Chapter 32

“Hi guys. How are all of you today?”

“Good!” We all replied in unison.

“I missed you guys! You’re all taking care of yourselves, right?”

“Yes!”

Jinwoo nodded at our unified response.

“First, I’ll show you the rankings. The first is from the online voting and the next one is mine. The last one is the result of those two combined, okay? So...let’s show the online votes!”

As soon as Jinwoo said that, the room went dark and the screen lit up to display the rankings.

Yoo-young Lee

Ji-hyun Yoo

Jia Lee

Hainan

Jumi Yeom

Rhinzi

Yoojin Jeong

Jimin Kim

Sian Lee

Sena

“Oh!”

Yoo-jin gasped beside me in surprise. Couldn’t really blame her. Up until this morning, she was only 8th and now she was 7th. I’m sure anyone else in her position would be happy too.

“I’m still ninth.”

I was a bit disappointed, but at least I was in the Top 10. I just have to try harder, I guess.

“Sian’s ranking improved a lot. Congratulations, Sian,” Jinwoo said to me with a smile. I gave him a smile back as a response. Ever since I became pretty, I’ve seen a big difference in the way he looks at me. Almost paternal. Who knew that losing weight could change that?

Next was Jinwoo’s rankings.

Sian Lee

Yoo-young Lee

Jumi Yeom

Rhinzi

Jihyun Yoo

Jia Lee

Hainan

Yoo-jin Jeon

Jimin Kim

Sena

“Whoa...”

Everyone stared in shock at the screen, including me. I was first?! Jinwoo gave me first! It was hard to believe but it was there, plain as day. And finally, the combined rankings.

Yoo-young Lee

Jihyun Yoo

Jumi Yeom

Jia Lee

Sian Lee

Hainan

Rhinzi

Yoojin Jeong

Jimin Kim

Sena

My combined rank was 5th. I was now in the top half.

“Congratulations, Sian,” Jia said as she took my hand in hers.

Soon, the stars were added to everyone’s name based on their rankings.

Yoo-young Lee ★★★★★?

Jihyun Yoo ★★★★★?

Jumi Yeom ★★★★?

Jia Lee ★★★★?

Rhinzi ★★★?

Yoo-jin Jeong ★★★?

Hainan ★★★?

Sian Lee ★★?

Ara ★★?

Sena ★★?

Jimin Kim ★★?

Eunmi Lee ★?

Liang Liang ★?

Minji Lee ★?

Areum Yeo ★?

I was now in 8th. If I wanted to remain in the Top 8, I would have to get three stars in the next round. That is, today. I would have to win today.

“As expected, Yoo-young is right on Ji-hyun’s tails,” Jinwoo said with a nod. Yoo-young and Jihyun gave each other sheepish smiles .

“There’s still a lot of opportunities. Don’t give up you guys.”

We all nodded at Jinwoo’s words.

“Alright, let’s start with the team performances. We have five, right? Should we start with Minji’s team?”

Team 5 was Minji, Eunmi, and Jimin. They stepped onto the stage. All of them were rappers.

Suddenly, Eunmi raised her hand. Eunmi Lee. Age 19. She was a good dancer and an even better rapper. We all heard she was a bit on the prickly side, but so far she’s been pretty quiet around the older members of Fifteen.

“Yes, Eunmi?” Jinwoo said.

“We prepared a diss track. Is it okay if we perform it?”

“A diss track? Who are you dissing?” Jinwoo asked with a smirk. I guess he found it amusing.

“Sian,” Eunmi said, pointing at me. I looked back at her in wonder. What was this all of the sudden? Jinwoo suddenly fell over, laughing.

“Hahahahaha!”

Once he managed to calm down, Jinwoo asked, “May I know why you decided to prepare one for Sian?”

“No reason. We just wanted to have a rap battle with Sian, since she’s gotten so popular lately.”

“Oh, a battle.”

Jinwoo definitely seemed interested. But then he added, “But you know, Eunmi, it’s not up to me or you. You’re going to have to ask Sian.”

And with that, Jinwoo turned to look at me.

“Sian, you want to try?”

“Sure,” I said brightly. Surprise spread throughout the room. To be honest, I can’t rap. I’m sure everyone knew that. I knew the reason Eunmi chose me was to give herself more screen time and attention. Right now, I was not only improving in the rankings but was a hot topic in the news. If Eunmi did a rap battle with me, it would only help her get her name out there even more.

“Oooh~ Can you rap?” Jinwoo asked, looking surprised.

“I’ve picked up a few things.”

I have learned some things by watching people. But I really didn’t care about rapping. And I didn’t like that someone felt like they had to fight me to win this competition. That’s not a true win. Which is why I planned to teach her a lesson.

“Okay, then. Since Sian agreed, we’ll have a battle. Sian, if you can go up please?”

I did as instructed and faced Eunmi on stage. A rap battle before team missions? Honestly, I thought it was a bit shameless but I kept my mouth shut.

“Hi, Eunmi,” I greeted, extending my hand out.

“Hi, Sian,” Eunmi replied, shaking my hand. We remained as we were, standing there, facing each other.

“Are you going first, Eunmi?” Jinwoo asked.

“Yes,” Eunmi replied.

“Any special type of background music you want?”

“That’s okay.”

“What about you, Sian?”

“Me too.”

Jinwoo nodded and said, “Alright then. Eunmi, whenever you’re ready.”

