After that day’s filming wrapped, night came.
“Haa….”
Unable to quell the sudden surge of anger, Lee Yuju headed for the hotel bar to drink.
Bang!
Slamming the glass roughly down, Yuju chewed hard on her lower lip as though it were a snack.
“Why is it always her….”
To stay in the good graces of the great seniors Kim Gwangjin and Won Jinseop, she’d about worn her lips out nodding and reacting, until her throat felt raw—yet what about Yoon Jaeyi?
Because Lee Young-ah openly favored and protected her, the entire song selection revolved around Jaeyi, and she even had support from the top-class composer Jayble.
It had been that way since K-Singer Star.
From the preliminaries, Jaeyi survived thanks to HS’s super pass, and with her unfortunate family background and timid personality she soaked up everyone’s sympathy, finally taking the win amid cheers.
And that wasn’t all.
She signed on the spot with the major label LS Entertainment, then—leaning again on HS’s help and the sympathy vote—rocketed up the digital charts the moment she debuted…
Even Aphrody’s debut title, camped solidly inside the top 10, was being threatened by Jaeyi’s track; how could Yuju see her with kind eyes?
“So damn annoying…”
Grumbling nonstop as she kept knocking back drinks, before she knew it, her face was flushed and she was hiccupping.
Brrr-rrring—
Eyes now completely glazed, she called Yoon Jaeyi.
Click.
“Jaeyi, I’m in the hotel barrr right noww, kinda drunk, come pick me uppp—”
Summoned by Yuju, Jaeyi ran to the bar in one breath.
“Yuju!”
She hurried to the woman slumped over the standing bar and shook her.
“You okay? Can you walk?”
“Oh, Yoon Jaeyi….”
“I’ll call your manager.”
“No, I already did.”
Since the manager was on the way, Jaeyi said she’d wait and started to sit beside her—
“You’re doing this on purpose, right?”
Leaning sideways, eyes swimming with drink, Yuju asked.
“Looks planned to me.”
“Huh? What is?”
“All this you’re doing.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Acting all nice.”
Jaeyi was flustered. Acting nice? She’d never tried to look nice on purpose—if anything she’d been scolded for being frustrating.
“I never did that….”
“When you do that people pity you, feel sorry, pay attention—so you fake it to look nicer, right?”
“What are you saying….”
“And that song you released—selling it with pity up front, isn’t that it? The sales strategy screams it.”
Thinking of HS, who had written the song for her, she felt a stab, but only for a moment.
“That’s not it….”
Staying composed, she answered while praying the manager would hurry.
Thud!
Yuju slapped the table, turning even more menacing.
“Jaeyi, ever think you’re a burden?”
The drunken tirade was just beginning.
“Gonna keep living off other people’s names like that?”
Strictly speaking, Yuju’s words weren’t wrong.
Yet—even gentle Jaeyi found it hard to bear having her effort dismissed.
“Yuju, do you dislike me that much?”
“Wouldn’t that be nice?”
“Why do you hate me so?”
“You not knowing—that’s what’s maddening.”
Biting her lower lip hard, Jaeyi endured. She knew arguing with a drunk only drained her.
“Yuju, let’s stop. You’re very drunk.”
“Stop? Just because you say so?”
“That’s not what I mean—”
“Even today, stuck to Lee Young-ah sunbae like gum….”
Yuju tossed back the remaining liquor.
“You think she coddles you ’cause you’re cute? It’s all ’cause of HS, got it? You think anyone’d notice some gloomy girl like you otherwise? Don’t kid yourself.”
Listening to the venom felt like swallowing raw spirits.
But she couldn’t say anything.
It wasn’t untrue: HS’s help had made her famous, landed her at LS Enter; he even gifted her a debut song.
Besides, if she lashed out over hurt feelings and it backfired on LS Enter or HS, she didn’t dare open her mouth lightly.
“Poverty, pity, HS, your parents—what’s next?”
“Uh…?”
“What are you gonna sell off next?”
Yuju’s provocation crossed the line: she seized Jaeyi’s chin in a rough grip.
“Answer, Jaeyi. Next is Lee Young-ah, huh?”
Even under the shouted demand—
“You’re ignoring me now, aren’t you?!”
Jaeyi kept her lips sealed, praying the manager would arrive.
“Jet lag, maybe?”
Unable to sleep, Hyunseung headed to the hotel bar for a drink.
“Hmm?”
From the entrance, he sensed a commotion and narrowed his eyes.
