HTMB 13

 Chapter 13

“If you don’t want to disgrace Hwaja Entertainment, do it properly, got it? You don’t seem suited for today’s lesson. Go fill the humidifier with water. Go out and buy bottled water for the kids too.”

“……”

“You need to start with this kind of thing first. Trainees without skill.”

S-she says I have no skill? She’s talking about skill to me, who was once acknowledged even by the King of Singers? Wow, seriously!

Sui wanted to snap back in anger, but she had to hold it in.

‘I’m not Im Yuna, I’m Jeong Sui. Don’t get emotionally invested. Think of the signing bonus. 100 million.’

The trainees who had been blankly standing around finally began awkwardly sneering as if satisfied.

Sui took as deep a breath as she could and turned around to pick up the humidifier water tank placed in the corner. Then she glared at the vocal teacher with timid eyes.

“You seem to have gotten full of yourself in front of the trainees here just because you debuted early, but the kids here are on a different level from you. Singing is singing, dancing is dancing. They’re kids who got in through tremendous competition.”

“……”

“You seem to be trying to build up some skill because relying on just your face didn’t work out, but don’t even think about getting a good grade from me. I won’t let you rise.”

“……”

“You’re going to be out of here soon anyway.”

***

Sui was cramming water into a humidifier tank that looked like it held about 10 liters at the small sink in the bathroom.

‘Her eyes are all slitty—what era does she think this is, carrying around a switch? She tried to make me a laughingstock and failed, so now she’s being petty and making me run errands like this?’

Her first day as a trainee was not easy.

All these women were so fierce, and their faces when looking at Yuna were like they’d chewed something nasty—Sui couldn’t understand why at all.

Did Yuna commit a crime? What harm did it do to them that Yuna can’t sing and can’t act? Getting pushed around here and there—is Im Yuna their soccer ball?

“Ah, seriously, the more I think about it, the more I can’t stand it!”

Sui, unable to overcome her temper, threw down the humidifier water tank she’d been filling.

“Im Yuna.”

“Oh my, shit, you scared me!”

Startled by her own curse, she covered her mouth and turned around—So Na-eun, the one said to be an 8-year trainee, was standing with her arms crossed.

She thought it was the slitty-eyed switch teacher, so even her hair stood on end.

‘But why am I scared? Did Jeong Sui, who used to tear it up at Club 007, sell her soul for a 100 million signing bonus? Ah, seriously.’

“Y-you startled me! Shouldn’t you make some noise or something?”

At Sui’s words, Na-eun said nothing and leaned against the bathroom doorway, rolling her eyes as if pretending to be occupied. She didn’t seem like she’d come to the bathroom to do anything in particular.

“Aren’t you practicing?”

“I don’t feel like singing today.”

“Then why are you hiding in the bathroom?”

Sui waited for Na-eun’s answer, but there was no word again.

“Then should I go first?”

When she was about to leave carrying the water-filled humidifier tank, Na-eun spoke belatedly.

“Um… you seemed to know how to sing.”

“What?”

“How did you know I’m weak in the real thing?”

Was that why she followed me here?

Sui stared intently at Na-eun. What should she say first?

“…That vocal teacher doesn’t point out that you drag your voice.”

“Because she gave up.”

“Why give up? You sing well.”

“As a trainee, twenty-five is the end.”

Na-eun was the same age as Sui. Maybe because of her short hair, she looked younger than expected.

“What’s wrong with my voice?”

“……”

“No one tells me. The company just thinks I’ll hold out like that and leave, so they don’t even give me a chance.”

“But you know me pretty well, don’t you? Tone-deaf, clumsy, bad at acting. That’s Im Yuna. You want to ask someone like me?”

Na-eun stared at Sui and spoke.

“…The queen’s tear scene, I watched it well.”

These bitches, whenever I start to forget…

“I don’t watch TV so I don’t know your image well. But what’s certain is, what you just sang was good. Good enough that it’s a shame it got cut off right when you were going up to the high note. And…”

“…And?”

“Director Lee, just now, was wary of you.”

Director Lee seemed to refer to the lesson teacher from earlier.

“Wary?”

“Wary, literally. I’ve watched that woman for a long time, so I know. It was the first time she made that kind of face.”

Sui clicked her tongue as if dumbfounded.

So that’s why she stopped in the middle? She thought it was quite a fierce way to live.

She hadn’t even sung with full force—what would she do later?

“Tell me. What’s wrong with my voice?”

…Should I tell her or not?

Sui had been pushed around here and there until now. She was at the point of getting used to being treated poorly, but the fact that Na-eun had no preconceptions about Yuna was a very happy thing.

Sui scanned her from top to bottom with hawk eyes.

From the looks of it, she seemed stubborn, and the way she recklessly charged toward her dream was exactly like Sui’s old self.

And above all, she looked desperate.

The look of someone floundering because she didn’t know why the only thing she wanted to do was being ignored.

Was it because that was pitiful? Sui ended up sticking her nose in where she shouldn’t have.

“You can’t control your strength.”

“……”

“You use both head voice and chest voice well, but when you go up to the high notes, you fail to control it, so your pitch keeps wavering. You use too much force at the beginning of the song, so your volume will weaken in the latter half. And I don’t know if it’s a trending vocal method these days, but why do you keep scratching your throat?”

