Chapter 108
TL: KSD
People always like to rank things.
Girl groups are no exception.
Every generation of girl groups has its top 3.
However, these rankings are not decided by album sales alone, nor solely by the girl group’s skills; only the public’s perception is the truth.
Thus, a girl group ranked fourth could employ comment manipulation to pull down the third rank and claim a spot in the top 3.
This was often the case with Baekhak Entertainment.
Because they were always pushed aside by the three major entertainment companies led by artist-turned-CEOs, they always seemed to produce girl groups that lingered around the fourth rank.
But ‘Benivis’ was different.
Baek Seung-won’s ambitious project, Benivis, didn’t need such tactics. They secured their spot as one of the top 3 purely through undeniable skill and performance.
Therefore, ‘Benivis’ was like a walking trophy for Baekhak Entertainment. It was proof of the CEO’s discerning eye and a badge of honor for the company’s training system’s prowess.
This is why a girl group, barely two years after debut, became Baekhak Entertainment’s prized jewel.
Who would dare raise their voice and scold the CEO’s favorite treasures?
“I can’t take it anymore!”
But today, it seems the story is a bit different.
“Min Hyo-min, you! How long will you just keep reading books?”
“…Hmph!”
“You…! I’m confiscating all these textbooks! They’re confiscated!”
Benivis’s adorable youngest member, Min Hyo-min.
Even if you reverse it, it’s Min Hyo-min.
A second-year middle school student.
The perfect age for rebellion.
“Why? Am I not allowed to read books?”
“What are you talking about, Hyo-min!”
Min Hyo-min’s rebellious phase has overtaken Baekhak Entertainment!
EP 7 – Isomer
An idol is a comprehensive entertainer.
This means they need to learn both singing and dancing.
Mastering just one of these skills is overwhelming enough.
How can they master both?
The answer is <double the practice time>.
“Hyo-min, do you have time to be doing this? Have you finished your dance practice?”
This applies even to minors. If you want to be an idol, you must go through hellish training without exceptions, and even after becoming an idol, the hard work continues.
That grueling effort is literally done by grinding your bones. A skill that amazes people wears down the choreographer’s knee cartilage.
And Min Hyo-min was the type of person who knew how to make such bone-grinding efforts.
“I finished it all.”
“What?!”
“The choreographer even praised me for practicing a lot…”
Ultimately, Benivis’s general manager, Han Yong-su, couldn’t stop Min Hyo-min’s ruthless ‘reading’ habit.
Like a delinquent teenager, Min Hyo-min nonchalantly turned her gaze back to her book despite whatever the manager said.
And she began to read with a passion, as if indulging in every line.
As if reading was the only drug permitted by the country…
“Sigh… Sigh…”
The girl with beige hair read the book without caring that her fine hair was touching the floor of the practice room.
Manager Han Yong-su felt his heart tearing apart watching her.
How did such a gentle child end up like this…!
“Hello~ I’m the cutie pie maknae of Benivis! Even if you reverse it, I’m still Min Hyo-min! Please take care of me!’
Seeing the Min Hyo-min who used to burst out with such lovable charm and the current Min Hyo-min, it was hard to believe they were the same person.
The truth is, when idols rebel like this, there’s not much that can be done.
Labor laws are in place to protect workers, limiting adults’ working hours, let alone children’s.
The excessive exploitation of minors is strongly regulated by law, and thus the company must operate its idols based on ‘voluntary motivation’.
Of course, as always with laws, there are many loopholes.
Trainees, thinner than those of flies, volunteer for overwork to avoid being cut, and it becomes very simple to handle headstrong idols with a bit of gaslighting and a contract. That’s the reality of this industry.
However, Benivis was Baek Seung-won’s jewel, and it was the same for Manager Han Yong-su. Manager Han Yong-su couldn’t gaslight these gem-like kids…
So all Manager Han Yong-su could do was make a heartfelt appeal.
“Hyo-min!”
Min Hyo-min, engrossed in her book, barely lifted her head.
Manager Han Yong-su choked up again at the indifferent gaze that looked like a teenage daughter looking at her father.
“We…! We decided to become the best idols!”
“……”
“Dropping out of school…! Quitting middle school…! We decided to live in the practice room!”
“……”
“Have you forgotten the promise we made when we dyed our hair beige?!”
Did Manager Han Yong-su’s heartfelt appeal reach her? Min Hyo-min stood up reluctantly, looking utterly bothered.
A glimmer of hope flashed in Manager Han Yong-su’s eyes.
