Chapter 85
“I agree.”
Ryu Bo-ra immediately raised her hand in agreement.
Wait.
Hold on.
“No way. I can’t be the leader!”
Why wasn’t my opinion asked?
“Why can’t you?”
Seo Baek-young opened her eyes wide and asked.
It was scary.
“No. I just… I can’t do it. You can tell just by looking at me!”
“No. You look like you can do it very well. So well, in fact, that it’s written on your face that you’re a leader. Even if you get lost, people would say, ‘Isn’t she the leader of Colors?’ and bring you back.”
“Exactly!”
I don’t know why everyone was speaking in that manner… but absolutely not.
“Isn’t that you? Who else looks more like a leader than you, Baek-young? Why aren’t you doing it? You were the leader throughout ‘Make a New Color’! Experienced people do the job better! You should do it!”
My voice was getting louder.
And my words were getting faster.
That’s how much I really didn’t want to be the leader.
“It’s not the experienced who do better! It’s the ones who work harder!”
“Well, I’m not going to work hard!”
“Fans! Look at this rookie! She says she won’t work hard even before debuting!”
“Yes! I’ve always been like this! I’ll work hard at everything else except being the leader! But I don’t want to be the leader!”
Why did I hate being the leader so much?
Because I had a strong feeling about it.
The moment I became the leader…
“I just don’t want to do it. Let anyone else be the leader.”
“Wow. Whoever wins is mine.”
“If you made me debut, take responsibility, Cheong.”
Because I had a strong feeling that I would have to take responsibility for these three troublemakers and make them proper people.
Absolutely not.
I am not good at taking care of or raising others.
After all, I’ve been a solo artist for 10 years.
I was going crazy.
I looked at Seo Baek-young with desperate eyes.
Baek-young.
Why?
We were good together.
“I also didn’t think of rejecting the leader position at first.”
Then, Seo Baek-young said seriously.
“But… I realized a lot while doing ‘Make a New Color.’ I’m not the right person to be the leader.”
“No, why would you think such a ridiculous thing-”
I was flustered.
Since when did she think that?
“Alright then.”
At that moment, PD Oh suddenly interrupted.
Damn PD Oh.
This seemed like an important conversation.
I had a strong feeling I should ask Seo Baek-young about it later.
“How about you two make a pledge not to become the leader?”
“….”
“Each of you will present a pledge to persuade the other members. The remaining three will decide who has the better pledge and release that person from the leader position.”
“Oh. I like that.”
PD Oh is the worst.
What kind of pledge is this?
“Me first! I will speak first.”
In the meantime, Seo Baek-young seemed to have adapted quickly and raised her hand.
“If I don’t become the leader, I will take care of all the household chores.”
“Approved.”
“Approved.”
“Cheong. Just be the leader.”
….
Should I quit?
***
“Today’s content is~ reassigning rooms. Light and smooth, right? We don’t push hard from the first day.”
Ugh.
I want to deal with that creepy tone first.
Once the cameras were set up, the five of us gathered in the living room.
“There are four rooms, and five people… how should we divide the rooms?”
“Since the master bedroom is the largest, we can put two people there, and the rest will each have their own room.”
“Ha, I really want a single room.”
Honestly, it’s unusual for a rookie idol group to get such a large and nice dorm.
Only a major agency like Colors could make this possible.
“Does anyone want to share a room?”
Seo Baek-young brought up the difficult topic first.
No one raised their hand.
Well, everyone would prefer a single room.
“Should we decide the rooms through a game?”
“Just as I thought! We’ve prepared a game~!”
As soon as Ryu Bo-ra suggested it, PD Oh said excitedly.
…Of course, he had to get involved.
“What kind of game!?”
Yeon Juhong’s eyes always lit up when it came to games.
“It’s the Truth Eye Game~!”
…?
“The Truth Eye Game is where we hear one TMI about a member and guess whose TMI it is!”
Hmm.
I instantly felt a sour taste in my mouth.
Any game with the word “truth” in it was bound to be tough.
“From now on, you will live together as one idol group, <Steel Blue>, whether you like it or not! But… how much do you know about each other?!”
Not much.
Honestly, we weren’t very close before the program started.
At least Kim Geum and Ryu Bo-ra were close, and Seo Baek-young got along well with everyone.
Ryu Bo-ra was very distant with people, and Yeon Juhong got along well with everyone but had no close friends.
Surprisingly, it seemed hard for her to open up to people.
And I….
Don’t even mention it.
Yoon Cheong, with zero social skills.
Before ‘Make a New Color,’ there was a significant distance between us all, so we knew little about each other.
During the program, there wasn’t much time to share personal stories.
…This will probably reveal to fans how unclose we are.
“The member who gets the most correct answers will have the right to assign rooms for the others~! Winner takes all!”
So the game worked like this.
We hear a question and write the name of the member we think it’s about on a whiteboard, then reveal it together.
Of course, guessing your own TMI doesn’t count as a correct answer.
The important thing was maintaining a poker face even if you heard your own story.
In other words, it was a game that required acting skills.
…Isn’t Ryu Bo-ra at an advantage in this?
