Chapter 47
In the end, Jo Hee-on sprinkled peanut powder on Yoon Cheong’s chicken breast.
If there was a slight hitch, it was that it took a bit of time to get the peanut powder since it was dawn.
So, the time Jo Hee-on sprinkled the peanut powder was 6 o’clock in the morning.
Fortunately, no one was awake at that time.
Kim Ryeo-yu had already gone to her room at 3 o’clock.
Only Jo Hee-on could enter the dormitory at 6 o’clock.
Jo Hee-on hesitated until the moment she sprinkled the peanut powder, but in the end, she did.
However, she did not sprinkle all that Director Kim had given her.
If she sprinkled a fistful of it, she thought that Yoon Cheong might really die.
At the moment she sprinkled a little peanut powder and turned around,
Rustle.
There was a noise from behind.
Her heart sank with a thud.
Jo Hee-on turned around trembling, but there was no one.
She must have heard it wrong.
Jo Hee-on quickly put the chicken breast in the refrigerator and went to her room.
To the room where Kim Ryeo-yu and Yeon Juhong would be.
Fortunately, the two were deep in sleep, and they did not wake up even when Jo Hee-on entered.
Jo Hee-on glared at the face of Kim Ryeo-yu, who was asleep without a care in the world.
If it weren’t for you.
From some point, Jo Hee-on’s anger grew.
If it weren’t for you.
And if it weren’t for Yoon Cheong.
***
“…Where did Cheong go?”
10 o’clock in the morning.
Jo Hee-on came out of the room later than usual.
Most of the trainees were inside the dormitory.
They were scheduled to go for makeup as a group from 11 o’clock to prepare for rehearsal.
But Yoon Cheong was nowhere to be seen.
“Ah, Sister Cheong.”
Kim Geum answered with a frown.
“She said she wasn’t feeling well and went to the hospital.”
!
In the end.
Jo Hee-on suppressed her heart that seemed to keep falling and asked again.
“She’s not feeling well? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. When I woke up, she was already sick and went to the hospital. She just left a text.”
How sick is she?
Jo Hee-on began to worry slowly.
At that moment, Jo Hee-on’s eyes met Kim Ryeo-yu’s.
Kim Ryeo-yu’s eyes were full of joy.
“Sister Cheong seemed to be very sick.”
Then Ryu Bo-ra chimed in.
“She went to the hospital early in the morning when no one was awake.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
Jo Hee-on asked with a trembling voice.
“I don’t know that either.”
“Oh no, is something serious happening to Cheong Cheong?”
Yeon Juhong spoke from behind, brushing her teeth.
“I don’t know. Will she be able to come before the shooting? It’s about to start.”
Seo Baek-young also spoke in a worried voice.
“Today’s shooting is okay, she can rest for a day. But tomorrow is the day of our mission stage.”
Lee Kyunga, who had been listening quietly, spoke.
“Cheong has to get better by then. Her role is really important.”
“Does anyone have contact with Sister Cheong?”
Ryu Bo-ra asked the other trainees.
But everyone shook their heads.
No one was in contact.
As the faces of the trainees were filled with worry,
“Did you all sleep well?”
PD Oh and Writer Kang arrived.
“We’ll shoot one scene here in the morning, then go for makeup and move on to rehearsal.”
“Yes!”
Several staff members were also with them. As soon as the trainees nodded their heads, the staff started setting up the shooting.
When the setting was finished, PD Oh took his place.
The trainees also sat huddled on the opposite side, as if they were used to it.
“Well, you must have been surprised. Some of you may already know, but this morning, trainee Yoon Cheong went to the hospital because she wasn’t feeling well.”
“!”
The cameras close-upped the surprised faces of the trainees.
“We’ll do the vocal position rehearsal last. If trainee Yoon Cheong can come back by then, we’ll try rehearsing together. If she doesn’t seem to be able to come back, let’s match the three of you without trainee Yoon Cheong. Okay?”
“Yes….”
The expression of the vocal team naturally darkened.
Lee Kyunga and Ryu Bo-ra were worried, and Jo Hee-on was tense and fearful.
“But where is Sister Cheong sick? Is it serious?”
Yeon Juhong raised her hand and asked.
“It’s not serious, her throat is a little sore.”
“Her throat?!”
For a singer, the throat is life.
Especially when an important stage is ahead.
“She’s resting well after getting an IV, so she’ll be fine. She said it’s not serious.”
But the trainees’ worries did not go away.
Except for Kim Ryeo-yu.
Jo Hee-on and Kim Ryeo-yu’s eyes met.
Kim Ryeo-yu was definitely smiling. She closed her eyes sweetly.
“Oh, right.”