“Hyo-min……?”
Min Hyo-min answered with a gruff expression.
“Sigh… Fine. I won’t read books at the company then. The practice room is too noisy to read anyway…”
“That’s, that’s right! Good thinking, huh?”
But Manager Han Yong-su’s joy was short-lived.
Because the delinquent youth Min Hyo-min made a shocking declaration.
“Instead, I’ll stop leaving school early starting tomorrow.”
“What, what did you say…?!”
Minor idols usually drop out of middle school. But there was no need for that at Baekhak Entertainment. This is because they have a ‘collaborating’ institution called Baekhak Arts Middle School.
If they say they have a schedule and need to leave early, the school lets them go, and even if they don’t show up at all, the teachers don’t say anything. So, why bother dropping out?
Attending Baekhak Arts Middle School means (on the premise of being a current celebrity or trainee) that they can merely register their name at the school without the hassle of attending.
But…
What does this mean?
“I’ll be at school from the first to the seventh period.”
“Hyo-min, nooo!”
Min Hyo-min, declaration of a model student!
* * *
However, even Min Hyo-min couldn’t escape the influence of Benivis’s eldest sister.
When the leader, who was tasked by the company with union busting, said, “Hyo-min, wanna talk with sister?” and tried to drag her away, Min Hyo-min eventually felt threatened and surrendered.
After all, at that age, a slightly older sister is scarier than heavily bearded adults.
Still, it seems Min Hyo-min’s ‘reading campaign’ wasn’t entirely unsuccessful, as the company reached an amicable agreement allowing her to attend school two days a week, provided she trained diligently.
How do I know this?
Well, she’s saying it all herself, so there’s no way I wouldn’t know.
“When the CEO came out and said if a kid wants to go to school, who are we to stop her…”
“……”
“So I barely negotiated with the manager. Mom didn’t seem to take it as badly as I thought. And So-hee unnie, ah! Right, do you know Benivis’s So-hee? She’s my closest unnie…”
Isn’t it fascinating for foreigners to see Korean schoolgirls walking arm in arm?
In a way that might seem strange to foreigners, our country’s schoolgirls are intimately close.
Min Hyo-min was like that too.
Stuck to Gu Yu-na like glue, Min Hyo-min chattered annoyingly like a sparrow.
However, Gu Yu-na was something beyond a middle school girl, so she was not bound by the petty laws of this world.
“Eek!”
Feeling burdened by Min Hyo-min constantly linking arms, Gu Yu-na shook off her arm and fled.
“Ah! Come here!”
However, Min Hyo-min, with her ‘idol power’ fueled by hellish training, managed to catch Gu Yu-na. Her quick reflexes and strength, honed by intense training, were enough to subdue Gu Yu-na.
In the end, Gu Yu-na became an attachment doll for Min Hyo-min. Seeing her become Min Hyo-min’s attachment doll as soon as Kim Byul disappeared, it seems like that’s just her fate.
But Min Hyo-min didn’t cling to Gu Yu-na just to chatter about her personal life.
That was a secondary matter.
“So what is this?”
“…That is-”
Gu Yu-na became Min Hyo-min’s ‘literature teacher.’
Even I, a self-proclaimed expert on Gu Yu-na, had not anticipated that she could teach anyone. However, surprisingly, their lessons went smoothly.
The sight of the two girls sitting side by side in the club room, looking into a book and engaging in lengthy discussions, had become a part of their daily routine.
“Can a novel even be like this? It seems like a hodgepodge of nonsense…”
“…That’s intentionally written that way.”
“Intentionally?”
“Structure, skeleton, or plot. It’s written relying on thoughts and senses without those foundations. You might think, is this even a novel? But if your thought doesn’t end there and reaches the point of thinking about what a novel is, then you’ve read the book well.”
“Ah~ I completely understand.”
“Really?”
“No!”
Despite her playful tone, Min Hyo-min wasn’t learning literature as a joke.
You could tell by looking at her book.
Min Hyo-min’s novel was tattered with fingerprints, underlines, and notes, like a veteran actor’s script.
It was truly deplorable to see the act of daring to use colored pencils on sacred books, like a pseudo-heretical, heterodox, and disorderly behavior, but I let it slide seeing her passion.
(It was clear she had learned this terrible attitude from Gu Yu-na.)
Anyway, Min Hyo-min’s passion for literature continued not only at school but also in the studio of a variety show, which coincidentally happened to be a literature variety show we were filming.
