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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Back to School
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“Oh? You?”
“Hello.”
“You moved up to the Ace class, didn’t you? You're pretty good.”
The person clapped a hand on Hye-sung's shoulder and spoke. It was Seong-bin.
“…Yes. But, Eonni. Why the pants? I heard we weren't supposed to wear these yet.”
*‘Looks like she’s the type to act on impulse. I should definitely stay away from her.’*
Seong-bin had arbitrarily taken the pants uniform from the hanger and changed into it.
They hadn't even been distributed yet, so to exaggerate a little, you could say she'd stolen them.
“Ah, I just wanted to try them on. A test run, you know? What do you think? Killer, right? I was born to wear a uniform.”
Seong-bin confidently placed her hands on her hips and struck a pose in front of Hye-sung. Honestly, it was no joke.
Her claim of being a part-time model wasn't a lie; she wasn't just tall, she had charisma.
“You look quite the officer. But you should probably change back into the skirt quickly. If you're going to keep standing there, could you move? I need to change.”
Hye-sung gently pushed Seong-bin aside and slipped behind the curtain.
She wondered if she'd been a bit rude, but since they weren't in the same class and had no reason to interact, she figured it didn't matter.
After finishing her makeup, Hye-sung headed down to the stage floor.
A few of the Ace class members were warming up on the floor. Among them, she saw Na Yeon-woo.
“Hye-sung-sseu~ You're here?”
Hyun Na-na waved.
Until yesterday, her hair had been bleached and frizzy, but after a professional's touch, it had transformed into silky blonde locks.
“What did they do to your hair?”
“Amazing, right? They sprayed something on it and straightened it with high heat, and it turned out like this. But they said doing it often isn't good. You got your hair braided?”
“I just sat still and let them do what they wanted.”
Hye-sung had straight hair with no bangs, but now it was styled with a thin braid on each side at the front.
Honestly, she wasn't a big fan of it, but she stayed quiet because it was a hassle. She also figured it must be tough to style everyone according to their individual requests.
“Eonni. It looks good on you.”
Na Yeon-woo said, fiddling with Hye-sung's hair. Na Yeon-woo's own hair was left straight and untouched, save for a little volume at the roots. Even her 6:4 part was the same.
Seeing Na Yeon-woo, Hye-sung clapped a hand over her mouth. The muted blue color and her natural black hair suited her so perfectly that her face seemed to glow.
The halo that only she could see was so brilliant that she could hardly tell if it was Na Yeon-woo or Aphrodite.
“Yeon-woo. Why are you shining so brightly...? Are you finally planning to return to the heavens?”
“What are you talking about, Eonni? You're too much...”
Na Yeon-woo seemed embarrassed, covering her mouth with her long fingers as she let out a small laugh. She seemed to think it was a genuine joke.
*‘It's not that there's something wrong with my eyes; she's just blatantly handsome. What am I going to do with this baby statue?’*
After Hye-sung continued to gush for about five minutes, Han Young-won cut her off.
“That's enough. Let's get on stage.”
“Ah, yes.”
After the run-through rehearsal, the actual filming finally began. Everyone had a good feel for it by now, so the shoot went smoothly.
“That was good, but let's go one more time.”
However, with so many lights overhead, the sweat poured down with each take. Their carefully applied makeup was melting away, but the director insisted that this look was more appealing and shouted "one more time" at least ten more times.
It was past 6 PM by the time they got the okay sign.
Hye-sung's leg, which she couldn't tape because of the uniform, started trembling like a rototiller again during the shoot, but she managed to suppress it and finish the performance without any mistakes.
The four-leaf clover activated once in the middle of it all, and Hye-sung figured she'd probably get a fleeting shot in the final video.
“Good work, everyone~!”
Now, all that was left was to go home.
* * *
Back home, Hye-sung lay around idly, thinking that she really needed to build up her stamina before the next training camp.
“Yoon Hye-sung! You said you were tired, but you're staying up late again just because tomorrow's Saturday, aren't you? That'll become a habit. You need to sleep early if you're going to school on Monday!”
Suddenly, the door burst open, and Hye-sung's mother stormed in.
“Mom, it's only eleven... And what school?”
“This child! Are you planning to drop out of school to become a celebrity? You're a high school senior now!”
Hye-sung had completely forgotten that she was nineteen years old and a high school senior.
The world had been turned upside down and she'd been thrown into it at the end of February, so Hye-sung hadn't had to go to school yet. It had been winter break.
But after returning from the training camp, she realized the new semester had already started three days ago.
“Hye-sung, becoming a singer is fine, but you still have to take the college entrance exam. Are you really not going to college?”
Seeing her mother's fiery expression soften with worry, Hye-sung felt a pang in her heart.
*‘Mom… I’m sorry. Your daughter became a high schooler while being a fangirl. But I don't think I can get into the university I went to before...’*
The realization that her academic background and career were all gone made her feel like she had failed as a daughter.
“I... probably can't go to college.”
“What did you say!”
Like a two-faced Janus, her mother's expression switched back to anger.
“Hurry up and pack your bag, and lay out your uniform! Don't be making a fuss in the morning because you woke up late!”
“Ah, Mom. I got it. I'll take care of it, so just get out~”
Hye-sung pushed her mother, who had started a barrage of nagging, out of the room and paced around anxiously.
“…It's been ages since I graduated high school, and now I have to go back.”
But Hye-sung had blended in pretty well at the training camp.
Slipping in among the younger kids and pretending to be a teenager hadn't been as awkward as she'd expected.
