Chapter 8
“S-Si... Si-yeon.”
“Huh?”
In the strange atmosphere, I swallowed hard, my throat bobbing.
The boy sitting diagonally across from me in the same class, who always offered me chocolate milk, was named... Seonghun, I think?
Anyway, he flushed bright red and spoke to me after I arrived at school early.
‘Anyone could see what situation this is, right?’
What would this child feel if he found out that the girl he adored had a man nearly thirty years old living inside her?
Thinking that, I waited for the boy in front of me to slowly get the words out.
Unfortunately, Seonghun couldn't bring himself to speak in front of the girl he liked.
‘I used to be like that, too...’
Memories came flooding back.
But I was going to reject him anyway. Was dragging this out really good for either of us?
It might have been a little cruel, but I decided to put an end to Seonghun's delusion as quickly as possible.
“…Seonghun? If you have something to say, could you hurry up?”
“…My name is Sihun.”
“Ah... Sorry.”
The atmosphere suddenly turned frosty because I had called him by the wrong name.
A little later, Seonghun drooped his shoulders and returned to his seat.
I probably wouldn't be getting any more free chocolate milk.
It was a little disappointing, but it wasn't especially important.
I could just buy chocolate milk myself.
Still, I did feel a little sorry for Seonghun. There was a very high chance I was his first love, after all.
His first love couldn't even remember his name... That would probably leave a deep shock at his young age.
‘Stay strong... Seonghun.’
Before long, it was time for the teachers to start arriving at school.
Since the broadcast would be held on a weekday this time, I had to get permission through the proper procedures and submit the necessary paperwork.
Last time, I had simply skipped school without permission to attend the preliminaries, but my homeroom teacher had nearly jumped out of her skin when she found out and begged me never to do that again, so I painstakingly filled out an application for off-campus experiential learning.
‘What a hassle.’
In my previous life, I had attended school properly only through middle school, and from high school onward, I had barely gone at all.
In this life, I had wanted to attend school properly through high school, but honestly, I already felt like dropping out altogether.
But right now, I was a nine-year-old orphan with no guardian. There was no guardian to submit a withdrawal form, nor any adult to take responsibility for me if I stopped attending school.
Just before the bell rang, my homeroom teacher called me to the faculty office.
“Si-yeon, I'll take care of processing the application. Good luck!”
Pride and concern flickered across my teacher's eyes.
Only a month ago, I had been a quiet child who did nothing but bury herself in books, and then one day I suddenly appeared on television and turned the whole country upside down. It was understandable.
“Yes. The main competition filming starts in earnest this week. I heard we might even have to stay together at a dorm later on.”
“I never expected a star like this to come from our class. But Si-yeon, don't push yourself too hard. If things get difficult, contact me anytime.”
After leaving behind my teacher's warm encouragement and returning to the classroom, I was met by the children's piercing stares.
The entire class was watching me as if I were some kind of alien.
During every break, children from other classes crowded against the hallway windows to gawk at me, so I had no choice but to skip lunch, hide in a corner of the school, and zone out.
These days have been making me pretty angry. Well, not that angry—just moderately angry.
Normally, no matter how much buzz something generates, people forget it within a week. But Singer Star was a long-running program, so the buzz surrounding me refused to die down.
The Winter Olympics had just ended, too, so there was no other issue around to siphon away Singer Star's attention.
‘I guess I have to think of the next few months as something I'll have to endure.’
I might have to consider bringing a packed lunch to school.
A few days later, the first round of the main competition took place.
“Ugh...”
I stood pacing in front of the vending machine in the hallway outside the restroom.
Coffee was 300 won a cup.
Hot chocolate was 400 won.
Which one should I drink?
Before, I would obviously have chosen coffee, but ever since becoming Seo Si-yeon, I had honestly been craving something sweet a little more than coffee.
But I had my pride. Wasn't getting hot chocolate a little too childish?
“Hmm... B-but still.”
Just as I was about to press the button to dispense a milk coffee with my trembling hand,
Someone inserted a 100-won coin into the machine.
Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he pressed the button for hot chocolate.
“Kid. You wanted hot chocolate but only had 300 won? Then just ask someone passing by!”
I turned around with a creak, and there stood a young man whose face I had seen several times beyond the screen.
“Oh! You're that kid. The one who's good at making songs.”
“J-Joo Jin-woo...?”
“Yeah, that's right. You were Si-yeon, right? I wanted to meet you sometime. Guess I'm lucky.”
There stood Joo Jin-woo, the engineering student I had singled out as someone I needed to watch out for.
* * *
Joo Jin-woo.
