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Chapter 8
Possessed by My Favorite’s Favorite
‘Huh, what’s this notification…?’
It was a withdrawal notification. She wasn’t entirely sure, but seeing words like “subscription” written there, it seemed to be a recurring payment.
But the remaining balance after the withdrawal was strange.
‘How many zeros are there…?’
One, two, three, four, five, six…
‘Seven… eight… nine?’
What was this? Was it some kind of machine error? She should count again.
Ten, one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand, one million, ten million, one hundred million, one billion, ten billion, one hundred…
‘There really are nine zeros.’
Wow, she had never seen a number like this before.
Ji-hyun clicked her tongue in disbelief and picked up the kimbap she had been about to put away.
It wasn’t like a single grain of rice disappearing from a rich person’s warehouse would cause a disaster. And looking again, it seemed like this wasn’t even the only account.
‘At this point, honestly, I could buy not just kimbap but the entire kimbap shop and no one would notice.’
‘But there’s barely anything in the transaction history.’
Holding a kimbap and a bottle of water, Ji-hyun fiddled with Ji-hyun’s phone the entire way back.
The payment records shown in the banking app contained nothing except things that were absolutely necessary. It was as if the money was something she wasn’t supposed to spend.
Could there be a reason for this too?
As far as Ji-hyun knew, the original Ji-hyun had never really shown any tendency to buy things excessively or go shopping.
Clothes and other necessities would probably be provided through sponsorships or by the company.
‘For now, I should just fill my stomach.’
They would understand this much spending.
As soon as Ji-hyun arrived home, she heated the kimbap in the microwave and sat down on the sofa with it and the water.
She must have been incredibly hungry, because the left hand holding the kimbap moved faster than her right hand holding the TV remote.
The rapidly changing screen stopped on one channel.
Thud.
The kimbap that slipped from her stopped left hand fell onto the table, making it dirty. But Ji-hyun didn’t seem to care at all, staring blankly at the TV.
The song coming from the TV.
A person she had forgotten because everything had happened so suddenly.
It was Ah-young.
Ji-hyun couldn’t take her eyes off Ah-young, who was smiling brightly and giving an interview on the screen exactly as she remembered her.
So that was it.
I had you.
Just seeing her smiling brightly on the TV made the tension that had felt like walking across a narrow wooden bridge until now melt away.
No wonder everything had felt so empty and dry.
I can’t believe I temporarily forgot about you.
‘Come to think of it, I must have missed all the updates and content too. Oh my god.’
That couldn’t happen.
After watching the interview, Ji-hyun immediately connected the TV to the internet and binge-watched all the content she had missed.
From the sofa where she sat, until the sun went down and she finally stood up to stretch.
It had truly been several hours of pure happiness.
As expected, being a fan was so enjoyable.
Of course, it wasn’t only enjoyable.
‘Poor Ah-young.’
Ji-hyun looked at Ah-young on her phone with a pitying expression.
She was truly cute and adorable. She was also working incredibly hard.
And yet, perhaps because no one was watching and they filmed carelessly, Ah-young’s individual fancams were barely visible because she was blocked by the jimmy jib camera, and even in the group fancams, the number of times she received a solo shot could be counted on one hand.
The same was true for their content.
You could clearly see how hard she was trying, but she still wasn’t receiving attention.
Even so, Ji-hyun thought that Ah-young’s exposure had increased compared to her previous activities, and she replayed even those few pieces of content over and over again, squeezing every bit of enjoyment out of them.
That was all she could give Ah-young as a fan.
Other than increasing her video views by even one more and leaving comments with all her effort…
‘Wait.’
Hold on.
Is that really all I can give her?
I’m not Jang Se-hee right now.
I’m An Ji-hyun.
The most successful idol in South Korea.
Above all, whenever Ah-young had interviews, she had consistently said that Ji-hyun was her role model.
After reaching that thought, Ji-hyun played Ah-young’s fancam video from the beginning again.
‘I can see it.’
She had wondered if it was possible.
A faint smile appeared on Ji-hyun’s lips.
She could see it.
The weaknesses of Ah-young that she couldn’t notice when she was Se-hee.
And beyond that, she could even picture how those weaknesses could be improved.
Then Se-hee followed along with Ah-young’s parts from the video.
There were no particularly difficult sections. It was a dance that only required gentle movements to look pretty, so it was easy.
