After the three-legged race ended,
Shin Si-woo checked the camera himself and rewound the video.
‘It definitely looks like I was the reason she fell.’
When he watched the playback, it seemed like Shin Si-woo suddenly increased his speed, causing Ha Ye-rin to trip.
While it could certainly be interpreted that way, Shin Si-woo wasn’t overly concerned.
“I’m sure the production team will edit it out.”
He believed the production team would handle it without issue.
“Alright, everyone competing in the next event, please come forward!”
Shin Si-woo shrugged off the situation and moved on to the next event he was participating in.
This one was palm push.
The unique thing about it was that it was a mixed-gender competition.
Of course, the males had a penalty where they could only attack and could not pull their hands back without faking.
Since Shin Si-woo wasn’t particularly interested in the prizes for the sports day, he planned to perform just enough to get himself eliminated.
However, in the first round, his opponent was….
“Shin Si-woo from the Blue Team! His opponent is Yoo Seol from the White Team!”
“Waaah!”
It was Yoo Seol, practically the captain of the Rookies.
“Hooh…”
As soon as he realized he was up against Yoo Seol, Shin Si-woo’s eyes gleamed a little.
‘I won’t let this slide. I’ll report this to our company for action, just so you know.’
He still remembered how Yoo Seol had thwarted him last time.
He glanced at Yoo Seol, the opponent for the palm push, and quietly asked, just out of the microphone’s reach, “Is Ye-rin okay? She’s not seriously hurt, right?”
“……”
Until now, Shin Si-woo had always referred to Ha Ye-rin with proper honorifics, but this time he dropped the formalities to provoke Yoo Seol.
In response, Yoo Seol retorted, “Keep Ye-rin’s name out of your mouth, you loudmouth.”
What she said came out as a whisper that wouldn’t pick up on the mic, but the sting was real.
Thanks to this, Shin Si-woo couldn’t help but admire her a bit.
“You’re quite skilled at cursing while smiling. You handle the camera well, huh? …I guess being a trainee for a long time helps.”
“……”
Yoo Seol merely smiled silently at Shin Si-woo’s jab about her long trainee period, which he considered another weakness of hers.
Seeing her smile, Shin Si-woo thought he had already won and declared, “Okay, let’s start the first round of palm push!”
At the MC’s signal, the match began.
Snap!
It started as a casual palm push, but realizing his opponent was Yoo Seol made him want to win more than he intended.
Yoo Seol was also putting up a strong fight, determined not to lose.
However, in the end, overcoming the strength difference between a man and a woman was a challenge, and the match began to lean in Shin Si-woo’s favor.
Stagger.
Just then, Yoo Seol lost her balance and wobbled…
‘Now.’
Taking this as an opportunity, when Shin Si-woo reached out to lightly shove her down, it happened.
Wwhoosh.
In that moment, he could see Yoo Seol leaning her face forward subtly as he neglected his strength control.
‘What?’
Shin Si-woo flinched and tried to stop his hand too late….
Slam!
His palm had already landed on Yoo Seol’s cheek.
“Gyaah!”
“……!”
With a sharp sound, Yoo Seol let out a short scream and sat down right there.
“Sister!”
“What happened!”
As she collapsed, people rushed over with worried expressions, camera in hand.
Shin Si-woo couldn’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu.
‘This is definitely…’
It resembled the moment when Ha Ye-rin fell during the three-legged race.
‘I thought it was a bit odd then, but this feels deliberate too. No way…?’
With suspicion brewing, he quickly approached Yoo Seol before the crowd gathered and whispered,
“This is just too funny. Do you think I’d face any backlash for this?”
“Do you know how many fans Rookies have? If Na Ah Ah’s champion and runner-up get hurt, the fans won’t stay silent.”
“Come on, this probably won’t air, right? The production team wouldn’t be crazy enough to show this! The moment they do, they’ll get backlash too.”
The moment they aired this, people would definitely start asking what kind of ridiculous show this was.
There was a good chance viewers would place blame on the production team for not ensuring the contestants’ safety.
Unless the production team was nuts, they wouldn’t air this.
But….
“Did you not know? There are quite a few crazy PDs here.”
The production team for [Idol Sports Day] had all been part of Shin PD’s crew at one time.
“They’ll probably love the backlash and all the traffic it brings.”
“……”
Shin PD was a master at minimizing backlash for the production team while throwing the contestants under the bus.
Those who learned under such a PD wouldn’t let this opportunity slip by.
In fact, when Shin Si-woo lifted his head, he spotted PD Park watching the situation with keen interest.