When I glanced at Ryu Bo-ra, she also seemed to think so, her eyes gleaming.
“Alright, the first question! Since it’s the first, let’s make it easy. ‘A person who has never felt romantic emotions even once.’ In other words, someone who has never had a first love. Who is this person?”
…Is this supposed to be easy?
I thought hard about the five members.
No matter how much I thought about it… none of them seemed like they’d have a first love.
Judging by everyone’s expressions, they seemed to have similar thoughts.
Especially Yeon Juhong, whose eyes were spinning, looking half out of it.
Hmm. With such reactions….
I watched PD Oh’s expression.
Then I wrote the answer on my whiteboard.
“!”
Everyone was surprised when I wrote it confidently.
“Oh, Yoon Cheong trainee. I like your confidence. Everyone else, write your answers within 5 seconds.”
“Gasp.”
“Ah, no.”
“Yes!”
Eventually, everyone hurriedly wrote and lifted their whiteboards.
“Oh.”
Laughter erupted among the production staff.
All the members… had written their own names.
Except for me.
“Wow. Cheong is the only one correct?”
“Wow. That’s sly.”
“? It’s a competitive world.”
Yeon Juhong and Kim Geum tried to glare at me, but I ignored them.
“Yoon Cheong trainee… please read the correct answer.”
“Oh, okay.”
I lowered my whiteboard and read it.
“Everyone in Steel Blue.”
“….”
Everyone seemed oddly saddened by my answer.
Why are they sad?
“……You people with no love cells.”
“How can you have never had a crush?”
Kim Geum said, getting emotional.
“You haven’t had one either.”
“I chose not to!”
Kim Geum snapped at Baek-young’s point, but it was pointless.
How futile.
“Anyway, is that correct?”
“That’s correct!”
I felt proud.
A correct answer magnet was added to my whiteboard.
…By the way.
Did they all give broadcast answers, or… was it true?
I’ll have to ask later.
“Which member named their dog ‘Debut’ out of their strong desire to debut?!”
“Seo Baek-young.”
“That’s correct!”
“Who can speak four languages? Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and English!”
“I really don’t know this one.”
“The answer is~ Yoon Cheong!”
“What?!”
“You’re now our official speaker.”
…I won’t mention that I know a little Thai and Vietnamese too.
“When did you learn all those languages?”
“Do you have 72 hours in a day?”
“I just did a bit of self-study…”
Well, it’s more like I naturally picked up everyday language skills from touring a lot, but I couldn’t say that here.
“Who liked White Noise so much that they attended fan signings and public events?”
“…How did you get into White Noise’s fan signing? That’s more impressive than being a fan.”
“Could it be Juhong? She goes a bit crazy when she’s into something.”
“What do you think of me, Baek-young?”
“Wrong. The answer is Kim Geum.”
“??”
The answer was so unexpected that everyone looked at Kim Geum.
She didn’t seem like someone who liked celebrities.
“What are you looking at? Do I look like someone who would spend all their holiday money on a fan signing?”
“Looks like she really did.”
“Who was your favorite?”
It was fascinating.
For me, they were the first celebrities I ever liked.
“It’s a secret.”
“Why?”
“Because they might feel uncomfortable… I want to keep my one-sided love a secret…”
“That’s kind of scary…”
“Creepy.”
“What do you know about love?!”
I wonder who it is.
I’ll have to poke around when she talks in her sleep.
“Which member revealed their final career aspiration as becoming a director at Colors during the final interview?”
“A true ambition…”
“Why would you aim to be a director at Colors? Just start your own company.”
“Oh. This person is a rebel? Beat them up.”
“No, I love the company! Colors forever.”
While Seo Baek-young and Kim Geum were arguing.
“I think it might be Juhong.”
I quietly gave my answer.
“Correct!”
“Wow. Nowadays, 17-year-olds are scary. The best I could think of during my final interview was winning awards for 10 consecutive years. I must have been too naive.”
“…You’re not that naive.”
Kim Geum easily ignored Ryu Bo-ra’s criticism.
“Why is your dream to be a director, Juhong?”
“Actually, my real dream is to be the CEO, but I was afraid the CEO might dislike me if I said that… So I quietly aimed for the second-in-command!”
She’s really scary.
Anyway.
After that, trivial information was revealed.
Half of them were immediately answered, but the other half couldn’t be answered.
I was the one who got the most correct answers.
But it was a bit tricky… because Seo Baek-young also got a lot right.
It seemed like the winner would be decided by just one or two questions.
“I’ll announce the final winner.”
Everyone waited nervously for PD Oh’s announcement.
Except for Seo Baek-young, why were the other three nervous?
They barely answered one or two questions.
Not that I’m upset or anything.
“The winner is Seo Baek-young! Baek-young, please choose the two people for the double room!”
“Yes!”
“Ha.”
“Ha… I’ll just go to the double room then.”
“I’ll go pack my stuff.”
Everyone resigned themselves to being chosen for the double room.
But I was confident.
I had been good to Seo Baek-young. She would surely give me a single room-
“I’ll share the double room with Cheong.”
“?!”
Guess not.
I was nice for nothing.