Most of the staff had left work, and only the members remained in the practice room.
I had a separate, private meeting with Director Sohyeon.
"Alright, let's do that."
And the director accepted my decision to drop out.
It seemed she had no intention of trying to persuade me in the first place.
Mom had promised to let me decide after attending just the first semester, so dropping out had actually been foreseeable from the very start.
Lately, I'd started getting busy again, so trying to focus on my studies separately was wearing me down.
Schedules were being added one by one.
All this time, the director had merely been cutting incoming offers to make time for me.
Above all, there was no reason to stay in school.
As for learning piano, I could take private lessons from famous pianists who were far more skilled than school teachers whenever I wanted.
The only advantage was being able to hang out with friends my age.
With my high mental age, I didn't even have the energy to practice and chat with my unnies.
*Sigh*... Playing with kids is really hard.
* * *
On the way to submit my withdrawal papers.
"Are you disappointed?"
Mom, who was driving and whom I was watching from the passenger seat, looked a little wistful.
It wasn't hard to understand.
If my daughter had never missed being top of her class.
I'd probably find it a waste too.
'It's because I'm so talented, tsk.'
Moreover, Mom had even laminated and collected my report cards, treasuring them dearly.
"No, it's your choice~ You're what matters."
Still, Mom smiled.
I kind of hated that.
With a contrarian mindset, I spoke as if teasing her even more.
"But I think it's a waste? Do you know how hard I worked to make those grades?"
At that, Mom glanced at me as if dumbfounded.
"Oh, please."
But I pointed at Mom's necklace.
"But who was it that gave Mom that Cartier necklace~?"
Sighing, Mom broke into a bright smile again, as if going along with the joke.
"Our daughter~"
"Yeah, yeah. If you want another one, put on a smile~!"
"What?"
"Ah, that was a bit cheeky. Sorry."
"Yeah."
Even so, I wondered if a wistful heart still remained inside my smiling mother.
I opened my mouth with a bittersweet smile.
"But Mom, I can't do both anymore."
Mom nodded.
"Right, you have to debut too."
"Yeah. I thought it might be somewhat possible at the beginning of the semester, but not anymore. Playing only piano during self-practice time, repeating the same passages, coming back to the dorm and sitting at my desk without rest to study for exams—I'm sick of it all."
"Mom knows how hard our daughter has worked."
"Exactly. Besides, Chiyo and Ua are graduating this year, so they'd understand, but it's obvious I wouldn't make it to graduation, so I thought it'd be right to quit as early as possible. The manager struggles every morning too, and the unnies have to match group schedules for me. I'm also causing trouble for my classmates."
Mom stopped listening mid-sentence and reached out one hand to pat my head.
"Yes, our daughter has worked so hard."
I looked out the window for a moment, embarrassed.
"Focus on driving. Keep your eyes on the road. Is this the time to reach back? What if superstar Lee Dohee gets into a car accident?"
"Yeah, yeah."
In fact, the jumble of reasons I'd rattled off were things I'd already discussed at length with Mom over the phone yesterday, and she had already accepted and understood them all.
Still, the reason I'd brought them up again was probably because I wanted to receive comfort and praise directly from Mom like this.
Holding Mom's hand for the first time in a while, I went straight to school to submit my withdrawal papers.
To drop out, I had to go through interviews with my homeroom teacher, guidance counselor, and the principal.
Even though dropping out was common at arts high schools, I had to hear them tell me to think it over for a long time.
[Hyuna: Drop out? Dohee, what about the views on my vlog?]
[Me: IDK]
[Hyuna: Take responsibility]
[Me: lol]
* * *
With the start of the new semester, news that Dohee had dropped out spread quickly.
[I heard Dohee dropped out of high school?]
I saw a vlog by a kid who says she's Dohee's friend
She dropped out during vacation, and articles came out too
─OMG, really?
─Ha... Hanseong Arts High graduation photo... I've been waiting two years thinking I'd get Dohee's graduation photo... Can't see her in uniform now?
└But every time photos were taken, she mostly wore gym clothes instead of her uniform lol
─It's a real shame about her grades... They say she was first in the school in the first semester too
└Really? Arts high schools have practical exams too, don't they?
└They said she was first including piano practical scores
└Wow crazy... It really is a shame
Of course, not everyone was well-meaning.
Malicious posts would go up, disguised as concern or sharing information.
[Info/News) Lee Dohee's drop out, which has been the talk of the town lately]
─(Photo from drop out article)
1. She might drop out even though she's doing well
2. If she was going to drop out early, she shouldn't have enrolled in the first place.
I'm more of the latter...
She seems fundamentally lacking in consideration, so I'm put off by her
There must be so many desperate kids at arts high schools
She even took first place...
