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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: The Peanut Allergy
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“We’re here! Have some ice cream!”
“You’re late? What, were you two just chatting away?”
“Hmm. Just some friendly bonding, I guess?”
“…You two?”
Lee Gyeong-a looked between us, her eyes saying, ‘No way.’
Jo Hui-on was fuming, her lips pressed tightly together, while I smiled, feeling refreshed.
“Who bought this?”
“Hui-on bought it. Thanks, Hui-on.”
“…”
“Oh, Hui-on bought it? I’ll enjoy it.”
“…Yes.”
Ryu Bo-ra seemed to sense something, looking at Jo Hui-on’s face.
As she put a watermelon-flavored ice cream into her mouth, her lips subtly curled upwards, looking quite significant.
Why’s she smirking like that again? It’s creepy.
After finishing our ice creams, we returned to practice as if nothing had happened.
Unfulfilled promise
With a tearing heart
You
I
Jo Hui-on must have been incredibly frustrated by my words, as she sang with much more grit than before.
She should have done that from the start.
Then she wouldn’t have been slammed so hard during the interim evaluation.
“Wow, Hui-on. Did eating ice cream give you some kind of epiphany? You’re so much better than before!”
Lee Gyeong-a seemed to think similarly, her voice filled with genuine admiration.
“Alright, let’s keep this feeling and go again!”
Oh, I’m so proud.
I smiled quietly.
But I couldn’t fully smile yet.
I took out my phone and checked today’s date.
Today was August 3rd.
Two days remained until the main performance.
And according to Yun Cheong’s original fate, ‘that incident’ would happen tomorrow.
The incident where Yun Cheong would completely ruin her main performance and her image would be damaged beyond recovery.
*Ding!*
['Make a New Color' Yun Cheong, Repeated Mistakes in Third Mission… How Much Longer?]
[Yun Cheong, Unable to Fully Manage Vocal Cords, Why?]
['Make a New Color' Yun Cheong & Vocal Position Record Lowest Votes. Criticism Pours In…]
Right.
That incident, the one where articles like these would flood the news.
I subtly glanced at Jo Hui-on.
Would the same thing repeat itself this time?
“Cheong-ah, what ice cream flavors are left? Let’s have another one and then get back to it. It’s hot.”
Lee Gyeong-a checked the remaining ice cream in the fridge.
“There’s an ice cream cone? Can I have this?”
“Yes, but that one has peanuts on it, so I can’t eat it.”
“Why? You can’t eat peanuts?”
“Because I have an allergy.”
“Gasp.”
Lee Gyeong-a was slightly surprised and put the ice cream back in the fridge.
“I didn’t know you had an allergy, Cheong. Do you just need to be careful with peanuts?”
“Yes, I don’t have allergies to anything else, but I’m particularly allergic to peanuts.”
Jo Hui-on and Ryu Bo-ra each picked up an ice cream.
“That’s strange. Wasn’t your allergy to peaches?”
“Huh? No? It’s peanuts.”
Jo Hui-on tilted her head.
As if something was off.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I just ate peach ice cream earlier, remember?”
I pointed to the wrapper of the peach ice cream I had eaten.
Only then did Jo Hui-on nod.
“But I never said I had an allergy. How did you know?”
At my question, Jo Hui-on flinched, then shrugged.
“You said it at the dorm. You must have forgotten you mentioned it.”
“…Did I?”
I let it go.
“We’ll have to be careful with peanuts when Cheong eats something. Let’s eat the ones without peanuts too.”
“Then you can’t eat Dan Dan noodles, Unnie?”
Ryu Bo-ra stared at me.
“Can’t eat them.”
“Peanut butter too?”
“Can’t eat that either.”
“…That’s too bad. Peanut butter toast is delicious.”
“…I’m sad too.”
We amicably shared an ice cream each.
And then we plunged back into practice.
Because truly, only two days remained.
***
“…Her allergy was to peanuts, not peaches?”
A luxury sedan.
Two young-looking women sat in the back seat of the car.
And in the driver’s seat sat a woman who looked quite successful.
