Chapter 18 - Let's Crush Them
On TVX's variety program 'Idol Weekly', they have the guest idols play a game.
There are games related to singing or dancing, games in a quiz format, and games in a sports format.
On the broadcast, it looks as if the game is decided randomly each time, but in reality, they decide what game will be played in advance and notify the guests beforehand.
They select a game that is likely to produce an interesting scene depending on who the guest is.
However, the production team does not interfere with the game's results at all.
It's purely up to the guest idols.
For that reason, in competition-style games, an unexpectedly fierce match sometimes comes out.
There are also times when fights break out in online communities over the game's content or results, so it was a segment that received considerable attention among idol fandoms.
***
“Idol Weekly! This week's game has been decided... as Easy Tennis!”
As the male MC's voice echoed through the studio, the guest idols made all sorts of different expressions.
Kanade made a face as if she had no confidence, and Da-hee was seen clenching her fists, burning with fighting spirit.
Watching that from a distance, Baek Hyeon-woo was lost in thought.
‘Kanade-ssi is good at other games, but she's weak at motion-controlled sports games where you have to move your body directly.’
Easy Tennis is a motion-controlled tennis game that uses a dedicated controller.
If you hold the controller and swing your arm, the character in the game moves their arm in the same way and plays tennis.
Because it's a game for broadcasting, the system is on the simpler side compared to similar tennis games.
Last time, Kanade also played this game and was completely defeated after making a series of mistakes.
They probably selected this game again because they wanted to create a similar scene to that time.
‘On the other hand, Bolero's Da-hee is strong at games that use the body like this.’
Right now, Da-hee was glaring at Kanade with an aggressive gaze.
Since the cameras were stopped in preparation for the game, she was making a very openly spiteful expression.
I'll resolve my usual ill feelings by thoroughly destroying Kanade in this tennis showdown... such inner thoughts could be glimpsed.
‘Actually, even if Kanade-ssi loses like that, there isn't much for her to lose. She's also gaining popularity with her clumsy image.’
The production staff also probably selected the tennis game expecting Kanade to lose... to be precise, to lose in a funny way.
Therefore, if Kanade meekly loses in this game, it's a win for everyone.
However...
‘There's no reason to lose on purpose when she can win.’
Baek Hyeon-woo looked at Kanade from a distance.
Then Kanade felt his gaze and turned her head.
The moment their eyes met, Kanade made an expression as if she had little confidence.
‘You can win, Kanade-ssi.’
He spoke with his mind and gave a thumbs-up.
At that, Kanade flinched for a moment, then immediately smiled and gave a thumbs-up back.
Kanade usually has a timid and self-deprecating personality, but with just a small catalyst, she acts all high and mighty and becomes full of confidence.
If she pushes forward with confidence, she can definitely win.
The preparations for that had already been completed.
Using the short break time.
‘Confidently, let's crush them.’
And finally, the tennis game began.
***
‘I'm going to smash you to pieces.’
Da-hee stood in front of the monitor holding the controller.
And she once again glared at Kanade, who was standing about 3 meters away.
‘Pretending to be eccentric while screwing people over... a kid like that should be kicked out of the idol scene.’
Da-hee had always despised kids who acted dumb or innocent while shrewdly taking everything for themselves.
In Da-hee's eyes, Kanade also seemed to be of that sort.
Her image was bad from the start, but her ill feelings grew even larger after she got caught up in Kanade's eccentric talk on a past broadcast and made a mistake.
‘She clearly did it on purpose but played innocent... I should have at least slapped her across the face.’
A big fight almost broke out at that time.
The people around her stopped her, saying, 'She's like that because she came from Japan. The culture is different, so you should be the one to understand.' so she ended up backing down, but... her anger still hadn't subsided.
‘I have to crush her to bits this time.’
Of course, just winning the game wouldn't completely resolve the feelings that had built up.
Still, she would be able to feel a sense of gratification, at least for a moment.
With such thoughts, Da-hee started the game.
“Hyaap!”
Da-hee, who had the first serve, swung the controller from top to bottom, and the character in the game swung its arm widely and served.
