May, as spring drew to a close.
School was over.
"Dohui, where do you go every day?"
Sujin grabbed me as I was leaving with my bag and asked.
Sujin had been in the same class as me in the first grade and had been put in a different class after that, but now that we were in the fifth grade, we were in the same class again and she stuck to my side.
"I just have something to do."
I was keeping my mouth shut because it would be annoying if people found out at school for no reason that I was an idol trainee.
"Can't you hang out with me today?"
"Sorry, Sujin. I'm a bit busy."
"Hmph... you always say that and never hang out with me."
"What can I do when I'm busy every day? See you tomorrow."
"Okay..."
Leaving Sujin behind, I headed out of school.
I took the bus and arrived at the company, went up to the third floor, greeted the staff, and signed the attendance sheet.
"Oh, Dohui, long time no see?"
When I turned around, it was Team Leader Kim Jinwoo from the Rookie Development Casting Team, who had cast me.
Since he was always out working on casting calls, I could count the number of times we ran into each other on one hand.
But seeing how he hadn't actually brought anyone in, he was basically a salary thief.
"Hello, Team Leader!"
"Right, I've been hearing a lot of praise about how well you're doing, Dohui."
"Ah, really? It's my first time hearing that."
"Didn't Team Leader Sohyeon say so?"
"Really?"
"Guess she didn't tell you to work harder, then."
Oh... as expected, Team Leader Jeong is a tsundere.
"Anyway, take your lessons hard. I have high expectations for you too."
"Yes! Thank you~"
After finishing my conversation with Team Leader Kim, I went down to the basement first floor dance practice room for class.
Today's first lesson was dance.
My unnie, Wooah, had already arrived.
My sister, who was now in middle school, apparently left school early after the second or fourth period in the morning.
"Unnie, I'm here."
"Dohui~"
Unnie stopped dancing and ran over to hug me again.
"Isn't it hard to hug me while you're dancing?"
"It's not hard?"
*Sigh.*
While I was roughly practicing the dance for the monthly evaluation with my unnie, Coach Yerim came in.
""Hello~""
"Oh, okay, kids. How come you were practicing the dance of your own accord today?"
"Today, unnie came in the morning and finished all her foreign language homework ahead of time."
"Really? Do that from now on too. Alright, let's start class."
Coach Yerim stood in front and showed us the dance first.
"Now follow me."
""Yes.""
"Imagine there's a wall in front of you and hit it with your elbows like this, thump, thump! Again."
"Dohui, focus. Focus."
"Lock your shoulders and arms tight! Again. Wooah and Dohui, your timing is off."
""Yes!""
These days, whenever I danced, I felt pain in my chest, so I couldn't focus on the dance.
In the end, I lost focus and made a mistake again.
"Dohui, why aren't you pushing your chest out? Push it out sharply."
So the teacher stopped the song and spoke to me.
"Dohui, why can't you focus these days?"
"I'm sorry. Honestly, these days my chest hurts when I dance..."
"Your chest hurts?"
The teacher pondered for a moment, then approached and reached out to touch my chest.
I was startled at having my chest touched by someone else, but that was only for a moment; the spot she touched hurt, and my face scrunched up.
"Does it hurt here?"
The area the teacher touched had hardened stiffly.
"Ugh... yes, right there."
The teacher smiled briefly and said,
"Looks like our Dohui's chest is coming in?"
"Huh?"
"That's a breast bud. You're hitting puberty now too, huh?"
Ah, so that's what a breast bud was.
Then would my chest grow bigger now?
It'll have to get bigger than Mom's, at least...
"Dohui, how tall are you right now?"
"I'm 154.6."
"If things go well, you'll pass 160 this year."
"Really? Then can I grow past 170?"
"Even the teacher doesn't know that. But they say the later your secondary sex characteristics develop, the taller you'll grow."
"Oh!"
"Anyway, chest pain is natural, so bear with it a little and focus."
"Yes!"
"Ah, and Dohui, are you still stretching consistently at home?"