The woman in the driver’s seat observed the women in the back through the rearview mirror.
“Yes, she ate the peach ice cream just fine.”
“…That’s strange.”
The woman in the driver’s seat muttered softly.
“Didn’t the Unnie who trained with her at her previous agency say she had a peach allergy?”
The woman with long black hair sitting in the back seat said.
She had a quite close relationship with the woman in the driver’s seat.
And she was also a trainee participating in 'Make a New Color'.
“Hui-on, you heard correctly, right?”
“I told you it’s right. How many times do I have to say it? If you’re so confused, why don’t you ask her yourself?”
Jo Hui-on replied to Kim Ryeo-yu’s suspicion with an annoyed voice.
At that, Director Kim Mo-gyeong’s eyebrows, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, shot up.
Jo Hui-on flinched and turned her head towards the window.
“Then it shouldn’t be peach peel powder, but peanut powder.”
Director Kim Mo-gyeong said, turning the steering wheel.
“It won’t be that difficult anyway, since she only eats chicken breast every morning. And she’s the only one who eats chicken breast at the dorm.”
Kim Ryeo-yu said, checking the real-time SNS timeline reactions.
The broadcast was still airing the second mission performance.
But criticism against Kim Ryeo-yu was already growing.
As the days passed, public opinion became more unfavorable towards Kim Ryeo-yu.
If things continued like this, she might not even secure a spot in the debut lineup, let alone the first place.
Kim Ryeo-yu suppressed the rising anger.
This was all because of Yun Cheong.
It made her furious that someone so insignificant was suddenly using her head.
If Ryu Bo-ra, Seo Baek-yeong, or Kim Geum had performed well, it wouldn’t have been such a blow.
They were already strong candidates for debut anyway.
But Yun Cheong, it was a miracle if she even managed to rank 12th.
The girl who was always a nuisance to others during Colors’ monthly evaluations and was ignored by everyone.
Now she was one of the strongest candidates for first place.
Even though it was due to the benefit, she had still taken first place in the ranking announcement.
She couldn’t let this continue.
She had to stop her somehow.
“Let’s put a little peanut powder in her chicken breast tomorrow. I heard her allergy is so severe that even a little bit makes her break out in hives and her vocal cords swell up completely.”
Peanut powder?
Jo Hui-on looked at Kim Ryeo-yu, a bit flustered.
She couldn’t believe it, but was Kim Ryeo-yu really going to do it?
Jo Hui-on was one of the few people who knew Kim Ryeo-yu’s true nature.
Trainees vaguely feared Kim Ryeo-yu, but only saw her as an Unnie with a strong personality.
But Kim Ryeo-yu was more than that.
Someone who believed that harming others was ‘naturally’ something one should do for their own goals.
That was Kim Ryeo-yu.
Director Kim Mo-gyeong had kept Kim Ryeo-yu in check, fearing a personality controversy after debut, which was why no major issues had erupted yet.
However, Kim Ryeo-yu revealed her true personality to Jo Hui-on without filter.
‘Of course, that’s not to say she completely hid her personality….’
Kim Ryeo-yu committed all sorts of wicked deeds where Director Kim Mo-gyeong wouldn’t know.
It was her hobby to bully anyone she perceived as weak.
The reason was to relieve the stress accumulated from her arduous trainee life.
And Kim Ryeo-yu made Jo Hui-on participate in her misdeeds to prevent her from exposing her true nature.
For example, making Yun Cheong eat insects.
“But won’t she just get better if she takes medicine?”
Jo Hui-on asked cautiously.
“Not necessarily. You have to take the medicine beforehand for it to subside quickly. Once an allergy starts, it takes at least a few days to fully recover. The performance is in two days, so if she eats it tomorrow, she’ll be completely out of it for a day or two.”
“…”
Jo Hui-on had a reluctant expression.
“Why?”
Kim Ryeo-yu, noticing this, asked sharply.
“No, but what if we get caught?”
“How would we get caught? Is she going to send it to the National Forensic Service or something?”
Kim Ryeo-yu scoffed and sneered.
