I Was Trying To Debut My Baby, But I Ended Up Debuting Instead

Chapter 21

“Uh? You?”

“Hello.”

“I heard you made it to Ace? You’re pretty good.”

The person placed a hand on Hyesung’s shoulder. It was Seongbin.

“…Yes. But, unnie, why are you wearing the pants? I heard it’s not time to wear those yet.”

‘Looks like she does some impulsive actions too. I should avoid getting involved with her.’

Seongbin had taken the pants uniform hanging on the rack and changed into it on her own.

Since it hadn’t been officially issued yet, it could be seen as stealing, with some exaggeration.

“Oh, I just tried it on. It’s a fitting, a fitting. How is it? Awesome, right? When it comes to uniforms, it’s me.”

Seongbin confidently placed her hands on her waist and struck a pose in front of Hyesung. Honestly, it was no joke.

It wasn’t a lie that she had worked as a model; she had charisma beyond just being tall.

“You do look like an officer. But you should change back into a skirt quickly, right? If you’re going to stand like that, move aside so I can change first.”

Hyesung gently pushed Seongbin aside and went into the curtain.

It might have been a bit rude, but since their ranks didn’t overlap and they had no other connection, she thought it didn’t matter.

After finishing her makeup, Hyesung headed to the stage.

A few Ace-ranked members were warming up on the floor. Among them, Na Yeonwoo was also visible.

“Hyesung~ you’re here?”

Hyun Nana waved her hand.

Until yesterday, her hair was bleached and frizzy, but after a professional touch, it transformed into sleek blonde hair.

“What did you do to your hair?”

“It’s amazing, right! They sprayed something and straightened it with high heat, and it turned out like this. But they said it’s not good to do it often. You braided your hair?”

“I just sat still and let them do whatever.”

Hyesung’s straight hair without bangs had been transformed into a style with thin braids on both sides at the front.

Honestly, she didn’t really like it, but she stayed still because it was a hassle. She thought it must be tough to style each person according to their demands.

“Unnie, it suits you well.”

Na Yeonwoo said while touching Hyesung’s hair. Na Yeonwoo’s hair was straight and simple with just a bit of root volume added. The parting was still 6 to 4.

Seeing Na Yeonwoo, Hyesung covered her mouth. The low-saturation blue color and natural black hair matched so well that her face seemed to shine.

The halo she saw was so dazzling that she couldn’t tell if it was Na Yeonwoo or Aphrodite.

“Yeonwoo, why are you shining like this…! Are you finally returning to the heavens?”

“What are you saying, unnie, you’re joking…?”

Na Yeonwoo covered her mouth with her long hand and laughed softly, seeming to think it was really a joke.

‘It’s not something in my eyes; she’s just openly good-looking. What to do with this baby sculpture.’

After Hyesung babbled nonsense for about five minutes, Han Youngwon interrupted.

“Let’s go up to the stage.”

“Ah, yes.”

After finishing the run-through rehearsal, the actual filming began. Everyone had a good sense of what to do, so the filming went smoothly.

“It was good this time, but let’s go again one more time?”

However, with too many lights above, the more they repeated the filming, the more sweat poured down. Although their makeup was ruined, the director insisted that this look was more appealing and repeated “just one more time” at least ten times.

They finally got the OK sign past 6 PM.

Hyesung’s legs, unable to be taped due to the uniform, trembled like a tractor during the filming, but she suppressed it and finished the stage without mistakes.

A four-leaf clover effect was triggered once in the middle, and Hyesung thought it might appear in a passing shot in the video later.

“Good job, everyone~!”

Now all that was left was to go home.

* * *

Back home, Hyesung lay around, thinking she should train her stamina until the next camp.

“Yoon Hyesung! You said you were tired, but you’re not going to sleep late just because tomorrow is Saturday, are you? That habit will stick. You have to sleep early to go to school from Monday!”

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Hyesung’s mother stormed in.

“Mom, it’s only 11 o’clock. And what school?”

“Are you thinking of quitting school just because you’re becoming a celebrity? You’re a senior now!”

Hyesung had forgotten she was 19 and a senior in high school.

Since she was thrown into this world at the end of February, Hyesung hadn’t had to go to school. It was vacation, after all.

But after returning from the camp, three days had already passed since school started. The new semester had begun.

“Hyesung, being a singer is good, but you have to take the college entrance exam. Are you really not going to college?”

Seeing her mother’s face change from scolding to worry, Hyesung felt a pang of guilt.

‘Mom… I’m sorry, your daughter got stuck being a fan and became a high school student. But now, I don’t think I can get into the college I went to before…’

Realizing she had lost her academic background and job, she felt she had committed a huge filial failure.

“I probably can’t go to college.”

“What!”

Her mother’s face turned angry again, like the two-faced Janus.

“Pack your bag and prepare your uniform! Don’t make a fuss in the morning because you woke up late!”

“Ah, mom. I got it. I’ll take care of it, so please leave~”

Pushing her nagging mother out of the room, Hyesung paced anxiously.

“…When did I graduate high school, and now I have to go back.”

