—A poor child who lost both her parents overnight.
That’s what the people in my neighborhood called me.
They pitied me so much.
The freckled lady who ran the neighborhood supermarket would give me a sausage whenever I came by.
Mr. Kim from the hardware store would sometimes come over to see if anything in the house was broken.
Whenever I received such pitiful kindness, I would think.
‘Is it pitiful to not have parents?’
Aren’t people all going to die someday anyway? Mrs. Lee from the supermarket’s parents had passed away too.
Mr. Kim from the hardware store was an old bachelor who couldn’t get married and lived with his sick, widowed father.
If you look at it that way, are they pitiful too?
No.
No one pitied them.
Just because I had lost my parents at a very young age, I had to be the object of their pity.
But I didn’t need that damn pity, and I didn’t care about being seen as an orphan. Because I had my grandmother.
“Grandma, let’s eat!”
Looking at the meal I had prepared, my grandmother smiled brightly.
She stroked my hair, looking proud as she asked when I had grown up so much to be able to prepare a meal.
“I’m going to succeed, no matter what, and let you live in luxury, Grandma.”
“Oh my? Just hearing you say that makes me full.”
“So, you have to stay healthy and not get sick until then!”
My grandmother was my everything.
“You should stop fighting with your classmates and try to get along with them.”
“No, they’re the ones who always start it.”
“Hey, just bring all your classmates to the noodle shop sometime.”
“Grandma, I’m a high schooler now. Are you going to feed all my classmates noodles and ask them to take care of me like when I was in elementary school? Do you think we’re running a business by digging up money from the ground?”
“Well, I’ll be! Look at our baby, all grown up into a businessperson, aren’t you?”
“I take after you, Grandma. I was born with a knack for business.”
Although I didn’t have parents, she did everything for me so that I could grow up without ever feeling their absence.
Running a small noodle shop, she lived without a single day off, never once showing how hard it was.
“Our baby, live your life doing everything you want to do.”
My grandmother, who raised me with love.
“A singer… you really have to do that, don’t you?”
One day, my grandmother asked while massaging my swollen calves.
That day was the day I came home late after performing at a local festival for a hundred thousand won.
“No, just pretend you didn’t hear me….”
My grandmother patted my back with a somewhat lonely touch.
I couldn’t say anything. I felt like a criminal.
I had made grand promises about succeeding and being a good daughter, but as someone who had never even stood on a proper broadcast stage, I couldn’t bring myself to say I would quit.
“Our baby, you can do anything you set your mind to.”
My grandmother cheered me on even more. The more she did, the heavier my heart became.
Singing and acting cute in front of my grandmother.
Seeing her smile as she watched me made me so happy.
That’s why I decided to become a singer.
Yes.
I know it’s a pipe dream, a difficult path.
But I was confident I could do it because I had my grandmother who believed in me.
However, from the moment I first glimpsed my grandmother’s anxiety…
A crack formed.
Should I quit? Should I just give up on everything? Can our group really not succeed?
But I am the leader of the group. At a time when I should be comforting and leading the members, if I crumble first…
“What about the others?”
To me, the members were like my own sisters. Though we didn’t share blood, nor had we spent decades together.
We came together, held hands, and walked the same path, united solely by the medium of ‘music.’
Like that…
If someone fell, we would grab them, pull them up, and walk in step together for two years.
Just as spring comes at the end of winter, we heard welcome news from our CEO.
“Girls, let’s go to America.”
At first, I thought he meant we should try to break into the American market, and I wondered if our CEO had finally lost his mind.
I had often seen cases of groups debuting in other Asian countries, building recognition, and then returning to Korea…
But there had never been a case of a group debuting in America first.
“I’ll figure out a way to get the plane tickets, so can you all just prepare as you always have, no, just three times as hard?”
Fortunately, he wasn’t suggesting we debut in America.
Instead, it was something even more shocking.
“Did, did, did he really ask to see us?”
“Yes, and it seems like he’ll give us a song if he likes what he hears.”
He was telling us to go see HS, Korea’s top composer and the current CEO of the American label ‘VINCIS.’
And not only that…
It was a chance to prove our skills in front of him.
It wasn’t just about showing our skills and getting a song.
The future of our group, ‘Waysun,’ was on the line.
Right.
Even for a group that hadn’t seen the light of day for two years since debuting…
If we received his song, wouldn’t we at least get a moment in the spotlight, even if it wasn’t a mega-hit?
“Girls, let’s go over it one more time.”
I absolutely did not want to miss this opportunity. If only for the sake of our CEO, who must have worked so hard to create this chance.
And.
For my worried grandmother.
Furthermore…
It was an opportunity we had to seize for the success of Waysun.
“Unnie, let’s rest for a bit.”
“Just one more time, then we’ll rest.”
I even quit my part-time job, dedicating every moment to practice, skimping on sleep and meals. Even when my nose bled, my limbs trembled, and dehydration set in, I didn’t stop.
“Ah, I can’t wait to go to America and see HS in person!”
“Doesn’t he wear a helmet all the time anyway?”
“I heard he wears it because people faint if they make eye contact with him.”
“Come on, isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration?”
They were all at an age of great curiosity about the opposite sex. It was understandable that they were excited to see ‘HS,’ who was said to be so handsome that a single preview photo had gained him tens of thousands of fans.
“Who cares if he’s wearing a helmet or not. What’s important is whether we get the song or not.”
Of course, I was the exception. My mind was completely filled with the thought of being acknowledged by HS and receiving a song.
Perhaps…
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“Stop.”
However, in the end, I let the opportunity slip right before my eyes.
“CEO, didn’t you say they were gems?”
It stung.
“It seems they’re not even raw stones, let alone gems. What should we do?”
