Chapter 97
After spending about a week hanging around with girls I wasn't quite friends with, I realized that spending time with relatively mature girls was surprisingly exhausting.
“Ugh…”
School life wasn't so bad when I wasn't alone.
Still, I had grown accustomed to living by myself after COVID, so this sudden change in environment left me considerably flustered.
When I returned home, a reasonably sized house welcomed me.
The house seemed a little large for a single elementary school student to live in, and normally it should have been completely devoid of warmth, but today was different.
“You're home? How was school?”
Masked Singer aired every Friday.
Yuseolha, who had known my identity for quite some time, suggested that we watch it together at my house, and since I had planned to watch it alone anyway, I happily invited her over.
“…Seol unnie is here too?”
“Oh. Yeah. She got in touch after a long time, so I invited her.”
The members of Blooming had been doing their own things without any particular activities since releasing their mini-album six months ago.
Among them, Kim Seol barely kept in touch with anyone and had shut herself away in her room.
I'd heard she was writing, but it had nothing much to do with me, so I didn't pay attention.
“Seol unnie. Long time no see?”
“…Yeah. If I'd known you'd moved here, I would have come by sooner. You were downstairs.”
“…I told you in the group chat, though?”
“I don't check the group chat.”
There was always one person like that in every group.
I couldn't understand why someone who wasn't even a menhera would ignore people's messages.
Wait, surely this person didn't know about this either?
“Unnie, why didn't you tell me you had a younger sister?”
“Hmm? How did Si-yeon find that out…?”
“We're in the same class, you know? No, don't you talk to Byeol unnie?”
“…I didn't know.”
Were the sisters on bad terms?
But Kim Byeol seemed to like her older sister quite a bit, and thanks to that, I also got a rough idea of what Kim Seol was writing.
Well, in any case, it wasn't my business, so I decided to let it slide.
“So, what are we eating today? Does anyone know how to cook?”
Naturally, no one could raise a hand.
“Wait, Seol-ha unnie. You live alone and can't cook?”
“I, I order everything through room service…”
“Damn bourgeois bitch.”
“Honestly, you have plenty of money too.”
“I told you, buying the house put me in the red.”
Most of the copyright royalties coming in were being used to repay my bank loans. Thanks to that, even though I'd moved into an expensive house, all I ate was cheap, convenient food like one-pan pasta or bibimbap.
As a result, my house was overflowing with huge quantities of various pasta sauces and pasta noodles.
“Are we ordering food?”
“Isn't that obvious?”
“Well, I guess so.”
The moment Yuseolha heard that, she opened the delivery app. Since the address was already set to my house, it seemed she'd fully intended to order food here from the start.
Since Yuseolha was paying anyway, I decided to quietly accept the free meal.
“Chicken is the only answer at times like this!”
Meanwhile, I turned on the TV.
A large smart TV I'd bought after working up quite a bit of courage.
It was a latest-generation model capable of running all kinds of OTT services.
Masked Singer, which aired during primetime on terrestrial television.
Thanks to the buzz it had generated in the previous episode, searching Twitter brought up quite a lot of posts.
The other communities were similar, with noticeably more posts than usual as well.
As I tore into the chicken that had already arrived, I began focusing quietly on the TV screen.
* * *
In truth, the reason people online couldn't deduce the identity of the World-Conquering Princess from her singing was simple.
Although attention had been focused on her opponent, even the internet detectives couldn't find a singer whose voice and height were even remotely similar.
So they wondered if she was an actress, but she sang far too well for that.
The atmosphere remained much the same even after the second-round stage ended.
-No fucking way, she sings insanely well
-Seeing her act cute, there's no way she's in her thirties
-Is she an idol?
-Why are her high notes so clean?
-I think I'm in love even without seeing her face…
-She's my wife
In any case, the second-round stage had been truly excellent.
It might have looked easy at a glance, but the high notes in the chorus and the breath control were anything but simple.
That was why, just as everyone was predicting that she would advance smoothly to the third round…
The celebrity panelists, who had been watching without much expectation, turned it into a guessing show.
In the middle of that, Yoo Ha-seong, who occasionally displayed absurd insight, opened his mouth.
And the moment they heard both his reasoning and his conclusion…
-???
-No, that actually sounds plausible?
-Why the fuck is Seo Si-yeon here?
↳True, though. She must have tons of places calling her.
-So Seo Si-yeon did that stage? That stiff little elementary schooler?
↳Seo Si-yeon does stages like that sometimes.
↳Amazing fact) Every Seo Si-yeon GIF used as eye candy came from a different stage.
-It's not impossible, though?
