After eating, I ordered an iced chocolate and lay sprawled out on the lounge’s plush sofa, sipping it. It couldn’t have been better.
“Mom, this place is nice. If I become a trainee here, I can eat like this every day, right?”
“What are you talking about? Once you become a trainee, you won’t be able to eat because you’ll be busy losing weight.”
“Ah.”
I hadn’t considered that.
The team leader, who had been listening, laughed as she spoke.
“Dohee is still at an age when she’s growing, so you don’t need to worry about controlling her diet. Besides, as long as she doesn’t eat excessively, she’ll naturally lose weight while taking lessons.”
“Phew, you scared me for a second, Mom.”
“Even if the team leader says that, you’ll probably have to manage your diet eventually.”
“Yeah. If I get fat, it’ll be Mom’s fault for passing down her fat gene.”
“Yeah. I’ve lived my entire life at this weight.”
The team leader kept laughing at our banter.
“Dohee and her mother seem more like friends than mother and daughter. You two could even go on variety shows together later.”
“I’m just playing along with Mom.”
“You’re begging to get hit, aren’t you?”
“Ack!”
In the end, I got a flick on the forehead.
While I was enjoying post-meal chocolate in the lounge, the team leader’s phone rang, and she answered it.
“Yes, Director. Yes, I understand.”
It seemed to be a call from the director we had met earlier.
After ending the call, the team leader spoke to us.
“If you’re available now, would you like to come downstairs for the camera test? They said everything’s ready.”
“Okay.”
Following the team leader, I arrived at the choreography practice room on the first basement level. Besides the director I’d seen earlier, several other employees were there as well.
Was this really a camera test, or was it an audition?
Why had so many people come? It was making me feel pressured.
Anyway, once the director confirmed that I had arrived, he walked over to me.
“Did you enjoy your meal, Dohee?”
“Yes, it was really delicious.”
“If you join us, you’ll be able to eat for free every day. Now, we’re just going to do a simple camera test, so don’t be nervous. Could you stand in front of the camera over there?”
“Okay.”
I stood directly in front of the camera.
“And if you don’t mind, Mother, could you come over here and watch the camera feed with us?”
“Oh, is that all right?”
“Of course. Now, Dohee, please look at the camera with a neutral expression.”
“Okay~”
As the director requested, I gazed at the camera without changing my expression.
The employees watching the camera feed began discussing things among themselves.
“Her features are so distinct that the screen can’t capture the three-dimensional quality of her face.”
“She looks different on screen from how she does in person, but her face shape is pretty enough to make up for it.”
“The lack of dimension can be covered with makeup and a hairstyle anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
My shoulders rose at the employees’ unreserved praise.
Heh, as expected, I’m a one-of-a-kind beauty even in the entertainment industry.
Perhaps the evaluation was over, because the director asked me for another expression.
“Now, let’s try a smile. Don’t just lift the corners of your mouth—could you smile naturally with your eyes as well?”
“Yes~”
A natural smile.
Nothing could be more natural than the smile I wore when teasing Mom.
“She’s pretty when she smiles, too.”
“She is. When she smiles, the corners of her mouth rise above her upper lip, which makes for an ideal smile. Her eye smile is cute, too.”
“But I’m not sure if this is the right way to put it… Doesn’t she look a little vicious when she smiles?”
“Now that you mention it… She kind of does…”
Huh?
Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I saw that my smile did indeed look strangely like a vicious sneer.
Was it because I was making the expression I used when teasing Mom?
I should smile the way I did when looking at Doa.
“Ah, I must have seen it wrong for a moment.”
“Yeah, it was just your imagination.”
“Exactly. How can you call an elementary schooler’s smile vicious?”
As expected, Mom was the problem.
“Now, let’s look at your profile. Lift your chin and stand at an angle.”
“Yes.”
I was confident about my jawline, too.
Thanks to having consistently stretched and exercised since I was young, my jaw was free of puffiness and excess flesh.
“Her profile is nice, too.”
“She has a little baby fat in her cheeks since she’s still an elementary schooler, but it’s cute right now, and she’ll be even prettier once she matures.”
“We’ll just need to manage habits like resting her chin on her hand.”
“Lastly, let’s tie her hair up. You can use this hair tie.”
The director handed me a hair tie.
I tied my hair back and pulled it behind me.
“She’s simply pretty.”
“She is. If she can’t sing, we could have her become an actress instead.”
“No. We have to bring this girl to Division One and make her an idol.”
After the camera test ended, the director spoke to Mom.
“Mother, you absolutely have to let Dohee become a celebrity.”
“Haha, I’m just planning to support Dohee in whatever direction her heart leads her.”
“Then, Dohee’s mother, could you spare us a little more of your time?”
“Oh, I have plenty of time.”
“Then let’s go upstairs. I’d like to explain what our company can do for Dohee and what the contract terms would be.”
