Chapter 41 - Mini Street Concert (Part 2)

Jinwoo told me that the match with Eun-soon would soon be finalized after a few more meetings. I definitely wanted to win. I can’t stand it when people do nothing but talk big, and I plan to teach each and every one of them a lesson.

“Jia, what are you doing?” I asked when I walked in and saw Jia. She was holding onto a barbell with both hands, visibly struggling to lift it up.

“It’s so heavy.”

“Grab a lighter one.”

“I want to lift this one!”

I looked at it – it was 13 kg.

“This is too heavy for you?”

I took the barbell from her and lifted it up easily. In fact, I lifted it ten times.

“Whoa.”

“What’s so heavy about this?” I said, putting down the barbell.

“What did Jinwoo say?”

“He wants me to have a match with Eun-soon. They’ll decide on the details later.”

“So you’re really going to fight with Eun-soon? Won’t that be dangerous?”

“How is it dangerous?”

“She’s a professional MMA athlete. And the best one as well. I’m worried that you’ll get hurt. Do you have to do it? What if she hits your face?”

Jia looked sincerely worried about me. How sweet.

“Do you think I’ll lose?”

“To be honest, I think you might. She’s a professional athlete. You’re just a girl group member. I’ve seen her fight and it’s no joke. The way she throws you on your back and pummels you…it gives me goosebumps. I don’t want you to get hit like that.”

“I won’t let myself be thrown to the back like that, don’t worry. I have to win against Eun-soon. It’ll help with our group’s popularity.”

I mean, have you ever seen a female idol who can fight well? You could have the occasional one who used to live on the streets or come from a ghetto neighborhood. But me, I’m on a whole new level. Also, I plan to show that level when I fight against Eun-soon. That way, no one would dare say a word against me and the other girls.

“I’m still worried.”

I had no idea Jia would worry so much.

***

Soon, it was Monday. The mini-concert wasn’t scheduled until the evening so we still had some time before that.

“Are you guys ready? Let’s do our best, okay?”

We all nodded at Ji-hyun’s words. Do our best. Okay.

“Sian, how do you feel?”

“I’m ready,” I said, fingering my prop sword. I wanted to use a prop sword, but…oh well.

“The two teams are going to perform one after the other. So after Sian’s sword performance, Yoo-young and her team will do a dance. Then, we dance. Then, Yoo-young’s team will sing a ballad. Then, we’ll sing one. And then, it’s over.”

“Yoo-young’s team is only performing two songs?” Jia asked.

“Yeah, we have one more performance than them, thanks to Sian.”

Everyone looked at me.

“Just you wait, guys,” I said.

Ji-hyun added, “Everyone is going to vote as they leave the concert. One vote for which team and another one for which member. They’re both important so make sure you guys do your best.”

“Okay.” Everyone answered.

“Should we get some ramyun before we go?” I said.

“No. Our faces will swell,” Jia replied.

***

Monday Afternoon.

We arrived at Myeong-dong. Even on a Monday afternoon, there were a lot of people, swarming in and out of stores.

“Why are there so many makeup stores?”

There really were too many as far as I could see.

“They’re antenna shops.” Jia told me.

“Antenna shops?” I repeated.

“Yeah. Instead of making money, their job is to let other people know about certain brands. They’re also a good way to do market research. Since a lot of people come to Myeong-dong to shop.”

“Oh~”

The rent prices in Myeong-dong were pretty expensive. No one in their right mind would actually put a store here with the idea of making a profit. Though I’m sure there were a few people who tried.

“When I make money, I’m going to buy a building here.”

“Should we buy one together?” Jia asked with a smile.

“Why not?”

I smiled back at her. I heard that’s what you’re supposed to do when you make money – buy a building. I definitely plan to. I needed something that would give me a stable income. But before I could do that, I would have to become a success myself.

“How much do I earn in a fight?” I suddenly wondered.

Anyways, we arrived at the venue. It wasn’t really that big, but it was big enough for us.

Yoo-young and her team soon showed up afterwards and we all greeted each other excitedly. Sure, we were all against each other, but we were all friends too.