But Hyesung, who had blended well at the camp, thought it wouldn’t be too uncomfortable to mix with the young kids and pretend to be a teenager.

“But I really do have to prepare for the entrance exam again.”

Pretending to be a teenager was less daunting than that.

“Ha, damn. The curriculum must have changed, so what should I do~!”

Hyesung packed her bag while threatening the status window that she would infect the system with ransomware if it didn’t help her with the college entrance exam.

“School… Whatever. I’ll just go.”

* * *

Two days later, Hyesung boarded the subway with an uneasy step. She was half out of her mind knowing that the school she was attending, Marine Arts High School, had produced many idols.

Marine Arts High School had numerous Supernova Project participants, including Na Yeonwoo and Cha Joo Yeon, and it was also Minty’s alma mater.

‘I want to be eliminated in the third round and quietly study. I hope the kids pretend not to know me, no matter how I appear on the broadcast.’

With the first episode edited to attract attention, it was almost impossible for Hyesung to quietly attend school.

Creak.

Hyesung, who had deliberately gone to school early, nervously opened the classroom door. Seeing the empty desks, it seemed no one had arrived yet.

“Where is my seat?”

Hyesung looked around, thinking there might be a seating chart on the teacher’s desk, but there was nothing.

“Don’t they put up seating charts these days? There are no name tags on the desks either…”

Having no choice, she decided to sit at a desk without any belongings and started checking each desk. At that moment, the classroom door opened.

“What… are you doing?”

“Uh? Uh, um. I was looking for my seat.”

“Oh, right. It’s your first time here since the grade changed. Did you have a good camp?”

“Yeah…”

‘Who is this? Who could it be? Please make me remember!’

If it was a friend from the first or second year, it would be awkward to say, “Who are you?”

“Your seat is at the end of the first row.”

“Oh, uh, thanks.”

Hyesung hurriedly found her seat and sat down.

Over the weekend, she had searched her phone diligently, finding many names in her contacts. However, she couldn’t tell which ones were school friends.

What was also frustrating was that her savings, including the ‘Yeonwoo Savings’ which had over ten million won, were all gone.

‘I thought since the apps were intact, the savings would be too.’

As she sat awkwardly, classmates began to gather one by one.

Most greeted Hyesung familiarly, making her break out in a cold sweat.

There were no name tags on the school uniforms.

When almost everyone had arrived, a tall, pale male student placed his bag next to Hyesung.

“Hi.”

The male student greeted first. Judging by the atmosphere, it seemed they didn’t know each other.

“Oh, hi.”

‘But he looks familiar. Who could he be?’

Hyesung was frustrated that she couldn’t remember.

“What’s the first period today?”

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

“I said, I don’t know.”

‘How would I know the first period when I don’t even know who you are?’

The male student seemed taken aback. Maybe because the answer was so far from what he expected.

“Uh… are you mad at me or something?”

“No?”

“Oh, I get it. You’re upset because I kept leaving the seat empty?”

“What seat?”

The male student tapped his desk.

‘What’s this? Does he also not come to school often? Is he an idol?’

“You’re bored and mad because you didn’t have a seatmate?”

“No. I’m also here for the first time today.”

‘He’s drinking kimchi soup by the bowl. He must be an idol. But since his face doesn’t immediately come to mind, he must be from a failing group…’

“You’re here for the first time today?”

“Yeah. Because of the audition camp.”

“Ah! Supernova Project? You participated? Minty noona is on this season!”

‘Why is he calling Ha Hyun unnie so casually? Is he a junior in the same company?’

“Are you close with Minty?”

“Huh? She’s our company’s senior.”

The male student seemed quite flustered. Then, a look of realization dawned on his face, as if he was wondering if she didn’t know him.

‘As expected. But it’s been so long since I quit being a fan; how would I know the faces of the juniors in that company?’

“Oh…”

“Do you… not know me?”

“I know.”

It was a lie. But she knew the group name, so it wasn’t entirely a lie.

“Who doesn’t know Enkis.”

Enkis (Enki.s) was a junior group that debuted after Hyesung left Runestar.

It was a second-tier group, so Hyesung knew some of the members, but as someone who didn’t like male idols, she didn’t know the entire group.

“Sorry. I thought you might not know.”

‘Who doesn’t know Enkis. Most ordinary people don’t. He looks embarrassed with that praise.’

“You probably don’t know me.”

“……”

The Enkis member was silent. He genuinely didn’t know his seatmate’s name.

‘I understand since you don’t come to school often.’

“…Ah! Joo-ha noona is also on that show, right? Have you met her? Lee Joo-ha, the trainee from Q Media.”

The Enkis member changed the subject. He seemed embarrassed.

“Yeah. I happened to be in the same room as Joo-ha unnie. We were in the same rank.”

“Wow, really? Oh, but if you were in the same rank as Joo-ha noona, you must be in the Ace rank!”

The Enkis member hit the desk in surprise and looked at Hyesung with wide eyes.

“What? Hyesung is in the Ace rank?”

“Really? Uh? But can we talk about this?”

‘I didn’t say it; he guessed it himself.’

A few classmates gathered around them.