Hyunseung started his day today as well while listening to Kim Woohyun’s scolding.
“No, you’ve worked with them before, so how do you not remember the name and make me go rummaging around after the wrong people?”
“I remembered they were a Jo, didn’t I?”
“You call everyone an instrument all the time, so you don’t remember names. If you’d just told me it was the kid you called the Peekoomi Family, I would’ve found them right away!”
“Well, anyway, you found them.”
At that, Kim Woohyun, as if to soothe the heat rising inside him, downed an iced coffee filled with ice in one gulp.
And for good reason….
With only the single hint Hyunseung gave him, “a Jo,” he had to gather every rising singer with the surname Jo and check them one by one.
And then—
“Oh, right, Peekoomi Family’s daughter.”
—he didn’t hear that hint until a whole day later.
Still he found her, and it helped, so that was that. Kim Woohyun decided to let it slide, figuring good enough was good enough.
“Anyway, I got that kid’s manager’s number, so I’ll contact them today.”
“If they accept, tell me right away.”
“What, they’ll obviously accept right away, so why do you even need to check….”
“Still, we need to confirm it properly.”
Hyunseung lifted the corners of his mouth and added.
“Because she’s a very important hostage.”
“Hostage?”
“Yes. More like bait to catch the big fish.”
At that, Kim Woohyun flinched and asked back.
“What, so it’s a duet with Jo Yeri and someone else?”
“Yes, that’s right. But don’t go telling them that.”
“If you do that and then later something different comes out….”
“There’s absolutely no way that’ll happen, so don’t worry.”
Kim Woohyun stared at Hyunseung’s confident face for a moment.
“Alright.”
He nodded along with a smile. Yeah, now the kid was doing so well it made his worries feel pointless.
“Then who’s the big fish?”
“Mom.”
“Huh? Mom? Why is it suddenly mom?”
At the completely unexpected answer, Kim Woohyun’s pupils shook like trembling aspen leaves.
‘Did he even have a mother?’
Not dead, but alive and separated?
Or…
Did he get a new mother? No, but then why suddenly a mother….
As Kim Woohyun’s imagination ran wild from the single word “mom,”
“Yes.”
Hyunseung added with a face like it was no big deal.
“Peekoomi’s mom.”
Seriously, he was a pro at startling people.
If you asked people to name the top girl idol group in South Korea, they would unhesitatingly pick “classymood”.
And if you asked who the visual center was, people would answer in unison: Jo Yeri.
However, that was already an outdated story.
“Hoo….”
Just as Jo Yeri was relieving the exhaustion that had piled up from schedules that ran from morning until night.
Knock, knock!
She turned her head at the sound of knocking, and a face was peeking in through the doorway: Go Yuna, a fellow member.
“Yeri, are you already sleeping?”
“I’m not sleeping.”
“Then I’m coming in for a bit.”
Since Jo Yeri didn’t really answer, Go Yuna strode right into the room, showing off her long legs.
Clack.
She didn’t forget to shut the door tightly either.
“Yeri, your expression looked really bad all day today. Are you okay?”
Go Yuna sat down by the headboard, asking with eyes clear as a rabbit’s.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
Jo Yeri answered in a flat tone and nodded.
In the first place, it wasn’t like she was asking because she was truly worried.
“If it’s because I got to stand as center, it’s only because this album’s concept suits me better, so don’t feel too down!”
Sure enough, Go Yuna only rambled on with things meant to scratch at her insides.
“Anyway, you’ve been center a lot up until now, Yeri.”
There was a strange thorn hidden in those words.
And the last thing she did was smile softly.
A smile so precarious it was dizzying.
The truth was, Go Yuna….
Within the group, she wasn’t the main visual, the vocalist, or the dancer. It wasn’t like she was good at rap, and it wasn’t like she had great variety sense either.
If she had one thing she excelled at, it was being the daughter of a rich family.
Thanks to that, Go Yuna skipped the trainee period and debuted straight away as classymood’s final member.
Jo Yeri never liked someone like Go Yuna in the first place. Born to good parents, living drunk on happiness, and on top of achieving even her career through her parents’ power, she didn’t even put in effort to improve.
However, maybe even Go Yuna learned something in the face of the ruthless ecosystem that was the entertainment world—because ahead of this comeback, she went through many changes.
Ah, of course, externally.
Her face, her figure, and she even personally hired her own stylist. There was no effort toward improving skill.
In the end, Go Yuna confidently claimed the center position for this album. And not only that, she took every single line of the highlight chorus, the part everyone said was the most important.
If they ended up getting first place, even though the encore stage wouldn’t be AR, Jo Yeri was already worried about how they would get through it.
Well….
That was the kind of worry the leader, who had to consider the group’s image, should be carrying.
“This time, I get to do it a little, right?”
Go Yuna, taking center for the first time, looked completely unconcerned with worries like that, her mood soaring.
“Yeah, you do everything.”
Jo Yeri didn’t want to deal with Go Yuna anymore. Picking fights with a member of the same group wouldn’t benefit her.
And on top of that, she had been juggling schedules and personal practice every day, so she didn’t even have the energy left for it.
“If you’ve said everything you want to say, can I sleep now?”
Go Yuna briefly furrowed her brow at that.
