If You're So Mad, Why Don't You Regress Too
In a lodging district where motels and hotels were jumbled together, Winter sat crouched on the ground. The smudged eyeliner still clung to her eyes, and she looked even more disheveled than she had yesterday. If she walked into the audition hall looking like that, they'd kick her out immediately for lack of preparation.
"What the hell happened to you? Why didn't you wash up at the place I booked for you?"
"...Well, the thing is, minors need a parent's consent form to stay overnight, and I think I left mine in my wallet."
"Then you should've gone to a jjimjilbang to clean up. You can't go to an audition looking like that."
"So I went to a jjimjilbang, but when they saw my school uniform, they told me students aren't allowed between midnight and 5 a.m. and kicked me out..."
"You should've taken the uniform off..."
Winter had nothing to say to that. She simply let out a pathetic little "Boo-hoo" and started crying.
"Don't tell me you actually slept on the street here?"
Winter nodded, looking utterly dejected. Sure, Korea had good public safety, but who in their right mind would let a young girl sleep rough alone outside a motel? It was incredibly reckless and naive.
I had wanted her audition to fail, not her entire life to fall apart.
"For now, go to a sauna or a bathhouse and get cleaned up. You still have to do the audition, right?"
"...The thing is, the audition was in the morning, so I already went to the audition hall. They said it wasn't today, but yesterday."
Wow... So that's why she never debuted.
"I'm sure Yuji said it was today..."
"Didn't you just hear it wrong?"
"No, I even saw her off. I told her even though I failed, I hoped she would pass. I cheered her on and everything..."
According to Winter's story, she had only learned to dance and sing by following a girl named Yuji. She never intended to audition herself. She thought she didn't have the talent to become an idol.
Then one day, Yuji suggested they audition together. Winter went along simply because she enjoyed doing things with her. Since Winter was terrible with computers, Yuji helped her fill out the application form and set up the online connection. She successfully completed the online audition, but only Winter passed the first round.
Winter had been terrified their friendship would grow distant. She even thought it would have been better if she had failed and Yuji had passed.
However, Yuji encouraged her, saying she would help with the procedures and schedule confirmation, so she should try for the second round too. Winter practiced her dancing and singing with Yuji's help, came up to Seoul today on the date she was given, and this was the result.
This didn't feel like a simple mistake.
It wasn't just my suspicion. Even though Winter tried her best to speak favorably in her long, drawn-out explanation, something sinister kept poking through like the tip of an awl. Yuji probably never saw Winter as a real friend from the beginning. Or even if she had been a friend, she likely thought of her as someone beneath her level.
In the midst of that, the jealousy that came from Winter succeeding where she had failed must have been what motivated her to deceive her. Winter herself would have felt that undercurrent even more clearly. Still, she must have kept lying to herself, making excuses like 'but she's my friend.'
"...From now on, don't hang out with that Yuji girl anymore."
Winter couldn't answer. She just kept shedding tears. Having lost not only her audition opportunity but also her only friend, she looked more pitiful than anyone else in the world.
At this point, my plan to introduce her to Cheon Jonghun seemed like it would work perfectly.
"The agency you were trying to audition for was CH, right?"
Winter looked up at me with her swollen eyes and nodded.
"How about joining SS instead?"
"...SS?"
"Yeah. The famous SS, one of the big three agencies. In terms of facilities, vision, and support, SS is way better than CH."
"It would be amazing to get into SS... But would they even accept someone like me? I've heard SS has the highest trainee competition rate and the lowest debut rate. There must be tons of people way more talented than me gathered there."
I encouraged her.
"You can become even greater than those amazing people."
"...That's really kind of you to say. But what exactly are you seeing in me to make such a bold statement? What part of me—the clumsy girl who loses her wallet, the idiot who got tricked about her audition date—makes you say that?"
What am I seeing? I'm seeing it in your status window, obviously. Of course, I couldn't actually say that. If I did, I'd be lucky if they didn't send me to a mental hospital. So I had to be shameless.
"Because you have talent."
"How do you know I have talent?"
"Gut feeling."
"...Gut feeling?"
"Yeah. Gut feeling. I'm not saying it lightly. My instincts have never been wrong. I'd bet my entire remaining life on you becoming the greatest idol and succeeding."