After dancing along several times, Ji-hyun finally caught her breath and stood in front of the mirror.
Rich.
A role model.
Skilled.
What could she do for Ah-young as a fan?
Ji-hyun grinned.
“There’s probably a lot.”
“Winter unnie.”
“……”
“Unnie.”
“What.”
A sharp answer mixed with the sound of knocking.
Judging only by her tone, it sounded like she might kick her out at any moment.
But unexpectedly, not long after, the door suddenly opened.
In front of Winter, who came out with an irritated expression, stood Ye-seo, blinking her large eyes like a deer.
“Can I come in?”
“……”
Instead of answering, Winter left the door open and turned away.
It was a silent permission for her to follow.
It had been a long time since Ye-seo had come into Winter’s room.
Suddenly, Ye-seo remembered the time when they used to secretly buy snacks and eat them together here.
On Winter’s bed were several objects scattered around that reminded her of those days.
Ye-seo sat behind Winter, who had her back turned and was sitting at the desk, and touched the hand of a stuffed doll as large as her own body.
It was the doll they used to lean against and sleep on together when they had just debuted.
“Today… Ji-hyun unnie…”
“Say it.”
“Wasn’t she strange?”
At Ye-seo’s words, Winter flinched.
Because she had felt the same thing.
But Winter coldly snapped back.
“She fell off the stage. Seonghan oppa said she was still injured. That’s probably why.”
Whether that was true or not, I don’t know, and honestly, it’s none of my business.
“But it’s true that the accident happened.”
“So what are you trying to say?”
Winter suddenly turned her chair toward Ye-seo.
Her lips, bitten tightly, were trembling.
“Are you saying I should have stood there, laughing happily with An Ji-hyun, feeding her food, and asking how she was?”
“No, that’s not what I mean, but somehow…”
Ye-seo stopped for a moment as if her throat was blocked, then continued with difficulty.
“She really looked… hurt.”
“Wake up, Ye-seo. Do you really think there are still feelings like disappointment or hurt between that unnie and us? Do you think there are still human emotions left?”
Winter placed her hand on Ye-seo’s shoulder.
“I know why you think that way. Yes, your heart probably feels uncomfortable. But the company told us not to contact her. What else could we do? Did we even know she was injured that badly?”
Winter took a breath, and her voice trembled more and more.
“And it’s true that An Ji-hyun was quiet today.”
Winter herself didn’t know why she acted that way.
But she knew one thing.
She wasn’t someone who would act like that.
So there was only one answer.
“She’s hiding something from us. Once again, we’re just being used without knowing anything.”
“But still…”
“Don’t only believe what you saw today.”
Winter pulled Ye-seo into a hug and clenched her teeth.
“Believe what you’ve seen all this time.”
“I’ll never be fooled again.”
[Our Story Back Then. Suddenly remembered memory.]
“I feel like you’re still there~”
The song was good.
Ji-hyun had been humming Ah-young’s part with a bright smile, but her expression suddenly turned gloomy.
It was because after Ah-young’s part ended, her wandering gaze landed on the pile of papers on the desk.
“Ah, seriously, what should I do?”
She had been thinking all night, and it felt like her head was about to explode.
She had overflowing money, but she couldn’t provide financial support.
Because if she supported Ah-young’s group, Mate, or their agency under Ji-hyun’s own name, it would cause a huge uproar.
Then again, anonymously providing financial support wasn’t easy either.
There was no one who could help her do that, and she wasn’t even sure whether that money would truly be used entirely for Ah-young.
She briefly considered teaching her dancing or singing.
But that was the same problem.
Going to Mate’s agency and officially saying she would teach Ah-young dance?
There was no way that would be possible.
And officially contacting Mate’s agency directly sounded even more ridiculous.
Of course, if she thought about it carefully, there were other methods.
For example, donating a huge amount of money to a birthday support project, opening tons of birthday cafes across the country, putting up subway advertisements, things like that.
But whether those things would fundamentally help Ah-young was uncertain.
Ah-young had always been someone who wanted to shine brightly as an idol.
Indirectly supporting her with a large amount of money through fan support might be a huge help in the short term, but it probably wasn’t the way that matched her dream.
If it was the Ah-young Ji-hyun knew, she would probably feel burdened by it too.
What should she really do?
