“Dohee, you do like your older sister more, right...? You look like you’re having so much fun...?”
Ua unnie was hugging me and showing some adorable jealousy.
The reason was the rerun of Episode 8 playing in front of us.
[Who wants snacks~]
Countless chunks of snacks were pouring out of Hana unnie’s carrier.
[Awesome~ I want some!]
[I...! I want some too!]
And then there were the two of them, charging in without a second thought like large dogs that had caught the scent of food.
[Stop eating so much. You’ll gain weight.]
And me, the only one who didn’t eat.
Back then, I had been particularly sensitive after listening to a great deal of cute-baby-face brainwashing.
I had been stubbornly trying to lose even my baby fat.
These days, though, I just eat, since I think having baby fat looks prettier anyway.
[It’s okay. You can work it off during practice~ Right, girls?]
Hana unnie, who was trying to feed us and then make us practice, and—
[...I just won’t eat...]
[Me neither...]
The two of them hesitated to eat, their expressions hardening after hearing that.
Along with the ranking announcement in Episode 8, footage of the contestants’ life at the dorm had been shown as behind-the-scenes content.
The dorm behind-the-scenes footage, which had been particularly lively at the time, was playing.
Looking back, life at the dorm had been pretty fun.
Everyone practiced hard and played a lot of pranks, after all.
However, the reason I was smiling on the screen was because I was letting out a hollow laugh out of sheer absurdity.
“Does that look like fun to you?”
“Yeah, totally.”
Ua unnie hugged me as if she had no intention of letting anyone take me away.
And beside us, Chiyo unnie was sprawled miserably on the floor.
“Dohee... has abandoned us... Sob. We are the heroines of a tragic love story...”
She was pretending to cry.
“You mean tragic.”
“The maknae lacks sensitivity... Just empathize already!!!”
Good grief...
I didn’t know whether she learned these things at school or from the internet and YouTube, but at this point, Chiyo unnie seemed like the trendiest person around.
Though I wasn’t sure if this could really be called trendy...
At first, I had thought she was simply overflowing with the desire to learn Korean.
By this point, though, it seemed like she was just enjoying herself.
In any case, the reason we had gathered at the dorm again today was to watch the upcoming Episode 9 together.
I wanted to lie down comfortably and watch it at home, but my suggestion was always rejected by the unnies.
-Beep
Along with the sound of the door lock opening, Seoyun unnie and Naeun unnie, who had gone out to buy food, returned.
I happened to be hungry.
With anticipation, I called out brightly.
“What did you buy~?”
“Malatang, which the maknae likes~”
Kim Seoyun spoke brightly to match my tone.
“Ah.”
More chew-mal-tang...?
“It’ll be delicious, right? Come on, girls, let’s sit down and eat~”
Naeun unnie, unaware of how I felt, smiled and spread the food out across the table.
“Hiya! Chiyo is coming~”
“Looks yummy~”
Everyone liked malatang, so they had been hiding it until now, but I had no idea what they found so delicious about it.
It was oddly greasy, and the fragrance wasn’t very appealing either.
While everyone sat at the table and ate happily, I ended up going on an unintended diet all by myself.
“Dohee, aren’t you eating?”
Ua unnie asked as she looked at me.
“I’m going to eat. It looks delicious...~”
I picked out a few vegetables and pieces of meat and ate them, then set my chopsticks down.
By the time the malatang was nearly gone, the rerun of Episode 8 had ended and Episode 9 began.
Another episode of *Jeodol 3* began with a preview, as usual.
After the second ranking announcement ceremony,
the surviving twenty-four trainees bowed ninety degrees toward the front.
With captions appearing on the screen, the main broadcast began in earnest.
The process of forming teams for the third evaluation, the Theme Evaluation.
[The twenty-four trainees will be divided into four themes to compete!]
“Dohee must have gotten Cutie!”
Ua unnie already knew because I had told her, but she pretended not to as she pinched and fussed over my cheeks, driving the point home.
“Isn’t it funnier that Seoyun unnie got Cutie?”
I changed the subject by taking aim at Kim Seoyun.
“Seoyun is cute, though?”
Kim Seoyun puffed out her cheeks and spoke in the third person without backing down.
I was feeling rather complicated.
“Chiyo is more kyute~”
“Ua is cute too... Hehe.”
Why was everyone acting like this?
“Then what about Naeun...?”
“...”
“Why won’t anyone encourage me!”
We ignored Naeun unnie and turned our gazes back to the screen.
“Why are you only like this with me!!!”
The teams had all been finalized, and each team entered its practice room to find out their song.
When Yeonha unnie tore off the paper on the sign, the title *Sneakily* was revealed.
Then my interview appeared.
[Q: Trainee Lee Dohee said she expected the Girl Crush genre, didn’t she?]
