🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 8
“Huh? No way. Absolutely not. Everyone’s waiting to hear me sing live.”
“We already have the pre-recording. Let’s just use that.”
“Am… am I really that bad? Was I off the beat?”
At Yoon Cheong’s repeated insistence, Kim Geum asked with a thoroughly flustered expression.
“No. Your timing was perfect. You weren’t off even once.”
“Then why? What’s the problem?”
“You’ve never performed without in-ear monitors before. There’s no reason to take the risk. Let’s play it safe. The fans already know you’re dealing with hearing problems. They’ll understand—”
“Cheong-Cheong.”
Kim Geum gently grabbed Yoon Cheong’s wrist.
The trembling in her hand traveled straight through, and Yoon Cheong immediately fell silent.
Kim Geum was shaking.
The same Kim Geum who hadn’t trembled even during the debut survival show.
“You know, Cheong-Cheong…”
“…”
“Out of all our members… I’m the one who has nothing except my skills.”
“…!”
“My fans don’t like me because of anything else. They like me because of my skills. That’s the only reason.”
What?
For a moment, Yoon Cheong wondered if she’d heard wrong.
Of all people…
Kim Geum actually believed that?
She really thought the only reason people loved her was because of her talent.
Yoon Cheong could easily list hundreds—
No.
Thousands—
Of Kim Geum’s charms.
Looking into Kim Geum’s wavering eyes, Yoon Cheong finally understood.
The hearing loss hadn’t simply taken away Kim Geum’s performances.
For Kim Geum…
The stage.
Music.
Those were the very foundation of her soul.
They were everything.
And now that foundation had begun to shake.
Along with it…
So had the confidence and pride that had always made Kim Geum seem so unwavering.
“Geum.”
“How can you say that? The fans—”
“The entertainment industry is all about knowing your place if you want to survive.”
Kim Geum forced herself to smile.
“I heard.”
“Our company’s debuting a new rookie girl group soon.”
“…!”
“If I don’t perform well, our promotions are going to shrink.”
“This is the most important time for us.”
“It’s just one live performance. That’s not going to…”
“No, Geum.”
“It absolutely isn’t.”
“Maybe at other companies.”
“But not ours.”
Yoon Cheong found herself speechless.
“Colors watches everything.”
“They blame the members for everything.”
“The moment they think we’ve disappointed them even a little…”
“The first thing they do is reduce our promotions.”
“…”
Kim Geum had been carrying thoughts like that all this time.
Yoon Cheong couldn’t find any words.
She’d fought so desperately to prevent the other members from living under that kind of pressure.
She’d worked so hard to make Baek Juha the group’s leader.
And yet…
None of the burden had disappeared.
The realization made her dizzy.
“It’s not like that anymore, Geum.”
“Juha unni has us now—”
“But I don’t want the company to go easy on us.”
“…!”
“I don’t even want that.”
“I want to compete fairly with my skills.”
“It’s not like I can’t perform live.”
“I’m confident.”
“I really am.”
“So please…”
“Just trust me this once.”
After saying that, Kim Geum took a deep breath.
“I’m Kim Geum.”
Those words pierced Yoon Cheong’s heart.
Because you are Kim Geum.
That’s exactly why I trust you more than anyone.
And that’s exactly why…
I don’t want to send you out there.
The solo stage Kim Geum chose…
Was a song she’d composed herself.
A solo song she’d written and performed back when she was still a trainee.
Originally she’d planned to do a cover.
But she changed her mind because of her hearing loss.
At times like this…
It was better to perform the song she knew best.
The one she had the most confidence in.
It was a singing rap track.
She’d hesitated because the style was a little outdated.
But…
That actually worked in her favor.
Since it wasn’t too fast, she’d probably be able to stay on beat.
If she stumbled through an overly fast rap…
That would be a complete disaster.
Kim Geum gripped the handheld microphone.
The members had opposed her trying to perform both singing rap and choreography together.
So this time…
She could finally focus entirely on the rap.
Whew…
Kim Geum took a deep breath.
Before stepping onto the stage, she looked up from the stairs.
Ryu Bora was still performing.
“…Wow.”
Ryu Bora…
She’s really good.
Seriously.
Since when did she improve this much?
Kim Geum found herself impressed all over again.
Today’s song choice was an OST from one of the dramas Ryu Bora had starred in as a child actress.
