Pushing aside my thoughts about recent events, I focused on the moment in front of me. After all, Jin-ah’s first live music show was far too important to let anything else cloud my mind.

The song had already climbed ten places, reaching 86th in the charts. Even without any music show appearances, word of mouth was spreading fast. About Blue Sherbet, that was.

That was why this broadcast mattered even more. It was a chance to ride the wave even higher – to break off the label of Blue Sherbet and gain a new label called Jin-ah Choi.

“Wow! It’s my waiting room!”

Right in front of the open public hall on the first floor was the shared waiting room. A piece of printer paper listing the performing artists was taped to the door. 

Jin-ah looked at her name on the paper with sparkling eyes. She took photos on her phone in excitement. Even though it was just a shared space with three other teams, she seemed thrilled.

‘Is she mentally tough, or just simple?’ I wondered, watching her act as if nothing had happened at the salon earlier. Her spirits remained high despite my worries, which was a huge relief.

“Oh! President Kang, I think there are people inside.”

Jin-ah opened the waiting room door to reveal small partitions that divided up the space inside, and I detected people already moving around. 

Checking the list on the printer paper, we saw that no one in this room had debuted before Blue Sherbet. So, we simply headed to our designated area without needing to greet anyone.

Though this was Jin-ah’s first music show appearance, Blue Sherbet had still debuted first, so she didn’t need to initiate any greetings.

As we settled into our spot, Jin-ah lowered her voice and asked, “President Kang, am I a senior or a junior here? Do I need to go greet them?”

“Jin-ah, they debuted after us, so you don’t need to greet them first. But… this is our first time at a music show. They might not greet us either. If they don’t, don’t take it personally and just ignore it. Remember, you’re here to perform, not play mind games.”

“Got it!” 

Sure enough, as the other partitions filled up and greetings were exchanged between groups, our partition stayed silent. This felt like an intentional snub, but Jin-ah didn’t seem to notice at all and happily ate a sandwich.

While a few minutes of being ignored might be tolerable, extended cold-shouldering like this could easily dampen someone’s spirit.

“What the hell?! When was it decided that debut order should be determined by show appearances?!” 

Team Lead Na fumed openly in place of Jin-ah with his hands on his hips, loud enough for everyone in the waiting room to hear. It was as if he was criticizing them for not coming. 

It was clear he wanted them to hear his frustration. He was already irritated from the incident at the salon, and he found the whole power play absurd and infuriating.

Though I understood the competitive dynamics, smiling through this was impossible. Na’s outburst cut through the noise in the waiting room, but even that didn’t draw anyone over for introductions. He let out a frustrated sigh and tousled his hair.

“Ugh, I should have been with you at the salon. I’m really sorry, Jin-ah. I’ll make sure to stay with you next time. I’m very sorry.”

With her mouth full of sandwich, Jin-ah replied, “No ish okay.” Her words came out slightly muffled. 

Team Lead Na coughed and averted his gaze, clearly taken aback. I saw his eyebrows knit together just a bit as he continued. 

“Hey. At least cover your mouth if you’re talking while eating.”

After swallowing her bite, Jin-ah gave him a pout. 

“There’s a saying that even dogs get to eat in peace, you know.”

“Does that make it okay to eat like one?”

“Who’re you calling a dog here? You can’t just say things like to an idol!” Her voice unexpectedly echoed through the room. When she realized, she quickly covered her mouth.

“See? When you cover your mouth, you look way better.”

Judging by her tone earlier, it seemed she was genuinely unbothered. I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. 

Jin-ah shot me a look and took another big bite. After a few dramatic chews, she opened her mouth wide.

“Ew, gross. Seriously?!”

When I grimaced, she slapped my arm playfully and laughed her head off. How could she be this carefree? All our worries felt like nothing in comparison to her easygoing spirit. I felt both relief and a surge of irritation.

As she downed her cola with her sandwich and cleaned up her trash, Jin-ah spoke calmly.

“Don’t worry. Do you have any idea how many times I’ve gone through this moment in my head? Probably thousands. I imagined getting ignored and scolded to the point of crying. Honestly, I’d rather they do that to me. Just being here means I’ve already achieved my dream. What’s there to be upset about?”