“Looks like Yeri doesn’t really like it.”
With a meaningful smile, she sneered.
“You hogged center all by yourself up until now, and now you don’t like it because someone else took it?”
“Who said I don’t like it?”
“No, you’re showing it all over your face, earlier and now.”
At that, Jo Yeri shifted her gaze toward the mirror on the wall.
‘It’s the same, though. What about it?’
No matter how she looked at it from this angle or that one, it was just a tired face.
Go Yuna probably wanted her to be jealous and furious, now that she’d finally snatched center away.
“It’s not like that.”
“It’s not?”
“Yeah, it’s not.”
“But it’s kind of funny.”
At Go Yuna’s sudden comment, Jo Yeri asked, “What is?”
“Isn’t it funny? You telling me to do everything.”
“Why?”
“It’s like you’re giving me permission.”
Go Yuna lifted her chin haughtily and added.
“Center is decided by the company anyway, but you talked like you were handing over what was originally your seat.”
At that, Jo Yeri let out a small sigh.
“Ah.”
She didn’t want to add anything, but she was so clearly picking a fight that she couldn’t ignore it either.
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
It’s just that I doubt your skill.
“If that made you feel bad, sorry.”
I’m not sorry at all.
Yeah.
I’m really not sorry at all. She swallowed the rest down inside.
Jo Yeri…
After finishing group life successfully, her goal was to succeed spectacularly once again as a solo singer.
So for that day, she didn’t want to create any conflict or controversy.
Only by her own strength would she succeed.
She made the resolve again and again, and even in a murderous schedule, she carved out personal practice time and worked herself to death.
The place she’d made with that effort was the “center” position.
Of course, her visuals probably played a part, but if her skill had been a mess, it would’ve been exposed quickly and she would’ve been pushed out.
To maintain her face and figure, she worked out and dieted every day, practiced singing and dancing, and even practiced stage manners—never neglecting a single thing.
And yet, someone who grabbed center with nothing but medical technology and cosmetic help, and even took the important chorus part where vocal ability showed the most…
How could it sit well with her?
Still, what could she do? Like Go Yuna said, it was something the company decided, so she had to follow it.
And anyway, she just had to keep working like she always did and wait for the day she stood alone.
It wasn’t like her resolve would collapse just because she lost center once.
“Yeri, when you look at it, you kind of have this tendency to look down on people.”
Just… being scratched at little by little was making her irritated.
“Feels like you secretly look down on the members because you were born with a decent face and you can sing a bit.”
“When did I ever?”
“Even during recording, you act like you’re the producer and try to point out every little thing and teach people while they sing.”
“That’s so we can get the best possible quality…!”
Just as Jo Yeri was about to raise her voice—
“Yeri, don’t try so hard.”
Go Yuna cut her off bluntly, adding with a mouth twisted up into a wide grin.
“I know you’ve got nothing to do if you’re not a singer, but you look so desperate.”
“What?”
“I heard it all. You grew up without parents, raised by your grandmother, right? It’s admirable that you want to succeed and be filial to your grandma, but you look so pitiful.”
In an instant, Jo Yeri’s face flared red. It wasn’t because she was ashamed of growing up without parents.
It was just…
She was angry at being told she looked pitiful.
“Are you done talking?”
Jo Yeri, about to continue in a voice gone cold,
“Yeri! You in there?”
From outside the door came the urgent voice of their manager unnie calling for her.
Click!
When she turned the handle, the hook that had been locked released.
Go Yuna must have latched it when she came in…
Seems like she picked today and came looking for trouble.
“Huh?”
The manager, sensing the strange atmosphere, looked back and forth between Yeri and Yuna and asked.
“Yuna’s here too? Did something happen between you two?”
“Manager unnie! What’s going on this late at night?”
But Go Yuna grabbed the manager’s arm and forcibly switched the topic.
She was probably trying to block her in advance, in case she told the manager what had just happened.
“It’s because I have something important to tell you!”
With how bright the manager’s complexion was, it looked like she came to deliver good news….
“To Yeri? Don’t tell me Yeri’s center again?”
Go Yuna couldn’t hold it in and exposed her anxious inner thoughts.
“Huh? Ah, no. It’s not that.”
Only after seeing the manager waving her hands firmly did Go Yuna smile awkwardly. She was so easy to read.
After a brief, odd silence,
“Yeri, are you okay these days? Your condition.”
The manager grabbed her shoulder and asked.
“Yes, what is it?”
“Are you really okay? You have to tell me clearly. You’ve got group promotions and you also have a lot of personal schedules, right?”
“That’s true, but I’ve been working out consistently, so my condition is fine.”
What was she trying to bring up that she was checking this thoroughly? Someone who used to notify even fixed schedules like it was a notice….
“Unnie, what is it?”
Even Go Yuna at the side got curious and grabbed at the manager, pressing her.
Then, the manager, as if Go Yuna didn’t even matter, kept her gaze locked on Jo Yeri and opened her mouth.
“Then can you prepare for solo activities alongside it too?”
“Pardon?”
“HS contacted us. He said he wants to work with you.”
The moment the manager finished speaking—
Thud!
A sound of someone collapsing filled the room.
Ah.
The one who fell wasn’t Jo Yeri.
It was Go Yuna.
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