Chapter 48
***
Aces' leader, Lee Yuwan.
She performed under the name Wan, and every time she stepped on stage, she was reminded of the past.
The time she had shown her dad and mom the dances and motions she'd learned in kindergarten.
Her parents' faces, so full of joy and delight then, still hadn't faded from her memory even though it had been more than ten years since they died.
"Unnie! Are you ready?!"
"Yep!"
Behind her father's and mother's faces came her aunt's face.
Her aunt, a webtoon artist whose work didn't sell well.
The aunt who had stepped up to raise her after she lost her parents.
She said she couldn't bear to watch her niece go to an orphanage.
Wan never regretted taking her aunt's hand when she told her to move into her tiny house and live with her.
But.
She couldn't even lift her head, feeling sorry that her aunt was struggling because of her.
That was why.
That she thought she had to work hard.
For her aunt's sake, even.
She had to succeed for the aunt who had raised her so diligently, treating a niece who had lost her parents like her own daughter.
That would be her way of repaying her.
Because succeeding, and succeeding again, and giving her aunt a comfortable life was something she absolutely had to do.
"Aces!! Are you ready?!"
"Yes!"
So it didn't matter what stage it was.
No song was a problem.
Because she'd do her best and make it work, no matter what.
An event booked by the company.
It was an event where they did cosplay from a game called Dungeon & Saga and then sang the theme song, but that still didn't matter.
Wan smiled at the members.
"You all worked hard today too!!"
"No way! Wan~!"
"You worked hard too, unnie!"
"We don't have anything else scheduled for today?"
"Yep. We're done now."
What a shame.
I still have the stamina to sing a few more songs.
She looked at her younger members, who had grown a little dejected.
They were all good kids who worked hard.
If only the songs after their debut had been a little better.
If the agency had taken a little better care of them, they could have shown off more of their charm.
'No. Let's stay strong.'
If they kept working and working, the day they'd shine would come.
Don't collapse, Wan.
You, the leader, can't waver.
Wan had only just become an adult herself, but she was still the leader.
"Wan!! Let's take a look around the venue~!"
"Do you think that's okay?"
"The manager unnie isn't here either~."
The manager was currently meeting other bosses who had come to the resort for business.
Normally the company should have handled things like this, but after they completely botched their second song, they were dumping even this sort of work on the manager.
"The manager unnie... must have it rough."
"Sigh. We need to work harder."
Aces' youngest member, Mei, said cheerfully.
But she knew.
How many wounds were hidden behind that cheerfulness.
"Just do your best. That's enough."
Miyabi, who came from Japan.
Aces' eldest member.
She had spent more than ten years as a trainee and only just debuted, but because she still hadn't gotten her chance to shine, she didn't even think about going back to Japan.
She was also a good cook, so she handled all the meals at the dorm.
"If I cosplay and walk around the venue, wouldn't that help us promote more?"
Yuri, the dancer who was the same age as her.
She had incredible dancing skills, but without a stage to show them on, she was another friend who hadn't gotten her chance to shine.
Even so, she never stopped trying.
"Then I'll go too."
Wan clenched her fist tightly.
She had no intention of giving up.
If there was a chance to grab hold and climb up, she would definitely take it.
With that resolute mindset, Wan and Yuri headed to the venue.
Since it was a large-scale game event, there were a lot of people.
There were some who showed interest in their cosplays, but that was about it.
Promoting Aces themselves didn't seem like it would be easy.
Three people approached them.
An ordinary-looking man.
A burly man who looked to be in his thirties.
And a pretty woman wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a hood pulled up over her head.
When she saw the merch in their hands, she let out a bitter smile.
How nice would it be if that merch were Aces merch?
'Come to think of it, we don't even have merch like that.'
For an unknown flop idol group, merch was nothing but a pipe dream.
"Shall I take a picture for you? If you like female fighters..."
"I do like female fighters, but that's not why."
The woman in horn-rimmed glasses slowly removed them.
And when she lowered her mask a little...
"...Gasp!"
Wan drew in a breath.
It couldn't be helped.
Because the person in front of them was someone so far above them that there was no comparison.
"Eh, eh, eh, eh..."
"Shh."
With a cheeky grin, Encia, Seo Yurim, brought a finger to her lips.
"I was actually planning to come see you anyway. Could we talk for a moment?"
Wan nodded hurriedly.
.
.
.
The Aces members were nervous.
It made sense, since this was none other than Encia, a senior in the industry who was achieving overwhelming success unlike them.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Seo Yurim, Encia. You've seen me before, right?"
"Y-yes, yes! Senior!"
"Aw, you're too tense."
How could they not be tense?
While they gulped nervously, the burly man came back with drinks.
"Huh...?"
Wan looked at the drink placed in front of her.
An iced vanilla latte.
Loaded with whipped cream and plenty of chocolate chips.
It was her favorite drink.
No, it wasn't just that.
The members beside her also had their own favorite drinks sitting in front of them.
"Ahem. I was Saebit."
"Gasp!!"
Saebit.
A fan café that had existed briefly in the past.
A place that had been ruined by the company and ultimately fell apart.
Wan quickly took a liking to the burly man who mentioned it.
"Sh, shall I sign it for you?"
"I, I have the album. Could you sign that instead?"
Tears of emotion.
She was overwhelmed.
Not only Wan, but the other members were trembling too.