Seeing the tennis ball fly to the opposite court, Kanade also hurriedly swung her controller.
But her timing was a little slow.
It was a miss.
“Ah…!”
Serve ace.
Da-hee scored the first point.
“Hng...”
As Kanade made a tearful face, the camera closed up on her face.
Watching that, Da-hee bit her lip.
Thinking, there she goes again, securing her screen time by deliberately making a dumb expression.
‘So annoying!’
Da-hee swung the controller once more and made her second serve.
This time, Kanade returned the serve properly.
However, it was a trajectory that fell feebly over Da-hee's character's head.
This is a chance to land a powerful smash.
‘She's practically spoon-feeding me a smash!’
In real tennis, if you don't hit a smash accurately, it goes out or gets caught in the net, but in this game, you don't really have to worry about that.
Da-hee swung her arm with confidence.
“Haap!”
Thwack!
The smash's sound effect echoed.
Kanade couldn't return it properly, and this time too, it became Da-hee's point.
“Wow, Da-hee's athletic reflexes are good!”
“Kanade is no match for her at all!”
The voices of the MCs chattering could be heard.
Da-hee made a smiling face, conscious of the camera.
Thinking that if Kanade was going to act like a fool to get screen time, she herself would appeal to the viewers by showing a cool side.
‘I won't give her a single point.’
Da-hee made her next serve.
Kanade succeeded in returning the serve, but it was a ball that floated upwards, just like before.
All I have to do is feed her a smash with the same motion as before. Thinking that, Da-hee raised her arm high.
It was right at that moment that she felt a sense of unease.
“……?”
Throb.
A pain was felt on the outer side of her shoulder.
She did hit the ball back with a smash, but a faint pain continued to spread.
‘Why does it hurt?’
While Da-hee was feeling baffled, Kanade couldn't return the ball, and one more point was added.
“Kanade, if you keep hitting the ball up like that, it'll come back as a smash!”
“If you lose just one more point, this round goes to Da-hee-ssi! Da-hee-ssi is good at smashes, so you can't hit any more lobs!”
As the MCs gave their advice, Kanade scratched her head.
However, Da-hee, who was right next to her, could see it.
The sight of Kanade... smiling slightly as she lowered her head and scratched it.
‘What the?’
Feeling a sense of unease, she tried to make her fourth serve.
However, as she raised her arm, she felt the pain once again.
Because of that, the serve went in inaccurately.
“Ah…!”
Kanade hit back the feebly flying serve.
This time too, it was a high-floating lob. It seemed she hadn't properly listened to the MCs' advice from earlier.
To hit it back, Da-hee once again tried to hit a smash.
“Ugh…!”
Throb!
The pain was severe.
So her swinging of the controller was delayed for a moment.
In the screen, Da-hee's character swung her racket a step too late.
The ball fell into the corner of the court and bounced once.
It was Kanade's first point.
“Wow! That went in?”
“Kanade-ssi, did you by any chance only practice lobs before you came?!”
The voices of the MCs making a fuss could be heard.
However, Kanade didn't look towards the MCs. Nor did she look in Da-hee's or the camera's direction.
“Ehehe...”
Kanade was scratching her head and smiling while looking somewhere else.
Da-hee was curious where Kanade was looking, so she turned her head.
In that direction... the tall, handsome manager who was with Kanade earlier was smiling a meaningful smile.
***
‘The plan worked.’
Baek Hyeon-woo, who was watching the game from a corner of the studio, nodded with a satisfied expression.
‘It was worth it, having her practice only hitting lobs during the break.’
As the MCs said earlier, in this tennis game, if you carelessly hit the ball up, it's easy to be countered with a powerful smash.
However, Baek Hyeon-woo had told Kanade to only think about hitting the ball high.
Because Baek Hyeon-woo's plan was to make Da-hee keep hitting smashes.
‘Moreover, because Da-hee took the first serve... it worked even better.’
Thinking that, Baek Hyeon-woo checked Da-hee's status window once more.
