Chapter 29
Lee Hye-na.
She had ranked near the top in popularity on last year's idol audition program, but failed to debut after placing thirteenth in the finals due to its baffling evaluation criteria.
“Aah... That was close.”
Hye-na's goal was to make it into the top four, or at least advance to the finals.
And her ultimate goal was to use the popularity she gained there to debut as soon as possible at any decent agency.
But in the last round, Hye-na had been driven right to the edge of a cliff.
The judges had harshly criticized her, and even by her own standards, her stage had been terrible.
And with her competitors putting on excellent stages by comparison, Hye-na was still barely holding on to her composure.
“Oh, kid. You're improving fast.”
“I know, right? She's better than I expected.”
When Hye-na slowly opened her eyes, she saw a yellow ball moving rapidly and a ping-pong paddle striking it with a sharp crack in time with its movement.
On one side stood a young man handsome enough to catch even an idol's eye, while on the other was a cute-looking child who vigorously swung her paddle with an expressionless face.
‘Come to think of it, I followed them to the table-tennis hall.’
After everyone had eaten dinner, she'd seen Joo Jin-woo recruiting people to go to the table-tennis hall and had unconsciously tagged along.
The truth was, Hye-na had never played table tennis even once.
But she'd followed them, intending to shake off her complicated feelings with some exercise...
‘Of all things, there are an odd number of people.’
With her poor social skills leaving her without anyone close to her at the dorm, why had she insisted on coming here?
Just as she began wondering whether she should return to her room and get at least a little rest,
“Ah! The skill gap is way too big!”
“I-I can't help it. I played table tennis every day in the army!”
“I'm not playing with Mr. Joo Jin-woo.”
Seo Si-yeon puffed out her cheeks.
She dabbed the beads of sweat on her forehead with a handkerchief, then came waddling over to Hye-na.
“Are you good at table tennis?”
“N-no... I've never played before.”
“Then let's play together. Beginners should play with beginners.”
For that moment, at least, Seo Si-yeon felt like a savior to Hye-na.
* * *
As always, especially when it came to games or sports, people had to be evenly matched.
If there was an overwhelming difference in skill, both sides—and especially the beginner—couldn't help but have a much less enjoyable time.
In that sense, Hye-na and I had skills that matched up fairly well.
I'd played table tennis in my previous life, but perhaps because it was my first time playing with this body, I was pretty bad. Hye-na, meanwhile, had never played table tennis even once.
That was why the two of us could painstakingly keep a rally going by managing to hit the ball back and forth.
“Oops. Sorry.”
“It's okay!”
Apparently, people really did need to exercise now and then instead of staying holed up in their rooms.
After exercising for the first time in a while, I could feel my mood becoming refreshed.
In exchange, though, I could also feel my legs screaming that I absolutely shouldn't do any more.
‘My stamina, seriously...’
Maybe I should start going to a gym later and build up my stamina.
No matter how young I was, having stamina this poor was bound to cause me plenty of trouble in the future...
“S-should we rest for a moment?”
“Yeah. Let's do that.”
Unlike me, Hye-na showed no sign of being tired at all. Hadn't she said she'd dreamed of becoming an idol since she was young and attended vocal and dance academies?
That must have given her stamina far above that of ordinary people.
‘She's a rather unfortunate person, too.’
The Produce 11 program she had appeared on was rigged.
Although the first trial was still underway, there was no one who didn't know it had been manipulated.
The only reason no one dared take action was that Starlight, the group that had debuted through the audition, was so popular and had such a massive fandom.
In fact, it made no sense that Hye-na, who had participated as an ordinary person without an agency, placed fourth in the mid-program popularity vote and maintained her popularity into the latter half, yet failed to make the debut lineup.
Hye-na simply hadn't had the connections needed to debut.
After roughly a year away, she had finished high school and appeared on Singerstar 5.
Hye-na was probably desperate, too. In today's idol industry, failing to debut by your early twenties at the latest made things difficult in all sorts of ways.
‘Just look at Starlight's Yoo In-young. She's only sixteen.’
Even if Yoo In-young was an outlier, the groups debuting these days always seemed to include one or two members in their late teens.
It wasn't uncommon to find groups made up entirely of teenagers, either.
It wasn't possible to say Hye-na was too late yet, but if she failed to seize this opportunity, she might be.
But of course, that was none of my business.