Seeing that, Shin Si-woo instinctively felt this incident was bound to make a few online headlines.
“…So this is why the seniors said not to associate with NNnet people.”
As Shin Si-woo sighed for a moment, the crowd began to gather.
“Are you okay?”
“Let me see.”
People rushed over to Yoo Seol with concerned eyes.
Then….
“Oh my…”
“Her cheek is all red…”
They noticed Yoo Seol’s pale cheek had turned red after being slapped by Shin Si-woo’s palm.
In reality, it was just that Yoo Seol’s skin was delicate and tended to redden easily, but the crowd didn’t know the whole story.
They simply saw Shin Si-woo mismanage his strength and hit Yoo Seol and concluded that’s why her cheek turned red.
Moreover….
“I’m fine…”
Drip.
“I…I was just a bit surprised…”
Yoo Seol let a single tear fall for dramatic effect.
A small rookie idol with a red cheek saying she’s fine while shedding tears was more than enough to evoke sympathy from the onlookers.
Simultaneously, the crowd glared at Shin Si-woo as if he was the worst villain.
“…I’m sorry. It was an accident…”
Concerned about his image, Shin Si-woo had no choice but to suppress his irritation and apologize to Yoo Seol.
“No, it’s fine…. Shin Si-woo sunbae, I really am okay…”
As Yoo Seol pretended to accept his apology, she whispered into his ear,
“Just try touching our kids again. I’ll make sure you regret it.”
“……”
Her voice had a rather menacing quality to it.
Shin Si-woo felt fed up and turned his head toward Ha Ye-rin.
There, the other four members of Rookies were glaring at him with angry expressions.
‘Well, this is interesting… I thought Ha Ye-rin was the queen of Rookies, but…’
Now it seemed Ha Ye-rin was more like the princess of Rookies.
A princess being overly protected by her other members.
Shin Si-woo had to rethink how to approach Ha Ye-rin amidst this wall of protection.
Of course….
Today, he had no choice but to back down.
Fortunately, the tactic worked, and Shin Si-woo stopped trying to engage with me.
I even had him cancel my participation with the PD using my injured leg as the excuse.
Seeing his anxious expression about how it might air negatively was quite amusing.
Of course, I couldn’t just revel in that.
“Unni… what about your cheek? You put on some cream, right…?”
It was all because of Yoo Seol’s red cheek.
“I’m fine. You know my skin is weak.”
She tried to reassure me, but seeing her face made me feel upset.
This left me in a dilemma.
‘Should I handle Shin Si-woo…?’
The reason I had left Shin Si-woo alone up to now was twofold.
First, I was already busy with Rookies activities.
I didn’t have any time to waste on him.
And second, this incarnation of Shin Si-woo was obsessed only with me, not Seo Yoo-jin.
I thought I could just endure the situation.
But now that others were starting to suffer because of him….
I found myself pushed to figure out how to deal with Shin Si-woo.
As I was lost in thought about how to handle him, Yoo Seol asked me worriedly,
“By the way, Ye-rin, are you okay? You haven’t been able to participate in other events because of your leg…”
“Ah.”
Just like I worried for Yoo Seol’s red cheek, she must have felt pity for my hurt leg.
But….
“I’m fine. I’ve already won enough prizes, and my leg doesn’t hurt at all.”
I had no lingering attachments to the sports day, and my leg felt perfectly fine.
Honestly, participating earlier felt more challenging.
“I’ve got enough screen time, so I’m just going to take a break.”
“Really? Then I’m glad…”
But just then.
“The top prize for the women’s arm wrestling is a Nintendo Switch!”
“……!”
“Now, the Blue Team in women’s arm wrestling has one spot open, and anyone who wants to participate, please step forward!”
“……!!”
That was exactly the prize I wanted… and at the announcement of an open slot on the Blue Team, I froze while the other members chuckled and lifted me up.
“Ye-rin, arm wrestling doesn’t use your legs anyway. Just go!”
“Unni, you’re really strong! You’d obviously take first place!”
“Well, uh… maybe?”
Playing coy, I stood up and headed toward where the women’s arm wrestling was being held….
‘Hmm…?’
I froze upon seeing the names of the competitors.
Of course….
‘Now that I think about it, they’re competing here too.’
Because among my competitors were members of Python.
Especially O Ah-ra, who was not only a regression person but also the leader of Python, stared at me with a gaze that was hard to read.
After ignoring me since our first meeting, she was now peering at me as if she had something to say, so I met her gaze in return.
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