“But I really do have to prepare for the entrance exams again.”
That was more despairing than pretending to be a teenager.
“Ha, damn it. The curriculum has probably all changed. What am I supposed to do~!”
Hye-sung packed her bag while making a request that was closer to a threat, telling the status window she'd infect the system with ransomware if it didn't help her with the entrance exam.
“School… I don't know. Let's just go and see.”
* * *
Two days later, Hye-sung boarded the train with heavy steps. She was half-dead inside, having learned that the school she attended was Marines Art High School, which had produced many idols.
Marines Art High was the school Na Yeon-woo and Cha Ju-yeon attended, along with numerous other Supernova Project contestants. It was also Minty's alma mater.
*‘I want to get eliminated in the third round and just attend school quietly while studying. No matter how I'm portrayed on the show, I just hope the kids pretend not to know me.’*
With her fate as the subject of clickbait editing sealed from the very first episode, it was nearly impossible for Hye-sung to have a quiet school life.
Drrrk.
Having arrived at school deliberately early, Hye-sung opened the classroom door with a trembling heart. Seeing the empty desks, it seemed no one else had arrived yet.
“Where's my seat?”
Hye-sung peeked at the teacher's desk to see if there was a seating chart, but there was nothing there.
“I guess they don't put up seating charts these days. There are no name tags on the desks either...”
With no other choice, she decided to find an empty desk with nothing in the drawer and was checking them one by one when the classroom door opened.
“What... are you doing?”
“Oh? Uh. Just looking for my seat.”
“Ah, right. This is your first day since the school year started. How was the training camp?”
“Yeah...”
*‘Who is this? Who could it be? Is it someone I'm supposed to know? Please, let me remember!’*
If it was a friend she'd known since her first or second year, it would be bad if they found out she was thinking, "Who are you?"
“Over there, the last seat in the first row. That's your spot.”
“Ah, uh. Thanks.”
Hye-sung hurried over to her seat.
She had spent the weekend frantically searching through her phone, and while her contacts list was full of names, she couldn't figure out which ones were her school friends.
Another infuriating thing was that all her savings, including the over ten million won "Yeon-woo fund," had completely vanished.
*‘The apps were all still there, so I thought they would have left my money alone, too.’*
While she sat there awkwardly, her classmates began to trickle into the room.
Most of them greeted her as if they knew her, making Hye-sung break out in a cold sweat.
She didn't know their names, and the uniforms didn't have name tags.
Just when it seemed like almost everyone had arrived, a tall, lanky, and pale-faced male student dropped his bag at the desk next to Hye-sung's.
“Hey.”
The male student greeted her first. But from his vibe, it seemed he didn't know Hye-sung either.
“Uh, hey.”
*‘But I feel like I've seen him somewhere before. Who is he?’*
Hye-sung felt frustrated that she couldn't place him.
“What's first period today?”
“I don't know.”
“What?”
“I said I don't know.”
*‘I don't even know who you are, how would I know what first period is.’*
The male student seemed taken aback by Hye-sung's answer, probably because it was so far from what he'd expected.
“Um... Are you mad at me or something?”
“No?”
“Ah, I get it. Is it because I'm always away?”
“Away from what?”
The male student tapped his desk.
*‘What, is he someone who skips school a lot too? Is he a celebrity?’*
“You were bored because your desk partner was gone, so you got mad?”
“No. This is my first day of school too.”
*‘He's really jumping to conclusions. I guess he really is a celebrity. But since I don't recognize his name just from his face, he must be from a flop group...’*
“Your first day?”
“Yeah. Because of an audition training camp.”
“Ah! Supernova Project? You're on that? Minty-noona is on this season!”
*‘What's with this guy? Why is he calling Ha-hyun Eonni so familiarly? Is he a junior from her company?’*
“Are you close with Minty-ssaem?”
“Huh? She's a senior from my company.”
The male student looked quite flustered. Then, an expression that clearly said, "You don't know who I am?" appeared on his face.
*‘I knew it. But it's been so long since I unstanned, there's no way I'd know the face of a junior male idol from her company.’*
“Ah...”
“You... you don't know me, do you?”
“I do.”
It was a lie. But she did know the group's name. So it was only half a lie.
“Who doesn't know Enki.s?”
Enki.s was a junior group that debuted after Hye-sung had unstanned Lunesta.
They were a group on the cusp of the B-list, so she vaguely knew a few of the promoted members, but since Hye-sung wasn't into boy groups, she didn't know all of them.
“Sorry. I just thought maybe you didn't know.”
*‘Who doesn't know Enki.s? Most ordinary people don't. He looks embarrassed now that I've praised him a bit.’*
“You're the one who probably doesn't know me.”
“...”
The Enki.s member was silent. Because he really didn't know his desk partner's name.
*‘I get it since he's barely at school, but still.’*
“...Ah! I heard Ju-ha-noona is on that show too. Did you meet her? Lee Ju-ha, a trainee from Q Media.”
The Enki.s member changed the subject, probably out of embarrassment.
“Yeah. I actually shared a room with Ju-ha Eonni. We were in the same class, too.”
“Whoa, really? Oh, but if you were in the same class as Ju-ha-noona, that means you're in the Ace class!”
The Enki.s member slammed his desk, looking at Hye-sung with a surprised expression.
“What? Hye-sung's in the Ace class?”
“Really? Huh? But are you allowed to talk about that?”
*‘I didn't say it myself; he just guessed it on his own.’*
A few classmates who were nearby gathered around.
