Chapter 29

It was supposed to be sleep time.

Even though Mother didn’t wake me up, my eyes popped open.

For some reason, there’s a sharp pain in my lower abdomen today.

And below, it’s damp and warm, which is quite unpleasant.

I cautiously lifted the blanket.

Ah.

Crap.

No, wait.

If it were really “crap,” I wouldn’t be having my period.

Anyway, there was blood on my white blanket.

I thought it would come someday.

But when it actually shows up, it’s just confusing.

My body felt dizzy and weak.

I’ve been feeling bloated and uneasy since the day before, and it turns out that’s because of my period.

“Mom~”

I called for my mom.

It was still too early for her to be up.

I called again, but Mom didn’t respond. She must still be sleeping.

In the end, I grabbed my phone and called her.

After a few rings, she finally picked up on the third try.

– Hello? –

“Mom, come to my room quickly.”

– What’s with the late-night call… –

“It’s 6 AM! Anyway, hurry to my room already.”

– Ugh… –

Mom hung up, and a moment later, she opened my door and came in.

She looked half-asleep, barely able to keep her eyes open.

“What’s going on…”

I pointed at the blanket I had pulled back and said,

“Mom, look at this.”

“Hmm?”

Mom saw my blanket and exclaimed in shock.

“What? Our daughter got her period?”

“Yeah. But I don’t know what to do right now.”

“First, take off your clothes and get cleaned up. I’ll handle the rest.”

“Okay.”

The smell of iron was so overwhelming.

I got out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom to start my shower.

Even washing my hair and rinsing my body with body wash felt exhausting.

Suddenly, I felt really down.

Sigh, what a life.

Why do I have to suffer like this just because I was born a girl?

I hurriedly washed up and dried off with a towel, but I felt something dripping below.

Ah.

I tried my best to get clean, but more period blood came out.

Reluctantly, I stepped back into the shower to rinse off the blood again.

Even after washing off, it just kept trickling out.

I quickly stuffed some toilet paper down there and called for Mom.

“Mom!! Come here for a sec!”

Mom opened the bathroom door and peeked in.

“What’s wrong? Are you in a lot of pain?”

“No, it just keeps bleeding no matter how much I clean it.”

Mom closed the bathroom door and came back with a pair of new underwear that had a pad attached.

“Hurry up, dry off and put these on.”

“Okay.”

I washed up again and quickly put on the underwear.

Ugh, I’m drained.

Now I see why girls getting their first period suddenly cry.

Even I, who knows exactly what a period is, am so confused; kids must have it worse.

“Are you okay?”

Mom brought me some tea as I slumped on the sofa.

“This is chamomile tea. It should help a bit.”

“Okay.”

Mom looked at me with a worried expression, noticing my frown.

“Does it hurt a lot?”

“No, I can manage.”

“You should skip practice today and rest.”

Even though it’s summer break and I don’t have to go to school, I still had to show up at work for practice.

“No, I want to go to work. I have to because of the end-of-month evaluation coming up.”
“Just take a day off, the teachers there will understand if you tell them anyway.”

“This month’s evaluation is a group stage assessment, so I just want to go.”

“I don’t want to be a hassle for my team members because of me.”

“Will you be okay?”

“Yeah, drinking the tea mom gave me makes me feel a bit better. If it gets worse, I’ll just take painkillers.”

“If you can’t stand it, just tell them and come home.”

“Got it.”

“But, daughter.”

“Yeah?”

Mom reached out and placed her hand on my chest.

I was so surprised that I pushed her hand away and crossed my arms.

“Ah! What are you doing!”

“Oh, our daughter~”

I was already confused, and then suddenly placing her hand on my chest startled me.

“I thought your chest was looking a bit bigger when you were showering earlier, but it’s grown quite a bit?”

Ah.

“Wasn’t it uncomfortable while dancing?”

“It was a little uncomfortable.”

I had been feeling a bit jiggly and rubbed when dancing lately.

“I guess we need to go buy some underwear on our day off.”

I lifted my hand and placed it on my chest.

“Wow. It really has grown a bit, hasn’t it?”

“Naturally, it gets bigger when you start your period.”

I reached out again and placed my hand on mom’s chest.

The mass felt similar.

“I’m going to surpass you soon.”

Mom’s temper flared as I touched a nerve.

“Ha! When I get my period, it gets way bigger than this! I’m a B cup when I get my period! B!”