Then, we began rehearsing. We set up all the lights and cameras and practiced how we were to move on stage. The film crew showed up and began to film us.

“Hi, Sian, are you feeling prepared?” Jun-jin asked.

“Of course,” I said, holding up my sword. I added, “How’s your arm?”

“It still hurts,” Jun-jin said, taking a step back. Seems like he was learning.

“You’re not talking back anymore.”

It was too bad. He had to do something before I hit him, otherwise I would look like the bad guy.

“When did I ever talk back to you?”

“Never mind.”

I spun around and walked away. Since he didn’t talk back, it wasn’t fun anymore. We continued to rehearse until it was time for the concert to begin, and had our routines down pat. We still had no idea how many people would show up, but whoever did would get an amazing show.

One hour before the concert.

Suddenly, someone walked in. She was all dolled up, clearly wanting to look good without looking like she tried. She was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, but you could tell how good her figure was underneath it. She was tall and slender with very generous curves, a body you couldn’t tear your eyes away from.

‘Whoa...’

Even my jaw dropped and I didn’t know that. But you know, I was totally comparable to that. Jia, too. Oh no, wait. Jia’s boobs were too small. Well, anyways...

But why was she coming towards me?

“Huh?”

I tilted my head in curiosity. I couldn’t see her face because it was covered by a pair of sunglasses, but there was no doubt she was walking towards me.

“It’s Hye-jeong Jung,” Jia said as she watched the newcomer.

“Hye-jeong Jung?”

“Yeah. The youngest member of Ladies’ Generation. You don’t know her?”

“Oh.”

Now I remember. I had some vague memories of her myself. But they weren’t very good. We were trainees around the same time. And at first, we were pretty good friends. But then, she debuted and everything changed. She began to distance herself from me. Then, she started to ignore me and even look down on me. She really did change for the worse. Nowadays, she and I don’t have a good relationship. And here she was, standing in front of me.

“Hi, Sian.”

Hye-jeong stuck her hand out, and my body instinctively turned away from it. But my mind made me take it. After all, mentally, I am a guy and Hye-jeong was pretty. I especially liked her body.

“Hi, Hye-jeong.”

“You’re really popular these days.”

“Not as much as you,” I said, eying her hand. Ugh, why did she have to have such pretty hands?

“Yeah, sure. You can let go of my hand now.”

Hye-jeong pulled her hand away from mine.

“Why are you here?” I asked. My memories with her are definitely not good, but I did like her body. She’s pretty and sexy.

“I came to see your concert,” she said, waving a flyer. Then she added, “I came here without anyone knowing, so don’t tell anyone, okay? That would be chaotic.”

She then smiled afterwards. She sure thinks she’s some big shot. Then again, I couldn’t blame her. She really is very popular. She became an overnight success after showing up on one of those variety shows where idols experience the military life. There happened to be a scene where she acted really cute and it became a sensation. After that, Hye-jeong was flooded with endorsement deal requests and was even casted in a drama. Once the drama became a success, that was it. Even now, she’s still really popular. You could say she just got really lucky at the right moment. The only problem was that she changed afterwards. If it wasn’t for that, I would have truly been happy for her.

“I won’t tell.”

“That’s good. I’m more well-known than you guys. I don’t want to interfere with your concert so don’t tell anyone that I’m here, okay?”

“I said I won’t, didn’t I?”

“Oh, are you bitter? Are you jealous that you’re not as popular?”

“Jealous?”

She could definitely do with a few more brain cells.

“Anyways, I’ll just be watching quietly from the back so don’t worry about me and do your best. Not that a small bird can’t catch up to a stork, pfft.”

“Should I show you what it feels like to be that small?”

At my words, Hye-jeong’s eyes widened. But to her credit, she didn’t back down.

“Now that you’re so good at fighting, you think you can threaten me? Do you want to fight? I can totally beat your ass! Stop being so jealous of me! I’m way better than you!”

“....”

What’s with her?

