"Oh, where's Seo-yeon, why is she alone?"
The CEO of Nova Entertainment, Kang Chan-yul, had been in a very good mood lately.
This was only natural, as Seo-yeon's recent stellar performance had caused Nova Entertainment's stock price to rise significantly.
Considering that after Hwang Min-hwa, there hadn't been any notable actor, and at the time of Hwang Min-hwa's departure, rumors circulated that 'Nova Entertainment is finished now,' it was truly a world of difference.
"Seo-yeon went to learn singing."
"Singing? Ah, is it because of the OST work that came in recently?"
Kang Chan-yul answered casually, then paused for a moment.
Something about Ji-yeon's phrasing felt off.
"That, is she doing it with our company's vocal trainer?"
"No."
At first, she had asked a mage—so to speak, Han Da-young, Ji-yeon's VTuber colleague—but Seo-yeon seemed to remember something and vanished completely.
From what she heard, probably……
"She says she's learning from a friend."
"……A friend?"
Seo-yeon had a friend other than Ji-yeon?
Kang Chan-yul inadvertently had such a rude thought.
That was how extremely narrow Seo-yeon's human relationships were.
"No, what about our company's vocal trainer?"
Kang Chan-yul muttered in an absurd voice.
I mean, Nova Entertainment wasn't some hole-in-the-wall company; of course they had vocal trainers.
Nova Entertainment wasn't primarily an actor-focused agency to begin with—they clearly operated idol groups as well.
Naturally, they had many skilled vocal trainers, but……
"I don't know about that either."
At Ji-yeon's words, Kang Chan-yul felt both dumbfounded by Seo-yeon's actions and strangely puzzled.
"Ji-yeon."
"Yes."
"You're pouting, aren't you?"
"……."
Seeing Lee Ji-yeon glaring at him sullenly, Kang Chan-yul laughed heartily.
Having watched her for a long time beside her, he could see right through Lee Ji-yeon's thoughts.
'I swear, sometimes those two are exactly the same.'
Seo-yeon would occasionally frown at Ji-yeon having many friends, but the usually cool-as-a-cucumber Lee Ji-yeon was actually the same way.
"……Still, when she comes back, make sure to tell her that our company has vocal trainers too."
"Yes."
Separately, he worried whether she might be causing trouble somewhere else.
After all, Seo-yeon had always had a way of thinking that was different from others.
***
Around the time such a conversation took place at Nova Entertainment.
A strange silence lingered at Hoyeon Studio, the agency of Summer Girls.
'Ju Seo-yeon?'
Rabin swallowed dryly as she looked at the girl before her.
Of course she knew who she was.
She was the actor who had appeared alongside Cha Na-hee in
'The one from The Chaser.'
She was even the actor who played a murderer in the film
Because of that, she had skyrocketed to stardom, becoming one of those who recently joined the race for the trend.
'Why is she with Cha Na-hee?'
It was true that Na-hee was the most popular youngest member in Summer Girls.
However, to them, Cha Na-hee was nothing more than a boring kid.
She could sing a little and had a pretty face, but aside from that, she had no particular strengths, so they couldn't understand why the public liked her so much.
And that Na-hee had brought none other than Ju Seo-yeon as a visitor.
'No, no. Why am I intimidated? Ju Seo-yeon is a rookie too.'
She had a child actor past, but there was a 10-year gap.
Practically a rookie.
If anything, looking at the duration of activity in the entertainment industry, Summer Girls had been around longer.
Why would she be intimidated by such a person?
"……."
When Seo-yeon stared at them intently, Rabin swallowed dryly.
This girl, she looks scary.
Looking at her with dry eyes, she seemed almost like a doll, giving off an inhuman vibe.
'B-but.'
She couldn't just stay being overwhelmed like this.
"Oh my, how cute."
"Is she a high schooler?"
"That must be tough, but so admirable~"
The members of Summer Girls chattered such words as soon as Rabin opened the floodgates.
Here, the word 'cute' was a way of establishing a hierarchy with the other party.
It was, so to speak, a strong appeal that she was someone who could call you cute.
"……."
Seo-yeon quietly gazed at them at those words.
The Summer Girls members who had been making a fuss froze under that serene gaze.