Of course, I was doing it for thirty minutes every night before bed.
"Yes, I keep doing it."
"When you grow taller, your flexibility drops sharply, so stretch even harder from now on.
"Yes!"
"Or take this chance to start pilates with Wooah."
I thought I was flexible enough, so only my unnie was taking pilates separately.
"Yes. If I feel like I'm lacking, I'll tell the team leader."
"Okay. Now focus again, and this time, start with the opposite foot."
"Yes!"
After the dance lesson ended, I went up to the fifth floor with my unnie, Wooah, to eat dinner.
When I entered the cafeteria and looked at the menu, today's options were cheese donkatsu, sprout bibimbap, and Vietnamese spring rolls.
"Oh! I'm having cheese donkatsu. What about you, unnie?"
"Ah... I have to lose weight, so I was going to eat Vietnamese spring rolls."
"Hmm..."
I looked my unnie's body up and down.
"What?"
I took out the transportation card in my pocket and held it against my unnie's chest.
"Beep. Child."
"Ah, stop it."
Embarrassed, unnie tapped my shoulder.
If it had been Mom, she would've hit my head, not my shoulder.
"What weight are you going to lose from that chest? You're still at an age where you can grow like me, so you don't need to lose weight. Just eat the cheese donkatsu."
Without even listening to my unnie, I tapped my card key on the kiosk and ordered two cheese donkatsus.
"Ah, I really need to lose weight though..."
"You really don't need to. You already do pilates."
"Still..."
"No, unnie, what are your height and weight?"
"Me... 161 and 48."
"Ugh, come on."
I knew it.
What weight was there to lose?
"You don't think I need to lose weight?"
"No, I think you need to lose some?"
"Hey!"
"Hehe. Just kidding, you don't need to. You're skinny enough."
"Really?"
"Yeah. But you might need to lose some later when they pick the debut team? You might look chubby on camera."
Cameras distort because of the lens, making you look chubbier than you are in real life.
That's why celebrities who look just right on broadcast are often extremely skinny in real life.
"Right...? I should've just gone with the spring rolls."
"But if you lose weight right now, you'll end up flat as a board like Mom's chest, you know?"
"Really...? But isn't that genetics?"
"What size is your mom?"
"Probably a D cup?"
"Ah."
Genetics are a fucking rigged game.
"From now on, unnie should just eat spring rolls."
"Yeah."
I took out my phone and texted Mom.
— Mom, Wooah's mom is a D-cup —
Oh, she read it.
And Mom replied right away.
— 🖕 —
I replied right away.
— lol —
After dinner, I came to take my vocal lesson.
Unlike dance, vocal lessons had to be taken one-on-one, so when I took my vocal lesson, my unnie took another class.
She was probably taking her rap lesson right now.
When I entered the vocal room, Coach Kwon Hyeok was there.
"Yo~ Coach Kwon, I'm heeere~"
Coach Kwon Hyeok was a male instructor, so he wasn't as harsh to me and my unnie, Wooah, as the others, which made him more comfortable.
"Alright, Dohui, come sit."
I naturally went to sit at the piano.
Since I played the piano well, I didn't even need sheet music; I could play a song right after hearing it, so I ended up singing while playing myself.
I'd have to show this off on a broadcast later.
"Coach, what are we doing today?"
"What do you mean, what? We have to practice extending your voice like last time."
"Hmm... I don't think I should do high notes though."
"Why? Are you sick somewhere?"
"They say I'm hitting puberty starting today."
"What're you talking about?"
"If I'm hitting puberty, my voice will change. What if I damage my throat and my voice gets weird?"
"Even if a girl hits puberty, her voice only drops by about 3 keys. There's nothing wrong with you, so just hurry up and sing."
"Ah. Too bad."
So in the end, I sang.
"Dohui, ease up on the power and pay attention to your pitch bends."
"Yeees~"
When I finished singing, the teacher made an ambiguous expression.
"Ha... strange."
"Why?"
"Because you play the piano so well, it feels like you're singing well too."
