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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: A Sudden Transformation
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[Exclusive｜First Look! Supernova Project Season 5 – Chance! ♪It’s Me Who Seizes the Chance! Performance by 100 Contestants]
-Whoa, that's a ton of people. How many are there?
└It says 100, can you not read?
-The center doesn't stand out as much as I thought. The girls in the back seem prettier.
└The visuals of Han Young-won and the girl two after her in the ending shot are on par with idols who've already debuted, for real.
└(3:58) Namgung Seol (4:01) Na Yeon-woo. Dug through the profiles and found their names.
-They're girls, they should be smiling sweetly. They look too aggressive... The song's not great either.
└You go ahead and live your life with a sweet smile plastered on your face.
-this song is amazing. 100 girls everyone is so beautiful and talented!
-All the girls deserve to debut. They should be treated better :)
-I like that the lyrics aren't about begging someone to look at them and love them, but about seizing the chance for themselves.
-lee juha : QUEEN!
└Fans of Snowe, assemble! Let's support our sister Ju-ha.
-But why did that girl get the final ending shot? lololol. Her rank seems high, I guess.
└Obviously a one-trick pony for skills. Her face is cute at best... A face you can't get away with unless you're the main vocal.
└She looks like a soggy dumpling. Bet she has a lot of friends in dumpling soup.
└└Not just a boiled dumpling, a soggy one lololololol. A busted dumpling lolololol.
└The pre-release video said she's from D&F. Looks like she failed at Skiller and came on this survival show. She's probably this season's main vocal.
└@the comment above that, that's too harsh...
└She's not a civilian, she's on TV saying she wants to be an idol. Can't even say this much? I didn't even cuss her out. You're so sensitive.
“What? A soggy dumpling?”
*Clack, clack.*
[Worry about your own face, you psycho. I don't even have to see it to know it's a busted piec...]
Hye-sung deleted the comment she was typing, worried she might be identified.
“Horrible people. This just proves people are born evil.”
If the comments on WeTube, which were relatively tame, were this bad, how much worse would it be on other online communities? What kind of ridicule and criticism would she face when they found out she wasn't some one-trick pony, a surefire main vocal?
She didn't think of herself as having a weak mentality, but seeing herself being gossiped about by strangers made her hands tremble and her eyes well up with tears.
“…I’m not here to debut anyway. Once Yeon-woo debuts, I’m going to give every single one of these bastards who said anything about me some financial therapy.”
Hye-sung quietly saved a PDF of the comments, then forced down her sorrow and anxiety, and went to sleep to prepare for the next day.
* * *
The next day, Hye-sung packed all her things for the second training camp and headed to a convention hall in Yeouido. It was the day of the production press conference, where they would officially appear before the media.
When she entered the waiting room, everyone was already there and ready.
This time, individual press photos would be released, so the trainees from agencies with more resources had gotten their makeup professionally done at the same salons their senior artists used, and it definitely made a difference.
“Ju-ha eonni. You dyed your hair again?”
“Yeah, I got it redone when I touched up my roots.”
Her hair, which had been a brown that fell just past her shoulders, was now a warm-toned pink beige.
It must be an expensive and high-maintenance color. But her agency would probably cover the cost. At times like this, she was a little envious of those who had backing.
“Your hair color is so pretty.”
“Thanks, Hye-sung. Your new hair looks great on you too!”
“Ahaha… thank you.”
Hye-sung laughed awkwardly.
Something had happened that morning. After packing her bags and checking the time, Hye-sung had been sitting down, training her lower body muscles.
You might wonder how one trains muscles while sitting, but she had read an article while eating breakfast.
[Strengthen muscles with just your thoughts? The effect of exercise is proven. A British research institute…]
“I lack stamina, I lack the muscles to support my joints, I just lack everything.”
Though exercise would have solved the problem, Hye-sung, whose greatest talent was sitting still and daydreaming, decided to start with image training, just as the article suggested.
Like a true N-type, she even searched for what competitions were being held where as she continued her fantasy.
As she spurred on her imagination of flying to Busan to participate in a marathon at Haeundae Beach, the Delusion Power gauge in her status window began to fill up slowly.
“This kind of delusion fills the gauge too?”
*Tiring.*
[There are no types or limits to the delusions that can increase your Delusion Power.]
“You should have told me sooner! Then I should imagine winning the lottery more often. Not that I don’t already. How many first-place winners should I set? Me and three others, so four or less…”
It was a topic she fantasized about so often that she already knew first-prize winners had a dedicated elevator. Hye-sung grinned as she pictured 4.2 billion won appearing in her bank account after taxes.
[Your Delusion Power has reached the blue gauge for the first time since your initial level-up!]
A notification appeared in the status window after she filled about 10% of the bar-shaped gauge.
[A gift for reaching the blue point has arrived!]
“…A gift! Is it a trait or an item draw?”
[Crispy Fortune Cookie. Today’s fortune has arrived.]
“What’s this?”
[Tell your fortune for the day with a fortune cookie. You might find some useful information?]
“Useful information?”
[Would you like to draw a fortune cookie?]
“Sure. Why not give it a try?”
[Please choose one of the 3 cookies.]
[1 / 2 / 3]
“Hmm… I’ll take number 1!”
[Cracking open cookie number 1. Snap.]
A holographic cookie appeared before her eyes and split in half with a soft crack.
[An unpredictable day is expected. If you wish to achieve your goal, act without hesitation.]
[Lucky Keywords: #Black #Near_Home #Short_Hair #Affection #Sensitivity #Camera]
“Unpredictable? What am I supposed to do with that?”