─What do you mean there's a lot of talk? Everyone's pretty much taking it in stride lol
─Clickbait comments
─But even without malice, it does seem like she enrolled just for show in the first place. Not even practical music but piano department lol...
└Agreed. Lee Dohee tries too hard to embellish everything. We get it, she's good at studying and plays piano well, but what does that have to do with being an idol?
└Embellish? She's just showing off what she's good at. Really off-putting.
─The talk about her having a bad personality seems somewhat valid. She seems selfish, and she's always bickering with Kim Seoyun.
└Leave her alone
─ZY even recommends middle school trainees drop out? Can't she drop out since she's already doing well?
└But Lee Dohee enrolled after becoming an idol ^^
─The info-disease trolls are doing comment work again, *sigh*
Fortunately, those posts were quickly buried.
Because summary posts based on statistics went up.
[Arts high school drop out rates are much higher than regular high schools]
─(Graph)
The better the arts high school—like Seoul Arts High and Seonhwa Arts High—the higher the drop out rate tends to be.
Most of them are music department students, usually those who've succeeded in going abroad to study in Germany or other countries,
or those trying to enter university early through the GED.
There are so many like this, so you know what those kids who singled out Lee Dohee to bash her are about, right?
─I get that it's high, but that doesn't mean it doesn't cause harm. From the school's perspective, they recruited students and now they're dropping out.
└Nah, the school doesn't care. They replenish the student body with transfer students each semester to fill the empty spots.
─I see. Don't the kids say anything?
└Nope, no feelings at all. The atmosphere is more like congratulating them, saying it's a good thing. The school doesn't even care—there was even a case where a teacher looked for a student who'd dropped out six months ago.
└WTF lol
In fact, these rebuttal posts were written by Topist agency.
Of course, since they were based on statistics and facts, those posts were certainly effective.
Thanks to that, the trolls drawn to the keyword 'drop out' changed direction and leaked elsewhere.
[Looks like Dohee and Seoyun will debut soon?]
* * *
As soon as the school issue was resolved, a new schedule came up for me as if it had been waiting.
Profile shoot.
This schedule was quite meaningful to all of us.
Because it was our first official group schedule together excluding practice.
We got in the car.
We could have split into two cars, but to give it meaning, we all rode in the same one.
"Ha, after sending you guys to school, enjoying a refined teatime with Naeun unnie was the joy of my life. But now with Lee Dohee... *sigh*."
Kim Seoyun whined as soon as she got in.
"What can you do."
Realizing she'd get no sympathy from the three of us, Kim Seoyun hugged Naeun unnie.
"Unnie, honestly I'm right, aren't I. Hm?"
And she looked at her with eyes that demanded a nod.
Naeun unnie's pupils shook.
"R-right?"
Even so, Naeun unnie nodded, as if unable to tell a lie.
I felt betrayed, but.
Well, I can't deny it.
"Chiyo, I'm sad. Chiyo, I'm crying."
"Shut up. It's your fault, unnie."
Suddenly, Chiyo unnie folded her fingers one by one, counting something.
And after folding the last finger, she nodded as if she'd realized something.
"Dohee, period...?"
"I still have time left!?"
The only one who could handle Chiyo unnie was probably Ua unnie.
With this unnie around, even Naeun unnie couldn't help but be exhausted.
"I think Lee Dohee doesn't think she's losing."
"What?"
"Nothing."
Seoyun unnie shook her hand and changed the subject.
"So Dohee dropped out, fine. But Ua, you and Chiyo don't have to go to school today?"
"Ah, us? We..."
As Ua unnie was about to speak.
"I'm that one."
"What."
Chiyo unnie looked at me and gave me a wink.
"Period...?"
We submitted a personal experiential learning form, what has she been going on about since earlier.
"Dohee."
"Huh?"
Ua unnie, who was sitting in the front seat next to Chiyo unnie, glanced at Chiyo unnie once and then called me.
It seemed she couldn't endure it today.
"Want to switch seats with me? I'm a bit tired. I want to sleep for a bit."
Actually, it seemed Ua unnie really wasn't feeling well because today was her day.
She'd said her stomach felt heavy in the morning too.
"Sure, whatever."
Good-natured as I was, I naturally switched seats with her.
If I played with Chiyo unnie until the shoot location, I wouldn't be bored.
"Ua, you bad girl... We're the ChiuChiu couple..."
"Couple with me now. We can be the Dochi couple."
"Ha... femme fatale... Women are endlessly swarming around her..."
"Ptooey."
And in the back seat.
—Put them together... the nucleus... with a nucleus...
I turned around at the sound of Ua unnie whispering something.
Seoyun unnie and Naeun unnie were giving thumbs up to Ua unnie.
"What?"
"Nothing."