"But I am singing well."
Ignoring me, the teacher made me get up from where I sat in front of the piano.
"Dohui, come out here. I'll play the piano."
The teacher played the piano, and I sang again.
"Look at this, this kid's a fraud."
Ah.
Busted.
"You keep covering up your muddy voice with the piano sound, don't you?"
"Haha, caught me."
"I told you to watch your breath pressure, right? Sing it again."
"Yes!"
I sang again.
"This won't do. Lee Dohui, plank."
"Ah, Coach."
"Plank, now."
I had no choice; I lay on the floor and got into a plank position.
"Now sing while watching your breath. You'll improve quickly in that position."
"Yes..."
In the end, I sang for three minutes in a plank position, and the moment it ended, I sprawled out flat.
"*Gasp*... I'm dying..."
The teacher gave water to me as I lay sprawled out and said,
"Good job. If you keep doing it like this, your skills will shoot up."
"Yes..."
"So, want to do it three more times?"
"Urk—*cough*—y-yes?"
I choked on my water at the teacher's words.
"Okay. Now plank again!"
"Ah, Coach."
"Hurry."
Scratch what I said about him not being harsh.
Finishing the physical training disguised as a vocal lesson and leaving the vocal room, I found my unnie, Wooah, waiting in front.
"Dohui, are you done?"
"Yeah... I thought I was going to die."
"Haha, get yourself together after the lesson~"
This time was the rap lesson I was least confident in.
The rap teacher was an invited external instructor, a fairly well-known rapper.
His rap name was 'jo,' that is, 'J.O.,' probably because his real name was Jo Bongsik.
A rapper named Jo Bongsik.
Pfft.
Exhausted, I shuffled into the vocal room where the rap teacher was.
"Oh, Dohui, you're here?"
"Yo~ Jo Teacher~ I'm back..."
"Dohui, I told you that you don't have to do that just because it's rap time."
"Yes..."
For a rapper, he's incredibly polite.
"Dohui, did you write the lyrics?"
"Yes. Should I try?"
"Yeah. Give it a shot."
"I'm Dohui, not a boy. My house is full of gold trophies. i Tread you like a broken glass."
"Is that it?"
"Yes. I don't know how to write more than that."
"It's fine, that's good for a first time. Still, it's a bit of a shame that the rhymes are only in English."
"Yes'm."
"More importantly, Dohui, I told you last time too, but you get nasal every time you rap, remember? Because of that, your pronunciation gets muffled and you can't emphasize properly."
"Yes, I'm sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry about, just be mindful of it."
"Yes."
Rap is the hardest...
Finally, after all lessons were over, it was time to leave.
My unnie, Wooah, who had been writing in her journal beside me, asked,
"Dohui, what are you doing this Sunday?"
"I need to rest, I'm dying of exhaustion."
"Can't you hang out with me?"
"I'm tired."
"We've never hung out just the two of us before~ Hmm?"
"We stick together just the two of us for six days a week, isn't that enough..."
"Let's hang out. We'll eat good food and go shopping too, okay?"
"Should we?"
"Yeah! Let's go, let's go."
"No."
"Ah, please~"
In the end, she whined so much that I promised to meet and hang out on Sunday.
*Sigh*, what a hassle.
When I left the company building with my unnie, there was nothing where Mom's car would usually be.
Ah, where did she go again?
I took out my phone and called Mom.
"Mom, where are you?"
"Mom? Mom is at home~"
"What, you're not coming to pick me up?"
"Nope~"
"Is it because of the text I sent you today? Why are you being so childish."
"Mom's heart is as narrow as her chest~"
"Ah, hurry up and come."
"I saw last time that you can come home just fine on your own. Dohui's all grown up now. I'll hang up!"
Ah.
The call ended.
I called Mom again.
"The customer you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please call again later."
Ah.
My unnie, Wooah, asked me.
"Your mom can't come?"
"No, she said she won't come."
"That's great. Let's take the bus together."
"I guess we have to... *sigh*."