Chapter 66 - On Our Way to a Sexy Photoshoot… (Part 2)

“Fuck.”

I didn’t want to look at the mirror, but I had to. It was a full-length mirror on top of that. The more I looked at myself, the more I had to admit – I was hot. If I weren’t looking at myself, I’d totally want to hook up with me.

“This is why men walk around with blue balls,” I muttered to myself.

But wow, these clothes were really revealing. Just look at that skirt. It’s a good thing I had safety shorts on, because otherwise, my butt cheeks would be hanging out.

“Alright, let’s go.”

I walked out of the changing room. In the distance, I saw Jinwoo talking with the director. And that’s when Jinwoo happened to glance in my direction, as the director stared at me. Suddenly, they both began to applaud for me at the same time.

“Wow.”

“Whoa!”

That caught everyone else’s attention and suddenly, I had more faces staring at me. The men in particular became wide-eyed when they saw me, unable to tear their eyes away. Half of them were looking at my chest, the other half were looking at my ass. God, this was irritating.

‘Ugh.’

“Wow, Sian!” Jinwoo called out as he approached me. He continued to clap, finally finishing with a thumbs-up.

“You look amazing!”

“I know.”

Even I have to say that my body is pretty hot.

“Remind me why you don’t wear more clothes like this.”

“Beats me,” I replied with resignation. Might as well just accept that this was how it was going to be. Nonetheless, the thought of that made me glum.

“You look really sexy,” Jinwoo said, openly eying me up and down.

“I’ll report you.”

“Aw, come on. I’m just checking to make sure your clothes fit. Anyways, you look great.”

“Right.”

Just then, the other members appeared and they all gasped when they saw me. Hainan, especially, eyed me with envy.

“Oh my god, Sian, you’re so lucky.”

“There’s still time for you, kid,” I told Hainan, giving her a pat on the head. Hainan was now eighteen. She was way too young to be exposed to these things, but Hainan herself was a very conservative and cautious person. She’s very innocent and has heard things in the right places. But….you know what they say, it’s always the quiet ones. Even though she’s like this now, she can end up being the worst one out of all of us.

“I want to be of age, too.”

“You still can’t wear this kind of stuff. I won’t allow it,” I said firmly.

Hainan gave me a sweet smile, nodding readily.

“But where are Jia and Yoo-jin?”

Now that I think about it, I didn’t see them amongst the members.

“They’re in that room over there,” Hainan said, pointing towards a room on the other side of the studio.

“Want to go in?”

I headed towards the changing rooms. No, I’m not thinking of doing anything perverted. I only planned to go in real quick.

I opened the door and walked in. Jia and Yoo-in were inside and they were only in their underwear. The sight of it shocked me and I quickly ran out of the room.

“Oh, god.”

Ugh, why do they have to be so sexy? At the dorms, seeing them in their underwear wasn’t a big deal, but here, right now, it was…how should I put it…enough to stir up, well, anything…

“Sian~ Why are you out there? Come in~” Jia called out.

I took a deep breath and opened the door again. (Un)fortunately, when I re-entered the room, they were both already dressed.

“Wow.”

Jia Lee. She really is skinny. Very skinny. Thanks to her tight clothes, you could see just how slender her body was. I gulped. What was that saying again? The clothes make the person? Well, Jia’s clothes made her look even prettier than before. If I had a way, I’d hide her away so that other men couldn’t see her. And Yoo-jin. She could make a monk regret his vows. It’d be hard for anyone to control themselves if they saw her.

“Sian, what do you think? Hmmm?”

Hmmm? Look at Jia trying to be cute. How could anyone be so adorable?

“Nice.” I gave a thumbs up.

“What about me?” Yoo-jin asked.

“Very nice.”

I flashed a thumbs up at both of them. That’s when I realized that the three of us with the sexy concepts were all in one room. If we were all out on the streets, we’d have a street of men following us around.

“Let’s go.”

I left the room first, Yoo-jin and Jia right behind me. The three of us headed towards the set.

***

We approached the director, but the woman was so busy looking at some photos that she didn’t notice us.

“Excuse me!” I said. But no response.

What sort of photo was she looking at? Suddenly, she held up two photos and began to compare them.

“Hmm…”

“Um, excuse me?” I tried again. Well that finally caught her attention.

“What?”

“Uh, I just wanted to let you know that we’re here.”

“Yeah. Cool.”

The director gave us a simple nod and then quickly turned back to look at the photos. Damn, she’s cold. Her face looked like any average middle-aged woman, but her personality was of someone who put up with no fools. Anyways, what was she looking at that was eating up her focus? I tiptoed around her and snuck a glance at her photos. And would you believe it? They were photos of fat people.

‘Wow, that person is fat. Like a pig.’

Seriously. A pig. Whoever it was, they clearly had no self-control. Not to mention that the person was wearing a pretty little sundress. It was clearly a little too tight for her as she was doing everything to hold her stomach in.

‘I guess pigs can wear sundresses too.’

Just then, the face of the person in the photo came into focus. The moment I saw the face, I stared.

“What the…?”

It was me.

***

“What the hell?”

At my exclamation, the director spun around to look behind her, but I was already gone. I had moved back to my original place in front of her before she even turned her head.

“Hmmm? Who said that? I definitely heard something.”