“Ah, yes, I understand. Dohee, let’s go upstairs.”
“Okay.”
We followed the director to the management reception room on the third floor and began discussing things in earnest.
“First, I’ll briefly explain our company’s trainee curriculum.”
The director showed us a chart of the curriculum.
The schedule was packed with vocal, choreography, rap, instrumental, and acting lessons, as well as language conversation classes, Pilates, weekend evaluations, midterm evaluations, and more.
“As you can see, trainees come in to practice every day except Sundays and public holidays. On weekdays, they come after school, and on Saturdays, they arrive at ten in the morning. They leave at ten at night.”
Wow… That sounded tough.
“However, Dohee is only eleven years old, so we can make accommodations for her and adjust her commuting schedule.”
Mom asked with a worried look in her eyes.
“Dohee, do you think you can endure a schedule like this?”
“Huh? I haven’t even said I’m doing it yet.”
“Ah. That’s true.”
“And couldn’t we leave out a few things from the curriculum?”
The director looked puzzled by my words.
“What would you like to leave out, Dohee?”
“Instrument lessons, language classes, and Pilates, for starters.”
“Is there a reason?”
“Because I already know how to do all of them.”
The director laughed when he heard my answer.
“Hahaha. I’m sorry to put it this way, Dohee, but it’s not enough to simply know how to do something. You have to be good at it, too.”
The director probably thought that, as an elementary school student, I was exaggerating something I merely knew how to do.
Ah, bragging about myself doesn’t have the same impact when I say it directly…
“Well, you probably don’t need to take Pilates. I’ve exercised and stretched consistently since I was five, so I’m in good enough shape and should already be flexible.”
“Oh, really? Then what about instruments and language classes?”
“I’ve also studied English and Japanese consistently since I was young. I’m not as good as a native speaker, but I can speak, listen, write, and read without any problems.”
The director had taken my comments about exercise in stride, but he was quite surprised when I mentioned Japanese and English.
I had studied day after day all this time just to see reactions like this.
A shiver of excitement ran through my entire body.
“Mother, is what Dohee said true?”
“Haha, yes. My daughter has been smart since she was little, but at some point, she started studying by herself. I guess she inherited her brains from me, in addition to my looks.”
What?
That had definitely been me bragging about myself, so why had it ended with Mom bragging about herself?
“She studied by herself from such a young age? That’s amazing. I suppose she really did take after you, Mother.”
No, Director, I don’t think you understand. You’re supposed to be persuading me, not Mom.
Compliment me.
“If she’s good at instruments on top of all that, we’ll feel terribly inadequate. Can she play an instrument well, too?”
“Haha, she knows how to play a little piano.”
The key here was to pretend to be humble.
“Oh, you play piano. Which Czerny exercise are you currently working on?”
“I don’t play Czerny anymore… Haha.”
And now I had to pretend that I was genuinely embarrassed and didn’t want to say.
I made a bashful expression, looked at Mom, and spoke.
“Mom, you tell him…”
Of course, Mom knew at a glance that I was putting on an act.
“Sigh… Dohee already finished all the Czerny exercises, and she’s playing pieces by Chopin, Mozart, and Beethoven.”
“Wow… I suspected as much, but…”
“Haha, I’ve just practiced a little. And…”
“And?”
Once again, I looked at Mom bashfully.
Tell him that thing. Quickly. That thing.
“Sigh…”
Why was she sighing when she was bragging about her daughter?
“So, Dohee has won the grand prize at eleven consecutive major national competitions.”
The director’s expression fell wide open, and he could no longer keep it under control.
“Really? The grand prize at eleven consecutive major competitions?”
I answered while pretending to be embarrassed and scratching my head.
“Haha… Yes. I was just lucky!”
As if it had been luck. It was skill. Hehehe.
I could feel endorphins racing through my entire body.
Oh, this was thrilling.
I wanted to brag about it every day.
“I think I’ve seen an article about that, too. About a piano prodigy who won the grand prize at eleven consecutive piano competitions.”
“Yes, it’s embarrassing, but… that was probably me. Hehe.”
As I continued my shameless performance, Mom stared at me as though I were some strange person.
“Lee Dohee, what’s gotten into you today?”
I looked at Mom as though I had no idea what she meant.
“What is it, Mother?”
“Oh, seriously, what are you doing?”
Mom shuddered and rubbed her arms as though she had goosebumps.
I’m your eleven-year-old daughter. Couldn’t you look at me a little more fondly?
She was being far too cold to her own daughter.
“Did you eat something strange?”
“Mother, why do you say such things to this young maiden…? This maiden is sad. Sob, sob…”
“Oh, seriously, what is wrong with you?”
Ah, today was so much fun.
I wondered how thrilling it would be to brag about myself on television.
Just imagining it made me tremble.
In any case, I had managed to brag about myself a little, so if we ended up signing a contract, I felt like I’d be able to negotiate better terms.