Chapter 27
In the end, I dug my own grave. After looking after just Sowoon, I ended up looking after all eight trainees, and given Jaekyung’s personality of catching details meticulously, I couldn’t leave the practice room until late every night.
I taught singing syllable by syllable, and for dancing, I gave one-on-one guidance to any trainee who was even slightly lacking. I lived so busily that I couldn’t even taste that delicious food anymore.
Thanks to that, the remaining ten days passed in the blink of an eye, and tomorrow after the rehearsal and live broadcast, everyone could go back to their respective homes.
Jaekyung threw his body onto the bed with a thud. Rubbing his face against the pillow, Jaekyung muttered weakly.
“I’m tired.”
At first when we were living in the dorm, I was all about avoiding cameras and whatnot, but later it was all useless. There were too many things to worry about to be conscious of cameras right now. The only consolation was that the only time given to him was for PR.
“I shot myself in the foot. Why am I helping other people?”
Who am I to do this? I’d never helped anyone like this before.
Jaekyung pounded the bed with both fists and stamped his feet. Stupid. Stupid. Seo Jaekyung is stupid.
After the tantrum that would have stirred up dust ended, Jaekyung let out a deep sigh. He was thinking things like he shouldn’t show interest in anyone anymore. It was then that Han Chanhyung, who had entered the room, stood in front of Jaekyung.
When Jaekyung looked at him as if asking what was going on, Chanhyung cleared his throat with a cough and held out what he was holding.
“Eat this.”
Jaekyung reflexively took what Chanhyung handed him and looked at what was in his hands. It was milk.
“Why are you giving me this?”
“To say thanks.”
“For what?”
“Thanks for helping with dancing and singing.”
“I didn’t just help you though?”
“No… just take it.”
Chanhyung was about to say something more but left. He waved his hand roughly but didn’t take the milk back. I guess he really meant it as thanks.
Jaekyung looked at the milk. It was pink strawberry milk. No wonder he didn’t come in earlier even though we finished practice together. It was the first time I’d received something from a fellow trainee.
An unconscious smile appeared at the corners of Jaekyung’s mouth.
* * *
While receiving makeup, all sorts of noisy sounds were sucked into Jaekyung’s ears. From the sound of sighs from those who couldn’t overcome their nervousness, to the sounds of vocal warm-ups and clothes fluttering from dance practice.
“I couldn’t sleep last night…”
“I think all my makeup is coming off.”
“What if my voice cracks?”
Everyone was embracing their own worries, unable to hide their tension. Amidst the noise, Jaekyung sat quietly with his eyes closed. Jaekyung couldn’t share in their emotions. He had already been on stage countless times.
Instead, Jaekyung was restless for different reasons. After returning to being 19, Jaekyung never wanted to stand on stage again. But he had come to the audition venue with his own feet and expressed his intention to get on stage. Wondering what this was about, he felt self-deprecating, but then felt relieved that he wasn’t being dragged by his mother. It was all contradictory. Nothing fit together. He had felt this way before, but today it came up particularly strongly.
Jaekyung’s eyebrows trembled and slowly rose. At the same time, the woman who was about to apply a brush to his revealed black pupils was startled.
His pupils were large and the whites were clean. His gaze was clear but unfocused and hazy, giving an ethereal feeling.
The woman who had been staring at Jaekyung’s eyes as if enchanted tried to bring the brush close again, but her fingertips trembled so she gave up and put it down. It was just applying makeup base, but why were her hands shaking like this? She unconsciously let out a sigh, feeling regretful that those distinct black and white eyes were about to disappear behind closing eyelids.
“Should I close my eyes?”
“Ah, it’s, it’s okay.”
At Jaekyung’s gentle question, the makeup artist Min Soi answered with a somewhat dazed expression. The woman was hesitating, barely able to speak properly, finally holding a puff, when her friend who was doing makeup for another Jungwoo next to her shook her head.
“That face-obsessed girl has fallen again, fallen.”
Min Soi, who had been admiring Jaekyung’s skin, glared at her friend.
“He’s handsome, what can I do?”
She swallowed her dry saliva and gradually let out the emotions she had been suppressing.
“Your skin is really nice. There aren’t any pores at all.”
She dipped the puff in foundation suitable for men’s skin and lightly applied it to his skin, but it didn’t match – it looked like flesh-colored stains on white skin. She mixed in white solid foundation to adjust the color and lightly applied it to his cheek again. Wait, I’m doing makeup for a guy. But why am I making the color lighter?
Despite all the confused feelings, her hands busily mixed the foundation. When she tried it on his skin again, it finally looked good, so she picked up the puff but then switched to a foundation brush. It seemed like it needed to be carefully swept with a brush rather than patted with a puff.
‘His skin is like porcelain.’
