An 8-Ton Truck with a Broken Steering Wheel
If I had to sum up Seo Yujin in a single phrase, it would be an 8-ton truck with a broken steering wheel.
Han Siwoo wore a rare look of genuine anger as he launched into a rapid-fire monologue.
“I know full well that three days is a short time to prepare a song to perfection. But it’s more than enough time to settle on a concept and lock down the choreography.”
“…….”
“Yet Team 2’s stage progress right now is abysmal. Not only have you failed to decide on a song concept, the part distribution looks half-baked as well…. Have you all been slacking off for the past three days?”
Han Siwoo kept going, dragging the trainees’ pride straight down to the floor with every cutting remark.
And then—
“Or did the team members start fighting among themselves?”
“…That’s not it!”
When the barrage showed no sign of ending, Seo Yujin—Team 2’s leader and center—stepped forward.
“…I tried my best, but the members wouldn’t even listen to me…, and they kept saying weird things…!”
The expression on her face as she spoke looked truly wronged.
But—
Aigoo.
In a situation like this, the sight of Seo Yujin badmouthing her teammates while defending herself was never going to look good.
“Contestant Seo Yujin.”
“…Yes.”
“You’re the leader of Team 2. A leader’s job is precisely to bring the members together and guide them in the right direction. Looking at you right now, I have to say you fail as a leader.”
“…Ugh.”
Seo Yujin clenched her teeth, clearly stung by Han Siwoo’s words. Tears began to well in her eyes.
Swoosh—.
She tilted her head back, as if forcing herself to hold them in.
In a way it looked pitiful, but Han Siwoo was not the type to stop talking over something so small.
“…I also get the feeling the rank assignments were a bit off from the start. Contestant Seo Yujin. Why are you monopolizing both leader and center?”
“I can handle both perfectly we—!”
“Contestant Yu Seol.”
“……!”
Han Siwoo cut Seo Yujin off without the slightest hesitation and turned his question on Yu Seol.
“That doesn’t seem like your usual style, yet today you’re being unusually passive.”
“…….”
“Not landing either the leader or center rank is one thing…, is something wrong?”
Zing—.
At Han Siwoo’s words, every gaze and every camera in the practice room swung toward Yu Seol.
An ordinary person might have flustered under the sudden spotlight…, but Yu Seol was no ordinary person.
She answered with a calm, faint smile.
“…I’m sorry.”
“…….”
Standing there demurely as she replied to Han Siwoo, Yu Seol looked… as fragile and poignant as a single flower about to fall.
“I’ve been… in poor condition this week…, so I couldn’t show a better side of myself.”
“You’ve been… unwell?”
A murmur rose.
“Come to think of it….”
“She does look like she’s lost some weight….”
Yu Seol’s answer set the contestants and production staff whispering among themselves.
Once they heard her and looked again…, she really did appear unwell.
…Is that for real?
Even I, who could see the Status Window, found myself second-guessing.
No matter how much she had the [Blackening] trait and high acting stats…, the way she looked right now didn’t seem faked at all.
“Where exactly… are you feeling unwell?”
Han Siwoo seemed just as thrown by her answer; the scolding expression vanished and his tone turned worried.
Yu Seol replied with a face that looked like she was trying her hardest to appear fine.
“It’s just… a mild body ache.”
Of course, saying so didn’t make her look any less sick.
“…….”
Han Siwoo’s expression slowly shifted from concern into something that looked like regret for the things he had just said.
Come to think of it, this is the same man who rushed to the hospital first when Hyejeong unni collapsed.
He might be a sharp-tongued critic…, but maybe his worry for the contestants was genuine.
“…Health management is basic for an idol. Take care of yourself… properly.”
“…Yes. Thank you for your concern, Producer Han Siwoo.”
Just as the atmosphere was starting to warm a little under Han Siwoo’s tsundere-style worry and Yu Seol’s fresh smile—
“Ah, still!”
“……!”
Unable to simply watch the two of them talk, Seo Yujin stepped forward and raised her voice.
“Seol unni used being sick as an excuse to half-ass the meetings…! She couldn’t keep up with practice…! Because of her the team mood tanked and the stage progress stalled…! Being sick is unfortunate, but the real reason our team is stuck is mostly Seol unni’s fault!”
“……!”
Seo Yujin’s sudden outburst froze the practice room solid.
Everything she was saying could very well be true.
If a core member of the team couldn’t properly join the work because she was sick and ended up souring the atmosphere….
An already difficult stage would only get harder.
But—
Yujin, shut your mouth…!
In this situation…, with this atmosphere…, and especially in front of the cameras, those were not words that should have been spoken.
Worse still, a large number of production staff were stationed right here.
How tempting a piece of material must this look from their perspective?
Swoosh—.
I unconsciously glanced sideways toward PD Shin.
He was watching the scene with an indescribably serious expression, drinking it all in.
When the man who was normally all smiles went dead serious…, tension began to ripple among the sharper contestants and staff.
And the one who noticed it was—
“…Contestant Seo Yujin. Calm down for a moment.”
Han Siwoo as well, it seemed.
“…You look a little worked up, so let’s settle your heart first.”
Han Siwoo clearly did not want the situation to escalate any further.
If things grew even a little bigger than this…, and if it all went out on broadcast exactly as the cameras captured it….
Seo Yujin would definitely face a public beating far harsher than anything she had known so far.
Han Siwoo did not seem to want to hand her that cruel fate.
“I’m just so unfairly treated…!”
“I understand, so stop.”