I looked at her with suspicious eyes and replied.

“If that’s a B, then the average for Korean women is B.”

“Hey!”

Still, I was relieved that mom didn’t raise her hand since I got my period.

.

.

.

I endured the stomachache and went to work.

Arriving at the office early, I went into the dance practice room where Seo-yoon Unni was.

“Do-hee, you’re here?”

“Yeah.”

Seo-yoon Unni lives in the dormitory nearby, so she always comes in early in the morning.

“You came in early today?”

“I woke up early this morning. I’m a bit tired, though.”

“To grow taller, you need to sleep a lot.”

“Come on, I’m already almost as tall as you!”

Come to think of it, once a girl starts her period, she usually grows about 5-8 centimeters taller for the next two years before it stops.

At 163 centimeters now, there’s a chance I might surpass 170.

“You’re still in your growth spurt, too; you haven’t stopped yet.”

She’s 16, three years older than me, but for most girls, the growth spurt would have halted by now.

“Hang in there, Unni.”

“I haven’t stopped growing! Oh? Ji-yeon and Woo-ah are here.”

As the door opened, Ji-yeon Unni and Woo-ah Unni walked in.

Ji-yeon Unni is one of the four new trainees this year, one year older than me, and aside from me, she’s the youngest.

“Do-hee~”

Woo-ah Unni rushed over and hugged me again.

I’m getting tired of telling her not to cling on.

“You’re full of energy this morning, Unni.”

“Seeing Do-hee gives me energy!”

I pushed Woo-ah Unni away and greeted Ji-yeon Unni.

“Hello, Ji-yeon Unni.”

“Yeah.”

Ji-yeon Unni replied coldly.

This person has always shown that she dislikes me for some reason.

I don’t know why.

If she’s going to make it obvious, she’s only hurting herself.

At 14, I guess it’s understandable that she hasn’t matured much yet.

As it got closer to 10, other trainees began to come in one by one, and all nine of us gathered.

Originally there were ten, but one of the new trainees couldn’t handle the lessons and dropped out, leaving nine.
I couldn’t hold back and just went out, so now there are 9 of us.

This end-of-month evaluation is split into 3 teams of 3 people each for group assessment.

Except for my older sister Kim Na-eun, who is the oldest trainee, I ended up in a team with the youngest, Ji-yeon.

We moved to the adjacent practice room for a comfortable practice session.

“First, let’s warm up and try to sync up,” said Na-eun, who became the leader since she’s the oldest.

“Yes.”

After stretching, we started our stage practice with the MR playing.

Now it’s my part.
I need to step forward and sing while moving out.

“For you who might feel a bit lonely, tap your hands…”

At that moment, Ji-yeon’s movement overlapped with mine.

Phew,

“It’s okay, let’s try again,” Na-eun, our leader, interrupted the song.

“Yes.” “Sure~”

Every time we dance, I feel like blood is rushing down below and the damp discomfort is making me wish it would end soon.

Back to the problematic part.

“For you who might feel a bit lonely, tap your hands…”

Again, our movements overlapped in the same spot.

I was holding back from pointing it out, fearing it would ruin the mood, but I decided to speak up.

“Ji-yeon, your steps keep crossing into my path.”

Without saying a word, Ji-yeon slightly nodded her head.

Then she turned and went to the fridge to get some water.

Well, I’m relieved she understood, but just for a moment, she muttered quietly so only I could hear,

“Ah, this is so annoying.”

Ha-ah.
Damn, it’s really hard to cater to this brat.
I even gave up my center position since she wanted it, and I overlook her mistakes every time. I always greet her properly first.
What’s her problem?

Should I just tell the Team Leader?

“Haah…”
Only sighs come out.
Ah.
I’m so irritated it feels like my menstrual cramps are intensifying.

…

A few days later.

End-of-month evaluation.

It’s our team’s turn, the last one.

The representative started speaking from the judging panel.

“So this team has the eldest sister and the youngest.”

“Yes.”

“What song did you prepare?”

“It’s the hand tip by the Pastel Love seniors.”

“Alright. Start.”

With the song, we began our performance on stage.

Soon enough, the problematic part where our movements overlap came up again.

This time, even though Ji-yeon’s mistake repeated, I smoothly moved aside, pretending it was intentional and continued the stage.

Fortunately, aside from that one slip-up, we finished the performance without any other mistakes.

“Hmm.”

Unlike usual, the representative began to speak quickly.

