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Chapter 7
Possessed by My Favorite’s Favorite
Winter snorted. It was as if she was wondering what kind of scheme I had in mind.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but just live like you always have. Making excuses is pathetic too.”
After being flustered for a moment, Winter quickly returned to her usual cold and composed self and bluntly spoke.
“You don’t know, do you, unnie? How to apologize.”
The situation, the emotions, everything contrasted sharply.
The half-eaten salad Ji-hyun had barely touched because of her frustration, and Winter’s completely empty salad plate that seemed to say she felt relieved after finishing it all, showed the difference between the two.
Not long after, Winter stood up with her tray, as if she had nothing more to say.
Only the youngest, Ye-seo, followed after her sisters while carrying the food she had left behind, glancing back at Ji-hyun from time to time.
A sense of frustration could be felt from their backs as they walked away. No matter how desperately she reached out, it felt like she would never be able to touch them.
And that applied not only to the members, but to Ji-hyun herself as well.
‘It wasn’t only me who didn’t say anything.’
She had even apologized, yet even that had been ignored.
Even without knowing the full situation, a suffocating frustration and a painful sense of injustice welled up inside her. Even poking at the innocent salad with her fork didn’t make her feel any better.
Was this emotion something the original Ji-hyun had been feeling all along?
“Is this why you called me here?”
With resentful eyes, Ji-hyun stared at the quest window. Her small, trembling whisper escaped her lips.
At that moment, as if answering that it wasn’t the case, Seong-han appeared in the distance.
“Ji-hyun, why did you come all the way to the company? I was actually about to go to the annex.”
“Ah……”
Why did Seong-han’s face look so welcoming?
Ji-hyun barely stopped herself from calling him “oppa” like Winter had and steadied her voice.
“I was just walking around for a bit…… Why are you here, manager?”
“Ah, it’s nothing else, just, um……”
Seong-han trailed off and scratched the back of his head repeatedly. Ji-hyun thought it might be something difficult to talk about, but surprisingly, he explained smoothly.
“You know, I told you before that there was going to be a survival audition program. On YTB.”
“Excuse me……?”
“Ah, it’s okay. The director said that after an accident, it’s possible for someone to occasionally lose memories of things that happened before it. Don’t force yourself to remember.”
Seong-han’s attitude was quite firm, as if there was something she shouldn’t try to recall.
“To explain again, YTB is going to hold a survival audition program this time, and the producer in charge suggested that you, Ji-hyun, become a judge and use it as an opportunity to make your comeback.”
“A judge……?”
“Yeah. Originally, we decided to have some of our company trainees participate to create buzz……”
In other words, Seong-han’s explanation was this.
At first, they planned to have JW Entertainment trainees participate to attract attention, but after looking into it, they found that aside from the trainees already chosen for the debut lineup, there weren’t many who could generate enough buzz.
So after discussing alternatives, they concluded that Ji-hyun, who had recently succeeded with her solo album, would be able to create just as much attention—if not more.
Seong-han clicked his tongue awkwardly while crossing his arms.
“The audition schedule will probably be pretty tight, and your body hasn’t fully recovered yet. You’d also have to teach and mentor trainees you don’t even know. Dealing with all of that would probably be stressful.”
“Ah……”
“So honestly, I refused several times already, but they insisted that I at least tell you personally once. It’s just…… difficult to reject.”
Seeing him slightly raise his thumb with his final words, it seemed the producer had quite a bit of influence.
Ji-hyun understood.
The return of the universally recognized top idol alone would be the biggest gossip topic, and on top of that, she would be a judge.
Ji-hyun recalled the audition programs she had watched before.
She probably wouldn’t have as much pressure as the contestants, but if she became a judge, there would still be many things she had to pay attention to. No, depending on the broadcast situation, she might actually have even more responsibilities.
But Ji-hyun’s body was not fully healed yet. Hadn’t the system only adapted to 67%?
More importantly, improving her relationship with the members of “Moa” seemed like the priority. They were the people she would interact with the most if she continued living as Ji-hyun.
Besides, the issue of her original body—Se-hee—whose whereabouts were unknown, still hadn’t been resolved.
Starting something else without solving those problems first did not feel right.
It would probably be better to refuse.
“When is the program recording?”
“The exact date hasn’t been decided yet, but it seems they want to debut them in the first half of next year.”
“Then filming will probably start in one or two months.”
“Probably. They’re thinking of running it for about three or four months, ending around January or February, then preparing the kids and debuting them around April or May.”
‘They chose the timing well.’
Moa had only recently made their comeback.
Since it was late August now, if they scheduled the next comeback around March or April, it would be not long after the program ended.
They would probably debut the new group a little later so they wouldn’t overlap with Moa. It seemed they planned to use the attention surrounding Moa and Ahn Ji-hyun to fill the gap where the audition program’s popularity would fade before the debut.
There were many ways to do it.
For example, they could ask Ji-hyun about her experience as a judge in interviews, have magazine interviews, or directly request the company to film a debut support video.
Then they would debut around May and ride on Moa’s popularity through a ripple effect.
That was probably the plan.
But in other words, all of these plans required Ji-hyun.
The intention was so obvious that it almost felt like they were asking her to understand their situation and please accept.
Since the broadcast was still about two months away, she would pretend to think carefully for a while before refusing.
“I’ll think about it.”
When Ji-hyun finally said that, Seong-han’s eyes widened slightly.
“You’re actually considering it?”
“I’m still thinking about it.”
“Right, if that’s what you want…… It’s probably fine to think carefully.”
‘His words and actions don’t seem to match.’
She could tell just from his eyes. Seong-han seemed to be hoping that Ji-hyun would not participate.
Ji-hyun came to that conclusion and lightly discussed her future schedule with Seong-han.
“Then I’ll organize it that way. As for the judge position…… think about it a little more.”
“Yes, I will.”
“Do you have anything else to do at the company? Do you want to see the CEO before you leave?”
“I’ll just go today. I’m a little tired.”
And it was true. The process of getting here had been exhausting enough.
“I’ll contact you. Ah, you don’t have to drive me.”
“But still……”
“I’m really fine. I just want to walk a little.”
After making sure she had her sunglasses, hat, and this time even a mask, Ji-hyun lightly greeted Seong-han.
Outside, the weather was surprisingly cool for summer. Perhaps it was because of the clouds.
Unlike when she arrived, she left through the back entrance, and because she was well covered up, nobody recognized her.
‘It’s peaceful.’
This was the first time she had felt this emotion since possessing Ji-hyun’s body. Thanks to that, her thoughts finally began to organize themselves little by little.
At the same time, a question suddenly came to mind.
‘Are the JW CEO and Ji-hyun close?’
If he had asked whether she wanted to see him before leaving, that would be understandable. But asking if she could leave without seeing him was strange.
It sounded almost like Ahn Ji-hyun always came to meet him.
It was probably a good thing she hadn’t rashly said she wanted to meet him.
She would have to look into this later too.
‘Anyway, I’m hungry.’
Because she had been too conscious of the members in the cafeteria, she had barely eaten her salad, and now hunger was rushing over her.
On the way, Ji-hyun entered a convenience store and instinctively picked up a kimbap.
Beep—
“3,400 won.”
“Ah.”
Right, now that she thought about it, money……
‘Using someone else’s money feels a little uncomfortable.’
It was true that she was Ji-hyun now, but using Ji-hyun’s money still felt strange.
Yeah. The annex wasn’t that far away anyway. She would just eat whatever was in the refrigerator there.
Just as Ji-hyun thought that and tried to put the kimbap back—
Ding—