She said these heavy words as if they were nothing. Team Lead Na mouthed some curses under his breath, no doubt directed at Director Park. While we were left speechless, Jin-ah finished tidying up and smiled brightly.

“So, when’s our rehearsal?” she asked.

“There’s still a bit of time left. We got here early so you wouldn’t have to rush or get too nervous.”

“Then should we go greet the seniors?”

“Sure… let’s go.”

Jung-han, Team Lead Na, Jin-ah, and I made rounds together from the second to fourth floors. We each carried different thoughts with us. None of the issues we anticipated with the seniors happened, though. 

Some welcomed her indifferently while others gave an exaggerated greeting, likely to stay on my good side. With myself — the agency president — and Team Lead Na present, there wasn’t much room for power games from those who debuted before Blue Sherbet.

It was a moment that confirmed what Hye-jung Yoon said about celebrities wanting to join our company because their contracts were ending. How they were trying to gain my favor.

Of course, we skipped right past Iron Maiden’s room. We had already run into a senior artist who shared a waiting room with them, but in a different waiting room.

“I guess luck’s on our side again today.”

Whether things went smoothly or not, we were ready to move past it. With that mindset, we got ready for rehearsal.

***

Just before stepping onto the rehearsal stage, Jin-ah stood in front of a full-length mirror on the wall and silently looked at herself. I took the chance to remind her of some advice I had already given more than once.

“Don’t exhaust yourself during the dry or camera rehearsals. It doesn’t matter if the live vocals sound shaky. Ignore what others think and conserve your energy. Just focus on nailing the main recording.”

“Okay, I got it.”

“And don’t let anyone tell you to give it your all during rehearsal. If you mess up in the actual recording because of that, no one’s going to take responsibility for it. Got it?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“And even if you make a mistake during the recording, don’t panic and–”

“President Kang.”

Jin-ah cut me off and looked straight into my eyes, smiling lightly as if to reassure me.

“You told me I was good at this, didn’t you? And I worked hard, too.”

She was calming my nerves. A rookie preparing for her first music show performance was now the one calming my nerves.

“It feels cheesy to say, but… because you told me that, I feel more confident. I’m really not nervous. And if I do mess up, you’ll help me fix it, right?”

At a loss for words, I simply nodded. Just then, the producer called her name through the mic.

“Oh! That’s me. I’ll be back soon.”

“Go ahead.”

A sudden feeling of disconnect washed over me. Even after watching her journey to stardom for years, one thought filled my mind: ‘When did she grow up so fast?’

As I stood there blankly watching her climb the stairs, Team Lead Na put a hand on my shoulder.

“She’s an interesting one. One moment, she seems immature. The next, she’s downright professional. Sometimes she a bit clueless, but then she’ll fight back fire with fire.”

He chuckled and added casually, “There’s just something intriguing about watching her.”

“I agree. It’s satisfying to see her grow. She’s had that star quality from the start, hasn’t she?”

***

Producer Jang from ‘Inki Music’ was half excited, half anxious over today’s show. It was about Jin-ah, an artist under Hyuk Kang’s wing.

“Isn’t it risky to go without AR?” muttered Producer Lee, echoing Producer Jang’s own thoughts. Given the lack of vocal backing, this would be a true test of Jin-ah’s raw skills.

Producer Jang had closely followed Blue Sherbet’s recent rise and watched the success of Hee-yeon and Yoon-jung. Following them, he expected similar results for the next member in line. However, he couldn’t help but think this wasn’t a good idea.

“I know. It is a bit much. I watched the music video, and both the choreography and singing looked difficult.”

“What is he thinking? It doesn’t seem like Hyuk Kang’s intuition died off or anything.”

Producer Jang had a thought that Jin-ah planned to let her vocals shine since she proved her dancing skills in the music video. Today’s performance would likely be low on dance and high on vocal quality.

‘It’s not the best approach,’ he thought to himself. 

If the performance was a bust, they could just refuse to let them appear in the future after giving them some criticism. Even if things went wrong, it was ultimately their failure. 

Still, he couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry. It was because recently, HS Entertainment’s pushy tactics had rubbed Producer Jang the wrong way. 