At Jinwoo’s cue, Eunmi brought the mic to her lips. I wondered what she would say. Still, since she was a minor, I didn’t expect it to be too harsh. Then again, you never knew. Anyways, she started.

“Yo, Si. An. Lee. You pig. You fat pig. Little. Piggie. 95kg? Damn, how did it get so bad? You know what Socrates said. A satisfied pig is better than you. So now you wanna eat? Yeah-uh. You lost weight? I don’t think so. No. No. You’ll go back. Come back like a yoyo yeah~. Gon’ become a piggie again. Feelin’ dissed? Feelin’ pissed? Come at me. You goin’ to jail. I’m a minor. I got no reason to be scared yeah~.”

Eunmi finished with a jerk of her chin towards me. I was this close to breaking it. But I decided to be the bigger person. I listened to Eunmi’s entire rap. A pig? Basically, she was saying that even though I lost weight, it would come back because of the yo-yo effect. It meant that my popularity was fragile. That I would never become a member of Lovely Girlz. For a young girl, this bitch sure has a lot to nerve.

“Hmph!”

After snorting at me, Eunmi went back to her place. Everyone applauded her.

I held out my hand to Eunmi.

“Yo, come on, baby. You talk big for a small fry yeah. You’re lucky that you’re a minor yeah. If you weren’t, I would’ve ended you long ago.”

I placed my hand on Eunmi’s shoulder. Then, I began to press down.

“Come on, young friend. You been on your knees before? Yeah. Get down on your knees yeah.”

Eunmi was so shocked and was unable to push off my hand that she fell to her knees in an instant. At first, it was just her arm that shook. Then her shoulders. Then her entire body. It meant that I was getting to her. I continued with my awkward rap.

“Yo, kid, you keep talking smack, you gonna pay yeah. Who are you to judge me? What you got to say?”

I placed my hand on her head. Eunmi immediately began to cry. Am I being too harsh? But this was more fun than I thought.

I finished and Eunmi stopped shaking. But instead of getting up, she collapsed until she was fully sitting down on the stage.

“Hmph.”

Lastly, I pointed at Jinwoo and said one last line.

“Don’t look down on me just because I’m young. Yeah.”

Jinwoo’s expression looked very shocked, silently asking himself when has he ever done so.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

An applause broke out. It was Mi-hyang. Soon, the members of Fifteen joined her and finally, Jinwoo did as well.

“I liked it. Did you guys practice this in advance?” Mi-hyang asked with a smile.

“No,” I answered, helping Eunmi up to her feet.

“Really? So, Eunmi, were you really crying?”

“Yes…sniff…” Eunmi replied, sniffing. Her eyes were still wet, indicating that the tears weren’t going to finish anytime soon.

“Why are you crying? I don’t think what Sian said was that harsh.”

Mi-hyang pointed out. It was true. What I said wasn’t that bad. I only said whatever schoolchildren say to diss each other. I may have said them a bit loudly, but...

“I was suddenly…so….so...scared...sniff...Sian..Sian is..sniff sniff...”

Eunmi looked like she was about to cry even more. I gave her shoulders a squeeze and patted her on the back. Suddenly, Eunmi wrapped her arms around me and began to bawl.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry, Eunmi.”

I put on my most understanding face for the camera as I continued to console Eunmi. This was good. This was the chance I needed to really improve my image with the public. Strong, but soft. A maternal figure mixed with a brotherly edge. The ultimate girl crush.

Eunmi soon quit crying and the team missions began.

Minji was the main rapper and her track was pretty powerful. It had a fast tempo and with Minji in the lead with Jimin and Eunmi proving good backup, it was an amazing show. They were pretty good. It was easy to see how they became YH Entertainment trainees. Mi-hyang gave them a good score too.

Team 4 was Sena, Areum, and Hainan. They chose to dance and the concept was cute and bubbly. They were wearing incredibly short skirts, so there was no doubt that all of the male viewers would be watching them. I myself couldn’t take my eyes off of them. But they didn’t get good comments from Jinwoo and Mi-hyang. Apparently, they were lacking impact and it was too tame.

Team 3 was Rhinzi, Liang Liang, and Ara. Their concept was similar to ours. A strong, intense performance to an upbeat song. It suited Rhinzi well. But not Liang Liang and Ara, which is probably why it looked rather awkward. Jinwoo and Min-hyang complimented Rhinzi but tore into Liang Liang and Ara. Especially Mi-hyang, she did not hold back.

Team 2 was the one I was most looking forward to. Yoo-young was the main vocalist and with Jumi and Ji-hyun as sub vocals, all three pulled off their song beautifully. Jumi, especially, really stood out and received the best comments out of all three of them.

Finally, it was our turn. We stepped onto the stage and began our greetings.

“Hello. I am Sian Lee, leader of Team 1.”

“Hello. I am Jia Lee.”

“And I am the youngest, Yoo-jin Jeong.”

“Hi, guys~”

Jinwoo greeted us with a hearty wave. He looked incredibly happy to see us, but that was no surprise. There was me, looking the most beautiful that I had ever looked. The sexy, party girl Jia. And the glamorous Yoo-jin. Our visuals were certainly a sight to behold. Not to mention Jinwoo liked Jia, but whether it was purely paternal was yet to be seen. But what was wrong with Mi-hyang’s face? She was looking at us like she had smelled something spoiled.