––––––––
[Da-hee]
Vocal: A
Dance: B
Visual: B
Potential: B
Body Condition: 70%
Mental Condition: 75%
– Pain and motor impairment are occurring due to a problem with the infraspinatus muscle of the upper limb.
–––––––––
Since meeting her in the hallway earlier, Baek Hyeon-woo had been watching Da-hee's status window closely.
This was because it showed that there was a problem with her infraspinatus, a shoulder muscle.
He had also observed Da-hee's posture and already figured out that among the left and right infraspinatus muscles, the problem was on the right side.
‘When I saw her in the hallway, it just said that motor impairment was occurring, but now the mention of pain has been added. Her condition has gotten worse.’
The infraspinatus is a muscle that is easily damaged when the shoulder is moved suddenly.
There are many cases of getting injured while playing sports like tennis.
Especially in tennis... it's easy to get injured when serving or smashing if you can't hit the ball properly and hit empty air instead.
‘This is a game where you swing a controller in the air, not hit a real ball. So it puts even more strain on the infraspinatus.’
Normally, when serving or smashing, you have to use the muscles of your whole body appropriately to swing your arm.
However, a person who hasn't properly learned tennis is prone to trying to swing their arm with just shoulder strength.
For that reason, an excessive load is inevitably placed on the infraspinatus.
‘The more she gets impatient and swings her arm harder, the more excessive force is applied to the infraspinatus. It's bound to get worse and worse.’
After the tennis game began, Da-hee had to continuously hit only serves and smashes.
Every time she raised her right arm backwards and upwards for the motion, her infraspinatus was overloaded.
In the end, Da-hee came to feel pain every time she performed a serve or smash motion.
‘And, if the condition worsens...’
On the game screen, Kanade's character returned the ball with a normal volley.
It was a ball that could be returned without having to raise her arm high.
However, because Da-hee flinched her shoulder, her movement was a beat too late.
‘Not only raising her arm upwards, but even the motion of extending it sideways now feels uncomfortable.’
Kanade's point, point, point.
At first, she had given up three points in a row, but now, Kanade was one-sidedly scoring points.
“Wow, what is happening?”
“Has Kanade-ssi finally awakened her talent for sports?!”
Watching the unstoppable Kanade scoring points, the MCs made a fuss.
Meanwhile, Da-hee was staring at the game screen with an expression of not understanding.
On the status window, not only her Body Condition but also her Mental Condition were dropping.
However, she probably wouldn't be able to say that she couldn't go on because her shoulder hurt.
“Ugh!”
Da-hee let out a sound unbecoming of an idol and swung the controller.
She probably couldn't accept the current situation where she was being thoroughly beaten by Kanade.
But what was driving Da-hee into a corner right now was Da-hee's own pride.
If she relaxed her shoulder and played moderately, it probably wouldn't hurt much, but she couldn't do that because of her pride that she couldn't lose to Kanade like this.
‘It's over.’
As she lost another point due to her own mistake, Da-hee's face became distorted.
It was the face of a loser, one that could never be shown on broadcast.
“H-Hey.”
At that moment, a voice was heard from the side.
It was Da-hee's manager, who had been watching the recording just like Baek Hyeon-woo.
“What on earth happened? Did you obtain the game separately and have her practice?”
“Of course not.”
This game is not for commercial sale, so it can't be obtained separately.
Even when he had her practice during the break earlier, he just showed her a video and had her practice with her bare hands.
“But how could a kid like Kanade... our Da-hee...”
“Well.”
After scoffing at the words of the manager, who was looking down on Kanade just like his own idol, Baek Hyeon-woo snapped back coldly.
“It must be the difference in potential.”
Thwack!
This time, Kanade succeeded with a smash.
Kanade, who had coolly scored a point, forgot that she was filming and looked at Baek Hyeon-woo.
Making a V-sign with her hand, with a brightly smiling face.
–––––––
[Kanade]
Vocal: B
Dance: B
Visual: A++
Potential: S
Body Condition: 75%
Mental Condition: 100%
– Mental Condition is very good.
– A plus correction is being applied to Visual.
–––––––
In this moment, Kanade was an idol who smiled more charmingly than anyone else.