I already knew how Seon Ahyeon lived here.
'Because there's a lot of information.'
Articles.
Interviews, magazines, WeTube…
It was no different from reality that I could see Seon Ahyeon's name through auto-completion by just entering 'Seon' in the search box.
However, the search results were different.
… Because Seon Ahyeon here didn't quit ballet.
[Seon Ahyeon wins Prix de Lausanne… The future of Korean ballet is bright]
[K-Syndrome in ballet? Seon Ahyeon "I worked sincerely"]
After winning a prize at an international competition that only teenagers participated in, he distinguished himself in various competitions and joined an overseas ballet company.
Because he was such a good person, he became famous in Korea as soon as he got through the algorithm on WeTube, and he was even filmed in a few commercials after appearing on a talk show.
So, I thought there would be no chance of him meeting Ryu Gunwoo unless I debuted.
The person in question suddenly jumped out and started talking.
Without stuttering even once, his tone was much more refined than that of the guy I knew.
"Would you like some coffee instead?"
"… No."
It felt like I got hit in the head. Fuck.
I poured out the remaining drink in my mouth and mumbled.
"Thank you. It was a good drink."
So please go away.
"Yes."
However, Seon Ahyeon did not leave and sat quietly next to me.
'What is he doing?'
I reflexively checked him. He was wearing a black neck-tie that looked like casual clothing, and his hair was not set.
If he came to the filming set as an idol, he wouldn't have done this.
"…"
It wasn't like I never wondered why Seon Ahyeon was in this state and not an idol.
Because I knew the point in Seon Ahyeon's life that his path changed from an idol to this for sure.
[Sehwa Arts Middle School Graduation List]
'There was no Chae Seodam among his classmates.'
Seon Ahyeon here did not meet Chae Seodam in school because their ages were different.
So he graduated without any trouble, continued to major in ballet, and continued down that path.
There was no room for deviation.
-Yes, actually… My body shape wasn't suited for ballet.
This guy previously said he quit by talking about things like his feet and pelvis, but it seemed like there was a mental cause as well.
Even though his physique hadn't changed, I saw that he was still doing ballet right now.
'… That's why I didn't even bother to contact him.'
In fact, there was no way to meet him other than in an extremely unnatural way, and even if I did, what could I do?
He was someone who had already achieved professional achievements in a completely different field at a similar age to reality.
… Even if I tried to awaken him, wouldn't he be even more confused?
'Just… I was planning on letting him live his own life and clear things myself.'
I folded the paper cup and put it down without saying a word.
Then, suddenly a voice interrupted me.
"I'm sorry if I interrupted your rest."
"It's not like that."
Let's make up an excuse.
"I was a little surprised. In a place like this, Seon Ahyeon… sunsoonim. I didn't expect to see you."
(TN: Sunsoonim translates to athlete and is a respectful way to address athletes! It is similar to sunbaenim.)
He wasn't even an athlete, but I said it as if he were on a national team. It didn't matter.
"Thank you for your concern."
"Ah… Yes."
He smiled faintly and opened his mouth as if to say something, but his smartphone started ringing in his pocket.
Ring.
Then his expression changed to look a little embarrassed.
"If it's okay, can you keep the fact that you met me here a secret? I made a mistake."
"Sure."
"Thank you. Ah—"
Seon Ahyeon hesitated to pick up the paper cup I had placed on the floor and quickly ran down the hallway while answering the ringing phone.
Even in the midst of this, he looked back and even bowed, so it seemed like his inner spirit was still the same.
[Why is Seon Ahyeon here…]
I held back a sigh.
'It's obvious.'
We met in the middle of the hallway on the set of a program being prepared, and he asked me to pretend not to see him?
It meant he would be appearing on the program.
Not as a private consultant giving choreography advice, but as a real special appearance.
For example… okay. A judge.
"The theme of this next performance is 'art.'"
Filming started again.
On stage, the president was excitedly holding the microphone and speaking.
'Singers can also perform special performances in various collaborations and commemorative stages. Therefore, a meaningful stage must be able to be expressed properly.' This was the summary of his long explanation.
-We've recruited special artists related to art! Please utilize them!
'I guess Seon Ahyeon is included there.'
And as expected, before even announcing the randomly formed teams, the president introduced them with the name 'special judges.'
