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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Part Swap
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Everyone tried not to show it, but the atmosphere was tense. Rurika had already been holding them back by failing to keep up with practice, and now, with the comment she’d made during the evaluation, she had lost the trust of her teammates.
“Um, I think that might be difficult. The current center is doing a great job.”
The leader, Lee Ju-ha, phrased her refusal delicately. But Rurika, perhaps emboldened by some side effect of the item, refused to back down.
“But… Rurika can do it well, too…! I practiced hard this morning, so I didn’t mess up the formation earlier, and… and…”
That was the only thing she had done well today. And even that was thanks to the item Hye-sung had used, incurring a penalty and debuff on herself. However, Rurika’s ego had already swelled to the point where it was obvious she felt Sub-Vocal 5 was beneath her.
“Yeon-woo is doing a great job, and the instructors said it suits her well. I don’t see why we need to change it.”
Hye-sung, feeling annoyed, spoke with a stiff expression.
“Hye-sung, you couldn’t even handle your own part, so why are you looking at Rurika like that? Didn’t you hear what instructor Kang Min-guk said? That the one who can’t keep up is ruining the picture.”
‘He was talking about you…!’
Biting back the words that were on the tip of her tongue, Hye-sung once again stated that changing the center was out of the question, but she was ignored.
‘I take back what I said about her not being a bad person. She’s just plain nasty.’
Rurika changed her attitude, her voice trembling slightly as she appealed to Na Yeon-woo.
“Yeon-woo-chan, Rurika wants to do well. I couldn’t even do the re-evaluation because I was sick, and if I’m stuck with this F-rank image… Rurika… might be eliminated in the first round. Is it too much to ask you to give it up for me…?”
Since they had been roommates, she knew Na Yeon-woo had a soft heart and seemed to be targeting that weakness.
“Ah… that’s… a little difficult, I think.”
“…I see.”
When her tactic failed, Rurika buried her head in her knees.
Soon, the sound of quiet sobs could be heard.
“Ah… Don’t cry. Just calm down for a minute.”
“Rurika, don’t cry. We can all do well and get the benefit so you won’t be eliminated.”
As the flustered team members tried to console her, her crying only grew louder.
“Fine, let’s see you do the center part right now. We’ll re-vote. If Yeon-woo gets picked again, don’t say another word. Got it?”
Hye-sung said, her voice somewhat agitated.
“*Hic*, no. You’ll all just vote for Yeon-woo-chan anyway… *Sob*, *hic*.”
“If you know that, why are you making things so difficult for the team? We can’t even practice because of you.”
“Hye-sung! Why do you always take Yeon-woo-chan’s side? You really did hate Rurika, didn’t you?”
“It’s not that I hate you. It’s because you’re making an unreasonable demand.”
Rurika stopped crying and shot to her feet, glaring at Hye-sung with resentful eyes before running out of the practice room.
“Oh, dear…”
“What should we do? Shouldn’t someone go after her?”
Cha Ju-yeon stood up as if to follow, but Hye-sung stopped her.
“Just leave her. Why should we have to comfort her when she’s throwing a tantrum? She’ll come back when she cools down. If she doesn’t, well, I guess that means she’s giving up on the performance.”
Hye-sung said this intentionally toward the camera that was still rolling.
‘Even if I get torn to shreds by her fans, I can’t just stand by and watch something like this. I was a fool for thinking I should embrace her as a teammate.’
* * *
Rurika did not return to the practice room by dinnertime.
“Isn’t being gone for over four hours a bit much? I’d understand an hour or two.”
“I know. This is too much.”
The mood in the room was shifting as everyone began to get angry at Rurika’s behavior.
“She’s probably practicing on her own…”
Lee Ju-ha seemed to be trying her best to understand Rurika, but her expression was dark. It also seemed like she was blaming herself for not being firmer, trying to play it safe since it was still early in the show.
“I doubt it. Or rather, I should say she can’t. She still hasn’t memorized all the choreography, so she just copies the person in front of her. When I made a mistake, she copied it, too.”
Seong-bin shrugged.
“What do we do? That makes it an even bigger problem… Should I go look for her?”
Na Yeon-woo, wringing her hands, looked ready to bolt out the door at any moment.
“I’ll go. You guys keep practicing.”
Just as Lee Ju-ha was about to leave to find Rurika, the practice room door opened. A calmer Rurika appeared, her emotions seemingly having subsided.
“…I’m sorry for being late.”
“It’s fine as long as you’re back. Let’s run through it right away. We don’t have much time.”
“Okay…”
Group practice began in the heavy atmosphere.
“Hye-sung, you need to raise your arms a little more.”
“Your voice is too quiet, Hye-sung.”
“Hye-sung, it seems like you haven’t fixed any of the things the instructors pointed out.”
After every run-through, Rurika pointed out every single thing Hye-sung did.
“Alright, I’ll fix it. I’m just not feeling very well right now.”
“Hmm… You’re not the only one, Hye-sung. Rurika isn’t feeling well either.”
‘Liar. You’re getting a buff by draining me.’
“Anyway, Hye-sung, can we talk alone for a second?”
“Sure.”
The two moved to a blind spot away from the cameras.
Hye-sung wondered if Rurika was going to apologize for what happened earlier, but that was giving her far too much credit.
“I was thinking, how about Rurika takes Hye-sung’s part?”
“The parts again?”
“Please don’t misunderstand and think Rurika is being greedy. It’s just that, after seeing Hye-sung’s attitude today, I thought Rurika would be better suited for Sub-Vocal 2.”
“I know exactly what you’re capable of. You can’t even handle the part you have now.”