Soi repeated the name of the trainee sitting in front of her several times so she wouldn’t forget it. He really was a pretty man who caught the eye the more you looked at him. But should I keep swallowing my admiration inside when it keeps coming out the more I look?
Finally, Soi couldn’t hold back and let out her admiration for Jaekyung.
“How can you have such long eyelashes and diamond-shaped eyes? There really are eyes like this. You didn’t get implants in your nose, right? Did you get filler in your lips? I know it’s rude to ask this, but you’re so pretty I had to. No, how can you be this pretty? How can a man’s face be this pretty? Is this allowed? Why did God sprinkle gold dust only here? When’s your birthday by any chance? It’s not the same day as mine, is it? So God was so busy taking care of you that he forgot about me.”
At the increasingly loud voice, the other makeup artist Kim Boyeon burst into laughter.
“How can you say that?”
There were several cameras with red lights on moving around nearby, and she was making a fuss by herself. Jaekyung was just blinking with his eyes wide open in surprise, making Soi let out a groaning sound.
Cute. So cute I could die. Pretty and cute and lovely.
“I’m going to be your fan starting today. I’ll do text voting too.”
“…It’s okay.”
Jaekyung waved his hand awkwardly, stopping Soi. Text voting? He had to get eliminated, so absolutely not. But Soi, already smitten with Jaekyung, didn’t seem to hear anything else.
“Close your eyes again please. And I’m really going to be your fan. I’ll text vote once a day like taking vitamins, so don’t try to stop me. I’ll shower you with love and empty my bank account for you. I’ll just follow you until debut, so don’t worry about me.”
“No… really, please don’t do that.”
Jaekyung made a small upset face, feeling burdened. Thinking it might be better to escape quickly, he closed his eyes. He knew the truth that just staying still during makeup could shorten the time. Fortunately, she didn’t talk to Jaekyung after that, so he could comfortably keep his eyes closed.
“It’s a shame but… all done.”
Pretending not to hear the question about whether she couldn’t do one more brush stroke before sending him away, Jaekyung hurriedly got up from his seat. Even though she hadn’t forcibly held him back, Jaekyung let out a sigh of relief at the feeling of escape.
Then he turned his back on the makeup artist who still couldn’t take her eyes off him.
Jaekyung, who was just going to pass by, casually looked back and spotted Lee Jungwoo reflected in the mirror. Dark-colored eyeshadow was being applied to Jungwoo’s closed eyes. Jaekyung unconsciously stopped and watched, fascinated by how Jungwoo’s eyes changed with those hand movements.
“Open your eyes with a decadent look.”
The artist’s businesslike voice was heard briefly before Jungwoo’s eyes opened. Jaekyung, who made eye contact with Jungwoo through the mirror, was slightly startled and then looked away as if something had occurred to him.
‘What the hell.’
Jaekyung’s expression became increasingly strange as he alternately looked at Jungwoo’s face and his own reflected in the mirror. Jungwoo, with shading that emphasized his deep eyes, exuded a calm, mature atmosphere. In comparison, his own natural makeup made his usually white skin stand out even more.
Jungwoo just looked masculine while he was made up like a kid. The comparison was so stark that Jaekyung showed his displeasure. When Jaekyung’s eyes sharpened, Jungwoo, who seemed to be thinking similar thoughts, smiled faintly and approached.
It was funny how he acted like they were best friends now without saying anything, but Jaekyung didn’t throw any reproach at him.
No, he didn’t have the luxury to do so.
“Going up for rehearsal!”
At one staff member’s shout, Jaekyung was swept up in the wave of trainees and went up on stage. The floor of the waiting room wasn’t visible and he moved as if pushed, so he didn’t know when he had come up. When he came to his senses, he was just standing in the spot where he had to dance.
Hearing his own breathing flow through the microphone, Jaekyung looked down below the stage.
The trainers he saw during every lesson and even the judges had come out. They looked around at the 99 trainees who had gone up on stage, each showing their own emotions. Jaekyung thought they were managing their expressions since cameras were rolling around them. However, when he made eye contact with the vocal trainer, Jaekyung’s heart fluttered.
She smiled at Jaekyung as if saying he could do well. It was just encouragement she was giving to the trainees, but what was this? Jaekyung was swept up in a strange feeling.
One of the judges picked up the microphone.
“It’s quiet now because this is rehearsal, but the main stage will probably be similar.”
These were trainees without fandoms, and no advance publicity had gone out. The production team planned to reveal the trainees’ existence with today’s live broadcast. Therefore, compared to other fandoms, there were no fans to watch and cheer for the stage where the 99 trainees would stand.
“We’ll be your representative fans today, so do well.”
“Yes!”
All the trainees shouted as if they had become one heart. And immediately the stage began. Everyone danced in perfect unison, and Jaekyung also filled his part of the stage among them.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
