properly finished. We made our way to the monitoring room on the second floor, where a large monitor had been installed.
I opened the door and asked Kang Hyeongman one last time.
“So who are the people I’ll be happy to see?”
“They’re waiting inside. Go on in.”
Who is it?
I tilted my head and stepped inside.
And when I opened the door, the ones who greeted me were….
“Yerin.”
“Yerin-!! I missed you-!!”
“…Suhyeon Teacher. And Jiwoo Teacher.”
They were my first trainers—Kang Suhyeon and Lee Jiwoo.
It wasn’t as if I had completely lost contact with Kang Suhyeon and Lee Jiwoo in the meantime.
But until now we had only talked through texts or calls; this was the first time we were meeting face-to-face.
First love, first job, and so on….
Anything that is a first is always special.
“Teachers….”
The moment I saw my first trainers, I couldn’t hide how happy I was.
It seemed the same for them. Kang Suhyeon, whose default expression was normally as cold as mine, smiled brightly the instant she saw me.
“Yerin, long time no see.”
And the usually emotional Lee Jiwoo….
“Yerin-!! *sob*…! How long has it even been…! Have you been well? Nothing bad happened, right? Why have you lost so much weight again!”
She ran straight at me, threw her arms around me, and rubbed her whole body against mine.
Their reactions were polar opposites, yet I could tell both of them were genuinely happy to see me again.
It was the same for me.
“I’ve been well. How about you two?”
I stroked the small-framed Lee Jiwoo nestled in my arms and asked Kang Suhyeon.
“Don’t do that here—let’s sit and talk.”
Following Kang Hyeongman’s suggestion, we sat on the sofa prepared inside the monitoring room and caught up.
And… before long I heard a surprising piece of news.
“…What? Jiwoo Teacher, what did you just say…?”
“Hehe, I decided to sign an exclusive contract with Hyeongje Entertainment.”
That was the news that Lee Jiwoo would become an exclusive trainer at Hyeongje Entertainment.
“…No, until a month ago you were saying the company atmosphere was scary and you’d run the second the one-month contract ended….”
“At first I did… but now I’ve gotten used to the atmosphere… and I realized the other staff are nicer than expected, and most of all….”
Lee Jiwoo made a circle with her fingers and whispered,
“…They said they’d give me a lot of this, hehe.”
…So it was money after all.
How much money had they offered to catch Lee Jiwoo, who had wanted to escape Hyeongje Entertainment so badly?
With a hopeful heart I turned toward Kang Suhyeon and asked,
“Then, by any chance, is Suhyeon Teacher also joining Hyeongje Entertainment…?”
But….
“No… they did offer me an exclusive contract too. …I refused. I’m planning to leave this industry.”
“Ah….”
It seemed Kang Suhyeon had not accepted.
It was regrettable, but it couldn’t be helped.
Kang Suhyeon had already said she would leave the entertainment industry after this temporary contract.
“Then… what will Suhyeon Teacher do from now on?”
“A friend recently opened a café, so I’ll help out there and live.”
I knew because I had learned directly from her.
Kang Suhyeon possessed an incredible gift for vocal training.
She had proven that ability by working for years at JJ, one of the Big Three agencies….
So why was she suddenly trying to leave this industry?
Did something happen at JJ?
I wanted to ask about the story, but it felt somehow rude, so I couldn’t.
“…….”
“…….”
The conversation briefly stalled.
Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Lee Jiwoo immediately filled the silence by turning to me.
“Yerin, what about you? How have you been? What happened on My Idol Academia? I’m dying of curiosity!”
“Um… that is….”
Instead of answering, I looked toward the clock.
The current time was 9:54.
It was six minutes before the first episode of My Idol Academia aired.
“We’ll be able to check it on TV soon.”
“…….”
“…….”
At my words everyone in the monitoring room closed their mouths, tense.
A few more minutes passed in silence.
When it became 9:59, Kang Suhyeon and Lee Jiwoo spoke.
“…Yerin, you did well on the grade evaluation stage and got an A grade, right? Then it’ll be fine.”
“Yeah! We teachers saw it on YouTube too! The production team gave you a lot of screen time, didn’t they? It’ll probably be the same on the broadcast.”
“…I wonder.”
Kang Suhyeon and Lee Jiwoo spoke positively, but I couldn’t let go of the tension.
No matter how well you performed on set… the fact that you could still lose in the end was something I had witnessed with my own eyes, hadn’t I?
About Hyejeong’s grade. We decided on B.
PD Shin looked at the A-grade lineup and said it would be better if Lee Hyejeong was left out. So we lowered it.
It’s unfair… so unfair, Yerin…. *sob*….
Unfortunately, deciding the wins and losses of the contestants on the broadcast was the production team’s job.
*Ding.*
22:00
“…It’s starting now.”
It was time to find out what judgment the production team—who had been nothing short of demons to Lee Hyejeong—had passed on me….