Scenes intercut with the caption.
—What theme do you think trainee Lee Dohee was chosen for?
—Girl Crush.
[Lee Dohee: I thought it might change after I showed a cool side of myself in “FATAL”... (making a sullen face as if hurt)]
The team members’ interviews followed.
[Kim Seoyun: Honestly, the moment we ended up on a team with Dohee, everyone knew~ It had to be Cutie.]
[Hwang Yeonha: I’m twenty-five... and I’m ten years older than the maknae, Dohee... Cutie... Haha. (awkward)]
“Yeonha unnie is cute, though.”
“Agreed.”
“That means you’re saying I’m not cute.”
“So what?”
We continued watching the broadcast together in a cheerful atmosphere, and then the stories of each team were shown.
And then came our team’s story.
The selection of our team’s center.
[Why are you crying, Linah~]
The center had been decided to be me through a vote, but this was the scene where Meirin unnie cried and was given the position of center.
It was a truly peculiar, two-sided situation—one that could earn praise for her tenacious determination, or criticism for her selfishness.
[Lee Dohee: I think Meirin unnie has enough qualities to be the center, too. Rather than letting the team atmosphere fall apart, I think it’s more important for all of us to work hard together and win.]
In a way, I was no different.
It could be seen as a commendable act of yielding for the sake of the team, but it could also be seen as a weak act of giving up too easily when faced with a challenge.
Of course, most people would view it in the former way, but there would certainly be people who saw it from the latter perspective as well.
And immediately after the center was selected,
a midterm evaluation scene appeared with cold background music.
—Girls, what were you thinking when you practiced? We don’t have any time left.
Although the entire performance had been a mess during the midterm evaluation,
[Why did you say you wanted to be the center? Trainee Meirin, listen carefully. The center represents the image of the team. It’s not simply about being pretty! Have you thought about what you can show as the center? You should only have said you would be the center if you were prepared to show at least one thing properly, whether it was your expressions or your choreography!]
The main focus of the broadcast was the harsh criticism Meirin unnie received.
Meirin’s interview, in which she shed tears, followed.
[Meirin: I’m just so sorry to Dohee... She yielded the position to me... but I keep not knowing what I’m supposed to do...]
Even if she had performed excellently after being given the position of center, she still would have been criticized.
Moreover, since she had received such harsh criticism from the trainers, it was obvious that public opinion would flare up.
“What’s going to happen to Linah...”
“I know...”
After spending four months together, every contestant had grown attached to the others.
There probably wasn’t a single contestant who wanted Meirin to be attacked.
We understood Meirin’s feelings as well. Especially unlike me, who was safely within the debut range, Meirin unnie must have been far more desperate.
Meirin’s mistake, however, had been competing too aggressively.
Ironically, she simply hadn’t realized that even on a survival program where competition itself was the entire premise, excessive competition only created more competitors.
From the producer’s perspective, there was absolutely no reason to cut out that situation during editing.
The producer had probably welcomed the scene and edited it in with open arms.
After all, provocative material and someone to hate were perfect for drawing ratings.
As if to prove it, the final editing point for our team contained the producer’s malice.
The process of meeting the composer and recording the song.
Our team recorded according to the composer’s guidance.
[Oh! That was really good just now.]
The final scene, in particular, showed me singing my center part and receiving praise from the composer.
In other words, the scene where the center changed back to me had been pushed to next week, Episode 10, which meant that Meirin unnie would have no chance to be viewed sympathetically in the meantime.
Once Episode 10 aired, showing the center being reassigned to me and our second-place finish in the team battle, public opinion might calm down. But until then, at least, it seemed Meirin unnie would remain the subject of gossip.
“...”
Silence descended over the dorm.
The atmosphere was no longer as bright as before, weighed down by the unpleasant—no, downright miserable—content of Episode 9.
‘Ugh... Fuck. This is why I wanted to watch Episode 9 alone at home.’
The editing had clearly been favorable to me, but I didn’t feel happy at all.
I was confident enough in my own abilities.
-Grrrrr
What broke the ice-cold atmosphere was the sound of my stomach growling.
“Dohee, are you hungry? You hardly ate anything, did you?”
Ua unnie said as she rubbed my stomach.
“Right, I guess that wasn’t enough.”
Naeun unnie opened a delivery app.
They were saying it out of concern for me, but...
I could tell what menu the unnies wanted...
“Yeah... I am hungry... Should we order malatang again?”
“Good. Let’s get a different flavor this time.”
I didn’t know what the difference was, but we ordered a new kind of malatang with a different broth base.
I picked at a few more pieces of meat.
Still, everyone got to eat something delicious, and the dorm became lively again, so that was enough.
I hated having the mood down.