The second round filming ended, and once again, it wasn't until dawn that I arrived home and managed to fall asleep.
What woke me from my sleep was the sound of a piano playing in my room.
As if trying to wake me, Doa was plinking away at the piano.
The notes weren't clean, but because it was Doa, she was nothing but cute.
She hadn't been learning long; at this level, she might even be a genius.
Looking at Doa, some vitality returned to my tired body.
Maybe my stamina had improved.
I guess Hana unnie's training had been somewhat useful after all.
Still, I had no desire to do it again.
I raised my stiff body, got up from bed, and sat beside the piano bench where Doa was playing.
It was obvious she had played the piano to wake me up and ask me to play with her, but Doa pretended to focus intently on the keys for no reason.
"Doa, unnie's awake."
"Unnie, teach me piano."
Her pretending it wasn't that all along was so lovable.
"Shall I? But Doa, you're wearing glasses? Did you buy them recently?"
"Yeah, they said my eyes are bad..."
She must have ruined her eyes from playing so many games.
Doa in glasses was nothing but cute too.
"Daughter! You should eat."
Hearing my voice, Mom came into the room.
"Uh-huh."
Seeing Mom smiling, the corners of my mouth rose up on their own.
They say humans are connected to reflect one another, tending to mimic other people's actions and expressions.
"Go wash your face first. You've got a lot of crust in your eyes."
"What a hassle."
Whenever I'm home, I just want to be lazy.
"Hurry up."
"Yes~"
After washing up, while we were all eating and talking together, my phone buzzed constantly.
There weren't many chatrooms where I kept notifications on, so it was easy to guess which one it was.
[Ua unnie: Where are we meeting the day after tomorrow?]
After the second round ended, the unnies had nagged me so much about hanging out that I had no choice but to make plans to meet them from lunchtime on the day of the sixth episode broadcast.
'What a pain... Should I say I'm going to school?'
[Kim Seoyun: Let's meet at the dorm first, gogo]
[Me: I have to go to school...]
[Ua unnie: Dohee, it's summer break -.-.]
[Chiyo unnie: Have you lost your mind? Maknae? Do you want disciplinary training?]
"...Ah."
[Naeun unnie: Just come haha when else will we hang out]
[Me: OK...]
*Sigh*...
I just want to rest at home...
"Dohee, did you vote?"
"Ah, right."
Come to think of it, I hadn't voted yet.
I turned on Netflix and went into Jeodol 3.
A new button had appeared on the voting UI.
I finished the regular voting first.
When I pressed the newly added button and entered, the trainees' names were listed.
[Pure] [Cute] [Sexy] [Girl Crush]
The rules for the third round were already set.
The Chuseo would vote to choose the participants' songs.
We just had to pick one of the four concept songs.
If I had to choose my image from these, it was obviously Girl Crush.
Hana unnie also has a bit of a Sexy or Girl Crush image though...
I'm worried we might end up on the same team and I'd be worked like a dog.
"Mom, what did you choose?"
"Which one? The image vote?"
"Yeah."
"Mom chose the one that suits Dohee perfectly~?"
"So which one?"
"Cu-te~"
"Ah."
I snatched Mom's phone and corrected her vote to Girl Crush.
"Ah, why did you change it~ Our Dohee is totally! a cute image~ Hm?"
Mom whined regretfully.
"You're the only one who thinks that. Others don't."
"Is that so? Where else is there a cutie like our daughter~"
"Ah, stop."
There was public opinion like that.
That I was cute.
But I believed the Girl Crush image would make a comeback once the second round was broadcast.
The trend was already decided.
'While I'm at it, maybe I should choose for the unnies too.'
Kim Seoyun.
I voted for Sexy, which seemed to suit her the least.
I chose the Pure image that Naeun unnie wanted.
Now it was time to watch episode 5, which I had been putting off.
I had been filming when episode 5 aired, so I had no idea how it was edited.
Mom suggested watching it together on TV.
I ignored her, went into my room, lay on my bed, and watched.
There wasn't much out of the ordinary.
Me working hard in the behind-the-scenes story.
Me giving reactions.
And my final speech for 2nd place...
['Chuseo-nims! Dohee will work hard, so please vote for me lots and lots! I love you~']
Gyaaaaak...
I had planned to search the internet and look at reactions, but after watching episode 5, I simply couldn't muster the courage.
'Still... maybe I should search just YouTube...'
I was so curious about the comments.
'They uploaded it fast...'
When I searched my name on YouTube, a new PR video was on the first page.
The thumbnail showed me wearing a bunny outfit.
(Video)
- You can totally tell it's memorized from a script, so she looks even cuter and more innocent ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Let's only walk the debut path, Dohee-ya
- Ah seriously, totally a baby bunny lolololol so freaking cute really ㅠㅠ
- Baby bunny lololol The way she tries hard and then looks is so cute lolololol
- Dohee is so cute and pretty and lovable ㅜㅜ She does everything alone, really let's debut for sure!!♡♡♡
- lolol Congrats on 2nd place, bunny~~~
- Dohee-ya, you are the future of K-pop...
- This is insane-level cutenessㅠㅠ
Gyaaaaaaaaak...
I have an ominous feeling that the next evaluation will be Cute...
***
Two days later, I arrived at the debut group dorm.
I suddenly became curious.
