To Pay Off the Debt Called Parents
In the car racing toward the My Idol Academia set in Gyeonggi Province.
"……."
"……."
Given the occasion, Kang Hyeongman's familiar black sedan was thick with tension.
I… Kang Hyeongman in the passenger seat… and even Sanggu in the driver's seat—whom I'd grown a little closer to from all the daily rides—had our mouths shut, staring only at the windows.
Silence itself.
But there were beings determined to shatter it.
"Haaah~ Getting up at dawn is so exhausting…."
"Honey, still—if not now, when else are we ever going to get to visit a place like this?"
"That's true enough, hohoho."
…Namely, my parents, planted on either side of me.
"…Just why the hell did you two come along?"
Apparently their chatter grated on him, because Kang Hyeongman twisted around with an irritated glare.
"Hoho, CEO Kang, how can you say something so hurtful? It's our daughter's first broadcast—of course we have to come along~ Right~? Honey?"
"Damn right. As parents, we've got a duty to watch the path our daughter walks."
"Duty as parents, my a—… Haa…."
Kang Hyeongman looked ready to tear into them further, then caught sight of me and seemed to swallow it, turning his head forward again.
"…Forget it. Just keep quiet. Don't make a racket and tire the kid out for nothing."
"Yeees~."
My parents answered him with sunny cheer, then went right back to whispering and snickering between themselves.
Honestly… they're not even a high-school couple on a field trip….
No matter when I looked at them, my parents were hopelessly childish people.
"Haa…."
Still, Kang Hyeongman's warning had done its work, and the car settled back into quiet.
I rubbed my tired eyes and leaned back.
I'd finished practice and gotten home at eleven-thirty last night. By the time Kang Hyeongman's car dropped me off, it was midnight.
It was five-thirty in the morning now, so if I'd fallen asleep the second I walked through the door, I could have managed about five hours….
Except at two a.m.—
Yerin! Yerin—!! Get up right now—!!
Mmm… huh, Mom? …Is it morning already?
That's not the point—! This is a disaster—! Get up—!
In the master bedroom…! The master bedroom…!!
W-what's going on…?!
Mom and Dad had woken me looking white as sheets, and I'd bolted into the master bedroom in a panic, only to find—
A-a cockroach the size of my palm—!! Kyaaaaaaah—!!
H-hurry and catch it—! Yerin—!!!
…….
…Mom and Dad, pointing at a cockroach and completely losing their minds.
…Fuck.
I'd come this close to catching the thing and hurling it straight into their faces.
Truly useless people.
The drive from here to the set was roughly an hour.
I closed my eyes, hoping to claw back even a little of my missing sleep.
But—
"Yerin, you not tired? Want Dad to give you a massage?"
"Mom brought some calming pills—want one?"
"Oh, for the love of…."
…Mom and Dad thriftily sabotaged even that.
Truly, another day overflowing with love for my parents.
"This is as far as we can go with you."
That was what Kang Hyeongman told me right in front of the set. He pointed to a staff member who'd come out to meet us and continued.
"From here, just follow this person."
"…You can't even come with me to the waiting room?"
"Apparently that's the rule. Nothing to be done about it."
From here on, I had to go alone… worry and unease settled over me.
Of course—
"Whaaat—?! We can't even tour the set?"
"Then what was the point of coming all this way…!"
…the silver lining was getting to part ways with these leeches—my parents.
They looked genuinely crestfallen that they couldn't go any farther, as if they'd truly come just to sightsee the set.
Watching them, I felt every last shred of affection for them drain away.
Perhaps sharing a similar sentiment, Kang Hyeongman regarded my parents with eyes gone cold, then reset his gaze and rested a hand on top of my head.
Pat.
It was a casual touch, but warmth came through it all the same.
"Don't tense up too much, though. You're going to do just fine—I'm sure of it."
"…CEO."
"I'll come pick you up the day filming wraps. …Do your best."
"Yes, sir…!"
His tone was as kind as his hand, and some of the worry did ease.
The pressure lightened a little, and a measure of confidence took its place.
And then—
"Um… CEO? We have something we'd like to say to Yerin one last time, if that's all right?"
"…Then just say it. Why are you asking my permission?"
"Hehe, it's a family-only conversation—would you mind giving us a moment?"
"……."
What were they planning to say that required clearing the room? Mom and Dad insisted they needed to give me a final send-off and asked Kang Hyeongman and Sanggu to step aside.
His eyes slid toward me the instant he heard it.
When I nodded, he let out a single sigh and spoke to my parents.
"…Fine. We'll be in the car. Finish up and come back. …And if you so much as say one wrong thing to her, I won't let it slide."
"Aww~ What on earth would we say?"
"……."
Kang Hyeongman looked thoroughly unconvinced, but he left us alone all the same.
And once he'd returned to the car and the door shut—
"Yerin."
Mom and Dad dropped the act at once and latched onto me.