I racked my brain, trying to remember. But I couldn’t remember a time I – or that is, Sian – had ever been jealous towards Hye-jeong. There were lots of memories of Hye-jeong treating Sian badly though.

“Yeah, yeah.”

I’ll let it go since she’s so pretty. But her temper is too much. Of course, there’s nothing I can do about it...

“You can sit over there.”

“Jinwoo told me he saved a special seat for me.”

“Oh.”

Right. The president of Hye-jeong’s agency was good friends with Jinwoo. And Jinwoo was a fan of Hye-jeong. That little worm.

“He’s not here yet. Go sit over there.”

“Fine. We’ll see how good you are. The way I see it, you got lucky and got a big head. I’m sure the editing helped you too.”

“Should I give you some of my head?”

“Hmph!”

Hye-jeong spun around to leave, and we immediately saw Jinwoo.

“Oh, Hye-jeong!”

Jinwoo seemed very happy to see Hye-jeong. The other members greeted him but he only had eyes for her.

“Oh, Mr. Park! Hello. How are you?”

Hye-jeong’s face brightened up with a smile and she greeted him in an overly sweet tone. There was no trace of the bitch who just yelled at me a second ago.

“I’ve been good, thanks. I’ve been watching your drama and it’s really good. Your acting keeps getting better.”

“Oh, thank you. I still have a lot to learn. I’m always trying to improve myself.”

“Of course. No one can become the best overnight. It takes skills, but also the will to practice, like you. Not to mention, you have the looks. You were made for this.”

Jinwoo was just heaping compliments onto Hye-jeong. But the way I remember it, Hye-jeong wasn’t really the one to practice. She was just lucky.

“Oh no, I was just lucky. Anyways, aren’t you hot? You look stressed.”

“Why would I be? Anyways, it’s good to see you. How’s Hansoo doing?”

“He’s doing well. He was supposed to come with me, but he couldn’t because he’s so busy.”

“That’s too bad. Well, let’s go up. It’ll be more comfortable for us on the second floor.”

“Okay.”

The two headed up to the second floor. I didn’t need to remember anything to know what a two-faced snake she was. But now that I’m looking at it, it seems I wasn’t the only one who was happy about the way Jinwoo was treating Hye-jeong.

***

As it got closer to the time of the concert, people began trickling in. At first, it was just a few people, but soon, the venue got so crowded that no one could move.

“That’s a lot of people.”

More than I thought would come, considering how packed everyone was in the venue.

“I have to go pee,” Jia said, jumping from one foot to another.

“Then go to the bathroom?”

“Should I…but I think I can hold it...”

Jia looked slightly nervous. Then again, this is probably her first time performing in front of so many people.

“Go. We still have time.”

“Okay! I’ll be right back!”

Jia quickly ran for the bathroom. She’ll probably go and do a number two. Everyone needs to go do a number two when they’re nervous and it does not feel good. They call it Irritable Bowel Syndrome and it ain’t pretty. All this gas builds up in your stomach and you can’t just let it go, because it comes out as diarrhea. You absolutely need to use the bathroom, which is a big problem. It’s so loud and everyone can hear what you’re doing. There’s nothing more embarrassing. And the worst part is, even after all that, you go through it again and again. But the moment your anxiety goes away, it goes away like it was never there in the first place. Basically, it’s connected with your emotions. Anyways…

“Take off your sunglasses,” I muttered as I watched Hye-jeong sitting next to Jinwoo on the second floor. She seemed shocked that so many people showed up, but it was hard to tell because of those shades.

“Sian, are you ready?” Ji-hyun asked me.

“Yeah. I’m ready,” I said with a firm nod.

“But why is she here?” Ji-hyun asked, eyeing Hye-jeong. It seemed like Ji-hyun didn’t like her as well. Then again, since Hye-jeong was already so popular at a young age, there was bound to be a lot of people who resented her. Especially the fact that she was cast as the female lead in a drama and that the drama did so well.

“She says she’s here to watch the concert.”

“She must have a lot of time on her hands. She should use that time to practice her acting. That’s why she keeps getting criticized for her acting.”

“Oh really?”

