– Do-hee was stalling…!
Kim Seo-yoon turned her head and looked at me.
“Isn’t that really Dorahee?”
*
In the end, after Seo-yoon Unni’s scolding, Sara Unni was dragged out of the bathroom.
While Seo-yoon Unni went to wash up, the preview and opening of [Topist Season 4] had ended.
‘Nothing really special yet.’
Baek-hwi was just a passing mention in the preview.
If there was anything that stood out, it was how often they kept mentioning Seven and emphasizing how amazing the program [Top] is.
‘Still, there’s no need to worry with just this much.’
Feeling eased, a yawn began to escape.
‘Should I just sleep…’
At that moment, a delicate voice came from beside me.
“Do-hee, are you sleepy…?”
Turning to the source of the sound, I saw Sara Unni poking her head into the room.
“Shall we sleep together…?”
“No, it’s okay. You go ahead and sleep first.”
Sara Unni immediately turned gloomy at my firm response and trudged back into the room.
Meanwhile, on the TV, as the background music changed, the familiar subtitle “Which company will enter first?” appeared and episode 1 officially began.
The ranking seats were beautifully decorated in shades of blue.
[Rapper ZUNO's company, New ID Music!]
[Huh? Are we first?]
[Feels nice being the first, right? Should we just sit at number one?]
Something familiar yet dull in the composition.
Yawns kept sneaking out.
“Yawn…”
Another delicate voice came through.
“Do-hee, are you sleepy…?”
“A little.”
Sara Unni once again trudged back into the room with a gloomy expression.
And this time, Seo-yoon Unni came out of the bathroom, grumbling with a towel wrapped around her head.
“Wow, my hair is falling out again. Am I going to become bald at this rate?”
“Exaggeration, Nii?”
“No, you really should try bleaching it. It’s falling out and no matter how you dry it, it just doesn’t dry. Ah~”
After hearing her complaints about bleaching endlessly, I ignored her, and Seo-yoon Unni continued to mumble.
– Dorahee doesn’t even care about me… Sigh… I raised her wrong…
I plopped down on the sofa.
“So, Rahee. Is Kang Si-hwan out now?”
“Well, he should be.”
Kang Si-hwan, a contestant who joined this season as a trainee under Topist, was the same age as Seo-yoon Unni.
Naturally, since he had spent time as a trainee with us, there was some camaraderie between us.
He was a trainee I had a friendly relationship with.
“I hope he does well. He really worked hard, you know.”
“Well, everyone worked hard.”
“If someone from the company does well, that’s great.”
“Did Lahy get a cool sickness?”
“Who else could it be but you?”
As I chatted with Seo-yoon Unni after a long time while watching the broadcast, most of the participants had already completed their entrances.
[Where do you think it is this time?]
[It’ll be there. That place.]
The logo of ‘Topist’ popped up on the LED screen.
“Kang Si-hwan will definitely come out.”
As the scene changed, phrases introducing our company appeared.
[Girl group Pastel Love]
[Boy group X-ten]
[Solo artists like Woo-joo-han, Banners, Haniel, etc.]
First, the faces of the seniors passed by.
[And debuted in Season 3, SEVEN!]
Now, a cutscene of the trainees chatting came up.
[Two trainees from Topist debuted in Season 3, right?]
[Oh, Seo-yoon Unni and Do-hee Unni, the two of them!]
Then, our two-shot SEVEN concept photo popped up.
[The Topist representing the Beagle charm!]
“But, Unni.”
“Yeah?”
“Even you think they are really pretty, right? Honestly, I think they’re crazy beautiful.”
“They’re crazy beautiful, alright.”
“You too.”
“Only you think that.”
As we kept this silly banter going, the Topist trainees soon took their seats in the ranking.
“So, who is that person next to Kang Si-hwan? Kim Yi-joon?”
“I don’t know. Must be a trainee who joined last year.”
Now, only one seat was left in the ranking.
As it was the last turn, the participants murmured.
[Where do you think he’ll appear?]
[Maybe from one of the Big Four agencies? Last time, there were three participants: JS, Zy, and Haru.]
[No way. If those guys come out, it’ll definitely be cheating.]
‘He’ll definitely come out.’
Boom—
With a sound effect, the ZY logo lit up on the LED screen.
An introduction began for many ZY artists, including our SEVEN member, Chae-rin Unni.
And when the introduction for ZY finished, the screen showed Baek-hwi having a preliminary meeting with the production staff.
[Hello, I’m Baek Hwi, a first-year trainee.]
[Q: As a trainee from a big agency, what do you think your strengths are?]
