Chapter 10
About twenty minutes before Shin Sea seriously considered going home…
Bang!
“Ah!”
Kim Seol, a Dream Entertainment trainee who was lying in the middle of the practice room watching VTube, dropped her phone in surprise when the door slammed shut.
“Ugh, my sharp nose…”
The phone hit her squarely in the face. Holding her nose and groaning, she looked toward the culprit.
Meanwhile, Park Da-won, who had slammed the door and come back, stomped across the room before collapsing into a corner, fuming by herself.
Anyone could tell she was in a bad mood.
What’s her problem now?
Rubbing her sore nose, Kim Seol asked,
“Da-won, why are you angry again?”
“No, just now!”
“Just now?”
The moment Kim Seol asked, Da-won remembered what had happened earlier.
She immediately opened her mouth.
But the words never came out.
“…Well.”
She had been the one who started the confrontation.
And she was the one who got completely outplayed.
If she explained what happened, everyone would definitely think she was stupid.
Especially Kim Seol.
After chewing on her lip for a moment, Da-won finally muttered,
“It’s nothing.”
“What? Da-won, you’ve been weird lately.”
“How am I weird?”
“You just are. Anyway, want to watch VTube? There’s this person who’s insanely good at singing.”
“No thanks. Watch it yourself.”
As usual, Kim Seol ignored Da-won’s sharp tone and returned her attention to her video.
But Da-won kept glancing toward her.
She had just realized she’d spoken more harshly than she intended.
Kim Seol, however, seemed completely unbothered.
After hesitating alone for a while, Da-won let out a deep sigh.
“…Ha.”
Kim Seol was right.
Even Da-won thought she had been acting strange lately.
It couldn’t be helped.
There had been so much to worry about recently that everything irritated her.
Time passed.
Eventually, all the trainees had arrived at the practice room.
“…?”
Through the small window in the practice room door, Da-won spotted a figure.
Still sitting gloomily in the corner, she stared at it in confusion.
She stood up and carefully opened the door.
Then she found Baek Hyun-jung standing there with both hands neatly clasped in front of her.
Why is a team leader standing like that?
Completely baffled, Da-won asked,
“…What are you doing out here?”
“Oh, Da-won.”
Baek Hyun-jung answered with an unusually bright smile.
She looked so excited that she didn’t even realize how strange she looked.
“I came to introduce the new girl!”
“…The girl from earlier?”
“Whoa.”
Another head suddenly popped through the half-open door.
Resting her chin on top of Da-won’s head, Kim Seol widened her already round eyes even further.
“The girl you’ve been praising nonstop? She’s joining our team?”
“Yep.”
“Wow!”
“…Hey. I told you not to put your head on mine.”
Da-won shoved Kim Seol away with her elbow.
Kim Seol took the hit to the side without caring and shrugged.
“Right. We can’t let you get any shorter. Sorry.”
“Stop talking about my height! I’m still growing!”
“Seventeen-year-olds don’t grow anymore. I read that most girls reach their final height at seventeen.”
“Seriously!”
While the two bickered, another head appeared.
It was Park Seo-yoon, the oldest member of the debut team.
“So does that mean five people will debut now?”
Baek Hyun-jung nodded.
“Looks that way. If it’s those five, I think the team will finally be perfect.”
Perfect.
The word immediately caught Da-won’s attention.
Pushing Kim Seol’s face aside, she spoke up.
“Kim Seol. Be quiet for a second. I need to talk to Team Leader.”
“Hey! Hey! Hey!”
“Ha…”
A vein popped on Da-won’s forehead.
This was an important moment.
Why was this girl fooling around?
Suppressing her irritation, Da-won looked up at Baek Hyun-jung.
No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t understand.
Sure, the girl was pretty.
But that couldn’t be everything.
Their debut preparations were practically complete already.
Why take the risk of adding a new member now?
“Team Leader.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you really think our group will become perfect if that girl joins?”
The question was filled with anxiety.
But whether she noticed or not, Baek Hyun-jung simply smiled.
“Yeah. I’m sure of it.”
“…How?”
“Because Sea shines too.”
“What kind of explanation is that…?”
Baek Hyun-jung always talked like that.
Mysterious phrases with no clear explanation.
Essentially, she was just saying, Trust me.
Still, Da-won quietly stepped back.
…Whatever. There’s nothing I can do anyway.
Da-won couldn’t help but be weak toward Baek Hyun-jung.
No matter how unreliable she seemed sometimes, Baek Hyun-jung was her benefactor.
Then—
“Oh, right!”
Kim Seol, whose face Da-won had been pushing away, suddenly raised her hand and waved it wildly.
She looked exactly like an elementary school student begging to be called on.