“Oh…”
Park Chang-woon, who had somehow become a semi-regular member of ‘Let’s Become a Novelist!’, exclaimed lightly.
In his hand was a manuscript by Min Hyo-min.
“You’ve improved a lot?”
“Thank you!”
Smiling brightly, Park Chang-woon stroked his sage-like beard and asked.
“No, I’m not just saying it. You’ve really improved a lot. Have you been studying hard? Who taught you?”
Min Hyo-min answered with a shy smile.
“I learned a lot from Yu-na…”
“What?! Gu Yu-na?”
“Why?”
“She didn’t bite you, did she?!”
“Why would you say that about Yu-na! Teacher!”
“Oh, I’m just kidding. Kidding. Don’t hit me…”
The camera quietly shifted angles and captured Gu Yu-na as the playful banter between the two continued.
Gu Yu-na, who had been the cute mascot of the broadcast, was now starting to become a major topic of discussion.
Inspired perhaps by ‘Log Costume Headbutting’, PD Shim Yeon-ho, who had been demanding a fashion show of costumes like deer, giraffe, and Tyrannosaurus from Gu Yu-na, now focused on her literary prowess.
Directed by the PD, the MC interviewed Gu Yu-na.
“Yu-na, you taught Mr. Hyo-min? Really?”
Gu Yu-na, wearing a full-body bear costume, peeked out her face and nodded expressionlessly.
The MC exclaimed in admiration.
“Wow! Then who taught you literature, Yu-na?”
Gu Yu-na pointed a finger and poked me.
While the MC exclaimed as written in the script,
I sighed quietly to myself.
Yes.
That was the problem.
Gu Yu-na’s teaching methods for Min Hyo-min were…
Too much infused with my own influence.
* * *
To be frank…
Gu Yu-na isn’t ‘normal.’
To elaborate carefully, it means she’s slightly off from ordinary people.
To some, Gu Yu-na’s aspect might appear as a disability or a deficiency.
But to me, that was what made her ‘special.’
Because I don’t read Gu Yu-na’s peculiarity as aggressive behavior like others do, but through her cold, indifferent literature.
There was beauty in it.
So, in my view, it was a kind of talent.
Words like psychopath or autistic can’t clearly explain Gu Yu-na’s traits. Those terms are under-researched, inaccurate, and overly tainted by the media.
Thus, the Gu Yu-na I recognize is a type of person who might find it hard to understand others, yet is internally complete.
Gu Hak-jun agreed with me, but Min Chae-won considered her daughter fortunately to be a mild case of autism that didn’t need hospitalization, and a psychopath who was overcome by education.
But Gu Yu-na is just Gu Yu-na.
I liked her literature.
But at some point, it felt like it had disappeared.
“How’s… this?”
Gu Yu-na handed me her work as if handing in homework.
It was a short story she had written with Min Hyo-min.
The plot, theme, development, characters, ending…
“…It’s good.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s good, but…”
Yes. It lacked nothing. It was perfect by my standards.
After all, it was written in my style.
But this wasn’t a piece I had written; it was Gu Yu-na’s.
That meant, at some point, Gu Yu-na had started writing in my style.
The novels of Gu Yu-na I knew contained the kind of innovation that made me exclaim right after finishing, “What kind of novel is this!”
What followed was predictable. We fought over it. Through that, we grew. That was the nature of Gu Yu-na’s novels.
But… this…
Wasn’t this too tainted with my own color?
“…”
Recently, the ‘unease’ I felt had gradually become clearer.
The name of that emotion was ‘regret’.
Of course, I don’t think it’s bad that Gu Yu-na has matured early and fits in with others. Making friends from a young age, learning how to deal with people, and blending healthily into society is naturally a good thing. It would likely be a happier path for Gu Yu-na.
But…
For whatever reason, it would be a pity for Gu Yu-na’s literature to disappear from this world like this.
Then there is one way.
“…Hey, Yu-na.”
Just as I taught Gu Yu-na my way of writing, this time, I should teach her the ‘Gu Yu-na style of literature.’
The literature of that time, of Gu Yu-na, still existed within me.
Feeling a dark impulse within me squirm tumultuously, I opened my mouth.
It was Gu Yu-na herself who had implanted that darkness, so I had no particular hesitations.
“Why don’t we write a novel together?”
Yu-na asked without hesitation.
“Sure. What’s the theme?”
“Human deconstruction.”
“…”
Yu-na paused for a moment. Then, after pondering deeply, she smiled subtly, visible only to me.
“Sounds good.”
*****
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