Just hearing his name made you expect a vocalist with national-treasure-level power, and in reality, his skill came close to that level.
He attended K University, one of the SKY schools, and apparently, he had already made something of a name for himself as a vocalist in Hongdae's band scene.
However, because of his family's atmosphere and the intensity of his studies, he couldn't continue making music for long, and eventually, he had no choice but to leave the band scene.
Only after completing his military service did he finally get a brief stretch of free time.
He said he had entered this audition to spend that time meaningfully.
I wouldn't be running into him during this mission.
He was in the Male Solo Group, while I was in the Potential Group.
But we would definitely meet in the higher rounds.
Returning to the main point.
The first group to take the stage was the Potential Group, which I belonged to.
They couldn't very well keep children cooped up in the waiting room for hours.
Even though the competition was held over two days, there was no way to see every contestant within a short period of time.
As a result, the waiting time increased exponentially for the later contestants.
Since young children would have trouble enduring that, the plan was to watch their performances quickly and send them home.
Even so, I had been assigned the very last number.
It was obvious that they had arranged the order to push me, so I wasn't particularly displeased.
The group that opened the stage was Blooming, the high school girls' band I had marked as worth watching after seeing their preliminary video.
“One, two, three!”
A lively drumbeat rang out, followed by a refreshing guitar riff. It was a cover of a famous modern-rock song, but the girls' youthful freshness and solid ensemble skills stood out.
‘Not bad. The drum rhythm wavers a little, but the vocalist's tone covers for it.’
Cheers erupted from the audience, and Representative Yu Sang-hyeon in the judges' seats nodded, sending a positive signal.
“Wow! This is really excellent!”
With Representative Park Jina of KY praising them with an especially hungry glint in her eyes, they happily received an all-pass and returned to the waiting room.
But that was as far as it went.
Maybe Blooming had set the bar too high, or perhaps the overwhelming pressure of the main stage had crushed the children's young hearts. The performances that followed made everyone watching feel miserable.
The boy called an elementary-school prodigy was so nervous that his voice trembled on the high notes, and he eventually lowered his head. The middle-school dance team became flustered when the formations they had prepared got tangled up, and they couldn't hide their panic.
“They must have been incredibly nervous. It breaks my heart that they didn't even show half of their usual ability.”
“The stage must have felt very unfamiliar. I hope you use today's experience as a stepping stone and come back stronger. You worked hard.”
The judges' evaluations were gentle, but the pass buttons were not pressed easily.
The atmosphere at the filming site quickly sank beneath the cold results hidden behind those words of encouragement.
The production staff's expressions grew darker as well, and the children with later numbers grew increasingly stiff with tension.
The order continued to move forward, with almost no contestants receiving a pass and advancing without any real change in the mood.
Just as the head writer anxiously checked the clock, the next contestant was called over the speakers.
“Next contestant, Seo Si-yeon, please enter.”
The audience began to stir.
Naturally, the people who had come here had placed fairly high expectations on Seo Si-yeon.
That was because she was the contestant everyone was most excited about on Singer Star 5 right now.
Some people had even bought scalped tickets just to see her, so it wasn't surprising that her appearance changed the atmosphere in the audience.
At the same time, the judges' expressions also brightened a little.
All three people here had been looking forward to her the most in this group.
“I'm looking forward to it. Right, oppa?”
“I wonder what genre she'll show us this time.”
Jina of KY and Kasep of YRK chatted among themselves, building up their expectations for Si-yeon.
At the same time, since they had never seen Si-yeon's stage in person, they couldn't help mixing a little doubt into their gazes.
Still, since Yu Sang-hyeon, their senior and an industry heavyweight, had praised her so highly, the positive expectations held a slight edge.
“Ms. Si-yeon, you're the last contestant. Weren't you tired from waiting?”
“Ah. No, I had a pretty good time waiting.”
Throughout the wait, Si-yeon talked about music with Joo Jin-woo and several others.
A little session of small talk followed.
Si-yeon squeezed out her somewhat hazy childhood memories to manufacture some misery porn, and the judges played along with that UFC-meets-WWE spectacle by putting on suitably sympathetic reactions.
Representative Jina even wiped at the corners of her eyes, so she somehow seemed genuinely sad, but anyway.
That was that, but I still had business to take care of.
“The song I've prepared is ‘The Woman in the Picture.’ Please listen.”
Riding the momentum of the misery-porn emotional setup, I brought out a ballad I had written in my previous life while thinking of my late mother.
Once you choose a concept, you milk it through the second and third verses without taking it too far.
That was my creed.
The soft melody of an acoustic guitar began to resonate through the stage.