I didn’t know that. I thought Hye-jeong was good at acting. Isn’t that why her drama is doing so well? Or is Ji-hyun just jealous? I’ll have to watch it myself to see if it’s good or not. But...do I really want to watch Hye-jeong’s drama? Ugh, let’s just forget about it.

“It’s not just the acting either. She can’t sing nor dance.”

“Really?”

“It was pure luck that she became a member of Ladies’ Generation. Just wait. She’ll crash and burn someday.”

“Alright,” I said, giving Ji-hyun a nod.

Soon, it was time for the concert to start. On cue, we got up on stage. The entire venue was filled with cheers as the audience members began to shout and clap for us.

“Sian, you’re beautiful!”

“Jia is more beautiful!”

“Ji-hyun, I love you!”

There were a lot of men in the audience, which I found slightly irritating. I preferred female fans. If I was already irritated with this many male fans…then there was no telling what I would do if this were a real concert...I really do need to calm down or find some way to not care so much.

“Good evening everyone!” Ji-hyun said into the mic. We all repeated our greetings after all. The audience cheered louder afterwards.

“Wow…we weren’t expecting this many people...”

Ji-hyun’s face was the epitome of gratitude and her eyes even began to tear up. She was really good at acting. How could she make herself cry like that? The best part was when she said a few more words and then quickly gave the mic to Yoo-young. Make an impact and retreat. Clever girl. Anyways, Yoo-young gave a quick run-down of the concert and we all gave another round of greetings afterwards before stepping off the stage...except me. I had to do my sword performance. A lone spotlight came down on me. I whipped the sword out of its hilt. A song with a fast tempo blared out and I immediately began my dance, swinging my sword to the beat.

***

As expected, my performance was amazing. Everyone was gripped by how stunning the sword looked and became dazed by the performance. They almost looked high. A few were so overwhelmed that they fainted. Some even tried to get on the stage, but the security guards held them back. Since there were a lot of people, it was especially important to be careful. But why pass out? Well anyways, it was then time for Yoo-young’s team to do their dance. They came out in short, flowy skirts and gave a cute, adorable performance. The guys certainly liked it. And my team held nothing back as we did our dance. As we sang, I would make a few well-timed comments to the audience, which riled the crowd up. Our song then went by in a flash.

Wow.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The audience cheered like crazy. Maybe it’s because it’s been so long since I’ve heard cheering like that, but it gave me goosebumps. I was so pumped that I did five backflips and finished off with a final spin in the air. And when I finished, I looked right at Hye-jeong. She was still wearing her sunglasses so I couldn’t see her eyes, but judging by the twist in her lips, she was not happy.

“Nevertheless.”

Nevertheless, the audience continued to cheer. We couldn’t start the ballad portion until they calmed down.

They finally did, and Yoo-young’s team came out. And they sang a soft, sweet ballad. I figured my team would do better. We don’t have a main vocalist, but we did have three sub-vocalists on our team.

“What the?”

But Yoo-young’s team didn’t sing just any ballad. There were a lot of high notes, and Yoo-young pulled off every single one of them. It was incredibly sexy to watch.

“She’s good,” Jia said. Like me, she couldn’t take her eyes off of Yoo-young. Yoo-young was amazing as the main vocalist while the other members backed her up perfectly. They really were perfect. In comparison, our performance wasn’t as good. All the force we had when we danced was gone. Since we didn’t have a main vocalist, it was difficult for us to sing the song perfectly. It definitely wasn’t the same without Yoo-young. The audience probably felt it as well.

After the final song, we all came up on stage. We thanked everyone for coming and gave our final greetings. Everyone stood up and gave us a round of applause. It was when it happened. Hye-jeong got up from her seat from the second floor and leaned forward against the railing. Someone from the audience saw her and shouted loudly, “It’s Hye-jeong!”

And then everyone turned their attention to her. Hye-jeong smiled at the audience members and slowly took off her sunglasses. The moment her pretty face was revealed, everyone began to cheer again. Only this time, it was for her. It was to be expected. Hye-jeong is an A-list celebrity after all.