When the company would terminate the dorm contract.
They said it was a lease until early next year.
"Dohee-ya~"
Ua unnie came out to the entrance and hugged me as if she was happy to see me.
This unnie hasn't changed at all from elementary school even though she's a high schooler now.
And another person came out to the entrance to greet me.
Chiyo unnie was wearing a red hat and sunglasses with her hands behind her back.
What is this now?
"Maknae, disciplinary training."
Chiyo unnie spoke in a deliberately solemn tone.
"What are you doing."
"Ahem! Disciplinary training!"
Where does this unnie learn all these weird things every time I see her?
"Why is Chiyo unnie like that this time?"
"Ah~ she's been watching military variety shows since last week."
*Sigh*...
"Let's just go inside."
"You may not enter! Why are you late!"
Ignoring Chiyo unnie, I headed to the living room, where Seoyun unnie and Naeun unnie were sitting on the sofa watching my ranking announcement speech.
['Chuseo-nims! Dohee will work hard, so please vote for me lots and lots! I love you~']
*Sigh*...
Kim Seoyun was clearly trying to tease me again.
So annoying, really.
Naeun unnie turned her head and welcomed me.
"Dohee, you're here? You're a bit late?"
I was about an hour late.
"That is correct! Why are you late! Disciplinary training!"
Chiyo unnie could have given up by now, but she continued her drill instructor concept.
"I ran into some fans on the way, so I took photos and signed autographs for them, which made me a bit late. Sorry."
Thanks to that, I was in high spirits.
I felt proud too.
Though someone asked me to draw a bunny on their autograph, which brought my mood down a bit.
"Actually, I wore a hat on the way here, but some people still recognized me and I signed for them!"
Seoyun unnie said excitedly at the mention of autographs.
"I didn't ask, so what?"
"That kid really needs disciplinary training."
I had plenty of that in my past life, punk.
"So are we going out?"
I just want to lie in bed until episode 6 starts.
Since I expend so much energy normally, when I'm on break, I just want to rest unconditionally.
"Then let's simply go eat lunch at the restaurant up front? Just go to a cafe, and since we're already out, watch a movie too, and finally just go to karaoke!"
Ua unnie said it as if offering a compromise.
But the bottom line was just let's hang out.
*Sigh*... It's Ua unnie, so I have to understand.
They must have been bored while we were on broadcast.
"Then hurry up and come out. Chiyo unnie, put that hat and sunglasses away."
"I do not understand Korean. Watashi nihonjin desu."
Argh.
Come to think of it, I wouldn't be bored if I were alone with Chiyo unnie.
. . .
We returned to the dorm to watch episode 6, and everyone collapsed onto the sofa as if falling flat.
After playing together for the first time in a while, everyone got excited and ended up running around everywhere.
"-Let's get friendship rings!"
"-Unnie, you already have one from before."
"-That's one I got with just you and Dohee; all five of us should match!"
"-Good, good!"
"-Shall we?"
"-Chiyo is proud of you all."
Even while going to look at rings.
"-This outfit is so cute! What do you think? Dohee, try it on!"
"-Hah, Lee Dohee would totally suit the Cute concept."
"-The flat-chested one talks too much."
"-You wanna die?"
Even while shopping.
"-Excuse me, are you Jeodol participants...?"
"-Ah, yes, that's right!"
I was a bit drained, but it was fun.
Now it was time to watch episode 6.
Changed into pajamas, we spread the snacks we bought outside on the table and started watching comfortably.
Ah, Seoyun unnie and Naeun unnie didn't look comfortable.
The screen time for my team, Femme Fatale, was probably scheduled for next episode, episode 7, and the unnies' team, Deja Vu, was broadcast this episode, episode 6.
Still, I wasn't completely absent.
My reactions when the Double Position Mission was revealed and the process of choosing songs to form a Super Team came out, at least.
It was a bit disappointing, but that made me look forward to episode 7 even more.
The internet was probably on fire right now that ranks 1, 2, 3, and 7 had become one team.
Meanwhile, the screen showed the unnies' practice process.
Scenes of them practicing harmoniously as if there were no problems at all.
"Ah, thinking about her stresses me out again."
Seoyun unnie scrunched up her face.
"But it turned out well, so you endure it."
Naeun unnie said while patting Seoyun unnie.
Seoyun unnie was talking about Gu Eunhui.
Gu Eunhui's rank was 58th.
She was practically eliminated in the next ranking announcement, and they say she didn't practice properly, saying she was going to quit being an idol anyway.
"It's a relief she didn't stand out on stage, but during practice I thought I was going to die from annoyance, okay?"
They say this is a case that often comes up in audition programs.
In the previous Season 1, there were participants who whispered among themselves, "It's rigged anyway," and didn't work hard.
In Season 2's boy group audition, there were even cases where arguments led to actual fistfights.
It's fortunate that when cameras are shoved in their faces, everyone at least pretends to work hard; if there had been no cameras, Naeun and Seoyun unnie's team might not have been able to practice properly.
"Dohee, was there nothing hard for you?"
Ua unnie asked with a worried gaze.
"Would there be? With my personality."
There was, actually.
Hana unnie practiced too much.
"If there is, tell me?"
"Okay. Don't worry needlessly and just watch TV."
Ua unnie, with the softest personality, who worried about others for no reason.