But when Seo Yujin, already off the leash, refused to stop speaking through her brimming eyes, Han Siwoo cut her off cold.
“…That’s enough for now.”
“…….”
“…I’ll conduct another mid-check for Team 2 tomorrow separately. So for today, step back…, and we’ll end the mid-check here. Both teams, good work.”
Just like that, Han Siwoo abruptly declared the mid-check over.
Seo Yujin finally cooled her excitement and returned to her seat with Team 2.
Meanwhile, among the production staff—
“No, Siwoo-ssi, why cut it off there…?”
“The atmosphere was perfect….”
Unrest stirred because they didn’t like what Han Siwoo had done.
Until then PD Shin had simply watched the situation in silence.
“…….”
“…….”
The other trainers and cameramen, excluding Han Siwoo, kept glancing at PD Shin until—
Nod.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Swoosh—, shhk.
Only when PD Shin nodded did they finally stand and lower their cameras.
Whew…….
Watching that, I secretly let out a breath of relief.
If PD Shin had wanted to fan the flames further, he would have forced the filming to continue no matter what.
But seeing him choose to cut instead….
Looks like he’s planning to just let it slide….
He didn’t seem intent on sending Seo Yujin to hell for the sake of broadcast angles and ratings.
Is it because Yujin’s under SAV…?
From a broadcasting station’s perspective, messing with a major agency like SAV would definitely carry pressure.
That was probably a big reason the production side was letting this go.
Even so—
…That was close.
The fact that Seo Yujin had nearly fallen into a major crisis just now remained unchanged.
…And she’s still walking a tightrope, if you ask me.
Dangers like today’s wouldn’t disappear until the day the second team competition ended.
Whether she knew that or not, Seo Yujin’s face still looked like her anger hadn’t cooled.
I should… say a word to her.
Our Team 1 hadn’t received particularly good evaluations in this mid-check. And Seo Yujin was the leader and center of our opposing Team 2.
From a team standpoint, letting her self-destruct without any advice would have been the more advantageous call.
But… maybe because we’d built some affection while being on the same team during the first team competition.
I couldn’t just leave the current Seo Yujin alone.
So—
“Yujin.”
“…?”
“…Let’s talk for a second.”
I caught Seo Yujin as she headed back to her practice room after the mid-check ended.
“…Where are we going?”
“To the bathroom.”
“……!!”
The moment I said bathroom, Seo Yujin—who until now had only worn an expression of injustice and fury—flinched hard.
“Th-th-the bathroom, why….”
“Because there are no cameras there. Why?”
“I-I don’t want to…! I don’t know what this is suddenly, but let’s just talk here…!”
“……?”
…Had she gotten dragged into a bathroom and beaten up sometime in the past?
Nah, who’d do that to Seo Yujin.
Still, since she clearly hated the idea of talking in the bathroom, I stopped walking.
No one around, so this should be fine….
This was a hallway a little ways from the practice rooms.
After confirming no one was nearby, I carefully spoke to Seo Yujin.
“Yujin, you almost got into big trouble today.”
“…What?”
“What on earth were you thinking, saying that in front of the cameras.”
“Ha!”
I had spoken out of concern for her well-being…, yet Seo Yujin’s face crumpled toward me.
“Are you trying to lecture me too, unni? What did I do so wrong! Not a single thing I said today was a lie!”
She raised her voice, looking thoroughly wronged.
“I was trying hard! That Yu Seol person couldn’t even properly join the meetings because she was ‘sick’! The members ignored me, their leader, and only fretted over Yu Seol all day! The song difficulty was already high enough to give me a headache! Progress wasn’t happening! It was a total mess!”
If what Seo Yujin said was true, the situation did sound pretty hopeless.
Trying hard only for the members not to follow would feel frustrating and unfair.
But—
“…Even so, the way you handled it today was wrong. Other people…, especially the public who’ll watch the broadcast, don’t know those exact circumstances.”
Even taking everything into account, Seo Yujin’s behavior during the mid-check had been far too aggressive. Aggressive enough that viewers would have every justification to throw stones.
“So from now on, even if something feels unfair, try to calm down a little in front of the cameras….”
“That’s not my fault—it’s the public’s fault for not knowing the circumstances!”
“Haa….”
I had been trying to talk her down gently, but when Seo Yujin screeched, a sigh slipped out of me before I could stop it.
And as I chewed over her thoroughly self-centered attitude—
This is like… talking to a little kid….
Ah.
…She is a kid, isn’t she.
I paused as I remembered she was still only seventeen.
Barely a month into high school uniforms…, essentially closer to a middle schooler, and probably still deep in puberty.
Of course she’d never experienced real social life…, and above all, she had the “Do-As-I-Please” trait, having been coddled in her own little world.
I understood Seo Yujin a little better at the same time that I realized—
She’s not going to listen to anything I say.
…Words and explanations alone weren’t going to change her anytime soon.
In cases like this you usually needed to teach with somewhat harsh discipline….
But there’s no one around here who’d do that….
…Nothing to be done, I guess.
Right now Seo Yujin’s state was no different from an 8-ton truck with a broken steering wheel.
“…Yujin, I won’t say anything more. Just try to take what I said today to heart as much as you can.”
“Forget it! I’ll handle it myself!”
“You…, even if you cry and regret it later, it’ll be too late by then.”
“Hilarious. Who’s going to cry! Are you done talking? Then I’m leaving! Hmph!”
With that, all I could do was hope the golden child in front of me… would somehow finish this with as little damage as possible.