The Debut Day Is Set
"I kept you safe... I protected you...!"
Out of the thirty figures, only about seven remained alive.
Honestly, if everything had shattered, I was already debating whether I'd have to tear a dakimakura apart right in front of me, but luckily it didn't come to that.
I nodded with a smile.
"Even when the next song comes out, we'll do it like this."
"!....M-monster! A monster! Not even a human, a producer!"
"Eh. It's not a human at all."
I answered with a smile.
"Didn't I give you the choice of what to destroy yourself?"
"That's exactly why you're not human!"
She was given the option and yet she scolded me.
Too far. It was my own form of consideration.
Anyway, I was just making the three of them perform their roles properly.
"Yeonhwa doesn't need to say anything—she's doing it on her own. Now there's only one left..."
"....Huuu."
Cat Mom. Gold Coin Mother.
She took a deep breath and leaned in close, whispering.
"『Nitro』"
[....Nya aah.]
A lightning spirit was summoned. A small lightning-bolt cat appeared and simply stared at Harin without hostility.
"...110 volts toward the coach."
[Nya aah ah!]
The same command as before.
But the result was different.
Crackle!
"....Okay."
A small lightning bolt struck toward me.
It accepted the summoning. It followed the command.
Though the connection still looked far off.
"Barely passed."
"Yaaaahhh!!"
Whoa!
An uppercut toward the empty air.
Without the slightest hesitation, it pulled back its ears and paws and slammed them to the floor.
"Nitro! This one too! Burn this one too!"
[Nya rurung....]
"Two chur!"
[Nya aah ah ah!!]
Crackle!
Lightning rained down again.
Only when the cosplay props burned to ash from the lightning did Harin finally exhale.
"....That was a truly terrifying day."
"You hated it that much?"
"I am a human too! A human!"
"Cat Mom doesn't look human."
"B-but.... Now you're not anymore!"
Harin shrieked, twack!
Her personality was back to normal.
The sight of her making a proper argument instead of her usual kind smile was refreshing.
Of course, her impulsive actions that burst out like lightning bolts were annoying, but those were just her default personality as a lightning spirit contractor.
"In any case, I won't do it again. Even if you order me, I'll refuse."
"I won't touch you even if you do well."
But.
"If I return to being the half-assed control I was back when I was powerless and couldn't control my own spirit..."
"....Then I'll pick one from an adult goods site?"
"What?"
"Your cosplay props."
"........."
Ah, by the way.
"Those goods have to be shoved up your ass."
"I'll report you for sexual harassment."
"Then just give up."
"....Do I really have to?"
"Worst case, if you hate how it looks, just do it properly yourself?"
The major said she wanted nothing.
At the very least, as a spirit contractor, she had to hold onto her spirit tightly and live.
Was there anything else I wanted to touch her about?
"I.... control the majority well...?"
"You can't control yourself."
If you've lived your life handing your controller to someone else,
living while fully aware that your own life will end up in someone else's hands however they please,
"Yes. I am a hikikomori-obsessed nerd who can do nothing without the majority..."
....I didn't expect that reaction, but since the words were said, it was fine.
'Now all that's left is the kids' debut.'
Three hours had passed surprisingly quickly.
"I'll take my leave for a moment."
"Ah, thank you, unnie!"
Training ended and Ayoung naturally approached to heal everyone.
One by one they received their healings and let out relieved sighs...
"Now, Sunwoo-nim too..."
"I'm good. This little bit isn't a big deal."
"Still, it would be better to receive it..."
"If I force myself to take it, it might just hurt my body."
I didn't receive a healing.
Ayoung nodded in understanding of my words and stepped back one pace.
".........."
"...? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"N-no. I was just, what should I say..."
Harin hesitated, and Sujin simply stared in silence.
And after her, Yeonhwa pointed a finger at me and asked,
"Coach. Did you date and break up with Ayoung unnie?"
"What?"
"If that's the case, it's complete trash."
"....First of all, even setting aside the trash part, if I had dated, I'd have said 'I did'."
"That aside, Ayoung unnie's eyes seem a bit weird..."
That was another weird thing to say.
I was about to dismiss it since there was no point in bringing up that story, but Harin took Yeonhwa's words instead.
"Thinking about it, Coach's taste was a virgin, right?"
"What? Are you three trying to socially bury me now?"
Please just settle on first place.
Why won't you stop digging?
"Wow. Even wanting 'I did' makes you have lots of expectations."
"Shut your mouth, you slut."
"Do I give you the 'I did'?"
"Exactly, shut your mouth."
Am I really that troubled right now?
And I heard it earlier.
"My taste is virgin. I won't do anything with anyone but a virgin!"
"So I give you the 'I did'?"
"....Hey?"
That line was probably 'I did' right now...
"Why? Are you curious?"
"....Let's stop."
Do you want me to play with you like a man who's three to four years older?
I let out a small sigh and covered my face with both hands.