“We can just make it seem like she ate something wrong somewhere else.”
“Or we can say she staged it herself because she lacked confidence.”
Director Kim Mo-gyeong also said coolly.
“There are trainees like that. Kids who lie about being sick to avoid getting criticized during monthly evaluations because they didn’t practice.”
“Right. And she always messed up during monthly evaluations anyway. We can just bring up those records and say she’s using the same excuse every evaluation.”
“We’ll have to say that excuses don’t work if you want to be a pro. If the atmosphere feels strange, I can intervene and steer the conversation appropriately.”
Jo Hui-on’s face grew paler and paler as she listened to their conversation.
It was as if they were blood relatives; their words and thoughts were completely identical.
Equally horrifying.
“Isn’t that a bit… dangerous? I heard online that people can die from that….”
“People don’t die that easily. We’re not putting in a lot, just a little.”
How could they know that?
It wasn’t like they knew the exact lethal dose.
Jo Hui-on was starting to get fed up.
What if they actually end up killing her?
“Hui-on, are you scared?”
Kim Ryeo-yu cackled, ridiculing Jo Hui-on.
“Geez, why are you such a coward? Just sprinkle a little. And she’ll definitely have medicine with her. People with allergies always carry it.”
“What if she doesn’t…?”
“Then it’s her own fault for not being careful.”
How could that possibly be her fault?
Jo Hui-on couldn’t answer.
Kim Ryeo-yu knew well of Jo Hui-on’s wavering.
But at the same time, Kim Ryeo-yu knew the weapon to rein in Jo Hui-on.
“Hui-on, aren’t you going to debut? You’re 20 years old. If you fail this, do you think another agency will take you? You know 20 is the cutoff age for idols.”
Director Kim Mo-gyeong also nodded in agreement.
“If you don’t become an idol, what will you do? You’re not thinking of becoming an actress, are you? You don’t have a face like Ryu Bo-ra.”
“Seriously, why did *she* come into the idol scene with that face?”
The two merely sneered.
But Jo Hui-on couldn’t laugh.
Because her family had slowly begun to notify her that they would cut off their support.
If she couldn’t debut this time, she would inevitably have to give up the path of an entertainer.
After practicing for over 10 years, it would all be for nothing.
“…You’re really going to put me in as a judge’s pick, right?”
“Colors is in my hands. Do you think I can’t do just that for you?”
Director Kim Mo-gyeong said it as if it were obvious.
In the end, Jo Hui-on crumbled at those words.
Right.
If she just closed her eyes this one time, she could debut.
And as an idol from Colors.
Surely, she wouldn’t die. She just needed to control the amount.
“But… how are you going to put it in?”
At Jo Hui-on’s question, Director Kim Mo-gyeong burst into loud laughter.
Kim Ryeo-yu did the same.
In the strange atmosphere, Jo Hui-on frowned.
What was that?
“Hui-on, I can’t exactly sneak into your dorm like a thief, can I?”
Jo Hui-on fell silent at Director Kim Mo-gyeong’s words.
Then that means…
“Of course, you have to do it.”
“What?”
Kim Ryeo-yu hammered the final nail in the coffin.
Jo Hui-on’s jaw dropped in disbelief.
“Why me? You’re here too. You live in the same dorm, why…!”
“It’d be too obvious if I did it. But you’re on the same team. If Yun Cheong goes down, you’ll lose your benefit too. Would they really suspect someone from the same team?”
Kim Ryeo-yu smiled sweetly.
“Please, just this once. If I don’t have an alibi, everyone will naturally suspect me first.”
Of course they would.
Because everyone knows you’re the craziest bitch.
Jo Hui-on just trembled, dumbfounded.
“Instead, I’ll get you the peanut powder right now.”
Director Kim Mo-gyeong glanced at her watch.
It would be hard to get it in the early morning, but not impossible.
“Anyway, between 3 AM and 7 AM, cameras aren’t on unless there’s a special announcement. And there was no separate mention of filming, so the cameras are off. No one will know.”
“…”
Jo Hui-on lowered her head.
Her feelings were very complicated.
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