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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: 23화.
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Production Team: How did all of this happen?
[Ju-seon: ….]
[Captions: Lee Ju-seon, unable to speak]
[Captions: She eventually breaks into tears….]
[Ju-seon: Honestly, I was mentally struggling from the very beginning.]
Lee Ju-seon’s appearance on screen was the epitome of pitifulness.
Perhaps because she had always cultivated a very gentle and delicate image, her tears made her look even more heartbreaking.
[Ju-seon: My image and the other team members’ images are so different… I think we clashed from the moment we decided on the concept.]
Following Lee Ju-seon’s words, the scene changed.
This video was an edited version from before the broadcast.
The video showed the initial concept-setting process.
When the moments of sparse silence were pieced together with malicious editing, their relationship truly looked terribly bad.
[Ju-seon: At first, Yun Cheong Unnie and Kim Geum suggested a sporty concept. Up to that point… even if it wasn't what I had in mind… I still thought I should try my best. It wasn’t just my stage, so I thought we should try to cooperate well….]
Lee Ju-seon barely wiped away her tears and spoke.
[Ju-seon: But Yeon Ju-hong suggested, "What if we incorporate a ** and ***-like concept, adding a slightly *** feel?" From that point, I wondered if I could pull it off… I thought about it…. Even when I showed signs of struggling a little… I felt like my teammates just… didn’t care at all.]
Production Team: But you still accepted it in the end, didn’t you?
[Ju-seon: Because it was group life…. I thought, ‘If only I endure it, it’ll be fine’… That’s what I thought.]
Production Team: Then what was the trigger for the problem?
[Ju-seon: I’m in the choreography position… but they asked me to help Yeon Ju-hong create the concept together. I pleaded that just coming up with the choreography would be difficult….]
Lee Ju-seon ultimately started to sob again.
The Production Team handed Lee Ju-seon a handkerchief.
[Ju-seon: Thank you….]
Production Team: Don’t cry, take a deep breath slowly.
[Ju-seon: Still, I decided to endure it all… since it was something only I needed to endure… With that thought, I went to Dongdaemun Market with Yeon Ju-hong to look at outfits….]
***
“How about this, Unnie?”
Yeon Ju-hong loved buying clothes.
She was known among the trainees for dressing well, even normally.
For her, the concept position was exciting in many ways.
Especially the concept they had decided on this time—a concept that perfectly suited Yeon Ju-hong’s taste.
Yun Cheong’s sporty idea, and Yeon Ju-hong’s ‘this’ idea.
She thought the combination of the two would get a good response.
“I found a few movies on the way here that I think would be good references for our concept. Unnie, do you know the movie 0000?”
Yeon Ju-hong actually wasn’t very fond of Lee Ju-seon.
She disliked how uncooperative she was, and how she had dead fish eyes no matter what was said.
But she also knew why Yun Cheong and Kim Geum had specifically sent Lee Ju-seon along.
The stated reason was for Lee Ju-seon to help Yeon Ju-hong, but that wasn’t the reality.
*Just look at those eyes. They’re not the eyes of someone who helps others.*
*‘It’s obvious she doesn’t like the concept…. So they want her to at least pick clothes she likes, right?’*
*The Unnies are too kind; they’re trying to package it nicely.*
Yeon Ju-hong rolled her eyes.
Still, Yeon Ju-hong endured.
Not for Lee Ju-seon, but for the Unnies.
“Unnie?”
But Lee Ju-seon seemed barely interested, just glancing around.
She seemed solely focused on picking out her own clothes.
It was from this point that Yeon Ju-hong started to feel offended.
“Huh?”
“How does a concept like this look?”
“Ah… it’s okay.”
Lee Ju-seon gave a perfunctory response only for the camera, then went back to focusing on picking out her own outfit.
Eventually, Yeon Ju-hong’s cheeks began to puff up.
*‘Kim Geum Unnie…! Yun Cheong Unnie…! You guys have to buy me pork ribs when this is over…! At least pork ribs…!’*
In the end, Yeon Ju-hong gave up.
Yeon Ju-hong decided to just pick out the outfits herself.
“Unnie, then while you’re picking out your clothes, I’ll go pick out clothes for the other Unnies! We don’t have much time.”
“Okay, okay. That’s a good idea.”
“But if you need my help, call me right away!”
“I will.”
Yeon Ju-hong decided to pick out Kim Geum’s outfit first.
There was no particular reason. It was just because she thought Kim Geum would suit the concept best.
“Whose outfit are you picking?”
“Oh, Kim Geum Unnie’s outfit!”
“Ah… Kim Geum’s first?”
“Yes, yes.”
Yeon Ju-hong assumed Lee Ju-seon had understood, and looked around at accessories.
And she found an accessory that seemed perfectly made for Kim Geum.
*‘This is amazing. Even the tiger-like Kim Geum Unnie would definitely praise this accessory…!’*
Yeon Ju-hong grinned widely and picked up the accessory.