“I would’ve loved to see those pricks at HS throw another tantrum because of President Kang. Haha. It’s a shame.”

“Yeah, it’s a shame. Seeing how they weren’t getting through the Director, they came to me to block her apperance. It’s like they think we’re their lackeys.”

“But it’s not like we can block everyone from HS from making appearances. If only Blue Sherbet suddenly blew up, we would finally have a way to stick it to them. Tsk!”

They both felt it would quite satisfying to see K Management become successful and rub it in HS Entertainment’s face. Still, it felt unlikely. 

“Hello! I’m Jin-ah Choi. Thank you for allowing me to rehearse!”

Producer Jang gazed at Jin-ah from his seat in the central aisle as she introduced herself. His gaze fixed on her as the background music began to play.

“Yes, I look forward to it,” he said.

The background music began to play. 

“Oh!” He exclaimed softly. 

‘So, there was a reason they did it like this,’ he thought. 

He was mistaken. He was expecting Jin-ah to hold back, but he was wrong. Instead, she had decided to go all-in. Although she was slightly more restrained compared to the music video, that was a given.

How good would her singing be while dancing properly?

“Wow. Producer Jang, her singing is totally steady!”

Her singing was steady and her breath control was strong. Although not quite studio-level, her high notes came across strong and clear.

“As expected from President Kang.” Producer Jang smiled softly. After Hee-yeon Lee and Yoon-jung Hwang, he could undeniably feel that the third member would be successful as well.

The dry rehearsal wrapped up, and Producer Jang grabbed the mic to address her.

“That was pretty good.”

“Huh…? Th-thank you!” Jin-ah, clearly caught off guard, gave a deep bow.

Producer Jang’s compliment seemed to spark murmurs throughout the hall, lightening the otherwise formal atmosphere. Producer Jang smiled.

“We got ourselves a super rookie.”

“How long has it been? I knew it. There’s no way President Kang didn’t have something planned.”

He wanted to shut up the ones who were hyping up the super rookie just because of the grand-scale promotion and make them sit down and watch this stage.

Look. THIS is a real super rookie. A stage worthy of proving one’s skills in a head-on competition.

“Great job. Please do your best in the actual recording as well.”

“Yes! Thank you.”

Seeing Jin-a’s bright response, Producer Jang nodded with satisfaction.

‘If this keeps up, the response tomorrow will be amazing.’

He hoped the main recording would be just as good as the rehearsal. No more, no less.

However, the moment the recording began in earnest, Producer Jang tilted his head in confusion. It felt like the atmosphere had completely shifted.

“Huh? What is this?”

Even after squinting, he couldn’t pinpoint anything unusual. A few seconds after the music started, Producer Jang’s eyes widened.

-We keep singing and dancing. This is our world.

“What…?”

What was that? It was as if the choreography and vocals — no, the very person on stage — had transformed. The dance became more fluid, the expressions more intense and captivating. The performance drew you in, as if the center of the world was right there.

-Everyone will sway to my rhythm. We don’t care about anything else.

The vocals flowing from the speakers made him question his own ears.

“This… is live?”

“No way…”

Chills ran down his back, and the hairs on his arms stood on end. His mouth dropped open, and his body froze. All he could do was absorb what was happening on stage with his eyes, his ears, and the entirety of his body.

The music gradually reached the first verse’s climax, and Producer Jang couldn’t help but wonder if this was going where he thought it was going. His suspicions became reality.

-We keep singing and dancing, as if this is all that’s left. As if this is everything we have.

A husky voice soared through an exhilarating high note. The dazzling and elegant choreography captivated everyone watching.

Her expressions were soft and mesmerizing, her aura both beautiful and sophisticated. She was absolutely untouchable.

At that point, Producer Jang gave up on evaluating the performance. Everything from the dance break to the second verse highlight through to the outro dance break. Every part of her performance seized the viewer’s gaze, demanding their full attention.

This wasn’t something to be evaluated. It was a work of art. It was just as a stage should be. As music was meant to be.

“They’ve kept a monster like this… hidden all this time?”

“Producer Jang, I think Blue Sherbet failed on purpose. It was all part of some plan.”

Producer Jang slowly nodded.

—

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