"Mom looked it up—if you win this thing, the prize money is a hundred million won."
"And if you make the final six, you can debut right away."
"Six out of a hundred? Please~ That's nothing for our Yerin."
Mom smoothed my bangs as she went on.
"Honey, remember? When Yerin was seven, some drama director came all the way to our house begging us to make her an actress."
"Haha, and that was just once? There was that guy who showed up with boxes of gifts, insisting she had to be an idol."
Their faces lit up with genuine delight as they reminisced about my childhood.
But the eyes that turned to the present me were—
"Yerin, you know all of that is because Mom and Dad made you so pretty, right?"
"Haha, honey, enough. Yerin already knows that, of course."
…chillingly cold, and brutally practical.
"Yerin, you're going to be a good daughter to Mom and Dad, aren't you?"
"You're an only child. Supporting Mom and Dad all by yourself is going to take a lot of money. So you'll need to earn a lot, right?"
"So…."
Mom and Dad laid their hands on my shoulders at the same time and whispered into my ears.
Their hands were startlingly cold, and heavy.
"You have to nail this opportunity. For Mom and Dad."
"Work like your life depends on it, okay? Mom and Dad believe in you."
"……."
How could the words we believe in you sound so unbearable?
More than anything—
…Haha. They really never stop, do they.
What my parents said hurt far too much.
I'd lived through enough in my previous life that I'd thought I'd felt every kind of pain there was… but Mom and Dad's words always carved deep into my chest, no matter how many times I heard them.
The fact that they saw me as a tool for their own success…. That was just so—
……Huh?
Tears… I'd thought they'd long since dried up… but as rage surged through my chest, the rims of my eyes burned red.
"Yes… I'll work hard."
Afraid they might spill any second, I turned my head away fast.
"…I'll work hard, so don't worry and go home. I should head in now too…."
"…Oh? All right, then."
"Yerin, fighting! You have to make it!"
And so I finished saying goodbye to my parents and followed the staff member into the set.
In the end, the tears never fell—but my heart, already in tatters, was shredded even finer.
"Here we are—this is your waiting room, Miss Yerin."
"…Huh? Here?"
Still dazed from my parents, I'd trailed after the staff member to the waiting room—and found myself thrown off completely.
For good reason.
"…There's no one else here. Am I the first one to arrive?"
The waiting room was clean and reasonably sized, and I was the only person in it.
"No, ma'am—this is your personal waiting room."
"Pardon? Why would I get a personal waiting room…."
"Usually two or more contestants come from the same agency~ so we prepared waiting rooms by agency."
"Ah…."
So because I was the only one from Hyeongje Entertainment, they'd given me a room to myself.
"Before the first evaluation, everyone will gather for introductions~. First, let me walk you through the filming concept~."
The staff member in front of me went on about the filming concept, but none of it registered.
Instead, the words my parents had said kept replaying in my head.
Yerin, you're going to be a good daughter to Mom and Dad, aren't you?
You're an only child. Supporting Mom and Dad all by yourself is going to take a lot of money. So you'll need to earn a lot, right?
It was the same even after the staff left and a makeup artist came in to do my face.
"…Wow, I've never seen foundation sit this well on anyone. You're already gorgeous, but with a little contouring…."
Even after makeup was done and the waiting stretched on and on… the words burned into my mind refused to leave.
Yerin, you know all of that is because Mom and Dad made you so pretty, right?
Haha, honey, enough. Yerin already knows that, of course.
Work like your life depends on it, okay?
At first, I hadn't planned to go all out on My Idol Academia.
I'd just intended to be a so-so contestant—memorable enough to the public that I could become an idol capable of paying off my debts, and leave it at that.
But then I'd heard CEO Kang's words—
Don't tense up too much. You're going to do just fine—I'm sure of it.
And the words of Teacher Suhyeon and Teacher Jiu, who'd poured sweat and blood into training me for a month—
If you keep going like this, you could become an incredible idol.
Yerin, I'll be cheering for you the whole time you're on the show. Hoo-eeeeng.
I'd adjusted my mindset a little.
I'd started wanting to become someone who could live up to their expectations.
And last of all—my mom and dad.
In an entirely different sense, Mom and Dad had given me enormous motivation.
You have to nail this opportunity. For Mom and Dad.
Just as they'd said, I was going to throw everything I had into My Idol Academia—for Mom and Dad.
As repayment for being born to them and raised by them.
No—to pay off the debt of having been born their child. To land one solid hit on those goddamn creditors.
I was going to succeed, no matter what.
And then I was going to abandon them completely.
"Miss Yerin, time to head to the stage~."
Dressed in the sleek school uniform provided by My Idol Academia, wearing a full professional makeup look for the first time in my life.
"There'll be cameras starting from the hallway the moment you leave the waiting room. Good luck~."
And above all, carrying a vicious resolve to be the most unfilial daughter imaginable—
I took my first step toward My Idol Academia, the opening stride of my life as an idol.