She tilted her head this way and that way, wondering if she simply heard wrong. She even dug a finger into her ear. Then, she finally turned back around and looked at us. At me.

“Was there someone behind me just now?”

“Nope,” I said with a straight face, shaking my head. Jia and Yoo-jin just smiled. They saw what happened. I had moved at a pace that any person could, so Jia and Yoo-jin had seen nothing strange about it. Thankfully, there’s something these girls don’t know. I may have moved at an average person’s pace, but I had also used some of my power to block the director’s senses. That’s why she hadn’t been able to detect me standing behind her. Like air.

“Really? I could’ve sworn I heard someone cursing behind me.”

The director looked behind her again, but her face remained confused as she turned back to her photos. But why is she looking at photos of me? I don’t get it. Anyways, had I really been that fat? Looking at it now, it was definitely shocking.

“Hey, Sian,” the director said, looking at me.

“Yes?”

“You really lost a lot of weight.”

“Yes, I did,” I said with a nod. For someone who had just met me for the first time, she looked extremely at ease with me. Maybe because I was younger? Still, it wasn’t like this was some casual outing. I wanted to make some invasive comment about her, but I refrained myself. I was now a member of a girl group. I had to watch how I presented myself.

“How did you lose all that weight? I still can’t believe that these are photos of you.”

The director finally laid out the photos for us to see. Jia and Yoo-jin immediately coughed into their hands to hide their laughs. Bitch.

“I can’t believe it either.”

Seriously. I still couldn’t believe that I used to be so fat.

“This is really an amazing feat. You should write a book. I have a friend who works in a publishing house. I can introduce you.”

“No thanks,” I said with a sweet smile. I can’t remember the last time I even looked at a book. And now she wants me to write one? Yeah, right.

“Really? Too bad.”

The director really did sound disappointed. What did she have to be disappointed about?

“Well then, let’s start taking photos. Who wants to go first?”

“Me!” Yoo-jin shouted.

With a nod, the director gave her approval, and she began the shoot.

***

“Yoo-jin, don’t smile so much. Think sexy,” the photographer called out as she adjusted the camera angles.

“Okay.”

Yoo-jin rearranged her pose and put a sultry expression on her face, but it looked quite awkward. She didn’t look…hot. I felt a bit of second-hand embarrassment just by looking at her. I wonder what the photographer thought. With each second, she called out more instructions.

“Yoo-jin, your pose is a little awkward right now. Could you step back a little with your left leg.”

“Okay.”

Yoo-jin pulled her left leg back a little, just as she was instructed. But…the photographer did not look pleased.

“I said pull it back.”

“Oh, okay…”

The photographer’s exclamation seemed to have killed all of Yoo-jin’s confidence. She drew her leg back a bit more, but this time, a little too much.

“Hey Yoo-jin,” the photographer snapped.

Yoo-jin immediately began to cower.

“Where’s your focus? Didn’t you hear what I said? You look like an idiot. I don’t get any sexy vibes from you. That’s why I’m trying to tell you what to do with your body. But you can’t even listen to that?”

“I’m sorry…”

Yoo-jin bowed her head, repeating her apologies. I’m sure this was the first time she’d been on the receiving end of something like this. Ever since the debut, we’ve been received rather favorably. Our songs continued to rank first on the streaming sites, and we were asked to do tons of advertisements and commercials. We were also asked to be on shows. Everyone wanted a piece of us, tripping over to please us, and then suddenly this bitter old lady shows up. She didn’t see us as celebrities, which is why she felt like she could talk to us that way. It was a tone that said, “My way or the highway.” Nonetheless, she truly was a renowned photographer, which is why so many celebrities wanted to work with her.

“You think being sexy is just about putting on the clothes?”

‘Yes,’ I answered to myself. I mean, if a girl wore sexy clothes, then wasn’t she sexy? Yoo-jin looked sexy to me. But I guess she felt awkward because she was trying so hard to get it right. Her body. Her face. She wasn’t used to photoshoots like this.

“It takes more than slutty clothes. You need to be able to sell it with your confidence. And all of that comes from you. But do you know what you look like right now? You look like a bimbo. What will men think when they see your photos?”

‘That I want to do her?’

“Exactly. Wait…who said that?” the photographer asked us. I shrugged. But how did she hear the words I had just said to myself? Maybe I had accidentally said it telepathically. I do that sometimes.

“Well, anyways. If you keep going on like this, the men will see you nothing more than an easy skank. You need to act like the type of girl that every guy would trip themselves over for.”

“Yes, ma’am…” Yoo-jin said quietly. It was clear that her confidence had plummeted. I mean, what she was supposed to do was easier said then done.

“Do you understand? Because I don’t think you do,” the photographer said.

Suddenly, Yoo-jin began to cry.

“Sniff…sniff…”

“Ugh. You have to be kidding me.”

The photographer stared at Yoo-jin, looking frustrated. As if she wasn’t the one who had made Yoo-jin cry in the first place.

“You know what? You can take a break for now. Collect yourself and we can try again. Who’s next? What about you, Sian? Come on up.”

The photographer did the asking, talking, and directing. And I stepped onto the set. Jia cheered me on and I winked at her. I wasn’t nervous at all. The only thought running through my brain was what the hell was I doing here. I was also praying that this crazy old bitch wouldn’t do something to get on my nerves.