It had been an enormous hit.
That also made it risky.
People naturally compared every performance to the original.
Yet despite that…
Ryu Bora sang beautifully.
Watching her…
It felt nice.
If Ryu Bora were standing beside her right now…
Kim Geum would’ve said—
“Hey, Ryu Bora.”
While rubbing her face against Ryu Bora’s shoulder.
“You seriously sing so well.”
“It’s annoying.”
Ryu Bora would’ve answered…
“Says the person who’s even better.”
Kim Geum could practically hear that voice.
She let out a quiet chuckle.
Just then—
“We’re going to check your in-ear monitors.”
A staff member she’d never seen before approached her.
“Oh… I…”
“I’m turning the sound on now. Please check whether you can hear it clearly.”
“No, I…”
We decided I wasn’t using the in-ears today.
Kim Geum’s eyes shook.
Apparently the staff member hadn’t been informed beforehand.
Looks like Colors messed things up again.
That wasn’t exactly surprising.
Kim Geum simply smiled awkwardly.
“If the volume’s too loud, let us know.”
“…”
Even then…
Sound began flowing through the monitors.
Because there was only one frequency available, the only thing reaching her ears was Ryu Bora’s voice from the stage.
Normally…
One side of the in-ear played the instrumental.
The other carried the singer’s own voice.
Unfortunately…
The ear that still functioned relatively well happened to be connected to the vocalist channel.
Without the instrumental…
Ryu Bora’s raw, unfiltered voice echoed vividly in her ear.
For some reason…
It tugged at her heart.
At the same time…
A temptation crept into her mind.
Just leave the sound on.
Wouldn’t performing be so much easier?
It was only for a moment.
“Is something wrong?”
“Do you need us to adjust anything?”
“Well…”
But leaving the sound on…
Would mean breaking the promise she’d made with the members.
Kim Geum looked once toward Ryu Bora onstage.
Then toward the five thousand fans sitting across from her.
Her members.
Her fans.
“Hm.”
“This is annoying.”
“It feels like I have to choose one or the other.”
But…
Kim Geum had known the answer from the very beginning.
“Turn the in-ear off.”
“Pardon?”
“Completely off.”
“I don’t want to hear anything.”
Keeping her promise to the members…
Didn’t mean betraying her promise to the fans.
She just had to perform well.
That’s all.
“Damn it, Ryu Bora.”
Watching Ryu Bora shining brilliantly onstage, Kim Geum pouted.
“If you perform this well…”
“There’s no way I can afford to do badly.”
Did Kim Geum get possessed or something?
SHE’S SO FREAKING GOOOOOOOOOOOD!!
Hey, all you solo stans who kept trashing My플, are you watching this?
This… is Kim Geum.
This is an unreleased song, right?
Please put this on the full album.
Please put this on the full album.
Do you know what’s trending right now?
Influenza.
Kim Geum.
Kim Geum.
She’s literally a goddess.
★
PLEASE STOP I’M TOO EMOTIONALLY OVERWHELMED GEUMA PLEASE STOOOOP!!!!
From now on Kim Geum and I are considered one body or whatever. Anyone who insults Kim Geum dies or whatever.
Kim Geum, my love.
Kim Geum, my light.
Kim Geum, my soul.
…Anyway, Kim Geum is absolutely insane…
Geum puppy… hug me… hurry and hug me…
I just want to wrap Geum-Geum in the biggest hug… They said she wasn’t in good condition, so how was this performance THIS legendary…?
Feels like the whole world’s yours right now, doesn’t it? Wait five years.
└ It’ll feel like the entire universe is yours.
└└ As of today, the universe already belongs to Kim Geum.
Assistant Manager Kim smiled to herself as she watched the timeline explode.
Of course the reactions were exploding.
Kim Geum’s performance had been absolutely unbelievable.
There wasn’t a single wasted moment from beginning to end.
Halfway through, she’d apparently gotten frustrated and even removed her in-ear monitor…
Yet she never lost the beat once.
It was flawless.
Our girl…
She’s the best.
Assistant Manager Kim thought once again that buying all the fan meeting merchandise today had been the right decision.
More than anything…
Geum’s smile…
It was so bright today.
She looked at the photo she’d secretly taken of Kim Geum with her phone.
There she was.
Kim Geum.
Smiling more brightly than anyone else as she stood on stage.