[Oh, I…]
Casually chatting and laying the groundwork.
Setting the stage.
The production staff scanned the documents and suddenly spoke with a surprised tone filled with exaggeration.
[Q: Is it true that Baek-hwi and Seven member (bleep–) are dating?]
[Ah, yes.]
And the scene skipped, showing Baek-hwi entering the set while receiving reactions from the participants.
[Why was the production staff surprised? Stay tuned for the reveal.]
Suddenly, I felt a force on my cheek.
Kim Seo-yoon was tugging at my face.
“Relax your expression. Don’t worry! Unni will sort everything out! Oh!?”
I must’ve been frowning without realizing it.
“What are you saying? And I don’t care. What can I do if I was born pretty?”
Seo-yoon Unni made an exhausted face, but she’ll never know I do this because I don’t want to worry those around me.
‘If her personality improves this much… sigh.’
Anyway, now that all the participants have entered the set,
all that’s left is the MC’s hosting and the ranking evaluation.
As expected, the screen displayed MC Jin Tae-seop entering to applause, passionately giving a speech about how incredible the program “Straightforward” is to boost the participants’ spirits.
And finally, it’s our turn to appear.
[Now, let’s meet these individuals who have stepped up as representatives for today’s fan event!]
The season 3 title song “Fell for You” resonated on stage, and subtitles appeared.
[Daily MC Season 3 Participants, Surprise Appearance by Seven Members!]
[Waaaah—!]
The members’ entrance scenes were replayed multiple times with lighting effects.
Then came the participants’ interviews.
[Wow… I was really so happy. Seriously!]
[When I saw them here in front of me, no joke, my legs were shaking. Like, the moment I saw them.]
I tried to remain calm in front of Seo-yoon Unni, but I couldn’t help but frown momentarily.
[My mouth is practically tearing from how wide I’m smiling. They were so pretty!]
[Is it okay to say this? Everyone was insane.]
It was all thanks to Baek-hwi’s unexpectedly awkward interview that popped up at a random moment.
[I was really happy to see them after a long time.]
The footage returned to a split screen capturing Baek-hwi cheering and me entering the set concurrently.
‘I thought I could just pass it off as childhood friends, but…’
This is still fine.
Fans might just think we were friends after all.
But the editing got increasingly intense.
The next inserted scene was Baek-hwi’s pre-meeting that had been bleeped out earlier.
Baek-hwi’s pre-meeting was a total mess.
I heard the voice of the writer unni.
“[Mr. Baek-hwi, a member of Seven…]”
And then the scenes of the Seven members passing by one by one. Finally, the screen froze on me.
“[Is it true that you’re childhood friends with Do-hee?]”
And then came my interview scene right away.
“This is it, right? The support interview for the new season participants.”
“Yeah.”
The room’s decor.
The chair I was sitting on was the same.
It was clear.
“But why is that suddenly coming up?”
For the support to the participants,
“It might feel like things that are usually easy to handle aren’t going well, and you might feel like your body isn’t keeping up with your mind. Still, I hope you don’t give up on this precious opportunity and keep pushing through.” I think I cautiously elaborated without sounding too cocky.
But as Seo-yoon unni asked curiously,
What was being broadcasted during that interview scene was a sudden question from the production staff.
“[Q: I heard you’re childhood friends with this participant Baek-hwi.]”
Naturally, I answered while maintaining a bit of distance.
“[Oh, yeah. We became friends because our moms were friends in school, so we got to know each other easily.]”
A truly straightforward answer.
But back on the set, my close-up on stage was being shown.
A scene where I was on stage, gazing at the participants.
In the meantime, footage of Baek-hwi kept cutting in, making it seem like we were locking eyes.
Finally, the camera returned to my close-up, and I subtly smiled.
And a soft narration played.
“[Precious.]”
“…”
Seo-yoon unni opened her mouth cautiously.
“Did you really answer like that…?”
It was obvious malicious editing.
Especially the last part where I said, ‘friend. Precious’ was clearly a cut from the support interview.
“Are you okay…?”
Ultimately, the broadcast was portraying the relationship between Baek-hwi and me as something special.
I calmly pulled out my phone and searched my name.
And I entered the news section.
“[JUSTDOL’s previous season’s top spot, Do-hee, ‘Special Relationship with Season 4 Participant’] – 1 minute ago
[Popular girl group member Seven’s Do-hee encounters a bold new season participant and shares a smile?] – 1 minute ago
[This participant has been a childhood friend of Do-hee since they were young] – 1 minute ago
Articles popping up as if prepared in advance.
“Yeah, I’m really okay.”
This is a real nightmare.
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