-Fuck, I zoomed in and it's really her lol
-No, how did he see that during the performance?
-Those heels are fucking high lol
Naturally, the viewers had no choice but to become fairly certain of the Princess's identity as well.
Because Seo Si-yeon was the only celebrity who was that short.
Even so, there were several things that left the viewers unable to hide their surprise.
-Wait, has Seo Si-yeon already grown that tall?
↳She looked like an adult just from wearing insoles?
↳Her growth spurt came early, so…
For one thing, people remembered the time when she hadn't even been 130 centimeters tall.
Those who remembered her as a complete little baby found it difficult to accept that Seo Si-yeon had already grown that much.
-Look at this
(A New Year's greeting photo Seo Si-yeon posted on Instagram this year)
She's grown quite a bit in both her face and height, to the point where it's hard to call her a little kid anymore.
-Ugh, Si-yeon isn't a loli anymore…
-Wow, time flies
-But seriously, she grew up without an awkward phase
And there was one more thing.
-Was Seo Si-yeon always this good at singing?
It was the change in her singing ability.
Originally, Seo Si-yeon had been judged as being “good for a child.”
She had earned high praise through her own story and her absurdly advanced composing ability, but her singing itself had not been considered particularly impressive.
However, the performances she had shown in the two stages were clearly those of a Tier 1 singer.
That led to all sorts of discussion in the communities for a while, but the conclusion was to watch the third round before discussing it further.
Then the third round began.
-Wow, fuuuck, she sings insanely fucking well
-This isn't Seo Si-yeon, is it?
-What the hell is that rasping in her throat during the high notes?
-Seriously, this could make the all-time legends list
-The song is fucking great too lol
↳It's a Yuna song.
-Seo Si-yeon was this good?
Her high notes soared freely, and she used a technique that rasped through her throat at intervals.
This wasn't the typical, cookie-cutter practical-music vocalist with nothing but a good voice that Seo Si-yeon had shown before; it was a stage like that of a star with a style of her own.
People couldn't help being flustered by her completely transformed voice and singing style.
It had been two full years.
That was more than enough time for a little girl to grow into a proper vocalist.
Even so, the reason people found Seo Si-yeon's transformation unfamiliar was probably that the image of that cute but cold genius girl from the past had been burned so deeply into their minds.
But the girl had clearly revealed herself before them.
If she took the champion's throne like this… it would be the perfect comeback.
-Guys, now that I think about it, isn't the current champion Joo Jin-woo?
↳Huh? You're right.
↳Singer Star 5 finals rematch lol
↳Wow, how did the story turn out like this?
On top of that, it was a rematch of the finals of Singer Star 5, the audition program that had shaken Korea two years earlier.
The news began spreading through communities and social media, and people started turning on their TVs and fixing the channel to Masked Singer.
As the ratings graph shot upward in an instant and the PD let out a cheer…
The reigning champion, Joo Jin-woo, finally came down onto the stage.
Then, after a brief talk, the intro to today's song began to play, and everyone watching the broadcast had no choice but to grin and scream.
-He's singing PODIUM here?
-Fuck, he definitely coordinated this with the production staff
-Is this Seo Si-yeon's song? Why have I never heard it before?
↳Makes sense, it's an album track.
↳It doesn't even have a music video, but its YouTube views have passed twenty million…
↳Calling this merely an album track doesn't do it justice. It's an incredible song.
-Joo Jin-woo must really love PODIUM. He even said so on a broadcast.
-A year ago, someone asked, ‘What's your favorite song among Seo Si-yeon's songs?’ and he answered PODIUM.
Joo Jin-woo's ensuing stage was pure shock.
It was such an overwhelming performance that it could easily have been chosen as one of the greatest champion battles in the show's history, and the viewers could do nothing but focus as if they were being sucked into the screen.
-Joo Jin-woo is going to win this, isn't he?
-No, why did he prepare this damn hard? lol
-It's Singer Star's revenge…
The people at the venue felt much the same way, and Joo Jin-woo won by a razor-thin vote margin.
-Wow, it really was Seo Si-yeon lol
-What's with that dramatic shoe toss??
As everyone had expected, the identity was Seo Si-yeon, and no one was particularly shocked by it.
Seo Si-yeon's comeback stage and the Singer Star rematch.
The buzz they generated was truly on another level.
As a result, PODIUM, which had been released two years earlier, finally climbed back to number one on the charts, with Tail Star close behind.
Two songs making chart comebacks.
The only thing that was a little sad for Joo Jin-woo was that the song by the winner of the champion battle was nowhere to be found on those charts.