Starting with some kind of pop art master, even an orchestra conductor entered.
"This is the ballerino, Seon Ahyeon."
"Wow!"
I didn't know if it was okay to cast someone like that in a program to create a male idol group, but the president seemed excited anyway.
Cha Eugene slapped me on the back.
"Hyung, did you see him??"
"Yes."
I had eyes, so of course I saw him.
Fortunately, Cha Eugene's fuss seemed to be just a reaction for the broadcast. Anyway, the lineup was too flashy to be used for an in-house agency survival show.
'Is it because the broadcast went well that there was more investment than before?'
There was only one person who knew.
I looked back at Cheongryeo, but of course, he had on a calm and weak face made for broadcasting.
And when our eyes met, he grinned as if he was sending a signal of his appreciation for the special judges.
'Is he even taking reaction cuts?'
He was a really nasty guy in many ways.
'Of course, I can read him in other ways, too.'
I called up the 'Companion List' from the status window.
Well, if I looked at this, I could get a rough idea of what that guy was thinking…
[Shin Jaehyun: Working hard on filming (^-^)]
"…"
Couldn't it be explained in more detail?
[Hyung, privacy! You have to protect your companions' privacy!]
Oh, yeah.
I suppressed my annoyance and turned off the status window.
Separately, I felt that Keundal was intentionally making a fuss with the pop-up. Before filming, he made a fuss in the hallway as well.
'It's okay now.'
Okay. Filming was something that included setting aside all of my time and space for work, so it was nice to be able to exclude as many distracting thoughts as possible.
Since the sense of working was dominant, I only had to work towards my goals.
Thanks to this, my head was less noisy.
'Useless thoughts are prohibited from now on.'
I just ended it by saying it was nice to see someone I hadn't seen in a long time, including my first homma as well… Well, it seemed like she was having fun, so it was okay.
Let's end it like that.
I just waited for the boss to make the announcement about the teams.
"The judges will also give you feedback as mentors, so we will form a team under each judge."
I got it, bastard.
Then, the participants were called one by one.
They were organized into a total of 4 groups of 3, but there was nothing special about them other than the fact that Ryu Chungwoo and Cheongryeo were in the same group.
Until I was called.
"Ryu Gunwoo, Jeong Woodan and… Jin Chaeyul."
"… !"
"The mentor artist will be ballerino Seon Ahyeon."
"…"
From Seon Ahyeon to Jin Chaeyul.
'I said it was okay because I'd be filming, but they just increased the level of difficulty.'
This team match looked like it would test my patience.
• * *
"Hyung, we're finally on the same team!"
"Yes. I'm counting on you."
"Yes! I will do my best!"
Jin Chaeyul seemed to be in very good condition. And he also explained his reasons.
"Really… I guess the president changed his mind. It's the same with the guerrilla stage, and the fact that we performed together again!"
He was letting out his thoughts freely. What if his condition improved because of that?
Of course, it wasn't like the real president went beyond his tastes and fell in love with the marine look stage.
I checked my team members and mentor again and came to a conclusion.
'He set it up like this on purpose to destroy the marine look image.'
Since we were paired with a ballerino, we couldn't perform a stage with a light concept like before, and he even added a main stage to set the mood.
In other words, I think he was planning to cover up the image that Jin Chaeyul and I had by choosing something more impressive than the previous marine look performance.
'He's dreaming big too.'
If there was a person in the world who appreciated Cheongryeo, he would be the best at it. What kind of president could make an agency successful despite being so stubborn about his tastes?
'Anyway… Am I the leader this time too?'
Since the other two people were VTIC members, it didn't matter. Both of them were probably yes-men.
And wouldn't it be nice to become a leader again and get high praise from the president?
"Then, let's do our best."
"Yes, yes!"
"Yes."
Naturally, I grabbed a practice sheet and started planning.
First of all, the song selection was to choose from among the artists' songs from LeTi's agency, and for the collaboration… dancing.
… I assumed this would happen because our mentor was Seon Ahyeon. Fortunately, the agency's experts and Seon Ahyeon were in charge of the choreography and specific arrangements, and all we had to do was come up with the concept.
I opened my mouth out of courtesy.
"Is there a concept you would like to do that fits the keyword 'art'?"
I didn't expect an answer, but to my surprise, Chaeyul raised his hand with a very determined expression.