It felt like a mouse in front of a snake.
'Her, her presence is no joke, unnie.'
'Then, you try saying something.'
Gazes containing such thoughts crossed each other.
Meanwhile, unlike them, Seo-yeon.
'……Compliments from strangers are still a bit embarrassing.'
She was just a bit embarrassed.
After all, it was her first time being called cute by an idol.
Maybe I should have worn something other than my school uniform.
But taking out other clothes was too much of a hassle.
'Anyway.'
Seo-yeon tilted her head as she looked at the awkwardly frozen Summer Girls.
'Na-hee unnie said conversation might be a bit difficult.'
Perhaps they were also the type who were extremely shy around strangers, like herself.
Seo-yeon thought so and nodded faintly.
Then shouldn't she, being the somewhat more active one, take the lead in the situation?
"I came to learn singing from Na-hee unnie."
Learning to sing.
At those words, the eyes of the Summer Girls members narrowed.
An actor, singing?
"S-so. We'll just borrow the practice room for a bit. I already got permission from the CEO."
Na-hee inwardly sighed at her members' reactions.
What she learned while filming the drama with Seo-yeon was that Seo-yeon actually had a very gentle personality.
She was so gentle that she worried how she would survive in this harsh entertainment industry.
If she were a dog breed, she'd bring to mind a Pomeranian or a Retriever.
Because of that, she was already worried about what would happen to her when she ended up among members who were strong-willed and fierce.
'At least her impression is strong, so they probably won't mess with her easily.'
Seo-yeon wasn't the type to show much emotional fluctuation to begin with.
When she stared blankly, people would generally flinch, or find it difficult to approach easily.
On top of that, she had the aura unique to actors, didn't she?
'And the manager unnie too.'
Even after bringing her to the agency, there were many things to worry about.
First.
"Seo-yeon ssi. If you come to our side, we'll treat you well. You haven't been contracted with Nova Entertainment for long, right? I'm telling you, you could still switch now if you wanted."
The actor team leader who said such things came over and subtly tried to make conversation.
Even the manager had implicitly dropped hints that Hoyeon Studio was better than Nova Entertainment.
'……Why on earth are they doing that?'
She knew Hoyeon was struggling a lot lately, but wasn't that extremely rude?
For no reason, Cha Na-hee's face flushed with embarrassment.
"Anyway, then."
Cha Na-hee led Seo-yeon toward the practice room.
Since Hoyeon was an idol-focused agency, the facilities themselves were definitely better than Nova's.
There was much more audio equipment, and the equipment was properly set up.
Of course, for ordinary vocal training, there wasn't much use for it.
And so, the training began with the members keeping their distance.
Unexpectedly, Cha Na-hee was the strict type when it came to training.
"……You're definitely lacking a lot in terms of technique."
Cha Na-hee was particularly good at singing among idols.
Because of that, she frowned at Seo-yeon's singing without accompaniment.
"You seem good at putting emotion into the lyrics…… is it because you're an actor?"
At Na-hee's words, Seo-yeon smiled awkwardly.
'Originally, not being able to put emotion into singing was the problem.'
In truth, Seo-yeon's singing ability was normally decent.
Of course, that was by karaoke standards.
On top of that, the singing lacked emotion, making it become something hard to describe.
'Now it's the opposite.'
She could finally understand how heavily they had corrected Seo-yeon's singing in
No wonder the viewers naturally accepted the development where 'Jo Ha-rin' was dropped and 'Song So-ha' was brought in.
Objectively speaking, Song So-ha had overwhelmed Jo Ha-rin in terms of idol skill level.
"First, Seo-yeon has a good voice. So it's best to make the most of that……."
And so began Cha Na-hee's singing lesson.
'Head voice? Chest voice?'
Various words flew and planted themselves in Seo-yeon's ears.
Come to think of it, she seemed to have heard such words before when learning from Han Da-young at the voice acting academy.
Of course, knowing that Seo-yeon generally couldn't understand, Da-young had simplified the expressions to a children's level.
"……So, let's try it once."
"Yes."
Cha Na-hee didn't have any of that.
She made Seo-yeon practice to a degree that could be considered harsh.