“So, the center was decided among yourselves, right?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm. I don’t understand.”

The representative’s face was stern.

“Why did you take the rap part, Do-hee? Weren’t you always just doing vocals or centering?”

“…I got more confident in my rap skills.”

“No, Do-hee, you sing better than you rap.”

The representative was blunt.

Honestly, I wasn’t too confident in my rap either.

“Do you know why we do group evaluations?”

“…”

“Do you know or not?”

“We understand.”

“If you get it, then you shouldn’t be doing it this way. I don’t know what you want to show with this performance, it’s all over the place.”

The representative set the microphone down.

Ah.
I should’ve just taken the center position myself.

Dance training evaluation from Teacher Ye-rim:

“Ji-yeon.”

“Yes.”

“Did you really think no one noticed your overlapping paths?”

“… ”
“Has it been half a year since we started practicing? Organizing the choreography should be a given, right?”

“…”

“Do-hee and Na-eun, you two answer that. Is it a given or not?”

“… It’s a given.”

“Then what have you all been doing not helping?”

Ha-ah.

Now for the assessment from our vocal teacher, Kwon.

“The singing was alright.”

Phew. That’s a decent enough compliment.

“But the stage presence is lacking, so it makes the song unbearable to listen to.”

Lastly, Team Leader Jung’s feedback.

“Let’s do better next time. If it’s like this again, there won’t be a next time.”

“Yes…”

In the end, I got scolded instead of praised—thanks to that brat.

After the monthly evaluations, when I came out, Woo-ah Unni followed me, hugged me, and said,

“It’s okay, Do-hee, you really did well.”

“Sigh.”

If only everyone was like Woo-ah Unni. Being the youngest is such a curse. If I’m going to debut, I wish I could be the leader.

.

.

.

A few days later, when I visited the dance practice room, I saw the rankings for the trainee monthly evaluations posted.

1st: Jiwoo
2nd: Kim Seo-yoon
3rd: Han Si-a
4th: Lee Do-hee
5th: Song Yeon-ji
6th: Kim Na-eun
7th: Han Da-ye
8th: Kim Ji-yeon

Oh, 4th place. Considering I messed it up so badly, I’m pretty satisfied. But why isn’t Heo Bo-yeon Unni’s name listed?

Moments later, the Team Leader brought Bo-yeon Unni along.

Bo-yeon Unni’s eyes were red and bloodshot.

“Hey, guys, I have something to tell you. Bo-yeon will only be with us until today.”

So it has come to this.

As Bo-yeon Unni’s sobs began, the practice room turned into a sea of tears.

After hugging and sending Bo-yeon Unni off, silence fell in the practice room where she had just left.

The first trainee to be expelled, not leaving on her own. The time spent with someone I looked up to for the past year is over.

I knew it was bound to happen in this competitive system, but my heart felt uneasy.

To gather my thoughts, I went to the restroom outside the practice room to wash my face.

After washing up, I saw Ji-yeon Unni in the mirror.

“You’re lucky.”

“Huh?”

“You don’t have to worry about being expelled.”

“What?”

Before I could finish my words, Ji-yeon Unni cut in.

“The teachers, the Team Leader, and even the CEO all favor you.”

“What favoritism are you talking about?”

“Do you think I’m the only one who thinks so? Everyone thinks that. Stop pretending to be nice and pretty.”

Ji-yeon Unni said that and left.

What the hell did I do?

Is being pretty, singing well, dancing well, playing the piano at a top-class level, and even studying well a crime?

Is it a crime?

.

.

.

On the way home from work in my mom’s car, after some time passed, my head cooled down a bit.

“Mom.”

“Huh?”

“If being pretty is a crime, then I’d be sentenced to life in prison, right?”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“No, I’d be on death row.”

“Were you that stressed today?”

“Not only do I sing well, I dance well, play the piano, and even study hard. Can I wash away my sins by being put to death?”

“You must have really had a tough day.”

“Sigh, being too good is exhausting.”

“Let’s get home and rest quickly.”

Ah, thinking about it again makes me angry.

“Ugh, I’m so annoyed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

I screamed while hitting the car seat.

“Oh my, what’s wrong with her? She must be out of her mind…”

So annoying, so annoying, so annoying, so annoying, so annoying, so annoying, so annoying, so annoying, so annoying, so annoying, so annoying.

If I had been a guy in my past life, I would’ve thrown a punch right at that bitch.

---

Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.