Our CEO, who always told us we were the best, bowed his head.
“You should quit being an idol and try trot. You’ll succeed.”
As the leader, I had no face to show my members.
Telling an idol to try ‘trot.’
The added comment that I would succeed made it sound like a compliment, but it was ultimately telling me to give up because I had no future as an idol.
Is this the end?
To become a granddaughter my grandmother could be proud of, I studied, worked part-time, and strived for my dream.
There was never a time I didn’t work hard at something.
In fact, for the past two months, I hadn’t rested for a single day, pouring all my time into practice.
But.
All that effort evaporated into thin air.
I crumbled without even hearing a proper reason why.
Of course.
It was the path I chose, and it was because I wasn’t good enough, but…
Now.
I think I’m a little tired too.
“I, I…!”
So, I have to succeed.
“I don’t want to do trot! I want to succeed under the name Way Sun with the other members…!”
I have to succeed…
Gradually.
My eyes closed.
.
.
.
“Huk—!”
Lee Sol’s eyes flew open as she let out a pent-up breath.
“Haa, haa…..”
Strangely, she was out of breath as if she had just been running.
“Unnie, are you okay?”
Seulgi, who had noticed her, asked with a worried face.
“Oh, Seulgi-ya….”
Seeing the familiar face, Lee Sol finally calmed down. Then, she slowly turned her head to look around.
Ssk.
Just by looking at the bed she was lying on and the IV drip in her arm, she could tell she was in a hospital room.
The only strange thing was that it was a private room, the kind that only chaebol chairmen would use in dramas.
In her 22 years of life, she had rarely been hospitalized, but she had never even seen a room like this.
“Heok!”
Lee Sol shot up like a spring.
Right.
She was shocked by the fact that she was lying in a place like this.
The daily fee for this room was so expensive that my grandmother couldn’t afford it even if she sold hundreds of bowls of noodles.
“Why am I here?”
Seulgi, with a horrified look, tried to stop her.
“Unnie, you can’t get up like that!”
“Huh?”
“You have a hairline fracture in your rib…”
Before the explanation was finished, a sudden pain washed over her.
“Ugh!”
As Lee Sol clutched her chest and let out a groan, the hospital room door opened and the CEO, Sung Wooyoung, rushed in.
“Sol-ah!”
“CEO-nim, why am I in a private room? Please discharge me right away.”
“Don’t worry about the hospital bill. You can stay for a few days and get some rest.”
Sung Wooyoung soothed Lee Sol, who looked ready to bolt out the door, and slowly explained.
“When you were approaching CEO HS, his secretary thought you were a threat and in the process of subduing you, you got hurt, so they brought you here.”
Hearing that, Lee Sol recalled the moment she was thrown to the ground and grimaced, “Ugh.”
“So they agreed to pay for all the hospital bills, don’t worry.”
Sung Wooyoung gently laid Lee Sol back down and continued speaking for a moment.
“It’s true you have a small hairline fracture in your rib, but they said the direct cause of your fainting was likely overwork and extreme stress.”
He paused for a beat, then added with difficulty.
“So let’s just rest comfortably now, Sol-ah.”
No, those were words he shouldn’t have uttered, even with difficulty.
“Forget it, where are Gahyeon and Yujin right now?”
“Sol-ah.”
“I’ll ask him to give us just one more chance.”
“Sol-ah.”
“Rest comfortably? What have we even done to deserve a rest?”
Lee Sol’s voice was level, but it was filled with anger.
“We haven’t even been on a proper music show once, so what do you mean, rest comfortably?”
“Sol-ah….”
“I’m having a hard time too, but I couldn’t show it because I kept thinking of you, CEO-nim, who believes in us, I kept thinking of my grandmother, and I kept thinking of the members. Because I promised to take responsibility, and I promised to show them.”
Soon, her increasingly agitated voice trembled uncontrollably. She wanted to be calm, but the sense of betrayal she could no longer hold back burst out in a metallic tone.
“But, at the very least, you shouldn’t be the one to tell me to give up first, CEO-nim!”
Just as Lee Sol was panting, having forgotten even her pain.
Clap, clap, clap.
The sound of applause came from the doorway.
“The singer is better than the CEO.”
A tall man was leaning against the door.
A face she had never seen before, yet had seen…
It was HS.
“Your CEO is soft and only knows how to be stubborn, so I thought the kids were all drunk on some weird confidence too.”
At those words, Sung Wooyoung’s face twisted strangely.
“But you’re a little interesting.”
HS continued, not even glancing at him.
“Anyway, I’m sorry my secretary hurt you. In return, I’ve paid for the hospital bills and booked business class flights for your return. I also got a place for the other kids to stay while you’re hospitalized.”
“By any chance, are my members at the lodging now?”
“Yeah, they ran into the place all excited. Seems like you members aren’t that close after all?”
“That’s not true.”
“Sure it isn’t. Except for the one sitting next to you, the others were only thinking about sightseeing now that things have turned out this way.”
“They’re still young…”
“I thought you were sharp, but you’re just like your CEO. I told you to just quit this group and switch to trot.”
Lee Sol’s eyebrow twitched for a moment.
“Excuse me.”
She looked HS straight in the eye and asked.
“You said you were sorry for hurting me earlier, right?”
“Yeah, it’s a fact that you got hurt.”
“That’s right. I’ve suffered a rib injury.”
“A hairline fracture, I heard?”
“Anyway, an injury is an injury.”
At those words, HS casually nodded his head.
Soon.
It wasn’t long before his head came to a dead stop.
“So give us one song.”
Lee Sol was…
“I believe I refused that request…”
“It’s not a request. I am politely demanding a settlement for my injury.”
…a businessperson approved by her grandmother.
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