“Lee Young-ah… no? That’s all HS… right?”
It sounded like his own name.
“Otherwise who’d bother with a gloomy kid like you? Don’t kid yourself.”
Entering, a piercing female voice stabbed his ears.
“That girl….”
He searched the familiar face then saw her companion.
“What the—why are they….”
The woman beside her was Yoon Jaeyi.
“Lee Yuju…?”
A K-Singer Star contestant—knocked out in the semifinals? Nothing that memorable, except rumors she and Jaeyi didn’t get along.
‘This is bad.’
Hyunseung decided it was a personal quarrel and sat down.
He did, however, text Manager Kim:
[Front-row seat to Yuju vs Jaeyi brawl in hotel bar.]
That should handle it.
‘I’ll just….’
He ordered a leisurely beer.
“HS and pity—what’s next?”
“Uh…?”
“What’ll you sell now?”
Listening to some kid throw his own name around grew irritating.
“Answer me, are you ignoring me?”
Hyunseung blinked.
‘What the hell…?’
Yuju’s hand clamped onto Jaeyi’s chin.
“Look at me! Answer!”
Practically violence. He couldn’t just watch.
‘Why isn’t that fool resisting?’
Leaving the foaming beer behind, he strode over.
“Hey.”
His voice dropped icy.
“That’s enough, yeah?”
Yuju snapped her head toward the stranger.
“What, you’re not her manager….”
She’s still gripping Jaeyi’s chin.
“Let go.”
“Who are you?”
“I said let go.”
“Why butt in!”
Just then her manager sprinted up, crying “Yuju!”—
“Yuju, don’t—” but he didn’t lay a finger on her, helplessly wringing his hands.
“Ha?”
Hyunseung laughed coldly.
“You’re not stopping this?”
“That, uh….”
“Forget it.” He sighed. There’s no way that guy could handle it.
He couldn’t very well use force on a woman himself.
‘Where’s Manager Kim….’
All he could do was keep warning Yuju.
“Let go while I’m asking nicely.”
Through her bleary vision Yuju saw this stranger siding with Jaeyi, saw Jaeyi sniveling like a victim. It all disgusted her.
Slowly she loosened her grip—
“What are you anyway? Why butt in!”
She shrieked, then lunged and shoved her hand against Hyunseung’s solid shoulder.
Smack!
A harsh scrape echoed across the bar.
Meanwhile, Manager Kim had jumped out of bed in pajamas after Hyunseung’s text.
[Watching live Yuju vs Jaeyi showdown at hotel bar.]
How could he sleep after that?
The man never missed a chance to give heart attacks.
Ding!
Just as he entered the elevator, panting Kim Wooseok—equally disheveled—was inside.
Hm…
An awkward silence between the two alone.
“You got the call too?” Wooseok began.
“Yes, Manager as well?”
“Yeah. Know why they’re fighting?”
“No idea.”
“Did Jaeyi upset my girl?”
Manager Kim narrowed his eyes.
“Come on, Yuju’s causing a scene; our kind Jaeyi’s probably just taking it.”
“What? You know how sweet, obedient, pure my Yuju is—”
“Excuse me, our Jaeyi’s so gentle she never even raises her voice.”
Childish bickering ensued.
Ding!
Manager Kim slipped out between the doors, adding with a snide tone,
“Guess personality screenings need to be mandatory from now on.”
Ignoring Wooseok’s shouts, he rushed to the wooden bar doors and flung them open—then stopped dead.
“Hey, Kim Woohyun.”
Wooseok catching up wasn’t the reason.
“You—what’s your problem, why butt in!”
Yuju’s screech wasn’t either.
Smack!
It was Yuju’s hand striking Hyunseung’s shoulder.
“What the—?!”
Manager Kim’s face twisted; Wooseok, finally grasping the scene, bolted inside.
“Hey!”
The shout came not from Yuju or Hyunseung but from Yoon Jaeyi.
“Lee Yuju!!!”
At that roar, Manager Kim recalled what he’d boasted barely two minutes earlier in the elevator.
“Excuse me, our Jaeyi’s so gentle she never even raises her voice.”
And then—Jaeyi seized Yuju’s hair in one swift grab.
“Guh—!”
Manager Kim froze at the savage sight.
That wasn’t the Jaeyi he knew…
With her free han,d she scooped up a fistful of chili sauce from the nacho dish—
Smack!
—and smeared it straight across Yuju’s face.
Truly…
It happened so fast there wasn’t even time to intervene.
T/N: Whew, that was intense.
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