After the man, who identified himself as Cheolhon, left, Encia sipped her coffee.
"Hmm, I didn't actually want to talk to you guys."
"Eh?"
"Then why?"
Then Wan's eyes turned to the man standing beside Encia.
"Was it that gentleman who asked to meet?"
"Yeah."
"Ah... th-then let me introduce myself first! Hello! May the brilliant dawn be with you! I'm Wan from Aces~!"
"Uh. Um. Yeah."
The man looked a little put off.
He, who identified himself as Kang Noa, nodded.
Wan was nervous.
She didn't know what kind of person the man sitting next to Encia was.
But maybe he was a young third-generation chaebol?
Since he ran a business, maybe he wanted to hand over some promotional work or stage-related work.
'The manager unnie would know more about business stuff, though...'
Still, she should at least be able to make the connection.
Wan swallowed hard, nerves on edge.
"Um..."
"Could you turn these over for me?"
"...Pardon?"
What he held out was a deck of cards.
Wan, looking reluctant, flipped the card over.
Kang Noa, watching her, slowly opened his mouth.
"You'll climb the charts again soon."
"....Huh?!"
It was good news.
But he was saying something like that?
Who on earth was this man?
Then Mei, who had been frozen stiff and trembling since earlier, let out a cry.
"N-No, n-no, Noa. Noa hyung...?!"
So her nervousness hadn't just been because of Encia?
While Wan was wondering, Mei held out her phone with a trembling expression.
As Wan took it and looked, her expression gradually stiffened with tension.
A genius fortune-teller who never missed.
Someone who can see every future.
That person had said it.
That their song would climb the charts again and finally get the recognition it deserved.
"...I-is it really true? We..."
"Yes. However..."
However.
While she gulped at the ominous words,
Kang Noa told her the future he had seen.
When Wan heard that,
"...Ah..."
she couldn't take the shock and fainted.
***
It was around the time Wan came to.
The door to the room we were in flew open.
"G-girls!! There you are?!"
A woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties rushed in.
Then she looked our way and kept bowing repeatedly in greeting.
"Thank you so much for taking such good care of our girls! They may not have had much luck with songs, but as for skill..."
"I'm not here to ask for an event request, so you don't need to advertise."
"...Ah. T-then... I'm sorry, but we don't do that kind of entertaining..."
"It's not entertaining either... Hey. Don't just stand there, say something."
Seo Yurim, who had been snickering beside them, stepped forward.
Only then did the manager breathe a sigh of relief.
"I-I see... Huh? W-wait?! Noa hyung?!"
"Huh? You know me?"
"Yes! I-I watch your stream all the time!! I applied several times too, but it never worked out... I was worried whether our girls would do well..."
She rambled incoherently.
The manager leading a flop idol group fidgeted as she looked at me.
"Um, our girls..."
I didn't really intend to hide it, so I just told her.
The manager's expression hardened.
"...Yeah, if it's those bastards, there's definitely a chance. Then what do you think we should do, Noa hyung?"
"The best thing would be to change agencies."
From the manager's memories, the company was treating Aces as nothing but a nuisance anyway.
In that case, wouldn't it be best to simply switch companies?
"But didn't you say they're going to have a reverse hit? Since the company owns the rights to the songs and everything else, if they move companies, won't they lose that too?"
"I guess so?"
"Then what do we do?"
"I see the future, not the solution. Hmm. Hey, don't you have someone at your company who knows about this sort of thing?"
"Hmm, I'll ask."
Seo Yurim immediately picked up her phone.
Then she made a call, talked for quite a while, hung up, and nodded.
"They said it seems possible. They said they trust my judgment."
"Oh..."
"If there are any problems with the girls I brought in, my contract gets extended by another ten years. Well, I wasn't planning to go anywhere else anyway."
She grinned, saying it was fine because she liked the company she was at now.
"So? When do these girls start climbing the charts again?"
Instead of answering, I looked at the manager.
"You came back after arranging an appearance on Ppuhong's YouTube, right?"
"Gasp! Y-just as expected, Noa hyung!!"
"It'll start going well from then on."
So they needed to get the company sorted out by then.
"Can you do it?"
At my question, Seo Yurim, who was looking at her phone, nodded.
"The boss says he's on his way now."
At that moment, the future changed.
The future of the idols, now beginning to rise under a new light, was visible to them.
"...I-is it really true?"
"We... we're going to do well...?"
"Sniff... H-huh-huhh..."
"Aaaang!!"
"Girls! Girls, this is really good news! Really...!!"
They hadn't shone yet, but if the future I saw was right, they would succeed quickly.
So that was enough.
"H-how are we supposed to repay this kindness..."
"I didn't tell you because I expected anything in return. I just didn't like the idea of someone who'd been working so hard ending up like that, so I helped."
"...Still, I want to repay you. Ah, um, if we do well, could we promote you?"
"Promote me?"
"Y-yes... We could appear on your channel too..."
"Yes! We'll go around shouting your name!"
"Can I call you hyung too?"
No, Miyabi-ssi. Being called hyung by you...
Come to think of it, there were quite a few viewers older than me who called me hyung.
"Sure, whatever."
If she wants to, what can I say?
There were plenty of other people who could promote me besides them, but it wouldn't hurt to have more.
"Then do your best."
There was nothing more for me to handle now.
They would make it on their own.
And they would succeed on their own.
Because that horrifying future was gone.