But then,
“Yeon Ju-hong, whose is this?”
Lee Ju-seon held out an outfit she had chosen.
“Oh, that…?”
Yeon Ju-hong looked at the outfit Lee Ju-seon brought and thought.
*‘Pork ribs won’t cut it for this… I need to get beef ribs….’*
The outfit Lee Ju-seon brought was completely unsuitable for the concept.
She had brought something overly innocent by herself.
“It’s pretty, but isn’t it a little bland? Our concept is—”
“But I don’t know if I’ll suit our concept well…. Isn’t this much okay?”
Lee Ju-seon appealed to Yeon Ju-hong with the most pitiful expression she could muster.
Yeon Ju-hong was truly in a predicament. She felt like she should say no, but if she did, she’d look like a truly bad person.
But if she said yes, it would be a dereliction of her duty as the concept manager.
It was truly a no-win situation.
“Then… how about we go with that outfit, and I choose the accessories?”
“Yes! Okay!”
Lee Ju-seon’s opinion was accepted, and only then did she smile brightly.
Yeon Ju-hong, with an uneasy heart, put down Kim Geum’s accessory.
Then she went around searching for accessories that could somehow make Lee Ju-seon’s outfit fit the concept, even just a little.
After several minutes of searching.
Yeon Ju-hong was able to find a few accessories she liked.
*Ah, this damn talent of mine.*
Yeon Ju-hong, feeling proud, showed the accessories to Lee Ju-seon.
“Unnie, how about something like this?”
“Hmm….”
Lee Ju-seon only gave an awkward smile, showing no particular reaction.
It meant she didn’t like it.
In the end, Yeon Ju-hong felt a little hurt.
But she didn’t give up, showing Lee Ju-seon every accessory she found.
“How about this?!”
“Haha.”
“How about this?! This one’s really amazing.”
“Hmm…!”
“Unnie! You really can’t help but like this one…!”
“I’m not sure…”
Eventually, Yeon Ju-hong realized that Lee Ju-seon had no intention of listening to her.
“Unnie, then why don’t you try picking out accessories yourself?”
“Okay!”
*If this was the case, she should have said something from the beginning.*
Yeon Ju-hong was on the verge of exploding with frustration, but she held it in.
“Then I’ll go pick out accessories for the other Unnies.”
“Mhm.”
So Yeon Ju-hong left to find Kim Geum’s outfit, which she had stopped looking for earlier.
And then she found that accessory she had discovered before.
Looking at it again, it was an accessory that truly fit Kim Geum perfectly.
But then,
“Ju-seon, whose is that?”
“Oh, this is Kim Geum Unnie’s….”
“Can’t I use that? It’s really pretty! Yeon Ju-hong has a good eye, doesn’t she?”
*…Are you serious?*
It was an accessory chosen specifically with Kim Geum in mind.
How happy she had been when she found it…!
“Uh… this is….”
Yeon Ju-hong eventually nodded, holding back tears.
“Then, shall we try it on you to see if it suits you, Unnie?”
“Yes, yes. Take a look. How do I look?”
*You really don’t suit it, Unnie….*
From the start, Kim Geum and Lee Ju-seon had completely opposite images.
There was no way it would suit her….
However, Yeon Ju-hong couldn’t bring herself to tell Lee Ju-seon that it really didn’t suit her.
“I think the other one from before would be better than that… Is that the one you like the most, Unnie?”
“Yes!”
“Okay….”
“Can I use it?”
Lee Ju-seon brightly took the accessory from Yeon Ju-hong’s hand.
But while she said ‘took,’ it was practically snatching it.
Slowly, Yeon Ju-hong began to feel she was reaching her limit.
*‘I want… to go home!’*
***
Production Team: But it seems Yeon Ju-hong was very accommodating?
[Ju-seon: I thought so too. And I was very grateful. But it turns out, that wasn’t the case.]
Lee Ju-seon hung her head low, like a sinner.
***
Ultimately, Yeon Ju-hong, having had the accessory she painstakingly found snatched away, left to find other accessories.
But every time she found one, Lee Ju-seon would covet it.
“Didn’t I pick out earrings for you earlier…?”
“Yes, but this one’s pretty too, and the other one was pretty too. What should I do…? Yeon Ju-hong is truly amazing. Everything you find is pretty.”
Yeon Ju-hong, again, was weak to praise.
“Th-Then… take whichever one you want, Unnie.”
“Then can I have this one?”
“I don’t think it’ll match the necklace, so shouldn’t you give up one of them?”
“What if we manage to make it work?”
*What is that ‘manage to make it work’ supposed to be?*
Yeon Ju-hong gradually started to get exhausted.
“Unnie, now that you’ve picked all your accessories… this time, I’ll go pick out Kim Geum Unnie’s.”
“But Yeon Ju-hong.”
“Yes?”
Yeon Ju-hong blinked her large eyes.
Suddenly, Lee Ju-seon’s tone had turned cold.
“Why do you keep talking about Kim Geum from earlier…?”
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