PD Oh scratched the back of his head.
“By any chance, did any of the trainees go outside between 3 and 7 yesterday?”
“Huh?”
PD Oh looked a little headache.
“Normally, we have to turn off the camera during that time, but our youngest forgot to turn it off. So the camera was on. The camera in the room wasn’t on, but the cameras in the hallway, living room, and kitchen were on.”
At those words, the color drained from two people’s faces.
“So, if there’s anyone who went outside in embarrassing clothes during that time. Then, Writer Kang here and I will check it together and delete the video. Tell me now.”
None of the trainees raised their hands.
However, Jo Hee-on’s hand was trembling.
The camera was rolling at that time?
The exact time when I put peanut powder in Yoon Cheong’s food?
Jo Hee-on looked at Kim Ryeo-yu with desperate eyes.
It was a questioning look, asking what on earth she should do.
However, Kim Ryeo-yu only avoided her gaze.
As if it wasn’t her business.
“No? Then let’s move on.”
I have to raise my hand.
That video has to be deleted.
But, but.
What excuse should I make?
What should I say to ask them to delete that video?
***
Yoon Cheong did not come to the rehearsal either.
Even when all the teams had finished their rehearsals, Yoon Cheong could not come.
In the end, the vocal team had to rehearse without Yoon Cheong.
The vocal team was at loss as to how to rehearse because Yoon Cheong did not come back.
“If Yoon Cheong can’t come tomorrow, will there be a hole? No, the remaining three should try to divide it.”
PD Oh said that as if it was a matter of course.
In a hurry, the three of them had to digest Yoon Cheong’s part.
Of course, it was a mess.
From the beginning, the concept of singing in pairs was strangely broken, so there was nothing they could do.
Of course, the vocal team was filled with sadness and confusion.
In an instant, they fell from the strongest winning candidate to the last candidate.
Since Yoon Cheong, who had the highest possibility of MVP of MVP, was out, the situation was even more dire.
“But it’s too much.”
On the way home.
There was silence on the bus where the trainees were riding.
Even though the camera followed the bus for the first time in a long time, it was like that.
Because the situation of the vocal team was pitiful to anyone who saw it.
In a situation where no one could open their mouths casually, Park Ha-eun opened her mouth.
“If it were me, no matter how sick I was, I would have come to the rehearsal. Even if I couldn’t get makeup-”
“Park Ha-eun.”
Kim Geum, who was on the same team as Park Ha-eun, immediately frowned.
“We don’t even know the situation of Sister Cheong now, do we? We shouldn’t add words in such a situation.”
Especially when there is a camera like this.
Kim Geum gave Park Ha-eun a hint.
However, Park Ha-eun didn’t seem to want to shut up.
“No, I’m saying this because I’m sorry. At least she could have contacted us whether she could come tomorrow or not?”
“That’s true.”
Kim Ryeo-yu quietly added her words.
“I understand Cheong’s situation. But I think she could have contacted us. PD Oh also said that it’s not a serious situation.”
“Maybe Sister Cheong….”
Shin Yu-hyun opened her mouth for a moment, then shut her mouth, looking around.
“Why?”
Kim Ryeo-yu urged Shin Yu-hyun.
“Did she run away? Sister, when she first joined Colors….”
“Yu-hyun, that’s enough.”
Seo Baek-young shook her head.
Shin Yu-hyun immediately shut her mouth. Seo Baek-young was still like an idol to all the trainees.
A sense of regret passed through Kim Ryeo-yu’s eyes.
She knew what Shin Yu-hyun was trying to say.
When Yoon Cheong just entered Colors.
There was a time when she couldn’t participate properly in the end-of-month evaluation because of her nervousness.
She was stuck in the bathroom vomiting and couldn’t come out in the end.
All the trainees remembered that incident.
Fortunately, at that time, it was an individual evaluation, not a team evaluation, so they could pass it off lightly.
But the perception of Yoon Cheong had already been ingrained in the minds of all the trainees.
A person who can run away at any time.
A weak person.
A person without responsibility.
That Yoon Cheong had changed a lot since Make a New Color started.
That Yoon Cheong, is she really the Yoon Cheong we know?
But the perception that was ingrained at first was still in everyone’s hearts.
Once a person like that.
Can’t she do it again?
Seo Baek-young, who noticed such anxiety, opened her mouth again.
“Of course, the vocal team is in a confusing and difficult situation. But let’s not add words here and there while the vocal team kids are quiet.”
At the moment when it seemed to finally calm down with Seo Baek-young’s words.
“Sister Baek-young is right. We’re not the vocal team, so we shouldn’t speak casually.”
Kim Ryeo-yu asked.
“Then is the vocal team okay?”