Of course, Seo-yeon didn't mind.
With her tremendous stamina, no matter how much she sang, she wouldn't tire.
And watching such Seo-yeon, Cha Na-hee inwardly admired her.
'Good voice, good stamina too.'
Because of that, she could feel the momentum building the more she practiced.
The first person who taught her must have taught well; the basics were solidly laid.
She just couldn't understand it with her head and had hammered it into her body, so she couldn't bring it out when needed.
'She seemed to do better than this when acting.'
When filming the episode 14 scene, Seo-yeon had displayed a performance so overwhelming that it even overwhelmed Cha Na-hee.
That was why Cha Na-hee's pride as an idol had been pricked by such Seo-yeon.
'A mass of talent.'
Literally, Seo-yeon was the embodiment of that in human form.
"It's good to think of singing as a kind of acting."
Cha Na-hee explained to Seo-yeon, who was staring at her intently.
"The more you immerse yourself in the lyrics and understand them, the better the song becomes. Just like how Seo-yeon immerses herself in the lyrics when acting."
If she could do that normally, she would be able to sing much better.
'The person who asked Seo-yeon to sing the OST probably didn't have high expectations either.'
She was an actor to begin with, wasn't she?
They'd probably praise her just for singing properly without any pitch issues.
The song selected was probably not that high in difficulty either.
However, Cha Na-hee couldn't be satisfied with just that.
After all, she had seen Seo-yeon's talent in episode 14.
"Ah, it's already this time. Rest for a bit. I have something to take care of for a moment."
After some time passed like that, Cha Na-hee remembered that the idol planning team leader had called for her today.
From what she heard, it seemed to be about Summer Girls' future activities.
Probably because Na-hee's popularity had risen significantly with
"Haa."
It was a bit tiring, but having popularity was still better than not having it.
Thinking such thoughts as she watched Cha Na-hee leave the practice room.
'It seems Hoyeon's situation isn't as good as I thought.'
How did Hoyeon turn out originally?
She remembered they had been operating for quite a long time.
But it was also a place with many incidents.
First, they were the type to disband groups without mercy if they didn't make money, and there were also controversies over excessive favoritism.
The target of that favoritism was definitely……
"Huh? You're alone?"
She saw a group approaching Seo-yeon in a swarm.
They were the Summer Girls members who had retreated earlier.
They were all slim and had quite good looks, but among idols, they weren't particularly outstanding.
The outstanding one would be someone like Cha Na-hee.
"Where's Na-hee?"
"She stepped out for a bit because she had something to do."
"Is that so?"
At Seo-yeon's words, Rabin smirked.
"Always so full of yourself."
At that mutter, Seo-yeon narrowed her eyes.
Now that she thought of it, she remembered the rumors related to Summer Girls' disbandment.
"We couldn't even talk properly earlier because of her. Why does she get so defensive?"
"It's obvious, isn't it? She wants to monopolize her for herself."
"Your name is Seo-yeon, right? By any chance, what do you like?"
The Summer Girls members babbled beside her and asked.
Among them were rude questions.
Questions about what her specialty was, or what she was good at.
At those words, Seo-yeon smiled softly.
"I'm good at magic."
"……Magic?"
"Do you happen to have any coins?"
At Seo-yeon's words, the members looked at each other.
Coins? They had coins.
Being good at magic was unexpected, but there were occasionally celebrities with such hobbies……
"Here."
When Rabin quickly held out a 500-won coin, Seo-yeon took it and spoke.
"I'll turn this into 250 won starting now."
"250 won?"
How could you turn 500 won into 250 won?
As they stared blankly with such thoughts.
Seo-yeon, holding the 500 won in her right hand, pressed it firmly with her thumb and index finger.
Then the 500 won folded in half.
"?"
The Summer Girls' eyes looked at it stupidly.
And, when they creakingly turned their heads.
Seo-yeon was there, smiling pleasantly.
Red eyes.
The red eyes quietly looking at her were not smiling.
"Amazing, isn't it?"
So if you don't want to be folded in half, watch yourself.
It was a statement that roughly meant that.
Seo-yeon was currently in a very bad mood.
Anger.
This too was a very unfamiliar emotion for Seo-yeon.