"Oh, I… I have something… !"
"… !"
That VTIC guy… Had an opinion?
Let's listen first.
"Speak comfortably."
"Yes! I… You know the concept that hyung used during our last photo shoot! That vampire concept."
"… … Yes, I know."
The problem was that my hands and feet were being clenched to the point of being shattered.
I suppressed my irritation as I remembered the photo shoot that had surprisingly received a good response on the Internet.
"How about doing it that way? When I think of vampires, I feel a certain elegance… Because dancing is also elegant… !"
"It sounds okay to me."
"… Yeah, it's okay."
No, actually it wasn't okay.
'Why?'
I found the answer in a strange sense of déjà vu.
Dance and vampires.
And LeTi artist selection.
'Ah.'
This… It overlapped a lot with what I did in the first team match during
-Come to me
Come to me
The paradise next to you is dazzling
That stage was the horror arrangement of FluffySweet's 'To a New World'.
'Should I turn the tide?'
But now the two VTIC guys were at odds with each other and leading the conversation.
Since they were given written guidelines of 'what to do' and 'what not to do', these people also began to open their mouths.
"Have you thought of a song?"
"I don't know… Oh, should we find a song from our agency that goes well with ballet?"
"Are there songs suitable for ballet? In that case, we should first write down the songs that used dance in their choreography."
"Okay! Hyung, is this… How does it feel? Is it okay?"
Here, both accurate timing and sound evidence were needed to persuade him.
The problem was that, rationally, I knew that there was no need to stop him.
'He doesn't know.'
Everyone didn't know anyway.
Was this the world that Park Moondae went to for
I already knew. That stage didn't exist in this world. There was no problem with using it. But…
'Shut up.'
I didn't know why I was whining so much. There was a sheet, so all I had to do was use it.
Now, before it got too late and strange editing took place, silence could be seen as careful consideration.
I opened my mouth.
"It seems like a good approach. I'll look for a song too."
"Yes!!"
Jin Chaeyul's face became brighter.
He said, 'I wanted to be helpful this time.' After talking about how I did most of the work last time. He then excitedly searched for songs to use.
However, even after searching through all of LeTi's songs, there was no song that used dance in its choreography as much as 〈To a New World〉.
I knew what would happen. It was a song with soft dance without strong verses, so it wouldn't be strange to call it 'poisonous'.
"…"
But… I guess this was okay.
"I will also look for songs that I think will go well with an arranged choreography. This way, it might appear more uniquely charming compared to the original, so we can consider them as candidates."
"Wow… Yes, yes!"
I finished the selection process by finding four or five more candidate songs and listing them.
But an hour later…
Seon Ahyeon came as a mentor and gave this advice.
"Because the rhythm of each dance is different, I would like to recommend using a song that uses existing dance choreography in terms of final quality."
"Oh, then… This song?"
Chaeyul carefully traced the song with his hand.
[FluffySweet – To a new world]
Seon Ahyeon smiled and nodded.
"Yes."
Ah.
If that was the case.
"Gunwoo hyung, what do you think?"
"It's good."
Let's do that.
"I think it will be a great stage. I will help you so that the choreography can be done according to the tempo as much as possible."
"Yes!"
"Thank you."
He took the time to kindly and detailedly teach us a few movements.
And before heading back, when I was going through the camera data, Seon Ahyeon suddenly approached me and started talking to me.
"I'm sorry for just pretending not to know you. They said I wasn't allowed to talk to the contestants until the first filming…"
"No. We were being filmed, so it's okay."
I reflexively took out a gift in return from the front pocket of my training clothes.
"Thank you for the hot chocolate. It was a good drink."
"Yes."
Seon Ahyeon, who received the glucose candy, did not take a step even though it was his cue to leave.
I didn't know why.
"Excuse me…"
At that time, a loud voice was heard from behind.
"Ahyeon-ssi~! Ahyeon-ssi?"
"… ! Oh, I'm here."
They must have been an employee of Seon Ahyeon's agency.
I nodded.
"Then, I'll go in and practice."
"… Yes. See you again."
The guy walked along with the employee.
"…"
I turned around and headed to the practice room. To practice the FluffySweet song once again.
I didn't think anything of it.
And the next time I saw Seon Ahyeon was two days later, on the day of the mid-term evaluation.