Of course, that was assuming reasonable training from a competent agency and excluding any natural disasters. I wasn't about to tack on such a lame disclaimer, though. There was only one thing I needed to say.
"Trust me. I'll make you the greatest idol."
Winter stared blankly at my confident face. Then, with eyes as hazy as if she were drunk, she said,
"...I'll trust you."
Her eyes were filled with such blind faith they looked almost religious. It seemed like the effect was a bit too strong...? I decided to just let it slide. Good was good.
Anyway, now that I had Winter's permission, it seemed fine to try making a deal with Cheon Jonghun. Without wasting any time, I decided to call him right away.
Since we had been acquainted before my regression, I still remembered his phone number. And not one of his four business lines, but his private number that fewer than twenty people even knew about. Even if an unknown number showed up, he would definitely answer this one.
Just as I thought, after about thirty seconds of ringing, the call connected.
"...Who is this?"
"Is this Team Leader Cheon Jonghun? I heard you're having some difficulties recruiting the final member for your new girl group project. Would you be interested in meeting one trainee I've got in mind?"
Before he could dismiss it as a prank call and hang up, I rattled off the information like a machine gun.
"She has an overall cold impression that doesn't come across as cheap. Think of luxurious black. The songs that would suit her wouldn't be pure or lovely concepts, but something with the tension of a Jersey club style that creates synesthesia. Of course, that would need to be paired with intense, highly difficult performances as well."
He absolutely wouldn't be able to ignore it. After all, I had quoted the exact same phrasing from the autobiography he would later write about Queen in the Mirrorland, the title track of the idol group Alcest he was creating.
"...."
A long silence followed, as if Cheon Jonghun was deep in thought. That made sense. If some unknown person suddenly called and spoke as if they had looked inside his head, suspicion would naturally arise first.
However, even if this situation and my credibility were obstacles, he would still take the bait. If, in a moment of desperation, someone offered a prospect that perfectly matched his own thoughts, no producer could turn their back on it.
"...This is far too convenient. It feels like someone went into my head and is speaking for me. And the fact that it's someone I don't know saying it is unpleasant. Extremely unpleasant."
Cheon Jonghun spoke like a beast whose pride had been wounded.
"...But I can't just cut you off and say I'm not interested."
His boiling displeasure and the curiosity that surpassed it came through clearly over the phone.
"Let me ask you this. How did you get this number?"
Cheon Jonghun seemed eager to find out who had leaked it. I already had an answer prepared.
"I was working as the manager for the late Mr. Seonghwan. Since he didn't belong to an agency, it wasn't a formal contract. I was more like a grandson who received pocket money from him."
The late Seonghwan, the godfather of the music industry and a trot singer who had passed away recently, made for a good excuse. After all, you couldn't ask a dead man why he gave out the number. Plus, by mentioning the lack of a contract in advance, I eliminated any potential future trouble.
"Mr. Seonghwan? Ha... Well, I suppose that could be possible."
It seemed he found the name Seonghwan plausible enough.
"Then how did you know I was having difficulties recruiting the final member? The people working on this project with me aren't exactly loose-lipped."
"Didn't Mr. Seonghwan visit SS while he was operating his AllTube channel while he was alive? I tagged along at the time and got a general look at the trainees. And I became certain. That there would only be four members who could catch Team Leader Cheon's eye."
Since Cheon Jonghun wouldn't have been involved in the YouTube filming, it was an effective excuse.
"And it's an open secret that the SS new girl group project has five members lined up. So I simply put two and two together. That there would be difficulties choosing the final one."
"...I'm this close to hanging up, so stop playing games. You're saying that from a brief glance during that short filming, you narrowed it down to four? Do you seriously think that's a reasonable explanation?"
Even I had to admit it sounded like complete nonsense. If that were possible, why would anyone bother with auditions or tests?
"The four selected trainees are Lily, Coco, Amy, and Yoon Jung, aren't they?"
But I know. I know everything.
"...."
He wouldn't be able to dismiss the words of someone who had witnessed the entire rise and fall of Alcest as mere nonsense.
If you're so mad, why don't you regress too.