“…If it’s something stupid, don’t say it.”
Usually when Kim Seol acted like this, she was planning something ridiculous.
“I have something I want to try!”
“Whenever you say that, I get nervous.”
Da-won and Kim Seol ignored each other as usual and continued talking.
“First meetings! First meetings need surprises!”
“What are you even—surprises?”
“Let’s throw a surprise party!”
Kim Seol’s eyes sparkled mischievously.
***
Yeah. Going home right away would be a little much.
Fortunately, I regained my senses.
I turned on my phone flashlight.
Ah. My battery’s almost dead…
I’d forgotten to charge it yesterday.
The battery icon was glowing red.
And Baek Hyun-jung was nowhere to be seen.
No matter where I shined the light, she wasn’t around.
Then the beam reached the end of the hallway.
She said the practice room was over there, right?
Maybe she’d gone inside first.
At the moment, that seemed like the most likely explanation.
So I reluctantly started walking forward.
Creeeak.
Squeak.
Every step made the floor groan ominously.
The atmosphere somehow became even colder.
Seriously… this place feels haunted.
If I debuted after practicing here, I could probably tell ghost stories about late-night practice sessions on variety shows someday.
Trying to distract myself with useless thoughts, I forced away my fear.
Eventually I reached the end of the hallway.
But when I knocked on the door, nobody answered.
What?
The silence was unsettling.
Carefully, I grabbed the doorknob and turned it.
Creeeeeeak—
The rusty sound of old metal echoed through the empty corridor.
Click!
At the same time, all the light disappeared.
My phone battery had died.
Now all I could see was darkness.
“…”
Yeah.
Let’s go home.
I immediately decided to leave and tried to close the door.
Then—
Tap.
Something placed a hand on my shoulder.
W-What the hell…?
A chill shot down my spine.
My neck stiffened with tension.
Slowly, I turned my head.
“!!!”
There was a woman standing behind me.
With long black hair hanging over her face.
***
Thud!
The moment I saw the ghost, my legs gave out and I collapsed to the floor.
Then—
Click!
The lights came back on.
The practice room was suddenly bright.
Only then could I see properly.
One vaguely familiar girl stood beside the light switch.
Park Da-won was there.
Baek Hyun-jung too.
All of them were staring at me with dumbfounded expressions.
“…”
Looking at their stunned faces, I finally began to understand what had happened.
But my heart was still pounding.
It felt like it might explode.
Trying to calm myself, I turned around.
Behind me stood a girl with large round eyes and intentionally messy hair.
She looked just as panicked as I was.
“Uh… well…”
Apparently this had all been some kind of prank meant to surprise me.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of this sort of thing.
“…Ha.”
As I sighed deeply and rubbed my face, the atmosphere became even colder.
The girl who had scared me turned completely pale.
I didn’t have the energy to comfort her.
My mental energy had already been drained.
Whew…
I stood there trying to calm my racing heart.
Then someone cautiously approached and held out a hand.
“A-Are you okay? Your face looks pale.”
“…”
“I’m sorry…”
I grabbed her hand and slowly stood up.
My rational mind was finally returning.
The atmosphere is completely ruined.
Everyone was watching me nervously.
They clearly hadn’t expected me to react so strongly.
To ease the tension, I should have smiled and acted like everything was fine.
But maybe because I’d been genuinely terrified, I couldn’t force a smile.
And then—
“I’m sorry!”
“!”
A shout almost as loud as a scream echoed through the practice room.
Seriously, that startled me again.
The one who shouted was the same girl who had scared me.
Thump!
When our eyes met, she suddenly looked determined.
Then she dropped to her knees.
…?
“I didn’t think you’d get that scared! I’m sorry!”
I mean…
I understood she felt bad.
But—
Why is she apologizing like that?
She wasn’t just kneeling.
She was practically lying flat on the floor with her forehead pressed down, like she was begging forgiveness for a terrible crime.
Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one who thought it was strange.
Park Da-won immediately grabbed her.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“Huh? Isn’t this how people apologize in Korea?”
“What? What have you been watching now?”
“Korean mafia movies.”
“…How many times have I told you not to watch those?”
“Guys, wait. This isn’t the time to argue.”
Are these kids doing a comedy routine?
I stared at them in disbelief.
The girl who was kneeling slowly looked up at me.
“Uh… wait a second.”
Between the posture and her large innocent eyes scanning my face, she was making me extremely uncomfortable.
She was one of the Radiance members too…
Now then…
What was her name again?
I was trying to remember while looking at her younger face.
Then—
“Ah!”
The girl suddenly pointed at me.
“You!”
And she shouted a strange phrase.
“That’s right! VTube!”