“……”

“You must have practiced like crazy with that vocal method, and when you go to the real thing, you blow up spectacularly—that’s been repeating.”

“……”

“Having strong power seems like a strength, but sometimes it can be a weakness. If you can’t fix that, you won’t be able to use your throat for long. If you keep showing off saying ‘I sing well’ and drag that vocal method along, you’ll degrade. You feel it yourself right now.”

For such a small body, her volume was like a Black singer’s.

But to produce that resonance with her voice and even show off technique required skill.

Like a fast-running car wobbling at the slightest steering movement, Na-eun’s voice would collapse immediately if her pitch went even slightly off.

If she’d been a trainee for 8 years, the lesson teacher here must have put in effort too. The fact that it still didn’t work out was probably because of Na-eun’s stubbornness.

Looking at Na-eun, that’s what it seemed like. The studious type packed with stubbornness.

“How do you know all this so well?”

Oops, the blank Im Yuna was being too much of an expert.

Sui answered evasively.

“…I-I learned from my grandmother.”

Na-eun was silent for a long while. She seemed lost in deep thought with a subtle expression.

The next problem was Na-eun’s. There was nothing more Sui could do for her or say here. She should stop sticking her nose in at this point.

“Then I’ll be going. I feel like I’m going to be told to fetch the humidifier tank water from a rock spring.”

“This time.”

“……”

“The monthly evaluation, want to do it with me?”

At Na-eun’s unexpected words, Sui widened her eyes and turned her head.

“What?”

“For team evaluations, you need trainees to do it with. Newbies usually need an adjustment period, but you don’t seem to need that. Do it with me.”

Looking at the current situation, there didn’t seem to be any trainee who would volunteer to team up with Sui. Looking at the time ahead, it was an incredibly good opportunity for Sui.

But she had to be suspicious. Why was she doing this for her, of all people?

Sui asked Na-eun with a questioning face.

“But why with me? There are plenty of pretty and skilled kids over there.”

“I don’t have a voice that matches mine.”

“……”

“When I do it solo, it’s not bad, but when I do it as a group, I especially fail. They say my voice eats up all the other members’ voices.”

It was certainly a voice that could eat up others.

But this part wasn’t a problem for Sui.

“Can I do the song however I want?”

“It’s do-or-die. Do whatever you want.”

She seemed to have slightly let go of her sanity. Could she trust this?

When Sui said nothing, Na-eun seemed to take it as agreement and spoke quickly.

“Then I’ll take it that we’re doing it together. Starting tomorrow, after lessons end, meet me in the practice room.”

***

The next day, the building that had been so noisy became quiet after 10 PM.

Since it was a place where skilled trainees from all over the country gathered, it was said that the practice hours here were tremendous compared to other agencies.

However, health deterioration and injuries frequently occurred among trainees, and as a countermeasure, the company allowed only a few open practice rooms to be used after 11 PM.

While conditioning was something individuals should manage, the rule was created based on the judgment that indiscriminate and ignorant practice hours were rather harmful to them.

“The 5th-floor practice room here is the most comfortable and spacious after the debut group practice room. It’s also a place where regular trainees can’t even enter. Know that you’re here thanks to me. With 8 years of trainee experience, I’m at least director-level in the company.”

At the dignity of the 8-year trainee, Ki-hyun and Sui shook double thumbs-up.

“But noonims. Why exactly do I have to be here?”

“Because it’s kind of awkward for just the two of us.”

At Sui’s words, Ki-hyun spoke with a broad smile.

“Oh my, the two of you are practicing for the monthly evaluation, but it’s only been a day since you met, so it’s awkward—that’s why you called me. It’s not like I get overtime pay or incentives in this poor working life, but since my first star Yuna noonim tells me to, I have to do it. What can I do!”

Ignoring Ki-hyun’s resistance-like words, So Na-eun opened her mouth.

“Anyway, look at this. It’s a video from last month’s monthly evaluation.”

Na-eun held out her smartphone, and Sui and Ki-hyun put their heads together and watched the video.

On a flashy stage, thin and pretty kids were singing and dancing sexy dances with their flesh all exposed. The exposure was so extreme it seemed better to just strip completely naked.

Thinking of the past, this was something that could never have happened, so Sui covered her eyes with her fingers and spoke.

“How embarrassing.”

“Trainee performances all have similar patterns. Lively, fresh, sparkling, pretty, and sexy. Because if you’re not like that, you don’t stand out, so there are also kids who bet on costumes. But we kind of have a used goods feel, don’t we?”

Im Yuna was a 10-year entertainment industry veteran with a bad image, and Na-eun was an 8-year trainee. The word “used” fit uncomfortably perfectly.

“Even if the two of us strip and dance, we can’t beat them. So, let’s strip and compete with singing.”

…Huh?

“Singing is singing, and stripping is stripping—betting on both is a bit weak for us, isn’t it?”

“First, let’s take turns singing one song each.”

“Singing?”

“We need to find our harmony, don’t we?”

“I can accompany you. Noonims!”

Ki-hyun, who had been bored, shouted loudly. And he immediately sat on the piano stool, touched the keys, and looked at Sui.