Just run away like this.
Just as I was about to exhale,
"I did. Virgin. Pregnancy. Child."
"? Sujin-ah?"
Sujin, who had been quietly muttering from the corner, spoke up.
"NTR...?"
"............"
What kind of words are those.
"An NTR rape followed by a disillusionment-revenge story...?"
"Sujin-ah."
"!....C-coach..."
"I have no intention of playing with your taste."
I whispered the truth of the world to Sujin.
"There are no people like 'Nude' in this world."
"....I know."
"No young men either."
So reality like NTR obsession is just a crazy thing—
"─What are you talking about? Young men exist."
"..........."
Is this kid really saying it with sincerity right now?
"It's just that the country hides it, in fact, boys are born with a young man."
"Ah. So?"
"But they wrap it in the country right after birth."
".........."
Thinking about it, the group of spirit contractors had no normal people.
I was the idiot for trying to convince them with words.
"Yeah. Later, check if your future husband has a young man."
"....I'll keep my eyes open. I'll definitely find out the truth!"
"Yeah yeah. When the time comes, if it's there, I'll find it out too."
"What? Euh, th-that, eee?"
Sujin suddenly short-circuited.
I left her as she was and left the room.
The following voices of the other women accusingly continued, but I ignored them.
'Because she's still a young woman.'
I liked these kinds of stories very much.
There was no good reason to stay.
"Producer!"
"Hyeon-won is here? But... what is the producer talking about?"
The training room door opened and Hyeon-won entered.
She had run over in a hurry, so she answered with a smile despite the sweat droplets.
"I told you before, right? Make sure to take the exact position. At least in the training center, you're called 'producer'."
"Even if it's your wish to call me that, it's a bit embarrassing."
"Would you like me to call you manager?"
"Even as manager, you do a lot of work?"
"I'll add extra pay later."
Hyeon-won said it wasn't urgent and called all three of the Nature members.
"The debut day has been decided."
"!!!
Debut.
The day of the idol, Nature's debut was decided.
"I think you three have all worked hard."
Dancing.
Singing.
And spirit arts too.
"That day has come to prove all that effort and all the practice."
".........."
Hyeon-won's serious eyes.
All three fell silent and exchanged glances with each other.
Trembling eyes. Shaking, restless, unyielding eyes—
Even if they tried hard, they couldn't trust themselves. The fear of being left behind.
At the end of that—Hyeon-won, the president, said.
"Honestly, I don't trust you three."
"What?"
"...Eh?"
"Y-you... would find it hard to trust, right...?"
An abrupt statement.
Then the president continued.
"But I trust the producer who taught you."
"..........."
Eyes gathered toward me.
Steady. Unwavering. Eyes heading straight toward me.
"Because I trust the producer's skill, I trust how much they've tormented you."
"....Not wrong."
"You went through a great deal."
"Dyuu... dyuhuhuhu......"
A slightly decaying look in the eyes.
But the anxiety was no longer visible.
"I know you three find it hard to trust yourselves."
But please believe.
"Please believe 'you' who the producer raised."
"........"
The two men gathered their resolve in silence.
Eyes filled with will.
"U, that was like that though...."
In the middle, Sujin hesitated as if something had occurred to her alone, but I wished she hadn't said it.
Probably she was unconsciously muttering that herself.
After all, dear-stanning secretly comes out in passing.
"Um. The mood has become quite charged."
It wasn't straightforward, so I should give good news too.
Hyeon-won suddenly took out a paper bag from behind her back and handed it to Harin.
"What do you think this is?"
"...Clothes?"
"Yes."
Your 'divine attire'."
"By the way, Mistletoe is also included."
"....!!!"
Mistletoe.
An insane mineral whose mana conduction rate beats silver and copper.
Even in dungeons, it's so rare that its price skyrockets—wearing Mistletoe in divine attire?
"You... went completely crazy?"
"I mixed in the remaining Mistletoe powder from the workshop, so the price went down a lot, but I did ask everyone if they were crazy."
With this much clothing, it would be usable even in a dungeon, I suppose.
I shook my head at Hyeon-won's crazed words.
"You didn't say to dance and sing even in the dungeon?"
".........."
"...Hey?"
"Should I ask if you got it from somewhere?"
I have no idea what dream you're in.
Do you want a battlefield idol group?
I exhaled in disbelief, and Hyeon-won handed me another paper bag.
"....What is this?"
"Not oppa, but the producer's clothes."
"So why."
"Welfare for the producer?"
"If I make you dance in this, I'll really get angry?"
"Purely out of goodwill."
"........."
I couldn't believe it, but since it was given, I accepted.
A white suit. I definitely couldn't wear it to a wedding.
If I get it stained while eating at a buffet, it's a problem.
Incidentally.
".............."
Amid the laughing and noisy people,
Yun Ayoung smiled silently.
There was no choice but to smile.
The only thing she could do was smile.