*
Bang!
“Hah, haah.”
After entering the waiting room and closing the door, Lee Romi bit her thumbnail and took out her phone.
She opened the Onion Market app and brought up a familiar messenger window. Her fingers kept missing the keys as she tapped at the phone’s keyboard.
Jjangro me: That kid showed u p she came to the set!!!
Jjangro me: Teacherr!!
Jjangro me: Teacher. What do I do?
Jjangro me: Help me Teacherr
She fired off message after message, but the unread indicator remained.
Lee Romi paced back and forth across the waiting room, nervously biting her nails again. She knew she shouldn’t, but her body wouldn’t listen.
Ever since the moment she saw that girl again.
The instant she thought of Shin Nayeon, a flash of pain tightened around her head. It was a face she never wanted to see again.
That moment when she had looked up while working a part-time job and seen Nayeon’s face in close-up on an outdoor billboard.
That feeling, as if hands were closing around her throat, once again made her breath catch.
Nayeon had always been like that. She always got the things everyone wanted so easily.
As Romi desperately tried to erase that day from her mind, a notification appeared after a brief wait.
учитель: Oh dear :( What an unfortunate coincidence.
Jjangro me: I don’t know why it had to be now she always knows exactly when to show up. She’s been like that since forever how did she show up in front of Director Hwang Uncheol of all people? You know how long I waited for this day too, Teacher, right?
Jjangro me: I think she came to ruin me again Teacher I’m scared
учитель: Don’t be too sad. Seeing you sad hurts my heart too.
Jjangro me: It’s so hard seeing her face I’m annoyed I’m angry I feel like I’m going to fall apart again..
She envied and hated that girl, who always took the spotlight as if it were nothing. And yet she was wounded by the way Nayeon acted as though she wanted nothing at all.
When she had neither the right nor the qualification.
Jealousy always followed at her feet like a black dog hiding in the shadows. That pitch-black emotion tormented only her.
The Teacher she had met by chance back then was someone who embraced even that ugliness.
Onion Market was an app she had downloaded to get rid of belongings when she moved accommodations.
She had only thought of it as an app for secondhand transactions, but it had many different functions. Like a feature that let you chat with traders…
It was a chat window she would normally have passed by.
But when both body and mind were exhausted, there were times when she couldn’t endure unless she did something stupid.
That was when she met Teacher.
It was then she learned that, the more anonymous and unknown the other person was, the easier it became to spill one’s heart.
The anonymous figure who had approached her, telling her to call them Teacher, took the chaotic, scattered stories Lee Romi poured out like grains of sand and rebuilt them into a beautiful castle, comforting her and sympathizing with her.
And that wasn’t all. Teacher said they had connections and introduced her to people in the entertainment industry, helping her seize opportunities countless times.
As she found herself standing once more in the entertainment industry she had thought was completely over for her, Lee Romi came to believe in Teacher blindly.
Jjangro me: Teacher what should I do? It’s in front of the director and I feel like I’m going to ruin everything, I can’t see anything
Jjangro me: I think the director likes her..
Jjangro me: Her again..
учитель: Don’t be upset. You have me. I think you’re far more outstanding than that girl. I’ll always help you get what you want.
Relief washed over her in an instant. Teacher was the only person holding her up.
Jjangro me: Teacher.. You’re the only one I have
Romi took deep breaths with her phone clutched in her hand. Even this emotional support alone made her dizzy heart slowly settle.
Then another chat message came in.
учитель: What would you like me to do?
Jjangro me: Huh? What do you mean?
учитель: I’ve always told you. There’s always a way. :)
There was always a way. Just as Teacher said.
After all, the fact that she had managed to rise this far from rock bottom was entirely thanks to Teacher’s help.
учитель: You’re still unripe, but… if it’s only for a moment, I can lend you power. Do you want it?
Jjangro me: What do you mean unripe? Power? Then what can I do?
учитель: What you want. For example, I could make it so that girl can’t appear in front of you.
Really? How?
But the truth of it and the method didn’t matter. Romi quickly tapped at the keyboard.
Jjangro me: I want it
Jjangro me: I want it! Give it to me! Give it to me
учитель: All right. If you want it, there’s nothing I won’t do for you, is there? How adorable.
учитель: However, you haven’t bloomed yet, so what you can do is… probably only enough to place a debuff.
Jjangro me: What’s a debuff?
учитель: It means putting that child into a bad state.
Jjangro me: That’s all?
учитель: Oh :) Sweetie. Don’t worry. It’ll be much worse than you think. Instead, there’s something you have to do for me.
Jjangro me: What should I do?
учитель: You just have to shake that girl up. Mentally, I mean.
учитель: That child hurt you a lot, didn’t she? Now it’s your turn to hurt her. I’m not sure if kindhearted you can do it, though…
Jjangro me: I can do it anything
Debuff… It was a word she couldn’t understand. Maybe it was a term Hunters used.
So Teacher was a Hunter. No wonder I thought they were amazing.
Whenever she followed Teacher’s words, luck followed—luck that couldn’t be explained by mere connections. If that was an ability as an Awakened, it made sense.
Jjangro me: But.. Teacher,,
Jjangro me: Then what happens to her?
учитель: Hmm… Do you want to know?
Jjangro me: Ah..
учитель: “Knowledge” will make you hesitate. Do you still need it?
Jjangro me: No
Jjangro me: I don’t want to hesitate. I believe in you, Teacher. Give me power.
учитель: Good, if that’s what you want.
Soon, a pop-up window appeared over the chat window.
Unknown words were written in the long horizontal rectangle, and the only button at the bottom said “Confirm.”
A button that could not be refused.
She felt an unspoken pressure, as if there would be no taking it back now.
There was no hesitation. The moment Lee Romi pressed confirm—
An auditory hallucination brushed past her ear, a lovely woman’s laughter like jade beads rolling.
Lee Romi snapped her head up.
There was no one in the room.
‘What was that?’
Just then.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Romi, do you have a moment?”
Before she could even answer, the waiting room door opened.
Beyond the door, Nayeon appeared with a staff member.
The staff member nodded to Nayeon, told them to talk, and quickly left the room.
Lee Romi stood facing Nayeon with a stiff expression.
Her heart pounded, and strength entered her fists.
Because she had the power Teacher had given her. Because today would be the last day she had to see that face.
“Shin Nayeon.”
“Romi…”
Nayeon blushed shyly and smiled.
*
Lee Romi had been her friend since middle school.
One day, Nayeon had followed Romi, who said she was going to an audition, and somehow ended up becoming a trainee too. They were close, having spent both their school days and their trainee days together.
“Ugh! Jjang Nayeon, you lost your gym clothes again, didn’t you?”
“Huh? I’m okay. I’m wearing my school uniform pants today.”
“You’re going to do PE in uniform pants? Do you think that’ll work? Wait here. I’ll borrow some from Class D for you.”
Romi used to look after the things Nayeon, who was indifferent about everything, lacked, and Nayeon had simply loved Romi for it.
Even as they waited aimlessly for a debut that seemed far away at a small-to-mid-sized agency.
“Jjang Nayeon. Hurry up and eat this, then get rid of it. Don’t get caught.”
“Can I eat this?”
“Do you think you’re allowed? We’re eating it in secret.”
Romi had secretly brought in a chocolate conch bread, cut it in half, put one half into her own mouth and the other into Nayeon’s, only to get caught and scolded.
“Are idols not people too?”
Nayeon had wiped away Romi’s tears as she cried bitterly, and they had fallen asleep together.