Black, short hair, near home… Hye-sung repeated the keywords and then realized.
“Does this mean I should cut my hair? But I have to leave soon!”
Hye-sung hastily grabbed her suitcase and scrambled out of the house.
She burst into a random hair salon near her home and urgently asked them to cut her hair to a length that didn't pass her shoulders.
Fortunately, it was a neighborhood salon, so she was able to get service right away. By the time she left, it was 11:50. She wasn't late to head to the press conference venue.
“What the—I didn't recognize you. Was that you, Hye-sung eonni?”
Cha Ju-yeon, who had just arrived, squeezed in between Lee Ju-ha and Hye-sung.
“You have bangs now, too?”
“Yeah.”
‘I only asked them to cut the length, but they gave me bangs too, completely changing my impression. It’s hard to get used to…’
Hye-sung kept touching her new bangs, feeling awkward.
“Wow… your image has changed so much.”
“R-really?”
[Those around you have received a positive impression from your change. Your Visuals have improved by ☆! Current Visuals ★★★]
As if the fortune cookie’s information was spot on, her Visuals stat rose to three stars.
‘…Do I look a little different to people now?’
“Eonni, you used to have this really soft tofu vibe, but now your facial lines are more defined… Is this the power of styling?”
Cha Ju-yeon stared intently at Hye-sung’s face.
‘I guess I have changed a little.’
“Ah, stop staring. It’s making me uncomfortable!”
“Eonni, you haven't seen Yeon-woo yet today, right? Wait here. I'll bring her over and test if she recognizes you.”
Cha Ju-yeon went out of the waiting room and brought Na Yeon-woo from the room next door.
“Yeon-woo, do you know who that is over there?”
“Huh?”
“That girl with the full-bang bob.”
“Over there?”
Na Yeon-woo slowly turned towards Hye-sung.
‘Yeon-woo. Don't tell me you can't recognize…’
“Ju-yeon, what's wrong? That's Hye-sung eonni.”
Na Yeon-woo looked back and forth between Cha Ju-yeon and Hye-sung, completely baffled.
“Oh, you were just kidding. You thought I wouldn't recognize her because she cut her hair?”
“What, you recognized her? I didn't. Doesn't she look like a different person?”
“Ju-yeon, you were the only one who didn't recognize her. Ju-ha eonni knew it was me right away. If your eyesight is bad, you should get LASIK.”
Hye-sung lightly slapped Cha Ju-yeon on the back and sat down in her chair.
As if a slightly shorter haircut and a 0.5-star increase could make her unrecognizable. Hye-sung took out her phone and looked at her reflection in selfie mode.
‘…Who are you?’
In the screen was a pretty girl with sharp facial features, the soft, ‘soft tofu’ impression—to borrow Cha Ju-yeon’s words—completely gone.
‘Holy sh*t. Should I be happy about this…?’
Where did my face go? Did it move to the Middle East? At first glance, she looked so different that she was more than just surprised; she was a little scared.
But upon closer inspection, her facial features hadn't changed. It was just that her facial lines had become more defined, which significantly altered her overall impression.
‘Have I been walking around with a blur filter on my face all this time… I can't get used to this.’
“Yeon-woo, but now that Hye-sung eonni changed her hair, don't you think she kinda resembles…?”
“Who?”
“Han Young-won eonni.”
“Whaat?”
Hye-sung, who had been feeling estranged from her own face, turned around with a guttural sound upon hearing Cha Ju-yeon’s words.
“You scared me. Ah, eonni. Please don't make weird noises.”
“Who did you say I look like?”
“Han Young-won eonni. I think you guys have a similar vibe now, like you could be sisters. Right, Yeon-woo?”
“Oh, maybe?”
Na Yeon-woo didn't seem entirely convinced, but she seemed to agree for now.
“We look noth~ing alike, okay?”
Hye-sung said, leaning back as if in disbelief.
‘We really, really don't look alike at all. She’s the epitome of a cat-like beauty. A definite cat-type face, while I’m still…’
A gentle-looking person.
Despite having been inducted into the cool beauty category as of today, Hye-sung was under the grand delusion that she still had the face of a soft tofu country puppy.
“Seriously, not at all.”
“What, is Hye-sung eonni upset?”
“It's not that, we just don't look alike. Not one bit. The only thing we have in common is that we're both human. Ju-yeon, you really need LASIK. Should I look up a clinic for you?”
“No, Hye-sung. I felt it a little too. You and Young-won eonni…”
Just as Lee Ju-ha was about to say Han Young-won’s name, the waiting room door burst open.
“Did someone just say my name?”
Standing at the door, as if on cue, was Han Young-won.
“The girls were saying that you and Hye-sung look alike. You should see for yourself. Now that Hye-sung cut her hair, don't you think her vibe is a bit similar to yours?”
Han Young-won walked over to Hye-sung and stared intently at her face.
With a puzzled expression, Han Young-won narrowed her eyes, then suddenly grabbed Hye-sung’s face with both hands and started turning it from side to side.
“Eonni, did you wash your hands? Do you know how much bacteria is on your hands, touching my face like thi…”
“She looks a little sharper. Her vibe. Is that why they said she looks like me?”
Han Young-won cut Hye-sung off and turned to Cha Ju-yeon and Na Yeon-woo.
“W-well, your hair is similar and…”
Cha Ju-yeon stuttered, seemingly intimidated.
‘She teases me all the time, but she can't mess with Han Young-won. I guess to an 18-year-old, a 24-year-old seems like a real adult.’
“Really? I don't really see it.”
“That’s what I’m saying!”
Hye-sung shot up from her seat, chiming in with Han Young-won.