Even without me getting involved, Hye-na would debut somehow or other. She had that much talent.
Still, she'd stumbled pretty badly in the last round, perhaps because she'd chosen the wrong genre.
“I-I watched your stage last round... It was an OST I like, and Si-yeon's arranged version was g-good...”
“Ah. Thank you. Your stage was... good, too, Hye-na.”
In truth, it was a stage I couldn't honestly call good, even as a hollow compliment.
Everyone knew she'd shown less than a quarter of her actual ability, so naturally, she knew that better than anyone.
“Ahaha... My stage really was terrible. I wanted to show a new side of myself, but it didn't work out.”
“Challenges are always beautiful. If you don't give up and keep working hard, your day in the sun will come!”
“Yeah. Thanks, but Si-yeon, you really speak so prettily. Like an adult.”
Then she reached toward my head.
“M-may I pat your head...”
“...Go ahead.”
The Blooming members had patted my head so often that I was used to it by now.
I comfortably entrusted my head to her awkward touch.
“Mmm...”
But that lasted only a moment before Hye-na's hand stopped.
I opened my eyes and looked up at her. Why had she suddenly stopped patting my head?
“Um, would it be okay if I fixed your hair a little?”
“My hair? Sure, I don't mind.”
I always wore either plain, straight hair or my hair tied back. It wasn't specifically because I'd been a man in my previous life; those were simply the two styles I preferred.
The moment Hye-na got my permission, she pulled a tail comb and several hair accessories from her bag. It was the quick, prepared instinct typical of trainees who had made grooming themselves part of their daily routine through audition programs.
“Si-yeon has such distinct features that I think adding an accent would look much prettier than simply leaving your hair down.”
Her hands were delicate and swift beyond comparison to the way she'd swung her paddle. The sensation of her carefully handling each strand of hair was strangely ticklish and peculiar.
Neither in my previous life nor in this one had anyone ever tended to my hair with such care.
“There, all done. Want to look in the mirror?”
In the small hand mirror Hye-na held out, there was an unfamiliar little lady.
The sides of my ordinary straight hair had been thinly braided and swept back, accented with a small ribbon pin.
It was fascinating how much my overall impression had changed with just a few minutes of deft handiwork.
I'd felt this for a long time, but it really was an enviable talent that women had, being good at things like this.
It wasn't bad styling. I'd felt it while watching the Produce episodes, too, but Hye-na had a fairly innate sense for this sort of thing.
More than simply having pretty features or a good balance of skills, it was her instinct that made Hye-na shine.
‘No wonder she nearly debuted despite coming from outside the industry.’
She had an instinctive understanding of what kind of stage to put on and what sort of styling would catch the public's eye. That instinct had been uniquely apparent in the legendary “Fall for Me” performance.
Yet strangely, that sharp instinct was nowhere to be seen on Singerstar this time.
Could it have been because of the Produce rigging controversy, whose trial had begun recently? Or had her self-esteem fallen after a single failure?
“I have a question.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“What were you thinking right before you performed ‘Fall for Me’?”
She smiled faintly, as if it were a familiar question.
It was a legendary stage she loved deeply enough to say she wouldn't regret it even if it were played at her funeral, so she must have been asked about it countless times.
“I thought that if I failed, it was all over.”
“I knew it. Then what are you thinking now?”
Hye-na blinked as if my question had caught her by surprise.
To me, Hye-na already seemed to have half given up on the next round.
Defeatism seeped from the force of her voice and the way she spoke. She was clearly calculating what she would do after being eliminated instead of focusing on the stage right in front of her.
It was another unnecessary bit of meddling, but I couldn't help myself. My personality wouldn't let me feel satisfied until I'd said what I wanted to say.
If she stayed in this state, Hye-na would definitely be eliminated in the next round.
I didn't want to watch talent of this caliber get crushed here.
She had more than enough ability to rise higher even on Singerstar. At least as an idol, she possessed top-tier natural talent.
“For this round, I think you'll have to approach it with at least as much resolve as you had back then. Though I don't know who you'll be up against.”
The opponents we'd face from now on weren't at a level where they could simply be crushed by the power of a fandom.
Hye-na gave a bitter smile and looked away.
She seemed well aware of her own condition.
And that night, the draw was held.
[Lee Hye-na] VS [Seo Si-yeon]
I ended up going head-to-head with Hye-na in this round.