“What… what did you say? You were the one who got criticized today, Hye-sung! It would be better for the entire team if Rurika took Sub-Vocal 2.”
‘Can a person really become this shameless in just a few hours?’
Startled by her sudden change in attitude, Hye-sung accepted that this must be her true nature and spoke calmly.
“Fine. You can have it.”
With that, she let go of all expectations she had for Rurika.
“Really?”
Rurika stared at Hye-sung with surprised eyes, taken aback that she had given up the part so easily.
“But if you ask to switch back, I’m not going to. You’re responsible for it now. Got it?”
Hye-sung turned away, her face showing she was utterly done with the situation.
* * *
[Penalty: Vitality and stamina drain accelerated by 1.5x, concentration reduced by 20%.]
[Time remaining: 000 minutes 03 seconds]
‘…Finally, I’m free.’
“Let’s take a break! Ten minutes. Anyone who needs the restroom should go now.”
“Restroom!!!”
The moment the word “break” was uttered, Cha Ju-yeon let out a scream and dashed to the restroom, while Hye-sung collapsed onto the floor. A glance at the clock showed it was almost 10 p.m.
‘Come on, stamina, come back. I think I’m gonna die.’
As she sat and caught her breath, she could feel the accelerated stamina drain stop and gradually return to normal.
“Oh, my legs. My back. This is killing me.”
Hye-sung, evidently exhausted, lay flat on the practice room floor and groaned.
“Eonni, was it that hard? You should have said something sooner… How about this, does this feel better?”
Na Yeon-woo approached, her eyes filled with worry, and began to massage Hye-sung’s body.
“Wow, Yeon-woo, you’re such a good kid.”
Seong-bin, who had walked over with a small smile, let out a cry of surprise when she saw Hye-sung’s leg where her pants had ridden up.
“What is all this on your leg! Ju-ha, come look at this.”
“What is it?”
Even Lee Ju-ha was called over, and they all gathered around the prone Hye-sung, examining her as if she were an excavated relic.
“You’ve really plastered it on there, haven’t you?”
“Oh, my. Are you a mummy?”
Colorful kinesiology tape was coiled around Hye-sung’s leg, stretching from her knee down to her ankle.
“First time seeing taping? If you want to stare, you’ll have to pay.”
“What are you, a soccer player in the World Cup playing with an injury? Your calf is a different color because the blood can’t circulate.”
Seong-bin poked Hye-sung’s pale calf.
“Ah, that feels good there. Eonni, press it again.”
“I’ll do it! Here? Does this feel good?”
Na Yeon-woo, who had been massaging her back, quickly moved her hands down.
“Ugh! Wow. That feels amazing. Yeon-woo, why is your grip so strong?”
Na Yeon-woo, with her long fingers that could belong to a volleyball player, put pressure on Hye-sung’s calf muscle, kneading it firmly.
“Yeon-woo, could you maybe try to, like, pop that muscle for me?”
“Like this?”
“Hah!”
For a moment, Hye-sung really thought something had popped, and she shot up with a short scream.
“Thank goodness. It didn’t actually pop.”
“Did it hurt? I was trying to control my strength…”
“I seriously thought you popped it. Your grip is insane, Yeon-woo.”
Hye-sung checked to make sure her calf muscle was still intact and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Eonni, I’m sorry for hurting you…”
Na Yeon-woo’s face fell, thinking she had made things worse, and she quickly removed her hands from Hye-sung’s body.
“No, no, thanks to you, my muscle ache seems to be gone. Our Yeon-woo has healing hands.”
“Really…?”
“Of course!”
Hye-sung smiled benevolently and gently patted Na Yeon-woo’s head.
“But Hye-sung. Don’t you think this is a bit much? You should take the outer layer off.”
*Smack.*
Hye-sung slapped away Seong-bin’s hand as she tried to peel off the tape.
“Ouch! Why’d you hit me?”
“I didn’t just stick it on randomly; it’s all applied properly. My joints are weak, so I need this for support.”
“You’re too young to have bad joints.”
“Ha.”
Hye-sung let out a dry laugh at being called young.
‘But I am young right now, aren’t I? Why do my knees feel like they’re fifty?’
Though her true identity was that of a worn-out office worker, it was strange that her joints were still creaking even though her body was nineteen again.
‘Ah, but my knees used to click and pop even in middle school. Right, my joints were bad even when I was young. I’d better take care of my cruciate ligaments.’
“So this is why you were so sluggish today. It’s because your blood isn’t circulating properly.”
“No, it’s not. I always use tape when I exercise. Today was because someone was sucking my blood.”
“Sucking your blood? Is there a vampire here or something?”
“Seems like it.”
Hye-sung glanced over at Rurika.
‘She won’t feel the buff wearing off right away. A little more practice, and her real stamina will start to show.’
It was just as she had predicted. Less than an hour after practice resumed, Rurika seemed to feel her stamina draining faster.
Soon, her concentration began to wane as well, and she started making mistakes in sections she had previously mastered.
“Rurika, you keep messing up the parts we just went over… And you’re off-key.”
“I’m sorry, I’ll get it right.”
Lee Ju-ha put her hands on her hips, looking frustrated.
“Maybe it’s because of the sudden part change. She’s making a lot of mistakes.”
Although she didn’t specify who, her words were clearly directed at Rurika.
Everyone felt sorry for Hye-sung, who had willingly given up her part, and grateful to her, especially after Rurika had thrown the whole team into chaos demanding the center position when she wasn’t even capable.
“Don’t you think it would be better if Hye-sung took back Sub-Vocal 2?”
Kim Ga-young was the one who said it, but the other team members were all thinking the same thing.
